Sermon Illustrations for Advent 1 (2015)
Illustration
Object:
Jeremiah 33:14-16
The Bible is full of God’s promises. Some are already answered, if we think carefully. Some will be answered shortly, as when we pray for better weather or healed relationships (which may require effort on our part). But some may not be answered for generations or even millenniums, as is the case in this scripture with that first promise that went back many centuries -- the promise of that branch from David’s line, meaning Jesus. It took so long that many of those in Jesus’ day did not recognize its fulfillment. Jesus is the Lord of righteousness!
In this present age there are many who are waiting for Judah to be saved and for Jerusalem to live in safety. Even we in America wonder if that day will ever come for those people in the Holy Land. Instead of just reading the paper and watching the news on television, we should accept the fact that the only way to be saved and live in peace is to let that Lord of righteousness live in our hearts.
There will be many around us who have not been saved and found peace. That is the job of our church and us Christians -- to spread that good message.
Many of God’s promises are meant for individuals, and some for groups of believers. In all of history there has never been a time of “peace on earth, good will to men” that applied to all the world!
Keep coming to church and reading your Bible, and believe that God’s promises are made good in the hearts of his people.
Bob O.
Jeremiah 33:14-16
I was reading recently about planting trees. When I was a child, we just dug a hole and planted whatever we wanted. When I was a child, we planted some swamp willows from branches sliced off an existing tree. When I last saw them at my family home, they were a good 30 feet tall. But the instructions for choosing and planting a tree are more complicated.
First, decide what kind of tree to plant. Second, consider your climate. Third, consider your land. Four, check local laws for digging and planting trees. Five, talk to a professional. Six, buy your tree.
I wonder if the Jewish people of Jeremiah’s time had a clue what complications “a righteous branch to spring up from David” might bring into the world. Just as they did, we also struggle with concepts of justice and righteousness. We struggle to follow Jesus. But God’s promises are true and the righteous one comes. Are we ready?
Bonnie B.
Jeremiah 33:14-16
I don’t know about you, but I’m a fan of the old television westerns. You may remember them -- the ones in which the good guys were always good, the bad guys were always bad, and the commercials were often for Ovaltine. In those stories all kinds of terrible things could be happening to the people of the town. The bad guys were often winning and it appeared that all was lost. At some point, though, usually near the end, the good guys would come riding in and save the day. That was the formula, and that’s how it worked week in and week out.
Television shows are a bit different today. Many of the programs are not so hopeful and do not have happy endings. Looking at our text, though, we find that God’s promise is a bit like those old westerns. He is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah about a day and a time in which a righteous Branch will spring forth for David. He will bring salvation and security. It may seem, like in those television westerns, that the bad guys have won. Hope may seem to have vanished without a trace. Not so! God’s promise is good. The Branch would spring forth. God’s people would be saved. Don’t give up and don’t lose hope.
Bill T.
Jeremiah 33:14-16
“The Lord is our righteousness” is the name God’s people will sport at the time of God’s full revealing to the world. It is God who justifies us -- and God who expects us to live as a society that values justice. Ah, but we have been living in the Christmas season for weeks now. Holiday specials and holiday shopping yes, but that also means there are real people involved in the wearisome aspects of the season: holiday shoppers and holiday workers. The souls wearily walking up and down the aisles are real people who love real family and friends, and fear they will be unable, through lack of imagination or case, to demonstrate their love to the people who matter in their lives. The part-time workers, the full-time workers who are struggling to make ends meet with one, two, three jobs are as real as a heart attack. If the Lord is our Righteousness, then we ought to be thinking about justice and living wages and changing our priorities and expectations to match the words of the prophet who spoke to the exiles. Think about focusing on real justice issues that touch your community with the heart of a prophet.
Frank R.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Paul was greatly encouraged by the good news Timothy brought from the mission field. Things were going very well among the Thessalonians. Upon hearing this positive report, Paul waxed eloquently about these joyous circumstances.
What was true in biblical times is still true. Good news elicits positive feelings, and bad news doesn’t. For that matter, positive thoughts and experiences feed and strengthen us while negative thoughts and experiences drain our energy. This leads us to ask questions like: Why do we still get most of our information from sources that highlight the bad news -- the internet, television, newspapers, radio, etc.? Why do we spend so much time and energy ruminating on bad news rather than luxuriating on the good? Why do so many of us permit ourselves to become trapped in endless loops of negative thinking? Why do we fixate on that superfluous rude comment that flits at the edge of our conscience but ignore the compliments that come our way? Why do we do those things when there is no joy or encouragement in them?
Modern brain science suggests we do these things because our brains are, as one neuroscientist put it, “velcro for negative experiences and teflon for positive ones.” That is to say, the negatives stick in our minds while, unless we make effort to retain them, the positives slide out of our minds. If we want to be impacted by good news, we have to be very intentional about listening for it. As the popular song of an earlier generation put it, you’ve got to accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative; latch on to the affirmative.
R. Robert C.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Paul speaks of love abounding, and he thinks it is urgent because Christ is coming. Martin Luther makes clear the source of this love and what it looks like. He wrote: “The love of God does not find but creates that which is pleasing to it” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 31, p. 57).
When you realize that love is not deserved, that it makes you and other people different, you can begin to agree with famed psychologist Erich Fromm that “Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.” Then we can better sing the song that “Love makes the world go round.”
English actor Peter Ustinov did a great job describing what true love is, hinting at what the character of God’s love is like: “Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look, which becomes a habit.” Real love, God’s love, is endless forgiveness. Leonardo da Vinci succinctly stated 500 years ago how urgent it is that such love is implemented. He wrote: “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
With this sort of love, the future is not so uncertain; we can face it with confidence. Famed modern Reformed theologian Jurgen Moltmann makes that clear in a comment which nicely illuminates the Christmas hope: “As a result of this hope in God’s future, this present world becomes free in believing eyes from all attempts at self-redemption or self-production through labor, and becomes open for loving, ministering self-expenditure...” (Theology of Hope, p. 338).
God’s abundant love gets our selfishness out of the way.
Mark E.
Luke 21:25-36
You have to pay attention. That’s really good advice for a lot of different situations. I’m a baseball fan, and a long time ago I used to umpire little league ballgames. Though it was some time back, I recall a pair of Sunday afternoon games like they were just yesterday. I was in the field for the first one, which forced me to be behind the plate for the second. The kids playing were eleven or twelve years old. That’s not really that important, except for the fact that at that age kids playing ball begin to really pitch it and hit it.
It was a hot Sunday afternoon. One batter came up who fouled off a pitch that went over the backstop and was headed toward the bleachers. When that happened, everyone in the crowd shouted “Heads up!” Normally, when a person is even nominally paying attention s/he will be able to avoid the ball. Unfortunately, one woman wasn’t even “kind of” paying attention. She was engaged in a lengthy and involved conversation with the woman next to her. She held a large cup of iced tea in one hand and a full tub of nachos in the other. She never saw the ball coming. It seemed to be drawn to her like a magnet. Though people shouted, she never heard them. When the ball landed there was tea, cheese, and chips everywhere. She was angry and embarrassed at the same time.
In the passage for today Jesus is talking about something of far more significance than a little league ball game. He’s talking about his second coming. It is a powerful passage, full of majesty and glory. How could it not be? The warning in this text is pretty direct. It’s simply this: pay attention. Some people will be so wrapped up in the meaningless things of this life that they won’t be ready for his coming. How foolish would it be to have the most significant event in the world’s history take place and you’re more interested in nachos, tea, and conversation? Pay attention. You just have to.
Bill T.
Luke 21:25-36
Over the last two decades, more books and films have been written about the End Times, the apocalypse or post-apocalyptic times, than ever before. What is our fascination with what comes after the end of the world as we know it? Maybe it’s fear. Maybe it’s relief. Maybe it’s a recognition that some people live in the terror of apocalypse right in the here and now and we want to have hope.
For people in war-torn, terror-stricken parts of the world -- with their homes lost, their families killed, their lives in despair -- the promise that something more is coming, something will come to bring relief, is vital to survival. People are praying for an opportunity to stand before God, before the Son of Man, and have their hopes realized, their lives put back into some semblance of order, their dreams fulfilled. That is the promise that God makes -- when all that we know of life is over, we will be at peace and the coming of the Son of Man will usher in that time. Praise God. Come, Lord Jesus.
Bonnie B.
Luke 21:25-36
How many “Christians” were predicting the end of the world on January 1, 2000? If they really had studied carefully that might have changed it to 1997, which some have suggested was the actual date of Jesus’ birth depending on who was king and what was happening at that time.
God missed that opportunity, and instead of an instant dramatic change we have only had a slow-moving “climate change.”
In almost every issue, science magazines tell of things happening in the universe. We are warned to watch out for meteors, which might crash into our earth. Ever since humans first started to write about pending scientific disasters, we have been waiting for that to happen.
It is true that there are countries that have experienced fantastic disasters from the sea that have wiped away cities. Japan, for one, had a disaster a few years ago that the people are still suffering from. The usual response is to plan ahead and take action to prevent future catastrophes -- like building higher dikes.
We are warned not to let our hearts be weighed down with concern.
If we trust in our God, we should have no need to get all upset. Instead of studying astronomy and geological occurrences to discover what God is telling us, we should look in our Bibles and in our hearts to know that our first concern must come from his Spirit.
At 88 years old, why should I care? I will be home with my Lord in just a few years, and then what happens on earth is no longer my concern. Even if heaven and earth pass away, God’s words and his promises will never pass away. I might love to see our Lord coming down from heaven in a great cloud, but I will already be with him!
It is not wrong to look for the signs of his coming, but don’t panic -- rejoice! Just keep praying that we may be able to stand in his presence.
Bob O.
Luke 21:25-36
People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory (Luke 21:26-27).
How long have the local decorations been up in your community? Can anyone think back to the first Christmas decorations you saw in a store? Maybe there's a reason we greet the first signs of the season with foreboding.
In the Little Apocalypse (as it is sometimes called), Jesus asks us to see a different decoration, the Son of Man coming in a cloud. Yeah, this image had been around longer than our Christmas decorations. It hearkens back to Daniel 7:14, written during the anguish when Antiochus IV Epiphanes did something so horrible in the Temple in Jerusalem -- no one quite knows what -- that people remembered it as the Abomination of Desolation. But help was on the way! No matter what was happening on the earth, Daniel showed the people the Son of Man standing next to the Ancient of Days who sat on the throne of heaven. So even though people fainted with fear and foreboding, they stayed faithful despite martyrdom. The tyrant was vanquished. Worship was restored.
Fast forward from 167 BC to 30 AD -- the people are filled with anguish about the coming Day of the Lord. Jesus points once more to the Son of Man descending with the clouds and reminds them help is on the way. It’s like a reboot of a favorite movie! See ? there’s Jesus!
Now fast forward one more time, from then to now. Same thing. Fear, foreboding, fainting -- and help is on the way. Son of Man. Clouds. Oh, and child in the manger.
Frank R.
The Bible is full of God’s promises. Some are already answered, if we think carefully. Some will be answered shortly, as when we pray for better weather or healed relationships (which may require effort on our part). But some may not be answered for generations or even millenniums, as is the case in this scripture with that first promise that went back many centuries -- the promise of that branch from David’s line, meaning Jesus. It took so long that many of those in Jesus’ day did not recognize its fulfillment. Jesus is the Lord of righteousness!
In this present age there are many who are waiting for Judah to be saved and for Jerusalem to live in safety. Even we in America wonder if that day will ever come for those people in the Holy Land. Instead of just reading the paper and watching the news on television, we should accept the fact that the only way to be saved and live in peace is to let that Lord of righteousness live in our hearts.
There will be many around us who have not been saved and found peace. That is the job of our church and us Christians -- to spread that good message.
Many of God’s promises are meant for individuals, and some for groups of believers. In all of history there has never been a time of “peace on earth, good will to men” that applied to all the world!
Keep coming to church and reading your Bible, and believe that God’s promises are made good in the hearts of his people.
Bob O.
Jeremiah 33:14-16
I was reading recently about planting trees. When I was a child, we just dug a hole and planted whatever we wanted. When I was a child, we planted some swamp willows from branches sliced off an existing tree. When I last saw them at my family home, they were a good 30 feet tall. But the instructions for choosing and planting a tree are more complicated.
First, decide what kind of tree to plant. Second, consider your climate. Third, consider your land. Four, check local laws for digging and planting trees. Five, talk to a professional. Six, buy your tree.
I wonder if the Jewish people of Jeremiah’s time had a clue what complications “a righteous branch to spring up from David” might bring into the world. Just as they did, we also struggle with concepts of justice and righteousness. We struggle to follow Jesus. But God’s promises are true and the righteous one comes. Are we ready?
Bonnie B.
Jeremiah 33:14-16
I don’t know about you, but I’m a fan of the old television westerns. You may remember them -- the ones in which the good guys were always good, the bad guys were always bad, and the commercials were often for Ovaltine. In those stories all kinds of terrible things could be happening to the people of the town. The bad guys were often winning and it appeared that all was lost. At some point, though, usually near the end, the good guys would come riding in and save the day. That was the formula, and that’s how it worked week in and week out.
Television shows are a bit different today. Many of the programs are not so hopeful and do not have happy endings. Looking at our text, though, we find that God’s promise is a bit like those old westerns. He is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah about a day and a time in which a righteous Branch will spring forth for David. He will bring salvation and security. It may seem, like in those television westerns, that the bad guys have won. Hope may seem to have vanished without a trace. Not so! God’s promise is good. The Branch would spring forth. God’s people would be saved. Don’t give up and don’t lose hope.
Bill T.
Jeremiah 33:14-16
“The Lord is our righteousness” is the name God’s people will sport at the time of God’s full revealing to the world. It is God who justifies us -- and God who expects us to live as a society that values justice. Ah, but we have been living in the Christmas season for weeks now. Holiday specials and holiday shopping yes, but that also means there are real people involved in the wearisome aspects of the season: holiday shoppers and holiday workers. The souls wearily walking up and down the aisles are real people who love real family and friends, and fear they will be unable, through lack of imagination or case, to demonstrate their love to the people who matter in their lives. The part-time workers, the full-time workers who are struggling to make ends meet with one, two, three jobs are as real as a heart attack. If the Lord is our Righteousness, then we ought to be thinking about justice and living wages and changing our priorities and expectations to match the words of the prophet who spoke to the exiles. Think about focusing on real justice issues that touch your community with the heart of a prophet.
Frank R.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Paul was greatly encouraged by the good news Timothy brought from the mission field. Things were going very well among the Thessalonians. Upon hearing this positive report, Paul waxed eloquently about these joyous circumstances.
What was true in biblical times is still true. Good news elicits positive feelings, and bad news doesn’t. For that matter, positive thoughts and experiences feed and strengthen us while negative thoughts and experiences drain our energy. This leads us to ask questions like: Why do we still get most of our information from sources that highlight the bad news -- the internet, television, newspapers, radio, etc.? Why do we spend so much time and energy ruminating on bad news rather than luxuriating on the good? Why do so many of us permit ourselves to become trapped in endless loops of negative thinking? Why do we fixate on that superfluous rude comment that flits at the edge of our conscience but ignore the compliments that come our way? Why do we do those things when there is no joy or encouragement in them?
Modern brain science suggests we do these things because our brains are, as one neuroscientist put it, “velcro for negative experiences and teflon for positive ones.” That is to say, the negatives stick in our minds while, unless we make effort to retain them, the positives slide out of our minds. If we want to be impacted by good news, we have to be very intentional about listening for it. As the popular song of an earlier generation put it, you’ve got to accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative; latch on to the affirmative.
R. Robert C.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Paul speaks of love abounding, and he thinks it is urgent because Christ is coming. Martin Luther makes clear the source of this love and what it looks like. He wrote: “The love of God does not find but creates that which is pleasing to it” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 31, p. 57).
When you realize that love is not deserved, that it makes you and other people different, you can begin to agree with famed psychologist Erich Fromm that “Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.” Then we can better sing the song that “Love makes the world go round.”
English actor Peter Ustinov did a great job describing what true love is, hinting at what the character of God’s love is like: “Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look, which becomes a habit.” Real love, God’s love, is endless forgiveness. Leonardo da Vinci succinctly stated 500 years ago how urgent it is that such love is implemented. He wrote: “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
With this sort of love, the future is not so uncertain; we can face it with confidence. Famed modern Reformed theologian Jurgen Moltmann makes that clear in a comment which nicely illuminates the Christmas hope: “As a result of this hope in God’s future, this present world becomes free in believing eyes from all attempts at self-redemption or self-production through labor, and becomes open for loving, ministering self-expenditure...” (Theology of Hope, p. 338).
God’s abundant love gets our selfishness out of the way.
Mark E.
Luke 21:25-36
You have to pay attention. That’s really good advice for a lot of different situations. I’m a baseball fan, and a long time ago I used to umpire little league ballgames. Though it was some time back, I recall a pair of Sunday afternoon games like they were just yesterday. I was in the field for the first one, which forced me to be behind the plate for the second. The kids playing were eleven or twelve years old. That’s not really that important, except for the fact that at that age kids playing ball begin to really pitch it and hit it.
It was a hot Sunday afternoon. One batter came up who fouled off a pitch that went over the backstop and was headed toward the bleachers. When that happened, everyone in the crowd shouted “Heads up!” Normally, when a person is even nominally paying attention s/he will be able to avoid the ball. Unfortunately, one woman wasn’t even “kind of” paying attention. She was engaged in a lengthy and involved conversation with the woman next to her. She held a large cup of iced tea in one hand and a full tub of nachos in the other. She never saw the ball coming. It seemed to be drawn to her like a magnet. Though people shouted, she never heard them. When the ball landed there was tea, cheese, and chips everywhere. She was angry and embarrassed at the same time.
In the passage for today Jesus is talking about something of far more significance than a little league ball game. He’s talking about his second coming. It is a powerful passage, full of majesty and glory. How could it not be? The warning in this text is pretty direct. It’s simply this: pay attention. Some people will be so wrapped up in the meaningless things of this life that they won’t be ready for his coming. How foolish would it be to have the most significant event in the world’s history take place and you’re more interested in nachos, tea, and conversation? Pay attention. You just have to.
Bill T.
Luke 21:25-36
Over the last two decades, more books and films have been written about the End Times, the apocalypse or post-apocalyptic times, than ever before. What is our fascination with what comes after the end of the world as we know it? Maybe it’s fear. Maybe it’s relief. Maybe it’s a recognition that some people live in the terror of apocalypse right in the here and now and we want to have hope.
For people in war-torn, terror-stricken parts of the world -- with their homes lost, their families killed, their lives in despair -- the promise that something more is coming, something will come to bring relief, is vital to survival. People are praying for an opportunity to stand before God, before the Son of Man, and have their hopes realized, their lives put back into some semblance of order, their dreams fulfilled. That is the promise that God makes -- when all that we know of life is over, we will be at peace and the coming of the Son of Man will usher in that time. Praise God. Come, Lord Jesus.
Bonnie B.
Luke 21:25-36
How many “Christians” were predicting the end of the world on January 1, 2000? If they really had studied carefully that might have changed it to 1997, which some have suggested was the actual date of Jesus’ birth depending on who was king and what was happening at that time.
God missed that opportunity, and instead of an instant dramatic change we have only had a slow-moving “climate change.”
In almost every issue, science magazines tell of things happening in the universe. We are warned to watch out for meteors, which might crash into our earth. Ever since humans first started to write about pending scientific disasters, we have been waiting for that to happen.
It is true that there are countries that have experienced fantastic disasters from the sea that have wiped away cities. Japan, for one, had a disaster a few years ago that the people are still suffering from. The usual response is to plan ahead and take action to prevent future catastrophes -- like building higher dikes.
We are warned not to let our hearts be weighed down with concern.
If we trust in our God, we should have no need to get all upset. Instead of studying astronomy and geological occurrences to discover what God is telling us, we should look in our Bibles and in our hearts to know that our first concern must come from his Spirit.
At 88 years old, why should I care? I will be home with my Lord in just a few years, and then what happens on earth is no longer my concern. Even if heaven and earth pass away, God’s words and his promises will never pass away. I might love to see our Lord coming down from heaven in a great cloud, but I will already be with him!
It is not wrong to look for the signs of his coming, but don’t panic -- rejoice! Just keep praying that we may be able to stand in his presence.
Bob O.
Luke 21:25-36
People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory (Luke 21:26-27).
How long have the local decorations been up in your community? Can anyone think back to the first Christmas decorations you saw in a store? Maybe there's a reason we greet the first signs of the season with foreboding.
In the Little Apocalypse (as it is sometimes called), Jesus asks us to see a different decoration, the Son of Man coming in a cloud. Yeah, this image had been around longer than our Christmas decorations. It hearkens back to Daniel 7:14, written during the anguish when Antiochus IV Epiphanes did something so horrible in the Temple in Jerusalem -- no one quite knows what -- that people remembered it as the Abomination of Desolation. But help was on the way! No matter what was happening on the earth, Daniel showed the people the Son of Man standing next to the Ancient of Days who sat on the throne of heaven. So even though people fainted with fear and foreboding, they stayed faithful despite martyrdom. The tyrant was vanquished. Worship was restored.
Fast forward from 167 BC to 30 AD -- the people are filled with anguish about the coming Day of the Lord. Jesus points once more to the Son of Man descending with the clouds and reminds them help is on the way. It’s like a reboot of a favorite movie! See ? there’s Jesus!
Now fast forward one more time, from then to now. Same thing. Fear, foreboding, fainting -- and help is on the way. Son of Man. Clouds. Oh, and child in the manger.
Frank R.
