Perfect Submission, Perfect Victory

Mark 14:32-42
Richard Spencer | Sunday, August 29, 2021
Copyright © 2021, Richard Spencer

In our examination of the Gospel of Mark, we are now approaching the climax of Jesus’ work of redemption; his crucifixion, death and resurrection. As Christians, our purpose in studying the word of God should always be to help us live in a way that glorifies God. In Romans 8:29, Paul wrote that “those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Therefore, we see that to glorify God, we must be conformed to the likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Mediator, he is our Lord, he is our Savior, he is our older Brother and he is our exemplar. He is the unique God-man and his mission was also unique. Therefore, we are not to do everything that Jesus did, that would be impossible and it would be inappropriate for us as creatures to even attempt some of the things he did. But we are to follow in his footsteps in terms of his love for, and submission to, God the Father.

And no episode in the life of Jesus displays that love and submission more than our present passage. Yes, Jesus still had to endure the shame and horrible pain of the flogging and crucifixion, and yes, he still had to bear the awful wrath of God for us on the cross and die for our sins. But it is here in the Garden of Gethsemane that he fully grapples with the fact that those terrible events are about to transpire and it is here that he finds the strength to submit to the Father’s will. And therefore, there is no better passage for us to examine to see just how we should deal with the sometimes-painful realities of life in this sinful world.

Back in Mark Chapter 8 we read that when Jesus told the disciples he had to die Peter rebuked him. And then, in Verse 33, Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” And then we read in Verses 34-36 of that chapter, that he spoke to the crowd and his disciples saying, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Friends, that is the issue at stake before us. That is what this passage about Jesus’ time in Gethsemane calls us to consider. Will we try to cling to life in this world? Or are we willing to surrender all, to put everything on the altar and accept God’s perfect, eternal, plan for us? Jesus was willing to do that, and we must be also, most especially when that plan includes suffering. We must to have in mind the things of God. And his plan is for our eternal salvation. So, let’s examine this passage together to see what we can learn to encourage and guide us as we follow our great Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

I want to consider this passage by looking at five points. First, Jesus’ perfect humanity. Second, Jesus’ perfect prayer. Third, Jesus’ perfect submission. Fourth, Jesus’ perfect ministry. And fifth, Jesus’ perfect victory. And I will make some points of application along the way.

So, let’s begin by taking a look at Jesus’ perfect humanity.

I.       Jesus’ Perfect Humanity

Jesus Christ is the perfect, unique, God-man. There have been a number of heresies in the history of the church that denied either the deity or the true humanity of Jesus Christ, but the Scriptures are clear that Jesus is God and that he became truly and fully human when the virgin Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. It isn’t my point this morning to prove this statement, but note that Paul wrote in Colossians 2:9 that “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” Jesus was, and is, the perfect second person of the holy Trinity.

And Jesus is also perfect man. That is why John wrote, in 1 John 1:1-3, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

John and many others saw and heard Jesus. Their hands touched him. They lived and ate with him. And yet, Jesus is also the eternal life who was with the Father. The fact that it is impossible for us to completely comprehend the truth of the incarnation does not in any degree detract from the fact that it is the truth. As John also wrote in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This truth is beyond comprehension, God became man.

And nowhere is the true humanity of Jesus Christ illustrated more clearly than in our present passage. We read in Mark 14:33 that Jesus, “began to be deeply distressed and troubled.” And we are told in Verse 34 that he said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death”. Friends, Jesus is truly a man. He is a perfect, sinless man to be sure, but he is a man. And as a man facing this unbelievably horrible trial, he was deeply distressed and troubled and his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow even to the point of death.

And we can be sure that Satan was attacking him. Remember that after Jesus had successfully dealt with all of Satan’s temptations in the desert, we read in Luke 4:13 that “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left [Jesus] until an opportune time.” Well, can there be any doubt that this was the most opportune time of all? And so, even though we are not told about this, we can be sure that Satan was there, tempting Jesus.

We know that Jesus was aware of Satan’s activity because even earlier, when Peter had tried to deter him from his appointed task of giving his life as a sacrifice, Jesus had said to Peter “Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus knew who it was that was truly behind all opposition to his completing the work his Father had assigned.

Oh, brothers and sisters, consider for a moment if you will what Jesus was contemplating. He had lived a perfect life. He never sinned. And he had enjoyed perfect fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit every moment of his life. And as the perfect God-man he hated sin with a perfect hatred. Just being around sin had to be incredibly painful. And now he was being called to become sin for us as Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Just try and grapple with the immense pain this thought must have engendered. Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, was about to take all of the filthy sins of all of his chosen people throughout all of time on himself. He was to become sin. Just imagine the horror of that. And then he was going to experience the shame and horror of having those sinful creatures abuse him, mock him, spit on him, flog him and crucify him. As we see in Verse 41 of our passage, the Son of Man was betrayed into the hands of sinners. And then, worst of all, he was going to have the Father and the Holy Spirit leave him as he endured the wrath of God poured out upon him to pay for those sins. We can’t even begin to imagine how awful all of this was. And as he prayed in the garden, he knew this was all imminent. What anguish these thoughts produced.

And I think it is good for us to personalize this meditation. Think for just a moment. Jesus took upon himself all of my filthy sins. Every awful thing that I have ever thought, said or done. He took it all and bore it on the cross. He suffered the wrath of God that I deserved so that I could be saved. By his wounds I am healed. Oh praise Jesus! Praise God for his infinite love!

And we know that Jesus was meditating on these horrifying realities because he quoted from the first verse of Psalm 22 on the cross when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And that psalm also speaks of his crucifixion in terrible detail. Verse 7 says that “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads” and Verses 16-18 are explicit, they say that “Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”

And perhaps Jesus also meditated on Isaiah 53. In Verses 3-5 we read that “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” And in Verse 10 of that chapter we are told “it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer”.

Oh try and imagine if you can at all just what a terrifying prospect all of this must have been. No other person has ever endured such agony and no one else ever will. And how did Jesus deal with the situation? He turned to the word of God and prayer. The two go together because we must pray according to God’s will and we must remember and plead his promises. We have just seen that Jesus was meditating on Psalm 22, and surely he must have received encouragement from Verses 24-25, where we read that the Lord, “has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.”

And perhaps he also received encouragement from parts of Isaiah 53. In Verses 10 and 11 we are told that “though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied”. Even in the worst possible trials, the word of God always has comfort available to us. But we must seek God. We need his Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds and open our hearts to receive the encouragement that is available in his word.

And we are also told explicitly that Jesus came to his heavenly Father in prayer. In Verse 36 of our passage we read that he cried out, “Abba, Father”. Abba is an Aramaic term that is an intimate expression for father, akin to our calling someone Dad.

Friends, we can learn from Jesus’ example. Whenever you are in trouble, or whenever you have great praise and thanksgiving in your heart, turn to God. Turn to your heavenly Father. We are told in Romans 8:15 that we have received “the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” Isn’t that incredible? Sinful rebels like us can call God Abba, Father. What an amazing privilege we have. It is natural and understandable that Jesus should address God this way, but how amazing it is that God calls us to do so as well! And just as Jesus himself cried out to the Father in his time of need, so should we.

And prayer is effectual. In the parallel passage in Luke 22:43 we read that “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.” What glory! If we trust in God and plead with him on the basis of his word he will respond. He will give us strength to go through whatever trials he has ordained for us. Of course, all of the trials of every other human being pale in comparison with what Jesus was about to go through, but God’s grace was sufficient for him and it will be sufficient for us in every trial.

We aren’t told specifically what the angel said or did to strengthen Jesus, but we are told in Hebrews 12:2 that “for the joy set before him [he] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Therefore, we can imagine that the angel was helping him to remember and go over the Father’s promises and his great plan of salvation.

We know that Moses and Elijah had previously spoken with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration and in Luke 9:31 we are told that they spoke with him about his departure, in the original it says his exodus – in other words his death and resurrection. We aren’t told any more than that, but perhaps even that conversation was at least in part intended to strengthen Jesus by reminding him of the Father’s perfect plan and how it had been steadily advancing from the beginning through the time of Moses and the time of Elijah right up to that very moment. And we also should receive great comfort in seeing how God’s plan has been unfolding until this very day just as he said it would.

Friends, we have the word of God to tell us all that God has decided we need to know to strengthen us and direct us in living victorious lives for his glory. The apostle Peter was present on the mount of transfiguration and he wrote about it in 2 Peter 1:17-19, where we read, that Jesus “received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Oh let’s take Peter’s admonition seriously and pay careful attention to the word of the prophets, which is the word of God. And we need to do that with prayer. It is the word and prayer together that strengthened Jesus and it is the word and prayer together that can strengthen us. God will send his holy angels to watch over us and his Holy Spirit to guide and empower us. But we must turn to the word of God, and we must pray. We must seek God diligently and earnestly.

And we need to know how to pray properly. And so, let’s now move on to consider my second point, Jesus’ perfect prayer.

II.      Jesus’ Perfect Prayer

We aren’t told very much about what, exactly, Jesus prayed. But we know from Luke 22:41 that he first knelt down to pray and then we can assume that from there he fell with his face to the ground as we are told in Matthew 26:39. And after the angel appeared to strengthen him, we are also told in Luke 22:44 that “being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Does this put your prayers to shame? It does mine. We need to see our deep need and inability and come to God with all reverence, awe and confidence. We must know that he is able to do all that we need. We need to be very earnest and persistent in our prayers as Jesus was.

And we are told a little about what, specifically, Jesus prayed. In Verses 35-36 of our passage in Mark 14 we read that “Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” We can learn much from this brief description of the content of Jesus’ prayer. I have four things in particular that I want us to note about this prayer.

First, he prayed honestly. He asked that, if possible, the hour might pass. He said, “Take this cup from me.” Friends, we must always be honest with God. Jesus had nothing he would want to hide from God because he was sinless, but we do sometimes want to hide things. But let me tell you plainly, false piety will gain nothing. Hiding our motives and real desires will gain nothing. God knows them all anyway, so be honest. If your motives are not pure, repent and confess and ask God’s help to change. But be completely honest with God.

And then notice the second thing we can learn from Jesus’ prayer, he approached God on the basis of his relationship to him. He said, “Abba, Father”. We have no rational basis for expecting anything good from God’s hand if we cannot approach him as his blood-bought, adopted children. The blind man whom Jesus healed knew this, he testified before the Pharisees in John 9:31 saying, “We know that God does not listen to sinners.”

And Paul tells us in Colossians 1:21, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” Now, obviously, someone who is alienated from God and his enemy cannot ask him for help and expect a favorable response. Therefore, we must make our calling and election sure; that is the most important thing. In fact, it is, as Jesus told Martha, the only truly important thing in life. And we must be walking in repentance and the obedience of faith to have a reasonable basis for calling God Abba, Father.

If you have never repented of your sins, you have no right to approach God in prayer. And so the first step is to see that you are a rebellious sinner and that Jesus came to save sinners. Acknowledge your guilt, acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, seek mercy and God will have mercy. And then you too can call on your heavenly Father in prayer.

The third thing we notice from this prayer is that Jesus acknowledged God’s sovereign power; he said, “everything is possible for you”. What a wonderful truth that is! God frequently tells his people to not fear. He knows that we are frail creatures prone to fear. And so, for example, in Isaiah 43:1 we are told, “But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” What great comfort that provides. And this passage in Isaiah goes on and to say more. You can go home and read the rest and be comforted by God. If you have been born again, then God has redeemed you, he has summoned you by name and you are his. No one can snatch you out of his hand.

God created us, in fact, he created this entire universe. And so, we can know for certain, as Jesus did, that everything is possible for God.

In Matthew 19:21 we read that Jesus told the rich young ruler, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” And after the young man went away sad, we read in Matthew 19:23-24 that Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” To which his disciples responded with a perfectly natural question, “Who then can be saved?” And, in Verse 26, we read that Jesus responded, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Brothers and sisters, we need to recognize with whom it is we are speaking when we pray. We are speaking with the infinite, eternal, unchangeable, perfect, almighty, omniscient Creator God. With him all things are possible. Don’t let your lack of faith and your paltry experience of the power of God limit you. Take hold of his promises. Approach the throne of grace with boldness and pray for great things. Jesus himself told us in Matthew 17:20, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Therefore, let us emulate Jesus and be confident in the power of God and bold in our prayers.

And now we come to the part of Jesus’ prayer I want us to focus on most of all this morning. The fourth thing we learn is that we must pray in complete submission to the will of God. Jesus concluded by saying, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” And that leads to my third point, Jesus’ perfect submission.

III.    Jesus’ Perfect Submission

I already mentioned that Jesus told us in Mark 8:34, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” To take up our cross refers to surrendering our life. For most of us this does not literally mean to be martyred for Christ, but for all of us it does mean that we must surrender fully to the will of God.

Now, on the one hand, surrendering to the will of God is easy. After all, his will is determinative. His will is going to happen whether we like it or not. No one has the power to thwart God’s purposes. We recently read in Isaiah 55:11 that God’s word will not return to him empty, but will accomplish what he desires and achieve the purpose for which he sent it. Whether we surrender to the will of God or not, it will most certainly be accomplished. Opposing God is futile, stupid and wicked.

But I am speaking now about the need for us to consciously and voluntarily surrender our own plans and purposes to God. We must continually strive more and more throughout our walk with God to come to a place where we truly seek to know and do his will, no matter how much that goes against our own natural desires. We need to realize that his will is better than ours! In fact, his will is perfect.

In order to recognize that fact, we must spend serious time in God’s word and in prayer. We need to spend time preaching to ourselves. We need to learn to think biblically. We need to be able to say to ourselves, “Self, listen! God is good and his plan is perfect. He loves you and gave his only Son to save you. You are finite and ignorant and don’t know what is best for yourself. Don’t listen to your emotions, your sinful desires and the suggestions of Satan. Put the sinful nature to death, submit to God, resist the devil, and seek to know and do the will of God. That will always be best for you.”

And when we can’t understand how God can possibly work things out, that is precisely when it is most important for us to simply trust and obey. Look at Abraham. God had promised that he would bless Abraham’s descendants through his son Isaac. But then God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and burn him up! What a strange thing this must have seemed to Abraham. If he obeys, how on earth can God then keep his promise? But we read in Hebrews 11:19 that “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead”. That is biblical thinking. That is submission to the will of God. And that is what Jesus did. He acknowledged God’s sovereign power by saying, “everything is possible for you.” Then he made his request, “Take this cup from me.” And then he expressed his perfect submission and said, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” That was the final word.

Brothers and sisters, if we want to lead victorious Christian lives, we must seek to emulate Jesus in our prayers. We must know who God is and then fully submit to his perfect will.

And not only did Jesus submit perfectly, but even in this incomprehensible time of personal trial, he was still busy doing the work God gave him to do as the Shepherd of his sheep. And so my fourth point is Jesus’ perfect ministry.

IV.    Jesus’ Perfect Ministry

Look at the beginning of our passage. Starting in Verse 32 we read that Christ and his disciples, “went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’” As the perfect Shepherd, Jesus was concerned for his disciples even during this time of incredible personal trial. And he consciously set an example for them, “Sit here while I pray.” But then notice what we read next, in Verses 33 and 34, “He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ he said to them. ‘Stay here and keep watch.’”

We should ask, why did Jesus single out Peter, James and John? And, while the Bible doesn’t give us an explicit answer, we can certainly see some reasons for this choice. First, it was Peter who had most vigorously claimed that he would never deny Christ. Even though Christ had told him that he would deny his Lord, Peter had self-confidently exclaimed in Mark 14:31, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” Now, as I noted when we looked at that passage, all the others said the same thing, but Peter is singled out for a reason. Presumably, he was the most emphatic about it. Or, perhaps, he was chosen here because of the unique role he was going to be called to fulfill in the early church. We also know that Peter is the one who answered Christ’s question, “Who do you say I am?” In Mark 8:29 we read that Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

And we have also seen that James and John had expressed tremendous self-confidence. Back in Mark 10 they had asked Jesus to let one of them sit on his left and one on his right in his glory. We read in Mark 10:38 that Jesus replied, “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” And they foolishly replied saying, “We can”.

And so, Matthew Henry points out that these three, Peter, James and John, “had boasted most of their ability and willingness to suffer with him … and therefore Christ takes them to stand by and see what a struggle he had” [1]. And Henry adds that it is fitting that those who are most confident should be the first to be tried. I find it completely amazing that Jesus was able to concern himself with teaching his disciples and preparing them for the work they would be called to do at this incredible time of personal anguish.

And his ministry didn’t stop there. In Verses 37 and 38 we read that Jesus “returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Simon,’ he said to Peter, ‘are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” This is important counsel for all of us, not just for Peter. We must watch and pray that we don’t fall into temptation. If we are born again, the spirit is indeed willing, but the body is weak. We still have our old sinful nature with us and we must work hard to put it to death. We must be constantly vigilant and dependent on the Holy Spirit or we will most certainly fall.

As the apostle Paul teaches us in Romans 8:12-14, “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are [being] led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

And Jesus returned to the disciples a second time to find them asleep and shame them for their weakness. We read in Verse 40 that “They did not know what to say to him.” May we take the warning and strive to watch and pray and be filled with the Holy Spirit that we would not be found sleeping. And then Jesus went away and prayed a third time and when he returned he found them sleeping yet again. We read in Verse 41 that he said, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come.” Matthew Henry postulates, I think reasonably, that the word “Enough!” is basically saying to the disciples, “You have had warning enough to keep awake, and would not take it; and now you shall see what little reason you have to be secure.” Friends, we have no reason to feel secure in ourselves. We need the Holy Spirit. So learn from the disciple’s failure – watch and pray! Make diligent use of all the means of grace that God provides to assist us in our walk.

And Jesus continued to do the shepherding word God had called him to do right to the very end. Notice that while he was on the cross he took care of his responsibility as the oldest son to take care of his mother. In John 19:26-27 we read, “When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” Isn’t that incredible? Even while dying on the cross, Jesus was careful to finish the work he had to do. That should rebuke us for our so often failing to do our work because of our troubles. What troubles do we have to compare to those Jesus was called to endure? And yet he continued to be busy doing the Father’s work.

And then, returning to our passage in Mark 14, we note that it ends, in Verses 41 and 42, with Jesus saying, “Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” And that leads to my final point this morning, Jesus’ perfect victory.

V.      Jesus’ Perfect Victory

As I said earlier, Jesus still had to actually go through the process of his trial, execution, death and burial. He had not yet suffered the wrath of God. But the victory was certain. We read in Luke 9:51 that “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” And now his resolve was even greater. He had contemplated all that was about to happen, it was now imminent, and he did not shrink back in the slightest. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and in spite of the terrors that awaited him he could say, “Rise! Let us go!”

Brothers and sisters, we must learn from Jesus’ example. We are told in Ephesians 2:10 that “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” I hope that you enjoy prayer, personal Bible study, listening to the word being preached, fellowship and all of the other means of grace. But these are not ends in themselves. They are all designed to fulfill a purpose. They are to strengthen us to be able to say “Rise! Let us go and do the work that God has prepared for us to do!”

Paul told Timothy, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Notice the purpose – so that we may be equipped for every good work. And in Ephesians 4:11-12 Paul wrote that it was God “who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”. Our time spent in the word and prayer, in worship and fellowship should be enjoyable, but it all serves a purpose. We must all be seeking to know and use our gifts. We must all be seeking to be built up and equipped to do the work God has prepared for us to do.

Our salvation is not primarily for us! In Isaiah 43:5-7 God says, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Brothers and sisters, God created us for a purpose. We are to glorify him. And we do that by doing the work he has given us to do, just as Jesus glorified God by doing the work he was given to do. In John 17:4 he said to the Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”

And just as Jesus had to submit to God perfectly in order to complete his work, so we must also learn to submit to God. We will never do it perfectly in this life because of our sinful nature, but that should be our goal. We should strive for perfection. We can be encouraged that God’s grace was sufficient for Jesus to go through this unimaginable trial – and so it will also be sufficient for us to do whatever God has prepared for us to do!

And as it says in the hymn we are going to sing after this sermon, if we have perfect submission, we will have perfect delight, we will be completely at rest, and in Christ we will be happy and blessed, watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love. But don’t forget that the cross comes before the crown. We have work to do. So rise! Let us go!

[1] Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Hendrickson Publishers, 1991, Vol. 5, pg. 446