~ March 23, 2014 ~ Third Sunday in Lent 10:15 am Living Hope Lutheran Church Pastor Todd Goldschmidt Lenten Sermon Series: Fellowship With the Father: Our Lord in Prayer Theme: Awake At Night Luke 6:12-16 New International Version (NIV) The Twelve Apostles 12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: 14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. (425) 868-9404 - www.lhlc.org, pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 1 of 5
What keeps you awake at night? What keeps you awake at night? Maybe you sleep so soundly that nothing keeps you up. A Navy fighter jet could take off outside your bedroom window and you d sleep right through it. If that s the case, you should be very thankful for such a rare and restful gift! By contrast, most of us have a whole host of concerns that keep us awake: a child who s adrift from Christ, the anchor for his soul; a marriage in crisis; a job in jeopardy; words shouted in anger instead of spoken in love, and words of witness left unsaid because of our timidity; money shortfalls; declining health; and a list of other issues that seems to get longer the older we get. All of us even sound sleepers carry cumbersome burdens to bed at night. How welcome it is to know, then, that just like Jesus, we have fellowship with the Father, Who invites us to pray even when no, especially when we are AWAKE AT NIGHT That s the way it was for Jesus at the outset of today s sermon text. We re told, One of those days during the first year of His public ministry, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. What kept our Lord awake that night? In the verses just prior to our text, Luke records an account in which Jesus healed a man... whose right hand was shriveled. But here s the upshot: He did so while teaching in the synagogue before a crowd of Pharisees and... teachers of the law [who] were looking for a reason to accuse [Him]. For that reason, they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. Luke writes, But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man... Get up and stand in front of everyone. The man complied. Then Jesus said to them, I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or destroy it? He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus (vv. 6-11). Such bitter antagonism from His adversaries was certainly enough to keep Him up all night. But I d warrant that it was something else that had Him on His knees in prayer for hours. Jesus had a momentous decision to make. He already a retinue of perhaps as many as 100 souls who hung on His every word. These eager followers even called Him Master and Rabbi. From that growing band of believers, Jesus needed to identify a dozen disciples who had what it took to be designated apostles. There was a lot at stake here! An apostle is more than a disciple. The term is taken from the Greek verb APOSTELO, which means to send forth. A disciple is a student, while an apostle is a teacher a sent one. These unique individuals were part of Jesus inner circle of followers who would learn at His feet when everyone else had gone home for the night. They had the top level security clearance, if you will, allowing them virtually unrestricted access to Jesus. They would by the primary proclaimers of the story of salvation: that God kept His manifold promises to send the world a Savior known by the name Jesus of Nazareth. (425) 868-9404 - www.lhlc.org, pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 2 of 5
Their message would center on Jesus cross and empty tomb, His death and resurrection. What a radical restructuring of regional religious beliefs this good news about Jesus was in the 1 st century Mediterranean world to which the apostles reached out! The following truths separate Christianity from every other religion or philosophy: 1) no person has been, or ever will be able to, live up to the standard of moral perfection that God demands; 2) because we cannot attain the righteousness that God requires in order to be in a right relationship with Him, He loved us enough to send His only Son to be our Savior from sin, death and the power of the devil; 3) the eternal Son of God took on our human nature when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary; 4) throughout His earthly life, Jesus the God-Man led an absolutely perfect life in our place, measuring up to God s moral code; 5) He then freely offered His spotless life into death on a cross to atone for the sins of all people; 6) and finally, the piece de resistance: Jesus rose bodily from the dead three days after His lifeless body was laid in the garden tomb. The apostles taught that folks are saved purely by God s undeserved love for them in Christ and by trusting in Jesus and the work He did in their behalf. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: For it is by grace you are saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast (2:8-9). Did the rest of Jesus flock know what was happening that day when they assembled on the hillside to hear His morning homily and instead He began roll call announcing His chosen Twelve? What did Jesus look for in the men He selected to carry the message of His saving work to the world and even inspired to record for posterity the sacred truths of the New Testament? Were they especially learned? Hardly. They weren t dullards, mind you, but the only school most of them had graduated from was the school of hard knocks and life experience. Fishermen, a tax collector, and common tradesmen were the bolt of cloth these men were cut from. Were they particularly loyal? Quite the opposite! During Holy Week when Jesus needed them the most His three closest companions fell asleep even after He d confessed to them, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me... Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matt. 26:38 & 41). When the mob arrested Jesus, they all fled like rats leaving a sinking ship. Judas Iscariot, betrayed Him for the price of a common slave, and Simon Peter denied Him three times. How different were they from you and me, or for that matter, from Jesus other followers at the time He chose them to be His apostles? Not one bit, so far as I can tell. And that s the way God wanted it to be. He wanted us to see the apostles warts and all, with every one of their sins and weaknesses, character flaws and epic failures so that we would see ourselves in them: frail, flawed and too often faithless followers of the Faithful One, yet handpicked to be His children and called by Him to share the gospel message of salvation with others while there s still time. The Apostle Paul aptly portrays us in 1 st Corinthians: (425) 868-9404 - www.lhlc.org, pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 3 of 5
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him (1:26-29) One by one, Jesus called their names: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor, yet Jesus loved him no less than He loved all the other apostles He chose! Fast forward to Luke s inspired account at the beginning of the Book of Acts. After they d received their commission to Go and make disciples of all nations and watched Jesus ascend back into heaven, they returned to an upper room in Jerusalem perhaps the same one in which they d celebrated their final Passover with Jesus as He transformed that sacred Seder of old into the sacramental meal of His Holy Supper in which He offers us His true body and blood together with the simple earthly elements of bread and wine. Did they realize what they d signed up for when they first set out to follow Jesus? Not likely. How could they have foreseen the way the key events in God s plan of salvation ended up unfolding the way they did. Truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction! It is for us who are in Christ today as well. Every day is one more day of His grace, one more 24 hour period of time in which we are privileged to witness the amazing ways He works to accomplish His fore-ordained purposes for our life. If we keep our eyes of faith wide open, we can t help but see glimpses big and small of His abiding presence. How encouraging it is for us to know that no matter what decision we face, we can follow Jesus example and approach God in prayer, trusting that as we do He will reveal the answer that is always in our best interests because they re in the best interests of His kingdom. That s what the apostles did as they waited in that upper room for Jesus to send His Holy Spirit just like He promised He would. They devoted themselves to prayer, Luke informs us. And they had much to pray for: understanding, boldness, humility and picking a replacement for Judas to serve as the final member of the Twelve. We begin this message by exploring what keeps us awake at night. I d like to add a few more. Reflect upon your blessings to as you lie down to sleep blessings the Lord would love to hear you say thank you for as you close your eyes and drift off to slumber-land. Thank Him that He hand-picked you from before the creation of the world to be His dear child; that when you were baptized into Christ the Holy Spirit clothed you with the snow-white robe of Jesus righteousness; that your slate of sins has been wiped clean just as surely as the dawning of a new day; that you are empowered by the Spirit to live your life in a way that pleases the LORD; and that you can pour your heart out to the Father in prayer any time you want to. (425) 868-9404 - www.lhlc.org, pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 4 of 5
Meditate on Psalm 121 while you re lying in bed. In it, the psalmist says, he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep (vv. 3b- 4). There aren t enough hours in the day or the night to ponder all the things that keep us awake. But know for certain that the LORD will watch over our coming and our going both now and forevermore. The Bible assures us that the LORD grants sleep to those he loves (Psalm 127:2). So sweet dreams, in Jesus name! Amen. (425) 868-9404 - www.lhlc.org, pastortodd@lhlc.org Page 5 of 5