back to index2021-03-29 Passion Week Monday
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As a pastor, there's a part of me that is so thankful for your testimony and what I 00:00:19.760 |
I'm hoping in many ways that my own daughter can grow up to be similar and share a lot 00:00:26.240 |
of these traits, and I'm sure your parents are very proud, so thank you for that testimony. 00:00:34.000 |
Well, it's Monday night, and each year our observance of the Passion Week begins on Palm 00:00:43.160 |
Sunday, as you guys know, with Jesus' triumphal entry on a donkey into Jerusalem. 00:00:50.840 |
And we reflected on this yesterday, and so each evening this week we will be meeting 00:00:57.160 |
here to reflect on each of the days leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. 00:01:04.160 |
The Passion Week, which means the week of his sufferings, is the most important week 00:01:09.720 |
in all of human history, and it's also central to the narratives of the four gospel accounts. 00:01:16.720 |
The man Jesus, you guys know, walked 30 years – 33 years on the earth, but nearly half 00:01:24.680 |
of all the gospel accounts are devoted to the events and the teachings of just this 00:01:32.680 |
During this week, most all things public – Christ's teachings, confrontations with religious 00:01:38.540 |
leaders, and the events surrounding his trial – they all take place in Jerusalem. 00:01:45.060 |
But after each day, Jesus and his disciples, they walk about two miles and return to Bethany, 00:01:52.120 |
presumably to the home of Lazarus and his sisters. 00:01:56.420 |
So Bethany to Jerusalem, Jerusalem to Bethany, Bethany to Jerusalem, and much teaching happens 00:02:07.480 |
So this is the physical setting of this week – Bethany to Jerusalem, back and forth. 00:02:14.920 |
And this is a week in which we also see a lot of Jesus' emotions. 00:02:20.160 |
We see him weep, we see him rage, and elsewhere in the gospel narratives, we see more amazement 00:02:32.160 |
But this week is different, and understandably, we see more emotion as Jesus heads toward 00:02:42.000 |
And you can tell a lot about the passions of a person's heart by what we see him weep 00:02:50.380 |
And you can observe a lot of what a person loves and what a person hates by outbursts 00:03:06.060 |
And there are two major things that Scripture points us to that take place on Monday. 00:03:11.840 |
The first one is the only miracle of destruction in the gospel accounts, where Jesus curses 00:03:19.500 |
a fig tree while on his way toward Jerusalem. 00:03:24.700 |
The second is Jesus causing a scene in the temple where he overturns tables, chases away 00:03:32.200 |
the money changers, drives away those selling doves, and then he gets into it with the religious 00:03:39.280 |
And we read that Jesus literally stands physically in people's ways so that they can't carry 00:03:48.700 |
So this is possibly the most physically animated we have ever seen Jesus. 00:04:02.320 |
And there is a connection between these two events. 00:04:05.880 |
The curse of the fig tree is a symbol of God's judgment on the temple. 00:04:10.880 |
The leafy fig tree, with all its promise of fruit, is as deceptive as the temple, which, 00:04:18.080 |
despite its religious activity, it's really an outlaw's hideout, a robber's den. 00:04:25.660 |
It had the appearance of fruitfulness, of holy sacrifice, but in reality it was barren 00:04:34.140 |
So let's take a look at Mark's account together. 00:04:37.200 |
I'll be reading Mark 11, 15 to 19 for you, and it's up on the screen. 00:04:45.480 |
Then they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who 00:04:49.960 |
were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers 00:04:54.640 |
and the seats of those who were selling doves. 00:04:57.860 |
And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. 00:05:02.860 |
And he began to teach and say to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called 00:05:17.540 |
The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him, for 00:05:23.200 |
they were afraid of him, for the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. 00:05:29.140 |
And when evening came, they would go out of the city. 00:05:33.480 |
So here in verse 17, we see Jesus alluding to two Old Testament prophecies, Isaiah 56, 00:05:41.840 |
And I'm going to read little sections of both for you. 00:05:44.320 |
The first one, Isaiah 56, is one of the most uplifting chapters in all of the Old Testament. 00:05:50.280 |
In Isaiah chapter 55, he says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found. 00:05:57.280 |
And then in 56, it describes reward upon reward for those who earnestly seek the Lord's face 00:06:05.980 |
Okay, so I'm going to read verses 6 through 7 of Isaiah 56 for you. 00:06:10.880 |
"Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him and to love the 00:06:18.280 |
name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds 00:06:25.000 |
fast my covenant, even those I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in 00:06:33.220 |
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house 00:06:39.020 |
will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." 00:06:45.440 |
The second passage, where the den of robbers is prophesied, has a very different feel. 00:06:51.700 |
So Jeremiah 7, 8 through 11 reads, "Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no 00:07:02.040 |
Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to 00:07:09.120 |
Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known? 00:07:13.800 |
And then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 00:07:20.760 |
'We are delivered,' that you may do all these abominations? 00:07:26.880 |
Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? 00:07:34.480 |
Behold, I, even I, have seen it, declares the Lord." 00:07:40.840 |
So you can just tell that the mood of this is very different. 00:07:45.460 |
The temple of God was always meant to be a physical place where sinful man could draw 00:07:54.920 |
There had to be blood sacrifices, and humility, and a turning away from sins, and an earnest 00:08:01.960 |
seeking heart of the worshiper to enable him to draw near to God. 00:08:07.900 |
And one of the first things that God had told Solomon after the completion of the temple, 00:08:15.280 |
You guys, this is a very familiar passage, and many of you have memorized it, but let 00:08:19.600 |
"And my people who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, 00:08:31.020 |
Then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 00:08:36.240 |
Now my eyes will be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place." 00:08:46.780 |
So the temple was always meant to be a place where the worshiper could seek God, draw near 00:08:55.940 |
But in Jesus' day, the religious elite who profited greatly from the business at the 00:09:00.440 |
temple had turned it into a place where they could use God for personal gain. 00:09:08.020 |
And it's important to remember that the Passion Week was during the Jewish Passover, and it 00:09:15.620 |
It's a time where the people of God were to remember that God had passed over their 00:09:21.340 |
sins by blood sacrifice so that they could be his people and that he could be their God. 00:09:28.140 |
But the opportunity of the holidays had great appeal, and so this had become a lucrative 00:09:43.140 |
After all, they were serving God, and God had ordained portions for their services in 00:09:50.100 |
They worked hard for God's blessings, so they deserved God's blessings. 00:09:58.680 |
The temple was meant to be a place of seeking God, but they had turned it into a place of 00:10:08.040 |
They were using the spiritual needs of the people to satisfy the cravings of their idolatrous 00:10:16.340 |
And in Jesus' actions, we observe the hatred that God has toward idolatry. 00:10:26.540 |
If you're a diligent student of the Bible, if you're just reading the Old and the New 00:10:30.280 |
Testaments, one of the things you'll notice when you get to the New Testament is that 00:10:34.560 |
the Hebrew race, who struggled nonstop for a millennia in the Old Testament, they're 00:10:40.840 |
almost idolphobic when you get to the New Testament. 00:10:45.100 |
They were taught that physical idolatry had led to the loss of all their fame, their wealth, 00:10:53.500 |
And so this entire group of people was kind of traumatized by the external practices of 00:11:00.140 |
So statues, monuments, even coins that hinted of idol worship, they didn't touch with a 00:11:09.220 |
But their heart of idolatry, the heart they wanted to use God for personal gain, it had 00:11:23.160 |
And this was very readily personified in the religious leaders who Jesus upset at the temple. 00:11:31.420 |
So there are a couple lessons we can learn today as we reflect on the events of Monday 00:11:38.540 |
And I'm going to leave you just with one very sobering truth. 00:11:44.780 |
The seeking of God and the using of God often looks the same. 00:11:54.820 |
The seeking of God and the using of God often looks the same. 00:12:05.660 |
The first is worship that is done in spirit and in truth. 00:12:11.780 |
The other is akin to a dancing around astral poles or bowing before golden calves. 00:12:20.880 |
At its root, the heart of worship cries, "I want to know you, Lord. 00:12:29.280 |
I seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, even if all these things do not get added 00:12:40.220 |
The heart of a genuine worshiper of God seeks first his kingdom and his righteousness, even 00:12:54.260 |
But at its root, the heart of idolatry cries, "I want to appease you, Lord, and curry favor. 00:13:03.120 |
I want to seek your kingdom and your righteousness so that all these things can be added unto 00:13:13.860 |
Given time, the worshiper, like the fig tree that was supposed to bear figs, it bears fruit. 00:13:40.100 |
The worshiper feeds deeply upon the word of truth. 00:13:46.280 |
The idolater is satisfied with his ears being tickled. 00:13:56.800 |
The idolater is either smug or bitter, depending on the reward that he gets. 00:14:09.280 |
The idolatrous religious leaders got in the way of those who had come to the temple to 00:14:17.640 |
Idolatrous greed and fruitlessness, masked in religiosity, evoked a very passionate response 00:14:29.980 |
As we examine the events of this week, and today's just Monday, as we examine just all 00:14:36.920 |
the days leading up to the cross, we're going to be introduced to many characters in the 00:14:46.320 |
But for Monday, as I reflected deeply, just preparing just for this devotion, I was troubled 00:14:54.440 |
a little bit and saddened, because I see elements in my heart, in my life, that closely resemble 00:15:03.880 |
these religious leaders, and it has nothing to do with my occupation. 00:15:08.360 |
There are elements in my heart that long to profit off of God for my kingdom, for my pleasure, 00:15:20.560 |
And we learned yesterday that his kingdom is not of this world. 00:15:27.640 |
I'm not sure who you'll identify most with this week. 00:15:31.480 |
The Pharisees, the teachers of the law, the confused disciples, Judas Iscariot, perhaps, 00:15:42.200 |
the Roman centurion, the thief on the cross, or the ladies who grieve at the tomb. 00:15:50.980 |
Every single one of these characters, every single person in human history, and every 00:15:55.240 |
single one of us in this room, and every single one of you watching online, there is a few 00:16:04.320 |
We all have idolatrous hearts of stone that cannot be turned into hearts of flesh by effort 00:16:22.920 |
We are prone to worship the created things rather than the creator who is to be forever 00:16:32.000 |
We cannot save ourselves from hearts that are idolatrous. 00:16:38.800 |
We cannot make our blind eyes see by our own effort. 00:16:44.680 |
We cannot make our hardened hearts very soft. 00:16:50.080 |
And we cannot draw near to God by effort or by our own endeavoring of righteousness. 00:17:08.000 |
And today, I wanted to just reflect on idolatry. 00:17:15.560 |
Mental heart transplants needed to be performed. 00:17:20.160 |
And hardened hearts have to be made receptive and fertile supernaturally. 00:17:28.440 |
And each of these things we'll be reflecting deeply on over the course of this week, and 00:17:34.800 |
especially through this weekend, as we understand that we cannot come to God on our terms, but 00:17:45.000 |
we serve a God who is gracious and compassionate, just slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness. 00:17:55.240 |
But if we're not careful, we may reject this God and not know it. 00:18:05.020 |
Because the heart that seeks the Lord and the heart that desires to use the Lord on 00:18:12.760 |
So my hope and my prayer for our congregation is that over the course of this week, that 00:18:19.920 |
our hearts would grow more and more broken over our sin, over our flaws, over our desperation, 00:18:29.400 |
that they would become much more receptive yet again with the constant reminders that 00:18:36.320 |
holy God came down to meet man, sinful man, through the atoning work of his one and only 00:18:49.080 |
So by the time we get to Friday, that Jesus' trials, his floggings, and his crucifixion 00:19:00.200 |
would serve to remind us that we are absolutely and utterly just desperate and that we cannot 00:19:10.720 |
help but to rely on the grace and the goodness of God. 00:19:16.280 |
So that on Sunday, when we're reminded that sin and death have been defeated, there will 00:19:22.360 |
be shouts of acclamation and shouts of joy from people who understand their depravity, 00:19:29.880 |
but understand better the great and mighty love of our good God and heavenly Father.