Whole World Redeeming: Palm Sunday – Sermon Outline
By Captain Kim Haworth PART 1 / 1
Easter Series: Week 1: Palm Sunday
Sermon Outline
Big Idea: Redemption
Main Point: Everyone can be redeemed
Intended outcomes:
· There is no one who cannot be redeemed
· The whole world needs redemption; individual persons, families, social groups, societies, nations, and the entire natural world
How to Use This Outline
The outline will need to be customised and contextualised by each Corps Officer for the congregation to whom the sermon will be preached:
· Adding appropriate illustrations that will connect with the specific congregation
· Modifying language to be appropriate to the socio-cultural setting of the Corps
· You may also wish to make the application more specific to your context.
PowerPoint slides have been provided for the following:
1. Title Slide – Introducing the Sermon
2. Scripture Slide: Ecclesiastes 3:11
3. Scripture Slide: John 12:12-16
4. Scripture Slide: Zechariah 9:9
5. Scripture Slide: John 3:16-21
6. Scripture Slide: Romans 8:18-23
The Salvation Army: Australia Southern Territory: Mission Resources DepartmentWhole World Redeeming: Palm Sunday – Sermon Outline
By Captain Kim Haworth PART 1 / 1
Sermon Outline
Series Overview
In keeping with the Boundless Salvation theme for Congress 2015, the theme for 2015’s Easter resource pack is “Whole World Redeeming”. Over Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday we will look at sections of Booth’s song, Boundless Salvation.Introduction
- Who can fathom the depth of God’s love? Who can truly understand the breadth of God’s redemption? Who can fully describe God’s boundless salvation? It is beyond even the boundaries of our wildest imagination. Many have tried. It’s been written about, sung about and preached about. General William Booth wrote what is affectionately known as the Founder’s Song, ‘O Boundless Salvation’ as a way of describing God’s salvation. This Easter week, we will be looking at this song and what it tells us about Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
- In the first verse he compares God’s salvation to an ocean – vast, deep, full of mercy and love. And he declares that God is redeeming the whole world!
O Boundless salvation! Deep ocean of love,
O fullness of mercy, Christ brought from above,
The whole world redeeming, so rich and so free,
Now flowing for all men, come, roll over me!
The triumphal entry was welcoming the one who would redeem Israel
1. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has set eternity in the hearts of all people. Historical studies show that the concept of a Supreme Being or God has existed for centuries in hundreds of different cultures throughout the world. These cultures acknowledge that the relationship with this Supreme Being is not as it ought to be. This is evidenced through the idea of sacrifice or appeasing rituals, which have been practised throughout history. Something has gone wrong between God and humanity. There is a divide that needs to be bridged.
2. God created the world and everything in it to be in relationship with him. This relationship was broken when humanity rejected God’s rule. God chose the people of Israel as his own, in order to bring about a restoration of that relationship. As part of this unfolding restoration, God had promised Israel a King. A King who would redeem them and bring salvation. Many believe Jesus to be this promised King.
3. Read John 12:12-16
4. On the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem the crowd was filled with expectation. For many, Jesus held the promise of freedom. This was freedom from oppressive Roman rule, redemption from injustice. Finally God was going to make everything right! Restore Israel to its rightful position in the world and its people to right relationship with him. The longed for Messiah had finally come. Rescue was at hand.
5. Recognising this, the people line the streets holding palm branches, forming a guard of honour, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel.” It must have been an amazing sight. People full of passion and hope. The event is one of only a few places in the Gospels where Jesus’ glory is recognised – where his kingship is known.
6. The fact that he came riding on a donkey – the colt of a donkey, sent a Messianic message. Jesus was declaring himself King! Only kings paraded this way and as John declares, Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah (9:9-10): Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
7. The Jewish people knew this prophecy. It had been declared around 550 years earlier at a time when Israel had no King. At this time the Israelites were only just returning to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. The people longed for the day of their King’s arrival and many recognised it had come in the form of this man, Jesus. Here was their King!
8. But we know the rest of the story, don’t we? We know that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday began the final week of his earthly life. The purpose of his incarnation was about to be fulfilled through the cross and resurrection. Jesus death for us all – his destiny.
9. The people in the crowd didn’t know this. Even Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand the significance of what was taking place and they didn’t know what lay ahead. All they thought was that this Jesus, God’s Messiah, was the answer to their prayers.
10. And he was, but not in the way they expected or recognised. God’s salvation plan for his people, through Jesus’ death and resurrection was not how they envisaged it. The Jewish people were seeking an earthly King – a mighty warrior, like their King David, who would redeem them from bondage and restore their power as a nation.
11. Israel put boundaries around God’s salvation plan. The Israelites believed it was for them only.
There is no one who cannot be redeemed
1. That was not God’s plan. It was much larger than the Israelites envisaged. Read John 3:16-21
2. God desires that all people be redeemed. God’s salvation plan is because of his great love for the world. John 3:16 clearly explains God has demonstrated his love for the world through the gift of his son, Jesus. This gift is for all who will believe in him and redemption comes through that belief.
3. The Salvation Army’s sixth doctrine states “We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has, by his suffering and death, made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.
4. God’s plan is not selective! His salvation is boundless. There is no one who cannot be redeemed. Sadly, God knows that not everyone will choose to be redeemed but the offer is made equally for all.
The whole world needs redemption; individual persons, families, social groups, societies, nations, and the entire natural world
1. But even this is too small a picture of what God intends. God’s redemption plan is cosmic in scope. It involves the entire universe. Read Romans 8:18-23
2. All creation needs redemption. When humanity rejected God’s rule, the creation was also affected. Paul says it was subjected to frustration and is decaying. As God’s agents in the world, humanity was to subdue and rule over creation. We failed to do this and consequently creation has not become what God intended it to be. God’s redemptive plan is for all creation. This will reach fulfillment when Christ returns to make all things new. Until then, Paul says the creation ‘groans’ in labour pains, together with humanity, awaiting the completed adoption and redemption that Christ will bring.
Conclusion
1. History and experience show that we tend to put boundaries around salvation. The Israelites did it when they thought the redemption the Messiah would bring was just for themselves. We can do it, by seeing some people as beyond God’s salvation. We see them as beyond his redemption because of such things as social class, ethnic grouping or lifestyle. We can see them as ‘other’ and exclude them.
2. Sometimes we make God’s redemption too small. We can mistakenly think about it as just getting to heaven when we die but it is so much more. God’s redemption is for the present and also for the future. It includes the transformation of lives now as well as the future hope of resurrection. Scripture clearly shows us the cosmic scale of God’s salvation plan. It’s open to all individuals, families, social groups, nations and the entire natural world. God’s salvation plan is boundless!
3. William Booth understood this. His song ‘O Boundless Salvation’ tries to capture the scope of God’s redemption. It is the whole world redeeming. It is the fullness of mercy. It is a deep ocean of love that flows for all people.
4. The Salvation Army was raised up 150 years ago to preach and live a holistic Gospel. Salvation is nothing short of the total redemption of all creation. William Booth said, “We are a salvation people – this is our specialty – getting saved and keeping saved, and then getting somebody else saved, and then getting saved ourselves more and more… We believe the world needs it, and that this alone will set it right.”
Call to Action
Today, if you haven’t made Christ your Lord and Saviour, today is the perfect day for you to put your trust in Him. You can pray where you are seated, or you may like to come up the front and kneel at the mercy seat and pray to God here.
For those of us who have made Christ our saviour, we have been redeemed. But there are others in this world that God plans on redeeming –our friends, family, and work colleagues may be waiting for God to touch their lives right now. If so, perhaps you also would like to say a prayer today for those who don’t know Christ yet. You also can pray where you are, or come out the front to the mercy seat and petition God.
Let us pray together.