Jesus' Time is Near...
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Introduction...
Introduction...
It is amazing… that God would willingly share all that makes Him who he is, with His Son Jesus.
Who we acknowledge as Savior, Priest, Prophet, and King.
Who would then share some of those very same attributes with us.
For what reason… For what reason…
To invite the world to join Him -- in bringing God’s Kingdom back to earth.
As it says in that familiar prayer
10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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And then send that same son to die on a Cross, On a hill called Golgotha.
Today we begin remembering those intimate, fateful and frightful steps each one that Jesus took leading him
Closer to the cross.
Closer to the pain of separation from His father
Closer to the loneliness
Closer to a slow and painful death
In essence, God the Father, because of His eternal relationship with God the Son, knew the intimate steps, took those intimate steps that Jesus his Son would take.
God knew that Jesus would choose to set aside some of His “God-ness” and become fully man.
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
BIG QUESTION FOR TODAY: Paul is asking us do we have the “attitude” to become NOTHING to then become something?
do we have what is it like to be like --- Jesus!
Jesus Public Ministry
Jesus’ ministry began when He was about 30 years old, as best as we know. His “earthly” ministry ended with the Accession and His return to God’s Right Hand.
As we are assured of… Jesus will return one day as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
There was never a time that Jesus was not God incarnate...
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
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While the foundations of the universe were being laid down… Christ was present.
When Jesus was about 30 he came to John to be baptized.
Turn if you will in your bibles to Matthew 3.3-17
Matthew 3.13-17
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
The is the beginning of the Gospel as we know it...
Matthew 4.17-22
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,
22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
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The call to join Jesus was irresistible.
The call to set oneself aside and become NOTHING was exactly what those fisherman did.
They left their families, their work, all connection to their past lives
A great question at this point. Why involve Disciples, Apostles, and others? Why not just “call out” to those who would respond?
Because it’s God’s method that we who have benefitted from this relationship be the one to call others.
Everyone will have an opportunity to accept or reject the Gospel and become a follower — a Disciple of Christ.
Some will accept and others will not...
We know once we are disciples
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
WE will become witnesses in Sunnyside,
WE will become witnesses in Washington State,
We will become witnesses in the United States and in England and in Africa.
For what purpose?
TO BRING THE GOOD NEWS — TO BRING THE GOSPEL!
Wherever it needs to heard!
The rulers of the day were attempting to maintain power and control over the group of people they had bound in the law for a couple thousand years.
The “Chief Priests and teachers of the law’s” salvation was bound to the Old Testament Law.
Jesus changed that equation to Faith, Hope and Love.
Jesus knew what the results of His teaching were going to get in the immediate term.
32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.
33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles,
34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
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Still they continued towards Jerusalem… Jesus walked to His death… without regard for himself, but for the world.
Opposition continued to increase.
They made it to Jerusalem… It was expected, it was anticipated, it was going to be celebrated that that
KING JESUS WOULD RIDE INTO TOWN AND TAKE HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE AS KING...
But it was not meant to be… The Prophets had spoken, The Law had been written, God’s wrath against His very creation needed to be satisfied...
This is where I always get really reticent...
I want to say...
Jesus… STOP!
DON’T GO
FIND ANOTHER WAY
I feel the same way when we get close to
September 11th,
December 7th.
And maybe March 2020 sometime in the future for many, many of us.
I’m sure that you have days, times and incidents that remind you of painful, difficult times in your life.
I know I do...
I wish we could in some way unwind those events and restore them to just ordinary days.
It is not meant to be… the horror and evil that is associated with those days and many others like it in your life and mine -- hurt every time the calendar reminds that time is coming close.
I wonder why… I ask God and He says its part of the plan.
I ask God and He says I have to trust, we have to trust!!
It’s same answer every time I ask the question.
The Triumphal Entry begins Jesus march towards the Cross
What is commonly called the Triumphal Entry is the beginning of a week that changes the world.
Bigger than a day in infamy
Bigger than 9/11
Bigger than any pandemic
Bigger than my pain and your pain.
Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem.
Jesus directed two Disciples to go into Bethpage and get a donkey for him to ride
Why a donkey? Why not a camel? Why on the back of anything?
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”
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The Prophet Zechariah said
9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
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Jesus knew his place in history, He knew that the weight of the law, the prophets and all of history was going to be resting on His shoulders very soon.
Matthew used the Old Testament to orient his audience to the perspective that Jesus was the answer to all of the law.
Jesus fulfilled ALL OF THE QUESTIONS
THIS WAS WHY HE CAME… TO BE THE FOCAL POINT OF REDEMPTION.
NO LONGER “BE SERVED” BUT SERVE…Until it hurts!
NO LONGER THE LAW, BUT GRACE, BY FAITH ALONE!
As Jesus enters Jerusalem
From the Gospel of John...
13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”
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AT THE END OF THE SERVICE TODAY… AS YOU GO OUT, THERE WILL BE PALM BRANCHES FOR YOU TO TAKE HOME. AS A CONTINUING REMEMBRANCE OF THESE EVENTS!
From the Gospel of Matthew
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
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He was being treated exactly the way a King should have been treated. With honor, with glory, with worship.
This was the King of the Jew’s… This was redemption for everyone, from the sin of the world for all time...
People along the way shouted praise and blessings for Jesus
From Matthew’s Gospel
9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
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and from Mark’s Gospel
9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!”
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They knew the prophets, they knew that the Throne of David would one day be held by the Messiah, the Savior of World.
And here he was...
They continued walking until they got to Jerusalem.
Jesus cleared the Temple…
15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves,
16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.
17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
After Jesus clears the temple He began teaching in the Temple. Teaching in parables.
47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.
48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.
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The teachers of the law and the leaders were watching and listening very carefully because they were building their case to kill him...
What was His crime? What was His offense? Why was there such opposition to His Teaching?
It was a loss of power, a loss of control, a “change of the guard”with the “rulers” of the day
Followers were no longer slaves attached to a broken system of law but were FREE!!
EVERYONE COULD BECOME A FOLLOWER… EVERYONE!
BIG QUESTION FROM A BIT EARLIER: Do we have the “attitude”and fortitude to become NOTHING to then become something?
What is the lesson of the Passion each year?
How do we put a framework around the story of Christs’ Passion and apply to ourselves every year?
What can we learn from Paul’s ask… to become “nothing”… to become “something”.
How do we understand the depth of the pain that he felt, the abandonment, the agony, the separation from His Father…
How can this NOT affect us… How can this whole season come by every year and NOT affect us?
I hope, I demand, that this year, you STOP… turn your heart to God, IN THE BEST WAY YOU KNOW HOW… pour yourself out and become “NOTHING.”
So that you WILL become “SOMETHING” in the kingdom of God and be put to good use.
My framework for this time each and every year… If I can stop and take a breath is this...
These are the only words I can choose...
Never Forget...
Humble Adoration...