Palm Sunday All Age Sermon outline

Palm Sunday 1st April 2012

Psalm 118 – Who you gonna call?

·         We’ve just watched a comical video,  advertising a telephone number enquiry company 118 118 (Who remembers the names of the original song, singer and movie). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZw87CSV-o4

·         The advert tells us that when you have any kind of problem or you need specialist help, 118 118 can put you in touch with the help you need (for a price of course!)

·         Our Bible reading from Psalm 118 has bigger worries and concerns in mind. It is a prayer and a song, written in troubled and anxious times by an oppressed people. Against this dark background it is an extraordinary song of hope – hope that God will one day intervene personally, directly and powerfully to put right all that is wrong in the world.

·         It is a psalm which is still sung by  Jewish people all over the world, sveral times each year, at their most important religious festivals – including the Passover, which Jesus was about to celebrate one final time in Jerusalem with his disciples.

·         The Jewish people are still waiting for their Messiah but for Christians – both Jews and non-Jewish people like most of us, who have come to believe in and follow him, Jesus is the fulfilment of the promises in this psalm. He’s the answer to this prayer.

·         Verses/fulfilment … (focus especially on Jesus being the stone which many people reject but is the cornerstone for us all, verses 22-23 and the gates of righteousness being opened for us, punishment and even death not lasting for ever, verses 17-21).

·         The people behind 118 118 can help some people sort out some problems some of the time. The person behind Psalm 118 is the answer to all the deepest needs of every single person who has ever lived.

·         Even better, it is a free gift of grace – no 69p a minute or whatever. You don’t have to earn God’s love – although the best way to respond to it is in a life of serving others, which will be costly but worthwhile.

·         The love of God endures forever, it is everlasting and never gives in. Never stops seeking, healing, putting things right, clearing up the mess we have made  – a strong promise which we can build on securely, knowing that the one who has promised can be trusted!

·         Prayer

God's LOVE endures forever; God's WRATH does not.

Doing a bit of light background reading for a seminar I'll be giving shortly I came across this quote from the great 19th century Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon:
Thou wilt look up there on the throne of God, and it shall be written, 'For ever!' When the damned jingle the burning irons of their torment, they shall say, 'For ever!' When they howl, Echo cries, 'For ever!' 'For ever!' is written on their racks, 'For ever!' on their chains, 'For ever!' burneth in the fire, 'For ever!' ever reigns.
What a contrast with today's Palm Sunday reading,  Psalm 118, which begins:
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; His steadfast love endures for ever!
Let Israel say, 'His steadfast love endures for ever.'
Let the house of Aaron say, 'His steadfast love endures for ever.'
Let those who fear the LORD say, 'His steadfast love endures for ever.' 
Psalm 103 makes a similar point:
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger for ever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him. (Ps 103.8-13)
Spurgeon was a great preacher, but for all his rhetoric I reckon he got that one wrong ;) It is not God's wrath, or his punishment of sinners which endures for ever: it is God's steadfast, unfailing, inescapable love!