Sermon Illustrations for Advent 4 (2016)
Illustration
Object:
Isaiah 7:10-16
It was a difficult time for many Americans. The nation was engulfed in a civil war, and it looked as if it might never end. Bloody battles had taken the lives of brothers, husbands, and fathers. Homes had been destroyed and towns burned down. It was a time of hopelessness and despair. Into the ever-darkening gloom, American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote:
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
The song was a beacon of hope in a dark time. In this passage God’s people are also in a dark time. King Ahaz and the nation would soon be overrun by the Assyrians. There was to be a sign of hope, however. A young woman would give birth to a son. He would represent that God was still with his people, even in the dark times. This passage is cited by Matthew in a much greater way. In a world marred by the ugliness of sin, a ray of light would shine. A son would be born of a virgin. He would not just be a sign but an embodiment of the truth that God is with us.
Though Christmas is coming, you may find yourself in a dark world. Certainly on a global level, things look grim. Maybe they do on a personal level also. If so, hear the words of Longfellow’s song. Remember that no matter how dark it is, God is with you.
Bill T.
Isaiah 7:10-16
Isaiah 7 is set in Jerusalem during preparations for war. God instructs Isaiah to look for the king, who is out inspecting the city’s water resources. This stroll by the king was symptomatic of the high level of anxiety in the capital city. Isaiah’s purpose is to comfort him with a message from the Lord.
Isaiah 7:1-2 depicts the formation of a coalition by Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) and Syria in order to take the throne away from Ahaz, who was young -- barely over 20 years old.... Isaiah reminds Ahaz that these two nations are nothing more than “smoldering firebrands” making a last ditch effort that will not succeed.... Given these circumstances, the prophet encourages the king to put away his fears.... In verse 10, the prophet speaks to Ahaz a second time and encourages him to choose a sign from any region of the universe. But the king refuses the offer.
At this response, the prophet explodes, telling the king that he has become a wearisome burden not only to his people, but also to God. In essence, the king has renounced the true authority of his throne and thereby relinquished his right to rule. How will God respond to his disobedience?
God answers the king through the prophet: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son...”
(from Robert W. Neff and Frank Ramirez, Country Seer, City Prophet, The Unpopular Messages of Micah and Isaiah, pp. 40-42)
Frank R.
Isaiah 7:10-16
We can be impatient and that is normal, though we shouldn’t put God to the test! That seems to be the first thing most of us do. We demand to know when God is going to help us and overcome our enemies. Don’t ask the pastor to pass on your demands, thinking he might have more authority. He could ask, but he shouldn’t put God to the test.
After hanging up from a call which had given me many things to remember and write down, just as I started to write my wife asked me “What did they say?” I was writing it down while I still remembered the call -- but she shouted at me, demanding to know what was said. She couldn’t wait till I was finished writing! That has happened with both of us.
Do we put our parents to the test by asking what they are giving us for Christmas? Even Santa would not like that!
We often try the patience of one another. A boss may be impatient with a lazy employee. A teacher may be impatient with a student. We may be impatient with our children. There are so many we may be impatient with: a business, a doctor, a lawyer, even a friend. We may be impatient for Christmas to come.
We may be impatient with God, but don’t bug him! Just as we know Christmas will come, we know that God will come and give us what we need.
Look at what God gave us. This is the season when God has given us a (Christmas?) gift that should end all our impatience -- he gave us his Son! That should be enough to quiet us. Because of him, we know that at the end of this life we have a wonderful place prepared for us. Knowing that should make us more patient with all the problems of this life.
I saw a news item where many Venezuelans had to stand in line for hours to get food -- if there was any left when they got to end of the line. I wondered if I would be so patient.
We don’t have to wait like Venezuelans or those people back in Isaiah’s day. Our savior has already come and is with us now.
So be patient!
Bob O.
Isaiah 7:10-16
“Oh God, give me a sign that you are present with me!” Those words feel like words of desperation to me, words of the bereft and disconnected, the lost. We may not proclaim those words, but many of us long for some sign or signal that God is present in our lives. In this passage Ahaz is acting pious by not asking God for a sign, but the real reason he doesn’t want to seek a sign from God is because he wants to establish an alliance with the Assyrians against the kingdoms of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. Isaiah sees through the subterfuge and informs Ahaz that his plan will not work. God knows his heart.
We could debate all day if God really sided with one army against another; we can take the passage literally or metaphorically. The truth is that God knows our hearts. When we seek God’s presence in a particular situation, it may because our faith has faltered. It is not because God has moved away from us. The real question is: Are we seeking God to approve of a behavior or an action that moves us into relationship with God and our neighbor or moves us away from those relationships? Whether or not we feel the presence of God may depend on our actions and our motives, for God is always with us.
Bonnie B.
Romans 1:1-7
During a concert in June 2016 the unthinkable happened -- Beyoncé sneezed while performing during her Formation Tour. The sneeze occurred just as she was beginning to sing “Love on Top.” The crowd at New York’s Citi Field was stunned, as they saw for the first time that “the Queen” was human. Beyoncé could have allergies. She could have a cold. The sneeze became an internet sensation, and was dubbed “the sneeze heard round the world.”
Application: We are called to be saints, but we must realize who real saints truly are.
Ron L.
Romans 1:1-7
This lesson and the Advent season put before us the mystery of the incarnation and the virgin birth. A 2007 poll conducted by the Barna Group found that one in four Americans do not believe in the virgin birth. But only two in five endorse Jesus’ sinlessness. Additionally, in many segments of popular culture it is thought that science can provide all knowledge, a view contradicted by the physicist’s principle of uncertainty.
In struggling with how tough belief in the virgin birth is, the great Reformed theologian Karl Barth sees a close relationship between Christ’s divinity given in the virgin birth and the resurrection. He wrote: “Now it is no accident that for us the virgin birth is paralleled by the miracle of which the Easter witness speaks, the miracle of the empty tomb. They constitute... a single sign... to describe and mark out the existence of Jesus Christ, amid the many other existences in human history. The virgin birth at the opening and the empty tomb at the close of Jesus’ life bear witness that this life is a fact marked off from all the rest of human life” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. 1/2, p. 182).
Christ’s life is different from the rest of human history, and we need the virgin birth to remind us of this fact.
But it is so difficult to believe the virgin birth. Again Barth helps us in this struggle: “The mutual relationship between these two limits may perhaps be defined thus. The virgin birth denotes particularly the mystery of revelation. It denotes the fact that God stands at the start where revelation takes place -- God and not the arbitrary cleverness, capability, or piety of man. In Christ Jesus God comes forth... in order to act as God among us and upon us” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. 1/2, pp. 182-183).
You will understand the virgin birth and Easter when you first realize that God is involved, that with him in view they start to make sense. In this regard Barth affirmed the views of Martin Luther, who wrote on this matter: “Christian faith and Christian life stand in the single literal revelation of God, for where this is not so, no heart can ever be aware of this mystery, which hath been hidden from the world.... No creature can come to this knowledge, Christ himself alone revealeth to it in the heart itself. There all merit falls to the ground, all powers and abilities of reason count nothing with God, Christ alone must give it” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. 1/1, p. 134; cf. Complete Sermons, Vol. 7, pp. 210,237).
God is the one who alone makes faith in the virgin birth possible.
Mark E.
Matthew 1:18-25
We live in a world where some men believe it is their duty to kill wives and sisters under the abhorrent code of something called “honor killings,” which are anything but honorable. It cannot be forgotten that part of the miracle of Christmas (something not usually depicted in overly pious cinematic versions of the nativity saga) is that in some ways it’s a miracle that Joseph didn’t self-righteously have Mary killed when she was discovered to be pregnant.
The evangelist Matthew alludes to this, however, giving Joseph credit for not engaging in public shaming of Mary. Even though he evidently does not believe Mary’s story that there is something miraculous about her pregnancy beyond human experience, he nevertheless refuses to obey the letter of the law and have Mary killed. His resolve to divorce her quietly, doing less than the law demands, opens the door to a miracle. The choice towards grace makes miracles possible.
Frank R.
Matthew 1:18-25
As a boy I used to climb trees. Maybe some of you did too. My brother and I had what I called a treehouse in the apple tree in our backyard. We spent quite a few summer days in that old tree. My brother and I were, as many kids are, daredevils. We were often not content to just climb to the treehouse. We wanted to climb higher. Of course, as one of us got higher up the other would seek to go further. I can remember being pretty high up in that tree where the branches are thinner and the support is less. It was a bit scary up there.
I thought of that old apple tree and our climbs as I read this familiar passage. We have a tendency to look at this text with eyes that already know what’s coming. We want to urge Joseph along. “No,” we say, “you can’t divorce Mary. This baby is the messiah. He will change the world.” I don’t think Joseph had the benefit of looking at these events backward. He was thrust in the middle of a situation he did not understand. His world was turned upside-down. His espoused wife was pregnant. The baby wasn’t his. He loved her, but this was too much. It was too heavy. Joseph was high up among the thin branches. I’m sure he longed to find security. I’m guessing he was sorely tempted to end it as gracefully as he could with Mary and slip back into anonymity. God, though, had a different idea.
He sent his angel to tell Joseph that everything was good. This baby was God’s son, and he would raise him. He was to give the child the name “Jesus.” The child would save his people from their sins. He would be called “Emmanuel.” God was with his people. I can only imagine how this must’ve hit Joseph. In essence, God was telling him to hang out here among the thin branches. It will be tough. The winds will blow and your life will seem to be tossed here and there, but trust me. In an understated declaration of faith, “when Joseph awoke from sleep, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him.” As this Christmas approaches, how much do I trust God? How much do you?
Bill T.
Matthew 1:18-25
It was usual that after an engagement the couple waited about a year before the wedding took place. Any pregnancy before the wedding could be considered adultery.
It is surprising that Joseph’s divorce should have made her innocent. You would think that the birth of a child to a single woman would have been shameful. Did they plan an abortion? This is a mystery. I would think it would be less shameful if they married and had an “early” pregnancy (or maybe left town for a while until the child was born).
But Joseph was a righteous man who loved Mary and wanted to protect her. It took a visit from the Lord to convince him that it was acceptable to marry her. In some cases it takes an intervention from the Lord to make things right.
Many pastors I have talked with said it took an intervention of the Lord to bring them into the ministry. The Lord spoke to me through his Word to get me into the ministry at the age of 30! I was happy in the motion picture business (which was my job at the time), so it took the Lord to get me to seminary.
An angel or anyone God sends to convince us of some assignment may mean anything to us. God can work through our parents or a teacher or a pastor or just a fellow Christian. It is up to him to lead us in any way using any means. Just as the gifts you get for Christmas may come as a surprise, so the Lord can order messengers to send us where he wants us to go and communicate what he wants us to do.
Joseph’s obedience means a lot to us today. Who knows what would have happened if he had refused God’s leading?
Sometimes I can only know where God wants me to go by looking back and seeing if I have been following his will or my own imagination. It is important to listen carefully to God’s leading, even if we confirm it by asking a pastor or someone we trust.
Bob O.
It was a difficult time for many Americans. The nation was engulfed in a civil war, and it looked as if it might never end. Bloody battles had taken the lives of brothers, husbands, and fathers. Homes had been destroyed and towns burned down. It was a time of hopelessness and despair. Into the ever-darkening gloom, American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote:
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
The song was a beacon of hope in a dark time. In this passage God’s people are also in a dark time. King Ahaz and the nation would soon be overrun by the Assyrians. There was to be a sign of hope, however. A young woman would give birth to a son. He would represent that God was still with his people, even in the dark times. This passage is cited by Matthew in a much greater way. In a world marred by the ugliness of sin, a ray of light would shine. A son would be born of a virgin. He would not just be a sign but an embodiment of the truth that God is with us.
Though Christmas is coming, you may find yourself in a dark world. Certainly on a global level, things look grim. Maybe they do on a personal level also. If so, hear the words of Longfellow’s song. Remember that no matter how dark it is, God is with you.
Bill T.
Isaiah 7:10-16
Isaiah 7 is set in Jerusalem during preparations for war. God instructs Isaiah to look for the king, who is out inspecting the city’s water resources. This stroll by the king was symptomatic of the high level of anxiety in the capital city. Isaiah’s purpose is to comfort him with a message from the Lord.
Isaiah 7:1-2 depicts the formation of a coalition by Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) and Syria in order to take the throne away from Ahaz, who was young -- barely over 20 years old.... Isaiah reminds Ahaz that these two nations are nothing more than “smoldering firebrands” making a last ditch effort that will not succeed.... Given these circumstances, the prophet encourages the king to put away his fears.... In verse 10, the prophet speaks to Ahaz a second time and encourages him to choose a sign from any region of the universe. But the king refuses the offer.
At this response, the prophet explodes, telling the king that he has become a wearisome burden not only to his people, but also to God. In essence, the king has renounced the true authority of his throne and thereby relinquished his right to rule. How will God respond to his disobedience?
God answers the king through the prophet: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son...”
(from Robert W. Neff and Frank Ramirez, Country Seer, City Prophet, The Unpopular Messages of Micah and Isaiah, pp. 40-42)
Frank R.
Isaiah 7:10-16
We can be impatient and that is normal, though we shouldn’t put God to the test! That seems to be the first thing most of us do. We demand to know when God is going to help us and overcome our enemies. Don’t ask the pastor to pass on your demands, thinking he might have more authority. He could ask, but he shouldn’t put God to the test.
After hanging up from a call which had given me many things to remember and write down, just as I started to write my wife asked me “What did they say?” I was writing it down while I still remembered the call -- but she shouted at me, demanding to know what was said. She couldn’t wait till I was finished writing! That has happened with both of us.
Do we put our parents to the test by asking what they are giving us for Christmas? Even Santa would not like that!
We often try the patience of one another. A boss may be impatient with a lazy employee. A teacher may be impatient with a student. We may be impatient with our children. There are so many we may be impatient with: a business, a doctor, a lawyer, even a friend. We may be impatient for Christmas to come.
We may be impatient with God, but don’t bug him! Just as we know Christmas will come, we know that God will come and give us what we need.
Look at what God gave us. This is the season when God has given us a (Christmas?) gift that should end all our impatience -- he gave us his Son! That should be enough to quiet us. Because of him, we know that at the end of this life we have a wonderful place prepared for us. Knowing that should make us more patient with all the problems of this life.
I saw a news item where many Venezuelans had to stand in line for hours to get food -- if there was any left when they got to end of the line. I wondered if I would be so patient.
We don’t have to wait like Venezuelans or those people back in Isaiah’s day. Our savior has already come and is with us now.
So be patient!
Bob O.
Isaiah 7:10-16
“Oh God, give me a sign that you are present with me!” Those words feel like words of desperation to me, words of the bereft and disconnected, the lost. We may not proclaim those words, but many of us long for some sign or signal that God is present in our lives. In this passage Ahaz is acting pious by not asking God for a sign, but the real reason he doesn’t want to seek a sign from God is because he wants to establish an alliance with the Assyrians against the kingdoms of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. Isaiah sees through the subterfuge and informs Ahaz that his plan will not work. God knows his heart.
We could debate all day if God really sided with one army against another; we can take the passage literally or metaphorically. The truth is that God knows our hearts. When we seek God’s presence in a particular situation, it may because our faith has faltered. It is not because God has moved away from us. The real question is: Are we seeking God to approve of a behavior or an action that moves us into relationship with God and our neighbor or moves us away from those relationships? Whether or not we feel the presence of God may depend on our actions and our motives, for God is always with us.
Bonnie B.
Romans 1:1-7
During a concert in June 2016 the unthinkable happened -- Beyoncé sneezed while performing during her Formation Tour. The sneeze occurred just as she was beginning to sing “Love on Top.” The crowd at New York’s Citi Field was stunned, as they saw for the first time that “the Queen” was human. Beyoncé could have allergies. She could have a cold. The sneeze became an internet sensation, and was dubbed “the sneeze heard round the world.”
Application: We are called to be saints, but we must realize who real saints truly are.
Ron L.
Romans 1:1-7
This lesson and the Advent season put before us the mystery of the incarnation and the virgin birth. A 2007 poll conducted by the Barna Group found that one in four Americans do not believe in the virgin birth. But only two in five endorse Jesus’ sinlessness. Additionally, in many segments of popular culture it is thought that science can provide all knowledge, a view contradicted by the physicist’s principle of uncertainty.
In struggling with how tough belief in the virgin birth is, the great Reformed theologian Karl Barth sees a close relationship between Christ’s divinity given in the virgin birth and the resurrection. He wrote: “Now it is no accident that for us the virgin birth is paralleled by the miracle of which the Easter witness speaks, the miracle of the empty tomb. They constitute... a single sign... to describe and mark out the existence of Jesus Christ, amid the many other existences in human history. The virgin birth at the opening and the empty tomb at the close of Jesus’ life bear witness that this life is a fact marked off from all the rest of human life” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. 1/2, p. 182).
Christ’s life is different from the rest of human history, and we need the virgin birth to remind us of this fact.
But it is so difficult to believe the virgin birth. Again Barth helps us in this struggle: “The mutual relationship between these two limits may perhaps be defined thus. The virgin birth denotes particularly the mystery of revelation. It denotes the fact that God stands at the start where revelation takes place -- God and not the arbitrary cleverness, capability, or piety of man. In Christ Jesus God comes forth... in order to act as God among us and upon us” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. 1/2, pp. 182-183).
You will understand the virgin birth and Easter when you first realize that God is involved, that with him in view they start to make sense. In this regard Barth affirmed the views of Martin Luther, who wrote on this matter: “Christian faith and Christian life stand in the single literal revelation of God, for where this is not so, no heart can ever be aware of this mystery, which hath been hidden from the world.... No creature can come to this knowledge, Christ himself alone revealeth to it in the heart itself. There all merit falls to the ground, all powers and abilities of reason count nothing with God, Christ alone must give it” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. 1/1, p. 134; cf. Complete Sermons, Vol. 7, pp. 210,237).
God is the one who alone makes faith in the virgin birth possible.
Mark E.
Matthew 1:18-25
We live in a world where some men believe it is their duty to kill wives and sisters under the abhorrent code of something called “honor killings,” which are anything but honorable. It cannot be forgotten that part of the miracle of Christmas (something not usually depicted in overly pious cinematic versions of the nativity saga) is that in some ways it’s a miracle that Joseph didn’t self-righteously have Mary killed when she was discovered to be pregnant.
The evangelist Matthew alludes to this, however, giving Joseph credit for not engaging in public shaming of Mary. Even though he evidently does not believe Mary’s story that there is something miraculous about her pregnancy beyond human experience, he nevertheless refuses to obey the letter of the law and have Mary killed. His resolve to divorce her quietly, doing less than the law demands, opens the door to a miracle. The choice towards grace makes miracles possible.
Frank R.
Matthew 1:18-25
As a boy I used to climb trees. Maybe some of you did too. My brother and I had what I called a treehouse in the apple tree in our backyard. We spent quite a few summer days in that old tree. My brother and I were, as many kids are, daredevils. We were often not content to just climb to the treehouse. We wanted to climb higher. Of course, as one of us got higher up the other would seek to go further. I can remember being pretty high up in that tree where the branches are thinner and the support is less. It was a bit scary up there.
I thought of that old apple tree and our climbs as I read this familiar passage. We have a tendency to look at this text with eyes that already know what’s coming. We want to urge Joseph along. “No,” we say, “you can’t divorce Mary. This baby is the messiah. He will change the world.” I don’t think Joseph had the benefit of looking at these events backward. He was thrust in the middle of a situation he did not understand. His world was turned upside-down. His espoused wife was pregnant. The baby wasn’t his. He loved her, but this was too much. It was too heavy. Joseph was high up among the thin branches. I’m sure he longed to find security. I’m guessing he was sorely tempted to end it as gracefully as he could with Mary and slip back into anonymity. God, though, had a different idea.
He sent his angel to tell Joseph that everything was good. This baby was God’s son, and he would raise him. He was to give the child the name “Jesus.” The child would save his people from their sins. He would be called “Emmanuel.” God was with his people. I can only imagine how this must’ve hit Joseph. In essence, God was telling him to hang out here among the thin branches. It will be tough. The winds will blow and your life will seem to be tossed here and there, but trust me. In an understated declaration of faith, “when Joseph awoke from sleep, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him.” As this Christmas approaches, how much do I trust God? How much do you?
Bill T.
Matthew 1:18-25
It was usual that after an engagement the couple waited about a year before the wedding took place. Any pregnancy before the wedding could be considered adultery.
It is surprising that Joseph’s divorce should have made her innocent. You would think that the birth of a child to a single woman would have been shameful. Did they plan an abortion? This is a mystery. I would think it would be less shameful if they married and had an “early” pregnancy (or maybe left town for a while until the child was born).
But Joseph was a righteous man who loved Mary and wanted to protect her. It took a visit from the Lord to convince him that it was acceptable to marry her. In some cases it takes an intervention from the Lord to make things right.
Many pastors I have talked with said it took an intervention of the Lord to bring them into the ministry. The Lord spoke to me through his Word to get me into the ministry at the age of 30! I was happy in the motion picture business (which was my job at the time), so it took the Lord to get me to seminary.
An angel or anyone God sends to convince us of some assignment may mean anything to us. God can work through our parents or a teacher or a pastor or just a fellow Christian. It is up to him to lead us in any way using any means. Just as the gifts you get for Christmas may come as a surprise, so the Lord can order messengers to send us where he wants us to go and communicate what he wants us to do.
Joseph’s obedience means a lot to us today. Who knows what would have happened if he had refused God’s leading?
Sometimes I can only know where God wants me to go by looking back and seeing if I have been following his will or my own imagination. It is important to listen carefully to God’s leading, even if we confirm it by asking a pastor or someone we trust.
Bob O.
