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Pastor Aaron Shamp preaches about the Gospel and facets of Christianity at Redeemer City Church. These podcasts are his sermons.
Aaron Shamp (00:00)
While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, suddenly arrived. A large mob with swords and clubs was with him from the chief priests and elders of the people. His betrayer had given them a sign. The one I kiss, he's the one arrest him. So immediately he went up to Jesus and said, Greetings, Rabbi, and kissed him.
friend, Jesus asked him, Why have you come? Then they came up, took hold of Jesus and arrested him. At that moment, one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest's servant and cut off his ear. Then Jesus told him, Put your sword back in its place, because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot call on my father and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels?
How then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way? At that time, Jesus said to the crowds, Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal to capture me? Every day I used to sit teaching in the temple and you didn't arrest me. But all this has happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled. Then all the disciples deserted him and ran away.
So I want you to imagine that you are talking to someone, maybe a co -worker or a neighbor, and they have started following this new religion, if you can call it that, that they just call the way. Like, this is the way, right? And they start telling you about how the real king of the world has come and how he offers a salvation. And you might think, okay, this sounds a little odd, but I'm just going to go along with it and I'm going to hear him out. And they say, yeah, you know, he really came here to this earth.
And you say, okay, well, that's interesting. Tell me more. And so they start telling you maybe about some of the miracles that he did. And you say, well, that sounds impressive. That's neat. And they tell you about some of his teachings. And you say, well, wow, I've never heard any teaching like that before. That's interesting. And they say, yes, you know, and he is our savior. He is our king. And we know it because he died by the electric chair. You know, even if you were giving them the shadow of a doubt up until that point,
Then you would have said, okay, these people are crazy. And not only that, that he died by the electric chair, they say, and he was betrayed by one of us, by one of his friends, because he decided to just sell him because he thought that our teacher was starting to become a danger to society. Okay, right? Like this is sounding weird, this is sounding strange. At that point, you would be backing away trying to get away from them. You would think this is a crazy person in a cult, not -
not someone who's believing in the truth and reality. Now, as just as crazy as that sounds to you and I, it sounded as crazy to people in the first century who were hearing the first church share the gospel. Because just as for us, the electric chair of all forms of execution brings up a particular horror, ickiness to it, shamefulness to it, right? Something that is absolutely not a pleasant image, you know?
It was the same way with crucifixion back then, if not far more so. Crucifixion was even more, much more horrible, much more shameful than the electric chair. But imagine that these people are so dedicated to the teachings of and the meaning of what they believe their leader did that they start wearing little electric chairs on necklaces or on their neck, you know, and they start painting electric chairs in their homes and they cling to this. It was just as crazy back then.
for them to cling to the story and image of a Roman cross. Nevertheless, they did. They stuck to that story. Moreover, they didn't hide the fact that it was one of them that betrayed their leader, King Xavier, to the Romans for crucifixion. It tells us right here. It says, Judas, one of the twelve. All of these details are things that, you know, once again, what if we put it in...
21st century terms are things that we recognize would be really hard for us to accept. It was the same thing back then. Nevertheless, they clung to this story and they continued telling this story. Why? Because of the meaning of the cross and the meaning of what was happening here. And so what we're doing in this series is we are trying to grasp what is the meaning of the cross of Christ. Because understanding Christianity, understanding what the Bible is all about, and truly knowing Jesus.
not just knowing his name, but knowing him and coming into a saving relationship with him. This all hinges upon you understanding the cross. Not just the story, but the meaning of it, the theology of it, if you will. And so that's what we're doing in this series, is we're looking at the meaning of the cross of Christ. And so today we're going to look at this story here of the betrayal and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And we look at three words that Jesus says and from those try to pull out some meaning of what is happening here. We've been doing this over the past few weeks and we try to keep it up of just pulling out phrases or words that Jesus says to guide us. And so the three words that we're going to do this week, the first one is friend. Whenever Judas comes to him and he addresses him as friend, then we're going look at the word sword and then the word fulfilled. And I think all three of these teach us about.
the cross of Christ. So let's begin by looking at friend. This is how Jesus addresses Judas. Whenever Judas comes to him, he had hatched this conspiracy with the Sanhedrin, with the different leaders to go and have Jesus arrested in the dead of night. And he says to them, you know, I'm going to go and I'm going to give him a kiss and I'll tell you who he is. You know, why does he have to do that? Because Jesus is pretty famous at this point. Well, you know, maybe.
the guards or the policemen who were coming to arrest Jesus hadn't seen him. Maybe they didn't know what he looked like. They didn't have social media back then, so Jesus didn't have a viral Instagram that they would have known his image by. Maybe it was that. Another thing is that perhaps, remember, this is happening during the Passover, and Jerusalem would have been filled with pilgrims, Jews who are living outside of Jerusalem, outside of Judea, who may have been spread out across the various
parts of the Roman Empire, Jews who were coming to Jerusalem to worship with Passover and the Garden of Gethsemane being just outside of Jerusalem, it may have been filled with some of these pilgrims who were coming and were maybe sleeping in tents there or praying there, worshiping there during the Passover. So even though we often imagine this secluded garden where it is only Jesus, scholars point out, it's actually very possible that there was a lot of people there. And so it's at nighttime, it's dark.
And so they needed someone who knew Jesus really, really well to make sure they arrested the right person. And so that's why Judas says, you know, so I'm going to go and I'm going to tell you who he is. He comes and he addresses Jesus as Rabbi, which in and of itself is somewhat of a distancing term. And Jesus responds to him in this way. He says, Friend, why have you come? In other translations, he says, Friend, do what you have come to do. It's a little ambiguous whether or not he's asking a question. Let's consider what's happening here.
Some people look at Judas and they identify him almost as the archetypal sinner, as the worst sinner to have ever lived. And then there are other scholars who look at Jesus and they say, you know, he's really more of a sympathetic character. If we try to step into his shoes, we can understand him. And maybe he was more of a complex and conflicted, inwardly tormented person than what we tend to give him credit for.
You know, so which one was he? Was he the worst sinner who ever lived because he betrayed his friend and not only that, he betrayed the only righteous man who ever lived? Or is he more of a complex character than that?
To get into the mind of what is going on in Judas here, it's interesting to think about the way that he goes and he greets Jesus. We see the kiss as an act of intimacy, right? Something, obviously, it wasn't a romantic kiss. It was a greeting style kiss that would have been very typical for men and for men and women who are family members to give one another, you know, just a kiss on each cheek.
you know, as a form of greeting. You know, but even that we look at that as like, well, that's a sign that there's a relationship here, right? And so, we often point and look at that and say, well, you know, that just underscores the treachery of the betrayal that he would betray him with a kiss. And it certainly does, but it actually signifies even more than that. There's a Jewish scholar named Moses Aberbach, and he said that it underscores even more than that whenever Judas comes and he kisses Jesus because...
During this time, to greet for a disciple who is following a teacher or a rabbi, as Judas calls him, to approach him and to greet him before the teacher has acknowledged and greeted the disciple would have been seen as an offense because it would have been an inferior saying to the superior, I am actually equal with you. You are not my superior. You are not my better. We are equals.
That is what it would have signified. It would have been, you know, in this culture for a student or a disciple to go up and greet their teacher like that before the teacher acknowledged and initiated that greeting. That's what it would have been doing. It would have been an insult to the teacher. And that is how Judas walks up to him and approaches him. So already we can see in the posture of Judas's heart what is going on there.
Judas' betrayal begins with an act of insult. It begins with an act of Judas saying to Jesus, you are no better than me.
So on the one hand, we can say, well, you know, he's not just this sympathetic, complex, nuanced, inwardly conflicted person. He was someone who had no respect for Jesus. On the other hand, was he the worst sinner to have ever lived? Well, let's think of it this way. Before this part in the Garden of Gethsemane, they were praying, but before that, they had the Last Supper. We talked about that a few weeks ago, where they celebrated the Passover meal together.
And at that meal, Jesus begins it in a really odd way. He says, or he ends it in a really odd way. He says, you know, one of you guys who just drank from this cup with me is going to betray me. That's an awkward thing to bring up at dinner, but that's what Jesus does. He says, one of you is going to betray me. And notice this, they didn't all turn to say, Judas, right? Instead, they're all like, which one of us? Like, certainly not me. It couldn't have been me, right?
Like, I'm not going to be the one to do it. No one turns around and says, oh, obviously is going to be Judas. None of them point him out because he wasn't all that bad of a person. He wasn't obviously any worse than the rest of them. In their minds at that point before the betrayal, they saw it as equally likely. In fact, they saw it as more plausible that they would be the one to give up Jesus before they all started pointing the finger at Judas.
So on the one hand, Judas is neither the worst sinner to have ever lived, just this incarnated demon wearing human flesh. On the other hand, he absolutely was a sinner who deeply betrayed Christ. What does it mean? What did he do? It helps us if we hone in on this point of the story, that Judas sold Jesus. He sold him. He left that dinner that night and he goes and he makes a deal.
to sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, it says, so they can then arrest him. What does it mean for Judas to sell Jesus? Well, contrast this with someone who serves Jesus. And think about what's the difference between selling and serving. They're, in fact, the complete opposite of one another. Selling Jesus means that you are willing to exchange him for something else that you actually want, something else that actually makes you happy, maybe something else that actually makes you
feel significant, that makes you feel comfortable, that makes you feel confident, and so you're willing to sell Jesus in order to get that. You want something else as the ultimate end of whatever you think of as the happy life. Whereas in serving Jesus, you make your life, everything else in your life, the means to the ultimate end of receiving Christ. Everything else comes to the ultimate end of pleasing Jesus.
So do you see yourself as a seller, or do see yourself as a server? Do you frequently go to Jesus because you actually want something else more, or do you go to Christ because you want Him? Whenever you are disappointed, maybe you've been living well, you've been living right, you've been praying hard, you've been consistent in your devotions, your scripture reading and so on, but there's something on your heart and mind that you've been praying about, that you've been...
hoping for and you've been putting before the Lord. And then you don't get it. The answer to that prayer is a no or it's a not yet. And you're crushed all of a sudden. And then that prayer, those devotions, that living righteously, that fervent obedience all of a sudden kind of dissipates and goes away. Have you ever caught yourself doing?
It's painful when you catch yourself doing that. I've caught myself doing that. Whenever I want something, all of a sudden I start praying a lot harder. I start praying a lot more consistently. And then I don't get it, and I quit. Right? What does that reveal about my heart? It means, and if you see that in yourself, and you recognize that you've done that in your own life, it means, guys, that we have a heart just like Judas. We have a heart just like Judas that is willing to sell Jesus for something else that we actually want.
that is willing to just see Jesus as a means to an end rather than if we had a servant attitude as seeing everything else in our life as a means to the end of receiving Him and of knowing Him. Even when you were living your best life as a servant of Jesus, you will find in yourself that there's still a little bit of that seller attitude.
So what do we do if we recognize that in ourselves? Because that's what Jesus is trying to get Judas to do. Wherever he addresses him as friend, it's not an endearing term. He's not saying, hey buddy, it's more of a term that Jesus is trying to use to get Judas to pause and recognize what he's about to do. Scholars point out, I mentioned before, there's this ambiguity there, and is Jesus making a statement or is he asking a question?
with Judas and scholars point out either way what is happening here, even if he's asking a question, Jesus knew what Judas was doing. He wasn't asking him the question because he didn't know. He was asking him the question or he was making the statement in terms of, do you recognize what you're about to do and are you going to do it? So friend is one of those statements of you better pause and think. Sort of it's similar to the way that I usually say son, really often with my son.
You know, I mean, sometimes it is an endearing term, you know, I love you, son. But most of the time it's because he is sassy towards his mom or he is being disobedient or crazy. And I say, son, you better listen. You know what I mean? You heard that before when you were a kid. You've heard that before. That's the similar thing that Jesus is doing here. He says friend. Everybody else in Matthew, whenever this same term is used, it's used in a similar context. It's not used in the terms of, hey, buddy, but in the terms of,
You better watch what you're doing. He's giving him a chance to consider what he is doing and change course. So if we hear Jesus saying to us, friend, what are you doing? If you look at your own life and you recognize that there's been a seller attitude, that you have a heart just like Jesus, look, it doesn't mean that you're not also a servant, because like I said, even in the best of servants, there's gonna be a little bit of a heart of a seller. Look at all the disciples who didn't sell Jesus, yet still recognized in themselves.
the potential to do so. What do we do?
Well, the only right thing to do is to, if we recognize in ourselves, to fully commit ourselves to Christ. To recognize any tendency within ourselves to make Him second to anything else in our life and to fully commit to Him as the ultimate end of everything that we desire. The ultimate end of our allegiance, of our obedience, the ultimate end of our, of how we submit our mind and our heart.
to Him, the ultimate end of what we desire to make us happy, to give us purpose in life, and everything else, like fully committed to Him. But how do we do that? Right? It's easy to say, okay, we'll just fully commit to yourself, but how do we do it? You will only be fully committed to Christ whenever you see how fully committed He is to you. Last week, we talked about how Jesus was praying in the garden, and it says that He began to be distressed to the point of death. So much so that Luke says that He bled, He had...
He had blood mixed in with his sweat because he was in such extreme distress here. This is because as Jesus goes into the garden, he is beginning to get a taste of what is to come. And what is to come is the wrath of God, the condemnation of God being poured out into him for our sin. He's about to be made and receive the curse that we should have received for our sin. He gets a little bit of a taste of that and he calls it the cup, the cup that's going to be poured out. He gets a little bit of a taste of that cup.
and it doesn't make him turn away. He is still fully committed to going through with it, to obeying the Lord and loving you to a greater degree than anyone else has ever loved you or could possibly love you. To not just give up his life for you, that's the ultimate sacrifice, but to give up his life for you under the wrath of God for your sin. That is full commitment to you.
only until you look at Jesus Christ's full commitment to you and you recognize that his death on the cross was not just a nice display of love, but it was his substitution for you, like him suffering for your sin. Whenever you see that, then it is going to soften your heart and help you have the desire to make your life fully committed to him in return. If you recognize that, anything less than full commitment to Christ is insanity.
Once your heart grasps that and your mind sees it, then you recognize that, yes, as we've seen before, all I have is Christ. All I want is Christ. If He did that for me, then the Lord and creator of the universe, so that I might know Him, then He is all that I want. We must respond by giving ourselves wholly over to Him. In Romans chapter 12, verse 1, Paul says that we are to make ourselves a living sacrifice for Him.
It means in a similar way in how Jesus made himself a sacrifice for us by giving up his life on the cross, though we aren't crucifying ourselves, obviously, we give ourselves up wholly to him. That's what he means by a living sacrifice. Complete devotion to Christ.
So that's what we learned by how Jesus responds to Judas. But let's look at how Jesus responds to Peter. And Matthew says that one of those who was with Jesus took out a sword and cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest. I believe it's John who tells us that it was Peter. Matthew didn't want to name names, but John did. John says that was Peter, by the way, who did that. Peter took out his sword and attacked this guy. And it was Luke who tells us that Jesus actually
picked up the ear and healed the man who had been attacked by Peter here. That's what Peter does. He jumps up and he attempts to defend Jesus with a sword. He intends to stop what is happening by pulling out his sword and going to war. Why? Well, if you get into Peter's mindset, it makes a lot of sense. They believe that Jesus was going to be the king who's going to establish the kingdom of God. That's what they're expecting.
That's what they are waiting for. They were not anticipating crucifixion. We got to keep that in mind. They were not ready for this. Jesus tried to tell them, go back and read the Gospels. He tried to tell them. He warned them. He said it clearly, but they did not see this coming. They still thought that he was going to be the leader who was going to, you know, in a way, in the similar way that empires move, was going to establish the kingdom here on this earth and that he was going to rule in majesty and power.
They thought that was going to happen. So if you believe that the leader, that your king of the kingdom is going to be, is about to be arrested, then you would take up swords, you would take up arms to defend him. But this reveals that Peter, as I just said, misunderstood the cross. They didn't see it coming and they misunderstood the way of the cross. They misunderstood the way that Jesus, who is the king of the kingdom, was going to establish.
his kingdom. Jesus' kingdom was not going to be established with the sword, but by himself going under the sword. This is what Jesus intends to tell him whenever he talks to him about the sword. You see, Peter is acting according to the logic of the world. He is going to use arms, he's going to use the sword, he's going to use force, power, violence, in order to establish the kingdom of God. But Jesus is showing him that that is not how the kingdom of God is going to be established. It is going to be
it is going to be established according to the logic of the cross versus the logic of the world. This means a few things. First of all, it means that Jesus's work is substitutional.
Jesus did not defend himself with a sword because, like I just said, he needed to go under the sword. The kingdom of God was not going to be established by him taking the sword and striking down his enemies, but by his enemies taking up the sword and striking down him. Not by him arresting them, but by them arresting him. Not by their blood being shed, but by his blood being shed, the kingdom is to be established. The new covenant is to be established. Jesus took upon himself what we deserved so that...
we can receive what he deserved, which is salvation, forgiveness from sin, and citizenship in that kingdom. But it doesn't, our citizenship in that kingdom is not bought by money, as things are often bought according to the logic of the world. Our citizenship in that kingdom is not won by power and violence, as things are typically won according to the logic of the world. Our place in that kingdom, our seat at the table of the lamb that we will rejoice in in heaven,
is bought by blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, because he stood in our place, purchasing the ransom over our life because of our sin, absorbing in his death the wrath of God and then turning it into favor. Like I said before, he received what we deserve so that we can receive what he deserves, which is the favor of God and the blessings of God. Jesus didn't come to
bring judgment, but to bear judgment. His work, according to the logic of the cross, is substitutional. If you're going to understand the cross, that is key. You cannot miss that, that he takes our place. Now, what this also reveals here in Jesus' address to Peter is that Peter reveals that he assumes that he's one of the good guys. He doesn't recognize that his heart is, and his life is as much
in need of Jesus's work as those, as Judas and those who are coming to arrest him, which is why he jumps up to defend Jesus. He thinks that he's one of the good guys. He doesn't recognize that he needs Jesus to go to the cross for himself as well. And then lastly, he doesn't understand how the world has changed.
Once again, if you work according to the logic of the sword, or if you work according to the logic of the world, then you assume that the world has changed through wealth, or you assume that the world has changed through power. You assume that the world has changed through coercion, that the world has changed through politics, that the world has changed through education. But we recognize that according to the logic of the cross, the world has not changed through politics, coercion, power, wealth, or anything else, but that the world has changed through sacrificial service.
This is why Jesus ultimately tells Peter to put his sword down because Jesus is about to change the world, not according to the logic of the sword, but according to the logic of the cross. Was he right? Is that how the world has actually changed? Or is that just a nice thought? Is it maybe just a purely spiritual reality that we can apply to maybe in our individual sins, but it really doesn't apply to the world? Once it comes to the world, well then we need to...
take hold of the levers of power. We need to utilize, you know, all the same means and tools and strategies as the world, but maybe with just a Christian label on it, because we recognize that whenever it comes to real change, we need the weapons of the world. Is that true? Was Jesus just talking about a purely spiritual reality here? It's not true. Jesus was right. And let me tell you this, he proved that he was right. Who is the most popular?
most famous, most world -changing figure in all of human history. There is no equal to Jesus. There is no close second to Jesus. Jesus is, look, even if you don't believe that he was the Son of God who took the punishment for our sins, lay that debate aside for a moment. Everyone recognizes that Jesus of Nazareth is the most significant figure in world history because through what he did,
And then what his followers did, it literally changed the course of the world. It built Western civilization. It built the values that that we still largely operate upon. He is the most significant figure who has ever walked the face of this earth. He did change the world.
and he never picked up a sword. He never won any elections. He never had any great campaigns. He never had any major voting blocks. He never led any armies. He never won any battles. In fact, he didn't even own any riches. Instead, he came to serve and give away his life. And he changed the world. Jesus proved his point in what he said to Peter here.
He proved his point in his life, death, resurrection, and then in the movement that moves forward in his name of how it changed the world, and it's still continuing to change the world in other places around the globe. Jesus proved his point here. And so we're going to have to receive it and accept it. That if we're going to change the world around us, you know, forget the globe, forget the nation. Just look at the little world around you. Lafayette.
or your neighborhood, your office, the school that you work at, and so on. Your family. Do you want to change the little world that you inhabit? Here's how it's going to be done. It is not going to be transformed through wealth, through coercion, through fear, through politics, etc. None of the above. It will be changed through sacrificial service in the name of Jesus. If we look around and we want Redeemer City Church,
And those other churches who are in the kingdom of God here, to have an impact on a katyana, it's not going to happen through us organizing political campaigns. It's not going to happen through us, you know, accumulating for our self properties and wealth and assets. It will happen through service. It will happen through service in the name of Jesus, along with the message of Jesus. That is how the world is transformed. That's what Jesus says to Peter here. He says, put down your sword.
the prophets have foretold this. It is the way of the cross that God is going to redeem mankind, save the world, transform the future.
So how do you practice this? Do it like Jesus. Look at what you have in your life and see it all as tools for ministry. See everything you have as how you can use it for the kingdom and not just for how you can use it for yourself. Jesus was rich and he became poor. He was, he is the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, residing in heaven, owning all the cattle on a thousand hills, as it says in the Psalms.
And yet he lived a life of poverty. He was powerful, and yet he became weak. And so in what ways can we similarly take what we have in our life and turn the vibes of the world up on their heads that we might not cling to those things for ourselves, whether they be wealth or positions or and so on, instead use them as as gifts for the kingdom, tools for ministry. So we might transform our families.
our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and maybe even our city.
way of the cross. Let's look at Jesus's word to the crowd that came. He tells them that this all happens so that the word might, so the writings in verse 56, but all this happens so the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled. His composure before the crowd is incredible. Notice the crowd comes and he doesn't start trying to get away.
He doesn't even resist as they come to arrest him. We saw this a little bit last week. Whenever he finishes praying in the garden and he sees the mob approaching, he says, get up, let's go. He actually goes to meet the crowd and then he stands before them in absolute in boldness, with complete composure. He stands before them courageous. It's incredible. More than that, he rebukes them and calls them cowards.
He says, why are you coming to me in the middle of the night? Right? Like, you know, things, justice doesn't typically happen in the middle of the night, does it? Right? You know, why are you coming in the middle of the night? And why are you bringing swords and clubs and torches and all these people? He says, whenever I have been like out in public in daylight before you, day in and day out, you know, did I ever have security around me? Was I ever carrying a sword? No, he says, I've been around you.
And now look at how you're coming to me. He rebukes them. And I think there's probably a little bit of mockery in there too. I think he rebukes them. He mocks them a little bit. He's calling them cowards for what they're doing. That's composure. Right? That is that's courage before the people who are about to arrest you, whip you, and then crucify you. That's amazing. How is he able to have that kind of courage and composure? Here's why. Because of what he says. He says, this is all happening so the writings of the prophets might be.
fulfilled. He has such courage and composure even in the face of what he is about to go through, even in the face of his betrayer and the mob, because he has absolute confidence in God's plan. He has absolute confidence in God's plan. He says this is all happening according to what God foretold. What that means is that no matter how bad things may look, no matter how out of control things may look,
They're not, because the Lord is always in control. Jesus had absolute confidence in God's plan. This is why whenever he was in the garden and he prayed that the cup might be taken away from him, and he says, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done, he was able to pray that because he was perfectly obedient to the Father, and he had absolute confidence in the Father, because he knew that if he was obedient to the Father, then the Father would reward his obedience.
by raising him from the grave. We see this in, I think it's, I don't know if I have it written down, but it was in Hebrews 5 -7, I believe, you can go look it up later and see if I'm right, that it says that the Lord heard Jesus' obedience and he rewarded it to him by raising him from the dead. How is Jesus so obedient? Because he trusted in God's plan.
So he knew that no matter what was happening here, it was going to be okay because this was all happening so that God's word might be fulfilled. He trusted in God's plan. That means for us, no matter how bad things look, no matter out of control they look, no matter how gloomy things look, no matter what insurmountable object or opposition it is in your life that is coming against you that you think there could possibly be no good way out of it, that life will never be better. God is in control.
Trust in Him. Trust in His Word. No matter what, God is still there. And He is not only there so that you might feel a little bit of comfort. He is there so that you might be courageous even in your trial. So that by His presence with you and by the comfort that brings, that comes with His presence with you, you might be able to walk courageously and do what He has called you to do even in the face.
of that insurmountable obstacle, even in the face of that storm. He is with you to equip you to make you courageous and full of composure, just like Jesus was before the crowd. Would you like to be like that? You know, I think I look at that and I think, man, I wish that I was like that in conflict or in trying times, in threatening situations. Jesus wants you to be like that. God wants you to be like that. So he's with you.
And you can trust that he will work out all things. That you're going to be okay. He is going to care for you. He is going to provide for you. But even greater than that, like, look, zoom out beyond just you.
He is also working on all things redemptively. Whatever is going on in your life is not just happening to you for you, and God does not have a plan to rescue you out of it just for you, but so that through your suffering and then your calm, courageous composure through it, and then through God's saving you from that suffering that you're going through, it might also bless others. He has a larger redemptive plan that is at work.
Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. This is really interesting. I never seen this before studying this week. And someone I read pointed it out.
Joseph was sold into slavery, right? You remember that story? At a place called Dothan, or Dotham, I can't remember if it's an N or an M, at a place called Dotham. Years later, we have Elisha, who is one of the major prophets, and he is facing an army at Dothan, the same place where Joseph was sold into slavery. It is an overwhelming force that is going to destroy him, and they will then go and...
take the lives of many Israelites and destroy Israel. Elisha is before this opposing army that he has absolutely no hope against, that he's going to take his life and he's going to destroy Israel. And he calls out to the Lord and he prays to him and he asks him to come to bring deliverance to help him. I mean, look at this army that we're about to face. And it says that Elisha's eyes were opened and he was able to see an army of angels.
that was surrounding the enemy. Can you imagine that? He was able to see these angel armies of the Lord ready to go to battle. God pointing out, showing him, giving him the eyes to see, look, I've got it under control. And sure enough, he did. The Lord gave them victory. He saved Elisha's life, and he saved his people's lives. At the.
Now compare that to Joseph, who was in that pit in Dothan, praying for salvation, praying that the Lord might have someone pass along who would come and take him out of the pit and save him. What's the answer to his prayer? He gets sold into slavery. And then he lives as a slave. He's falsely accused of something he didn't do. He's thrown in prison for years. And then he is taken out of prison to work for Pharaoh, right?
Where was God in all that?
He didn't see the plan, but God was at work because it was through him being sold into slavery, through him working for Potiphar, through him being in prison, then through him working for Pharaoh and building up all these storehouses of food that would come during famine time. Because of that, whenever his family came to Egypt in need of food because they were on the brink of starvation, Joseph was able to rescue his family.
God worked through Joseph's story redemptively, not only to save Joseph. Joseph was eventually saved. He was incredibly wealthy. He was the second in command in Egypt. He never could have seen that while he was in the pit. And as he was being sold into slavery, he thought his life was over. He never could have seen that, but he never could have imagined God's redemptive plan to rescue not only him, but to rescue his people. Now compare the stories. In both, they're suffering.
the call out to the Lord, the Lord works through their stories to rescue them and rescue his kingdom. One of them gets to see the plan, the other one doesn't. But God's plan was at work in both. You might be going through a situation where you are praying to see those angel armies and you are asking, could there really be a way that this is all gonna turn out all right? Lord, are you at work? Lord, do you have?
my life in your hands. Lord, what are you doing through this? If I could only see, if I could only know, right? I know I've prayed that before. Even if he says to you, maybe you get a glimpse of what is to come, but even if he says to you, you know, no, you just have to trust. Friends, you have to trust. You have to trust that God's plan is being fulfilled no matter what, even if you can't see it. Even if you can't see it.
Both of them, Elisha and Joseph, ultimately saw the salvation of Israel, but only one of them didn't know how it was going to happen. God is at work in the same way in your lives, guys. He is at work to bring you deliverance, to bring you victory over, maybe it's besetting sins that you were praying against, maybe it is some opposition from people, maybe it is anxiety about the future, maybe it is opportunities.
that you've been praying for the Lord to open a door, whatever else it might be. Look, God has a plan for you. Just because it does not happen according to the details that you pray for, the timeline that you pray for, you have to trust in Him. You have to trust that His plan is better than your plan. And you need to zoom out beyond thinking of yourself to submit to whatever the Lord's plan is, because His desire is not only to bring you deliverance, but to work redemptively for the sake of the kingdom beyond you.
Jesus has common composure for the crowds because he trusts in the word of God and he knows that the word of God is true. He can stake his life upon it even to the extent of death on a cross. And then through his death, establishing the kingdom of God and bringing in all of us, all of us sinners who do not deserve to be in the kingdom, who nevertheless receive.
the blessing and gift of being brought into it because of Jesus's work. So trust in the Lord's plan. Let's pray. Father, we come before you now and we ask that you would.
address our hearts, Lord, to help us to see in what ways we have been having a seller attitude versus a servant attitude, how we have been making you second to other things that we desire more instead of just wholly and fully submitting our life to you. Lord, as Paul said in Romans 12, make us living sacrifices to you to be used for the sake of your kingdom and the ministry of the gospel.
Lord, give us calm and composure before the opposition of the world, before the weaknesses in our hearts, before the conflicts and problems and tragedies that we face. Let this calm and composure not come because of confidence in ourself or any arrogance in ourself, but let it come because we have complete trust in your word. And so Lord, we pray all these things with our lives staked upon.
this and this alone, that Jesus loved us to the end, that He drank the cup for us, that He went to the cross and overcame the grave for us. And because of that truth and the meaning of the cross of Christ, we stake our lives completely upon it. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.