Jesus at the Crossroads

Announcements:

Jan 21st — Wed Nights

Jan 23rd — Ice Skating

Jan 25th — Baptisms

Introduction:

Continuing in The Gospel of Mark ch 14

Last week: The Last Supper

On his last night, Jesus gives his disciples a way to remember himself

A meal — The Bread and the Cup

And we talked about the symbolism and purpose behind communion

But today, the story moves forward

The peace and joy of a meal with friends will soon fade away

And by the end of our section today—Jesus will be betrayed, abandoned, and alone

Not only by Judas—But by all of his friends

And today we’re going to be talking about trusting in the Lord

In spite of his life falling apart around him, Jesus stays faithful — and keeps his eyes on God

When we find our lives falling apart, where do we run?

Outline

Where Jesus doesn’t place his trust

Where Jesus does place his trust

Scripture Reading:

Mark 14:26–52 CSB

26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 27 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away, because it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. 28 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 29 Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away, I will not.” 30 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to him, “today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But he kept insisting, “If I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing. 32 Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake.” 35 He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.” 37 Then he came and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake one hour? 38 Stay awake and pray so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 Once again he went away and prayed, saying the same thing. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, because they could not keep their eyes open. They did not know what to say to him. 41 Then he came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The time has come. See, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up; let’s go. See, my betrayer is near.” 43 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, suddenly arrived. With him was a mob, with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. 44 His betrayer had given them a signal. “The one I kiss,” he said, “he’s the one; arrest him and take him away under guard.” 45 So when he came, immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. 46 They took hold of him and arrested him. 47 One of those who stood by drew his sword, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his ear. 48 Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal, to capture me? 49 Every day I was among you, teaching in the temple, and you didn’t arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.” 50 Then they all deserted him and ran away. 51 Now a certain young man, wearing nothing but a linen cloth, was following him. They caught hold of him, 52 but he left the linen cloth behind and ran away naked.

The Garden of Gethsemane is often overlooked when we read or think about the passion account (Jesus’s final hours)

But here we find a vital moment in the last day of Jesus’s life

Jesus spends his last hours free (not under arrest or in a trial) — in prayer

He spends them wrestling with God

And He ends this time resolute in his mission and moves forward with confidence

Just listen to his words:

Mark 14:41–42 CSB

41 Then he came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The time has come. See, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up; let’s go. See, my betrayer is near.”

Mark 14:49 CSB

49 Every day I was among you, teaching in the temple, and you didn’t arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”

And although we won’t undergo the same level of sorrow and suffering that Jesus does in his last hours

We often find ourselves at moments of our lives that are a crossroads

How many of you have been at a crossroads before?

And I’m not talking about making a decision

What college I should go to, Who I should marry

A crossroads spiritually

Where you are faced with trials and hardships

Life seems to be beating you down

Your circumstances are not what you desire

Things seem to be falling apart

And at these moments there are two paths forward

We can walk through these sorrows—and let them harden our hearts

They can cause us to doubt God and lead us to disbelief and eventually to rejecting him

Or we can walk through these trials with a growing deep trust in God

Although we have no idea what is going on or why bad things seem to happen— we know and trust that God is in control, and that he deeply loves us

Our lives are filled with examples:

Losing a loved one

A break-up

A betrayal from a close friend

‘Your plan’ not working out

College rejection

Job rejection

Relationship rejection

Struggling with sin that just seems to define you

Every time we face a hardship, there is a crossroad presented before us: Will we trust God, or Trust our circumstances?

Personally, I have experienced most of these: heartbreaks, rejections, betrayal

Some have hardened my heart, others have softened it

But one of the more recent hardships was sickness: Share mono story

I rarely got sick

It never seemed to go away

I still deal with it today

Stress etc. — Thorn in my flesh

I am not as strong as I was

But I have to be more reliant on God

So really the question isn’t whether or not hardships and trials will come

It is a question of when trials and hardships will come

Because they will

And when we are at these crossroads, we’ll see that it’s not as simple as: just take the right road

Most of the time, trusting in God—despite hardship and difficulty is the hardest thing to do

Most of the time, it doesn’t come naturally

We have an inner disposition to give up, to doubt God, to blame God

And here in the garden we get a glimpse into Jesus’s own prayer life:

We get to see him wrestle in prayer

We get to see him trust God despite what the future holds

But before we look at the faithful example of Jesus, what was the alternative?

If Jesus didn’t trust in God—where would he be tempted to place his trust?

Where Jesus doesn’t place his trust:

Jesus doesn’t place His trust in his circumstances

Culturally speaking, we are all big babies

In the West, we have done an amazing job at making our lives as comfortable as possible

Food

Harvests/Famine

Grocery Stores/Door Dash

Sickness

People died young

We can intervene and save lives

But also: Headache? Take a pill

Natural Disasters

Devastating

They can still be devastating today—but we are mostly protected by safety advancements

Whatever it is, we have become a nice and comfortable people (which these advancements are not bad) but all of this has actually done something to us

We’ve lost our resilience

(Like an immune system of a sheltered person)

The moment our comfort is threatened we cry and throw fits

And the reason I mention this is because there is and has always been a great temptation to find our comfort and trust in our circumstances

If things are going well and good — I must be good

If things are going bad — I must be bad

Instead of seeing suffering as a real part of this world that comes for us all—We see it as in interruption to our lives, our plans, our dreams

And here we see, Jesus does not place his confidence in his circumstances

Knowing what is coming—his betrayal, his trials, his mocking, beating, humiliation, and crucifixion

He doesn’t run away

He doesn’t say: If that’s what’s down that path—then I’m out of here

But he is resolute in his mission

But secondly,

Jesus doesn’t place His trust in others

The power of friendship is so strong

Even when our lives and circumstances are falling apart—it can be just as easy to place our trust in other people

Life may suck—but at least I’m not alone

Do you know this sort of friendship?

And for a time—that is not bad at all—we need other people

But what can happen is we stop placing our faith in God—and we start to place our faith in people:

Our parents, Our friend, Our pastor

But what happens, is eventually they will let you down

I will let you down—I’ve let down students before

I am not perfect—and no matter how great someone is—they are not perfect

The danger in this is that if our trust is placed in people—when they let us down—we are absolutely destroyed

Example: Mars’ Hill Church

And in Jesus’s case:

He not only had to face his entire life circumstances going down the drain—he faced deep hurt in the betrayal of his closest friends

In his final hours of prayer—his disciples were sleeping

Three times he woke them up to spend time with him, to strengthen him—and they fell back asleep

And when the time came and as he was arrested:

Mark 14:50 CSB

50 Then they all deserted him and ran away.

Jesus was completely alone and deserted

So if Jesus didn’t place his trust in his circumstances or his friends… What did he place his trust in?

Up front: He trusted in the Character of God and the Word of God

But we have to see how he gets there

Jesus wrestles with God in prayer

At this crossroads—the harder path often requires this sort of wrestling

Narrow//Broad Path

Trusting in and wrestling with God

So let’s look at the word

It tells us that Jesus was deeply distressed, troubled, and grieved

This was serious—Luke’s Gospel — Blood

His disciples were falling asleep—and he prays three times

And Mark gives us insight into these prayers:

Mark 14:35–36 CSB

35 He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.”

The wrestling with God is a matter of trust

It is about surrender

Even if nothing is making sense… Do you still trust God?

And in prayer it is okay to ask for the things that you would want and like them to go… but ultimately they have to be surrendered to God

I trust him more than I trust myself and my desires

So this wrestling takes place over some time—at least three different times of prayer

Jesus is sweating blood—in distress and agony

But he prays—

He actually speaks these words out loud

He voices this all to God

And the result of this wrestling is a deep confidence and peace

This was the first battlefield of the Cross

Jesus was able to be at peace through hell and back because He knew God was in control

Isaiah 53:7 CSB

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth.

So the result of this wrestling is this deep trust, so:

Where Jesus does place his trust:

Jesus places his trust in God’s Character

Here banks on two things about God:

He is his father

Nothing is impossible for God

He knows that God loves him best, with a fatherly love and compassion

And that all things are possible for God

And holding these two truths at the same time can be extremely difficult, especially when facing trials

We typically hold one and throw out the other

God loves us, but he can’t really change whats happening

God can intervene and do all things—but he doesn’t because he doesn’t truly love us

Have you ever been here?

When you feel the pressure to throw out God’s character because things get difficult

For me it’s typically the lie that God doesn’t care

He can do it but doesn’t want to

But Jesus knows who his father is

How do we even know God’s character?

Jesus places his trust in God’s Word

Throughout this night, Jesus has grounded himself in what has already been said through the Scriptures

Mark 14:27 CSB

27 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away, because it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

Mark 14:41–42 CSB

41 Then he came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The time has come. See, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up; let’s go. See, my betrayer is near.”

Mark 14:48–49 CSB

48 Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal, to capture me? 49 Every day I was among you, teaching in the temple, and you didn’t arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”

Even though His circumstances had turned downhill, Jesus knew that this would happen

His trust wasn’t in his circumstances but in God’s word

I think similarly for us… If we know God’s word… we should know that life won’t be easy for us:

How many of you have heard of memorizing the promises of God?

It is a powerful thing to do

But I have a promise from God that usually isn’t in one of the promise books that is essential to the Christian life:

John 16:33 CSB

33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Memorize this

1 Peter 4:1 CSB

1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same understanding—

1 Peter 4:12 CSB

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you.

If we place our confidence not in our circumstances, but in God’s word—we won’t be confused when things go wrong in our life

It is expected

And it won’t cause us to doubt God

We know He is in control

So we see that in his final hours, Jesus spends his time in prayer

Reorienting himself to God and his will

He has a deep confidence and finds his trust not in his circumstances or his friends—but in Who God is and What he has spoken

Conclusion

So as we end today, I want you to ask: Are you at a crossroads?

And again, not just a decision that has to be made

But are you at a crossroads in trusting God?

Is there a hardship in your life that seems impossible?

Is there a struggle that makes you want to give up?

Is there any suffering that makes you doubt if God really is who he says he is?

Any: If X would just change, everything would be okay.

Because maybe X won’t change—maybe like Jesus our circumstances won’t change at all

You might look at Jesus’s prayer in the Garden and think it was pointless or a failure

He asked for changed circumstances—but they stayed exactly the same

Did God hear his prayer?

Hebrews 5:7 CSB

During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

But this wasn’t a failed prayer time—Prayer might not have changed his circumstances—but it changed his heart—it oriented Jesus’s heart to the truth

Jesus knows what it’s like to have a prayer answered: No

And for us: maybe you have been praying for something for a long time—maybe the circumstance will change—maybe it will not

But are we willing to surrender the outcome to God?

So as we close we are going to partake in communion

As we talked about last week, this meal sustains us on this journey

This crossroad we find ourselves at—the hard road of trusting in the Lord isn’t one we can do on our own

We are reminded that we need to be sustained by God

And as we fail and make mistakes along the way—we need the forgiveness of God

So as we take this time I encourage you all to pray

Is there a circumstance that needs to be surrendered?

Is there trust and confidence placed in the wrong places?

How can I give this all to God?

And I just want to remind you that there are many off-ramps

405-S to San Diego

So come to Jesus

Discussion: