Dying for a New Identity
Notes
Transcript
Identifying Places
Identifying Places
Places gain an identity based on what happens there.
Wesley hospital in Wichita
I was born there.
My grandparents died there.
Personal places we remember by what happened there.
School, job, where you were proposed to.
Nationally, we are all aware of these identities:
November 22, 1963, Dallas, Texas
Dallas became known as the place where President Kennedy died.
Innocence lost, Camelot ended.
Then, the Dallas police let the man who allegedly shot the president get shot, himself, by a man w/ terminal cancer who would not tell his story.
Conspiracies were born and the truth died when Jack Ruby died just a few months later.
Dallas desperately needed a new ID for years after that.
Maybe, the Dallas Cowboys winning the Super Bowl helped, but for years Dallas was a city desperately in need of a new identity.
What do you identify w/ these places:
Newtown, Connecticut
Yarnell, AZ
Sometimes it’s something bad, sometimes something good. Often times, it’s complicated. Something bad may happen to give a place a negative ID. But, w/out the bad, something good can’t happen later.
Internationally, the whole world will identify w/ these places:
Omaha Beach, Normandy
Something awful that led to something great.
Agra, India. The Taj Mahal
The Great Wall of China
The international hey-days of India and China. Turkey was a world power during the Ottoman period.
There was a time when places like these were Identified as great places. Then, they weren’t.
Depending on when you look at a place it might be a time when it has a wonderful identity or it might be a time when it desperately needs a new identity.
Another place that is desperately in need of a new Identity is Jerusalem.
There was a day when Jesus willingly rode into Jerusalem when the city was identified as a messed up place. He offered to give them a new, positive ID. All they had to do was accept his offer.
Jerusalem had been the center of the known, populated world.
The place thru which God promised Abraham, his descendants would bless the world.
But, because his descendants rejected Jesus, rather than being identified as the place where Jesus blessed the world, it’s id’d at the place where the world killed Jesus.
Jesus willingly rode into Jerusalem when the city was identified as a messed up place. He offered to give them a new, positive ID. All they had to do was accept his offer.
And, that’s what Jesus does for us. He willingly rides into our lives when we are as messed up as we can be.
He doesn’t avoid the mess. He offers to clean it up. All we have to do is accept the offer.
Today is Palm Sunday. The anniversary of the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem knowing they were going to kill Him.
Jerusalem was a mess. It hadn’t always been that way, But it was then.
Here’s a little history of how the city got so messed up.
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
After God promised Abraham then the Egyptian bondage.
Moses led them out of Egypt, thru the wilderness, and up to the PL; then, Joshua led them in.
1200 BC Joshua conquered the king of Jerusalem but didn’t occupy it.
1025 BC David was anointed king. Saul had been rejected by God as the 1st king and David was now taking over.
Moses led them up to and Joshua led them in.
1025 BC David was anointed king
The conquerer king. Finishing what Joshua started.
This was the place, the region where God set His people up to be an example for the rest of the world.
1000 BC David conquered Jerusalem and moved in.
He brought the Ark of the Covenant and the tent of meeting that Moses traveled w/ thru the wilderness.
Built himself a palace.
B/C he was a warrior, God wouldn’t let him build the temple. That was left for his son, Solomon.
960 BC Solomon completed his temple and God moved in.
It took 7 years to build.
It was a spectacular building. God had a literal presence. The cloud and fire that led Moses was present in Solomon’s temple.
The was the height, the pinnacle of Jerusalem and Israel. The center of the populated world. God resided there.
If Israel was going to be a blessing to the world this would be the next best time to do it.
They were riding the wave of prosperity and world influence.
But, unfortunately, in just a few years, the wave crashed and so did Israel and their world standing b/c they wandered away from God.
605 BC Babylon started the deportation process. They exiled all the bravest and the brightest.
586 BC Jerusalem fell completely into the hands of the Babylonians and they destroyed the city.
What once was the seat of power and wealth was now a pile of rubble.
Like the ruins in Rome, what was once the seat of the most powerful government in the world is now a vacation spot where curious onlookers can take selfies and wonder about what really happened.
Jerusalem was pitied. What once was great is now in ruins.
But, God promised this exile would only last 70 years.
536 BC Zerubabbel led the beginning of the reconstruction of the temple. It was completed in 516 BC.
This temple was not nearly as beautiful as Solomon’s. But, still serviceable and God moved back in.
If you wanted to be close to God you needed to be in Jerusalem.
So, if you were in Jerusalem, you were close to God.
Ezra brought the people back to Jerusalem in 458 BC
It becomes a busy, bustling place again. Though, the power seat was in (Persia) modern-day Iraq
444 BC Nehemiah was given permission by the Persian king to go back and rebuild the wall and the city.
Finish the project. Start over. Now, do it right.
God warned Israel, thru Nehemiah and Malachi not to go back to their disobedient ways.
If they would now live faithfully and obediently God would bless them in the land. And they would the envy of the world.
But they did not listen.
God has used a flood. He has enslaved them in Egypt, and exiled them in Babylon. Each time they came thru these events He gave them the opportunity to return to world prominence.
Each time they rejected his offer and thought they could do better on their own terms.
This time God used the silent treatment. He ignored them for 400 years. No Scripture, prophets, burning bushes, or talking donkeys. Nothing. Silence.
Until the angels brought a birth announcement that would change the course of history, though not change the ID of Jerusalem just yet.
For these 400 years they had to make it up as they went. Rules, guilt, performance, arrogant leadership.
After the Babylonians, the Medes then the Persians ruled the region.
Alexander the Great stormed thru in 325 BC.
Rome conquered Greece. Then, Rome was the center of the world.
To the Jews, Jerusalem was a legend in their own mind. They thought they were special but only b/c Rome let them.
Jerusalem was a mess. An afterthought by the world powers. An embarrassment to anyone who hoped to still represent God.
Known for what once was, so many political, economical, military, and religious blunders
No military, no defense, no economy, except for what Rome provided. But they did have a temple. Though God had long since vacated.
Then, on what would have been:
March 30, ad 33, Jesus rode into town.
April 4, He was crucified.
April 6 He walked out of His tomb.
Jesus willingly rode into the mess that wasJerusalem knowing what one day it would become again.
Here is how Luke described that Sunday, March 30, ad 33.
From Bethany
From Bethany
Luke
After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ”
Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
Jesus had been walking for a few days, headed for Jerusalem, on the way stopped in Bethany.
Bethany was about 2 mi. southeast of Jerusalem.
This is the home town of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
A lot had happened during Jesus’ life in and around this little town.
When they arrived Jesus sent 2 disciples find a young donkey and bring it to him to ride on the rest of the way.
The OT prophet Zechariah wrote in 520 BC, after Zerubabbel has begun the reconstruction of the temple and about 4 years prior to its completion, that the King, the Messiah, would ride into town on the young foal of a donkey.
Everyone around would have understood the symbolism of what was happening. Messiah, Savior, King of God’s kingdom had arrived.
On a donkey. A beast of burden. As a servant.
He wasn’t riding a war horse, this time.
This time He came to serve and to be killed. Next time He comes, He’ll be on the war horse and that’s when He will do the killing.
On this, the ppl missed the point. Yes, He is their King. But, they expected Him to attack Rome.
They did not expect Him to let them attack and kill Him.
Still, right and wrong as they were, as He rode toward Jerusalem, they welcomed Him as their King, who’d come to deliver them.
Toward Jerusalem
Toward Jerusalem
They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Luke 19:
He rode down the west side of the Mount of Olives.
Remember the Sermon on the Mount () and the Olivet Discourse? This is where these happened.
Down thru the Kidron Valley before heading back up the hill into the city.
The ppl treated Him like a king.
A king is too important to touch a beast of burden. So, they put the coats on the donkey for Him to sit on.
And, the king’s ride is too important to touch the ground. So, they put palm branches and more coats down on the ground so the donkey’s hooves would not touch the ground.
And they praised God for the miracle they’d seen over the past 3 years.
Jerusalem would swell to over a million ppl for the Passover. They would come from all over. And, many had stories that they had seen personally, or knew someone who did.
All of His miracles confirmed He was more than just a miracle-worker, but the Messiah.
They quoted . A Messianic Psalm. So, when the ppl believed the Messiah had arrived this is what they were predicted to be saying.
The religious leaders were offended.
Just like in our culture today when ppl who don’t believe are offended by those of us who do when we act and speak like the believers we are.
As if to say, “How dare you imply I am wrong!”
And, in need of a new ID.
The ppl are chanting, laying down their coats and palm branched, the religious leaders are complaining, it’s crowded and chaotic.
And, as Jesus continues to ride down into the valley, tears start streaming down His face.
His heart is breaking b/c He knows what’s about to happen and what it means for the ppl He loves enough to ride into town anyway.
His Heart is Breaking
His Heart is Breaking
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Luke 19:
Overwhelmed w/ compassion.
He’s not looking forward to destroying them for their lack of faith. Though, this won’t happen until He returns again.
He regrets their rejection of Him.
Had they accepted Him that day, He would have taken the throne, brought them peace and back into power.
But, they didn’t recognize Him.
Even those celebrating this day, proclaiming Him King, rejected Him when He refused to attack Rome and take on the religious leaders.
They didn’t recognize He came this time to serve.
His prediction came true when in ad 70 Rome destroyed Jerusalem again.
A city desperately in need of a new ID was mired in their old ID b/c they refused to accept Jesus and the gift He brought them.
He willingly rode into town knowing what was going to happen.
Up the hill from the Kidron Valley, just east of Jerusalem.
A million ppl would have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and brought over 200,000 lambs w/ them to be slaughtered and sacrificed.
Jesus would have ridden the donkey past the sheep pool, just outside the wall, where the sojourners would stop to wash their lamb so he’d be spotless for the priest.
Then, Jesus would ride thru the sheep gate, where the lambs were brought to be turned over to the priests and prepared for the sacrifice.
The slaughterhouse was just inside the gate and next door to the temple. The priest responsible would take the lamb, kill it, hang it up to let it bleed out, then prepare the meat for sacrifice.
Again, the picture. 200,000 lambs slaughtered and bleeding out.
Jesus, the Lamb of God, riding up the hill, past the sheep pool, to the sheep gate and as he went, the blood of thousand of innocent lambs flowed down the hill next to the road.
Jesus rode into town to do w/ His blood, what the blood of thousands of lambs could not do; give Jerusalem a new ID.
As soon as He rode thru the gate He went to the temple.
The ID of the temple had been corrupted, too.
This is not the first time He upset things going on in the temple square
In the Temple
In the Temple
When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
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The temple needed a new ID, too.
It was supposed to be a house of prayer.
It had become a place of corruption and commerce.
When Jesus completes His work, not only will Jerusalem have a new ID, so will the temple.
Both will be as they were supposed to be from the very beginning so many years ago.
The ID of a place is based on what the people do there.
And, the work that Jesus came to do is to give people a new ID and let them go to work changing the ID of the places they go.
In Jesus
In Jesus
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17
What the ppl in Jerusalem learned the hard way is that just b/c Jesus is in the area code does not mean He is in them.
And, if He’s not in us, we’re definitely not in Him.
He has to be in me for me to be changed.
When He is in me, I am in Him, and I am made new.
I have a new ID.
From dead to alive
From messed up to managed.
Not perfect, but better than I used to be.
He willingly rides up into the life of a messed up person and
When we’re new on the inside, we have the opportunity to live a new life.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Living a new life means a different outlook, approach, and different choices.
We make different choices. Beginning w/ accepting Jesus when we used to reject Him.
And, when people w/ a new ID accept Him, the places where we live our lives receive different IDs.
We change how we act and it changes what people think of the places we do them.
Jesus willing rode into a messed up town to die so that if the people there would accept Him they would end up w/ and new ID as would that place.
Jesus willingly rode into our messed up lives. And, if we accept Him He cleans up our messes and we live a new life.
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