ARE YOU LIVING A FLIP-FLOP FAITH?

Sermon Notes, April 9, 2017

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

           Pastor Garry's sermon was titled "Are You Living A Flip-Flop Faith?"  It was based on Matthew 21:1-11, the story of The Triumphal Entry.

           Jesus and His disciples are traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover feast.  He sends two of His disciples on ahead to get a donkey and a colt.  Matthew is the only gospel writer who mentions both the donkey and the colt.  He points out the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 that speaks of the King coming, riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 

           By this time these disciples have seen some crazy things as they've traveled with Jesus--He raised a man who had been dead for four days!  He fed 5,000 people with a little boy's lunch!  So they went, and they found the donkey and its colt, just as Jesus said, and they told the owner "The Master needs it," just as Jesus said.  They obeyed unquestioningly.  How many of us obey the Lord that way?  The reality is we say "Okay," then we bring out our checklist: this needs to happen, this needs to happen, and this needs to happen. . .  That's human nature.

           They brought the donkey and its colt to Jesus, and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.  (v. 6 & 7)   We learned a few months ago about the importance of the cloak.  In the scene where Elijah is taken up to heaven and Elisha grabs his cloak, we learned that the cloak is a symbol of the person's identity.  People saw Elisha wearing Elijah's cloak, and they knew it was the prophet.  So when we look at that word cloak (v. 7 & 8), we need to understand that this was their identification.

           A very large crowd spread their cloaks, cut branches, and shouted "Hosanna!  Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!"  The crowd received Jesus as King!  This is one of the only times in the Gospels where His Kingship, His Messiahship, was openly acknowledged.  This act of spreading out their garments, in a sense, was a symbol of the people acknowledging who He was, and laying down their identity before Him.  In other words, they surrendered themselves to Him.  

           The crowd.  How many people were in Jerusalem during the Passover?  The Romans did a census  30 years after this event, and the way they did it was to use the Jewish law that said one lamb was sacrificed for ten people.  250,000 lambs were slaughtered during that census.  That means that 2,500,000 people were in the city.  The people who were there that week were already geared up. They knew who they were looking for.  They came expecting.  They openly acknowledged that Jesus was the King, that He was the Messiah.  "Hosanna!"  That word means "saved" in the Hebrew.  "We're saved!  The King is here!"

           The crazy thing is that the same crowd who laid down their identity before Christ would in a few days reject Him as their King.   The thing is that we are no different today.  We come to church, we fill the pews, we stand up, we raise our hands, we sing and praise and worship.  Some even go to the altar and repent or recommit to the Lord.  On Monday, we are still enthusiastic about what went on at church, but by Tuesday, it's sort of fading.  Our faith flip-flops. 

           We live in a flip-flop society.  We need to be grounded in our faith. If you're living a flip-flop life, how can you become grounded? Do you need to surround yourself with more structured Christians?  Read more? Enhance your prayer life?  We need to spend time with the Lord.  Without the truth that we get from the scriptures, we don't know anything.  And ask the Holy Spirit for help: it's not enough to just read it.  Ask Him to show you what you need to do, and He will.  If things are going to change in this country, in this world, if things are going to get better, we need more Christians grounded in their faith, and not living a flip-flop faith.