The Infectious Church (Sunday’s Sermon)

Mon, 18 May 2009 15:22:27 -0500

The Infectious Church
Acts 2:42-47

One of the biggest mysteries of the 20th century centered around what happened to Princess Anastasia Romanov? She was supposedly executed along with her family but her body was never found. To complicate matters, a few years after her death a woman came out of nowhere claiming to be the actual Anastasia Romanov. And on close review it seemed as if she actually was. She looked just like Anastasia Romanov, she talked just like her and she even knew information that it seemed only a Romanov would know. For all practical purposes it seemed as if this woman WAS Anastasia Romanov.

But when she died in the 1980’s a new and powerful form of testing was out called DNA testing. They took DNA from this woman’s body and compared it to the DNA of the Romanov family and it was discovered that even though this woman looked like Anastasia and talked like her, and knew information that only Anastasia would know, that in spite of all this, this woman was a complete fraud. The DNA simply did not line up.

See, what DNA says is that each of us has a unique cellular blueprint, or structure. DNA is the building blocks, the infrastructure to humanity. And because we each have unique DNA, DNA testing is absolutely essential when it comes to solving mysterious cases, and revealing identity.

It’s interesting that when the NT talks about the church, it sometimes refers to it as the mystery of God. This mystery centers around the fact that Jews and Gentiles can now come together and do life together a part of this thing called the church because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. That these two groups who for so long had been estranged from one another, have now been brought together because of the death of Jesus Christ, the dividing wall of hostility has been torn down.

And yet the key to really understanding this mystery called the church is to do a DNA test in which we ask the question, ‘What is the basic, yet unique structure of the church? What differentiates the church from a country club, a company, another association or fraternity, or even a parachurch? What is the essential blueprint of the church. For the next several weeks I want us to roll up our sleeves and ask these questions. In essence, I want to run a DNA test on both the church, and our church. Because if we can get real clear on what our DNA is as a church, we will be better able to unleash the power of the church, through the Spirit of God, by functioning according to our blueprint.

But Why?
So we’re going to spend a lot of time learning what Fellowship Memphis is essentially about as a church. And because of this some of you maybe wondering why? Why are we doing this series? This is a critical question, especially when you consider that there are some of you sitting here today who have been here for three or more years. And during this series, for some of you, the things that we’re going to be specifically talking about is going to be review (but with some new twists so don’t check out on us). But really, we’re doing this series for three reasons:

One is that practically speaking, since this last August we’ve grown by 45%. Which means almost half of you here today have not heard us really talk about what we’re about as a church. You weren’t here when we talked about discipleship just a year ago. Or you haven’t heard us talk about the need to really love others well, or our value of aligning biblically. So we’ve got to hit reset and go over these things, because quite frankly 45% of you this morning have just never heard them!

The second reason why we need to do this is because as Bill Hybels says, vision leaks. I mean we can launch out of the starting blocks and articulate something really clearly in a way that energizes and inspires people, but the plain truth of the matter is that just like our tires need to have air put in them routinely because air routinely leaks out of them, so we need to hit reset once or so a year, and put some air back in our church because vision leaks- people forget, and we need to be reminded, even if you’ve heard this before.

Thirdly, there’s actually biblical precedent for us calling a timeout and reminding ourselves of some things. We see various places in the Scriptures the leaders of the people of God gathering the community of faith together and saying let me remind you of some things. In fact, you may want to write down the book of Deuteronomy in your notes, because in a lot of ways that’s what the book is, one big reminder. Moses, who is about to die, gathers all the people of God together and he reminds them of the covenant that God has made with them, and the law that has been instituted. Why does Moses give such long speeches that amount to about 34 chapters? Because God and Moses both understood the natural human tendency to forget. They understood what Bill Hybels would say centuries later- that vision leaks. Sometimes a plain old reminder is good, no it’s necessary. So necessary that about once a year you can count on us doing a series like this.

(So here’s where we’re going today. I’m going to give a general overview of the series in which I will lay out the blueprint, and show you all of our DNA today- those five things that we are clinging to for dear life. Then the rest of the series we’re going to roll up our sleeves and walk through each five parts in depth.)

Pray

Historical Context:
I’ve decided to begin our series in the book of Acts for a very specific reason. When we come to the book of Acts we see the church in motion. In fact, Luke, the author, is writing specifically to his patron, a guy by the name of Theophilus, and he’s writing for the express purpose of giving him a historical account of the movements, the people and places of what we would call the church. And one of the things that we discover right from the outset, and don’t miss this, is that the church as seen in the book of Acts is having a phenomenal, culturally changing impact!

I mean the stuff that the church is doing in Acts is astounding! Right from the beginning, and we’ll talk more about this later, we see people from different ethnicities getting saved and embracing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This has such a life altering impact on them that they decide not to go home, but to actually stay in Jerusalem because they’re seeing the beauty of the gospel fleshed out. By the way, I’ve actually heard of some of you turning down promotions and jobs that would take you away from our city because you are so blown away by what the Spirit is doing in our church. I want you to know that I am really moved by that, but neither you nor I can get prideful because quite frankly that’s nothing new, no this was happening way back in Acts 2!

The setting for this infectious movement called the church begins in Jerusalem, but boy it doesn’t stay there! No! It spreads, just like a virus! It spreads just like Jesus said it would from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world! Along the way we see people coming to faith in synagogues, at the marketplace, in homes and chariots, on top of Mars Hill and beyond! This thing called the church is moving with such momentum that is an irresistible force! Nobles like the Ethiopian Eunuch, military officers like Cornelius, murderers like Paul and scam artist’s like Simon the Magician cannot resist this infectious church, and in the process have their lives radically altered!

Not everyone is embracing the church in the book of Acts, though! No! This thing called the church is so powerful that she faces incredible opposition from the government, existing religious structures and pagans. For example, in Ephesus the church has such an astounding impact on the culture that the economy, which was booming off the sale of idols is in a deep recession in need of a bailout, because of the church! I mean can you imagine the city officials in Las Vegas getting so ticked off at the church because she is having such a radical impact on their culture that the casino’s are closing down? Can you imagine that? So what happens? The Roman government decides to unleash a vicious assault on the church. They try to kick the Jews out of Rome thinking this would kill the church. When that doesn’t work they begin to try to kill off the leaders. We see leaders like James, Peter and Paul being executed. The religious elite work in tandem with Rome and they kill Stephen.. Both the government and the religious figure if we can turn up the heat, and persecute these brothers then we’ll be able to stop this movement called the church!

Oh no! HOW WRONG THEY WERE! It was like throwing water on a grease fire- the church only grew stronger amidst persecution. She continued to spread, increasing more and more in her infectious viral impact! And by the time you finish reading the book of Acts you are both encouraged and deeply disappointed. You are greatly inspired because you say THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I WANT, I WANT TO BE A PART OF A CHURCH LIKE THAT! But at the same time you’re deeply disappointed, because when you compare the church of Acts to the church of today you’re left with such a glaring disparity, that you have nothing left to feel but intense disappointment. I mean you go from reading about the church in Acts being together and having all things in common, to looking around today and seeing church people fighting over what color to carpet the vestibule! And the glaring disparity just takes the air out of your sails and almost leaves you hopeless, wondering if we can ever get back to what we see in the book of Acts?

(Ah, but the disappointment, the disparity from the ideal to reality should not leave us hopeless. Fellowship I firmly believe that we, just like the church in Acts, can have a radical infectious impact on our culture! I believe that with all my heart! But the question becomes how? How do we do this? As we study the church in Acts there are at least five essential marks that they exuded that served as their DNA. If we can embrace their DNA, these five marks, in such a way that they become ours we will set the table to have the same kind of infectious impact that they had. Let’s look at them.)

The Gospel:
As we come to our text this morning we are catching a glimpse of the first church, and boy it is an astounding community. It’s a community that is praying together, fellowshipping together and even selling their possessions and giving to each as they have need. But the question now becomes how? How did this community come together? This is especially pertinent as we’re going to see in just a few minutes that this is a multi-national, multi-ethnic community of about 3k people from all over the then known world. How did they come together? Answer- the gospel. Look at verses 22-41…

Here is Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost, and moved by the HS he preaches a sermon that is centered on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In other words he preaches the gospel! He doesn’t come preaching stories! He doesn’t come preaching feel good stuff! He doesn’t conversate or just share. NO! HE PREACHES! AND WITH GREAT BOLDNESS HE CALLS THESE PEOPLE TO REPENT OF THEIR SINS AND PUT THEIR FAITH AND TRUST IN Jesus Christ! HE PREACHES THE GOSPEL! And this is how the community is formed, and it is this gospel that catapulted and launched this incredibly infectious church in the book of Acts!

Visual. What are we about as a church? What is the core of Fellowship Memphis? It is the gospel! I want you to hear me this morning. The core of who we are is NOT racial diversity (although I passionately believe that is part of the gospel, more on that later)! The core of who we are is NOT team ministry or teaching! The core of who we are is NOT worship! The core of who we are is NOT discipleship. But the core, the motherboard of who we are IS THE GOSPEL!

In fact, notice what Paul says about the gospel in I Corinthians 15:3-4…Notice he says that the gospel is of first importance. That our relationship with God through the penal substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ- the fact that Jesus Christ died in my place and for my sins, is the centerpiece of not just the church but ALL of life! And unless I get the gospel right, unless I get my relationship with God right through Jesus Christ, life doesn’t make sense.

Ever tried singing the alphabet by starting with another letter besides the letter A? Try it sometime. In fact some of you are trying it right now in your minds. Doesn’t work does it? Take the letter A out of the alphabet song and you’ll discover that the WHOLE SONG is ruined. It makes no sense, the rhythm is completely thrown off!

Friends, that’s like trying to live life a part from the gospel! Life makes absolutely no sense. There is absolutely no lasting joy or fulfillment or meaning in life without the alpha and omega of the gospel! And because Romans 3:23 says that we all have sinned, all of us are in desperate need of the gospel- the good news of Jesus Christ!

And let me just say this before I move on. The gospel, yes is for the irreligious. It is for those who are outside the church, for the prodigals. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is also for the religious, the elder brothers as well. It is for those who hang out in bars and those who hang out in churches. You study the Scriptures and you will see this glaring truth that men like Jesus and Paul spent just as much time laboring to show the irreligious and the religious of their desperate need for the gospel! All of us have a desperate need for the gospel!

(What are we about here at Fellowship? It is first of all the gospel. It is calling the irreligious and the religious to repent of their sins and to embrace the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can never get so cute and sophisticated as a church that we neglect this.)

Making Disciples:
There’s a second key trait that went into the early church’s infectious impact- they made disciples. We see this right in our text. Look at verse 42…circle the word devoted. This word literally means to commit, to stay by, to persist, here it is, it literally means to attach oneself to. In fact this word was used of one who followed another.

We see this in Acts 8:13, look at it with me. Here we see Philip leading a man to Christ named Simon. The word continue is the same word in the Greek as devoted in Acts 2:42. In other words, Simon embraced the gospel and the next thing that happens is that he attaches himself to Philip, following him in becoming his disciple!

Listen, these 3k people who got saved didn’t just sign a comment card saying we have indicated a decision for Christ and go back to life as usual. No, the leaders, the apostles said we’ve got to do something with these people, we’ve got to take these new born babes and mature them in the faith through a process called discipleship. And discipleship simply means to produce reproducing followers of Christ. It is taking people from immaturity to maturity in Christ. It is the fulfillment of Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19…Here Jesus is commanding us to make disciples! To produce reproducing followers of Jesus Christ!

Every week right after our services are recorded onto something called a master. After service copies of the master are burned onto CD. These copies are taken from the master, the copies are not the master. However they sound so much like the master that it’s almost as good as having the master itself! People take these copies of the master and distribute them around town. That’s discipleship. Jesus is the master, but what He wants to do is to copy himself onto his followers, so that when people see you or me they are getting a recording of the Master (point up). this is the essence of discipleship. It is me following Christ in such a way that I seek to duplicate the life of Jesus not only in my own life but also in the lives of others through this process called discipleship!

Visual. What are we about as a church? First it is the gospel, but we steward that gospel so well that we take people from immaturity to maturity in Christ so that they can do then turn around and do likewise to others. How do we do discipleship here? We do it through our growth group systems. We believe so passionately in discipleship here, that just as Jesus commanded us to make disciples as a church we command every member to make disciples, again through our growth groups.

Pursuing Christ:
There was another vital ingredient to the church’s impact in the book of Acts- it was the fact that they were in constant pursuit of Christ. We see this right here in our text. Look at verse 42…underline the phrase, ‘breaking of bread’. What’s in view here is more than just a meal together, although that was a significant part of it. Specifically, Luke is pointing out that the sacrament of communion was a major part of their gathering. In fact it was so crucial to the life of the church that our text tells us that they did this day by day in verse 46. In other words, they were constantly remembering Christ!

In writing on the sacrament of communion to the Corinthians Paul says that we are to do it often. In other words, the church is to be a Christo-centric, that is a Christ centered community of believers who are constantly looking to him and pursuing intimacy with him! And this is what unleashed the power of the church in the book of Acts. The leaders, the apostles, had walked with Jesus for three years in intimate communion and fellowship. And it was this intimacy that utterly transformed their lives!

Visual. What are we about here at Fellowship? We’re about creating a greenhouse where people can constantly and continually grow in an intimate relationship with Jesus. We’re not just about stuffing your heads with info, and informing you to death. No, we want to speak to the head and the heart. But the reality is we can’t own your relationship with Jesus, that’s on you. We must constantly be pursuing intimacy with Jesus!

Aligning Biblically:
The fourth ingredient we see to the church’s incredible impact in the book of Acts is that they were incredibly committed to biblical truth, or to say it another way they were aligning biblically. We know this from verse 42 that tells us that a major part of the church was a commitment to the apostles teaching. What was the apostles teaching? Go back and read Peter’s sermon earlier in chapter 2 and you’ll discover two things about his teaching. One is that it was rooted in their version of the Scriptures which was the OT. But secondly it was centered on the person of Jesus Christ. This then is the apostles teaching- teaching that is bathed in the Scriptures and centered on Christ! And this became an essential part of the first church’s DNA- that every time they gathered they heard the truth of the Scriptures centered on Jesus!

The first church was really following the example of Jesus who modeled a zealous commitment to the Scriptures. He was constantly quoting the Scriptures, and even talking about the necessity of them in our lives- John 17:17…Later with Paul we see him constantly coming alongside of pastors and exhorting them to lift up the Scriptures, because he understood this was an absolute necessity to any flourishing church. Listen to what he tells Timothy- I Timothy 4:13…Later on in the 2nd century the early church would be so committed to the Scriptures that they would spend the first half of their service which lasted several hours just listening to the Scriptures being read and preached! Then in the 16th century the Protestant Reformation happens, and guys like Martin Luther would risk their very lives for the supremacy of the Scriptures.

And here we see a glorious truth- the church has always flourished when she has exuded an absolute commitment and devotion to the apostles teaching- to the Christo-centric Scriptures! And that is why the great tragedy of the church today is not that we have taken the Scriptures out of schools or other public forums, but that the Scriptures have been diminished if not all the way taken out of some of our churches!

I had a friend of mine recently call me in frustration. He just moved to a certain city and he and his family have been looking for a church home, and he’s been constantly frustrated because everywhere he’s been so far the Scriptures have not been taught. I believe his exact words were something to the effect, ‘I judge a good church by how many notes I take. I’m sick of leaving church with an empty notepad’.

Visual. What are we about? Aligning Biblically. We are based on the foundation of the clear teaching of the Scriptures! Expository preaching???

Loving Others:
In our text we’re told that the first church sold their possessions and gave to each who had need. Now don’t miss this, because this is telling us that this church was a socio-economically diverse church. There were the haves- those who had the property and the resources to give. And there were the have nots- those who didn’t have and therefore were in need. These two groups were going to church together and doing life with one another.

But secondly this church was also a racially diverse church. Where do I get that? Look at verses 5-10. Now don’t miss this. Everyone comes to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, which was a Jewish festival, which meant that everyone here is practicing Judaism. But this does not mean that everyone here is an ethnic Jew. We know that because the phrase “devout men” refers to Gentiles who practiced Judaism. They were called God fearers and proselytes. So that there are some non-ethnic Jews there. Also, look at the nations represented…Egypt, Libya and so on. So that this is a multi-ethnic, multi-national gathering. So that we can deduce that the first church was a multi-ethnc multi-national, socio-economically diverse church. Talk about differences! Yet in spite of ALL their differences our text tells us that they were loving one another, giving up their possessions and sharing with whoever was in need, regardless of race, class or socio economic status! DOES IT GET ANY MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THAT???

And this is what made the first church so powerful! For the first church defied the cultural classist norms of the day that said birds of a feather flock together. NO! this was not the mantra of the early church! NO this was not a homogenuous group where everybody looked alike! This was an incredibly diverse group, and when people came to this first church to visit they were literally blown away by the powerful visual demonstration of the gospel!

Visual. What are we about here at Fellowship? Loving others well. Who are the others? They’re what Jesus called our neighbor in the Good Samaritan. Who is our neighbor? Everyone we see. It’s folk from Germantown, Midtown, Binghampton, Frasier, Downtown, Collierville. It’s everyone. And because the gospel is for the rich and poor, blacks and whites, Asians and Latino’s, haves and have nots, oppressors and oppressed, we are obligated to love others well. And my prayer is that just like the first church, when people walk in here they will be visibly wowed to see a multi-racial, multi-socio economical congregation reaching across the aisles and loving people who look different, think different and vote different! And what drives us to do this is the love of Christ! Because he has loved us well we must in turn love others well!

For those of us who have been traveling via airplane for the past 10 years or so we know that the airline industry has changed drastically. Remember the days when you could meet your party at the gate? Remember when you didn’t have to take your shoes off when you went through security? Remember how much easier travel was. But then it happened. On September 11, 2001 a small religious group infiltrated several airplanes, and crashed them into a set of towers killing thousands. This one act, by this religious fanatical group would have a rippling effect that would change our culture forever.

In a lot of ways that’s the church. When the church gave herself to the gospel, making disciples, pursuing Christ, aligning biblically and loving others well her world changed. In fact it would change the mightiest nation, Rome forever. Just three centuries after our passage is written, the emperor of Rome would become a Christian! Astounding! The very nation that tried with all it’s might to stop the viral infectious movement called the church, ended up catching the virus herself. That’s the church!

Effective Prayer (Sunday’s Sermon)

Thu, 14 May 2009 13:38:00 -0500

Effective Prayer
Ephesians 6:18-24

I was born in Philadelphia, and had the wonderful opportunity to go to college there. And one of the things that immediately struck me about the northeast is the incredibly rich diversity there. The diversity of food, from authentic Italian cuisine to sloppy but oh so good cheese steaks. The places are so diverse. One of the things that I loved about living in Philly was that every Thursday me and my boys would sit around trying to figure out where we were going to go for the weekend. There was NY, about an hour and some change away. Baltimore, about an hour away. D.C., a little over two hours away- along with a host of other places to go. But not only were the food and places diverse, so were the people. I went to school with Germans from Western Pennsylvania, Italians from North Philly, brutha’s from the Bronx and Puerto Ricans like Darlene from Queens.

Ah Darlene. Darlene was a short little Puerto Rican girl who had the cutest yet most annoying little accent. She sounded like Mookie’s girlfriend from Do the Right Thing (I know I just lost about 80% of you with that comment). When I first met Darlene she wore the most prissy clothes- always in a dress, a touch of make up, heels (because she was short) long fingernails, and those Sade earrings (I just lost some of you again). In fact, every time I saw Darlene it seemed as if she was dressed to the nines. As if she was walking down some runway in a fashion show.

Well, that all ended one day, a day I’ll never forget. Unbeknownst to me, a huge Swedish girl named Emily had done something to tick Darlene off. What it was exactly that Emily did I still don’t know to this day. All I know is that I was sitting in the cafeteria eating lunch when all of a sudden this girl comes storming into the cafeteria. My original thought was, “Who is this?” I would soon find out it was Darlene. She looked like a completely different person! I mean Darlene was yelling at the top of her voice, “Where is she”? Darlene had discarded that prissy dress and fake nails, abandoned the heels and removed the earrings and makeup. In its place was hair that was TIGHTLY pulled back, jeans and a black shirt. On her feet were sneakers, and smeared all across her face was a thick coat of Vaseline. Now I had never seen anyone dressed like this before, especially the whole Vaseline on the face bit, but in spite all that, me and the fella’s knew one thing- SOMETHINGS ABOUT TO GO DOWN! We knew Darlene didn’t just get rid of the heels and dress and earrings for nothing. No, you could tell by the way she was dressed that a fight was coming. And it sure nuff came. Darlene jumped on Emily, a girl who towered over her and put a whuppin’ on her that I didn’t think was capable! It took several of us to pull her off!

(Darlene taught me something that day- that when it comes time to fight, you had better change your gear. That your ordinary every day dress can’t be what you wear into battle.)
Theological Context:
Actually, I should have known that way before I ever met Darlene. For this is a principle that Paul teaches us in our text this morning. In Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 10 Paul sets out to talk to us about a subject that we’ve come to call spiritual warfare. And in describing spiritual warfare Paul deals with the issue of dress. He tells us to take up such things as shields and shoes and swords. In other words, he’s telling us to change our dress, to change our appearance. But why is he telling us to change our dress and appearance? Because like Darlene with Emily, we’re in a fight with Satan! And our regular dress just won’t do!

In fact, the reason why Paul deals with dress in our passage is to get us to change our perspective, our attitude. You and I both know that what you wear has an effect on your outlook, on your perspective. See Paul wants us to understand that we are on a battleground and not a playground. And to get us to change our perspective he deals with the issue of dress. He’s so serious about getting us to realize that we are on a battleground that he says in verse 12 of our passage that we don’t wrestle with flesh and blood, but against Satan and the demons. In other words, we’re in a battleground, not a playground! We’re in a fight!

Peter will elaborate on this in his epistle. Listen to what he says in I Peter 5:8…it’s as if Peter is saying, ‘Wake up! DON’T YOU SEE? SATAN IS NOT JUST TRYING TO WOUND YOU HE WANTS TO DESTROY YOU!’ Oh Christ follower, may we not be so naïve! Satan has an agenda for our marriages, our morality, our children, our finances, our reputations! He wants to destroy you. And some of us, the reason why we are getting absolutely KILLED, the reason why some of our marriages are limping along, if not on life support, the reason why our souls are being whittled away by sin is because we have failed to see that we have a very real enemy who is after us with a very real agenda! We’re functioning as if we are on a playground, when in reality we are on a battleground!

The Reality of Satan:
Now I know I’m freaking some of you out right now, because some of you don’t REALLY believe in all this Satan and demons stuff…not practically. It’s hocus pocus to some of you, and this is a HUGE error, a trick of the enemy because this is EXACTLY how he wants you to view him. I love what C.S. Lewis says along these lines, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them”.

I think we all know people in this last category don’t we? I mean to some people EVERY problem they encounter in their lives is because of Satan. Man pray for me, got fired from my job, Satan that Devil is really at work! And you probe a little bit and discover that the reason they got fired is because they showed up late 12 times. And you’re like, dude that ain’t Satan. That’s called laziness and sorryness! Give me a break! Some people give him WAY too much credit!

But on the flip side there are those of you right here who don’t pay him proper attention. Some of us treat him as if he’s some fictional, made up character from some Harry Potter movie. No! He’s real and the Bible talks about him in very real ways.

Right from the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis we see Satan interacting with Adam and Eve and he’s postured as very real person. In Job we see him having a conversation with God. In the life and ministry of Jesus we see Jesus casting out demons and speaking to them as if they are what they actually are- REAL! You cannot read your bible with any integrity and come away with Satan and demons are fictional characters.

Not only do the Scriptures point to the reality of Satan, but so do our experiences. Just the other day I was talking to a woman who was sharing with me how she became a Christian. She said that prior to coming to Christ she had lived a very promiscuous life, and had gone through a couple of divorces. It was through her friendship with a Christian lady that became the turning point in her life. As she tells it this Christian lady said she wanted to pray for her. She took her into a closet, laid hands on her and in her words cast out the spirit or demon of Jezebel. I immediately asked this woman what happened. She told me that she immediately felt different, and had new desires that she never had before- desire to read her bible and commune with God. But then she told me something astounding. She said ever since this woman laid hands on her to pray with her their lives have gone in the opposite direction. The woman who prayed for her has now exemplified all the traits of a spirit of Jezebel- she’s lead a promiscuous life and has married and divorced four or five times. There’s actually biblical justification for this. We see in the book of Acts a group of men trying to cast out a demon, and the demon actually jumps on them. Satan is real.

With us trying to launch Fellowship Downtown we’ve experienced strong opposition that can only be attributed to the activity of Satan. I mean CRAZY stuff has happened and I don’t want to get into any details, but I need you to pray with us. From resistance from certain higher ups with our facilities, to attacks on some of our leaders Satan is active. And if you stop and think about it, it’s not just a coincidence that downtown Memphis is known for everything else but strong bible centered, disciple making, Christ exalting churches. There’s a reason why the few that have started down there have either gone belly up or are struggling- it’s a stronghold of Satan. We must wake up to his reality!

Now, let me say this before I move on. I don’t want you to get freaked out by these stories. OH NO! Because the same bible that says he exist, is the same bible that says he’s been defeated (that’s a good place for a shout)! Because of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and the empty tomb, Satan has been defeated! That’s why when we talk about issues of spiritual warfare, the believer doesn’t fight FOR victory, we fight FROM victory! For we have already won (another good place)!

(But now the question becomes, how do we walk in the victory already secured for us through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the empty tomb? Paul shows us this through the various pieces of armor that Ben talked about last week. But there’s one more piece we need to look at, and it’s what Paul calls prayer. Specifically we’re going to learn three vital truths about prayer this morning that’s going to go a long way in serving us well in this battle against Satan. Before I do anything else, let’s pray.)

Pray

As we come to our passage this morning there’s been much debate over whether or not prayer is another piece of the believer’s armor, or if it is in a separate category altogether? The reason why this is debated so much is because of the way verse 18 reads in certain translations like the NAS. If you have an NAS you’ll notice that at the end of verse 17 there’s a period signifying the close of a thought, so that it reads this way…While I like the NAS, this is an unfortunate grammatical mistake that is not true to the original Greek. The way the sentence reads in the Greek is truer to how the ESV translates it…read it…

Now as subtle as this sounds this is crucial. Because the way the NAS reads it sounds like prayer is another piece of the armor. But the way the ESV reads, which is truer to the original text in this instance, prayer is not just another piece of armor, rather it is the thread that runs through ALL the pieces uniting them together! Did you get that? No you didn’t, so let me give it to you again! See what Paul is saying is that prayer is absolutely essential when it not only comes to our relationship with God, but also when it comes to battling the enemy in every sphere of our life. Take prayer away and you are a sitting duck!

See at the end of the day prayer is communication with God. And if there’s one thing we know about war, it’s that communication is absolutely vital. Place any squad or platoon in a war zone where they cannot communicate with head quarters, or with each other, the chances of them surviving the attacks of the enemy are little to none.

We actually saw this in WWII. Towards the end of the war the Japanese decided to surrender the battle of the South Pacific islands, but do to a communication glitch word of their surrender did not get to the soldiers on that island for another two weeks. So for two weeks real bullets continued to be fired, inflicting real casualties, and causing real fatalities all because of a failure to communicate.

Could it be that some of our marriages are severely wounded because of a failure to communicate, to specifically pray together? Could it be that some of you are getting caught up in sin because of a failure to communicate with God in prayer? Could it be that the stuff we’re going through is because of an absolute failure to communicate, to pray with the God of the universe? F.B. Meyer notes that, “The greatest tragedy in life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer”. A failure to communicate with God, to prayer, will guarantee our failure to walk in victory over the enemy!

(But the question now becomes how? How are we to pray? To this question Paul speaks in our text.)

Continual:
The first thing Paul wants us to understand about prayer is that prayer must be continual. Look at what he says in the opening lines of our text- ‘praying at all times’. To the Thessalonians Paul would say in 5:17…In Luke 18 Jesus would tell the story of a woman who constantly kept coming to an ungodly judge demanding justice. She kept coming and coming and coming, and finally the judge granted her, her request. What’s the whole point of this story? Look at Luke 18:1, and onto 6-8…Both Paul and Jesus tell us that when it comes to prayer we are to pray continually. In other words, in order for prayer to be effective it must be continual!

Ah, but here’s where most of us have a problem. See you and I live in a culture that has hard wired us to make requests and get immediate results. I mean everything from fast food, to internet service! We expect our food to come immediately, our computers to move at blazing speeds, and when I text someone to hear RIGHT back! So when it comes to this issue of prayer, we have the same mindset. And some of are like okay God, I’ve prayed A WHOLE WEEK about my marriage and nothing’s working! I’m done! No God says keep coming and keep coming and keep coming! Keep asking! God’s like sometimes I can be broadband, but sometimes I’m dial up, keep coming to me in prayer!

One of my favorite people in church history is a guy by the name of George Mueller. He was a godly man who prayed continually. George had two friends who weren’t Christians that he prayed for every day. He prayed that they would accept Jesus. How long did he pray for them? He prayed daily for them for over 60 years! He kept asking and asking and asking! So what happened??? He died…he never saw them come to Christ. But at his funeral, one of the men was so moved that he gave his heart and life to Jesus.

Here’s a man who prayed for over 60 years, seeking God daily for these men, and we get frustrated with God when we don’t hear back in a week, a month or a year! Both Jesus and Paul say keep coming, keep seeking, keep asking, keep knocking! In order for prayer to be effective it must be continual!

What issue or person in your life that you used to pray about that you no longer pray about because you’re spiritually fatigued and frustrated? What issue or person have you given up on God about? Paul says that we are to pray at all times! Keep seeking child of God, don’t give up!

Let me stop right here before we move on and say one more thing. Why? Why does Paul and Jesus tell me to pray at all times, to pray continually? I think the answer to that is best articulated by that great 19th century prayer writer and warrior, EM Bounds who said that prayer is the expression of the souls dependence on God! Prayer at the end of the day says God I need you. God I’m desperate for you! God I cannot live or function without you! Ah, so the reason why Jesus and Paul say keep asking, keep praying, keep knocking is because the very act of prayer is me saying God I am completely dependent on you!

In other words, show me someone who does not pray and I will show you someone who has the absolute arrogance to believe that they can function without God! A prayerless person is a functional atheist! Why is prayer to be continual? Because in the very act of prayer I am saying God I need you!

Relational:
Not only is prayer to be continual, it is to also be relational. Look at verse 18, ‘in the Spirit’. In other words, we are to pray in the Spirit. Some have taken this to mean that we are to pray in tongues. Now while I do believe that one can pray in tongues, see I Corinthians 14, I don’t think this is exactly what Paul is getting at here. Look at what Paul tells the Romans, in 8:26-27…Here Paul, in talking about the Holy Spirit, says that we do not even know what to pray for, but the good news is that the HS does know. That’s why he says in our text in Ephesians that it is absolutely vital that we pray in the HS.

In other words, Paul is saying that the kind of prayer that works and glorifies God, is the kind of prayer that is birthed out of and bathed in an intimate relationship with God through the HS! So that when I pray, I should always begin by asking the HS to guide my prayer time. I must always be sensitive when I pray to listen to the HS, receive his instructions, and it is in that context of an intimate relationship with God through the HS that I will then know how to pray.

The concept of prayer is closely related to a sheepdog. If you know anything about sheepdogs you know that they help the shepherd or farmer round up the sheep. They know how to corner the sheep and to box them in. But that’s not all. Once they do this a sheepdog will always come right back to the masters feet awaiting his next instructions. They get those instructions, do them and come back. I don’t care what they do, sheepdogs always come back to the masters feet, they never make any movements of their own independent of the master.

That’s what it means to pray in the HS. Paul says, instead of just arbitrarily praying whatever you want, pray in the Spirit. Learn to allow the HS to give you instructions on how to pray, listening to them, pray it and like a sheepdog keep coming back and coming back and coming back saying HS what or who would you have me to pray for? In other words, prayer is to be relational!

Is this a picture of your prayer life? Do you pray in the HS, or do you pray what you want to pray how you want to pray it? In order for prayer to be effective it must be relational!

Communal:
Not only must prayer be continual and relational, it must finally be communal. Look at what he says at the end of verse 18, ‘for all the saints’. In other words Paul is saying that prayer isn’t just about you, but it’s others focused and oriented, it’s communal.

The Jews got this. They had a saying, “Let a man unite himself with the community in his prayers”. Jesus talked specifically about the communal nature of prayer in a famous passage that we call the Lord’s prayer. Go home and read it again and notice the frequency of such words as our and us, and at the same time notice the absence of words like I or mine. Our father…give us this day our daily bread. What Jesus is getting at here is the very fact that prayer is to be communal- it’s to be outward, concerned not only with my needs but with the needs of others.

And here’s some of our problems. Because if we were to look at our prayers some of us would have to confess that our prayers are too me-focused and not others focused. William Barclay comments on this when he writes, “Often our prayers are too much for ourselves and too little for others. We must learn to pray as much for others and with others as for ourselves”.

How I was convicted of this some years ago as I sat down on an airplane. We were just about to take off, and as usual I prayed a prayer for safety and protection that went something like this, “Dear Lord, please keep me safe as I travel on this plane. Get me to my destination here on earth, Amen.” Yet as I prayed this prayer I was reminded of the Lord’s prayer, and the communal nature of it. And I immediately thought, how selfish of me. Why am I not praying for everyone traveling on airplanes today? So now I pray a prayer like this, ‘Dear Lord, please keep all of us traveling on airplanes safe today. Get us all to our destinations here on earth, Amen’.

Paul says to make supplication for all the saints. How much time do you spend praying for yourself compared to praying for others? Do you spend time making supplication for all the saints? Saints in Africa, Asia, Memphis, in your community groups? How communal is your prayer life? For prayer to be effective it must be communal!

Conclusion:
As Paul closes the books not only on our passage but on the whole letter he makes one final request. He requests that the Ephesians church would pray specifically for him. This is not unusual for Paul to petition the people to pray for him, because Paul was a huge believer in prayer, and practically every letter he wrote he was instructing the people to pray. But what’s interesting here is that Paul is writing the Ephesians from jail (ambassador in chains), and yet notice his request. He asks them to pray for him that he would be able to proclaim the gospel boldly, while in jail! Now I don’t know about you, but if I had one phone call to make, if I had one request to offer, it would be get me out of here. Pray that God gets me out of jail. But Paul doesn’t do that, he doesn’t ask God to change his circumstances, instead he asks God to help him redeem his circumstances by changing him!

Some of us are praying the wrong thing. Instead of praying God change my marriage we should pray God change me. instead of praying God change my kid, we should pray God change me. instead of praying God change my finances we should pray God change me. Is it wrong to ask God to change my circumstances? Absolutely not. But the greater truth is that often times God uses our circumstances to change us! So that more than asking for a change in circumstances we should seek a change in us!

So Paul says, pray for me, that God would change me in the midst of jail, and that I would boldly proclaim the gospel while in jail! What happened? Did the prayers of the Ephesians get answered? Go one door to your right to Philippians 1:12-14 (read it)…

Now it’s believed that the letter to the Philippians was written a little later than Ephesians. Part of the justification for this is seen right in our passage. Paul says to the Ephesians pray for me that while I’m in ail I may boldly proclaim the gospel! But now in Philippians 1 he says I am boldly proclaiming the gospel, even to the Roman soldiers known as the praetorian guard! In other words, it is because the people of God rallied together in prayer that God emboldened Paul, granted his request by giving him the boldness to declare the gospel! Translation- prayer works! When we pray the way God calls us to- continually, relationally and communally we should expect God to move. Yet when we pray we must believe and not doubt!
Mother Mary Story!

Globalization and the Death of (Classic) Dispensationalism

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:39:11 -0500

I know, I know. Some of you are looking at the title of this blog wondering what in the world am I talking about? So some explanation is in order before we venture out.
Dispensationalism is a term that is used to describe how many (not most) Christians view the Bible. It’s a systematized approach that says (among other things) that God has governed the world in seven dispensations (most people in this camp say 7). In fact, the term dispensation has to do with how one manages a house. So in this view God is the one who governs, and the world is his house, and as we read Scriptures he rules his house seven different ways. An example of this would be the dispensation of the law which dominated much of the Old Testament, versus the dispensation of grace or the church.
Even more relevant to our discussion is the way in which classic dispensationalist’s view the difference between Israel and the Church. Under this view these two groups represent two totally different entities, and the promises made to one don’t apply to the other. So, for example, when I was in college I was taught under this view that I couldn’t preach much of the OT because it contained promises made to Israel that were not applicable to the church. In fact, I remember being specifically told that Jeremiah 29:11 was out of bounds preaching wise because that was made to Israel and not the church.
When it comes to the kingdom classic dispensationalist’s teach that the kingdom is yet future, with no real present ramifications today. And this is the major breakdown with this faulty system of theology.
See the founders and popularizers of dispensationalism were guys like C.I. Scofield (A man who would eventually be credited with establishing the roots for my college- Philadelphia Biblical University), Lewis Chafer (founder of Dallas Theological Seminary) and Charles Ryrie (of the infamous Ryrie Study Bible). All of these men were of course white and middle class to wealthy.
Now I don’t point to their race or socio-economic status to be contentious. There’s nothing wrong with being white or wealthy. Nothing. But I point out their race and socio-economic status to make a key point- it’s real easy to promote a system that says that the kingdom is solely future when you can finish teaching your Bible study and return to your safe neighborhood, and rest your head easily on your pillow at night knowing that you are a part of the “haves” and not the “have-nots”. But when you live on the other side of the tracks and you have to trust God for a bus pass, and then once He does provide that, you have to sit in the back of the bus, drink out of sub standard water fountains, use different restrooms, worry about being pulled over for DWB (that’s driving while black) and constantly be treated in ways that are sub-human, dispensationalism, with its emphasis on the kingdom being yet future, doesn’t seem to be so appealing.
And this is the primary reason why classic dispensationalism NEVER took hold in the Black church, or among any minority/oppressed people churches on a broad sweeping level.
In fact, let me go so far as to say that dispensationalism (in the classic sense) helped to promote segregation, the neglect of caring for the local poor and under-resourced and on. Sure classic dispensationalism emphasized global missions pragmatically, but only in a spiritual sense, not sociologically by caring for the least of these. After all, according to some classic dispensationalist’s, Matthew 25:31-46 can’t be preached today either. How convenient!
And the one thing that the Black church held onto for dear life through the long arduous roads of slavery, reconstruction and Jim Crowe was the OT, and particularly the nation of Israel. Black theology has always exemplified a fondness for Israel. Even to the non-Christian this makes sense. Like Israel, Black folk know what it means to be oppressed. And like Israel, we’ve experienced our Moses through the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As if this wasn’t enough proof you may want to look at King’s last speech where he likens himself to Moses, and Black people with the nation of Israel. That’s why he could say that he’s been to the mountaintop (a clear reference to when God took Moses to the mountain to see the promised land), and he’s seen the promised land, and that he may not get there with us, but we as a people will make it!
Isn’t it interesting that classic dispensationalism sought to pull the “blankie” of comfort away from us, by saying that Israel and the church are two totally separate entities, never to intersect, and therefore we cannot really identify with Israel.
I suggest that though never stated outright, classic dispensationalism has strong undercurrents of racism! For if Dr. King and the leaders of the civil right’s movement were dispensationalist’s in the classic sense of the term there would be no civil right’s movement and I could very well be out sharecropping right now and not pastoring a 65% white church in an old south city like Memphis.
But all that is irrelevant now. Globalization, and specifically the aspect of the blending of cultures and races has made classic dispensationalism a dinosaur- irrelevant and extinct! The victories at Montgomery, Birmingham and Seldom gave birth to Obama’s victory and a whole new world. What this has shown us is the value of struggling in the immediate to bring about the now aspect of the kingdom. And the horizon is littered with new churches who from ground zero are passionate about not only preaching Christ, but bringing about the now aspect of the kingdom by engaging the least of these. I have never met a church planter in the last 10 years whose desire was to preach classic dispensationalism and not engage pragmatically and holistically in ministries of compassion and care in their immediate context.
Thank God classic dispensationalism is dead!

What I’m Reading

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:50:29 -0500

There are two books that I’m reading right now:
Grace-Based Parenting, Dr. Tim Kimmell
Every year I try to read a book that will help me become a better husband, and one that will help me be a better dad. Tim Kimmel’s book is one that I believe EVERY parent should read. It talks about making our homes filled with a grace culture. You won’t be disappointed.

The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan
For our time around the dinner table we’re reading this classic by John Bunyan, and our kids are really enjoying it.

Getting Through

Tue, 7 Apr 2009 10:12:46 -0500

Here’s my sermon from this past Sunday:

“Getting Through”
Matthew 26:36-46

Alfred Beach was becoming increasingly frustrated. As a citizen of NY, Alfred loved his city, but due to overcrowding, NY was not as easy to love during traffic time. So instead of continuing to sit back and complain, Alfred, this much unaccomplished inventor, decided to do something about it. He ventured down to Broadway and Murray and rented a department store. And for almost the next two years Alfred and a crew of hired men began to secretly dig a tunnel well beneath the store. This tunnel, he hoped, would be the first of many in which he would place his idea of an underground pneumatic train that would carry people across their beloved city of NY, thus satisfying the transit problem. In other words, Alfred’s ingenious idea is what we now know as the subway.

Ah, but there was a problem- not everyone thought the idea was ingenious. See, in February of 1870 Alfred threw a huge party unveiling to the public his subway idea. Admittedly, some were excited, but unfortunately most were suspicious, and it was the suspicious element that won out. Alfred was told by the powers that be that his idea was foolish and would NEVER fly. And just like that the ceremony was promptly over, and Alfred’s “hair brain” idea of a subway was buried (at least for a little while).

If you’re like me, the first time I read this story I was filled with disbelief. I openly wondered, how could these people do this? Don’t they realize that the subway would become one of the most ingenious ideas ever. Don’t these people know that there would come a time when most people in NY would not even own a car, and would instead choose to use the subway as their primary means of transportation? So how in the world could these people just so flippantly dismiss this idea? The answer is obvious- they just didn’t know. They had absolutely no clue of what was before them. And because of this they failed to grasp the gravitas of the moment, letting a major opportunity slip through their hands.

I wish I could say that this is just a singular or even rare case of people failing to realize the gravity of the moment and to seize the opportunity. But you and I both know it’s not. No this is a problem that is as old as humanity. In fact, this morning we’re going to see it right here in this text. For here we are going to encounter Jesus at one of the most critical moments of his life, where a struggle, a battle of monumental proportions is going to be waged right in the garden of Gethsemane. Yet what are the disciples doing? They’re SLEEPING! How could they sleep at such a critical moment not only in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, but in the history of humanity? They could sleep because like that crowd in 1870 who gathered they failed to grasp the gravity of the moment.

(I want us to look at this passage, and learn some things about Jesus. For many of us we’re going to see him in an incredibly new light. We’re going to find him in the midst of some intense emotional turmoil, yet he makes it through. I want to beg the question, how did Jesus get through this incredibly volatile time in his life? Because if we can answer THAT question, it will outfit us with what we need to navigate the tough times of our life. I want to talk about getting through, let’s pray.)

Prayer/Historical Context:
As we come to our passage this morning, Jesus and his disciples have had a long day. From Judas betraying Jesus, to the observance of the Passover marked by some last minute instructions, to the prediction of Peter’s betrayal, it’s been an incredibly long day. I wish I could say that with the end of this day things would get easier, but you and I both know they won’t. in just a few moments Jesus will be seized, brought before the Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod. He’ll be mocked, spit on, slapped, beaten to an inch of his life and then crucified. The road ahead is extremely tough.

That’s why, right in the middle of all this, Jesus takes a pit stop in a place called Gethsemane (more on that later) to pray. While there, Jesus’ only request is that his followers would watch and pray with him- that they’d join him in prayer on his behalf for the difficult road that lies ahead. Yet instead of praying, these men, having failed to grasp the gravity of this moment are asleep! They fall asleep at one of the most agonizing and intense moments of Jesus’ life

Emotional Context:
That this was a moment of intense need for Jesus is clearly indicated by our text. Look at verse 37…underline the words sorrowful and troubled. These two words in the Greek are extremely emotional terms. These words convey the thought of deep and intense pain, grief and dare I even suggest depression. In fact, the word sorrowful was sometimes used of a person on the verge of fainting. Jesus would elaborate in verse 38 by saying that his soul was very sorrowful.

What’s more is that Mark and Luke include this scene in their biographies on the life of Jesus, and they both go into great detail to describe Jesus’ emotional state. Look at Mark 14:33; Luke 22:44…Mark says, among other things, that Jesus was greatly distressed. This phrase literally means to be visibly shaken. Luke, being a physician by trade, goes a step further, for he not only describes Jesus’ emotional agony, but he talks about his physical agony. He says that Jesus was in such agony that his sweat became like great drops of blood. This is much debated. The word like could be Luke’s way of speaking figuratively. However, there are known medical cases where people did actually sweat blood. This is a condition known as hematidrosis, where extreme anguish or physical strain causes one’s blood vessels to dilate and burst mixing sweat with blood. So that it would not be beyond medical bounds to say that Jesus was actually sweating blood!

Whether or not Luke is being figurative or literal is not the point. What is the point is that the Jesus we encounter this evening in the garden of Gethsemane is not some cool, calm and collected Jesus. This is not the Jesus as the renaissance painters portray him, staring dreamily up at the stars, hands coolly clasped, a real picture of togetherness. NO! NO! NO! This Jesus we encounter is, in the words of Mark, visibly shaken! He is profoundly, emotionally disturbed!

(Now I need to come to your neighborhood, but before I do this, allow me to make one theological pit stop, because I am well aware that what I just told you, the picture we’ve just painted, some of you may have some MAJOR theological problems with. Jesus being emotionally disturbed??? Jesus, not having it together emotionally, please do explain, Bryan!)

Theological Context:
In order to properly digest the picture that’s being painted by the gospel writers, you must understand a bit of Christology, or the doctrine of Christ. In the early days of the church there was, as it is now to some degree, much confusion over the person of Jesus Christ. Particularly, people would sometimes teach those things that were not true about who Jesus was as a person. Whenever this would happen the church would do a wonderful thing, that she no longer universally does today- she would immediately close ranks, hold what we would call a church council, to hear those who were teaching questionable doctrines about Jesus. Such men as Arius and Marcion, among others, were brought before these councils.

The errors that were being taught about Jesus would all center around either the deity of Jesus, or the humanity of Jesus. And typically what you would have is that there would be those who would so emphasize one aspect of his person to the exclusion or minimization of the other aspect of his person. I know this is technical, but hang in there with me. In other words, sometimes people would emphasize his humanity at the exclusion of his deity or vice versa.

Finally, to put an end to this, in the mid 5th century the council of Chalcedon met. And when they convened they gave us this great statement on the person of Jesus. It was their hopes that with this statement, once and for all the confusion would be settled. This is a statement that every Christian should know: Jesus Christ is fully God, fully man in one person without mixture.

Jesus Christ is fully God. We know this from the statements Jesus made. He said that he and the father were one. He said that he who has seen him has seen the father. We know this from the works that he did. He possessed knowledge that only God would have. He grants eternal life. He forgives sins. On and on I could go, but for more on this read John’s gospel. John writes specifically to prove to us that Jesus is fully God.

But at the same time Jesus is fully man. He got thirsty, like we do. He got hungry like we do. He expressed emotion like we do- when his dear friend Lazarus died, the bible says that he wept. Jesus was fully human. The only difference between Jesus’ humanity and ours was that he did not have a sin nature. That’s why he’s called the second Adam. Just like Adam was born without a sin nature, but having free will making it possible for him to sin, likewise with Jesus. Yet unlike Adam, Jesus did not sin. He was fully human!

Now, here’s the problem. Just about everyone emphasizes one aspect of Jesus’ person to the exclusion or minimization of the other aspect. Liberals tend to so emphasize the humanity of Jesus that at the end of the day he’s just another human, maybe a good example, a good guy to follow, that they deny some aspect of his deity. This is flat out heresy.

But on the other hand, many conservatives tend to so emphasize his deity that we undermine his humanity, and this is grossly problematic. Some of you are sitting here flinching when I made the statement that Jesus was profoundly emotionally disturbed when he enters the garden, because to you Jesus is so much deity that his humanity is belittled. But we must at the same time esteem his humanity to its proper place. When we do this there is absolutely no compromise to the person of Jesus to say that he was emotionally rocked when he entered into the garden. He is fully human! And as a fully human person he felt…he was moved! And at times, like in Gethsemane he was GREATLY DISTURBED, dare I even say sad!

At your neighborhood. Ever been there (point to the text)? No, really, ever been there??? These words that described Jesus, words like sorrowful, troubled, greatly distressed, have there been times in your life when they could have been used of you? Maybe sorrowful, troubled, greatly distressed describes some of your marriages right now. For some of us stuff is so bad in our marriages that we’re fighting right now not to hold onto our sanity. And we’re looking at Jesus’ condition in Gethsemane saying we can relate. Maybe sorrowful, troubled, greatly distressed describes you and your finances right now, what with all the economic pressures and weights we’re under. And you look at Jesus this night in the garden and you say, that’s me! maybe greatly distressed describes you and your work situation right now. No the pink slip may not have come…yet…but if things keep going the way they are you maybe filing for unemployment scrambling to find another job, and the sense of anxiety that’s welling up in your soul, and like Jesus you’re feeling greatly distressed!

(So the question becomes, how do I get through the heavy clouds of depression? How do I navigate the emotional stress and turmoil? How do I deal with a marriage that seems to be caving in, kids that ain’t doing right, a job that maybe no longer, finances that seem to be evaporating? How do I navigate all this? In our text Jesus does three things that have an incredible impact, and provide us with necessary principles to navigate the emotional storms of life. Let’s look at them…)
He Had a Place:
As our text opens up we are immediately told that Jesus and his disciples are at a place called Gethsemane. Gethsemane means olive press, and was probably named so because it was an olive orchard many believed located at the base of the Mount of Olives. And it is into this place that the emotionally volatile Jesus enters to get through the storm. Yet John tells us something very interesting about Jesus and Gethsemane- John 18:1-2…Ah, here John tells us that Gethsemane was not a one stop visit for Jesus, but this was a sort of spiritual retreat center that Jesus frequented during his life and ministry to get away, and gather what he needed from God to do the work that was set before him. So here is Jesus staring down the cross, he knows the agony that is to come, and before he decides to be given up into custody, Jesus decides to take a pit stop, to go on a prayer retreat of sorts, to rest at a spiritual oasis before the cross in a place called Gethsemane- he got away.

In fact, if you study the life of Jesus one of the things you would have to conclude is that Jesus was the master at getting away. Over and over and over again in the gospels we are baffled by a busy Jesus, yet who took the time to rise early in the mornings to go and pray. Jesus was the master at retreat, of withdrawing to meet with God, to get what he needed to do the work that God had called him to do. Jesus built into his life and ministry something of what I would call margin, space to get away and unplug, to meet with God.

One of the great tragedies of our modern day culture is that we have gotten so sinfully busy. I call it sinfully busy because many of us know nothing of what it means to withdraw for the purpose of meeting with God, to refuel and gather what we need to re-engage. Is it any wonder then that one of the most common medical problems today is depression? Do you know that currently 15 million American’s are clinically depressed, and that if current trends continue, by the year 2020 depression will be the second most common health problem IN THE WORLD!

Now please hear me, I am well aware that there can be multiple causes of depression. But one of the causes is the failure to have consistent, adequate margin in our lives. Some of us right here, right now know nothing of this concept of Gethsemane, this idea of margin in our lives to rest and unplug. You don’t know how to turn it off. Heck, you don’t even know how to turn your iphones and blackberry’s off (have the phone up there)! OOH, can I park here for a minute? Thank you, I’ll take that as a yes! I am so sick and tired of going out to eat with people, hanging out with people who we’re supposed to be resting and chilling, yet they’re always checking the phone, updating their facebook status, “Matt is having a great time with Bryan,” no you’re not! Instead your status should read, ‘Matt is ticking Bryan off because he doesn’t know how to turn his phone off’. And if I go out to eat one more time and I see a husband supposedly on a date night with his wife checking his phone I think I’m going to throw up. Ladies, I don’t know how you put up with it.
Some of you don’t know how to play with your kids. You don’t know how to engage them. But Bryan I gotta work and bust it. Listen, God’s not impressed with your schedule. God’s not doing back flips because you knocked it out of the park at work and you got a bonus. How did you get that bonus? Working crazy hours, and now you’re at the absolute end of yourself, your kids don’t know you, but hey, they’ve got that new Nintendo DS that you bought them with that bonus money! Give me a break! No wonder you’re emotionally and physically suffocating, there’s no margin in your life!

Richard Swenson, in a book I think we all need to read called Margin, says this about the importance of margin in our lives, “Margin is the space between our load and our limits. It is the amount allowed beyond that which is needed. It is something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. Margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion, the space between breathing freely and suffocating”.

When, like Jesus, you feel yourself emotionally suffocating, at the end of your rope, the first thing you must assess is the issue of margin. Is there space in my life for me to get away and exhale? If Jesus found his margin in a place called Gethsemane, how much more so do we need to find margin in our own lives?

(But going to a place wasn’t enough for Jesus to get through this trying time, he had to have some people to help him.)

He Had People:
Our text opens by telling us that Jesus did not go to Gethsemane by himself, no he went with some others- a group of people called the disciples (at this point there’s not 12, but 11 for Judas has left). Now don’t miss this, watch the progression. They get to the garden, Matthew tells us, and Jesus says to 8 of the disciples to stay while he goes to pray. THEN the text tells us that the does something very interesting- he takes with him Peter, James and John (James and John were the two sons of Zebedee). That he would take these three with him, at the exclusion of the others is not new. For these three men were Jesus’ closest friends. We know this because they shared rare, intimate moments with Jesus. Like the mount of transfiguration, one of the most significant moments in the life of Jesus when Elijah and Moses were with Jesus and God spoke, it was these three, not the others that Jesus chose to share that moment with. And it would be these three that Jesus, in his hour of intense need would take with him further into the garden.

Now, watch what happens next, look at verse 37…The text says that he began to be sorrowful. Don’t miss the progression. All 11 go to the garden. 8 stay near the entrance. Jesus’ closest dawgs go with him, and it’s not until then when he’s with his closest friends that Jesus begins to unveil his deepest emotions. It’s not until he’s just with Peter, James and John that he reveals how he’s really feeling, how he’s really doing. How did Jesus make it through this tough time? He not only had a place, but he had people. He had three intimate friends who he turned to, to help shoulder the burden.

Ah, this passage helps me in several ways. Listen, it helps me because it shows me that I don’t have to be vulnerable about everything with everyone, yet I can still be authentic. Did Jesus love the other 8? Yes! Would he call them friends? Absolutely! But did he show everyone what he showed Peter, James and John? NO!

Some of us have bought into the lie, that to be authentic means that I share everything about me, with everyone I sit down with, and because of that, some of you are really frustrated, if over a cup of coffee, the first time you sit down with someone you don’t get into all the intricacies of each others lives! Listen, take a page from Jesus, I can have various level of friends, and I don’t have to reveal everything about me to everyone. That I can go certain places with a certain crowd that I may not go with another crowd.

Ah, but this passage also shows me that I should have some people in my life that I let down my guard and reveal how I’m really doing! There should be someone who sees me on my bad hair days! There should be someone who I let in and unveil how I’m really doing! There should be someone you trust enough when the question is asked how are you doing, that instead of giving the typical fine or good, you are vulnerable and honest enough to say, it’s not going well. I’m going through! Now let me ask you, whose your Peter, James and John? Who sees you at the best of times AND the worst of times?

I’m blessed to have a handful of Peter, James and John’s. First is my wife. I obviously tell my wife stuff I don’t tell anyone else. Just this past week I shared with her some pretty heavy stuff, and we sat at the kitchen counter and some tears were shed. I obviously go places with my wife that I don’t go with anyone else, she’s in my inner circle (FYI, I’m shocked how many husbands don’t have their wives on this level of communication). I could tell you about my boy Stan in D.C., and how we’ve been prayer partners, praying normally several times a week on the phone with each other, and how I’ve prayed with him through infertility battles, and how he’s prayed me through intense times of loneliness. I could tell you about my boy Kirk, and several others. These are the people who I let in, who see me on the best of days AND the worst of days. Whose your Peter, James and John???

(Jesus got through the storm because he had a place, he had people, but finally he had prayer.)

He Had Prayer:
The text tells us that as Jesus goes into the garden, he goes praying. He doesn’t come into the garden just to chit chat with his friends, no he comes to have a conversation with god. He doesn’t go into the garden to get some sound advice from Peter, no he goes seeking the Mighty Counselor, the everlasting God! He goes into the garden praying!

Why did Jesus pray? Well, there’s plenty of reasons. Ultimately Jesus understood the powerful weapon of prayer. Jesus knew that prayer wielded rightly can become an incredible tool to change things and circumstances. In fact, his ministry had been marked by prayer. Many times Jesus would pray and folk got healed. Many times Jesus would pray and storms would stop. Many times Jesus would pray and miracles would occur. Jesus prayed because Jesus knew that prayer could change things.

Friends when you and I find ourselves hemmed in by life, feeling deep emotional turmoil, we must pray, being absolutely convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is nothing that we face, no circumstance too rocky that our God cannot conquer. We must pray knowing that God through our prayers can indeed change things!

Some of you all may not really believe that. Well, come here Abraham and Sarah and testify. Bryan, we battled for years with infertility, giving up hope that we could ever have a baby til one day we had a talk with God, and he opened up Sarah’s womb giving us Isaac. I’m here to tell you Bryan, that prayer changes things. Come here Israel, can you testify that prayer can change things? Yes Bryan, for over 400 years we were in bondage to Egypt, til one day we cried out to God, and God heard our cries, and delivered us from bondage, and setting us free! We can testify Bryan that prayer changes things! Come here Jehosophat, can you testify that prayer changes things? Yes Bryan, as king I found myself in deep emotional turmoil as the largest army ever assembled came against us. The first thing I did was not to call a strategy session, but the first thing I did was to call a prayer meeting. We prayed, and God showed up delivering us, giving us the victory in battle. I’m a witness, Bryan, that prayer changes things. Come here Daniel, can you testify that prayer changes things? Yes Bryan, I found myself in a lions den all night long. And I cried out to God, and the next day when they came to check on me, not a scratch was found on me, for God had shut the mouths of lions. I’m here as a witness Bryan that prayer changes things! Child of God when you find yourself hemmed in by life, PRAY! For prayer can change things!

Ah, as we close though, I must be truthful to this text. In our text Jesus prays that the cup would be taken from him. The cup means the manner in which he was to die- the cross. God tells him no. God chooses not to change his circumstances. But instead God changes Jesus. Listen friends, before the garden, Jesus was the picture of someone in emotional turbulence, but after the garden he is calm cool and collected as he stands before Pilate, Herod, the Sanhedrin. What changed Jesus from being in emotional turmoil to being the picture of serenity and poise? Answer- prayer. For more than prayer changing things, prayer changes me!