Imagine if you will tonight, that you are alone in the woods in the dead of winter. It is night and the temperature is dropping with every passing moment. The cry of coyotes and the howl of wolves surround you. You jump at the rustlings of leaves. There is only one recourse: build a fire! You gather old branches, old logs, dry bark, and dry leaves. You build a teepee fire.
But then it hits you. What are you going to light it with? Franticly you search your pockets and you find a dusty, Ohio blue-tip match in your pocket. Without a thought in the world you strike that match, put it to the kindling and blow that small flame into a roaring fire of light, warmth and protection. Only a great fool would throw that match to the ground and soak it in the snow.
Tonight we gather in Gethsemane, in the dark and in the danger. Not the danger of ice and animal, but the danger of the prowling devil seeking to devour. But Jesus strikes a single match to thwart the devil: Prayer! This (Ash Wednesday) we hear Lent's call to prayer: Watch and pray! Watch, for the devil prowls to devour you! Pray to the one who listens and promises aid!
Part I: Watch, for the devil prowls to devour you!
Years later, Peter wrote in his first epistle, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." A lion is a good picture of the devil. He is powerful, much more powerful than any of us can possibly imagine. If any of us tried to take on the devil with just our power, we would be as effective as a wounded antelope.
The devil has more power than any of us, but his greatest power is patience. Like the lion, he watches and waits. He waits for weakness to appear. He waited for Eve to be alone before he tempted her. He waited for Peter to boast that night before he overcame him with stress induced sleep. Then the time had come to pounce on Jesus.
Mark tells us, "Jesus began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death…stay here and keep watch.' Going a little farther he fell to the ground…" What is this that destroys the physical composure of our Savior? What is it that fills him with such terror and anguish that even his disciples grow distressed?
Imagine if you will that you are a college pledge for a fraternity. You have passed all that is required for you except the final test. If you pass this you are in the fraternity. Into the room on frat member carries a cup full of the vilest sewage and every disgusting thing that you can find. The stench turns your stomach. It is held to your lips. It is all that is between you and passing.
Would you not winch? Would you not ask if there was some other test you could pass? But this is what happens to Jesus in Gethsemane, but on a scale far beyond our comprehension. In Gethsemane the bitter cup containing our vile sins, lusts, anger, hatred, and pride is held to his lips. He must drain this cup to the dregs for the salvation of mankind.
And barking, howling and threatening Jesus was the devil! The devil besieged our Lord with all he had. There was no help, certainly not from his disciples. Where was the boastful Peter now? They were sleeping. The Lord must rouse them, "Watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Jesus was tempted beyond our human imagination and survived. The devil goes after him three times that night, and three times he strikes out. Jesus, unlike his sleepy disciples, kept perfect watch. Hebrews tells us, "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death and he was heard because of his reverent submission."
Jesus kept watch. He kept watch by perfectly obeying and following the Word of God. In the Wilderness he defeated the Devil simply with the power of God's Word. No fancy miracles were needed. No cannons or soldiers were required. Jesus just kept watch with the heavenly Word and he could see the devil coming a mile away and prepare for the advance.
As Jesus told Peter, "The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." The spirit God has given to us in faith knows the wiles of the devil. Not only does our conscience bear witness to his evils, but the revealed Word of God pinpoints them with military accuracy and precision. And yet like Peter, we fail to keep watch. We are like the radar operator in Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. We had all the advanced warning we needed the Japanese were coming, but we simply assumed we knew who it was and disaster struck!
Christians fail to keep watch in so many ways! The catechism student who gets confirmed and says to himself, "well that's the last class I'm taking." The pastor who treats the Word of God professionally and fails to bow his own knees in childlike devotion to the Word is another example. The delinquent who gives a rousing confession of faith but sees no need to comes to church since he knows it all. Or the parent who stops coming to church once their child is confirmed, thinking, "My job is done."
In light of such unfaithfulness to God's word, these words of Mark cut us to the heart, "When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him." How jarring are Jesus' words to our souls! As Jesus tells the church in Sardis, "You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead! Wake up! Strengthen what remains…for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of God."
As Jesus wakes the disciples to keep watch, he also wakes us. Watch for the devil! Do not be lulled into false confidence because of your wealth, the relative peace of our country and boast in your knowledge. As Paul tells the Corinthians, "So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you do not fall." Keep an eye out for the devil through daily mediation, through participation at the Lord's Table, public worship and group fellowship and bible study. And when you see the tempter approaching you and attack you, then fight him with the weapon God gives you: Prayer!
Part II: Pray to the One who breaks the devil's power!
Remember the match that God has placed in your pocket: prayer! William Cowper once wrote, "Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright, and Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint on his knees." In Gethsemane, Jesus fights the power of the devil and the weight of sin with prayer to his Father. Jesus prays, "Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."
This prayer, prayed earnestly, repeatedly by our Savior, defeats the devil. For when Jesus rises, he rises ready to carry out his Father's will without fear. He gets up after the third prayer and says to his disciples, "Go on and keep sleeping! Enough! The hour has come. Look the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"
Why did this prayer have such power? From the outside, Jesus appears to be weak and pitiful. What power is there is the mumbling of a few words, with folded hands and bended knees? In a battle, communication is the difference between life and death. Communication allows us to ask for more troops, air support, medical supplies, and even escape if necessary. Jesus prayer is that communication!
What sustained Jesus during all these temptations of the Devil? What is food? Water? The company of friends? Never! For whenever the devil tempted Jesus, all these things were absent, even that night! What sustained Jesus was his inseparable connection to his Father. Whenever he was tempted, he cast himself into the hands of his Father for strength, relief, need and supplication. In his ministry, every miracle is accompanied by prayer with his Father.
Even when he is forsaken for our sake on the cross, he cries out in faithful prayer: My God, My God why have you forsaken me! This perfect connection of the Son to the Father is what wins the salvation for all mankind. And guess what? Since by faith we are wrapped in Christ's righteousness, the same connection exists between God the Father and the you. And since the same connection exists, the same results exist for us. God listens, God answers, and God delivers.
Prayer takes our soul out of our hands and places them in the hands of the heavenly Father. Martin Luther writes, "In human affairs, we accomplish everything through prayer. What has been properly arranged, we keep in order, what has gone amiss we improve or change, what we cannot change and improve we bear, overcoming all trouble and sustaining all by prayer. Against such forces there is no help but prayer."
Is prayer easy? Certainly not! Prayer is a struggle. Look at the toll that prayer took on Jesus! Luke tells us that he prayed so hard and long that sweat fell like drops of blood. Prayer is hard because the devil uses all of his power to keep us from it and it requires all of power of our faith to do it. The devil pulls us from prayer so easily.
Most of us treat prayer like the laundry: it's important and we know we should do it, but we wait until our hampers are full and our drawers and closets are empty before we do it, and even then, we do just enough to get by. Here is an easy test: If you can count the number of times you pray in a given week, you're not praying enough!
Or worse yet, how many of us pray half-heartedly! God, if you're up there…God if your listening…such prayers James has strong words for: "When he asks, he must believe and not doubt…that man should not think he will receive anything fro the Lord." When we pray we must hand our soul to God with both hands, not cling to it with one.
Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, put it this way, "Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in heaven…Those who win the victory are those who grab the rope and pull it boldly and continually with all their might." Where will we get such motivation and strength for prayer? Why from Jesus himself, no doubt!
The power of Christian prayer is found in Jesus. Our faith sees Jesus gives me both the power and privilege of prayer. Striking the match of prayer begins as I look up to the cross and the empty tomb! Emboldened by that victory, no longer threatened by the devil, I enter God's throne room as a child speaks to his father and I lay before him all things at all times.
I lay my sins before him and receive forgiveness. I praise him with all the angels and saints. I thank him for the abundant blessings, spiritual and physical, that he pours generously upon me! I ask him for whatever I need and for the needs of my fellow believer, neighbor. And in this beautiful talk, the devil is crushed and must flee. What a match God places in my pocket. This Lenten season, dear friends, light it!
Amen
Sermon for Ash Wednesday (Lenten Rotation)
Text: Mark 14:32-40
Preached at Mount Olive Lutheran Church
March 1, 2006
