Sermon Illustrations for Easter 2 (2014)
Illustration
Object:
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
As all the other Anglicans in church knelt at their pews, during prayer George Washington would stand tall at his. An explanation was never offered for this action. It was wondered if Washington was imitating the early Christians who stood during prayer as a part of their Jewish heritage, or if he stood for that is how he did it as an officer when he served in the English army. In either case, it is certainly a declaration that Washington understood himself to be a "child of God."
Application: When Peter preached his sermon he stood before the crowd, knowing he was a "child of God."
Ron L.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Peter's preaching on the first Pentecost was a testimony to the fact that though Jesus has returned to heaven we on earth are not alone. God always goes with us wherever we go. John Calvin made that point clearly: "If we will have God present with us, we must set him before our eyes; and that before he does appear; for the prospect of faith pierceth far further than unto the present experience. Therefore faith hath this property, to set God always before it as a guide in all dangers and confused matters" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/2, p. 104).
With the resurrection of Jesus, he is everywhere. For those of us who did not actually observe his resurrection, it is no longer that we just know about him. We actually come to know him. It is like the great existentialist Soren Kierkegaard once noted: The only way one can be a follower of Jesus is to become contemporaneous with him, for there can be no disciples at second hand (Philosophical Fragments, pp. 125-126).
The awareness of being in Jesus' presence like this makes life a joy. Martin Luther nicely conveys these feelings and their consequences for launching us on a life of love: "The knowledge of and confidence in God's grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith... It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly" (Luther's Works, Vol. 35, pp. 371, 370).
The Reformer makes a similar point elsewhere about Christ's presence in our lives: "[Christ] does not come with a great voice, with storm and commotion, but very orderly; not changing nor breaking anything in the outward affairs of human life... Thus he does not derange and displace anything in man, neither his sense nor his reason; but he illuminates and changes for the better his heart and reason" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/2, p. 384).
Mark E.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Blaise Pascal said that in every human heart there is a God-shaped vacuum that can never be filled by any created thing. The vacuum can only be filled by God, made known though Jesus Christ.
The only explanation for Jesus being able to fill that vacuum is that he was raised from the dead on Easter Sunday morning. Anyone who has had a personal dynamic relationship with Jesus understands Pascal's thinking.
Derl K.
1 Peter 1:3-9
Our first assignment is to give praise to God the Father of Jesus. Even when troubles come and you have problems, we should first praise the Father. Why? Because he has given us a new birth, a living hope, through Jesus' resurrection. As some would say, "We are born again." We should look ahead to our inheritance, which can never be taken from us. If we will move to a beautiful place in Hawaii next year, why worry about a few small problems now?
Faith is the key to that "gift" from God. Make sure your key fits. That is a lifetime task. That is why we need a church fellowship. That is why we need to keep the Bible in our hands, our hearts, and our minds. No, it is not through our works. It is through faith in Christ's work.
We have to remember that it will come to us in the last time. That could mean your last time and not the end of the world. The older we get, the more we think about that last time and what is in store for us.
Then comes the down side. We don't like to think of it. We want our life to be one great joy to the end. I can tell you that as an 86-year-old, I have had many trials. I have felt much testing to see if my faith is genuine. Don't let it surprise you. Prepare for it. Pray for the strength to survive the trials and pain that lays ahead for all of us. So far I have met no one who has not had some pain in their life. Have you? Just for one, the older we get, the more we check out the obituary pages to see if we have any friends there -- not to mention dear members of our family.
Through all this we should keep looking ahead to the reward God has for us through Christ. That can strengthen our faith.
That last item has given many believers a hard time. How can we believe in someone we have never seen? How do we know that that glorious promise is not in vain? We only believe by faith. Think of the wind. We don't see it, but we see what it does and how it moves things. When I see a person living a powerful Christian life -- even willing to sacrifice his life for his faith -- then I know there must be something inside him.
I once told an atheist that if I were a betting man I had two choices. If there is nothing after this life, then we, both Christian and atheist, will end up the same regardless how we live; but if God's message is true, then a Christian will reap an unimaginable reward while the atheist will suffer for all eternity.
Read that passage again and place your bet.
Bob O.
John 20:19-31
The Masada was Herod's summer palace and fortress. It is in the middle of the desert and high upon a hill. Today tourists have the opportunity to visit the grounds. One of the interesting areas is the aqueduct system that brought fresh water for drinking, bathing, and other uses. The aqueduct was also meant to supply the garrison in time of siege. Without it the people would have been cut off and at the enemy's mercy; but with the well inside the foe had no power.
Someone wrote that the peace the world seeks really depends on one's surroundings. In time of trouble its sources can be cut off like the river outside the fortress. But the peace Christ gives is that of the aqueduct within; most important in our hours of need.
Derl K.
John 20:19-31
Doubt about the resurrection is not just Thomas' hang-up. A 2010 Rasmussen Reports survey indicated that 1 in 5 Americans do not believe Jesus rose. Doubt and skepticism are typical of our age. William Shakespeare once suggested that doubt is rooted in fear: "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt" (Measure for Measure).
You see, the risen Jesus Christ overcomes our doubts through faith, Martin Luther says:
... it snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside ourselves, so that we do not depend on our strength, conscience, experience, person, or works, but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is on the promise and truth of God, which cannot deceive.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 26, p. 387)
In getting us outside ourselves so we don't have to depend on ourselves, our doubts and fear begin to vanish. Regarding Thomas' doubts and Jesus' response, the Reformer adds that the account was written "for our sakes that we may learn how Christ loves us, and how amiably, fatherly, gently, and mildly he deals with us and would deal with us" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, pp. 58-59).
If we are looking for the risen Lord, Luther proceeds to note, the story in the gospel of Jesus entering the room of the disciples though the doors were locked (v. 19) "denotes nothing else than he is standing in our hearts..." (Ibid., Vol. 1/2, p. 354).
Mark E.
John 20:19-31
Transactional analysis (TA) is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. TA was first developed by psychiatrist Eric Berne starting the late 1950s. It came to the forefront of public attention with the 1964 publication of his book. It remained in vogue for a decade. TA reports that we respond in social situations as a Parent – Child – Adult. The healthiest response is that of an Adult who uses reason. As a Parent we scold and think we know best. The least appropriate is that of a Child, who is demanding and can certainly be angry. As individuals of a mature age, we can display any one of the three.
Application: How was doubting Thomas responding to the Lord -- as a child, as a parent, or as an adult? Was Thomas justified in his behavior, in his doubting?
Ron L.
As all the other Anglicans in church knelt at their pews, during prayer George Washington would stand tall at his. An explanation was never offered for this action. It was wondered if Washington was imitating the early Christians who stood during prayer as a part of their Jewish heritage, or if he stood for that is how he did it as an officer when he served in the English army. In either case, it is certainly a declaration that Washington understood himself to be a "child of God."
Application: When Peter preached his sermon he stood before the crowd, knowing he was a "child of God."
Ron L.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Peter's preaching on the first Pentecost was a testimony to the fact that though Jesus has returned to heaven we on earth are not alone. God always goes with us wherever we go. John Calvin made that point clearly: "If we will have God present with us, we must set him before our eyes; and that before he does appear; for the prospect of faith pierceth far further than unto the present experience. Therefore faith hath this property, to set God always before it as a guide in all dangers and confused matters" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/2, p. 104).
With the resurrection of Jesus, he is everywhere. For those of us who did not actually observe his resurrection, it is no longer that we just know about him. We actually come to know him. It is like the great existentialist Soren Kierkegaard once noted: The only way one can be a follower of Jesus is to become contemporaneous with him, for there can be no disciples at second hand (Philosophical Fragments, pp. 125-126).
The awareness of being in Jesus' presence like this makes life a joy. Martin Luther nicely conveys these feelings and their consequences for launching us on a life of love: "The knowledge of and confidence in God's grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith... It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly" (Luther's Works, Vol. 35, pp. 371, 370).
The Reformer makes a similar point elsewhere about Christ's presence in our lives: "[Christ] does not come with a great voice, with storm and commotion, but very orderly; not changing nor breaking anything in the outward affairs of human life... Thus he does not derange and displace anything in man, neither his sense nor his reason; but he illuminates and changes for the better his heart and reason" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/2, p. 384).
Mark E.
Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Blaise Pascal said that in every human heart there is a God-shaped vacuum that can never be filled by any created thing. The vacuum can only be filled by God, made known though Jesus Christ.
The only explanation for Jesus being able to fill that vacuum is that he was raised from the dead on Easter Sunday morning. Anyone who has had a personal dynamic relationship with Jesus understands Pascal's thinking.
Derl K.
1 Peter 1:3-9
Our first assignment is to give praise to God the Father of Jesus. Even when troubles come and you have problems, we should first praise the Father. Why? Because he has given us a new birth, a living hope, through Jesus' resurrection. As some would say, "We are born again." We should look ahead to our inheritance, which can never be taken from us. If we will move to a beautiful place in Hawaii next year, why worry about a few small problems now?
Faith is the key to that "gift" from God. Make sure your key fits. That is a lifetime task. That is why we need a church fellowship. That is why we need to keep the Bible in our hands, our hearts, and our minds. No, it is not through our works. It is through faith in Christ's work.
We have to remember that it will come to us in the last time. That could mean your last time and not the end of the world. The older we get, the more we think about that last time and what is in store for us.
Then comes the down side. We don't like to think of it. We want our life to be one great joy to the end. I can tell you that as an 86-year-old, I have had many trials. I have felt much testing to see if my faith is genuine. Don't let it surprise you. Prepare for it. Pray for the strength to survive the trials and pain that lays ahead for all of us. So far I have met no one who has not had some pain in their life. Have you? Just for one, the older we get, the more we check out the obituary pages to see if we have any friends there -- not to mention dear members of our family.
Through all this we should keep looking ahead to the reward God has for us through Christ. That can strengthen our faith.
That last item has given many believers a hard time. How can we believe in someone we have never seen? How do we know that that glorious promise is not in vain? We only believe by faith. Think of the wind. We don't see it, but we see what it does and how it moves things. When I see a person living a powerful Christian life -- even willing to sacrifice his life for his faith -- then I know there must be something inside him.
I once told an atheist that if I were a betting man I had two choices. If there is nothing after this life, then we, both Christian and atheist, will end up the same regardless how we live; but if God's message is true, then a Christian will reap an unimaginable reward while the atheist will suffer for all eternity.
Read that passage again and place your bet.
Bob O.
John 20:19-31
The Masada was Herod's summer palace and fortress. It is in the middle of the desert and high upon a hill. Today tourists have the opportunity to visit the grounds. One of the interesting areas is the aqueduct system that brought fresh water for drinking, bathing, and other uses. The aqueduct was also meant to supply the garrison in time of siege. Without it the people would have been cut off and at the enemy's mercy; but with the well inside the foe had no power.
Someone wrote that the peace the world seeks really depends on one's surroundings. In time of trouble its sources can be cut off like the river outside the fortress. But the peace Christ gives is that of the aqueduct within; most important in our hours of need.
Derl K.
John 20:19-31
Doubt about the resurrection is not just Thomas' hang-up. A 2010 Rasmussen Reports survey indicated that 1 in 5 Americans do not believe Jesus rose. Doubt and skepticism are typical of our age. William Shakespeare once suggested that doubt is rooted in fear: "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt" (Measure for Measure).
You see, the risen Jesus Christ overcomes our doubts through faith, Martin Luther says:
... it snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside ourselves, so that we do not depend on our strength, conscience, experience, person, or works, but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is on the promise and truth of God, which cannot deceive.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 26, p. 387)
In getting us outside ourselves so we don't have to depend on ourselves, our doubts and fear begin to vanish. Regarding Thomas' doubts and Jesus' response, the Reformer adds that the account was written "for our sakes that we may learn how Christ loves us, and how amiably, fatherly, gently, and mildly he deals with us and would deal with us" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, pp. 58-59).
If we are looking for the risen Lord, Luther proceeds to note, the story in the gospel of Jesus entering the room of the disciples though the doors were locked (v. 19) "denotes nothing else than he is standing in our hearts..." (Ibid., Vol. 1/2, p. 354).
Mark E.
John 20:19-31
Transactional analysis (TA) is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. TA was first developed by psychiatrist Eric Berne starting the late 1950s. It came to the forefront of public attention with the 1964 publication of his book. It remained in vogue for a decade. TA reports that we respond in social situations as a Parent – Child – Adult. The healthiest response is that of an Adult who uses reason. As a Parent we scold and think we know best. The least appropriate is that of a Child, who is demanding and can certainly be angry. As individuals of a mature age, we can display any one of the three.
Application: How was doubting Thomas responding to the Lord -- as a child, as a parent, or as an adult? Was Thomas justified in his behavior, in his doubting?
Ron L.
