Title: Watch and Pray-1
Contents
(Mark 14:32-40) “When they came to a place called Gethsemane, Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” When he took Peter, James, and John with him, he was greatly astonished and grieved, saying, “My heart I am so distressed that I am about to die. Stay here and stay awake.” He said, “Stay here and watch.” He went a little further, fell on the ground, and asked if it were possible for this time to pass away from him, saying, “Abba, Father, all things are possible with you; take this cup from me. And when he returned, he saw the disciples sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, were you asleep? Could you not have been awake for one hour? Stay awake and pray that you may not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” He prayed with the same word, and when he came again, he saw them, and they were sleeping, for their eyes were very weary, and they did not know how to answer Jesus.”
1. The time has come and the day of the Lord's suffering is coming.
1) The agony of the Lord and the companionship of the disciples
- The suffering of the Lord in the face of the suffering of the cross, the suffering of death, and the suffering of darkness
* The suffering that the flesh of the incarnate Lord must suffer is beyond human suffering.
(Isa 53:5-7) “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace, and his wounds we are healed. All, like sheep, have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way, but the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; He did not open his mouth.”
* Being in the midst of human anguish in the face of impending suffering.
* Because the purpose of Jesus' coming was clear, it was inevitable suffering.
(Mark 10:45) “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
* Just as the sin of the first man made all people sinners, so the sacrifice of the Lord who came in the flesh brought salvation to all people.
(Romans 5:17-18) “For if by one man's trespass death reigned through him, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. For as through the many were condemned, so by the works of righteousness many were justified to life.”
* The death of Jesus Christ was the inevitable and only way for the salvation of mankind.
* This is God's way of saving mankind through the simultaneous realization of God's judgment and love.
* Not to avoid his own suffering for the salvation of mankind, but other demands on the Father's power.
* For the Lord, this anguish was another test as the Lord of the flesh.
* Spiritually, he was holy, and physically, he had to be judged by terrible suffering.
* It also signifies the complete renunciation and severance of one's divine powers.
- The request to accompany the disciples of Jesus and the request to pray for them is a participation in human suffering.
* Here, the disciples fell into a physical sleep unlike their confession to the Lord a while ago.
(Mark 14:31) “Peter said with strength, “Even if I die with you, I will not deny you.” So all the disciples said the same thing.”
-Jesus thought of the tribulation that would come along with his sufferings that were soon to come.
* Commands them to watch and pray because of the effect Jesus' death will have on them.
* Only the prayer of faith could overcome the shock after his death.
* Conflict between Jesus' multiple predictions of suffering for salvation and the reality they will experience
* To overcome the conflict, they had to be awake at all times.
2. Wake up and pray!
1) Being drunk in the flesh means falling into a spiritual sleep.
- To indulge in a life that conforms to the demands of the flesh by our sinful nature.
* To say that the mind is willing but the body is weak means that the body controls the mind.
* All people behave irrationally even when they have rational judgments.
* Most of all incorrect actions are not the result of failure to judge the value of the action.
* We make conflicting decisions between rational judgment and the demands of the body.
* The scale of the law and his demands, the declarations of Hippocrates and his demands, the standards of morality and ethics and his demands
* Those who are intoxicated with spiritual sleep deviate from the teachings of the Bible and obey the demands of the flesh.
* As a Christian, being unchristian is precisely because of your spiritual sleepiness.
* You are good at criticizing and judging, but you do not practice it in your actual life.
* God does not want critics, he is pleased with practitioners.
(1 Samuel 15:22) “Samuel said to him, “Does the Lord take delight in burnt offerings and other sacrifices, as does the obedience of his voice?
* But those who are intoxicated with spiritual sleep follow the form of the body, not the center of the mind.
(Romans 2:28-29) “For he is not a Jew outwardly, and circumcision in the flesh is not circumcision, but he is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the Spirit and not in the doubts, whose praise is not from men. No, but from God.”
* The outward Christian is not a Christian, the inward Christian is a Christian
* Every confession of faith must be a confessional and practical life that comes from the heart.
* It is in this sense that Jesus asked to be awake from his sleep.
- Are you really in a spiritual sleep and living according to the demands of your body?