One Week to Live

Scott O’Grady, a U.S. pilot operating over Bosnia. He was shot down and forced to survive and evade capture for six days before being rescued by American forces.

When asked how he survived he said the love I have for God, my family, and my country. I look at my entire combat experience through my faith.”

We read things like that and think, “well, nothing like that is going to happen to me.” Maybe not being shot down in an airplane, but something difficult is going to happen, to each one of us, at some point. The good news is that the last week of Jesus’ life on earth is going to help us know how to prepare for it.

During this week of Jesus’ life it was obviously filled with incredible hardships:

· betrayal, torture, mocking, unfair trials, flogging, and for the first time, anticipating what sin would feel like. Jesus had never known or experienced sin before.

He knew He only had 1 WEEK TO LIVE. Think about that.

If you knew you only had 1 week to live, and you knew it was going to be extremely difficult, how would you make it through?

Ever think about that? What’s your PLAN to handle hardships when they come?

It’s NOT a very good plan if it’s to just hope you don’t have hardships, or hope they go away or hope it all works out.

Having a PLAN is important. We have plans for:

· Emergency situations: tornadoes, inclement weather.

· Retirement: saving, investing

· Careers: advancing, education

· Raising a family; Physical health

But when it comes to the anticipation of hardships, which we know are coming, most people don’t have a plan. They just hope it works out.

Jesus had a plan as He faced passion week. His plan was to FOCUS on 5 priorities that would help Him make it through the week.

We’re going to walk through each day of the last week of His life and talk about the focus of each day. And if He relied on these 5 priorities, we can make it through whatever hardships come our way by focusing on the same things.

So here they are, and like any good sermon, I turned it into an acrostic called FOCUS.

SLIDE: Saturday: Friends

John 12:1-3 (NIV) Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

If you remember, a couple weeks ago, we talked about this event and how Judas was disgusted with Mary at wasting a year’s wages of perfume and how he said it could have been sold and money given to the poor. But the truth is he didn’t care about that, he was just concerned about the money being wasted. Judas was greedy, and he went and arranged with the Pharisees a strategy to betray Jesus. And Jesus knew it was all going to happen.

But from another angle on this story, isn’t it fascinating that Jesus chose to be with close friends as He started His last week on earth? He specifically went to Bethany and wanted to be with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He needed their friendship. He needed to be connected with them. He needed their encouragement. So he stayed in Bethany at their home.

These were not his disciples, but were valued, trusted friends.

· Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

· Martha learned a valuable lesson in how she spent her time (not being so busy)

· And Mary anointed Jesus with expensive oil

Jesus loved them, and they loved Him. They had a special place in Jesus’ heart. As He began His last week on earth, He desperately needed to be around his close friends…friends that refreshed, renewed, and encouraged him.

IL: Real Deal-Jason/Mike (pastor, elder)

I believe having 1-2-3 close friends is so important. Friends you can trust, that are loyal, and you can go deep with: beyond picks for March Madness, weather, or politics.

Someone to share how your really doing. What your really feeling. And what’s going on inside.

You might say, “I don’t have anyone like that.” Be that person to someone else. A good listener. A probing question asker. Someone with empathy.

I’m obviously biased, but I do believe our closest friends should be in a place where we are spiritually spurring one another toward Christ.

You’re just probably not going to find the types of rich, deep, spiritual friendships at the bar, PTO meetings, or your kid’s soccer game. Not that there’s anything wrong with having friendships there, but your closest friendships should be one’s that point you to Christ, as you face those hardships.

So the F of Focus is Friendship. Jesus needed it. We need it. When you face hardship, you can’t do it alone. It won’t end well.

That’s why we keep encouraging you to plug in, meet some new people, take a chance, don’t do your life alone. You’re going to need a friend when hardships happen, and you can be a friend when hardship happens to someone you care about.

SLIDE: Sunday: Objective

This is Palm Sunday today. We celebrate Palm Sunday.

Jesus had an objective on Palm Sunday. It was His objective to come riding in on a donkey as the Messiah was prophesied to do so.

Matthew 21:6 (NIV) The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

SLIDE: 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

As people were laying down their palm branches and spreading out their coats, they probably had different reasons for shouting “Hosanna”. They had different objectives!

· For some it was political=people who heard of the miracles and wanted Jesus to use His power to free Israel from Rome.

· Others it was physical= they wanted Jesus to heal their loved ones who were sick.

· Perhaps for some it was boredom= people just looking on at something different, caught up in all the hype.

· And there were some who thought that Jesus was going to establish His earthly kingdom= that was certainly what His followers had hoped. Maybe Jesus would set up camp, use His power and make all nations submit to Israel.

Think of this: Jesus was the only one who knew His true objective in going to Jerusalem. Everyone had their own purposes, agendas, objectives they wanted Jesus to do.

It’s so easy to do isn’t it? We insert our objective and expect Jesus to do it.

· We want something from Jesus. but we don’t really want Jesus Himself.

· We want Jesus to make our lives easier, better, more comfortable, happier.

But no one knew His true objective: to go to the cross to die for the sins of the world. He had to go to the cross. He loved us so much He wanted to pay for our sins.

Look at this verse…

SLIDE: Luke 9:51 (NIV) As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutelyset out for Jerusalem.

That literally means “set His face” toward Jerusalem. He had an objective and NO ONE knew about it. Or expected it.

But Jesus knew His objectiveand He knew it would be extremely difficult.

Sometimes we are going to go through something extremely difficult that God can bring good out of.

IL: Young boy found a chrysalis on a branch—between caterpillar and a butterfly. He saw that the butterfly was struggling to break through so he felt sorry for it and took out his pocketknife to help the butterfly avoid the struggle. He cut open the chrysalis, pulled out the butterfly, and held it in his hand, expecting it to fly away. But it didn’t move and w/in minutes, it was dead. When the challenge to emerge from chrysalis was removed, the butterfly’s opportunity to strengthen its wings was denied. W/ weak, wet wings, the butterfly was unable to survive. It needed to struggle to overcome the challenges.

I think God in His sovereignty knows that we need that sometimes.

I’m not suggesting God causes our hardship, necessarily, but God can use our hardships to bring us closer to Him.

So the O (of FOCUS) is the objective in our hardships, and from God’s perspective, it may not just be to make us happy or to give us what we want, it may be to use the hardships to prepare us for something in the future. So we focus on God’s objective for us, not our own.

How are we going to make it through hardships? FOCUS.

F=Friend

O=Objective

SLIDE: Monday: Christ

Jesus and the Father are One, so the idea is that we focus on God. Jesus focused on His Father. He did something very peculiar. Shocking actually.

Jesus shocked people at the temple.

Matthew 21:12-13 (NIV) Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'"

Jesus was upset because He saw businesses set up in the temple, people making moneywhen they should be worshiping. So He turned over tables, kicked people out.

Worship at the temple was going wrong. Jesus was passionate about straightening it out before He went to the cross. After His death, His followers had to take His message to the world. Jesus was elevating worship. Keep your worship genuine! Pure. Keep your focus on God. Christ.

We want to keep our focus on Christ, not side issues. It’s so easy for our worship to go horizontal (US), instead of vertical.

True worship isn’t about us. Our preferences. That’s why worship is called in Rom. 12:1 a sacrifice! Sometimes we may need to sacrifice our preferences to keep our focus VERTICAL: lighting, volume, how I dress (wear a suit; to dressy). On the same Sunday years ago I had one person tell me my sermon was the greatest sermon he ever heard…another person say more boring than a seminary lecture.

We may not be starting businesses in the temple, but we have the same temptation, to focus on ourselves rather than Jesus.

Worship isn’t primarily about our preferences, it’s VERTICAL. God is the audience of our worship, not us. Our focus is on Christ, not ourselves. Who He is. What He has done. His great love for. His sacrifice. Enjoying His presence.

I hope you SMILE when you think of Jesus as we worship. Imagine Jesus smiling at you; not us entertaining you. It helps put everything else into perspective.

When you go through hardships you’re going to FOCUS.

F=friend (Sat)

O=objective (Sun)

C=Christ (Mon)

SLIDE: Tuesday: Useful Teaching

Jesus spent this day teaching some hard, but important things:

(Matthew 21:23-23:39; Luke 21:1-3)

· The source of His authority

o He wanted them to know that He came from the Father

· Paying taxes to Caesar

o How could we support a corrupt gov’t like the Romans? Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

· Will there be marriage in heaven?

o He answered people’s questions…heaven is so much greater…

· The widow’s offering

o It’s not about equal amounts, it’s about equal sacrifice. This poor widow has given far more than any of you. She has sacrificed. It’s like He’s looking at them asking “How many of you have truly sacrificed anything?”

· 7 woes to the Pharisees

o Let’s just say Jesus is not a fan of those who puff up themselves. He was constantly confronting the Pharisees.

That’s not all of them. Why would He pick these? We don’t know for sure. But we do know that Jesus spent the day on Tuesday teaching on useful things that would prepare the disciples for life after He was gone.

Here’s a thought:

· What message do you want to leave in the midst of your hardship?

Imagine the impact of communicating a God given message in the midst of your hardship! Any idea what that might be? The messaging we give to others could send them down a path of discovery toward God. They could look at your life and think:

· How could you NOT be angry at God? Blame God?

· Why do you have a peace? HOW?

· What’s your secret? How do you do it?

I’m not saying fake it. But the more we come to experience the real Jesus in our lives, He truly does give us a peace in our hardships. We have a greater hope, even a joy if we leave this earth. We have promises from God to cling to, to trust in, to have hope for.

Next Sunday on Easter we’ll be launching our new series, Life After Death.

So many people need the hope of knowing that there is LAD.

God is likely to give you a message to share in the midst of the hardship your going through.

It’s likely to point people back to the basics:

· I know how much God really loves me

· I’m still going to trust Him.

· I have promises of a new life in Christ.

· I have the promise of eternal life with Christ in heaven.

So whatever I face on this earth, I have something much greater waiting for me.

On that Tuesday of the last week of Jesus, He spent the day communicating a message. How about your message?

We’re going to focus on 5 things during hardships:

Friend

Objective

Christ

Useful Teaching (messaging)

SLIDE: Wednesday: Solitude

The Bible does not specifically say much about Wednesday but most scholars believe that Jesus rested on Wednesday of Passion Week. He used this day as a time to FOCUS and prepare for His death, in solitude, with his Father.

Sometimes we get so focused on DOING things, we forget what is most important: BEING. it’s about being in a relationship with God, not getting a bunch of things done.

The plot was thickening, anguish was growing in Jesus, He needed a day to rest and find the strength He needed to complete His objective or mission. We need to learn from Jesus that we cannot live out our mission in a healthy way without regular times of rest and solitude.

Just like we want to build our physical stamina, we want to build our spiritual stamina.

IL: Walmart

In order to be in good spiritual shape, we need to have regular times of solitude.

· Time alone to enjoy with the God who loves you so much.

· To enjoy his presence. To experience His love.

When’s the last time you had some real alone time with Jesus? With no distractions. No phones, no interruptions, no distractions.

Here’s one way I learned years ago:

SLIDE:

1. Divert Daily=Take a few minutes each day. You can’t afford NOT to.

2. Withdraw Weekly=Take a Sabbath…not chores, rest spiritually, physically.

3. Maintain Monthly=Take ½ day…you, Bible, notebook.

4. Abandon Annually=Take a weekend retreat of renewal.

If solitude was important for Jesus to complete His mission, then certainly it is important for you and I to complete our mission.

At our Good Friday service, this Friday, we’re going to pick up with what happened Thursday night as we share in communion together, and then talk more about the final steps as we walk with Christ to the cross. I hope you can join us.

So what hardship are you facing right now in your life?

SLIDE: My current hardship is _______

Friend

Objective

Christ

Useful Teaching

Solitude

Related Media

Related Sermons