Today is a good day to talk about our attitude

More importantly our attitude towards Jesus

These days in this time of change and quarantine we all have attitudes about the things in our lives. We can have a positive attitude, A negative attitude, A good attitude, A bad attitude, An attitude of love, An attitude of hate or even an attitude of indifference

Our attitude is often what causes us to view a circumstance as a blessing or a curse

Our attitudes can set the wheels in motion for how any situation will affect us our families, those around us and our lives.

Our attitude is a choice.

Pastor Chuck Swindoll had this to say about attitude. “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of Attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important: than facts, More important than the past, More important than education, More important than money, More important than circumstances, More important than failures, More important than successes, More important than what other people think or say or do, More important than appearances, More important than skill. Attitude will make or break a company…a church…a home.”

The Amazing thing is we have a choice every day regarding the Attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can truly change in many situations in our lives is our Attitude. I believe that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how we react to it. And so it is with us… We are in charge of our attitudes.”

Today is Palm Sunday

The day we celebrate Jesus’ ‘triumphal entry into Jerusalem. One of the steps in the last week of Jesus’ life on the earth as a human. And one the first steps on the road to “it is finished”

There were many attitudes in the faces of the crowds on that day and it is my prayer as we look at their attitudes we can see ourselves in those faces and in those attitudes.

God’s word tells us in all four of the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that Jesus Riding into Jerusalem caused a great stir in that city.bHuge crowds had already arrived for the celebration of the Passover there were huge crowds of people in town for the celebration and those crowds were made up of individual people and with those people came attitudes and those attitudes towards Jesus made all the difference as to how those people viewed the events. About how they viewed Jesus and even how they viewed themselves. As we will see this morning we often share those same attitudes. And those attitudes can have a huge impact on how we view the situations in our lives, How we view Jesus, How we view others and even how we view ourselves.

Palm Sunday is a time for us to examine our attitudes toward each other as well as toward God. In a way, Palm Sunday is about a huge parade coming into town with one main attraction. The center of that parade is Jesus and our attitude towards him a makes all the difference in the world as to our response to him

Let me set the scene for you. Jesus has less than a week to live and he knows it. He has after a little over 3 years of public ministry decided to make it known publicly that He is the long awaited Messiah, the King that God’s people has been waiting for, for hundreds of years. We read in the Old Testament a prophecy about a King who would come into the city riding on a colt. Zechariah predicted it would happen over 500 years before Jesus was born.

Zechariah 9:9 reads

The time had finally come and Jesus was ready to take the next step. He’s riding towards his whole reason for being, which was to obey God the Father. Riding towards the completion of his calling In the faces in the crowd on that day. On that wonderful day there were thousands of people with thousands of attitudes

This morning I would like to with your blessings to look at just a few of those faces and attitudes and what they mean to us

First we see the Committed. The true followers of Jesus. Not perfect people, people with flaws and weaknesses But committed followers who were trying hard to let Jesus rule their lives. Trying to leave their old lives and their old habits and their old hang ups behind and truly let him be the Lord of their lives. In these committed followers we see an Attitude of Gratitude, An attitude of Praise, An attitude of Awe, An attitude of service. Many of these committed followers had received Jesus’ healings, many had been the recipients of his blessings. I have no doubt there were some who had tasted the bread and fish on the mountain at the feeding of the 5000.

Some may have tasted the water that had turned to wine. These had seen his miracles, had heard his teachings and were grateful. They were ready to Praise Jesus. Committed followers with an attitude of praise, thankfulness and awe. Ready to risk all, Give Jesus the reins of their lives.

Next in the crowd we see the Confused. These are the people who maybe had heard about Jesus, they had heard of his miracles maybe even experienced them, But, This man Jesus did not seem to be what they were expecting. He was riding a donkey not a great white stallion he was coming in humility not as a reigning king as they expected or hoped. Their initial attitude was excitement for the events, excitement about the prospects, but we know excitement often fades when things are no longer new. These people most likely believed Jesus was a great teacher, a prophet, a good man, But, their attitudes kept them from accepting him as Lord, as the savior. They saw Jesus but many left unchanged when the parade was over when all that was left on the road was coats, palm leaves and donkey poop, and their excitement turned to disappointment

The next faces we see in the crowd are the Pretenders. The religious frauds. These pretenders acted like they knew Jesus, told people they knew Jesus. But In John’s account of the Triumphal entry John tells us many were just going through the motions, Shouting Hosanna, Shouting praise him but having an attitude of Disbelief, an attitude of skepticism. Seeing but still not believing. Just playing church. Still living life their way by their rules but wanting to be seen at the party, showing up simply to be seen, r for what they could get.

Next we see the curious. The seekers. Many came because they were curious, they wanted to see this man, they had heard about him and his works, they were curious. Thank God for the curious because it is often curiosity that brings people to Jesus. God puts it in the hearts of men to seek him and curiosity often brings people to salvation. I have no doubt many who came on this day saw Jesus and left changed. The curious bring with them an attitude of Wonder, an Attitude of seeking, an attitude of there must be more to life than this. Curiosity can be a great gift when it leads to the discovery of truth it can also be a curse when it leads us from the truth

The last faces and attitudes we will see today are the Opposers. Those who are hostile to Jesus, to God, to the message. Those who want to stop him and his message. The Pharisees, Sadducees, the religious leaders, the Roman Government. Even one of Jesus’ own disciples, Judas, falls into this group. They bring attitudes of hatred of distrust and they often bring attitudes of deceit and manipulation.

The religious leaders who opposed Jesus in the crowd lied, manipulated, set traps, justified, hardened their hearts and refused to see, refused to listen, refused to be changed and did everything to keep anyone from seeing or believing. Everything to stop him and his word. Even trying to stop him by killing him, which they did. We know they were unsuccessful all they did was fulfill the prophecy.

On the road to Jerusalem on the back of a donkey Jesus saw many faces and saw many attitudes. In the crowd were those who loved Jesus and those who hated him. Those who were committed, those who were confused, those who were pretending to be something they were not, those who wanted to stop him and many who were just indifferent more concerned about their own lives and problems, too busy to be concerned with Jesus

What is your attitude towards Jesus? When he looks in your face what or who does he see?

A few days after He rode in Jesus called his disciples together and shared with them a last meal. He would soon be betrayed, rejected, tried, tortured and killed for them and for us – for the sins of the world. And in sharing that meal he is telling them and us to remember what he has done. Telling us to look at ourselves and see our own faces. To search our attitudes, to search our hearts.

Are we committed or Confused? Curious or Pretending? Or are we opposing Jesus and his word? What is our attitude towards Jesus? Why are you here? Why have you come to Jesus?

What attitude do you need to change?

After hearing this message will you leave with Jesus changed or unchanged

Even though we can’t be together today to take part in the Lord’s supper (our communion)

Let me read for you from the apostle Paul

Let this remind you why we should look at our attitudes before we take the Lord’s Supper

Today as we begin holy week, let us remember the sacrifice that was made for us. The suffering and the pain that Jesus endured. The betrayal and heartbreak that he encountered.

I know that right now we are all going through a time of mourning and loss, because we aren’t able to see our family, our friends, we aren’t able to do the things that are normal to us. We aren’t able to meet together and worship and fellowship. But we need to keep a prayerful heart. We need to keep an attitude of love and commitment to Jesus, to our Father in Heaven and to each other. This will pass and we will once again be reunited with those we love and care about, much like one day we will be reunited with Jesus as he makes a triumphant return.

Amen

‒ Pastor Pam