November 3rd, 2000
Luke 19:28-48
We started out with the question: what would we do to welcome Jesus, if we heard He was headin' our way? we split into 3 groups (~4-5 people in each) and had 'bout 10 minutes to discuss what we would do, had we heard about who Jesus was and all the things He had done so far.
"Jerusalem 1" said that they
would conduct a parade through the town and have a representative speak on behalf of the
town, to honor Jesus.
"Jerusalem 2" said that they'd hold a banquet for Jesus and make a statue of
Him, and even name a really cool building after Him.
"Jerusalem 3" said they'd escort Him on a limo and roll out a red carpet for his
arrival. they'd have a band playing contemporary Christian music. ooh, and a
float, too.
Then we got back into the large group and read through Luke 19:28-44. see now, the idea of Jesus' 'triumphant entry' that we had, contrasted greatly with what really happened, although it was a triumphal entry, nonetheless. as we read in these verses (v 28-31), we see Jesus was approaching bethphage and bethany at the hill called the mount of olives, and He sent two of His disciples to go get a colt. let's just say, that ain't no limo. (Jesus coming in on a colt, was prophesy fulfilled, from Zechariah 9:9). they put their cloaks on this colt and others proceed to lay their cloaks down on the road.
At this point, we got back into our groups and did a lil' news broadcast on what went down, that day in Jerusalem. the main thing that all the groups seemed to come up with, was that this sure was a peculiar way of welcoming the King of kings. one of the groups pointed out that this reflected on what we talked about with zacchaeus, how the hearts of the people were heard/seen that day. they didn't 'glam' everything up and put on a 'show' for Christ, but they lifted up praises to Him (v 37-38).
However, this made the pharisses in the crowd a bit disgruntled. they told Jesus to tell them to stop (v 39) but Jesus replied, "I tell you," he said, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (v 40). a few people had questions about the talking stones. what does this image, Jesus pointed out, show us? we know that all of God's creation was created to worship Him. so looking at it this way, we see that even if Jesus silenced this crowd, others would proclaim His Name, just as they had. and even after those crowds were silenced, all of God's Creation would still worship Him and cry out. even the lil'-est words/acts w/a full heart, bring glory to Him.
v 29-34 lead us to the question of
"has God ever asked something of you?" b/c Jesus said to his disciples to go
untie the colt, and He showed
them that He had made provisions for it to be taken, b/c He knew the owners would ask, and
give them the exact response they needed. "The Lord needs it" is what they
were told to say.
what has the Lord required of you? what have you done in response to His request? some of u mentioned that we question if no one else has to, why us, sometimes we just do it, and others we mumble and complain, perhaps try to negotiate with the Father, or put it off. we brought up, how it's easy for us to give the lil' thangs but when it comes to the big thangs some of us pretend He never asked it of us, compare ourselves and situations to the person next to us, question and rationalize-in short, stall, or skip parts of our command-give of what we wanta give and not all.
so, then we asked do you think God needs our stuff? does he really wanta play your computer game? watch your t.v.? lemme tell ya, God's not desperate for our things, He's not broke or in debt, He's not needy by any means. but... He does want us to give. does this mean He likes to watch us suffer/lose our things? again, the answer is no, but He does like to see His children trust in Him completely and willfully give of the things He's blessed us with, so He may bless us more. an illustration given for this was as a mother takes candy away from their child b/c she knows too much of it is not good for her child, as our Heavenly Father, we are His children and He knows what is best for us, and always has our best interest on His heart. then, we considered, more specifically, why? some people brought up how it tests our faith, as well as a reminder of our faith. we recognized that immense growth comes with obeying the Lord, and He wants us to grow in our faith. sometimes things are required of us, b/c our priorities are out of wack. b/c we've let the things in our lives become idols to us, consuming us, rather than relying on God, we become dependent on things or circumstances of this world-that are temporal. with all this in mind, remembering that He wants to benefit us is sometimes hard, but b/c of our obedience, it helps us in making the right choices, it increases our faith, and sometimes something/someone given up is b/c something better for us is yet to come.
(v 41-44 points out Jesus telling the people of things that were yet to come, b/c He knew that by 70 A.D. Jerusalem would be destroyed).
v 45-48, although short, brings about a lot of good points. this part of luke is of an account of when Jesus was in the temple. Jesus enters the temple and the people have been doin' not cool things there,...(v 46) Jesus says, "my house will be a house of prayer but you have made it 'a den of robbers'." by just looking at that one verse, what is the function of a temple? basically, to worship/pray. during those times, prior to the death of Christ on the cross, sacrifices of actual animals would be made to worship. but after the life, death, and resurrection of Christ on the cross, we gained a direct link to God. through His shed blood, we don't need the animal sacrifice, His was the last sacrifice, for all of us who follow. our ability to talk with God is never ending and free. the temple is within us, for when we receive Christ as our personal Savior, the Holy Spirit dwells within each one of us.
so, like the people in these verses, how can we mess up the temple? what do we do to make the temple unclean? some people said anger, doubt, second guessing/doubting God's requests, etc. well then, how do we keep it clean? a couple of responses we had were pray and communicate with God to keep ourselves in check, trust in God's love fo' us, that what is asked of us, isn't just b/c God likes to watch us lose things, and one last thing mentioned was use what He does give us wisely (which references back to the last lesson, about the ten minas).
[-Van]