The Prayer Life of Jesus: Pray for Obedience (Matt. 26:36-46)
The Prayer Life of Jesus:
Pray for Obedience
Matthew 26:36-46
INTRODUCTION:
A woman’s husband bought her a new set of golf clubs and a series of golf lessons for Christmas. She took the lessons and learned how frustrating it is to try to hit such a small ball. She wondered why on earth grown men would spend hours doing this every week.
Until one day she went out on the golf course, placed her ball on the tee at the first hole, gripped her driver, eyed the fairway, looked down at the tiny ball, and did everything in her swing that she had learned to do. When the driver connected squarely with the ball, there was a glorious sound - like nothing she had heard before.
Her swing was completely right and the ball sailed straight down the fairway for 170 yards. It was then that she understood why grown men spend so much time on the golf course. They want to hear that sound. They want to experience how it feels to do it right.
That’s the way it is with obedience. When you do: 1) what God says do; 2) the way God says do it; 3) for the reason God says do it, it gives you the most wonderful feeling. When you do things God’s way, the right way, then life works out the way it is supposed to.
In this series of lessons, we have been looking at the prayer life of Jesus. Today, we are going to take a look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, right before He is betrayed, arrested, and tried…
JESUS’ SOUL IS DEEPLY GRIEVED - Matt. 26:36-38:
The eleven apostles follow Jesus out of the upper room, where a long conversation is held between Jesus and the apostles, recorded in John 13-17. This place in the Garden of Gethsemane was a place where Jesus often returned for prayer. Judas Iscariot, when he decided to betray Jesus, knew exactly were to find Him (John 18:2).
In verse 36, Jesus left some of His disciples closer to the front of the garden and encouraged them to sit there and wait while He went a little deeper into the garden and prayed. He took with Him Peter, James, and John, the three apostles who went with Jesus on a handful of special ministry trips (ver. 37).
Then, Jesus began to be “grieved” and “distressed.” This is the only time that Jesus is said to “grieve.” He was also “distressed.” This means His heart was troubled. This passage and its parallel in Mark 14:33 are the only two passages that describe Jesus as being “distressed.”
Then Jesus told these disciples that His soul, the innermost part of Himself, was “deeply grieved.” This is an intensified form of the word used in verse 37, so “deeply grieved.” Mark 14:34 uses the same word for Jesus. Jesus says His soul was “deeply grieved to the point of death.” I think Jesus is saying what we would say as: “My pain is killing me.”
As we get further into the prayers of Jesus here, we will note that Jesus is praying that this cup of suffering would pass by Him and He would not have to drink of the wrath of God. But in the process, He is praying that He would be obedient to the Father’s will.
When we obey God, we feel a deeper sense of His presence. Jesus Himself had told His disciples, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23). Notice that the presence of God is contingent on us obeying God, which is motivated out of our love for God. So God reveals Himself to those who love Him and obey Him.
For the vast majority of us who are married, our husband or wife desires to feel that fulness of God’s presence on a regular basis. He or she wants to experience the sense of God’s presence in their life when they have obeyed Jesus. We need to pray for our spouse - and ourselves as well - that we will consistently be able to live God’s way.
If we don’t play by rules, there are consequences and penalties as all of us who are involved in sports one way or another understand. When it comes to the “game of life,” obviously, God is the one who sets the rules. And God tells us that disobedience to His law will affect our prayers getting answered: “He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination” (Prov. 28:9; see also Psalm 66:18).
As Paul did with the Ephesians in 1:18, pray that your spouse’s eyes will be enlightened so that he or she will understand God’s “rules of the game of life.”
One of the most common ways that married couples are disobedient to God is in our speech:
We should not be “quick to speak:” Prov. 29:20.
We should not say everything we feel: Prov. 29:11.
We should not say words that are destructive to our relationship: Prov. 18:21.
We should be careful about the timing of our words: Prov. 15:28.
JESUS PRAYS TO AVOID THE “CUP OF SUFFERING” - Matt. 26:39-41:
Jesus left Peter, James, and John, and went even further into the Garden of Gethsemane in order to pray by Himself.
The essence of His prayer, although I suspect His prayer was longer than what is said here, is: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will but as You will.”
The cup which Jesus did not want to drink was the cup of God’s wrath. We have seen that cup or “bowl of wrath” used a lot in the book of Revelation. It is used often in the OT prophets and refers to the wrath or anger of God as it is expressed in punishment against sin.
Here, Jesus clearly expresses His desire that He not have to go to the cross. It was this thought, this idea, that caused Him to be grieved, distressed, and “deeply grieved.”
Usually we think that Jesus was concerned about experiencing the pain of the cross. Now, it is my opinion that Jesus could have also been concerned that He not curse God or lose His faith in God while He was experiencing the pain of the cross. In other words, Jesus could have been concerned about the physical suffering but also concerned about the spiritual ramifications of that suffering.
But, here’s the point - either way, Jesus prayed that He would be obedient to the Father: “Yet not as I will but as You will.”
After this first prayer, Jesus came to His disciples and found them sleeping. He gently rebuked Peter, saying, “You could not keep watch for an hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Jesus knew that His apostles wanted in their hearts to do the right thing, but sometimes what we want to do and what we actually do are two different things.
Words are powerful. I don’t know about you, but sometimes words can have a lasting impact for years after they are said. We might agonize over words we’ve spoken that have hurt someone. Sometimes our words are interpreted differently than what we intended. Sometimes we get aggravated and speak harshly and then we regret it.
We need to pray for ourselves and our spouse that he or she will have a clean heart and that God will give them words that will edify and bring life to the family and others. We need discernment from God relative to what to say and how to say it.
JESUS DETERMINES TO OBEY, REGARDLESS OF THE COST - Matt. 26:42-46:
After Jesus had that first conversation with His disciples, He returns to His own place of prayer and says the same prayer, in essence, using largely the same words:
“My Father, if this cannot pass away - speaking of the cup of suffering - unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
After having His own private time with God the Father, the second time, Jesus returns to His disciples and found them sleeping again. Bless their hearts, their eyes were heavy! So Jesus left them and went away again, praying a third time saying the same thing yet again.
It is clear that:
1) Jesus did not want to go to the cross! (He prayed three times that something else could be done).
2) Jesus trusted the Father to do the right thing.
3) Jesus was determined to obey whatever the Father had determined for Him to do.
When Jesus returned to the disciples, He said to them: “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”
Jesus was going to obey the Father, even if it kills Him. And it did!
Pray:
1) That your spouse will have the heart to obey God;
2) That your spouse will understand what God requires;
3) That your spouse will choose to live God’s way;
4) That your spouse’s words will edify and bring healing and help;
5) That God will help your spouse to obey Him;
6) That your spouse will please God by his or her obedience.
HEAR THE WORDS OF THE LORD:
Proverbs 3:1-3
Proverbs 31:26
Proverbs 13:3
Proverbs 4:18
Proverbs 31:10
Take home message: Pray that you and your spouse will trust God to do the right thing in your life, at all times, and pray that you and your spouse will always obey what Jesus tells us to do.