Palm Sunday, 2002
Pastor
The
Easter Passion Play began yesterday and will run
through next Sunday night. I just
returned from 23 days in
As
they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on
the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go to
the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with
her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to
you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 "Say to
the Daughter of
Both the chief priests and the teachers of the law understood that long-term prophecies of the Bible were being fulfilled on this day. The chief priests understood it as a threat to their political power. The people understood him to be their Savior.
One of the prophecies in particular was being addressed. Ezekiel prophesied in chapter 34 verses 23-34 along these lines. It says, "I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them."
When Ezekiel wrote these words, David had been dead for over 400 years. This King that was to come, was not necessarily to be David himself, but one from the House of David. When the people said, Hosanna to the Son of David, they had Ezekiel’s prophecy in mind.
When they said, “Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord,” they understood his divine nature. Zechariah had prophesied in Zechariah 2:10:
"Shout and be glad, O daughter of
Others had earlier tied to answer this question, not least of which was John the Baptist. They needed to know if he was just a prophet, as the Moslems teach, or was this the very Son of God? So, in Matthew 11:3, we have the question that John the Baptist asked, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect another?”
On this day, those questions had
been answered and the people were responding.
The Chief Priests and Teachers of the law saw the political threat posed
by Jesus and opposed him. But the people
answered with praise and honor. Mark
Whenever Jesus comes to us, he demands a response. Back then they shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!"[1] They could not have been silent or the rocks would have erupted.
Throwing down a coat before the path of a donkey was a sign of honor. They built triumphal gates, and created triumphal roadways. The people were spontaneously doing the same.
They understood the man, Jesus. They understood his moment of triumph. They were doing their part to facilitate what was happening. The people were stepping up to their moment in history. In the same way, we must understand Jesus and who he is. We must also respond to our moment in history. This is not the first century. It is the 21st. We will share similarities of response, but what we do will not be exactly the same as what they did because our moment in history requires new things.
We must be led by the Holy Spirit to respond appropriately to our hour in human history. This is a very important hour. Half of all the people who have ever lived in all of human history are alive at this moment. As far as people are concerned, this moment in history is as important as all the rest of history combined.
I want to emphasize
being led by the Holy Spirit for our day and not just responding as others have
done in the past. We learn from
history. We study how other Godly people
have responded in the past to understand more of how God works through human
beings. I have been doing that very
thing these last three weeks in the
In being led by the Spirit we will do the RIGHT THINGS. We will do them at the RIGHT TIME. We will do them in the RIGHT PROPORTION. God knows what he is doing. Our task is simply to walk right in step with him in this most important generation. Here is what I think God is calling to today.
First, God wants us to visibly live the Christian life in this world. Jesus is the light of the world and we are the reflection of that light. When I speak of the Christian life, I believe that is expressed in our four core purposes:
1. Learning to fully love God.
2. Increasingly love others by acts of mercy, especially for the poor, bruised and brokenhearted.
3. Refreshing our faith by regular acts of devotion such as prayer, fasting, worship, and the spiritual disciplines.
4. Joining others to build the church through giving, involvement, and evangelism.
I emphasize “visibly” live the Christian life
because I am concerned that the church not become marginalized and isolated
within our churches. When I see all the
Crusader Castles that dot the hill tops of the
The fortress mentality wants to isolate and be separate from culture. Some people want to go to a church that meets on Sunday. They think of church as a Sunday morning service. That is a fortress mentality. We get together on Sunday inside the castle and be separate from the enemy out there.
The
What happens in our schools is about settling the land. When the Counseling Ministry is working, the church is meeting. Every time Love, INC distributes food, clothing, or furniture to the needy, the church is meeting.
After Easter, we want to focus our preaching on the ten most important questions that Eastsiders are asking. It is part of being visible to this community. For this to work, I need your help. We have these little cards that introduce the subject. I would like for you to invite people to attend the service with you.
Second, it is also important that every part of the ministry be fully living out the Christian life. For example, in Royal Rangers, Missionettes, Sports leagues, youth program, and Sunday School classes leaders need to be asking the right questions and doing the RIGHT THINGS. Are people being saved? Is the love of Jesus being shown? How do we know if people are hurting and are we mindful of them? Is one aspect of the Gospel being emphasized too much while other parts are being neglected? Are all four core purposes being carried out? When the women’s groups meet, are non-Christian people ever present? Are school teachers thinking only about the student, or are their families also being ministered to?
by Philip
Irvin
Christ's
ministries on earth could be placed into two categories. The first could be described as His
"pastoral ministry." This
ministry would be characterized by His feeding the five thousand, healing the
sick, and reconciling men to God. Clearly this essential Christian ministry is
what we usually think of when we picture Christ's work on earth.
But
there is another side of His ministry that is substantially less popular. That is Christ's ministry of confronting
evil. This is characterized by His
rebuke of Peter, "Get thee behind me Satan!", His scathing
denouncement of the religious leaders of the day, and His assault on the money
changers in the Temple. It is often hard
for us to reconcile our perception of a loving Jesus with His statements like,
"You brood of vipers!" or "You are like whitewashed tombs which
indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and
all uncleanness."
The
earthly rewards of Christ's pastoral ministry were manifested on Palm Sunday
when a grateful throng shouted, "Hosanna to the King!" Christ's ministry of confronting evil bore
different fruit and that fruit matured the following Friday as a bloodthirsty
crowd demanded something other than His coronation.
As
I observe Christians today, I note that they engage almost exclusively in
pastoral ministry and neglect the ministry of confronting evil. As I consider the earthly rewards of these
two ministries, I cannot help wondering why one ministry is stressed and the
other shunned. Is the motivation a wish
for peace and popularity rather than an earnest desire to follow Him wherever
He leads? I don't believe His invitation
to take up our cross and follow Him was only to a ministry leading to riding a
donkey on palm branches through a cheering crowd. Christians desperately need to take up the
offense of the Gospel and accept the opposition it brings.
All Christians will be offensive. Either they will stand for righteousness and offend men or they will remain silent and offend God. Which will you choose?