Repetition
Commentary
If you are on course with your preaching, you will sometimes notice how it seems you are saying the same thing all the time. And the truth is that you are.
The stories are myriad, the texts are many, and yet, time and time again we discover that all the trials lead back to one place, to the story of a God who will not let us alone, who will not let us be lost, who seeks to save us from ourselves, who even takes the cost of our sin upon himself and bears the pain so that we can be free. That initiative and that grace which we discover in Christ has no bounds.
Even so, that does not mean that it can be taken lightly. It does not mean that we can just appropriate it for ourselves and then go our merry way.
Check out 1 Corinthians 6:12ff for Paul's word at this point. Truly it is God who takes the initiative, who makes the first move, who pursues us at every turn and shows up in every place of our lives. When we come to know that in turn we discover that we are face to face with the eternal. And then there is a therefore. We are meant to respond with new lives, obedient spirits, as witnesses to the grace that has set us free from sin and enables us to be at peace (shalom) with God and with our neighbor.
Go ahead and be repetitive. Everybody knows the value of repetition. Keep hammering at the theme. It is there from the beginning of time until now and evidence can be had from the Scriptures and from the lives of that host of witnesses who have declared its presence in every age and have given their lives in response because of it. Lent is more than a time for self-examination so that we can be spotless and worthy of entry into God's presence. It is a time for thinking again of his grace and seeking to discover ways in which we can respond to that grace with new life and obedient hearts.
OUTLINE I
Hanging up the bow
Genesis 9:8-17
Introduction: I have chosen today's lesson from among those available because it is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. I recall the days when as a younster the rainbow would come after a rain and I would be torn between two interpretations, one, that there was a pot of gold at the end of it, and two, that it was a sign of God's promise that he would not again destory the world with water. And then I learned a better truth.
A. No rainbow. Of course, it is easy to assume that it is the rainbow that is spoken of here but if it is, it is only as the rainbow suggests something else, something more. In Genesis 9 we learn of the second beginning for the world. I suggest that discussions as to whether this was the whole world or the Mediterranean world are irrelevant since this is religious education and preaching. This new beginning comes at the end of the ternble judgment that has fallen upon the wicked of the world and God's intent to try again.
B. The real bow. The promise is that God is hanging his bow of war in the skies. The promise is that he will not again take up the bow of his wrath against his people. Whether you take the flood to be a real flood of water that destroys all but Noah's family or whether you take it as a legendary account that tells of the flood of Assynians and Babylonians that destroyed Israel and Judah and the saving of a remnant to return and rebuild the nation that truth is the same. God has hung his bow of war in the skies (and the rainbow can serve to symbolize that if we wish), and his promise is given in verse 16.
Conclusion: Too many see God as a God of wrath poised to unleash thunderbolts of lightning upon them if they sin or disobey. The Scriptures tell of a God whose heart is broken by our straying away from him and that he is always seeking ways to keep his covenant with us even when we break our covenant with him.
OUTLINE II
Nothing between
Romans 8:31-39
Introduction: I think that it is always good practice to review the entire story when dealing with Scriptural materials such as that in our lesson today. After all, there are many in the congregation who either have never heard the story or never tire of hearing it. You can never go wrong telling the biblical story. Then drive this story to its climax, or better, its real meaning. In truth what we have here is a second creation and a second covenant.
A. Review the terms. Covenants are made by God's initiative. Here is spelled out just what God is going to do not only for Noah and his family but for all living things and the earth itself. All too often we interpret the good news as if it were limited to the "saving of souls." God's interest goes much further than that and includes all his creation. Check out Romans 8:18-25 which takes on special relevance to this lesson.
B. The Sign. "When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature ..." (NRSV)
It is customary for us to identify the rainbow as this bow in the clouds and I see no harm in remembering these things when the rainbow comes. But this is not the deepest meaning. This the "bow of war" which God hangs in the clouds. God's love is victorious over his wrath. He has hung his bow of war against us in the clouds and promises not to use it again. (For further study let me suggest chapters 16 and 17 of HOW THE WORLD BEGAN, by Helmut Thielicke, Fortress Press.)
Conclusion: Once again we learn that a story which some use to threaten and drive people to the mourner's bench is really a story which reveals the love of God and ought to move us to repentance and obedience to a God who will have nothing between himself and us. Check out 2 Corinthians 5:19 for a New Testament text.
OUTLINE III
Believe it or not
Mark 8:9-15
Introduction: The Jews were convinced that when the Messiah came he would come in glory and power. Few wanted to listen to the message of Isaiah 53 and apply that to the coming one. Little wonder that just as they could not believe that his birth was of any consequence and apparently let it go unnoticed until later, so they could not perceive the message that the Messiah was to be rejected and killed. Apparently they did not hear the part about his rising again.
A. Peter. Peter speaks for all who seek cheap grace. To connect suffering with the holy one went against the Jewish and the Greek grain. Little wonder the story of the crucifixion was foolishness to them. The Jewish vision of the glorious Messiah and the Greek gnostic idea that holiness could have nothing to do with matter, made the idea of a suffering divinity inconceivable. And it still does for many.
B. Jesus. But Jesus reveals a dimension of the heart of God that many had ignored. Somehow they had failed to hear the word that he was aggrieved that he had made man at the time of Noah. Somehow they managed to sense the broken heart that drove Adam and Eve from the Garden. It was with sonrow that he confronted Cain at the death of Abel. The prophet Hosea speaks of that broken heart in Hosea 11:8-9 and you ought to look it up.
Conclusion: Too often we manage to present God as some oriental potentate sitting all alone in glory and splendor on his heavenly throne and scowling at the world and all its evil, his people and all their sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. What we see (when we are really looking and listening) when we read the stony is the stony of a God who grieves, is broken hearted, and will go to every length (gave his only Son) to ensure that we know how much he loves us and wants us to return to him.
The stories are myriad, the texts are many, and yet, time and time again we discover that all the trials lead back to one place, to the story of a God who will not let us alone, who will not let us be lost, who seeks to save us from ourselves, who even takes the cost of our sin upon himself and bears the pain so that we can be free. That initiative and that grace which we discover in Christ has no bounds.
Even so, that does not mean that it can be taken lightly. It does not mean that we can just appropriate it for ourselves and then go our merry way.
Check out 1 Corinthians 6:12ff for Paul's word at this point. Truly it is God who takes the initiative, who makes the first move, who pursues us at every turn and shows up in every place of our lives. When we come to know that in turn we discover that we are face to face with the eternal. And then there is a therefore. We are meant to respond with new lives, obedient spirits, as witnesses to the grace that has set us free from sin and enables us to be at peace (shalom) with God and with our neighbor.
Go ahead and be repetitive. Everybody knows the value of repetition. Keep hammering at the theme. It is there from the beginning of time until now and evidence can be had from the Scriptures and from the lives of that host of witnesses who have declared its presence in every age and have given their lives in response because of it. Lent is more than a time for self-examination so that we can be spotless and worthy of entry into God's presence. It is a time for thinking again of his grace and seeking to discover ways in which we can respond to that grace with new life and obedient hearts.
OUTLINE I
Hanging up the bow
Genesis 9:8-17
Introduction: I have chosen today's lesson from among those available because it is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. I recall the days when as a younster the rainbow would come after a rain and I would be torn between two interpretations, one, that there was a pot of gold at the end of it, and two, that it was a sign of God's promise that he would not again destory the world with water. And then I learned a better truth.
A. No rainbow. Of course, it is easy to assume that it is the rainbow that is spoken of here but if it is, it is only as the rainbow suggests something else, something more. In Genesis 9 we learn of the second beginning for the world. I suggest that discussions as to whether this was the whole world or the Mediterranean world are irrelevant since this is religious education and preaching. This new beginning comes at the end of the ternble judgment that has fallen upon the wicked of the world and God's intent to try again.
B. The real bow. The promise is that God is hanging his bow of war in the skies. The promise is that he will not again take up the bow of his wrath against his people. Whether you take the flood to be a real flood of water that destroys all but Noah's family or whether you take it as a legendary account that tells of the flood of Assynians and Babylonians that destroyed Israel and Judah and the saving of a remnant to return and rebuild the nation that truth is the same. God has hung his bow of war in the skies (and the rainbow can serve to symbolize that if we wish), and his promise is given in verse 16.
Conclusion: Too many see God as a God of wrath poised to unleash thunderbolts of lightning upon them if they sin or disobey. The Scriptures tell of a God whose heart is broken by our straying away from him and that he is always seeking ways to keep his covenant with us even when we break our covenant with him.
OUTLINE II
Nothing between
Romans 8:31-39
Introduction: I think that it is always good practice to review the entire story when dealing with Scriptural materials such as that in our lesson today. After all, there are many in the congregation who either have never heard the story or never tire of hearing it. You can never go wrong telling the biblical story. Then drive this story to its climax, or better, its real meaning. In truth what we have here is a second creation and a second covenant.
A. Review the terms. Covenants are made by God's initiative. Here is spelled out just what God is going to do not only for Noah and his family but for all living things and the earth itself. All too often we interpret the good news as if it were limited to the "saving of souls." God's interest goes much further than that and includes all his creation. Check out Romans 8:18-25 which takes on special relevance to this lesson.
B. The Sign. "When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature ..." (NRSV)
It is customary for us to identify the rainbow as this bow in the clouds and I see no harm in remembering these things when the rainbow comes. But this is not the deepest meaning. This the "bow of war" which God hangs in the clouds. God's love is victorious over his wrath. He has hung his bow of war against us in the clouds and promises not to use it again. (For further study let me suggest chapters 16 and 17 of HOW THE WORLD BEGAN, by Helmut Thielicke, Fortress Press.)
Conclusion: Once again we learn that a story which some use to threaten and drive people to the mourner's bench is really a story which reveals the love of God and ought to move us to repentance and obedience to a God who will have nothing between himself and us. Check out 2 Corinthians 5:19 for a New Testament text.
OUTLINE III
Believe it or not
Mark 8:9-15
Introduction: The Jews were convinced that when the Messiah came he would come in glory and power. Few wanted to listen to the message of Isaiah 53 and apply that to the coming one. Little wonder that just as they could not believe that his birth was of any consequence and apparently let it go unnoticed until later, so they could not perceive the message that the Messiah was to be rejected and killed. Apparently they did not hear the part about his rising again.
A. Peter. Peter speaks for all who seek cheap grace. To connect suffering with the holy one went against the Jewish and the Greek grain. Little wonder the story of the crucifixion was foolishness to them. The Jewish vision of the glorious Messiah and the Greek gnostic idea that holiness could have nothing to do with matter, made the idea of a suffering divinity inconceivable. And it still does for many.
B. Jesus. But Jesus reveals a dimension of the heart of God that many had ignored. Somehow they had failed to hear the word that he was aggrieved that he had made man at the time of Noah. Somehow they managed to sense the broken heart that drove Adam and Eve from the Garden. It was with sonrow that he confronted Cain at the death of Abel. The prophet Hosea speaks of that broken heart in Hosea 11:8-9 and you ought to look it up.
Conclusion: Too often we manage to present God as some oriental potentate sitting all alone in glory and splendor on his heavenly throne and scowling at the world and all its evil, his people and all their sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. What we see (when we are really looking and listening) when we read the stony is the stony of a God who grieves, is broken hearted, and will go to every length (gave his only Son) to ensure that we know how much he loves us and wants us to return to him.
