The King of Peace, Not a War Horse
First B Jackson
2023-06-06

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Yep. Hi, friends. Happy Monday to you, and it is good to see you. Glad that you're here. And can we give Felix and Guadalupe a big, big, big hand?

Thank you. This is the posole is one of my favorites. Love it. Love it. Love it.

And we're here to worship. And, you know, I have a heavy heart because right here in this spot is is Florin almost every Monday, and they are we just caught them. They're on their way to Salt Lake City to catch a plane to where does it go? Romania. Romania.

Yeah. But I I forget where the stop was. But France. France first, and then Romania. But, can we just take a moment just to pray and ask God's blessing on them?

Lord, we're thankful for this evening. Thankful for each person here. And, Lord, some of us come here feeling weak and wounded, sick and sore. Others other of us are are are just are feeling good. It's been a great day, and thank you for meeting us right where we're where we're at.

And, Lord, as we think of the the Yeons, we ask your blessing as they travel, Lord, as that you would give them safety as they they travel home, but also, Lord, that you would fill their heart with, joy. I know they're feeling some of the sadness that we're feeling right now, but I also pray that you would fill, their hearts with joy and anticipation for for what you're going to do in Romania through them. And we also think of our Joni today too as she, moved to to Washington, and we pray that you'd fill her her spirit and and give her joy as well, Lord. We're we're missing her as well. And we trust, Lord, that you are going to bring in more folks, that do not yet have a church home or may not even yet know you.

And, Lord, help us to welcome them in, swing the doors wide open just like you did. In Jesus' name. Amen. Shall we stand and sing together?

Alright. I got firm foundation. I got firm foundation. Our rock mules are in ground as nations rise and fall. Kingdoms on strong, not shaken.

We trust forever in your name, the name of Jesus. And we trust. We trust the name of Jesus.

You're the only king forever.

Are the only king forever. Almighty God, we live higher. You are the only king forever. The River Moore, you are victorious. You are the only king forever.

Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only king forever. River Moore, you are victorious.

Unmatched in all his wisdom,

unmatched in all your wisdom, in love and justice, will reign. Every knee will bow. We bring our expectations. Our hope is anchored in your name. Name Jesus.

And we trust. We trust the name of Jesus. You are the only king forever. Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only king forever.

Rivermore, you are victorious. You are the only king forever. Almighty God, we lift you higher. You are the only king forever. Rivermore, you are victorious.

And let's sing. Lift our banner high. We lift our banner high. We lift the name of Jesus from midst to which you reign. Your kingdom has no end.

We lift our banner high. We lift the name of Jesus from age to age you reign. Your kingdom has no end. You are the only king forever. Mighty God, we lift you higher.

You are the only king forever, forevermore. You are victorious. You are the only king forever. Almighty God, we lift you fire. You are the only king forever.

Rivermore, you are victorious.

God, it is so good to sing that song to you in light of what we're gonna study tonight. Passion week as he entered Jerusalem came as a suffering servant, but also the king of peace. God, tonight, we acknowledge you as king, as king. And I thank you, Lord, for the kind of king you are. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Here's some good news from Romans. If God is for us, who can be against us? He did not spare even his own son, but he gave him up for us all. Won't he also give us everything else?

Who you say I am?

I was lost, but he brought me his love for me. Oh, love for me. Whom the sun, whom the sun sets free, who is free indeed. I'm a child God. Yes.

I am. Free at last he has ransomed. His grace runs deep. While now, what was a slave to sin, Jesus died for. Yes, he died.

Yes, he died for me. Whom the son sets free, always free indeed. For me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am chosen not forsaken.

I am chosen not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am. Again, I'm chosen.

I'm chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am. I am who you say I am.

Whom the sun sets free, always free and deep I'm a child of God yes I am in my father's father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am in my father's house, In my father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes, I am.

Can I have a seat here? And while you're seated, I'd like to pray. God, thank you for the new identity that we have in you simply by believing, trusting in you. But you don't leave us right where we're at. You transform us, God.

We're transformed, by the renewing of our minds. You do that. Lord, your Holy Spirit does that, and your word does that. And so, God, would we be transformed, our our minds renewed by your word, by your spirit? And may we be encouraged by your passionate commitment.

In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Blake. Better hands. Alright. How we doing?

It's good to see. I am I am really excited to share this. I I know that normally we'd be sharing this during, like, a Palm Sunday, you know, right before Easter, but it's happened to it happens to be where we land in Mark, and so I'm gonna I'm gonna go for it. We're in chapter 11 verses one through 19. It begins passion week or holy week, same thing.

But what it does is it describes Jesus' passionate commitment to go to Jerusalem. But look at, he goes to Jerusalem knowing this. He would be betrayed, sentenced to die, handed over to the Romans, mocked, spit on, flogged, and killed. He's predicted that three times to his disciples now, and yet he's still walking toward this. Now why on earth would he do that?

I mean, think of our natural like, our human nature. Would you walk toward that? I mean, I wouldn't want to. I I I don't want to do that. But Jesus says, this is why.

The son of man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. That's a a key key verse in in Mark. I'd probably say that's one of that's that's up there for top top verse in in Mark, one to to really, put in your, put in your back pocket. Jesus came as a suffering servant to lay down his perfect life for our imperfect lives and ransom us. Ransom isn't a word we use a whole lot, but it means it's a it's to pay a price we couldn't pay and and free us from the bondage of sin.

We couldn't do that ourselves. Jesus had to do that. And that's what makes the good news the good news. There's a line there are song lyrics. Do you ever get stuck in your head?

Here's one of mine. The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Isn't that a great line? In fact, this week, I found the lyrics of that song, and I was like, that's one we need to do. So Jesus wasn't only the suffering servant.

Mark shows us also that Jesus is the messianic king. That's what these remaining chapters of of Mark are. It shows Jesus how he becomes the messianic king who has authority. We get to see that too. After three days oh, there it is.

After three days, he would rise again. Let's not forget that part of the mocked, spit on, beat, crucified. He would rise again. And acts sums it up beautifully here too, that death could not keep him in its grip. That's also the good news of the gospel.

Some more song lyrics. You ready for this one? Tell me if you recognize this. We serve a risen savior. He's in the world today.

I know that he is living, whatever some may say. I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer in just the time I need him. He lives. He lives.

First Peter says this. He personally carried our sins in his body on that cross, in our place for our sin, so that we could be dead to sin and live for what is right or live for righteousness. By his wounds, we're healed. So we go, what is passion is passion week about? It's about that.

It's that right there. So tonight, I wanna cover verses one through 19. This is Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and he curses a fig tree, and he clears a temple. That's what we get to study tonight. And here's just a little timeline of the week.

Oops. Sorry. Am I fighting you back and forth on this, or you're you're reading me? Okay. Here's the timeline.

We're looking at the events that happened on Sunday and Monday. Okay? So I'll read it, comment as as we go. There's some great takeaways from this. And would you please take note of of anything that stood out to you in these verses so that we can bounce it around at the discussion time at the end?

You don't have to speak at the discussion time. In fact, I think Blake will probably just start turning off the video right at the discussion time because it's for us right here in this room. But take note of anything that stood out to you. Okay? So, starting at at verse one, Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem.

So they're coming in from Jericho. This is, right after Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus. You remember the story of blind Bartimaeus? And he cries out saying, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And there are people like, quiet.

You're embarrassing us. You know? Stop. Leave the teacher alone. And then he yells even louder, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus says, call him over here. And he heals him. And he says, your faith your faith has healed you. And Bartimaeus can see again, and then he follows Jesus down the road. In fact, Bartimaeus may have followed Jesus right to Jerusalem.

I don't know. It doesn't say, but it says it follows him down the road. They were only about eight miles from Jerusalem, from Jericho. So after that, they came to the towns of, Bethphes and Bethany on the Mount Of Olives. Now forgive me, for, pronunciations of of cities, but you can just a a visual.

You can see how close these towns are to one another. So when we see them during passion week, you can go, oh, these are cities that are right side right outside of Jerusalem, like a couple miles apart. They're within walking distance. So then they're like, and they walk to Bethany and the Mount Of Olives, all those things. You go, okay.

I got a visual. Has anyone Ray and Tanya, you've been there. So you you kinda picture this in your mind. I I would love to know what that's like. So but for now, I'm just gonna use the map because that's that's all I have to gauge.

Oh,

man. I think that I could be a follower of Jesus for a little ways, and then I would say, Jesus, I'm so sorry. I'm tired, and and I I've had too much.

Yeah.

Imagine all the time that Jesus had with his disciples on the way during this time to teach him and get to know them and I mean, just it's great, which is why we do what we do here so we have time together to get to know one another. So Jesus sent two of them on ahead, and look what he says. It says, he tells them, go into that village over there, he told them. And as soon as you enter it, you'll see a young donkey tied there. No one's ever ridden.

Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, what are you doing? Just say, the Lord needs it, and we'll return it soon. And I like that Matthew records this, that this took place to fulfill the prophecy. That was Zechariah nine nine that said, tell the people of Jerusalem, look.

Your king is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey riding on a donkey's colt. So I I love that. Number one, that Jesus is fulfilling this prophecy in Zechariah. But number two, that Jesus is not on a war horse.

Jesus is not on a war horse. He rode in humbly as the king of peace. Didn't come to wage war on the nations. He came to save the nations. So I just let's get that picture of our mind of Jesus.

Alright? Not the guy on the war horse to wage war on the nations, but the king of peace to save the nations. Verse four. The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street tied outside the front door, just like Jesus said. As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, what are you doing?

What are you doing untying that colt? And they said just what Jesus told them to say, and they were permitted to take it. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and they threw their garments over it, and he sat on it. And I just I wanna note from that the the simple act of obedience from, the disciples where Jesus says, go on ahead. And so they go on ahead.

And then by doing so, I think it's so cool that the their their little act of obedience, fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy. I just think that's so neat. Let's not in here's a takeaway. Let's not underestimate a simple act of obedience. When we see something that that God is clearly telling us to do in his word, in prayer, and in how we hear from God, that simple act of obedience, let's not underestimate how powerful it can be.

There's a takeaway. Verse eight. Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the field. Mark uses leafy branches. John is the one that specifically mentions, palm branches.

So that's where we get Palm Sunday. Kinda interesting, kinda neat. You know, they had both. Verse nine. Jesus was in the center of the procession as he should be, and all the people around him were shouting, praise God.

Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessing on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David. Praise God in highest heaven. They are shouting his praises, rightfully so. They're singing his praises.

But I will say this, but with different end expectations that we might that that we might have today. The expectation for many was that Jesus would be an earthly king to set up an earthly kingdom. Maybe somebody even with a sword. Someone to defeat their enemies, to take away all their injustices, to give them prosperity. But we know from John because we have the whole story in front of us.

Right? We know from John that Jesus said, my kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. He says, if it were, my followers would would fight to keep me from being handed over to the the leaders of Jerusalem. But my kingdom is not of this world. Let's just bold highlight an underworld an underline that.

God's kingdom is not of this world. We pray his kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But this his kingdom is is not of this this world. All to say, the crowd had a very different expectation than that of what they thought that Jesus should be. By the way, do we have different expectations sometimes?

Our own expectations of what Jesus should do for us. Does that happen sometimes? It does. It does. And I think that's why it's so important to see who Jesus really is.

That's why we're in the word tonight. The same people that were shouting his praises would be shouting, crucify him later on in the week. But this is all God's plan. It's all God's plan. Why?

Because Jesus became a servant to give his life as a ransom for many. He knew what was going on. He knew what would happen when he entered Jerusalem. And it was God's plan all along. Verse 11.

Let's keep going. So Jesus came to Jerusalem, and he went into the temple to check it out. You ever visit some place, and and you know you're gonna go there the next day? And so, the the the the night before, you just kinda check it out and you make the rounds. Have you ever done that before?

I I have. And that's kinda what I see this as. He's he's checking it out. He's taking a look. Here's the temple.

Alright. And after a look around carefully at everything, he left. It was late in the afternoon, and they returned to Bethany with the 12 disciples. So that's Sunday, Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Now let's take a look at what happened on Monday starting in verse 12.

Next morning, they were leaving Bethany. Jesus was hungry. He notices a fig tree in full leaf. It's a little way off. And so he went over to see if he could find any figs, but there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for free for fruit.

Now catch this. Verse 14. Then Jesus said to the tree, may no one ever eat your fruit again. And the disciples heard him say it. Okay.

He curses a fig tree. The that I love Fig Newtons, by the way. I do. They're so great. But I pair I'm not getting any figs from that tree because it was it was cursed.

So the fig tree appeared to be fruitful, but it wasn't. K. Let's keep that in mind as we look at the next verses. When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple. So think of the temple as a place that's supposed to be fruitful.

Right? Bearing spirit spiritual fruit. Place of worship. And he began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from using the temple as a marketplace.

Can you imagine the scene? Jesus, meek and mild, flipping tables over. Flipping tables over. Now why would he do this? Here we see in verse 17.

He said, the scriptures declare, my temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations, for all nations, because Gentiles were coming from other places too. But you've turned it into a den of thieves. So instead of a place of worship and an open door to God and his kingdom, it became a place of extortion and a barrier to Gentiles who just wanted to worship. They're jacking up the prices for sacrifices. They're laying heavy taxes.

Their exchange rates were extremely high. You think, oh my goodness. That's awful. Oh my goodness. That happens today.

It's terrible. And what's more sad about this is the reaction from the religious leaders, the religious leaders who should have known better. Right? Here it is in verse eight. When they heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him.

So instead of going, you're right, Jesus. We've made a terrible mistake. We're we're standing in the way. We're we're we're becoming we've become a barrier for people to get to God. They go, that guy needs to go.

We're losing money. And so they plotted his death. All God's plan, by the way. This is this is this is God's plan for Jesus. But check this.

They were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching. What does that say about Jesus? I I was thinking about that verse right there. And way back in chapter one, it says this, the people were amazed because Jesus taught with real authority, quite unlike the teachers of the religious law. There's something different about Jesus, something very real, something very, very authentic about Jesus.

He didn't extort people. He was ushering them into the kingdom of God. That's what the whole gospel of Mark has been about. Jesus is ushering people into the kingdom. And then we'll end with 19.

That evening, Jesus and the disciples left the city, and there ends the events of Sunday and Monday of holy week or passion week. Okay. Again, just a few takeaways that stood out to me, and I'd like to hear what stood out to you in this. Jesus came as the king of peace, not on a war horse to conquer the nations. He will come again to judge the nations.

He will come again as the judge to judge the nations. But when Jesus' first coming, he came on a colt of a colt of a donkey as the king of peace, peacefully ushering in God's kingdom of love and forgiveness. And we've seen story after story after story and mark of him doing this, opening the door, opening the gates wide to God's kingdom. Another takeaway is that Jesus exercised rightful authority in the temple. That's just something that stood out, to me.

He cleared the temple, not in a sinful, angry kind of way, in a righteous kind of way, because the leaders were creating barriers to get to God. Jesus did just the opposite, swung the gates of the kingdom wide open for people to enter. And may I just pray for a second? Lord, would you help us to do the same? Not to be a barrier?

That as people come in these doors and they're searching and looking for a real relationship with you, our creator, that we would not stand in the way but be an arrow pointing to you. To the best of our ability, as imperfect as we are, we're pointing to a perfect Jesus. Thank you. Amen. Another takeaway from this that, I wanted to mention, Jesus cursed that fig tree because it did not bear fruit.

It appeared fruitful, but it wasn't fruitful. Just like the temp the temple appeared fruitful, appeared to be a place of worship, but Jesus says it's a den of thieves. And this takes me to John fifteen five. I just wanna use this as an application verse for tonight. If we've trusted in Christ, he has appointed us to bear fruit.

That's that is the truth. If we've trusted in Jesus, he has appointed us to be fruit bearers, spiritual fruit. And we know the spiritual fruit of the love and joy and peace and patience. You know the list. But if we are to have that fruit and bear that fruit, we have to stay connected to the vine.

We have to. He says it this way. I'm the vine. Church, you are the branches. And if you remain in me, just hang there.

Be there. Don't fret. Just remain here. And I in them, you'll you'll produce fruit. You produce fruit.

Apart from him, we can do nothing. And so as we look at Jesus' passionate commitment during Holy Week, that Sunday and that Monday, my prayer is that it would stir our passionate commitment just to remain there with him, to abide there with him, to stay right there with him because that's where the the real fruit happens. That's where the real fruit is produced. So those are just a few thoughts from Mark eleven one through 19. And I would love to hear if there was anything that stood out to you in these verses, and we could bounce it around some more.

We'll turn off the the video and and just kinda allow this room to be this room. And before we do, can I pray just one more time? God, it is so good to reflect. It has just given me a renewed appreciation and love for what you have done, your passionate commitment during Holy Week as a suffering servant, but also as a peaceful king, swinging open the gates of the kingdom so that all who would believe can enter. Lord, may we take your words with us this this week that you are the vine, and we're the branches.

And when we remain in you, and you and us, we will bear fruit. We will be fruit bearers just as you appointed us to, called us to. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright.