Not My Will, But Your Be Done
Luke 22:39-62
Key Verse 22:42
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Our church is University Bible Fellowship. We do intensive Bible Study with the vision to grow to be and also to raise disciples of Jesus, shepherds and bible teachers, spiritual leaders for this nation and for this generation. But, what does it truly mean to be a Christian, a disciple? When Jesus taught his disciples, he often said “… as I have done for you.” and “… follow me.” Being a Believer and a disciple of Jesus means more than just learning or knowing his teachings. It means learning about Jesus himself – His teachings, his servanthood, his love, his compassion, his sacrifices, and his humility. Paul described this as having the attitude of Jesus, the mind-set of Jesus. Why should we be humble and love even enemies? Why should we be honest and seek truth, losing a lot? Not only that is what Jesus taught us; but also that is the mind-set of Christ Jesus we should have. The best bible passages to deeply learn Jesus are these Luke 22-24. We can learn his sacrifices, his trust in God, his love for sinners, his love for truth, his obedience to God. When we learn and have such a mind-set of Christ, we become genuine Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ.
Jesus had the last supper with his disciples. What awaited him after that were Judah’s betrayal, Peter’s denial, his arrest, trials, crucifixion, and death on the cross. In today’s passage, we see Jesus praying on the Mount of Olives. Through prayer, Jesus triumphed over these circumstances and over the devil’s temptation in order to fulfill God’s will for him. In contrast, the disciples who failed to pray, faltered miserably. From this bible study, we may learn Jesus’ prayer – his self-denial and his obedience. So, we may be victorious in the midst of all the trials and temptations. We may continue to carry on 1:1 Bible study ministry to fulfill God’s will, the World Campus Mission.
“Father… not my will, but yours be done.” (39-46)
Look at verse 39-40. “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” Jesus and the disciples had just shared the last supper, The Passover, making the new covenant with His body and blood as the Passover Lamb. Jesus knew that in a few hours, Judas would come with a band of soldiers to arrest him. He knew that not only himself, but also his disciples would face tremendous challenges – betrayal, His arrest, threats of their lives, and His crucifixion. Satan would sift them like wheat, attempting to make them deny Jesus and scatter like sheep without a shepherd. Temptations were about to come upon them. What did Jesus tell them to do? What did Jesus do?
In verse 39, Jesus told the disciples “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” Even Jesus, the son of God who had such authority and power, prayed; not just prayed, but earnestly prayed again and again. Look at verses 41-44. Jesus knelt down and prayed. Being in anguish, he prayed and prayed more earnestly until his sweat was falling to the ground like drops of blood. Why prayer at this critical moment? Yes. Because Prayer is the only way for us to overcome the temptation. King David, who was known as a righteous king, was overcome by the temptation of lust; Solomon, the wisest man, was defeated by the lust. Throughout history, many well established and respected men have fallen to temptations such as greed, pride, lust and ambition. We should know that the source of temptation is the devil, with all his power, seeking to entice us to sin. As Paul said in Ephesians, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ep6:12) We are surrounded by the pragmatic world system, various man-centered philosophies that tempt and entice us to forsake God and rely on ourselves. Isn’t it overwhelming? That is why we should pray.
Through prayer, we turn to God. When we pray, God gives us wisdom and understanding; we come to see lies of the devil and know the will of God. When we pray, we find strength to resist temptations. When we “Have faith in God,” we do not become like a superman with power but we humbly come to prayer. Through prayer of faith, we can even move a mountain. That is why Jesus said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” Only through prayer can we remain faithful to our mission and persevere through any kind of temptations or trials even.
Then, how did Jesus pray? Look at verse 42. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” This is Jesus’ prayer that gives Him victory over all temptations; Enables him to submit to the will of God. Let’s learn Jesus’ prayer.
First, Jesus called God “Father.” just as a little boy calls out to his beloved father. It tells Jesus’ absolute trust in the love of God for him. Even though God would abandon him on the cross, in his prayer he came to God with humble reverence and absolute trust in the love of God. Trusting God’s love and his power, Jesus honestly presented his heart to God. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.” He admitted that he wanted to avoid the cup which refers to his suffering and death; God’s ultimate punishment for the sins of the world. As a human at the age 33 Jesus wanted to live, so he asked His Father to take the cup away. In order to truly pray to God, we need to trust the love of God and the power of God like Jesus did. When we do so, we can bring the real problems of our hearts to God; the problem we never tell anyone; the problem we have kept deep in our heart. God is our father who is able and who loves absolutely and unconditionally. We can come to God in our prayer anytime with any problems. Most of our prayers might end with asking God to do what we want. But, Jesus’ prayer did not stop with asking God to take the cup from him.
Second, Jesus prayed to submit His will to the will of God. Look at verse 42 again. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Though he did not want to take the cup, Jesus did not pray to change God’s will. Instead, he prayed that God’s will be done rather than his own. He knew what the will of God is. It is to take the cup – the suffering, a shameful and painful death on a cross. That is God’s will. Jesus also knew that through his sacrifice, God would break the power of death and set sinners free: through his blood, God will bring the forgiveness of sins by faith in him alone; through his death and resurrection, God will open the new living way to the kingdom of God. That is God’s will. So, he prayed “yet not my will, but yours will be done.”
He prayed to submit his will to the will of God. It was not done out of a slavish mind, but out of Jesus’ deep trust in God. Look at verse 44. Jesus became anguished in his prayer even. It was because of the burden of the cup – Judah’s betrayal, Peter’s denial, the trials, the mocking and torture, the condemnation, the pain and shame of crucifixion, the extreme anguish of separation from God, and finally death. It was also because of his strong will to live. Still, he did not stop praying. Rather, he prayed more earnestly again and again until his sweat was falling like the drops of blood. He truly fought the spiritual battle in his prayer until Jesus subdued his human desire completely; until he decided to obey the will of God absolutely. Through prayer, Jesus won the victory over the devil’s temptation.
From Jesus, we learn how to pray. Prayer is not only asking God for what we want. It begins with coming to God, presenting our deep inner problems while trusting his love and his power to answer our prayer. But, prayer should progress from asking God to listening to God – God’s will and progress more to willing submission to God’s will. Such prayer results in obedience to God’s will. Prayer will not change God’s will, but prayer will change our heart, our attitude toward the will of God, and our will even. The more we spend in prayer, the more we will be changed into a man after God’s own heart.
We face painful conflicts between God’s will and our desires. This conflict may surface as we struggle to decide our future directions, marriage, or mission direction. When this conflict arises, we should confront it through prayer. We may pray “Yet not my will, but yours will be done.” We need to struggle in our prayer until we have such a firm decision of faith to obey God’s will. 1:1 Bible Study, Disciples making ministry are the will of God for our church, and also for each of us. That is God’s calling for our UBF ministry. To serve God’s will, we had prayed and prayed for over 20 years. Even after over 20 years of repeated trials and failures, we did not give up praying. Rather, we decided to study the bible, teach the bible, and raise the leaders through intensive IBS. That is why we started GELF. For the last 7 years, God has answered our prayer to raise up Bible Teachers, Messengers, Spiritual leaders among next generations through GLEF. GLEF is a really intensive bible study program with long lectures and presentations from morning to night for over 9 days. Still, I want to continue GLEF, because, based on what I have experienced and know, this is the way to serve God’s will for this generation.
Do you know “Decidophobia”? It is the fear of making decisions. I thought that I had Decidophobia. I realized that it is a spiritual symptom of lack of prayer. In my prayer, I made my request to God and tried hard to listen to God’s will for us, for our young leader, the next generation. However, I did not struggle much to submit my will to God’s will. Have you ever prayed so earnestly that you sweat or reached a conviction and a firm decision to obey God’s will? Many times, I have failed to do so and was unable to make a decision out of fear or uncertainty. I repent of my lack of prayer. If you have experienced such phobia, it might be a spiritual symptom of lack of prayer. Let us learn Jesus’ prayer. Those who pray like Jesus carry out God’s will with conviction and selfless obedience.
What were the disciples doing while Jesus was praying? After the last supper, they began to sense reality. Their dream of an earthly messianic kingdom would not be fulfilled. Instead, hardship and suffering awaited them, even betray, and denial. It was too much for them to bear. They became very sorrowful. Though Jesus told them “Pray,” out of sorrow, they closed their eyes and slept. Their lack of prayer leads them to painful failures. Let’s listen to Jesus’ words! “Pray!” Learning Jesus’ prayer, we may experience the spiritual victory in our mission and in our daily lives.
II. Jesus submitted to God’s will (47-53)
In this part, we can see the contrasted Jesus’ response to the crisis to that of the disciples. Judas, a beloved disciple, came with a crowd – the chief priests, the temple guards, the elders and even roman soldiers. He approached Jesus to kiss him. This kiss was an arranged signal to arrest Jesus. Though a kiss is the expression of love and affection, Jesus exposed Judah’s evil motive, saying “Judas, are you betraying the son of man with a kiss?” Judas was not merely betraying his master; he was betraying the son of man, the promised Messiah. Jesus’ words alerted the disciples and they realized what was happening.
How did they respond to this crisis? When they did not pray, they had no spiritual insight to see what was going on. To protect themselves and their shepherd, Jesus, they took their swords. Even one of them struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. Though it may have seemed a courageous act, it was a foolish one that could have turned the event into a bloodbath.
What about Jesus? Look at verse 51 “But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.” Jesus rebuked and stopped the disciples. He also healed the man whose ear had been cut off. While the disciples reacted impulsively, Jesus controlled the situation so that he himself could be arrested. Submitting to the will of God does not mean doing nothing or simply being led by the situation. By controlling the situation, Jesus actively submitted to the will of God. Jesus boldly took the lead and walked the way of the cross with a sense of victory and confidence. That is what it means to submit or obey God’s will. The prayer changed Jesus to be ready for the cross; to move forward toward the cross with decisiveness. It is true that no one takes his life from him, but Jesus gave his life as the lamb of God in obedience to the death on a cross.
We can see what terrible consequences Peter faces due to his lack of prayer. Look at verse 54. The religious leaders seized Jesus and took him into the house of the high priest. They treated him like a criminal. He did not resist, but yielded himself to his arresters and quietly went through the trials. When they seized Jesus, all the disciples were scattered, running away for their lives. Even one of them fled naked, leaving his garment behind.
What about Peter? He followed Jesus at a distance. He could not run away because of his own word to go with Jesus to prison and to death. At the same time he could not follow Jesus closely for the fear that he would be arrested and killed. Peter ended up in the middle of the high priest’s courtyard surrounded by his servants. He became like a sitting duck while many hunters with rifles surrounded him. Then, a servant girl saw Peter seated there. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.” “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said. He denied his relationship with Jesus. A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” “Man, I am not!” Peter replied. He denied his identity. About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” Peter, big mouth, might talk with his loud Galilean accent. Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.
Look at verse 61a. At that moment, the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Though Jesus did not say a word, his eyes spoke to Peter’s soul. At that moment, Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken to him “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times” (61b). Definitely, he also remembered Jesus’ prayer for him. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (31-32) He went outside and wept bitterly (62).
This was the moment that He came to realize that Jesus is God and his word is the truth. It was the most painful moment for Peter. All his human pride, self-righteousness, Human Royalty or will, and ego crushed down. Though he wanted to be somebody with his big mouth and will power, he became nobody. However God used this failure to help him grow as a useful man in God’s history. Through failures, Peter experienced the power of God’s word. This became the turning point for Peter to live by faith in the word of God. The best part of this story is that Peter’s story doesn’t end here like Judas’ story. Peter did not have to live the rest of his life with a heavy burden of sorrow and regret. It was because he had turned back to Jesus just as Jesus prayed. (22:32) Jesus reinstated Peter and even entrusted God’s flock under his care as a shepherd. There is no failure in God. No matter how we have failed, no matter what sin we have allowed into our life, Jesus loved us and gave his life for us as the lamb of God.
In this passage we have learned how to pray from Jesus. Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.” We praise and thank Jesus who took the cup of God’s wrath, so that we may receive the cup of God’s grace. Let’s also learn to pray as Jesus did. It is the secret to spiritual victory. Let us listen to God in prayer until we can obey his will from our hearts with simple faith. God may make us victors in our personal life and in our spiritual battle to raise America as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. We may learn Jesus who prayed and obeyed.