It is time for another installment of “Do My White Socks Offend You”. This is a sermon I recently preached.

If you want to view the service in its entirety you can check it out HERE.

Here is today’s installment.

When we draw our lines in the sand we have now learned we have to do it meekly but more than that we also need to draw those lines in the sand with a loving spirit. Jesus entered Jerusalem and drew His line in the sand declaring himself king of the world with love as his governing motive. He did not come to Jerusalem thinking of himself he came thinking primarily of others. How do we know this?

John chapter 13 gives us a glimpse into his heart when John writes,

“Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.”

You see while Jesus’ disciples and followers looked at his triumphal entry as his declaration of power over Rome and the Sanhedrin, Jesus understood that the week he was about to face was not about his power but about his sacrifice. He didn’t ride into Jerusalem thinking about becoming king of the world. He came into Jerusalem with the mindset of loving the world and sacrificing Himself for it. His kingship meant little to Him at that moment. What mattered was His relationship to the people of the world He was about to die for. 

You need to understand that your line in the sand must be drawn with love. If it is going to matter for eternity your line in the sand must not be about what is good for you. It must be about what is good for the people you are sent to: the people of your family, your neighborhood, your workplace, your community.

Your line in the sand if it is drawn with love erases the question “What’s in it for me?”

It causes you to ask this question instead “What will help them?”

When that becomes the real question of your life then no price is too high to pay in money, work or reputation. Nothing matters except loving others as Jesus did!

Here is Pt. 4 of Cornerstone’s Palm Sunday service, “Do My White Socks Offend You.”

Jesus triumphal entry teaches us how we are to draw our own lines in the sand when the time comes. Here is the first of three takeaways from Jesus’ triumphal entry that will inform how we are to live and enter and draw our own lines in the sand when the time comes.

 We need to draw our lines in the sand with meekness.

Jesus drew his line in the sand at the triumphal entry with meekness or gentleness.

“Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”^[a]

Jesus had all the power in the world. He had hands that cleansed leprosy with a touch, a voice that controlled demons and raised the dead. He had the power to walk on water and to control the weather. He could make food appear out of thin air, and he had the ability to see the future. He could kill with a word as he had demonstrated with the fig tree, and heal people without even being present. He had the favor of the people at that moment, and you know he could have chosen a Roman war horse to ride in on. Instead Jesus , the king of Kings and Lord of Lords decided to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. He had all kinds of power he could have used and yet he chose to ride in among the people the same way his mother had ridden into  Bethlehem 33 years before, on a donkey.

A week later Jesus said this to his disciple Peter when Peter tried to defend him with violence,

“Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” Matthew 26:52-54

If Jesus line drawing was done humbly and gently and non-violently should our line drawing be done in any different attitude?

So many of our brothers and sisters have forgotten that our warfare is not like the world’s warfare. We don’t fight like the world fights any longer. Galatians 5:20-23 tells us we are called to leave behind malice, hatred, quarreling, division, dissension and jealousy and we are called to fight with the weapons of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

More tomorrow:

If you lilked this you can find the whole service by clicking HERE TO GO OVER TO NOTES FROM THE VICARAGE.

Today we continue with Part 3 of our Pal Sunday sermon from Cornerstone Church.

If you want to hear the service in its entirety you can click HERE.

TO READ PT. 1 CLICK HERE!

TO READ PT. 2 CLICK HERE!

Now here are today’s thoughts:

 I don’t know about you but for myself I do not mind having people disagree with me about little things like the color of my socks, but on things that are really important I do not want to cause a kerfuffle with the community around me. I want to be seen as nice and wonderful and totally acceptable. When it comes to the important things in life I am more liable to just keep a low profile so as not to make waves. 

Unfortunately, that is not how Jesus works. That is not how Christianity works. Wherever God goes He makes a palpable difference. Even if people do not realize it right up front God always makes a splash, a change, a tectonic shift. His church is no different. God’s church should be an agent of change in a community.

 Here are some of the things people said about Jesus church in the first century:

“A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. 25He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 27There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”

28When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29Soon the whole city was in an uproar. ” Acts 19:24-28

In another place it says this:

“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. ² Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, ³ explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying,“This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” ⁴ And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.

Assault on Jason’s House

⁵ But the Jews ^[a]who were not persuaded, ^[b]becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. ⁶ But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.  Acts 17:1-6

We are about to start drawing lines that matter in the sand. When we do it may very well turn the world upside down because the healing message of Jesus is not a subculture of our current culture. It is a counter culture to our current culture. We preach Christ crucified, risen and coming again to judge the living and the dead and the world says, “There is no God except the ones we make with our own hands and minds and God serves us. We are the real gods.”