Intro: being someone who loves sports I have one pet peeve. I don’t like
cheering all through a game. Once in a while I might stand and cheer, but not for the entire game. My biggest gripe is when your team is getting killed and the cheerleaders have you stand up and say, victory. Maybe they should do a cheer like, man are those other guys good. Or embarrassing, that is what this is. Cheering is part of sports, but in the Bible we have a scene where people cheered for Jesus. The problem is that the same group that was cheering for him one day, was the group screaming at him a few days later. Today, we will look to see why the cheering stopped and give you the encouragement, Don’t Ever Stop Cheering For Jesus
Don’t Ever Stop Cheering For Jesus
Luke 19:28-44
I. They Didn’t Understand the Plan—verses 37-38 here is one of the first reasons that people don’t keep cheering for Jesus, they don’t understand the plan and purpose of God.
· They liked the miracles and power---they liked that Jesus was strong and powerful and did many miracles among them. Many times we see this today, our relationship to God is based on experiences, emotions and desiring the blessings of God. But when Jesus was explaining that He would die, that those who enter into the Kingdom of God would face trials and suffering, they didn’t like the plan
· They wanted a King to take over the world—they wanted Jesus to overthrow the government, they hated Roman power and wanted Jesus to do away with Rome and set up heaven on earth. But that wasn’t God’s plan, Jesus told them that they should go the extra mile, give to Caesar what belong to Caesar, and give to God what belonged to God.
· The plan was too simple—Jesus was going to do the work, people just needed to accept His work, accept Him into their lives, and they would be born again. But man likes working his way to heaven, earning a spot in glory, so the whole plan became a stumblingblock to the Jews, foolishness to the Greeks. Today it is still the same, most religion is works based, not faith based.
We live in a world today that won’t cheer for Jesus because they don’t understand the plan of God. They don’t like the preaching of the cross, it is an offense to them.
II. They Didn’t Like the Price—you have to read the rest of the chapters on the teachings of Jesus during His passion. But up to this point most people only knew miracles, wonderful teachings on heaven, and Jesus loving the people that others rejected. But Jesus begins to share that you have to take up your cross, you have to die to the flesh, you have to love Him with all your heart, and the more they heard about a life of sacrifice the less they cheered. His disciples even came to Him and said, do you not realize that you are making the religious leaders mad with you.
· We stop cheering when it moves from feeling to sacrifice. We love Jesus when He tells us about all the good things of heaven, but when he tells us that we will pass through the fire, we will have winds and waves come against the house, we stop cheering.
· We stop cheering when serving the Lord is going to cost us more than we wanted to pay. We stop dancing and waving our palm branches when Jesus says, love your enemies, pray for those who hate you, blessed are the poor in Spirit.
· At one point many started walking away from Him and He asked the disciples are you going to leave me too? It is tough to go from the most popular group in town, to the most despised group in the same week. One of the things that some people don’t understand about ministry, as long as you are doing what someone wants you to do, they will cheer you, but start telling them things they don’t like to hear, and they will pick up stones.
III. The Didn’t Realize the Penalties—v.41-44 are some of the most sobering verses in the Bible. Jesus visualized A.D. 70 when Rome would destroy Jerusalem and kill nearly a million Jews. I am sure that if the people could see the consequences of rejecting Christ, they would have all gladly paid the price of following Him to the cross. But their eyes were blinded and probably most people thought, it is no big deal to reject Jesus.
· The cheering stops because we don’t realize the magnitude of the moment. When someone gets saved, for many it seems to be no big deal, but the Word of God says it is a snatching from the fire and saving a soul from hell. It is a big deal, it makes all the angels rejoice, it is so great that compared to the entire world, a soul is more valuable to God.
· Over the years we see people walk out and not receive Christ thinking, maybe some other time, maybe somewhere down the road. But you don’t need to miss the best time, which is today, today is the day of salvation.
· We see the consequences—the world makes it seem that being a Christian is the most boring, most terrible life anyone could ever endure. But in truth, it is the opposite, we see what the world does to people and we cry because we know what is down the road for someone who walks away from Christ.
Close: people stop cheering for Jesus because they don’t understand the plan, they don’t like the price and they don’t realize the penalties.
Today I don’t want to stop cheering for Jesus, I know if I do the very rocks will cry out in praise. Our praise and worship service to God is our celebration services. We don’t want to stop cheering for Jesus who is Lord, Master, Savior and King.
Ill) years ago I preached at a church near Union Springs as a pulpit supply minister for the District. There were about 10 people at that service and during the singing no one smiled, no one raised a hand, no one seemed interested in even being there. I preached but there seemed to be very little response to the Word of God. I realized as I left that the people had forgotten how to cheer for Jesus. I don’t know what things had happened in the history of that church, but the people had forgotten to cheer, be excited about Jesus, there was no joy, no victory in that service. Today, I want to encourage you, keep cheering for Jesus, don’t wait till next Sunday, don’t say somewhere down the road.
sermon outline taken from a sermon already on sermon central--special thanks to the minister who had the original thought
