Luke 19:28-48

Discussion Questions

• What were the three things that Pastor Jim said accompany “The Return of the King.”
• Why do you think Jesus told people not to tell anyone about the miracles He performed before the triumphal entry?
• What was Jesus’ statement in the triumphal entry passage?
• What did it communicate that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey? Why did He not ride on a war-horse as Revelation describes?
• What is the reason the leaders couldn’t silence Jesus at this time?
• Which response to Jesus do you honestly most identify with? Do you have people in your life who react in some of these ways?
  • The crowds who celebrated His coming with palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna!”
  • The disciples who were emboldened- if only temporarily
  • The religious leaders who tried to silence Him
  • The Romans who largely Ignored him- at least for the moment
• What were the three things that describe the stance the donkey and his owner had towards Jesus? Do you strive to be this way, or do you know anyone like this in your own life?

Transcript

Good morning, everyone. [Congregation: Good morning.] Happy Palm Sunday. I want to welcome the folks who have joined us over this past week from Windsor, Ontario, Canada; from Auckland, New Zealand; from Monroe, Georgia. I want to give a big shout-out… and maybe we could all do that together… to one of my very, very favorite online watchers, Marie from Montrose, Colorado, who worships with us on a regular basis. Everybody say, “Hi, Marie.” [Congregation: Hi, Marie.] Good. There you go. She is watching and she is such a sweet lady. She’s joined us for Greenhouse before. I think she’s in her 90s, but man, she just keeps coming. She’s an amazing lady and we’re so glad to have her and all of those others joining us as well. Now, if you’re with us online, that’s great. We normally study through books of the Bible here at The Village Chapel. We’re going to jump ahead, as Kim said. Since it’s Palm Sunday, we’re going to jump to Luke 19, if you’ll join me there.

The notes and quotes are available through the QR code, which is up on the screen. You should be able, if you’d like, to download those in advance, you can access that. The reference is Luke 19, verses 28 through 48. Our theme throughout this holy week and throughout Lent actually, we’ve been focusing in on this memorial acclamation. Will you join me in saying this, reciting this one time? “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” That is so rich. There’s so much there about the uniqueness of who Christ is. He is God incarnate, the Son of God who came to become flesh, become one of us. He lived a life that none of us could live, a sinless life. He died for us on the cross, which then He rose again three days later. We’ll celebrate that next Sunday. I’m really looking forward to that! And bring everybody you know that needs to hear that great news story next week. We’ll find a way to squeeze people in. I think we have two overflow rooms down the hall, so we will do our best to get everybody in, but I hope you’ll join us next week for that as we study the resurrection, and then Christ will come again.

What great hope we have in the present for the future because Christ has promised to return today. We’re going to look, though, at His entrance into Jerusalem – that day that we call Palm Sunday. Since this is Palm Sunday, next Sunday is Easter Sunday, and you already know, most of you, the stories, the general idea of the stories. I’m going to keep in mind that we are all much like Hobbits in that we, quote, “Like to have books filled with things that we already know, set out fair and square and with no contradiction.” That’s the way Tolkien described the Hobbits in the prologue to the Lord of the Rings. The prologue is called “Concerning Hobbits,” and I very much like them. I like to hear stories. I like to be reminded of things that are timeless and true, and so I’m really looking forward to Palm Sunday and to Easter together with you. These are the truths that never fade, and yet my memory fades, and so I need to be reminded of these things. They make the most sense out of the life that we’re actually living even right now, 2000 years after the time of Christ. You’ll see things in this text today and you’ll go, “Yeah. That’s just like our world. I’m a lot like those people or this person.”

That’s one of the reasons we keep studying through books of the Bible; we want to remind ourselves of the life, the death, the resurrection, the ascension, the promised return of Jesus Christ. While unique and fantastic in so many ways, indeed our reality is worthy of reminder for us that we might know that in Christ we find life, a life that we are all longing for. Now, to give you just a little bit of a title for today’s study, we’ll call it “The Return of the King” in honor of Tolkien a little bit, but also reminding ourselves that Jesus, when He came the first time, His incarnation, was born in Bethlehem just outside of Jerusalem. Now here’s the King, the baby King. Now here’s the adult King and He’s returning to Jerusalem. Again, there’s so many ways in which there are some great parallels. But our gospel records together, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, 89 chapters. Only four chapters cover the first 30 years of Jesus’ life. You see, the emphasis is on the rest of His life. 85 chapters focus on His three-and-half year public ministry, His teaching, His miracles and His mission.

Of those, 29 chapters focus on the final week of His life, what we call the Passion Week that we’re going to study all this week, actually, we’ll be doing that. We have the triumphal entry, the cleansing of the temple, His teachings in Jerusalem, the last Supper, His betrayal, arrest, trials, scourging and crucifixion, His burial and His glorious resurrection that I look forward to talking about next week with you. Today’s passage is often called the triumphal entry of Jesus. It’s in all four gospel records. You have them on the screen. They’re Matthew 12, Mark 11, Luke 19 that we’ll look at today, and John chapter 12. Let’s look at our text today, which as I say is in Luke 19. I want to read through it with just a couple comments, and then we’ll make a few points together, and then we have a real treat for you here at the end of the service as well.

After He, Jesus, had said these things. What things? Well, the things that are right before it about the parable of money usage, and there’s several things. We’ll get there eventually. We’re still back, I believe, in chapter 12 in our ongoing study of Luke’s gospel. But everything in between there, after He had said all of these things, He was going on ahead ascending to Jerusalem. He’s come from Jericho. We know this. This is the road He took to go up to Jerusalem. For Jews, you’re always going up to Jerusalem. It’s not on the highest mountain in that area, but it is 2,500 feet above sea level, Jericho, where that… We look at that is the place where He left with blind Bartimaeus and the healing there. That’s 1,000 feet below sea level. We’re talking 3,500 feet of ascent in 17 miles on a windy road that isn’t paved and doesn’t have a real nice, air-conditioned motorboat or motor coach rather as they’re going along this way.

He’s ascending there to Jerusalem. “It came about that when He approached Bethphage and Bethany near the mount that is called Olivet, [the Mount of Olives, and these two villages that are just opposite each other there.] He [Jesus] sent two of His disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village opposite you, in which as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here.’” Imagine yourself getting into a car that Jesus said, “There’s going to be a blue Mercedes there. It’s going to be outside of Whole Foods. Just get in that car and bring it here.” Then Jesus goes on and says, “’If anyone asks you [verse 31] why are you untying it? [Why are you driving away with my car?] You are to say this, ‘The Lord has need of it.’” Well, we’ll probably get locked up in our day and time, wouldn’t we? For saying something like that. But this is what He instructs these two disciples to do.

“Those who were sent went away and they found it just as He had told them.” That happens a lot with Jesus. Actually, it happens a lot with His disciples, rather. They find it just as He had said it would be. As a matter of fact, it happens all the time. We always find it just as Jesus says it will be. Will we trust Him? Will we believe Him? Will we obey Him? “As they were untying the colt, [Good, they did obey Him.] It’s owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” Didn’t Jesus just say if that happens, here’s what you’re supposed to respond? “They said, ‘The Lord has need of it,’” doing exactly what Jesus told them to do. “They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their garments on the colt and put Jesus on it. And as He was going, they were spreading their garments in the road.” This is very much the thing that happened in ancient days. This, for us, we’re kind of: Why are they throwing their coats down there? You just bought that coat. That’s a nice coat. You’re going to have to take it to the dry cleaner’s now.

Now, they did this thing when they were welcoming royalty approaching their city or their village in their unpaved roads that had all kinds of holes in it and all kinds of gravel, all kinds of loose stuff. They would throw their coats, and in this case, palm trees even, we read about this in a couple of instances in the Old Testament, to make straight or smooth the way for the approaching king. This is what starts to happen, and it’s a visible sign and symbol of something that’s going on in their hearts, in their minds, in their longings. Okay? They start doing all of that. As He was approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, and I can tell you from having been there six times, it is really a sharp decline. You have to… In our day and time, there is a little paved road there. But it’s so slippery, if you’ve got the wrong shoes, you’re going to fall down. It’s that slick. They’ve even put a little handrail all the way down on the stone wall as you descend so that you can hold onto something when you’re going down. This is a really steep descent here.

“As He was now approaching near the descent, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen.” What miracles in this moment? Well, they’ve already seen tons of them, His disciples. As a matter of fact, who knows who’s in the crowd here? Is Blind Bartimaeus still following Jesus after 17 miles? I bet he is. I bet he’s still saying, “What’s that?” Now that he can see. “What’s that? What’s that?” He’s just repeatedly like a two-year-old, three-year-old. “What’s that, Mommy? What’s that, Dad?” Who else is there? The formerly dead guy named Lazarus and everyone is going, “What’s that? What’s that?” Formerly dead guy! And so many that Jesus had cast demons out of, so many that could not walk, but now are walking down the descent of the Mount of Olives. Even in our own day and time, I could show you pictures of Christian pilgrims that go there every single year by the thousand. No, by the tens… No, by the hundreds of thousands because they want to celebrate Palm Sunday signifying the approach of Jesus to Jerusalem where He will lay down His life so that you and I could be reconciled to God.

It’s really an amazing thing. You have got to imagine the city is full. It’s rush hour traffic time, and this city has probably got, as Josephus suggests, close to 2 million people in it during this particular time. And so there they are; they’re throwing their coats. They want to welcome Him as a King. They want to smooth a way for Him on this descent, and they’re joyfully shouting out because of the miracles that they had seen. Verse 38, here’s what they’re shouting. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Immediately, verse 39, some of the Pharisees, these are religious leaders, in the multitude said to Him, “Jesus, teacher, rebuke your disciples.” In other words, “Hush them. How dare they say that?” They’re offended. Religious people sometimes can get really uptight. Is that not true? Sometimes we are just the most uptight people on the planet, and the funny thing is the Holy Spirit isn’t uptight like that.

A lot of times we think we’re being all holy and righteous when we’re really just being all uptight and self-righteous. These guys come along and for myriad number of reasons that we’ve already read about as we’ve read through the gospels, they’re jealous, they’re envious of Jesus and His fame and popularity. They also want to… They don’t believe He’s the Messiah, and they want to reject Him. They actually have murder on their minds by this time. They actually are thinking of ways to do away with Jesus and they’re following… They’re like vultures following along and circling on that Palm Sunday road that day. Now they’re telling Jesus to shut those people up because it’s blasphemy to these religious folk that they would be saying something, singing that from Psalm 118 about Jesus. “He answered and said, ‘I tell you, if these [pointing to all the people] become silent, the stones will cry out.’”

In other words, you cannot stop God from being praised by His creation. That’s an amazing thing. That’s a beautiful thing. I think of how we pray for the persecuted church each and every week here at The Village Chapel. You cannot stop the people of God from worshiping their God, the King of the universe, the one who has come and laid down His life for them. They will not be silent. They will not be replaced by a rock or a stone. They will praise Him. Give us that same tenacity and that same courage as well, Lord. Verse 41, “When He approached,” so the closer He got, it says here in verse 41, this is amazing, “He saw the city and He wept over it.” This is the second time we’ve heard of Jesus weeping. He’s human. He’s emotional. There are other times where He emotes as well. But in this particular moment, one has to ask why. The parade is going.

The people are singing and shouting. There’s dancing. There’re campfires all over the hillside there, and people in all of them. The city is jammed. It’s like a festival, man. It’s like He’s being welcomed. People are waving these palm branches, laying their coats down, all that stuff. They’re calling Him a King and singing all of this. Why would He now weep like this? It says right here why. “If you had known,” this is Jesus saying, verse 42, He’s talking to Jerusalem essentially. “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

That happens actually just a few years later in 70 A.D., the great Jewish-Roman war as it begins in 66 and reaches its climax in 70 A.D. when the Romans literally come in, they take Jerusalem, they literally dismantle, they burn the temple and all of its beautiful furnishings… all the curtains and everything that hangs on all the beautiful wood that’s in it. They burn this thing to the ground. The fire is so hot, the gold melts down into the foundation cracks between the stones. Then what happens is that the general says, “All right. Start separating those stones from one another with crowbars. Let’s get that gold out.” They push the stones down over into the Tyropoeon Valley. There’s some of them still there in the valley below. I’ve actually stood next to those stones, and Jesus is predicting that that’s going to happen.

The reason it happened is because you didn’t recognize the time of your visitation. In other words, to recognize the time of your visitation, that is Jesus coming to visit, Jesus approaching you, bringing salvation as an offer, a free gift for you, and you refuse that and this will be the result. The outcome, if you will. Verse 45, “He entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling, saying to them, ‘It is written “And my house shall be a house of prayer,” but you have made it a robbers’ den.'” Again, you can visit some of the ruins of what would’ve been called the booths of Annas. Annas was one of the high priests. There was a co-high priest at this particular time, Annas and Caiaphas, father-in-law and son-in-law. In the booths of Annas, they’re literally selling every kind of animal for sacrifice.

Josephus says, “There will be a quarter of a million lambs that will be offered during Passover time.” A lamb, one lamb would satisfy the requirement, the ceremonial requirement, for the sacrifice for 10 people. Yes, 2 million is an easy number to imagine if that many lambs are being offered. But doves as well, the sacrificial animal of the poor. In those booths there would be all of these people who would be the religious leadership of the day, and you would have traveled all the way, some of you. If you were there, if we were on the ground that day, we would’ve traveled for days, for maybe even weeks on foot to get there with our dove or our little lamb to offer as a sacrifice. In those booths they would say yes or no to whether or not your animal was acceptable, was properly clean enough. If they deemed it unclean, they would be quick and ready to point you to the next booth where you could buy an animal, and they would even charge for the doves for the poor.

The fee that they would charge the poor was just… These guys are literally extortionists taking advantage. They got all the power in the world when it comes to the temple and you coming to bring your sacrifice. This has upset Jesus. They are creating what should be a house of prayer. It’s actually a house of prey, P-R-E-Y. These religious folks preying upon the people of God. He was teaching daily in the temple, and this happens during the Passion Week by the way. He probably goes in that first time on Saturday. A lot of people think it’s on that Sabbath day, the daytime, and then comes back in on Sunday, comes back in again on Monday, and so there’s a couple of times. Where He’s staying in Bethany is just a couple miles outside of Jerusalem. He’s teaching daily in the temple, verse 47, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people who were trying to destroy him, and boy, there’s an unholy alliance, isn’t there?

The chief priests and the scribes together and all the leading men. See, this group of people, they’ve got murder on their minds. They’re supposed to be good religious folks, leaders even in the religious community. What do they want to do? They want to murder the Messiah, but they couldn’t find anything that they might do, verse 48, for all the people were hanging upon His words. Notice the contrast. These religious guys have murder on their minds. The people, they are hanging on His every word. Let’s just fade to black for the text that we’re going to read, and I want to highlight a few things for you here. First, if you’re a short attention span like me and you need to get the whole thing right now, here’s the outline in advance. The return of the King was deliberate. The return of the King was dramatic. The return of the King demanded a response.

First, let’s talk about this, the return of the King being deliberate. That is, He did this on purpose. I love this. In this storyline we got the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how. It’s quite deliberate. The who, Jesus and all the formerlys. Formerlys, what are they? The formerly dead guy. The formerly blind guy. The formerly lame people. The formerly sick people. All of those people that Jesus has healed are there and present. That’s why it caused such a stir, and the whole city was stirred once again. Happened when He was born, and it’s happening now. It is bookends of the story of His life. The who is Jesus and all the formerlys coming in. The what is the first time where Jesus is actually going public like this.

You realize you’ve all heard us read texts where Jesus heals somebody and then says, “Don’t tell anyone,” and then what happens? They go and tell everyone in disobedience to Jesus trying to pace His ministry. And this is what we call the messianic secret. He’s trying to pace the timing of the way that people are reacting to Him. He doesn’t want there to be this overwhelming concept that He’s a political messiah as if politics could solve things. Some of us in the room know that politics can’t solve anything. That was an amen. Some of you are still not sure about that, but I’m here to remind you of that as well. The what is the first time Jesus makes a bold public statement about who He is and what His mission is. The who, the what, the when. Passover. Recalling the Exodus. Why did He go in this particular moment?

Why not some other time? Well, because He wanted to make a statement about Him being the ultimate Passover lamb. The lamb of God. The where is Jerusalem. Well, that’s obvious. It’s the religious capital of the entire nation, and so yes, a great place for Him to make is bold and public statement. The why is an offer of rescue and salvation. Who wouldn’t want that? Believe it or not, there are some people that don’t want that. Who doesn’t think they need that? Believe it or not, there are people in our world today that don’t think they need that. I’m one who can look in the mirror and see proof of the fact that I need redemption, that I need salvation, that I need forgiveness. It’s in my own eyes and my own soul. The who, what, when, where, the why is the offer of rescue and salvation, and then the how, on a donkey.

This is not Zorro or the Lone Ranger here. This is Jesus’ feet probably touching the ground. This is a little colt of a thing, but there’s a reason for it. It was deliberate. Why? Well, Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Notice all of these Old Testament messianic prophecies that get fulfilled in the personal work of Jesus. He’s a prophet like Moses as Deuteronomy predicted. Isaiah 7, He’s born of a virgin. Isaiah 53, He’s the sovereign servant who bears our sins. Zechariah 9:9, we just read. Other ones, Genesis 3:15, He’s the promised seed who would “crush the serpent’s head.” Genesis 12, He’s a descendant of Abraham through whom all nations would be blessed.

The Christian faith is the most inclusive religion in all the world because the offer is for everyone. The offer there. Now, how do you respond? Some will reject. We saw right here. Some are not interested in what Jesus has to offer. Some ignore it. Some are indifferent to it. Some of them are fighting against it. Genesis 49, “A ruler from the line of Judah” would come and that indeed is Jesus. This was a deliberate thing. The whole thing was quite deliberate on Jesus’ part, and it reminds me that He’s actually the one in charge. Even as He goes to lay down His life, we don’t look back now and think to ourselves those Romans or the devil got one over on Him. No, Jesus did this. God the Father is well pleased with the sacrifice of Christ. You and I need to understand that over and over again – remind ourselves of it, pound it into our heads and our hearts.

The price for your sin has been paid already if you’ve trusted Christ as your Lord and your Savior. It was also dramatic. I think that’s pretty obvious how dramatic it was that particular day. There are all these parallels. The birth of Christ. We often think of Joseph and Mary riding into Bethlehem, the city of David just outside of Jerusalem. We often think of them riding there on a donkey. Here comes Jesus, riding on a donkey. We read of images like the bookends of Jesus in both His birth and in His coming here on Palm Sunday that all of Jerusalem is stirred because King Herod, remember King Herod the Great, was stirred when He heard about a baby King. He got all upset and angry, and He went and slaughtered all the young children up in Bethlehem, right?

Everything’s being stirred today as well. There is a humble baby King and a celebrated yet humble messianic King, bookends to this story. When Jesus was born, Herod the Great wanted to silence the baby King. Now, the religious leaders want to silence the messianic King. Here we read how the people were rejoicing, dancing and singing, waving palms and people laying down their coats to make straight the paths of Jesus. Shouting, “Hosanna, blessed as He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Within days though, there’ll be this yell, this… I don’t know how many of them are the same people. I can’t say that I know that any of them are. All I know is that the crowd will be stirred up when Pilate brings Jesus out with Barabbas, and Pilate says to the crowd, “What do you want me to do with Jesus?” The crowd will yell, “Crucify Him. Crucify Him.”

The drama’s obvious, but the dogma is in the drama. This was the return of the king who had now come to lay down His life on a cross to offer salvation to sinners like you and me. Dorothy Sayers was a friend of C.S. Lewis. She was the only female member of a group called the Inklings. Some of you have heard of that. She said, “The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man, and the dogma is the drama.” You see, it’s all of that stuff that we just reviewed that makes this thing so amazing, so wonderful, so astonishing in so many ways. I ask you, have you sensed Christ approaching your heart lately? Has God been calling you to welcome Him into your heart and life? To bring you His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness and His love and His life?

How will you respond? The return of the King was deliberate and dramatic. The return of the King demanded a response, and that’s exactly what we want to bring this all to for us as well. We learn so much as we look at the various groups of people and individuals and the way they responded to Jesus on that first Palm Sunday. Each one of them reveals some level of misunderstanding, don’t they? The crowds celebrate His coming with palm branches and shouts of hosanna, but as we know from reading the rest of the gospels, a lot of them are expecting a political Messiah or maybe they’re expecting some sociological Messiah. Their understanding of what’s wrong with the world isn’t about what’s going on in human hearts, it’s what’s going on in the lay of the land, the horizon or the economy or the politics at that time.

Just like we might be tempted to think that’s really where all the solutions lie in our own time. It’s really important that we learn the lessons of Palm Sunday and think about this. The crowd celebrated His coming with palm branches and shouts of hosanna. Am I saying we should silence them? No, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying let’s do hosanna. Hosanna means save now. Let’s shout our hosannas with the salvation that God has put on offer for us, which is the kind we actually need. A heart change. A real heart change. The disciples were emboldened if only temporarily. Temporarily. How do you say it temporarily? Well, just a few days from now when Jesus is arrested, the disciples are going to scatter like little animals that are being whipped and scared off by a big animal like a lion that’s seeking to devour them, and they will scatter. The religious leaders tried to silence Jesus. The Romans largely ignored Him.

Look at that slide just for a second, will you? Would you look at that? Which of those best describes the disposition of your heart today toward Jesus? Do you see Him as He really is, or do you want Him to be something else that He’s not for you? Do you really hope He will be and set things right in Washington or in the state capital? Is that what you think it takes for the world to be set right? Or downtown Nashville, or whatever it might be, even your HOA? I’m on the HOA in my neighborhood. I know what this is about. But is that what it takes to set the world right? Or do we need something cosmic, something global, something historic and something personal? All of that? See, that’s what I think we see in Jesus who is, get this, on the back of a donkey. Do you know who that is? That is He who created everything out of nothing and holds it all together by the power of His word. That’s who’s on the back of that donkey.

It’s not just some little retired carpenter turned rabbi who’s done a few tricks with fish and bread. No, it’s the Son of God who has come to set things right, to begin this process of forgiving. Now, look up at the screen, please. Identify in some way, but there’s probably another line. I didn’t put it on there on purpose. There’s probably another line that ought to be on that slide. It’s the donkey and its owners. Their response is, “I’m available. What’s mine is yours. How can I serve?” Now, that’s an option for all of us today. I’m available. What’s mine is yours. How can I serve? Church, that’s how we should welcome Jesus into our hearts and into our fellowship and into our community here. I’m glad we have a record of the first Palm Sunday. It should be easier for us to see these things than it would’ve been on the ground in that day because we’re looking back through history, and we can see it a little bit differently.

A couple quotes for you and I’ll close. In Jesus, we find infinite majesty, yet complete humility, perfect justice, yet boundless grace, absolute sovereignty, yet utter submission to the Father, all sufficiency in Himself and yet entire trust and dependence on God. We give thanks to God the Father for Jesus, the gift of Jesus, the Son, and for the gift of the Holy Spirit who lives and dwells within the heart of each and every believer. I give thanks to God for that in your life, and I give thanks to God for that in my life as well. Look who lives within you on the screen. Look who lives within you. The one that came on the donkey that day, so humble and yet so sovereignly in charge of every bit, every square inch of the universe belongs to Him. That’s who came for you. That’s who came for me.

Piper: “Jesus came the first time, and He is coming again, as the king over all kings.” We’ll talk about that a little bit more next week. “King of Israel, king of the nations, king of nature, and the universe. Until He comes again, there is a day of amnesty and forgiveness and patience. He still rides a donkey and not yet a white war-horse with a rod of iron. He is ready to save all who receive Him as Savior and Treasure and King. Come to Him. Know Him. Receive Him. Live your life in allegiance to Him.” It is the way of Jesus. It’s the way of wisdom. It’s a way of life. It’s the way of serving – true. It’s the way of putting God first. Yes. It’s the way of putting others ahead of yourself. Yes. There’s a lot in our world that fights against that, that wants us to think that if this was what happened in the world, things would be set right. Or if I got this or if I could be more important or more popular than that person, whatever, on and on we’re programmed all day long to change our value system.

That’s why I think axiology is one of the most important branches of philosophy right now. What is valuable? What is good? What is it that leads us to life, to the blessed life that Jesus has to offer us? All you’ve got to do is jump back to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, Chapter 6, and you read… Or Matthew 5, 6 and 7. Matthew 5, you get all those beatitudes. He tells us what a beatific or a blessed life is all about. Psalm 119, the first three verses are a prayer, and this is the longest chapter in the entire Bible – 176 verses. Three verses are a prayer; 173 verses are all about God’s Word and how important it is, how sweet it is, how wonderful it is, how it leads us to life, and it’s a really powerful thing. Jesus Himself, the living Word who came for us. Stott says, “Here’s a King who conquers not by force of arms, but by the force of love.”

On that day there were coats flinging, palm branches swinging, and there were hosannas ringing. How is it that some have stood back in indifference that day and even in our day? How is it that some have rejected Him? How is it that some have demanded Jesus conform to their agenda and their ideas? How is it that some become so tepid and half-hearted as to not even pick up a palm branch to wave? Not to even open their mouths with much more than a mumble? I’m so glad that doesn’t happen in this room. I am so excited that I get to sit right there and just be washed with your singing as you worship the Lord God. It’s like a river of praise. How will you respond to Jesus this Palm Sunday?

Let’s pray: Lord, thank You for this story. Make it for each and every one of us fresh. We’ve heard it so many times. I’ve preached it 24 times. Lord, I want to see You. I want to see You in a new way each and every day. I want to learn… You’re an infinite God, so I haven’t even begun to understand or comprehend who You are. One more time, Lord, I pray open our eyes that we might see Jesus as He is, and that we might, yes, sing hosanna, save now, Lord, and maybe some here today for the very first time, Lord. I pray that would be the case if they’ve not done it, that they would do it today. The rest of us, Lord, to just simply worship You and praise You and fix our eyes on You, the author and finisher of our faith, for Your glory and for the good of our neighbors that watch this church grow and mature and deepen. I pray that that would happen as well, Lord, that we would join You in the mission that You have in this world, and that Jesus would be our King, our leader, and that we, like Him, would lay down our lives to serve others and all to the glory of God. Pray this in Jesus’ name for His sake, amen and amen.

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“We Will Feast in the House of Zion“ by Sandra McCracken
“Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery“ by Keith Getty, Matt Boswell, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker and Matt Papa
“I Need Thee Every Hour“ by Annie Sherwood Hawks and Robert Lowry
“Lift High The Name“  by Ed Cash, Fionan DeBarra, Keith Getty and Kristyn Getty
 “Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois

All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690

Call To Worship: Palm Sunday, from Psalm 24

Leader: Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
Congregation: Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.

Leader: Lift up your heads, O you gates; Lift them up, you ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in.
Congregation: Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – He is the King of glory.

All: HOSANNA, HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!

Confession: Jesus, Who is Worthy

Leader: Why do we call Jesus our Lord?
People: Because he has ransomed us, body and soul, from all our sins, not with silver or gold but with his precious blood, and has freed us from all the power of the devil to make us his own possession.

Leader: What does God grant in our new life in Christ?
People: God grants us reconciliation with him, forgiveness of our sins, union with him in Christ, adoption into his family, citizenship in his kingdom, new life in the Holy Spirit, and the promise of eternal life.

All: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

Source: Heidelberg Catechism, Question 34; ACNA, Question 15; Revelation 5:12

Classic Prayer: Ambrose, 339-397 AD

Take away this heart of stone from me, and give me a heart of flesh and blood, a heart to love and adore you, a heart which may delight in you, love you and please you, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

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