Jesus' Prayer (Luke 22:39-46)

1. Intro

1) 도입

- EX: 네비게이션과 기름

- A few years ago, my family went traveling in Coralado. It was a great time.

- Before leaving there, I had to download a map there in advance because internet is not working in many places in Colorado.

- If we don’t know the way, we cannot travel in a new place. So nevigation is a must-have item in a trip.

- By the way, there is one more must-have thing to get to a destination. Can you guess? Gas!

- Although we have a map so we know the way, if we don’t put gasoline, our car cannot move.

- Last Sunday, I shared about the Word of God. If the Word of God is a nevigation of our Christian life, prayer is like gasoline. <PPT>

- If we can learn how to live according to the will of God through the Word, we can gain the power to live out the word through prayer.

- Both are important. These are like two wings of a bird! They should be in balance. And Both are important.

- Even though we realize through the bible that we have to love others, if we don’t pray, there is no power to live out the word.

2. Introduction to the Text

- In today’s text, we can see Jesus praying to God.

- Can you guess in what situation Jesus was now? Now Jesus is on the verge of being captured by Roman soldiers and of dying on the cross.

- Originally Jesus knew that he came to this world to die on the cross for us. Being captured and dying on the cross was the most important matter for Jesus and most important in the whole history.

- So, Jesus came to pray in order to prepare for the most important moment. By the way, he did not come alone but brought his disciples. Why?

- To show them an example of prayer!

- EX: Special prayer week

- I brought my two girls to the church. The first reason why we brought them was for both me and my wife to participate in the prayer meeting together.

- Another reason was that I just wanted to show them this, the appearance of going to pray in the morning.

- Of course, they almost slept during the service. One time, my older girl was sleeping on my knee while guest speaker was preaching. She suddenly began to talk in her sleep, laughing loudly.

- Nevertheless, I brought them in that early morning just to show this prayer time. I believe that later they will recall this and pray to God as I and my wife went to church to pray.

- Now, Jesus is also teaching us prayer through his prayer in the most important moment!

- We have to follow his example.

~ There are four things we have to learn from Jesus’ prayer.

3. Jesus’s Prayer we have to learn

1) Make prayer a habit as Jesus did!

<< Luke 22:39 “as was his custom”

- Praying was Jesus’ daily custom.

- In the Bible, there are many passages that show how much Jesus loved to pray to God.

- Jesus prayed every morning. Especially, he enjoyed praying in a quiet place to focus on prayer. Sometimes, he prayed all night before doing important matters like appointing twelve apostles and like the matter in today’s text.

- Some people may have a question, “why does the Son of God need to pray?” Yes. Right! Jesus was the Son of God.

- But the primary goal of Jesus praying was to have a fellowship with God. Because Jesus loved God so much, he could not help praying.

- This is why prayer was his habit.

!! As Jesus prayed as was his custom, we have to make prayer our habit.

- To make prayer a habit, we should be aware of God’s grace for us and love God as Jesus did.

- If we love someone, we would want to talk with him or her as often as possible. Likewise, if you come to love God, you can make prayer a habit.

~ This is the first thing we have to learn from Jesus about prayer.

2) Pray, leaving everything to God!

- According to today’s text, after arriving at the place of prayer, Jesus let his disciples pray, and he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw. There, he begins to pray.

- By the way, how is he praying?

<< Luke 22:41 “and knelt down and prayed,”

- Kneeling down means surrender and submission. That is, Jesus prays to God, leaving everything to God, including his thoughts and will.

<< Luke 22:42 “not my will, but yours, be done”

- Jesus is laying down his will and was thoroughly trusting in God’s will.

!! We should also pray like this, leaving everying to God.

- Actually, it is not easy to pray like this. “Not my will, but your will, be done.”

- Of course, we can pray to God with our will. The Bible clearly says that God promised to listen to our prayer whatever we pray. Jesus said, “Ask! Then you will gain!” And He also said that we can and should ask for our needs.

- But this kind of prayer, the prayer of leaving everything to God, is more mature prayer. When we perfectly trust in God, we can pray like this.

- If you admit that God’s thoughts are wiser than your thoughts, and that God’s will is better and more beneficial than your will, you can pray like this, leaving everything to God.

3) Pray earnestly!

<< Luke 22:44 “Being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground”

- To this point, Jesus prayed earnestly.

- We do not always pray earnestly. It’s weird if we always pray like this.

- Imagine this. When praying before eating meals in school, “God, help me eat this meal well without any difficulty! I cannot digest this without your grace. Let me glorify you by eating this. I eagerly long for these worldly people to see my eating and to glorify you.” How ridiculous!

- By the way, before important matters like final term or presentation in school, we will pray earnestly.

- Especially, the matter Jesus was about to do was the most important matter in the world, the saving work for the whole world.

- It is a kind of matter of the kingdom of God.

>> We should pray earnestly like Jesus especially for the kingdom of God.

>> We should pray earnestly for our spiritual growth and maturity. For others’ salvation. For our church, Youth, Young Adult. For our worship! For one another!

- I remember how earnestly you prayed in the last Summer retreat. It was touching to me. I’m sure God was pleased with that earnest prayers you prayed.

- Show your eagerness to God! God will be moved and respond to your prayer.

4) Pray that you may not fall into temptation!

- As Jesus finished his prayer, he rose up and came back to his disciples.

- According the text, they were sleeping.

<< Luke 22:45-46

- Jesus says, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

- Think about the situation! Jesus prayed very earnestly to the point that sweat was like drops of blood to the ground. He was preparing for His death for his disciples.

- However, his disciples were sleeping.

!! This text shows us how weak humans are.

- Because humans are weak, they often stumble.

- That’s why Jesus is teaching his disciples and us here to pray not to fall into temptation.

- We are not perfect. We are weak. And there is Satan who hangs around us to tempt us to sin.

- Without prayer, we cannot overcome Satan’s temptation and our weakness.

>> Therefore, We have to pray not to fall into temptation every day.

4. Behind Story

- Right after this prayer, Jesus was captured by Roman soldiers and Jewish religious leaders.

- He was tortured and hung on the cross and died there. Jesus suffered from severe hardship, pain, humiliation, and curse on the cross.

- This was his mission. And he bore the mission to the end successfully.

- Through His sacrifce and obedience, we were saved. It was amazing grace.

- Our Savior Jesus prepared for this important matter with prayer and showed this to his disciples. Why? To teach prayers through the example!

>> So, we should learn from Jesus. The Son of God prayed. How much more should we pray?

5. 우리의 연약함 강조

- Especially, today’s text emphasizes disciples’ weakness, that is, our weakness, along with Jesus’ exemplary prayer. <PPT>

- The appearance of these disciples are our appearance, our reality.

- We should admit our limits. We should realize that we cannot do anything without God’s grace.

- This is the key to praying as Jesus taught us. What were the four things?

- When we recognize our limits, we can make prayer a habit. Because we know that we cannot live a day with prayer.

- When we recognize our limits, we can pray, leaving everything to God.

- When we recognize our weakness, we can pray earnestly because we are desparate for God’s help.

- When we recognize our weakness, we can pray not to fall into temptation because we know that we cannot overcome Satan and our sinful nature without God’s help.

>> As Jesus showed us in this text, kneel and bow down to God, and pray “God, help me! I have no idea. I am too weak! But I trust in You. So not my will, but your will, be done!”

6. 결론

- If the word of God is our navigation in our Christian life, prayer is like gasoline.

- Without gasoline, we cannot move even one step.

- Let prayer be part of our lives! Let prayer be the breath of our souls!

찬양과 기도

(1) 찬양: 온맘다해

(2) 기도