Crown of Thorns | Rodrigo Vargas

This is one of Paul's major themes theologically. He says, for we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works. We were created anew in Christ to do good works. Ephesians 2 10. To be made new in attitude of your minds. Maybe that that's probably 70% of this room. And to put the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. God forbid we talk about holiness in church. Right? Ephesians 4. And my favorite is what he tells the church in Coloss. He writes to the Colossians and he says, in this new creation life your nationality makes no difference. We need to tell that one to those saints in the back row. You know what I'm saying? Those that think that certain ethnicities are better than others, are more chosen than others. Paul said, in this new creation life your nationality makes no difference to Christ Jesus. I came to preach to you today. To all those that are, you know, politically charged. Nor your ethnicity. It values zero. Your education. Your economic status. They matter nothing. For it is Christ that means everything. As he lives in every one of us. The only thing that matters is Christ in you. Our crown of thorns is that we live in such a way that we don't take that grace for granted. And we depend on it to be sanctified to a new life. And we may show Christ to the world. The first thing I want to tell you that I'm going to spend some time on. Preaching to you. Edifying you. Is that this salvation is not a free pass. But the entrance to a new life. Listen, you just, you did get a free pass from your sin. But it is a pass to get into a new life. Last Sunday, Pastor Sarah and I went to the rodeo. I was really excited

you know. I waited to the very last day. Actually I had another day I could have gone. And Pastor Sarah gave me a hard time. Because we had dinner with someone. And we promised them. And I was like let's just reschedule. It's Chris Stapleton. I love Chris Stapleton. Come on now. The boy blows like a brother. He sings country blows like a brother. That's why I like Chris Stapleton. I'm gonna be honest with you. And so I was excited to go to the rodeo. We were given a free pass. Free parking. Everything paid for. I was excited. I wanted to see Kojo. Who likes Cody Johnson? I love Cody Johnson. Love you some Cody Johnson. We got dressed up in our western gear. I was looking slick. Pastor Sarah went out and got herself a western shirt that I call the pajama top. But that's because I didn't see it on her. Then when I saw it on her I was like you look amazing. We drove down to the NRG. We parked. We took the shuttle. We walked in to the venue towards the concert. We got all the way in at the front where it says badges. I'm walking in all big chested. You know what I'm saying? I got my cowboy hat on. Got my big chest on. I had a badge on. So I was like let's go. Lady said you stop right there. I'm so sorry sir. No badges tonight. The concert sold out. We got dressed up. We went all the way there. We got into the rodeo. The lord allowed us to get all the way in to the front door. I'm preaching to you right now to the main event and they said you can't get in. And as I walked away I decided you know what pastor said let me go buy you one of these cotton canton bacons. It's glory. Just thinking about it I caught the ghost. And as I'm eating this chicane the lord said to me you know so many believers

are living exactly like this. They walk through the door of salvation But they never make it to the main event the kingdom of God And I looked at Sarah and I said my god the Lord brought me here today just to show me Something that is more important than Cody Johnson We got dressed up we get dressed up in Jesus. Yeah. Hey, we get dressed up in Jesus y'all Especially those of y'all I've been here a while y'all get dressed up in Jesus Even if you had you cussed each other out in the car, but when you walked into those doors you got dressed up in Jesus We go all The way religious sometimes come on now. Can I hear some you know? You you know someone in this church that sometimes goes all the way religious We get into being saved but never entered the kingdom Okay, I Want to preach to you that your salvation is not just a badge To get you through the door It's paid the full price To get you all the way in to the kingdom of God, but see The ticket to all the way in the kingdom of God is called sanctification, which is a lifelong process Jesus says the following The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory I'm here to propose that that he was saying I am going to be sanctified Watch this. He's going he's about to be sanctified and That's activation process was painful arduous physically emotionally Spiritually this is significant because the people expected one thing and Jesus meant something entirely different We expect Jesus. Listen, you expect Jesus to save us deliver us and clean up our messes things we have behaved our way into Years of

Sinful thinking Patterns and lifestyles Decisions made from a cold and callous and wicked heart So we hear what we want and Just like the crowd We react like the crowd. Can I can I ask you something? Could it be? That this is the very deception of the enemy in your life What you want? You know the enemy I want to quote I want to I want to say something to those of you that probably getting a little upset and be like well Scripture says you know who else knows scripture The enemy but you know what the enemy doesn't do surrender and Until you learn how to surrender to the Son of Man. You're just doing the devil's work by twisting scripture to your advantage Allow me to shed some light because he Specifically says he calls himself the Son of Man Why did he call himself the Son of God? He had already done that As a matter of fact a few verses later the voice of God speaks down and says that is my son So why did he see this is how the Holy Spirit be bothering me? Ron what why do you think he's here? Why do you think he said son of man? So I went to dug it up The first time that the term the Son of Man comes from is from Daniel by the way Daniel is the prophecy of not just the first coming of the Messiah the end of the world and the second coming and If you read that carefully, you'll see that we are in those times Now in Daniel 7 13 to 14 It talks about the Son of Man and for nearly 500 years that the Jewish people that Israelites Israel

Awaited for for the Son of Man who was God's champion. He was the the undefeated conquering King that would come However What they wanted see that was a promise. There was a promise an undefeated conquering King I'm not gonna deny that But what they wanted? Was a military victory They wanted world power like King David and Solomon had and they wanted nations subjugated to them Good god, I feel like I'm reading CNN report If the shoe fits slide that bug on strutting it But Jesus the undefeated conquering King Did not come to rule and reign politically, militarily, physically. He came to conquer the hearts of mankind and to rule and to reign spiritually. They heard heaven's armies are marching to overthrow Rome and give us our land and dominance back. That's what they heard. Now we have to be honest. We do the same today. Some of you do this politically. Some of you do this economically. Some of you do this personally. You want God to lead you into dominance or whatever it is that you're trying to dominate. You do this relationally, right? You do this financially. You play with God. You transact with God, right? You call your gift a tithe that's not a tithe. You've been blessed and he can't even have a little bit of your mess. This is what we do. We constantly do this. It's not what he meant. It's what we want. Someone here is getting convicted today. Be like, dang, I've been messing with God. It's what I want. It's what I feel comfortable doing. Well, I'm not there yet pastor. I understand you're not there. There's grace for that but it's not what Jesus meant. And if we're honest, we're supposed to live in what Jesus meant not what we want. What Jesus really said was that the cross would glorify him. The cross is what would sanctify him from his earthly life to his heavenly rule and reign. He meant that he would be lifted up on a tree as a curse in verse thirty-four. As a matter of fact, this was in accordance to scripture because it was written in Deuteronomy twenty-one verses twenty-two to

twenty-three and to rid the curse that was written in Genesis three that entered the world so that it would fulfill scripture. Now, that is a mouthful and Jesus did it with one statement. They expected conquest and what he meant was the crucifixion. We expect conquest and Jesus means crucifixion for you. Jesus turned the world upside down. This is why we call this the upside down kingdom. He was replacing their vision of conquest with a vision of a cross. The sad part wasn't that they didn't understand. You know what the sad part was? They didn't even try to. They refused to understand but even more tragic is that how many of us don't even try to understand that your obstacles in your life, the problems in your life, the troubles, the trials, the consequences could be just a simple cross to bear. Yet to those that walk by faith and you can tell people that walk by faith because even when they get bad news, they're like, god got this, right? Hey, hey, I ain't worried about that. It's all right. We ain't got a car. We walk. We take metro. Get Ubers everywhere. We ain't worried about it. My wife gets mad at me sometimes. We're like, hey bro, just tell god we gonna put something on that. God got it. He's never failed us. 18 years later, has he ever failed us? Not one time. For those of us that live in Christ, to those that are faithfully being sanctified in the kingdom, there's understanding that there is no more curse. We don't have to fear. I came to preach to you that you don't have to lose heart. We we have hope. We have peace. We have joy even when we don't have much because we know who lives in us and all of heaven rides with us. It's not what you expect. I know it. Your parole being set off is not what you expect but can I propose to you that it is what God desires for your new life. You still have a little bit of work he's trying to do in you. He's still trying to build up your faith a little bit more so that when you get out here, you won't go back in so that you can have resources to get ahead in life a new life that doesn't look like your old life we can't go back to the same thing you can't go back this is the hardest message I will ever tell you for all the women men and women you can't go back to the old life disconnect everyone that got you where you are you need all of us we need if the old friends lead you to the old life you need different friends if these circles you roll with if the job you do if your income comes from a place that leads you to the old life you need a new circle of friends you need a

new job you need a new stream of income you need different thoughts you cannot think the same patterns of thoughts you used to you need different mindsets hopefully a mindset that is being renewed by the way you think in the way Romans 12 says that means that you have to apply scripture to mindsets you used to say they suck they'll never they'll never get it they'll never get it right and you got to be like there is power in the power in prayer there is power in of life and death in in in what we say in the tongue so you got to speak life God do something in their lives convict their hearts you need different lifestyles okay no more happy hour no more happy hours that's for cheap drunks okay I know that I had a pass at every Houston Texas 20 years ago I do all the hot spots okay listen we need different lifestyles we need different desires and different pleasures the things that used to give us pleasure no longer give us pleasure we need new ones you need a different worldview I understand I get it you've been a lifelong Democrat you're a super liberal right you're as progressive as it comes you know you're God's non-binary right oh or or here you know you're Magda your God is white right Jesus is blue hair and blue eyes and blonde hair you know hey you need a different worldview you need one that comes right out of these pages right here you one that describes Jesus with bronze skin and woolly hair you need one that says I created man and women in the likeness and in the image of God not the other way around we're so busy trying to make God in the image of our brokenness we're missing the whole power of the gospel the King of Kings I want to tell you rides to victory doesn't ride to victory over death some of y'all need to hear that he doesn't avoid death he rides victory through death he rides through it he takes it on pastor Jeremy said something that and that I repeated last year he repeated it for me he said peacemakers confront the situation with truth that's riding through you have to ride through these things it's no different for us things must be crucified in our lives for Christ to be glorified in our lives we will not ride over the problems of our lives you're not gonna ride over the trials of your life you're gonna ride through them you

can't avoid the consequences we must go through the fire of the consequences to be refined by the consequences of life we that's what God wants to do the consequences of your life are meant to refine you so many want God to be like G the GD in Aladdin can you help me out with this you know right here you rub some scripture all over me right here right or some of y'all I'm uh I'm not trying to take cheap shots but I've seen this so much in church some of y'all are scoundrels scoundrels you lie you cheat you manipulate you're watching porn while your wife is asleep scoundrel you're doing blow and smoking weed and come to church but praise hallelujah scoundrel right and when you get a little bit of trouble like you get a you get you you get caught a little bit you oh would you pray for me oh babe I had I had Fabian he's a mighty man of God he prayed for me and and the Lord did some today you think that's gonna help you I asked miss Amy to anoint me okay that's just he's gonna heat up and you gonna fry your skin I may not listen if you're getting butthurt good that's my intention you need to be convicted because what you need to do is you need to confess healing comes from confession you got to move your lips I've been a scoundrel I've lied I've taken money that should go to my kids of food to use for cocaine I've used money that should go to buy my kids new shoes to buy weed I gone on Pornhub and watch porn while my wife is asleep scoundrels you gotta admit you gotta come clean if you want to let him create some new life in you now if you want to continue doing you it's okay you're in the rodeo just not the main event when I say we also wear crown of thorns it's a spiritual one it means we bear the scars of Jesus Christ one of the very first Christian tattoos I got is Galatians 617 it's on my forearm because I never wanted to forget that the things I've gone through on my testimony to who he took to glorify Jesus it was hard for my wife in the beginning to hear how many horrible things I did when I wasn't in her presence all the drugs all the crazy things all the late nights all of it but here's what Paul says from now on let no one cause me trouble see no one's gonna cause you trouble if you bear on your body the marks of Jesus Christ you

know what your marks are it's your testimony it's your past it is not shame it is a witness and I tell some of this is but it only testifies when you've been transformed I want to pause here for just a moment and I want to tell you that if you struggle with this you still have shame on you and he wore it for you if you can't tell I know there's someone watching me right now that abandoned their child and you've taught told anyone but until you start opening up your mouth and know that that the witness of what you've done and what God is fixing to do your faith and what God is fixing to do is gonna be a witness to the world then you got to take up that cross and you got to walk that out there's a woman that is watching who got an abortion when she was young and she feels shame and no one in her life knows about it today I'm giving you the power for it to be a place where Jesus is glorified because someone else needs to benefit from that but it also testifies it also testifies there are men look Holy Spirit there are men that have done violent things that no one knows about to other human beings you got to let it go and you got to testify because the testimony is the evidence of transformation now here's the hard part if you're not there you're pretending to be transformed you're pretending to wear crown of thorns you're pretending and that's dangerous because you know who else knows you're pretending Satan so it's just a matter of time when things crumble if things are too perfect there's usually something hiding behind that because we are jars of clay and we must be broken for the glory of God to shine through us I want you to invite and bring as many people next week as possible but let me ask you to repeat something. Do people know what God has done for you? Yesterday we sat in that lobby and I taught them a letter to first Timothy and that's exactly what I asked them. Do they see a new life in you or do they see the old person with sprinkles of Jesus? Because some of y'all are cupcakes. It's your old cupcake, it's the same vanilla cupcake, just sprinkles. Let's say Jesus. I'm gonna tell you something, the world no longer wants that. They don't want that. I'm telling you right now, they don't want that.

They're tired of the Christians that profess it on their Instagram and they can't see it in your life. They need people who wear crown of thorns. They need people that are willing to get down and dirty. They need people in the trenches. They need people that will stop and pray at any point and they need people that look like me and you. They don't need people in suits. They don't need the squares. They need me and you. They need a diverse, vibrant church with tats, with a pass, with a testimony, with scars. I will not be bullied by anyone. I'm gonna tell you something, Christ is King. Mr. Ted Cruz, Jesus is King. He is not just King. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords, biblically, theologically. We gonna have ourselves some revival. We don't need a political party to have revival in this place. We need the Spirit of God. We need the Bible and we need the people of God to rise up with faith, with prayer, with worship and let's go. Here's the best part. When he says he is the King of Kings, I want to teach you something theologically. We are children of the Most High God. Scripture. We are co-heirs with Christ. Peter said we are a royal priest and we are priest-kings. Hence why he is the King of Kings. We are kings in his kingdom. Jesus didn't leave us without instruction though. He gave three very clear things that must happen in our lives and this week I want you, this holy week, I want you to pray and meditate on these. But most importantly, activate it with the Spirit of God. What it tells you. In verse 24, he says, very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. First, we must die. We gotta die. You gotta die to self. You gotta die to flesh. You gotta die to that lust, you gotta die to that greed, you gotta die to that selfishness, you gotta die to what you expected, you gotta die to what you wanted, you gotta die to that wicked heart and flesh. You gotta die to that shame, you gotta die to your past. You gotta die to that sin, you gotta die to that fear, you gotta die to that depression, you gotta die to that anxiety, you gotta die to that addiction. Some of us need to die to the lies to or multiple lies in your lives. And you gotta be willing to come and lay it before the Lord before the king of kings

and ask him, what do you want me to do King Jesus? Until all of that dies with the truth of the gospel, it will never lead to new life that he paid for. Number two, we must be rooted. I'm gonna give you this one pretty quick because we're gonna spend a month on a sermon series called Rooted right after Easter. It means laying down our lives as we walk through the door of salvation. It means being rooted in the process of sanctification, edification, equipping. If your salvation experience doesn't lead to the old you to die, if you keep drinking, if you keep smoking, if you keep fornicating, if you keep lying, gossiping, fighting, using substances even though your doctor prescribes it, don't come at me with that nonsense. You know you're addicted to it. That's all it will ever be. A moment. You know what your salvation has become? An experience. And you try to come into this place on Sunday and relive it instead of live it in your life. You got into the rodeo but never the main event. You got into it in the word of God, in prayer, in your connect group, serving on the weekend, giving, planted in a local church. If you're visiting, you need to find a local church and you must be planted. How do you know you're planted? It's where you get watered. It's where you get nourished. It's where you get nurtured. It isn't where you fit in. It isn't your tradition.

It isn't a place that everybody looks like you. That's religion. It is a place where God is planted. It is a place where he has planted you. If you don't do that, that's all your salvation moment will ever be. A moment. The crown of thorns is glorified when it dies. Jesus' triumph over sin, death and hell must be evident in your life. What does that mean? You used to be a manipulator. But now you're a one trustworthy person. You know what that's called? It's called fruit. You used to be an angry person. But now you are a compassionate person. That's called fruit. You used to be controlled by lux and sexual immorality and greed and alcohol and drugs. But now you know that you're a child of God. That you are loved by Christ. And everybody knows that that's true. Fruit takes a seed. It takes nurturing. It takes nourishment and time. And in time, you know what people will see? Love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The fruit will be evidenced in your life. But listen, those who love him will lose. That's not going to change. Some of you are going to lose friends. I lost family members. I lost family members. I lost a job because I spoke about Jesus too much. Some of you are going to lose money. I never went back into real estate. Why? I made it in a dishonorable way. And I didn't want to do that again. So maybe that's you. Those who let go of the wickedness of their world will inherit eternal life. Serving him, following him. Why? Because we love him. That is what it means to wear the crown of thorns. So this holy week, you have some reflection to do as we're getting ready to get out. And lots of inviting to do. This is why. Jesus being crowned with thorns isn't just biblically accurate. It isn't just historically accurate. The

Roman soldiers after they arrested him, whipped him with a cat and nine tails to within inches of his life and then flogged him. It says in Matthew 27 verse 29, after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. As if all the beating, all the flogging, all the whipping they took. And by the way, this doesn't know justice. The Jerusalem thorns are about this long. And it wasn't a crown like this. It was a king's crown. So it looked like a helmet for accuracy. I'm a biblical accurate guy. So it was a helmet. Because that's what a real king's crown, a queen's crown is hollow. This one's the helmet. You know what they did? They mocked him. Hail king of the Judeans. Jesus was fully God. And in that moment he could have prevented this. But he also wanted us to know following him is not without persecution. Following him is not without pain. But it has

purpose. This moment was profoundly powerfully prophetic. Jesus was crowned with the curse of mankind. And hung on a tree as a curse. So that we no longer have to Hunger would be cursed Genesis 3 to Adam he said Because you listen to your wife and ate the fruit From the tree about which I commanded you Cursed is the ground because of you Though painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life It will produce thorns and thistles for you Jesus crowning moment is this a Crown of the curse was placed on him as a symbol that we no longer have to live by the sweat of our sins more than a symbol that Jesus experienced both physical and Emotional pain from these thorns While he was on earth a A crown of thorns That crushed the curse of sin shame and suffering So now I ask you I leave you with the simple question Is that not enough? Is that not enough to glorify him? Is that not enough to worship him? Is that not enough to serve him? Is that not enough to follow him?

If it is Salvation is available for anyone that is willing to die be rooted and worked towards bearing much fruit and Stop eating fruit of a tree knowledge of good and Evil would you stand with me? We Have prayer partners up at the front. I want to invite you that if you came and you need prayer. They're here for you Don't let anything stop you from getting that prayer they've Spent a lot of time Praying preparing for this moment for you. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment? I Know that today God moved in your hearts and there's someone here today And it's never made a decision of their hearts To say yes to Jesus Today you saw that he entered Jerusalem was betrayed by his own people But he had a bigger scheme Just like it said in Hosea that he was inviting the Gentiles in we are those Gentiles and if you're that Gentile today that is Wants to make a decision of like yes I believe Jesus is the Son of God that he lives suffered and died for my sins But after he was buried he was risen to life. He was raised back to life from the dead So that I may live in that new life that I read that I heard today If that's you would you do me a favor and shoot up your hand for just a moment to shoot up your hand shoot up Here I come on now shoot up here and thank you Lord

Thank you, Jesus Father God we think Lord, I ask you to be with every prayer partner here and every person that comes to get prayer Meet them at the altar meet their needs Touch them and we're believing in this because you are our King and I pray this in Jesus name