Merredin Uniting Church

Texts: Psalm 118:19-29   Luke 19:28-40 

(Audio Version: http://sermon.net/daviddekock)

A little boy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father came back from church holding a palm branch.
The little boy was curious and asked, “Why do you have that palm branch, Dad?”
The Dad replied, “When Jesus came into town, everyone waved Palm Branches to honor him, so we got Palm Branches today.”
The little boy replied, “Aw Shucks! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!”
Actually Jesus shows up all the time, we need only to look – but the question is this: What is our response?
Today is Palm Sunday- The day where a whole city threw a parade for Jesus. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the people threw Palm branches in anticipation of his coming – it marks a time of celebration where Jesus was worshipped and praised.
It is however a bittersweet thought for us because even as we read of the celebration we know that Friday is coming- The cross is coming. We know that many in this same crowd will within a few short days exchange words of praise to words of death. Shouting “Hosanna, Hosanna” and then later crying out “Crucify, Crucify”. Their faith was fickle – for the moment only.

As we head into Holy Week I want to contrast their casual faith with the faith to which we are called in the Gospels.

Billy Graham has been quoted many times as saying that the greatest mission field in the world today is in the local church- the people who are already coming to church. Now I am not sure whether this statement is true or not, but one thing that I do know is that many people know what to say, how to say it, even how to act in it, but when the rubber truly meets that road, there is no personal relationship with Jesus Christ. No real faith – just empty words, habit and ritual.
We see a perfect example of this in the contrast between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. On Sunday Jesus rode into the city with the people shouting praises and praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
On Friday they are shouting, “Give us Barabbas, Crucify Jesus.” Why the change?

There are many possible reasons, but one simple reason is that their words did not match their heart. They had a casual but not a committed faith. They had religion but they had no relationship with Jesus… So how can we have a committed faith… How can we be real and sincere? How can we be consistent in all that we do?

Well here are some keys to just such a faith.

1. The first key is that a committed faith is not self-centered but is Christ-Centered
Now that sounds obvious, but we often miss it. We tend to say to God, “Lord, here is my diary, here are the things that fill my life… I can squeeze you in here or here, or perhaps next week”. “It’s not suitable for me right now, Lord, I have other things to do, I am too tired, I don’t feel like it.”

We fit God into our lives only when it is convenient for us. And I’m not just talking about convenient times – it happens also in our hopes and expectations. God comes last, after we have pursued all the other avenues of hope, healing or reward.

In our passage, the people praised Jesus as He passed by, but they did so for two reasons. First, because of his miracles. He had healed the sick, raised the dead…They praised Him because he was serving them and Second, because they saw in Jesus a way to be politically delivered from the Romans- To be set free from Rome as Israel had been set free from Egypt, thousands of years before. Their praise was there only because of what they thought Jesus could do for them.
A few days later at the trial they saw a beaten and disfigured Jesus – a man who no longer looked like a deliverer or a conqueror. And they bought into all the lies that were said about Him and they quickly changed their position. Ultimately their interest in Jesus was selfish, and when it looked like He could no longer satisfy them, they dumped Him. Their meaning in life had been all about what Jesus could do for them and their egos. They were selfish and self-centered.

There is a legend about an ancient village in Spain. The villagers learned that the king would pay a visit! In a thousand years, a king had never come to that village. Excitement grew! “We must throw a big celebration,” The villagers all agreed. But, it was a poor village, and there weren’t many resources. Someone came up with an idea. Since many of the villagers made their own wines, the idea was for everyone in the village bring a large cup of their best wine to the town square, “We’ll pour it into a large vat and offer it to the king for his pleasure! When the king draws this combination of our best wines to drink, it will be the very best he’s ever tasted!”

The day before the king’s arrival, hundreds of people lined up to make their offering to the honored guest. They climbed a small stairway, and poured their gift through a small opening at the top. Finally, the vat was full! The King arrived, was escorted to the square, given a silver cup and was told to draw some wine, which represented the best that the villagers had produced.
He placed the chalice under the tap, turned the handle, and then drank the wine, but it was nothing more than water.

You see every villager reasoned, “I won’t waste my best wine. Instead I’ll substitute it with water. With so many cups of wine in the vat, the king will never know the difference!” The problem was, everyone thought the same thing, and the king was greatly dishonored because everyone was being selfish.
Will you not today, at the start of this Easter Week choose to honor our great King, by giving him our very best. Withholding nothing… Giving him our all; Christ-centered rather than self-centered.
2. The second key is that a committed faith is relationship driven.
Many of those who gathered to throw their coats and palm branches onto the street and who shouted praises did so because it was the popular thing to do. For a moment it was the in thing to do. Perhaps some started with sincere motives, but others soon did it because others were doing it. Later at the trial, shouting “crucify Him” was the in thing … Here was a new trendy thing to do: to make a mass murderer and criminal their hero and so they shouted “we want Barabbas”..
In our own lives a committed faith comes only through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. One where every day is fresh and new as he personally directs our steps.
In order to have a committed faith we must develop and maintain a personal relationship with Jesus through prayer and Bible Study. He should never be far from us.

3. The third Key is that committed faith is not swayed or blocked by our personal trials and crises.
At the parade it was trendy to offer praise… Everyone was doing it. But at the trial it was risky to speak out for Jesus, possibly even life threatening.
Many of us come to Jesus expecting everything to go really well once we come to church… We might allow for some slight mishaps but not too much… So when the bottom drops out for us… we question God, our faith and the reality of the promises of Scripture.

The greatest reason for falling away from faith is that people blame Jesus for personal failures.
If our faith is based on our situations or circumstances it will never be committed… It will always be casual. I have been to many big Christian events and visited many large churches. Its easy to get hyped where the praises for God rock the place… Where everyone is praising, clapping hands, and full of faith…
But often when these same people get back to work and the job is tough, and the crowds are gone, the glow quickly wears off. Without a living relationship with Jesus its hard to keep up the joy in a world which is not all focused on God, and where it is often filled with mocking laughter and anger towards the followers of Jesus.

Their failures and disappointments can easily become your own doubt.
A committed faith takes the good with the bad. Knowing that all we are ever promised is that in the midst of both our good and bad; Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. He will stand with us, whatever our circumstances. All that He asks is thatr our faith be committed.

A story is told of a little girl who while walking in a garden noticed a particularly beautiful flower. She admired its beauty and enjoyed its fragrance. “It’s so pretty!” she exclaimed. As she gazed on it, her eyes followed the stem down to the soil in which it grew. “This flower is too pretty to be planted in such dirt!” she cried. So she pulled it up by its roots and ran to the tap to wash away the soil. It wasn’t long before the flower wilted and died.
When the gardener saw what the little girl had done, he exclaimed, “You have destroyed my finest plant!”
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t like it in that dirt,” she said. The gardener replied, “I chose that spot and mixed the soil because I knew that only there could it grow to be a beautiful flower.”

God has placed us exactly where we are. We must trust him for our place and our situation. And in the trusting we will eventually see that He is using our pressures, trials, and difficulties to bring us to a new degree of spiritual beauty.

True contentment comes when we accept whatever it is that God is doing and thank Him for it.

Is your faith casual or committed? As we enter into Easter Week, where our Jesus suffered incredibly for us. In a week where our sins, past, present, and future were the nails that hung him on that cross, I am asking you to renew your commitment to the Lord of Life.

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