The Lord Needs It

INTRODUCTION:

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, dad?” “You see when Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today.” The little boy replied, “Aw Shucks The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!”

Today is what we call “Palm Sunday.” And this Sunday begins what is often referred to as Holy Week or Passion Week, where we remember the final week of Christ's earthly ministry, and His death and resurrection. It is my prayer that Jesus shows up every week as we come together. Amen?

Today I want to ask you: What does the Lord need from you? For that to happen... for Jesus to show up... for the Gospel to be shared... for salvation to be found... what does God need from you... Today?

Today we are going to ask two things of ourselves: How do we worship and what does God ask of us? I'd like you to turn in your Bibles first of all to Matthew chapter 21...

BODY:

Context- The Triumphal Entry, as it is called, is one of the events that all four Gospels record. Jesus, the Passover Lamb, heads into Jerusalem [for the last time], and He comes as a lowly King riding on a donkey.

Matthew’s account of the Triumphal Entry begins with Jesus sending two disciples...

Matthew 21:1-6 (NIV) says...

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

Now turn to Luke 19:32-35 (NIV) There it says...

32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and put Jesus on it. 

The Lord needs it.

Imagine if those words were said to you. Only maybe it’s not a donkey, but your time, your service, your gifts, your talent, or maybe just your availability.

What does God need of us? What does God need of us today to bear Jesus... the message of Jesus so that others know Him so that people will praise Him, so that He can be their Lord and Savior?

Here Jesus is coming to Jerusalem during one of its most holy days, the Passover, the Celebration of God's deliverance from slavery in Egypt. And hundreds of people are on a pilgrimage to the Holy City, to the Temple, to worship their God, to sacrifice and feast and celebrate.

Every Lord’s Day, the first day of the week, on Sunday, worshipers come together because we believe in the deliverance from our slavery to sin found in Jesus.

Jesus has told the disciples several times now, “We are now going to Jerusalem where I am going to hand over the chief priests and the teachers of the law and I will be mocked, beaten, spat upon, whipped, and killed. But then on the third day I will rise again.” And just like those many worshipers, Jesus is headed to the Temple, but not to sacrifice. He's come to be the sacrifice. As multitudes gather to remember the Passover where a perfect lamb was killed to free them from death and slavery in Egypt, Jesus comes to be that perfect lamb, to be killed, to set us all free from death and slavery to sin. But why on a donkey?

In Matthew 21:4-5 (NIV) it says...

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”[a]

In those days, the traditional mount of kings in that part of the world was on a donkey.

Now maybe to a Roman, this might seem strange – a king riding on a donkey.

But to the Jews, this fulfilled what was foretold about the Messiah coming down from the Mount of Olives toward Jerusalem at the time of Passover. Their dreams and wishes, their prayers were being answered right before their eyes, they thought. The days of oppression were over and the days of God’s mighty kingdom were here. Those that had heard of this Jesus and all of the miracles, were thrilled to see Him arriving this way, proclaiming openly that He was in fact the Messiah.