Blessed is the King

"When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 'Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!' 'Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!' Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples!' 'I tell you,' he replied, 'if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.'” (Luke 19:37-40)


During this Lenten season, many people observe fasts and other various "spiritual disciplines" to get into the spirit of the Easter season. As a nondenominational Christ follower, most of my brothers and sisters in the Lord do not observe Lent. But, since my teen years I have been sensitive to the season. I think it's good and healthy to connect with Jesus over a 40-day period, whether that's through fasting or adding something beneficial to your relationship with Him. (Separately, there's lots of 40-day themes in Scripture... but that's a separate blog entry! :)


This Lenten season leads up to the most significant part of Jesus's life- His death, burial and Resurrection. But I think the bottom line is this: whatever you are giving up or adding to your relationship with him during Lent needs to be done in a worshipful attitude. 


Worship. What a controversial topic. We have hundreds of denominations in Christianity, and most of those congregations have "Traditional" services or "Contemporary" services. More American's "church-hop" to find the worship style that best suits their likes and musical repertoire.


But, that's not the point of worship. Worship is always, always, ALWAYS about pleasing the Lord and declaring Him as KING and LORD of our lives! The true Christ-follower will worship God in spirit (through the Holy Spirit) and in Truth (Jesus Christ and the Scriptures) John 4:24 lays this out: "God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." The authentic Christ-follower MUST worship to any musical styling, genre, hymn, praise or psalm. Why? Well, Jesus commands us to! Obedience is key to a worshipful lifestyle.


The point of worship is to praise, exalt, glorify, honor and please GOD. It's not about what I like. It's not about what you like. It's about what GOD likes.


In Luke 19, we read the account of Palm Sunday. Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem and humanity WORSHIPED Him- they exalted Him, praised Him, glorified Him! They shouted "Hosanna!" (hosanna means "save"). And Jesus responded as Savior to that worship just a few short days later, suffering a criminal's execution and bearing the sins of all humanity upon His perfect shoulders that we might have restored relationship with God. 


Luke's account of Palm Sunday is unique to the other recollections from the Gospels (Matthew 21, Mark 11 or John 12). Luke included the reaction of the religious people of that time... Luke said: "Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples!' 'I tell you,' he replied, 'if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.'”


Jesus didn't rebuke his followers as the Pharisees asked. Nope. He rebuked the Pharisees instead. After all, the Pharisees prided themselves on being knowledgeable of the Scripture. Yet, they forgot the very beginning of their Torah... "In the beginning God created the heavens & the earth." Jesus being fully God and fully man had complete dominion over all creation: the earth, the animals and humankind. So, Jesus rebuked them by saying "If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out [instead]!"


God has revealed His glory through Creation. One does not have to go far to see awesome sights of God's handiwork: the ocean, the Grand Canyon, lush vegetation and beautiful creatures. Every part of the continent has God's beautiful signature on the bottom of the "frame."


Here's the funny thing: God doesn't need our worship, but He desires it. He created angels, earth and it's inhabitants before humanity- all capable of worshiping Him. Revelation says the heavenly hosts are constantly singing God's praises. Yet, His masterpieces are us- people. He deeply desires OUR worship... He deeply begs for relationship with us. That's the sole reason the Son of God came into the world and died. But it didn't end there... He gave us NEW life in His resurrection. He gave us the ability to please God with our worship. I want my worship to be louder than that of the stones. He DIED for me... not for the rocks! What about you? Don't you want to cry out, too?


A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook, and I think it's a beautiful demonstration of Nature crying out in worship to our Father... but be patient and wait until 10:32 into the clip. Add humanity and it's a undeniable, powerful demonstration on how ALL of creation will worship. 





Ain't gonna let no rock outpraise me!


XO
Jessica