Sermon Cloud

Call to Worship: John 12:1-8

12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

• Jesus is less than a week from His quote, unquote trial and finishing his journey towards Jerusalem. As we prepare to worship today, we need to be mindful of two events here. As we consider them, I think they inspire our hearts towards worship.
• The first event is the wonderful story of Jesus eating dinner with Lazazrus. Lazarus is His good friend whom Jesus just raised from the dead. I have no idea what kind of conversation you have with someone that was just dead and has been raised to life, but I’m sure it was fascinating.
o While the they are eating, Mary in an incredible act of worship, kneels and anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume valued at nearly a year’s wages and she does this with her hair.
o This is an act of stark, honest worship. Women didn’t unbind their hair public and they certainly didn’t give away expensive perfume, but Mary reserves nothing in her worship. She will give everything away to worship Jesus.
• The second event is Judas’ reaction to Mary.
o He doesn’t see worship.
o He doesn’t see the reckless abandoning heart cry that is Mary’s anointing of Jesus.
o No, he sees fiscal responsibility. He says, “Are you kidding me? That perfume is worth 300 denarii, that’s a year’s worth of money.
o Then he gets pious probably when he realizes that he should have kept his mouth shut. He says, “I mean You could have fed the poor with that money.”
o But the real reason for his anger was that Judas was a thief. He used to steal money from the disciples money bag and had he known that Mary had that kind of money, he would have tried to steal that too.
• Jesus’ response is this: He says, “Let her worship me and you don’t bother her. There is going to be plenty of time to do the work of the kingdom which is caring for the poor. Now is the time to worship me because I am about to leave.”
• We notice a couple of things from the examples of Mary and Judas. The simplest of which is worship Jesus and not money, right? But that is not how I want to challenge us today.
• Jesus calls for unreserved, abandoning worship and adoration of Him. There will always be things that will call our attention away. Some of those things will be good and some of them will be sinful. But in this moment in this very hour, we are called to worship Him.
• Let’s follow Mary’s example and abandon all reserve and worship Jesus.

Time of Repentance - John 12:9-11

9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.

• What we see in this passage is that there is both a continuing groundswell of attraction and opposition to Jesus.
• The Jewish people have learned that Jesus is in town and they have also heard that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. In fact, some of them may have even attended his funeral.
o The rumors are that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead but some have doubts.
o But word has it that Jesus is in town with Lazarus and if that is the case, then Jesus truly is who He says He is.
o All doubt should be erased.
• That being the case, everyone is running and flocking to Jesus.
• The Chief Priests realize that they are getting ready to lose their crowd and wonder what to do. They could easily point to their laws and their system of religion to discredit Jesus but raising Lazarus from the dead and walking around with him cannot be argued with.
• So the Chief Priest plan to kill Jesus AND Lazarus because so many people are leaving them and following Jesus.
• What might we learn from the examples of the crowd and the Chief Priests?
• How do these two examples compel to us to worship Jesus and how might we walk in repentance in light of them?
• Well, bottom line is this. Cold, dead, lifeless religion that doesn’t change the heart hates Jesus Christ.
o Can Christianity hate Jesus? Sure when it has left Jesus behind for cold, dead ritual.
o But more to the point, law and human effort in the guise of religion hate Jesus.
• The Chief Priests hated Jesus so much that they were willing to kill Him and His living example of power, Lazarus.
o Have you ever considered how ridiculous their plan was to kill Jesus? I mean if He can raise the dead…I mean, what do they hope to accomplish?
• So the question is, if cold, dead, lifeless religion hates Jesus and hot, alive, passion field faith loves Jesus, which has your life been characterized by this week?
• No, I don’t think any of you conspired to kill Jesus this week, but the question is
o “Was your heart drawn to Him as the wellspring of life?”
o “Did you see Jesus and Jesus alone as the sole hope for joy or do you see it coming by your own hand, your own efforts, or your own accomplishments?”
o Is where Jesus takes you the only place you want to go whether or not you know or even like where He leads you?
• Let’s confess our sins asking Jesus to restore and forgive us.


Prayer for and Giving to the Kingdom
John 12:12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!”

• Let’s notice a couple of things here before we spend time praying for the Kingdom.
• What we are seeing on the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem is a picture of the church.
• Jesus is proclaimed as King and Savior and the proper response is to wave the palm branches of royal coronation and declare Him as King.
• Hosanna proclaims our hearts declaration that God has done something. He has brought the King of His people, the God of this World, the Savior of sinners wrapped in the humility of a man riding on a donkey.
o We are to say, Hosanna Jesus has come in the name of the Lord.
• Now, there is another way that this Triumphal Entry is a picture of the church. The church proclaims Jesus as the Savior riding on a Donkey.
o The church is to draw in people to worship Jesus.
o Some are going to proclaim Him as King because He is the answer to our heart’s cry.
o Others are going to gather to see the show.
• Yet, either way, we are to proclaim Jesus.
• Consider ways in which the Kingdom may be advanced by your living out a life of crying “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel”?
• In addition, let’s pray that God uses us to proclaim Jesus as Savior to lost and hurting world.

Sermon – John 12:16-26

• The book of Ephesians speaks about the Gift of Faith. We often get confused when we hear the word gift in scripture because in our mind a gift is something you can choose to accept or not. But faith does not work that way. If you could choose to accept faith or not, then faith would not be a gift. That would be a grant that you applied for.
• A gift is not a gift until is received sort of like unrequited love is wonderfully Shakespearian but not fully expressed love.
• Let me give you an example. Amy’s family always draws names for Christmas presents so we don’t have to buy so many different gifts. It also allows us to pick gifts that have more meaning and a bit more nice for each other. Well this past year, I drew Amy’s sister in law in Japan. I found out that she like the show “Monk” so I bought her the season one box set for Christmas. That sounds like a nice gift doesn’t it? But it’s not really though. You want to know why? Because it is still sitting in our guest bedroom. I haven’t mailed it yet. It isn’t a gift until it has been officially given to her. Until then, it is just a DVD boxset.
• The gift of faith that God gives is very unlike my undelivered boxset of the show “Monk.” God’s gifts are given and received by God’s own power. God has given His people the gift of faith to believe in Jesus Christ. And if you believe, it is because God has equipped you with the gift of faith to be a believer.
• Faith is truly hope for the hopeless.
• Yes, your heart has chosen Jesus Christ as your Savior, but only because you have been equipped with the gift of faith to make that choice. Otherwise, scripture tells us that our hearts remain dead in sin apart from the gift of faith.
• Now, growing in that faith is the challenge of the Christian life. Fortunately, God has given us various means by which we can build up that faith that He has given you.
o You can read and study the scriptures.
o You can pray and find your heart transformed into the image of Jesus.
o You can worship with other believers.
o You can serve the needy.
o You can proclaim the Gospel.
• All of these things serve to deepen and strengthen your faith. And at first, they all make sense in a very practical way. If you approach them like working out, you think, “Okay, reading, praying, worshipping, serving, and proclaiming build up my faith. The more I’ll do them; the more strong my faith will be.”
o Now there is an element of truth in what I just said but there is one glaring omission. To approach building your faith like working out does not require Jesus in any way. All it requires is you.
o And any approach to your relationship with Jesus without Jesus is inherently non-Christian
• We ARE to read and study and serve and proclaim but it is all to be done in the strength of Jesus. The gift of faith is not given just so you can then do all of this on your own. That wouldn’t make any sense. If you ever wonder why your prayers or your time of study seem ineffectual or powerless, examine your heart and see if your approaching those things with your own wisdom and understanding or whether you are approaching by faith and the power of God.
• I promise you this, once you throw Jesus Christ in the mix, everything gets a little screwy. Jesus wonderfully shakes you out of the monotony and relentless habits of your life. You see, in Jesus’ economy, the way up is not up, the way to strength is not working out, the way to greatness is not trying to be great. In fact the opposite of all those things is true.
o The way to life is to die.
o To love your life is to lose it.
o The way of honor is the way of service.
• All of these things run counterintuitive to our culture and even our very own hearts. So s we approach the scriptures on the wonderful Palm Sunday celebration, let’s ask this Big Picture Question.

Big Picture Question: Since following Jesus is paradoxical: we gain nothing but gain everything. We die, yet we live. We lose our life, yet we keep it. What does it look like in your life to fully and unreservedly serve Jesus?

16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

• What the disciples don’t understand here is Jesus being praised for being King. Oh, they want Him to be king alright, but they still have desires of Jesus being a political king that will overthrow the pagan Roman government that is occupying Israel.
• The book of John, being the last Gospel written, explains though that once Jesus died, rose again, and showed Himself glorified, they understand the true nature of Jesus’ kingship.
o What’s going on here is larger and greater than any human inauguration the world has ever seen.
o The King of Sinners has arrived. Praise Him.
• The crowd with Jesus and His disciples have been with Him since He raised Lazarus from the dead, and they continue to tell everyone what Jesus has done. I imagine they say,
o This is the one who was promised.
o This is the one who has the power over death.
o This is who we have waited for these oh so long years.
o He is the cry of our hearts.
• And their testimony is effective. People flock to hear this message. In fact, so many people are responding that the Pharisees are losing hope. They say to one another, “Great. We’ve been fighting this guy for 3 years, and we’ve gained nothing. It looks like whole world has gone after Him.
• You see what is effective here? People aren’t running around speaking about their subjective experiences that can be argued and disputed. Though there is a time and place for those types of testimonies, the people of Jesus’ day keep it simple.
o They speak about who Jesus Christ is.
o They are speaking about what He has done.
o They don’t let the conversation change subjects because the subject is Jesus.
o They don’t get caught up in political discussion.
o They speak about Jesus.
o This is powerful testimony.
• Folks, if you have wondered why more people don’t come to know Jesus around you.
• If you have ever wondered why people disregard your testimony.
• If you have ever wondered why this church doesn’t grow faster, I can tell you.
• We aren’t talking about Jesus enough. Jesus is always the main thing, and we must keep the main thing the main thing.

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

• Obviously, all of this talk about Jesus is attracting attention, and not just from curious Jews looking for a King or Messiah. The Greeks with their entire pantheon of gods have heard of Jesus. They want to know who He is.
• So they ask Philip, and Philip gets Andrew and they went to tell Jesus that I guess the Pharisees were right. The whole world is asking about Jesus because the Greeks are here.
• But Jesus, as always, surprises. He doesn’t run to tell all the Greeks about Himself. No, He makes a declaration: He says, “It is time. Now is the hour for the Son of man to be glorified.
o Jesus uses the title “Son of Man’ here to identify Himself with us. The Redeemer of fallen men and women, His time has now come to be glorified.
• Now, when we hear that, perhaps we think, ‘No longer will Jesus be humiliated or rejected,” but that is exactly the means by which He will be glorified.
• I can imagine Jesus looking out at a wheat field. He says, “The only way you get that kind of harvest is if the grain seed falls to the ground…and dies.”
o Now before we go any further, Jesus uses the very workings of nature to illustrate that if He is going to truly reign as King, then He must die.
• But Jesus’ point is not just to illustrate the nature of His Rule. It is also to point out how YOU should live.
o You love your life here in this earth? Then you are going to lose it.
o You hate your life here on this earth? Then you will have eternal life.
• Jesus’ point is so radical I dare say I don’t know a human being who comes close to living it out.
o Your desire to follow Jesus, your affection for Him should be so great, that it should be the central interest of your life.
o And the degree to which you follow Him should make it look like you don’t give a damn your own personal life.
• Does that mean you don’t care for yourself or raise your children? Of course not. The thing is, you care for yourself, you raise your children, you do all of these things, but you don’t for persona, selfish reason. You do them because you are hopelessly attracted to, devoted to, and in love with the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.
o The central frustration of many of your lives though is that God has not made your life what you want it to be. You want easier, simpler, healthier, richer, and on and on.
o That is not what we are called to. We are called to follow Jesus to such an extent that those worries don’t measure up to the concern we have for proclaiming and giving affection to Jesus Christ.
o It should look like we hate this life because we love the next.
• In the immortal words of Andy Dufrense from the movie, “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Either get busy living or get busy dying.”
• If you want to follow and serve Jesus, then you have to follow and serve His example. You have to crucify your life for the Glory of God. Where Jesus would have you go with the message of the Gospel, that is where you go to the sacrifice of every other personal desire.
• You say, “That is too hard. Jesus demands too much.” Since when did you think that Jesus did not demand everything?
• Here is what I think is going on here at SK right now. I think most of us are going through the very painful process of our lives falling to the ground and we are painfully watching ourselves die.
o Some of you have dreams of greater work and employment.
o Some of you have dreams a healthier life.
o Some of you have dreams of more children.
o Some of you have dreams of a better lifestyle.
• And you know what, those dreams are not inherently bad. In fact, they can be pretty nice. But here is the thing.
o Do you want Jesus more than all of them?
o Are you satisfied with Jesus alone?
o If you never get a better job, if your health never imporves, if you never get marrired, or never have kids, or your lifestyle never improves, is Jesus alone enough?
• If the answer is, “No, He is not enough,” then I imagine since you are going through the very painful process of watching those dreams die.
• So, you might ask, “Well, what then? What is the solution?” I will make very clear for you.
o Take every desire you have in this world, good bad or indifferent.
o Lay them at the feet of Jesus Christ.
o And pray you can say this, “Jesus you are enough for me. I love you so much that if I never get desire one in this world, I resolve to live happily because I have Jesus Christ as my Savior. If you bless me with even one of these desire, I’ll say thanks, but if you bless me with none, my heart is satisfied in you.”
• Until your heart can pray that prayer, your effectiveness as a child of God in terms of loving Jesus, proclaiming Jesus, and serving in the name of Jesus is going to be diminished. In fact, I’ll will say until Jesus is ALL you want, you will not be effective.
• The beautiful thing is this: we aren’t giving up anything if we give our earthly desire to Jesus. He is more than our souls could ever dream of and more beatufiul and gracious and wonderful than our hearts desires.
o The way up this Palm Sunday is the way down.
o The way to life this Palm Sunday is death.
o The way to know joy and happiness is to kill the competing idols in your heart that would take Jesus’ place on the throne.