More Than A Conqueror!

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More Than A Conqueror!

Contributed by Paul Johnson on Mar 16, 2008 (message contributor)

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Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11

Denomination: Methodist

Summary: This sermon encourages everyone to rejoice because we are more than conquerors do to the love of Christ Jesus.

Sermon Title – More than a Conqueror!

Sermonic Text - Matthew 21:1-11

As a pastor I cannot endorse any candidate for President. I think America is very fortunate this year in that any of the remaining three candidates would probably make a good president. Given the intense scrutiny and voracity of attacks you receive when you run for president of any country I believe you must either be crazy, overly ambitious or most likely you truly feel you are doing what God has called you to do if you seek the highest office in the land.

I must admit that not so long ago I was concerned that Senator Barack Obama would be killed because he is of African descent. But, should the fear of death ever dissuade us from pursuing with passion that which God has called us to do? Should we ever try and prolong our life by keeping silent in a world that is saying all the wrong things and doing all the wrong things? Should we ever try and circumvent death by avoiding the city where God has called us to make a stand for mercy, justice and righteousness?

We should not try to delay death or discomfort just because it will make us feel good and enjoy this life. There is a Hymn that says: Must Jesus bear the cross alone, and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.

We all have a role to play in the building of God’s Kingdom. But, do we spend the majority of our time, money and energy seeking to buy houses, cars and clothes we cannot afford and do not need or do we study, pray and obey when God tells us to do our part in the building of His Kingdom? If we love God, truly love God we should be willing to trust and obey God no matter what our circumstances happen to be or what we will believe the consequences will be as a result of submitting to God’s will.

So my assignment today is to encourage everyone under the sound of my voice to rejoice because we serve Christ Jesus who is more than a Conqueror! And, because God loves us we are more than conquerors? Amen!

In today’s text we find Jesus preparing to go to Jerusalem. He is preparing to enter the city where his life will end. Can you imagine knowing the place and time of your death? Can you imagine knowing you would be beaten, whipped and scourged if you continued on your journey? Can you imagine continuing on your journey even though you knew your journey would lead to death on a cross? If we are honest with ourselves and honest with God we will admit that Jerusalem is the last place we would go if we knew what Jesus knew. And yet, Jesus sends two of his disciples to a village to get a donkey and a colt. They bring them back to Jesus and He rides the colt into Jerusalem thus fulfilling the prophecy of the O.T. prophet Zechariah. 500 years earlier, just as Israel was emerging from Babylon captivity Zechariah prophesized:

9Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

This leads me to my first point.

Point #1 - Jesus is a prophets – Prophet!

Jesus fulfilled hundred’s of O.T. prophecies concerning the coming Messiah and those prophecies that were not fulfilled will be fulfilled at His second coming. Jesus not only fulfilled most of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah but He also brought forth prophetic messages during His earthly ministry.

But, what is a prophet and what is prophecy? Let me be clear prophecy is not fortune-telling. While prophets are in a way future-tellers, they are also concerned with the future as it impacts the present. Prophesy is now and always has been a ministry.

Noted O.T. scholar, Walter Brueggemann in his book entitled, The Prophetic Imagination says: “The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.”

Jesus’ announcement that the Kingdom of God is at hand is prophetic. It is prophesy in that through Jesus, the Kingdom of God was brought into this world but it does not yet rule this world. The Kingdom of God is already present but not yet fully realized.

Jesus functioned as a prophet in His teaching. Jesus told stories that had relevance for the future even as they impacted the present situation of the marginalized people who were oppressed by the Jewish religious authorities and the Roman government.

Jesus functioned as a prophet in his very presence with people who had been kicked to the curb by the dominant culture. Just by hanging out with prostitutes, tax-collectors and lepers he brought forth a prophetic indictment against the royal consciousness of His society.

As followers of Christ we too are called to do what Jesus did. Jesus loves everyone. But during his earthly ministry he most often demonstrated His love for the oppressed. He walked with the oppressed, He talked with the oppressed and He Healed the Oppressed. In short, even in the midst of His prophetic ministry Jesus served his community and He did it in a humble way.

Point #2 – Jesus is a servants – Servant!!

As Christians we are to follow Christ example and be humble servants. God chose us we did not choose God. God elected us not because we are so good but because He is so good. God did not elect us so that we can emulate the oppressor. God did not bring us into His kingdom as Christians so that we can be comfortable.

I don’t believe God wants us to name and claim every material possession we want by faith. It is good and Biblical to accumulate wealth and pass it on to the next generation. But, it is also Biblical to bring forth your first fruits to God’s storehouse. Yes, God wants us to have love, peace and joy in our lives. But our comfort and the comfort of our family should not be the sole consideration in the way we spend our money. Do you serve God with your money or do you serve yourself with the money God blesses you with? Do you give at least 10% of your income as soon as you receive it or do you pay most of your bills and then sacrifice to give God some of what remains? Most people don’t tithe because they don’t believe they can afford to give God 10% and live on the remaining 90% He has blessed them with. The devil is a liar there is a more excellent way! Try trusting God and serving Him through tithing. We should never be so focused on the pursuit of earthly pleasure and happiness that we forget that we are called to be servants of the least and left out of our society.

But serving God is so much more than giving money. Serving God also means that we give up our most precious commodity, which is our time. Jesus died when He was in His mid-thirties and even though he knew his earthly ministry would only last about three years he took time to be with people who were hurting. Jesus took time to feed the hungry! Jesus took time to heal the afflicted! Jesus took time to console those who mourned! We need to take time to make a difference in our families, our faith community and the communities we live in.

We live in a frenetic society. Everyone is busy and getting busier everyday. But, lets pause for a moment and ask ourselves this question? Is it worth it? Let me share with you a story I received from one of my friends in ministry:

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his son waiting for him at the door. His son said, ’Daddy, may I ask you a question?’ The father said, ’Yeah sure, what it is?’ ’Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’ His dad angrily said, ’That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ The little boy said, ’I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’ Well, ’If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’ ’Oh,’ the little boy replied, with his head down. Then he said, ’Daddy, may I please borrow $25?’

At this point the father became furious, “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed and think about why you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard everyday for such childish nonsense.” The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Well, maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25 and he really doesn’t ask for money very often. So, the man went to the door of his son’s room and opened the door. “Are you asleep, son?” He asked. “No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy. “I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier. It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation out on you. Here’s the $25 you asked for.”

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. “Oh, thank you daddy!”

he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man saw that the boy already had money, so he started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, all the while his father was getting angrier and angrier. Finally, the little boy finished and looked up at his father. ”Why do you want more money if you already have some?”, his father said as he tried to calm down. “Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied. “Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to be with you.” The father began to cry. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his son’s forgiveness.

This story is just a reminder to all of us who are so busy with life that we forget to take time to live. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really need us.

We have to spend time serving people in our home and in our community through our loving presence. If we die tomorrow, believe it or not the company or the church that we work for can and will easily replace us. But the family, the friends and the faith community we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

I hope you were as convicted by that story as I was. But, don’t feel condemned. There is a difference between conviction and condemnation. God may convict us from time to time to keep us focused on His agenda instead of our agenda but if we are in Christ Jesus, He does not condemn us. In fact the Bible says we are more than conquerors through Christ.

Point #3 – Jesus is a conquerors – Conqueror!!!

Notice in our text how Jesus approached Jerusalem. He came in on a colt. Not a stallion but a colt. He didn’t come in lifted up on the shoulders of the Disciples like an Egyptian Pharaoh or a Roman Caesar. But, he came in gently, on a colt, the offspring of a donkey.

Let me see if I can put this in perspective. Jesus is the focal point of what amounts to a Spiritual Pep Rally for what most of the Jews present believe will be there future King and He shows up riding in a small car instead of a Limousine. Isn’t it funny how a lot of politicians running for political office say they identify with the masses and yet if they are elected on there way to their inauguration they don’t drive themselves, like most people nor do they ride in a car similar to what most people drive. Jesus is God He could have chosen to ride in on the wings of an Eagle but instead He humbled himself and rode in on an animal most people could identify with.

As Jesus approaches Jerusalem on the day that has come to be known as Palm Sunday he was greeted with anticipation and excitement. I need you to understand that Israel had been waiting for a long, long, time for the Messiah, the Son of David, the king who would rule the world forever and forever. God had faithfully delivered Israel from many oppressors. He brought Israel up out of Egypt and Caanan- land. But, instead of rejoicing and honoring God as her King, Israel wanted a human King. Israel wanted to take on the characteristics of the dominant culture. It is something about being oppressed that makes you learn to be an oppressor. I don’t have time this morning to go into a lot of detail. But, I believe the violence that occurred in Sierra Leone and Liberia. And the violence that is still reeking havoc in Kenya, the Sudan and most of the major cities in America where Black people reside can be tied the oppressed seeking to become oppressors. There is something insidiously wrong in the black community when we value money and power more than we value human life. Have we become so enamored of the dominant culture that we will say or do anything to be like the people who oppress.

Political power or a charismatic political leader does not mean oppression will end. God honored Israel’s request and gave her a King but still God’s elect were oppressed most often they were oppressed by their king. There were also conquered and oppressed and even placed in captivity by their enemies. But, now as Jesus approaches Jerusalem the Israelites meet Him because they are sure that finally God has heard there many, many years of prayers and sent them a Conqueror who would conqueror their oppressors. Ironically, they were absolutely right. The Messiah had finally come. Their King was in their midst. Their Conqueror had finally arrived. The only problem is most them did not really know him! 10When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’ 11The crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’

As I close, let me remind you that Jesus is more than a teacher from Galilee! He is more than a prophet from Nazareth!! He is more than a Conqueror!!!