Fellowship with Christ

Our Theme for 2025 is “Live Like Jesus”

It comes out of a simple desire to follow Jesus - and to learn better what that means.

We are spending the entire year in the Gospel of Matthew.

We began with the beatitudes - you can find that series on our website or on YouTube.

Now we jump to the last chapters of Matthew’s gospel.

Two weeks ago began the season of Lent - it is 40 days leading up to Passover and Resurrection Sunday.

It is a time of self examination and of repentance.

So during this time we follow Jesus through the events leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection.

It is a season normally referred to as “passion.”

We think of passion as a strong feeling or emotion.

But it comes from the Latin root meaning “suffering.”

This season of passion is a time to allow ourselves to experience what Jesus experienced as he fully entered into the human experience.

We want to fully enter into His passion - His experience.

Philippians 3:10–11 NLT

10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

In Matthew 25, I talked about the parable of the faithful servant.

We want to be that faithful servant that God can trust to multiply what he gives us.

We want to be the bridesmaids who keep up our supply of oil - a symbol of Gods presence - while we wait for his return.

Pastor Darryl spoke last week about having a vision of God which is also having a relationship with God.

We want to have fellowship with God through Christ.

Think about the early Christians who shared everything in common—meals, prayers, and lives. They didn’t just meet on Sundays; they were daily in each other’s lives, rejoicing and perhaps occasionally also bickering.

In Matthew 18:20, Jesus says, 'For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.' This paints a light-hearted picture of Christ crashing our parties! Whenever we come together in His name—whether serious or silly—He joyfully joins us, as we do life together.

This creates a beautiful picture of fellowship with Christ, where, through each joyful moment and disagreement, we grow closer to Him and each other, like one big, imperfect but happy family!

These chapters leading up to Christ’s death and resurrection are full of contrasts.

There are some brilliant and powerful moments.

At the same time there are some shocking and gut-wrenchingly hard moments.

The disciples go through the ups and downs right along with Jesus.

And Matthew records these moments as if they happened simultaneously or back to back in such rapid succession

as if you couldn’t really tell if you were up or down at any given moment in time.

Today’s text highlights some of these stark contrasts.

The contrast of human nature between selfishness and surrender.

The contrast of relationship between loyalty and betrayal.

The contrast of our response to God from denying self as Jesus did to denying Christ as some of his disciples did.

Following Christ in his passion means observing and often feeling the contrasting experiences and the contradictions, sometimes occuring at the same time in our own minds and hearts.

And in the middle of this - we are going to celebrate communion.

Placing ourselves in the story.

And fellowshipping with Christ.

Selfishness and surrender.

Matthew 26:1–5 ESV

1 When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” 3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. 5 But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

Here we see Jesus’ interaction with His disciples contrasted to the words and actions of the Jewish leaders, even the High Priest.

Jesus is trying to warn His disciples about His upcoming crucifixion.

Of course they didn’t understand what he was saying until afterward.

Matthew notes that Jesus says His crucifixion is coming because Passover is coming.

If you sign up for and attend our Passover meal you will hear how Jesus is the Passover lamb, the one that was slain for our redemption out of slavery. Jesus alluded to the comparison before it even happened.

Right now the Bible Project Podcast is going through the Old Testament and highlighting all of the Exodus themed material through the whole scripture.

It’s all throughout the Bible - the Exodus story is retold over and over again.

It’s all a foreshadowing of the story of Jesus and the redemption that He would lead us in.

How does the story remain hidden?

It is because everyone has their eyes on Israel’s leaders.

The High Priest is supposed to be the one who is leading the people.

Historically, the High Priest was the one who led revolutions and who negotiated to keep the Jews from being assimilated into other nations.

What is the High Priest doing in this account?

He is trying to arrest Jesus.

Why? Because Jesus is stirring things up.

He is attracting too much attention.

He is a threat to their positions of power.

And He may even present a threat to their Roman governors.

Jesus is facing the greatest conflict of his life head-on.

And the supposed leaders of the people are running from conflict.

“Let’s get rid of this guy - but do it quietly - don’t attract attention.

Let’s keep pretending that everything is OK.”

Selfishness is keeping up appearances.

The Jewish leaders were all about keeping up appearances.

You have power as long as everyone thinks you do.

You are in control as long as everyone assumes that you are.

You have a perfect reputation as long as no one knows anything different.

Against this backdrop, what happens next is scandalous!

Matthew 26:6–9 ESV

6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”

A woman comes to the banquet where Jesus is dining and anoints Jesus with expensive perfume.

What is wrong with this picture?

Lets begin with a woman crashing a party that is “men only.”

Luke tells us more about this woman and what she did.

Luke 7:37–38 ESV

37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

OK, this wasn’t just any woman - she was one of THOSE women.

And she’s not just pouring oil on him - she getting pretty personal about it.

She doesn’t seem to care what anyone else is thinking.

And oddly enough, nether does Jesus.

Jesus is dining at the house of a Pharisee - who apparently doesn’t want to embarrass his guest by calling him out in front of everyone.

So they raise another issue - you know - something that everyone is likely to agree on.

This perfume is expensive! And since no one here really care if you smell THAT good, why not sell it and use the money for charity.

After all, giving a big gift to charity will probably get you noticed more than being the best-smelling person in the room at a party.

This is wasteful! You could find a better way to spend this money.

They didn’t get it.

The extravagance was intentional.

The humiliation was purposeful.

The demonstration was meaningful.

It was an act of worship.

Worship is a selfless act of surrender.

Matthew 26:10–13 ESV

10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

This is not wasteful - it’s beautiful!

If you really want to make something beautiful - you don’t do it on the cheap.

This is not just a party in the house of a Pharisee - this is the prologue of a story unfolding to which the greatest story of all time - the Exodus out of Egypt - is a mere foreshadowing.

Jesus is about to lead the greatest exodus of mankind for all of history.

What this woman is doing is just the opening act - and it’s a beautiful act of worship!

What she is doing is prophetic - she may not even know how big this prophetic act is.

But soon the world will know - and her story will be told - well, even today!

Worship is recognizing that there is someone who is so much greater than ourselves and giving Him the glory that is due Him.

This is not about me or you.

Our stories - as interesting as they may be - are just a piece of a much greater story.

And that story is playing out through us and through our lives.

When you realize this - you wan to make sure you are on the right side of history.

One of Jesus’ disciple was definitely not...

Loyalty and betrayal.

Matthew 26:14–20 ESV

14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. 17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ” 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. 20 When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve.

So Jesus disciples are preparing to celebrate the Passover.

We are going to celebrate communion.

So while we are talking about preparing for the Passover, lets have the servers pass out the communion element so we can partake when we get to that point in the story.

While the other disciples are preparing for the celebration of the Exodus from Egypt - one of the Disciples -

Judas is setting the stage for what is about to happen.

Judas is looking for a moment… a big moment.

I don’t think that Judas was so much looking for a big moment for himself as he was trying to set Jesus up to have a big moment.

You know… force him to show what He can do.

Judas probably thought he was being loyal to Jesus.

You know, helping him out - overcome his shyness a bit.

But he was only being loyal to himself.

He thought he knew better than God.

Oh, where have we seen that before - Um, Eden maybe?

Judas had faith in Jesus, but he wasn’t following Jesus.

I mean He wasn’t letting Jesus lead him.

He was doing his own thing.

Faith is not what you say, it’s what you do.

Matthew 26:21–25 ESV

21 And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

Jesus tries to warn everyone, including Judas, as to what is happening.

Funny how nobody can see it.

“Surely not me Jesus! I would never betray you.”

That’s what we say - but what do we do?

Lets face it, sometimes we say all the right things, but when it comes down to it - we still do what we want - never even considering what He wants.

Communion

Now we come to communion.

Imagine you are sitting at the table with the other disciples.

Jesus seems pretty intense - like He is trying to tell us something important.

Let’s try to be open to what the Lord will say to us.

Matthew 26:26 ESV

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”

Jesus is saying that the bread of the Passover meal is his body.

What are they eating at the Passover.

The unleavened bread.

The bread that they urgently made because they are leaving Egypt.

The bread that is different from any other night.

The bread that symbolizes the exodus - freedom from slavery.

Let us partake of this bread while asking the Lord to reveal to us what it means.

Matthew 26:27–29 ESV

27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Jesus is saying that the Passover cup is his blood.

Is is the third of four cups taken during the Passover meal.

It is the cup of redemption.

It is salvation - the price which has been paid for our freedom and deliverance.

In the Passover story, the price paid for redemption was the blood of the Passover lamb which was applied to the doorposts.

It showed that blood had already been shed- death must pass over.

Jesus drank the cup of suffering and of God’s wrath so that we could drink the cup of redemption.

Let us partake of the cup asking the Lord to reveal to us what it means.

The beautiful thing about communion is that you can partake of these elements over and over again and God continues to reveal Himself to us through them.

We continue to give ourselves in worship of Him.

We not only recognize who Jesus is, but we become part of the story.

Real faith is doing what Jesus did.

Matthew 26:30–35 ESV

30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 33 Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.

Loyalty to Christ is not insisting that we have never sinned, it is recognizing that we have, but surrendering ourselves anew every time we discover it.

Judas wasn’t the only disciple that didn’t understand what Jesus was doing.

He wasn’t the only one who acted on his own inclination instead of obedience to Christ.

He was the only one who never repented and finally got it right.

Peter was adamant that he would never deny Jesus.

Well, we all know how that turned out.

Peter and Judas and their words and actions stand in contrast to those of Jesus.

Let’s face it - none of us can do what Jesus did unless we are doing it in His strength.

Denial of self vs. denying Christ.

Matthew 26:36–39 ESV

36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

So if you think, “surely I would never deny Jesus,” ask yourself, “but can I tarry with Jesus?”

In the 18th century, John Wesley and the early Methodists focused on the practice of 'tarrying for the Spirit.' They would spend hours in prayer, seeking a deeper encounter with God's presence. This commitment transformed their lives and their communities. Today, that same invitation to tarry with Jesus remains, calling us into deeper intimacy with Him. Reflecting on Wesley's example, we can ask ourselves how we can reclaim that time, pursuing a profound relationship with Christ that is life-changing.

Tarrying, is essentially identifying with Jesus.

Allowing ourselves to feel what he feels.

Allowing ourselves to wrestle through the tension of conflicting thoughts and emotions.

Allowing ourselves to work through the scenarios of what could happen until we finally come to the conclusion that nothing we can imagine is better than what God wants for us.

It is the complete and final surrender of your will to God.

Identifying with Jesus means denying yourself.

Matthew 26:40–43 ESV

40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

The disciples couldn’t do it.

They couldn’t hang with Jesus when it comes to this kind of sacrifice.

It’s no wonder they all fell asleep - it wears me out just thinking about it.

Jesus is wrestling with the idea of going to the cross and His disciples cant even fight sleep.

Do you think you could do it?

Do you have the kind of mastery over your own body to be able to stay awake when you are otherwise exhausted?

What if its not just sleep? What if its really a spiritual battle that is going on?

What if the heaviness in their eyelids is really a manifestation of a heaviness of spirit.

I have felt that at time with counselees. Like they are sharing something and I’m having a hard time paying attention because what I am feeling is even weightier than what they are saying. If I can force myself to keep my eyes open while talking to them. I surely feel like a nap when we are done.

And I’m sure whatever my clients have faced is nothing compared to what Jesus was facing in Gethsemane.

However, following Jesus does involve identifying with his suffering and sometimes also the suffering of others.

Luke 9:23 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

What Jesus did, he did for us because we could not do it.

So then, what Jesus calls us to do, we can only do in his strength.

In taking up our cross, we are taking up His cross.

We can only bear it because He bore it first.

We are not doing anything that He didn’t already do.

Don’t be like Judas or Peter, thinking you got this and that Jesus is going to follow your lead.

We don’t got this! - That’s the point!

He got this and He got you!

And that why you got this!

Following the world means denying Christ.

Matthew 26:44–46 ESV

44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

This lesson has been one of contrasts and it is a lesson for all of us.

The world will force you to take sides - you either deny yourself or you deny Jesus.

Following Jesus is going to go against everything that may seem normal or right to you.

You are going to feel the tension of contradictions in your own mind and heart.

Do I keep up the right appearances or do I worship with abandonment?

Do I play along with the power games that the world plays, or do I surrender all to Jesus?

Do I say all the the right things, but act only in my own interest?

Or do I lay my life down like Jesus did only to find a strength that doesn’t come from me?

Following Jesus may look easy, until you get to passion week.

Then it gets really confusing, because Jesus is going toward the cross.

And everything in you wants to go the other way.

Will you live like Jesus? - with passion.

Questions for reflection:

1. When you think about the fellowship of sharing in Christ’s sufferings, what does that mean to you? Where have you experienced the tension of conflicting thoughts, emotions and desires? How has Christ revealed Himself to you in those moments?

2. What does it mean to you to identify with Christ? What kind of “crosses” have you had to bear? What does it mean to do this in Christ’s strength? Where has following Christ taken you that you would not otherwise go?

3. Has your Christianity been primarily a matter of keeping up the right appearances or of doing what Jesus did? I’m not asking if you know the right answer. The question is about what have you actually done?