A Prayer for Holy Week

This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

For more information in our church, please visit Grandparkway.org.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row.

I'm on page 899.

Jesus, uh, today is Palm Sunday.

It is uh it's the beginning of the first day, uh, the first week of the last week of Jesus' life.

This is the first day of Holy Week for us.

And Jesus comes on the scene, uh, his public ministry.

John the Baptist sees him coming, and he announces to everybody behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

And Jesus begins and ends his public ministry in the same context.

Uh this is Passover feast is going on in Jerusalem.

Uh thousands of pilgrims are coming to Jerusalem to observe Passover on the day Jesus rides in.

We'll read about in just a minute.

They're selecting their Passover lambs, who they're going to take in their home, hold on to them for three days to inspect them and make sure that they're spotless and without blemish so they can be sacrificed.

Uh the Jewish historian Josephus tells us there was as many as 265,000 lambs being bought and prepared on this occasion.

And so Jesus rides in because Americans get sarcasm, but we don't get irony.

We miss a lot of what the Bible says.

And in this moment, Jesus rides in on a donkey, very unassuming, but making very profound statements.

Let's read God's word together and find them for ourselves.

John chapter 12, I'll start reading verse 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

It says, The next day the large crowd had come to the feast.

They heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.

And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had done been done to him.

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness.

The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard he had done this sign.

So the Pharisees said to one another, You see, we are gaining nothing.

Look, the whole world has gone after him.

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.

Some of these came to Philip, who was from Beth Seda in Galilee, and asked him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus, and Jesus answered, The hour is come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies it bears much fruit.

Whoever loves his life loses it.

Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If any one serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also.

If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify your name.

There's four or five things that you see in the text this morning.

I just want to point them out to you and invite you to think about your life in light of Jesus' example.

He knows fully well what is coming, and yet he follows through with it anyway.

First thing we see in the text is simply this that people relate to Jesus out of their need.

People relate to Jesus out of their need.

In verse 13, the people cry out.

Now there's you've got to get the picture in your mind.

It's kind of hard for us to visualize what the Bible describes because we're raised and educated on video, so we can't visualize very well, but he has raised Lazarus from the dead, which was a pretty big deal.

And so he is traveling with an entourage of people.

It wasn't Jesus and 12 guys marching in two columns, single file into Jerusalem.

It is like this roving amoeba of people.

It looks like a big and rich video.

They got the bearded midget and the fire-eating lady over there, and big and rich are out there with top hats, and Jesus is riding up front, and he's just kind of singing.

I walk into the room, passing out hundred dollar bills because it thrills and it chills like the horns on my El Dorado grill.

And it's just bedlam.

And there's this mass of people that is moving this way, and then the people in Jerusalem that are moving this way because they've heard that Jesus performed this miraculous sign.

So you have two crowds of people converging on each other, and there's Jesus walking amidst them.

The Bible is not antiseptic, it is very bloody and messy and people intensive.

And the people Jesus gets to Jerusalem, you say, What do you mean?

People relate to Jesus out of their need.

They call out Hosanna, which means save us now.

Give us salvation now.

But you gotta ask, from what?

Because just because somebody uses the word salvation doesn't mean they mean what God means.

What they were saying was, deliver us, Jesus, from these Roman occupiers who are oppressing us.

We've been waiting for a Messiah, and we don't care what the Bible says he's gonna be like.

This is what we need you to be like.

And if you're not careful, when you relate to Jesus out of your need, what you set up is this scenario within which you quickly become a practical atheist.

You say, What do you mean?

Because as long as you need Jesus, you are crying out to him, Hosanna, save us now.

But when things get better and your need is not as great, you don't feel your need for Jesus.

As a matter of fact, it's easy to forget about Jesus.

That's why a lot of people get to the end of their lives, not really to the end, they get to be 55 to 65, your kids are gone, and you kind of drop out of church, you kind of start coasting, you got some you got some disposable income, you got some toys in the garage, you got a few houses, you can go here, you can go there.

And by the way, look at me.

Nothing wrong with that.

Glory to God.

If you got that, glory to God.

I didn't call you here today to ask you to feel guilty.

But I am saying this: be careful because if you relate to Jesus out of your need, when your need goes away, you no longer need Jesus.

You are a practical atheist.

You relate as if there is nothing or no God at all.

And the people say, you say, Well, why are you telling us that?

You ever wonder how the crowd could go from Hosanna, save us?

And just at the end of this very same week, they could cry out, the same crowd, crucify him.

You're not gonna do for us what we want you to do for us.

We have no need of you.

That's practical atheism.

Second thing you see in the text is that Jesus is purposeful.

Look at verse 14.

He's purposeful.

What do you mean?

Well, it says that verse 14, and Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written.

And then he quotes from the book of Zechariah, Fear not, daughter of Zion.

Behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt.

If you're not careful, uh uh you you can just think that Jesus looked around and just grabbed some, the first thing he saw that he could jump on and ride.

But actually it's very purposeful because if Jesus had ridden into town, when you a conquering general came to declare war, he came riding into town on a horse, a war horse, usually a white stallion, and he was making his intent known.

He was saying to everybody, I've come to ramsack this place.

Matter of fact, if Jesus had ridden in on a horse, the crowd would have gone ballistic.

It would have been Mahem and Bedlam.

But instead, he comes riding in on a donkey.

The main reason, the most accessibly easy reason, is that it fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9.

Zechariah 9:9

But we you can't stop right there because when I say Jesus is purposeful, he's doing things on a bigger scale than we have a kind of the eyes to see.

If you have a Bible and you don't have to turn it, it'll come up on the screen, but I'm in Zechariah chapter 9.

Zechariah 9 · chapter mention

Uh after he says in verse 9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

That's a reference to the people of Jerusalem.

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem.

Behold, your king is coming to you.

Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey.

But if you keep reading in verse 10 and 11, you see three things.

He says, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem, and a battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations.

His rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

Now, because if you turn to the book of Zechariah, you probably had to separate some pages.

So let me just explain to you what you just read.

Jesus rides in on a donkey, and people go, Oh yeah, that fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah 9.

But there's other things that Jesus says.

He references that there's going to be a cessation of war in Jerusalem.

That there's no longer going to be any striving over Jerusalem.

Not that you know of any people that are trying to make peace in the Middle East even to this day.

And that this past week our own president went and met with the Israelis and the Palestinians, and guess what?

Still no peace.

But Jesus says, here's the thing.

When I'm coming in, see, because we get sarcasm, Jesus wasn't sarcastic.

He was just ironic.

He was just subtle.

He didn't take out a megaphone and go, oh, by the way, read past verse 9 of Zechariah.

He says, hey, it's going to be a cessation.

I'm going to do away with the chariots of Ephraim and I'm going to break the battle bowl.

You're not going to need them anymore.

Second thing he says is that not only is this peace going to come to Jerusalem, but he says that this peace is going to come to the nations.

The latter part of verse 10, he said, and he shall speak peace to the nations.

If your tournament, if you're if your March Madness tournament bracket has been blown up by Wichita State and the other upset-minded people, this afternoon, maybe you could fill some time by figure out how many nations there are in the United Nations, 158, 162.

I don't know.

And here's the implications of how subtle Jesus is.

He says he will speak peace to the nations.

Were that to ever come to pass in our lifetime?

What could then happen is that all the nations, just in the United Nations, there's some that they don't even let belong, but we'll just take them.

Take all of them, figure up the defense budget of all of those nations, add it all together, and that's how much money you would have available to meet the most pressing problem in the world.

Y'all look like you walked out of Walmart and forgot where you parked.

How many zeros is that?

You couldn't get it on the calculator, I promise you that.

And see, here's my point.

We don't have a frame of reference for the implications of that kind of peace.

And so if you don't have a frame of reference for the implications of that kind of peace, how can you really grasp the magnitude of what Jesus came to accomplish?

The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2, about verse 14, it is our peace that is broken down every wall.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

And that's a reference to a literal wall in the temple between the court of the Gentiles and the other, the Jewish part of the temple where you couldn't go unless you were a Jew.

He said he's removed that.

What if Jesus was able to remove this wall of separation between all the nations of the world and bring peace to all of them at once?

Third thing the Bible says.

You need to underline that middle phrase there.

Because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

You said, What's the third one?

The third thing is that God honors covenant.

God honors covenant.

There are things in life that God will only do because he is faithful to his covenant.

Or said differently, God is not moved by sentiment, he's moved by principle.

Someone said to me one time, they said, the worship at your church is really different.

It's not very huggy-feely.

And I said, Oh, I'm not against huggy-feely.

I mean, uh what well, no, no, it's a good way.

And then it dawned on me, yes, we are very intentional about what we say in the name of worship because most worship songs today are ruled by sentiment.

Allow me to demonstrate.

A while back I'm speaking at a church, great church.

They got a band and everything, and I mean worship was phenomenal.

And they got to this one song, and the whole congregation started doing this.

And the choir started doing this, and I thought Barry White was going to come down to the ceiling.

And I was kind of like, this is the little, and everybody started, mmm, and the worship pastor, and everybody, hmm.

And everybody started just kind of swaying, and we started singing the song.

And if this is your favorite song, I'm sorry.

But but this is what I mean by sentiment.

And the song said, I find I'm moving to the rhythms of your grace.

Your fragrance is intoxicating in the secret place.

And I was like, that's a little creepy.

And so I didn't hold up a sign and go, This is a bad song.

I just said, I don't think I can relate to God this way.

And so this might have been beeswax, got up, preached, went to lunch.

The worship pastor was at lunch, and he looked at me and said, Hey, brother, I kind of noticed when we were kind of getting our praise on that you weren't really participating.

And A, getting your praise on?

Is that like putting on your shoes to go run?

What is that?

Uh but and I said, and I was the whole time I'm thinking, don't ask me about the song, don't ask me about the song, don't ask me about that song.

And he said, particularly when we were singing up, and I don't remember the name of the song, I blotted it from my memory, and I just said, Yeah, I don't relate to God in light of his fragrance and it's intoxicating.

And then I think that's anthropomorphic.

I think you've taken the way you relate to your girlfriend and you've imposed it upon God and called it worship.

Worship doesn't start with man and man's appetites and go up to God.

Worship starts with God's nature and comes down to man.

And nobody at the lunch table said amen.

And so I'm glad y'all were not there.

Thanks for not having my back, you losers.

And there I was with a fork and a knife and thinking I can get this guy and I can get that guy, but the rest of them they bum rush me.

And I said, So do you not worship at your church?

And I said, Yeah, we worship our church.

But worship is not making out with the Sky Fairy.

This is what it felt like.

And now we'll dim the lights and we'll slow it.

The next game is couples only.

Everybody get with Jesus.

I find I'm moving to the rhythm of your grace.

I've never once in my life said to God, your fragrance is intoxicated.

I'm gonna say that to my wife.

That's how creepy that is.

What am I telling you?

Hey, here's what I'm saying.

Because some of us, we start with our appetites and we impose those upon God and call it worship, and you're kind of singing God a job description.

But here's my point: God's not moved by sentiment.

God's moved by principle.

And if you think God is moved by sentiment, you're gonna do a lot of things that feel good to you, but don't move the heart of God.

What moves the heart of God is a fidelity to his nature, a faithfulness to his covenant.

That's why he says, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I'm fixing to do this.

You need to learn to appeal to God on the basis of what moves God, and that is principle, not sentiment.

That's why my kids come to me and ask me for stuff, and then I'm like, I'm like, no.

Then they're like, it looks like you melt them and pour them over the furniture, they'll hang off the end of the couch.

And then they're on the pool, and then they get on the floor, and they just roll back and forth.

No, but dad.

I'm like, Marcia, get up.

I'm not gonna change my mind.

And every once in a while I'll have friends at my house, and my kids will ask for something, and I'll say no, and my friends try to give me parenting advice.

In my mind, I'm thinking, hey, you ought to beat your kids more often, okay?

Shut up.

I ain't gotta beat my kids anymore.

They know what I'm capable of.

But but I'm like, hey, I got this, okay?

And here's, I'm not trying to be harsh to my children.

I don't want them to think though their dad's ruled by sentiment because they're gonna grow up and think about God, that God's ruled by sentiment.

Because men, listen to me, the way you parent your children, you are the first indelible impression your children will have of God.

No pressure there.

And I mean that.

There's no pressure.

If you're being the man God called you to be, then that's no pressure.

That's not a hard thing.

That's not hard for you to say, hey, you know what, sweetie?

I love you, but no is no.

Now, if you need to cry, ever since my kids were little, I would tell them, I mean two years old.

Now, if you need to cry, you can keep crying if it feels good to you.

But dad's not going to change his mind, okay?

I just want to interrupt your crying and tell you that.

Now, if you need to cry, go back ahead.

Now, when our oldest master was little, she would be like, and you get done, she'd and I would just sit there and just turn the TV up and just watch whatever I was watching.

And when people, like my mother-in-law, would be over, she'd be pulling her hair out.

I was like, uh-uh, don't touch that baby.

I got this.

So when our second one came along and she tried the same thing, sentiment, master and bobby and go, oh, get up, sweetie.

It didn't work on these people.

And we weren't being harsh, we're not being uncaring.

Our kids hadn't missed many meals.

They don't do without stuff.

We work hard to be good, available parents, but it's not just the context of right now.

I want them to realize, hey, God's not moved by sentiment either.

So save all that swarmy stuff.

Because if you let your kids' sentiment rule you, they'll never respect God.

And some of you, if your kids are in their 20s and they disdain the things of God, it's probably because you raised them with too much sentiment.

Uh-oh.

Did you feel that?

Let me say that again.

Some of you right now, your kids, I mean, they are arrogant towards the things of God and they're just thumbing their nose with no disregard.

That kid grew up with too much sentiment.

Now, don't feel bad today.

God didn't bring you here to go, hey, here's why, here's what it's all about.

You feel stupid.

No, you can't go back and reparent them.

Look at me.

But you can.

Is there?

I don't care if they're 20, 25, 30, you're still their mom and dad.

You can let them know.

Hey, by the way, this ain't free babysitting.

Don't just bring these kids over here and drop them off on me like my life exists to take care of your kids.

I love my grandkids, but I love my what my life as well.

I've worked hard to earn the right to have a break.

Uh-oh.

Woo! We met in today.

I can feel it.

Y'all feel that?

Some of y'all are like, well, you wait till you get grandkids.

Oh, I can't wait.

Get them little monkeys all sugared up and just drive up in front of my daughter's house.

Beep, beep.

Come get your kids.

Here, kids, take that I see in the house.

I know it's 9.30 at night, but enjoy it.

No, God says, God says, hey, Jesus is purposeful.

He's saying more than I'm riding a donkey.

He's I'm bringing a lot to the table.

Third thing you see in the text from John, back in John, you get there with me.

John chapter 12, third thing you see, Jesus always had the world in mind.

John 12 · chapter mention

He always had the world in mind.

Verse 17, the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continue to bear witness.

See, that's the crowd that's coming with him.

They saw Lazarus, never got over that.

They were like, you have power.

Verse 18, the reason why the crowd went to meet him.

See, there's a crowd coming with him, and a crowd coming out to meet him.

Was that they had heard he had done this sign.

So the Pharisees said to one another, Man, we ain't getting nowhere.

We're gaining nothing.

Look, the whole world's gone after him.

Funny they should mention that, because the next verse, verse 20.

Now, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.

Don't you find it odd that you're meeting Greeks in Jerusalem?

See, when you read the Bible, don't fall asleep to what you're reading.

I came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

And Jesus goes off on this crazy talk.

But let me just say he always had the world in mind.

And by the way, the reason I went to Philip and Andrew is because those are two Greek names.

The reason John says they're from Bethseda, Beth Said was as close as it was the closest providence to the nearest Greek-speaking providence.

And so remember I said at Passover, they've got this throng of people coming as pilgrims for the feast.

Think about in Revelation where John sees around the throne of God and he says, I saw a multitude of all nations, all kindreds, all tribes, all tongues, all people that no man can number.

That's what's coming into Jerusalem for Passover.

It's a multitude of the nations.

It's not just Jews and Gentiles, it's Greeks and barbarians and Scythians and all these different people.

And they're all coming.

And the Pharisees realize in that moment, oh my gosh, the world is right here, and this guy is going to do what he's told us all along he's going to do.

Absolutely.

Why is that?

Because Jesus always had the world in mind.

John chapter 3, don't turn there.

John 3 · chapter mention

I'll just read it to you.

First part of sound real familiar.

It says that for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

The world, the world, the world, the world.

What do you mean?

Jesus always has the world in mind.

And you need to have the world in mind.

But when I say world, I may mean one thing and you may think another thing.

Let me ask you a question.

How big is what you call the world right now?

You say, Well, you know, I got a globe, and that's all I'm talking about.

How big is what you call the world right now?

Because here's what happens it starts happening when you get about 40 years old.

If you're a man.

And you get about 40, three things happen.

Number one, you start watching the Discovery Channel or the History Channel.

Number two, all you listen to is talk radio.

You're getting a man over 40, you get in his vehicle, he got on talk radio like, AM, there's still AM radio stations.

You're like, don't touch that radio.

And thirdly, you go to Home Depot for no reason.

You just show up.

I don't care if you can't afford stuff.

You go there and just play with all the stuff.

Like the table saw.

You need one of those?

No, I'm just looking.

Are you a carpenter?

No.

No.

You ever cut a stick of wood in your life?

No, but I want a$900 table saw, but my wife won't let me have it.

But one thing that happens, listen to me, beloved.

You get about 40, really kicks in to get about 50.

Gets really loud, about 60.

What happens is what you call the world begins to shrink.

And by the time you're about 65, your world consists of your house, your yard, your kids, your grandkids, your job if you're still working, and the nearest Walmart.

And that's the world.

Now look at me.

I'm not making light of that.

I'm just saying that ain't big enough for you.

God created your soul for something bigger, better, and beyond all that.

You say, well, I don't know if my world's shrinking.

I got you some questions because I want to help you think about this to how to how to kind of realize if your world is shrinking or not, getting a little bit smaller.

Here's the first one.

When's the last time you did something new?

You say, what do you mean?

When's the last time you maybe maybe here's a better way of saying it?

When's the last time you took a risk?

The older you get, the more risk-averse you become.

And this is not in financial planning, that's a good thing.

But in life, that just becomes really safe and predictable and manageable.

And at the time you have the most disposable income and the most free time, you could just be burning hot for the glory of God.

And going out there, you just kind of just pull it all back in and kind of just, and it's real small.

And if you're not careful, the world becomes the three-foot circle you stand in.

And when I say that Jesus always had the world in mind, he's talking about the cosmos.

He's talking about people from all nations, all kindreds, all tribes, all tongues, all people.

He said, My world's not shrinking.

All right, I got another question for you.

Very simple.

When's the last time you had somebody new in your home for dinner?

Some of you got China that you hadn't used in years, and you also don't have a China, you don't just have China, you have a China hutch.

When you put that China in, you might as well register for paper plates.

You ain't never used that china.

It just sits there like decoration because the idea of socialization is really eroded into decoration.

Because we go to work, we come home, hit the button, the garage door comes up, we pull in, garage door goes down, we make that little short walk from the garage to our house, and we're on the base.

You can't get me.

Here's how you know your world is shrinking.

When your doorbell rings, you're offended.

Your first thought is, what do these people want?

Yeah.

Last question I would give you to think about uh how is your how how's your world uh doing?

Nobody has it as hard as you.

Nobody.

And here's the extrapolation of that thought.

You become the standard for everything.

Nobody has as hard as you.

Because you're not you're not rubbing up against anybody else.

You're just kind of like, huh?

That's why last Sunday, I could have cried.

Last Sunday, uh, I was standing right here, right over there, and Marcia Williamson is a lady in our church.

She's married to Dan.

Dan and Marcia have kids, they have grandkids.

He has a great job.

I think he works for Chevron or something.

Great people.

Just, I mean, servants.

They've served in this church ever since I became the pastor.

Backbone of the church, salt of the earth type people.

She's, I don't know how old she is.

I think she's north of 40 at least.

Is that a safe thing to say, ladies?

Y'all look.

Yay, you better tread lightly there, my man.

Here's my point.

The older she's gotten, her world's not gotten smaller.

She came up to me and said, Here, have me a sheet of paper.

I said, What's this?

She goes, I'm going on a mission trip.

She wants you to be praying for me.

And I looked at it, and here's somebody's grandma who's going to Tijuana, Mexico with her niece, and they're going to be building houses for the poor down there, and she's going to camp out and work in the kitchen all week long preparing food for these people.

That's what I mean when I say your world's not shrinking.

You got to push it back.

Otherwise, it's just going to shrink down.

And when you say world, you're going to think about all the things you prefer and all the things you want, not what God came to save.

Fourth thing we see in the text is just this constant definition.

Verse 23.

Verse 23, what do you mean the constant definition?

Over and over and over, Jesus, all through the gospels, he speaks of his life, death, resurrection in terms of how much glory it'll bring to God.

Oftentimes he sums up what is to come by simply saying glorified.

And this is a great example in verse 23.

And Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

If you had to pick one word, maybe you could play this game tonight before you go to bed.

You could just with your family.

If you had to pick one word to describe your life, what one word would you want it to be?

Jesus, it was always glorified.

He said, Hey, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.

But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

He's saying, Hey, I didn't come for myself.

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

I came to die, to fall to the ground and die.

Why?

Because I want to bear much fruit.

Whoever loves his life loses it.

Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also.

If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

You ain't got to worry about honor.

I mean, you ain't got to worry about recognition.

Because God says, I'll give you honor.

So what do you mean, this constant definition?

All through, don't turn there, but in John chapter 7, about verse 39, Jesus stands up on the last and greatest day of the feast and says, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink, and out of his inmost being will flow rivers of living water.

John 7 · chapter mention

And by that he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed on him were later to receive, because Jesus had yet to be glorified.

There's that word.

He's referred, Jesus is yet to be glorified.

What?

He's yet to be killed, to be buried, and to rise again from the dead.

Then we have this in John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

If you look at the very next chapter, John chapter 13, about verse 31, there in the upper room.

John 13 · chapter mention

Jesus has dipped the bread in the cup and handed it to Judas, and Judas has gotten up and left, and Jesus says, Whatever you do, doest thou quickly.

And then Jesus looks at the other 11 and says, Now is the Son of Man glorified.

You see, here's the thing: Facebook has taught us to think about life in terms of our status.

The Bible invites us to think about life in terms of our context.

What is the context by which you do life?

And for Jesus, it was the glory of God.

So he could be betrayed by one of his disciples and he didn't freak out and melt down.

He just said, whatever you do, do quickly.

Why?

Because the glory of my God is bigger than the plans of men.

So go do whatever you got to do, Judas.

And all the other 11 are kind of like, whoa, what just happened?

He keeps talking about this thing, this glory.

Why?

Because that's the constant definition of his life.

In life and in death, he doesn't stop.

This is what he's most passionate about.

And the way you define glory determines the path your life will take.

I'm gonna say that to you every chance I get.

You say, I don't know what that means.

I got a question for you.

Have you been around Norm West lately?

That kooky old fool, that'll make you a little spooky, won't it?

And I say kooky old fool in the best of way.

I love to call over Norman friends and say, hey, you got any homebaked desserts?

Y'all stop taking store-bought desserts over there.

I like homebaked desserts, okay?

That's my favorite kind.

So I go over there.

I'd love to be around Norm because if you don't know, if you're visiting our church today, Norm and his wife friend are retired missionaries from Turkey.

Norm's not really retired.

He's still going at it because the world hadn't shrunk on that cat.

He's still on the internet sharing the gospel with Turks every day.

He's been diagnosed with cancer.

They said, Listen, it's bad.

You eat up.

You got two months.

He went to the doctor the other day.

They said, maybe four months.

And every time it comes up, if you're around, it's a little unsettling because you realize he's a little bit more excited about heaven than you are.

And I love to sit in the room and watch everybody get uncomfortable.

As he says, Well, as he's drinking his Turkish tea or the stuff he calls tea, that's not really tea.

I think it's moonshine, by the way.

It ain't tea.

You don't put sprite in tea.

That ain't tea Norm West.

Well, this is my special tea.

And so he goes, Well, you know, if it's two months or four months, I can't wait to be with Jesus.

And everybody in the room is kind of like, huh?

Me too.

You took the words right out of my mouth, Norm.

No, he didn't.

My favorite thing is to see single people get around him.

Because you know how small a single person's world can get?

Their first thought is, oh God, not before my honeymoon.

No.

No.

I've been saving myself.

Somebody even asked me the other day, I said, hey man, you spend any time around Norm?

Yeah.

I like to go there and give Norm the needle.

Because everybody changes the way they relate to people when they're dying.

They start talking to them like this.

Like you're going to break them if you talk to them normal.

I just walk up and go, Norm, have you missed me lately?

Oh, brother, grace and peace in the Lord Jesus.

Yeah, yeah, whatever.

Tell me how much you miss me.

Well, not that much, actually.

What am I saying?

Hey, here's the context of the way he's done life.

It's the glory of God.

And I said, the guy said, Hey, have you been around?

Yeah.

What do you make of that?

I said Philippians 1.21.

He goes, All right, I don't know what that means.

What that says, what does that say?

For me to live is Christ and to die is a game.

That's Norm West.

I feel kind of bad because I'm not that excited about going to heaven.

Hey, I there's a lot of days.

Let me be honest.

I'm not excited about going to.

I don't think I want to go to I'm supposed to go to Alabama and play golf for three days.

I'm excited about that.

I want to go to heaven too, but I want to go to Alabama first.

So I'm with you.

I go and I'm kind of like, you know what?

And I walk away and God says, no, just live for my glory.

That's all He's done.

Don't worship Norm.

Just live for my glory.

See, that's where this constant definition.

Fifthly and finally, what do you see?

You see obedience in the context of a troubled heart.

Look at verse 27.

Obedience in the context of a troubled heart.

Now is my soul troubled.

And now, look at me, beloved.

That's a truest statement.

That's as true as anything else in the Bible.

A lot of people try to say, well, you know, Jesus wasn't worried.

Hey, this is that kind of paralyzing fear that gets a hold of you.

You know what I'm talking about?

See, the Bible says that we do not have a high priest who cannot associate with our sufferings, but he was in all points tempted as we were, and yet without sin.

He can relate to what we go through.

So when you get panic stricken, I have a friend that suffers panic attacks.

We were in a movie one night one night and he just goes, I gotta get out of here.

I gotta get out of here.

And I was like, fire in the hole, look out, people.

You try to get somebody out of a pack movie theater, and this one guy's like, you know, and people try to just move their feet to the side.

No, stand up, fold your seat up, and back up.

Because my buddy's just tromping over people.

Because he just had, it just comes on him.

Jesus says, My heart is troubled.

And I picture my friend climbing over people in the movie theater.

Everybody looking kind of like, what?

What?

I'm like, this ain't gonna be good unless we get outside and look at the stars, okay?

Jesus says, My heart is troubled.

Why does Jesus say his heart is troubled?

Because look at me.

You're gonna find yourself in situations where your heart's gonna be troubled.

You're gonna find yourself in circumstances where you just want to hit the panic button.

Or you're like, I don't care if this is right or wrong, I want relief.

Hosanna, save me now.

And you'll say it to anybody you think can save you.

My heart is troubled.

What shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour.

So you gotta have something bigger than your circumstance, or else you'll cave in every time.

But for this purpose, I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify your name.

See, we must outgrow a life where we where what we do is ruled by how we feel.

Let me say that again.

You gotta outgrow a life where what we do is ruled by how we feel.

That person accomplishes very little of significance, if anything, in this life.

And so what I'd like to do is just kind of close by focusing on this prayer for Holy Week.

And I'd like you and I to pray it today.

I want you to pray it tonight.

I want you to pray it tomorrow morning.

Students, when you get home tonight after you goof off all day, and about 10:30, you go, Oh, I got homework.

Sit down to do your homework and just say out loud, Father, glorify your name.

Father, glorify your name.

That's what he says.

What shall I say?

My heart is my soul is troubled within me.

What shall I say?

Save me?

No, this is the very purpose that I came.

Jesus left heaven and came to earth knowing that this day would come, so it doesn't catch him off guard.

And it's so horrible.

The cross is so vexing.

The sin of the world is so depraved and ugly.

The Son of God, God with skin on him, was troubled at the prospect of dealing with it.

And so, how do you get through things when your soul is troubled?

You pray this prayer of Holy Week.

Father, glorify your name.

Three things in this simple four words.

Number first of all, Father, it's a relationship.

He's your dad.

He's your dad.

Every once in a while, my kids forget how great I am.

What a benevolent dictator I am.

And they come up to me and they say things like, uh, well, dad, uh, uh.

And I just interrupt them before they even get it out.

I just interrupt them, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Why are you talking to me this way?

Kind of like, uh, eh, uh, uh, uh, what are you, Oliver?

More, more?

I'm the greatest man you know.

Say that after me.

Okay, you're the greatest man I know.

No, say it like you mean it.

Okay, you're the greatest man I know.

No, no, no.

What do you want?

Just come in.

I I'm your dad.

And they think I'm being silly.

I'm not.

I don't want my kids to be 30 and pray prayers like, uh, Lord, uh, uh, if you're not real busy on Tuesday, I've got a big sales call.

Could you put some fairy dust on that?

Because you know, I just don't want to bother you too much.

Thank you.

Bye.

I want them to pray like they're talking to their Heavenly Father, because they are.

There's nothing you can't tell your dad.

That's nothing I tell my kids.

And they just look at me like, you told us this two weeks ago.

We haven't forgotten.

There's nothing you can't tell your dad.

You know that, right?

Yeah?

I know.

Jesus says, Father, relationship, glorify.

That's the goal.

That's the goal.

Say, what do you mean?

1 Corinthians 10, verse 31.

1 Corinthians 10:31

Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God.

It is your nature to fall short of the glory of God, and it is God's nature to restore you to the standard of God's glory.

Finally, your name.

Father, glorify your name.

That's the standard.

Your name, not my name.

Our flesh wants our name to be glorified.

Oh man, we are like the people in Genesis 11.

We want to build a tower into the heavens and make a name for ourselves.

We want to start a business and show everybody in the same business how they missed out by not hiring us.

And God says, Hey, you can be in business to the glory of God.

Might be a little bit different.

God's always placed a high value on his name.

Psalm 138, verse 2 says, of the Lord, God says, I've I've exalted above all things my name and my word, one of the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Psalms 138:2

When the disciples said Jesus teaches how to pray, he said, When you pray, pray thusly, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, hallowed, set apart, holy, sacred, other than something unique about this, Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

There's no name given in heaven, and there's no name given among men whereby which men should be saved except the name of Jesus.

And these people that cry out, Hosanna, save me from my circumstance.

They didn't want God to save them from themselves.

And so when their circumstance changed, their confession changed, and it went from Hosanna to crucify him for not doing what I need him to do for me.

And beloved, the church in America has attracted the same kinds of people.

And this Savior of ours who rides in on a donkey says, Hey, you sin and fall short of the glory of God.

That's your nature, but my nature is to restore to you a life that can be lived for the glory of God.

That's why we pray on the first Sunday of Holy Week.

Father, glorify your name.

Stand to your feet, let me speak a blessing over you.

Hold your hands out.

You have been redeemed.

You've been reclaimed.

That gets a little closer.

You've been paid for.

And he paid for you because he wants to spend the rest of your life enjoying you.

Depart now.

And spend the rest of your life enjoying him.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you, you dismiss.