How big is the gap between what you want and what God wants? This weekend Pastor Steve Andres shared a Palm Sunday message about “The King We Need”.
John 12:12-13
The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!”
Jesus entered Jerusalem in a humble parade, fulfilling prophecy and deliberately challenging our ideas of power and glory.
1) He’s not the king we expected.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus repeatedly broke from people’s expectations of what God should do and how He should do it.
You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
Anne Lamott
Following Jesus means we have to do the hard work of letting go of our assumptions and listening to Him as earnestly and honestly as we can.
2) He’s not the king we wanted.
Our wants and desires don’t always line up with God’s. When we follow Jesus, we have to be willing to surrender what we want and trust that His way is better.
3) He’s the King we needed.
John tells us that the disciples did not understand all that Jesus was doing until after he was raised from the dead. Resurrection logic makes sense of every trial and disappointment we endure. Jesus might not be the king we expected or wanted, but he is the King we needed!
