Thanks to so many here on Sermon Central for the inspiration for this sermon, I found so many sermons on "the faces in the crowd" and so many on "attitudes" that it would be very hard to single out any contributor, but thanks to all.
Palm Sunday, 2016
“Choose your attitude”
Matthew 21:1-11
Captain Call comes charging down the street on the pretty dapple gray mare
He has an intense look on his face
He is focused on a goal
A beat up old army scout is quirting Newt
And as we Know Call hates “Rude Behavior”
And he won’t tolerate it
If you know the movie Lonesome dove
You know the scene
If not it is quite likely you know the saying
“I hate rude behavior, won’t tolerate it”
Rude behavior is an attitude
And
So is not tolerating it
The topic of today’s sermon if you have not already figured it out
Is attitude
More importantly our attitude towards Jesus
We all have attitudes about the things in our lives
We can have a positive attitude
A negative attitude
A good attitude
A bad attitude
An attitude of love
And attitude of hate
Or even an attitude of indifference
Our attitude is often what causes us to view a circumstance as a blessing or a curse
Our attitudes can set the wheels in motion for how any situation will affect us
Our families
Those around us
And our lives
Our attitude is a choice.
Chuck Swindoll had this to say about attitude.
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of Attitude on life.
Attitude to me is more important: than facts
More important than the past
More important than education
More important than money
More important than circumstances
More important than failures,
More important than successes
More important than what other people think or say or do
More important than appearances,
More important than skill.
Attitude will make or break a company…a church…a home.”
The Amazing thing is we have a choice every day regarding the Attitude we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can truly change in many situations in our lives is our Attitude.
I believe that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how we react to it.
And so it is with us…
We are in charge of our attitudes.”
Today is Palm Sunday
The day we celebrate Jesus ‘triumphal entry into Jerusalem
One of the steps in the last week of Jesus’ life on the earth as a human
And one the first steps on the road to “it is finished”
There were many attitudes in the faces of the crowds on that day
And it is my prayer as we look at their attitudes we can see ourselves in those faces
And in those attitudes
Matthew 21:1-11
As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2 “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”
4 This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,
5 “Tell the people of Jerusalem,[a]
‘Look, your King is coming to you.
He is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.’”[b]
6 The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.[c]
8 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God[d] for the Son of David!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD!
Praise God in highest heaven!”[e]
10 The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
11 And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
God’s word tells us in all four of the gospels
Matthew
Mark
Luke
And John
That Jesus Riding into Jerusalem caused a great stir in that city
Huge crowds had already arrived for the celebration of the Passover
We will study more about the significance of the celebration in the weeks to come as we continue our study of Exodus and more specifically the Plagues that God brought down on Egypt for their defiance
There were huge crowds of people in town for the celebration
And those crowds were made up of individual people
And with those people came attitudes
And those attitudes
Towards Jesus made all the difference as to how those people viewed the events
About how they viewed Jesus
And
Even how they viewed themselves
As will see this morning we often share those same attitudes
And those attitudes can have a huge impact on how we view the situations on our lives
How we view Jesus
How we view others and even how we view ourselves
Palm Sunday is a time for us to examine our attitudes toward each other as well as toward God.
In a way, Palm Sunday is about a huge parade coming into town with one main attraction.
The center of that parade is Jesus
And our attitude towards him a makes al the difference in the world as to our response to him
Let me set the scene for you
Jesus has less than a week to live
And
He knows it
He has ,after a little over 3 years of public ministry decided to make it known publicly that He is the long awaited Messiah, the King that God’s people has been waiting for, for hundreds of years.
We read in the Old Testament a prophecy about a King who would come into the city riding on a colt.
Zechariah predicted it would happen over 500 years before Jesus was born.
Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice, O people of Zion![a]
Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
He is righteous and victorious,[b]
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.
The time had finally come and Jesus was ready to take the next step.
He’s is riding towards his whole reason for being, which was to obey God the Father.
Riding towards the completion of his calling
In the faces in the crowd on that day
On that wonderful day
There were thousands of people with thousands of attitudes
This morning I would like to with your blessings to look at just a few of those faces and attitudes and what they mean to us
First we see the
Committed
The true followers of Jesus
Not perfect people
People with flaws and weaknesses But committed followers who were trying hard to let Jesus rule their lives
Trying to leave their old lives and their old habits and their old hang ups behind
And
truly let him be the Lord of their lives
In these committed followers we see an
Attitude of Gratitude
And attitude of Praise
An attitude of Awe
An attitude of service
Many of these committed followers had received Jesus’ healings
Many had been the recipients of his blessings
I have no doubt there were some who had tasted the bread on fish on the mountain at the feeding of the 5000 or the feeding of the 4000
Some may have tasted the water that had turned to wine
These had seen his miracles
Had heard his teachings and were grateful
They were ready to Praise Jesus
Committed followers with an attitude of praise, thankfulness
And
Awe
Ready to risk all
Give Jesus the reins of their lives
Next in the crowd we see the
Confused
Verse 10
“10 The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.”
These are the people who maybe had heard about Jesus
They had heard of his miracles
Maybe even experienced them
But
This man Jesus
Did not seem to be what they were expecting
He was riding a donkey
Not a great white stallion
He was coming in humility not a reigning king as they expected or hoped
Their initial attitude was excitement
For the events
Excitement about the prospects
But we know excitement often fades when things are no longer new
These people most likely believed Jesus was a great teacher
A prophet
A good man
‘But
Their attitudes kept them from accepting him as Lord
As the savior
They saw Jesus
But many left unchanged when the parade was over
When all that was left on the road was coats, palm leaves and donkey poop
And their excitement turned to disappointment
The next faces we see in the crowd are the
The Pretenders
The religious frauds
John 12:37
37 But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.
These pretenders acted like they knew Jesus
Told people they knew Jesus
But In John’s account of the Triumphal entry
John tells us many were just going through the motions
Shouting Hosanna
Shouting
Praise him
But having an attitude of
Disbelief
And attitude of skeptism
Seeing but still not believing
Just playing church
Still living life their way by their rules
But
Wanting to be seen at the party
Showing up simple to be seen
Or for what they could get
Next we see
The curious
The seekers
John 12:17-18
“17 Many in the crowd had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and they were telling others[j] about it. 18 That was the reason so many went out to meet him—because they had heard about this miraculous sign.”
Many came because they were curious
They wanted to see this man
They had heard about him and his works
They were curious
Thank God for the curious
Because it is often curiosity that brings people to Jesus
God puts it in the hearts of men to seek him
And curiosity often brings people to salvation
I have no doubt many who came on this day saw Jesus and left changed
The curios bring with them an attitude of
Wonder
An Attitude of seeking’
And attitude of there must be more to life than this
Curiosity can be a great gift when it leads to the discovery of truth
It can also be a curse when it leads us from the truth
The last faces and attitudes we will see today are
The Opposers
Those who are hostile to Jesus
To God
To the message
Those who want to stop him and his message
The Pharisees ,Sadducees ,the religious leaders the Roman Govrnment
Even one of Jesus’ own disciples Judas fall into this group
They bring attitudes of
Hatred
Of
Distrust
And they often
Attitudes of deceit and manipulation
The religious leaders who opposed Jesus in the crowd
Lied
Manipulated
Set traps
Justified
Hardened their hearts
And
Refused to see
Refused to listen
Refused to be changed
And did everything anyone from seeing or believing
Everything to stop him and his word
Even trying to stop him by killing him
Which they did
We know they were unsuccessful- all they did was fulfill prophesy
On the road to Jerusalem on the back of a donkey
Jesus saw many faces and saw many attitudes
In the crowd were those who loved Jesus and those who hated him
Those who were committed
Those who were confused
Those who were portending to be something they were not
Those who wanted to stop him
And many who were just who were just indifferent
More concerned about their own lives and problems
Too busy to be concerned with Jesus
What is your attitude towards Jesus?
When he looks in your face what or who does he see?
A few days after He rode in
Jesus called his disciple together and shared with them a last meal
He would soon be betrayed
Rejected
Tried
Tortured
And killed
For them and for us – for the sins of the world
And in sharing that meal he is telling them and us to remember
What he has done
Telling us to look at ourselves and see our own faces
To search our attitudes
To search our hearts
Are we committed?
‘Or
Confused
Curious or Pretending
Or are we opposing Jesus and his word
What is our attitude towards Jesus?
As the men come to pass out the juice and crackers
Please listen to this song
And search your hearts
Why are you here
Why have you come to Jesus?
What attitude do you need to change?
Will you leave from you meeting with Jesus changed or unchanged
Moved or unmoved
Saved or unsaved
---Play song-----
----Begin Lord’s supper---
Let me read for you from the apostle Paul
Why we should look at our attitudes before we take the Lord’s Supper
1 Corinthians 11:27-28
“So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against[g] the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.
I Corinthians 11:23-26
. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.[f] Do this in remembrance of me.”
EAT
25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”
Drink
26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
Close from the heart
Pray
