Good morning. Have you ever been called a control freak? Or do you know someone that is?
You know, that person who has to be in control of every situation, whether it's at work,
on the sporting field, or in a group assignment. You know, the person that says,
if I want it done properly, I will just do it myself. Steve and I got back from the US just
over a week ago, and I've always prided myself on the self-control I have over my body, particularly
when it comes to sleep. Through having kids, I've taught myself how to sleep anywhere,
and I can survive without too much sleep. But coming back from the US, jet lag hit me hard.
My whole body clock was shifted a couple of hours. So I would, you know, put Micah, our two-year-old,
to sleep at about 7pm, and Alyssa would find me asleep on his floor. And then I'd wake up in the
lounge, Alyssa would be standing over me. I thought I was in control. I thought I had control of my body,
but my body had different ideas. And the consequence was that I was wide awake from 3am
each morning. Don't worry, I'm over it now. Thank you for your concern. But feeling like we are in
control can give us the false impression that we are safe, and we are secure, and everything is taken
care of. We can think we are in control of our lives, and the decisions we make until reality hits.
It might be the fragility of our bodies. It might be how dependent we are upon other people.
It might be how much we depend on the current job we have to have the life that we want.
And for Christians, we might say that we trust in God, and that He is the one who is in control of
all things. He is the one who has saved us. But practically, we can hold on to control.
It makes us think that we are safe and secure, because we all have trust issues.
We don't trust that God has everything in control. So we stress and we get anxious about the future.
We don't trust that He'll keep being generous, and so we hoard, and we hold on to our things,
our time and our money, instead of being radically generous. How do we go from hogging control
to handing over control to God? Today, as we see Jesus in His last moments before He is crucified,
Jesus will model handing over control to God. Let me pray, and we'll have a look at John 18 together.
Heavenly Father, we come before You, all of us having different control issues. Father, You have done so
much for us. You have loved us incredibly through Jesus. And we ask that today we would be reminded
about how amazing You are, and that You are a sovereign God in control of all things.
Help us to place all of our trust in You. Amen.
Over the last couple of weeks, Jesus has been speaking His last conversation before His crucifixion.
Last week in chapter 17, Jesus spent an extended period of time praying for Himself, for His disciples,
and for us. And now Jesus is here in the Garden of Gethsemane. Have a look with me. Please have your
Bibles open. John chapter 18. We'll start in verse 2.
Now Judas, who betrayed Him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with His disciples.
So Judas came to the Garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief
priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns, and weapons. John sets the scene
for us. He doesn't specify that it's the Garden of Gethsemane, but that's where it is. The author,
John, tells the story of Jesus' arrest slightly differently to the other Gospel writers, Matthew,
Mark, and Luke. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all focus on Jesus in the Garden, praying to God in anguish
before His crucifixion. John doesn't focus on that. Matthew, Mark, and Luke also have the conversation
between Judas and Jesus. Again, John doesn't focus on that. John focuses on the interaction between
Jesus and those who've come to arrest Him, those who think they are in control. This group that has
come out is a massive group. First, we have a detachment of soldiers. A detachment of Roman
soldiers is a cohort, and this usually consisted of a thousand men. Practically, they would usually
only send out 600. So we have 600 men, soldiers armed, ready for battle, coming out to 12 men
sitting in a garden in the middle of the night. The Romans would often use overwhelming force
to ensure that if a mob formed, they could just crush it. So we've got hundreds of Roman soldiers
ready to crush any opposition. Then there's the officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees.
This group would have included the temple police, the ones who would actually arrest Jesus,
and they would ensure that the temple was protected overnight. And they come with torches and lanterns
and weapons. They've come to arrest Jesus in the middle of the night, when Jesus has the least
amount of followers to reduce the size of the mob that He's going to form. They've come expecting that
Jesus would flee. And so they've come with torches and lanterns to hunt Him down. In their eyes, Jesus
was a dangerous religious rebel who needed to be quashed. It's pretty clear who they think is in control.
They've got the army. They've got overwhelming force to crush any resistance. They've got the tools
to hunt down Jesus. And so the temple police, the soldiers, the religious leaders, they've come full
of swagger. They're going to hunt Jesus. They're going to suppress this rebellion. But Jesus, He knows
what is going to happen. And John records a fascinating interaction between this giant army
and this lone man. They've come to arrest Him in full force. But it's Jesus who leads the
investigation and the arrest. He is the one that asks the questions. Have a look at verse 4.
Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to Him, went out and asked them,
Who is it you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. I am He, Jesus said. And Judas, the traitor,
was standing there with them. When Jesus said, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground.
Jesus responds to their question with the divine I am. It's the words that God used to Moses
to identify Himself. He's not just saying, I'm the guy you're looking for. He is identifying with God.
He's saying, I am God. And this giant army that they've brought, who thought they were in control
of the situation, is flawed. They literally fall to the floor before Jesus. Now, we don't know exactly
what's going on here. We don't know why they've fallen to the floor. We don't know whether they've
seen a glimpse of Jesus' true glory. Are they just responding to Jesus calling Himself God?
It could have been a moment of realization about what they have come to do.
These people who have heard the rumors that Jesus healed the sick, He raised the dead,
He cast out demons, He preached with authority unlike anyone else, and they are here to arrest Him?
It stops them in their tracks.
Those who have come with power and might and control are humbled before the Lord of the universe.
This delegation representing the world comes forward to arrest Jesus, and Jesus offers Himself.
And for one brief moment, it is like the world recognizes who He is and what they are about to do.
But it is only for a moment.
Jesus continues to lead this investigation. Again, He asks them,
Who is it you want?
Oh, Jesus of Nazareth, they said.
Jesus answered, I told you that I am He.
If you were looking for me, let these men go.
This happens so that the words He had spoken would be fulfilled.
I have not lost one of those you gave me.
Jesus focuses all the attention on Himself.
Who are you here to arrest? It's me.
Well, come on then.
Come and get me. Arrest me.
Leave these disciples here.
Just take me.
But Peter, one of the eleven disciples remaining,
couldn't let them take Jesus so easily,
so he pulls out a sword,
cuts off the ear of the high priest's servant,
and verse 11,
Jesus commanded Peter,
Put your sword away.
Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?
Jesus' response is,
it's not about fighting for control.
Jesus knows what is happening.
It seems that in this arrest,
Jesus is the one who is in control.
He is the one that is asking all the questions.
The army is just there.
He is leading the investigation.
But Jesus reveals,
He is not even the one who is in control.
God the Father is the one who is in control.
Jesus is in obedience to Him.
Jesus is the one who will drink the cup the Father has given Him.
And so Jesus is arrested.
There is a sham of a trial that happens,
and Jesus is crucified.
It seemed like Jesus was in control,
but He showed that He does not have control issues.
He handed over control to God,
and followed Him in full obedience,
knowing what was going to happen.
And so from this arrest,
we see three things about Jesus and control.
So first of all,
Jesus lets God be in control.
Jesus knew what was going to happen.
And the cross that He was going to,
and He lets God be in control.
Obeying God,
and letting Him be in control,
gives Jesus the confidence,
and ability to lead this investigation and arrest.
He goes out into the garden on His own,
and faces down this daunting army.
When faced with a situation like this,
when it seems like the enemy is in control,
the fight or flight response could have set in.
You know the response that He could have fought like Peter?
Not with a single sword,
but Jesus could have called down an army
to crush this 600 strong army in opposition.
If He felt the need to control the situation,
He could have done that.
He could have fled.
He could have responded through fear.
And the army came ready for Him to do that.
But He just does something that is so different.
Knowing God is in control,
knowing God is sovereign,
and knowing that what God plans happens,
Jesus acts with full confidence in God,
and walks out and says,
here I am.
Arrest me.
He is willing to be arrested
so that He can drink the cup of wrath
that God has for Him.
The wrath that all of us deserve.
The second thing we're reminded about,
about Jesus here,
is that Jesus sacrifices for those He loves.
Even here, as He is being arrested,
Jesus loves His followers.
I imagine this scene,
you've got the army on one side,
you've got the garden,
and you've got Jesus coming out of the garden.
And He's shooing the disciples behind Him.
You know, I've got this,
like someone with little children
who are trying to escape out the front door
and run on the road.
Jesus is defending His sheep.
Get back, get back.
Take me.
Let them live.
And really, it's a microcosm
of what He offers us.
We are loved by Jesus.
And He puts Himself in our place.
And He willingly suffers
and dies for us to have life.
It's a simple act of care for His disciples,
but it shows His sacrificial love,
even in His arrest.
He is soon to go to the cross and suffer
and sacrifice for all the nations.
But for these 11 men, He says,
don't take them.
I'm the one you want.
The third thing we see about Jesus and control
is that He obeys God in the garden.
Unlike Adam and Eve that John read for us,
Jesus obeys God in the garden.
One of my favorite parts of this book of John
that we've been reading
is that John has all of these references
to the garden.
It's like they're Easter eggs in the story.
It appears that John has deliberately written his book
to remind us of Genesis.
You only have to think of the very start
of the book of John.
Both Genesis and John start with,
in the beginning.
And when John writes it,
he just adds Jesus more clearly
into the creation account.
This story here is reminiscent
of the Garden of Eden.
In one sense, you've got Adam and Eve.
They were perfect.
And they are tempted and they sin.
And when they do, they run and they hide
and they're fearful of God
and God goes searching for them
and He finds them.
But Jesus totally flips this.
Here Jesus is and He is in a different garden.
And there is temptation around Him.
He has a choice.
Will Jesus sin like Adam and Eve?
Will He flee after He sins like Adam and Eve?
Or will He obey God
and stand out in the open?
Jesus isn't fearful.
He doesn't blame anyone else
like Adam and Eve.
He says, I am.
I'm Jesus.
I'm the one you're looking for.
And here it's not God searching for the people.
It is God who comes out
to the people who are searching for Him.
Jesus is the one who comes out
and says, here I am.
There is no searching.
Jesus comes out.
He turns this garden scene
all on its head.
He is preparing to fix
all the problems
that began on the day
when sin entered into the world
in that garden.
He is obeying God in the garden
when Adam and Eve didn't.
He is making it so that God's garden
can spread once again
to not just be a garden
but to be a city
that we will all dwell in.
So when it comes to Jesus
and the issue of control
He hands His control over to God.
He willingly self-sacrifices
and He obeys in the garden
so that we can come to the city.
We learn some things about us
and control as well.
It helps us to understand ourselves.
The first thing that we learn about us
and people generally
is that it's possible to acknowledge Jesus
without following Him.
It's possible to acknowledge Jesus
without following Him.
We saw the army's response
to Jesus' declaration
that He was God.
They fell to their feet
when He identified as God
but it didn't last long.
It was long enough
to stop the army in their tracks
before going ahead and arresting Him.
Is it possible
that we can say Jesus is Lord
without actually following Him as Lord?
Jesus warns against this in Matthew 7.
Not everyone who says to me
Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.
But only the one who does the will
of my Father who is in heaven.
There can be a moment of acknowledgement
that Jesus is Lord
but that does not equal faith.
We are people that have stopped
for one moment in our lives
and said that Jesus is Lord
instead of following Him
with our whole lives.
The second thing we learn
about ourselves
is that we
are like those eleven
that Jesus sacrificed Himself for.
Can you imagine
what it would have been like
in that moment,
in that night,
in the middle of prayer,
in the garden,
and a six,
seven hundred strong army
comes to arrest you
and hunt you down.
But Jesus stands in the way
and allows you
to flee,
to escape,
to have life.
Take me instead.
In a very real way,
that is who we are.
We are the ones who,
Jesus has said no to an army.
It's not the army,
but it's the wrath of God.
God has said to the wrath of God,
I have paid for these.
I was sacrificed for these little ones here
at St. Paul's Chatswood.
I sacrificed myself for you.
I drank the cup of wrath
that God asked me to drink
to take your place.
Now you can call God Father.
We are not in control,
but we need our Jesus
to sacrifice himself
to take our place.
So we've seen how Jesus trusted God
with sovereign,
but the reality is
we struggle
and we fight for control.
And yet,
it was us that Jesus came
and sacrificed himself for.
God is the one who is in control.
Jesus showed we can trust him.
So I want to encourage us
to hand control over to God
in three ways.
First of all,
by admitting that we are not in control.
Second,
being aware
of what we try to control
and being aware of why
we try to control things.
So first of all,
we need to admit
that we are not in control.
I think it's really easy for us
in life
to assume
that we are in control
and we have
the place we are in
because of us.
I have this job
because of our,
I have worked hard
and I've saved this money
and I am in this position
because of my hard work
and my effort.
But the reality is
we don't have as much control
over these factors
as we think.
God is the one
who has blessed us with health
so that we can work.
He is the one
who has uniquely gifted us.
He is the one
who is sovereign
over whatever situation
we are in.
If we have a job,
it's because of God's
sovereign grace to us.
If we are able to study
at school
or TAFE
or uni,
it is because of God's
sovereign grace.
The first thing
that we need to do
is we need to admit
that we are not in control
and that it's only God
who is in control
of all things.
The second
is to be aware
of what we try
and control.
All of us
have different control issues.
I'm not sure
what you try
and control
particularly.
For some of us,
it might be
an issue with money.
We really
hoard our finances.
We don't trust God
that He will continue
to provide
and so we hoard.
For some,
it might be
that we are really
concerned about
the image
we present.
When Steve and I
were in the US,
we put up a number
of Facebook photos
showing what we were doing.
I'm not sure
if you saw any of those
but I've had people say,
it looks like you
had a really great time
over there
and it was
a wonderful time
but we all
have control issues
and we do this
with Facebook
and the way
we present ourselves.
Steve and I
didn't post
photos of the night
we got into
a particular city
at 12am
and it was
minus 2 outside
and there was
bags under our eyes.
Maybe I'll post
that photo
next time.
Fear and anxiety
over the way
people view us
leads to a control issue.
To present
a fake image.
Jesus had no issue
being arrested
by this giant mob
and hung
on a tree for us.
He wasn't worried
about how it looked.
Let me encourage
all of us
to embrace
the value
of humble authenticity.
Not feeling
the need
to present
a fake
controlled image
that everything
is okay
but with humility
show our true face.
Trusting that
God loves us
and that
you know what
at church
our brothers
and sisters
will love us
for who we really are
and God is working
to change us
as well.
So we need to be aware
of what we
try to control
and what we want
to control
reveals
something
about us
as people.
The things
we fight
to hold on to
shows
something
about our hearts.
I was talking
to someone
recently
about an injury
they had.
She had fallen
and injured
her shoulder
and she couldn't
clean her house
as well as she wanted
and you know
this might seem
like a joy
for those
who were always
cleaning
well I can't
clean
that's alright
but for her
it brought up
issues for when
she was younger
when her family
situation
wasn't ideal.
She couldn't
control a lot
about life
around her
but she could
control her room
she could keep
that clean
and so it became
immaculately clean
and when she got a house
it became
immaculately clean
I have never seen
someone stoop down
and pick up so much
fluff off the ground
but now
because she was
injured
she couldn't
clean as much
and this was
causing her grief
the house
was clean
let me tell you
this house
was clean
you wouldn't
even realize
there was an
issue
but she had
an issue
of control
she felt
at peace
and in control
of her life
because her
house
looked a
certain way
but even if
the house
is clean
that is
that is not
peace
that is not
security
you can have
a clean house
and you can have
relationships that
are falling apart
you can have no
relationship with
God
but that injury
that she got
helped her to
understand
where her need
for control
over the house
came from
the cleanliness
of the house
had become an
idol
that would give
a false
sense of security
what are the
things that you
are holding
very tightly
to
maybe they
don't reveal
deep problems
from your childhood
like this friend
maybe they
point to how
you are not
trusting God
that he is in
control of all
things
none of us
feel like
we are out of
control
none of us
like to feel
like we don't
have control
over the
situation
and we fight
and struggle
even just
to have that
false sense
of security
Jesus
as we've seen
in John 18
knew what was
going to happen
and he handed
control over
to God
we are not
safe
when we feel
we are in
control
we are safe
because we have
a God who is
sovereign over
all things
and he loves
to care for us
let me pray for us
dear heavenly
father
thank you that
you have
reminded
us from
your word
today
that you
are the one
that is in
control
that not even
Jesus
was in
control
of what was
happening
but that he
handed control
over to you
Lord
father we ask
that we would
trust you
that we would
trust you
with every
moment of our
days
God help us
to
consider our
lives
and consider
the things
that are
very important
to us
and we must
hold
tightly to
Lord
father help us
to consider
our hearts
before you
and the things
that give us
a false sense
of security
father help us
to hand those
over to you
knowing that
it is only
you that are
in control
and that you
love us
and that you
take care of
us
and that you
will send
Jesus back
to bring us
to be with
you
we ask all
this in your
son's name
amen