Scripture: Luke 19:28 – 40
Theme: The God Who Plans
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God Our Father, Jesus who Redeems us and the Holy Spirit who infills us with grace, mercy and love!
Welcome to Palm Sunday. Welcome to the Sunday before Resurrection Sunday and the Sunday that begins Passion Week!
I want to talk to you this morning about the God who loves both TO PLAN and loves to pay attention to the DETAILS in His Creation.
Our passage takes us along the journey that Jesus traveled from the city of Jericho to the city of Jerusalem. It’s approx. a 16-mile uphill journey that as we read Luke’s Gospel took Jesus and his followers several days.
It is also a journey that begins at one of the lowest points on earth. The city of Jericho is located approx. 850 feet below sea level while the city of Jerusalem sits around 2500 feet above sea level. That means that while Jesus and his disciples were traveling some 16 miles in distance, they were also walking up over a half a mile in altitude.
Most of the year the area surrounding Jericho is hot and dusty. Even during the spring time, the temperature hovers around 70 to 90 degrees. And due to its arid climate, it was difficult at best at the time of Jesus to grow trees, vegetables and plants around Jericho.
The city of Jerusalem, however, was the exact opposite during the Passover Season. Having plenty of water nearby and climate conditions around 55 to 75 degrees the city of Jerusalem bursts in full bloom during spring time. Almond trees are in full bloom and the hills are covered in all kinds of wildflowers.
You see, God planned it that way. Just about the time a person would want to give up because of all the heat and the dust coming from Jericho they would suddenly see all the green and glory of Jerusalem in the distance. The Temple at the time was covered in alabaster and gold which made the city radiate. It was a magnificent sight. The city and the Temple looked like Heaven on Earth. It looked like a small representation of the Garden of Eden with all the green and God’s Temple shinning in the distance. The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY had planned it that way.
In fact, the more you read the Bible the clearer it comes to you that we serve a God who takes great care to plan, to arrange and to program. We serve a God who knows how to strategize, lay out and arrange things, people and situations. We serve a God who loves to bring order out of chaos. We serve a God who cares about the smallest of details.
In saying that we do not mean that the Lord God Almighty likes to nick pick or to micro manage. That is not the case whatsoever. But God does like for everything to be able to enjoy life to its fullest. We can be assured that when things are placed in God’s hands that they are going to be turn out the best that they could possible be. That is the Good God of Creation that we serve today.
The Apostle Luke in verses 30 thru 35 shares with us a rather unusual story. It is the story of the little donkey colt that Jesus will ride as He enters the city of Jerusalem. In doing so, Jesus will fulfill the scripture passage we find in Zechariah 9:9 where the Prophet speaks of the Messiah riding into the city of Jerusalem on a little donkey.
Verse thirty tells us that Jesus sent two of his disciples on what we could call - “Donkey duty”.
All they were to do was to find the man who owned the donkey colt and tell him that Jesus needed it. Jesus had already made plans/arrangements so that it would be an easy task. They wouldn’t have to haggle with the man or anything like that. All they had to do was to follow Jesus’ directions because God in flesh had already set everything in motion. Everything was going just as God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit had set it up.
Those two disciples may have been a little confused and wondered how it was going to all work out, but the fact is we serve a God who plans. We serve a God who is always multiple steps ahead of us and only needs us to follow His will and way. God has a plan for our lives much in the same way as he had for these disciples and for this little donkey. Not a plan to embarrass us or to manipulate us but one that will enable us to grow in wisdom, strength, knowledge and favor.
I. We serve a God who is intimately involved in all His Creation
There is a lot of talk about God being absent these days. That somehow God doesn’t care about what happens here on earth. But the truth is God does care. God has always cared, and God seeks to be involved in every aspect of His Creation.
For example:
Did you know that one of the reasons why birds can fly has to do with some tiny barbs they have on their feathers? Scientists tell us that there are hundreds and even thousands of these tiny little barbs on each one of their feathers, depending of course on the size. These little barbs zipper lock together, providing an air tight seal on the bird’s wings. With that seal the birds can take flight. Without those little barbs, they couldn’t make a seal and would not be able to achieve lift off.
God planned it that way. God created it that way. God created birds down to those finest little barbs. In His infinite wisdom and creativity, the LORD wanted birds to have that little detail in order to fly. It is just a part of God’s geniuses and creativity.
We need to know this morning, that nothing takes God by surprise. To be surprised you must be uncertain about what is coming. You must be ignorant. The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY is never ignorant about the future or about anything. He is never uncertain about what is coming.
That is to say, nothing happens in all of creation that He is unaware. God is at work making sure that all His plans are being fulfilled. The key is for us is to listen to the LORD and to be open, receptive and obedient to His plans.
In Genesis 24 we have this wonderful story of how Abraham’s servant Abimelech found Isaac’s future wife Rebekah. Chapter 24 is not only the longest chapter of the book of Genesis, it is also one of the first love stories that we find in the Bible.
The chapter starts off with an anxious father and an unmarried Promise Son. Abraham is greatly concerned about Isaac finding a wife and having a family. He prays for God to reveal a plan to make that become a reality.
The chapter unfolds as God reveals His plan, hears some prayers, sets forth a chance meeting, makes sure some camels are watered, reveals an epiphany, strategizes an answer along with a family blessing and then watches over Abimelech and Rebekah as they return to the Promise Land.
At first glance you may read the story and wonder how Abimelech makes all these twists and turns? How did he end up at the right water well at the right time? How was it that Rebekah was present? What caused her to decide to water all those the camels? How was it that Rebekah was the right relative of Sarah’s?
Then it hits you. God was in the background moving all the pieces around enabling things to go the right way. God was involved in the story. God was whispering here and guiding there. The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY always wants to get involved in humanity’s story. After all, who is better to get involved in the story?
Abimelech sought for God to get involved the story. Abimelech wanted God to guide his steps one by one across the desert so that things would work out the best for Abraham and for Isaac. Abimelech wanted to be a part of God’s plan for the Promised Son and the People of God.
One of the things we can be assured of this morning is that God has a wonderful plan for our lives.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
God has a plan that will enable us to live out the best life possible here on earth. A plan that will enable us to come to know Jesus Christ as Our Savior and LORD and be infilled with His Holy Spirit. A plan that will enable us to fulfill the Great Commission and to be welcomed home one day on the New Heaven and Earth in praise and glory.
II. We serve a God who Cares for All of US
It is not only important that we understand that God has a plan for us, but God loves us and cares for us. The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY wants the best for us.
Did you know this morning that God knows what breaks your heart? That God takes the time to notice when things hurt you and cause you great pain. Listen to the words of Psalmist in Psalm 56:8:
8 You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book. (Ps. 56:8 - NLT)
God knows about our hurts. God is concerned about our hurts. They matter to Him. He has a plan that will help us if we will allow Him. God has a plan to ease our pain and to take the burden of our pain. That is why He tells us to cast our cares upon Him. God knows that our hearts can be broken. And God knows how to bring healing, redemption and restoration to our hearts. God can take a broken heart and mend it. God can take a broken life and make it stronger than ever before.
Listen to the words of Jesus that Matthew wrote in chapter 10:29 – 30
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
God deeply cares about the little sparrows that live in His world. They matter to the LORD. He also cares about each one of us. Jesus tells us that our Heavenly Father knows the number of hairs on our heads. Not just the number that each one of us has but all those different number hairs. God cares about hair number 2,000 as well as hair number 23,429.
Psalm 139 tells us that God knows everything about us. Nothing we do or say takes God by surprise. He knows where we have been, what we are doing right now and where we will be two months from now or ten years from now.
God knows what is going to come out of our mouths before we speak it. God knows our thoughts – all the good ones and even the bad ones.
God knows all of that and God has a plan for us to find Him, to experience His grace and mercy and to enjoy the fullness of His Holy Spirit.
Nothing we do takes God by surprise.
Earlier in our chapter Luke tells us that while Jesus was in Jericho, he had a planned encounter with a tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus. It all looked like a chance meeting but as we read the story, we know that it all happened because of God’s direct plan.
What we may not know is a neat little tad bit about the name Zacchaeus. The name means – “Pure, clean”. When you said the name of Zacchaeus you were saying – “Hey, pure and clean one.”
As you know at the time of the story that was not quite the reputation that this little man possessed. In fact, many believe that his name should have been quite the opposite. He should have been called by the name Koinos (Koy nos) or Tamah. Those names mean impure or unclean which to many would have been a better name for Zacchaeus.
But Jesus planned to meet Zacchaeus and Jesus planned on calling him by the name which God wanted him to have – the name of a man of purity and holiness. Jesus loved Zacchaeus. Jesus had a plan for Zacchaeus. A plan that would lead him away from a life of deceit, stealing and greed. A plan that would enable him to live not only an abundant life here on earth but everlasting life on the New Heaven and New Earth one day.
When Jesus called out his name it was to proclaim to everyone that this man was accepted. What he had done in the past would be forgiven. What he was to do in the present was to invite Jesus to his house – that is into his heart and life. Jesus was going to do more than just sit down for some breaking of bread. Jesus was going to transform his life.
That is God’s plan for each and everyone of us. God has a specific plan for all of us. God tells the prophet Jeremiah that he had plans for him. Plans not to harm him but to promote him. Plans to make his life better, richer and more fulfilling. God has the same plans for us.
Our individual plan may look different than anyone else’s. Ours has been tailored made for our personality, our talents and our gifts. It has been tailored made by God to fit our lives – where we have been, what we have done and what God still wants us to do in the future in us, with us and through us.
While the world may want to throw us away, dismiss us or even ignore us, the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY has other plans. God has a wonderful plan for our lives and all we must do is to be open to His leading and direction.
Zacchaeus’s whole life was turned around because he enabled God to fulfill His plan in His life. His story may not have started with his life looking much like a man named Pure and Clean, but it ended up that way.
Tradition tells us that Zacchaeus traveled with the Apostle Peter on his missionary journeys for a short time. It is said that Zacchaeus settled down in the city of Caesarea and became one of its chief spiritual leaders. He lived a holy life and was a great missionary, teacher and evangelist.
+ We serve a God who is intimately involved in all His Creation
+ We serve a God who Cares for All of US
III. We serve a God who has it all figured out
What those two disciples may not have understood is that God has it all figured out. Jesus knew that there would be a donkey there – the perfect little donkey because He planned it that way. He knew the owner would be receptive because again God planned it that way.
God can manage any situation or circumstance. He can at any time clean up any mess that we have made in and of our lives.
Isaiah 55:8 – 9 reminds us:
8 “For my (God) thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Romans 8:28 shares with us this Good News:
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
You and I along with those two disciples may not have everything figured out, but Jesus does. Jesus’ mother, His disciples, His followers and others didn’t have a clue about what Jesus was going to do or what was going to happen to him during Holy Week, but Jesus did.
Jesus knew that the Cross would not be His ending but only the beginning.
Jesus knew that they would lay his dead body down in Joseph’s tomb but come Sunday morning He knew He was going to walk out of there with His New Glorified Body. Jesus knew His Resurrection was a sure thing. It was exactly how His Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit had planned it all out.
God already has the problem solved. All we have to do is obey. When we do, we can watch the favor and blessings flow. When we don’t then we are stopped but that doesn’t mean that God forgets us or abandons us. It does mean that we can miss out on some wonderful blessings. We can miss out on some of God’s wonderful plans and rewards that He has for us in this life.
This is what happened to the Israelite King Jehoash. His story is found in 2 Kings 13. The Prophet Elisha was dying, and young King Jehoash had come down to see him before he passed away. As a reward for this young king’s love for Elisha the LORD was opening a window for the nation of Israel to be completely free of the Arameans who had been terrorizing them. All the young king had to do was to follow Elisha’s plan. However, he decided to only follow it partially. And as a result, while his people would experience a time of victory it would not be a complete victory. It would only be a partial victory.
God had a plan of freedom for Israel but they by sidestepped the fulness of that plan and as a result their joy was not complete.
We see the same type of thing happening in the life of Moses. After years of following God’s every word, every action and plan in chapter 20 of the book of Numbers the LORD asks Moses to speak to the rock instead of striking it. God wants to do a new thing in the lives of the Israelites. Moses, however, sidesteps God’s plan and instead of speaking to the rock he hits the rock – twice.
And while God provided water for His people, Moses’ disobedience changed his own earthly plans. It was God’s intention for Moses to enter the Promise Land with His people but because of this act of rebellion, Moses was not allowed to go into the Promise Land at that time.
But that did not mean that Moses would never be in the Promise Land. Just because we mess up doesn’t mean that God’s ultimate plans are stopped forever. It does mean that they may be delayed or that another generation will reap most of the benefits, but the fact remains that when we open our Bibles to Luke 9:28–36 we find Jesus, James, Peter, John, Elijah and Moses all standing on the Mount of Transfiguration which of course is in the Holy Land.
Moses messed up but God has a way of making all things right. It took him around 1, 500 years to finally put Moses’ feet into the Promise Land but God made a way.
But he didn’t have to wait 1,500 years. All Moses had to do was to be obedient. All Moses had to do was to be a part of God’s plan. All Moses had to do was to say, “Yes, Lord, Yes – to Your Will and to Your Way”.
I believe this morning there are a million little blessings that can be ours if we will just be open, receptive and obedient to God’s plan. I believe that we will be amazed at what favor and blessing can be ours if we only take the time to hear from the LORD, adopt His plan and then put those plans into action.
This morning the Lord loves to work with and in His Creation.
This morning the LORD deeply loves each and everyone of us. He died for each one of us – even though He knew beforehand every sin or wrong that we would do in this life. Jesus loves us so much that even though He knows all of our evil, our sins and our rebellion, He still died for us and has forgiven us of all our sins.
This morning the LORD cares for each little detail in our lives. Just as he cared about all the details of that little donkey so too, does He care about our needs, our cares and our desires. He cares about how we fret over such things as politics, the economy and the things that goes on in our families. He cares about how we are going to pay our doctor’s bills, put gas in our vehicles and put food on our tables. He cares about all the things that causes us to lose sleep and eat to much ice cream and chocolate. He cares about our children whether they are living right or going down the wrong path. He cares about every little thing we care about.
All of this would be different if the LORD OUR GOD was limited. It would be different if the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY was unable to make order out of chaos, heal the leper, walk on water or raise the dead. It would be different if our God wasn’t the Great I AM, Jehovah Jireh or Jehovah Rapha.
But Our God is the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, Jehovah Jireh and Jehovah Rapha. Our God is not limited. We are limited but God is not limited. We can’t keep track of everything, but the Bible tells us that God can. We can’t make sense of all the things that are going around in our lives, but the LORD can. God sees the Big Picture. God also sees the little picture.
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” – Hebrews 4:13
That is why we can trust God. That is why today on Palm Sunday we can turn to Him with every concern and burden that we may possess. That is why we can trust that if we give everything over to the LORD that God will make all things right in His time. That is why we can know today that we are not alone. We have not been left to go blindly through the dark.
God made us. Each and everyone of us. God has a wonderful plan for all our lives. If we are obedient and listen to the LORD, then like these two disciples and billions more like them we will discover that God has a wonderful plan that will come to pass and will surprise us.
For them it was the finding a donkey. A donkey that told the world that the man riding his back was more than a man. He was God’s Messiah. God in Flesh was riding into the city of Jerusalem to bring His Shekinah Glory back. God in Flesh had come to give His life as a ransom for everyone in Jerusalem and all the world. God in Flesh had come down to bring redemption, renewal and restoration.
Sadly, 2,000 years ago the people of the earth rejected Jesus.
But Jesus didn’t reject mankind. On the cross Jesus could have condemned mankind and set everyone to a Devil’s Hell. On the cross Jesus could have cried out curses and judgements. On the cross Jesus could have called legions of angels who would have annihilated all of mankind in a Nano-second.
But God has a long-term plan. God has a plan to lead all His children on their journey from earth to Heaven. God has a plan for all of us, everyone of us here this morning and everyone all over the world to experience what it means to be free – spiritually free from both the penalty and power of sin. God has a plan for us to experience life to its fullest – both here and on the New Heaven and Earth someday.
That plan begins and continues when we place our hearts, minds and souls into the hands of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. That plan begins and continues as we allow God’s Holy Spirit to infill us, lead us, guide us, cleanse us and become one with us.
This morning what plan do you have for your life? What do you see yourself doing 3 months, 9 months, two years from today?
Are you presently enjoying the plan that God has for you?
Are you enjoying the path that God has set out for you?
Today, the LORD wants all of us to be walking with Him. He is our Great Shepherd – He will lead us beside still waters, He will restore our souls and He will anoint us. Even when we find ourselves in the valley of the shadow of death the LORD will not only take care of us, He will promote us. He will lead us to His Home. Surely Goodness and Mercy will be our constant guides.
This is God’s Word today for God’s People – Amen!
Close with the Sharing of Communion or with a Song of Invitation
Prayer and Blessing
(Today, as we close, I am going to invite you to sing a song of Testimony. The name of it is – “HE Leadeth Me”)
+Let’s make sure that this song is a reality in our lives – that we are allowing God to lead us – that we are being a faithful follower and that we have our hand in the hand of God leading and guiding us.
+This morning as we sing this song if that is not true in your life – if you have decided to go your own way, make your own path – decided your own fate – I encourage you to confess, repent and put yourself back on God’s path. That as you sing this song you ask the LORD to help you make it your testimony – that You are allowing God to lead you, guide you and show you the path that you are to go today, tomorrow and forever.
