Palm Sunday 2002
Jesus’ Praises are “For Crying Out Loud!”
Luke 19:28-40
Colossians 1:15-20
Read the Story
This picture of praise with wild abandon – so much so that the religious people were non too pleased.
The people praised for all the miracles
Someone gave up their donkey – like giving up your brand new Honda.
They sacrificed their coats. When Nancy said “what if Jesus rode into church on a Donkey today, I thought “Oh, no! The carpets!” but these peope let the donkey walk on what was likely the only coat they owned.!
The people praised because of the miracles, but Jesus knew that there were greater things going on here that the people themselves even knew.
the stones would have had to praise for more than just the miracles
- They would have praised him for who Jesus is & what he was about to do.
Jesus is worthy of praise! He is so worthy, that if we do not do it, the rocks will have to grow mouths and do it for us! Jesus’ Praises are “For Crying Out Loud!”
This is what I want to do today – we have been talking about worship for the last two weeks, but this week, I want to just do it. So if you have already gone from participation mode to listening mode, shift gears again.
The way we are going to do this is through Colossians 1:15-20 I am going to proclaim the goodness of Jesus, and then we are going to praise him in song with Nancy’s help.
Read Col. 1:15-20 “The Supremacy of Christ”
Jesus is God
15He is the image of the invisible God,…
This shocking piece of scripture is actually saying that this carpenter born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, is actually God! He is not “made in the image of God” as we are. He is the very image of God!
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” – New Living Translation
“1In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. 4Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. 5The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. …
…14So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.[1] And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. …
…18No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God,[3] is near to the Father’s heart; he has made him known.” –John 1:1-5,14,18
Crown Him With Many Crowns
Jesus is Creator
… (He is) the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
When Paul writes that he is the first born, he is not saying that Jesus is part of creation, what he is speaking of is his position, as the Son of God, like the first born of his time, he is over all things that the father has.
Often times we forget that the Trinity is fully involved at creation – the Spirit is hovering over the waters, and all that is created is created by the Word of God. Jesus is the Word – it is through him that all things are created. John says that there is nothing that is created that was not created through Jesus!
This man who spent 30 of his 33 years planing doors, making lap joints, and mortise and tendon joints, covered in sawdust; this man that is now riding a donkey into a small city in a backwater province of the Roman Empire is the creator of the universe!
God did not create the world out of stuff lying around, there was nothing, only chaos. It was all created by God speaking it into existence, and the Word that he spoke was “Jesus!”
Great and Mighty is He
Lord of All
Jesus is Ruler & Sustainer
17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church;
The second law of Thermodynamics, in basic lay-people terms says that, the most probable state for any natural system is one of disorder.
All natural systems degenerate when left to themselves. “Things fall apart.”
According to this law, the universe should fall apart – but it does not! What this verse says is that Jesus is the glue that holds it all together. Jesus did not create the world, and then exit, leaving us to our own devices to keep it together, no, he created the universe, and he sustains it!
The second law also applies well to the church – the church is made up of redeemed sinners – that in it self should make it fall apart, but Jesus is the head, he keeps us all together as well!
Psalm 97
1 The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
4 His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord ,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
Everything is in Your Hands
Show Your Power
Jesus is Risen
He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
Jesus created the world perfect and good, and he created us with a choice, to live as God created us to live, and have life forevermore, or to choose to go our own way and die. We as a race chose poorly and because of choice to disobey God, we opened the door for death.
The say that the only two sure things are death and taxes, and even before there were taxes, there was death. Sooner or later we all have to face it. But Jesus faced death and he beat it!
Five days after Jesus entered Jerusalem on the donkey, the cries of “Hosanna!” turned to “Crucify him!” And they hung him on a cross until the life poured out of him. But that was not the end – on the third day Jesus the creator broke through the power of death and rose again!
He is called the first born from among the dead because he was the beginning of resurrection life, and by far not the end. He broke a hole in the wall of death, and someday soon, the whole wall is going to come crashing down!
Jesus even rules over death!
You Are Mighty
Jesus is Redeemer
19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
The reason that Jesus was able to beat the power of death was because he took its power away. The reason that death has such power over us is that the payment for anything that we do wrong is death – spiritual death = separation from God. We are not able to do anything to take that penalty away, but Jesus did – he lived a pure and sinless life, and then chose to die in our place, so that our sins could be forgiven and removed from us
1 Corinthians 15
"Death has been swallowed up in victory."[7]
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"[8] 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he didn’t stop there – this verse tells us that Jesus is redeeming all that he created.
Joy to the world
“No more let sin and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground,
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found.”
There is A Redeemer
Lord I Lift Your Name on High
I Give Thanks
Jesus is worthy of our praise - I don’t want to hear any stones cring out this week! Give him the praise he deserves!
