April 2, 2023 – Palm Sunday Text: Mark 11:1-11
Dear Friends in Christ,
That American theologian Billy Joel once wrote in a song, “They say there’s a heaven for those who will wait, Some say its better, but I say it ain’t. I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, The sinners are much more fun.” That is the philosophy of many, even Christians. So many think that heaven will be boring. No Xbox or ice cream cones. We read in our Bibles heaven will be where we worship and sing and praise our Creator for the love He has for us. Worship? Praise? Singing? Next, you’ll tell me I will be floating on a cloud playing a harp with dull religious people. No thank you.
Unfortunately these are the same ideas that keep people from praising God on earth. Easy excuses are found for the weak soul to stay away from God’s House. Worship is boring. The Bible is hard to understand. Who wants to go and sit around bland religious people?
Today is Palm Sunday. One of the greatest days of worship and praise! As Jesus’ makes his humble and royal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey all the attention is on Him as King. The crowds and children are singing their praises. Though many today would rather go to hell than to find joy in worship, this Sunday we will learn to find joy in raising to Jesus our . . .
“HANDS OF PRAISE”
Many think that praising God can only be done on a pew with soft music. The reality is that most of the praising of God takes place outside the church building. The Palm Sunday praise of Jesus took place outside God’s House.
We have the obedient praise of the disciples. Jesus gave them unusual instructions about a donkey they were supposed to get. Certainly they had questions. “Jesus, how do you know the donkey will be there? How do you know we can take it without asking?” They didn’t ask. They didn’t question Jesus. They praised Jesus with their obedience.
Our world does not give that praise to God. They question why God and His Word and His Church have a right to tell us what to do at all. They question how a loving God can allow such heartache. They accuse the Bible of patriarchy when it names man the head of the woman and woman the helper of man. They question why they can’t live together before marriage and why they can’t swear if everybody else does.
As believers we praise God with our obedience. Christians obey without questioning Jesus’ authority. We live good, clean, decent and honest lives outside the church in the world every day. We don’t just say, “Your will be done.” We go out and see that Jesus will is done on earth. This is worship of Jesus which pleases God.
Another way we show praise is to honor our Lord with the stewardship of our gifts. Look at the Palm Sunday crowd. One person happily gave the use of their donkey. Others took off their cloaks and put them on the colt. Still others spread their cloaks on the road. Another group maybe having little to give cut down palm branches as a symbol of Jesus’ victory. They all praised Jesus with their possessions.
Here we are Palm Sunday 2023, and the souls of men and women are dying. People are pushing farther away from the church and people are going to their graves with no saving faith. Is that our main concern? Or do we worry about ourselves? What about the economy? Interest rates keep going up. My share of the national debt is now $94,000. Can I keep my standard of living? Can we put our shirt in the dirt just a little so that Jesus and his message of forgiveness can march triumphantly into our hurting world? Can we not cut a few palms here and there from trees of worldly hopes and spray them in His direction? Using our hands to praise Jesus with our gifts – that would be great praise for the Savior King.
Another form of praise came from the mouths of the Palm Sunday worshippers. “And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!’” When the praise of obedience and the praise of money is there, the praise of mouth will naturally follow. They were loud and enthusiastic. Joyous and happy. Th enemies of Jesus were looking on, watching closely and jealously as these people praise Jesus with their mouths when they weren’t even in church!
Jesus still needs the praise of our mouths, but not just singing in church. He needs the spontaneous, sincere praise of our mouths out in the world where His enemies are listening. No souls will be converted by our cursing or arguing. No one will want to come here if we bad mouth our church or we are always pessimistic and grumpy. We will praise our King by confessing the faith to the weak and sinful. We will praise our King by standing up for proper language. We will praise our King when we are friendly to the visitor at church or the friend we tell we are praying for. Jesus needs the praise of your mouth, not just here at church, but out in the world, especially in the hearing of His enemies.
You can think heaven will be boring only if you think that praising God is boring on earth. On Palm Sunday there were two groups. Those who praised Him. Those who hated Him. Lord enter our hearts as King. May our hands praise you with unquestioning obedience. You gave your life for us, may we use our hands and the gifts you give to praise you. Then with the Holy Spirit working in us, allow our mouths to praise you in the world. Then one day soon we will praise you in heaven, where our praise will be anything but boring. Amen.