The Divine Crash

Good morning to all 12 of my faithful readers.  Here is the last sermon in my series of Psalms quoted in the gospels.  Starting January 1 we start a new series on the Gospel as Good News. So, enjoy this one and feel free to subscribe on iTunes.

Psalm 118:25-26 “Lord, please save us! Lord, please let us succeed! The one who enters in the Lord’s name is blessed. We bless all of you from the Lord’s house.”

Mark 11:9-10 “Those in front of him and those following were shouting ‘Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessing on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Our last sermon on the Psalms in the Gospels. We missed 1 and that was 2 weeks ago when I changed my mind.

This was an incredible amount of work to pull together and had I realized how much work it would be I probably wouldn’t have done it. But alas, here it is.  Next week we have something different planned and starting in the new year we are going to talk about “What else is good news about the gospel.” Which will be 4 weeks of sermons. Then I am not sure yet.  Maybe Hebrews, Colossians, or something else…

As we pray, may God bless this whole series and may this time be a time found in the presence of God.

So Jesus walks into town. It is getting closer to the crucifixion and he knows it.  Jesus has his disciples get a donkey to ride in on. Jesus gets on this Donkey and rides into town. While riding into town there were random people standing around who started throwing their clothes on the ground and when they ran out of clothes they started using branches.  Then, these naked people started screaming “Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest.”

A couple of things are going on here.  It has been said that “The Clothes make the man” for Israelites at the time of Jesus the location of the clothes also mattered.  Clothes on the ground means the owner submits to the person.

whoever you take your clothes off for is who you submit it. which has several implications but only if you are married.

This is also not unheard of, in 2nd Kings 9 when Jehu becomes king all those around him put their clothes on the ground for him to walk on.  This is also a fulfillment of Zecheriah’s prophecy and was a profound statement that Jesus is the Messiah.

They used branches.  Matthew says Palm branches, Mark just says branches. Either way they were saying that all of creation submits to Jesus

when Jesus arrives they call him the Son of David.  In that instant Jesus is entering the city of David as the son of David. Which would mean an heir to the throne, and the key to reuniting the people and bringing healing to the world.

Now, this statement that the people are saying “Hossana! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord” is a quote from Psalm 118:25-26

Hosanna, is a word that means “save us” or “we pray to be saved”

Psalm 118 was a Psalm that was quoted every year during the royal processional of thanksgiving.  It was declaration of who the ruler of the world is and a declaration of who is truly in charge.  The one who is truly in charge is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, Jesus.

when whoever is in charge walked into the room during the royal processional this psalms ould be sung as a declaration that they are in charge.

this whole arrival scene is a giant declaration that Jesus is king over people and the whole earth. even the trees bow down to god.

This is Christmas!

Christmas is a divine proclamation that God is in charge and it is our time to submit to that.

Christmas is a time when we declare who the true ruler of the world is.

Which brings us to the question, who is the ruler you submit too?  Which god do you take your clothes off for?

The god of money? Americans spend 712 per year on gifts.

The god of fame? do you buy that one gift to make sure everyone knows your name.

The god of popularity? at all the parties so you can be well-known.

The god of power?

These gods don’t rescue. These god’s only take you places you never intended to go, cost more than you can pay, and leave you when you need them most.

Look at this picture, I took it while sitting in traffic in Robinson PA about a year ago, I blurred out the License Plate so you couldn’t stalk the person on Facebook and tell them how much they are a sinner.  It also has nothing to do with Penn State, but I wonder if they still have the stickers on the car.

 

But look at this car. What does this person love most…..Penn State…..What does this person love next? Jesus…see the tiny little fish above the passenger side tail light.

I would suggest that this person is doing it wrong.  Even Christians mess up and get it wrong.  This person may or may not be a devout christian, I have no idea. But if we look at the back of their car we see that they have placed more emphasis on Penn State than on Jesus.

 

I would then ask, if someone had the back of your car to look at what would they know of you? For me, I don’t know because I never slow down long enough for anyone to see anything but tail lights.  But would your car show that you follow Jesus more than anything else?  That the God you submit to is Jesus?

We do this kind of stuff all the time, we say we love Jesus but spend money on other things that Jesus says aren’t important.

• Americans spend 3.4 Billion dollars on Christmas Trees in 2010
• Average American spend 712 dollars on Christmas.
• Americans spent 6 Billion Dollars on Christmas Decorations in 2010

In the grand scheme of things your bumper stickers don’t matter and how your house is decorated for Christmas doesn’t matter.  What matters is whether or not you submit to Jesus or not.

I would suggest that this Christmas season we leave these god’s who don’t satisfy and turn to the God who is King and ruler of the world. That the only God word taking our clothes off for is the God who created the world and then stepped down into the world that He created and lived for us, to show us what it is to live a life free from the slavery of power, money, and entitlement.

I would further suggest that this God who became flesh is the only God worth turning too because through His death and resurrection we have been brought back into right standing with God and all our mistakes, poor choices, and indiscretions are gone.

Look at this video and tell me which god do you want to follow?

That’s my king video! 

So, I wonder, which God do you know? Which king do you follow? Who do you bow down to? Is it Jesus? If not, you are following the wrong king and a king that doesn’t ultimately matter.

we have found ourselves following the wrong god to many times. and that is why Christmas became necessary.

God saw that we needed to be rescued from our loneliness and our nakedness and so god stepped out of heaven into the world he created to show us what it means to be clothed in righteousness and free from these false gods that enslave us.

That when we need saving salvation arrives.  God himself shows up on scene.

Sermon Audio

 

 

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