OPEN: It’s basketball season and we’re in the midst of something called “the Road to the Final Four”.
They started this weekend by singling the men’s college basketball teams down to 64 teams. Then they’ll winnow it down to 32. Then, they’ll have 16. Then 8. And then four teams. And last of all, there will only be two men’s basketball teams competing in the final championship game.
I’ve never been to one of these events, but I’ve been told that when the teams come out on the floor… it’s a time of excitement. The team doesn’t just casually walk out onto basketball court… this is a PRODUCTION!
There is the crescendo of the announcer’s voice as he announces the team.
The university band strikes up an exciting version of the team fight song.
There are banners, balloons and streamers - cheerleaders standing at attention.
There’s a lightshow that flashes all across the auditorium.
And when the crowd is worked into a fever pitch the team runs out onto the court and the crowd goes wild!!!
There’s an excitement – a fervor – an anticipation of being present at a electrifying event.
All this is done because the team and their supporters are essentially declaring that they’ve not only come to play… they’ve come to win.
APPLY: That’s what is happening here in John 12. Everything that happens this day at Jerusalem is focused on created that type of excitement and fervor in the crowds.
For 3 years Jesus has been building His ministry toward this day.
For 3 years, He has performed one miracle after another miracle, after another miracle.
For 3 years, he has healed the sick, the lame, the blind, the leprous.
For 3 years Jesus has attracted one crowd after another to teach them about the coming Kingdom of God.
And then - not more than about week before this - he goes to the home of Mary & Martha and raises their brother Lazarus from the dead.
By the time Jesus gets to Jerusalem the crowd is primed.
Jesus entry in to Jerusalem was not going to be a casual stroll into the city for Jesus…
He had come to deliberately declare that HE was:
· The King of Israel
· The anointed one
· The promised Messiah
· The one who had been predicted for centuries by the prophets of God
About a year before this Jesus was teaching a large crowd out in the country. It was getting late and the people were hungry, so Jesus instructed his disciples to feed them. But the only food on hand was the lunch of a little boy. But Jesus blessed that paltry amount of food and fed everyone present… and they had 12 baskets of bread left over!
The crowd was so impressed that they wanted to make Him a king then. John 6:15 says that “… when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.” (NKJV)
That crowd sensed then that Jesus had the bearing to be the long awaited King of Israel. But the kind of King they wanted wasn’t what Jesus had in mind
They wanted an earthly King. A king who would not only sit upon the throne of David but to lead forth in battle against the hated Romans.
He was everything you could hope for in a leader.
He was charismatic, He was decisive and He was powerful.
He was capable of feeding thousands of soldiers.
Healing the wounded, raising the dead.
What army on the face of the earth could stand against such a King?
They wanted an earthly King.
But when it became apparent that this wasn’t Jesus was going to be that kind of King the crowds turned on Him. They called for His blood… and they crucified Him.
They wanted an earthly King, but that wasn’t what Jesus had in mind.
He had no intention whatsoever of establishing an earthly kingdom.
· He told Pilate “…My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” John 18:36
· In Luke 17:21 Jesus declared “… the kingdom of God is within you.”
· And Romans 14:17 taught us “… the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
The Kingdom of God is the Church.
That’s what Jesus came to establish.
That’s the Kingdom over which Jesus had come to rule and reign.
In fact, that’s what Colossians 1:13 teaches. It tells us that “(the Father) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves”
Right now we are IN the Kingdom of God.
Jesus is our King right NOW.
The Kingdom of isn’t and what never was intended to be a physical kingdom, because earthly kingdoms are far too limited to accomplish the goals Christ had in mind.
1st – Earthly kingdoms are always limited by physical boundaries.
ILLUS: Back during the Middle ages, there was a physical kingdom that lasted a 1000 years. It was known as the Holy Roman Empire and began when Charlemagne took the throne in 800 A.D. and ended when Napoleon brought it to its knees in 1806. It covered much of Europe. Among the nations included were Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium… and it included large portions of France, Poland and Italy.
It was intended as a physical kingdom for Christendom but it fell far short of being everything what God wanted, because it was too limited. It tried to wrap a fence around the Church to protect it.
But the Church doesn’t need a fence to surround it. There is no need of walls to protect it. The Church needs no such protection. It is force on the move.
One time, Jesus asked His disciples who the people of the world thought He was. They answered that many were speculating that He was John the Baptist of Elijah or one of the prophets. Then Jesus asked “But who do you say that I am” and Peter replied: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
Jesus replied “… I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock (the confession Peter had just made) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Matthew 16:18
In other words, the Church is built upon the foundation and power of Jesus Christ.
The church was designed to be a vibrant force with the power to overwhelm the gates of Hell.
Now tell me… how far do gates move? They don’t do they?
Gates open and shut, but other than that, they don’t go anywhere. That’s because gates aren’t designed to move… they’re designed to protect.
Jesus didn’t save us to be on the defensive and to hide behind walls. Jesus saved us so that we could take Satan down. Our objective is to take Satan on… to take the battle to him!
For Jesus to create a physical kingdom with earthly boundaries would have limited His church. But Jesus declared “… the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21
You take this Kingdom wherever you go.
And no worldly kingdom has the power to stand against it.
Back in the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream the deeply disturbed him. He suspected that if he just told his magicians and soothsayers what the dream was, they would attempt to fake an interpretation, so he demanded that they give him both the dream and its interpretation. The only one capable of this was Daniel.
Daniel explained to Nebuchadnezzar that in his dream he saw a huge statue made of several different metals. Then, in his dream, the King had seen “…a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them.” Daniel 2:34
Daniel went on to explain that the statue represented several earthly Kingdoms and during last of those kingdoms"… the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.” Daniel 2:44
There is no kingdom on the face of this earth that can stand against the Kingdom of God… because Christ’s kingdom is not limited by physical boundaries.
The church has citizens in practically every nation on earth and the church’s power is only limited by our imagination (or lack thereof).
2ndly - Since earthly kingdoms require physical boundaries, those borders need to be protected by military might.
ILLUS: Four generations before Jesus was born there was a man named Judah Maccabee. He was called “the Hammer” and was a fairly righteous man who was upset by the fact that the Syrians occupied the city of Jerusalem. He was angry about this and rallied an army of Jewish men to his side to fight against the Syrians.
In 163 B.C. he entered Jerusalem riding on a massive stallion, and the people shouted and waved palm branches and cheered, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Judah was their hero–and many thought he was the Jewish Messiah.
When they entered the city, they cleaned out the Temple, burned incense, offered sacrifices, and lit a huge menorah that burned for eight days. To this day our Jewish friends celebrate 8 days of the Festival of Lights or Hanukkah to celebrate his accomplishment.
Not long afterwards, Judas was killed in battle and was buried. He died.
When Judah came riding into the city, he was greeted by adoring throngs.
The people waved palm branches and cheered “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. Almost everything did paralleled what occurred when Jesus entered the city 4 generations later… except for one thing. When Judah entered the city, what was he mounted on? (a massive stallion)
Why would he do that? Why ride such a powerful animal as he entered Jerusalem? He did that because he wanted to show his majesty and authority. He intended to set up an earthly kingdom and that required an earthly kind of power. But in the end, he died… and so did his dream of an earthly kingdom because - that which is earthly will never last very long.
By contrast, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem – what does he ride??? (he rides on a donkey)
A donkey is generally not considered to be a animal of war.
A donkey is not animal we associate with military power.
In fact a donkey is pretty much a humble creature
ILLUS: Outside of town, there’s a horse stables. You can go there and pay to ride I can go over and pay about $20 to ride on a horse whose nose is in back end of another horse in front of me.
Now, let’s say I go there and put down $20 for my ride and they lead me back into the stables. When I get into the stables, they offer me a choice of riding a horse or a donkey… which do you think I’m going to chose?
I’m going to chose the horse! If I pay $20 to ride, I want to be atop something manly… not a humble mule.
Let’s face it… a donkey is not an impressive animal. It is a humble creature. And Jesus chose that type of creature to ride into Jerusalem because His kingdom was NOT going to be about “force of arms” and coercion.
ILLUS: Now that’s important for us to remember because there are times when we’re tempted to treat His kingdom in exactly that way. Even I’m tempted by it.
I’ll be driving down the road and I’ll see a rude bumper sticker or a crude image on a truck’s back window. You know the ones I’m talking about. And I swear, if I weren’t a Christian (not to mention being a preacher) I’d love to go out and buy some spray paint and remove their offending message from the road.
But my wife tells me I can’t do that. That’s not a proper thing for a Christian to do.
Because the Kingdom of God is not about force and coercion.
It’s about prayer. It’s about love. It’s about setting an example.
3rdly - Jesus hadn’t come to set up a earthly kingdom because earthly kingdoms are almost always focused on who’s in charge.
When Jesus’ disciples talked Him about His kingdom… do you remember what they asked?
What was the number one issue on their minds?
Mark 10 tells about James and John coming to Jesus and asking for something.
"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.
They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory." Mark 10:36-37
What did these boys want? They wanted to have authority and position. But the Kingdom of God isn’t about authority and position… it’s all about ministry.
Jesus taught His disciples that His kingdom was going to be different from earthly ones in this significant respect
"The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. Luke 22:25-26
And then He told them: “I am among you as one who serves.” Luke 22:27
You see: Jesus hadn’t come to exercise authority… Jesus came to serve.
He came to seek and to save those who were lost. He came to meet our needs and lift us up out of the mire of our everyday lives. He came to minister to us.
And that is the mindset He wants to build into His Kingdom.
He created the church to be a team effort.
Yes, you’ve got preachers and elders and Sunday school teachers and others who have positions of responsibility in the church. But there is absolutely no place in the Kingdom of God for grandstanders. There is no place in the church for people who want control and authority. The church is designed to be a place where everyone serves everybody else.
ILLUS: Does anybody know who has won the most NCAA national championships in men’s basketball? It was John Wooden - the coach of the UCLA Bruins.
He won all those championships because he focused on. He created TEAMS. If you watch many basketball matchups, you’ll see that many teams have a “go-to” guy who is the anchor of the team. But individual accomplishments and records held little value to Wooden. Every year he put together the best group of players he could find. And the 5 men who best complemented each other and worked together were the ones he started.
His motto was, “The most important player when we win – is the rest of the team.”
Wooden encouraged his players to acknowledge the assists of their teammates. If one player received a pass that allowed him to score, Wooden wanted him to give the other man a wink or point to him as they moved down to the opposite end of the court.
A new player once asked Wooden “What if the other player isn’t looking when I point to him?”
Wooden just smiled, “Oh don’t worry. He’ll be looking.”
That’s the kind of teamwork that Christ wanted to build into His church.
Jesus wanted to establish a Kingdom where all the citizens would work at building each other up
In fact Church should be a place of “one anothering.”
Jesus said “This is my command: Love one another.” John 15:17
And the Bible goes on to say we should be…
“devoted to one another” Romans 12:10
“Accept one another” Romans 15:7
“serve one another” Galatians 5:13
“bear with one another” Ephesians 4:2
“encourage one another 1 Thessalonians 5:11
“Be kind and compassionate to one another” Ephesians 4:32
And we should “forgive one another, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
Church is not about me.
And it’s not even about you
It’s about Jesus Christ and all the people around us He came to save.
And when we do it right…when we give Jesus and His kingdom the kind of attention they deserve… people will want to see Jesus we say we belong to
After Jesus had been acknowledged as being King by the crowds we’re told that some Gentiles came up to one of the disciples and said: "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." John 12:20
When we do Church right, Jesus will get the glory and people will come to us to ask to see and know about the Jesus we serve.
