Suffer Like the Servant

Call to Worship

To all who are weary and in need of rest

To all who are mourning and longing for comfort

To all who fail and desire strength

To all who sin and need a Savior

We, Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church, open wide our arms

With a welcome from Jesus Christ.

He is the ally to the guilty and failing

He is the comfort to those who are mourning

He is the joy of our hearts

And He is the friend of sinners

So Come, worship Him with us.

Scripture Reading & Reader

Scripture Reader, Brandon Morrow

Mark 14:43–52 NIV

Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. The men seized Jesus and arrested him. Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. “Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” Then everyone deserted him and fled. A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.

Post-Scripture Prayer

Pray.

Body of Sermon

Good morning, friends! [Insert Announcement about Joshua Randle]

Again, my name is Brandon Morrow and I can’t believe we’re in the home stretch of Easter! We hope you’re already making plans to join us for our two Easter services, one at 9AM and the other at 10:45AM.

On Easter we will be celebrating the Resurrection by finishing Mark’s gospel, and I counted it up, today is our 25th sermon in this series — a magnificent book that focuses us on Jesus… and just so you know, I’ve had an agenda for this sermon series for the last 25 weeks.

I want Moraga Valley to be so steeped in Christ that when people experience this place, when they experience you, all they get is Jesus. We will be a church, not accidentally, not without a lot of trial and error, not without a metric ton of grace, but we will be a church that reflects Jesus in everything we do.

The mission of our church is that we would joyfully surrender all of life to making disciples for the glory of Jesus — what we will lay down as a church, will be worth what we, and others, gain in Christ. Joy through surrender — all for Jesus, all because of Jesus — and hopefully Mark’s gospel has helped us make that perfectly clear.

Last week Dave preached a phenomenal sermon where he challenged us not to let our amygdala’s run our lives, but every day make a choice to move forward in faith as we follow Jesus. We can’t run from pain, from difficulty, from suffering, we fix our eyes on Jesus and move forward — trusting in Him, not in our circumstances.

This morning I want to invite us to continue to keep our focus on Jesus, would you turn with me to Mark 14:43-52, where we’ll find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where all the focus is on Him.

To catch us up from where we’ve been, Jesus has been in Jerusalem, He has gathered in the upper room with His disciples where they’ve eaten the last supper, and He’s reminded them that there’s a betrayer in their midst, and He says to Peter that Peter will deny Jesus. Jesus and the disciples are now in the Garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus is experiencing a moment of immense distress and He prays to His Heavenly Father — and while He prays, He asks the disciples to stay awake and keep watch, but they keep falling asleep.

Finally, Jesus says, in verses 41 and 42, “The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

This leads to the beginning of our passage today. Look with me in verses 43-46.

Mark 14:43–46 NIV

Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. The men seized Jesus and arrested him.

Jesus begins in verse 43, identifying Judas Iscariot, who we know as one of the disciples, he’s the Treasurer or money holder for the group of the Twelve, and he shows up with the Temple Police — armed to the teeth, to stand in opposition to Jesus.

They expect there to be resistance from Jesus and His disciples, but there’s hardly any resistance that will come from Jesus or His disciples.

There’s no reason for Jesus to resist, He already told His disciples these things would happen. We’ve heard this in Mark 9:30-31

Mark 9:30–31 NIV

They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.”

And we just heard this earlier in Chapter 14, in verses 10-11.

Mark 14:10–11 NIV

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Jesus does not resist one of the darkest, most vile, and evil moments in all of the gospels.

Jesus does not run from suffering.

Mark 14 will be inviting us to follow Jesus deeper into the path of suffering.

I believe that suffering will be the greatest apologetic of the future. I don’t think it will be persuasive or presuppositional arguments that help people follow Jesus, I think it’ll be people wondering how you still lived with joy, or contentment, or praise — when you’ve lost everything.

I think the invitation into this is fairly simple:

We don’t run from suffering, because Jesus didn’t run from suffering.

We see that in verse 46, “they seized and arrested Jesus,” they did not capture Him in a wild chase that covered the Judean countryside, there were no news helicopters that were detailing the hot pursuit.

He willingly embraces what He knew as the Father’s will. I mean, He had just spent a considerable amount of time praying in the Garden, He even prayed this in verse 36, “Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Jesus did not run from His suffering, but instead chose to embrace the pain and agony that would await Him…

I’ve had to really sit with the notion that the cross was God’s decision for Jesus.

And the fact that I’m a follower of Jesus.

These two truths have to somehow go together: the cross is the reality of Jesus and I model my life after His.

This is what Judas means when he calls Him Rabbi In the passage, Jesus is our Teacher and we are His students. We become like Him.

In Mark 14, we get a glimpse of what Jesus is going to have to go through.

Jesus is at the Garden of Gethsemane, and Gethsemane just means Olive Press.

He will be pressed, — crushed is another way that Isaiah 53:10 puts it. Here’s what Isaiah says about what Jesus is going to endure:

Isaiah 53:10 (NIV)

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,…

This was the plan all along.

We can’t unwed suffering from following Jesus. And even if I could, I wouldn’t want to. I’m your Pastor, I love you, the thing I desire most for you is that you look like Jesus.

I can’t not help you know about suffering. Dave and I aren’t sadist’s, this isn’t our favorite topic, but it would be unloving of me, and unloving of Dave, if we didn’t tell you the truth.

My life has been full of suffering.

I was born below the poverty line to a drug addicted mother, I grew up in a dysfunctional, abusive, and emotionally absent home. By the time I was 18, I felt like adulthood was the gate to being free from all of that, but in 2020 and 2021 I experienced some of the worst setbacks I could have imagined. In that timeframe, I lost a sister, a brother, I lost my mom, I pastored a large church during COVID in the most vile election season I had ever encountered, and I had gone through the darkest season of depression — where I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it through it.

From my own personal experience and from how I read the Bible, I think I can tell you two things about suffering.

Suffering is:

Inevitable

Universal

It’s not a matter of if you suffer, it’s a matter of when you suffer. Think of the 23rd Psalm, we’re all going to pass through the valley of the shadow of death.

And there’s not one person who’s going to make it through this without some degree of suffering.

Trauma therapist Diane Langberg said this about suffering, “Suffering rarely makes sense. Suffering is unreasonable; it is irrational.”

These aren’t discouragements — I actually think they’re the opposite.

Because when we suffer we are reminded of what Jesus did in His suffering.

The prophet Isaiah said that Jesus would be crushed, but he also said what Jesus’ crushing would do.

Isaiah 53:10 (NIV)

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

Jesus suffers for me.

His suffering secures my salvation.

His retribution becomes my redemption.

His accusation of rebellion becomes my rescue.

This is exactly what the writer of Hebrews means in Hebrews 12:2

Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus will suffer because of the glory it wins for God, and because as Revelation 7:9 says,

there will be a great multitude that no one can count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

Suffering isn’t just a personal thing we endure. Suffering is evangelistic. Suffering will lead others to Jesus.

Suffering is one of the ways, and I think primary ways, in which we take the gospel forward. As I said, I think suffering is the greatest apologetic available to us.

Mark’s gospel is is 16 chapters of urgent discipleship, and here we have verses 43-52 of not resisting the thing that will make us more like Jesus.

And Jesus does not resist this. He is willingly captured.

There’s a line in Matthew 11, that I was thinking about it. If you had to pin me down about it, it’s probably my first or second favorite Bible verse. It’s Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus says, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light, take my yoke upon you and learn from, for I am gently and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Jesus uses an idiom from Jewish Rabbi’s, to take on the yoke, of their Teacher, was to do what their teacher did. To become like their Rabbi.

Dave talked about this last week. He quoted Philippians 3:10

Philippians 3:10 NIV

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

We know Him in becoming like Him.

This is the epitome of joyful surrender. Jesus put up His life so we can have ours… and if we have life in Jesus, we offer up ours so others can find life in His.

But we have two big obstacles to our discipleship to Jesus. These are two enemies to the inevitable and universal realities to suffering.

Their names are fear and shame.

Look with me at verses 47. Mark 14:47

Mark 14:47 NIV

Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

In verse 47, we learn two major things about Peter:

First, He’s a fisherman, not a fighter. John’s gospel tells us it’s Peter who pulls his sword out to get the first word in on those who are opposing Jesus. I can’t help but laugh about this, it’s comical in so many ways. Peter pulls out his sword against an armed mob and then misses when he uses the sword. He’s not Zorro. He was trying to seriously maim or behead this guy, and misses.

Second, Peter’s attempt at intervention is all of us when we try to keep from suffering.

Evading the universal and inevitable reality of suffering is laughable at best.

Diane Langberg talks about what suffering does to our humanity. She says:

“If you live with someone full of cancer or battling chronic pain, you know that suffering reduces a person. It lessens all of their capacities, not just physically but also mentally, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. They become less themselves.”

Evasion looks like fear and shame.

Fear shows up in verse 50 when pain enters the Garden of Gethsemane, and what do the disciples do? It says, “Then everyone deserted him and fled.”

The Old Testament prophet Zechariah warned of this moment. He said, (Zechariah 13:7)

“Strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered,……

And in 52, which is likely Mark talking about himself, “he loses his clothes somewhere in the scuffle,” and because he mentions his nakedness, he’s talking about the shame of that moment.

Suffering reduces us to the point that avoiding it means fleeing for fear of our lives, and hiding who we really are.

Suffering is humbling.

But Jesus shows us what humility in suffering means. Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-8

Philippians 2:5–8 (NIV)

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

I do not want to avoid the thing that made Jesus a servant, because in His service, as Mark 10:45 tell us that,

Mark 10:45 (NIV)

… the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I want to leave us this morning by helping us Suffer Like the Servant, Himself.

I want to give you two/(three?) things for consideration.

First, I want you to remember the gospel. One way in which I do this is in three Christ-centered affirmations. These are just daily things you can say, bring to mind, and meditate on in the middle of suffering.

God is good.

He is for me.

Life is difficult.

This is a daily reminder that what Jesus does through His suffering is far beyond what I am experiencing.

Second, I want you to know that suffering is an honor…

Peter said to a suffering church in 1 Peter 4:16,…

1 Peter 4:16 NIV

However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

Suffering is more than a Christian badge of honor, suffering makes us more like Jesus. Paul says this in Romans 5:3-4

Romans 5:3–4 NIV

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Suffering is an honor because it produces the fruit of maturity in our lives.

—

Optional, if time:

Suffering has it’s end > Peter’s ending prayer. >

1 Peter 5:10 NIV

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.