A Disappointing Messiah
Notes
Transcript
Today we begin what is known throughout the Judeo-Christian world as Holy week. The final week of before Jesus is crucified. Today is known as Palm Sunday after the gospel’s description of the crowds of people waving and throwing down palm branches in honor of Jesus their king.
This event was prophesied hundreds of years before Christ’s birth
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. The bow of war will be removed, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
We know however in just a matter of a few hours the people will go from praising Jesus to calling for his death. So why did the crowds go from praising Jesus to turning against Him? How does ones heart go from praise to disdain and even hatred in a matter of days?
Today we will investigate this account for some clues of “Why Jesus, for many, was a disappointing messiah.
When they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples
and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.
If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.’ ”
So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it,
and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”
They answered them just as Jesus had said; so they let them go.
They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it.
Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields.
Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!
As I previously mentioned this by all means seems like one awesome public worship service. People are calling out to Jesus as he passes by.
Hosanna - “Save we pray”
There is no doubt a lot of emotion and anticipation about this Messiah.
One thing we definitely see in this passage is emotion is not a substitute for true worship.
I often see in the modern church this confusion over seeking out an experience. Then judging the worship service by the amount by the amount of emotion that was expressed or experience.
But here we see that the crowd was in a frenzy for Jesus but their emotions was not an indicator of their love for in just a few short days their emotions would change from admiration to disappointment and hate.
So then what went wrong?
Throughout the gospels the authors give us a hints of why Jesus was not going to be a disappointment to many who followed him.
I. They believed Jesus was a source of political power and national prosperity.
I. They believed Jesus was a source of political power and national prosperity.
John 6:15 (CSB)
Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
When they saw Jesus perform the miracle of feeding a large crowd. They decided that he was what they need to regain their country and return it to its formal glory. They were willing to attempt to force Him to be King.
So then what did Jesus do. He withdrew from them. He did not come so that the nation of Israel would no longer be under the control of wicked men.
Do you also find yourself following Jesus because you too see Him as a means to restore our great nation?
Do you also find yourself following Jesus because you too see Him as a means to restore our great nation?
Jesus did not come so that a national identity could be restored. He didn’t come to fix the political system or to make even the nation of Israel prosperous. He did not come to restore a earthly kingdom.
He came so that all people from all nations would have access to His kingdom.
I want you to think about this point for a moment. There are currently nations in the world in which the disciples in that country are way more dedicated to Christ than many in the U.S. Think about North Korea, China, and the middle east.
So then is it possible that we have taken 2 Chron. 7:14 out of context.
and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Are these people in communist North Korea not praying. Are they not humbly submitting to suffering that comes with following Jesus Christ, yet their land is a mess. This promise was for a specific people and for a specific time.
The North Korean Christians are not following Jesus because he is a means to national prosperity. They are following Jesus because He the king of Kings Lord of all that promises a better kingdom, His kingdom with which no earthly kingdom can compare.
I have heard many preachers use 2 Chron. 7:14 as a reason to follow Jesus. “If we just do these thimgs, our nation will be prosperous agian” This is not what Jesus promised. This is not the gospel.
The gospel is not a message of earthly prosperity.
It is a message of earthly death so that we can be made alive in Him. He died for us. We must die to ourselves. In His resurrection we can be made alive in Him.
The gospel is not a message of national prosperity, but of a coming Kingdom .
The second reason is this...
II. They believed Jesus was a means of earthly gain.
II. They believed Jesus was a means of earthly gain.
Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Jesus throughout his ministry attracted large crowds. I mean Jesus was pretty interesting. He performed miracles. He fed people. He spoke out against the religious leaders. No doubt this was intriguing and even entertaining.
Here we see in this passage Jesus exposes the hearts of those who are following him. You only follow me because I have filled your stomach. It isn’t because you saw the signs and understood who I am. You want only what I give you now.
I recently read a story of a Kenyan prosperity pastor. His first and only encounter with the scriptures was through a Pentecostal/word of faith preacher. He was taught to believe that those who had great faith could write their own destiny. That Jesus came to give them whatever their hearts desired. He believed that his faith could unlock riches and wealth. He believed whatever he proclaimed in faith God was obligated to give him.
One day they lost their first born child. They were heartbroken but also shaken. How could God allow something like this to take place. He believed that it must be the devil and a result of some type of faithlessness in His life. So they confessed these things and believed God would this time give them everything they proclaimed spoke.
Then they had another child, 24 hours later that child became deathly ill. They began to prophesy over the child. His wife believing that she had the gift of prophecy said she saw in her mind, her son playing in the mud as a toddler. Then she saw a vision of him preaching to thousands. They felt a sense of relief , yet shortly later the child died.
This again sent them to a point of Crisis. The gospel had not worked. It had not saved them from suffering. It had not kept them from pain. Yet because this pastor made his living by preaching the prosperity gospel he continued to preach a message he no longer believed.
Then God sent a couple from Australia to do short-term missions work. Needing a translator they employed him. For the first time he was confronted with a gospel that spoke not of prosperity but one of dying to oneself. A gospel that spoke of suffering for the cause of Christ. A gospel that didn’t not promise to take care of every earthly comfort and need.
He struggled to translates these words, because he thought of them as heresy. Yet God began to plant within him the seed of the true Gospel.
Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
IT was in this context that Paul’s words made sense
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
The gospel was never meant to be a means of escaping the brokenness of this present world but rather a promise that through Jesus a future kingdom, not of this earth would come and restore all that had been lost.
It was through this dying of ones self that we exchange our death for Jesus death and our mortal life for His eternal life. He then clothes us with his righteousness and for the first time we can access to the eternal creator. We are able to have a relationship with God.
Once this pastor heard this truth he began to see all scripture differently. He began to see a true hope. He began to see that God’s grace and blessing was not something he earned, but something given through the gospel. He recieved Christ.
No doubt before this, this pastor sang heart felt praises to a messiah. He was the messiah of prosperity and wealth. The messiah a man from a poor country would no doubt dream about.
He no doubt felt gratitude for the life he had been given.
So I ask you today
Why do you follow Jesus?
Why do you follow Jesus?
As you cry out to God, Hosanna, Save us we pray! What type of Messiah are you praying for?
Just a few minutes ago we too sang heartfelt praises to Jesus and were about to sing again?
Is it possible that just like the crowds of people praising Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey that you too have only been following a Jesus, a messiah of your own making?
Maybe he’s the messiah that if you just do the right things, he will fix your company, give you a better job, heal your family, or cure your disease.
Our biggest need on this earth is not to escape the trials we face or the circumstances we find ourselves in. It’s to be redeemed from our sin. It’s to be rescued from living a life apart from God.
Maybe instead of a Messiah that changes your heart, redeems you from your sin, and gives you eternal life you’ve been looking for an earthly Messiah.
A Jesus that looks more like your ideal Messiah than the Messiah of the scriptures.
The Messiah was born in a lowly stable yet he came from a heavenly throne
The Messiah had no earthly wealth yet heavens riches were at his fingertips.
The Messiah did not come to redeem a nation but to redeem a world.
The Messiah promised not earthly comfort yet he spoke of the grandeur of heaven.
The Messiah that rode down the streets of Jerusalem did not ride away from His trials instead he rode to his own source of death.
The Messiah did not elevate his own life yet laid it down for you as a ransom for many.
The Messiah did not come to save you from a mediocre life on earth. He came to save you from eternal death, as a result of your sin, forever separated from God.
Scriptures tell us
Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient,
and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus did not come to give you a better life. He came to rescue you from the wages of your own sin. He came to satisfy the holy justice and wrath of God so that you could be declared righteous.
He rode down the street not proclaiming earthly prosperity but show that he was the suffering Messiah, sent to redeem the world from sin.
So I ask you again this morning, Why are you following Jesus?