Well, good morning everyone. Are we well? Excellent. Thank you so much to everyone who's participated so far in the service. What a week.
It's a week, I don't know about you, but if anyone saw that video, it's a week where I learnt that I can fully trust the Lothian bus drivers to get me wherever I'm trying to go on time and safely.
Did anyone see that video? Quite remarkable, wasn't it?
Love this week. Also, my funniest thing of this week was the ski centre down in Kent that had to close because of excess snow.
Loved that headline then when I saw that one.
But what a week. But we turn to God's Word, God's never-changing inspired Word, which I hope he's going to do just that to us this morning as God by his Spirit works amongst us.
So why don't we pray, let's just pause and let's still our hearts as we come to this passage in Luke 22.
Psalm 119 verse 105.
Let me pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
So just to kick us off this morning, I wonder if anyone's seen this film?
Some of us.
The Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.
If you've not seen it, it's all right.
Not going to go right home about it.
But we watched this recently, Alex and I, The Bucket List on Amazon Prime because we had nothing else to do one evening.
So we chucked on The Bucket List.
And essentially it's a film about two terminally ill men who meet each other in hospital and who set about coming up with a list of things that they want to do before they die.
Okay.
And I think they call it The Bucket List because it's the things they want to do because before they hit the bucket, that's where they get the name from.
So they call it The Bucket List.
The things that they want to do before they die.
So here's what I want to do this morning just to get us thinking and trying to get us into this passage.
Turn to your neighbor for 30 seconds.
What are the things that would be on your bucket list?
Okay.
30 seconds just to get a bit of volume in the room and then we'll kick on.
Okay.
What would be the things in your bucket list?
Okay.
Excellent.
Well, here are the top five entries on the website.
I believe there is a website called this bucketlist.net.
Okay.
Here are the top five things that the people in our world want to do before they die.
Here's number one.
See if anyone had this one.
Northern Lights.
Somebody has probably actually seen it.
Chris, have you seen it?
Brilliant.
There you go.
Northern Lights.
Number two.
Go skydiving?
No?
Some of us.
Okay.
Here's the third one.
Get a tattoo.
Number four.
Now, I was surprised at this one.
We'll see because I think that's a great idea.
Go on a cruise.
Stage of life I'm at.
I would love a cruise.
There we go.
Number five.
Swim with dolphins.
So there we go.
The things that people in our world would want to do with the lights before they die.
And here's what we're going to do this morning.
We're going to spend some time with a man who's in the final days of his life.
And here is Jesus in the final days of his life.
And he's got sacrifice on his mind.
And he's got sacrifice on his mind because the cross, the place as we journey through Luke's gospel,
the place that he's repeatedly told his disciples where he is going, the place where his life is going,
the cross is no longer just a point on the horizon.
The cross is imminent.
Let me just help us see the rough timeline of events here.
Very rough timeline as Luke requires them just so we can see where we are in the story.
So Jesus entered Jerusalem at chapter 9 verse 28 on the Sunday.
On the Monday, chapter 19 of verse 45, roughly, he's in the temple.
And he's in the temple.
He's driving out those who had turned God's house into a marketplace.
On the Tuesday, chapters 20 and 21, roughly, he's back in the temple.
And he's challenging the religious leaders.
He's clarifying the future of this whole temple business.
And so here we are today, chapter 22, looking at the Wednesday and the Thursday before it all kicks off on Good Friday.
So here we are today, and Jesus, in the final few days of his life, with a cross just around the corner,
has got sacrifice on his mind.
But I wonder if you've ever asked yourself why.
Why does Jesus have sacrifice on his mind?
Why?
It's my three-year-old daughter's favorite question at the minute.
And it starts off cute.
Why?
Why does Jesus have sacrifice on his mind?
Canadian novelist and artist Douglas Copeland was asked recently in an interview what his greatest fear was in life.
I wonder how you'd answer that question.
What is your greatest fear in life?
He said that his greatest fear in life is that God exists, but he doesn't care much for human beings.
Now, if that's true, that is a legitimate fear.
That God doesn't care.
That God created this world, and then off he went.
God doesn't care much for human beings.
And perhaps you're here this morning, and that's where you are on this whole God thing.
Does God care about my life?
How do I know that God cares about my life?
It's a great question to be asking yourself.
Well, as we see Jesus here, let me invite you, as we see God's Son, as we see God in the flesh in action here, ask yourself,
what does this tell us?
What does this tell you about God?
And what does this tell you about you?
Jesus has got sacrifice on his mind.
And sacrifice, as we just quickly, briefly follow through these verses,
sacrifice is going to mean three things for Jesus.
Here's the first thing, verses 1 to 6 of chapter 22.
It's sacrifice for Jesus will mean surrendering.
So here we are on the Wednesday of Easter week.
Jesus is about 33 years of age.
He's been in the public eye now for about two or three years.
And he is becoming, and we've seen this over the last few weeks,
extraordinarily popular with the people.
They love Jesus.
But as time has gone on, and particularly now that Jesus is on the temple turf, so to speak,
the religious leaders in Jerusalem have had about enough of him.
Because they resent his popularity, they are suspicious of his motives,
and they fear the power that he has.
And so all of this is added up to mean simply, pure and simply, in their minds,
that Jesus has to go.
Jesus has to be crushed.
Jesus has to be exterminated.
And so we pick it up here, verses 1 and 2.
The only question in the minds of the chief priests and the teachers of the law
is how are we going to do it?
How are we going to do it?
The people are not on their side,
and the calendar is not on their side either.
Because you see it, detail in the text, it's Passover.
One of the great moments of the Jewish religious year.
It's a festival with both national and religious elements to it.
I guess it's something akin to what we do as we do Christmas,
and as we do Remembrance Day.
It's that kind of thing.
National tones, religious tones to the Passover.
And Passover means that Jerusalem is rammed full of people.
And so if they were to try and arrest Jesus,
then that is way too risky.
So something needs to give.
So here they are, verses 1 and 2.
They're scratching their heads.
How are we going to do it?
And they could not have imagined,
in all their wildest dreams,
that it would get as good as it was about to get.
Now here it is.
This is what my gran, my grandpa,
one of the two, maybe the two,
they used to call it a never-look-a-gift-horse-in-the-mouth moment.
Judas walks in.
And when you think about it,
Judas is the perfect solution to their problem.
Because Judas isn't just a follower of Jesus.
Judas is one of the twelve.
Now no one is suspicious of Judas at this point.
It's not like some of the TV crime dramas that we watch.
And there's a mole in the ranks,
and everybody knows that there's a mole in the ranks.
Nobody is suspicious of Judas here.
Judas is trusted.
And Judas knows where Jesus hangs out.
And to top it all off,
it's not like they tapped him up.
It's not like they sent him a private message on Facebook
and offered him a bit of money
if he would only come and talk to them.
Judas, of his own accord, goes to them.
Now exactly when and why Judas' heart towards Jesus changed,
we can't be sure.
But Luke wants us to know,
in the text,
that there are two factors in play here.
Now firstly,
Satan.
Don't miss the importance of that.
That the one who,
from the very beginning of the Bible story,
is set on thwarting God's purposes.
In Luke's gospel,
we last read of Satan,
back in chapter 4, verse 13,
when he tempted Jesus during his 40 days in the wilderness.
And after it had become clear that Jesus would not succumb,
Luke tells us, rather,
that Satan disappeared until an opportune time.
Well, here is his opportune time.
Judas is his opportune time.
So Satan's at play here.
Second factor,
money's at play here.
Verse 4,
they agreed to give him money.
I think we're meant to understand that Judas went to them,
and he asked for money.
So there they are.
They're here.
They're plotting.
They're meeting.
Ideas as to how to catch Jesus are being shared.
Before Judas returns to Jesus and the other 11 disciples,
and he waits to make his move.
Now, for all intents and purposes,
it looks like forces are conspiring here,
behind Jesus' back,
to ensure that the wheels are about to well and truly come off the Jesus bandwagon.
The religious leaders are in on it.
Judas is in on it.
Satan is in on it.
The question is,
who's in control here?
Who's in control?
Well, it might not look like it,
but Jesus is in control.
He's in full control here.
He's been telling his disciples that this will happen all the way through the gospel.
This gospel,
if you want to check it out,
chapter 18,
verse 32.
This is the most recent one we have of this.
He said,
plainly,
that he was about to be delivered over to the religious leaders,
and ultimately to the Gentiles.
This is what he said all the way along in this gospel.
This is going to happen.
And so these background events,
these dodgy deals,
which we'll see Jesus eventually handed over to be crucified,
they're all part of God's plan.
All part of God's plan.
Jesus is one completely in control.
It was about this time last year where I first learned to play chess.
Never learned to play chess before.
Upstairs in Basics Bank,
it's the only time I've ever played chess.
There's one guy called John who taught me how to play chess,
and he's literally taught me everything I know about the game.
And he taught me one thing when I started.
He said,
Graham,
a good chess player doesn't just think one move ahead.
A good chess player thinks five moves ahead.
And I have no idea if that's true or not.
As I say,
I've learned everything from him.
But a good chess player thinks five moves ahead.
Here's what we need to understand about Jesus.
He's not thinking one move ahead.
You're not just thinking five moves ahead.
Actually,
what's going on down here
is the plan
since before the foundation of the world.
And it's going down exactly
as God ordains it to go down.
God's master plan of redemption,
the grand weaver of history,
here he is,
his plan to rescue his people
by sending his son to die in their place.
Now that is a wonderful truth about the God of the Bible
that's so sovereign
and so in control is he
that even the world's worst
turns out to be nothing other than a plan
that plays into his best.
This is the kind of God that we're dealing with here.
Here is a Christ who is in control.
And here is a Christ
who is choosing the cross.
You see,
in the final days of his life,
here is Jesus.
What has he got in his mind?
He's got sacrifice on his mind.
And sacrifice means surrendering.
Here's the second thing it means,
verses 7 to 23.
Sacrifice means suffering.
Luke tells us that the day
that the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed
is here,
which means that it's now Thursday of Passion Week.
And Jesus wants to eagerly eat
the Passover meal with his disciples.
Notice that word eagerly there.
He's been waiting for this.
This is it.
This is the climax.
You'll see that Luke mentions the Passover there
five times in those seven verses,
I think.
Five times.
He wants us to see the connection
between what is going on here
with Jesus and the Passover.
Again, see how Jesus is in control.
I love how Luke records this.
Peter and John ask where?
Jesus doesn't just give them the where.
He gives them the where,
the who,
the how,
and the what.
Follow with me.
They're to go into the city.
They'll meet a man carrying a jar of water.
They have to follow him to a furnished house.
And there,
they are to make preparations for the meal.
Verse 13,
it happened just as Jesus said.
Here is a Christ who is in control.
Verse 14,
eating the Passover meal together.
It was a meal of celebration,
looking back the way
to the time when God delivered
their forefathers from Egypt.
But it was also a meal
that looked forward,
that had anticipation to it,
looking forward to the day
when God would ultimately
win freedom for his people.
And the centerpiece of this meal
was a lamb.
As the people remembered
how God had spoken
to these people,
their ancestors,
who were slaves in Egypt
and who had told them
to take a lamb
and to kill it.
And to put its blood
on the doorframe
of their houses
so that the angel of the Lord
would not kill
the firstborn of the family.
To get it in their minds
that they lived this.
That the lamb died
in their place.
And its blood
was the thing
that stood
between them and death.
The lamb died
so that they didn't have to.
And God provided
these lambs.
And so at this Passover meal,
each family's Passover lamb
was killed the night before
and eaten at this meal
as the people,
the nation,
came together,
looked back,
looked forward,
took this meal
and declared together
that this is our God.
This is our God.
So this meal
that Jesus and his disciples
are eating together,
just like every other Passover meal,
except
Jesus takes
everything that it symbolized
and he gives it
not just a new meaning,
but he gives it
its full meaning.
Jesus takes the bread,
verse 19,
what does he say?
This represents
my body
which will be broken
for you.
Jesus then takes
the cup,
verse 20,
and says,
this represents
my blood
which will be poured
out for you.
Interesting to note
that Luke
and the other
gospel writers,
as you read them,
record this,
they mention nothing
about there being
a Passover lamb
on the table.
Nothing about there being
a Passover lamb
on the table.
Surely the connection
that we readers
are meant to realize,
is that the focus
isn't meant to be
on the Passover lamb
on the table.
Our focus is to be
on the Passover lamb
who is seated
at the table.
Jesus was about
to stand in
and be the real,
the true,
the promised Passover lamb
whose body would be broken
and whose blood
would stand
in the defense
of his people.
And what does Jesus say
at the end of verse 19?
Do this
in remembrance
of me.
Do this
in remembrance
of me.
That word remembrance
is an active word.
Remembering,
bringing something
to mind.
So there's something
about this meal
that as the disciples
take it from now on
and as the church
down the ages
has taken it together
and as we
as a body
of believers
this morning
take communion
together this morning,
something about this meal
is supposed
to help
God's people
remember.
I don't know
how you are
at remembering things.
I'm terrible
at remembering things.
I've got a diary,
I've got an app
and I've got an iPhone
and I still forget things.
Still forget things.
But you see,
Jesus is talking
about a different
kind of remembering here.
So this meal
is not
supposed to get them
to remember
that the cross
just happened.
It's supposed
to help us
remember
what the cross
means.
Looking back
the way
that the Lamb
took the hit
that I deserve
for my sin
so that I can
go free.
I remember
going to see
a preacher
called
Rico Tice
down in London
a few years ago
and he walked
up to the stage
and he said,
let me tell you
what happened
to me this week
and he was holding
a smashed up
bike helmet
and everyone's
thinking,
has he lost
the plot here?
What's going on?
Walks onto stage
with a smashed up
bike helmet
and he puts it
next to him
and he said,
I was riding
my bike this week
at speed
and a bus
ever so slightly,
he was sent
to London,
a bus ever so slightly
knocked me off balance
and down I went
and I'm sitting there
as I'm falling
in my mind
thinking this is it,
this is it,
I think at the time
he was just newly
married as well
thinking this is it
and down he went
and he said,
I fell
and the helmet
took the hit
so that I can
have life.
The helmet
took the hit
so that I can
go free.
The helmet
died
so that I don't
have to.
The helmet
got death,
I got life.
That's what
Jesus has done
on the cross.
For those of us
here this morning
and maybe this is
what I was feeling
as I was praying
through this passage
this week,
for those of us
here this morning
feeling weighed
down and beaten
up by our guilt
and our sin
and what a wonderful
morning to stop
as a family
and that is all
of us isn't it,
feeling weighed
down by our sin
to stop and to
remember what the
lamb has done
for us and to
allow that to
sink in.
I've never seen
so much snow
in my life
as I have this
week.
Never seen so
much snow.
When I was
walking to work
on Thursday
traipsing through,
love that word
traipsing,
traipsing through
the snow and I
come to the
meadows and I'm
walking across
the meadows and
I'm looking at it
it's about half
eight in the
morning,
nobody's touched
the meadows and
I look at it
pristine,
untouched,
pearly white snow
and do you
know what song
is in my
head?
Let it snow,
let it snow,
no it wasn't
that one.
It was Jesus
paid it all and
all to him I
owe.
Sin had left a
crimson stain but
he washed it white
as snow.
This is the
gospel, the meal
that helps us
communion, look
back the way and
the meal that
helps us look
forward to the
day when the
slain lamb
returns and he
will return as a
victorious king
and we will
eat this meal
together with
him in his
kingdom.
So we come
together this
morning as one
family and we
declare that this
is our God,
this is our God,
this is what he's
done for us,
this is the
gospel and this
truly is good
news.
And from that
high, Jesus
proceeds to drop
the bombshell at
verse 21.
that one of
them at this
table will
betray him.
So Jesus has
done all this in
serving and
remember who else
is at the table.
Judas is at the
table here.
What must be
going through his
mind here?
You can imagine,
can't you, the
disciples looking at
each other at this
point, giving each
other ugly, squinting
their eyes at each
other, trying not to
swallow in case that
makes them look
guilty.
Which one of
them would do
such a thing to
Jesus?
Which one of
them would have
the audacity to
do this, having
seen him all these
couple of years do
all these wonderful
things?
Of course, it's not
news to Jesus, is
it?
Here is a Christ who
is in control and
here is a Christ who
is choosing the
cross.
In the final days of
his life, Jesus has
got sacrifice on his
mind.
sacrifice will mean
suffering, sacrifice
will mean surrendering,
sacrifice will mean
suffering, and
thirdly, verses 24 to
39, sacrifice will
mean serving.
It's not difficult to
imagine, is it, how
the disciples get from
talking about how
great their faith is.
Do you see it?
Who is the greatest
there?
How it would never be
them who would betray
Jesus, to talking about
verse 24, which to
them is the greatest.
And Jesus, he hears
this bickering going
on and he breaks in
with a timely word
about the life and
the soul of his
kingdom.
He says to his
disciples that you're
thinking, you're
thinking how the world
thinks.
You're thinking about
position, you're
thinking about promotion,
you're thinking about
how others can serve
you.
But if you want to
follow me, do you
see at the end of
verse 27, you need to
start thinking service.
You see, here is
Jesus saying that his
people are to be
marked by a radical
other people
centeredness.
That their lives are
to be about not being
served, but serving.
I was so encouraged
this week to read the
reports of people,
Christians, out on the
streets helping this
week.
Bethany, food banks,
care vans, you name it,
the rest of it, helping.
It's wonderful to see.
An example of how
Jesus has been serving
these disciples.
Do you see how Jesus
has been spending
himself praying for
Peter?
We read often in Luke
how Jesus would
retreat to quiet
places to spend time
praying.
And amazingly,
amongst other things,
he's been praying for
Peter.
Peter's probably even
seen him do it.
What a wonderful thing
for Peter to know that
Jesus is a saviour who
is spending himself
praying for him.
Of course, Jesus is
doing exactly the same
thing now for us.
Except he's not doing
it on earth, he's doing
it at the right hand of
the Father in heaven,
interceding for his
people, praying for his
sheep.
This is the kind of
saviour that we have.
What do we sing?
Before the throne of
God above, I have a
strong, a perfect
pre, a great high
priest whose name is
love, who ever lives
and pleads for me.
What a wonderful
truth for some of us
to comprehend, all of
us to comprehend this
morning.
You know, it was
Scottish minister
Robert Murray McShane
who used to say,
if I could hear Christ
praying for me in the
next room, I would
fear not a million
enemies.
Yet distance makes no
difference.
Christ is praying for
me.
But what has Jesus
been praying for
Peter?
Verse 31.
that his faith would
not fail.
And not only does
Jesus know that Peter
will fail, but he's
even talking about the
love and the welcoming
grace that he will
show Peter when Peter
comes back to Jesus.
Peter understandably
responds that he would
never do such a thing,
but Jesus knows.
Here is a Christ who is
in control.
Before the cock crows
three times, three times
you will deny knowing
me, Peter.
Love it.
Peter's song in these
verses here must have
been, how great is my
faith.
Give it a few days
later.
He will not be singing
that.
Give it a few days after
that, when he comes back
to Jesus, he will be
singing, how great is my
God.
How great is my God.
Is it not a wonderful
thought, friends, that
Jesus is not like a
baseball umpire?
This is not strike one,
strike two, strike three,
and you're out of here.
Praise God that that's
true.
None of us would stand,
even for a week, would
we?
He is not like a baseball
umpire, but Jesus,
failures like Peter and
failures like me, when we
come to him and fall at his
feet, confessing our sin,
we are met with abundant
forgiveness, with mountains
of mercy, and with the
depths of the storehouses of
grace and restoration.
This is the kind of Jesus
that we're dealing with
here.
And if life following
Jesus has been rosy up to
now for the disciples,
because of their
association with Jesus,
they've been met with
people's affection, they've
been met with people's
attention, well now Jesus
is symbolically telling them
that life following him is
about to get really hard.
The way of the master is
going to be the way of the
servant, that Jesus is about
to suffer, and it means that
they can expect to suffer
too.
But what a comfort to know.
Luke wants us to know that
here is a Christ who is in
control, and here is a
Christ who is choosing the
cross, and in the final few
days of his life, Jesus has
got sacrifice on his mind.
You know, just as we close
this morning, I remember my
gran used to take me and my
brother on walks to Victoria
Park in Glasgow.
She used to take us there as we
went fishing for minnows, a
dying art.
But as we would walk across
the fields going there, now
and again she would stop and
she'd pick up a daisy.
And after putting it under a
chin to see if we like butter
or not, she proceeded to pick
off its petals.
Maybe you did this when you
were a child, I don't know.
He loves me.
He loves me not.
He loves me.
He loves me not.
He loves me.
He loves me not.
Friends, in the final few days
of his life here, as we see
Jesus choosing the cross with
one thing in his mind, one
thing on his bucket list.
Choosing the cross, intent on
going there to die for our sin,
to deal with our biggest
problem.
That should leave us in no
doubt at all that Jesus loves
us.
Let me finish with these words
from 1 John chapter 4.
This is how God showed his love
among us.
He sent his one and only son
into the world that we might
live through him.
This is love.
Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his son as
an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
This is our God.
Let's pray together.
And maybe just in the quietness
of your own heart this morning,
maybe as God's word has been
doing its work in your life this
morning, especially when it comes
to forgiveness and coming back
to Jesus and experiencing and
knowing his grace.
And maybe now is the time to offer
your prayer to him.
And so, Father God, we thank you
so much for this morning.
And we pray that you would help
us all to have a fresh appreciation
and a fresh affection for your son,
Jesus.
Thank you so much for your word,
Father God, that has spoken to us
this morning.
And thank you this morning that we
have the opportunity to take
communion together.
And so, Lord, would it come with a
real freshness this morning, we ask.
Thank you that you are our great God.
And we pray all these things in
Jesus' wonderful name.
Amen.