Sermon Illustrations for Easter 3
Illustration
Object:
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Talk about a fire and brimstone sermon! Most will turn people off, but this one hit home. The folks Peter was addressing took it to heart. The sudden change is interesting. Thousands followed Jesus in his ministry. He healed many and fed 5,000 at one time, and yet when Jesus was on trial there were many who turned against him -- even right after that Palm Sunday march only a few days before. Were these the same ones who condemned him or was this a different group? Remember that the Pharisees had him captured in secret in the garden so the crowd would not overcome them. So were these the people who Jesus was addressing? Were some of them Pharisee recruits hired for the day? Were these ones who had been followers but who now joined the mob?
A reporter was following a rioting crowd one time and he was asking some of the rioters what they were upset about. He found several who looked surprised and answered, "I don't know what the problem is. I was just following the gang."
How many today are just following the gang, either for good or evil? We know that today journalists can create crowds to follow their challenging reports in newspapers or on TV. They can be tea party revelers, religious extremists, racists, Wall Street marchers, or some who were angry at the result of a trial like the Trayvon Martin death. They can also be marching for good, like a Martin Luther King rally. How many of those who came to his rallies were there because they just wanted to be part of a crowd that looked exciting rather than to see King? Maybe they were for or against something or maybe they were just bored or a friend dragged them along. Some are told that they just have no guts or principles if they don't follow the crowd.
Why are you in church today? Family tradition? Spouse pushed you to come? Feeling guilt if you aren't sure what you believe and you want to be a good example for your children? Of course, there are many here for the right reason: to be in a fellowship of believers and to learn more about our Lord and how we can please him. We don't want to be a part of the corrupt generation.
If we confess our failures and believe in our Lord, then we don't have to worry.
Bob O.
1 Peter 1:17-23
Dr. Adam Geibel, a music publisher, was in need of a new hymn that would be, "sympathetic in tone, breathing tenderness in every line: one that would bring hope to the hopeless." He turned to Austin Miles. The song "In The Garden" was born from the heart of Miles.
The words of the song speak to the hope that Geibel wanted. Coming to the garden of the soul, each person has the ability to hear the voice of God speaking to them as they pray. Walking and talking with God brings hope and joy that no one else can fill but God alone. That hope is what we long for daily.
Derl K.
1 Peter 1:17-23
Democratic President Harry Truman so disliked Robert Taft, the Republican Senator from Ohio, that he instructed the pilot of Air Force One to inform him when they were flying over the state of Ohio. When Truman was told the plane was in Ohio's airspace, he would get up, use the facilities, and flush as a symbolic act of displeasure.
Application: It would appear that President Truman still needed to learn the lesson of "loving one another deeply from the heart."
Ron L.
1 Peter 1:17-23
This lesson's call to holy living seems to put more pressure on us. The famous 20th-century theologian Karl Barth has an insight that takes off some of the pressure: "Man becomes holy in virtue of the holiness of God who graciously takes action on his behalf" (Church Dogmatics, Vol. II/2, p. 364).
It seems that our holiness is the result of God's holiness, of what he put into us. It is rather like the right kind of nutrition put in you (food high in protein and carbohydrates) gives you energy (Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, pp. 148-149).
Martin Luther offers similar insights along this line: "For when the gospel enters the heart, the evil inclination soon departs... for the word has such grace that the more one deals with it, the sweeter it becomes" (Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 41).
"Now where it [the word] takes root in the heart, the Holy Spirit is present and creates a new man. There an entirely new man comes into being, other thoughts, other words and works. Thus you are completely changed. Now you seek everything from which you formerly fled; and what you formerly sought, that you flee" (Ibid., p. 44).
Mark E.
Luke 24:13-35
There were two men walking along. Only one is named, Cleopas, so who was the other? Some speculate that it might have been Luke, who was too humble to give his name. It could have been you or I, if we had lived back then. I remember talking with someone who I didn't recognize, but as we talked I began to see that he or she might be a powerful Christian brother who made my heart burn. Haven't we all met someone like that at one time in our lives?
When I was in a pastor's meeting where we all came from different denominations, I began to recognize some who were powerful Christians. I was attracted to them -- even though they might not have been Lutheran. We developed a bond through our common faith in our Lord. I know that I did not want to stop talking with them and planned to meet with them often. My heart burned as we conversed. I remember one professor who stood out from the others because I felt that Jesus was working in his heart -- whatever he taught. We have to ask God to give us his Spirit so we can recognize genuine Christian brothers and sisters. If we have been a true Christian in our own life, it is easier to recognize a fellow believer. The faith that my folks planted in me helped me to recognize faith in others.
One thing can affect us as it did those disciples, and that is our presuppositions. Do we also assume in our minds that no one can rise from the dead, even if some others tell us they have seen that person? We are trapped by our background, by things we have been taught, by subjects we have studied. Are we trapped by our family traditions, by what we call scientific logic?
And when we are in our own church fellowship, do we recognize Christ when we take the bread and wine at communion? Are we changed after communing? Symbols only take on meaning when we have met the one who is represented in them.
Read the book Life After Life by Moody. He tells about patients who have had an out-of-body experience when they were clinically dead, but remember meeting someone in white who welcomed them.
I had one member who had that happen. Fred said that when he was home alone and had a heart attack, the pain suddenly stopped and he floated up to see Jesus who asked him if he was ready. When he said he wanted to wait until his wife who was in the hospital died, he felt the hands pushing him back to his bed. He survived to bury his wife and marry a friend of theirs. I should add that his heart was also healed. He was a changed man and no longer feared death.
We have Jesus' promise. If we believe him, we no longer need fear death.
Bob O.
Talk about a fire and brimstone sermon! Most will turn people off, but this one hit home. The folks Peter was addressing took it to heart. The sudden change is interesting. Thousands followed Jesus in his ministry. He healed many and fed 5,000 at one time, and yet when Jesus was on trial there were many who turned against him -- even right after that Palm Sunday march only a few days before. Were these the same ones who condemned him or was this a different group? Remember that the Pharisees had him captured in secret in the garden so the crowd would not overcome them. So were these the people who Jesus was addressing? Were some of them Pharisee recruits hired for the day? Were these ones who had been followers but who now joined the mob?
A reporter was following a rioting crowd one time and he was asking some of the rioters what they were upset about. He found several who looked surprised and answered, "I don't know what the problem is. I was just following the gang."
How many today are just following the gang, either for good or evil? We know that today journalists can create crowds to follow their challenging reports in newspapers or on TV. They can be tea party revelers, religious extremists, racists, Wall Street marchers, or some who were angry at the result of a trial like the Trayvon Martin death. They can also be marching for good, like a Martin Luther King rally. How many of those who came to his rallies were there because they just wanted to be part of a crowd that looked exciting rather than to see King? Maybe they were for or against something or maybe they were just bored or a friend dragged them along. Some are told that they just have no guts or principles if they don't follow the crowd.
Why are you in church today? Family tradition? Spouse pushed you to come? Feeling guilt if you aren't sure what you believe and you want to be a good example for your children? Of course, there are many here for the right reason: to be in a fellowship of believers and to learn more about our Lord and how we can please him. We don't want to be a part of the corrupt generation.
If we confess our failures and believe in our Lord, then we don't have to worry.
Bob O.
1 Peter 1:17-23
Dr. Adam Geibel, a music publisher, was in need of a new hymn that would be, "sympathetic in tone, breathing tenderness in every line: one that would bring hope to the hopeless." He turned to Austin Miles. The song "In The Garden" was born from the heart of Miles.
The words of the song speak to the hope that Geibel wanted. Coming to the garden of the soul, each person has the ability to hear the voice of God speaking to them as they pray. Walking and talking with God brings hope and joy that no one else can fill but God alone. That hope is what we long for daily.
Derl K.
1 Peter 1:17-23
Democratic President Harry Truman so disliked Robert Taft, the Republican Senator from Ohio, that he instructed the pilot of Air Force One to inform him when they were flying over the state of Ohio. When Truman was told the plane was in Ohio's airspace, he would get up, use the facilities, and flush as a symbolic act of displeasure.
Application: It would appear that President Truman still needed to learn the lesson of "loving one another deeply from the heart."
Ron L.
1 Peter 1:17-23
This lesson's call to holy living seems to put more pressure on us. The famous 20th-century theologian Karl Barth has an insight that takes off some of the pressure: "Man becomes holy in virtue of the holiness of God who graciously takes action on his behalf" (Church Dogmatics, Vol. II/2, p. 364).
It seems that our holiness is the result of God's holiness, of what he put into us. It is rather like the right kind of nutrition put in you (food high in protein and carbohydrates) gives you energy (Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, pp. 148-149).
Martin Luther offers similar insights along this line: "For when the gospel enters the heart, the evil inclination soon departs... for the word has such grace that the more one deals with it, the sweeter it becomes" (Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 41).
"Now where it [the word] takes root in the heart, the Holy Spirit is present and creates a new man. There an entirely new man comes into being, other thoughts, other words and works. Thus you are completely changed. Now you seek everything from which you formerly fled; and what you formerly sought, that you flee" (Ibid., p. 44).
Mark E.
Luke 24:13-35
There were two men walking along. Only one is named, Cleopas, so who was the other? Some speculate that it might have been Luke, who was too humble to give his name. It could have been you or I, if we had lived back then. I remember talking with someone who I didn't recognize, but as we talked I began to see that he or she might be a powerful Christian brother who made my heart burn. Haven't we all met someone like that at one time in our lives?
When I was in a pastor's meeting where we all came from different denominations, I began to recognize some who were powerful Christians. I was attracted to them -- even though they might not have been Lutheran. We developed a bond through our common faith in our Lord. I know that I did not want to stop talking with them and planned to meet with them often. My heart burned as we conversed. I remember one professor who stood out from the others because I felt that Jesus was working in his heart -- whatever he taught. We have to ask God to give us his Spirit so we can recognize genuine Christian brothers and sisters. If we have been a true Christian in our own life, it is easier to recognize a fellow believer. The faith that my folks planted in me helped me to recognize faith in others.
One thing can affect us as it did those disciples, and that is our presuppositions. Do we also assume in our minds that no one can rise from the dead, even if some others tell us they have seen that person? We are trapped by our background, by things we have been taught, by subjects we have studied. Are we trapped by our family traditions, by what we call scientific logic?
And when we are in our own church fellowship, do we recognize Christ when we take the bread and wine at communion? Are we changed after communing? Symbols only take on meaning when we have met the one who is represented in them.
Read the book Life After Life by Moody. He tells about patients who have had an out-of-body experience when they were clinically dead, but remember meeting someone in white who welcomed them.
I had one member who had that happen. Fred said that when he was home alone and had a heart attack, the pain suddenly stopped and he floated up to see Jesus who asked him if he was ready. When he said he wanted to wait until his wife who was in the hospital died, he felt the hands pushing him back to his bed. He survived to bury his wife and marry a friend of theirs. I should add that his heart was also healed. He was a changed man and no longer feared death.
We have Jesus' promise. If we believe him, we no longer need fear death.
Bob O.
