Sacrifice And Serve

At the Lord's Supper we are challenged to sacrifice and serve.

 

Luke 22:17-27 Then He took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves.  18  For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come."  19  He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "This is My body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me."

20  After supper He took another cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant between God and His people--an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.  21  "But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray Me.  22  For it has been determined that the Son of Man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays Him."  23  The disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing.

24  Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them.  25  Jesus told them, "In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called 'friends of the people.'  26  But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.  27  Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.

John 13:4-5  So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist,  5  and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him.

John 13:12-15  After washing their feet, He put on His robe again and sat down and asked, "Do you understand what I was doing?

13  You call Me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because that's what I am.  14  And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each others feet.  15  I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.

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At the stroke of midnight God sent the final plague down on Egypt because of Pharaoh's refusal to let God's people leave his country so that they could move to a better place that God had prepared for them. God's people received instructions so that they would be covered with the sacrificial blood but all of Egypt was in mourning and finally they were allowed to go.

For hundreds of years the Jews have celebrated and now Jesus prepares to observe his third and final Passover. He knew that this Passover would be different, he knew that the symbolic Passover lamb would be replaced with the real and final sacrificial lamb.

At Jesus final Passover we see his example to us to be a sacrifice and a servant:

The Greatest Sacrifice

Hebrews 10:13 Our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

The Savior is soon going to be killed, no longer living on earth and not yet glorified in heaven, Christ sacrifice was the beginning of a new covenant between God and man, an eternal covenant and the only sacrifice for our sins that would last forever. Jesus made His sacrifice our sacrifice, His life became our life, and His Father became our Father.

The blood of the new covenant was shed for all, the final payment for sin was achieved, the door to the Gentiles was opened and the temple veil was torn in two giving us direct access to God. (Hebrews 10:20-22)

Romans 12:1  And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.

Now it is our turn to be a sacrifice, it is our turn to be offered up completely, we should give up any rights that we try to claim and give it all to Jesus. A sacrifice doesn't die partially, it is submitted to God, to be disposed of at his will. I should be devoted to God in the same way, I should be given over to his will for my life even if it means suffering, I need to be a living sacrifice.

The Greatest Servant

Isaiah 53:11-12  When He sees all that is accomplished by His anguish, He will be satisfied. And because of His experience, My righteous Servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins.  12  I will give Him the honors of a victorious soldier, because He exposed Himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

The suffering servant displayed the greatness of his love for us at Calvary but before he died he gave us another example of his love in action. Our Lord became our foot washer, the King of Kings became our servant, he was never too good to do anything that would benefit us. Because of his incredible love he was completely sold out to his mission.

As God, He owned everything; as the servant, He had to borrow everything: a place to be born, a boat in which to cross the Sea of Galilee and preach from, a donkey (itself a symbol of humility and servitude) to ride into Jerusalem for His triumphal entry, a room to celebrate His final Passover in, and a grave to be buried in.

-John MacArthur

Meanwhile we are busy trying to accumulate everything that we can acquire while we are here on earth. We built bigger barns and rent out storage facilities to hold our stuff. We forget that slaves do not own property, they do not have anything of value, and they cannot control what happens to themselves.

Jesus made it clear that he came to live on this planet to be a sacrifice and to serve. How can I think that my life in this world should be any different? Why are we so busy looking out for ourselves?

I need to sacrifice and serve, look out for the interest of others and have the same attitude that Jesus had. I don't have the right to serve when I feel like it. I don't have the right to give an offering that doesn't seem like a sacrifice. (Philippians 2:2-5)

Palm Sunday - Jerusalem Welcomes The King

Welcome Jesus as your Messiah and as your King.

 

Matthew 21:1-11  As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead.  

2  “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me.  3  If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”  4  This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,  5  “Tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.’”  

6  The two disciples did as Jesus commanded.  7  They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.  8  Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  

9  Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Praise God in highest heaven!”  10  The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.  11  And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

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Jesus' popularity was at an all time high, not long ago He healed two blind men and raised Lazarus from the dead, maybe the crowd thought that this is the moment that they have been waiting for. Surely Jesus would use this surge in the polls to His advantage and prove that He is the new king of the Jews. (Matthew 20:29-34, John 11:1-44)

The people of Jerusalem are looking for a ruler that who would give them some relief from the rule of the Romans, so when Jesus came riding into town looking like a king they were ready to sing His praises. They were so ready that they missed the symbolism, the fact that Jesus rode a donkey meant that he hadn't come to war against Rome, but still they were hungry for change and their hopes were high. Many of them wondered if king David's throne about to be re-established.

The crowds reacted according to the custom of the day, they spread their outer garments on the road as an act of royal homage and the Palm branches were used in celebration of victory. (2 Kings 9:13, Revelation 7:9) It is very rare to see Jesus receiving the worship and praise that He deserves.

Zechariah 9:9-10  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. I will remove the battle chariots from Israel and the warhorses from Jerusalem. I will destroy all the weapons used in battle, and your King will bring peace to the nations. His realm will stretch from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

The king has entered the city of Jerusalem but the cheering crowds were not going to last for too long. What a surprise it was when Jesus let all of this momentum and excitement from the crowd go to waste.

Talk about an anti-climatic moment! Jesus doesn't throw anybody out of the temple, he doesn't speak out against Rome or even give a stirring speech. He just looks around and leaves, the crowd calms down and it is all over, talk about a lost opportunity! The crowd would never be as pro-Jesus as they were that day and by the end of the week they would be cheering for His execution.

It's true that Jesus came to help them but not with the temporary problem that they wanted help with. His mission was to help them with an eternal problem that nobody else could fix. They didn't realize that Jesus entered Jerusalem to accomplish his real reason for being "God with us."

Isaiah 29:13  “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

The crowds welcomed a Jesus that wouldn't ask for much of them. They welcomed a Jesus that would serve them and give them a better life now. They wanted help with their physical burden but Jesus was there to give them relief from their spiritual burden.

I have welcomed Jesus as my Messiah but that's not all, I also have welcomed him into my life and allow him to reign as king, He didn't come as the Messiah so that I could go to heaven without any personal sacrifice. My life needs to be devoted to my king and my loyalty to him should be obvious in the way that I serve him and give my life for his agenda.

Have you welcomed Jesus to your life? Did you welcome him for who he really is or for who you wanted him to be?

RELATED ARTICLES

Journey To The Cross Series (diggingtheword.blogspot.com)
The Triumphal Entry (reasonablefaith.org)

Givers And Takers

The ultimate giver overcomes the takers.

 

John 12:1-11 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus--the man He had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus' honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with Him.

3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus' feet with it, wiping His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.

4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray Him, said, 5 "That perfume was worth a year's wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor." 6 Not that he cared for the poor--he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he often stole some for himself. 7 Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for My burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me."

9 When all the people heard of Jesus' arrival, they flocked to see Him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. 10 Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, 11 for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.

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The question that most of us want to have an answer to is "What's in it for me?" It is the normal mode that a worldly person operates in but a follower of Jesus should be asking "How can I give to somebody else?"

All of us are givers and takers, we walk a fine line in every interaction with the people that we meet, it is a delicate balance to maintain. Sometimes we need to take but we don't want to always be that person, sometimes we give but we can't give for too long or we will be drained.

The extreme form of takers are people that are trying to get as much as possible from everybody and contribute as little as they can in return, they are always looking to achieve their goal and get ahead with as little investment in others as they can get away with.

The strange people that give are the ones that look the most like Jesus. They give anything from personal encouragement and mentoring to finances. They live life with their hands and their hearts open ready to release what they have for the good of others.

Jesus gave life

Jesus is the best giver and His gift of eternal life is made possible because he overcame death. Jesus gives us the same victory over death because we have His life in us. proved that death has no ultimate power over Him, that power to triumph over death is given to His followers. Believers in Jesus will experience resurrection because it is impossible for death to win against the life that Jesus gives. (1 Corinthians 15:53-57, 1 John 5:11-12).

Mary gave sacrificially

A years wages is the estimate of the earthly value of Mary's gift, and what a waste it was from our perspective but Jesus showed us that his perspective the gift that Mary gave was priceless. She had received much love and she was motivated to give back.

Luke 7:47  “I tell you, her sins—and they are any—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

Judas was a taker

All of the advantages of having intimate knowledge of Jesus didn't do a thing for Judas. He was a taker in every area of life, Jesus knew it and yet he never called Judas out for stealing from the limited funds that the disciples had. Financial gain didn't work out and neither did the desire to overthrow the government and take some of the power for himself.

Religious leaders were takers

They loved to take advantage of their position and power. Now they had the opportunity that they have been looking for, who would have thought that they would have one of Christ followers sell him out?

There are givers and takers in every area of life, some people are always scheming about how to get ahead or how to get things their way. Judas and the religious leaders had their own ideas about how things should be. The takers met up with Jesus, the ultimate giver, and they took His life without knowing that they a part of God's plan to give us all the greatest gift.

God Raised Jesus From The Dead!

Journey To The Cross Series

Acts 2:22-24 "People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through Him, as you well know. 23 But God knew what would happen, and His prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed Him to a cross and killed Him. 24 But God released Him from the horrors of death and raised Him back to life, for death could not keep Him in its grip.

Acts 2:32,36 "God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!"

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During his ministry years Jesus proved himself every day, it seems that there wasn't a single day that went by that he didn't perform a miracle of some sort, if he wasn't walking on water or healing somebody, then he was feeding a multitude from a lunch box. All a part of the plan!

Does it look like the plan failed? Jesus was betrayed, turned over to the jealous religious leaders, passed on to the ruthless Romans so that Jesus would be nailed to a cross. All of which was predicted by the prophets hundreds of years ago.

No the plan hasn't failed, this was just the next step, the ultimate proof! Jesus Christ is raised back to life!

Just a couple of months before Peter preached this sermon, Jesus was seen many times, there were plenty of witnesses, plenty of people that were around town that could have been asked. The people that heard this sermon didn't have to believe a story that Peter made up, they didn't have to have very much faith to believe that Jesus came back from the dead, the news was all over town.

Let there be no doubt! Jesus came back from the dead and he is our Lord and Messiah. Jesus proved in his life and through his death that he is the Messiah. God's plan to build a bridge to us was completed!

Romans 4:25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God.

Jesus Told Us To Love One Another

Journey To The Cross Series

Matthew 26:62-64 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” But Jesus remained silent.

Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.

Jesus replied, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

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There were six parts to Jesus’ trial: three stages in a religious court and three stages before a Roman court. On the night of Jesus’ arrest, He was brought before Annas, Caiaphas, and then an assembly of religious leaders called the Sanhedrin (John 18:19-24; Matthew 26:57).

After this He was taken before Pilate, the Roman Governor (John 18:23), sent off to Herod (Luke 23:7), and then back to Pilate (Luke 23:11-12), who finally sentenced Him to death.

The trials were illegal for many reasons: (1) No trial was to be held during feast time. (2) Each member of the court was to vote individually to convict or acquit, but Jesus was convicted by acclamation. (3) If the death penalty was given, a night must pass before the sentence was carried out; however, only a few hours passed before Jesus was placed on the Cross. (4) The Jews had no authority to execute anyone. (5) No trial was to be held at night, but this trial was held before dawn. (6) The accused was to be given counsel or representation, but Jesus had none. (7) The accused was not to be asked self-incriminating questions, but Jesus was asked if He was the Christ.

The first three trials included beating the defendant (John 18:22-23), inconclusive testimony of the witnesses (Mark 14:56-59), and finally a verdict that he was guilty of blasphemy (Luke 22:66-71).

The trials before the Roman authorities started with Pilate (John 18:23). After Jesus was beaten the charges are made and they are a lot different from the charges in His religious trials, the Roman government didn't care about blasphemy, they had to make up a new charge. This time he was charged with inciting people to riot, forbidding the people to pay their taxes, and claiming to be King.

Pilate found no reason to kill Jesus so he sent Him to Herod (Luke 23:7). Herod had Jesus ridiculed, but wanting to avoid the political liability, sent Jesus back to Pilate (Luke 23:11-12). This was the last trial as Pilate tried to appease the animosity of the Jews by having Jesus scourged, but to no avail.

Our Savior was treated as poorly as a man could be treated, deprived of his right to a fair trial, which would have cleared him of all of the charges.

Jesus fought against injustice, told us all to love God and our neighbor but the world didn't listen. They hated him and his message. Yet he died for everyone of them people standing there that day, even the ones that tore his flesh and beat him. And yes he died for you and I.

I pray Lord that I will love you as much as I should and that I will appreciate as fully as possible, how much you have endured for my benefit.

Credit for a lot of this information goes to Chuck Swindoll.

Judas Makes His Plans

Journey To The Cross Series

Luke 22:1-6  The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is also called Passover, was approaching. 2 The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus, but they were afraid of the people's reaction. 3 Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, 4 and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. 5 They were delighted, and they promised to give him money. 6 So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest Him when the crowds weren't around.

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Judas was around for all the debates and the set-up questions that the religious leaders were using to try and create a charge that could be used to arrest Jesus. Over and over Judas saw Jesus turn the questions that were thrown at him into an opportunity to speak out against his accusers. Judas couldn't stand it, he wanted Jesus to overthrow the people that were trying to kill him, Judas decided that he had invested enough of his time in Jesus and that it was time for action.

The religious leaders needed Jesus arrested away from the crowds, and if they were to go identify the man that they wanted arrested it would probably create a scene, they needed to be able to send the guards out to arrest Jesus quietly. But in order to do so they needed to be certain that the guards would arrest the correct man, they couldn't take a chance on the wrong man being arrested, that would only make them look bad.

Judas knew that he could be of service to the religious leaders and he was ready to help, Jesus hadn't turned out to be the leader that Judas thought that he should be, Jesus didn't use his popularity to over-throw  the Roman government.

Thank you Jesus for your gift of salvation.