Thursday, July 28, 2016
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
"The Whole World Has Gone After Him" Sermon John 12:9-19
“The Whole World Has Gone After Him”
[John
12:9-19]
July 24, 2016 Second Reformed Church
Saturday night before the Passover
of the week Jesus was crucified, Jesus and His disciples enjoyed dinner at the
house of Simon the leper with Mary and Martha, celebrating the resurrection of
Lazarus.
At that dinner, Mary anointed Jesus
for His work of salvation through His death and burial to come, spreading all
of an exceedingly expensive ointment – worth three hundred days’ pay – over His
body.
And word spread of the party – and
that Jesus was there, and we read:
“When the large crowd of the Jews
learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to
see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans
to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews
were going away and believing in Jesus.”
And we see, first, this morning,
those who are against Christ will deny and destroy evidence of Him.
A large crowd of Jews heard that Jesus
had returned to Bethany, so they went to see Him. And they heard that Lazarus was with Him –
the one Jesus had raised from the dead after he had been in the tomb for four
days – which was unheard of – it was commonly believed that resurrection was
impossible after the third day – so they wanted to see the Healer and the one
who had been raised. The resurrection of
Lazarus was a powerful sign about Jesus and His claim to be God the Son and
Savior. The people were anxious to see
them both to see if everything they had heard was true.
And the chief priests heard about
the party and the crowd that was going to see Jesus and Lazarus, and they were
angered. We remember that the chief
priests had already decided that for the good of the nation, Jesus had to be
put to death. Now, they added to that
that they had to find a way to put Lazarus to death.
Why?
At least two reasons:
First, Lazarus’ resurrection after
four days confirmed and gave credence to Jesus’ claims to be God the
Savior. The chief priests figured that
if Lazarus was dead again, people would begin to doubt Jesus’ claims – without
the incredible witness of the resurrected Lazarus, Jesus would draw fewer
people to Himself.
Second, we’re told that “many Jews
were going away and believing in Jesus.”
Going away from what? Going away from the chief priests – the
Pharisees – rejecting their teaching and authority. People were literally leaving the Pharisees
to follow Jesus. The Pharisees were
having their authority and teaching questioned, and they were losing their
power base. People were leaving the
Temple and the instruction of the Pharisees and chief priests, and they were
following Jesus, believing in His teachings and Who He claimed to be. So, they figured if Lazarus was dead, the
people would leave Jesus and return to their teaching and the Temple.
They thought that if they
“destroyed” the evidence – if they killed Lazarus, people would forget or begin
to believe those who denied it ever happened.
This is how people like atheist,
Richard Dawkins, have argued, “Jesus was not the Son of God, because He did not
rise from the dead. And we know that He
did not rise from the dead, because people don’t rise from the dead.” See, they deny without proving it is not true
– they just deny statements and draw conclusions from their denials.
One of my college roommates has
argued that Jesus is not the Son of God. Because He never existed. And when I bring up evidence of His
existence, he says that all of the evidence is fiction – created to make people
believe that there was such a person.
So, he puts the challenge forth that Jesus did not exist, and then he
systematically denies all evidence out of hand because it contradicts his
position.
Have you ever talked with a child
(or perhaps an adult) and you say something is true, and the response you get
is, “No, it’s not.” They just repeat,
“No, it’s not,” in the hopes that someday you will agree.
Perhaps more insidious, is the
person who destroys evidence to distort the truth --- deleting sections of tape,
e-mails, shredding documents, even to attempting to wipe out civilizations and
any record of their existence. The Hittites
in the Bible are an example: it is only
recently that evidence outside of the Bible has been found to prove that this
civilization once existed – so well had others destroyed evidence of their
existence.
Do not be afraid of such
people! There is plenty of evidence for
Jesus’ claims within and without the Bible.
The problem is not that there is no evidence for the Truth of Jesus
Christ and His Gospel, the problem is that non-believers are dead in their sin
and cannot believe until God the Holy Spirit changes their hearts so they can
receive the Gospel.
Stand firm in the faith. Present the Truth of the Gospel. Don’t be overwhelmed by those who seek to deny
and destroy the evidence for the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Keep telling others and pray that God will
cause them to believe.
Our text continues with John’s
record of Jesus’ “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem:
“The next day the large crowd that
had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took
branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’ And Jesus
found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, ‘Fear not, daughter
of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!’ His
disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was
glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him
and had been done to him.”
Second, we see that God the Holy
Spirit caused the crowd to affirm Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecy.
Jesus began to make His way to
Jerusalem. He had sent the disciples to
get a donkey and her colt, and He began to ride into Jerusalem – not because it
was far away, but for the symbolism of what He was doing.
The crowd that had come to the house
of Simon the leper to see Jesus and Lazarus were with Him, and as Jesus made
His way to Jerusalem, the crowd that had come to Jerusalem for the feast came
out of the town and joined the crowd from Bethany lining the streets as Jesus
rode the donkey down the road.
This double crowd took palm branches
and lay them on the ground and waved them in the air – not to cool themselves off – but for the
symbolism. The palm branch – and the
waving palm branch – symbolized peace, victory, and joy.
And the crowd began to cry out,
saying, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a
donkey's colt!”
In a time of oppression, the
prophet, Zechariah, had prophesied that the day would come when Jerusalem –
Zion – would be freed – and that would be when her king rode into the city on a
donkey. It was to be a time of victory
of Jerusalem over the whole world, led by her humble king, and there would be
an eternal kingdom and peace and joy forevermore.
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the
Holy Spirit prompted them to make connections:
The Passover is a feast of remembrance of God’s deliverance of Israel
from their oppressors – Egypt. At that
time, Israel was under the oppression of Rome and longed to have Messiah – the
Savior – the Anointed One – come to set them free from their bondage. And here was Jesus, the rabbi that all the
world was talking about, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, just as the
prophecy for today – and at the start of the Passover. Didn’t it make sense that this would be the
time and the person that God was going to use to overthrow Rome and set up the
eternal kingdom of Jerusalem?
And the crowd was right: Jesus is the Anointed One – the Savior. Jesus did ride into Jerusalem to fulfill
Zechariah’s prophecy. Jesus did come to
overthrow the oppressing that all of humanity was under – and all those who believe
in Jesus – repenting of their sin – are set free from the oppression of Satan.
What the crowd missed – and what we
miss at times as well – is that they were looking for the fulfillment of the
prophecy to merely be an earthly king that gave them earthly salvation. They wanted to be saved from the earthly
oppression of the Romans and be set free to be the theocracy – the nation under
God – that they were called to be thousands of years before.
Ultimately, all thrones and powers
and principalities will bow before Jesus – they are under His authority now,
but the time is not yet done. Until
Jesus returns, there are things that must happen to prepare the world for His
return. Two thousand years ago, Jesus
came to free all those who will believe from slavery to Satan and sin, but He
was not setting up His earthly kingdom and forcing all those who do not believe
under His footstool – not yet.
As we often see, the disciples
didn’t understand – not until the Resurrection.
Then their minds were opened to understand how Jesus fulfilled
Zechariah’s prophecy and how He is continuing to fulfill it until He returns.
We are called to transform society –
and the world – through the proclaiming of the Gospel – through telling people
the historical facts about Jesus. But we
often go astray – especially around election time – and start talking about how
this candidate must be elected to restore Christian values, or how this
candidate must not be elected or Christianity will be stamped out of existence.
Jesus is not unaware of who our
leaders are and what they believe. Paul
tells us in Romans that the leaders we have were ordained by God to be our
leaders – for our good or for our discipline – or both. We are called to submit to the government,
because God has ordained the men and women who serve, though we are to oppose
the government if they command us to sin, because then they are acting against
their call to service by God.
But no government leader is going to
save us. Christians should be involved
in government, but it may not be a Christian who is the best leader for
us. God has not only gifted Christians
in the field of government.
So, as we seek to serve and work
with the government as God has commanded, let us not be confused as they were
during the Triumphal Entry in thinking that any particular governmental
official will save us. Only our God and
Savior Jesus Christ will save us and has saved us and will redeem us when He
returns.
God is Sovereign over Donald Trump
and Hillary Clinton. God knows who will
be president. And whoever the president
turns out to be, he or she will not make us into a Christian nation or the
kingdom of God. Whoever it is may do
good or evil, or, probably, both. Every
president – every leader at every level, is under the sovereign control of our
God. The God Who rode into Jerusalem and
earned us spiritual salvation and will return one day to give us earthly
salvation in His eternal kingdom on earth.
Finally, we see that the two crowds
joined together to witness to Who Jesus is and what He did.
“The crowd that had been with him
when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued
to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard
he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘You see that you
are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.’”
The crowd from Bethany knew that
Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead after four days – and the crowd from
Jerusalem had head that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead after four days
– and they heard and told each other more things that Jesus had said and done –
the witness to the Gospel.
We do that, don’t we? When we hear news – especially very good new
or very bad or shocking news, we go and tell others. Especially through the “news” we are
repeatedly informed of what they deem to be the major happenings in the world,
and we spread the word.
These crowds had heard the stories
of Jesus and spread them, and now them were in the presence of Lazarus, who had
been four days dead – no one had ever been raised from the dead after four
days. They wanted to see that Lazarus
was really alive and then see Jesus and find out what happened. They were excited and filled with wonder and
expectation.
Why are we bored with Jesus?
Why do we talk about Jesus here and
the response we get is to be asked what we are giving away?
Let us be excited about the
Gospel! Let us meditate on Who Jesus is and
what He has done, and let us pray that the Holy Spirit would make us excited
like those crowds, so when we go out from this place, we will tell people and
be excited about the Gospel.
May the curiosity of those we talk to
grow. May they want to know what this is
really about.
May we be known for our vivid faithful
telling the history of Jesus enough to trouble people and wonder what we’re up
to. May we be a people who so trouble the devil that he takes action against us
in a way that God is glorified.
The Pharisees had been making their plans,
seeking ways to kill Jesus and Lazarus.
Apparently some plans had been put in place, but when the Pharisees saw
the crowds’ reaction to Jesus entering Jerusalem, one group of Pharisees
accused the other group of not doing enough – of being ineffective in their
pursuit of killing Jesus. They noted
that “the whole world has gone after Him.”
All the efforts and planning resulted in
people from all over the world and all kinds of people following Jesus and
interested in Jesus and believing in Jesus.
The Pharisees were beside themselves with
anger – so far, they had failed, Jesus’ popularity was growing by leaps and
bounds.
Let us go from this place believing that
God knows what He is doing and all things are under His Sovereign control. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will work
through our efforts such that new crowds will be excited and interested and
believing in Jesus the Savior and King of Israel.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, in the holy counsels of the
Trinity, You ordained whatsoever comes to pass.
You sent Your Son to be the Way for any who will repent and believe to
be right with God and received secure passage into Your Kingdom. Help us to be the people You have called us
to be as we anxiously await the return of Your Son. Help us to confidently and joyful speak the
Gospel to others, and send the Holy Spirit to intercede and use our efforts to
bring the whole world to Jesus. For it
is in Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.
Martha Bronner Funeral Sermon
Martha Bronner Funeral
[Psalm
23]
July 23, 2016 Hollywood Memorial Cemetery
Hear the Word of God:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not
want.
He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me
in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy
rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in
the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth
over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
I’m sure most of us have heard this
Psalm of David before – some of us may even have it memorized – and it is often
read at funerals.
But do we understand what David was
talking about?
David was a shepherd before he was
king of Israel. Shepherds took care of
sheep. They had sheepfolds in which to
house the sheep which kept them safe from predators and thieves – there was
only one way into the safety of the sheepfold.
And the shepherd was responsible for the lives of the sheep – to lead
them and feed them and save them even to the point of giving his own life in battling
predators and thieves.
David begins this Psalm – this song
– addressing the LORD – that is, the One Holy God of Israel – the God Who is
just and loving – the God Who rejoices in glorifying Himself – the God Who
cannot allow any sin or imperfection to remain in His sight.
And David tells us that this God is
his God, that is, David, who was a murderer and an adulterer had somehow been
made right with God, and so God always fulfilled His daily needs – he would not
want for what God knew he needed for the day.
This God gave Him protection and
peace, salvation and righteousness, because it showed how great God is, and
despite continuing to have enemies and be in a position to be harmed or killed,
David did not fear, because the rod of discipline and the staff of guidance
comforted him – growing in the knowledge of and obedience to this God satisfied
him in this life no matter what else happened.
And David knew that, in the end, the
goodness and mercy of God would be what would bring him into the eternal Kingdom
of God.
I first met Martha Bronner in 1996
as she worked the “good dishware and plant table” at our flea market at Second
Reformed Church in Irvington. Although I
can count on two hands the number of times Martha joined us for Sunday worship,
she was always willing and able to help us with our flea markets – helping to
set up and sell and donating some of her own plants to sell.
I found Martha to be an honest and
hardworking person, who prided herself on working well; I can see her being a
prized employee in the NJDMV and as a bookkeeper.
Martha was proud to tell me of her
work in the Prudential and with AARP and at the Papermill Playhouse where I saw
her and visited with her during the show that her sister, Dorothy, went to Sunday
afternoons.
Martha was very proud of her
children and grandchildren. And Martha
made it clear to me that there were no more brilliant and caring people on the
earth than her grandchildren.
After her sister, Dorothy’s, death,
Martha and I talked and exchanged notes on a periodic basis. She was affirming and encouraging about my ministry
and continued to offer whatever help she could be in providing plants, etc.,
for our sales, even though we stopped the full-blown flea markets. And she spoke continually of her love for her
family.
She was a strong, caring, and able
person, and I thank God for the privileged of knowing her.
I thank God that I had the privilege
to talking with her several times after her stroke, and for the chance to
reflect with you for these few minutes as we mourn her death and consider who
she was and continues to be for each of us.
When Martha visited us in worship
and on those visits in the hospital, I preached and I talked with her about the
Lord God Who was David’s Shepherd as he wrote in Psalm 23, and it is my hope
and prayer that each of us will consider Who God is and whether or not we can
say He is “my shepherd.”
How do we become right with God,
David’s Shepherd? How can we say that He
is our Shepherd? How can we recite Psalm
23 and know and believe that it is true for each of us?
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.
I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the
Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are
not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So
there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from
me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I
have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father”
(John 10:14-18, ESV).
In the Gospel of John, Jesus
repeatedly affirms that He is God in the flesh.
And here, He uses the imagery of being the Shepherd that David knew and
was made right with – Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus explained that He was sent by
God the Father to incarnate as a human to be the Shepherd of the sheep that the
Father gave Him. Jesus is the Shepherd
of all those who repent and believe savingly in Him.
Jesus came with the mission to lay down
His life to secure the salvation of all those who would ever believe. Anyone Who believes that Jesus is God the
Savior and repents of their sin will be saved by Him. He will make them right with God and bring
them into His sheepfold – into the Kingdom of God now and eternally.
Anyone who wants to be right with
God and receive all that is spoken of in the 23rd Psalm must believe
in Jesus – God in the flesh – Who lived and died and rose to make all those who
repent and believe right with God.
That’s what I believe. That is what I told Martha. And that is what I tell you: Jesus is the Only Way to be right with God; He
is the Only Way to God and to eternal life now and forever. Please don’t wait. As we see the reality of life and death
today, call out to Jesus, repent of your sins, and be made right with God.
Let us pray:
Hope and Only Savior, we thank You for the life of Martha Bronner. We thank You for her love of
family and friends. We thank You for all that was good and commendable in her. And we ask that
You would comfort all those who are mourning, and send the Holy Spirit to open hearts and minds to
the Hope You have provided. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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