Worship Service – April 10, 2022

Zechariah 9:9-13

The Coming of Zion’s King

(9) Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

(10) I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

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

(12) Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

(13) I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior’s sword.

Philippians 2:5-11

(5) Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

(6) Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

(7) but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

(8) And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!

(9) Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

(10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

(11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Luke 19:28-44

The Triumphal Entry

(28) After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. (29) As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, (30) “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. (31) If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’ “

(32) Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. (33) As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

(34) They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

(35) They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. (36) As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

(37) When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

(38) “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

(39) Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

(40) “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

(41) As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it (42) and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. (43) The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. (44) They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

This is the word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Imagine if. You’ve just bought a brand new BMW. You’ve had it a week. It only has 200 miles on it. You are coming to church on Sunday morning and you stop by the bank to get a little bit of cash from the automatic teller. While you are there, two men walk up and tell you that their leader has told them to borrow your car because their master is going to ride in it down Main Street to the center of the city to demonstrate who he is. They tell you that they will have the car back to you in about three hours. But they have to have it immediately!

How would you react? Would you freeze in panic? Would you quickly run for the car and try to get away from them? Would you ask them some questions or demand some credentials and a guarantee that the car would not be damaged? Would you inquire about their insurance? Or would you simply tell them to get lost, or be a bit kinder and tell them that up the street, there is a rental car place.

Do you suppose some of those feelings occurred to the owner of the donkey on the first Palm Sunday morning. It really was not unlike the imaginary suggestion I just made. Two men approached the home of this donkey owner. He had not seen either of them before. He was not used to allowing strangers to take his donkey. But, the two men began untying the animal, and simply said, “The Lord needs it.”

We don’t know what kind of arrangements Jesus had made, or whether there had been any prior arrangement. As was always the case, Jesus seemed to have everything in control.

It’s tremendously interesting to me, and I think very telling, in terms of the lessons that it would teach us, the four words that are repeated in the story. Jesus gives the instruction as to what his disciples are to do. They are to find the donkey and untie it and bring it to him. And He tells them if anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it, you will say to them, “The Lord Needs It”.

Sure enough, it happened just that way. The owner, naturally, asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord Needs It.”

It’s a fascinating illustration of how Christians are to return “Easter’s Grace” to those around them. Let’s look at this lesson, this account by looking at the participants.

First, the disciples, they were the borrowers. I believe that they teach us two lessons in discipleship. One, they trusted the instructor.

Now that’s an important lesson in discipleship. You’ve got to trust the instructor.

Now that was not easy to do. Put yourself in the place of those two disciples. If you have been in the Middle East, you know that it takes very little to start a lively and loud street argument. Maybe the disciples knew the Law, and could remind the owner of the donkey that a ruler or his representative, or even a prominent rabbi, was allowed to requisition any private property as long as the rights of the owner were preserved. But even had they known that law, it wouldn’t have been an easy thing to go to a strange place, to a strange man, and simply untie his donkey and take it away. That would have been very embarrassing, to have to confront the owner of the donkey.

It’s not always easy to trust the instructor. But if we are going to be disciples, we’re going to have to trust Jesus.

I’m sure most of you remember the story of a man, who was walking along a narrow path, not paying much attention to where he was going. Suddenly he slipped over the edge of a cliff. As he fell, he grabbed a branch growing from the side of the cliff. Realizing that he couldn’t hang on for long, he called for help.

Man: Is anybody up there?Voice: Yes, I’m here!

Man: Who’s that?Voice: The Lord.

Man: Lord, help me!Voice: Do you trust me?

Man: I trust you completely, Lord.Voice: Good. Let go of the branch.

Man: What???Voice: I said, “Let go of the branch.”Man: [After a long pause] Is anybody else up there?

If we are going to be disciples, we have got to trust the instructor. We have got to trust Jesus. Do you remember the hymn, “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”. Do you recall the refrain: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, How I’ve proved him o’re and o’re. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus. Oh for grace to trust Him more.

Those words may flow easily off your lips when we sing it. It’s a favorite Gospel hymn of many. But there’s great substance there. To trust the integrity, the validity, the authenticity of Jesus. To have a faith relationship of trust. To take, or to begin to take, or to have taken the leap of faith toward complete trust in Jesus ,nothing is more important than that.

Many things about today and tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand. But I know because of Easter‘s grace who holds tomorrow, and I know who’s got my back, who holds my hand.

That’s the essence of it, isn’t it? An unflinching trust in the One who is the instructor of life!

Those two disciples not only did they trust the instructor, they followed the instructions precisely. Jesus was very clear in his instructions, and while they might have seemed rather crazy to those two disciples, going up to a strange place and taking the donkey of a man they had never known, with their only defense, their only instructions as to how to respond to the owner was those simple words, “The Lord needs it.”

If we are going to grow as Christians, we are going to have to come to the point where we will follow the instructions of our leader precisely.

Now, sometimes the instructions may not seem to make much sense.

The Associated Press carried a story of notes teachers received from parents wanting their children to be excused from class. One note read, “Please excuse Fred for being….It was his father’s fault. Another read: Please excuse Johnny from class yesterday. He had an aker in his side.” Another. Jimmy has been absent for three days because he fell from a tree and misplaced his hip. Another — Please excuse Martha for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot.

Sometimes directions may not seem to make sense. You remember what Paul said? “The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom,”(1 Cor. 1:25). But we don’t always believe that, do we? It’s not always clear to us at the time.

But, not only do the instructions not seem to make much sense, sometimes they call us in the direction of what we think is an unnecessary risk. And, sometimes they even seem absurd. But, even when we don’t fully understand, if the instructions are clear, we must follow them.

Early in my ministry, a mentor of mine attended the church I was preaching in, and as is my custom, at the conclusion of the service I was standing at the door and greeting all as they left. He pulled me aside and told me many pastors refrain from this custom of greeting people leaving, because it’s a risky business. But he encouraged me to continue in this practice because it will give me opportunities to learn of the peoples acceptance of my message and opportunities to learn of their needs.

Later on that morning we had the opportunity to talk about what he said to me and he told me this story.

“I was speaking at a women’s organization, and they asked if I would mind standing in a reception line following the meeting. The program chairperson was quite persuasive, so I agreed to do so. The speech must have gone well, because the ladies coming through the line were saying nice things to me, and smiling as they shook my hand.

Pretty soon I noticed a little boy standing in front of me. He looked straight at me and said, “Your speech stunk!”

Well, there were more ladies coming through the line so I just ignored him. But a little while later he came through the line a second time. Again, he placed himself directly in front of me and said, “We heard all your jokes before – and they weren’t even very funny.”

That bothered me a bit, but there were still people in line, so I continued shaking hands and greeting the ladies. Then I noticed that this young boy was in line for a third time. He got up to me, and this time he said, “You’ll never be invited back here again!”

At this point I really didn’t know what to do. I figured he was too little to hit, and I was too big to cry – so I shrugged it off as an occupational hazard and continued greeting the ladies.

Wouldn’t you know it, a little while later I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, this bratty little kid in line for a fourth time.

At this point the child’s mother must have noticed him too because she came running over to him, leaned over his shoulder, and said to me, “Oh, Pastor, this is my son, Billy. Please don’t pay attention to him. He’s only five years old. You know, he’s just at that age where he repeats everything he hears.”

We are not living Easter’s grace unless we are still learning, still open, still unsatisfied, still reachable. One of the greatest joys that is mine as a preacher is to have someone say, “I never saw it that way before.” But the greatest joy is for someone to say, “I heard what you said, Preacher, and I tried it; I acted on it, and I want you to know it works.”

To be willing to explore new horizons because of the instructions that we receive from our Lord, to embrace the truth, to be still learning, is the mark of Christian disciples. That’s what Easter‘s grace is all about, you have to trust the instructor, and you have to follow the instructions precisely.

Now that we have looked at the borrowers of the donkey, let’s look at the lender. The man who owned the donkey. That’s about all we know about him. He owned the donkey our Lord had selected for His entry into Jerusalem.

We can imagine that He was flabbergasted. He looks around or looks out his door and two strangers are untying his donkey. A donkey represented a considerable asset in those days, so it was not a little matter what was going on here. It would have been natural for him to protest. It certainly would have been natural for him to want to negotiate and find out what sort of guarantees were being made and when they would return his donkey.

As is true with so much of scripture, a lot of what went on is not told. But enough is told for us to get the impact of what happened. When Jesus’ disciples told the man, “The Lord needs it,” the man obviously gave in.

Had he heard about Jesus before? Had he met Jesus? Were the desires and longings of the nation so intense, the longings for a Messiah, and was this fellow one of those who lived in great expectations for the coming of the Messiah, and maybe felt this was it, this was the Man. We don’t know. We only know that the disciples said, “The Lord needs it.” And they took the donkey away.

This wasn’t the only time that Jesus served notice of need on persons and on their possessions. One thinks of Zebedee and how he felt on the day when Jesus enlisted his sons, James and John, and they left their fisherman father holding the nets all by himself. Or imagine the reaction of Peter’s wife when he came home one day, packed his bag, and told her he was giving up fishing to follow Jesus. And then here was the young boy in the crowd on that certain day in Galilee whose lunch of barley loaves and dried fish was borrowed by Andrew, in order that Jesus could feed the multitude. Yes, in such incidents, and in countless other ways, Jesus served notice on his followers that God needed them and what they had. That’s something we need to hear.

“We’re needed! Every last one of us is needed, even those of us who feel no one needs us, those who believe they have nothing to offer that anyone would want. Jesus makes plain, however, that we and God have business with each other.

God’s grace, “Easter’s Grace” in a gift of love in Jesus Christ initiated a mission in which we are to share. The same spirit that dwelt in Christ is to fill us. The ministry of a caring love lived out by Jesus is to be lived out by us. The Good News of salvation and peace which Jesus embodied, we also are to announce through who we are and what we do. Our gifts and graces from God are needed by God. We are to offer what we have and who we are with courage and trust, and to follow through with prayer and perseverance.

When we hear the call, “The Lord Needs It”, it doesn’t matter who we are and what we have. If we respond to that call, we become representatives of “Easter’s Grace”. We’re called to love and peace and goodness and reconciliation. Like the owner of that donkey, willing to be used no matter who we are.

As you go out this Palm Sunday, heed the words of Zechariah. “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Remembering Paul’s words to the Philippians: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!

In His Service,

Pastor Joe

Listen To Audio: Sermon 20220410

Listen To Audio: Service 04102022

Call to Worship:L:  This is a vision of the way it can be, the way it should be—P:  Shouts of welcome, a joyful procession,

L:  a community celebrating together.

P:  We can welcome Christ into our lives;

All:  May we hold fast to His vision of goodness.

 

Prayer of Confession    God of all times and places, we confess that we would rather join the crowds than stand alone.  We’ll sing “hosanna” when everyone else is doing so – but not when the hostile “Good Friday” forces may hear us.  We ask You to be patient with us, to help us understand our own guilt.  Then pour out Your forgiveness in such a way that we are forever transformed.  In Jesus’s name. Amen.

ANOUNCEMENTS

 

Pastor Joe will be available at the church on Thursday afternoon from 2 to 4.  If you need to speak to him, contact Pastor Joe at570-267-4570 (cell) or Email: joe.s.travis@gmail.com

Loose change goes to General Fund.

Sunday School starts at 8:30 A. M.

Choir practice will be on Thursday at 1:00 P.M. 

One Great Hour of Sharing continues until Easter.

Presbyterian Women will meet on Thursday, April 14th at 11 A.M.Maundy Thursday/Good Friday Service Thursday, April 14 at 7:00pm in the Community Building.

Sunrise service at 1650 Booth Road, Hallstead, at 7:30 AM Easter Morning, April 17.  Breakfast following at 8:00am – served by the men in the Community Building. Full service at 9:30 in the church.

Men’s Breakfast Wednesday April 20th at 8:00 A.M.

Session will meet on Saturday, April 23, at 9 A.M.

Newsletter Deadline – Tuesday, April 26th, 2022.

Please mark your envelope if you are contributing to the piano repair fund.

Talk to Joyce about Teddy Bears and soft Dolls for Meadow View.