Trusting the Father: In the Waiting

Well, it's good to be with you this morning. If we've never met, my name is Josh. And I'm glad you chose to be here today because I actually believe that God has something in mind for all of us who are listening and watching and in the room today and online today. I believe you're here for a reason. And I believe that God has something for you today.

Maybe a challenge, a moment of encouragement, a connection you've been praying for. And my hope is that all of us would approach today open handed, ready to receive whatever God has in mind. And I say this every week because it matters so much, because we want to help people take next steps here. If you decide today is the day to not just sit in a chair, but to actually connect with Whitewater, we would love to help you do that. The best thing that you can do is go to the information desk out in the foyer, introduce yourself, let them know that you would like to take a step, and they can help you do that.

God's design for us is that we would be not just coming to church, but that we would be active participants in Christian community. That looks like real relationships. It looks like finding a place to share our gifts and resources by serving others, growing in our faith, helping others to grow in their faith, too. So if you're ready to take that step, just go to the information desk, let them know that you would like to take a step. Last week we kicked off this new series we're calling Trusting the Father.

And we're walking with Jesus on this journey to the cross. From the start of his ministry, all the way through the cross, and at every step, Jesus faces the pressure to step off the path, to take the short route, to go around the cross. He's tempted to take the easier way and avoid the pain. But he stays the course. He fully trusts the Father all the way to the cross.

And we began with Jesus baptism and his temptation in the wilderness. And at his baptism, God the Father publicly proclaims that this is his son, his identity is established, and that that moment matters. Because from that moment forward, everyone around him, the officials, the religious leaders, those closest to him, everyone will be poking at him and trying to challenge his identity, even Satan himself. But Jesus never wavers at every crossroads. He stays anchored in who the Father says he is.

And he continues his forward, full obedience. And during this time in the wilderness, before all of his miracles, before any crowds, before the cross, Jesus fasts. The wilderness isn't a detour for Jesus, it's a preparation for Jesus Satan shows up when Jesus is physically exhausted and spiritually empowered. And when Jesus is poked, what comes out reveals his true identity, his strength, his resolve, his unwavering trust in the Father. We said last week the label matches what's inside.

We also said that we would be stepping into this church wide season of fasting and prayer to walk a similar path of transformation, empowerment, time with the Father. Fasting prepares us too, and it makes space for God to work. It teaches us to say no to ourselves so that we can say yes to Him. I've had some great conversations this week with many of you who have taken on the fast in different ways. Whether it's skipping lunches every day, some people are avoiding all the snacking and the food between meals because they know that's really where they need to pull some things out of their lives.

Some people are doing multiple days of water only fasting, or a day every other day where they're fasting all day. There's lots of different ways that you can take part in the fast. At my house this week, it looked like lots and lots of fruits and vegetables and chopping and meal prep. It looked like some caffeine headaches and some pretty low energy for about four or five days. It looked like me really, really wanting to give in as I'm trying to write a sermon on Monday and Tuesday, and my brain is like, I'll stay home in bed.

This morning I just wanted to give in. But now things have just kind of evened off. They've leveled off. We're settled in for that long middle. The long middle is the hard part, isn't it?

We're settled in for the long middle between now and Easter. And however we're joining in on this intentional fast and prayer time, every time we choose to say no to ourselves, we're getting stronger. We're choosing to trust the Father. We're staying on the path. We're believing that God is doing things in and through us in ways we can't understand and some that we can't even see.

And if this church wide fast is news to you, hey, that's all right. I'd encourage you to go back and watch last week's message and you can join us this week if you want to start this week. If you fell off the wagon last week and you would like to start over this week, no shame. You can always start. Because this is not about being legalistic.

This isn't about some church telling us that we have to fast. This is about stepping onto the path we with Jesus and emulating the things that Jesus did. So before we get into today's message, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you that you would even, that you would even use me today to speak your word at all. And I pray that you would cause the words to come out of me that are the message that needs to be heard this morning.

And that you would cause these words to be seed planted that will bring an eternal harvest in Jesus name. Amen.

So as we looked at Jesus baptism last week, God establishing Jesus identity as the Messiah. I want us to file that away. This identity piece plays out all through this. So Jesus starts his public earthly ministry. He performs many miracles.

He preaches some amazing sermons. He calls His 12 disciples and he spends a tremendous amount of time with them. They're a band of knuckleheads, quite frankly. Half the time they don't get it. And the other half the time they also don't get it.

They argue and bicker, they mess up, they say dumb things. They are as human as we are. And in the middle of all this activity, Jesus very intentionally takes them on a week long journey to a place that's far away from home, to a place called Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi is this very worldly place full of pagan worship, detestable practices, stuff I'm not old enough to talk about this morning. And in Caesarea Philippi there is a place called the gates of Hades.

It's literally a cave entrance in a rock face of a cliff. And it's here that they believed was the entrance to the underworld, the entrance to hell itself. And it's here, in the face of pagan worship, unspeakable practices, temples to false gods, and the entrance to the gates of hell, that Jesus asks his disciples this question. Way far from home. He says, who do you say that I am?

Well, Simon Peter pipes in as he often does. Matthew 16, verse 13, he says, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. Jesus replied, blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter. He calls him rock.

And on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Now note that Peter is the one here who's all in. He's all in. And it seems like this pretty positive moment that starts to fall apart here in just a second.

And Jesus seems to be proclaiming that he's building his church right here in the middle of the world. From the Very beginning, Jesus model for the church was not that it would be this thing way out in the desert somewhere, way far away from hardship and sin and difficulty and reality. It was a church that was built right in the middle, right in front of the gates of hell. And he says, this is how I'm doing this. And this is not going to do anything but win.

That's his design for the church. Well, Matthew tells us that from this moment forward, Jesus starts explaining to his disciples, they already knew, they should have known. But he starts explaining and over explaining to them that he has to go to Jerusalem, that he's going to suffer many things, that he's going to die, and that he'll be raised after three days. And in the next few verses in the same scene, this is what happens. Verse 22.

Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord, he said. This shall never happen to you. Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me.

You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. And Peter goes from the man, I will build my church on this to get behind me, Satan. This has got to be a low moment, because when Jesus hears Peter saying what he's saying, Jesus hears the voice of Satan. The voice that was heard in the garden by Adam and Eve. The voice that Jesus himself heard in the wilderness.

He knows this voice. Step off the path, Jesus. You're too important to die, Jesus. If you are the son of God, save yourself, Jesus. Take the easy route.

Go around the cross. And the next verse is the verse we looked at last week. And in this context it's even more potent. Jesus said to the disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and and take up their cross and follow me. Jesus is preparing them to go to the cross with him.

And all this sets us up for this crossroads moment today where Jesus chooses again to stay on the path. Today we go to the garden of Gethsemane. It's the night before Jesus will be brutally beaten, mocked, spat upon, eventually be nailed to the cross. It's the night before he will bear the weight of the entire sin, our sin, the whole sin of the world. He'll take on the wrath of God in our place.

It's the moment where he will be betrayed by one disciple. One of his disciples will disown him three times and all of his disciples will flee and leave him. So let me set the scene. Jesus and the 12 disciples, they've just shared a meal together. He washes Their feet as an example of servanthood.

At the beginning of this meal, he establishes the practice of communion that we share in today. And he takes them on a walk. They head east out of town to a garden called Gethsemane. And that word, gethsemane, literally means olive press. It's a place where there's an olive press.

In the first century, olives were most valuable for the oil that they produced. And the process of extracting this oil, it begins with crushing the olives, like with a milk stone, like a large wheel, a stone wheel that would be in a trough, sometimes a circular trough. And the olives would go in and this wheel would crush them and it would turn it all into a pulp. The skin, the flesh, the seeds. And then that pulp was taken and placed into baskets and it was pressed with weight.

Pressure was put on that. In the first pressing, they would squeeze out the most valuable olive oil. It's what we call cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil. It's the best, most expensive, most valuable stuff. And then they would have two more pressings to squeeze the olive oil out.

And with each pressing, they would add heat and, and more pressure to squeeze out. And so by the third pressing, it's just the leftovers of oil. It's the cheap stuff that they would burn in lamps. And as we read this story from the book of Matthew, I want you to notice how when Jesus goes into the place of the olive press, the garden of the olive press, he is pressed to once, twice, three times. And with each pressing, more of his will gives way to the Father's will, until finally he stands up and he is ready.

Last week, Jesus was being poked at by Satan to see what came out. But this week, Jesus is being pressed by the Father. And when God presses, he isn't trying to figure out what's inside. And because unlike Satan, he already knows what's inside, when God does the pressing, he is squeezing us out like a sponge, Squeezing out our pride, squeezing out our desires, squeezing out our will to make more and more room for his desires, his power, his will, more of him. So let's watch as Jesus goes to God the Father.

We willingly to be pressed three times. Matthew 26, starting 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. And he took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, that's James and John, along with him.

And he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then 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 farther, he fell with his face to 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.

And I just want to say, if you've ever felt overwhelmed, if you've ever prayed for things to be different, if you've ever been crushed, pressed under the power of grief, or tempted to run from pain, you're not alone. Jesus walked that path. He's been there. And he shows us what it looks like to do it well, to trust the Father, even when it hurts. And this shows us just how real Jesus human experience is.

I think we can quickly forget that. We think, oh, he is the Messiah, he is the Son of God, and yes, he is. But he was absolutely human. His emotions are swirling. His physical body is recoiling at the thought of this painful death that's coming.

Jesus is faced with a real brutal, painful, physical death ahead of him. And his mind and body are screaming at him to step off the path. And in this story, Jesus willingly not only stays on the path, but actually steps up into the press to be crushed and squeezed out by the Father. And he pleads with the Father, if there is any other way around drinking this cup that he could be allowed to take, would you please, Father, give me any other way? And what cup is Jesus talking about?

It's two things. First, it is absolutely the physical death and the punishment that's going to be put on him tomorrow morning. It's the beatings. It's all of it. But it's more than that.

It's another layer. The cup of wrath is this picture all throughout Scripture, which is God's wrath being poured out in judgment. We see it in the Old Testament prophets, we see it in the Psalms, we see it in the book of Revelation, as we look forward to the final judgment when God's wrath will be poured out. This cup that Jesus must drink is the judgment, wrath and punishment of God. All for the sins of the world, all for our sins.

There's no way around it, and Jesus must drink it. And this should show us just how seriously God takes.

And as he goes back to his disciples, Jesus sees that they have not joined him in the press. Verse 40. Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. Couldn't you keep watch with me for one hour? He asked Peter.

It's interesting that Peter gets singled out. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. I mean, the disciples are human. They're tired.

They don't even understand why they're here because they don't get it. Jesus is telling them to watch and pray, but they just fall asleep. So Jesus tells them to join him in the press of watching and praying, and he goes back for his second pressing. And in the second pressing, we see his language shift a little bit. And if you're not paying attention to it, you can miss it because it's subtle.

Verse 42. He went away a second time and prayed, my Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done. The first pressing squeezed out Jesus own desires, his fears. And in the second pressing, Jesus is beginning to allow the Father to squeeze out his, his own will to make room for the father's will. Verse 43.

When he came back, he again found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time saying the same thing. Jesus invites them on the path. And these three, Peter, James, and John, they're the ones that are closest to him. And as he approaches them again and sees that they fell back asleep, this time, he just lets them sleep and he goes back to the press because they were unwilling to go, and he has to go by himself.

Verse 45. Then he returned, this is after the third time, to the disciples, and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come. The Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise, Let us go.

Here comes my betrayer. The disciples are startled awake and notice Jesus is just resolved. At this point. It has all been pressed out of him. At this point.

He is ready to go. The decision is made. He is walking to the cross. And even in this moment, after they've let him down three times in a row, he still invites them to come with him. He says, rise.

Let's go. Let's go. Take up your cross and follow me. Let's go to the cross. He's inviting them, but they have not been pressed.

They haven't been poured out. And so they're unwilling to stay the course. Judas comes and betrays Jesus. Jesus is arrested and taken. And then one of the single saddest verses in the whole Bible.

I mean, when you take the time to read through this story of Jesus with his disciples all the way to this moment, and if you just take that time and sit in this sentence, it's heartbreaking. Verse 56. Then all the disciples deserted him.

They all just leave. And I have to imagine that all of them in this moment, Jesus and the disciples immediately flashback to this scene that just happened a few hours ago. It's right after the Last Supper. It's right before they go to Gethsemane. Jesus is trying to explain to the disciples what's ahead.

And still they just refuse to get it. Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus told them, this very night, you will all fall away on account of me. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. And then Luke gives a detail that Matthew doesn't. He leaves it out.

And notice Jesus speaks to Peter, but he calls him by his old name. He calls him Simon. And he calls him Simon three times.

Luke 22:31 Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I've prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. Jesus says, you're all going to fail. Even you, Peter.

Even you, Peter. But I love that even in the middle of this, when Jesus knows what's coming, he still invites them to come. He still invites them to come. And he makes way. He starts to plant the seeds of the grace that Peter's going to need when he does turn back.

Because Jesus knows that he's going to. He says, when you turn back. When you turn back, you're going to fall away, Peter. But when you turn back, there will be grace for you. Of course.

Verse 33, Peter replies, even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. How often have we said these words? Truly, I tell you, Jesus answered this very night, tonight, before the rooster crows, before the sun comes up, you will disown me three times. But Peter declared, even if I have to disown die with you, I will never disown you. And all the disciples said the same.

And they all fled. When the moment comes for the disciples to do what they said they would do, they can't stay awake. Three times Jesus calls them into the press. Come into the press. Three times.

He warns them to pray so they don't fall into temptation. But they all abandoned Jesus. And if you know the story, then you know Peter does in fact deny that he even knows Jesus at all. Three times Peter's stepping off the path again. And after that moment, he hears the rooster crow.

Matthew 26, verse 75. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken. Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly. Peter's weeping is the sound of realization.

He missed the whole reason Jesus brought him to Gethsemane. He didn't just bring him there to be support, to pray with him and hold his hand through this. He brought them to be pressed. He brought them to take up their cross, to step into the press, be squeezed out, die to themselves, to let their will be replaced with the Father's will. And they slept.

They just slept. And Jesus questioned to them, why are you sleeping, Church? It's the same question for us today. Are we spiritually asleep? While Jesus is inviting us into deeper trust, into deeper waters, he's inviting us into surrender.

He's inviting us into the press. We're spiritually sleeping and avoiding the invitation to be pressed out by the Father because it just sounds too hard. Our churchwide fast, it's just a small way to step into the press, to be squeezed out. It's a small way. We're choosing to let the Father rid us of ourselves, to make.

To squeeze us out and make room for his will in our lives to be done. It's a step of trusting that the pressing is not a punishment, but a preparation. It's time for us to wake up. I love what Paul says in Second Corinthians, chapter 4. He says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay, fragile bodies, that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that this life may also be revealed in our mortal body. Take up your cross. Deny yourself.

Follow me. So here's our invitation for today. One, if you have never stepped onto the path with Jesus once before, I would love to have that conversation with you. Today. We'll have people at the bottom of the ramp.

We'll have several pastors around. You can talk to people in your row. If you want to meet Jesus, if you want to step onto the path with him for the first time, today's the day. Let's do it. Let's have that conversation begin.

You got questions? I know you do. We all have questions, but let's start the conversation. But second, we've already stepped into this season of fasting together as a church, and for many of us, that's been focused on saying no to food. And every time we say no, we're saying not my will, but yours.

Every hunger pang becomes a reminder to stay on the path and trust the Father. Every craving becomes a cue to to pray. We're learning to live like Jesus and step into the press. It's a wimpy little press, but it's a press. And today I want to invite you to take that fast another layer deeper too.

Just like Jesus got pressed three times to go back in for another pressing. We're inviting you to join us in a new layer of surrender for this week, challenging us to cut out all non work related media from our diets too. I said last week in one of the services, if you could somehow turn media into calories, we consume a lot more of those calories than we do food. So this fast would be from social media, streaming platforms, YouTube, the news, scrolling, binging, whatever fills the margins of your attention and numbs your soul to sleep. It's about making space.

It's about accepting the call of Jesus in the garden. Watch and pray so that you don't fall into temptation. Because just like the disciples in the garden, we're so easily lulled to sleep. Not with physical sleep, with digital noise, with constant distraction, with low grade escapism. And maybe this is the weakest time to wake up.

Maybe this is the week we stop scrolling and start watching and praying. Maybe this is the week we stop avoiding the press and actually purposely step into it. Because church God wants to do powerful work in us. He wants to resurrect us. Because if we go to the cross with him, we can also take part in his resurrection.

He wants to do things in us. He wants to shape us and press us. Not to punish us, but to prepare us. Not to crush us, but to pour us out, squeeze us out so there is more room for Him. So keep going with your food fast or start or start again, but add to it this media fast.

Let's watch and pray instead of scrolling and binging and let's continue this journey to the cross with Jesus. Not lulled to sleep, sleep by the enemy, but actually fully awake, fully present, fully surrendered. Now we chose for whatever reason this past week at my house that we did the media fast this last week. And I thought this will be really good for my kids who can't get off of their phones and iPad. And then I realized how much I needed it on top of that.

And so here's what I did. I just put screen time on my kids phones so that all they could do is communicate with us. And the Bible app was available on their phone. And do you know what they did on the bus when they had nothing else to do? It's not really that noble.

It was just because they had nothing else to do. They read the Bible. They read the Bible on the bus on the way to and from school. And I'm looking at their screens, I'm like, man, 35 minutes on the Bible app. Yeah, this is good, right?

And then what happened? We got to the end of our day, dinner's cleaned up, and we sit down and we're like, we're bored. What do we do? We can't watch the show we want to watch. We can't look at YouTube.

We can't be on our phones and scroll through Facebook. What are we going to do and what do we do? We filled that time with conversation and prayer scripture because we chose to stay on the path. And it brought these beautiful conversations. And they weren't perfect.

Some of them were ridiculous and silly. But we laughed a lot and we talked a lot. And we talked about God's word and we talked about why we were doing this media fast. And my prayer for you this week is that you get to experience some of the things that we got to experience this week. The richness of what God has for us when we're not asleep, when we're watchful and praying and available and there's room to soak something up.

That's my prayer for you this week. We can do this by being a people that doesn't run from the press, but willingly steps into the press. Let's be a people who say, not my will, but your will. Let's be a people who doesn't just say, if we have to die for you, we will, will. And then just slumbers all night.

Let's be a people who trust the Father all the way, all the way to the cross. The cross. The fact that Jesus went to the cross is why any of us are sitting here right now. Otherwise, none of this matters. If Jesus didn't go to the cross, if he didn't stay on that path, if he wasn't watching, praying, in agony, we wouldn't be sitting here.

We would have no future hope at all. Many of us, our lives would still be in a hole somewhere.

But Christ went to the cross. He went to the cross to take on all of our sin, all of our brokenness, and to make a path where there was no path. His path to the cross created path for us.

And now his call isn't literally to go to the cross. It's to deny ourselves and to practice that denying ourselves for him. And he intends to do something beautiful in it.