God On His Terms by Phil Kinney

John 12:12-19: "The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.” His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”" (NKJV)

John 19:13-16: "When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away." (NKJV)

Two amazing accounts of the same crowd responding to the same person – Jesus. One minute the people of the crowd are taking off their coats and laying them on the road, pulling palm branches from the trees around the place and waving them and laying them on the ground recognising the kingship of Jesus Christ. The next they are calling for Jesus to be crucified, to suffer a horrible and humiliating death.

What causes the transition? What can bring about this change in a simple few days? It is easy to blame the Pharisees, to say they incited the people against Jesus. But how could they turn the minds of the people so quickly?

The key here is in the attitude of the people. The multitudes had seen and heard of the miracles Jesus had done. They had heard him teach, seen him raise Lazarus from the dead, eaten seafood sandwiches when He had multiplied the loaves and fishes. They had received healing and wholeness, forgiveness of sins as the lame could suddenly walk, the blind see, the deaf hear. When they saw Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on the donkey they dared to believe what they believed the Messiah would be – a liberator from the Romans.

For years the Jewish people had been under foreign rule. One nation after another invaded their land and subjected the Jewish people to their customs and ways. Finally it was the Romans who were the current invaders, and the Jewish people wanted to have their homeland back, they wanted to be a nation again, with their own king, their own customs and laws, their own way of life. They awaited the Messiah God had promised, and their expectation was that this Messiah would overpower the “foreign” rulers and reinstate an earthly kingdom in Israel.

They misunderstood the many prophecies found throughout the Old Testament of the coming Messiah. God promised a Messiah, but not one who would bring about a political kingdom, but rather a spiritual Kingdom. Jesus many references to Kingdom were about Him reinstating spiritual authority and presence on earth to overcome the works of the devil, of a people who could enter into relationship with God without spiritual barriers.

The palm wavers on Jesus entry into Jerusalem did not understand this, they expected a political kingdom. Thus the Pharisees concern in John 12:19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”" They feared they had lost their power and the people were now following Jesus, and the people were – in expectation that Jesus and his disciples were going to storm the palace and take over the throne, and throw out the Romans.

When the multitude realised this wasn’t going to happen, they turned against Jesus in disappointment. Jesus wasn’t doing what they expected, so they turned their back on Him, to the point of being swayed by the Chief Priest and Pharisee's to have Him crucified.

You see they only wanted Jesus if they could have Him on their terms. They would enter into relationship with Jesus if it was beneficial to them, and Jesus did things for their benefit and as they expected things to be done.

But that is not how God operates. God does not offer us relationship with Him on our terms. There is no negotiating with God on how your life is going to go, and what His plan is for your life. There is no negotiating with God and telling Him how things should be done around the place. He doesn’t make room for that.

We cannot come to God on our terms, we can only come on His.

I hear people complain about “God did this to me” and “God didn’t come through when I asked Him too”, and “I prayed about this and it didn’t happen”, or “this happened at this church so I left there” and so on.

Let me ask you this – What obligation has God got to do anything for you?

The answer is none at all. God is not obliged to do anything for you. If God was to do what we deserve He would wipe us off the face of the earth. Yet because of His mercy he doesn’t – He gives us the opportunity to repent. Then He extends His grace toward us in that He enters relationship and seeks to bless us – but our relationship with God is not based upon our terms, it is based upon His. This is where terms like Lord come in. Jesus needs to be Lord of our lives. As Lord, He is the authority in our lives. We do as He asks. We don’t have the right to demand of Him, to tell Him how things should be. Yes he extends His grace to us that we can ask of Him through prayer – but we cannot demand of Him. Yes we can take His Word and use it with authority in our everyday lives, but we cannot demand of Him.

So what does it mean to have Jesus as Lord?

• It means we take on the nature of Christ and submit ourselves to His way of living.

• It means when things don’t go as planned in life – we praise God who gave us life in the first place.

• It means when people do things we don’t like, we forgive them and bless them, acknowledging that it is Christ who has forgiven us first

• It means we acknowledge that He is Lord of our life – and that is every part of our life.

o Therefore He (not me) is Lord of my work place.

o He (not me) is Lord of my home.

o He (not me) is Lord of my possessions.

o He (not me) is Lord of my finances.

o He (not me) is Lord of my relationships.

o He (not me) is Lord of my Church.

o He (not me) is Lord of my actions.

o He (not me) is Lord of the things I do and say.

It means that we live our lives according to His guidelines, His way of living, His standards, His choices.

How do we know His way – we choose to read His Word and to pray to Him. We come recognising that without Christ we have nothing. We submit ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit. As we do this He fills us with power to do the things He has called us to do. We submit our will to His, and then we are working in partnership with Him. This is Christianity (which means “little Christs”). Jesus said he came to simply do the will of the Father. We – as “little Christs”, also are here to do the will of the Father in total submission to Him. We are called to live our lives on His terms not ours.

Discussion Questions:

Are you prepared to do anything for God, or is your relationship based on what God can do for you.
Are you prepared for God to mess with your life, with your relationships, even your church – to make them His?
God often offends our minds to reveal our hearts. Where are you currently or regularly "offended and challenged"? Is this somewhere Jesus is trying to be Lord in your life?
What action do you need to take to let Jesus be Lord in every part of your life?
**If you were being honest with each other in the group - what are the areas you can see Jesus to each member of the group? What are areas that maybe you see each other needs to work on to be more life Jesus?
As a group, where do you think you need to reflect Jesus more? (Reaching out to family and friends together - out nights, Prayer for each other, care for each other etc.)

**Leader - Please deal with this one sensitively and carefully**