Members of The King

ME (A hook):

As a pastor,

I often peruse books on leadership,

Hoping to grow as a leader.

But the way the Bible talks about leadership,

And the type of leader that Jesus is,

Completely contradicts what so much of our world tries to teach as effective leadership.

So, when I went to Barnes & Nobles website,

I clicked on the subject of leadership,

And the first book that popped up was this one.

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The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.

Not sure if you can see on the picture,

But it is a National Bestseller according to the New York Times.

I read the overview,

And this is what it said,

“Considered to be the Business Bible,

This book will teach you all the ways of getting ahead and staying there.”

Another author promoted it saying,

“Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.”

People magazine said the book is both beguiling yet fascinating,

Compiling three thousand years of philosophies and the history of power into these 48 essential laws,

Recommending absolute self-preservation,

And, I quote,

“Every law…has one thing in common: an interest in total domination…The 48 laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.”

…What?!

This is a multi-million-copy national bestseller?

These are the laws that our culture says define good and effective leadership.

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But these are not the laws Jesus adheres to.

Matthew 21:1-22 presents a very different set of laws Jesus both adheres to,

And establishes.

And Jesus has the authority to establish these very counter-cultural laws,

Because Jesus is King.

And if we are members of Christ’s body,

Then we are Members of the King.

But Jesus is a multi-faceted and unexpected King.

There are so many characteristics of Jesus revealed all throughout Scripture.

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And several of them are revealed in our passage this morning.

First, in vs. 1-11, we see that He is A Humble King.

Yet in vs. 12-20, He is An Authoritative King.

And in vs. 21-22,

We see that He is A King You Can Trust.

Therefore, our takeaway from this passage is simple,

Trust in our humble and authoritative King.

For 20 chapters,

We have journeyed with Jesus.

From being born in Bethlehem,

To fleeing to Egypt as a young child,

To settling in Nazareth where He grew up,

To Galilee where He first began His public ministry,

To Capernaum and Gennesaret and Tyre and Sidon and Caesarea Philippi and Jericho and Judea,

Where He taught and healed and performed an unknown amount of miracles.

But now,

For the first time in Matthew’s Gospel,

We see Jesus entering into Jerusalem.

Ch. 21 is all about the identity of Jesus.

Which is fitting,

Since it is the first day of the last week of Jesus’ life.

It is Passover week in the holy city.

The significance of every event that follows in Matthew cannot be overstated.

In the chapters that follow,

Jesus repeatedly challenges the religious leaders,

Institutes the Lord’s Supper,

He gets arrested,

Goes through a rigged trial in the middle of the night,

Is crucified,

Then rises from the dead.

This was what all of creation had been waiting for.

Going all the way back to the Garden,

Right after sin entered into the world,

God made a promise for all of humankind,

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When He said to the serpent in Gen. 3:15,

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Jesus, the Son of God,

Fulfills this promise.

His heal was bruised through His death on the cross.

But He crushed the head of sin, Satan, and death by rising from the dead.

You see,

God had planned it all,

Every detail of this final week was planned by God,

Before the foundation of the world.

This week is the ultimate climax for all of human history.

So ,the final 8 chapters of Matthew are devoted to this final week.

Up to now,

Jesus has been telling those who He healed not to tell others.

But here in ch. 21,

Jesus publicly reveals Himself as the Messiah.

As the King who saves His members from our sins.

So, this chapter,

And the ones to follow,

Give us a breathtaking, awe-inspiring, and transformative picture of this worthy King!

It is a stunning picture of His character.

WE (vs. 1-11) (Why does this matter to us?):

So, let’s consider His glorious attributes we see in this chapter,

Showing us what kind of King Jesus truly is.

First, in vs. 1-11,

We see He is A Humble King.

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In vs. 1, Jesus and the crowd following Him approach Jerusalem,

Coming to nearby Bethphage,

Which is a small village at the foot of the Mount of Olives,

Along the road from Jericho to Jerusalem.

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So, in vs. 2-3,

Jesus commands two disciples to go into the village,

Saying, as soon as they do,

They will find a donkey and her colt tied there.

Then He commands the disciples to untie them and bring them to Him.

And if anyone says anything to the disciples,

Jesus commands them to say,

“The Lord needs them.”

These details make the glory of the incarnation wonderfully clear.

Because here is Jesus,

A man,

Ordain as God,

A donkey and her colt,

To be at a certain place,

At a certain time,

For His certain purpose.

Because, He says, He is the Lord Who needs them.

This is an incredible display of Jesus’ divinity.

That He is God in the flesh!

But not only that,

He is also the fulfillment of key OT prophecy.

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In vs. 4-5,

Matthew quotes Zechariah 9:9,

Which says,

“Tell the Daughter, Zion,

Look! Your King is coming...

To you!

Humble…gentle...

Mounted on a donkey,

On a colt,

The foal,

The baby of a donkey.”

Now the context of Zechariah is so significant.

This prophecy was given to God’s people after they came back from exile.

At that time,

There was just a remnant of God’s people that returned to Jerusalem,

To rebuild the temple,

And reestablish the city.

So, in one sense,

There was great joy,

But it was also a time of great struggle.

And by this time,

God’s people have seen failed king after failed king after failed king.

When Zechariah extends this hope to God’s people,

Promising a day when the Lord will come,

And He will be the King!

This was 500 years before Jesus was ever born.

When God promised,

That a donkey and her colt would be available the week of Passover,

And the King, Jesus,

Would ride on that colt into Jerusalem.

We can’t make this stuff up!

Only God could write a story like this!

That is the point Matthew is driving home here.

That Jesus is King!

The promised Lord & Savior King!

And His righteousness stands in contrast to all those kings who failed before Him.

So, riding on the donkey is proof of all this.

But it also demonstrates that Jesus is a humble King.

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So, in vs. 6-8,

The disciples bring the donkey,

And her untamed colt.

They lay their clothes on them.

Then Jesus mounts the colt.

And as He begins to ride this untrained colt into the city,

This huge crowd starts taking off their outer cloaks,

Cutting off palm branches,

And spreading them across the road.

Something the people did whenever their king entered the city,

As 2 Kings 9:3 shows.

Which, once again, demonstrates that Jesus is King.

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Specifically, in vs. 9,

The crowds shout in praise that Jesus is the Savior King.

“Hosanna!”

They cry,

Which literally means “save now!”

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

Save us now,

Son of David!

Then, they quote Psalm 118:25-26, saying,

Jesus is blessed because He comes in the authority of the Lord!

Generation after generation,

God’s people had pleaded for salvation.

Finally, they declare that God sent them a deliverer in His name,

Jesus is that deliverer!

As I mentioned earlier,

It is no coincidence that this was happening at the start of Passover week.

Jerusalem is packed with people from all over,

Celebrating the feast of remembrance,

Reminding them of the time when God rescued their people from slavery in Egypt.

A salvation that came through the blood of the passover lamb.

So, now, Jesus,

The Lamb of God,

Is bringing about a new,

And even greater redemption from slavery.

A redemption from slavery to sin.

So, on the first day of this celebration,

Jesus comes riding into the city.

We cannot overstate how significant Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem is!

But He did not come in proud or arrogant.

He did not come in powerfully or valiantly.

He came in humble and gentle.

Because He was not like earthly rulers.

Kings and presidents and rulers are honored with reverence and fear.

They wear the finest,

Most splendid attire.

But Jesus was not like this.

He surrounded Himself with the lowly.

He did not enter the city with great wealth,

He came in poverty.

He did not come all majestic,

He came in humility,

Riding on a colt.

He is A Humble King,

Who brings about peace.

Going back to Zechariah’s prophecy,

Vs. 10 says that God’s promised King will proclaim peace to the nations.

You see, a king does not ride a donkey if he is going into battle.

He only rides a donkey when there is peace.

So, by riding a donkey here,

Jesus is alluding to His mission as the One who makes peace with God possible.

In fact,

Luke’s Gospel adds that the crowds shouted,

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Friends, this is great news for us!

Because the Bible says we are God’s enemies!

But Jesus proclaimed a message of peace.

Peace between God and humankind,

And peace between one another.

We are reconciled to God through Christ,

And reconciled to one another through Him as well.

This is a completely different message than what the people were expecting.

They were waiting for the King who would show up in power,

And overthrow Rome.

But that is not how King Jesus showed up.

Because political power was not His mission,

Spiritual peace for the nations was His goal.

Zechariah prophesied that this King’s dominion will extend from sea to sea,

To the ends of the earth.

So, the Humble King is the King of kings.

He is King over every leader, every president, every prime minister, every ruler throughout all of history,

And He accomplishes salvation for all His members from every tribe, tongue, and nation!

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So, because Jesus is this unexpected King,

Once He gets into Jerusalem in vs. 10,

The whole city is in a uproar!

Just like when Jesus was born,

They are all charged up and agitated!

And they ask the right question,

Who is this Jesus?

On His way in,

The crowds shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David.”

So, first, Jesus is the Son of David.

This is not the first time we have heard this title for Jesus in Matthew.

In fact, it was one of the earliest titles,

Going back to the very first verse of Matthew’s Gospel.

All throughout Matthew,

Jesus has been portrayed as the promised Savior and King of God’s people,

Who would come from the line of King David.

So, as I mentioned earlier.

They were basically shouting,

“Save us now, our promised Savior!”

But they did not know how Jesus would save them.

Even the disciples missed how He would fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 53.

Despite Jesus telling them repeatedly about His need to suffer and die.

Still, the people did not understand that their Savior would accomplish salvation,

By shedding His blood as the sacrificial Lamb during Passover.

It is not until after the death and resurrection of Jesus,

That the disciples began to understand the significance of this final week.

It took the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit to bring these events into focus.

Jesus willingly walked into the jaws of death.

Out of compassion for His members.

In Luke’s telling of this event,

Luke says that Jesus wept over Jerusalem as He approached the city.

His heart was wrenched for us sinners whom He came to save,

Knowing that the very people who are asking,

“Who is this Jesus?”

Are almost certainly the same people who shout,

“Crucify Him!”

Mere days later.

Yet, Jesus continued forward.

He continued to the cross,

And continued to the grave.

He did so,

As the ultimate act of compassion.

So, who is this Jesus?

He is the Son of David,

Who saves His members by His shed blood.

But in vs. 11,

The crowds also say Jesus is a prophet.

A prophet teaches and reveals God’s Word.

Jesus does this.

In fact,

He is God’s Word in the flesh.

So, He is certainly a prophet.

But He is also a King,

Which we have established.

And He also holds the third OT office of priest.

GOD (12-20) (Teach the text):

Which He displays in vs. 12-20,

By also demonstrating that He is an Authoritative King.

Part of being an Authoritative King implies holiness.

Again, going back about 500 years before Jesus was even born,

Another prophet promised that their Savior would come to purify the temple and the people of Jerusalem.

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Malachi 3:1-3 prophesied,

Malachi 3:1–3 (ESV)

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi (the priests) and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.

So, Malachi is prophesying that God’s messenger will restore the worship of God’s people,

By purifying the priests.

So, once again,

Jesus fulfills this prophecy.

But He does so in a way no one ever expected.

He does so in a much more controversial way.

As we see here in Matthew.

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During Christ’s time on earth,

Rome was the world power.

Roman currency had Caesar and other emperors stamped on it,

Which was considered idolatrous,

So, it could not be given to the temple.

As a result,

Just outside the temple,

In what is called the outer court,

Where non-Jews were allowed to come and worship God,

Were money changers,

Who would exchange Roman currency,

For the currency that was free of idolatry,

And could be accepted in the temple.

However, these money changers didn’t just do this out of the kindness of their heart,

They charged a fee.

Similarly, people were coming from far off distances,

And they could not easily bring their animal sacrifices with them.

So, you also had others who sold animal sacrifices there as well.

And they understood,

Not everyone could afford a nice sacrificial lamb,

So, they would sell them doves at a more affordable price.

These are the people in that outer court around the temple.

When Jesus walks into this bustling outer court,

A space where some from every nation could come to worship, praise, and pray to God.

But instead, it is more like a marketplace,

A business where people are profiting off others,

Taking advantage of others,

And completely disregarding the purpose of the temple.

So, Jesus,

In His perfect righteousness and holiness,

Throws them all out of the temple court.

He overturns the money changers tables,

He is flipping the chairs of those who were selling doves.

It was chaos!

You can see on the screen the way one artist depicts this scene.

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Then, in vs. 13 Jesus alludes to Isaiah 56:7,

Telling them that God’s Word says that His house,

The temple,

Will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

But, Jesus says,

You are making it a den of robbers.

They have turned it into a shelter for thieves,

For a group of people who threaten and steal and take advantage of others.

They were the people of God,

But they were preventing the nations from praying to and worshiping God.

And this phrase,

Den of robbers,

Comes from Jer. 7:11.

In Jeremiah 7,

God disciplined His people.

Because while they were offering their ritual sacrifices,

They were living in complete and total disobedience to Him.

So, God denounced their wrong way of thinking,

That the physical temple guaranteed them God’s blessing,

No matter how wicked they were being.

God asks through Jeremiah,

“Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to idols, and follow other gods?”

“Then you come,

And you stand before Me,

In this house, the temple,

And say,

‘We are delivered, so we can continue doing all these detestable things’?”

Therefore, God declared,

“This house called by My Name has become a den of robbers.”

Jesus’ point is that the same thing that happened in Jeremiah’s time,

Is still happening during His time.

God’s people were offering worship to Him in the temple.

But they were not obeying God.

So, Jesus, the holy King,

Walks into His temple,

To cleanse and purify it.

No longer can God’s house be used as a hideout for criminals.

Jesus restores it into a house of prayer to and worship of God.

He shows how He does not deal with sin lightly.

He has this righteous zeal,

This holy anger toward sin.

And He has the right to cleanse the temple this way.

Because He is an Authoritative King.

This chapter,

And the chapters that follow,

Put Jesus’ authority on magnificent display.

He take the religious leaders head-on,

Claiming His authority as God and King.

Claims they call blasphemous,

And later use to crucify Him.

But in our passage here,

We see four aspects of Jesus’ authority one after another.

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First,

We have just seen His authority over the temple.

Going back to 12:6,

Jesus had repeatedly made clear,

That He is greater than the temple.

Because He is the King over the temple.

Therefore, He has the right to do whatever He desires in the temple.

Including, throwing it into chaos.

I mean, we can only imagine how shocking it was for those religious leaders to see Jesus do this.

They prided themselves in their religious deeds,

Especially at the temple.

So, for Jesus to come in and just start flipping tables, overturning chairs, and kicking out all those people.

It would be like someone walking into the oval office overturning the presidents desk,

Flinging papers all over the place,

Throwing chairs around,

And telling the secret service to beat it!

People would see this and think,

“Who does this guy think He is?”

Even the president likely would not get away with this.

But in Jesus’ case,

He is the King of this place.

He has authority over the temple.

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Next, Jesus has authority over disease.

Not only do we see Jesus display righteous anger here,

But also gracious compassion.

In vs. 14,

The blind and the lame are welcomed into the temple.

Which is significant,

Because those who were considered diseased individuals like the blind and the lame,

Were often found sitting outside of the temple,

Begging for help.

Because they were not allowed to actually go into the temple.

But Jesus does not cast them out.

He welcomes them in.

He cares for them.

And He does the miraculous,

He heals them.

This is the only healing miracle in all of Matthew that takes place in Jerusalem.

By doing this,

He is clearly identifying Himself as the Promised Savior,

And the King over the nations,

Over the religious leaders,

And over disease.

And by doing this in the temple,

He is demonstrating that the sick and the lame are graciously welcomed by God.

In fact,

The picture of heaven we are given in Revelation,

Shows some from every tribe, tongue, and nation,

In the presence of Jesus,

Worshiping God,

And ch. 21 says,

There is no sickness,

No disease,

No more hurting,

And no pain anymore.

Because Jesus has authority over disease.

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Third, vs. 15-16 displays how Jesus has authority over all people.

Just like the crowds were shouting as Jesus entered the city,

There are children in the temple,

Witnessing all Jesus is doing,

And they cry out,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

And this is a problem for these religious leaders.

They’ve got children running around the temple, shouting,

That Jesus is their promised Savior.

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So, in a rage,

They ask Jesus,

“Do You hear what these children are saying?”

How could You just stand there,

And allow these poor, innocent, misguided children to shout such blasphemous things?

But in response,

Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2 to justify the children’s praise.

Because Psalm 8 is about all people praising God.

And included among the worship from all,

Is worship that comes from the mouths of babes,

From the lips of children.

So, in quoting this,

Not only is Jesus saying the children’s praise is something astounding.

But He is claiming that they are right to worship Him as God.

Because He has authority over all people.

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Lastly, Jesus shows He has authority over all creation.

After He leaves the temple,

Jesus goes to the city of Bethany where He spent the night.

And Bethany becomes a relatively prominent location.

Lord willing,

In the weeks to come,

We will see how several of the following chapters in Matthew take place in Bethany.

But this draws the first day of Jesus’ final week to a close.

Then, vs. 18-20 narrates the start of another day,

With the unexpected miracle of Jesus cursing a fig tree.

Now, Mark’s Gospel says that the temple cleansing and the cursing of the fig tree,

Take place at two separate times.

But Matthew condenses these events together,

To show how they are connected.

It is a way for Matthew to hint at God’s imminent punishment of Israel,

Because of their moral barrenness,

As we just saw in the temple.

So, cursing the fig tree forewarns of God’s judgment against Jerusalem and the temple,

Where both the city and the temple will both be destroyed.

Which, history shows happened in AD 70.

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So, looking at the passage, vs. 18 says,

Early in the morning,

Jesus is on His way back to Jerusalem from Bethany,

And He’s hungry.

He sees this lone fig tree on the side of the road,

With leaves,

Which should indicate it has fruit on it.

So, Jesus goes up to it,

And He finds no fruit on this tree.

So, He curses it.

Now, some have suggested,

Jesus did this out of His fleshly anger.

But that is out of His character.

Going back to why Matthew includes this miracle here,

Tells us that Jesus did this to make a point.

It demonstrates His commentary on the religious worship of God’s people,

Especially the religious leaders.

They had leaves.

From the outside,

It seemed as if they were worshiping God.

But on the inside,

There was no real fruit.

Instead of true, God-centered worship,

They were embracing this human-centered religiousness.

So, although they claimed to worship God,

They were spiritually dead,

They had no fruit,

They even rejected God in the flesh,

The new and greater temple,

Jesus Christ, the King!

So, Jesus is showing that He does not tolerate hollow worship,

Or hypocritical religion.

If that is you,

Jesus is showing how your fate will be the same as the fig tree,

Cursed.

YOU (21-22) (Response):

So, this morning,

We have seen both ends of the type of King Jesus is.

He first came as the Humble King.

Going back to His birth in a manger,

Up to His arrival in ch. 21.

Jesus is the gentle and lowly King.

He rode into the city on a colt,

To bring peace through His shed blood.

That was why He came the first time.

To rescue sinners like you and me.

The Humble King came to be the crucified King.

Not to overthrow some political power like Rome,

But to deliver all nations from the powerful slavery of sin.

But there is another picture of Jesus coming.

A forward looking picture.

When Jesus will come again.

Yes, Jesus first came as a Humble King riding on a colt.

But the Bible promises He will come a second time,

As the sovereign King,

Riding on His white horse to end the battle against sin, Satan, and death forever.

Friends, that day will be quite different from what we see in ch. 21.

On that day,

It will be too late to trust in Jesus.

So, Jesus mercifully delays that day.

Giving you today to trust in Him.

If you have not already put your trust in the humble yet authoritative King Jesus,

You can do that today.

As King, He left His throne to put on the robes of a servant,

And die on a cross in your place.

He came to rescue sinners like you and I.

That is why He came the first time.

When He comes next, however,

He will be coming as the crowned King,

In righteousness and judgment,

And all who refused to trust in Him will be cursed like the fig tree.

WE (Paint a picture of the future):

Slide

So, let us close this morning with some application that we can take from the closing verses of our passage.

Because Jesus has shown that He is a King You Can Trust.

In vs. 20,

After the disciples see Jesus curse the fig tree,

It says they marveled.

They are amazed at Jesus.

So, the first application hones in on this genuine response to Jesus.

Worship Him!

Truly worship Him!

Praise Him!

Be astonished by Him!

This amazement is not just from the fig tree,

It is a continued amazement at the culmination of all the attributes Jesus reveals about Himself as King.

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Second, bear fruit in our lives.

We don’t want to be like this fig tree,

We don’t want to be like the religious people here.

We don’t want to have all these outward acts of religion,

But lack any true spiritual fruit.

Because Jesus curses superficiality.

He hates it.

So, let all outward acts flow from this deep inward affection for Jesus.

He is worthy of so much more than hollow worship and hypocritical religion.

He is a King you can trust.

So, let us bear fruit in our lives.

Slide

The third application actually goes back to Jesus calling the temple a house of prayer.

We must prioritize prayer.

Continually seek Him every day.

Think of it this way,

If every person at FBC matched your personal prayer life,

Could this place be called a house of prayer?

Tonight, 6pm, we are gathering for prayer.

Let’s make this place a house of prayer.

Let’s be a house of prayer as a body.

Slide

In vs. 20,

The disciples ask Jesus,

“How did this fig tree wither so quickly?”

In response,

Jesus gives a teaching about prayer,

That is very similar to what He said back in 17:20,

But this time,

He emphasizes not doubting,

Teaching how true freedom from doubt is found in a greater awareness of God’s will.

Jesus and the disciples can likely see the Mount of Olives as they approach Jerusalem.

So, we can picture Jesus pointing to the mountain,

When He talks about them telling the mountain to get up,

And be thrown into the sea.

It is a vivid teaching,

Illustrating a deeply significant spiritual reality.

Genuine faith receives whatever it asks for.

Because genuine faith trusts in God,

And is submissive to His will.

Jesus is not teaching us to muster up more faith.

He is not promoting this name it and claim it idea,

Where if you believe strong enough,

Then God will give you whatever you want.

That is not genuine faith,

In fact, it is a subtle and presumptive form of arrogance.

As 1 Cor. 13 warns,

If we had the power to move mountains but don’t have love,

Then we have nothing.

Because this power to move mountains does not come from us,

It is Jesus who does the humanly impossible.

So, at this time,

I want to invite the music team up.

As we close,

Jesus wants us to understand,

Even when He calls us to something that seems too difficult.

Something that may even be humanly impossible.

He can make it possible,

If we ask Him to empower us to do it in prayer.

This is what Jesus is promising to all His members.

So, what are we asking God to do that only He can accomplish?

Because He answers these prayers.

He says, if we ask them in faith,

We will receive them.

Slide

So, let us have this kind of faith as His body.

Brothers and sisters,

We are members of this King.

We have every reason to trust that Jesus can and will do the impossible.

So, let us trust in our humble and authoritative King.

Pray.