Palm Sunday--More Than A Sunday Drive

Palm Sunday—Much More Than a Sunday Drive

Isaiah 35:8-10; Matt 7:13-14

Text Luke 19:28-44

Have you ever gone on a Sunday afternoon drive? Every once in a while Bea and I will jump in the car and take off on a Sunday afternoon. We have no particular destination in mind. We just start driving simply to enjoy each other’s company and to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the countryside. It’s just a leisurely drive and we sometimes stop for an ice cream cone on the way. (A necessity, you know!) Again, it’s just a drive with no particular destination in mind. Let’s apply this to our lives. Do we live our lives in that manner; with no destination in mind or view? We’re just living life. What do you say when someone asks you, “What’s going on?” All too often I hear, “Nothing much. Same stuff, different day.” Have we allowed life to become so mundane, so predictable that we are just merely existing, just “livin life?”

What about our spiritual lives; our walk with Christ? Has your relationship with Him become mundane? Do you find yourself simply going through the motions of what a Christian should be and what a Christian should do?

If so, you need to see Palm Sunday from a whole new perspective. Walking the road of life with Christ is so much more than a Sunday drive. It is so much more than merely coming to church on a Sunday morning. It can be the most exciting, the most joyful experience you will ever have; and that on a daily basis. It all depends on which road we are traveling and the destination we have in mind.

Truly coming to Christ is a radical life change. What does it mean to “walk in Christ?” “Walk or live” implies a continuous, ongoing process. This means we are going to walk in the same direction that Jesus is walking. We need to continue to walk (not sit or stand) in the paths that Jesus would walk and live the kind of life that Jesus would live. Are the paths you are walking today the paths that Jesus would walk? Are they paths of live, commitment, obedience, and forgiveness? Or are they paths of sin, pride and self? Is the life that you are living pleasing to the Lord? Are you bearing fruit for the Lord? If not, then you are not walking in Him, and you are therefore like the sheep at the edge of the camp—the one the hungry wolf has his eyes on as he licks his chops and prepares his plate, rubbing his knife and fork together.

If your Christian life resembles a Sunday drive, or maybe a roller-coaster ride, you can establish stability in your daily walk with Jesus. But you must be on His highway.

The national Highway Traffic Safety Administration was founded around 30 years ago and was charged with the tasks of reducing deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle accidents. There have been all kinds of traffic studies contradicting one another in regard to causes and reasons for traffic accidents. Many reasons have been cited such as speeding, driver inattention, cell phones, poor weather conditions, improper design and make-up! Remarkably, one statistic has held true for every study ever performed. You are about 12 times less likely to be involved in a traffic accident when you are driving on a one way street.

The same is true if you are living for Jesus. Yes, being a Christian does not exempt you from troubles, but living life according to His plan and on His Highway will lessen your chances of ending up in a mess. When the potholes, obstacles, and sharp curves of life’s road come at you fast and furious, with Christ you will successfully navigate any obstacle because you become “Built Lord Tough” on God’s “One Way.” Street.

At the Crossroad

“I encountered a man on the Road of life,

so sure of himself – so convinced he was right.

He had (his) religion, but he didn’t know God,

And though he had eyes, I thought that rather odd:

He only could see what he wanted to see.

So, blind to the truth that could set his soul free;

the man charged ahead – unaware he was lost,

until he encountered a Man on a cross

at a fork in the road

where the path became two

and the man who’d always been sure of himself had to choose.

Between broad and narrow, between left and right,

Between things he could see, and things still out of sight.

And I’m sure that the man would have gone the wrong way,

Had he not encountered the Savior that day.

But love rescued him! Truth set him free!