Palm Sunday 2015

Happy Palm Sunday. We are approaching the most important week of the year. As Christians, we are actually at a point in our years where we should be slowing down our lives to observe a very special time. This time is called Holy Week. The reason it is holy week, and everything we do as Christians hinges on what happens here in this next week, is because it is set aside to commemorate the reason Jesus came down to earth in the first place. If you don’t know, this coming week is the week Jesus comes to Jerusalem to be anointed King of Israel by His people and at the same time be tried and framed for sins he did not commit, nor was he guilty of, and worst of all, he is punished for those sins. The price he pays is death. He is buried. Then, seven days from today, Jesus is found to be risen. We are setting aside this week to remember that it was those things that he did for us 2000 years ago that make it possible for us to be here and have a chance at entering the gates of heaven. [Exit right. Sam sings a fifth song. Michelle does opening prayer.] Let’s read from our scripture passage. It comes from Matthew 21. In honor of reading the Word of God, I ask that all of us remain standing. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” ⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ⁵ “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you,     humble, and mounted on a donkey,     on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” ⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. ⁸ Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” ¹⁰ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21:1-11) Why a donkey? A king came riding upon a horse when he was bent on war and rode upon a donkey when he wanted to point out he was coming in peace. Why Palm Branches? The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory in the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman Empire. Do you see what Jesus did here? Do you see what’s happening here? It’s incredible. Jesus comes to the capital riding on a donkey and the parade is like a parade that would be given to a king coming home from war and telling the people that there will be peace. He did what nobody expected him to do. He came to his kingdom saying peace was here. He came without an army. He declared the fight already victorious. It was already won. But that didn’t make any sense—it didn’t make any sense because nobody conquered Rome. The people were expecting Jesus to conquer the known world and that there would be war; but instead, Jesus brings peace and says, “I’m ready to be your king.” This kind of statement is bold and absolutely revolutionary. The idea here is that Jesus is coming and if you’re there, you are going to celebrate his victory. More importantly, you are going to lay down your cloak to him. That is laying down your “everything” beneath him so that he can come into town. Let’s read that in verse 8 one more time. It says: Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  The Jews of Jesus’ day wore two principle garments, an interior “coat” or “tunic” (an undergarment), and a more costly exterior cloak (outer garment). This cloak was used, not only as a jacket or overcoat during the day, but also as a covering to sleep under at night. By Mosaic Law, the outer cloak was an inalienable possession. This whole year I’ve been talking about the amazing things that are going to happen in your life. I kept telling you that this was the year that we will witness and experience God in a way that we never ever imagined. In a way that blows our experiences out of the water. I’ve been telling you that this will be the very best year you will have ever lived. Then I realized that it’s great to teach you how to be brave, and how to arm yourself with a verse to move you. But when it comes down to it, if we want to have the best year we ever lived, then we have to lay down our most inalienable possession. What is that thing in our lives that we value the most or have the most need of. For some of us, that inalienable possession may actually be that thing, that idol in our lives that we crave and hang on to—our car, our cell phone, our phablet, our tablet, our money, our children, our boyfriends, girlfriends, our jobs. I can go on and on, but it can be a thing. We may have to lay them down to Jesus because he is coming and the king should not be stepping be above our inalienable possession. For others of us, that inalienable possession is not a thing or an idol, but a feeling, an emotion, a memory, a scar, an attitude. If you want to live the best year you have ever lived and witness what God is doing as he comes triumphantly riding on a donkey to his kingdom bringing peace, then we have to know that it is holding onto those things that are keeping us from witnessing God. Let me explain to you how this can be an inalienable possession: that feeling, emotion, memory, scar, attitude, well those things are things that we identify as being who we are—as us. It’s not true though, those things do not constitute your being. Your being is defined by God and through the blood of Jesus that brings us peace. This is what we’re celebrating this week. In your small groups today I want you to discuss those inalienable possessions in your life. I can tell you right now that I have a special infinity toward having enough money. I’d be a liar if I told you otherwise. I worry about money all the time. In fact, this is a true story, when I give offering and I’m writing my check to give back to God what belongs to Him, I have this split second thought that comes from inside of me that says, “but Jonathan, I think you’re giving too much, what if you have unexpected bills that you can’t pay because you just gave it to God?” I have to fight that thought. I’ll tell you what though. Every time I give and go beyond what I know I can give, God does some amazing things in my life. It happens all the time. I believe if we are willing to lay down what we consider to be our inalienable possessions, we too can experience God in an amazing way. For a very long time, I would use every failure in my life as a baseball bat. I would relive the moments of my failure in my head over and over and then over think it. Then I would go and use that as a reason to slide back. But not only slide back, I’d use it as a reason not to witness something or do something. Just imagine all the failures I had to relive before I had the guts to lay it before Jesus so he can come in as a king on top of it. To bring me peace as he comes into his kingdom within us. This week, I want you to stop a moment every day and lay down to Him your inalienable possessions. I want you to give it to him. All of it. Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! We need to lay it all down. There is a significance of this scene. When the people are laying down their most inalienable possessions, the things that they would never imagine parting with, they are crying to the victorious king who is bring peace into their lives that need to be saved right now. Hosanna means to “save now.” I want all of us to stand up because today, I want you to make a declaration. That declaration is to Jesus, Son of God, who has died 2000 years ago for all those things that hold us back and apart from God. That declaration is to Jesus who comes triumphantly, whose coming we are waiting for; whose life, death and resurrection bring us brand new life. Stand right now with me, I want us to shout “Hosanna!” It’s not just enough to say that we’re going to lay it down. We need to make it our battle cry. Yell Hosanna, and ask God to save you as your king from your inalienable possessions. Let’s pray. Announcements:

1. Come experience Holy Week with us by going to the link below: http://www.nyredemption.com/easter2015/