“That Your Faith Not Fail”

(Part 1)

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Luke 22:31-32

Jesus is eating the Passover meal with His disciples, when in the midst of the feasting He announces that one of them is going to betray Him. Before long they began questioning among themselves which of them it might be, which then led to a dispute, among them, over who was the greatest. As they bickered among themselves, Jesus weighed in and said to them:

“The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Luke 22:25-30

Up to this point in their walk with Christ, the disciples had faced very little opposition. They had stood by Jesus in His trials, but they had not yet tasted the bitterness of persecution. In fact, the times Jesus had sent them out (prior to this) had been amazingly fruitful as they preached the gospel, healed the sick and cast out demons. Luke 10:17 tells us that:

“The seventy two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.”

Jesus cautioned them though that this would not always be the case. In Luke 5 when Jesus was asked why His disciples did not fast like the Pharisees and John’s disciples He relied:

“Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken and then, in those days, they will fast.”

Luke 5:34-35

Jesus was about to “leave the earth” and in doing so would confer the Kingdom to His disciples. So He equipped them with the authority of His name and the power of the Holy Spirit to assume the spiritual responsibility of spreading God’s Kingdom in the earth. They were about to eat and drink at “His table”, but not the banqueting table, instead they would be introduced to the table of suffering. When James and John desired to sit at His right and left hand in the Kingdom, Jesus said:

“You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

Matthew 20:22

They both answered: “Yes” and Jesus responded:

“You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right and left is not up for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

Matthew 20:23

He had been trying to prepare them for what was going to be the biggest spiritual shock of their lives.





Pastor Scott Burr http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com