CREATED FOR PRAISE: THE WORSHIPFUL GOSPEL
Luke 19:29-40: LIFEWAY SPRING QUARTERLY 2021 SESSION 4
I’ve always loved our National Parks. Ever since I was a boy my family and I would visit them and marvel at the magnificent beauty of Clingman’s Dome, Yosemite Falls, The Grand Canyon, and the Guadalupe Mountains. Yet in all their majestic created grandeur that pours forth the glory of God (see Psalm 19, 66, 96, Isa 44:23) we are reminded that WE are specifically created to worship God not just in Truth like Creation but also in spirit (from our inner selves). Our lesson this Palm Sunday is of course Luke’s account of Jesus’ Triumphal entry into Jerusalem; in it we will examine what it means to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. We will discuss WHY we worship Jesus, and the cost of our worship and the cost of rejection of- NOT welcoming, and worshiping Jesus. We will see that the “weight” of our worship is in direct proportion to our accepting of Jesus through Faith, Obedience, and Proclamation of His name even when that proclamation results in persecution from those who reject Him. And again, we will keep in mind our interpretive framework of Luke’s Gospel: Jesus and the Gospel is a gift from Heaven, Jesus and the Gospel is a gift humbly received, and Jesus and the Gospel is a gift proclaimed… Let’s take a look.
From 18:18 to 19:27 Luke’s Gospel gives us the story of the Rich Young Ruler, another prediction of His death, Luke’s account of Blind Bartimaeus, the Story of Zacchaeus, and the Parable of the Ten Minas. Take a brief look at these previous accounts…The shared critical interpretive point for all of these stories is Luke’s emphasis and connection between desire and reception of Jesus (our second point of Luke’s interpretive framework). Luke informs us that it is not enough for us to just “desire” to follow Jesus. To truly be His Disciple and a Christ Follower we must take action and that action will involve leaving worldly allegiances, and worship of created things and worship Him alone through submission and obedience to His Life and way (His path- “way of doing”) of life- anything less is unacceptable. Following Jesus will take leaving the old life behind, enduring hardship and being persistent in our coming after Him. Luke gives us the contrast of the Ruler and Zacchaeus- both desired to follow Jesus but only one was willing to leave items of material worship behind. Jesus is headed to the cross in His humble submission to the Father and Luke will develop this further in Acts that the Disciples turned Apostles will need pick up their own crosses to follow Jesus like Jesus submitted to the Father (see Phil 2:1-11). Involved in this following is persistence. Zacchaeus is persistent- “he climbed up in a Sycamore Tree- for the Lord he WANTED to see…” Bartimaeus is persistent- he refused to be quiet in proclaiming Jesus as The Son of David and in asking for Jesus’ mercy. Bartimaeus as a result, not only received mercy but GRACE! We can be persistent in following Jesus because our focus is on Him- His worthiness of our devoted worship and His provision of all of our needs and spiritual resources as His Disciples. Needs and resources that when He meets and provides them require an accountability of increase and growth (a good harvest) for His glory and the sake of the Kingdom (the point of the 10 Minas). Which brings us to verse 28.
Jesus has just finished describing the different type of Christ “Followers” in the world. Those who receive Him and the gift of His Gospel and put it to use (the faithful servants). Those who receive Him but allow fear of the world to overcome their faith and their putting His grace to work in and through their lives (the unfaithful servant) and those who have flat out rejected Him. Luke now gives an eyewitness illustration of this parable with the triumphal entry. The Kingdom of God and Jesus’ pre-ordained Gospel is being fulfilled before the Disciples’ eyes, and the fulfillment of Luke 24:45-47, and Acts 1:8 is about to begin! The in-breaking of the Kingdom of God through Christ Jesus our Savior and LORD by His life, death, and resurrection is about to swing outward (as an “out- breaking”) through the Disciples proclamation of all they have seen, heard, and experienced beginning in Jerusalem and carried to the ends of the earth (and we are and should still be doing this today till the door of Christ’s Gospel swings all the way out to His return!) BUT verses 28-37 lets us know we aren’t in Jerusalem yet! The time however, (the kairos- special God ordained appointed time and season) is now. In the geography of Luke Jesus can be less than an hour away from Jerusalem but still be far away from it story wise. No more after 19:44 will Jesus be preparing for His Passion (death and resurrection) but instead accomplishing it. The time of quiet preparation for the Disciples, and keeping Jesus’ Mission and Lordship as Messiah guarded to select individuals and situations (what scholars call the Messianic Secret) is over. It is time to announce freely, boldly and with loud hosannas to the entire World Jesus as King- beginning with Jerusalem but as the longest continuous witness account in scripture (Luke/Acts) states, definitely not ending there! (19:38, Acts 1:8).
Luke shows the fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy from Zechariah 9:9, and from the Angels’ Proclamation in Luke 2:1-4 with one noticeable difference- “Peace in Heaven vs. Peace on earth.” This is most likely Luke’s statement of “escalation” of the Kingdom. The gift of Jesus and His Gospel comes from heaven bringing peace to those who receive Him on earth and as the seed of the Gospel grows and the harvest increases through the proclamation of the Faithful, the Peace (shalom-Hb./airei Gk.) of God fills the heavens and the earth! King Jesus comes gently and humbly (on a donkey instead of a Charger) in the name of the Father as a suffering servant to carry His cross and die for the sins of the world that God loves (Jn 3:16-18). Ancient Kings had two ways of entering a city- as a benefactor (see Solomon’s coronation 1 Kings 1:33) in which they enter on a donkey or a mule, the equivalent of a tractor or truck today bringing peace, prosperity and bounty carrying goods and commerce, or as a conqueror coming in on a Charger or Stallion fitted for battle. Jesus comes to bring peace in Luke 19 in Revelation 19:11-16 He will return on a Charger to bring victory over the foes of darkness and any who oppose Him or have rejected Him. King Jesus comes in the Gospel to SAVE He returns at the proper time to RULE. Those who accept Jesus’ salvation are shown by their worship- as those who accept His rule over their lives. How has accepting and understanding Christ’s free gift of salvation affected His rule over and in your life?
The point Luke is making is that worship of God in spirit and truth requires obedience in response to the grace we have received. The same people that witnessed and experienced Jesus’ miracles have to balance on the scales of their worship what Jesus’ miracles not only accomplished for them but what they mean. Every earthly miracle Jesus did changed someone’s life but the physical effects were temporary (Lazarus was raised from the grave {Jn 11} but he died physically again) but what’s more important is the spiritual change… Did Jesus’ mercy, grace and salvation make a lasting life transformation where His rule in their life was evident? Does Jesus and His Gospel make a difference in our worship? Are we worshiping Him in spirit and in truth? Many of the crowd that welcomed Him that Palm Sunday were silent or vindictive that Good Friday- when another crowd shouted: “CRUCIFY HIM!” But before we are too harsh and judgmental on them let’s consider what it means to worship “in spirit and in truth”.
Spirit means to worship from our inside out from personal and intimate relationship- this implies the moving of the Holy Spirit within our own spirit and a dependence and acceptance of Him. We cannot worship God without the Holy Spirit and the acceptance of Him. Truth is just as important! Worship comes from the word “worthiness” and the suffix of “the condition of”- hence “the condition of worthiness” “heavy on the scales!” We worship what is worthy, or do we? The interesting thing about Merriam Webster’s Definition of “Worship” is its usage can be that of both a “transitive” and “intransitive” verb. Transitive meaning it is always linked to a Direct Object (there is a definite person or thing of “heavy on the scales” worthiness that demands worship) or intransitive (indefinite) no definite person or thing of worthiness appointed for the action. We are to worship God “transitively;” our worship is based upon the definite Truth of His worthiness alone. According to scripture and the First and Second Commandment worship for the believer is NOT SUBJECTIVE. On one hand, we have to make a decision of WHAT we will worship (Jos 24:15)… We have to decide and make a wise decision of whether what we are worshipping is worthy of all of our devotion, but on the other hand the Bible tells us that in TRUTH, ONLY ONE- King Jesus is worthy of worship. This is truth- only Jesus is worthy of our worship, whether we give Him worship or not in “our subjective opinion” does not change the fact that HE IS WORTHY AND WILL BE WORSHIPPED (Phil 2:10)! When we submit to the truth of Jesus’ worthiness and receive Him by faith we will show true worship that we have come into formation of our created purpose of worshipping Him by our willing obedience to His commands (Lk 19:30-32, Jn 14:12-21).
Yet we all know how easy it is to lose our memory of or wander away from the Truth and our worship becomes insincere and a bad witness for God’s glory as a result. We live in strange times… We live in times as believers when it is so easy to wander away from the Truth of God’s Word- when we allow fear, hardship, persecution, earthly displays of power by leaders, pressure and the influence, agendas, opinion of others, and our own subjective understandings and desires to latch onto our hearts and invade our minds moving us away from worshipping in spirit and in truth. We acknowledge the Truth of Jesus’ identity as Messiah with our words and praises but our hearts have wandered far from Him as evidenced by the treatment of our neighbor, the lost around us and even ourselves. What are we to do? We come back “to the Heart of Worship”. We come back to Jesus to the Spirit of our relationship with Him, and the Truth of God’s Word not just being “authoritative” but having all authority over us personally because of our received grace of the Gospel. We are honest with God about our failures and we recommit to living, worshipping, witnessing, and testifying His way by the Spirit’s power.
There is forgiveness, there is hope, and there is joy in a repentant life turned back to God and a great witness in a New Life in Christ fulfilling the purpose for which he/she was designed for in worship once more. (NEVER FORGET you have been raised to New Life Christian- baptized by the Spirit, symbolized and ordinanced in water. Return to the gracious promise of its meaning in your struggles.) Ask a bunch of frightened, scattered disciples turned bold Apostles in Acts 2! Ask the Church of the first to fourth century in her testimony through trials and tribulations so that we may find our courage, voice and witness in the 21st! It is no accident, but God’s will that we are to be the great cloud of witnesses for our season and place on this earth through our worship in spirit and in truth. A point Luke makes with Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees rejection of His LORDSHIP in verse 40.
The Truth is Jesus is King and Worthy of ALL PRAISE and WORSHIP. Jesus’ response to the Pharisees says that His Creation proclaims the Truth of His identity, but implies the question will us? The religious leaders had rejected Him and Jerusalem (most of Israel) will reject Him- (see Jesus’ lament in verses 41-48) but will others worship Him in spirit and in truth? When I was a boy back in the 80’s our church did a lot of Dottie Rambo Musicals that she had written for evangelism from children and families. My favorite was Down by the Creek Bank. There was a song in the play that was based on Luke 19:40 called “Ain’t Gonna Let The Mountains Praise The LORD.” The lyrics are profound… Here is the third verse and chorus: “Ain’t gonna let the rocks cry out for me. Ain’t gonna let the rocks cry out for me. I’ll lift my voice and shout so the rocks will not cry out. Ain’t gonna let the rocks cry out for me! My hands were made to serve Him. My heart was made to love Him. My voice was made to lift and raise and praise the LORD!” We were and are created to worship the LORD- that is why we are here and it is our eternal purpose. How well this Easter Season will we bring our lives into formation with worshipping our Risen Savior and LORD in spirit and in truth? May you have a blessed week as you seek His Face, depend upon His Grace, trust the promises of His Word, obey His commands and reflect on His great love for you displayed on a cross and in an empty tomb! All the best!
Love in Christ, Darrin.