Christ Church

Palm Sunday 2017: The King’s Pre-Victory Parade

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Text: Matthew 21:1-17

COMMON SENSE UNDER HOOF
You don’t throw a victory parade until you’ve won the battle. This common sense seems to be tramped under donkey hooves as Jesus leads a victory parade into Jerusalem before winning the victory. The great battle on the cross is still a few days away, and the great victory in the resurrection is even beyond that. Why can Jesus organize a “Pre-Victory Parade?” Because he believes the Scriptures, and believes the God of Scripture. Jesus trusts God that he would win the victory and so acts as though he had already won the victory.

WELL-SCRIPTED IN SCRIPTURE
The triumphal entry is a well-scripted event which was planned in the Old Testament Scriptures. Notice the biblical support for Jesus’ transportation, the crowds’ chants, the responses of everyone and everything. The “whys” of this passage are answered by pointing back to God’s word in the Old Testament. Why the Donkey? Bible. Why the temple destruction? Bible. Why the children hollering “Hosanna?” Bible.

REJOICE, HERE COMES THE KING (ZECHARIAH 9)
Matthew 21 begins with Jesus sending two disciples on a mission (vs 1-4). Jesus organizing the donkeys intentionally follows the scripted directions from Zechariah 9:9––a king riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. A war horse is fit for battle, but a donkey for the victory parade. So when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, he is announcing that the battle has been fought and the victory secured. Zechariah shows the king doesn’t declare war on the nations, but speaks peace to the nations. He doesn’t carve out a corner to rule, but his kingdom covers sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth. He doesn’t conquer through spilling others blood, but his own (Zech. 9:10-11).

HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID (PSALM 118)
The disciples obey and, of course, everything happens just as Jesus says (vs 6). As they move closer to Jerusalem, the expectant crowd lines the road and cry out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!” (vs 9) They quote Psalm 118:25-26 which is a good choice as Psalm 118 declares the Lord’s triumph of life over death (vs. 17-18). Temple Overturned and Outcasts Gathered (Isaiah 56) Jesus enters the temple and rampages (vs. 12). Jesus again returns to the Scriptures to justify his actions. “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.’” In Isaiah 56, the Lord specifically highlights that the deliverance He is preparing is not just for Israel, but absolutely includes the “foreigner” (Is. 56:6-8). When the temple is overturned, the outcast are gathered in (vs 14).

PRIESTS IN DIAPERS (PSALM 8)
The chief priests and the scribes are indignant at the kids’ continued chorus (vs. 15). Jesus gives a sharp response, “Have you never read?” ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” (vs. 16) Again, Jesus explains by quoting Scripture. In the psalm, the kids are praising the LORD our Lord (Ps. 8:1) And who are the kids praising in the temple? The high priests have failed to praise God in the temple, so the children take over.

PRE-VICTORY PARADE OF FAITH
How could Jesus do all of this in his pre-victory parade? He had faith in what God said. We have the advantage of reading the story knowing the events from the last chapter. Jesus lived the story trusting God for the last chapter. Faith confidently celebrates with a parade before the final victory. Because Jesus entered Jerusalem in his pre-victory parade, we can join the celebration, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

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Real Forgiveness

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Introduction:
Everyone knows that the Christian faith revolves around the forgiveness of sins. But because there is a gospel logic involved in it that eludes every form of carnal reasoning, we have to be careful to understand what is actually involved. What is real forgiveness?

The Text: 
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:31–32).

Summary of the Text:  
There are two ways of conducting life together. One of them is the enemy of life together, and the other is the true friend of life together. One drives us apart and the other knits us together.

The first is the way is the way of keeping score, with the intention of winning. It is the way of bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and malice (v. 31). This all sounds pretty bad, but we have to remember that all these plug-uglies travel under an alias. They call themselves righteousness, and have a deep commitment to being right. This approach makes koinonia community impossible.

The alternative is kindness and tenderheartedness. And the way that kindness and tenderheartedness “live out” is by forgiving one another, and doing so in exactly the same way that God has forgiven us for the sake of Jesus Christ (v. 32).

What Forgiveness is Not:      
We often feel like we are asking God for His forgiveness when what we are really doing is asking Him to accept our excuses. And because we know that we are to forgive as we were forgiven, as per our text, we often seek to forgive others by agreeing beforehand to accept their excuses, when possible. But (unlike ourselves) they had better have a good one.

Our problem is that, when living together with other sinners, we frequently run smack into what can only be called inexcusable. And because it is inexcusable, our scheme with the excuses cannot work.

Forgiveness deals with sin. And sin, by its very nature, is inexcusable. But what is inexcusable is not (thank the Lord) unforgiveable.

Pardon Me and Forgive Me: 
If you accidentally back into someone during fellowship hour, and make them spill their coffee, you naturally say pardon me, or please excuse me. By this you mean to say that you did what you did to them in a way that was entirely unintentional. They respond accordingly—don’t mention it. No problem. The accident was an accident, and it was therefore excusable.

But suppose you looked across the fellowship hall, and there saw your enemy, as pleased with himself as a conceited Pharisee could be, and so you lowered your shoulder and ran straight into him, knocking him clean over. Under such circumstances, the only reason you would say “pardon me” would be if you had decided to taunt him after bowling him over. In this case, your behavior is inexcusable.

That doesn’t mean that nothing can be done about it. The inexcusable is not the same kind of thing as the unforgiveable.

A Mixed Bag: 
But there is another category. What if we don’t have something that is purely wicked or purely accidental? Suppose it is a mixed bag.

Yes, you snapped at the kids, but it was at the end of two days of migraine headache. Yes, you said some things to your wife that were rude and thoughtless, but she was the one who started the argument, and would not let it go, not even after you had asked her to. You asked her three times. Yes, you sent an email to your boss that you regret sending, but it was 2 in the morning, and the beer you had made you careless.

There are extenuating circumstances, in other words. But we should all remember two things about this. The first is that we will tend to stretch our legitimate excuse part to cover over our sin part. But the only thing that can actually cover sin is the blood of Jesus Christ. When apologizing, we lead with the excuse. “Bob, sorry about yesterday. I had a long day, and I didn’t really mean what I said.” And Bob often responds in kind (because he wants to play the same game when he needs to). “Oh, well, because you didn’t mean it, forget about it.” In other words, because the “you” who said those things was not the real you, he can let it go.

The second is that we want our excuses to be way stretchier than our neighbor’s excuses. But as C.S. Lewis pointed out one time, the chances are excellent that our neighbor’s excuses are way better than we tend to believe. And it is also true that our excuses are way lamer than we think they are. When we handicap the competition between us and our fellow Christians, we are not nearly as objective as we think we are.

A Variation on the Golden Rule:
The basic Christian response is to forgive as we have been forgiven. In our text, the apostle Paul is simply repeating what the Lord taught us when He taught us to pray. Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask Him to forgive us as we forgive others. The way many Christians live, the room actually ought to become much quieter when we get to that part.

Lord, doubt the sincerity of my repentance the way I doubt his. Lord, dismiss my excuses with a wave of your hand the way I dismiss his excuses. Lord, keep a hidden tally so that if I sin in this area again, You can bring everything up again, and throw it in my face, the way I do with him. Amen.

The Golden Rule teaches us that we should do for others what we wish they would do for us. This is in the same spirit, but there is a higher level of danger in it. Here we are asking God to treat us the way we treat our brother. If I give my brother an orange, he might give me an apple. But if I give my brother a stone when he asked for bread, and then I ask God to treat me in the same way, I may find out the stone is one that will crush me. God can give me a much bigger stone than my brother ever could.

By Grace Alone:
But how is this consistent with salvation by grace alone? “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14–15). If you refuse to forgive your brother, you are not failing to earn your salvation. If you refuse to forgive your brother, you are revealing to the world that you have no understanding of what salvation by grace through faith actually is. Remember that Christ is all.

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Missions and Media

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Introduction:
Every year our congregation sponsors a missions conference, the one we just finished yesterday. It is also our custom to have the sermon following the missions conference be related to the subject of missions in some way. This message is no exception, but it is important for us not to misunderstand. The fact that we mark Good Friday and Easter on an annual basis does not mean that the crucifixion and resurrection are somehow dispensable in other times of the year. The fact that we are done with the missions conference does not mean we are done with mission.

The Text:
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

Summary of the Text:
At the end of the gospel of Mark, Jesus gives His disciples their marching orders. This is not the Great Commission, but it is on the same theme as that commission. Go into all the world. When you go into all the world, you will find creatures there. When you find creatures there, you are to proclaim the gospel to every creature.

My focus here this morning is to address what is meant by “world.” How do we “go into” all the world?

When These Words Were Spoken:
When Jesus spoke these words, going into the world meant what we would call travel (going from one place to another yourself), and it meant communication across distance (going from one place to another by means of media). Media at the time largely meant letters, epistles. We have the same basic options—travel and media. The passage of time has not changed the options, but has rather simply changed the ease and speed of those options. We travel with much greater ease, and we communicate with people on the other side of the world with much greater ease.
What should we bring with us when we travel? What should we send with our messages when we write? The answer is Jesus, but this must be understood rightly. This does not mean that all your Facebook posts should be pictures of saints with three haloes.
The fact is that mankind is created as a tool-making creature. Adam was created naked, but given the magnitude of the task he was given—which included digging mines, sailing oceans, and climbing mountains—the creation of tools was a necessity. This means that when we make tools, whether plows and shovels, smoke signals or iPhones, we are not violating our essential humanity. Rather we are expressing it. Contrary to the theory of evolution, we are not over-developed animals who moved away from the “natural” and into the “artificial.” For man, the artificial is natural. We want nothing to do with Rousseau’s “noble savage.” Ten minutes after Adam figured out what that honeycomb was, he started looking around for a stick.
Scattering What You Have:
Now wherever Christians go, they go as themselves. “Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only” (Acts 11:19).

Wherever hypocrites go, they also go as themselves. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matt. 23:15).

Your country can only export whatever it is your farmers are growing. When you go somewhere, or when you send a message somewhere, you are simply projecting what you already are. If you are a bore and a bellygod, then social media will simply enable you to engage in some digital scribbling so that people in New Zealand can, if they wish, read about your grumbles over lunch.

But if you are alive, vibrant, and forgiven, we now live in a world where you can project that.

Times of Refreshing:
The gospel is not some tiresome thing that door-to-door salesmen try to talk you into. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). We are actually talking about a cool breeze that blows off the ocean of God’s infinite pleasure and delight. We are talking about times of refreshing, and if we are not talking about times of refreshing then we are not talking about the gospel as presented in Scripture.

Piety is delighted, and delightful. Godliness is free in its enjoyment of the pleasures of God. Obedience is liberty. “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). This is quite true—whatever you eat or drink, on whatever day, for whatever meal. This includes, of course, the French fries, but that does not mean that you are to stand on the restaurant chair in order to thank God that you are not like other men, the ones who do not glorify God for the French fries.

The grace of God is good. Do not be like that nun that Brother Lawrence referred to, the one who wanted to be “faster than grace.” This is how we run headlong into scruples and fussing and wowserism. Enjoy your life, the one Christ has given you. And it is not possible to do this without enjoying Christ Himself.

Two Meanings for “Share”:
The charge against the early disciples was that they had “filled Jerusalem” with their teaching. “Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us” (Acts 5:28).

We do not have pastors and evangelists as hired guns to do all the evangelism for us. They are trained and equipped so that they can prepare God’s people for works of service (Eph. 4:12). The saints are to do the work of ministry, not at the same level as someone gifted or trained. But all of us are involved. And to be honest, how much training does it take to share or retweet something?

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The Ultimate Authority

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Introduction
The question for every nation, generation, and individual is “who is in charge: you or God”? We are never left in neutral territory. The world is divided, down the middle, of those who are obedient to Christ and his commands, or those who obey the moral code of the mob. As Christians, we must never leave off obedience to Christ for the sake of the traditions, fads, or fashions of men, no matter how noble they may seem.

The Text
Matthew 21:23-32
And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

Summary of the Text
This exchange between Christ and the chief priests comes right after some quite notable moments: the triumphal entry (vs. 1-11) and the clearing of the temple (vs. 12-13); Jesus then heals in the temple (vs. 14-16). The next day on his way back into Jerusalem he commands an unfruitful fig tree to whither, which it does, and then Jesus teaches his disciples on the power of believing prayer (vs. 17-22).

It is in the light of these episodes that Matthew presents us with the chief priests questioning Christ’s authority to teach (v. 23); Jesus responds to their question with his own question regarding John the Baptist’s origin (vs. 24-25); the priests huddle-up and come up with the ficklest of replies, “dunno” (v. 27). So, Jesus pointedly gives His answer by refusing to give the answer (v. 27) and by telling the parable of the two sons (vs. 28-31).

The father in the parable commands one son to go work in his vineyard (v. 28), the son refuses, then repents, and then obeys (v. 29); so the father commands the second son, who then gives lip-service to obedience, but in fact, simply does not obey (v. 30). Jesus then asks them which of the sons did the will of the father, and they acknowledge that it was the one which actually obeyed the father and went to work in the vineyard (v. 31); Jesus then summarizes the point: repentant sinners, not unbelieving Israelites, would enter the awaited kingdom of God (vs. 31-32).

Obedience & Authority
This parable is often used to moralize about how children should obey their parents the first time; but although that is an important lesson for children to learn, that is not what we are to take away from this parable. This is a parable about which authority we will obey, not whether we will obey at all.

The chief priests query Jesus as to who gave him the authority to teach; Jesus points to the  ministry of John the Baptist to make the obvious truth (that Christ’s authority came from God the Father), even more painfully obvious. John’s ministry resulted in repentance, which David had proclaimed was what God most desired from his people in giving them the covenant signs: “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise (Ps. 51:16-17).” But the chief priests were more akin to those who received Isaiah’s searing rebuke of the unbelieving and unrepentant Israelites of his day: “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men (Isa. 29:13).”

Despite the obvious heavenliness of John’s ministry, they had the more convincing signs of Christ’s ministry: the blind seeing, the lame leaping, the multitudes being fed, the dead being resurrected; but they quibbled over whether Jesus had the proper credentials, degrees, and qualifications to be teaching the people. Jesus simply points to the fact that both John’s ministry and His own were fruitful; whereas, the ministry of the priests and elders was marked by unbelief and unrepentant hearts.

Two Religions
From the beginning there has really only been two religions: the covenant people of God (marked by faith and repentance), and the unregenerate (marked by humanism & idol-worship). The first son in Jesus story, was outwardly rebellious, but later repents & obeys the father’s command. The second son, which we are to associate with unbelieving Israel, visibly and verbally seems to be quite the good little boy, whose cheeks the church ladies are wont to pinch; however, this son flat out disobeys and thus disregards his father’s authority. His disobedience shows a loveless heart, regardless of his flattering tongue.

We must either repent and believe, and be saved; or else pretend and be forever lost. At the end of the story, where do we find the two sons? The first son is precisely where the father desired him to be in the first place: the vineyard; the second son is, due to his disobedience, consequently found outside the vineyard. Notice where the father intends his sons to be: harvesting in a vineyard. The harvest of a vineyard brings the joy of the wine; but only the repentant and obedient son is found where the wine flows, and thus receives joy for his reward. Jesus shows us that the second son is left in the joyless misery of disobedience.

The question for us is, “Which son am I?” Jesus came to save sinners that repent of their disobedience, not sinners that feign obedience and never repent. The harlots and tax-collectors were the most dubious of sinners, but they repented when they heard the Gospel message. They knew they were disobedient to God’s law, authority, and standard; they were guilty as sin, but they repented, and submitted to the authority of God’s Word, and were found obedient to the Father. Jesus wants us to see the hypocrisy and false obedience of the chief priests in the second son; lip-service is not what He demands. Rather, loving obedience, faith & repentance are what He asks of us (Rom. 12:1, Mar. 12:33). As the Psalmist has it: “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit (Ps. 34:18).”

A Great Commission
Matthew, in his Gospel account, is leading up to something. If we’re not careful we might stop short by dwelling on the crucifixion alone, rather than going on to what Christ redeemed by His cross-work and resurrection; namely, a commission, backed by all authority, to go into the Father’s vineyard of this world and preach the Gospel, teaching all nations to obey Christ’s commands (Mt. 28:18-20)!

It is impossible for there to not be a standard; the issue in every generation is from which authority that standard will be derived from. We will obey either the God of creation and how He made the world; or we will obey the whims of our depraved nature.  Either God will be your God, or else Man will be your God.

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Aeneas, Anarchy, & America #1

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Introduction:
This short series of messages can be considered as what used to be called “artillery sermons.” In the colonial period, ministers used to preach sermons prior to elections, in order to instruct and exhort their people in the duties of a Christian citizen. This kind of instruction is always necessary, for politics is always complicated. But it is especially needed in this particular pig’s breakfast of an election cycle.

The Text:
“And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named AEneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord” (Acts 9:32–35).

Summary of the Text:
Many miracles are recorded in the book of Acts, and usually the people who are the recipients of the miraculous power are unnamed (Acts 5:12-16; 19:11-12). On the occasions when the recipient is named, they are part of the Christian community, like Tabitha (9:36-41) or Eutychus (20:9-12), or an opponent of the gospel like Elymas (13:6-11), or both, like Ananias and Sapphira (5:1-10). In short, this incident with Aeneas really stands out, along with the use of his name.

Aeneas was the name of the legendary founder of Rome. The Aeneid, a book exalting him, and Caesar Augustus through him, was written somewhere between 29 and 19 B.C. This was (roughly) just fifty years prior to this incident in Lydda. The immediate successor to Augustus was Tiberius, and he was reigning during this incident. Try to read it like this—“And there he found a certain man named George Washington, who had been a paralytic for 8 years . . .” Would any of you think that something was up? Of course you would, but you wouldn’t be so foolish as to think it was “the same one.” But you would think a point was being made.

This is a deft Lucan jab at the pride and insolence of Rome. This was the empire that could treat the Mediterranean as an internal lake, and which was the glory of that world. And the apostle Peter—who would later be crucified upside down by Rome—came along and raised the crippled Aeneas to full health. What you have in this incident is a glorious foreshadowing of the next four hundred years. The paralysis of Rome was not yet evident to everyone, but it soon enough would be.

Politics Is Personal:
Policies don’t develop themselves, and people don’t give themselves to disembodied causes. Leadership is personal. Kingship is personal. This being the case, always beware of “the tactical vote.” We are not moving inanimate chess pieces around on an impersonal political board. And this is why your two candidates really need to be “Sackcloth & Ashes 2016.”

“It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: For the throne is established by righteousness” (Prov. 16:12).
No Other Name:
Pagan politics and Christian theology necessarily collide because they are two rival plans of salvation. Here is something that Peter once said after having had healed another cripple.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Why is this important? This statement by Peter is a challenge to the saving authority of Rome.

Who was Caesar Augustus? Why does Luke bring him into the Christmas story (Luke 2:1)? Much more was involved in all of this than a simple indication of chronology. Octavius as a young man had been adopted by Julius Caesar, and he was the heir apparent. By the birth of Jesus he was the long-established emperor. In fact, as early as 40 B.C. a blasphemous coin had been struck in Gaul which showed the two-headed god Janus. Julius was on one side and Octavius was on the other, which an inscription that said, “The divine Caesar-and the Son of God.” In addition, there was an Egyptian inscription which said that Octavius was a marvelous star, “shining with the brilliance of the great heavenly Savior.” Then, in 17 B.C. when a strange star appeared in the heavens, Augustus commanded a twelve-day Advent celebration, as a ceremonial embrace of Virgil’s statement: “The turning point of the ages has come!” During the reign of Augustus, the cult of explicit emperor worship took firm root, especially in Asia Minor. This region was to become the center of persecution of Christians—and for precisely this reason.

Even his assumed name for his rule indicates the problem. The ruling title Augustus was taken up by him, and the name means “worthy of reverence and worship.” He was, in short, homo imperiosus. Caesar Augustus was simply the last in a long line of ancient men who believed in humanistic empire. But God was sending another kind of emperor, and another kind of empire entirely. God sent another way of salvation. (For more, see Christ and the Caesars by Stauffer)

Jesus Christ Makes Thee Whole:
Whatever you do, however you vote, you must vote against secularism. In other words, you must repudiate in your heart and mind the notion that religious neutrality in the public square is even a remote possibility. Your reasoning must be something like this: “Because secularism is utterly bankrupt, and because my responsibility as a Christian citizen is to hasten the day when that is evident to all, I will do thus and such.” If that is your pursuit, then you answer to God in how you conduct it. If it is not your pursuit, then it needs to be.

Peter healed Aeneas in the name of Jesus. There is no salvation apart from a Savior. There is no healing apart from a healer. There is no deliverance apart from a deliverer. And so—as should be plain—all we have to do to make sure Aeneas remains on his mat is . . . nothing. The pretensions of humanistic man are not just impotent, but they are also—as politics in our era make plain—ridiculous.

It is Christ or chaos, Christ or nothing, Christ or the abyss.

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