JESUS RESTORES!
We have been following Jesus's Journey to the Cross, a
Path Way to Restoration, for several weeks. His death on the Cross would
ultimately pay the cost of restoring the marred image of God in humans. But
along the way, Jesus restored several broken lives. He restored the soul and
dignity of two sinners, healed the eyesight of a desperate beggar, raised his
dead friend Lazarus back to life (John 10), and restored him to his grieving
sisters.
Six days before the Passover festival, Jesus entered Jerusalem,
riding on a donkey. Zechariah 9:9, "Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in
triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you. He is
righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey riding on a
donkey's colt." We celebrate the fulfillment of that prophecy on Palm
Sunday.
It is recorded in all four gospels to indicate its
significance. Let’s travel from Bethany to Jerusalem, where we will see the
crowds lining up on the road, shouting praises to God, waving Palm branches in
their hands, and throwing their cloaks in front of the colt.
Jesus on a donkey and his jubilant followers and
children entered Jerusalem. It must have been a glorious sight. The Jews had
been waiting eagerly for centuries for a savior to come and overthrow the Roman
Empire and restore their Kingdom to them. They couldn't contain their Joy when
they saw the sign of Jesus riding on a donkey.
But the
religious leaders were threatened and troubled by all the commotion surrounding
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Let’s pay close attention to what Jesus will do
and how He will restore the forgotten and overlooked aspects as He approaches
the city and the Temple, and how that would impact our lives today. At this
point, it would be helpful to understand the meaning of the word Restoration.
It means to put back into
existence or use. To reinstate, re-establish, etc. In Biblical usage, it means
to give or bring back what has been lost or taken away to the owner.
I.
Jesus Restored Worship To Its Proper Place
Luke 19:37-38, "When he reached
the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers
began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful
miracles they had seen. "Blessings on the King who comes in the name of
the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"
Jesus and his disciples spent the
night before in Bethany in the home of Lazarus, whom he brought back to life
from the dead. The next day Jesus made his way to Jerusalem. As he came down
the Mount of Olives riding on a donkey, his followers began to sing and praise
God aloud for all the miracles he had done. They sang familiar praise Psalms.
Psalm 118: 25-26, "Bless the one who comes in the
name of the Lord." Praise
the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise him from the skies"
Psalm 148:1. Some Pharisees were offended by these high praises and demanded
Jesus rebuke his followers for praising God. The religious leaders knew those
songs and may have sung them, yet they were offended by them.
Even more, troubling was that they were indignant about
the children who shouted, "Praise God for the Son of David, in the temple
courts." (Matt 21:15). Was their praise and worship of God declined? Jesus
restored worship to its proper place by saying, "If they kept quiet, the
stones along the road would burst into cheers." "Haven’t you ever read
the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you
praise.”(Matt 21:16-17).
From the beginning, God instituted worship as one of the
essentials for the overall spiritual well-being of the Israelites. The First
Commandment tells us that we must not worship other gods or idols but God
alone. In the NT, we read about God looking for people who would worship Him in
Spirit and truth. Worship is one of the Core values of Hope Church. If we are
not careful, we, too, can shift our focus from worshipping the living God to
material things.
II.
Jesus Restored Prayer in God’s House
In
Matthew
21:12-13, "Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people
buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the
money changers and the chairs of those selling doves." He said to them,
"The Scriptures declare, "My Temple will be called a house of prayer,
but you have turned it into a den of thieves."
That is one of
the harshest indictments Jesus uttered against the religious leaders who turned
the Temple into a commercial hub. What was so offensive to Jesus about the
money changers and sellers? After all, they made the Temple relevant to people
who traveled long distances. The wealthy came on donkeys, while the rest came
on foot.
It was impractical to bring with them a goat or even a
pigeon to offer as a sacrifice at the Temple. Often, they carried only foreign
currency, the coin of whatever region they lived in. It was convenient to
provide, right on the temple grounds, a currency exchange and a stall to buy a
goat or sheep to offer as a sacrifice. The Pharisees turned worship into a
lucrative business.
King Solomon dedicated the first Temple to the Lord. He
prayed, “May you watch over this Temple night and day, this place where you
have said, 'My name will be there.' May you always hear the prayers I make
toward this place.” I Kings 8:22-30. The Temple was where people gathered to
pray for their and others' needs confessing their sins.
Jesus, the one greater than Solomon, got upset when
the religious leaders turned the Temple into a den of thieves. By dealing with
them harshly and driving them out, Jesus Restored the Temple for all its
intended purpose of Praying for all Nations.
At Hope Church, we are Prayer-Dependent. We
believe in the power of Prayer, which is why we pray during the Sunday Worship service
and Mid-Week, not only for our needs but also for others and the unreached
nations. Let’s continue to grow in this spiritual discipline of Prayer.
III.
Jesus Restored the teaching of God’s Word in the Temple
It looked like the Jewish religious leaders had lost
their focus on praise, Worship, and Prayer. Instead, they were consumed with
profit neglecting the poor and the sick. Jesus had to step in and clean up the
messy Temple. He began to heal the blind and the lame in the Temple.
Vs. 47, “After that, he taught daily in the Temple,
but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders
of the people began planning how to kill him.”
Jesus began his teaching ministry at age twelve when he engaged the
religious teachers (Luke 2: 44). After cleaning up, he taught daily to restore
the teaching of God’s word in the Temple.
Jesus restored the essential spiritual disciplines
of Worship, Prayer, and the teaching of
God’s word. The disciples failed to grasp the importance of those disciplines
at that time. After Jesus' death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, the believing community met in the Temple daily and
practiced those core values. (Acts 2:42-46)
What does this all mean to us today? The Scripture
tells us that not the building but all believers are God’s Temple, also called
the Church. On this Palm Sunday, what would Jesus see if He rode on his donkey
into Sharon? Would He weep over all the Jews who still do not recognize Him as
the Messiah? If He stopped by Hope Church, would he see that we Worship Him
sincerely, pray fervently, and are devoted to the reading and the teaching of
His word?
If He came closer to your heart, what would He see?
What idols and altars may He have to drive out from our hearts so that the core
disciplines of Worship, Prayer, and reading of His Word are restored? Are you
growing in these Christian Disciplines? Or are you distracted by the cares of
this world? Richard J. Foster, in his classic book Celebration of Disciplines,
notes,
“God has given us the Disciplines of the
spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to
place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.”
