Matthew 16:20-22
One of the great aspects of life is victory. Everybody assumes that they are going to be victorious and successful in everything they do.
Countless conferences are given all over the place to show you how you can be successful in whatever you’re doing. Success is very important in our culture today.
The problem is to define what we mean by “victory.”
On the football field, victory means you have outscored the other team. Now, to understand victory you need to understand what the game is. If it’s football, it’s not the same as baseball. The game is played different for both.
It’s not like the Harlem Globetrotters, who in the middle of the basketball game will stop everything and play baseball. It’s humorous but it’s not the path to victory in their basketball game.
The more glorious the victory the harder the path to that victory.
Many conferences will try to convince people that all you have to do is put your mind to it and success is yours for the taking. The problem with that is, it’s not true.
Getting back to the disciples, they had no idea what Jesus was talking about. They were going along day by day and could not see the end of the trail.
Many Christians are like that today. They don’t know what the end is all about. They don’t know how God has defined victory for them.
If you don’t know God’s definition of victory, how are you going to know when you experience it?
As we celebrate what we call “The Triumphal Entry of Christ,” we fail to really see the dynamics associated with the path to his victory.
As I live my victorious Christian life, I need to understand the great difficulties and opposition that I will have to face. We are of such a mindset that when any difficulties come we immediately began to doubt the path that we’re on.
Jesus kept before the disciples, although at the time they did not quite understand it, the difficulties that were ahead of him. It wasn’t until after the resurrection that they really began to understand what this path of glorious victory is all about.
There are several aspects associated with this path of victory. If we don’t get a hold of this, as it affected Jesus, we are going to misinterpret the path that we’re on and not really experience the victory that God has for us.
Keep in mind, the ultimate victory is on the other side!
I. The Acclamation (Luke 19:28-38).
As he begins his journey in Jerusalem, the crowds are cheering him along the way. (19:35-38).
I would like to have known what the disciples were thinking about as they were walking beside Jesus on that little donkey. I believe it was the best day of their life.
They were following this Jesus and suddenly everybody was acclaiming him, praising him and giving glory to God for him.
It’s not too hard to see that they probably thought that they had finally arrived. However, all the work that they’ve done up to this point has been successful and now they finally have the victory.
Maybe it was victory from their perspective, but it was not victory from Jesus’ perspective.
One of the interesting things in this passage is the fact that the people were praising Jesus, but they had no idea who he was or why they were praising him.
It’s like many people today who praise God but have no idea who God is or why they are praising him. A celebrity will say something nice about Jesus, but it has no connection whatsoever with the real Jesus.
Even some Christians will boast about something associated with Jesus, but they’re very confused as to what it really means and who Jesus Christ really is. They may be saved, but they are caught up with the incidental elements of daily life and have no idea what the ultimate victory is that God has for them.
I often wonder what Jesus was thinking about as he was riding down that street. He knew men’s hearts and he knew that they had no understanding of what was taking place. I wonder what he thought about his disciples watching them laughing and cheering and not really understanding the dynamics of the situation.
The acclamation syndrome can lead us to the wrong conclusion about the life we are living. When everybody is for you, be careful, it may not be as it really appears.
II. The Agitation (Luke 19:39-44).
The acclamation celebration always stirs up agitation.
The Pharisees in the situation were trying to control the situation from their perspective. They were agitated because Jesus was getting all this acclamation and they were against it.
I like what Jesus says in verse 40.
“I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”
It’s interesting to see that Jesus allowed the disciples to have their moment. He refused to allow the Pharisees to take that moment away from them.
The acclamation syndrome was preparation for the real agitation that was going to come in just a few days. The disciples did not know that the next stage of their path was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. I’m not sure what they would have done had they known it.
Of course, Jesus was laying down the foundation for understanding that the crucifixion was just down the road. They could not comprehend it because they were all caught up in the acclamation celebration of Jesus Christ.
One thing we need to understand and that is, if we are doing what God wants us to do, somebody will be agitated with us.
David understood this in Psalm 55:12-14.
12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: 13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. 14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.
When the enemy wanted to attack Jesus, he did it from within the disciples.
It was Judas Iscariot, who was vulnerable to the enemy to such a point the enemy was able to manipulate him and get him to betray Jesus.
Even with this betrayal, and all of the agitation that this brought into the situation, Jesus was not affected. His victory was overcoming all of this agitation, which brought him to the cross.
If it was not for this agitation, Jesus never would’ve got to the cross. As hateful as all of this was, it was used by God to get Jesus to the place that he needed to be.
This is a lesson for us. The agitation in our life can be used by God to bring us to that point where God wants to show us victory. By not succumbing to the agitation, but by surrendering to God, we will get to that place of victory.
III. The Agenda (Hebrews 12:2).
To really appreciate our victory we will need to understand what that victory is. If we don’t understand the victory, the agitation will destroy any level of acclamation we have for Christ.
The key phrase in this verse is, “for the joy that was set before him.”
Very simply it is our salvation. Jesus went to the cross and endured all of that shame and torture because his end goal was our salvation.
His definition of victory was our being redeemed by his blood shed on the cross and brought into an intimate relationship.
What an agenda.
As Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem the thing that was on his mind was not the acclamation of the crowd, nor was it the agitation of the Pharisees and religious leaders, but it was his agenda the of saving us from our sin.
Because of this agenda, Jesus did not allow anything to get in his way, regardless of how difficult it was and how bad it made him look. The end result, the victory, was what really mattered.
He wasn’t concerned about what the people thought of him or that their thoughts of him were not really grounded in truth.
He wasn’t concerned about what the Pharisees thought of him and how much they were jealous of him and wanted to do away with him.
The focus of his whole heart at this point, the joy that was set before him, was my salvation. The thing that carried him through this difficult path to the ultimate victory was me being on his heart. He was thinking of me, as he focused toward the cross where he would die.
Conclusion…
It is very easy to be all caught up with the mundane aspects of life. When something goes wrong, it deflects us from our true focus. That focus, no matter who we are, is none other than Jesus Christ.
The joy that was set before Jesus was men and women redeemed by his blood.
The joy that is set before me is the Christ who shed his blood for my redemption.
Celebrating the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem cannot be accomplished without the shadow of the cross. Not even the disciples could imagine the cross that was directly before them.
From a human standpoint, the cross of Jesus was the ultimate failure. Even his disciples denied him and scattered in the wind.
The cross looked like the end of all things.
But the cross was simply the door to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Next week I want to look at the significance of Christ’s resurrection and how it affects our daily living.
My victory is in Jesus Christ.
My victory is not in what I can or cannot do.
By standing up against the distractions and disappointments and discouragements of life, I set my face like a flint toward the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That is my victory!
