When Praise Isn't Worship
Notes
Transcript
This Sunday marks the beginning of what the religious community commonly refers to as Holy Week. So we are fast forwarding to the week that marks the beginning of the end of Jesus time on earth, the week leading up to Jesus death.
we have already witnessed today the children waving their palm branches during the music we will continue to focus on this event.
Read: Luke 19:28-44
28 When he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples
30 and said, “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.
31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’ ”
32 So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them.
33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 “The Lord needs it,” they said.
35 Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it.
36 As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road.
37 Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:
38 Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!
39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
40 He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”
41 As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it,
42 saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.
44 They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.”
Intro: Up until this point Jesus had never allowed a public demonstration to take place on His behalf.
He did this for two reasons
Two reasons why Jesus allowed this demonstration
Two reasons why Jesus allowed this demonstration
# 1 He did this to fulfill prophecy.
# 1 He did this to fulfill prophecy.
9 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.
10 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.
It is unclear from the text weather Jesus had prearranged this with the owner of the donkey or if the owners
simply recognized Jesus disciples and allowed them to take the young donkey.
Either way the disciples obeyed Jesus and went and found the the donkey just as Jesus said.
An animal that no one had yet to ride. meant that the animal was unspoiled and could be used in sacred work.
Zechariah prophesied an eternal king would come in this manner. It is interesting that the people recognized this sign yet the religious leaders would try to stop it.
The second reason why Jesus allowed this was...
#2 To force the religious leaders to act.
#2 To force the religious leaders to act.
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas,
4 and they conspired to arrest Jesus in a treacherous way and kill him.
5 “Not during the festival,” they said, “so there won’t be rioting among the people.”
The religious leaders had determined to arrest and kill Jesus, but they wanted to wait until after passover to do it. Yet Jesus was the final passover lamb. His blood would not just cover the sins of the people for another year as the sacrifice of a unblemished lamb would do.
As John the Baptist had already announced,
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
The Jewish people after seeing the works that Jesus had done and now witnessing him riding into Jerusalem on a colt of a donkey recognized the significance. At least twice in the Old Testament the coronation of a king was done this way.
The coronation of Jehu
13 Each man quickly took his garment and put it under Jehu on the bare steps. They blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”
and the coronation of Solomon
33 The king said to them, “Take my servants with you, have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and take him down to Gihon.
By riding into Jerusalem in this matter Jesus was proclaiming himself as the rightful King and at this time the people were all too eager to accept him as their king but as we will see in a moment. They were not looking for an eternal king who’s reign would last forever, but only an earthly king to save them from the Romans and reestablish Jerusalem as the world’s center. They began to shout and celebrate Jesus as king.
36 As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road.
37 Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:
38 Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!
Or as the other gospels record, Hosanna meaning, “Lord save us”. The people were yelling and celebrating the king who came in the name of the Lord when they should have been celebrating the Lord who had come as King.
They wanted a king to do their will, to thrash the Romans and bring about a great time of prosperity for themselves. They wanted a king who would save them from this Roman occupation. They wanted a King that would bring about personal and national prosperity.
They were not looking for a Lord that would ask them to bow their knee and come to him in great humility. They were not looking for a king who would bring eternal peace between all mankind and God the father.
They were looking for a king who would come and accomplish their will and not the Will of the Father.
For these reasons, he had to be stopped.
39 Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
40 He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”
The fact that Jesus would allow the people to praise him as their king was the very action that infuriated the religious leaders to the point of no longer being able to wait. Their anger and hatred for this man bubbled to the brim. He’d dare steal their glory. He had the audacity to be praised.
Riots or not they determined the time had come for them to act. It was time to kill Jesus. But as we all know this was all part of God’s plan to redeem mankind by the true Passover lamb.
But how would we expect that Jesus would react to all of this praise.
One might think that because of the fervor and true emotion that was on display that Jesus would have honored and glorified.
Or maybe all the pomp and circumstance of waving of palm branches and the laying down of coats like a red carpet would have brought honor to the Messiah.
Yet we come to this next passage of scripture that shows Jesus perplexing reaction to events of the day.
41 As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it,
Instead of being overjoyed by all that had just taken place, He was grieved by it all to the point of weeping. The scripture only records for us two times that Jesus wept. One when his dear friend Lazarus had died and would be shortly risen back to life by Jesus himself.
Then the second time is seen here. Was is the recognition of his own death that was a short time away? No.
41 As he approached and saw the city, he wept for it,
42 saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.
43 For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.
44 They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.”
He wept because of the punishment the people would recieved because they failed to recognize that God had been in their midst.
But what about all of the praise and the crying out of Hosanna. Weren’t the people sincere in what they were saying. Yes, but they were sincerely wrong.
You see sincerity and display of emotion is not a guarantee that Jesus has been honored by our praise.
By all standards this event would have been considered an amazing worship service. There is a praise that we can offer that does not result in worship.
We can sing with a loud voice and proclaim the truth about Jesus and still not be worshipping him.
Emotion is not a substitute for recognition and religious fervor is not a substitute for submission.
Emotion is not a substitute for recognition and religious fervor is not a substitute for submission.
In this passage of scripture we see these two reaction to the savior. We see the crowd that is in an emotional frenzy singing Jesus praise and yet Jesus is grieved by it all because the people are not worshipping Him because of who he is but because of who that want him to be.
Emotional praise is not a substitute for recognizing Jesus for who He is, not Just who we want Him to be.
How often do we want a Jesus that saves us from our sins, loves us unconditionally and yet our actions show that we despise His correction and commandments.
In the same way, religious fervor is not a substitute for submission. The scribes and pharisees whole lives was devoted to religious fervor and activity yet they refuse to humbly submit themselves to the Jesus the King.
What we see here is another living example of
8 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Their is only one expression of true worship; a heart that recognizes Jesus as Lord and a will that submits to his reign.
Their is only one expression of true worship; a heart that recognizes Jesus as Lord and a will that submits to his reign.
So my question for you, are you more like the people that Jesus wept over because they didn’t recognize God in their midst.
Or have you surrendered your heart and will the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?
This week as we contemplate the events of Holy Week and especially that of resurrection Sunday,