Read
Matthew 21:1-11
What do I do with Palm Sunday? We have read about the entry of Jesus into
Jerusalem as a King riding on the colt of a donkey. Palms and blankets and whatever the people
could get their hands on to line the way of their Messiah were spread before
him.
It had to be a sight that brought
excitement and anticipation. People
shouting Hosanna as Jesus approached would surely bring the excitement level to
a new high.
We know that he was headed to the
cross at the end of the week. We know
that this was the atoning sacrifice that separated us from our sin and gave us
a chance to live as we were designed to live.
We know that he will come again and
reign as king.
We just completed the Gospel of Matthew. We
concluded with the Great Commission. We are commissioned to take the gospel to
the world. We are to go into the world
with good news. We are to take the news
of real life to the world.
Do you ever look at those online job
sites to see what you qualify for or what might be fun? I have those degrees. I have those certifications. That would be fun.
Realize that we already have the
greatest job in the history of the world, and it’s not even a job. We are commissioned to this thing of taking
good news to the lost. It’s our life.
But does it have medical? By
his stripes we are healed.
What about retirement? Stored
up since the creation of the world.
Does it have a 401K? Store
up for yourselves treasure in heaven.
This whole taking good news to the
world is a sweet deal. To start with, we
might just take it to the end of the block, but once you have received life in
Jesus Christ, you are compelled to share
what you have freely received.
Palm Sunday began the most intense
week in the Bible. The discourse between
Jesus and his disciples reached a new level.
Jesus washed
the feet of the disciples and then told them that was their example for
being a true disciple.
Jesus reminded his followers that as he
was in the Father and the Father in him, so to was
he in his followers and they in him.
He told them that he
must go so the Spirit would come.
Jesus would not resist his arrest that
would come during this week. He would do
nothing to acquit himself of the bogus charges brought against him. He must get to the cross to fulfill prophecy
and to atone for our sin.
Palm Sunday is more than just a ride
into a town of excited people. It was
the beginning of a week like none since creation.
And we
know what is coming next Sunday. And we know that because of what is
coming—resurrection and life—we can’t keep that to ourselves.
We must go
into the world with good news, but we must not consider ourselves to be
salesmen. We are not trying to sell anybody anything.
I read this some
years ago. Some of you might have
even stayed awake for it. It’s called
simply, A Manifesto and it’s by Dr. Morris Pepper. Yes, the sermon this morning has a message
from Dr. Pepper.
I will preface this by asking you to
consider that we are all ministers, so when you hear minister in this reading,
put that in the first person.
I have nothing to sell. Many people think
the minister is a peddler whose commodity is religion. Preaching is making a
sales talk. Visiting means cultivating prospects. Evangelism is doing a “hard
sell.”
I have nothing to sell. Religion is not a commodity. God is not on the counter or in a catalog. God’s love and mercy are not Wall Street
items. God’s blessings will not be found
in bargain basements.
I have nothing to sell. I have a witness to make. There are some things which I believe,
convictions arising from my thought and life, which I know from within. Of these I witness. They are not mere blessings of
tradition. They are real to me because
God is real. But they cannot be bought
or sold. They can only be witnessed.
I have nothing to sell. I have a message to communicate. It is a story of Jesus Christ, a story of
redemption. It is a promise, a promise
of what can happen here and now. It is
the gospel, the good news of God’s love told by one who knows it
firsthand. I am a storyteller, a
proclaimer, an announcer—not a cocky salesman with a hot line.
I have nothing to sell. I have a friendship to offer. Some are like Job who would like to recapture
the days when “the friendship of God was upon my tent.” Others have never known such a
relationship. Many are afraid of God. Still others are rebellious. To these and others I say, “God loves
you. Won’t you let God be your friend?”
I have nothing to sell. You can’t buy salvation. You can’t buy faith. You can’t buy heaven. You can’t buy God. Nor can you sell them. My job is to offer you an adventure, not to
sell you a bill of goods—to invite you to join a mission, not a Cosmos Club.
I am not doing hard sell, soft sell,
or using psychology. I don’t have any
tricks to pull out of the bag. So don’t
raise your sales resistance. I am an
educator, a teacher, a pastor, a counselor—but please, not a huckster! I am a witness, a communicator, an announcer,
a reporter, but never a peddler.
For we are not like so many, peddlers of God’s word; but in Christ we speak as
persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence.
What do I do with Palm Sunday some
2000 years since Jesus entered Jerusalem?
I remind us that God
is real.
He is
righteous.
He loves us with an everlasting
love.
He detests
sin and made
a way for us to be rid of our sin, something we couldn’t do on our own.
God sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sin.
In him and by
his blood, we are saved from sin and death.
We can now fully
live. We can now live as God
designed us to live.
And it’s not
all about us. It’s not all about me.
We are blessed
by God to be a blessing to others.
The biggest blessing that we know is salvation and we are to take the message
of salvation to the world.
We spend a lot of time praying that we
make it through something or get that new job or that the car starts. God wants us to come
to him with our petitions.
He also wants us to come to him asking
him to help us help
others.
He wants to provision us to bring life
to this lifeless world.
He wants us to rely
fully upon him yet live
to the full as we share his love with
others.
God
desires that none perish and he gave us a part in that. He trusted us with his good news.
He commissioned
us to take life to the world.
We are not trying to sell the world
anything. We are delivering the best
message ever. There is life and life
abundant and life
eternal in Christ Jesus.
I will not beat you over the head with
my Bible.
I will not scare you into believing in
Jesus so you don’t go to hell for you will think you have reached the finish
line. You are only in the starting blocks of real life.
OK, as a last resort, I would rather you get scared
out of hell and into heaven as one escaping the flames but that’s not our commission.
There
is a hell and surely some will end up there but the message God gave me to
tell you and you to tell others is that he wants you to know life with him
forever.
I will tell you how much God loves you
and that he did not make hell for you but if you want to really live you must
know—not
know of him—but know
God.
I will tell you that you
will have trouble in the world but don’t be discouraged. Take courage.
Jesus has overcome the world.
I will tell you that you are so much
more than the sum of your problems and achievements. You are a message from God himself to so many who are lost in this
world.
We are to know God as intimately as
possible. We take the saving grace of
God to the unbelieving world.
We are to know him and make him known.
Some of you may have wanted something
more about the palm branches. Others may
have wanted some discourse about the foal of a donkey. And others may have wanted something more on
shouts of Hosanna.
I understand those might have been
your Palm Sunday expectations. What I
ask you to take away from this day of worship so close to our ultimate
celebration of resurrection is simple.
Know him and make him known.
Amen.
