Realism
Commentary
All through this series of lessons I have been referring to realism as if all of us understood its meaning. Perhaps we ought to spend some time turning the subject over and over in an effort to get a better fix on its meaning.
It appears to me that there are many people who prefer to live in a world which is largely a figment of their imagination. In all likelihood that seems easier and better for them. They fabricate an existence for themselves which delivers them from their daily difficulties and affords them a rationale for not dealing with what is really going on around them.
Little wonder that so many are victims of myths and dreams, ready for the rip-off artists on every hand. They so much want life as they imagine it to be that they are willing to ignore life as it is and to turn all they have over to those who promise to make their dreams come true.
One of the reasons I like the biblical material so much is that it is forever dragging us away from the precipice of our dreams, yanking us back to reality, calling us to see ourselves and the world around us, which includes other people, as they really are. The writers know that if we are fascinated with our dreams we are likely to fashion gods, in the hope that they can make our dreams come true. The refusal to live in the real world leads to idolatry and we not only lose contact with God, but with those about us.
So, the Bible calls sin, sin and sinners, sinners. It never takes sin and evil lightly, even while it is proclaiming grace as a gift. In the Bible we find ourselves stood up before our own faces so we can see ourselves as we really are. Time and time again we stumble across our portrait in some person or some event and are jarred back to reality.
The best reality of all is the reality of grace. It is no myth, no dream, nothing we have to concoct in our mind. It is God's promise and God's gift. It is the gift which, once received, enables us to face life as it is and live with the reality of who and what we are. That is the beginning of life.
OUTLINE I
The Task of Rulers
2 Samuel 5:1-5
Introduction: There is little doubt that our ideas of power and position are quite different from those God has in mind when he chooses us to be placed in positions of responsibility. The vision of a King as a shepherd is surely far a field from what David really became. Most begin with the best of intentions and then it seems that the temptations cannot be resisted. The observation that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is surely and applicable here.
A. The Vison: If David did write the 23rd Psalm it was written late in life when he finally had the truth dawn upon him and it was too late to change, or else he could see you will discover many places where lostness is defined as living in the dark.
B. Transfer To: To the inheritance of the saints in light -- the kingdom of his Son. Where God is there is light. Did you ever notice that in the creation story light is created before the sun? No problem. That is done to ensure that we understand light is a gift from God and light has to do with more than daylight. To live in the light is to live in the presence of God. It is there that life is found, the way to life is made clear and we are seen and loved in a clear light. Be sure to focus some attention on verses 15-19. In these verses we are informed it is in Christ that we find all these things, that they are mediated to us. Note the creedal form of this passage. It must have been an early forerunner of creeds in the church.
Conclusion: Assure the congregation of the availability of this transfer and of the implications of it. Apply insights from their own experience. Such transfers call for new locations, new attitudes, new values, new goals, new involvements, new spirit; and, you can go on from there.
OUTLINE II
The Jig is Up
John 12:9-19
Introduction: The usual thing to do with this passage is to take off on the Palm Sunday theme and make the best of it. It is probably better just to exclude verses 12-18 and then read it again in order to get to the heart of what is happening. For some time the clouds have been gathering. It is the raising of Lazarus that throws down the gauntlet. The oppostion cannot let that one pass. When Jesus weeps at Lazarus' grave it is probably for more than the death of Lazarus. He knows Lazarus can live again. His tears may rather be for himself, since he knows that if Lazarus is raised the jig is up. They will get him now.
A. Take time to check out the story of the raising of Lazarus and recall all its features for your congregation. Remind yourself that most of your hearers are biblically illiterate and need all the information they can get. Also, trace the recent movements and encounters of Jesus and let them see that he is running out of options and coming to the time when the encounter must be resolved one way or another.
B. Too many times people take signs in the New Testament as some sort of promise that such signs can always mean great things for us. It can work the other way, too. Here the sign leads to the death of Jesus. It is always easy to miss the essential points if we insist on going down the same old road in our thought processes every time we read a Scripture lesson.
Conclusion: Remind your people that there are times when we are fascinated by the pomp, ceremony, and celebration we see on the surface in Bible stories. But help them to learn to probe a bit deeper and there they may find even more. They may discover that the realism of the Scriptures is much more conducive to belief and faith than all of our idealism and hopeful imaginings.
OUTLINE III
Transferred!
Colossians 1:11-20
Introduction: In all likelihood there is no better expression for what God in his grace does for us. We are delivered from the dominion of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of his Son. You can begin this sermon with the experience of the people in the congregation. Most of them have been shifted (transferred) from one place to another either in the armed forces or by their employers. They understand the implications.
A. Transfer From: From the dominion of darkness. To be out of fellowship and communion with God is to live in the dark, to be lost, to have no fix on what life is or is meant to be. Check out the concordance and how it applied to God but not to himself. Go through the 23rd Psalm with your people and apply it as a model of leadership in the church or the community, or anywhere, and let them see the vision of leadership that is reflective of God's care for his people.
B. The Reality: Check the record. Let the people remember what kind of person David became. Lead them through the tragic story until it ends with the split of the nation which truly had its roots in policies he established. See 1 Kings 12. Solomon followed the advice David gave in 1 Kings 2. The writer of the Kings record is not so kind to David as are some others. One wonders how these people were able in the future to idealize his kingdom and to write such things as appear in Isaiah 9:6-7.
Conclusion: The Lesson -- in many ways some of us are called to have dominion and authority over others, our children, students, citizens, employees, etc. This is a good opportunity for us to give serious consideration to the meaning of that dominion and authority. Sometimes I think we are like the man who once said that if one is a shepherd that means he has the right to shear the sheep occasionally. Maybe, but there is much more to being a shepherd than that.
One addition: there is some wonderful material in Ezekiel 34 that has to do with shepherds, especially those who misunderstand their role.
It appears to me that there are many people who prefer to live in a world which is largely a figment of their imagination. In all likelihood that seems easier and better for them. They fabricate an existence for themselves which delivers them from their daily difficulties and affords them a rationale for not dealing with what is really going on around them.
Little wonder that so many are victims of myths and dreams, ready for the rip-off artists on every hand. They so much want life as they imagine it to be that they are willing to ignore life as it is and to turn all they have over to those who promise to make their dreams come true.
One of the reasons I like the biblical material so much is that it is forever dragging us away from the precipice of our dreams, yanking us back to reality, calling us to see ourselves and the world around us, which includes other people, as they really are. The writers know that if we are fascinated with our dreams we are likely to fashion gods, in the hope that they can make our dreams come true. The refusal to live in the real world leads to idolatry and we not only lose contact with God, but with those about us.
So, the Bible calls sin, sin and sinners, sinners. It never takes sin and evil lightly, even while it is proclaiming grace as a gift. In the Bible we find ourselves stood up before our own faces so we can see ourselves as we really are. Time and time again we stumble across our portrait in some person or some event and are jarred back to reality.
The best reality of all is the reality of grace. It is no myth, no dream, nothing we have to concoct in our mind. It is God's promise and God's gift. It is the gift which, once received, enables us to face life as it is and live with the reality of who and what we are. That is the beginning of life.
OUTLINE I
The Task of Rulers
2 Samuel 5:1-5
Introduction: There is little doubt that our ideas of power and position are quite different from those God has in mind when he chooses us to be placed in positions of responsibility. The vision of a King as a shepherd is surely far a field from what David really became. Most begin with the best of intentions and then it seems that the temptations cannot be resisted. The observation that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is surely and applicable here.
A. The Vison: If David did write the 23rd Psalm it was written late in life when he finally had the truth dawn upon him and it was too late to change, or else he could see you will discover many places where lostness is defined as living in the dark.
B. Transfer To: To the inheritance of the saints in light -- the kingdom of his Son. Where God is there is light. Did you ever notice that in the creation story light is created before the sun? No problem. That is done to ensure that we understand light is a gift from God and light has to do with more than daylight. To live in the light is to live in the presence of God. It is there that life is found, the way to life is made clear and we are seen and loved in a clear light. Be sure to focus some attention on verses 15-19. In these verses we are informed it is in Christ that we find all these things, that they are mediated to us. Note the creedal form of this passage. It must have been an early forerunner of creeds in the church.
Conclusion: Assure the congregation of the availability of this transfer and of the implications of it. Apply insights from their own experience. Such transfers call for new locations, new attitudes, new values, new goals, new involvements, new spirit; and, you can go on from there.
OUTLINE II
The Jig is Up
John 12:9-19
Introduction: The usual thing to do with this passage is to take off on the Palm Sunday theme and make the best of it. It is probably better just to exclude verses 12-18 and then read it again in order to get to the heart of what is happening. For some time the clouds have been gathering. It is the raising of Lazarus that throws down the gauntlet. The oppostion cannot let that one pass. When Jesus weeps at Lazarus' grave it is probably for more than the death of Lazarus. He knows Lazarus can live again. His tears may rather be for himself, since he knows that if Lazarus is raised the jig is up. They will get him now.
A. Take time to check out the story of the raising of Lazarus and recall all its features for your congregation. Remind yourself that most of your hearers are biblically illiterate and need all the information they can get. Also, trace the recent movements and encounters of Jesus and let them see that he is running out of options and coming to the time when the encounter must be resolved one way or another.
B. Too many times people take signs in the New Testament as some sort of promise that such signs can always mean great things for us. It can work the other way, too. Here the sign leads to the death of Jesus. It is always easy to miss the essential points if we insist on going down the same old road in our thought processes every time we read a Scripture lesson.
Conclusion: Remind your people that there are times when we are fascinated by the pomp, ceremony, and celebration we see on the surface in Bible stories. But help them to learn to probe a bit deeper and there they may find even more. They may discover that the realism of the Scriptures is much more conducive to belief and faith than all of our idealism and hopeful imaginings.
OUTLINE III
Transferred!
Colossians 1:11-20
Introduction: In all likelihood there is no better expression for what God in his grace does for us. We are delivered from the dominion of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of his Son. You can begin this sermon with the experience of the people in the congregation. Most of them have been shifted (transferred) from one place to another either in the armed forces or by their employers. They understand the implications.
A. Transfer From: From the dominion of darkness. To be out of fellowship and communion with God is to live in the dark, to be lost, to have no fix on what life is or is meant to be. Check out the concordance and how it applied to God but not to himself. Go through the 23rd Psalm with your people and apply it as a model of leadership in the church or the community, or anywhere, and let them see the vision of leadership that is reflective of God's care for his people.
B. The Reality: Check the record. Let the people remember what kind of person David became. Lead them through the tragic story until it ends with the split of the nation which truly had its roots in policies he established. See 1 Kings 12. Solomon followed the advice David gave in 1 Kings 2. The writer of the Kings record is not so kind to David as are some others. One wonders how these people were able in the future to idealize his kingdom and to write such things as appear in Isaiah 9:6-7.
Conclusion: The Lesson -- in many ways some of us are called to have dominion and authority over others, our children, students, citizens, employees, etc. This is a good opportunity for us to give serious consideration to the meaning of that dominion and authority. Sometimes I think we are like the man who once said that if one is a shepherd that means he has the right to shear the sheep occasionally. Maybe, but there is much more to being a shepherd than that.
One addition: there is some wonderful material in Ezekiel 34 that has to do with shepherds, especially those who misunderstand their role.
