God Needs Donkeys

Good afternoon, church family. All right, let's start with a question for the kids. Hopefully the kids can follow along with what I'm going to share today.

Do you guys have a favorite animal? That's your favorite animal. Shout it out if you have one. Horse.

Anyone else? Shout it out. Tiger. Elephant.

Cat. All right. Do you think Jesus had a favorite animal? I think Jesus had a couple of animals that he talked about, right? We know that he talked about sheep and us being sheep, like him being the good shepherd.

I want to talk today about one animal that the Lord said he had need for and in a way was his favorite. If you turn with me to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21 verses 2-7, Jesus says as he's coming into Jerusalem, he says, go into the village opposite to you, he tells his disciples, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her.

Untie them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord has need of them. That's a beautiful picture to see that the Lord had need for donkeys.

And today in our church, in our families, the Lord has need for donkeys. And this is a picture of a mama donkey and a child donkey. And the Lord has need for similar mamas and children, parents and children.

And which do you think, we know the story, right? Jesus rides on this donkey and the people throw their coats and they worship him with palm branches. Which donkey do you think Jesus rode? Was it the mama donkey or the child donkey? It says here, right here in verse 5, it says, Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy to say, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you. Gentle, or as it says, it's paraphrased from Zechariah chapter 9, which says humble and mounted on a donkey, even on the colt, which means he was riding on the child.

It's a beautiful picture to see that God has need of donkeys, but God has need of young ones. Young people who might feel useless, unworthy. What's the picture of a donkey? A donkey is not considered esteemed.

A lot of the favorite animals we heard, nobody mentioned that as a favorite. And that's kind of the view that many in the world might have of us. And we might feel that way, that we're useless.

And the Lord says, I have need of you. Not only have I need of you as a parent, I have need of your children. If you're a young child, you might feel like, hey, I can't do anything to help in this church.

The Lord has need of the colt of a donkey. If we can bring up that picture, some of our family was at a ranch earlier this week where they had some animals. And one of the animals there was a donkey.

And that's why I was inspired to share on this. And it's interesting. There's something interesting about most donkeys.

They actually have this pattern on their back. And one of the ones at the ranch also, we noticed it very clearly, where they have what's called a dorsal stripe, which runs from the head to the tail. And then they have a shoulder stripe that runs across the shoulders.

And I thought it was a beautiful picture of the cross and a picture of us carrying the cross every single day. That's a good thing to think about when we think about us being like donkeys. The first picture should be our purpose as our Heavenly Father and as Jesus desires as our older brother is for us to carry the cross every single day like he did.

So I wanted to share five things that we can learn from the Bible about donkeys and how we can take that personally in terms of our walk with God. So these are from biblical stories or verses about donkeys. So the first one is actually from Psalms chapter 73.

If you turn with me to Psalms chapter 73, we know Psalms chapter 73 verse 25 is a famous verse that we read, which says, whom have I in heaven but you, but besides you I desire nothing. But before we get to this point where we say, whom have I, it's easy for us to claim, hey, Jesus is the only thing we desire. The verses before this lead up to it.

The end of verse 21 says, I was pierced within. Who's the one who's pierced within? We read in Acts 2 about Peter preaching a sermon to the Jews and they were pierced within. The one who is convicted of sin is the one who's pierced within.

And what is their response when they're pierced within? It says, I was senseless and ignorant. Or as the living Bible says, I was so foolish and ignorant, I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. And in some translations it says like a beast of burden, which is what a donkey is.

And this was the response of the psalmist over here. It says, I'm convicted of my own sin. I feel senseless and ignorant like this donkey.

Nevertheless, I take comfort, verse 23, that I'm continually with you. You have taken hold of my right hand. And such a person, I believe, the one that is truly foolish and ignorant is the one that can say, Whom have I in heaven but you? I have no confidence in myself.

I have no ability to do anything on my own. Young people, there's a man of God who once said, every young person should say, I am foolish, I'm young, I'm foolish, and I know almost nothing. And therefore, I will submit to my elders.

Therefore, I will rely on God. It's a good thing for us to keep in mind, not just young people, but older people too. How do we have that sense of foolishness and ignorance in ourselves and a complete reliance on God? There may be many things in your life that you feel confident in to depend on your own skills, depend on your abilities, your intellectual abilities, your athletic abilities, your reason, arguments that you may want to win, wrangling about words that you say, No, no, no, I'm right, the other person's wrong.

And the Lord's reminding us that the person he needs is a donkey that is foolish and ignorant and can only say, Lord, whom have I in heaven but you? That's all I have. Who do I desire on earth but you? And Jesus was our example in this. It says Jesus, he submitted to his parents who were imperfect.

And it says that he grew in wisdom and grew in favor with God and man by subjecting himself to his imperfect parents. And you can see even Jesus had that desire to say, it says in many scriptures that he did not do anything on his own initiative, but he judged as his father spoke to him. And that's the example we have for us.

And the definition of wisdom we read in the Bible in James 3, it says that it's pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and unwavering. And so we can say that if we're lacking in any of these things, like being pure or being peaceful or being gentle or being reasonable, or being unwavering or being hypocritical, then we're lacking in wisdom. And if we're lacking in wisdom, then it's easy for us to say we're foolish and we're ignorant.

And so we see a great example in Jesus that even he was willing to say, Heavenly Father, without you, I'm foolish and ignorant. I'm going to entrust myself entirely to you. So that's the first thing I wanted to share, is that the example of a donkey being foolish and ignorant in all things.

The second is from an interesting verse in Exodus chapter 13. Turn that with me, Exodus chapter 13. And that is, the Lord has chosen the donkey to be redeemed.

It's an interesting passage from the Old Testament where we see the laws being handed out. And there's many laws about devoting animals to God. But there's only one animal of which it says, this animal shall be redeemed like a human being.

And that's Exodus chapter 13 verse 13. It says, Of every first offspring, Exodus 13, 13, of a donkey, you shall redeem it with a lamb. But if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck.

And every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And I love this picture. God puts the human being in the Old Testament together with the donkey and says, These are for us, a picture of the redemption of the donkey.

You paid this immense price for me, and you redeemed my body. And now I'm wholly yours. I like to think of it this way.

The Lord has paid such an immense price for us. There's this phrase that we've heard, that you have a million dollar smile. Do you know that the Lord has invested in us, in our bodies, in our eyes, in our ears, in our tongues, to say that we are bought by Him with a billion dollar price.

Which means the next time you think about your eyes, the Lord has invested billions of dollars in your eyes. Billions of dollars in your ears. Billions of dollars in your tongue.

So how are you going to use it? Are you going to let the enemy get control of those? Hack into that investment that the Lord has paid for you? That's what it means to say, we are redeemed. Lord, this body no longer belongs to me. I will no longer choose to use my eyes the way I want to use them, because they belong to you.

That's what it means when it says Jesus has paid a price. That's what it means to say, when Jesus has paid a price for my tongue, I will not use this tongue to gossip, or to slander, or to speak casual words of the world, conforming to the world. I will not use this tongue to put down others.

I will not use these ears to listen to gossip, or to listen to the things of this life, this donkey that is ridden. The third thing I want to share is from the story of Balaam and his donkey, Numbers chapter 22. And the third point I want to say is, the donkey sees God in his circumstance.

The donkey sees God in his circumstance, and sees his boundaries assigned by God. Numbers chapter 22, we know the story that Balaam was trying to be persuaded by the king of Moab to go and curse the people of Israel. And at first he refused, but then he felt persuaded to do it.

So he goes along the path, and Numbers chapter 22, verse 22 says, God was angry that Balaam was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. But Balaam could not see the Lord's standing, and he saw the angel of the Lord, verse 23, standing in the way with his draught in his hand. Balaam struck the donkey and turned it back into the way.

And then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyards with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And again it says, the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, but Balaam did not. And she pressed herself to the wall.

And there's an interesting truth I want you to see, brothers and sisters over here. Which is, when you're going through a situation like this, picture this donkey, getting oppressed by his master. Think about the difficult trial you may be going through.

Maybe you have a difficult boss, a difficult work situation, difficult relative, striking you. Do you see the angel of the Lord with a much more powerful sword? Do you see the sword of the Spirit that is the double-edged sword that is meant to divide soulish versus spiritual, standing there to protect you? Do you see the Lord assigning the boundaries, these narrow walls for you to go in, so that you need to go to the right or to the left? Or are you persuaded, or are you convinced that your boss, or this difficult person, the one that's striking you, is the only thing you have a vision for? Is that what you are focused on? And there's a beautiful picture here I want to take from this donkey, which is to see that a donkey, one that's foolish and ignorant, one that's redeemed by the Lord, will be able to see the Lord in those difficult trials, because he has nothing else in himself. He has no honor that he's trying to seek.

He's being struck, he's being oppressed, but he sees the angel of the Lord. And the angel of the Lord, the fear of the Lord is greater to him than the striking of Balaam. The fear of the angel of the Lord is greater to him than the striking or the oppression of the difficult trial that he's going through.

Or the approval of that boss that he's trying to seek. Or the approval of that relative of that relationship that he's trying to benefit from. And if we keep reading on, it says in verse 26, the angel of the Lord went to the left.

And we know the famous donkey actually speaks back to Balaam. It says, the donkey's mouth. And that's the fourth thing I want to say.

It says here in verse 28, the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said, What have I done to you that you have struck me? And it's a great picture of how the first few times the donkey was struck, didn't open its mouth. Just saw the Lord, refused to open its mouth. But only when the Lord opened its mouth was willing to speak up what the Lord had put in its mouth.

And we know this example from Jesus. We turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. There's a great example of Jesus when he was faced with these similar circumstances. He, too, like a donkey, refused to revile back.

1 Peter 2, verse 23 says, And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. That's the example we have.

That's the example of a lead donkey that we have, which is to say, Lord, when somebody is speaking out against me. When I feel like I need to defend myself. When I feel like I need to prove that I'm right or I need to justify myself.

I need to argue back and say, No, no, no, you didn't understand the situation. You didn't understand what actually went on. Let me explain to you.

Let me explain to you what really what you've misunderstood. Let me prove myself right to you. When somebody accuses you of something that you know is untrue.

Do you trust the Lord or do you trust your human sense of justification? Do you trust your Heavenly Father like Jesus did? Where it says, He did not revile in return, but while suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to his Heavenly Father who judges righteously. And we see the example of what we're supposed to do. Chapter 3, verse 1. It says, In the same way, wives, this is an example to wives, but could be to the husbands as well.

Who's the example here? Our example is Jesus. In the same way, wives, be submissive to your own husbands. So even if they are not walking with the Lord in a particular area, or even though they may be doing something wrong.

You can win them over without even speaking a word by your behavior. This is not a message. This is not a verse just for wives.

This is a message for any of us, because the example here is Jesus who did not revile in return. And it says that we can win another soul without even speaking a word. Do you see your silence as an example of evangelism and saving people for the kingdom? Your silence in the workplace, when you choose not to defend yourself, when you're being struck.

As the vehicle that the Lord will use to save others. And the same thing it says, you husbands in the same way, verse 7. Live with your wives in an understanding way as with someone weaker. So we see here that the example is both for husbands and for wives.

For all of us. For young people in your school. Singles in your workplace.

The example of saying, I am not going to open my mouth to defend myself. To revile back. To justify myself, unless the Lord puts utterance in my mouth.

There's a similar passage I want to read from Ezekiel. It's a beautiful example of the prophet of God speaking only the words that the Lord has assigned to him. Ezekiel chapter 3, verses 24 to 27.

Ezekiel 3, 24 to 27. It says, the spirit then entered me. This is Ezekiel speaking.

Imagine this man filled with the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit lead him to do? Verse 24. The spirit entered me and made me stand on my feet.

And he spoke with me and said to me, go shut yourself up in your house. Does that sound like the Holy Spirit? To say, go spend time with God in prayer. Don't say anything.

Just shut yourself in your house and spend time with God. And verse 25 says, as for you, son of man, they will put you in ropes. They will bind you so that you cannot go out among them.

Across our lives. But what does the Lord promise you? Make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute. And cannot be a man who rebukes them.

Does that sound like a spiritual man? The spiritual man who is led to be silent and mute. Against a rebellious people. Against a difficult family member.

Or colleague. Or brother. That might be putting them in a difficult situation.

And the Lord is filling this person with his Holy Spirit and saying, With the power of my Holy Spirit, you shall be mute. You shall be silent. But, verse 27.

When I speak to you, I will open your mouth. And then you will say to them. I see a beautiful picture here of an unwillingness to open my mouth to say anything.

Unless the Lord opens my mouth. 1 Peter 4.11 says that whoever speaks is to speak as if they are speaking the utterances of God. And in that, God will be glorified.

Which means any word that I speak, that is not an utterance of God. That is an idle word. The Lord is not glorified.

I'll have to give an account for it. And I want to take that a lot more seriously to say, Lord, I want to be faithful with my tongue to say, Lord, I do not want to open my mouth unless you open my mouth. I want to be like Balaam's donkey that says, I'm willing to be struck.

And when you give me a word, I will speak. And maybe you'll never give me a word. But only if you give me a word, I'm willing to speak.

The last thing I'll share about donkeys is that donkeys, the name the Bible used for them is a beast of burden, which means donkeys are meant to bear burdens. In Genesis 49, there's an interesting prophecy of one of the sons of Jacob that I found powerful. Genesis 49 was 14 and 15.

This is the prophecy over Jacob's son Issachar. Jacob was prophesying over all of his children. And he says to Issachar, he says, you are a strong donkey.

Verse 14, lying down between the sheepfolds. Picture the sheepfolds as a picture of the church. The church is like a sheepfold with a good shepherd.

Verse 15, when Issachar saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens and became a slave at forced labor. What do you see when you see a pleasant church to come and attend, a church that's a good place for your children to grow up, got a good Sunday school, teach very stimulating messages and convicting messages? Do you have the spirit, when you come to a sheepfold like this, do you have the spirit of the donkey that says, this is a pleasant place. Let me lower my shoulders to bear burdens.

Let me be willing, like we heard earlier today, let me be willing to do any lowly task that is required. Let me lower my shoulders to do any lowly task that the Lord requires in this church, in this family. You may look at your family and say, hey, I have great parents, I have great siblings, it's a pleasant place to be.

And the Lord is saying, are you willing to lower your shoulders to do any lowly task in your home, whether you're a child, whether you're a father, whether you're a mother, anyone. Our memory verse, what is our memory verse that we saw earlier today? Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good. The earlier verse says, those of us who are strong, what do the strong ones do? Are to bear the weaknesses of those without strength.

That's the prophecy of Issachar. When they see sheep in a sheepfold, they're willing to lay down their shoulders to bear burdens. Galatians 6.2 says, bear one another's burdens.

And by doing so, by bearing one another's burdens, you fulfill the entire law of Christ. I love that picture that I can fulfill the law of Christ by bearing another's burdens. What does it mean to bear another's burdens? It could be very practical, someone in physical need.

We know the story of Stephen in Acts 6, right? Acts 6, it says, the disciples wanted to devote themselves to teaching and prayer. And they were looking for men who were filled with the Holy Spirit to serve the church. To do what? Men who were filled with the Holy Spirit, not to teach, not to preach, but to give food to certain widows who were not getting food.

Is that a spiritual ministry? Well, it says that Peter and the disciples were looking for men filled with the Holy Spirit just to serve food. Do you know that bearing somebody's practical burden today requires you to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order for it to bring glory to God? 1 Peter 4.11, the other part of that verse says, whoever serves is to serve with the strength that God supplies so that in all things God is glorified. Today the Lord is looking for brothers and sisters in this church who are seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not to preach great messages, not to give great prophetic utterances, but to bear burdens, but are willing to meet the needs of the widows, of the ones in need in this church, the children, the young people.

That's the ministry of the Holy Spirit that I see here with a donkey that's willing to bear burdens. So this is what I wanted to share with you, brothers and sisters, about lessons that we can learn from the beast of burden. And as you look for role models in this church, don't look for the ones with special gifting.

There are many brothers and sisters here who never get up in front of this pulpit, but who are great examples to us of the life of Christ, the life of a donkey that is not willing to revile when being reviled, that is slow to speak, quick to listen, slow to anger, that is relying entirely on God because they see themselves as foolish and ignorant, that is willing to open their mouth only if the Lord gives them the utterance, and is willing to bear burdens. Those are the examples we want to follow. The sermons about the third or fourth most important thing in this church, the much more important thing is the life of Jesus that you see in your brothers and sisters over here.

And that, hopefully, when you hear somebody preaching from this pulpit, you're not just looking at their amazing words, you're saying, does their life back up the words that they're sharing? And if their life backs up the words that they're sharing, then imitate their life. Follow them as they follow Christ by following their life. Do you see the life of a donkey in them? That's the example of ones that I want to follow in this church.

And I pray that all of us may have that spirit, ones that are willing to be like a donkey, foolish and ignorant, completely dependent on the Lord, knowing that the Lord has redeemed us completely, willing to speak only the words that the Lord gives us, willing to see the Lord assigning our boundaries in difficult trials, and willing to bear burdens of the other brothers and sisters in our church or the other family members in our family. Amen.