Posted on 04/10/2016 2:43:58 AM PDT by metmom
“Then all the disciples left Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56).
In defecting from Christ in an hour of crisis, the eleven disciples displayed certain marks of faithlessness.
Sometimes no amount of truth and logic will ever persuade someone to change their mind. We all know that is true from times we have debated another person on a particular topic. Nothing we say will convince them that their plans may be wrong or their opinions unsound. Jesus knew that far better than us as he continued to face the hostile crowd in Gethsemane.
As the Son of God, Jesus could confidently tell the crowd that “All this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled” (Matt. 26:56). The Son knew that, completely apart from the armed mob’s evil motives and intentions, the Father was sovereignly using the situation to accomplish His righteous and gracious purposes.
But Jesus’ words to the crowd obviously gave little comfort or reassurance to His own disciples. They finally realized Christ was going to be seized. Fear and panic gripped them when they further realized they might have to risk suffering and death with Him. Therefore, each of the eleven “left Him and fled.”
The disciples’ faithless desertion reveals several common characteristics of weak commitment. First, any believer who neglects God’s Word and prayer will be unprepared and unfaithful when testing comes. Second, a weak disciple is likely to be impulsive, like Peter, and respond to a crisis with faulty human discernment. Third, a defective disciple tends to be impatient, like Jesus’ men, refusing to listen to His promises and unwilling to wait for His deliverance.
It’s easy to criticize Jesus’ disciples for their faithless lack of resolve in letting Him down and running away when things became difficult. But if you are an honest follower of Christ, you know that you have sometimes compromised or run away when your faith was tested. As a result, you need to confess your failings and lean more than ever on God’s Word, prayer, and the strength of the Holy Spirit to help you stay the course (Eph. 5:15-21).
Suggestions for Prayer
Commit yourself today to be faithful to Christ, no matter what circumstance confronts you, and pray for strength.
For Further Study
John 14 comes from a section of the Gospels called the Upper Room Discourse. Read this chapter, and identify the verses in which Jesus promises peace. What additional Helper does He promise to send believers? What is the key to obedience (vv. 23-24)?
Studying God’s Word ping
How can you disappoint He who knows every hair of our heads and every cell in our bodies? He loves to hear our prayers and to stack them up in front of His throne, but He is never disappointed in His beloved children.
There is the reference to ‘grieving the Spirit’ ....
On the positive side, it’s been said that God can be pleased with us but never satisfied. (He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it, amen).
I suspect we don’t disappoint Him as He never has unrealistic expectations of us.
Certainly we can grieve Him, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything in Scripture that indicates we can disappoint Him.
IMO, that sets us up for a lifetime of guilt and condemnation because then we set up standards for ourselves for what we think God expects of us and then we beat ourselves up over not meeting them. Or rather the enemy does when we aren’t.
I wonder though, when we become so overwhelmed with our circumstances in life and retreat...for solitude, reflection, in sorrow, anger, in hopelessness, etc, does He feel we are faithless.....because we are not waiting or depending on deliverance?
Did the disciples pay a price for not being prepared?
Good point. Better to simply confess everything to the Messiah and let him take it to sort out. Then we would be naturally inclined to do better from an overwhelming sense of gratitude, instead of living life with the pervasive threat of failure, guilt, and condemnation hanging over our heads.
If the result is that we view and therefore treat others with more grace, understanding, and compassion (as these were generously bestowed upon us), then we can know unequivocally that something went perfectly right.
You just can't get these fruits of the Spirit over the phone.
Matthew 22:36-40
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
"Hang". Good word there. Colossians 2-3.
Better to simply confess everything to the Messiah and let him take it to sort out. Then we would be naturally inclined to do better from an overwhelming sense of gratitude, instead of living life with the pervasive threat of failure, guilt, and condemnation hanging over our heads.
If the result is that we view and therefore treat others with more grace, understanding, and compassion (as these were generously bestowed upon us), then we can know unequivocally that something went perfectly right.
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Well said! We are to confess with our mouths that Jesus is LORD, believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, and follow His Commandments. Day-to-day Commandments are provided by His Holy Spirit dwelling in each of us as believers.
As God would have it, Hal Lindsey’s weekly broadcast addresses this issue precisely, and Biblically.
Maybe so but I still don’t think He’s disappointed as we think of it as He knows already and did not have unrealistic expectations of us.
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