Jesus and His Disciples
Luke 19:28-44
Introduction-
This morning we begin a celebration of the gospel, celebrate the life of the church, celebrate the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, and celebrate the great love of God for mankind.
The Holy week…Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, the time where the final acts of Christ were lived out and what changed the outcome for all mankind.
I asked you a while back to be thinking who you would invite to join you to have an opportunity to hear the simple truth of God’s love and the plan of salvation for mankind. I hope that you would be sensitive to His leading and let God use you.
Turn to Luke 19:28-44 read from Bible
Jesus, as he approached Jerusalem, the city filled with people that Jesus loves (41) “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-but now it is hidden from your eyes.”
I said to invite people to an opportunity to experience Christ, but truth is their eyes are closed until God opens them. That is why it is so important to put them where God can minister to them.
People don’t just find Jesus- Jesus finds us and we respond.
People don’t come to Christ- Jesus comes to us. He makes the first move.
The plan of God was for Jesus to die for us. As Jesus entered Jerusalem, the final days of the plan were coming together. The church calls it Palm Sunday; Jesus would call it Holy Week.
Holy Week
Starts with Jesus entering Jerusalem, triumphant entering on a donkey, the symbol of peace.
Some churches have services everyday looking at different aspects of his final week. Stations of the Cross, Foot Washings, Maundy Thursday, Last supper and the betrayal of Jesus, Good Friday Services, and climaxing on Sunday with the celebration of resurrection Sunday. The power of the empty tomb that we will look at next week.
It must be important if all 4 gospel writers record the event.
Jerusalem which had a population of 50,000 had tripled because of the Passover. Crowds had begun to assembly as they heard that Jesus was coming into town.
Political people hated him because they were afraid that he was stealing authority away from Rome.
Religious people hated him because they looked at him as being dangerous. He was blasphemous, teaching people that God actually cared for them and not all about man-made rules.
That this teacher was not just a man, but was God.
Jesus actually calling them vipers, devourers of widows. He threw out money-changers from the Temple.
Stopped crooked people from selling defective animals as a sacrifice to a holy God.
Today, this drama is drawn out as a passion play, but really if you think about it, it is “conspiracy” it is action packed as much as a Borne movie.
That conspiracy was building for the 3 years of Jesus ministry. One minute they were hailing him, throwing their coats down, waving palms, and the next week yelling crucify Him! Some of the same people!
Why the big crowds change? What happened? Or didn’t happen that changed their minds.
There is a parade so to speak and Jesus is coming into town.
There will also be people that love a parade, but never understanding what’s happening.
There will always be people shouting praise without knowing why they are doing it.
There will always be people on the outside looking in.
There will be people who are always weighing in on issues that should have been settled a long time ago in their lives.
The Da Vinci Code is a fictional book.
Jesus did not marry Mary Magdalene.
He did not have children with her.
She did not move to France to raise their kids.
I know this because there was faithful eye witnesses that proclaimed and recorded the events.
Recorded all of Holy week so that we do not have to wonder when and if it happened or how it happened.
Many people were on that parade route, there are many different reasons for them to be there.
Some like the excitement, the adrenaline rush, some like the free stuff that would be given out, some were just curious, some will get it, and some will not.
You have to do something with Jesus.
Each and every one of us.
To do nothing is to reject Him.
You cannot go through the motions.
We are all in that crowd in some way and at some time. Either yelling hosanna or crucify Him!
Some will change what they were yelling, some good and some not well. Some will follow and then reject Him.
Here me for a minute, we ask ourselves how someone could yell hosanna and then yell crucify Him the next.
Those of us that love Christ cannot image that- I will give you the answer, and there is only one.
Roller coaster faith. Up and down. Determined by how you feel and what is going on at the time. Today good, tomorrow willing to sell out.
No one likes to ride a roller coaster forever! I do not like them at all. If I did, I would not want to ride forever.
Christians don’t like to be told they need to be disciple. (Repeat)
They do not like to be told that they need to change.
They do not take Jesus words of follow me literally. He says to follow and do as I do.
Remember I said at the beginning of the sermon to be thinking of who you could invite not only to Easter service but just to invite to your church.
Well I am going to make a statement that will appear to be contradictory to that statement, but give me a minute and I will explain.
Jesus in the great commission Matt 28 does not tell us to make new converts.
He said “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
See- That is why I don’t evangelize. I’ll leave that for the preachers, for the trained people that make a living at that.
It’s not a contradiction- if we (you and I) are good disciples, following Jesus, doing as Jesus did, we will present the gospel not only in our lives, but speaking the gospel everyday to those that we come in contact with.
We will share the good news with those that are dying without it. As an unbeliever said to John Wesley, if we believed what we are taught, we would walk over broken glass to get to the people so that they would not die without Christ.
Too many Christians today are not where they need to be so they cannot lead others to be where they are not.
We all need to work on our roller coaster faith. Settle those things that prevent us from following Jesus.
Jesus gave those words as a mandate to the church not simply to evangelize but to make disciples.
We will talk more on discipleship in a few weeks.
Jesus said to disciple others and you yourself be disciples.
“He says all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me”
We have the authority to disciple and a mandate to be disciple by Jesus Christ Himself.
I believe Jesus wept as He entered Jerusalem because just like today, He saw needy people that were unwilling to follow Him.
Illustration
Several years ago, we had Rev. Cohen here for a service. He is a Messianic Jew and presented a message of reaching Jews for Christ from Chosen People Ministry. It was a week night and he arrived in the afternoon and we met for lunch at a diner. We were having a good discussion when the owner of the diner came over to me to say hi, I introduced him to Rev. Cohen and without warning Rev. Cohen said this- Sammy, I am Jewish, my Rabbi tells me that I should not believe in Jesus Christ, but I am sitting here with pastor Tony, and he is telling me that I need Jesus Christ as my savior. What do you say Sammy? I thought here we go! Sammy paused for a moment, and said, Pastor Tony is right. You need Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. I was stunned, Sammy was a believer! After Sammy left, Rev. Cohen said, put people into a position to tell their story, so that you can tell your story. That is discipleship! That is putting you in a position to be used by God. God is the only one that saves. He is the only one that can change a heart.
Closing,
We all have that opportunity to follow Jesus with all our heart and mind, to allow the Lord to work “in us” and “though us”
We can get to a point in our lives that we care more of pleasing the Lord than pleasing ourselves.
We can with God’s help get to the point that our faith is not a roller coaster that depends what we are going thought to how well we serve God and listen to God.
Everyday can be saying “Hosanna” when God is in it.
Amen.
