Sermon Ideas

Only messages for Palm Sunday are available this year.

Message ideas for Palm Sunday, March 28th
March 28 – Palm Sunday
General Remarks about Palm Sunday
Message One
Message Two
Message Three

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March 28th – Palm Sunday

General Remarks (useful background for anything you might present on Palm Sunday)

Palm Sunday may be the most ignored event of the main occasions in Jesus' life. If Palm Sunday has something to say about the culmination of history, it deserves our attention. If Palm Sunday has anything to do with the ultimate act of worship in all of history, then it deserves our attention. If Palm Sunday has something to do with the revival that we are praying toward, then it deserves our attention. If it has something to do with Christ's greater glory in the midst of movements of praise and prayer which eventually transforms entire cities, then our hope may have an anchor in this extravagant outpouring of worship.

The events of what we call Palm Sunday may be worth more attention than we have given them. Note the unique characteristics of this amazing occasion:

It was the only crowd that Jesus did not flee.
It was the most public hour of Jesus' life.
All four gospels come to a crescendo with this event. By comparison, the Christmas story is found in only two of the gospels.
The donkey ride alone is enough to show that it was intended, and even planned by Jesus. But at the same time, he refused to restrain whatever was spontaneous (the extravagant praise and gestures of reception).
It was a day of great joy, and yet Jesus weeps openly.
It was a time of great reception and favor, and yet Jesus caps the day with an outburst of violence that moved his enemies to form an alliance against him.
Jesus knew very well that the accolades of praise were directed toward him. He knew that the people recognized him as God's chosen Messiah. And yet he did nothing to hinder the out-and-out worship that was accorded him.
Palm Sunday actually extended for days. Jesus led the entire procession to the temple. The crowd kept coming to meet him for days at that very place. The praise continued for days. Jesus continued to do nothing to tone down the adoration.

The features and paradoxes of this event should move us to understand what it meant to Jesus and what it means for us today. The account clearly states that his followers failed to grasp the enormous significance of the event. "These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him" (John 12:16). This verse tells us how to look at the event. It was a time when things had been done "to Him." We usually are looking for ourselves as we read scripture. When the topic is not our sin or our salvation or our relationships or our blessing, we lose interest. We are so sure that we understand Jesus completely if we grasp what he came to do for us. But let's look again at Palm Sunday. Something wonderful took place for Jesus. What really happened for Jesus? Why did Jesus plan this event? What did Jesus intend to accomplish by all the weeping, rejoicing, temple cleansing, and donkey riding?

Was Jesus fulfilling prophecy? Of course. He fulfilled more than Zechariah 9:9. Psalm 118 was shouted and sung. Several other scriptures in Jesus' Bible were alluded to and fulfilled. Jesus himself quoted from Psalm 8, Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7 to explain what was unfolding.

I think Jesus was doing more than fulfilling prophecy. He was prophesying. He was taking the truths and imagery of Zechariah 9 and other scripture and projecting them in historic 3-D reality as a way of fixing in the minds of any of his followers that he will be received as a majestic king. Can you imagine Jesus woodenly attempting to act out verses from his bible? Such stagecraft would only serve to prove a small point that he thought himself to be messianic material. What was on Jesus' mind, with great emotion, was the fact that many of the leaders of Jerusalem were missing "the hour of [their] visitation" (Luke 19:44). Those who were acclaiming his place as king would find that themselves betrayed by their leaders. The point is that Jesus was looking toward the day when God would redeem people from tyrannical evil and transform entire cities so that the promised kingdom of God on earth would be a reality. God would do this through a leader, and he was that leader. The question was no longer who the leader would be. The question became a matter of when an hour of visitation would be recognized, and when God's people would welcome, not only their Messiah, but when they would welcome God's work of drawing people from every people to be part of the phenomenon of God's worship house.

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March 28th Palm Sunday – Message 1: The Homecoming of God

We return to Psalm 24. There are two questions in Psalm 24. The first question, “Who can ascend?” is really all about how we can hope to seek God’s face in such a way that we can experience His blessing as a people. The answer is a powerful vision of a generation who will do exactly that. A generation like Jacob.

The second question is “Who is this King of glory?” This is really a question about God coming from heaven to fill the earth that is His.

Review the entire Psalm. It starts with the earth and its fullness being the Lord’s. It is His to fill, and He will.

1. Crying out for God to come.

This Psalm has often been restricted in its interpretation to early coronation practices, as if this was a song that was sung for an earthly king as he made his way to his throne. That seems too narrow and mundane an interpretation.
Here’s why: The cosmic proportions of vss1-2 makes rather extravagant claims for any human king. The qualities described in vs 4 are not royal characteristics, but plainly matters pertaining to worship. The topics of vss 5-6 have nothing directly to do with coronation. Verse 10 clearly identifies the kingly entity as the Lord of hosts. This is no human figure.

Verses 7 and 9 express a cry for gates to be opened. They are ancient doors. What are these doors? What portal is being opened? From what setting is being entered?

I think it’s referring to the boundary that Jacob saw penetrated by a staircase. He was gazing into heaven. Angels were coming and going, obviously doing God’s work on earth. Shaking his head in amazement and fear as he awakened from his dream, Jacob told the story about his first remarks about: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:17). Before the temple or the tabernacle were even imagined, Jacob knew that the point of contact of heaven with earth could best be described as the house of God. More importantly, he called it a gate of heaven. It was not a gate by which people could make their way to heaven. It does not speak about gates TO heaven. It speaks of God bringing heaven's life to earth. They are gates FROM heaven. It was all about God breaking in upon earth, and then breaking out north, south, east, and west through His people all over the earth (28:13-14).

I think the ancient doors of Psalm 24 refer to the way that God has hidden heaven from our view. Heaven is real, but in some way that we cannot apprehend with our senses (but recent theory of mathematics and physics allows room for, since there are possibilities of there existing, not four but eleven dimensions), heaven is hidden from our experience. But it is nonetheless real. The Bible is clear that He will come. He will open heaven and fill the earth. The New Testament adds depth and detail to the vision of a King coming suddenly from the heavens to fill the earth and fulfill all of God’s purpose.

If this is even close to being true, then Psalm 24 7-9 constitutes one of the most profound prayers of all the Bible. It’s a prayer that the King would come. It’s a cry for heaven to open; for the most desired One to come. This passage gives you permission to hope. We are not left to make something of the existing materiel at hand. We are not left to merely cope. We are not left merely imagining possibilities by which we might vaguely shape our future. Neither are we left bereft of hope. We are to live with uplifted heads, crying out for God to move utterly into the earth bringing glory and being glorified.

The way this prayer is expressed in the book of Revelation is “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

2. Expecting the King of glory.

This prayer for the heavens has an important purpose: “That the King of glory may come in!” (in both vss 7 and 9). The phrase King of glory means three things:
a. This King is the source of all beauty, worth and honor. He is more than source. He Himself is beautiful in such radical extreme that anyone who has beheld glimpses of His glory (as reported in scripture) finds human language unable to express the wonder and awe of His magnificent worth.
b. This King governs by ways of glory. He gives honor to those worthy of honor. He brings shame to those worth of dishonor.
c. This King is worthy of being glorified above any other. He is utterly praiseworthy. Appropriate praise would exhaust the superlatives of every language.
d. This King will fill the earth with glory.
Let your hearts be thrilled with anticipation that the earth will be adorned with beauty that has never been seen by eyes or heard by ears.

3. Welcoming the Lord of hosts.

The Psalm envisions the moment that the King comes through the ancient doors. The question is asked, “Who is this King of glory?” Can you imagine the response of many thousands of people who have, like Jacob, sought His face, wrestling in the dark, but knowing that they have come to encounter the living God? Yes, there will be millions of people on the earth that will know who this one is. And they will acclaim Him. They will welcome Him. They know who He is.

Ponder the exclamations of who He is in the answers of vss 8 and 10:
“The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle...The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.” We find three phrases answering the question, each of them having to do with the power and preeminent grandeur of the Lord in military victory. Don’t too quickly discard the military language as if it were a relic of a bygone primitive era. God is not negotiating with evil or gradually curtailing it. All the way through the Bible there are indications that God is fighting a war with evil that He will ultimately win. The evil is really that bad. Because of our sin, we are utterly powerless to fend off evil. We succumb to the malevolent prince of darkness, becoming nearly as evil as He is. But God Himself has not left us to die as rebels and hostages. He has waged a long war. The cost has been unimaginably great, the very blood of the Lamb who was slain. But He has prevailed. And even in these days He completes His victory of liberation. Rejoice in the sheer wonder of heaven’s Champion. He is the Lamb who was slain. Victorious but utterly humble. Triumphant but never exacting terror. Powerful without ever coercing His beloved. He has conquered by the power of His love.

4. Palm Sunday: Rehearsing the homecoming of God.

What does this mean to us on Palm Sunday? Like the ordinary people on Palm Sunday, we find God lifting our hearts and hopes to yearn for God to come to us and fill the entire earth with His glory. We are busy people, preoccupied with trivialities and small problems. But each of us knows that what our hearts are shaped for is the homecoming of God.

We know that God is no ordinary guest. In fact, He is not a guest at all. He is the creator of all things. We have not dared to hope courageously enough to believe steadily that He will come. He is good enough that He will not entirely surprise His beloved ones who have sought His face and sought His kingdom. He gives them early opportunity to shout out their welcoming worship. As if a repeating rehearsal for the grand entrance, there have been nearly 2000 Palm Sundays since Jesus first rode a donkey into Jerusalem. For those who love Him and who seek Him, this day gives us a chance to lift their entire beings in welcome: Welcome King of glory!

As if an angel were shouting, “Who is this king of glory?” The ones saved, the ones loved, the ones transformed, the ones honored in battle by His side are given place to shout: “The Lord of hosts! He is the King of glory!”

On this Palm Sunday, let us rehearse with confident hope that the long struggle with evil will soon be finished. The staggering cumulative suffering of the world, which defies anyone to explain it, will at the last be seen to have not been wasted. The Lamb who was slain will have carried our sorrows and redeemed the broken stories of entire races. There shall be glory where their was terror and grief and sin. He Himself, imagine it, will so tenderly dry our tears.

He will bring glory, a better beauty, because He is the King of glory. His glory will be brighter than the best beauties we have dared imagine. With Him will pour in oceans of glory surpassing the finest splendors of earth.

On this Palm Sunday, as we shout “Hosanna!” We proclaim His victory is sure. On this Palm Sunday, as we exclaim our blessing, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” it is as if we are welcoming Him with full-hearted hope.

On this Palm Sunday, let us in faith boldly enter a holy rehearsal of His coming. It is as certain as God creating the earth. He will come home to fill the earth. Be glad, for soon will be the homecoming of God.

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

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March 28th Palm Sunday – Message 2: Ultimate Praise

Jesus was asked to hush his followers. What they were shouting was a politically incorrect statement. It amounted to insurrection. Everyone could get into a great deal of trouble. But Jesus refused to cooperate. He let the adoring crowd shout on. "Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!" (Luke 19:39-40).

It's important to note that he said this about what the people were saying at that very time. It was not a generalized teaching about praising the Lord. What was this particular praise and what does it mean for us?

"As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

1. Joyful thanks.

"...to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen..." The praise was joyful thanks for a huge move of God upon entire communities. The joy exploded when they added up all the different acts of God's hand which had come about by Jesus and the people he had sent to pray in his name (John 12:17-19). The raising of Lazarus triggered the gathering of people to Jesus. It was probably then that people began to recount all the stories of what had been done in Jesus' name. It wasn't just miracles heard about. It was miracles seen. Miracles, which are simply answered prayers, matter. God intends to be glorified by prayer in Jesus' name. This is the reason God loves to operate in conjunction with our prayers. He is glorified. This is why we are not mistaken in following Christ's leading to pray for everyone in our community. Our prayers may lead to a critical mass of answered prayers, which can detonate with a city-shaking outbreak of glory.

2. Passionate welcome.

"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord" The crowd did the best thing that can ever be done regarding the Messiah. They were not making a messiah, they were shouting their recognition that God had given them a messiah. This crowd was not trying to force him to be king, or elect him as king by a voice vote. Jesus had seen that kind of mob before (John 6:15) and had disappeared almost instantly. This was not a king-making crowd. Instead, they recognized that he came to them "in the name of the Lord." In this situation the phrase "who comes in the name of the Lord" meant that they saw that he was coming to them as the messiah that God had sent. They were quoting Psalm 118:26, which is laden with messianic hope. Psalm 118:27 says "The LORD is God, and He has given us light." I think God gave them enough light to see who Jesus was. A verse just before (verse 24) says, "This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it." They saw the crescendo of history unfolding. Finally a day, a season, a time, when God would redeem the people. They certainly weren't trying to hustle Jesus into play-acting as a leader that he wasn't. Instead the Psalm they were quoting says, "This is the LORD'S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes." I think the crowd was moved, by the light that God gave them at that time, to see that the kingdom would be the Lord's doing. They saw it and counted it a marvelous thing. We need to rejoice in the same kind of way. Do you see a coming day of God? It's going to unfold by God's own doing. We need his light to see it. In the day of God's glory, we will find that what was rejected becomes the most precious. May God give us light to see his coming messiah. May we not be those who miss an hour of his visitation.

3. Peace and glory.

"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" It sounds like all the action is happening in the heavenlies. But the main point is that there is both peace and glory. The place where these people longed to see peace was the earth. That's certainly how Luke 2:14 reads. It is possible to translate the phrase "By heaven peace and glory in the highest." But however the poetic words were to be understood, the people saw God's peace on the way. The people saw glory coming to God in the highest. This matches God's purpose to glorify his Son (that's the glory) and to bless the nations (that's the peace).

Why talk about rocks? Jesus' statement about rocks crying out can only mean that this kind of praise must come about. It was not just good, it was destined. Such praise befits the crescendo of all history. Ultimately, there will not be occasional and sporadic answers to prayer. God will answer prayers on a city-wide scale. But He will not do so anonymously. His praying people will naturally become a praising people. This people will begin to thank Him for far more than the personal benefits they have received. They will praise Him loudly for ALL that He has done.

God will not impose the governance of his Messiah by force. Instead, there will be a rising movement of loving devotion, welcoming Him.

And finally, God will not bring his day of peace and glory as a happenstance of good economies and decent elected government leaders. Instead, there will be widespread recognition that all of heaven is moving on all of the earth.

The reference to rocks crying out is corroborated by the Palm Sunday praise that continued in Matthew 21:15-16. Jewish leaders objected to the praise. Jesus quotes Psalm 8, not only about children being worthy worshipers. The Psalm speaks clearly about the entire purpose for humankind being fulfilled as people offer their praise to God.

What can we learn from this praise?

First, we need to be the kind of people who are focused on the hope that God is giving us. God wants us to be busy praying for our city in Jesus' name. If we give Him many prayers to answer, He will sooner be able to answer many thousands of prayers at the same time frame, and again bring about a situation similar to that which we find on Palm Sunday morning. Many prayers answered, and the people who had prayed them among the most jubilant.

Second, we should find as well great confidence that Jesus will manifest his kingdom and his leadership so greatly that we will acclaim him as the leader God is giving us. When we pray for his kingdom to come, we are really crying out that he will come. Ultimately our hope is not WHAT will happen. It is WHO will make it happen. This way of focusing our hope on the one who comes in the name of the Lord will move us to do deeds of the kingdom in his name, like garments laid on the ground before him. The garments and palm branches laid down didn't make Him come, but they beautified his coming. It is so liberating and invigorating to realize that he has given us something to do to signify His kingdom, but ultimately this will be the work of God.

Finally, we can find ourselves emboldened in hope that Christ will change things so drastically that heaven will feel the reverberations of peace and glory. Palm Sunday becomes an assurance that God does not intend to do what we might call "dead-end miracles" or feats of supernaturalism just to astound our friends and his enemies. God loves to answer prayers so that great outbreaks of glory may come. And we can look forward to the day when the earth will reverberate with the recognition of His overcoming peace.

Let's not make the rocks cry out in our day. If God is intending great glory to come to his Son; and if God is going to do great miracles; and if God is going to bring about peace and glory, then we need to fulfill what we were made for as people: To be the people of prayer and praise, and to celebrate in hope with Lord with history-culminating joy.

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March 28th Palm Sunday – Message 3: Jesus Comes Before He Comes

Palm Sunday is a portrait of the revival we seek. It is a sure anchor of hope at the crescendo of history. Jesus dramatized the surest hope that we can ever look forward to: that God will come among the communities of earth, healing, renewing, restoring and establishing His dwelling with people.

It's a realistic picture of the culmination of history. Palm Sunday does not present a utopian dream. In fact, Jesus weeps because many of the key leaders still reject him. Jesus had always had those who opposed him from diverse corners. There were different groups of Jewish leaders. Just after Palm Sunday, when he had cleaned out the temple, his enemies coordinated their efforts (Matthew 22:15 and others). Eventually they plot in ways that involve the Roman imperial forces, which in turn, involved the Herodian government structure which had done away with John the Baptist. Palm Sunday is anything but a rosey picture of prolonged church services. If the event portends any kind of aftermath of great open movements to Christ, it suggests that evil powers unite and do their worst when Christ's manifest presence unites people in transforming, healing power.

In every agree to work together So great was opposition that they

Every major revival in history, we have seen a few features repeat. The paramount feature of revival is the manifest presence. Those who have been alive in seasons of great transforming revival describe the presence of God throughout the community. Even those who reject Christ often admit that He is present during those kinds of days. Palm Sunday is the most ample description of the presence of Christ amidst His people during days of revival. What do we have to look forward to?

1. His instruction.

Jesus went to the temple daily. He was teaching them day after day. People got up early to squeeze into the temple to hear him. Jesus was not presiding over a renegade worship service. He endorsed and supported the true worship that was being done (see below for what he did oppose). He was teaching. The main feature was the theme of God's house of worship consisting of people drawn from every people. No doubt Isaiah 2 (and the parallel Micah 4) came to the minds of many who were part of those gatherings. Isaiah 2:2-4 is one of the pinnacles of hope in all of scripture. His teaching, or law, will go forth from the mountain of the Lord. Many peoples will surge up the mountain, like rivers running up hill. His leadership, expressed in the language of judging, will have effect everywhere. Entire societies will change. What a marvelous hope! And it has expression on Palm Sunday. Did the crowd buy into the teaching? I think so. The Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus feared the crowd would rise up in rioting if Jesus was harmed. But in fact, they did not. They were the core of the movement fifty days after the Passover who eventually stood their ground without anger or rancor against great hostility. Jesus had taught them about laying down weaponry. They had learned his ways.

What can we expect? Days of Christ instructing His people in His ways so powerfully that the very structure of society will be altered.

2. His healing.

The account says that the blind and the lame came to him and he healed them (Matthew 21:14). This is in line with all that he had done before. But there is something special about this mention of the blind and the lame. Many think that people were seeing what Christ was doing as a great re-enactment of the exodus, a great returning of God's people from exile to the land and to the temple. Jeremiah 31:7-9 mentions specifically the blind and the lame as those who would usually be ignored, but signify the grandeur of the return.

What can we expect: Days of Christ's healing will involve people who would usually be considered to be beyond help. There will be a sense of journeying together with Jesus into a new day. People we would normally disqualify for such adventures of passion for God will be restored. Those blind to God will gaze upon Him. Those immobilized to follow Christ will find their spiritual feet and join the band of those who love God.

3. His leadership bringing the nations to worship God.

Take seriously where Jesus was going. His destination was the temple. The cleansing of the temple was not an outburst of anger against mercantile enterprise as much as it was a removal of obstacles hindering the nations.

He quoted Isaiah 56:7. Please read this phrase in context, reading the verse before and the verse following. It says that God will bring people from the earth's peoples to his house of worship, making them joyful in his house of prayer. The word for prayer is a wide word in the Hebrew language. It means more than just petionary prayer. It speaks of just about every kind of prayer and worship. And that's what the context describes. Burnt offerings and honor offerings will be accepted. Not just petionary prayer. Worship prayer.

The phrase "house of worship of all the peoples" speaks more about the house being open to worshipers FROM all the peoples instead of praying FOR or ON BEHALF OF the peoples. I'm all for prayer. We need to pray for the nations. But this passage tells us more what we are praying toward than it tells us anything about our prayer meetings including items from distant lands.

When Jesus cleansed the temple of the sacrifices for sale, and the money changers that were offering the required currency to make an offering to God, he was clearing away the religious clutter that not only insisted that people offer the offerings that were for sale, they made money doing it. People, even decent Hebrew-speaking Jewish people, could no longer bring their offering into the temple and find God pleased with it. They would have to exchange whatever they brought for one of the approved offerings that was for sale. And there was no way they could pay for such things with their own money. They had to exchange it for the currency that was approved. How could the nations ever find their way in to the temple?

No wonder Jesus was so insistent and passionate!

What we can expect during days of revival: Jesus will upset our cultural standards and our religious systems. We may be blind to how greatly our traditions exclude people coming to God with offerings of worship which are from their heart. We aren't talking about generalized relativism, in which any way you would like to get to heaven or to worship God is okay. We are speaking of the cultural patterns which restrain people from singing to God in the idiom and style of their culture.

When Jesus cleansed the temple, it was an act that basically opened the doors of worship to the nations. We need to expect that Isaiah 56:8 will be fulfilled in greater measure: "I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered."

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