Larry E

Larry E. Lenow

FUMC

3-16-08

Palm Sunday A

Purpose Driven Life 5

“It’s All About Mission”

Text: Matthew 21:1-11

Boy, talk about poor planning. One wrong glance at the calendar and you’re backed into a corner. What was I thinking? Doing a sermon series on The Purpose Driven Life during our season of Lent seemed like such a good idea. It seemed like a no-brainer. Lent is traditionally a time of introspection; it is supposed to be a time we focus on our faith journey, come to grips with our sins and shortcomings and renew our commitment to Christ just as move into Holy Week and walk with our Lord from Gethsemane to Calvary and ultimately to the empty tomb. Warren’s book focuses on God’s purposes for us and how we as followers of Jesus Christ can live fully and faithfully. What could be more perfect? Except by not looking carefully at the calendar this final installment if you will, the fifth purpose, the summation and wrap-up falls on Palm Sunday, today, the beginning of Holy Week when the divine drama must surely trump all other books, series and agenda. What a disaster! What a train wreck! Unless, of course, the two somehow relate?

Let’s go ahead and take care of business. Over these weeks of Lent we have heard that God has five purposes for our lives:

The first purpose is that we were planned for God’s pleasure. We are each called to be in real, living, ongoing relationship with God and to give expression to that relationship by worship.
The second purpose is that we were formed for God’s family. God never intended us to go it alone in this world. Rather Christ intended from the very beginning that we, his followers, would come together and go through life together as the body of Christ, the Church.
The third purpose is that we were created to become like Christ. The life of faith is not a static thing; we are supposed to live and grow in faith and understanding.
The fourth purpose is that we were shaped to serve. In other words it’s not about what we get out of life; it’s about what we give to life. It’s about how we serve God and our neighbors.
Our fifth purpose, the purpose we focus on today is this: We were made for a mission.

You were made for a mission. God is at work in the world and he wants you to join him. This assignment is called your mission. God wants you to have both a ministry in the Body of Christ and a mission in the world. You ministry is your service to believers, and your mission is your service to unbelievers. Fulfilling your mission in the world is God’s fifth purpose for your life. Your life mission is both shared and specific. One part of it is a responsibility you share with every other Christian, and the other part is an assignment that is unique to you…As his followers, we are to continue what Jesus started. Jesus calls us not only to come to him, but to go for him. Your mission is so significant that Jesus repeated it five times, in five different ways, in five different books of the Bible. It is as if he was saying, ‘I really want you to do this!’…Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them everything I have told you. This commission was given to every follower of Jesus, not to pastors and missionaries alone. This is your commission from Jesus, and it is not optional. These words of Jesus are not the Great Suggestion. If you are a part of God’s family, your mission is mandatory. To ignore it would be disobedient.” (pp. 281-283)

The scene could not be more dramatic. Here is Jesus, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. He is receiving a hero’s welcome. There are massive crowds. They are so enthusiastic that they throw down their cloaks, making a carpet upon which the beast trod. They wave palm branches for banners. They sing: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Matthew says that the whole city was in turmoil. Such excitement, I wonder if there is any one of us who can not close our eyes and visualize the scene. And we know the undercurrent, don’t we? This joyous crowd will turn on Christ in five days and shout “Crucify! Crucify him!” And here’s the problem with Palm Sunday. On an intellectual level, I get it, I can understand it. WE know how fast and how murderously people can turn. For half a century Kenya is the most stable and prosperous country in Africa but flip a switch and people who have lived side by side for d3ecades are butchering each other. I understand that. And, I also understand that Jesus not the type of Messiah these people expected; they had a very different set of assumptions. I know that, in fact if you’re not careful I’ll give you and impromptu and rather tedious lecture on that. Intellectually I get it. Emotionally however, it’s much harder. I can’t imagine myself turning on Jesus. I don’t see myself screaming, “Crucify him!” Do you? After all, we are the people who love him. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Half the country isn’t in worship this Palm Sunday, but you and I are.

So here’s my question: What happens if Jesus upsets our assumptions? What happens if the gospel says, “You are saved by faith, but just believing is not enough. Yes, you come to church, and coming to church is important, but it’s not what it’s all about. What happens when we discover that Jesus Christ has given us a commission, a commandment, a charge? If we’ve given our hearts to Christ then Christ gives us a mission. And if we won’t accept the mission, maybe we haven’t really given our hearts to Christ?

When we start asking those questions, my sisters and brothers we can get serious about our place in this Palm Sunday drama. Are we with Peter and Andrew, James and John and the others walking behind, following Jesus, imperfect disciples to be sure, but following giving their lives and ultimately their deaths? Or are we with the countless others: “Love ya, Jesus! Hosanna! We’re with you. And we can’t wait to see what you’re going to do for us. We’ll be here, don’t worry.” How serious are you willing to take all this? How far are you willing to follow? Where are you in the Palm Sunday story?

You were made for a mission. You were made to have a ministry to believers, within the Body of Christ. We are called to live together, support each other, love each other, build each other up. And you were made to have a mission to the world. To be witnesses for Jesus Christ, to proclaim Jesus Christ, to share the love of Christ and to be the face of Christ to those you encounter. We could talk about how to be a witness; Warren devotes several chapters to that. That’s details. The critical piece is whether you’re willing to accept that you have been given a mission and whether you’re willing to be witness.

I have concluded most of these sermons with questions. But I’m not going to today. So group leaders, you’re on your own. Rather I’m going to give you an assignment. You received a palm cross as you came to worship. I don’t know about you, but over the years I’ve developed quite a little collection. Here’s what I want you to do. Give it away. (If you’re new, and this is your first one, it’s okay for you to pick up a second one, because they are kind of cool to keep.) Give it away, and I’ll tell you how. Don’t go to Sunday School or youth group and exchange them, that’s a cop out. Don’t give it to your kid, that’s also easy. Give it to a colleague or a neighbor or a friend or a relative or an acquaintance. Just do this: Say, “My church handed these palm crosses out on Palm Sunday and the pastor said to give them away because we’re not supposed to keep God’s love, we’re supposed to share God’s love. I thought I’d give it to you.” You don’t have to say anything else. You see, subtly that communicates two things. It says that your faith is important to you. And it says that of all the people you could have given it to, you chose to give it to him or her. It might trigger a conversation now or in the future, or it might not. That’s up to God. But a seed will be planted, and it’s not a bad beginning for you.

We live happier, fuller more completely if we live with purpose. You were made for a mission. Where are you in the picture? Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven.