Burdens & Blessings | Week 3 | Sermon

Our big idea for today, the big idea is following Jesus is surrendering our will, not getting our way. Following Jesus is surrendering our will, not getting our way. And what you and I are gonna wrestle with from time to time is there are things that we want to do that directly go against the will of God in our life,

and we will have a decision to make. Will I do it my way or will I surrender my will? And what we're gonna do with our time together this morning is we're gonna look at a moment where Jesus is in the Garden Of Gethsemane, and we're gonna see him pray for a different outcome.

And then we're gonna parallel that with the story of the Garden of Eden, because what we're gonna see is in the Garden of Eden, we see the result of getting our way. In the Garden Of Gethsemane, we see the result of surrendering our will.

And if you've been with us, we've been in the book of Matthew pretty much all year long. And we're at a point in the story that Jesus is at the end of his life. He's a couple hours away from this whole thing being over. He's done all the miracles. He's fed 5,000 people with the GI Joe lunchbox.

He's done all of his teachings. He's he's done it all at this point, and he knows what's about to come. He knows the physical pain, and he knows the spiritual pain he's about to endure. From a physical side, he had seen people die on a cross. That wasn't hypothetical. He's seen it. He's heard the sounds of it.

He has seen the horror of a death on a cross, and he knows that's his future. He knows he's gonna get beaten, betrayed, mocked, and whipped. So much so, scholars believe it is a miracle that he was alive when he even got to the cross. And he knows all of this is coming,

but he also knows the spiritual weight that's about to happen. That when he gets on the cross, the weight of all of humanity's sin is gonna be pressed onto him. And he is mere hours from this happening, and he gets away in a garden of Gethsemane, and he has a conversation with his heavenly father.

We're gonna be in Matthew chapter 26.

Matthew chapter 26. We're gonna start in verse 36. Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, sit here while I go over there and pray. He took Peter and two sons of Zebedee along with him.

That that's James and John, if you're not familiar. So he takes Peter, James, and John with him into the garden. He began to be sorrowful and troubled, and he said to them, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.

Going a little further, he fell with his face in the ground and prayed, my father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. I have been in church literally my entire life. I was in church nine months before I was born.

And we would go to this thing called Sunday school, and if you don't know what Sunday school is, you're probably better off for it. It wasn't a great experience. I didn't like going to school Monday through Friday, and I had to go to school on Sunday too. It wasn't the greatest thing as a kid.

And what we would do in Sunday school is they pull out these flannel graph boards, which was basically just like felt paper, and they do the little stories in front of you. Nowadays, our church for kids, it's like in three d. It's really cool. In my days, felt paper with little characters.

But one of my favorites was the story of the Garden Of Gethsemane, and Jesus would be on the on the felt board. He'd have the long hair, which is why I'm doing this, just trying to be like Jesus. He he had this, like, red sash on,

and it's like he won the Miss America contest, like the Messiah contest or something. I don't understand. There's always a lamb next to him. And in the pictures growing up, he would have this big smile on his face and he'd just be like

but then I read the story as an adult, and I felt like filing a lawsuit against my Sunday school teacher. That's not the story at all. Jesus walks into the garden,

and he falls face down to the point that he's feeling like he's close to death already. In the gospel Luke, it says that he's sweating drops of blood. He's so anxious about the spiritual weight, the physical weight he's about to endure. And he falls on his face, and he prays, my father, if it's possible,

may you remove this cup. The cup being the physical and the spiritual he knows he's about to go through. But yet he ends and says, yet not as I will, but as you will. I can't imagine what Peter, James, and John must have felt seeing Jesus like this. They have seen Jesus do all kinds of miracles.

They have seen Jesus do all kinds of things. They have never seen him in such a vulnerable state before. And Jesus gets face down and prays, Father, there's any other way, let's go with that. Verse 40, then he returned to his disciples and he found them sleeping.

Couldn't you men keep watch with me for one hour? He asked Peter. Watch and pray so that you will not fall in temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. He went away a second time and prayed, my father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken unless I drink it, may your will be done.

Goes away a second time and says, father, if there's any other way, if there's any other option. But here's what Jesus knows in this moment. This is why he prays a little different. He understands there's no other option,

which is why he says, if there's no other option, may your will be done. He understands the only option for him in this moment is to surrender to the will of his father. And this is something that the great theologian, Ricky Bobby, did not understand.

If you don't know who Ricky Bobby is, he's from a movie Talladega Nights, and he's a race car driver. And he's in a race, and he gets in an accident, his car catches on fire. Remember this? And he gets out of the car,

and he thinks he's on fire. He's not, but he thinks he is. And he begins to pray. Help me, God. Help me, Tom Cruise. Help me, Oprah Winfrey.

Help me, Ola. And he's just trying to cover all of his bases. Because he's just saying, whichever one works, I'm gonna go with that one. And what what Ricky Bobby didn't understand is there's only one who can help you in the fire of this life. And Jesus says, there's only one option,

and that's surrendering to the will of our father. And I wonder for you, when you're in moments of stress, when you're in moments of God, I don't know if I want this, what do you cry out to? Help me God. Help me alcohol, help me food, help me addiction, help me unhealthy relationship. And Jesus understands in this moment,

there's only one who can help me in the fires of this life, and I'm gonna surrender to the will of the father. He prays a second time. He goes back to his guys. In verse 43, he came back, and again he found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy. Tough day for these guys.

So he left them and went away once more and prayed a third time saying the same thing. Is it a sin to not wanna do the things that God wants you to do? Is it a sin to not wanna do the things that God wants you to do? The answer is no. Whether it's sinful or righteous is about your follow through. It is okay

to not wanna do what God wants you to do. Whether it's sinful or righteous is all about our follow through. Then he returned to the disciples and he said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come. The son of man is delivered into the hands of the sinners. Arise,

let us go. Here comes my betrayer. So Jesus walks into the Garden Of Gethsemane, head down, bleeding, sweat, all the things are happening, feeling like he's close to death, prays three times, he stands up and says, okay. The thing I wanted to avoid, the thing I didn't wanna go through, I'm now walking directly towards it.

Because he understood in this moment that surrendering to his heavenly father is the only option. And what Jesus does in the Garden of Gethsemane, in many ways, is he fixes what happens in the Garden of Eden. What Jesus does in the Garden of Gethsemane

is he fixes what happened in the Garden of Eden. If you're not familiar with Christianity, I'll give you the quick version of it. Page one of the bible is God created. He put everything into motion that you were created on purpose and for a purpose. That's page one. Page two, God picked up the dust and he

breathed the breath of life into man. And God looked at man and thought,

I think I can do a little better than that. So God created woman. This is right there in the bible. This by the way, this is where practice makes perfect comes from, women. Right here. Can I get an amen? Amen. Yeah. Don't get too excited though. Fruit's coming in the story, and it's not a good look. So just don't get too pumped.

You and I, wash my hands, we are literally created to be connected to God, our heavenly father, and be connected to others. That is why we are here. Be connected to God and to be connected to others. That's page two. And God says, you are free to do whatever you want. There's one rule.

God put a tree in the middle of the garden and said, you don't eat from this tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You just don't eat up. Everything else, you're free. Which begs the question, why would God even create the tree to begin with? If God knew that they would eventually eat the tree,

why would he put the tree there? And that's a really good question, and I love to answer it. So shoot me an email at billbush@rockpointchurch. I'll get right to you. Here's my here's my thinking, is that God chose love, and you cannot have love without having a choice.

That God did not want us to be robots who had to obey him, so he put a tree so you and I had a choice if we're gonna choose to surrender to his will or not. And he puts the tree in the garden and says there's one rule, stay away from the tree. You're free to do whatever you want.

And then in Genesis chapter three, our enemy shows up in the garden. Here's what it says. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? Did God really say? By the way,

that's the exact tactic he's using on our culture today. Did God really say? In other words, can you trust God at his word or not? What we're gonna see in the Garden of Eden is our enemy makes three comments to Adam and Eve, to get Adam and Eve to go out of God's will and go after what they think is better.

And the first is this, our enemy, and they do this to us today, our enemy wants you to question God's word. Did God really say? Are you sure that's what God meant? Eve responds, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say we must not eat from the tree that's in the middle of the garden

and you must not touch it or you will die. Verse four, you will not certainly die. Pause. Our enemy wants you to question God's word and second, he wants you to question if God is good. God said we can't and cause we're gonna die and the enemy says, no, you're not gonna die. That actually,

God, no, you're not gonna die. And Eve's gotta be sitting there thinking like, a minute. Is God telling me the truth? Wait a minute. Is God actually good? Look at this. Look what he says next. For God knows

that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. Third thing they get them to question is God's provision. That God is not gonna provide you what you need, that God is holding out on you and he is not enough. Isn't it true? In moments where something's coming in our life,

we just don't want to experience. We tend to say, God, is your word really good? Are you really good? And are you gonna be enough for me in this season? The enemy is smart. They use the same tactic back then that they're using on our us today. We question his word. We question if he's good, and we question

if he will provide. And in that moment, Adam and Eve, it says that Eve saw the fruit and saw that it was good, pleasing, and desirable.

So she took it. She went outside the will of God, and she took it. And I don't know about you, church, but I often find myself in Genesis chapter three that I wanna do what I think is good, I wanna do what is pleasing to me, and I'm not gonna let an archaic book tell me what I'm allowed to desire.

And she reaches outside of the will of God. And in that moment, sin entered the world, brokenness entered the world, death entered the world, cancer entered the world. And because of Adam and Eve reaching outside of God's will for something that they wanted, We find Jesus in the garden. We find Jesus praying

to his heavenly father. And Jesus is a better Adam because Jesus said, I will surrender to the will of my heavenly father because I can trust him. I love the way Max Lucado says it. He says, the bible is a story of two gardens, Eden and Gethsemane.

In the first, Adam took a fall. In the second, Jesus took a stand. In the first, God sought Adam. In the second, Jesus sought God. In Eden, Satan led Adam to a tree that led to his death. In Gethsemane, Jesus went to a tree that led to our life. What Jesus does in the Garden Of Gethsemane

is he fixes what happened in the Garden Of Eden. And for you and I today, we have a choice to make. Are we gonna do it our way or are we gonna surrender our will to our heavenly father?

So how do we do this? What does it look like? We do it the same way that Jesus did it. The first thing we do is we pray for change. How to surrender our will is we pray for change.

This is what Jesus did. He went to the garden and he began to pray that God would change the circumstance, but he also prayed not my will, so God, will you change me. Any of you like math? About three of you, I see. Yeah. Phil's a pout. Right?

I hated math as a kid. Hated it. In fact, this is true story. The first a I ever got on a math class was my freshman year of bible college when I took a course on the book of numbers. First time I ever got an a in math. Do not tell me it doesn't count. It absolutely counts.

Hated math as a kid. I remember being in fourth grade though. I was working on my math homework, and my math book just fell open to the back of the book. Do you guys know this? I had no idea. They had the answers in the back of the book. Got it. My homework went to a whole another level at this point. I'm

working on problem two. There's the answer to problem two. This is awesome. I used to hate homework. This is easy. So I went to school that week with miss Woods, and I turned to my homework, I was so confident. And after a couple days, the teacher is like, hey, Rocky. Can you stay back?

We're gonna send everyone else to recess, but I wanna talk to you. And I'm thinking, of course, that's what a students do. We don't go to recess. We hang out with teach. This is what we do. So I go to her desk, and she's like, Rocky, I've been looking at your homework. And I'm like, let me just stop you there.

I think it's a testament to your teaching ability.

That's the only reason why I'm getting it right. We're a good team. And she says, yeah, okay, that's great, but I'm noticing you have the answers, but nowhere on your homework do you have your work. And I said, I'm actually far more interested in the work and the process than I am the answer.

Because it's in the work and the process you're gonna actually discover what the point of the problem is to begin with. See, when we pray for change, we cannot simply pray for the answer. Because so often, God wants to do something in you before he does something for you.

So often, God wants to do something in you before he does something for you. But if you're anything like me, I tend to focus on the answer. I simply want God to give me the answer, but God wants to do something in the process before we even get to the answer. Pray for change,

but don't simply pray that it's nothing but the circumstance that change. And so many of us, all of our prayers to God is all about, God, what can you give me? That our prayers are like the Spice Girls song wannabe. You guys know who the Spice Girls are? A lot more of you than know math. That's good. It's from my crowd.

They have a famous song that I think resembles how often we pray to God. Now I'm gonna sing you a part of it. So worship team, this is my audition for you. If you're not familiar with the song, here's what it here's what it says. It says, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. You with me? I

think a lot of us, the way we pray to God is, God, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. And we think God's in heaven like, tell me what you want, what you really, really want.

It's okay to pray for what you want, what you really, really want. Jesus does it. There's nothing wrong with praying for what you want. But when all of our prayers are simply about what we want, I think we're missing the point of prayer. Because prayer is not simply meant to just be transactional.

Prayer is meant to be relational. And it's okay to pray for change, but maybe the change God wants to do first is a change in you before it's a change in your circumstance.

This is what Jesus did. He prays for change, but every time he says, not your will, but mine. In other words, if this is what we're doing, give me the strength to do it. What does Eve do? She has concerns, and she takes her concerns to a snake.

She doesn't take her concerns to her heavenly father, who's right there in the garden, by the way. She takes her concerns about the tree to her enemy. It's okay to doubt God. I don't think that's where Eve went wrong at all. The problem was she took her doubts to a snake and not the heavenly father who created it.

Pray for change, but not simply change the outcome, because God wants to do something in you before he often does something for you. How do we surrender our will? We pray for change. The second thing is we be in community.

We choose to be a part of community because you and I were created to be connected to God and connected to others. It's why we are here. There's a funny story about Muhammad Ali, famous boxer, and he got on a plane. And he's on the plane and the stewardess grabs the intercom and says, alright, we're gonna take off flying soon,

but we need everyone to put their seat belt on first. Well, Muhammad Ali, he's a big deal. So he decided not to put his seat belt on. So the poor stewardess had to walk up to him, knowing who he was, and she's like, hey, sir, like, it's nice to meet you, but can you please put your seat belt on?

Muhammad Ali, here's what he says to her. He says, I'm Superman and Superman don't need no seat belt. This poor girl is like, that's cool, but this plane can't fly unless you put a seat belt on. Second time, he says, no. No. No. I'm Superman. Superman don't need no seat belt.

For a third time, she's getting frustrated. She's like, sir, please put the seat belt on. We can't fly unless you put the seat belt on. He goes, nope. I'm Superman. Superman don't need no seat belt.

So finally, she had the courage to say this. Well, all due respect, sir, Superman don't need no plane. Put the seat belt on.

My fear for some of you is you walk in here and you think you have to be Superman. You walk in here in isolation, you walk in here dealing with very real things, but hey, I'm Superman. I don't need any help. I'm Superwoman. I don't need any help. Your marriage is struggling, but nope, I'm Superman.

I'll figure it out all by myself. Your finances are struggling. Nope. I'm Superwoman. I don't need no help. Then we can find ourselves being so afraid to look vulnerable to people that we end up going through life alone. You were never meant to go through this alone. We were created

to be connected to God and connected to others, but so many of us walk in here and say, nope, I'm Superman, and I am not gonna be vulnerable. Even Jesus gets in the garden, he brings three guys with him, and he lets them see him in a vulnerable state. What do Adam and Eve do in the Garden Of Eden?

They eat from the fruit, and the first thing they did was they hid from God and they hid from each other. And so many of us have been hiding ever since. Will you have the courage to surrender to God's will and be in community and say, I'm not Superman, and I need help. Like Bria.

I wanna show you a video of Bria and what this looks like in real life.

Last year, I was pregnant, and I felt alone. I didn't have any family or any friends around to talk to about how I was feeling. And I reached out to Hunter, who's the young adults leader,

and he mentioned a group called Embrace Grace. Embrace Grace is a group that helps single mothers who are really struggling and just don't know which direction to go, and they may be questioning some things or just not in a right place in life. And there's mothers who will

support you and direct you to God. And not only that, but they give you and your son or your daughter the love that you deserve. They pointed me to God in every way, and they believed in me. They threw baby shower for me. They just every way possible, they supported me and they had my back.

The baby shower helped me tremendously. The things that they offered, and they gave to help support me and my son, I would not have been able to afford all of that. There's absolutely no way. So thankfully, my son was generously loved through the church and through Embrace Grace.

Now that he's almost eight months old, they are like his grandmas. They support him. They love him. And now he has more family. And I definitely think that he's gonna feel that as he gets older. Without all of you guys, I don't know where I would be. Thank you for making Embrace Grace possible.

Because of your gift to the Hope Outreach offering, moms like me don't have to feel alone.

Bria had the courage to say I'm not superwoman and I need help about you. Will you have the courage to say I need help, I'm not gonna go through this alone.

Maybe for you you're sitting here going man life's life's pretty good right now. Maybe your role in this season is to be a community for someone who needs you because you are sitting around people who desperately need help. And maybe

your role is to be the community for those people. See, Bria, in the story, none of this would have happened if it wasn't for those of you who had given to the Hope Outreach. Because of those of you who have given faithfully to our Hope Outreach initiative,

stories like this happen all the time. And if you've given to that in the past, you need to know this. You are as important in her story as the community of people who are with her because you helped make this happen.

And those of you who might be in a season of saying, I I feel like I'm good, but I love to help. You can help people like her by giving to rockpointchurch.com and hope, and it goes directly to helping people like her. Others of you, are you willing to say, I'm not Superman? I need help.

How do we surrender our will? We we pray for change. We be in community, and we trust in God.

At some point along this journey, you just have to decide if you're gonna trust in a risen savior or not. In the garden, Adam and Eve looked at the fruit and saw that it was good, desirable, and pleasing, and they went outside of God's will because in that moment, they chose not to trust in God's provision.

What about you? See, the truth is we have a heavenly father who loves you and wants what's best for you, and you cannot judge the love of God based on your circumstances. You judge the love of God based on an empty tomb.

God loves you, and he has a plan for you. And at some point, you're just gonna have to decide, am I gonna trust him or not? Am I gonna trust my heavenly father? Couple weeks ago, my son, Orion, got sick again. And instead of running and hiding, I wanna show you what he did.

He still didn't like the taste of it. He still didn't want it. But come on. He trusted the hand that was providing it. He trusted in his heavenly father, which was me in this story. Are you willing to trust in your heavenly father?

Are you willing to look to your father and say, I'm gonna put my trust in you. And it might not be what I want. It might not be what I would pick for myself, but I am trusting that you are still good and you are still on your throne. And if you are a Christian, look up here for a second. If you're a Christian, this life

is the closest thing to hell you will ever experience. This is as bad as it gets for you. Have the courage to follow God's will, not reach outside of it, and trust that God is good and he's still on his throne. And there is hope. If not in this life, in the next life, there is hope. And those of you who aren't a Christian,

you've never put your hope in a risen savior, this is the closest thing to heaven you'll ever experience. This isn't heaven. This is brokenness. This is pain. This is suffering.

Choose to surrender to the will of your heavenly Father because everything He has for you is for His glory, but it's for your good.

We're gonna sing trust in God as a church. I'm gonna pray for us, but as we sing through this, I want this to be a song for us who are in the room who are really struggling with something that we can say, father, I'm gonna choose to trust in you. Despite my circumstances,

despite what it looks like is happening, I'm gonna put my trust in a risen savior because you are worthy. So, father, give us courage. Give us courage to put our trust in you, to not look at our circumstances as a sign of your love, but look at an empty tomb as a sign of your love.

I pray for all of us in the room. We'll begin to surrender our will to you, that we will pray for change, but not just changing the outcome, but change us in the midst of difficulty. I pray you'll give us the courage to be in community. Give us the courage to say, I'm not Superman. I am not Superwoman,

and I'm not gonna try to do this by myself. Father, give us the courage to put our hope and our trust in a risen savior because you are good and you have our best interest in mind. Give us the courage to continue to trust you in hard times. Teach us these things, father. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen.

Hey, thanks for joining us for service online this weekend. Be sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on the Rock Point Church app for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.