Sermon Tone Analysis

2011 Easter Series

Who Is This?

Matthew 21:10-11

I would like to take you back to the passage we looked at 2 weeks ago on Palm Sunday.

That event, of course was called “The Triumphal Entry” as Jesus came into Jerusalem before his crucifixion.

As I read and studied that account two weeks ago, something jumped out at me.

You remember the people who had heard of and followed the ministry got word that Jesus was coming, and they went out to greet him.

They waved Palm Branches and laid them down before him.

They also laid their coats down as he entered on a donkey colt.

They shouted “Hosanna!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

For the most part, Jesus had kept his ministry in Galilee, away from Jerusalem.

But now it was time.

Jerusalem was a large city.

1st Century Jewish historian Josephus said the population was as much as 3 million by mid century.

Roman historian Tacitus estimated it at only 600,000.

Either way it was a large city full of people, most of whom had never seen Jesus nor perhaps heard of him either.

So, this large crowd of Worshippers drew the attention of the city and look at what it says in Matthew 21

*READ Matthew 21:10-11*

/“When Jesus entered … the whole city was stirred and asked ‘Who is this?’” /

Jesus showed up and the city was stirred …

YLT renders it /“moved”/

NLT – /“an uproar”/

ESV – /“stirred up”/

The word is /“seio” (si-o) or(say-o) “shake, agitate, cause to tremble, quake, excite, anxiety”/

That’s what happens when Jesus comes to town.

He shakes us up, makes us a little disconcerted, unsure of what might happen next.

Jesus went to a village in Samaria – Sychar (soo-kar) Actually he stopped outside of town.

He met a woman of bad reputation by the well.

He showed her REAL love for the first time in her life.

He filled the longing in her soul.

And she ran to town and brought the whole town out to meet Jesus.

He ended up being asked to stay for several days with them.

In John 6, a great multitude of people followed Jesus and he fed them all with a little boys lunch.

They were so stirred that they walked all the way around Galilee to hear more the next day.

Sometimes it wasn’t so pleasant once they were so stirred.

Once they tried to throw him off a cliff in his home town of Nazareth.

But Jesus always stirred the water wherever he went.

Everywhere he went people wanted to know /“Who Is This?”/

I wonder why more people don’t ask today, /“who is this Jesus?”./

How come the church, who is inhabited by his Spirit, doesn’t /STIR/ the city like Jesus?

Oh I’m not talking about the nuts and self serving ones like the infamous Westboro Church in Kansas or the church in Florida that just wants headlines so it burns copies of the Koran.

Those churches certainly stir things but not for the name or cause of Jesus Christ.

You might ask, “well shouldn’t we just be quiet and go unnoticed?”

“Jesus stirred the world but is the church supposed to do that?”

Does the church shake the world?

Well, whatever you do, don't read the book of Acts, it is full of stirring stories of the church in the world.

Acts 17:6 described them as /“these men who have turned the world upside down”/

What happened to God’s people who were turning the world upside down?

Could it be that we have flipped upside down and become just like the world in which we live?

The world without Christ is itself upside down and so our job is to turn them right side up.

They are flying upside down and don’t realize it.

They think they are climbing a mountain when in fact they are climbing to the bottom of a well.

The world needs stirring

If we will start living like Jesus and perhaps someone near us would ask

/“who is this?”/

and we can say … /“This is Jesus”/

Can I stop for a minute here today?

Oh we can get into deep doctrine another day, but today I need to ask, “can we live and proclaim to an asking world ‘This Is Jesus’.”?

The world we live in is confused.

They have seen hate fueled lynching in some generations and said “THIS is Jesus.”

But THAT is not Jesus

They have seen religiously sanctioned child abuse and heard “THIS is Jesus”

But that’s NOT Jesus

They have seen genocide and heard “THIS is Jesus”

But That is not JESUS.

They have heard greedy preachers peddle the gospel begging for money in his name and say “This is JESUS” … but

*THAT IS NOT JESUS!*

We need to rise up instead and say

!

*1.

THIS*

Have you ever been to a great concert, or a great game or had a great meal and it was like everything you’d ever had was just an imposter and you said “THIS is music” or “THAT was a game” … or “Now THIS is a meal” … what you are saying is “I finally have found the real thing … No more pretenders or imitations”

This world has their own image or opinion of who Jesus is.

Much of their opinion is our fault too.

They have their opinion of the church that bears his name.

They think we that we are divided, self-centered, and self-serving.

They think we aren’t interested in needs, justice, and service so they figure well then Jesus must not be either.

But it is time that we show them “THIS, is Jesus”

* Husband and Wives,

Ephesians 5:21-33 teaches us how to relate to each other.

Yes, wives are told to give submission and respect to their husbands as he is lead follower of Christ in the house.

And yes, husbands are told to love their wives sacrificially and selflessly.

But the instruction isn’t because God is a chauvinist.

It is because, as we fill our roles in the house, we are showing the world that …

Husbands and Wives are showing …

/THIS is Jesus/

The Husband is to SHOW Christ sacrificially loving his bride, the church, by laying down his life.

He loves her with complete selfless, unconditional love that says

/“THIS is Jesus.”

/

Men can’t run around fathering children all over town, having no commitment to a wife, loving and leaving,

because that NOT Jesus.

No, men we are to dig in, love fully, keep our commitment, and raise up our children, so we can say,

/THIS is Jesus/

And Ladies, the reason you are called to give submission to your husband is to show the world the church of Jesus, his loved bride, surrendered to his loving leadership

Jesus told us to

* love our enemies and to bless those who curse us, why?

Because

/THIS is Jesus/

Right now Jesus is in the reconciliation business.

He wants to make his enemies his friends and God’s adopted children.

Jesus said that we are to