“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee [James and John], and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’ He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.’ Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.’ And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer [Judas] is at hand.’” Matthew 26:36-46.
While this article is about redeeming the time, notice one thing that will underlie our entire subject here. Jesus said to Peter, James and John, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
In all the gospels Jesus never shows Himself as, “sorrowful, even to death”, until this time of final anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Yet, the disciples do not seem to recognize the impact of this statement. Why?
Well, it was late after supper and they were all sleepy. We can relate to that, especially after a Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey dinner. Still, “sorrowful, even to death”, should have raised some red flags.
Man is self-centered, Christian or not, male or female, it does not matter. Unless the heart is changed to consider others the mind will most of the time be focused on our own comfort, the football game, dinner, or ladies night out.
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:3-4.
“… [Love] does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil…” 1 Corinthians 13:5.
“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Roman 12:3.
“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Galatians 5:13-14.
“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well…” James 2:8.
While we should not just paint the disciples with a broad brush and say that they were insensitive, such lapses in judgment are possible with anyone.
But we do have an interesting picture here; Jesus left the disciples and prayed three times and they slept through all three times.
This is a prophetic type of Christ, who after He went to the cross, rose again, and ascended to heaven and is now awaiting the time of His return to earth again.
Jesus has ascended to heaven and is seated on the right hand of the Father, but because it is late, Christians have gone to sleep. Christians are disciples of Christ and the equivalent of the ones who were sleeping as men came to murder the Son of God.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming – in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning – lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” Mark 13:32-37.
Christ can return for His own at any moment. Many will be asleep, and many will not be occupied doing the tasks He has given us, “… [He] gave authority to his servants, and to each his work”.
God has given every Christian on the face of this earth a task to do whether large or small and with it He has given us the authority to do it.
If you seek Him in prayer and Bible study He will reveal your ministry to you in time. One caution let it be something God has called you to do, not something you want to do, or think you should do.
God may give you something difficult but He will not give you something that does not fit your personality.
Not everyone is called to be an evangelist preaching to millions. Some are called to minister to the homeless or the shut-in. Some are called to teach or preach.
Some are called to comfort and pray for those in distress. The bedridden may be called to pray for the needs of others, including their salvation.
I do not care if you are handicapped, blind, deaf, cannot speak, or just a little slow; God has something for you to do.
It does not matter how insignificant it may seem to you or someone else, it is significant to God, and it just might save a nation!
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10.
We must endeavor to perform the task God has given us diligently and without losing heart, because He has given us authority to do it.
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord…” Romans 12:9-11.
The dictionary defines diligence as: constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind. Some of the synonyms are: application, industry, assiduity, perseverance.
If you have read the testimonies of sports stars, musicians, or any truly successful person you will find that the one thing they had in common was constant diligence in practicing their art.
All Christians need to have this one characteristic in their lives. The reason that most do not is that they are promised rewards for the way they live on this earth. Instead, they disdain unseen rewards for the world’s perishable things.
“…but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:15-19.
“…conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear…” the word fear has the idea of reverence, respect for authority, rank, or dignity.
The sleeping disciples in Matthew 26:36-46 were unaware of the unseen peril about to fall upon the Lord, and them and so they slept.
Many Christians sleep without fear of who God truly is, nor do they fear/reverence, the fact that they were bought with a price far outweighing silver or gold of any amount.
True, for the real Christian there was a time when they were excited by the knowledge that God is real and that Jesus had died for them.
But in time memories fade and if there is no one to teach or mentor them, if they do not attend church or read their Bible, if they have no godly Christian friends, the shiny things in this world soon draw them away, many even join cults.
It is important to remind Christians of whom they serve, that God has a purpose for them in this life, and that they serve a risen living Savior. It is important to teach, and remind Christians of the things in Scripture, written for them.
“This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.” 2 Timothy 2:11-14.
“Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.” Titus 3:1-2.
“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior…” 2 Peter 3:1-2.
As you can see, it is important to remind Christians, and others, often, because folks are forgetful and can begin to slip in areas that they have forgotten.
As an aside, there are a couple of things that may help in Bible studies and reading commentaries. You will notice some words in parenthesis, (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder).
This is a thought added by the author of the epistle (letter), 2 Peter 3:1-2. Whenever you see words in parenthesis it is a thought put there by the author.
However, if you see words in [brackets], they are words put in by someone else to define, explain, or elaborate on something in the quote.
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting…” Ephesians 4:11-14.
As you can see, it is the function of the church to train Christians how to spot counterfeit Christianity or religions, how to be good witnesses to the world around them, how to become the perfect man/woman conforming to the image of the Savior Jesus Christ.
There is also fellowship in the church with Christians bonding with one another as brothers and sisters in the faith.
Recall the parable told earlier by the Lord about the man who went to a far country and gave his servants authority and their work to do; He also gave them another task.
He commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. The doorkeeper is the pastor or leadership made responsible for a church. Woe to those who have fallen asleep and neglected keeping watch over their church, God will not hold them guiltless.
Nor will the apostle, prophet, teachers, or the evangelist who neglects the church and the preaching of Christ Jesus and Him crucified be excused.
We were not redeemed with silver or gold which perishes, but by the blood that flowed from the wounds inflicted by evil men upon the eternal Son of God who hung on a cross for our sake, because He loved us; not because He was a victim.
Men could not possibly have arrested the omnipotent God the Son otherwise.
“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles – when we walked in lewdness [incitement to lust or lechery], lusts [not just sexual], drunkenness, revelries [drunks parading through the streets at night singing etc. in honor of Bacchus or some other god], drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.” 1 Peter 4:1-3.
“… [we] no longer should live the rest of his [our] time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” 1 Peter 4:2.
Salvation in Christ is the cutoff point for the Christian who has lived their life as the ungodly do. The time when we will all stand before Jesus Christ our Savior draws neigh.
Redeeming the Time, Part 1 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 12-1-15 updated on 8-26-23.
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.