Matthew 21:1-11, Philippians 2:1-11
March 25, 2018
preached by Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“For each of us, the cross comes before heaven, and tomorrow is another ordinary day. Each day, a cleft is opened in the pitiless walls of the world, and we are invited to follow Jesus inside.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), Oxford professor and Christian thinker

“Concerning faith we ought to be invincible, and more hard, if it might be, than a stone; but as touching charity, we ought to be soft, and more flexible than the reed or leaf that is shaken with the wind, and ready to yield to everything.”

~ Martin Luther (1483-1546), German professor, theologian, composer, and author

“Where pride holds sway, there is no hope for the kind of listening and patience and understanding and openness to correction that relationships require.”

~John Piper (1946-present), pastor and theologian

“The line between good and evil does not lie between ‘us’ and ‘them,’ between the West and the rest, between Left and Right, between rich and poor. That fateful line runs down the middle of each of us, every human society, every individual. This is not to say that all humans, and all societies, are equally good or bad; far from it. Merely that we are all infected and that all easy attempts to see the problem in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’ are fatally flawed.”

~ N.T. Wright (1948-present), leading New Testament scholar

“…pride is so damaging to love…for the proud heart isn’t a broken heart, but a bottled-up heart from which love can’t flow. If we’re preoccupied with who people are or where they stand in the world’s pecking order, we’ll be blind to those of a different status and fail to love them as we ought.”

~ Todd Wilson, contemporary pastor and writer

“Love is the only fire that is hot enough to melt the iron obstinacy of a creature’s will.”

~ Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), English minister

Sermon Passage

Matthew 21:1-11, Philippians 2:1-11 (ESV)

Matthew 21

¹ Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” ⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

⁵ “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. ⁸ Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” ¹⁰ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹ And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Philippians 2

¹ So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.