Passage

[2 Corinthians 1:19]
For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us by me and Silvanus and Timothy was not yes and no, but is yes in Him.

Introduction

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Towards the end of His ministry, Jesus finally headed to Jerusalem to fulfill the providence of the cross.
When Jesus and His disciples neared Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of His disciples to the village on the other side.
They brought a donkey's colt in obedience to the word of Jesus.
Jesus went into the city of Jerusalem riding on this colt.
And a multitude of people came and welcomed Him.
Surrounding Him front and back, they spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting the branches from the trees and spreading them in the road.
Many came with palm branches in their hands and shouted, "BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!"
Today is the Palm Sunday, which celebrates this event.
Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem and was welcomed by so many people. But, several days later, He was handed over to be crucified by the same people.
And He died on the cross.
In remembrance of this, we have the Passion Week beginning with the Palm Sunday.
But the crucified Jesus resurrected on the third day.
For this reason we have the Easter celebration on the Sunday after the Palm Sunday.
With the upcoming Palm Sunday and the Passion Week, let us briefly consider the footsteps of Jesus that He had in this week about two thousand years ago.
The concept of time in Israel at that time is a little different from that of today. In Israel, a new day began after sunset.
But today, let me explain the footsteps of Jesus in the concept of our time for your better understanding.
On the first day which was the Sunday, as I mentioned, Jesus entered Jerusalem with the cheers of the people.
On Monday, the next day, Jesus purified the Jerusalem Temple.
He drove away the merchants from the Temple and overturned the tables of the money-exchangers and those who were selling doves.
On Tuesday the people of the high priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people came to Jesus and asked Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?" to find fault in Him.
After that, the high priests and Pharisees wanted to kill Him even more.
On Wednesday, Mary of Bethany came with a very costly oil of spikenard and poured on Jesus' head.
About this, Jesus said in Matthew 26:13, "Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her."
After this, Judas Iscariot went to the high priests and promised them to hand over Jesus.
On Thursday evening Jesus had the Passover dinner in the city of Jerusalem with His disciples.
It was at this time that He washed the feet of His disciples.
After the dinner, He went to Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives to pray.
He prayed so earnestly with all His strength to fulfill His duty that His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
After He finished praying, He was finally arrested by the men of the high priest and elders of the people who were brought by Judas Iscariot.
The disciples ran away and Jesus was taken to Annas, the high priest. Now it passed the midnight hour and it became Friday.
Then Jesus was sent to Caiaphas the high priest, then to the council, and then to Pilate.
He was sent to Herod again but was sent back and then He received the death sentence from Pilate.
Beginning from around late Thursday night until around 9 AM Friday, He was taken here and there being questioned.
He also received harsh scourging with so much contempt and mockeries.
Then, six hours after He was hung on the cross, and at around 3 PM He died.
But on the third day, in the early morning of Sunday, He broke the authority of death and resurrected to become the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Throughout this week, I hope you will meditate on the footsteps of Jesus and spend a godly and holy time.
I pray in the name of the Lord that, in this week, we will engrave deep in our heart as great light of love the sufferings and the pain of death that Jesus had to take instead of us.

[Main]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, for this Palm Sunday, God the Father has given us the title of the message 'service'.
The reading passage is 2 Corinthians 1:19 that says, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy was not yes and no, but is yes in Him."
While He was on this earth, Jesus showed the example of service to the human beings.
He showed us the greatest service of giving out His life by dying on the cross for human beings.
He is one with God in origin, but He humbled Himself with only Yes and Amen; He gave His everything to us.
The reason why Jesus could do it is because He had the true service stemming from the heart.
Now, what do we have to do to accomplish true service like that of Jesus?
Let us consider the service of Jesus in three aspects.
The service of Jesus is first, the service of love.
Namely, because He served with love, He could undertake all the sufferings with pleasure.
Being the Creator Himself, He served His own creatures, and He served them with love and cherishing.
Brothers and sisters, generally, people try their best to serve those whom they love.
They willingly accept sufferings for their beloved ones.
They don't say it is difficult or painful and they don't think about whether it is beneficial for them or not.
For example, if a pregnant wife says she wants to eat a certain food in the middle of the night, most husbands would go out to get it.
They don't say things like, "It's too late. Where can I get it? Is there anything else you want to eat?" They don't even give excuses.
Why? It's because they love their wives.
Jesus loved us human beings so much that He always served others first before taking care of Himself.
He did not consider them lowly or neglect them just because they were creatures.
Jesus didn't have time to eat or to lie down and have a sound sleep, but He never turned His face away from those who came to Him.
He poured all His energy to solve their problems and to guide them to better Heavenly dwelling places.
He treated His disciples in the same way.
He always served them first, and He served until the end, even the one who was going to betray Him.
He did not just love and serve only those who loved Him.
He loved everyone without prejudice or favoritism. He loved each soul with a true heart. He embraced their hearts with service.
The disciples could understand Jesus' true love and service from their hearts only at a later time, after they received the Holy Spirit.
Then they also went out to the world and showed the similar kind of service.
I hope you will also be able to provide others with true service, with your true love for them.
If you do it because you feel you are obliged or for your reputation, it will not become the kind of fragrance that God can accept.
Secondly, the service of Jesus was selfless service.
Jesus is one with God the Creator in origin, and the Master of all creatures.
And yet, even while He was receiving many pains, mockeries and sufferings, He only had compassion on those people.
He didn't think, "How can they do this to Me?" but He only wanted to save them even if that meant He had to suffer so much and die.
He never sought His own benefit but obeyed the will of God only.
In order for us to cultivate this kind of service, we must not have our 'self'.
To have no 'self' means we don't have any pride, self-will, self-righteousness, self-seeking ambition, selfish motives, working in our own limitations and all the other things that are self-centered.
For example, if we have pride, it's not easy to serve our subordinates.
If the subordinates act in a way that we don't like, we will think, "How can they act like this to me, being so impolite?"
Or, even though we may serve others, we will only serve within the personal limitations of what we are able to do.
If people ask for what is more than what we think is beyond the limitations of common sense, we may think they are looking down on us or they are very rude.
So, what would happen if we receive contempt or humiliation from others?
Rather than bearing with it, we are apt to show our discomfort and think, "How can they do this to me?"
So, when these people serve others, they will serve as they see fit from their own viewpoint and with their own standards.
And after they do that, if others do not seem to be really satisfied, they say those people are picky or arrogant.
Namely, they blame others. But those who do not have their 'self' will not put the blame on others.
Some people are quick to accept accolades for themselves for good things, but they shift the blame to others for bad things.
These people serve others with their fleshly thoughts or with other intentions, following their own benefit.
So, they serve others when it seems it is beneficial for themselves, but otherwise, they don't.
And if there is any problem, they blame others.
Selfless service is to serve others from the standpoint of the other person.
It is not service wanting something in return. It is service to rejoice in the act of giving.
Those who serve desiring something in return will change their attitude if they do not receive what they expected.
They may even speak badly about those whom they previously served.
I hope you will check your service to others through this message.
I want you to check whether you really rendered selfless service at home, in your workplaces, in your schools, and in the church.
Only when you serve others with selfless and true service can the peace be maintained, and you can accept any kind of person.
Jesus accepted even those who were killing Him and prayed before the Father saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
Even until the moment of His death Jesus didn't have His 'self'.
Likewise, I hope your service will be true and selfless service.
Brothers and sisters, thirdly, Jesus' service was never changing.
Even though you provide others with selfless service, it wouldn't have much meaning if you change your attitude midway.
God is the unchanging God.
He is unchanging in loving us and serving us.
Jesus did not turn His face away or stay away from Judas Iscariot saying, "He is going to betray Me."
Also, He was not discriminatory toward anyone thinking about whether they were at His side or not when He was taking the cross.
Of course, those who loved Him more and followed Him with all their lives received greater love and greater blessings.
But basically, Jesus gave the same great love to all men by dying on the cross on behalf of the sinners, and His love and service never changed.
Now, what is your heart like?
By any chance do you tend to love and serve only those who love you?
Even though you don't change your attitude first, if others seem to have been changed, wouldn't you turn your face away from them with a different attitude than before?
Or, when you pay back the grace you received once, don't you think you did enough after some time?
God is delighted with an unchanging heart.
When they meet God, accept the Lord, and become full of the Holy Spirit, many people say they serve God and say that they love Him.
But as time passes, many people change.
They may still love and serve God from their standpoint, but their first love and first deeds are no longer there.
When they receive grace and blessings, they serve with their very best, but their fervor soon cools down.
The same thing extends toward the shepherd and the church, too.
They say, "I will pay back the grace I received from the shepherd for the rest of my life. I will dedicate myself for the church with all my life," but from a certain point in time, they think they did enough.
Some of them even forsake such grace and leave the church.
In 2 Samuel chapter 23, and 1 Chronicles chapter 11 are recorded the names of those warriors who were with David.
It is a great honor for anyone's name to be written in the Bible.
And they were the ones who stayed with David all the time, in life-threatening situations and so many trials.
It's not that they followed and served David only when it was beneficial for them; they served David until the end with willingness to die with him.
That is why God could put their names in the Bible and for their names to be passed down throughout the generations.
It's not intended for us to remember the names themselves, but to remember the true service of those people.
I hope you will cultivate true service having unchanging attitude not just before God but also towards other people.

[Conclusion]

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus said in Matthew 20:28, "... the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
For Jesus to forsake all the glories in Heaven and to come down to this earth was His service in itself.
He knew that those who were waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna would demand that He be crucified a couple of days later, but He still took the cross for those people.
Because He loved the souls and He loved the Father, He served the mankind in obedience until death.
Being the Son of God, He took the sufferings of the cross on behalf of the sinners and showed us the selfless service.
Even right now, God the Trinity is serving us human beings without changing.
He is serving us with His endurance, mercy, and compassion so that even just one more soul can receive salvation and be guided to New Jerusalem.
I hope you will also take after this example of true service and fulfill it.
If anybody fulfills such service completely, he will be a great joy before the Father God.
God will use such a person for a great purpose.
Such a person can bear abundant fruit anywhere through the service that Jesus showed us.
I have also been serving God and the church members with this kind of service.
Then, God gave me precious and abundant fruits as we can see today.
I hope you will also have only "Yes" and "Amen!" before God so that your life will bear the fruit of service abundantly.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will go into the city of New Jerusalem and offer up your fragrance of service to God the Trinity forever and ever.

[Amen]