Three Times...

"And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.'" (Matthew 26:39, ESV)

"Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”" (Matthew 26:42, ESV)

"So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again." (Matthew 26:44, ESV)

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it [Paul's thorn in the flesh] should leave me." (2 Corinthians 12:8, ESV)

Before Jesus was betrayed by His own disciple, Judas Iscariot, He asked God His Father three times to make another way possible for the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of fellowship between God and all people who trust in Jesus' death and resurrection for that forgiveness. The little that I know about the agonizing, human-apostacizing pain and shame of Roman crucifixion gives me no question as to just why Jesus would ask for His Father to make another way possible this forgiveness and restoration to be possible.

Jesus wasn't stupid. He lived in a Roman Empire-dominated world where Roman soldiers ran the show and if anyone tried to take the stage away from Rome (and there were quite a few of those people in Jesus' day) or any one caused enough stirring drama on the stage, so to speak, among other ways punishment was given out...they were publicly stripped naked, beaten, nailed to a cross and then put on display along the main walk ways in town for everyone going about their business to see. Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior King Who prophets spoke about for the last 1000+ years up until His arival, knew that in order for His Kingdom to be established and for Him to rightly be the exalted Savior King He "must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again." (Mark 8:31, ESV) But Jesus still humbly prayed three times for the possibility of another way, if God His Father was willing.

FWD a couple decades after Jesus' death and, yes, resurrection, and ascension back to His throne in Heaven...

Before Paul went on in his service to his Savior King, Jesus Christ, he asked his Savior and King three times to make another way possible for his thorn in the flesh to be removed. Paul knew that he would suffer greatly in being Jesus' primary ambassador and hearald of His Kingdom to the Roman empire. Paul was not stupid. He lived in a Roman colony where Roman soldiers ran the show and zealous Jewish religous leaders hated anyone who believed that Jesus was indeed the Savior King of both Jews and Gentiles. Paul knew that "through many tribulations [he] must enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22, ESV) But Paul still humbly prayed three times for the possibility of another way, if Jesus was willing.

Jesus' empathetic response,“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV)

May that be so for you and your thorn in the flesh as you serve the Savior King

How Do Christians Show that God is Good?

Pursuing that Kingdom (God’s call, the dream of the Kingdom, where all sorrows will cease and all injustices will end, and where care for the poor is lived out) sets our feet on an adventure that is so challenging and dynamic that all so-called “virtual realities” seem dull and lifeless in comparison. Neither our youth nor our adults will want to waste time on a synthetic electronic replica of reality when the real thing is so captivating.

-Tim Dearborn, The Local Church in a Global Era, 214.

I loved this! I say this from experience where last night a group of friends and I met up downtown by Rosa Parks Circle to then be sovereignly led by God to interact with many homeless people. What a joy to interact with those who God calls the greatest in the Kingdom! In seeing the homeless and the poor as if they were Christ himself gives a whole different outlook and joy to fellowship, feed and give drink to them. Christ showed how blessed it is to care for the homeless and poor when He associated Himself with them in Matthew 25:34-36 saying, "(when He comes back in glory to finally sit on His throne for the Judgment of all nations) the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For (stating the reason why they are blessed by His Father and are to inherit the kingdom prepared for them) I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."

John Piper captures this concept of banking on the real pleasures and satisfaction that we long for when he made these comments that continue to challenge me daily,

“It is not that we are all trying to please ourselves, but that we are all far too easily pleased. We do not believe Jesus when He says there is more blessedness, more joy, more lasting pleasure in a life devoted to helping others than there is in a life devoted to our material comfort. And therefore, the very longing for contentment that ought to drive us to simplicity of life and labors of love contents itself instead with the broken cisterns of prosperity and comfort. The message that needs to be shouted from the houses of high finance is this: Secular man, you are not nearly hedonistic enough! “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:19–20) Quit being satisfied with the little 5 percent yields of pleasure that get eaten up by the moths of inflation and the rust of death. Invest in the blue-chip, high-yield, divinely insured security of heaven. Devoting a life to material comforts and thrills is like throwing money down a rat hole. But investing a life in the labor of love yields dividends of joy unsurpassed and unending: “Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. [And thus] provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.” (Luke 12:33) This message is very good news: Come to Christ, in whose presence are fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Join us in the labor of Christian Hedonism. For the Lord has spoken: It is more blessed to love than to live in luxury!”

- John Piper, Desiring God, pg. 128-129.