Pastor Ralph Douglas West - Is You Got Good Religion? - Matthew 21:10-17

0:22 for our young acolytes who led us in worship, our liturgical dances. And now, and Jaja. You never quite know what's going to happen when Reverend Zsa Zsa is leading worship. Thank you, Evelyn, for always being enthusiastic and joyful in our worship. And I guess I'll do this this Sunday. This is as good a Sunday as any.

1:18 It's already been done. You just haven't had a chance to meet her. So I figured today is a good Sunday to do it. Next Sunday, y'all be overwhelmed. Come on, Christy. This is Christine Honoré. This is our lead deacon here at the church without walls on our bingo campus. God bless you. Yeah. Christy's dad was my first musician.

2:05 So I knew her before she got here. I cannot believe that I have gotten that old now. That I can simply say, oh I remember you was born. And, cause I've always been a young preacher. I told them at Baylor, I'm a member of AARP and that's not an academic association. So, yeah, so Christy. And she's very much like Jewel London. She has a takeover spirit. And so that's why Derek is not here. She pushed him. Derek said, I wanted to be here for the 10 o'clock service. Derek's not here. I didn't think so. See, she's yet. No, he's not. And I said, D, I wanted, you know, you to be here when I did that I didn't know when I was going to do it. And she said, oh, he doesn't need to be here. I got it.

3:00 And I said, who do you fraternize with at this church? Who do you talk to? Oh, say Jewel London. I said, well, so I told Derek, I said, no telling. You may never be seen again. You can never tell in this church. Palm Sunday for those of you who are new here this is my favorite Sunday other Sundays may be your favorite I see you checking your watch if you need to leave you can no I'm not trying to be funny I understand if you have somewhere to go and you won't disturb me one bit if you need to do that

3:45 but it's my favorite Sunday, and maybe you'll pick it up in this sermon. Matthew 21, the triumphant entry is what we refer to this day as. The young people have demonstrated it before us today in dance and drama, where Jesus comes to Jerusalem as king, the choir has reminded us musically. People have gathered around. The fulfillment of the prophecy has been made.

4:28 Children have cried out, Hosanna, son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Verse 10 is where I want to begin reading today. when Jesus entered Jerusalem and the whole city was stirred and asked, who is this? The crowds answered, this is Jesus, the prophet from the hood in Galilee. Money changes and the benches of those selling doves. It is written, he said to them, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of robbers. The blind and the lame came to him at the temple and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting at the temple courts, Hosanna to the son of David.

5:32 They were indignant. Do you hear what these children are saying? They ask him. Yes, Jesus replied. Have you never read from the lips of children and infants? You, Lord, have called forth your praise.

5:53 And he left them and went. out of the city of Bethany where he spent the night. This is the word of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. I want to tag this text. Is You Got Good Religion? For those of you who have been here for the last several weeks, you have an idea of what's happening today other than what you have read and heard sung. here too now all of these kingly stories that you and I have been visiting over the past many weeks comes to a culminating point in chapter 21. Jesus had been preaching the kingdom of God is come it is near and here too is another event that unfolds the drama of the king By definition, the king is one who is able.

7:18 In verse 10, after Jesus had entered into Jerusalem and there was such a stir, the NIV uses. And that is the word where we get seismology, how we measure earthquakes. Jesus' event was not some casual moment in world history where Jesus entered into the world. it stirred the Greek word. It was a seismic moment. It was an earthquake.

7:54 People were shocked to see what they saw. And the children responded. And thank God for children in church, they will blurt out at the strangest times. and when they do they are normally right hosanna when jesus entered jerusalem verse 10 and that was such a stir the question on the lips of everybody was who is this i mean they knew that this is Jesus, but who is this? They're asking now beyond the obvious, who is this? Have we missed something about who he is? and then someone says that's Jesus from the ghetto down in Nazareth and somebody had to have on their lips, can anything good come out of the hood?

9:08 And so Jesus is making his way. See what I told you, children always show up at the right time. I almost hate you got to take that baby out there. Because she got it live in here. Yeah, I mean it too. Oh

9:36 Yeah, L. Cool J. said, Mama don't take no meth. But I'm not a die.

9:57 Let me get myself together. Because you know, I get on something, I'm ready to take off. And so the ministry of Jesus is being framed now in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then sometimes with the other Gospel, John.

10:31 The beginning of Jesus' ministry begins the way he ends it. In the beginning, in the Gospel of John, Jesus comes to Jerusalem. And upon entering, his first stop is the temple where he cleanses the temple. Matthew 21 Mark 11 Luke 19 tell this same story it varies somewhat but what they're getting to is this at the end of his ministry he stopped at the temple and he cleansed the temple I almost don't want to call it the cleansing because labels have a way of restricting things. It's why people have fought when people try to label them to break the boundaries of the limitations of the labels that have been placed on them.

11:39 this is a prophetic moment of Jesus fulfilling something that is grander than merely the cleansing of the temple. We get so excited about tables, turns, coins, thrown, birds flying, that we miss what happened that day. This is the story of living religion confronting dead institutionalism. that's what's really happening and the man of faith Jesus on his way out he's on his way to Calvary he stopped by his favorite place the temple the church for us the national shrine and when he gets there there is not a celebration but a confrontation.

12:40 He moves in and he looks around at what's taking place and he sees something happening here. Let me put a disclaimer before I go on. This is not a religious rant. This is not a reverend raving at institutionalism. this is not me giving you a carte blanche to say go out and be negative taught institutionality our church is very much an institution it's a religious establishment and nothing's wrong with that as long as life breathing life and its purpose is to liberate those who are broken and marginal and those that need new sight and vision of life, nothing's wrong with that.

13:40 It becomes a problem when it becomes an institution of oppression, limiting people for becoming what God has created them to be and to live out their life the way God has intended it to be lived. Unfortunately, negativity of institution gets more coverage than the positive.

14:08 You know exactly what I'm saying. Don't sit there and act like you don't understand. Some of you are the result of positive institutions that religion has produced. Many of our colleges and universities are the result of religious institutions, our hospitals, our orphan centers, Our places of help and healing and hope have been born from the religiousity as well as the generosity of liberal institutions. Nothing wrong with that. is when institutions go bad. And that's what happened here. Jesus loved the temple. Time doesn't permit literally to go into that.

15:03 Let me just say this. The temple is a big deal to Jesus and to the Jews. In the Old Testament, you remember there is a tabernacle the tabernacle is a makeshift of what will be built later in the wilderness God reveals himself through clouds in the day fire at night these different theophanic showings to remind them that God is with them in the new testament the temple has now been built and the temple was a place that in quotes house God.

15:48 When Jesus comes along he said wait God's bigger than brick and mortar. God is larger than your cathedral. God is more than your sanctuary. They that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. I didn't come here to tear down the temple but I come here to remind you that it's merely a symbol of God's presence in the world. and when we gather here, dead bricks come alive in living stones. I mean our church if I got to explain that we need to dismantle for a whole year when we worship we worship at the Brook Hollow Marriott Hotel it's a hotel it ain't no church it's a hotel people go check in there to stay a period of time and then move on it's a hotel ain't nothing religious about it But when the redeemed show up, they can turn an institution into a revival center.

16:57 Now you get what I'm talking about. And that's what Jesus was doing. So the purpose of this place is so that he can experience the joy that God gives. One more thing about these temples and synagogues and these religious centers with Jesus. He loved them. He loved them. He preached his first sermon in one.

17:25 He didn't do that good, but. Well, he didn't. You know, y'all. We have a lot of preachers here. They preach and they don't do good either, but y'all all clap and don't tell them the truth. Say, ooh, that was good. And you really didn't mean it. we'd take up an offering for them to get some books and we'd praise and praise God. Then they'd walk out and you'd say, I sure hope they'd do better than they did. Well, that's what happened to Jesus.

18:07 That would happen to Jesus. It happened to me. I preached my sermon. I had two pages. I read them. I was done in six minutes. They said these words and I quote, Lord have mercy. Walked by, somebody said, poor Reverend West.

18:27 Jesus didn't do no better. You know what they did when he got through preaching in these religious centers, why he loved them? He preaches his text from Isaiah. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to preach the gospel, to set free the captives, to give vision to those who are blind, and unstopped deaf ears to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and nobody clapped.

18:56 Literally, Luke 4, they marched him to a cliff and wanted to boot him overboard. how you like that for a sermon and now Jesus comes to the temple and confronts vacuous religion he said look at what you've done to my father's house this is supposed to be a house of prayer and every time institutions lose their religious purpose God always sends somebody in to straighten it out in the 15th and 16th century in the 15th century he would send Augustinians to come in and straighten it out Luther to straighten it out Thank you.

19:53 when the Methodist church went bad God sent Solomon Jones in there on his knees praying. And they told him, you can't pray here. This is segregated space. and they drug him out of there we had sit-ins you remember those some of y'all old enough most of you don't but in the 60s that was a thing called sit-ins and sit-ins were designed to break the institutions that restricted people of color black folk in particular from eating in these spaces Greenville, North Carolina Students would go in And sit down and suffer All kind of human indignities So that you could go And sit out At some restaurant right now that's viable religion that's religion and spirituality Christianity that's alive dead dead religion was the religion where all of that was going on in America and even now and nobody opens their mouth nobody evangelicals got quiet black evangelicals got quiet they joined in with white evangelicals and said god has saved us and that means personal salvation and that's always a misreading of what religion is that's what Jesus was railing at he says y'all and forgot what religion is religion is not personal religion is personal political and communal God didn't save you not to make the

22:03 world a better place than what it is and then and then people like I know offense you don't want to hear this? I understand it. as one of my members send me clips of our favorite preacher and I said if she knew his politics and what he stood for