Overcome
Even though we often know what the right thing to do is, we fail again and again. In order to overcome and resist temptation in these situations, we need to equip ourselves in prayer and decide to put God’s will above our own. We are dependent on the power of God to overcome and need His grace again and again.
During my theological studies, I had the privilege of gaining experience in preaching. It was the perfect learning environment. The people were generally well disposed towards me and there was always a very manageable number of listeners. While I was standing at the front, I was able to look people in the eye and got a favourable smile back from most of them. Not from all of them, because one or two of them closed their eyes from time to time during the sermon. One dear, elderly lady, let’s call her Rösli, came to the service very faithfully in order to sleep through every sermon. After each sermon, I received feedback from our pastor. So after one of these sermons, I sat in the office with our pastor for this feedback. To start with, the pastor asked me for my self-assessment. I thought it didn’t go badly, it was fun as always. Besides, the people must not have thought it was too bad either. Even Rösli had stayed awake during the whole sermon. My pastor looked at me in amazement and said that he had never preached with such authority before. Well, who knows whether Rösli had a good day or I actually had a good sermon.
Stay awake and pray
Today I want to look with you at a story from the life of Jesus that is actually also about staying awake at the crucial moment. It is a story that we can read about in three of the four Gospels. It takes place shortly before the arrest, condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus announces that one of his twelve disciples, one of his closest companions, would betray him. This is followed by a conversation with Peter. Peter assures Jesus that he will never betray him. But Jesus puts the brakes on him. He predicts that Peter will deny knowing him three times before morning. If we turn just one page in the Bible, we read that Jesus is proved right. Peter knew what the right thing to do would have been, but he failed. We know this from our own lives. We actually know exactly what the right thing to do would be, but we fail and don’t manage to overcome. Again and again we miss the target and sin. Maybe you’re like me and sometimes you think you’re actually living quite well. You stay away from the «big» sins and behave decently. I would like to draw a small comparison here, as I believe that when you are travelling in faith, it can happen that at some point we see sin as breaking the rules and no longer as missing the mark. My husband played floorball very well in his youth. For many years, he played for a strong club with great ambitions. To be allowed to play there, it was of course not enough for him to simply stick to the rules of floorball. He had to attend training sessions and also had to work on his fitness outside of them, even if no-one monitored him. He practised moves voluntarily at home and in training he had to do the drills that the coach had prepared. During the game, he had to pay attention to his team members and to the coach’s instructions so that they could win the games. He and his team-mates had to work together to follow the strategy that the coach had laid down in advance. What seems so logical in sport is sometimes more difficult to understand in faith. It is about a holistic life according to God’s will and not about adhering to certain rules. But now back to the story I actually want to talk about today. We can read about it in Matthew 26:36–46. After the Passover meal and the aforementioned conversation with his disciples, Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane. There he takes three of his disciples aside so that they would stay awake with him and pray for the time ahead. We read from verse 39 onwards: «Jesus walked a few steps further, prostrated himself and prayed: «My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me and spare me this suffering! But not what I want, but what you want shall be done. Then he came back to the three disciples and saw that they had fallen asleep. He woke Peter and called out: «Could you not keep awake with me for a single hour? Stay awake and pray so that you can resist temptation».» (Matthew 26:39–41a HFA). Jesus then withdraws twice more and prays the same prayer a total of three times. Each time he finds the disciples asleep. After Jesus has prayed the third time «not what I will, but what you will, be done», he wakes the three disciples. This is followed by Judas» betrayal and Jesus begins his ordeal all the way to the cross. Jesus did not retire to pray because he thought it would be nice to have a little prayer time with his closest friends. I am convinced that this time of prayer was essential for what happened afterwards. Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully human and as such, just like each of us, he was also exposed to temptation and forced to overcome. The fact that Jesus managed to ultimately put God’s will above his own needs in everything required his previous decision. Jesus made this decision in prayer that night in Gethsemane. I would like to read the last part of the passage again. Jesus himself explains the purpose of this prayer. « «Stay awake and pray so that you can resist temptation».» (Matthew 26:41a, HFA). This is the reason for Jesus» prayer, just as it should be the reason for the disciples to stay awake and pray. In those hours in the garden when Jesus prayed full of fear and despair, he made the firm decision to surrender to all the pain that was to come. There on his knees, he made the decision to put his Father’s will above every human desire. Jesus did not want to be humiliated and executed in the most painful way. He states so clearly in his prayer that he deeply wished there was another way. Jesus, our great role model in faith, also had to overcome. Jesus overcame not because, as the Son of God, he had supernatural strength to overcome in challenging situations, but through his human devotion in prayer. He too had to be equipped with the power of God in times of prayer. We don’t know what would have happened if Peter had stayed awake to pray. However, if we assume that Jesus was serious and was right that they should pray to resist temptation, I think the logical consequence would be that Peter would also have overcome and not denied knowing Jesus. For me, this is a principle of discipleship. There are always temptations in our lives. Perhaps you know, as I do, that there are certain temptations that we give in to again and again. Even though we know what the right thing to do would be and even though we want so much to finally overcome this temptation once and for all. Discipleship also means overcoming these temptations and living an increasingly holy life. However, we will not overcome in the situation itself. Overcoming happens through the decision in prayer to put God’s will above our own will in these areas of life. You will not overcome the temptation to go to bed with your partner before marriage if you are at home alone and watching a great film together. You don’t overcome the temptation to speak badly about others when someone comes to you and speaks badly about someone else. Or even much more subtly: You don’t overcome the temptation to only trust in your own ability, your own provision and your own skills at the end of the month when you look at your bank balance and think about what you want to do with your time and money. Whatever the temptation in your life is, you overcome it in prayer.
Not under our own steam
For when we begin to win these victories in prayer, we recognise that we cannot overcome in our own strength. I have withheld the second half of verse 41 from you until now. It says: « «Stay awake and pray so that you can resist temptation. I know you want the best, but you cannot achieve it in your own strength».» (Matthew 26:41b, HFA). Especially if you say that you are not the type of person to pray for hours on end. If you think it’s not to your taste to spend 15 minutes together in a small group in silence before God. If you say you’re more of a worshipper, a practitioner or a giver. If you find it incredibly difficult to give your quiet time enough space in your everyday life, that’s exactly when I believe Jesus is speaking to you so lovingly this morning: «I know you want the best, but you can’t do it in your own strength. He doesn’t need your prayer, you need it. I am very sorry to have to say this so clearly: prayer is not primarily about your edification. Nor is it about whether you enjoy it immensely or whether it gives you something. Prayer is about recognising that you can’t do it alone. It’s about confessing that God is able to do more in your life than you could ever achieve on your own. St Francis de Sales said: «Take half an hour every day for prayer, unless you have a lot to do, then take an hour.» God can change more in your life through half an hour of honest prayer than you could ever do yourself through all your efforts. If even Jesus needed to equip himself in prayer, how much more do we need it? Jesus could just as easily have said that he should have slept to equip himself for the gruelling hours, but apparently he knew that God is able to give more strength than a few hours of sleep. It may well cost us something to fall to our knees and pray with determination. But what awaits us in return is pure freedom. Freedom from sin and the freedom to know that change, that overcoming, does not come from our own strength. It is the power of God that works in us through prayer before it works through us in temptation. I want to get into the habit of not falling into self-condemnation when I fall again and give in to temptation, because God does not condemn me for that either. Rather, I want to get down on my knees and wrestle in prayer for the decision to follow God’s will next time in the situation and resist the temptation. After Peter has failed, after he has denied knowing Jesus three times, Jesus meets him full of grace. He restores Peter’s identity and gives him a new commission to build the church of Jesus on him as the rock. I believe Peter has learnt his lesson. On the night when Jesus was betrayed, he did not have the strength to confess Jesus. A few years later he managed to overcome it. Peter dies a martyr’s death. He stands by Jesus and is executed as a consequence. I know that doesn’t sound exactly desirable, but I’m sure that what he gained from this outweighed the pain he had to suffer.
Confide in someone
I think the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane and the events surrounding it reveal the nature of God as a loving Father. He passionately longs for us to obey his will because he wants to bring out the best in us. But he knows that we cannot do this in our own strength, which is why he gives us the tools we need to do it in his strength. And even if we still fail, he waits for us with open arms full of grace and lifts us up again. Today I would especially like to encourage you to make use of prayer during worship time, after the service or during your next small group evening. When Jesus withdraws for prayer, we read the following about him: «He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee – James and John – with him. Jesus was overcome with fear and deep sadness, and he said to them: «I am almost breaking under the burden I have to bear. Stay here and watch with me».» (Matthew 26: 37–38, HFA). As a teacher, leader and great role model, Jesus shows himself to his disciples in his own weakness and vulnerability. In doing so, he sets an example once and for all that each of us, no matter how strong we appear on the outside, is deeply needy and requires God’s intervention and the support of others.
Possible questions for the small group
Read the passage in Matthew 26, 36–46 together
- Is there something that came to your attention during the sermon or in the time afterwards, an area of life where you keep failing or where you disregard God’s will or that challenges you and you want to address in prayer?
- How do you experience your personal prayer time? Do you find it easy to stay in prayer? What challenges do you experience (and how could you counteract them)?
- Are you generally happy with your lifestyle and do you find it difficult to recognise areas for improvement or, on the contrary, do you find it difficult to be gracious with yourself and not sink into self-doubt?
- In which areas of your life are you trying to achieve change through your own performance and efforts instead of trusting in the transforming power of God?
- Do you have someone you can confide in when you are at your weakest and most vulnerable?
