Jesus Is Worthy Of Our Praise

Palm Sunday 2002

Jesus’ Praises are “For Crying Out Loud!”

Luke 19:28-40

Colossians 1:15-20

Read the Story

This picture of praise with wild abandon – so much so that the religious people were non too pleased.

The people praised for all the miracles

Someone gave up their donkey – like giving up your brand new Honda.

They sacrificed their coats. When Nancy said “what if Jesus rode into church on a Donkey today, I thought “Oh, no! The carpets!” but these peope let the donkey walk on what was likely the only coat they owned.!

The people praised because of the miracles, but Jesus knew that there were greater things going on here that the people themselves even knew.

the stones would have had to praise for more than just the miracles

- They would have praised him for who Jesus is & what he was about to do.

Jesus is worthy of praise! He is so worthy, that if we do not do it, the rocks will have to grow mouths and do it for us! Jesus’ Praises are “For Crying Out Loud!”

This is what I want to do today – we have been talking about worship for the last two weeks, but this week, I want to just do it. So if you have already gone from participation mode to listening mode, shift gears again.

The way we are going to do this is through Colossians 1:15-20 I am going to proclaim the goodness of Jesus, and then we are going to praise him in song with Nancy’s help.

Read Col. 1:15-20 “The Supremacy of Christ”

Jesus is God

15He is the image of the invisible God,…

This shocking piece of scripture is actually saying that this carpenter born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, is actually God! He is not “made in the image of God” as we are. He is the very image of God!

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” – New Living Translation

“1In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. 4Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. 5The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. …

…14So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.[1] And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. …

…18No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God,[3] is near to the Father’s heart; he has made him known.” –John 1:1-5,14,18

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Jesus is Creator

… (He is) the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

When Paul writes that he is the first born, he is not saying that Jesus is part of creation, what he is speaking of is his position, as the Son of God, like the first born of his time, he is over all things that the father has.

Often times we forget that the Trinity is fully involved at creation – the Spirit is hovering over the waters, and all that is created is created by the Word of God. Jesus is the Word – it is through him that all things are created. John says that there is nothing that is created that was not created through Jesus!

This man who spent 30 of his 33 years planing doors, making lap joints, and mortise and tendon joints, covered in sawdust; this man that is now riding a donkey into a small city in a backwater province of the Roman Empire is the creator of the universe!

God did not create the world out of stuff lying around, there was nothing, only chaos. It was all created by God speaking it into existence, and the Word that he spoke was “Jesus!”

Great and Mighty is He

Lord of All

Jesus is Ruler & Sustainer

17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church;

The second law of Thermodynamics, in basic lay-people terms says that, the most probable state for any natural system is one of disorder.

All natural systems degenerate when left to themselves. “Things fall apart.”

According to this law, the universe should fall apart – but it does not! What this verse says is that Jesus is the glue that holds it all together. Jesus did not create the world, and then exit, leaving us to our own devices to keep it together, no, he created the universe, and he sustains it!