Series: The Line – Week 3

Scripture: Mark 14:32-42
Title: How to do what is Wise
Focus: Making Good Choices

Introduction: In the book of Mark we see Jesus praying about a choice. Should He die on the
cross or not? Satan is pressuring Christ to make a choice to satisfy himself instead of others.
Jesus is literally at his second lowest point emotionally. Mark 14:32 says, “Jesus was deeply
distressed and troubled”.

By choosing to die, Jesus is about to make a massive choice:

 He knows that he is about to carry the sins of the world on His shoulders.
 He knows that His disciples will run away.
 He knows that he is going to get tortured.
 He knows that in 12 hours the judgment of God will come upon Him and the sins of the
whole world will come and rest on His shoulders as he hangs on the cross.
 He knows that He is about experience one of the most horrible forms of execution ever
invented.

As we talk about the line and making good choices, we know that there are times when we
have made the right choice regardless of how it makes us feel. If Jesus can do the wise thing,
then so can we.

Title: How to do what is Wise

Point #1: Seek Solitude to Create a Solution (Mark 14:32-34)

 Explanation: Jesus found a quiet place. Gethsemane was a garden with a wall around it
on the slopes of the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem. Jesus often used the garden
as a retreat to spend time in prayer over choices that needed to be made. It was a place
that allowed Jesus to get away from the noise and concentrate on God’s will. This was a
place He could go to get away from the crowds of people who always seemed to be
following him. It was a Sanctuary, A place to be alone with His Heavenly Father.
 Illustration: When I was in high school it was the cemetery (getting caught in the snow
in the winter)
 Application: If you are going to wrestle with making hard choices and surrendering to
God’s will, then you have to get alone with God. You need a Gethsamane, a place where
we can get away from the television, the phone, and the noise, a place to get away from
everyone. Velocity is great but the real choices we make and priorities we set in our
lives need to be done in quiet times between you and God.
 Questions:
o Where is your Gethsamane?

Point #2: Flock to Spirit Filled Friends (Mark 14:33)

  Explanation: Did you notice that Christ left eight disciples by the gate? Jesus took three
closest of His friends deeper into the garden with him to pray. He needed their
encouragement and He knew that they could lead Him closer to God. Christ was deeply
distressed and troubled and He knew His friends were the first stop to arriving at a
solution for the problem.
 Illustration: Bruce’s Death (tell the story): Bethany (my best friend) was there to help
me talk through my feelings and help make the choice on whether or not I should go to
the funeral.
 Application: If you are wrestling with God over a choice that needs to be made, then
you need to get someone to pray with you and continue to pray for you. This is true
encouragement. We need someone who can be brutally honest with you and tell you
when you are searching for God’s will or trying to accomplish your own will.
 Questions:
o Who are your three friends? Who is your Peter, your James, and your John?

Point #3: Let God do what Friends Can’t (Mark 14:35-36)

 Explanation: Jesus gets to the point to where He realizes that His friends can only take
Him so far. He “goes a little farther”. Some Christians don’t want to accept the fact that
Jesus was nervous, scared, and afraid to die on the cross. I love it! In this moment, Jesus
realizes that His friends can only take Him so far and He must give the rest over to God.
He is being honest with God about the choice He is making to die on the cross. He’s
saying, "Father, this is going to hurt." He’s telling God how He feels and let’s God make
the choice!
 Illustration: Bruce’s Death: Bethany could only get me so far. I had to give the rest over
to God to help get me through the funeral and heal the pain I was experiencing and
would experience in the times to come (present and future) and to make the right
choices because of what had happened.
 Application: We need to get real with God, open our hearts to tell Him how we truly
feel.
 Questions:
o When you pray, do you tell God how YOU feel?
o What do you need to give over to God that only He can handle?

Conclusion: The Christian life is a constant wrestling between our will and God’s will. We push
our desire on God while God desires that we surrender that will to His. Our self-centered mind
wants to make sure we are secure and cared for and we will be if we rest in the Lord.

Closing Questions: Do you have a choice to make? Does God want you to do something; you
just haven’t agreed to do it yet? Letting God have His way in your lives is never easy. But His
Will is Always Best, and what He asks of us, comes from His Great love for us, and His wisdom
and plans. Psalm 33:11 says, “The counsel of God stands forever and the plans OF HIS HEART
are forever”. If it’s not God’s will for me to do something, then I don’t want to do it. I want to
do what is wise in the Lord.