Sunday 17 August 2025

Nollamara Church Of Christ Sermons.

Raw transcript of meeting: Date Of Sermon: 17 August 2025

Speaker: Jamie Boland

Sermon Title: When Heaven Is Silent

Scripture Reading: Matthew 26:36-42

 So it's quite a powerful song. Amen. The opening lines. I'm down on my knees again tonight. I'm hoping this prayer will turn out right. There is a boy that needs your help and I've done all that I can do myself. Could you hear the vulnerability? The raw emotion, this sense of helplessness. It's like he's, he's crying out, God, there's nothing more I can do.

God, all I can do is pray. And if you don't come through, then God, our little boy is gonna die. And yet heaven is silent. And that leads to this cry that we hear in the chorus. Can you hear me? Am I getting through tonight? I mean, talk about keeping it real. It doesn't get any more real than this. I wonder, have you ever felt this way?

Yes, you've cried out to God for a loved one and you are watching as their life is just slipping away before your eyes. Or maybe you've prayed for a child or a spouse, spouse who's, you know, you're pleading with God, God save them, but they haven't yet come to faith. Maybe you've got down on bended knees and you know, it's a situation so desperate that it feels like it's gonna kill you if God doesn't intervene and do something.

You pray and you pray and you wait and you watch and it's hard and it hurts. And I think there's quite a few of us here that have gone through this. Perhaps in that moment you found yourself asking those same words. God, can you hear me? Am I getting through tonight? This song was inspired by a real family whose child had leukemia.

The singer was a man named Mark Schultz. He was actually the youth pastor of the church. They attended and for almost two years, he watched. He watched as his family wrestled in prayer for the life of their son, and what he did is he wrote this song to capture what they were going through. You know, we loved the great stories of answered prayer, great stories where God just comes through and does amazing things.

Two weeks ago I shared about the miracle of Dunkirk. Do you remember? Hundreds of thousands of men were going to die. These British forces, these allied troops, they were facing annihilation. They were going to die. And so what does the King of England do? He calls the National Day of Prayer, and what followed was a series of events that can only be described as miraculous.

These were events that changed the course of World War ii. God heard their prayers and he intervened from heaven. But what about those times when God doesn't intervene? Those times when heaven is silent in our small groups, we've been using these resources from the 24 7 prayer movement. Now, in the videos, if you, if you're part of the small groups, you'll see these videos and we hear these many wonderful stories from Pete, Greg about the times when God comes through.

He does just miraculous things. Now, Pete Greg's also written a book about the many times when God doesn't answer prayer. It's called God on mute. Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer. In this book, he talks about a friend who was diagnosed with cancer age 40, diagnosed in July, dead before Christmas, and he writes, our passionate prayers for Tom simply didn't work.

And there is no redemptive purpose. A parent in a young dad being taken from his kid, kids, no human agency, we can easily blame. He also tells of a time where he was invited. You know, he's the guru, the man on prayer. He's invited to this large church in Florida, and they said, we want you to teach us about prayer.

And he said, despite giving them all these best material, the congregation, they were removed and they just stared at him blankly. After the service, someone took him aside. They explained that a few years before this, the pa, the pastor's wife, she got cancer and the church, they rallied around her and they prayed like they had never prayed before.

They got down on bended knees. They had special prayer meetings. People fasted, even the teenagers and children were fasting and believing God. They stood on his word. They believed for healing, and then she died and the person relaying the story said after a time of compassionate leave, the pastor returned to the pulpit and started a new series.

Life moved on like nothing had happened. But I guess we're all still hurting. We're wondering why our prayers didn't work. How do we explain this to our kids? How are we supposed to trust God again in quite the same way? So when someone like you turns up and you start talking about how powerful and wonderful prayer is, well, forgive me, but we kind of see things differently now.

Can you hear the pain? This was a church with a broken heart and a hornet's nest of unanswered questions. Questions they couldn't even dare articulate. And the sad fact is this, this church was never gonna move forward in faith until they knew it was okay to admit their disappointments and allow God to minister to their hurts and their doubts.

We need to acknowledge this reality that even sincere, faithful believers will face moments when prayers aren't answered in the way we hope. And when this happens, what we truly believe can be tested and shaken to the core. This is where the rubber hits the road. Think of our reading from today. Words We know very well, Jesus is just hours from his death and he cries out to the Father and he prays if it's possible.

If it's possible, take this cup from me. Now, listen to how the writer of Hebrews captures this. He says. During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death. And he was heard because of his reverence submission.

Jesus was heard and yet heaven was silent. His prayer in deaths 70 went unanswered. Understand this is possibly the most crucial moment in the life of Jesus. Everything in his life has been building up to this point, and when the moment comes, he cries out, father, I don't want this Father. I can't do this.

Take it away. It's too much. Please, please don't paint a false picture. Jesus was not some serene martyr who you know stoically accepted his fate in his humanity. He wrestled with the will of God just like we do. That's what we see happening here. Jesus knew that things are about to get real dark, real dark.

Luke tells us that after praying these words, he's in so much anguish that an angel appeared from heaven to strengthen him, and then he sweat drops of blood, and yet despite this, he was somehow able to bring himself to the point where he could surrender and say, not my will, but yours be done. The shadows of Gethsemane.

Show us just how painful it can be to pray thy will be done and and how hard it can be to trust in the purposes of God. In the darkest of times. We looked at Hebrews chapter five, verse seven. The verses that follow say this. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

Jesus cried out to heaven. Heaven was silent, but behind the silence was divine purpose. Do you get that? Behind? The silence was divine purpose. I like the way Philip Yancy puts it. He says, when Jesus prayed, he did not get that salvation. He got instead, the salvation of the world. There's divine purpose.

Understand praying thou will be done is not about passive resignation or just, you know, giving up in despair. It's not like we are throwing our hands in the air and saying, well, whatever, God, whatever. That's not it. It's about actively trusting God's goodness, even when he's will, includes pain or unanswered questions.

Johnny Erickson says, suffering is not for nothing. God permits what he hates to accomplish what he loves. Reflect on those words, they're profound. She would know as a young girl, she cried out, God, I want to see you at work in my life. I wanna be closer to you. And she will say from her own testimony that God answered that prayer through this tragic accident from which she's now wheelchair bound.

God accomplishes what he loves because he permits what he hates. God's will may sometimes be mysterious and painful. But it's always loving and purposeful. That's what the cross shows us. Amen. When we pray in heaven is silent, we need to trust that behind our unanswered prayer, E lies A purpose that we might not yet see.

Praying thy will be done is about surrender, but we don't surrender into the void. We are surrendering the loving hands of a heavenly Father who gave his only son for us. Are you getting this? We are not surrendering into nothing. We are surrendering into the everlasting hands that gave his own son for us.

Now, think about Jesus in that garden. He suffered pain at every conceivable level, physically, psychologically, spiritually. Our reading today was from Matthew's Gospel. Jesus says, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Think about that. My soul, the very depths of who I am, is overwhelmed with pain and sorrow to the point of death.

And in Luke's gospel we read, being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and he sweat was like drops of blood. You know, science has now shown us that Jesus experienced a very rare medical condition. It's a condition in which the capillaries around the sweat glands, they, they burst under extreme anxiety and stress.

That's what Jesus is going through. Let me say this, whether you struggle with unanswered prayer and, and it relates to, say, physical illness to mental health or a spiritual void in which you feel that God's abandoned, you understand that Gethsemane shows us that Jesus understands us on each of these levels.

And what he's done, he's gone ahead of us and he's shown us how to endure disorientation and pain. Think about everything Jesus is going through and everything he's about to go through, and yet he trusts God. You can trust God. Whatever you are going through, you can trust God. And within that trust, please know that you can bring to him the pain of your, your fear and all of your disappointments.

It's not a lack of trust to say, God, I need to bring to you this fear and disappointment. That's not a lack of trust. There's a lot we could say around all this theologically, but what I wanna do in the rest of our time today is draw out some practical suggestions from which, you know, Jesus is modeling to us in the garden and it's six principles.

And I've put them actually in the, the friendly messenger I've taken them from Pete Greg's book, how to Pray. A guide for simple people. Now, if you are looking for a book on prayer, can I recommend this? It is practical. It is down to earth and it's simple to read. It's a very good book on prayer. So six principles I want to draw out.

First principle is choose to be vulnerable with your friends. In Mark's gospel, we read, Jesus took Peter, James, and John along with him. And he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. He said to them, stay here and keep watch. So what we have is Jesus is in his darkest hour, and what we see is he doesn't go it along.

Jesus is in his darkest moment, and he chooses not to go it along. What he does is he grabs three of his best friends and says, Hey, I need you by my side. And I like this because he doesn't wear a mask with them. Jesus doesn't try to be brave and pretend that everything's okay. Now understand this is Jesus we're talking about.

They could have said to him, Hey Jesus, you're the son of God. Pull yourself together. Jesus. You're embarrassing yourself. That's not, that's not what happens. Jesus pours out himself to his friends. He doesn't wear a mask. What he does is he includes them in minister stress, and he asks them to watch over him in prayer.

Think about this. Imagine how dark the situation is. Jesus says, I need you to pray for me. Are you getting this? That's how dark the situation is. Jesus prays for us, but here he says, guys, I need you to pray for me. This is how dark the situation is. Now, the temptation for us is that when our souls are overwhelmed, we can withdraw and isolate, and what we're gonna do is say, you know what I need to do is I need to tough this out myself.

I don't wanna be a burden on anyone. I don't want anyone to, to carry the weight of what I'm carrying, but that's not what we see here, modeled by Jesus. He models the exact opposite. He actively involves his friends. He says, guys, I need to draw. I need you to, you know, draw into me with this private grief.

And I need you, you know, to, to support me in prayer.

Don't do this alone, guys. The second principle, Jesus models for us. Choose to push into prayer. Luke tells us, and being in anguished, he prayed more earnestly. I love this line, the simplicity. Jesus has prayed and then he goes again. I love that He prays and he prays. Now, in times of distress, the danger can be that we not only isolate ourselves from others, but we can also isolate ourselves from God.

We can pull back and say, Hey, God. I need to somehow deal with this on my own. Yes, we need to engage with friends, but what we need to do even more is lay hold of God in prayer. I think sometimes what we can do, we can share our burdens and complaints with others, and that's not a bad thing. That can be a good thing that, but then we can neglect to bring them to God.

How many times you play, pray, uh, complained about a circumstance? You complain with someone, but you never bring that complaint to God in prayer or the pain. I love what Pete Greg says. He says, one clear word from God can bring more clarity and comfort than a thousand words from friends. I love that God has a way of breaking through spiritually and and speaking to us and giving us a capacity to move on.

Unlike a thousand words from Friends, the third principle that Jesus models hold onto God's life. In Mark's gospel, Jesus begins his prayer with these words. Abba Father, Abba. Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cuff from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. When his soul was overwhelmed, Jesus has anchored himself in the love of the Father.

He doesn't say God. Well, you know, if you really cared for me, you know, you wouldn't let me go through all this. No. Despite the silence and the pain, Jesus doesn't doubt the love of the Father. He cries out, Abba Daddy, in your darkest moments, don't confuse God's silence with God's absence. Can I say that again?

Don't confuse God's silence with God's absence, even if God seems distant, trust that he's not far away. The promise he's given us. Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. You know, I remember when I was a young Christian man, the mountain topic high, that I had this beautiful experience. I felt this constant sense of God's presence.

His presence was tangible and real, and I, I felt that I was hearing his voice in just amazing ways. And I think this is something that's, you know, a common experience for many new Christians. But then comes seasons in our life where we don't hear from God or sense his presence in the way we once did.

And it's not that God's abandoned us or withdrawn his love. What he's trying to do is mature us in our faith. God is present, but he's developing in us greater faith and deeper trust. And that almost always comes through a painful trial, a circumstance where the only thing that you can hold onto is the love of God.

It is possible to be able to perfectly trust that which we cannot understand when we are anchored in the love of God. Did you get that? It is possible to be able to perfectly trust that which we cannot understand when we are so anchored in the love of God. Do you know we're all gonna go through times when we're gonna struggle with this sense of unanswered prayer, and we're just gonna wonder to ourselves, God, why don't you just click your fingers and make everything better?

These are the times where the rubber hits the road and we grow into greater maturity, and as we grow into greater maturity, we are gonna begin to see God in ways we've never seen him before. Do you believe that that's my experience, and I'm sure it's yours as well. You will see God in new ways because he's allowed you to go through this, and he's developed this deeper trust and greater maturity

when you're going through this stuff, when you're going through the mill. The temptation in these moments can be to ask God, why is this happening? God, why is this happening? I think our prayer ought to be, God, help me to see you in this situation.

Did you, did you get that? Our prayer ought to be not why God, but God, help me to see you in this situation. Here's another gem from Johnny Erickson. She says, the times I felt most disabled were the times I learned to lean hardest on God. That's when I discovered his will isn't just about getting out of hardship, it's about getting more of him.

God's will is sometimes the place you'd rather not go, but it's always the place where you meet Jesus more deeply. We all wanna be in the center of God's will, and often man, what we conceive in our mind, what that should look like and what it actually is can be two very different things. But no matter how difficult that dark place of God's will is, that's the place where you're gonna encounter Jesus.

Think about Paul. He begged. He asked three times for this thorn in the flesh to be removed, and the answer was no. Instead, what he got from Jesus was a deeper understanding of God's grace and power. That's profound. The fourth principle that Jesus models for us hold onto God's power. Jesus clings to God as Abba father, and then he prays everything is possible for you.

If the first temptation is to isolate ourselves from friends, and the second is to question God's love, then the third temptation is to doubt his power. When life is hard, you're praying, praying, praying, and heaven is silent, we can, you know, we can actually begin to try and cope by lowering our expectations so as to protect our hearts from the pain of dashed hopes.

You know what I'm talking about? The proverb says, deferred hope makes the heart sick, and we don't wanna feel sick in the heart. So what we do is we stop hoping, we stop believing that'll actually get rid of that pain that'll medicate and and numb it. Jesus doesn't do this in his darkest hour. Jesus is holding onto the omnipotence of God, ABA Father, everything is possible for you.

Even if God doesn't move in your circumstances, please don't lower your expectations and lose faith that everything is possible for God. Because if by faith you hold onto God's power and he doesn't move, rather than losing heart and giving up by that same faith, you're gonna begin to seek for purpose in that pain.

Faith will tell you that God, in his power, he is allowed it to happen. And through that, you can begin to seek divine purpose. But I would encourage you, lean not on your own understanding. God's thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. Remember the story. Jesus is filled with the spirit in Luke's gospel.

He pray all night before choosing the 12th, and you would assume he chose the right people. What do we see? Peter denies him and Judas betrays him. This alone reminds us that God's ways and human expectations don't always neatly line up. Did you get that? The fifth principle modeled by Jesus is, be honest.

Jesus affirms both God's love. He says, Abba, father and his power, everything's permissible for you or possible for you. And any praise five are the most surprising words in the entire Bible. Father, take this cup from me. He asks God for an alternative to the cross. And so what we see here is Jesus at his most vulnerable.

When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, he made it clear, I'm not about shortcuts. I'm all about walking the path that God the father has laid out for me. And the same is true when Peter says, never, Lord, never shall you go to Jerusalem, suffer and die at the hands of the chief priests. What does he say?

Get behind me, Satan. And yet now, in this most crucial of moments, Jesus prays, father, take this cup from me. Can I tell you? We don't need to fake it when it comes to prayer. Jesus knows that drinking this cup is gonna mean unbearable suffering, and he simply doesn't want to do it. Jesus is real and he says, Abba, I'm scared.

Father, I'm scared. Take this from me. I don't want to suffer. You don't need to put on a brave face when you come to God. Can I tell you if it hurts? Tell him. If you're afraid, tell him. If you are confused or angry, tell him. That will become the gateway into a a, an honest communication with God. We need to be real and honest with him.

Keep it simple. Keep it real. The sixth principle, we can draw from Jesus. Be willing to surrender the complete prayer. Abba Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. This is where Jesus lands. Jesus is in agony. He's sweating drops of blood, and yet he surrenders control.

He may not want God's will, but he chooses it anyway. Jesus calls us to surrender to the will of God, not just when it makes sense and feels good. But when it makes no sense at all and even hurts us deeply, Elizabeth Elliot said, to pray, thy will be done. I must be willing if the answer requires it, that my will be undone.

Now we have the luxury, the benefit of reading the, you know, the Gethsemane prayer with the, the benefit of hindsight. We know exactly why this prayer from Jesus when unanswered, but the reality is we don't live our present lives with hindsight. We don't know why. God denies some of our most heartfelt requests.

When we pray, thy will be done, what we are doing is we're laying down our agenda and we're saying, Lord, I trust you to write the story even if I don't understand the plot. I trust you to write my story even if I don't understand the plot lines you're drawing. I saw this yesterday. God is still writing your story.

Quit trying to steal the pen. Trust the author. Jesus asked for another way, he pleaded, but the father said no. And Jesus accepted it, not because it was easy, but because he trusted God's greater purpose. And Jesus calls us to do the same. Could I ask you to bow your heads with me as we pray?

Father, we, we come to you as children who oftentimes we don't understand your ways. At times, our hearts are so heavy with the weight of these prayers that are unanswered, we feel the sting of hopes deferred. Yet Father, we come to you as our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

Lord, you know the pain we carry. You know the nights we've spent wondering why and all these tears that speak words, we just cannot form Father, in these moments when our faith is feeling weak and fragile, please, please wrap your arms around us with a love that will not let go. Remind us that unanswered prayer is not unheard prayer, and that your silence does not mean your absence.

Help us to trust that your heart is still for us, even when we, even when we just cannot trace your hand. Father, shape our wills to be aligned with yours, and grant us the courage to pray like Jesus, not our will, but yours Be done, not as an act of resignation, but as an act of trust in your perfect wisdom.

Lord, we thank you that one day, one day, when all things are made new, we're gonna see the tapestry. You've been weaving in our lives all along. Father, we commit this prayer to you through Jesus Christ who wrestled yet surrendered. Who suffered yet trusted, who died, and yet rose again. In his name we pray, amen.