 |
| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of
Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, March 20th, 2016:
'Palm Sunday - The Truest Story Ever Told'
Good morning. And welcome to good news in the
morning. My name is Brent Russett. I am
the Senior Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church here in Ottawa. It is my
pleasure to look at some of life’s challenges, and then bring you some good
news in the morning.
I am
glad that you tuned your dial to CFRA. I want you to know that you can also
find Good News in the morning on the internet at Goodnewsinthemorning.ca. There
you can keep up to date with what is happening around Good News Christian
Ministries.
This
morning’s program has been sponsored by Wills Transfer. Wills Transfer is a full service logistics and warehousing company
serving eastern Ontario and western Quebec since 1945. A special thanks to
Terry Wills. Thanks for partnering with Goodnews Christian Ministries on this
Palm Sunday.
A
happy Palm Sunday to all of you. Palm Sunday, for those of you who don’t know,
is the Sunday before Easter, when the Christian Church celebrates, Jesus riding
into Jerusalem as a king, with crowds worshipping him. Of course, five days
later they crucified him. But today we get to join in with the celebration of
the worship of Jesus.
******
I love a good story. That is why I
love a good movie. That is why I love to read a good novel. I think I have
learned more about theology from reading stories than I have learned from
theological text books. My favorite form of theology is when someone writes a
good allegory.
Now some of you are writers. You
know how to craft a good story. Some of you are great story tellers.
I grew up in a family of story
tellers. Often in the summer time, my extended family would sit around a
campfire and tell stories about days gone by. Stories were how community
history was kept alive.
Now stories can be true, in that
they actual happened. They can be true in the sense that they never happened
but they point to truth about life. Allegories fall into that category. Stories
can be fiction in a way that they are neither true nor point to truth.
This morning I want to tell you the
truest story ever told. Not only is it true in the sense that it happened, it
also points to a truth beyond the story.
*****
There are some of you are wondering
why should I care? Well the reality is that all of us base our life on a story.
Science tells us a story about how the world works. And in many ways it tells a
good, true story, if somewhat incomplete. It often tells a story of how the world works, but it doesn’t
tell us why the world works – which makes the story either meaningless or
unsatisfactory.
Many of you base your life on the
stories you parents told you. They told you that money was important and that
education was important. They told you a story about people of how you can or
can’t trust them. Some of you were told the story that you would never grow up
and amount to anything. As we grow up we
all have to figure out how true those stories are, or whether they are true at
all. But the story you believe, shapes your life.
The story that impacts your life the
most is the story that you tell yourself about yourself. Sure that story is
informed by other people but it is the story you believe about yourself. Some
of the stories that you tell yourself is that you are a failure or that you are
a success. You tell yourself about how valuable you are, or how you feel
worthless. If you want to get a clear picture of the story you tell yourself,
watch your own thinking when things go wrong.
When stuff goes wrong, some people
will tell themselves the story that they are a failure. Others will tell
themselves the story that it is everyone else’s fault. Some will chalk it up to
being human, and be gracious with themselves. Some will think the world is out
to get them, or they are cursed. Some will tell themselves that they are
stupid. But everyone tells themselves a story.
If you could see the story that you
tell yourself clearly, and if you could ask the question, is it true, that
would probably take you a long piece towards wholeness.
But underneath your story, there is
a deeper, truer story going on. The more the story that you tell yourself
agrees with this story, the truer the story that you tell yourself will be. The
more authentic your life will be.
Before we go any further we are
going to listen to one of the old old hymns of the church –
MUSIC – Tell me the
story of Jesus – It is sung by Wesley Phipps 4:26
So let me tell you the truest story
ever told. The story of Jesus It starts like all good stories do, at the
beginning.
John 1 NIV
In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were
made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him
was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
It becomes apparent in about 15
verses that the Word that John is talking about is Jesus. The story starts with
Jesus. He was with God in the beginning. In fact he was God.
Everything that you see was created
by him, absolutely everything. He set the all of creation into motion. He wove
and is woven into the very fabric of creation.
But
more than this, in him was life. This is not only the life that makes
your dog playful, or your cat moody, or
that makes you breathe – there is a deeper truer understanding of life.
This is the kind of life that causes
us to not only survive, but it is the kind of life that causes us to be fully
alive. It is the kind of life you feel when you are full of love. It is the
kind of life you glimpse when you are playing and totally engrossed in the
enjoyment of it all. This is the life that is truly life.
Jesus is life. And that life is the
light of humanity. And whether or not you know God – you have a sense what real
life is. (Unless you have really been formed by violence, and hatred.) The
reality is though, that this sense of life get warped in all of us, because we
live in a
warped and broken world. In fact we live in a
dark world.
This world is not what it was
created to be. It was created to be full of life, but death entered the world.
It was created to be full of light but darkness has entered the world.
But because this world was so dark,
the one who said I am the light of the world, came into this world. He came to
shine light in this world. He is the light. This light shines in the darkness
and the darkness has not overcome it.
For that matter the darkness couldn’t really figure out what light was
So on one dark night the one who
created the world came into the world. You know the story as Christmas. But
remember when he came into this world he was heralded by angels. When the
creator of the world enters the world, when light enters a dark place it as
momentous events.
Luke
2:8–14 (NIV)
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch
over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to
them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But
the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will
cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of
David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This
will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a
manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to
those on whom his favor rests.”
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to
those on whom his favor rests.”
The creator of the world came into
the world - for God so loved the world – but it was an occasion for the created
to worship. Worship is always a good response of the creation to its creator.
Well most of you know of about the
life of Christ. Jesus. Matthew tells us what his main message was.
Matthew 4:17 (NIV)
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven has come near.”
Jesus
himself quoted from Isaiah, and told us what the kingdom of God was all about.
Luke 4:18–19 (NIV)
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has
anointed me
to proclaim good news
to the poor.
He has sent me to
proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight
for the blind,
to set the oppressed
free,
19 to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favor.”
That is what light coming into
darkness looks like. It means good news. God has come to humanity so that
humanity can now get to God.
It is the proclamation of freedom.
Those of us who had been imprisoned in darkness, who had been bound by sin, now
have the door of the prison opened, and we are told we can go free.
To those of us who are blind. We cannot
know or see the truth. Our sight is being healed.
For those who are oppressed, Jesus
came to set us free. Those whom the Son set free are free indeed.
He came to proclaim God’s favor. God
loves you. God is on your side.
And people saw it in the ministry of
Jesus. They especially saw it in the teaching and in the miracles.
So is it any wonder that the crowd that first Palm Sunday,
that crowd that had seen Lazarus raised from the dead. That crowd that had
heard the message of Jesus started to echo heaven.
The angels shouted “14 “Glory
to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor
rests.”
The crowd shouted.
Luke
19:38 (NIV)
38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and
glory in the highest!”
That is what worship is. Worship is
stating what is true in heaven to be true on earth. Worship echoes on earth
what is true in heaven.
When we say God you are faithful and
good and true and kind and loving. We are echoing what is true in heaven. That
is worship.
But it goes further than that. There
were religious leaders in the crowd. They heard people worshiping Jesus. They
thought, this is not right. They did not get who was in front of them. They did
not understand that the creator of the world had stepped into the world. So
Luke 19:39–40 (NIV)
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your
disciples!”
40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
Was that hyperbole. Was Jesus
exaggerating? I don’t think so.
Jesus said, if the people were to be
silent then praise would happen by an extraordinary means. It is interesting to
note, that in a few short days from now, when Jesus was hung on the cross, and
the disciples were silenced that the earth did quake and rocks were split
apart.
You see when the one who knitted
together the fabric of the world comes into the world, the world is most true
to itself when it echoes heaven. The structure of the world is made to reflect
heaven.
If worship didn’t happen, if the
people would not echo heaven the earth itself would have to.
So what does that have to do with
you. Well quite a bit. Worship happens when the story on earth reflects the
story in heaven. Worship happens when the story you tell yourself reflects the
story that is told about you heaven.
Remember Jesus mission.
Matthew 4:17 (NIV)
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven has come near.”
Repentance needs to happen when your
story doesn’t match the one that heaven wants to tell about you. Now for those
of you who have yet to become followers of Jesus, that is the first place that your
story needs to match.
Jesus died for you. You have to
receive what Jesus did for you. Jesus rose from the grave with new life. Jesus
wants to pour his new life into you.
Fort those of you who are follows of
Christ – I want to ask you this question. Is the story that you tell yourself
the same as the story told about you in heaven?
Ephesians
1:3–8 (NIV)
Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For
he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to
sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—6 to
the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he
loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that
he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,
Do
you hear what heaven says about you.
What Heaven says.
You
have every spiritual blessing in Christ
You
were chosen
You
are loved
You
are adopted into the family of God
You
are redeemed and forgiven
God’s
grace, God’s favour is lavished upon you.
Is
that the story that you tell yourself? That is the story that echo’s heaven.
That is the truest story ever told. This is what God says is true about you.
This is your identity. This is who you are. Will you own your story?
Lets
go on
Ephesians
2:1–7 (NIV)
As for you, you were dead in
your transgressions and sins,…. 4 But because of his great love
for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ
even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in
Christ Jesus,
Ephesians
2:10 (NLT)
10 For
we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do
the good things he planned for us long ago.
This
is what is said about you in heaven.
God loves you
in a great way he is rich in mercy.
He made you alive
He raised you up with Christ.
You are now seated in with Christ in the heavenly
realms.
You are God’s masterpiece (handiwork)
You are created anew in Christ
Remember this is what the one who
created the world says about you. The creator of the world came into the world
to do what he did so this would be true about you. He who wove the fabric of
the universe declares this to be true about you.
Remember the world is most true when
it echoes heaven. Your story is most true when it echoes heaven. How does what
you tell yourself about, line up to what God says about you?
I have two kids. Sometimes when they
were growing up something would happen and I would be told two versions of the
event. Ethan would tell me one thing and Amy would tell me another thing.
What I had was two competing
stories. As a parent you have to try and figure out what is going on. You have
to try to figure out what is true.
Some of you have two have two
stories in front of you. There is the story you tell yourself about yourself
and the story that God tells you about you.
You are the one who is going to have
to figure out which story you are going to believe. If you believe the story
you have been telling yourself and it is different than God’s story – you will
find worship harder. You will be going against how you are made. You will find
yourself carrying attitudes and behaviours that hinder you rather than help
you.
But if you will learn to believe the
story that God says about you, you will stand in the middle of trouble. You
will be strengthened in the middle of trouble. You will be most truly you, and
most fully alive.
We all base our lives on a story. So
what story will you tell yourself about yourself. The story that you believe will determine how you live
Let’s
pray:
Lord,
I pray that each person who is listening to me will match the story of their life
with your story. I ask this in Jesus’ name, AMEN.
If Good News in
the Morning has been a factor in your journey of faith, we would love to hear
your story. Nothing could encourage us more in this work. Contact us by e-mail or Twitter via the web
site –goodnewsinthemorning.ca
And
Thank you for listening this morning.
This
program is on the air by the grace of God and donations of many faithful people.
I especially want to thank Wills Transfer, the logistics and warehouse company
and Terry Wills for sponsoring todays program.
If you can help financially we would really
appreciate it. You can make a cheque payable to Good News Christian
Ministries, and send it to Box 184 ,
Rideau Ferry , On. K0G 1W0.
You
can also give by going to our website. Good News in the morning.ca
May you know
Jesus Christ personally and profoundly.
May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart. And may the heavenly Father surround you with
His constant and abiding and accompanying love
MUSIC
The Cross has said it all Matt Redman 3:54
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in
Ottawa:
_______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to the CFRA broadcast:
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