The Humility of the King: Walking as a Roaring Lamb

oh y'all are great

y'all are great whoo

wow

what an introduction thank you

what a

yeah hell yeah

Lindy and I were watching the movie

wonder with the grandkids last night

and little boy got a standing ovation

it was kind of like everyone needs a standing ovation

we all need a standing ovation

yeah

well um I

I did want to introduce um

you know when two become one

it's a new person so I guess I

I don't know if that makes you a first time visitor

if you've just got married

but um

uh Walter and Sandy Ice

would y'all stand newlyweds

first time back to church

so we're gonna we're gonna talk about Palm Sunday and

uh

and we're just going to take a laser

and circle some scriptures about Jesus

and Palm Sunday and the humanity of Jesus

the humility of Jesus

and I believe he's gonna just continue doing a work

like he already is this morning

so I hope you brought a Bible

or a Bible app or something to take notes with

we're gonna we're gonna touch on some

some familiar scriptures but also some of the deepest

and most rich and beautiful

scriptures my favorites in the Bible

so let's jump in

John 1 1 is a very in fact

someone's talked about John 1 here lately

but John 1 1 in the beginning was the word

and the word was with god

and the word was god he was in the beginning with god

all things were made through him

and without him nothing that was made was made

and in him was life and the life was the light of men

and the light

shines in the darkness

and the darkness did not comprehend it

there was a man sent from god

whose name was John this man came for a witness

to bear witness to the light

so as you all know

the the word there is talking about Jesus

the word was Jesus and so when you read it

in the beginning was Jesus

and Jesus was with god and Jesus was god

he was in the beginning with god

all things were made through him

and it's never said and it's never

no one believes it but some

I don't want there ever to creep in

that god was on the throne

eating bomb bombs

and he sent his son to do a really hard mission

no one ever says that

but it helps me to know that Jesus

as god came to earth

and Jesus as God God crawled up on a cross

to me it's more powerful

it's more powerful in the way he loves us

and Hebrews 1 3 and other verses in Colossians

it just says

Jesus was the exact representation of the father

and and Jesus in John 14:19 said

John 14:19

have you been with

have I been with you for so long a time

and you yet you have not known me Philip

the one who sent me has seen the father

so if you've seen me you've seen the father

and Jesus was like Philip

I've been with you so long

haven't you gotten that yet

so Jesus is god co equal

co eternal with the father and the spirit

as persons of the Triune God

all involved in creation

so we're not polytheist worshipping more than one God

God is one in three expressions

it's a mystery we sing that hymn

god in three persons blessed Trinity

and sometimes I wonder if god didn't just have to

that when we get to heaven

we'll find out it's much more complex than this

that it's like one of us trying to tell

teach calculus to a four year old

like you just have to dummy it down

it's a mystery

someone once said that uh

if you deny the Trinity you could lose your soul

but if you try to figure it out

you could lose your mind

it's a mystery

his ways are higher than our ways

we're describing a god who's inconveniently invisible

and lives in a timeless zone

and he makes statements that are mind boggling

like

he knew you

you were chosen before the foundation of the world

come on Steve

that's right it's kind

you know it's miss

it's difficult yeah

or you're seated with him in heavenly places right

he just jumps into the timeless zone

like that's easy for us to do

come on that's good

but I think these things for me

make the way he came even more meaningful

and there's a lion in us and there's a lamb in us

there's a roaring lamb in you

so my purpose is to open the page of the Lamb in us

the Lamb in Jesus

and the lion in us and the lion in Jesus

so let's talk about how he was humble

in different ways he was humble

his humility

shows up in one of my favorite chapters of the Bible

Isaiah 61 we talk about this a lot here

but it starts out the spirit of the Lord

God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me

to preach good tidings to the poor

he sent me to heal the broken hearted

to proclaim liberty to the captives

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound

so god comes on the scene as a person as a man

and Jesus opening up his ministry

prophesied by Isaiah 600 years earlier

and he opens he goes in

he opens the scroll

it's his inaugural address

he's reading his own mission statement

and a prophecy written 600 years ago about him today

I would pay a lot of money for that video

I would pay a lot of money to be in the room

transport me to the room

I'd pay a million dollars for that

how rich

and I can't read that scripture without emotion

and I'm not an emotional guy

but the fact that god opens up his address

opens up his mission statement

and says I'm coming from the broken

I'm coming for the hurting

I'm coming for the poor I'm coming for those bound

I'm coming for those in prison

I'm coming for you I just can't get past

who is this god

who's this one we have faith in

who's the god that chose us before the foundation

how blessed are we I can't get past it

every other faith like

you just gotta climb up to some unattainable thing

and our god comes to us and said I'm coming for you

that's right that's right

I don't know

if it doesn't bring gratitude in your heart you're dead

it it it

this week I spoke with a man

who was having to get out of his house

the lease the lease was up

he didn't have money for the

you know it's hard to change houses

like first month

second month deposit

like three months

bills were coming his business was imploding

the shame of not being able to feed your family

as a man and protect that

like I

talk to another young man this week

that got a horrible diagnosis

a young girl who's filed for divorce

and a missionary who says she feels alone

and forgotten and betrayed

the last five days

this is the human condition

this is real this is life

and our god came and said

I came for those four people

I came for you I came

think of the time when you felt most down

most hurt most betrayed most poor

and he came for us

Palm Sunday is the day we remember his humility

and how he came for us

probably the most humbling thing he did

is a term theologians called kenosis

and in Philippians 2

god he

where god just poured out

and he god gave up his divine privileges and glory

to take the form of a servant and become human

without ceasing to be god

he walked

staying god he walked

he he voluntarily set aside the divine privileges

to walk as a man that's right

to limit self limit

I'm gonna walk that's right

like you and me

how humbling

the majestic god

the king of Kings the Lord of Lords

the one who sits on the throne

the one with a word and the cosmos was created

comes and humbles himself as one of us

and opens the scroll and says

I'm coming for the hurting

it's too good

and he didn't just come as a man he came as a baby

he came totally dependent on his mama

his dad

came riding on a Colt on Palm Sunday

I

I kind of envisioned today

maybe we'll do it next year

but

all of us having palm branches all the way down here

and having John who was singing today on a cult

come through'cause 'cause he kind of looks like Jesus

I mean he gets the part

you know I don't

you don't have to be a casting guy to

but that would be a great video

the palm trees were a sign of victory

and people were throwing their

their garments their coats

their jackets on the ground throwing

and our king came on a humble donkey

if he came today I wonder what kind of car it would be

I don't wanna offend anybody

this is this is a troubling moment

I used to own a Pinto

a brown station wagon Pinto

it's as bad as it gets

or by or by hatchback VW

either 1 2 college cars that were very poor

I pulled up to a stop sign with my wife Lindy

when I was trying to impress her

in my hatchback Volkswagen

pulled up to the stop sign

and the left wheel just fell off

true story right

ouch

so Jesus

I'm offended that Jesus was in a blue hatchback VW

on Palm Sunday

I want him on a black steed

studly horse

a stallion

he was humble when he

in the last supper washed the feet of the disciples

he put a towel on his arm

and probably a towel on his thigh

and his betrayer he's washing his feet

God's even though he's a man

God's given him a word of knowledge

that this man's gonna betray him

it was a

it was a role for servants or slaves in that culture

they walked on with sandals and sand and dirt

and animals defecated in the road

and they're walking amongst all the stuff

and it was a hot sweaty

not a fun job most people's feet aren't that pretty

anyway

he's on the cross I

I just envision god willingly just got on a cross

lived a perfect life and got on a cross for us

by the time he got there I think I'd been so fed up

you know the

the whole Barabbas thing that was frustrating

we have this horrible criminal and Jesus

the perfect one and people are saying

free Barabbas free Barabbas free Barabbas

pick a guy if it was today

Jeffrey Epstein Jesus

it's no different

how humbling how humiliating

Pontius Pilate the proud one

he didn't even open his mouth to defend himself

you ever been in an argument

when you think you're really right

and kept your mouth shut I didn't think so

I haven't either hardly

I think by the time I got on the cross

was probably why god didn't have me doing it

I'd have sent down the angel armies

and toasted everybody by this time

turn with me to Isaiah 53

another fabulous scripture

in verse 3 he was despised and rejected by men

a man of sorrows acquainted with grief

and we hid it as it were our faces from him

I imagine it the scene on the cross was so rough

so harsh so terrible

it's kind of like when we

the closest thing maybe we've seen to that

is watching The Passion of the Christ

you know it's a movie you don't really watch twice

right

it's one of those I'm glad I saw it

but I'm not rushing to watch it again

cause we hit our faces from it was too hard to watch

Shirley has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows

we have esteemed him stricken

smitten by god and afflicted

he was wounded for our transgressions

bruised for our iniquities

the chastisement for our peace was upon him

he even paid the price for your peace on the cross

there's no peace without the Prince of peace

he purchased your peace on the cross

and by his stripes we were healed

we didn't just get saved on the cross

he purchased our healing on the cross

we like sheep

have gone astray can you say amen

amen we've turned everyone to our own way

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all

I can't imagine the sins of all mankind

from beginning to today to the future laid on him

my god my god why have you forsaken me

my brain doesn't comprehend

I want us to feel his humility

a goal of mine I wanna feel it

he wasn't a victim he willingly gave himself

he could have called the angel armies down any moment

there's no one like him

this uh

theme of being a lion and a lamb

I've been thinking about for weeks and weeks

and then a couple of weeks ago

ran across Lafe Hetland's book

the heart of roaring lambs

isn't that a beautiful saying

roaring lambs

you're a roaring lamb

have you ever read something so well

and you're you're saying well

I'd like to just reiterate that

but you can't say it as well as he wrote it

and so I don't like to read things to you

but I can't say it better than he wrote it

so I'm gonna read a page or two to you

it's really powerful

occasionally we see the lion calming storms

casting out demons

rebuking hypocritical religious leaders

preaching powerful words to multitudes

or overturning the tables of money changers

but mostly we see the lamb

that's the nature of the kenosis

the emptying the humble service

that LED Jesus to the altar of sacrifice

as the lamb he was laid in a manger

escaped the wrath of a vicious lion

who slaughtered the babies of Bethlehem

fled with his family as a refugee

and was raised in the humble home of a craftsman

as the Lamb he grew in wisdom and stature

and in favor with god and man

not by asserting his rights or displaying his deity

but submitting to his parents and being full of Grace

as a lamb he hungered

thirsted got tired

felt pain and wept as a human

and after he wept as a lamb

he raised the dead to life

as a lion

he wept for Lazarus and he raised Lazarus

he was a LA he was a lamb he was a lion

as a lamb he put on the garments of a servant

and humbly washed the dirty feet of his disciples

and then he stood up and taught

with the authority of a lion

as a lamb he offered prayers with loud crying and tears

and he sweated drops of blood one agonizing night

and he stood as determined and dignified as a lion

before his accusers

as a lamb he chose the Father's eternal will

over his own immediate desires

and in embracing the Father's will

he laid down his life

not because anyone took it from him

but because he gave it willingly

and not for any other motive

than the greatest love anyone can have

he chose to become a grain of wheat

that falls into the ground and dies

in order to produce a great harvest

as the lamb he was despised and rejected

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief

he carried our sorrows

he was wounded for our transgressions

and he was LED as a lamb to the slaughter

and as a lamb

he cried out from the cross in his pain and humility

for god to forgive his tormentors

promise life to a thief provide care for his mother

express his thirst and his forgiveness

and declare that his work was finished

and commend his spirit into the hands of his father

amen

out of the ugliest most painful kind of death

the lamb demonstrated the beauty and power of love

and revealed the heart of god

and then he rose from the dead like a lion

to eternal kingship and glory

that's the nature of the roaring lamb

and for this as the scripture says

god highly exalted him

and gave him the name above all names

to which every knee will bow

and every tongue will confess he is Lord

Jesus in you says yes and amen

the Holy Spirit in you says

that's my god

that's the Lamb

in John's vision in the book of revelation

the roaring lamb is worthy of all worship

and seated on the throne it's the lion who prevails

to open the scroll with seven seals

but it's the slain lamb at the center of the throne

who comes and opens it

multitudes gather around the throne to worship the Lamb

and declare the self salvation he accomplished

the Lamb overcomes evil kings

because he is Lord of Lords and king of kings

he welcomes his bride

to the marriage supper of the Lamb

and his glory illuminates the city of god forever

that's why God's lions roar with the heart of a lamb

we are orphans who inherit sonship

we serve in order to become great

we humble ourselves to be exalted

we surrender ourselves to become free

we die in order to live

what a great god we serve

he's worthy of our passionate worship every

every week every day

he's so good to us

you know he rode in on a donkey

but when he got to the temple

he turned over the tables

he was a lion when he turned the tables

he was a lamb riding on the donkey

when he wept he was a lamb

and when he raised Lazarus he was a lion

when he crawled on a cross

he was a lamb

on Easter next Sunday

he was a lion

you know there have been a lot of sermons preached

and I tried to figure out

how many sermons have been preached

in the history of the world

if you Google how many churches there are

it says somewhere between 4 million and 37 million

what kind of answer is that

like how do you get paid for that job

it's like I want that job

it's like the weatherman it's a 50% chance of rain

like you get paid for that

that's a job

but if there were 10 million churches

and they only preached one sermon a week

for 2,000 years

we've had a trillion sermons

that's a lot

I'm feeling really insignificant right now

but the greatest sermon was the sermon on the mount

and it started out with words like

blessed are the poor in spirit

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

if you start to put on the lens of looking for

the lion in the lamb

it's like when my son bought a red Civic Honda

all you see is red Civic Hondas

you see what you're looking for

and I've been looking for the lion

and the lamb in the word lately

and there it is blessed is poor in spirit

Lamb

for theirs is the kingdom

they possess the kingdom of heaven that's a lion

blessed are the peacemakers

land they'll be called sons of god

here's your lion

it's everywhere

but I think we're in a season just to close

of

one of my favorite verses is

he gives Grace to the humble

our movement is it

has admittedly made a few mistakes

and I love the way our leaders are owning it

and are humble

I would say there's humility flowing down right now

there's a Grace

and

you know when Chris was here

I saw another Grace gift happen in the prophetic

under the ministry of a prophet

which is talks about seeing

I saw something I've never seen

I saw something in myself that I had not seen

under the ministry of a prophet

that's not the kind of seeing I was used to

I saw this

and that was humbling wow

and I was having a

relational issue

with a very important person in my life

and in seeing and speaking with him for not very long

I began to see where I was missing

I saw where I was not seeing something before

and I think it's fair to say

that the other person had the similar experience

and when we got together for breakfast

we both decided to go in low

we had been lions

and

he gives Grace to the humble

Grace is the operational power of God

Grace I

what helps me understand Grace is

I think of it as a spiritual

tangible thing

when you read the epistles and Paul says

Grace unto you it's like he's talking about a substance

a spiritual substance that when it enters the room

something can happen now

that could not have happened a moment ago

before it came

he gives Grace to the humble

this verse has moved from a concept that I talk about

or read or understand

to faith to even a deeper place knowing

like I know he gives Grace to the humble

and we've been given a

a pattern of humility like no other in our Lord Jesus

that's right yep

if he can live that way

if he can humble himself that way

if he can be that kind of god

he can ask us to be humble and go low

because I think it's the humility

the Grace that comes with humility

that precedes the authority that comes with a lion

he was both you are both I am both

but I came out of that meeting

feeling about 20 pounds lighter

and I literally caught myself saying

I'm free I'm free I'm free

he gives Grace to the humble

so my invitation and ending it would be this

is there any area of your life that's stuck

a relationship stuck a financial thing that's stuck

something in your world that's stuck

it's just not moving

I would say there's a Grace

if you'll go lower go lower

he gives Grace to the humble

Grace is the operational power of god

there's Grace

and a wake for you to jump in and see something happen

come on that's good

I know it I feel it

the verse has become real

it's not a theory

I've felt it just in the last few weeks

he gives Grace to the humble

so Lord we

I want us to uh

feel your humanity

your humility

I want us to be grateful for the lion and the lamb

but the lamb that rode on that donkey on Palm Sunday

and humbled himself

and now is exalted above all the name

above all names the king of Kings

that humble life is now being celebrated

2,000 years later

everywhere in millions of churches

I don't know how many millions

and the invitation is if there's something

the Holy Spirit has pricked your heart and said

I want you to go low lower

I want you to humble yourself

I want you to get through this thing

I just like you to stand

if the Lord is speaking to you about that some area

so Holy Spirit

just speak to each of us

how amazing you can speak to each of us in a unique way

about what humility looks like in this situation

any area of my life that's not glistening

is under the influence of a lie

so Lord

I just say speak

tell us

what area needs do we need to go lower

we open our heart Holy Spirit

we open our hearts

unlock places that you have said you can't go

let the oil go to crevices that aren't going there

let hard hearts be softened

let us be conformed to the image of Christ

to go glory to glory come

holy one

come holy one

he gives Grace to the humble

so Lord

let your word do its work in us

we pray and all the people said amen amen

thank you for your participation