April 2003
Page 1 - Gethseminary by Paul Anderson
Page 2 - "Let Anyone with Ears to Hear, Listen!" by Dallas Willard
Page 3 - Report from the Mid-Year Equipping Conference
Page 4 - The Process or "How do we get there from here?" by Paul Anderson
Gethseminary
by Paul AndersonWhat do we do when God's plan no longer serves our purpose, when saying "yes" means trouble? I'm not much into pain. I'd accept suffering more easily if it didn't hurt so much.
The cross is where we die, but before we die, there must be a decision to die. We must pass through Gethsemane on the way to Golgotha. The real battle is fought in the garden, not on the cross.
Gethsemane means "olive press." God put the pressure on Jesus two thousand years ago, and the oil is still flowing. Olive oil had many uses in Bible days, some of which are still common today in the Middle East. It was used for lamps, for medicine, as money exchange, as a cosmetic, as food (a replacement for butter), in religious festivals, and in anointing. Olives can be eaten as they are, but the usefulness of the olive is seen best after it is crushed in a press and made into oil.
Gethsemane is where the pressure is on, where we are challenged to say, "Not my will but thine be done." It is here that many Christians stop. They choose not to yield when it means the cross. They end up saying, "Not thy will, but mine be done." They may still get to heaven, but they can no longer pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" and mean it.
From Jesus, we learn these things about our own Gethseminary training:
Vulnerability is a weapon of war. Satan was on the warpath-and Jesus knew it. He had said to the disciples that "the prince of this world is coming" (Jn.14:30). Well, Satan arrived. He had taken out Judas, he was sifting Simon, and now he was going after his arch-enemy, Jesus. This was his second major onslaught. The first came at the beginning of Christ's ministry, and the devil was soundly defeated. Now he was back at the climax.
Jesus was at His weakest, not because of Satan's presence, but because of what He was being called to do - to drink the awful cup of God's wrath. Nowhere do we see the humanity of Jesus more clearly than in the Garden. Jesus took all the disciples with Him, then He asked Peter, James and John to stay close, saying to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me" (Matt.26:38). He is far more transparent than I could imagine the Son of Man being. In His darkest hour He confessed great need. Fights are so uncomfortable-and this was the worst fight ever.
Peter wasn't sharing Christ's struggle; he was asserting his allegiance. Jesus had just tried to warn Simon, but Peter was too cocky to listen. There are times when positive affirmation just doesn't make it. While Peter was proclaiming confidence, Jesus was confessing need. Self-confidence does not lead to prayer; it leads to empty talk. Peter was volunteering for the army. He was going to bust those buzzards! It didn't take long to show that he wasn't much of a prophet.
We'd rather be strong than weak, in control than in trouble. If we're struggling, we tend to keep it to ourselves, especially if we are males. Satan loves to isolate us in our trials. Jesus shared His heart with His closest friends. Let us do the same.Struggles are a positive sign. A new Christian once called me, discouraged that she was having strong negative feelings about family conflicts. I asked her if she had had those feelings before becoming a Christian. She answered, "No, it didn't concern me." "Then, isn't it good you are having the struggle now?" I asked. She agreed, and that ended the three-minute telephone counseling session. We often interpret struggles as an intrusion or as a negative sign. In fact, the greater the call, the deeper the conflict. Jesus battled while the disciples slept. The battle of the wills (God's and mine) shows that we are engaged in the fight. It is not a sign of defeat, but a token that we are in the contest, and sometimes it is ferocious. Jesus fought to the point of sweating blood.
Evan Roberts cried all night after the Lord had called him to lead the Welch revival. He knew it would cost him everything. These aren't the kinds of struggles that bring holy goose bumps; rather, they bring holy sweat. Will God have His way or will I? Can I pray, "Not my will, but God's be done?" That's the prayer that arises when I am in Gethseminary training.
"Let him who thinks he is standing take heed lest he fall" (I Cor.10:12). Let him who thinks victory is a cake-walk stay out of the ring, because he is sure to get knocked out anyway. Peter underestimated the conflict and lost big. Jesus fought the fight of faith and triumphed.
We engage the fight through prayer. Jesus told the disciples when they entered the Garden, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation" (Lk.22:40). In the face of conflict, Jesus prescribed prayer, the kind that honestly confesses weakness. The battle was raging, Satan was advancing-and the disciples were sleeping. After St. Paul described the armor we are to wear, he writes, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer…" (Eph.6:18).
How many times have we lost a conflict because we failed to pray through to victory? We are not trying to find God's will but to do it. This isn't the prayer of guidance; it is the prayer of surrender. Jesus had said, "My food is to do the will of him who went me…" (Jn.4:34). It was His delight. And yet doing the Father's will at this point meant the cross, and Jesus endured the cross-He didn't enjoy it. When the going gets tough, the tough get-praying. The cross is never fun. And the path to Calvary always goes through the Garden.
If we start the fight at the cross, it's too late. The time, friends, to put the armor on is not when you hear the guns going off. Pray-before the important meeting, before the challenge at work, before the date, wherever or whenever you know that your will will be challenged. And please understand, Jesus was not going after Satan; He was going after God. James, who knew about spiritual warfare, said, "Submit yourselves then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (Js.4:7). Submission is the highest form of spiritual warfare. Peter was in a fighting mood, but he fought with the wrong weapon at the wrong level for the wrong reasons. I am embarrassed to confess that I have all too often planned, or promoted, or pleaded, or practiced, or preached, or processed, or pummeled-when I should have prayed. God, forgive my stupidity!
The Lord Jesus, sleep deprived and in deep anguish of soul, did not nap-"he prayed more earnestly" (Luke 22:44). Hebrews says that "he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears…" (5.7). He almost died, but He was saved so He could die at Golgotha, not at Gethsemane. He shed drops of blood in the Garden, but it was the blood of the cross that would bring redemption. His submission in the Garden was absolute. Hebrews calls it a "reverent submission."
Victory tastes sweet. Isaiah wrote some stirring words about Jesus: "Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer…After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied" (Is.53:10,11). An olive crushed, the oil released, a soul satisfied.
Defeat was bitter for Peter to swallow. He entered the fight all right-an hour late. He drew the sword that Jesus had referenced only moments before (Lk.22:38), presuming that it was to be used. But Jesus had already faced His battle, and He had confronted the Roman cohort with total calm, and he had not needed a sword. We don't battle against flesh and blood, but that was where Peter engaged the contest, and that is where we will fight if we haven't had it out in prayer first. Peter got rebuked for one thing he thought he was good at-fighting. He had gotten his nap, but he paid for it later, and failure does not taste good.
The big conflict is with God: will He have His way, or will I have mine? It is not with the spouse, the boss, the relative, or the church member. It boils down to this: will I let God crush me to produce oil? Will I yield to His purposes? Can I keep my mouth shut when my flesh says, "Defend yourself?" Can I accept criticism because I have determined to have an unoffendable heart?
Our battle in the Garden has the potential to produce oil only because our pioneer broke through and won for us. Adam #1 met the enemy in the garden and lost big; Adam #2 met His enemy in another garden, had it out, and won big. We ride in on His obedience. "For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (Rom. 5:19).
You can't run on emotions during your Gethseminary training, because what you feel is the inclination to turn back. And positive thinking won't do it either. The fight will be bitter, but nothing feels better than victory.
Olives taste okay, but they can't match olive oil for usefulness. A friend of mine once told me, "I have come to the place where if I know what God wants me to do, I will do it regardless." He had passed his Gethseminary. God had squeezed him-and the oil was flowing. May it be also for you and me.
