Welcome to Palm Sunday and the celebration of King Jesus. What do we worship, what is the centre of our lives? Cars, bowls, the pub or golf? The garden, exercise, clothes or social media? If we don’t pick something, something will pick us. Our lives will be filled up whether we like it or not. The question is what do we choose to shout Hosanna to?
Luke 19.28-40
Psalm 118:1-2,19-29
Speaking Notes – Caveat
These notes are my speaking notes and are provided as an accompaniment to the recording. Please accept that they are not intended to be a published grammatically correct essay. I do hope and pray however they help you move towards Jesus.
Now onto the content…
I bring you greetings in the name of Christ. Christ who is the
Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8; 22:13),
our Brother (Matthew 12:50),
the Chief Cornerstone ( Ephesians 2:20),
Deliverer (Romans 11:26)
Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23)
Firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15)
the Good Shepherd (John 10:11; 14)
our High Priest (Hebrews 3:1; 4:14; 7:26)
the great I Am ( John 8:58)
Judge of the World (2 Timothy 4:1; Acts 10:42)
Lamb of God (John 1:29)
Master (Luke 5:5)
Nazarene (Matthew 2:23)
Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)
Redeemer (Isaiah 59:20)
Saviour (2 Peter 2:20; 3:18)
Teacher (Matthew 8:19; Matthew 23:10)
and Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6)
Those are just some of the names of Jesus used in the New Testament and by my account I only missed out the letters U,Q,X,Y and Z.
Well, that’s not entirely true because I also missed out K.
K that stands for King for that is what the people cried out as Jesus riding on a borrowed colt entered into Jerusalem.
‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’
Is Christ The King of this world?
But is He King? That one of two questions that I would us to ponder on today. Is Christ King of the world in the twenty-first century?
It might be easy to consider that the Prince of Peace is not the king of the world as we look around our world today. A divided population in the UK. A tortured and hurting world. It might be all too easy to look at this broken world and consider that if Christ is King then He needs to come and clear this mess up.
Which is exactly what those waving palms on the side of the road would have thought as well.
The Guts
But as a people of God, this would not be the first time we had come to such a conclusion. In fact, God’s people have a history of demanding for him to come as a King, every time we mess this world up.
From 1 Samuel 8:19-22 we read …
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We want a king over us. Then we shall be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.’
Did they believe that God was not their King? That God was not the King of their world? If they did they were to find that human Kings were much worse.
The numbers vary depending upon whether you include Judah or not. But of the 23 kings of Israel, some people suggest that somewhere between thirteen and twenty we rubbish or bad Kings. But even the supposed great kings messed up. Saul messed up in so many ways, David was a murderer and committed adultery, and God got angry with Solomon.
It seems to be that when we believe God is not King of this world and take things into our own hands the situation just gets worse. Perhaps as we look around our world we might turn to our God as King of this world in prayer and dependence upon him. Much like Israel did as the prophet Zechariah cried out…
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.
This reading is often looked at as a foretelling of Christ the King coming to this world to rescue His people. And it is not alone in the Old Testament where there are many allusions to Christ coming as King. Perhaps that is what we should be doing. Placing Christ as King of this world once more, as we turn to him in prayer for this world.
Is Christ The King of You
But of course, Jesus Christ must first be our King, which leads me to my second question Is Christ The King of our world? Our own personal world. Is Christ The King of us?
Because if God is our King then his is our Leader, he is our Guide. That means we don’t do anything without first seeking His will in it the will of our King in our lives. Our King who came to this earth looking for us. I wonder if we turn to him in all areas. When we are desperately depressed do we turn to our King? When we are happy beyond belief do we turn to our King? Do we speak to Him in prayer? When we need advice do we turn to our King? When want to know what to do next do we turn to our King? Because our king is powerful and he wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit. Colossians 1:15-20
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Doesn’t that sound like the Kind of King we need in our world, in our lives? Doesn’t that sound like the kind of saviour we need?
Application
It’s not the type of King those waving palms on that road back all those years ago expected. It’s not the type of King those waving palms on that road will turn on in just a couple of days. But it is the King we need in both our world and our lives today.
If you don’t recognise the King Jesus I describe then perhaps we can talk of him and explore that together. Or perhaps you might speak to someone you know and trust in this church. Don’t be afraid to ask me or challenge me. But don’t sit by silently thinking to yourself, I’m not sure if He is king of my world.
If you do know Him as King perhaps then you might join me. Join me in re-committing to him as Leader and King of our lives once more. As you lay your head upon your pillow tonight, or perhaps this afternoon as you sit drinking tea, join me in asking him to once more be King your life.
Let’s pray.