Afterwords -- not my will
"Then he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.' And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.'" (Matthew 26:38-39)
January 13, 2023
Dear friends,
One of the many remarkable things we see about Jesus in the gospels is his earnest desire to do and to accomplish the will of his Father. He said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise." (John 5:19) And "I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do." (John 17:4) This is a beautiful aspect of Christ's character which permeated his life.
Also, it is also very clear that those who follow Christ should have the same heart and intent to do God's will. Consider these passages...
"For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (Matthew 12:50)
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:2)
"...not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart..." (Ephesians 6:6)
"...you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." (Hebrews 10:36)
"...so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God." (1 Peter 4:2)
"...the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." (1 John 2:17)
HIS WILL AND MINE. God has a plan and a holy design for our life that is greater, purer, and better than our own way. He has given us his commandments and his promises that we might walk in his new life for us. When we pray, "...your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10), we are praying that we would freely and joyfully choose to do God's will. The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) gives the meaning of this petition as, “Grant that we and all men may deny our own will, and without gainsaying [i.e., without murmuring or opposition] obey Your will which alone is good; that so every one may fulfill his office and calling as willingly and faithfully as the angels do in heaven." (Q&A #124)
AT THE CROSS. When our will and God's will align it is relatively easy to say, "your will be done." However, when his call takes us where we would rather not go, or to do what we really don't want to do, or when it contradicts our comfort and space, then our obedience becomes more challenging. Then we must say, "not my will..." Jesus demonstrated his choice of God's will all throughout his life, but we see it especially when it came to taking up his cross to die. He said, "nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." (This does not mean he opposed the Father's will, but that accomplishing his will would be painful and costly to him.) At times God's will is the opposite of what we would prefer to do. It may be that we need to make an unseen sacrifice for his sake, or we must give up something that may be permissible for others, or our difficult obedience will need to continue indefinitely. It's at those times we truly see if we are committed to following our Lord and doing his will.
CONSIDERING JUDAS. My wife and I have been enjoying the TV series, The Chosen. It's not perfect; I'm not a 100% fan; and no one can really portray Jesus except our Lord himself. (The danger comes if we begin to shape our image of the real Jesus from the actor who plays Jesus.) Nevertheless, the series is well-done, and offers some intriguing possibilities as to background stories for some of the characters around Jesus. Judas was introduced last season, and it will be interesting to see where they go with his character. The amazing thing about Judas (in the gospels) is that he is not revealed as a traitor until the very end. Three years he lived with, served with, performed miracles with, and sat daily under the teaching of our Lord. No one seemed to suspect him of being a traitor. He looked like he was an obedient disciple like the rest!
AT THE LAST SUPPER everyone was confused by Jesus' statement that one of them would betray him. And then, "...after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him [Judas]. Jesus said to him, 'What you are going to do, do quickly.'" (John 13:27) This is scary, but it was not sudden or unexpected. As they met together on that evening, the circumstances they faced must have weighed upon them all -- dealing with fear of abandonment, disillusionment, questions about the future, money issues, and loss of prestige in the eyes of the world. These concerns tested them all, but for one of them, Judas, these pushed him over the edge. British author Agatha Christie once said, "We never know the whole man, though sometimes, in quick flashes, we know the true man."
"IS IT I, LORD?" Another remarkable thing in these gospel accounts is that when Jesus spoke of a betrayer, each disciple immediately looked to himself: "And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, 'Is it I, Lord?'" (Matt 26:22) They were not self-confident about their own faithfulness. Perhaps the best way to think about Judas, and also about us, is that this is a danger facing all of us. We may be ostensibly obeying the Lord, outwardly seeking to do his will, participating in church and ministry, and saying "yes, Lord," but in our hearts meaning, "no, not really". We may be hybridizing God's will into our own ("I'll do a little of both") or morphing our will into God's ("I feel God is telling me to...") or hedging our bets ("I'll do his will as long as...") or working the percentages ("at least I'm doing 80% of what he asks for") or minimizing our sin ("it's not a big deal"). This takes some creativity, as well as duplicity. Asking the Lord to examine us, as the disciples did, is important: "is it I, Lord?" We as believers (unlike Judas) are trusting the Lord's grace, that once we have come to him in faith, he will not forsake us and will give us the perseverance we need. Yet, even for the children of God, minimizing obedience to his revealed will is a serious matter and should be cause for self-examination (1 Cor 11:28).
As I consider the uncertain times that lay ahead of us, here's what I'm praying: "Lord, am I really earnest about knowing and doing your will? Will you give me a heart to obey you at all times? Will you, for Jesus' sake, grant me the grace and strength to do what is right and good even when it becomes very hard?"
RECENT READING.
-- "All of us have to reckon with the fact that the core of our Christian identity relates to travel." (Michael Kruger) Read "A Forgotten Fact about the Earliest Christian Movement."
-- Abraham Kuyper on the gift of a sleepless night: "...when such sleepless hours are spent in the endeavor to confirm and make more real the fellowship with God, the inner life of the soul is strengthened and upbuilt." Read "Songs in the Night" here.
-- Church attendance is in decline, NPR says, but "some creative leaders are finding ways to keep it relevant in a new cultural context." Tim Challies observes, "Here’s the great irony in this story: The cure that these church leaders propose is actually indistinguishable from the disease." Read "What I Want From A Church."
FINAL QUOTE. "A man's heart is right when he wills what God wills." (Thomas Aquinas)
That's it for this week!
Sandy
Photo above by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.