DONKEY DYNAMICS

0:10 wow, Ed, there's going to be two jackasses on stage today. I didn't like that at all. I thought that was very mean for someone to say that. He's really pretty. You know donkeys, I don't know if you know this or not, have a cross on their back. If you did, clap. Yeah. We're talking about him today.

0:43 We're talking about what we can learn from a donkey. We're talking about the fact that Thank you. We are donkeys. And that ends the message. No, I'm kidding. Thank you, Fred. You're a good man. I want you to say something that might seem weird. Just say, I'm a donkey.

1:09 You are. So am I. So am I. We're going to learn some donkey dynamics today. We're going to learn from this animal that was front and center during Palm Sunday. In fact, as I read the accounts of Palm Sunday in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I found myself in my study, and the donkey thing just began to pop up in my mind. I couldn't get it out of my mind, and I began to pray about it, and I really felt impressed from the Holy Spirit of God to do a message on the donkey. Again, the donkey dominates. Think about our lives.

2:03 Think about salvation history. Salvation is when someone becomes a believer, right? When we make that faith decision. This donkey completes salvation history. Let me go theological on you for a second. You have Abraham using a donkey to carry supplies up Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son. Of course, we know that God stepped in and an animal was substituted. But a donkey was used by Abraham. Then we have Moses and his family riding a donkey into Egypt, thereby giving him the opportunity to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian slavery. So we see the foreshadowing.

3:03 It's culminated with Jesus' salvation history, and this is the climax of salvation history. It's culminated when Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem that began what we call Holy Week. It began his march to the cross. It began, of course, with that, and then his death, burial, and resurrection. then 40 days later, his ascension. Why though a donkey? Have you ever thought about that? That's sort of unusual, isn't it? For the king of kings and lord of lords to come into J-town on the back of a, it's Jerusalem, on the back of a donkey? A donkey?

3:55 They're kind of lowly, they're kind of common. They're kind of like the Uber in today's world. Just a donkey, just an Uber. When Rome had a parade, when their kings came to town, I mean, everyone knew it.

4:16 Lamborghini chariots and the white horses and the pomp and circumstance. I mean, the whole city stopped because a king, an earthly one, was coming to town. But in this circumstance, you have Jesus, the true king, riding on a lowly, many times forgotten donkey. A donkey symbolized in biblical times, peace. Whereas a war horse symbolized conflict. Yeah, we have Jesus riding on a donkey, and he's called the Prince of Peace. Yes, he was at war, but he was fighting another kind of war, wasn't he?

5:12 A war for your heart and mine, so we can experience the peace of God. People, though, didn't get it. They understood a little bit of it, but they didn't fully comprehend what was going on. The donkey is symbolic of so much. Let me read a text for you in the Gospel of Luke that will really impact this specifically. Luke chapter 19, I'll begin reading with verse 28. After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead going to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of his disciples saying to them, go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you're gonna find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden.

6:10 Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it? Say, the Lord needs it. Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, why are you untying the colt? They replied, the Lord needs it. They brought it to Jesus through their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all of the miracles they had seen. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

7:09 I tell you, he replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. Let's all use our imaginations for a second. For some of us, we haven't really done that in a long, long time. But let's put ourselves in the shoes, in the hooves maybe, of a donkey. In the brain of this animal. I'm just a donkey just standing by my mom tied up it's a beautiful sunrise today mom look it's gorgeous the donkey's mom probably said yes honey it is and this young donkey had a good life he had donkey friends and he did donkey things.

8:28 No one had ever ridden him before. So he was like chill. So I'm just standing there looking around. Hee-haw. suddenly a couple of guys come up to me. I've never seen them before. Huh, they look a little bit different. They're dressed differently. And wait a minute, they're untying me?

8:58 They say, Jesus needs me? Who's Jesus? Who is the Lord? So I just followed them. and I saw this man look at me I have never seen anyone look at me the way he did he looked into my heart and soul his voice was strong yet gentle He patted me behind the ears And it really felt good He talked to me in a loving way And then they put cloaks on my back And I'd never really had anything on my back before It kind of felt a little weird Yet Jesus calmed me And then he sat on me I'd never felt the weight of a person before And his weight was wonderful He would shift to the right And I would go to the right Maybe he would shift to the left I would go to the left down the path And I noticed that people began to come around And cheer and wave palm branches in the air and they put their cloaks on the street and I was walking on a carpet of clothes.

10:42 And yet this man just talked to me and patted me while I was... walking down the path. The crowds got bigger and bigger. It was noisier and noisier. And for the first time, I saw Jerusalem. I saw the beauty of this city. I'd never seen such a side in my life. we continued down the path from the Mount of Olives. And as the crowds continued to cheer and worship, I could tell Jesus on my back was crying.

11:35 He was weeping. And who knows, maybe this donkey felt the warmth of Christ's tears on his back. I don't know. Jesus, though, was praying for the city of Jerusalem. So the donkey's like, well, I continued to walk, and people continued to cheer, and then we walked through the city gates, and he got off at the temple. And then the disciples took me back home and tied me up next to my mom. said, Mom, you will not believe what happened. Mom, I'm telling you, I'm trending.

12:24 They were cheering for me, Mom. It was about me. Maybe his mom said wisely, Son, it's not about you. It's about who you were carrying. it's about Jesus a donkey. Why a donkey? Salvation history. Why a donkey? It fulfills prophecy. Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9, that was written hundreds and hundreds of years before this happened. Zechariah 9, 9 says, Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion. shout, daughter Jerusalem. See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

13:28 This is interesting, isn't it? To me it is. A donkey? As I said earlier, you're a donkey, so am I. What can we learn from the donkey? Are you ready for this? Five donkey dynamics. Number one, the donkey was chosen for a purpose. And so are you.

13:52 Jesus told his disciples to go to a specific place and look for a specific donkey to do a specific task. This donkey literally carried the weight of the world upon its shoulders. A normal, lowly animal, a donkey, an Uber, carrying the Messiah? You've got to be kidding me, but... that's the upside down kingdom of God. So often God uses people that we would never pick. But I've got good news for you today. You are first pick. The first pick in the NFL draft. You, my friend, are God's first pick. You're his first choice.

14:45 Don't you remember going out for drill team, cheerleading, basketball, football, and the coach would post who made the team, who was chosen or not, and you just would search and search and look for your name. You don't have to look. I'm telling you right now, you have been chosen. Your name is on the list. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. Number two, the donkey had to be untied, and you have to be untied, and so do I. Yes, Jesus has done the work. He's broken the chains.

15:43 Yet we have to understand that we can walk in that freedom. This donkey was untied and led to Jesus. I'm untied, you're untied, and we're led to Jesus. You've probably heard about back in the day how they would train elephants, you know, a little elephant. That's how they A little elephant A big elephant So a little elephant They would take a little chain No big deal Hook the chain up to a stake in the ground And the elephant was small And it couldn't break the chain Well, the elephant got bigger And bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. They still use, trainers did, the little chain and the little stake.

16:40 And people would always say, how in the world is that magnificent creature chained with that little chain to that little stake and he could break it like a thread? How does that work? And the trainers would say, well, it's the memory. of the past. It's the memory of when he was young. He just couldn't break the chain. I've got to ask you, what are you doing standing by the stake? What are you doing? The chains have been broken. Those that Jesus sets free are free indeed. you can't be untied unless you're willing to be untied.

17:37 Number three, the donkey carried the king and we carry the king as well if we're followers of Christ. I want you just to contemplate on that for a second. I'm like a donkey. I am carrying Jesus in the boardroom, in the locker room, in the classroom. Again, I'm carrying Jesus.

18:15 I don't understand the path. I don't understand everything about where he's taking me, but he had a purpose, didn't he? for this donkey. He has a purpose for your life. Because when we understand that we're carrying the king, it changes everything. the mundane can become miraculous if I understand I'm carrying the king Jesus just my everyday life we say oh man my life is boring well you my friend don't understand who you're carrying if you thought about who you're carrying it changes everything it changes how you do just a typical run-of-the-mill routine.

19:19 When I was in my early 20s, I began to pray for people in my life who didn't know the Lord. I would just pray that regularly. I just said, God, I'm available. Jesus, I know I'm carrying you, and I want to carry you to a world and I know through your sovereign hand, you're going to allow me to collide with people to share you in different ways. I just pray that regularly and Jesus answered the prayer through a number of ways. One time I remember I was at a gas station. In fact, it was a service station back in the day to tell you how long ago it was.

20:18 And I met this guy who worked at the service station just at a meeting. Hey, how are you doing? And then later, I had the opportunity to share the gospel with him and to invite him to our church. so see just something mundane became miraculous and we don't understand we're walking in the miraculous we don't understand it when i was 22 years old i prayed that prayer lord you know um i'm carrying you and i want to share you with love and boldness when i can I don't have time to get into the whole story but the next day I found myself in Los Angeles, California sharing Jesus with Muhammad Ali. I talked to Ali for an hour and I was seated next to George Foreman.

21:24 Oh, you better give me a clap. No, no, I don't want a master's clap. Who am I? I'm a donkey. Hadn't gone to seminary yet, and I'm sharing Jesus with probably the most well-known athlete of all time. You've got to be joking. that's nothing compared to what God wants to do in your life but you'll never ever experience it until you go I'm carrying Jesus I want to listen to his voice I want to go with him when he shifts his way to the right or to the left, even though I don't understand everything. Here's the phrase that pays. The donkey was exalted not because of who it was, but because of who it carried. Number four, this donkey, our friend, didn't really understand his mission. I mean, did he really get it? No. Do you really understand your mission? No. You're not going to understand it.

22:46 God moves in mysterious ways. I mean, yes, we'll understand a lot. And believe me, God has given us more than enough evidence to become followers of Christ, more than enough evidence to walk with him. And if you want to go down that road, there are many, many great books that just pile up the evidence that demands a verdict, as Josh McDowell so brilliantly said, and it's your option. He didn't understand the mission. How many times in my life I don't understand what's going on? God, I'll say, if you just explained everything to me, I would follow you. Not necessarily, because I don't have the bandwidth to understand the ways of God. Now, it's not that God does not explain some things to us. He does. But the Bible is not a book of explanations. It's a book of promises. and we walk by faith. Well, Ed, I don't have the faith you do.

23:38 Yes, you do. You can get in a car and drive on these crazy freeways. Faith. You need to go out to lunch and eat, I don't know, some fajitas. I mean, you can get tomaine poisoning or something from that. Everything's faith, faith, faith, faith, faith. So you're not always gonna understand the mission. Here's the phrase that pays. Number four, obedience is more important than understanding. The key in the Christian life is obedience. And that's what our donkey friend did. Number five, you thought I'd never get there, but I'm there already. I love this one. This is just fun for me. The donkey's path became a parade. and my path should be a parade, because everything I do, say, touch, and feel should be an act of worship, and there was worship going on.

24:39 The path became a parade. Let me say this again. With Jesus, the mundane, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. those are some donkey deliverables some donkey dynamics that we can take home today as we think about this holy week so Jesus came and he rode into Jerusalem for the first time, and he said, I'll be back for the next time. The first time, he came riding on a donkey. The second time, he'll ride on a war horse. the first time he came as a lamb the second time he'll come as a lion the first time he came bringing peace the next time he'll bring judgment the first time he came as a carpenter the next time he'll come as a conqueror the first time he came to redeem us The second time, he'll come to rule.

26:02 The first time, he came as someone meek and mild. The second time, he'll come as someone mighty. The first time, it was a crown of thorns. The second time, the next time, the crown of crowns. The first time, he came as a Nazarene. And the second time, the next time, he'll come as the author and the finisher of our faith. Holy Week Palm Sunday Jesus riding into town fulfilling prophecy giving us peace that surpasses all understanding dying on the cross for our sins, rising again 40 days later ascending and he's seated at the right hand of the Father per you're carrying him we need to learn, don't we, from Fred.

27:09 Heavenly Father, thank you for this message. Thank you for this day. Thank you for everyone here. And as we prepare now for communion, just work in our hearts and lives during this time.