Scripture: Luke 19:28-40
Listen link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
This is an interesting overlap. It’s Palm Sunday! And yet I intend to speak of the 5th purpose for which we were created. How can that be done? Well, you were made for a mission. On Palm Sunday we see Jesus actively engaged in His mission and also giving his disciples a mission to go find a donkey, a donkey that will have its own mission, to carry the Messiah and serve to symbolically announce the kind of Messiah Jesus is, King of Peace! That what was symbolized by Jesus’ riding a donkey instead of a war horse.
But first, let’s review all 5 of the purposes we have been discussing. First, you were planned to please God. He wanted you to exist for a loving relationship with Him. As the Westminster confession affirms, the chief end of human existence is to love God and enjoy him forever. That’s worship, first purpose.
Second, you were formed for family. The loving relationships we are designed to enjoy begin with God, but do not end there. They include every other person in the family of God, your brothers and sisters in the Lord. That’s what the Church calls fellowship and it is the second purpose of your existence.
Third, you were created to become Christlike in character. That’s what the church calls discipleship. We’re not born with godly character. We’re born as sinners. But once we are born again, the new nature we receive by the Holy Spirit can and ought to be taught to obey all that Jesus commanded. That’s the third purpose of your existence, you were created to become Christlike.
Fourth, people of godly character love each other by serving one another. Out of your unique shape for ministry you find out where you fit into God’s kingdom. You were shaped to serve. That’s what the Church calls ministry. Now today, the 5th purpose gets our attention. You were made for mission. It’s what the Church calls evangelism. Let me summarize. These five purposes represent the reason why the church exists; for worship of God, fellowship with one another, discipleship in godly character, ministry in the body and evangelism in the world.
Evangelism is the church’s mission. And all of us fit into the body to make our special contribution to that mission. Why do we accept this mission? Because we love God and we want what He wants; more and more new believers, who will grow in Christlike Character, love one another, join us on the mission field, so that we all end up in heaven to celebrate loving relationships forever! Did you see how I wrapped all five purposes in there? Because we love God, that’s worship, and we want what he wants more and more new believers who will grow in Christlike Character, that’s discipleship, love one another, that’s fellowship and ministry, to join us on the mission field, that’s evangelism, so that we all end up in heaven to celebrate loving relationships forever, eternal fellowship!
In the Purpose Driven Life book, in chapter 36, Rick starts out by saying, ministry is service to believers. Mission is service to unbelievers. We are called to do both. I see that I didn’t make that distinction so clearly last week. I focused on service in general and included evangelism and outreach as one aspect of ministry, instead of reserving it for the “mission purpose” as Rick did. I think it works to talk about that distinction, but in reality, since our overall mission, the Great Commission that Jesus gave us, is really to evangelize, all service, so called inward ministry between the believers AND outward mission among the unbelievers, is all supportive of the development of effective evangelism, or mission. Ministry to each other in the fellowship should serve and drive the mission to everyone else, not be an end in itself. Whenever we serve each other inside, it should only be to equip us to turn our attention more fully to serve those who are yet outside.
I bring that up because the typical life cycle that has been traced in most congregations, especially in America over the last 50 years, is that a new church plant starts out doing a lot of evangelism. That is the mission. It’s the only way the congregation can grow and become self-supporting. But eventually, the congregation feels big enough, and busy enough with just taking care of its own property, having adult classes and children’s Sunday School, and running a good ministry that blesses the members. Interest in evangelism drops off and all the focus tends to go toward fellowship and inward focused ministry. All churches do that. And the only way to avoid it or get out of it is to be aware of that tendency and actively work to keep the evangelistic mission alive.
Otherwise, the Mission of evangelism gets forgotten or relegated to two areas. One is, the congregation thinks, “we have a good church now and if people come, they will be blessed.” There is lot less invitation going on. The other area mission gets relegated to is the budget. We send money to support other missionaries and forget about being missionaries where we are. Then attendance drops. Finances get restricted. And we think it’s not our fault. That happens in a lot of churches.
So, back to the importance of our evangelistic mission. Rick Warren said this, but I agree with him so I will quote it. Any person or congregation that does not passionately care about the lost enough to sacrifice time and effort to try to share the gospel with them is basically saying to those unreached persons: “You can go to hell.” I know we don’t really want to say that! We don’t even want to feel that we might be accused of caring so little for the lost. So, that means we must all be willing and ready to take up a cross for the sake of the mission, right?
So, since we want to be committed to the mission of evangelism. It must just be that we don’t know how to do it effectively. Let’s look at our Palm Sunday text to see what lessons we might learn there about the importance Jesus placed on His mission to the lost. The lesson for Palm Sunday starts at the 28th verse of Luke 19. “After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.”
Wait, what had Jesus just said? He had just told the parable of the ten minas, which takes up Luke 19:11-27. That is a parable about the mission and the responsibility of God’s servants to make a difference in the world with the resources he entrusts to us. Luke 19:12-13 say, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’”
That’s the commission, “Put this money to work until I come back.” In the case of money, it’s, make more money. So, in the case of believers, it ought to be, make more believers. Jesus said as much when he gave us the Great Commission recorded in Matthew 28:18-20. It’s very parallel to the words in the parable in Luke 19. “Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Our King, Jesus, has clearly communicated to us that while he is not physically present until he comes again, he is spiritually present with us to encourage us to follow through on the mission he left us with, make more disciples.
Having said that, Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem. He was on a mission. In fact, Luke tells us in 9:51: “As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” He was intently focused on his mission to save us, as we should be on our mission for Him. Here in Luke 19: 29, we see Jesus the commander, sending his disciples on sort of a practice mission. It says there, “As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “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.” This means, they were to go get the donkey Jesus wanted to ride on to show all Jerusalem that He is their true King.
Next, we see that this mission comes with the danger of opposition and conflict. Jesus prepared them. “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Now they have been warned that someone might object to untying the donkey. Think of the possible unpleasantness of being confronted by a possibly angry person who wants to know, in effect, why they are stealing the animal.
The disciples Jesus sent might have been uncomfortable with that, in the same way that we get uncomfortable about sharing the gospel. Only they had much more legitimate reasons for their discomfort in talking to a stranger. It probably really was a stranger too, and not a prearranged “borrowing,” because Jesus didn’t name the owner of the donkey! He just said, “If anyone tries to stop you…”
The disciples had to trust that Jesus’ words would be sufficient to keep them out of trouble! Fortunately for them and for all of humanity really, these disciples completed their mission obediently, and thus, successfully. We read, “Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
They replied, “The Lord needs it.” I can just hear the trembling voice. But it worked. Oh, thank goodness! Now they were not stealing. The owner permitted it. So, they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. This spreading of cloaks on the road was the beginning of a public acclamation of Jesus as Lord. The ordinary people were delighted by his miracles and his teachings and his love for the poor and downcast. They really wanted him to be the real Messiah. They were eager to announce it to all the world, even in presence of the Romans!
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: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” They loved the miracles! That could have made them an invincible army against the Romans. That’s what they wanted, and they couldn’t wait to get started.
However, that was not Jesus’ real mission. They didn’t understand. Now, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” The Pharisees suffered two faults that explain why they wanted Jesus’ followers to be quiet. They didn’t understand Jesus’ real mission, AND they didn’t believe in his miracles enough to see that he did have power to conquer Rome, if that were his mission, so they were afraid of the Roman response to this “political protest.”
Nevertheless, in spite of all that misunderstanding, the believers were definitely shouting a true acclamation that Jesus is indeed the real King, who comes in the name of the Lord. They even announced Jesus’ real mission to bring peace in heaven and glory in the highest. That gospel must be announced. The world has to hear and believe it! That is why Jesus answered the Pharisees saying, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Fellow believers, we are those stones! We are the living stones mentioned in 1 Peter 2:5. Our mission is to proclaim this gospel! And the gospel means we are not supposed to feel any condemnation or guilt about our past failures. God still loves you! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! This is good, good news that we really ought to be excited about because it means that we are forgiven through what Jesus has done for us on the cross! And I that joyful feeling of acceptance and belonging we should not be afraid to share this good news with anyone!
We all have a joyful mission. Not to tell people, “You’d better shape up and go to church.” But rather to announce: “All if forgiven! Jesus loves You! Won’t you come and celebrate with us?!” On Palm Sunday we see Jesus actively engaged in His mission and also giving his disciples a mission to go find a donkey, a donkey that will have its own mission, created for a purpose, to carry the Messiah, the true Lamb of God, into Jerusalem on Lamb selection day, to prepare for the great Passover celebration and serve to symbolically announce the kind of Messiah Jesus is, King of Peace!
How could it be less true of us who are created in God’s image? We get to carry Jesus into our lives, our work places, our homes, on our errands. As Rick points out, just do whatever you love to do, and invite other people to experience it with you. Next time you get to go fishing, or shopping, or bowling, or grilling, or eating at a restaurant, or hiking, or volunteering to bless the community, invite along an unbeliever to do it with you. Then your proclamation of the gospel will just happen naturally, as the living water that fills you with joy in the Lord spills out into your conversation.
We have come to the end of the purpose driven life series. Next week we celebrate the resurrection! And I want you to know, if there was no risen Christ alive today, I wouldn’t have cared at all about the Jewish Scriptures that prophesied about Jesus, and neither would you! I don’t what you’d be today, but it wouldn’t be a Christian, and I’d still be an atheist!
The first four purposes culminate in our mission. We are created to love, to belong, to be transformed and to serve, so that we complete the mission, the work that God prepared in advance for us to do. The loving and enjoying each other will go on forever in heaven. But the mission ends when Jesus comes again.
Now’s your chance to make disciples. We get to announce the good news! Peace in heaven is provided for us by Jesus, who completed his mission with victory over death! Woo hoo! God is so good! Love conquers all! So, don’t be discouraged. Be rejuvenated by the good news of the gospel! As Ron says, evangelism isn’t work. It’s an act of love! When you just rejoice in the Lord’s forgiveness and grace and mercy and love for you, people are going to wonder what’s got you all excited and you get to tell them! That’s what they will respond to! Now go!
Listen link: www.lcepc.org then look for “sermons” tab.
This is an interesting overlap. It’s Palm Sunday! And yet I intend to speak of the 5th purpose for which we were created. How can that be done? Well, you were made for a mission. On Palm Sunday we see Jesus actively engaged in His mission and also giving his disciples a mission to go find a donkey, a donkey that will have its own mission, to carry the Messiah and serve to symbolically announce the kind of Messiah Jesus is, King of Peace! That what was symbolized by Jesus’ riding a donkey instead of a war horse.
But first, let’s review all 5 of the purposes we have been discussing. First, you were planned to please God. He wanted you to exist for a loving relationship with Him. As the Westminster confession affirms, the chief end of human existence is to love God and enjoy him forever. That’s worship, first purpose.
Second, you were formed for family. The loving relationships we are designed to enjoy begin with God, but do not end there. They include every other person in the family of God, your brothers and sisters in the Lord. That’s what the Church calls fellowship and it is the second purpose of your existence.
Third, you were created to become Christlike in character. That’s what the church calls discipleship. We’re not born with godly character. We’re born as sinners. But once we are born again, the new nature we receive by the Holy Spirit can and ought to be taught to obey all that Jesus commanded. That’s the third purpose of your existence, you were created to become Christlike.
Fourth, people of godly character love each other by serving one another. Out of your unique shape for ministry you find out where you fit into God’s kingdom. You were shaped to serve. That’s what the Church calls ministry. Now today, the 5th purpose gets our attention. You were made for mission. It’s what the Church calls evangelism. Let me summarize. These five purposes represent the reason why the church exists; for worship of God, fellowship with one another, discipleship in godly character, ministry in the body and evangelism in the world.
Evangelism is the church’s mission. And all of us fit into the body to make our special contribution to that mission. Why do we accept this mission? Because we love God and we want what He wants; more and more new believers, who will grow in Christlike Character, love one another, join us on the mission field, so that we all end up in heaven to celebrate loving relationships forever! Did you see how I wrapped all five purposes in there? Because we love God, that’s worship, and we want what he wants more and more new believers who will grow in Christlike Character, that’s discipleship, love one another, that’s fellowship and ministry, to join us on the mission field, that’s evangelism, so that we all end up in heaven to celebrate loving relationships forever, eternal fellowship!
In the Purpose Driven Life book, in chapter 36, Rick starts out by saying, ministry is service to believers. Mission is service to unbelievers. We are called to do both. I see that I didn’t make that distinction so clearly last week. I focused on service in general and included evangelism and outreach as one aspect of ministry, instead of reserving it for the “mission purpose” as Rick did. I think it works to talk about that distinction, but in reality, since our overall mission, the Great Commission that Jesus gave us, is really to evangelize, all service, so called inward ministry between the believers AND outward mission among the unbelievers, is all supportive of the development of effective evangelism, or mission. Ministry to each other in the fellowship should serve and drive the mission to everyone else, not be an end in itself. Whenever we serve each other inside, it should only be to equip us to turn our attention more fully to serve those who are yet outside.
I bring that up because the typical life cycle that has been traced in most congregations, especially in America over the last 50 years, is that a new church plant starts out doing a lot of evangelism. That is the mission. It’s the only way the congregation can grow and become self-supporting. But eventually, the congregation feels big enough, and busy enough with just taking care of its own property, having adult classes and children’s Sunday School, and running a good ministry that blesses the members. Interest in evangelism drops off and all the focus tends to go toward fellowship and inward focused ministry. All churches do that. And the only way to avoid it or get out of it is to be aware of that tendency and actively work to keep the evangelistic mission alive.
Otherwise, the Mission of evangelism gets forgotten or relegated to two areas. One is, the congregation thinks, “we have a good church now and if people come, they will be blessed.” There is lot less invitation going on. The other area mission gets relegated to is the budget. We send money to support other missionaries and forget about being missionaries where we are. Then attendance drops. Finances get restricted. And we think it’s not our fault. That happens in a lot of churches.
So, back to the importance of our evangelistic mission. Rick Warren said this, but I agree with him so I will quote it. Any person or congregation that does not passionately care about the lost enough to sacrifice time and effort to try to share the gospel with them is basically saying to those unreached persons: “You can go to hell.” I know we don’t really want to say that! We don’t even want to feel that we might be accused of caring so little for the lost. So, that means we must all be willing and ready to take up a cross for the sake of the mission, right?
So, since we want to be committed to the mission of evangelism. It must just be that we don’t know how to do it effectively. Let’s look at our Palm Sunday text to see what lessons we might learn there about the importance Jesus placed on His mission to the lost. The lesson for Palm Sunday starts at the 28th verse of Luke 19. “After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.”
Wait, what had Jesus just said? He had just told the parable of the ten minas, which takes up Luke 19:11-27. That is a parable about the mission and the responsibility of God’s servants to make a difference in the world with the resources he entrusts to us. Luke 19:12-13 say, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So, he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’”
That’s the commission, “Put this money to work until I come back.” In the case of money, it’s, make more money. So, in the case of believers, it ought to be, make more believers. Jesus said as much when he gave us the Great Commission recorded in Matthew 28:18-20. It’s very parallel to the words in the parable in Luke 19. “Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Our King, Jesus, has clearly communicated to us that while he is not physically present until he comes again, he is spiritually present with us to encourage us to follow through on the mission he left us with, make more disciples.
Having said that, Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem. He was on a mission. In fact, Luke tells us in 9:51: “As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” He was intently focused on his mission to save us, as we should be on our mission for Him. Here in Luke 19: 29, we see Jesus the commander, sending his disciples on sort of a practice mission. It says there, “As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “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.” This means, they were to go get the donkey Jesus wanted to ride on to show all Jerusalem that He is their true King.
Next, we see that this mission comes with the danger of opposition and conflict. Jesus prepared them. “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Now they have been warned that someone might object to untying the donkey. Think of the possible unpleasantness of being confronted by a possibly angry person who wants to know, in effect, why they are stealing the animal.
The disciples Jesus sent might have been uncomfortable with that, in the same way that we get uncomfortable about sharing the gospel. Only they had much more legitimate reasons for their discomfort in talking to a stranger. It probably really was a stranger too, and not a prearranged “borrowing,” because Jesus didn’t name the owner of the donkey! He just said, “If anyone tries to stop you…”
The disciples had to trust that Jesus’ words would be sufficient to keep them out of trouble! Fortunately for them and for all of humanity really, these disciples completed their mission obediently, and thus, successfully. We read, “Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
They replied, “The Lord needs it.” I can just hear the trembling voice. But it worked. Oh, thank goodness! Now they were not stealing. The owner permitted it. So, they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. This spreading of cloaks on the road was the beginning of a public acclamation of Jesus as Lord. The ordinary people were delighted by his miracles and his teachings and his love for the poor and downcast. They really wanted him to be the real Messiah. They were eager to announce it to all the world, even in presence of the Romans!
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: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” They loved the miracles! That could have made them an invincible army against the Romans. That’s what they wanted, and they couldn’t wait to get started.
However, that was not Jesus’ real mission. They didn’t understand. Now, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” The Pharisees suffered two faults that explain why they wanted Jesus’ followers to be quiet. They didn’t understand Jesus’ real mission, AND they didn’t believe in his miracles enough to see that he did have power to conquer Rome, if that were his mission, so they were afraid of the Roman response to this “political protest.”
Nevertheless, in spite of all that misunderstanding, the believers were definitely shouting a true acclamation that Jesus is indeed the real King, who comes in the name of the Lord. They even announced Jesus’ real mission to bring peace in heaven and glory in the highest. That gospel must be announced. The world has to hear and believe it! That is why Jesus answered the Pharisees saying, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Fellow believers, we are those stones! We are the living stones mentioned in 1 Peter 2:5. Our mission is to proclaim this gospel! And the gospel means we are not supposed to feel any condemnation or guilt about our past failures. God still loves you! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! This is good, good news that we really ought to be excited about because it means that we are forgiven through what Jesus has done for us on the cross! And I that joyful feeling of acceptance and belonging we should not be afraid to share this good news with anyone!
We all have a joyful mission. Not to tell people, “You’d better shape up and go to church.” But rather to announce: “All if forgiven! Jesus loves You! Won’t you come and celebrate with us?!” On Palm Sunday we see Jesus actively engaged in His mission and also giving his disciples a mission to go find a donkey, a donkey that will have its own mission, created for a purpose, to carry the Messiah, the true Lamb of God, into Jerusalem on Lamb selection day, to prepare for the great Passover celebration and serve to symbolically announce the kind of Messiah Jesus is, King of Peace!
How could it be less true of us who are created in God’s image? We get to carry Jesus into our lives, our work places, our homes, on our errands. As Rick points out, just do whatever you love to do, and invite other people to experience it with you. Next time you get to go fishing, or shopping, or bowling, or grilling, or eating at a restaurant, or hiking, or volunteering to bless the community, invite along an unbeliever to do it with you. Then your proclamation of the gospel will just happen naturally, as the living water that fills you with joy in the Lord spills out into your conversation.
We have come to the end of the purpose driven life series. Next week we celebrate the resurrection! And I want you to know, if there was no risen Christ alive today, I wouldn’t have cared at all about the Jewish Scriptures that prophesied about Jesus, and neither would you! I don’t what you’d be today, but it wouldn’t be a Christian, and I’d still be an atheist!
The first four purposes culminate in our mission. We are created to love, to belong, to be transformed and to serve, so that we complete the mission, the work that God prepared in advance for us to do. The loving and enjoying each other will go on forever in heaven. But the mission ends when Jesus comes again.
Now’s your chance to make disciples. We get to announce the good news! Peace in heaven is provided for us by Jesus, who completed his mission with victory over death! Woo hoo! God is so good! Love conquers all! So, don’t be discouraged. Be rejuvenated by the good news of the gospel! As Ron says, evangelism isn’t work. It’s an act of love! When you just rejoice in the Lord’s forgiveness and grace and mercy and love for you, people are going to wonder what’s got you all excited and you get to tell them! That’s what they will respond to! Now go!
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