Becoming Christ-Like

Matthew 21:1-11

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

“Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
        and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Philippians 2:1-11

Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:

Though he was in the form of God,

        he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.

But he emptied himself

        by taking the form of a slave

        and by becoming like human beings.

When he found himself in the form of a human,

        he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

        even death on a cross.

Therefore, God highly honored him

        and gave him a name above all names,

    so that at the name of Jesus everyone

        in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow

        and every tongue confess

            that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My week didn't turn out quite how Nancy and I planned.

It was supposed to start with Nancy and I going to Chicago, last Sunday afternoon to spend a few days visiting our grand-daughter.

Then we were going to head to Jackson Tennessee (my father's birthplace) and run a half-marathon yesterday --- driving back last night to be ready to join in our Palm Sunday parade

For some reason it just didn't work out as we had planned

          Nothing seems to be going as any of us planned

One of my favorite days in the life of the church is Palm Sunday, when we start the service off by singing "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" and parading into the sanctuary waving our palm branches. 

The last couple of years have been extra special because when Matt and I would walk in --- little Zeke would always walk with us --- there is a picture of that event that hangs in the welcome center.

So today we created a new Palm Parade --- one that we will remember for a long time.

It was fun to see all the palm branches being waved and some of you marching around to Hosanna, Loud Hosanna"

I have always been struck by the paradox of this day.

While the Jesus parade is taking place on the West side of the city --- with Jesus and his rag-tag group of followers marching down the Mount of Olives heading into the city of Jerusalem

On the other side of town another parade is taking place --- a very different parade ---this parade has at its head Pontius Pilate --- riding into town with the 10th Legion of the Roman army to keep the peace during Passover week

What always seems strange to me is that everything that is going to take place over the next week seems to be carefully choreographed.

Everything that Jesus will do seems to have one goal in mind --- to try one more time to show us what a disciple looks like

During this season of Lent, Mary and I have been sharing with you some of the key markers of being a disciple of Jesus

·         A disciple worships

·         a disciples is in intentional community

·         a disciple engages in spiritual practices

·         a disciple is generous

·         a disciple engages in service to bring about God's compassion and justice in the world

This morning we will conclude with the sixth marker of a disciple --- a disciple desires to become Christ-like in all that they do

One of the things that I love about Meridian Street UMC is our level of intellectual aptitude (I am challenged week in and week out by this)

While that is one of the real strengths of this congregation --- it can also prove to be our weakness.

We see most things as a checklist of things to accomplish and expect things to flow in a linear fashion

What is so challenging about Discipleship is that it is far from a to-do list

          and it rarely follows a linear coarse.

Not only is that true for Discipleship on a broad scale --- but it is also true in our own personal journey with Jesus.

          We have ups and downs.

         

          We grow --- and backslide

This Discipleship Pathway that Mary and I have been talking about isn't a pathway like interstate 65

          It is not a super highway

Instead it is more like a meandering stream

Each individual's journey is unique --- but the pathway is there to help point us in the direction that God is desiring us to go

Each of these six characteristics are more like touch points to help along the way

So don't be surprised when your journey jumps around

          What draws me in, may not be the same for you

If your passion is for God's justice that growth point may ultimately help you to realize that worship is essential to your life and you seek to discover the Christ everything.

Or maybe it is the disciplines that draw you in --- and as you become more disciplined in your walk with Jesus you start to recognize that you must love your neighbor as much as yourself --- while contemplation is great, it needs to go beyond ourselves --- and when there are things that hold your neighbor down --- you now desire to see them change

Almost fifteen years ago I came across a fascinating book that in many ways was more prescient than people realized

Dan Kimball's "They Like Jesus but Not the Church" argued that many people were fascinated with Jesus --- but didn't like what the church was doing with him and with his message.

They saw Jesus as being filled with love and possibility

          Yet, the "church" often was rigid and unforgiving

Most people come to Christianity, not because of the "church" but because somewhere along the way they have encountered Jesus in the life of a disciple of his and they are intrigued.

Eventually we move from simply being fascinated by Jesus, to wanting to know more and more about him --- which ultimately leads us to a decision to allow Jesus to become the moral compass for our lives.

And we experience that from how other followers of Jesus model their journey with him.

          How they had become "Christ-like" in their lives

That process, of moving from an interest in Jesus, to devoting our life to him is called sanctification.

I can think of no better description of what it means to follow Christ, than what is given to us by Paul in his letter to the Church at Philippi

You already heard Phil share it, but I want to give you excerpts of it from the translation known as the Message, because Peterson always puts it into such simple and profound language:

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death

Is there a better description of being a disciple?

When we set aside our privilege and recognize Jesus in all of God's children.

          And not just recognize Jesus, but lift them up --- higher than ourselves

In 1918, Indianapolis and the rest of the United States and even the world was gripped by a pandemic.  It was September of that year that the Spanish flu began infecting soldiers stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison of the far East side of town. 

The Spanish flu killed more than 675,000 people in the United States and reports say 20 million worldwide — though others argue that it could have been as high as 50 million.

Nearly a third of the world's population was infected with this flu

While the flu pandemic in Indiana was less severe than in other parts of the United States, it still afflicted an estimated 350,000 Hoosiers, and claimed 10,000 lives between September 1918 and February 1919

In October of 1918 Indianapolis was virtually shut down. 

          No gathering larger than 5 people was allowed. 

          Churches were closed by order of the Marian County Health department.

On October 7th, 32 year old Edna Fletcher went to the head of Methodist Hospital and offered to organize and lead a group of volunteers nurses to travel across town to Fort Benjamin Harrison and help stem the crisis that was taking place there

Thirteen women volunteer, mainly student-nurses at Methodist hospital.

The group traveled the fourteen miles via train from downtown Indianapolis to Fort Benjamin Harrison.

The Fort had become one of Indiana’s epicenters for the pandemic, among the worst such sites in the Midwest.

Conditions were awful.

          Nearly 3000 soldiers were ill

          No effective treatment existed to eliminate the flu. 

          The only thing the nurses could do was provide comfort for the afflicted soldiers.

While they were there, two of the volunteers contract the flu and died

In early November, the epidemic seems to have abated --- the policies, that we know of as social distancing today, seemed to have worked

Yet, in mid November, when the restrictions began to be lifted, the flu returned

On Thanksgiving Day, Edna Fletcher developed a cough, accompanied with a fever.       Four days later, she was dead

What does a disciple look like?

          A disciple seeks to become Christ like in what they think and do

What does a disciple look like?

          Edna Fletcher and her 13 volunteers

What does a disciple look like?

          All of you who are working every day to help us overcome this virus

                   Doctors

                   Nurses

                   First Responders

                   Grocery Store clerks

I would even suggest that everyone who is staying home and doing no harm is modeling Jesus.

There are two parades this morning --- one is the Jesus parade, as he comes into town to demonstrate one more time what a disciple looks like

The other parade is the parade of power, the parade of privilege and influence

Which parade has grabbed your attention?

          The parade of sacrifice

          or

          The parade of worldly ambition?

Someone asked me the other day: "What is the purpose of the church"

And I would tell you that we have ONE JOB and Jesus made that very clear as he rode into Jerusalem on the fist palm Sunday.

Our job is to make disciples --- to become Christ like in all we think and do --- everything else we do is secondary.