A FRESH LOOK AT PALM SUNDAY
SERMON STARTER
Humor Intro:
An Episcopal priest was preaching in an unfamiliar church one Sunday morning. As he stood in the pulpit to begin the service, he tapped the microphone to make sure that it was on. He heard nothing, even though, it was working fine. So he leaned closer to the microphone and said, he thought, to himself;
"There is something wrong with this thing."
The congregation, being well trained church people immediately responded,
"And also with you!”
A fresh seasonal sermon about Palm Sunday is difficult to accomplish. First of all, people have heard scores of Palm Sunday sermons. If you use the same scriptures, the words become rote, redundant, too familiar, and devoid of meaning.
To clear out my mind about it, I meditated about how hundreds of millions of global believers are thinking and speaking about this same event at the same time. We are one body in Christ. We love Him, and follow Him.
Here are some ideas from Palm Sunday that will stir your thinking and help you see this event in Jesus’ life in a new light.
March 16, 2008 / Palm Sunday
Pastor Phil Roland - Sheepfold Ministries
A FRESH LOOK AT PALM SUNDAY
The Celebration of Palm Sunday
JOHN 12:12-19
“The accounts of the Triumphal Entry, the cross, and Easter are so familiar to most of us that we can easily go through the motions of a celebration without ever allowing the message of these events to touch us. Take a fresh look.” Pastor Phil
WITH A FRESH LOOK AT PALM SUNDAY WE SEE:
A STRONG DECLARATION OF LOVE
I. A PALM SUNDAY PARADE WAS OUT OF CHARACTER
A. Jesus Previously Avoided the Spotlight – John 2:3,4
“And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no
wine." Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?
My hour has not yet come."
B. Told Those He Healed to Tell No Man – Matt. 9:27-30
“When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and
saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" 28 And when He had come into the
house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that
I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." Then He touched their eyes,
saying, "According to your faith let it be to you." And their eyes were opened. And
Jesus sternly warned them, saying, "See that no one knows it."
C. His Disciples Were Told To Tell No One - Mark 8:27-32
“Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on
the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, "Who do men say that I am?"
So they answered, "John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the
prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and
said to Him, "You are the Christ." Then He strictly warned them that they
should tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of
Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke this word
openly.”
II. THE PARADE WAS ORGANIZED BY JESUS HIMSELF
MATTHEW 21:1-5; ZECHARIAH 9:9
“Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and
immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken bythe prophet, saying: 5“Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
A. He Instructed His Disciples on the Details
B. He Wept Instead of Rejoicing as He Entered the City
C. Why did He organize His parade, anyhow?
1. His “time” had come – John 12:23-25
"The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. "Most
assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and
dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. "He who
loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it
for eternal life.”
2. Jesus was to die with the Paschal Lambs - Matthew 26:18
"Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says,
"My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My
disciples."' "
3. He is God’s Passover Lamb - John 1:29
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said,
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
4. His Death was a Voluntary Act – John 10:17,18
"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may
take it again. "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
command I have received from My Father."
5. God sees Obedience as Righteousness – Gal. 3:6;Jn 8:29,29
“Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
"When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and
that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these
things. "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me
alone, for I always do those things that please Him."
D. What about Your Time?
1. Feel like you’ve failed Him?
2. Is life too overwhelming for you now?
3. Struggling with Loneliness and feeling forgotten?
4. J. I. Packer writes,
“If I understand God's love, why do I show discontent and resentment at
the circumstances in which God has placed me?
Why am I ever distrustful, fearful, or depressed?
Why do I ever allow myself to grow cool, formal, and half-hearted in the
service of the God who loves me so?
Why do I ever allow my loyalty to be divided, so that God has not all my
heart?
WITH A FRESH LOOK AT PALM SUNDAY WE SEE:
A STRONG REASON FOR HOPE
III. GOD HAS A PLAN – Zechariah 9:9
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.”
A. Daniel’s Seventieth Week – Daniel 9
B. Sir Robert Anderson – “The Coming Prince” and “Daniel and the
Prophet”
1. 483 Years elapsed from Artaxerxes’ command to rebuild
Jerusalem’s Walls
2. Culminated on the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem
C. God’s in Control even when you think He isn’t - Matt. 12:16
“At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did
they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done
these things to him.”
IV. PALM SUNDAY QUESTIONS
Jesus loves you. He faced the mobs for you. He endured torture for you. He went to the cross for you. He went there so you could be free . . . free from sin's addiction, free from the treadmill of futility, free to live.
1. Have you responded to His invitation to be His?
2. You admire Him . . . .but are you willing to trust Him?
3. Are you willing to follow Him . . . not just to church but in your daily life?
4. Are you willing to entrust yourself to Him even when the future is confusing believing God has a plan?
5. Are you willing to serve Him until that day when His plan on earth is fulfilled?
ONE SOLITARY LIFE
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty. Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book; he never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn’t go to college. He never visited a big city.
He never traveled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away.
He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing---the only property he had on earth. After he died, he was laid in a borrowed tomb through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind’s progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.
Henry Drummond
A FRESH LOOK AT PALM SUNDAY, Text:
JOHN 12:12-19
The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! " "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the King of Israel!"
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
15 "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.
18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him.
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!"