Today, my message is entitled “When Jesus Comes.” We’re going to be talking about Jesus. Jesus is the most influential person who has ever lived. He lived 2000 years ago, yet his influence grows year by year. Currently, 1 out of every 3 people in the world identifies with Christianity, about 2.2 billion people. Christianity is the largest religion in the world and continues to grow. Yet Jesus is also a very polarizing person when you understand what he said.
Matthew 10:34-35 (NIV) “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
What’s Jesus talking about here? Jesus is saying that when He comes, each person must make a decision, whether they are going to believe in Him or not. When one person in a household believes and another does not, there is no peace. Why? Because the master of the believer is Jesus Christ and the master of the unbeliever is Satan. That’s what Jesus taught, that’s what the Bible teaches.
When Jesus came 2000 years ago, he turned the world upside down. Nothing was the same again, for in Jesus, God came to this earth in human form. Jesus’ followers followed His example and others said of them, they are turning the world upside down. Or perhaps, it could be said, they were turning the world right side up. God wants you and I to begin turning our world right side up, just as Jesus and His first followers did.
When Jesus came into Jerusalem, different groups of people responded to Him in different ways. Some people responded to Jesus coming in a God-honoring way, others decided to ignore or even try to kill Jesus. Today, we’re going to learn some important lessons from how these different groups responded to Jesus.
But before we get started with our passage from Luke 19 today, let’s ask the question “How does Jesus come to us today?” Obviously, He is not coming riding down the streets of St. Louis on a donkey. Yet, Jesus is coming to people in St. Louis today. Jesus comes every Sunday, as His church gathers. Have you made the commitment to meet Him there regularly? Jesus comes every day to those who set aside time to read His Word and pray. Are you meeting Him there? Jesus comes every week to small groups of believers who meet to study His Word, pray and fellowship together. Are you taking advantage of those opportunities?
When Jesus comes, even to believers, He challenges us to respond in a God-honoring way. We have a choice to make. Will we follow Him and be blessed or will we go our own way and receive judgment? So let’s look at what happened when Jesus came to Jerusalem.