Rejoicing in Christ

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Why don't we bow our heads and pray for God's help.

! Our gracious Lord, we thank you for your word.

! And this morning we ask, Lord, that as we have listened to your word read and as we listen to it being expounded,

so, Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would infect our minds.

And, Lord, we thank you that your written word always brings us to your living word, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

So, Matthew's Gospel in verse 10, we read this important question.

Jesus entered Jerusalem, we're told, the whole city was stirred and asked, who is this?

I suppose one of the things that you really need to learn as you navigate your way through life is how to deal with disappointment.

I don't think there would be a soul in this church who, at some point, doesn't experience disappointment.

Some of it is relatively superficial stuff.

I'm very disappointed when my football team doesn't win.

Maybe there was a present you wanted for your birthday or at Christmas and it never arrived and you feel disappointed.

Sometimes that disappointment can feel really deep.

inside of you.

I remember when I was a 16-year-old boy, I had played football at District and had trials with a couple of teams

and finally ended up playing in a trials match for Manchester City, which, truthfully, I hate, but that's another story.

And I thought I played really well.

And then I was given the news, you will never play in what we used to call the first division.

And even now, as I recall that, I can feel the sense of disappointment in the pit of my stomach.

All I ever wanted to be was a professional footballer.

Then there's that really hard issue of disappointment when we feel that other people have let us down.

And it's truly disappointing, isn't it?

In the Scottish version of the Daily Mail, on the 19th of March,

and let me explain, I was in Scotland,

there was an article in the middle of it.

There's a little section in the middle which is aimed at women.

It's called female, M-A-I-L.

And the heading was,

Why do so many middle-aged women

find their husbands repulsive?

Don't put your hands up.

Apparently, this is based on some data that somebody got together.

And you can imagine what that tells you.

There must be a lot of women who are quite disappointed

with the way things ended up.

And then, just this last week,

Anthony and I were away together.

And I had no idea this person was showing up on the trip we were on.

He was a man who used to be a teacher of theology

and then became a very effective minister of a church.

Had thousands of people.

He's got a lovely wife.

And when I met him,

I used to really look up to him

when I was a young clergy person.

And when I met him,

I could tell he was just a little guarded with me

and I didn't understand it.

And I got close to saying to him,

You know, have I disappointed you in some way in the past?

You know, I couldn't quite get this.

Anyway, as I told him,

it slowly came out

that he doesn't do any ministry anymore.

He gave up many years ago.

I then discovered he goes nowhere near a church

and nor does his wife.

And I took a little service on this trip we were on

on Sunday morning.

And I noticed that he,

it would be the equivalent

of sitting at the back of the church

with your back to me.

That was his body language.

And I was really disappointed.

This is a man who was,

if you like,

a kind of spiritual hero in my mind.

And his faith was nowhere now.

I was disappointed.

One of the things that,

if you've not learned it,

you really do need to learn it.

And that is to navigate your way through this life.

You need to learn to process disappointment

in a way that doesn't damage you for life.

You know,

there are a lot of people

who are made very bitter

by disappointment.

And you know,

the problem with bitterness is this.

That when somebody meets you

who's never met you before,

they will work out you are bitter

within two minutes of meeting you.

Bitterness,

I think,

is one of the hardest things to hide.

So we come to this passage.

It's Palm Sunday today.

We come to this passage

where Jesus entered Jerusalem.

Clearly,

it was a moment of exaltation.

The crowds threw their cloaks on the ground.

They cut down branches from palm trees

and threw them on the ground.

This symbolized

the importance,

in secular terms,

of somebody of high rank

or royalty.

And yet,

just a few days later,

the same crowd shouted,

crucify.

And we can judge their fickleness.

Of course we can.

But then,

we have to ask ourselves,

is that fickleness

something that's in me?

And,

sometimes I wonder

if it is in me.

Just a few days later,

they shouted,

crucify.

Why did

a potential coronation

become a crucifixion?

That's a great question.

Dorothy L. Sayers

wrote a

piece for

radio.

Initially,

it was turned into a book

called,

The Man Born to be King.

And in that book,

she gave

quite a plausible

explanation

of why it was

that Judas

turned against Jesus.

She said,

he turned against Jesus

because

he was disappointed.

His expectations

were let down.

Judas thought,

with the crowd,

as we shall see,

Judas thought,

that Jesus

had come

to lead

a political

revolution.

And he hadn't.

And Jesus

gave a few

signs of this,

didn't he?

He came riding

on a donkey.

I mean,

I can't imagine

what the media

would make

of the trooping

of the colour

if all the dignitaries

were sitting on donkeys.

I don't think

that would work

too well.

Could it be

that the crowd,

jubilant on Palm Sunday,

became a jeering mob

on Good Friday?

Why?

Because

they felt let down.

Of course,

Jesus

didn't go out

of his way.

He upset them.

The next story

in Matthew's Gospel

is Jesus

goes into

the temple courts

and starts

smashing everything up.

Would this be

the behaviour

of a political

revolution?

Well, it may be,

but I doubt it.

No, this

was an ugly scene

that developed

from a wonderful

moment.

And just by

way of

explanation,

you will remember

that at this time,

Judah and Israel

were occupied

by the Romans.

63 BC,

the Roman

Emperor

Pompey

attacked

Jerusalem

and took it

over

and remained

there.

We know it was

the run-up

to the Passover.

Roland Deveau,

in his brilliant

History of the

Old Testament,

tells us

that it's possible

that there were

two million Jews

in Jerusalem

in the run-up

to the Passover.

And when you

think about that,

it's pretty likely

that no more

than 10%

of that crowd

had ever heard

of Jesus.

They'd be spread

all over the place.

They'd have come

from miles away.

Maybe,

very likely,

the Jews in

Jerusalem

had heard about

Jesus.

Maybe some of them

out in the

diaspora,

the surrounding

areas.

But many of them

would never have

heard the name.

And of course,

one of the things

we know,

or you know,

if you're a student

of crowd psychology,

is that if one

small section

of a crowd

starts to behave

in a certain way,

it catches on,

it's infectious,

and everybody

does it.

So there were

people there,

very lightly,

throwing their coats

on the ground,

chucking down palms,

who didn't really

understand what

was happening.

The kind of thought,

this is political.

News travels fast

in a crowd.

And this promised

king to fulfill

the prophecy

of Zechariah,

Zechariah 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9

and verse 9,

comes riding

on a donkey.

I mean,

in a way,

you have to laugh,

don't you?

This was the moment.

This was the moment

that they believed

that Jesus was coming

to lead a political

revolution.

Make no mistake

about this,

this was a political

demonstration.

How do we know that?

Save,

Hosanna means

save now.

That was a political

slogan.

That was like

people standing

outside hospitals

saying,

what do we want?

More money,

when do we want it

now?

Save now.

Save us

from the Roman

oppressors.

And that's not

what Jesus

came to do.

So I want to say

to you

three things

about this,

which I hope

will be helpful

for you.

The first thing is,

never put on

others a role

which is not

theirs.

political demo.

They were putting

onto Jesus

the role

of a political

king,

not a spiritual

messiah.

Surely,

this is an

indication

that the crowd's

expectation

was that Jesus

would lead a

revolution

against the

Romans.

150 years

earlier,

a Jewish

man named

Judas Maccabees

had tried

to overthrow

the Seleucid

empire which

held power

in Jerusalem

at the time

and failed

spectacularly.

People

remembered that.

Don't put

onto others

a role

that is not

theirs.

Do you know,

all through

my life,

I've met

young adults

who've been

messed up

because of

the expectations

their parents

put upon them.

They had a

very clear

career route

for their

child.

Some of

them would

even say,

God has

shown us

this is the

career route

for our

child,

but unfortunately

God had

never told

the child.

Don't put

onto others

a role

that is not

theirs.

It's not

uncommon

in marriage.

that

people

who have

a propensity

to control

will place

on others

an expectation

which is

unreasonable

and unfair.

And of

course,

another example

of this would

be the

ruling

classes.

We all have

an idea of

what they

should do

for us

and we

feel let

down.

I mean,

you've only

got to open

the pages

of the

printed media

at the

moment to

see.

There is

huge

frustration

with the

ruling

classes.

Maybe

you feel

that.

But then

just a little

closer to

home.

On the

16th of

April,

we shall

welcome

Simon

and

Amy

Durrant

as our

new

vicar

and

spouse.

I often

think it

would be

a good

thing

to have

a short

seminar

in churches.

Clergy are

taught a lot

about arriving

in a new

parish.

But

congregations

not so

much.

Ought

we to

be

thinking

about

how we

receive

the

person

who we

believe

God has

appointed

to be

our new

spiritual

leader.

This is

about

expectations.

Christ's

church will

not be

the same.

It

would be

easy for

us to

keep a

load of

expectations

upon a

new

vicar.

That

would be

unfair.

And let

me tell

you,

I know

this,

you know,

I've

been

one.

Not

everybody

likes

the

new

vicar.

I went

to a

parish,

on the

whole,

it went

really well,

but in

the early

days,

a man

came to

see me.

And he

said to

me,

I'd like

to put

myself

forward to

be

church

warden.

He said,

I have

such

respect for

your

authority.

authority.

And I

thought,

call me

cynical if

you like,

I thought

to myself,

if he

accepts my

authority,

why is he

banging on

about it?

I didn't

just get

on with

it.

This

is a

guy who

wrote to

the local

paper,

call me a

liar and

a hypocrite,

because I

would not

agree to

make him a

church

warden of

our

church.

He's

trying to

get a

load of

people to

leave the

church with

him,

and thank

God

failed.

We want

to welcome

Simon.

We want

to give

him the

space to

be the

leader that

God wants

him to

be in

our

presence.

Some of

us won't

like it.

Here's my

advice,

stick with

it.

Give

him a

chance.

Somebody

on the

radio this

morning I

was listening

to basically

said,

we should

give all

new leaders

a chance.

don't

judge

prematurely.

It's a

mistake.

The second

thing is,

don't give

up when

your

expectations

are

shattered.

Historians

tell us

two million

people were

in Jerusalem

for the

Passover.

How about

this?

When Jesus

ascended into

heaven,

we're told

that there

were 120

disciples

left in

Jerusalem.

A lot

of people

obviously

felt so

let down

they just

gave up.

We know

this happened

in the

Bible.

In John

John 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6

we're told

there that

the disciples

of Jesus,

some of

them muttered

together and

said,

this teaching

is too

hard.

Six verses

later it

says that

a lot of

the disciples

turned back.

Think of

my friend,

the spiritual

hero I

was telling

you about

earlier in

this message.

Don't

give up.

Don't

give up in

your marriage

if your

expectations

are not

being met.

Please

don't give

up with

your children

if your

expectations

are not

met.

This is

critical

to

growing

up.

See,

I think

it's an

immature

thing.

My

father used

to have

a phrase,

you know

the kind

of person

you play

in a

game or

something

like that

and they

get

stroppy

and walk

off in

a

strop.

My

father used

to call

that

attitude,

my

back,

my

ball,

my

stumps,

I'm

going

home.

That's

not for

us.

We're the

people of

God.

It's not

meant to be

like that.

We're not

meant to

cause

division in

churches

because we

put expectations

on a

leader.

Don't do

it.

And the

disciples

in John

6 say

this is

hard

teaching.

Surely

that is

a question

mark to

the easy

believism

that is

counterfeit

religion

and runs

wild in

our time.

being a

disciple

is a

tough

call.

It's

not easy

believism.

In

Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10

and verse

39,

the writer

of the

epistle

to the

Hebrews,

who I

remind you

is writing

to Jewish

people who've

left the

synagogue to

become

Christians

and at

this period

were thinking

of going

back to

the synagogue.

Hebrews

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10

says this,

right?

May this

be true of

us friends

this morning.

But we

are not of

those who

shrink back

and are

destroyed,

but of

those who

believe and

are saved.

See,

persistence

is a big

New Testament

word.

Don't give

up when

your expectations

are shattered.

And finally,

Jesus came

to save

us,

not from

the enemy

out there,

but from

the enemy

within.

Not from

the oppressive

Roman government

at the time

of Jesus.

Not from

the things

that are

outside us

that we

collude with

and sometimes

get addicted

to.

No,

Jesus came

to deal

with the

enemy

inside of

me.

My sin,

my wrongdoing,

all have

sinned and

fall short.

Of the

glory of

God.

That's

you and

me,

friends.

And we

might try

and blame

others,

we might

try and

blame anybody,

but at

the end

of the

day,

it tells

us in

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18,

when the

Jews are

finding an

excuse for

their plight

in exile,

and they're

going around

muttering

together,

saying,

the fathers

have eaten

sour grapes,

and the

children's

teeth are

set on

edge.

In other

words,

we're not

in exile

because it's

our fault,

it's our

parents.

You've

heard that

one before.

No,

says God,

the soul

that sins

will surely

die.

Jesus

didn't come

to save us

from the

enemy,

he came

to save

us from

the enemy

we're in.

that we

might become

inheritors

of his

promises,

that we

might become

members of

the kingdom

of God.

Today,

you're going

to be

given one

of these.

I'd like to

think you

might put it

somewhere

prominently in

your home to

remind you of

the cost that

Jesus paid,

that your sin

could be

forgiven,

and you

could be

free to be

a disciple.

a

cross.

Why a

cross?

And one

level, a

symbol of

huge failure.

That's why

when Jesus

was arrested,

that's why

when he

smashed up

the temple,

that's why

people lost

confidence that

this really was

the person

that they

could put

their trust

in.

And you

might be

sitting there

thinking,

well, I've

got plenty

of reasons

for not

putting my

trust in

Jesus.

Jesus came

to help

you with

the enemy

within,

your wrongdoing,

your sinfulness.

How does

that happen?

It happens

on a cross.

I remember

that wonderful,

wonderful

old

Lenten hymn.

Glory be

to Jesus,

who in

bitter pains

poured for

me the

lifeblood

from his

sacred veins.

Grace and

life eternal

in that

blood I

find.

Blessed be

his

compassion,

infinitely

kind.

This may

be for

you.

a day

of

decision.

Maybe

you need

to stop

pressing a

role on

somebody

close to

you,

which is

not their

role at

all.

Maybe

you need

to stop

that.

Maybe

you need

to learn

a little

persistence.

Don't

stop when

your

expectations

are let

down.

Try and

ask yourself

this question,

what is

God trying

to teach

me?

And

finally,

remember

Jesus came

to save

the enemy

within.

God's

mercy

is

overflowing

says

scripture.

I am

so grateful

for that.

St.

Paul wrote

that he

was the

chief of

sinners.

I think

I could

run him

a pretty

close

second.

Turn

your mind

back

to that

hot and

dusty

day.

On

that

Palm

Sunday,

what would

you be

shouting?

What would

you be

thinking?

where would

you be?

Who is

this

Jesus?

The

crowd

asked.

That's a

great

question.

And for

those of

you who

don't know

Jesus,

here's my

advice.

Remember

he loves

you though

you don't

deserve it

and make

a decision

to follow

him.

Ask him

to forgive

you for

the enemy

within which

has driven

you to

behaviours

that you

really ought

to be

ashamed

of.

Tell

him

from

today

onwards

you will

trust

him.

And

believe

me,

your

life

will

never

ever

be the

same.

Not

in this

life

and not

into

eternity.

come on

Jesus,

save

now.

Not from

our

government

or from

anything

outside of

us,

but save

us from

the

consequences

of our

sin.

That one

day we

shall meet

you face

to face

in heaven

and live

in eternity

with you.

In the name

of that

amazing God,

Father,

Son,

and Holy

Spirit.

And the

people who

agreed said

together.

Amen.