Why did Jesus Enter Jerusalem so Publicly?

Prior to Jesus entering into Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion, He would tell people not to spread His name or He would remove Himself from the spotlight. J.C. Ryle tells why His last entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11) was different.

The plain truth is that our Lord knew well that the time of his earthly ministry was drawing to a close; he knew the hour was approaching when he must finish the mighty work he came to do, by dying for our sins upon the cross. He knew that his last journey had been accomplished, and that there remained nothing now in his earthly ministry except to be offered as a sacrifice on Calvary Knowing all this, he no longer, as in times past, sought secrecy; knowing all this, he thought it good to enter the place where he was to be delivered to death, with particular solemnity and publicity. It was not fitting that the Lamb of God should come to be slain on Calvary privately and silently. Before the great sacrifice for the sin of the world was offered up, it was right that every eye should be fixed on the victim. It was suitable that the crowning act of our Lord's life should be done with as much notoriety as possible. That was why he made this public entry; that was why he attracted to himself the eyes of the wondering multitude; that was why "the whole city was stirred" (verse 10). The atoning blood of the Lamb of God was about to be shed; this deed was not to be "done in a corner" (Acts 26:26).

Taken from his commentary on Matthew

The Story of Zac Smith

John Piper posted about this video on Twitter earlier today. It's a powerful testimony of faith in the goodness of God in all things.

The Story of Zac Smith from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

What Books are MUST Reads?

My friend Justin Nale has posted five books that he calls The Cream of the Crop. He gives a great list and has me wondering what books others would recommend. What books have ministered deeply to you that you would say others MUST read?

Video from Haiti

Frank Dees, owner of Youth On Mission, posted this video on Facebook from our week in Haiti. The need is still great!

I Need the Gospel...Today!

It seems in many churches the need of the gospel is ONLY for unbelievers. I'm thankful that this is not true in all churches, but unfortunately it is in many. The gospel is, of course, for unbelievers, but I'm reminded this weekend why I still need the gospel more than a decade after I came to trust in Christ.

Last week I had the opportunity to preach Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The way to be poor in spirit is to place oneself before the Almighty God and see how you measure up to His expectations. During the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us exactly what His expectations are. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus says, "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Wow! Those are high expectations. It would have been easy to try to explain that God doesn't really expect us to be perfect, but that would not be true. God does expect perfection. And when we place ourselves open before Him we will see how miserably we have failed to keep His requirement of perfection.

This leads to Matthew 5:4, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Many Christians today, I think, jump to the second half of verse 4 before dealing with the first half. For me, I often times rest in Christ without realizing I still continually fall short of the requirements of God. But this verse says we are blessed when we mourn over our sin. I think it is very important that we see ourselves before God Almighty and realize that we still need His grace. We still need His mercy. We still need His hand to keep us because without we will fall away!

However, as Christians, we cannot stop there. The gospel is still applicable for us today. When I stand before God on my own I mourn the sin and devastation that I have brought upon myself. But I also rejoice and worship when I see that Christ took that judgment for me on the cross. Beloved, the gospel is still true. The gospel is still needed. I love the fact that I can still see the application of the gospel in my own life!

Reflection on Haiti: Part 1

Now that I've been back for a few days, I thought I would take a few posts to try to reflect upon what I learned/saw in Haiti last week. As I stated in my last post, I was amazed at the number of churches I saw there. There were over 20 Baptist churches just within the network we were working with. Our primary ministry was to go to different locations where churches gathered and distribute food, clean up rubble from damage to their church buildings, play with the kids, and share the gospel. However, what I found very quickly was that these churches had heard the gospel several times. Both adults and children were able to affirm the basic beliefs of the gospel. Since we were really in each town for only a few hours, I found it best to try to encourage them while I was there. I didn't share in every town because I was not the only pastor on our team, but when I did get the chance to share I wanted to put before them the hope of eternal joy in Christ. I felt, at that point, that we were there more for strengthening the church rather than focusing primarily on sharing the gospel (although that did take place in every place as well). With that being said, the church in Haiti needs much prayer. They need to find and preach hope in Christ alone. They appear to have a joy that is clearly not of this world (since they do not have much in this world), and that was both encouraging and convicting. Not only does the church in Haiti need our prayers for the gospel to go forth, but the church in America needs prayer to make sure our lives line up with our hope being in Christ alone and not in the things of this world.

Below is a picture of us distributing food in one of those areas.



This one is of Brandon Dees, Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, NC, sharing at one of the church locations.

I'm Home from Haiti

I came home from Haiti today. I will say a couple of quick things, but plan to take some time to process it all and give a more detailed update soon.

First of all, I was amazed at the number of churches in Haiti. I pray the gospel will shine bright in the midst of darkness.

Secondly, I don't think the pictures on TV or the Internet do justice to the damage. Maybe being in the atmosphere itself brings it out, but I was shocked at how many buildings were destroyed. It seemed like we drove for miles and miles and saw building after building after building destroyed. The work needed to repair Haiti (even though many of us do not understand how the living there was before) will go for a long time. It will take many hours, days, weeks, months, and probably years to complete the task. I pray we will not forget Haiti as the months go by.

Again, I will update more later. I'm exhausted. I'm drained spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally tonight. However, God was quite gracious through our time there. I was amazed at how He used us to offer hope in the midst of tragedy. Lord, may your gospel prevail!

Mark Driscoll on Haiti

This video has certainly made its rounds since it first came out, but I have just now watched. If you can take the 1 hour 24 minutes to watch this, I highly recommend it. God-willing, we'll be in this same area in just a few days. I'm not sure of the difference now, but I'm sure the devastation is still great.



A large video is here.

Going to Haiti...with Christ and His Gospel

My trip to Haiti is coming up this weekend. God-willing, we'll leave VA on Friday and head to stay with my in-laws on Friday night because our plane leaves at 6:00 Saturday morning. From there we will fly to Miami and then to Santo Domingo before driving into Haiti. This week I had an interesting encounter after talking with someone about this trip. He/she looked me in the eyes and told me I was wasting my money and my time for going. He/she said I should have given that money to the Red Cross because they could have used it to do a better job than I could.

Before I go any further, this person was not a church member. However, it does represent (I think) the thinking of many people who are on the membership roles of churches all over the place. And, to be fair, if I am only going to help those who are suffering, perhaps the Red Cross (or several other organizations) could do it better. Maybe this person has a legitimate pattern of thinking. In the moment, however, I looked back at her/him and said, "except Jesus told us to go."

Now, was I wrong? I mean, Jesus didn't actually tell me to go to Haiti. Of course I was speaking generally about the command to go, but is that even the case? In the Great Commission passage it's about making disciples. The command in Matthew 28:18-20 is not "go", but it is "make disciples". So maybe this particular person was correct in saying what he/she said. It could be stated that we are called to make disciples where we are. That is certainly true. But we must also realize that the gospel is be proclaimed to all nations.

Let me get back on track here. My main point here is that if we go to Haiti (or across the street, or anywhere else in the world) with the intentions of only helping people, then there are many organizations that can do it better than we can. However, by God's grace, I have been saved and am now part of His church. And the church has been empowered to take the gospel to the nations. And not only have they been empowered and entrusted with the gospel, but they have also the promise that Christ is with them. So when I think about going to Haiti to help, I must remember that the Red Cross cannot do it better because they have not been entrusted with the gospel of grace. I wonder how many people (and churches) miss that when we involve ourselves with mercy ministry (here or abroad), that we are serving so that we might get the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are still lost in their sin. To make disciples of all nations begins with sharing the gospel in all nations. May we go forth with boldness realizing that we have both the gospel and the Christ of the gospel with us.

The Sermon on the Mount

This Sunday, God-willing, we'll begin working through the Sermon on the Mount on Sunday mornings at First Baptist. I plan to do an introduction and overview of the Sermon this Sunday, and the following two paragraphs are enough to excite me and to scare me for the journey we're about to take together as a faith family.

There is always a gap between our words and our thoughts, but Jesus' words perfectly represent his thinking. He never had to correct himself or explain what he "meant" to say. Whoever hears Jesus' words hears him. His words perfectly express his convictions; they also represent his character. His thought, his character, and his actions are wholly consistent. If we follow his word, we become like him, and that is a blessed thing (Matt. 5:3-12). That is another reason to accept the authority of his every word (7:28).

The clarity and power of Jesus' teaching is stirring, yet alarming because honest people know they cannot obey it. Some believe that it is also impractical, since it calls disciples to turn the other cheek and to give to all who ask, and these are hardly strategies calibrated for survival in a rough world. Taking the beauty, the authority, and the rigor together, it is no wonder that the church struggles to interpret the Sermon on the Mount.

Daniel Doriani in The Sermon on the Mount: The Character of a Disciple