CMLC 2026-03-29 Sermon

I've decided that since it was my birthday, I'll

just pick whichever illustration I like for this

morning. And today, what I had on my mind was

the book The Hobbit. Maybe you've heard of it.

Maybe a few of you have heard of it. And for

the rest of you, well, you're still stuck listening

to it. So there you go. But just to give you

a really brief short version, there's this small,

very comfortable guy named Bilbo Baggins who

gets pulled into an adventure with a group of

dwarves, as we all do, of course. and they're

trying to reclaim a mountain full of treasure

from a dragon. And along the way, they face all

kinds of dangers, but the real problem doesn't

really show up until the dragon has already been

defeated. Because once the treasure is finally

within reach, everybody starts to change. The

dwarf king who had gone after it starts hoarding

and starts gripping with all he has because the

dwarves want it. But the men in the nearby village

want it as well. And the elves from far away

want their share as well. You see, as much as

they spent so much of this time pursuing what

they thought would fix everything for them, almost

tore them apart. And even when Bilbo ends up

coming along and takes the most important treasure

of the story, the arkenstone, the one that's

supposed to belong to the dwarf king, he gives

it away because it's the only way to stop a war

from happening. And it raises this question,

what if the very things that we think will fix

everything are actually not... what we need the

most. What if the things that we cling to are

actually sometimes the things that will harm

us? Because when we come to Palm Sunday, that's

exactly what we end up seeing happening. The

people see Jesus coming into Jerusalem and they

think, this is it. This is the moment where everything

gets fixed. Our nation will finally be complete.

We will finally have the authority and the position

we were always meant to have. We will finally

get rid of all these people that are plaguing

us that we don't want them in our area. The people

see Jesus coming into Jerusalem and they think,

this is it. This is the moment. But what they're

expecting and what Jesus is actually bringing

are not the same thing. See, to understand that,

we need to step back. Because Palm Sunday, it's

not just this moment we need to understand. This

is the climax of things that have been happening

for centuries throughout scripture, over and

over, when we understand what's been going on.

It starts with Abraham 4 ,000 years ago. You

see, with Abraham, there was nothing built. that

would be seen as this kingdom of Israel. There

was no nation. There was no set of laws. There

was no temple. Just a promise made to one person

in a calling. Go to the land that I will show

you and I will make you a great nation. That's

it. Faith is simple. It's relational. It's portable.

A tense and a voice. And then five centuries

later, you see Moses come along. And with Moses

comes a structure, okay? Laws, tabernacle, priesthood.

You see now the faith in God himself, it has

bones to it. It has something that people are

holding onto. It can be taught. It can be organized.

It can be preserved. But it doesn't stop there.

There's still more to go. Because David, another

five centuries after that, comes with a kingdom

and kings. A capital up on a mountain. A sense

of permanence. This is the moment where finally

everybody feels like things are established,

even as his son Solomon builds the temple. And

here's the key to this. None of these things

are really bad. God has given them all these

things as a part of being his people, but over

time something happens. The people begin to lean

on the gifts instead of leaning on the God who

gave them. The temple, it became their sense

of security all by itself. Their identity, being

the people of God, became something that they

had pride in. The worship was not about what

was happening inside of them, but rather what

things looked like on the outside. And what was

meant to point people to God became something

that they started to depend on instead of Him.

And if we're being completely honest, We don't

just live in systems that do this. We do this

in our own hearts. How we miss what it is that

God is doing because we are so focused on the

place where He is doing it. We have missed that

God has been proclaiming His Word through this

place, through these people, and instead we focus

on making sure that everything is set up exactly

the way we want it to be. And this is where the

first part of the book of Isaiah speaks. When

we look at chapters one through 39, we've been

spending the last few months looking at Isaiah

in our Sunday school and seeing what it is that

God has been doing. Because on the surface of

this section, everything still looks like it's

intact. The temple is there. The kings are there.

The rituals are happening. But underneath it

all, there is injustice. idolatry, hollow worship,

like finding a mountain full of treasure with

the king in tow only to discover that the king

you were looking to help was actually just in

it for himself anyway. From the outside, it looks

glorious, but inside, something is already going

very wrong. And then five centuries after David,

everything collapses. The people are exiled.

They lose their land. They lose their power.

They lose their position. They lose everything.

The temple is destroyed. The king is gone. The

land is lost. Everything they trusted, it's gone.

And here's the hard truth from Scripture is that

sometimes, sometimes God allows the things that

we rely on to be shaken so badly, not because

He's trying to destroy us, but because He wants

us to let go and come back to Him. Because we

keep trusting things that cannot hold us while

God is bringing us back to Himself through the

servant who can. See, right there, in that moment

of collapse, there is a new voice there. saying

comfort, comfort my people. This is not the kind

of comfort that comes from getting the riches

of the treasure you thought you wanted that all

of a sudden when you have it and you pause and

you say, what was that for? What's next? This

is something deeper. This is God Himself saying

that this did not happen because I failed you.

This is not because I, the Lord your God, did

not somehow live up to my promise. This happened

because you trusted in the wrong things. And

then he reveals something new. Salvation will

not come through the kings or your systems or

your power. It will come through my servant.

Everything that you thought you knew is on its

head. It says, the Lord God has given me the

tongue of one who is taught. Morning by morning,

He awakens my ear to listen. This is not just

learning something out of a book. How many people

have ended up going through their confirmation

and their catechism, making sure that they memorized

every single fact without realizing it's not

about what's in here as much as what is changing

inside of here. Because this... is about a life

shaped by listening and learning. Morning by

morning, step by step, I did not turn back. I

gave my back to those who strike. Because this

is not the king acting triumphant because of

something to proclaim in some gaudy way upon

an overt throne. This is someone who stays faithful

when it costs everything. Because this servant

is doing what Israel was supposed to do, but

could not. Listening. Trusting. Obeying. Enduring.

Perfectly. And if we want to understand what's

happening inside of this servant, because we

clearly don't understand it from our own experience,

we get a window into it from Philippians 2. Have

this mind among yourselves, which is yours in

Christ Jesus. Who though he was in very nature

God did not consider equality with God something

to be grasped But empty himself Taking the form

of a servant becoming obedient to the point of

death even death on a cross Not the form of a

servant as if he's just acting like one the form

of a servant because he is one and He doesn't

grasp This is not a king trying to cling to a

stone that he thinks will give him authority.

Or an adventurer clinging to a ring that he thinks

will help him to hide. This isn't about seizing

what someone thinks will give them power. This

is about letting go. This is the exact opposite

though of what we do. We grasp for control of

things. We cling to what we think is going to

secure us and everything that we wanted We reach

for the treasures that are right in front of

us that glitter the things that either we can

touch and hold Maybe the ideas that we think

will somehow protect us Maybe the people that

we think will never fail us, but Jesus releases

everything He humbles Himself. He becomes a servant.

He walks the path of obedience all the way down.

Because it is only then that God lifts Him up.

This is the pattern of the Kingdom. Not grasping,

but surrender. Not climbing, but humbling. Not

seizing, but trusting. And that is the King who

rides into Jerusalem. because the crowd is shouting,

Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name

of the Lord, because they think that the system

is about to be restored. Their kingdom is coming

back. The power that they had is returning. Everything

that they thought that Judas Maccabeus had done

for them that he had failed to do, oh no, this

is finally going to fix everything. But Jesus

is not coming to restore what they expect. He

doesn't seize the power. He doesn't secure the

control and frankly. He doesn't even bother to

protect himself He rides in knowing exactly where

this is going to lead to suffering rejection

across And within days the same voices are shouting

hosanna Will then shout crucify him? Not just

completely different people Very difficult to

believe none of them are the same. But why? Because

He is not giving them the treasure that they

wanted. He's giving them something deeper. Because

that's what's striking is that Jesus does not

fix the systems that we cling to. He re -centers

everything around Himself. It's not come back

to the structure that you felt comfortable with.

It's follow me. Go. Trust. walk with me." The

temple? Fulfilled in Him. The law? Fulfilled

in Him. The identity of all God's people, including

ourselves, centered on Jesus. And after Him?

The early church was not rebuilding one central

system. It spread. It traveled throughout. Homes,

relationships, communities. Faith being relational,

spirit -led, portable. But this is where it also

comes close to home for us. Because let's be

honest about history ever since the early Church.

Because we start to see an old pattern happening

again. The Roman Empire fell even as the Church

took its position of power. The church strengthened

its authority as the main place of learning and

knowledge. The Reformation let us know that there

were flaws within the church as people began

to question its authority. And even now, postmodernism

shows that people are not willing to believe

any authority, only the things that they give

meaning to themselves. Things get built. People

trust them. They begin to replace God. and eventually

everything falls apart. And if we're honest,

it does feel like things are kind of shaking

all around us today. The institutions that we

have feel less stable. There are certainties

that feel a little less certain. Things that

people used to rely on, people that people used

to rely on, they don't feel quite so solid anymore.

And that can be unsettling as we keep looking

for more and more as the major shift is happening

in our world around us. But scripture gives us

a lens. Maybe all of these things that we're

dealing with, maybe they're not the end of faith.

Maybe this is actually meant to be a moment where

Christ is re -centering us back on himself. back

to the one who holds us. Because let's be honest,

everything that the servant does in Isaiah 50,

we have failed to do it. We're supposed to. We

don't. We don't always listen. We turn back when

it's hard. We try our best to avoid suffering.

We complain whenever we can't. And then we grasp

for what we can control. But Jesus didn't. He

listened perfectly. He obeyed completely. He

did not turn back. And he endured the suffering

that took him all the way to the cross, where

he carried everything that we could not. And

he became the servant that we were meant to be.

And he became it for us. This is not just to

be an example for us. This is the salvation we

need because you are not saved by how well you

are following. If you were, that would be the

end. You are saved because He followed perfectly.

And because of that, when all these other things

keep shaking all around us, He is not someone

who gets shaken. He is the only one who can hold

us. And now, Because of Him, we are invited back

into that life. Not perfectly, but truly. To

listen, to trust, to follow morning by morning.

Something that I wonder, are we willing to carry

that out this week? Are we willing, morning by

morning, this week and beyond, to start the day

saying, Where have I been leaning on something

that is not God? And what or whom have I been

holding onto that I keep thinking will fix everything

instead of turning to God? And maybe we could

take one step, just one, to listen, to trust,

to follow. Because even when our grip is weak,

His will never fail. Because here's the truth

is that we're not that different from those people

in Jerusalem Where one moment? We're crying hosanna

and the next Please get rid of him We still look

for things that we think will fix everything

We still reach for treasure that we think should

be ours and sometimes even when we think we've

won There's still something underneath that mountain

The thing we still keep clinging to is precious

something that could eventually undo us. But

Jesus, He's the one to lead us out. Not by giving

us what we expect, but by giving us what we truly

need, Himself. So this week, may we each be willing

to notice what we've been holding, to lay it

down, and to follow the servant, morning by morning,

because that, is where the real treasure is.

Thanks be to God.