Dealing With "No."

We seem to have hit a stall as we are making our way the study of various Biblical Doctrines, for the last 3 weeks we have studied ‘prayer.’ Tonight we are going to complete the study of prayer.

I pray that when I preach it is not just knowledge or history but it is power from God that applies to our lives from the moment we walk out of this building.

With that in mind, I am constantly reminded that: People are hurting.

I look out here tonight and there are so many difficult situations that many of you have taken the time to share with me, and to share with our church family, and no doubt there are multitudes of others that have never been mentioned.

How do we deal with the negativity and the evil in the world?

· How do we deal with it when we are diagnosed with a serious illness that has no cure?

· How do we deal with it when a loved one calls and says that they have cancer and have 6 months?

· How do we deal with an accident that places a loved one in the hospital?

· How do we deal with a Hurricane that we see coming bringing disaster?

· How do we deal with death?

As Christians how do we come to reconcile the fact that we serve a God who is ‘all powerful’, ‘all loving’, and yet there are terrible things that happen in our world?

It’s a question that has been asked all throughout history, the question of “Theodicy.”

“If God is all powerful and if God is all loving then why does He allow this to happen in my life?” the assumption is that the Deity “Could” if the Deity “Would.” Simply eliminate suffering.

Atheists will spout this off as a reason they don’t believe in God:

If God is unable to prevent evil, he is not omnipotent If God is not willing to prevent evil, he is not good If God is willing and able to prevent evil, then why is there evil?

With the question put in this way there is no satisfactory way of addressing it.

Most likely everyone here has asked this question at one point in their life?

There have been various attempts to answer the question:

· Augustine—the problem of evil must be seen against the background of the goal of every Christian, which is ‘the attainment of blessedness.’

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

· Free will defense- evil and suffering exist because of the misuse of creaturely freedom. God willed that we be creatures who would serve God out of choice, but as such we can also use our freedom to reject God’s authority. God could not create us free beings who would always use our freedom for good.

At the risk of creating humans morally free there was the possibility that they would fall, and this is where evil began. We are responsible for the evil and its consequences, God is blameless.

· Douglas Hall-“Suffering is intrinsic to our existence” Adam was created alone so that he could discover in the midst of the goodness of creation that it is not good to be alone. Without the capacity for this recognition, how could we ever learn the joy of human fellowship? Without suffering we would never truly understand love. Without pain we would never truly understand compassion

Our suffering also derives from out necessary experience of limits. We are not big enough or strong enough or wise enough or old enough or young enough, agile enough or versatile enough. But without limits we would not know the meaning of creature.

You can look at philosophical approaches all day if you would like but the truth is while they may offer insights, for most they do not answer the question and they certainly do not take away the pain.

· Hauerwas- comes to the conclusion that There is no point to suffering and to go around with pious answers of suffering defeats the purpose.

Tim and Penny lost their son to Leukemia, they had worked through all the false reasons others had offered to explain why Jeremy was suffering- so they could grow spiritually; so that God could be glorified; so that their values would be made more Christ-like; so that love and community would be fostered among believers; so that they would know how to help others who suffer- all of which make God the ultimate sadist.“When Tim and I realized that God wasn’t pulling strings to allow suffering in the life of Jeremy, specifically, we were freed to really love God. Suffering is a result of the world we live in, God isn’t doing it

As these questions come up, we realize that in many aspects the church is in denial.

We sweep things under the rug and pretend they are not going on.

We talk a great deal about the power of faith.

We talk a great deal about the power of prayer.

Yet, the truth of the matter is that sometimes God doesn’t answer our prayers the way that we wish that he would.

Illustration: Hospital rooms, Prayer services

The Bible is full (around 65) of psalms that are songs of lament, protest, and complaint about the incoherence that is experienced in the world.

At least it is clear that a church that goes on singing “happy songs” in the face of raw reality is doing something very different from what the Bible itself does.

We have thought that acknowledgment of negativity was somehow an act of unfaith. As though the very speech about it conceded too much about God’s ‘loss of control.”

We might think that these “Psalms of lament” may be judged by the world to be acts of unfaith and failure, but for the trusting community their use is an act of bold faith albeit a transformed faith.

It is an act of bold faith on the one hand, because it insists that the world must be experienced as it really is and not in some pretended way.

On the other hand, it is bold because it insists that all experiences of disorder are a proper subject for discourse with God.

There is nothing out of bounds, nothing precluded or inappropriate.

Everything properly belongs in this conversation of the heart.

To withhold parts of life from the conversation is in fact to withhold part of life from the sovereignty of God.

Thus these psalms make the important connection: everything must be brought to speech and everything brought to speech must be addressed to God, who is the final reference for all of life.”

Times happen in life when we feel as though we have no idea who God is.

We have all gone through times in our lives when we pray for something that is so important to us, yet it seems as though our prayers do not get past the ceiling.

· Health of a loved one

· Something we long for with all of our hearts

· Something we feel that we need so bad

We pray and we try to live our lives to bring honor to God, but when the answer is either “no”, or “not now” it can be a very frustrating time.

We Have spent the last two weeks looking at the pattern of Prayer by Jesus, now I want to give you an example of Prayer by Jesus:

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." 41He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. "Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

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1. DESPERATE TIMES WILL COME

You may be here tonight and you may be on top of the world everything is going great; desperate times will come.

You may be here tonight and your entire world is crashing down all around you, you’re angry, you don’t understand, and you don’t know where to go from here; desperate times have come

No matter who you are tonight, desperate times will come.

It’s not limited to:

· The poor; The rich; The whites; The blacks; The car you drive; The house you live in

Each one of us will find a time when we are desperate.

Despite the fact that you may be doing everything right, desperate times will come.

Understand this: The fact that these desperate times come does not indicate that you brought them upon yourself.

Every act of suffering is not an indication of punishment!

In the case of Jesus- he did nothing wrong!

Illustration: What have I done, Why me, Why do I deserve this?

· Why are my parents divorced?

· Why do I have this sickness?

· Why won’t this happen?

· Why can’t I get this job?

“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. “

Jews generally believed in a direct cause and effect relationship between suffering and sin.

Jesus acknowledges the possibility that suffering may be the direct result of sin () but he denies that is always the case.

Prosperity Gospel Preaching! “Love Jesus and you’ll be healthy and wealthy”

Paul in is a wonderful example of this being false.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one

Paul says, in the eyes of the world I have done everything right, I am a religious, I am from a good family. But let me tell you a little about my fairytale life:

Imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

There’s no doubt Paul’s life was more difficult after he came to know Christ. Paul proclaims, I have gone through some difficult stuff in my life!

But Paul continues serving Jesus, listen this life is not going to be easy; it’s not supposed to be easy.

Paul says all that matters is that “I may gain Christ and be found in him.”

But you cannot believe that everything bad that happens in your life is a punishment from God.

Jesus is desperate: He is coming to a time that he is extremely nervous about.

Jesus knows what the future holds as he kneels to pray to the Father.

A Perfect, Holy, Jesus is taking on the sins that you and I have committed. Because, of this Jesus is going to be separated from the Father which he Loves so very much.

Jesus has reached a time of desperation.

For far too long the church has put on a mask and believed that to be a child of God means that we have no problems… this is not true!

Difficult times will happen in life.

Sure there are times that we mess up and we are punished, but oh isn’t is terrible for people to be walking through this life and thinking that they have done something to bring on health issues, or loss of a loved one etc.

2. KNOW WHERE TO GO

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives,”

I love the fact that it says “as usual” this wasn’t a new thing for Jesus to do.

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

“And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away. And after bidding them farewell, he departed to the mountain to pray.”

“And when day came, He departed to a lonely place; and the multitudes were searching for Him, and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from going away from them.”

“But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

“And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.”

Jesus made it a habit of his life to go out to the Mt. of Olives and spend time with his Father.

Jesus knew exactly where to go when he was in a time of desperation; he knew that he would find peace with the Father,

· When I want a steak- I go to outback

· When I want my taxes done- I go to the accountant-

· When I need some ice crème I find some bluebell-

· When I have a problem- I go to the Lord

When you face difficult times you must know where you can go… not Dr. Phil, not Oprah but God has the peace that passes all understandings.

Quit going to FACEBOOK!

No matter what your desperate time brings the answer is to take it to the father.

Doesn’t it give you peace to know that we can take our problems to God?

3. HONESTY

The first is element of Jesus’ prayer was His honesty.

When Jesus prayed in the Garden He was brutally honest.

There were no religious platitudes, no sugar coating what He knew was about to occur.

Jesus prayed: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me..."

Matthew gives a little more detail into the prayer:

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

He knew what was about to happen; He knew what had to be done

But He still prayed three separate times essentially saying: “Lord is there any other way that your will can be accomplished?”

There are people who believe that somehow they’ll offend God by being too honest with Him, by telling Him their fears and their disappointments.

They’re afraid to be open with God about their questions and fears. I mean, life has already turned against them. The last thing they need is for God to turn His back on them.

‘A lot of Christians will say, ’Don’t ask why.’ I am not in that camp. I am strong in asking why.

Jesus asked why. King David asked why. The psalmists asked why. The Bible is full of people who had questions.’”

Honesty in prayer is like a release valve.

“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me. Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked?

Therapists understand the need for this, so they’ll often spend time in sessions with troubled patients trying to get them to be honest about their feelings and emotions.

"’Why?’ is a statement of faith not an expression of doubt.

It presupposes that God exists and that He loves us and is in control of our destiny.

Jesus’ prayer was a prayer that “PRESSED INTO” the Father.

Jesus would not have been as concerned with the physical pain of his death as with the spiritual desolation of bearing our sin and its judgment on the cross (; ).

Take this cup from me Drinking a cup was a common metaphor for experiencing a traumatic event.

37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

In the Old Testament it is often associated with the outpouring of God’s judgment.

On the cross Jesus will receive God’s judgment against humanity’s sin.

His prayer had power to give Him strength because it hinged on accepting the Father’s Will.

The prayer that can transform our times of weakness into times of strength are the ones that are less concerned with moving God to our will…as they are in moving us toward God.

ILLUS: Billy Graham once wrote: “I watched the deck hands on the great liner United States as they docked that ship in New York Harbor. First they threw out a rope to the men on the dock Then, inside the boat the great motors went to work and pulled on the great cable. But, oddly enough, the pier wasn’t pulled out to the ship; but the ship was pulled snugly up to the pier. Prayer is the rope that pulls God and us together. But it doesn’t pull God down to us; it pulls us to God. We must learn to say with Christ, the master of the art of praying: ‘Not my will; but Thine be done.’”

4. THE HARDEST THING TO PRAY

““Yet not my will, but yours be done.””

“Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Jesus goes to the Father, and he begins to pour his heart out to his father, Lord please allow this cup to pass from me… Father is there any other way, I know that this was the plan but is there any other way; nevertheless not my will, but yours be done.

This is so hard to pray because we think that we know best.

We think that we have it all together. And often we do not understand why things have happened the way they have.

Honestly some of things going on all around us make little to no sense.

Illustration: Car driving FAST! Loving Father

Praying for the will of God, shows faith in the highest.

It goes to God and it says God this is what I want and this is what I desire, but I trust you more.

It may be that your current job doesn’t work out because God has something so much better.

It could be there were dating relationships that you had in High School, but now you are so grateful that they didn’t work out.

God knows better than you know!

'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

How do we get to the point that we say ‘Your will; and not mine?’ The way we do this is to stay Kingdom Focused.

5. IN THE MIDST OF A “NO”

“An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.”

We know that the answer to the prayer of Jesus was ‘no’ but that wasn’t all, the Bible tells us that an angel was sent to Jesus and strengthened him.

Sometimes in life things are going to happen that seem so terrible that we don’t know what to do, but I believe that this scripture shows us that even when our prayers are not answered the way we wish they were, God is still right there with us and comforts us.

Have you ever felt the comfort of God, at a time when there should be no comfort?

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Even in the lowest times of our lives God does not leave us.

Illustration: You can’t explain it, but you know it

Angels appear as servants for aid and encouragement in both the Old Testament and Judaism.

We see the same idea after the temptation of Jesus; He was hungry and he was battling the enemy… Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

The Stoning of Stephen shows an incredible example of the Grace of God in the midst of difficulty: …

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

6. THE PAIN REMAINS

“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Luke does not say that Jesus sweated blood, but that his sweat was like (hōsei) drops of blood—that is, it fell profusely.

Some believe that the sweat was just so much, others believe the reference is to sweating actual blood.

Hematidrosis is a very rare condition in which a human being sweats blood.

. The clinical term is hematohidrosis. "Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form. Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands. As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat."

Just because God doesn’t leave us, this doesn’t mean that the pain will go away.

Some of you in here you have been through some tragedies in your life, and you say the pain is still here!

I’m not sure the pain will ever leave, I’m not sure the pain will go away, but that pain is a reminder of the blessed hope that we look toward in Heaven!

Paul: Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

7. STAY CLOSE

“He prayed more earnestly”

Earnestly-intently, seriously, sincerely

When you are going through the hardest times in your life you can do one of two things, you can either draw nearer to God, or you can run the opposite direction.

“Where was it that Jesus’ sweat was like great drops of blood?

· It wasn’t in Pilate’s hall.

· And it wasn’t on his way to Golgotha.

It was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

There He7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. ().

If we had witnessed His struggle that night, we might have said, "If He is so broken up when all He is doing is praying, what will He do when He faces real crisis?

Why can’t He approach this ordeal with the calmness and confidence of His 3 sleeping friends?"

And yet when the time for the test finally came, Jesus walked to the cross with the courage, and His 3 friends fell apart and ran away.”

What made the difference? It was that time of prayer.

It was that time of prayer that gave Jesus His strength

It was that time of prayer that gave Jesus His courage…

It was that time of prayer that gave Jesus His power to face the pain, the humiliation and the horrors of the cross.

That’s the kind of prayer that we need to learn how to pray. It’s a type of prayer that can give us ability to face the hard tests of life.

Friends…

"Why are you sleeping?"

Jesus is suffering… yet his friends are napping!

I have noticed that one of the most beneficial things in time of difficulty is ‘loved ones.’

Those moments when, “You don’t know what to say, You don’t know how to respond.” The important thing is that you are there!

As a church I wonder if we are ‘sleeping?’