Palm Sunday: Recognize Jesus as King Who Brings Peace

But there's a line drawn in the sand here. And I'm not just a good rabbi. I'm not just a good teacher. I'm not just a miracle worker. I'm not just the the magic eight ball that you shake when you don't know what's going on. I'm king. And the response to me is this, submit and worship or reject? Where are we at this morning in our relationship with Jesus? Have you been walking with him as as just somebody that we're adding to our life? Are we allowing him to reorganize our life? Are we walking with him as a good teacher or a miracle worker? Are we submitted to him as king? [00:53:46] (49 seconds)  #JesusIsKing

The peace that Jesus offers is different than that. The peace of God is not that we will never be in difficulty or confusion or pain. It is that because of Jesus, you will never be alone in the midst of it. The peace of Christ is not the removal of pressure. It is the presence of God in the middle of it. And what Jesus is pointing them to is to is this, is that they want temporary peace, and he's offering eternal peace. They want an immediate fix. He is offering something that transforms their entire life and identity. That what he is offering is peace with God through himself. [01:04:20] (41 seconds)  #ChristOurPeace

What he is offering is a solution to the deepest problem and the deepest need affecting the human soul, which is this, we are bound by sin. We are bound by sin and death. I do what I do not want to do. And Jesus says this, I'm coming to bring peace to that. You see, what the people here don't realize as they're singing and praising is that in forty years time, Jerusalem will be flattened. The temple will be destroyed. Rome will have come in and completely taken over everything. And as Jerusalem remains flat, Jesus remains king. You see, he's offering something more than setting up a temporary kingdom in a crumbling city. [01:05:01] (49 seconds)  #EternalKingdom

His battle is not against flesh and blood. His victory was not won through might. It was won through sacrifice. His goal is to place his spirit in the hearts of men and women. To build us together as a living temple. That the spirit of God would go out and move through his church, that people would be brought into the hope, and the goodness, and the beauty of who he is. That the peace of Christ would enter our very hearts, not just live in the city. He didn't come to save one people. He came to save all people. He didn't come to set up a kingdom in a city. He came to set up a kingdom in the world. [01:05:50] (39 seconds)  #KingdomInHearts

And so the question that Palm Sunday presents is this. It is this. Do you see Jesus for who he really is? Do you see a king riding in? Do you see one whose very nature demands our worship and submission, or do you see a genie or a puppet, one whose purpose is to give me what I want when I want it? Jesus is a king. The second question that comes from that, which is this, do you follow Jesus for him to build the kingdom you want, or do you follow Jesus to be built into the kingdom that he wants? [00:59:40] (46 seconds)  #FollowToBeTransformed

Lord, don't mess with my idea of a quiet, peaceful life. Jesus, don't don't convict me of the sins that I've made peace with. Jesus, don't convict me of my desire to just kind of live and exist and have a good life and retire and die and be happy. And don't mess that up by bringing in this mission or or or this mindset where I wanna go out and spread the love of Jesus. What the pharisees wanted was peace that allows them to continue to live as they were. That's not the peace Jesus offers. Jesus offers a peace that is transformative, a peace that is disruptive to the status quo, a peace that realigns us with the heart and the posture of who God is. [01:02:06] (46 seconds)  #DisruptivePeace

And so Jesus, as he rides into Jerusalem on this donkey, this is not him trying to be subtle or him trying to get like an average rental car and see like a common man. No. This is him making a public declaration about who he is. He is saying, I am the rightful king. I am the promised one of old. The one that the prophets pointed to, the one that you prayed for, the one that you're looking for, I am him. You see, up to this point, any time that somebody said confess that Jesus was the messiah, he says, my time's not yet. [00:52:01] (35 seconds)  #TriumphalEntry

And I want to pause there this morning because there's something significant that is going on that if we're not looking carefully, we can actually miss the bigger story that is playing out right in front of us. We said that the majority of Luke's gospel was about a journey. Jesus for several months has been making his way down to Jerusalem. It's a several it's 80 mile journey. It's been several months. The one thing that is consistent throughout that journey is that Jesus walked. He's walked the entire way. In fact, this is the first time in all of the gospels that Jesus is depicted not walking. And so you're struck with this question. Why are are you making this decision now? Why do you need the donkey? [00:48:29] (47 seconds)  #JourneyToJerusalem