The Humble King

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0:00My name is Paul Carter. I appreciate the opportunity to be with you again. I was here once before. Some of you may remember. And particularly, of course, the issue is us coming together before the Word of God in worship. Let me pray first.

0:27It is for Your glory. We gather to worship. We gather because we must. We who have seen our sin have seen the riches. The riches of the Gospel. The riches of our God and King. The glories of our God and King. And so we must come. And this Palm Sunday, remembering that great and even dreadful event, we come lifting our voices up. And Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. And so we worship You and we come to Your Word asking You to open our hearts and minds.

1:11In Jesus' name. I'll read the passage in just a second. But three paragraphs before this one, Jesus says for the third time in the Gospel of Matthew that He would suffer and that He would die. And in the very next paragraph, Matthew reports that to the irritation of the other disciples, James' mother and John's mother, one woman, comes up to Jesus and asks that her boys be put in the position of power when Jesus comes into His kingdom. Jesus at that point explains that the nature of His kingship and the purpose of His kingdom is to serve by giving His life as a ransom for many.

1:58And then immediately after that, Jesus passes by two blind men who cry out this kingly title, Son of David, which was more dangerous for them than for us even taking a handgun into an airport. But they're saying out loud what others have been thinking. Our King has come. And Jesus' response to the request for position and power responds to the blind men saying out loud what others won't and that political agenda that everybody but Jesus had is this, starting verse 1.

2:40Then when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied a colt with her. Untie them, bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, well, the Lord needs them and He'll send them at once. Well, this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

3:15Well, the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey, the colt, put on them their cloaks and He sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds there went before Him and that followed Him were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, Who is this?

3:51And the crowd said, Well, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. And Jesus entered the temple, drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers, the seats of those who sold pigeons. And He said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.

4:21And thus, the Word of God. Jonathan Edwards wrote in his sermon on Revelation 5 that when John turns to see the lion of the tribe of Judah who can open the scroll that nobody else can, and then he sees a lamb, what we are being told is that there are two great opposites found in Jesus. As a lion, He fiercely protects us by devouring our enemies. And as a lamb, the Lamb of God, He humbly gives Himself for His people. Well, Edwards didn't talk about this passage, but he could have.

5:06He could have. Because here, we too are seeing Jesus' invincible authority and His unconquerable humility. We're seeing people who are really excited about Jesus. People who celebrate Him so hard that the whole city is stirred up. But we're also seeing the humble King who knows that these same people will turn against Him, will reject Him. in fact, will murder Him. But He will serve them knowing that very clearly what is about to happen to Him, yet this is why He came.

5:51And as we read the book of Matthew completely, it turns out that these folks in our passage are celebrating the right man but for the wrong reasons. This event is filled with such riotous joy because of what they are thinking that day and in fact kept thinking about Jesus' mission right up until Friday of that week. But their celebration in this passage is empty. It's like marrying for money where the wedding is something to remember for everybody but the marriage misses the point.

6:29They are celebrating Jesus but denying His true ministry. But we who come to this passage today reject their thinking and we recognize from this passage that our calling as believers is that we acknowledge the King as they did but to do so by also acknowledging His true ministry. and we go a step further we also adopt His pathway of ministry during the whole of our time on earth. And we do that by first recognizing the real work of Jesus in verses 1-5.

7:15If you assume that these people read the book of Zechariah as little as we do then you could assume that they would miss the point that Jesus is making by riding into town on a donkey. But they aren't like us. They had better memories than we tend to have as they focused on the biblical teachings from childhood. And you see that in the disciples themselves. You remember Peter was a fisherman but in the book of Acts he quotes from the book of Joel.

7:49Another part of Scripture we can barely find. But he not only found it he studied it and memorized it. Matthew a tax collector quotes from all over the Old Testament as do the other authors of Scripture. I mean really the people that were lining the streets they would have recognized this quote the same way we recognize when anybody says I have a dream. They're referring to Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech in the Washington Mall and the speeches about civil rights.

8:24These people would have known the Zechariah passages is about the king coming to save Jerusalem from their enemies. Coming in peace to bring a time of peace a time of glory and his coming marks a time of salvation. And really they're willing to accept the king to do just those things as long as he meets their expectation for how he's going to do them. But there's this one pesky problem. This king keeps explaining that he will suffer and he will die and he will rise again and it didn't fit.

9:11But they should have known. Isaiah talked about it. Several Psalms talked about the suffering that was the path the king is taking that leads to his and our peace. But because of their ideas about the coming kingdom as the enthronement of a powerful physical ruler, no one asked questions. No one said anything about this suffering thing that Jesus kept going back to. Of course, except Peter. Peter who told Jesus to cut it out. And even after being called Satan by Jesus and therefore knowing that means he had messed up, he later said that he would fight for Jesus to keep him from suffering and dying.

10:02He still thought so. And he tried to do just that. And so again, the whole crowd, including his closest disciples, accepted Jesus that day, but not his real ministry, which was suffering, dying, rising again, to redeem them from their greatest enemy. That's why they were so devastated by the events of Thursday night, the events of Good Friday and Saturday, and couldn't believe what had happened on Sunday until they saw it for themselves. They're remembering the Palm Sunday parade and welcoming the king, speculating on their positions of power and authority.

10:57It must have felt like a hot knife in their gut at best on that Friday night and all day Saturday before Resurrection Sunday. Their unmet expectations caused them to fall from you are the Christ to the Emmaus road words of misery. We had hoped that he was the one who would redeem Israel.

11:28They expected a king. Getting a servant confused them in what they thought his mission and theirs really was. In our day, it seems to work backwards from them. how many of us have grown to expect a servant who smooths our way and not a king who shepherds us on his. An article I read this week moaned that missionaries and church planters, people we think of as the first in, the last out, fully committed to following the way of the cross in every way.

12:08people sent to plant churches, to reach cultures, to reach nations for Jesus. And they're now being described as an anxious generation with a higher degree of fragility and a lessening of resilience. I mean, isn't that a sign of expecting a servant and not following the pathway of the king? But that's not just folks now. We know that. The fact is the same concerns for God's people were described in the journals and the letters of pastors and missionaries across the last 2,000 years.

12:52It isn't just our day or back in what was called the me generation. In fact, Mark, you remember, before he was the gospel writer, left the ministry, went home early from his calling. God brought him back as we know. And of course, we have Jesus' discussions with Peter himself, beginning with, Peter, do you love me? And ending with, well, then feed my sheep. So Jesus doesn't give up on us when we get it wrong. Thanks be to God. But adopting the wrong vision of Jesus and his ministry makes our lives hard.

13:38It steals from us the commitment to follow the Lamb in the holy joy of giving up our lives for him who died for us and for those to whom he sends us. It steals our fruitful and ultimately joyous calling of walking in his steps. And it steals our hope for the future glory that will come at his appearing when it could so motivate us who are now on the path of righteousness for his name's sake. See, the wrong vision of his glory and ministry can only bring disappointment in the feeling that God is ignoring us when this passage is pushing us towards the resurrection and so to faithfully rest in our faithful, our living Jesus who said to us, if anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

14:48So recognize the real work of Jesus and recognize the real need behind our prayer. Verses 6 through 11 these people recognized that Jesus wasn't just an average man but they didn't recognize their real and in fact their greatest need even though they were repeating it over and over in the prayers that they were praying to Jesus. It's prayers they were saying at this parade because every conversation with Jesus is a prayer whether theirs face to face then or ours now.

15:27Their prayers asked for salvation and even though it seems like kind of a cheer as it was used here Hosanna is a prayer and it means Lord save blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord is a phrase that describes the one who brings good news of peace and reconciliation with God in their minds they are asking that he do something to make their current lives better they don't recognize that they are asking for his death on their behalf but thank God thank God Jesus didn't answer the prayer of their hearts but met their most pressing need all of our prayers are more true more faithful more suited to surrounding the throne of God when we understand that our real need is Christ likeness and that's what is first on God's heart for us when you pray for your friends for yourself for your children your grandchildren no matter what the immediate need isn't Christ likeness holiness joy in the Holy Spirit conformity to his will what you really want when you pray with that in mind then you are able to make your request known to him more freely because your rock bottom heartfelt deepest desire is not my will but your rock bottom deepest desire is your will be done for thine be the forever and ever but isn't it a relief to know that he will work only only what is best for you in your situation even if you are disappointed at first I'm not trying to give you a reason to feel better if your prayers don't get answered the way you and Christ like I'm saying that Jesus always answers your prayers

18:02by pulling you into a deeper and a more intimate relationship with the father fulfilling you to live this life with that spiritual ability to go from to greater the request of the men in John 12 was we would see Jesus for God's people who pray with these things I've described in mind Isaiah's words by this living faith and through the word of God become ours too I see the Lord and he is high and lifted up that of course that is your real need and isn't that the real desire in everything in everything and so aren't those our real prayers behind every prayer we pray well again that doesn't stop us from praying about the that when our prayer is answered differently from our expectation it will never be outside of the plan of God for all things to work for our greatest benefit for his which is also to your benefit and to grow in your ability to experience and to and to recognize his true ministry and recognize the real need behind our prayers and that leads to recognizing our need for his total ministry recognizing our need for his total ministry verses 12 and 13 upon entering Jerusalem Jesus marches into the temple and clears it out with a violence that scattered the adults though somehow the children didn't seem frightened his reason was biblical and he gave a proof text my house shall be called a place of prayer for all the peoples from Isaiah 56 that quote comes in the middle of a paragraph in Isaiah about people who are outside of Israel who come to worship the true and the living

20:55God it talks about the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to him to love the name of the Lord and so to be his servants and the section ends with the Lord God who gathers the outcast of Israel declares I'll gather yet others to him beside those already gathered so Jesus Jesus walks into the courtyard where these kinds of people come and see he sees that this courtyard has become what we hate and what he hates all the more their desire to worship the true God became other people's opportunity to make more money so he protects those who come truly to worship by cleansing the temple and this cleansing was a remarkable judgment a judgment against what the temple had about King Jesus and also points to the priest Jesus who came into his temple in the name of the Lord to return its proper focus on free redemption joyful communion with our God and isn't that a clarifying picture of what he is doing for us even now he's protecting us his people who have been brought into the true Israel of God his complete ministry to us includes the removal of all that keeps us from experiencing his grace in this life and from experiencing the ever deepening joy of our salvation now and of course for all eternity the very things that you sometimes feel are being stolen from you in this life are really him graciously removing what is keeping you you from experiencing his life in your own I know you've heard that and you've probably said that to others as well but still still we become

23:19upset when things we expect should be ours are taken from us or not given us at all and we can become angry and often do become angry feel that Jesus is somehow cold towards us when in fact if we don't embrace his total work we are rejecting his ministry to us even while assuming that we are accepting him often we continue to avoid his ministry through sinful responses toward people or toward offense by avoiding true fellowship with his people or dealing sinfully with things which aren't sinful in themselves such as giving ourselves too much to our jobs our entertainment our hobbies or even otherwise good works in the community but by them serving ourselves first but the king will not be pushed away and that's no threat no threat at all that's the joy of the gospel our greatest need is persistently change lives by recognizing his protection from those things that chain us to the jail cell of self and selfishness and make his calling become to us something of a warm soapy water that we're supposed to drink and act happy about we need the very things we often most want to escape because by them the ministry of Jesus is advanced in us and beyond us to this world so the end of it is this by now we all recognize that Palm Sunday is not a second class holiday whose only usage is to let us know next week is Easter it is a reminder but it's a reminder that it is our king who came to suffer and die in our place and for our sakes it's a reminder that our prayers for this day and each and

25:41every day really are deeper than we can imagine and deeper than we can bring us about the deeper confidence of love and thy will be done aren't just words but our heart's desire and it is a reminder that our king Jesus has absolute right to clean his house and return it to its intended purpose the place of grace and communion with God almighty open to all who will come Palm Sunday is our celebration and it celebrates our king it celebrates his total ministry and it celebrates the true gospel