God in the commonplace
Commentary
Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote these lines in her poem Aurora Leigh.
Earth's crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God:But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
One cannot be unhappy that our current decades of the '80s and '90s have rediscovered the emotional element of religious experience. The long dry spell of rigid intellectual enquiry and exposition linked with the dreaded formality of our worship services needed to have life breathed into them once again. One would like to think that this new life is a gift of the Holy Spirit. However ...
Just as they had problems sorting out the true charismatics from the charlatans in the New Testament Church (see Paul's comments regarding tongues in 1 Corinthians), so do we.
It is important that the walls of our formality crumble and that those who attend our worship are set free to be friendly and to respond with more than a controlled grin or a shift of the body. The return of many of the best gospel songs to our hymnals is a good sign that the whole church takes this matter seriously. Epiphany is a good time to address the authenticity of our witnessing. However, now is a good time to check out all those New Testament passages that give guidance as to how to test the spirits. Even so, we will discover that there are no hard and fast rules by which to make our decisions.
This is not a problem of recent origin. I still recall the shouting and speaking in tongues that was present in my southern West Virginia home town. Long ago we decided that there was one rule that always proved helpful and that rule came from the lips of Jesus, "By their fruits you shall know them."
OUTLINE I
The God who never quits
1 Kings 19:9-18
Introduction: Begin this sermon by telling the entire story. Elijah has finally confronted the prophets of Baal and defeated them. In doing so he has infuriated Queen Jezebel, who is determined to do him in. Elijah is on the run and ends up in a cave on Mount Horeb. There he is confronted by God who reminds him that he is an instrument of God's will among his people.
A. The still small voice. This favored phrase finds expansion in the hymn, Dear Lord and Father of humankind, which can be used in the worship accompanying the sermon. The point being made is that Elijah's God does not need to do spectacular things in order to make himself known. God can, if needed, send the fire to consume the offering on Carmel, but can also meet the simple needs of food and drink. God is as real in the still small voice as he is in the thunderings of Carmel.
B. A remnant. Judgment is certain and sure but it is important to note that God never wipes out all of his people. Once he was down to one person, Isaac, and it seemed there was no hope for continuing his people, but the miracle continues. God is always raising up a new people for his purposes. Elijah thinks that he alone remains as the defender of God but he is reminded that that is not the case. He still has something to do. He is to anoint a new king and to be reminded that there are other persons who are faithful.
Conclusion: It is easier for us to see and hear God at work in the world when there is some great event that symbolizes his presence. We speak of acts of God when there are floods and tornados and earthquakes. We want God to step out on the balcony of heaven and make himself known. But he still comes in the still small voices of our existence and is missed many times by those who are looking for something else. Could it be that God has come to most of us many times with something for us to do and that we have missed his commission and do not do his bidding simply because we are not listening carefully?
OUTLINE II
Keeper of the flame
2 Peter 1:16-19 (20-21)
Introduction: It is clear from the text of 2 Peter that many in that early fellowship were under questioning and assault from those who made fun of their waiting for the Lord's return. Check out chapter 3. Then, as now, there were those who were drawing up calendars of expectations which were not filled in. Matthew had tried to deal with this problem when he reminded his readers that such matters were God's business. Luke tries to take it off the agenda when he has the man in white ask the disciples what they are doing when they stand gazing into the sky at the departing Jesus. See Acts 1. The writer of 2 Peter is seeking to hold his people fast in a storm of assault.
A. The prophetic message. The writer is certain that if they will look everywhere they will see signs of the fulfillment of prophecy in what has happened. The light is present for those who will look for it. The lamp shines, the day dawns, the star rises; all these are symbols of declaring that the message is not hidden but made evident for those who will open eye and heart and ear.
B. The matter of prophecy. Here the writer seeks to compose a definition of prophecy which will enable his readers to know and avoid false prophets who speak for themselves and to know and to embrace those who speak for God. There is no doubt that they were having quite a time sorting out the two in the early church. Some were claiming gifts they did not hold. One test is sure. If the word heard from a prophet squares with what we know of God in Christ then that word can be trusted; if not then it cannot be trusted.
Conclusion: While most of our people await the spectacular in order to know about God, revelation is all about them. Speak to this issue and try to identify some of the simple and uncomplicated ways in which God makes himself known and which we often attribute to accident, happenstance, science and the like.
OUTLINE III
Coming off the mountaintop
Mark 9:2-9
Introduction: That was surely some day for Peter and James and John. Impulsive Peter wants to do something in response. He wants to build a shrine where people can come and remember and worship. Note in passing that Mark links Jesus with the Law and the Prophets in his effort to keep it clear that this Jesus is the Messiah. What interests me is that in verse 9 we have the terse statement, "And as they were coming down the mountain ..."
A. God's people on the move. I am reminded that so long as God wished to keep Israel on the move once she left the bondage of Egypt, he never let them have a temple. Their place of worship was a portable church, a tabernacle which they carried on their backs.
B. Off the mountain. There are still many in the church who are great at reveling in the spiritual experiences that are theirs. They want to be in church all the time. They love to sing the old favorites that bring a tear to the eye. They only know that they are Christian so long as they can maintain a spiritual high.
Conclusion: It is important not to become to entranced with the story of the transfiguration and its details that you miss the overall points that are here. One, that Jesus is a link to the faithful to the past and that what they knew he has lived out among them, and two, that we are not called out of the world, or even into continual ecstasy, but that we are called into the world, there to be his witnesses and his presence (the body of Christ). Check out Jesus' prayer in John 17 and Jesus' words, "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one" (John 17:15). Invite those in your congregation to come down off the mountain.
Earth's crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God:But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
One cannot be unhappy that our current decades of the '80s and '90s have rediscovered the emotional element of religious experience. The long dry spell of rigid intellectual enquiry and exposition linked with the dreaded formality of our worship services needed to have life breathed into them once again. One would like to think that this new life is a gift of the Holy Spirit. However ...
Just as they had problems sorting out the true charismatics from the charlatans in the New Testament Church (see Paul's comments regarding tongues in 1 Corinthians), so do we.
It is important that the walls of our formality crumble and that those who attend our worship are set free to be friendly and to respond with more than a controlled grin or a shift of the body. The return of many of the best gospel songs to our hymnals is a good sign that the whole church takes this matter seriously. Epiphany is a good time to address the authenticity of our witnessing. However, now is a good time to check out all those New Testament passages that give guidance as to how to test the spirits. Even so, we will discover that there are no hard and fast rules by which to make our decisions.
This is not a problem of recent origin. I still recall the shouting and speaking in tongues that was present in my southern West Virginia home town. Long ago we decided that there was one rule that always proved helpful and that rule came from the lips of Jesus, "By their fruits you shall know them."
OUTLINE I
The God who never quits
1 Kings 19:9-18
Introduction: Begin this sermon by telling the entire story. Elijah has finally confronted the prophets of Baal and defeated them. In doing so he has infuriated Queen Jezebel, who is determined to do him in. Elijah is on the run and ends up in a cave on Mount Horeb. There he is confronted by God who reminds him that he is an instrument of God's will among his people.
A. The still small voice. This favored phrase finds expansion in the hymn, Dear Lord and Father of humankind, which can be used in the worship accompanying the sermon. The point being made is that Elijah's God does not need to do spectacular things in order to make himself known. God can, if needed, send the fire to consume the offering on Carmel, but can also meet the simple needs of food and drink. God is as real in the still small voice as he is in the thunderings of Carmel.
B. A remnant. Judgment is certain and sure but it is important to note that God never wipes out all of his people. Once he was down to one person, Isaac, and it seemed there was no hope for continuing his people, but the miracle continues. God is always raising up a new people for his purposes. Elijah thinks that he alone remains as the defender of God but he is reminded that that is not the case. He still has something to do. He is to anoint a new king and to be reminded that there are other persons who are faithful.
Conclusion: It is easier for us to see and hear God at work in the world when there is some great event that symbolizes his presence. We speak of acts of God when there are floods and tornados and earthquakes. We want God to step out on the balcony of heaven and make himself known. But he still comes in the still small voices of our existence and is missed many times by those who are looking for something else. Could it be that God has come to most of us many times with something for us to do and that we have missed his commission and do not do his bidding simply because we are not listening carefully?
OUTLINE II
Keeper of the flame
2 Peter 1:16-19 (20-21)
Introduction: It is clear from the text of 2 Peter that many in that early fellowship were under questioning and assault from those who made fun of their waiting for the Lord's return. Check out chapter 3. Then, as now, there were those who were drawing up calendars of expectations which were not filled in. Matthew had tried to deal with this problem when he reminded his readers that such matters were God's business. Luke tries to take it off the agenda when he has the man in white ask the disciples what they are doing when they stand gazing into the sky at the departing Jesus. See Acts 1. The writer of 2 Peter is seeking to hold his people fast in a storm of assault.
A. The prophetic message. The writer is certain that if they will look everywhere they will see signs of the fulfillment of prophecy in what has happened. The light is present for those who will look for it. The lamp shines, the day dawns, the star rises; all these are symbols of declaring that the message is not hidden but made evident for those who will open eye and heart and ear.
B. The matter of prophecy. Here the writer seeks to compose a definition of prophecy which will enable his readers to know and avoid false prophets who speak for themselves and to know and to embrace those who speak for God. There is no doubt that they were having quite a time sorting out the two in the early church. Some were claiming gifts they did not hold. One test is sure. If the word heard from a prophet squares with what we know of God in Christ then that word can be trusted; if not then it cannot be trusted.
Conclusion: While most of our people await the spectacular in order to know about God, revelation is all about them. Speak to this issue and try to identify some of the simple and uncomplicated ways in which God makes himself known and which we often attribute to accident, happenstance, science and the like.
OUTLINE III
Coming off the mountaintop
Mark 9:2-9
Introduction: That was surely some day for Peter and James and John. Impulsive Peter wants to do something in response. He wants to build a shrine where people can come and remember and worship. Note in passing that Mark links Jesus with the Law and the Prophets in his effort to keep it clear that this Jesus is the Messiah. What interests me is that in verse 9 we have the terse statement, "And as they were coming down the mountain ..."
A. God's people on the move. I am reminded that so long as God wished to keep Israel on the move once she left the bondage of Egypt, he never let them have a temple. Their place of worship was a portable church, a tabernacle which they carried on their backs.
B. Off the mountain. There are still many in the church who are great at reveling in the spiritual experiences that are theirs. They want to be in church all the time. They love to sing the old favorites that bring a tear to the eye. They only know that they are Christian so long as they can maintain a spiritual high.
Conclusion: It is important not to become to entranced with the story of the transfiguration and its details that you miss the overall points that are here. One, that Jesus is a link to the faithful to the past and that what they knew he has lived out among them, and two, that we are not called out of the world, or even into continual ecstasy, but that we are called into the world, there to be his witnesses and his presence (the body of Christ). Check out Jesus' prayer in John 17 and Jesus' words, "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one" (John 17:15). Invite those in your congregation to come down off the mountain.
