Point of Grace Worship 3.29.26 Sermon Notes – Palm Sunday - “Pursuing Humility”
“Pursuing Humility”
A Lenten Journey
What is “biblical” humility?
Humility is the “personal posture” of radical reliance on God as the animating center of our being and living.
Humility denies “self” that place of power and yields to God as the rightful holder of that position.
Humility is a posture of the heart that does not come naturally but is to be pursued.
We can be assured God is at work forming humility in us.
The question becomes am I yielding or resisting His transformational work in my life.
How do I join Him in my transformation by “Pursuing Humility”?
Palm Sunday – “Jesus – Humility’s Potential Unleashed”
Matthew 21:1-17
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna, to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[e] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,
“‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’[g]?”
17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
“See, your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey…”
Jesus comes as “your King” –
- Accepted the royal messianic title, “Son of David”
- In complete command of himself and this moment
- Is humble but not modest – “a force to be reckoned with”
He made outlandish claims about himself, always forcing His identity on you.
He did outlandish things acting as if He owned the place.
- Compels all who encounter Him to “Crown Me or Kill Me”
“Listen, this is the first point. Jesus Christ, when he comes to any city or anybody, he says crown me or kill me. Nothing in the middle. Jesus's forcing everybody's hand. Crown me or kill me. Now my suggestion to you is that that's what he does, not just to Jerusalem. He does that to any intellect and to any heart He encounters.” Tim Keller
You will either surrender to Him as your King or fight Him as your enemy.
Jesus comes as “Your king, gentle and riding on a donkey”
“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)
How can a king be “victorious” and “lowly riding on a donkey”?
What king would go to war on a donkey? He would be better off on foot or on a war horse.
If he is coming into battle on a donkey He is coming to die.
Every problem, all of our misery, all of our fighting, everything is caused by sin.
What is sin? It is the servant putting him or herself in the place of the king.
Therefore, what are we going to do about sin?
What are we going to do about the horrible state of the world?
Other religions say we send messengers and we tell people please stop putting yourself in the place of the king. But Christianity says, “That's like sending band aids for a heart wound”. Christianity says the king comes and puts himself in the place of the servant.
Whereas sin is humanity putting itself where only God should be. Salvation is God coming and putting himself where we should be, receiving the death penalty, dying for our sins.
And don't you see what Jesus is doing here? Do you hear it? Jesus is saying to us. He's saying to everybody. He is saying when he's riding in on this donkey instead of a steed. He's saying,
”I'm the king, but not a king like you think you need. You’ve got a slavery that goes far deeper than the slavery of Rome. And if all I do is liberate you from Rome? What are you going to do about being liberated from death.
I've come to give you real liberation”
See the paradox. And here's what's so beautiful about this. The gentle king. The dying king. The servant king, The king that is higher than the heavens and yet comes so low. The king on a donkey. See if this king comes into your life. He will turn you into a gentle king. He will turn you into paradoxical royalty. The whole point of the gospel is we are saved through weakness, not through strength.
Tim Keller