King Jesus

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Now I'm going to say something that you might think is an overstatement, but I don't. And to a lot of people, probably, it would be a total shock and overstatement. It's like, wait a minute, huh? But I think it's a profound truth that we need to deal with today, and that is this. What you believe about Jesus is more important than what you believe about yourself. And that right there probably is offensive to a lot of people today, because what we think is our lives are set up as to, you know, I really need to believe in myself. Have you heard people say that before? Just a few times over. I need to believe in myself, and you know, it's the messages that I give to myself that really define who I am. And the number one thing in our culture today that determines our lives and what we think is the defining moment of our lives is what we find pleasure in and how we express ourselves and what's really important to us, etc. And anything that gets in the way of my freedom to choose, and anything that would get in the way of me fully expressing or deciding who I am, it's not just an annoyance or a nuisance, but it's an absolute, outright, terrible thing. It should be thrown out. Because we think that that is going to get in the way of us having the good life, the ideal life. And for me to determine what makes my life tick and what would tick me off, and what makes my life great and wonderful and where I find my purpose and my pleasure, that's what it means to be American. And yet I have to tell you this, this is the paradox. You seek after your own happiness and your own pleasure and your own purpose and try to define yourself that way, guess what's going to happen? You lose your sense of pleasure. You try to seek happiness, it'll slip through your fingers. And a day, I dare say, Jesus is saying, but when you let go of all those things and you seek me first, guess what comes along? You'll find life, you'll find purpose, you'll find joy, you'll even find direction and guidance and freedom. And after Jesus is the Lord of your life, you'll look back and say, I never really even knew what freedom was until he's the one that's in charge. That's saying a lot maybe, but I believe that's what Palm Sunday is about and what our text is about today. And we're going to look at it under three points. And what we're going to learn about Jesus and his kingship are these things, that Jesus is the confrontational king. Secondly, Jesus is the counterintuitive king and that Jesus is the coming king. First of all, the confrontational one. Now, what happens before Matthew 21? Anybody? Matthew 20. I know. And in it, actually, what happens is Jesus. And this is, I think, in all three synoptic gospels, synoptic gospels. That's Mark, Luke and Matthew. Those are the synoptic. They see things the same way. They almost have the exact same structure. They have a few variations, but they're very similar. And in all three of those, right before Jesus enters Jerusalem, he heals. In this instance, in Matthew chapter 20, he heals two men that are blind. OK, now, almost all the time before this in the gospel of Matthew and Mark and Luke, he tells anyone he heals to not say anything. Don't make a mess for me, basically, because he's afraid the crowds are going to get too great and everything's going to get commotional and everybody, you know, everything kind of gets commotional. I don't think that's a word, but it's going to be a commotion around him. He's trying to make sure that he can still have his public ministry. But this instance is different. And in Matthew chapter 21, these two men cry out. It says these two men cried out, Lord, have mercy on us. Son of David, Matthew 20, verse 30. OK, and Jesus turns and says to them, yes. What do you want? And you might go like, oh, big deal. This is the first time, though, in the entire gospel that that title, son of David, has been spoken about Jesus and that Jesus has accepted that title. And I don't know if you realize what that title, son of David. Now, he's called himself the son of man before he's had the demons say you are the son of God and he's quieted them down. But this is the first time in public that someone cries out, son of David. And he says, yes, of course. Yeah, that's me. It would have sent chills down the spines of every one of the disciples and everyone that followed him, because you see, it would be like saying, hey, oh, ultimate king of the universe, the final king, the one that we've been waiting for. Will you please heal me? And Jesus says, yes, that's me. What do you want? Whoa. Whoa. You know, the crowds got it on the way into Jerusalem. These crowds were from the towns of Bethany and Bethphage, which are just outside of Jerusalem, as Matthew says. Do you know what happens in the Gospel of John in Bethany, by the way, just a few weeks befor...