Does the Lord Need Anything?
Mark 11:1-14
The Gospel of Mark dedicated only ten chapters to the life and ministry of Jesus, but there are six chapters written about the events leading to Jesus’ Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension.
The King of the Kingdom solidified His Kingdom on the Cross at Mount Calvary, but leading up to His Passion, several things happened that made the conflict with the Pharisees inevitable.
As John's Gospel tells us, just before the Passion, Jesus raised Lazarus (who had been dead for four days) back to life.
John 12:9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.
John 12:10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also,
John 12:11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus. NKJV
Passover was very important to the Jewish community during this time. Josephus said the population of Jerusalem during Passover went from a normal population of 500,000 to 3 million.
During the Feast of Passover, the people always had the hope of the arrival of the Messiah to liberate them from the power of Rome, like Moses delivered the Israelites from Egypt.
Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark 11 as we continue in a verse-by-verse study of that Gospel.
Last week in Mark, Jesus predicted His death and Resurrection for the third time, as Jesus asked a question to some different men; and the answers from the different men, were very telling.
After Jesus said He was going to be crucified, James and John ask, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”
Jesus asks them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
We said this is the question Jesus asks everyone. Some will answer and ask Jesus to rescue them, while other people will say, “We want nothing to do with You”.
As expected, the other ten Disciples get irritated with James and John’s request for the top two positions in the Kingdom.
Soon, we read about Blind Bartimaeus. Jesus passed by this blind beggar, who basically said, “I can’t see You with my physical eyes, but I recognize who You are!”
Jesus asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?” His request was simple, but impossible, “that I may receive my sight.”
Today, we will study a familiar passage which is often referred to as Palm Sunday, as Jesus was presented to Israel as their king. Today, we answer the question, “Does the Lord need anything?”
I. The Lord is Sovereign.
Read Mark 11:1-6
Jesus left Jericho and headed toward Jerusalem, 18 miles away. As they approached the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of the Disciples to go and retrieve a foal of a donkey.
We do not know for sure whether this was prearranged or not with the owner of this donkey, or even if the owner knew the Lord; but God is Sovereign and knew this was going to happen.
Sovereign means to possess supreme or ultimate power.
In vs. 3 “The Lord has need of it”, the word “Lord”, is Kyrios (GK), which means, boss, master, owner, controller of a thing.
Barry Raeburn said about, “Why are you doing this?”
“The owner relinquished his rights and ownership of the colt and recognized something or someone more powerful than him was exercising their rights to the use of that animal. (Raeburn)
When we respond to the Gospel and choose to accept Christ’s offer of salvation, we are responding to His choice of us as well.
At the moment of Salvation, all prior ownership over our lives is broken, we are transferred to a new Kingdom, born again, and all the rights of ownership the enemy had over us, are broken.
The enemy has no legal right to influence any area of our lives once we are in Christ, but we need to be reminded of that!
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. NKJV
Notice the paradox here. Jesus is the Sovereign Lord who is in control, but He uses earthly things to fulfill His sovereign plan.
Jesus used the two disciples to go and retrieve this donkey.
R. Alan Cole said, “Jesus always seems to have sent his disciples out in fellowship, as here, even if it was only ‘two by two’ (Mark 6:7).” Lone ranger Christianity is not healthy.
I want to encourage you; “the Lord has need of you”, not because He cannot do something without your help, but because He wants to bless you as He uses you to further His Kingdom!
You are in the Kingdom of God for a reason.
When we first come to Christ, we are think about the reality of the incredible need we have of Him and His saving work; and it is true, we absolutely need Jesus, and we always will!
But as we grow in our Christian walk with the Lord, we begin to realize the Lord has a plan and a purpose for us in His kingdom.
What an honor and a privilege to be chosen by God to play any part of His Gospel ministry.
II. Fulfilled prophecy.
Read Mark 11:7-11
Unlike an earthly king, Jesus enters Jerusalem in total humility.
The Promised Messiah first visited the earth as a suffering servant to pay for our sin, before taking His throne. This is also a fulfillment of another prophecy about the Messiah.
Zechariah 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. NKJV
The Disciples still didn’t fully understand what was going on; they probably thought Jesus should have ridden in on a stallion.
In fact, most of the Jewish people wanted a king to defeat the Roman occupation of Israel, so they probably all wondered why Jesus rode in on a donkey instead of a Stallion.
The Disciples didn’t understand Jesus was not coming as the physical king to fight Rome, but instead, as the King of Peace!
D.A. Carson said, “Jesus was not only proclaiming his messiahship and his fulfillment of Scripture but showing the kind of peace-loving approach he was now making to the city.”
For three years Jesus had urged those He healed not to tell people who He is; but here in this narrative, the time had come for the first public proclamation that Israel’s Messiah is here!
Jesus was no longer asking His followers to avoid calling Him the King; here their Messiah is finally presenting Himself.
This is the day Daniel prophesied about 100’s of years earlier.
Daniel 9:25 said, from the edict of Artaxerxes to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, there would be 69 seven-year periods, “Until Messiah the Prince”.
Based upon the Babylonian calendar of 360 days per year (69x7x360), that adds up to 173,880 days.
Chuck Missler said, “The period between March 14, 445 B.C. (edict declared) and April 6, 32 A.D. (Jesus in Jerusalem) , we discover it is 173,880 days exactly, to the very day!”
April 6th 32 A.D. was the Sunday before Passover, which we now know as The Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
How many other men rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, on this specific day?
The Law for Passover in Exodus 12 says to keep a Lamb for four days and to bring it to the priest for inspection before Passover; to be sure, the Lamb was good enough to sacrificed.
The lamb to be sacrificed was to live with the family for four days before Passover, actually becoming part of the family.
In this way, the lamb became part of the family and by the time it was sacrificed the family would become attached to it, because God wanted the sacrifice to be something precious.
Jesus was about to present Himself to Israel, to be inspected by them as the Lamb of God, one week prior to Passover.
John 1:29 John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! NKJV
The Lamb to be offered to the Lord, was to be without spot or blemish. Jesus was our unblemished Lamb, who was sacrificed.
1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
1 Peter 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. NKJV
Notice, they took leafy branches from trees and spread them on the road. The Law taught the Jews to use Palm branches to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
But, as the years went by, Jewish people started using Palm branches to celebrate other feasts as well.
This crowd hears that Jesus is coming to town, so they begin to hail Him, the new King of the Jews and shout Hosanna.
Psalm 118:26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
Psalm 118:27 God is the LORD, And He has given us light; Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
Psalm 118:28 You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. NKJV
This is why the religious leaders wanted to kill Him; the people were claiming Jesus was the Messiah who came from God.
Every good Jew was taught these Messianic promises from birth so, there is no misunderstanding what the crowd is claiming.
The word hosanna means save, rescue, savior, or save now! Jesus is the One true Messiah, so the crowd is basically shouting, “Save us Messiah!”
Just as the Jews were saved from the Angel of Death back in Egypt during the Passover, so now, anyone who trusts in the shed blood of Jesus Christ will inherit salvation from this King.
But the people missed the whole point, they wanted Jesus to come in as a conquering king, to defeat Rome and set up His perfect kingdom first.
But the Messiah had to first eradicate man’s sin problem.
Hebrews 9:22 according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. NKJV
Not just any blood could eradicate our sin, the blood needed had to come from a perfect, spotless sacrifice.
Every person is born in natural sin, with the exception of the Jesus Christ; His blood is the only one sufficient to save us.
Christ’s coming on a donkey was symbolic of His humility and peaceful intentions. People didn’t realize Messiah came to die for the sins of the world before coming back to rule and reign.
They missed the rest of the prophecy in the book of Zechariah.
Zechariah 9:10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.' NKJV
When Jesus comes back and establishes His Millennial Kingdom, there will be no more war, hunger, or need, but His first coming was all about the cross.
Neither the crowd nor His Disciples understood, until later.
John 12:16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. NKJV
In our narrative, the people were rejoicing and believing they were getting their conquering king.
III. Jesus was in control of the fig tree.
Read Mark 11:12-14
Jesus was not throwing a tantrum because He was hungry and the tree had no fruit on it, He was demonstrating a point about His people, failing to answer the call of God in their lives.
When fig trees have the type of leaves Jesus saw, they could expect to find the branches loaded with small “early ripe” figs.
These particular fig trees would never have leaves, without also having figs; so, this tree was a picture of false advertising.
Jesus saw this fig tree, with a lot of leaves and approached the tree expecting to find it loaded with figs. But it had no fruit!
The fig tree is a picture of the nation of Israel, so when Jesus came to the nation there were leaves, which speak of a profession of faith, but they did not bear fruit for God.
Jesus’ hunger was a picture of His desire for the nation of Israel to bear fruit; they were originally called to represent God as a light unto the whole world.
Jesus was not cursing Israel, rather He was cursing those who were professing belief in God with their mouths, but their hearts were far from Him.
Jesus said, Matthew 15:8 "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
Matthew 15:9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" NKJV
The tree with leaves had signs of fruitfulness, but no fruit; just like the religious leaders who were practicing hypocrisy. The tree’s primary purpose was to bear fruit and satisfy the hungry.
The tree only appeared to be fruit bearing and notice what Jesus said to the tree, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."
David Guzik said, “The tree was cursed for its pretense of leaves, not for its lack of fruit.
Like Israel in the days of Jesus, it had the outward form but no fruit. Jesus warned Israel — and us — of God’s displeasure when we have the appearance of fruit but not the fruit itself.”
“God isn’t pleased when His people are all leaves and no fruit”
John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. NKJV
However, we should be careful not to conclude that Jesus was cursing Israel forever, with this lesson on the fig tree.
The Lord was disappointed in Israel for not fulfilling their calling, but He has not forgotten Israel.
Paul said in Romans 11:1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Romans 11:2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. NKJV
IV. Practical Application.
A couple of weeks ago, as we studied about the Rich Young Ruler, we asked, “Is there anything God cannot do?”
We said, “The Lord can do anything He wants to do; however, He will not do things that go against His will or do things that contradict His holy character.”
God cannot lie, change, break a promise, sin, or stop loving you.
This morning, I want to ask another similar question; if the Lord God is the creator of everything and is self-made…
Does the Lord need anything from His creation?
I said earlier, “the Lord has need of you”, not because He cannot do something without our help, but because He wants to bless us as He uses us to further His Kingdom!
Jesus is the Sovereign Lord who is in control, but He uses earthly things to fulfill His sovereign plan. In this narrative, Jesus used two disciples to retrieve a donkey.
In the Book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul wanted to make sure his readers completely understood that people are saved by the Lord’s undeserved favor and not by works at all.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Ephesians 2:9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. NKJV
We know that we could never measure up to God’s standards and we could never earn nor deserve His forgiveness and favor.
Once we are saved and realize we received a gift we could never deserve, then we are to respond by loving and serving Jesus.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. NKJV
The Greek word translated “workmanship” is the word poiema; it is where we get the word poem; it can mean an artisan’s masterpiece; "a thing of His making", and His "handiwork."
According to Strong’s concordance the word means that which has been made, a work, of the works of God as creator.
Workmanship “that which is made, a manufactured product.”
The Lord specifically made you for a pre-assigned task, so, our conversion is not the end of the story; it is the beginning. We are a part of God’s “new creation” as we are told in…
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. NKJV
Jesus will equip and enable us to do everything He calls us to do; He will never call you to do something for Him without enabling and equipping you to complete His work.
He is working in His followers to complete every good work according to His will. He makes us well pleasing in His sight.
In Greek, this actually says that the Lord made us ready for the work He planned for us to do; before He created us; He made us fit and qualified for the mission before we were born.
The Lord is telling us that He made us fully able to accomplish that which He has created and made us for; it is in the DNA of our new nature to do the good works He has prepared for us.
Doing these good works is natural to us within our new nature, because we were created for those works, He planned for us.
When we do not know our true identity, we will live like who we believe we are; instead of who we were created to be.
Now we should walk in them; in other words, we discover what those callings are and by the power of the Holy Spirit; do them.
If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, you have been given Spiritual gifts as well as certain natural abilities. What an honor and a privilege to be chosen by God to play a part of His Gospel.
God desires us to use our gifts to build up the body. Jesus gave each of His followers at least one gift, and we are to use our gifts to build up the rest of the body of Christ.
Church is a member participation event. Every member is a minister. God’s church is to be manned like a battleship, not like a cruise liner.
On a cruise liner, a crew is hired to serve the passengers.
On a battleship, everyone on board is part of the crew and has a mission to fulfill. Every believer is created for ministry, gifted for ministry, authorized for ministry and needed for ministry.
We are told to reach the lost (Go and make disciples), and then assimilate them into the life of the body of Christ.
Every Christian should be maturing in the faith and then be mobilized into service for the Lord. Why is ministry important?
We were created for good works! We were saved for His purposes. We are called to tell others about Him.
We have been specifically gifted for the ministry. We have been given authority for ministry.
We have been given an example for ministry.
Spiritual gifts were given by the Holy Spirit for the building up of Christ's church. Every follower of Christ is to have an active part in the ministry of the gospel of Christ.
We are called and equipped to do the “work of the ministry”.
When a church follows the Lord’s structure for ministry, there will be fruit, growth, joy, and unity and it will flourish; they will have a desire to come to know God’s Word and Jesus intimately.
This will be evidenced by Relationships, Christian care, Equipping, and Evangelism, within the Church as a whole.
As part of the Body of Christ, you belong to the Lord and our hearts belong to Him.
Again, “The Lord has need of you”, not because He cannot do something without our help, but because He wants to bless us as He uses us to further His Kingdom!
