Maundy Thursday

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:07] Pastor Chuck Allen here with another weekday podcast. And it's Thursday of Holy Week. It's Maundy Thursday. [00:00:13] We always get confused about what Maundy Thursday is all about. But here's kind of the whole picture. It is this one big picture that on this night, Jesus gathers with his disciples and he unpacks the plan. [00:00:29] And in that minute, the thought is, oh, my goodness, yes. What we need to do is move forward, because Jesus has got this plan of redemption for the whole world. [00:00:43] And in doing all of that, we also realize that, oh, my stars, there's a whole nother work that's going on. [00:00:52] There's this work of Maundy Thursday where Jesus says, this is what's happening and this is what's about to happen in the garden, and I'm about to give my life and then I'm going to return back to heaven. And everybody's confused. But it's beginning of how you leave religion and find resurrection. [00:01:13] Have you ever just gotten tired of doing all the religious things and still feel a little dead? Dead inside? [00:01:21] I got to tell you something. I know that feeling. You keep up appearances, you follow the routines. You hit church on Sunday, you post verses on Instagram, and somehow your soul just still feels dry. [00:01:33] It's what Jesus was getting at in Matthew 11:28. And in Eugene Peterson's the Message, he says, are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion? Come to me, get away with me, and you'll recover your life. What? Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. [00:01:56] That right there is Jesus saying, lay it down, y'. All, Lay it down. [00:02:00] You're working so hard for something that's already yours. [00:02:05] Religion, when it becomes about performance, is like living in a graveyard. We talked about it yesterday. You're surrounded by the things that used to be alive, the. The way things maybe used to feel. When your faith was fresh, when you first met grace and you were overwhelmed by this face to face, wow, Jesus loves me. [00:02:25] But as life got busy and we started building fences around our faith instead of living it. Well, just to be honest, I think we've all been there once or twice or more. Teaching, leading, doing good things, but missing the good news. [00:02:40] You can believe all the right things and still live without breath in your soul. [00:02:44] Paul wrote in Romans 8:11, from the message, it stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive and present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself. [00:03:01] Maundy Thursday was about how the story of the gospel came alive, how it became something that would change the very nature of humanity. It would change us. [00:03:14] There's this whole picture of Jesus giving this description of what was about to happen as they reclined around this table and how they gathered and they shared this beautiful Lord's Supper. And how he gave this picture of that the bread was going to be a picture of his broken body, and that this wine was going to be the picture of his shed blood. And that this shed blood was for the forgiveness of sins for all of mankind. And that it was going to make things right. And he was going to be the spotless lamb of God. God. And that there wasn't going to be need for any future sacrifice other than Him. He was doing it all. [00:03:53] And in the middle of all that, doing it all. So we didn't have to bank our future on religion. We could bank our future on resurrection power built in a relationship with Jesus the Christ, my friend. Today on this Maundy Thursday, go live in resurrection power, because that's what it's all about. [00:04:15] I pray that for you in the name of Jesus. Amen, Amen, and amen. Thanks for joining me on another weekday podcast. Tomorrow we'll talk through Good Friday and what was going on in Jerusalem and what it means to me today. God bless you. Have a great day. Bye now.