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His Why Is Joy

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(Hebrews 12:1-3)

I think it’s already hit the pinnacle of popularity, but you are probably familiar with the encouragements on the part of businesses, organizations, and even individuals to really focus on your “why?”. Authors and TED talk speakers like Simon Sinek made it popular once again for organizations and businesses to emphasize their “why.” When the emphasis is on the “why,” people are attracted to working for you and with you. When they are clear on the “why” then the “what” and the “how” come much more naturally. 

Churches do the same thing. It’s a popular notion among Christians that belong to a local congregation that having membership simply means that you show up sometimes on Sunday morning. But the “why” is actually much more than that. It’s about joining together and carrying out the mission and ministry that Jesus has given us to do together. Where I serve at Shepherd of the Hills, our why is “Seeking the Lost and Serving the Found. 

Individuals may have a “why,” too. Mark Twain is credited with saying that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you figured out why. My personal why is quite simple: to bring people closer to Jesus. Whether you already know him by faith or not, my why is the same. My fulfillment, my satisfaction, my joy in life is when God can use me to bring wherever you are closer to Jesus. 

Speaking of Jesus, he had a “why,” too. Understanding it is key to grasping what he did during Holy Week. Why would he do what he did? What drove him? What fueled him to knowingly take on all the suffering and be willing to be crucified?

It’s one thing for the criminals crucified with him – they had no choice! They committed a crime. There were consequences. They didn’t have the option of saying, “That’s all right. I’ll skip the cross, thank you.”

But Jesus did not have to endure it, so what drove him? Here are the first three verses from Hebrews, chapter 12. As you read through them, see if you can capture Jesus’ “why.” 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Did you catch it? Was his why clear?

“For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” For the joy set before him! That was Jesus’ why! And you know what I love about this section is that the writer to the Hebrews does not expand on what that joy was. He doesn’t say, “By the way, here’s the joy that Jesus was focused on: …” And so we are kind of left on our own. We’re on our own knowing Jesus’ words and actions recorded for us in Scripture and God’s gracious promises, trying to wrap our hearts and our minds around exactly what that joy was.

There are so many possible answers, aren’t there? And maybe it’s not just one or the other, but collectively all of them. The joy that would come from knowing he was going to finally crush Satan’s head, that he was going to win the victory.

The joy that would come from knowing that he set sinners free from the condemnation of sin.

The joy that would come from knowing that he made salvation possible so that literally no one else would have to experience the hell that he did on Good Friday.

The joy of being able to see his people forgive one another.

The joy of returning to his rightful place in heaven.

The joy of being with his Father once again and having perfectly fulfilled his Father’s will.

The joy of being there, not just with his Father, but with you, too. To know that because of what he would endure on the cross that he would not spend eternity alone in heaven but would be with all of those who by God’s grace through faith cling to him as their Savior. We cannot begin to imagine the agony, the pain of being separated from and abandoned by the Father as Jesus was, and yet imagine how great that joy must be if the level of joy exceeded that level of suffering!

Jesus had his why and you are included in it. And so Jesus naturally becomes our why, too. Now we turn that around as the writer to the Hebrews did. The joy that Jesus won for us is also the joy that drives us to follow in his footsteps.

I captured the writer’s encouragements as I saw them in these verses with three simple words: Release, Refocus, and Reflect.

Release is really what he had in mind when he said “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” Release. Let go of it. Imagine running a race if you were the only one on the track who still had his warmups on. Not only would everyone look at you foolishly, but you’d lose the race! Take it off. You don’t want that extra material dragging you, and neither would you have your watch or your headphones or a backpack or anything else. You take that stuff off so that you can run more effectively.

Jesus encourages us to do the same as we follow him. Release those things, not just the stuff that tangles us in sin – clearly that as well – but notice he says even the things that hinder us, and not just some things, not just a few things that are easy to release or let go, but everything.

I think there are a lot of us within Christianity who are pretty solid, pretty content to say, “I can part with or give up 50%, 75%, or 90%, but what is that remainder for you that you can’t let go of? That may not even be sinful. It may be a good thing, and yet it’s hindering you from a closer walk with Jesus.

Is it the validation that you’re seeking from somebody else? Is it a toxic relationship that needs to be done in your life? Is it some goal that you have been pursuing for far too long that is distracting you from the one thing needful?

And my encouragement for you, especially this Holy Week, is to reflect personally on that and ask, “What is it that I, for maybe as long as I have been a Christian, have been hanging on to that I need to release and let go because it is hindering me from a deeper walk with Jesus and a stronger faith?

Release that.

And then refocus.

That’s what the writer to the Hebrews is saying when he encourages us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” If you’re running that race and you take off your warm-up gear or maybe your backpack and all of your stuff with it, that’s great, but if you are still looking back at it while running then it is distracting you and you need to refocus. And the same is true if you were to turn and look back at all of the other competitors that you are racing against.

We do that too in Christianity, don’t we? We think that the competition is really gauging myself against other Christians. How do I match up? How do I compare to this Christian or that Christian?

But that’s not the game. That’s not the race that we’re running. Jesus has not said anywhere, “Make sure that you’re just a step ahead of another Christian.” We’ll always find somebody behind us. We’ll also, always see people ahead of us. Ahead of us is where Jesus wants us to look, but not at the other competitors; rather, at our Savior, the one who has already crossed the finish line for us, the one who has already won the victory for us. It’s already guaranteed. And that’s why you can exert all of your strength in the race. That’s why you can be fully focused on crossing that finish line. Imagine your Savior Jesus there waiting for you, the loudest one cheering for you with open arms, ready to greet you, to embrace you when you spill across that finish line.

Refocus. Fix your eyes on him as often as you need to.

The final one might be the one that we struggle with the most: reflect.

The writer to the Hebrews said it this way, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Consider doesn’t just mean, “Hey, you know this information, right?” Consider means chew on it. Reflect on it. Meditate on everything that your Jesus has done for you.

That’s what we were doing earlier when we were reflecting on the joy that was driving Jesus to endure what he did. To reflect is to stop and ponder and think, how much must my Savior, love me to endure what he did for me?

We are so busy and so preoccupied running from one thing to the next that we rarely pause, not just to read the Bible, but to reflect on what it means for us. To consider who it reveals Jesus to be for us and the difference that makes in our lives.

Reflect, and you will find more inspiration and more gospel – good news – motivation to keep running your race faithfully.

Jesus, our why, prompts us to do these three things: release, refocus, reflect. It’s an ongoing and repeated pattern. And it’s one that we carry out because we know the finish line has already been crossed by our Savior. But we don’t have to wait till we get home to heaven to experience the taste of the joys that he won for us. Those joys can be ours right now because Jesus allowed that joy to be his “why” and drive him to do all that he did this week for us.

The Conquering King Arrives

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(Matthew 21:1-11)

Sometimes we can be so focused on staying on top of all the details of having a guest arrive and stay with us that we forget to enjoy why they’re even visiting in the first place. Different guests can lead to different distractions or matters on which we focus. When in-laws visit, for example, we might be so fixated on making sure that nothing goes wrong so there is nothing to criticize. If it’s a friend that we’re excited about doing a bunch of activities with, then the focus is on making sure all of those activities are lined up and ready to go. In such cases, the time can come and go so quickly that after the fact we realize it was such a whirlwind that we didn’t really even get to enjoy their company or appreciate why they visited in the first place. 

Let’s be careful to avoid making that mistake during Holy Week as we reflect on Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Let’s be deliberate about taking the time to appreciate why he arrived in the first place.

As is the tradition in many of our congregations, during the season of Lent we have midweek services that typically draw out the events of Holy Week and spread out their focus over the five weeks after Ash Wednesday. Those five weeks generally cover what happens over the course of this one week, Holy Week, from Palm Sunday until Good Friday.

This week then, we take a very focused look at Jesus’ journey and how it changed from the cheers at his entry into Jerusalem to the jeers of the crowds and criminals at his cross. And as we follow Jesus once again, we see him as the prophet Zechariah did – as our King. More than that – he is our Conquering King, and on this day we celebrate the Arrival of our Conquering King.

Are you surprised to see our Conquering King be so concerned about the details of his entry into Jerusalem? Was this the standard operating procedure as Jesus entered a new city or town? Did he always send his disciples (always the same two?) ahead of him to make sure everything was just right before coming to town? Was Jesus like the celebrity or performer who has a very specific list of standard requirements for travel or accommodations? Did things have to be a certain way before he would arrive on the scene or did he ever just waltz into town quietly and unassumingly? 

This was different. Jerusalem was not just another stop on his tour of preaching his message and performing his miracles. This was the destination. This was where he came to die. It sounds so morbid to state it like that, doesn’t it? He came to Jerusalem to die. 

We don’t like to be faced with the blunt reality of death. We don’t like to know we’re at the point where death is so quickly approaching that we must make arrangements for it. We need to prepare for it as we anticipate death creeping and lurking nearer and nearer. And it’s one thing to have to handle such responsibilities for ourselves (which most of us are OK neglecting or putting off until “someday” that so often arrives finding us ill-prepared), but it is another thing to be the one tasked with carrying out those responsibilities on behalf of someone else.

Though they were unlikely aware of it, that was precisely what the two disciples Jesus sent were doing – making arrangements for his death. 

Given the circumstances then, it isn’t a surprise that Jesus made such detailed arrangements to enter Jerusalem to die. Much is made of the manner by which Jesus entered Jerusalem. We draw attention to the donkey and the humility it symbolizes (and a borrowed one, no less – Jesus didn’t even own his own ride!). This is certainly in keeping with Jesus, who is literally the perfect embodiment of humility, as described in Philippians 2.

It has also been pointed out that in those days when a king paraded on a donkey, as opposed to a decorated war horse, there was a good reason. It was to communicate that they were not at war with anyone, but were enjoying a time of peace. These are valid truths and considerations as we see our Conquering King Arrive.

But we don’t want to overlook the simplest explanation of all for Jesus entering Jerusalem atop a donkey: he had to. As Matthew explains, the prophet Zechariah foretold it would happen that way, and so it had to. “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ‘Say to Zion, “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey’” (Mt. 21:4-5). With this prophecy, the prophet Zechariah added his own brushstroke to God’s Old Testament canvas whereby he was prophetically painting a picture so that believers awaiting the Messiah would know what to look for. So, since Zechariah described his Jerusalem entry this way, it had to be this way. 

What kind of king, after all, doesn’t deliver on his promises? A king or authority that makes promises while vying for a position or trying to get elected into power who then goes back on those promises or leaves them unkept is not likely to remain in that position very long. The confidence of his people will dwindle and along with it, so will his power. He must hold himself to what he claimed he would do. That is expected of anyone in a position of authority. 

As far as Jesus is concerned, consider the damage that would have been done if he had not carried out all that was foretold of him. What would that have done to the credibility of his message? Which of his words were to be trusted? To not do what the prophets and what he himself said he would do would have completely undermined his preaching. And if his message could not be trusted, then his actions would have been brought into question. The cross would have been emptied of its power and the empty tomb rendered insignificant. Jesus’ words had to be backed up by his actions so that his actions could give power to his words. So he arrived just as Zechariah said he would.

And when he did, as foggy as the crowds were on the implications of his arrival, they knew who he was. “The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’” (v.9). The designation Son of David was not one thrown around lightly – it was a title reserved for the Messiah. “Hosanna” meant “save us!”, so the word was being spread around that the man riding atop the donkey was in fact the One God had promised to deliver his people. 

What appears to be quite clear over the course of this most holy of weeks in the church year is that the crowds were quite unaware of how God would deliver his people through this Messiah. The lack of a crown or scepter or any sort of armed guard or soldiers accompanying Jesus was not at this point a cause for concern. The people of Jerusalem were used to revolts and rebellions. Others had pushed back against Roman rule and oppression, so it wouldn’t have been strange at all to see Jesus follow that same path of uprising and opposition on his way to the throne.

But they most assuredly didn’t expect the remainder of the week after Jesus’ arrival to play out as it did. Throughout history, kingdoms and the kings who ruled over them asserted themselves by some show of force. They wielded weapons to shed the blood of all enemies in their path. They destroyed the opposition and eliminated any and all threats. They struck fear into those they defeated and ruled with might.

This Conquering King, however, came to establish an unparalleled kingdom that would never end. And he did it in a radically different way.

He wouldn’t do it by asserting himself, but rather by offering himself. He wouldn’t do it by a show of force, but through what appeared to be a disgraceful display of weakness. He wouldn’t do it by spilling the blood of his enemies, but by spilling his own blood. This Conquering King did not rise up to some elevated throne in a worthy palace, but was instead raised up on a cross flanked by criminals.

Apparently, those realities did not measure up to the expectations of many in the crowds as Jesus entered Jerusalem. By the end of the week, it was no longer a welcome party receiving Jesus, but a vicious mob calling for his head. Jesus did not fit the description of the kind of conquering king they anticipated and demanded. So instead of the week concluding with a grand coronation, it ended with a gruesome crucifixion.

It is a good time to reevaluate our relationship with this King this time of year. Is he the kind of Conquering King you want to rule over you? Or did you – do you – sometimes feel as if he is a letdown? Did you have higher hopes that he’d address and fix more of your first-world problems? Do you find yourself too busy for him because he doesn’t seem to be doing too much for you in the way of helping you become more successful in your work or relationships? Does the commitment of adoring this King in worship take you away from too many other far more “important” activities going on in your preoccupied life? 

That’s OK. He came anyway. Your Conquering King Arrived, not because he knew he’d find such a welcome place in your heart, but because he knew everything that was wrong with your heart, and mine, and everyone else’s.

So he came anyway. He came to do something about it. He came to allow his own heart to give out in death so that he could give us new hearts filled with life through his forgiveness and salvation. On Palm Sunday, the crowds shouted their hosannas and Jesus answered – he saved. Them. And you. And me. From hell.

May the Lord renew our appreciation this week of why our Conquering King Arrived: to meet our greatest need. He came to save us. 

His Humility, Our Hope

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(Philippians 2:5-11)

Experience has probably taught you why it’s unwise to grocery shop while you’re hungry. Your stomach will steer your purchases and convince you to fill your grocery cart with unnecessary items that were not on your list. When that happens, you’re far more likely to end up busting the grocery budget! Not only that, but if you happen to be doing the shopping according to a list that your spouse put together, sometimes we end up neglecting to grab a number of items on the list! Being so focused on satisfying a grumbling stomach leads to forgetting to fully carry out what we set out to do in the first place: bring home all the grocery items on the list. Hunger compels the starving shopper to focus on satisfying self.

If only the desire to satisfy self was limited to the grocery store on occasion! But we know better. The whole world view of our culture is to look at everything through a selfish lens. We have sold ourselves on the lie that tolerating anything and permitting everything is the absolute most loving thing one can do for his fellow man. While we celebrate such “progress” on the surface, framed as genuine concern for the welfare of others, what really drives such thinking is complete and utter selfishness.

Letting anything and everything go for others is really all about me. If I refuse to judge or condemn something in someone else – no matter how absurd or outlandish it may be – then I have just paved the way for me to serve myself in any way imaginable, fully expecting that others won’t condemn me just as I have chosen not to condemn them. We all mind our own business, and we call it tolerance for the greater good when in reality it is merely permission for me to serve myself.

It might sound like I am just ragging on our culture. It might sound like one of those “the world is really awful, but we Christians are really good, so be careful out there good Christians” messages. But it isn’t. It isn’t because you know better. We aren’t so naive as to pretend we want nothing of that sort of world, but know that our sinful selfish nature delights in being a part of such a self-serving world! From that first self-serving bite of fruit in Eden, our self-serving nature has been at war with the saint inside each of us, and that self-serving nature has gotten sneakier and sneakier at slipping his own self-serving purposes in here and there! So the world is only the problem as much as I am a part of the world – ripe with the same self-seeking desires.

Paul addressed it in the verses just before the ones in our Philippians Reading this morning. He wrote, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (2:3-4).

Considering the number of letters Paul authored in the New Testament, it’s fascinating that we find these words in his letter to the Philippians, referred to as the letter of joy due to the significant references to joy or rejoicing throughout the letter. It turns our idea of joy on its head, as our warped minds tend to think that joy is tied to getting what we want. But if that’s the case, then why would Paul stress the importance of seeking the interests of others and not self? If joy is found in service to self, then in this letter more than any other, we’d expect Paul to be writing, “Do whatever makes you happy. Life is too short. Don’t worry about other people who drag down your dreams and desires. Look out for number one and ignore the haters.” But in this letter of joy, Paul encourages the exact opposite! Don’t serve yourself; serve others. Then you’ll find joy!

So what follows in the verses from Philippians is no shock at all, for it falls in line beautifully with what the writer to the Hebrews wrote about Jesus, who “for the joy set before him  [he] endured the cross” (12:2). Joy drove Jesus to die, but that joy did not stem from self-serving motives at all; rather, his joy was tied directly to serving the interests of others, and that path collided at the cross. So his joy didn’t come from somehow circumventing the cross in service to self, but in enduring the cross in the best interest of you and me and every last sinner.

That was the ultimate expression of humility, which is what Paul described so magnificently in the verses of our text this morning: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God  something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8).

What a breath of fresh air we see in Jesus! Paul encouraged us to do something radical, something that we’ve never seen nor been able to carry out when he wrote that we are to put the kibosh on selfish ambition and look to the interests of others. This is an entirely foreign concept to us, so we would have no idea what it looks like – were it not for Jesus Christ, who literally demonstrated humility perfectly for us!

That theme of humility was certainly evident from the Savior whose entire life and ministry were about serving other people. That humility was reflected in his humble entrance into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to fulfill Scripture. That humility would be highlighted later that same week on the day we call Good Friday, when the very One who created life would sacrifice his own – for the interest of others. Never will we behold a greater example of humility, not only because Jesus was willing to sink to the lowest depths of death by crucifixion – the innocent dying a criminal’s death for a world of criminals who actually deserved it! But what makes his humility so exemplary was knowing the heights of heaven from which he came to stoop so low to such a death!

When we consider the words of Paul here in Philippians 2, 6-11, can you imagine how very real the temptation must have been for Jesus to flip these verses upside down? He surely could have exalted himself first as he entered Jerusalem. He could have demanded on Palm Sunday that every knee bow and every tongue confess him as Lord and Savior. He would have had every right to humble the crowds and exalt himself first and only after that die a death of humility. 

After all, that’s so often how our acts of humility are carried out, aren’t they? Sure, we’ll clean this or wash that, we’ll carry out this or that act of service, but not without making sure that at least someone else knows about it. How ironic is it that we want to be exalted even for our humility?!? Our pride demands that we are noticed, and it will grab hold of anything it can get its hands on to exalt self – even humility!

How often when we are engaged in conversation are we simply listening long enough to make sure the topic of conversation comes back to us and something we’ve done or someone we’ve known? And even on the other end of the spectrum, when we claim that we don’t want to be acknowledged, we make sure that others know that we don’t want to be acknowledged – so our pride is satisfied by knowing that others know we don’t want to be known! What great and amazing humility we have! Ah, quite the opposite: what damning pride lurks in each of us, which explains why humility and the interests of others are so unnatural for us!

So be comforted that the One individual who walked this planet and actually had every right to exalt himself chose to do exactly the opposite. His perfectly obedient humility could satisfy our Holy Father in a way that our pride-filled humility never could! Jesus both perfected humility for us and paid for our lack of it, for our sinful pride, for our propensity to care about ourselves far more than anyone else. It was as if Jesus not only perfectly obeyed the speed limit every time he drove, but he also paid for every one of our speeding tickets (and just to point out how natural our pride is, how many of you just filled up with pride inside because you’ve never gotten a speeding ticket?). 

So let me be clear. During Holy Week, on Palm Sunday, your Savior’s perfect humility attained for you before God what your pride never could. The price paid on the cross was the price paid for your pride. God doesn’t see us for what we are on our own, but rather through faith in Jesus he sees what his Son was for us. We are free. Pride has been forgiven. Humble obedience has been offered up and accepted by the Father through the Son. 

Now we are free to go back to Paul’s encouragement that preceded these powerful verses. We can revisit his encouragement and as forgiven saints, no longer condemned for pride, and strive to show it. We can find genuine joy in seeking to carry out what Paul calls us to: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (2:3-4). We can prick the balloon of pride as often as we need to and deflate ourselves, not hoping to earn something by it, but because we’ve already received everything through Jesus – forgiveness, salvation, eternal life, and freedom from bondage to our pride. 

And the more we empty ourselves of ourselves, the more room there is for Jesus to fill us up. And the more filled up with Jesus we are, the more natural it becomes to set aside selfish ambition. The more realistic it is to value others above ourselves. The easier it becomes to look to the interests of others. When we have deflated ourselves and come back down to earth, we see the cross from a different perspective – not a high altitude view looking down on it, but up close and personal, looking up to it, so that more of Jesus fills my frame of view and I see the cross as not just one event for a lot of people, but THE event necessary for me.

Notice how small something looks from an airplane. That’s how Jesus looks to us when pride is allowed to reside inside. But on the ground, things are much larger. As the pride is let out, we come back down to earth and see things differently. I can make out more clearly not just a Saviour, but my Savior. This shifts our view from “Yes, he’s the Savior of all, and me, too,” to “Yes, he’s my Savior first and foremost, but also the Savior for all.” 

This leads to evangelism so that we can address the foremost need others have. After all, the second half of these verses will be true – all will know who he is. Let us use this week, this time that we have on earth, to do all we can so that others confess him by faith rather than by force on the last day, when even unbelievers will experience the regret of knowing they rejected the Savior.

If you shop while you’re hungry, your stomach will steer your purchases and you might ignore the list. So eat first, so that your own self-interest doesn’t get in the way. When you are full, then you can focus on the list. When we are filled up with Jesus, then we can focus on the other stuff. Fill up with as much Jesus as you can during Holy Week and Easter season and always, and be ready to find the true joy that will follow.