MARCH 28, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
JOIN US LIVE AT 10 AM ON SUNDAYS!
Transcription (please disregard any errors):
So glad to be with you this morning. It brought really joy to my heart for us to be able to wave the palm branches together. Today I was recalling this time last year we were in a lot knocked down and Pastor Jodi was staring at a big tub of palm branches in my house with no one to get them to. So I'm so glad that we are here this morning and able to do that. As I mentioned, I'm Jodi Lakoyak.
I am the children's pastor here at Common Ground Northeast. Hello to you that are watching us online or catching us later today. We are going to continue in the gospel story that we have been talking about for the last few weeks. Eric also mentioned that we are in Holy Week, where we join churches around the state, the world and in our country remembering Jesus journey to the cross. We are also going to talk today a little bit more about Jesus love and how we've been learning about that over the last few weeks through some of the different stories he shows us how to love.
But before we get into the text today, I want us to think about how we sometimes think we know what is best for us. My daughter Carly, is getting ready to get her learners permit probably within the next couple of weeks, so you all can pray for me. It is an exciting time, but also a very scary time in the Lakoya household. So I have been sharing my wisdom of driving with her wherever we go, probably to the point that she's sick of me talking about it.
But I have been remembering when I first started driving and an instance came to mind where I was told by my parents not to put the car in the garage, to drive it in the driveway and park it at the end and they would take care of it.
Well, I followed this advice for a few months, and then I got the grand idea that I was going to put the car in the garage. Well, you can probably imagine what's going to happen in this story. So I take the left turn to turn into the garage because I'm an experienced driver. Now I've been driving probably for a whole two months and I turn. I'm like, I'm doing great.
I'm going to make it. And boom, I hit the side of the garage with the Chevy Cavalier that my parents were letting me drive. Now I was fine. The house was okay. I didn't damage the garage, but I took a pretty big gash out of the car.
Well, needless to say, my parents were not very happy with me. They were mad. As I said, technically, it wasn't my car. It was my parents second car. And knowing my parents and being a parent now I know that they were more upset with me that I didn't listen than the fact that I had damaged the car.
They were disappointed that they thought my driving experience was more than their 16 years of parenting and their own personal driving experience themselves. So I got some tough love and return. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I imagine I probably was not allowed to drive for a while. My parents told me they weren't going to fix the car, that I would have to take care of it and figure it out. So I had to get some paint from the body shop and clean up the car and paint it the best that I could.
I think we all have probably been in a similar scenario where a parent, a doctor, a close friend, maybe even a pastor has given us advice with our own best interest in mind. But we haven't taken that advice. And guess what? Many of those times that advice is right. And we can be so blinded by the outcome that we want that we can't see the forest from the trees.
We just observe a big I told you so I'm going to stop here and we're going to go into a little bit of time of reflection. I want you to think about a time when you were given advice or wisdom by someone who had your best interest in mine and you didn't take it. And like by garage situation, it didn't turn out very well. So talk amongst yourself. You're online with us, talk with your family.
You can Journal. I'll give us a 32nd warning when we're ready to come back, I'll give you 30 seconds. Wow, I got really quiet.
Okay, let's bring it back in. It sounds like we have some good stories about when we didn't take other advice. So I want you to keep that scenario that you were just talking about or thinking about in mind
and how we, as humans seem to think we know what is best for us as we think about God's word today, if you all could turn to Luke chapter 19, there's verses 35 through 42. We're going to be in those verses today while you're doing that just a little bit of background of what's happened in the verses.
Prior Jesus is heading into Jerusalem and he has sent two of his disciples to find a cult.
So we're going to pick up the story in verse 35. I'll read it for us. They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the cold and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the mouth of olives.
The whole crowd of disciples then began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles that they had seen. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the Pharisees of the crowd said to Jesus, Jesus, review your disciples. I tell you, he replied. If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city. He wept over it and said, if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace. But now it is hidden from your eyes. If we look at John's account of Jesus triumphant entry, we know the falling from chapter twelve, verses twelve and 13. The next day, the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
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. On one hand we have Jesus coming in with pomp and circumstance. On the other hand, we see him weeping. Why?
Well, let's look at the people's perspective in our verses here. First, the people were excited to see Jesus. They were waiting on a King to save them from Roman oppression. They heard about this King, and they thought that he was going to bring them peace. If you've seen the movie Braveheart, the Scottish people are being led by William Wallace, an attempt to gain their freedom from British rule.
And there's a scene in the movie where William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson, raises. They raise their Spears and they charge toward enemy lines. He declares, William Wallace does that they can take their lives, that they can never take their freedom. This is kind of the picture that I got when I was thinking about what the people of Israel thought that Jesus was going to come and do for them. Now let's fast forward a little bit and to know what's going to happen on Jesus journey to the cross.
If we look at these people that we read about in John and Luke, we look at Luke 23. Pilate was trying to release Jesus, but the people were yelling to crucify him. Verse 23 tells us that they insistently demanded that Jesus be crucified. It wasn't a flippant thing or a knee jerk reaction that they had just one time and they were done. They were adamant and serious.
Now let's look at Jesus in these verses. What does Jesus do? Jesus wept. Jesus wept for Israel. He didn't just have a tear or two coming down.
He was really crying because he loved them. So he was coming to redeem them. He was coming to bring them peace, but not the peace that they thought he was bringing the peace of a divine King and not a King that was coming in on a white horse to lead them in a battle. Jesus actually said in Luke 19, verse 41, if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. Remember, it was Passover.
Jesus was coming to fulfill a promise. People were remembering the blood that were over the doorways during the time of Moses and saving the people of God from Egypt and from death. At that time he was coming. Jesus was to save the people of Israel by shedding of his own blood. They just didn't get it.
They were blind and oblivious to what was going on. Their own agenda and desires had caused them
to confuse Jesus purpose with their own. But instead of being angry and bitter instead of correcting them with a long lecture, Jesus was sad. He had the opportunity to avoid his sadness, but he engaged in his emotions. Jesus is helping us define what love is.
Paul Miller, in the book Love Walked Among US, says this. I quote Jesus willingness to face sadness sets emotion a chain of events that leads to his greatest act of love because he faced his sadness. He didn't run because he didn't run. He suffered. He died because he died.
As we shall see, he took the sins of the world on himself. As Jesus moves towards death, he shows us that sadness can be a quiet work of love. Jesus shows us you can suffer in love. Anger can be replaced with sadness, and that journey through sadness can be a journey through love. Jesus gives us the permission to be sad.
He is modeling it for us in the story, and Jesus shows us something really big. Jesus shows us that you can still love people who hurt us. How often though do we choose anger or do we avoid sadness? People can so easily hurt us with their words and with their actions. I think as a culture we're notorious for trying to replace our sadness with something else.
We often act like things are okay when they really aren't. And I venture to guess many of us struggle to do what Jesus is doing when we are sad, we sometimes self medicate with entertainment and addictive behavior. We turn to shopping, return to alcohol. If you're me, we turn to sweets. We turn to affirmation for others.
We give up on people because we can't take the sorrow anymore. And I know I sometimes have found myself saying, I just can't. I'm done with this person like, I can't take it anymore. We so badly want to avoid sadness and hurt. In fact, when I first became a Christian, I did not like going to Good Friday service because it made me sad.
And it made me uncomfortable since many of us do not treat sadness like Jesus did. Can you imagine what the people must have been thinking like, Dude, we just celebrated you like, 2 seconds ago and now you're crying like this is the guy that's going to save us. Really? Why was Jesus so sad? On the day of his triumphant entry?
He was sad because the people thought they knew what was best for them. Think back to the people waving their palm branches and placing their coats down on the ground and then yelling, crucify them. They were doing what they felt was right and best for them. Kind of like I was in my garage. Incident, Jesus on the cross even says, Forgive them for they know not what they are doing.
We see Jesus in the Gospels repeatedly trying to describe what's going to happen. He's showing them examples of unconditional love, what it's like for others to think of others above yourself and why he was there, but they just didn't get it. Jesus was like a caring parent that was there to take care of his children and to help them make good choices and to point them to true freedom. But instead, Israel did what they wanted and they added to Jesus the sorrow. But he still loved them and he loved them so much.
So I want us to think about Jesus and Israel for a moment in a parent child relationship. I know not all of us are parents, but we've all have played the role of a child at some point and I wanted to give an example. Now, I haven't experienced this personally as a parent because we only have one child. But from conversations with parents and with my husband, I think this happens somewhat frequently. So you've got siblings that are wrestling on the floor and you have told them and laid down ground work.
You can't do XYZ I know. My husband said one of their rules was nothing to the face, and you have rules in place because someone could get hurt and it could not turn out well, despite all the rules, all the multiple warnings, one of the kids thinks they're going to go WWF on their brother or sister and they start to jump off a couch or run and make a flying leap and bodies Slam their sibling. And the parent can see because I feel like parents. Sometimes we have a 6th sense.
Am I right?
Like you see that something's about to happen and you yell, Stop, and then there's some crying. There may be you're a meanie comment made, but the child didn't have their best interest in mine, nor did they have their siblings best interest in mine. They felt they knew what was best. And I know as a parent, sometimes this is hard for us as they didn't listen and it makes us sad if you think about it. You may have had a similar situation with a loved one.
Maybe it's a brother or a sister who's in a toxic relationship with their boyfriend or girlfriend. You've witnessed what is happening and they seem to be blinded to what's going on and need help. Perhaps someone close to you suffers from addiction and it's ruining their lives and it's affecting those around them. You've tried to point them to a better path and you try to get them to see that their behavior is selfdestructive. These scenarios are hard.
They take time. They take investment. They sometimes seem so hard and overwhelming. And in each of these scenarios, we are trying to help those that we love you. We love deeply.
We have Jesus though, and he carried the burdens for us by modeling sadness and carrying the cross for us and ultimately dying for us. He didn't give up no matter how hard it was, how disappointed or how sad he got. We can help point people to Jesus and sit in sadness with them and bear the burdens of one another. In times when we're focused on our own self pity and sadness, we can be sad for another like Jesus was. I want to stop right here and go into another time of reflection.
Now there's a few questions you may not get through them all, but something to start thinking about. Do you know someone who's carrying a heavy burden right now? How can you stop and lament with them? How can you point them to Jesus and His love? I'll give you some time to think about that.
And then I'll give you a 32nd warning.
I'll give you 30 seconds to wrap up.
We can face our sadness and sit with others. Jesus shows us that we can sit in the sadness and love without anger. We need to do a better job of sitting in lament with like Jesus does that. He shows us in his triumphant entry. Sometimes we need to quit trying to fix things so quickly.
We need to sit in the silence and quit trying to replace it. But face it and take an opportunity to act in love. And as we drop to a close today, I want us to remember the quote that I mentioned earlier from Paul Miller because I think it really describes what's going on. Well, I quote Jesus willingness to face
sadness sets emotion a chain of events that leads to his greatest act of love. Because he faced his sadness.
He didn't run because he didn't run. He suffered. He died because he died. As we shall see, he took the sins of the world on himself. As Jesus moves towards death, he shows us that sadness can be a quiet work of love.
Will you pray with me, heavenly Father, we are thankful that you sent your son Jesus to us to show us the way. Thank you for all the different ways. God, that you show us how to love God. I ask that we take Jesus this example of sadness and we don't run. But we love like he did God, as we are entering Holy Week, remind us of your act of love and sacrifice for each and every one of us.
Thank you for your son, Jesus, us and his death and resurrection. We pray these things in his name. Amen.
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAVE THE DATE: The 2020 Marriage Retreat is scheduled to be Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and November 8!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
Coty Miller’s own “Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.