Sermon illustrations for Easter 3 (2013)
Illustration
Object:
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Radiation therapy seeks to burn out the cancer that is within the body. Saul experienced a kind of radiation therapy on the road to Damascus. He had a cancer of misunderstanding and hate within him as he traveled to Damascus to persecute the Christians there. But the Great Physician had other plans for Saul, treating him with a radical therapy to open his eyes to a new truth so that he was now on a healthy, life-giving journey as a proclaimer of the faith.
Mark M.
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
There are some people and some denominations that believe God only comes to us dramatically, as he did to Paul. They aren't sure we are really saved unless we can point to a day and hour when the Lord came to us! Jesus certainly had to stop Paul from heading in the direction he was going! Of course, it is possible for God to come to us in such a spectacular way. Sometimes that is the only way he can get our attention! He came to me in a moment of enlightenment, though not as dramatic as Paul's experience. Some of my fundamentalist friends have accepted me when I told them about my experience. In my ministry I have rarely seen two people with the same experience of God's presence in their lives. Some have had a warm feeling, as though God has always been present in their life. I could never write a book about how we can come to God! I like to think that that first moment of God coming to me arrived at my baptism. What happened later was the result of my faithfulness to that first sacrament. I like to look at the way a person lives his life -- do I feel the love of God when I see him? Do I feel God's presence in his or her life? That is the best test. It is true that we may have a moment when God's presence became real to us, and we might want to share it, but don't tell others that your experience is the standard for all Christians.
One hint that Jesus has come into our life is if he sends us on an assignment for him, as he did for Paul. It is true that the assignment may not be to become a missionary to all the world. No one would be in our church here if that were the case. God gives us each a purpose for our life, even if it is only to be an example to our family and friends or to give generously to the church offering. Some may be given the gift of making much money. As the Bible tells us, we are blessed to be a blessing. Some are given great wealth so they can share with others who have little. Someone asked me how much I earned as a pastor. I told him that I earned about $500,000 a year. That shocked him and he said that he didn't realize pastor salaries were that high. I told him that he had asked how much did I earn and not how much did I receive as a salary. I pointed out that I worked at least as hard as some multimillionaires, but what I took home did not relate to how many hard hours I put in. I did mention that my work was in directing people to an eternal hope and not just how to raise a few bucks down here. How often what we take home bears little relationship to what we do in our job or career.
Paul spent the rest of his life serving his Lord. He even took a job on the side making tents so he wouldn't have to beg for a salary -- which he certainly earned! We don't have to go into all the world (unless that is where God calls us!) to serve our Lord. Most Christians perform one of the other many functions that the Lord has given us. Some of them are listed in the epistles, such as preaching and teaching and so forth.
Paul had to go through some painful moments while the Lord prepared him. Pastors have to endure four years of undergraduate work and then years and years of seminary as a starter! We should all prepare ourselves to serve the Lord for whatever he has planned for us. It started with Paul's baptism, and then the Holy Spirit led him. He will lead all of us too.
Bob O.
Revelation 5:11-14
Reference to the praise offered by all living creatures and animals to God warrants ecological concern. The following ecological data warrants attention: 1) Though Americans are only 4% of the world's population, we account for 25% of the carbon dioxide pollution; 2) The average American produces 29 pounds of garbage a week; and 3) Environmental destruction is also related to racism. People of color in America make up the majority of those living within 1.8 miles of the nation's hazardous waste dumps. But God will have creation praise him at the end, a thriving unpolluted earth, and so to work for ecology is to catch of glimpse of how God will be praised in eternity!
Mark E.
Revelation 5:11-14
When George Washington retired from public service as President of the United States, he returned to Mount Vernon to begin again his desire to be a gentleman farmer. Because of Washington's retirement from public to private life, many politicians referred to him as Cincinnatus.
In the fifth century BCE, Cincinnatus was a Roman farmer who was appointed dictator to secure central Italy from invading armies. After defeating the armies in a two-week battle, Cincinnatus surrendered his position as dictator and returned to being a farmer.
After Washington's resignation, the term Cincinnatus was used to name the organization whose membership was exclusively limited to prior military leaders and their sons. The common people feared the organization, thinking that in the newly formed democracy the members of Cincinnatus could become a new monarchy.
Ron L.
John 21:1-19
There is a church in the inner city of Philadelphia that takes literally Jesus' command to "Feed my sheep." Amidst urban decay and poverty, Shane Claiborne, author of Irresistible Revolution, leads a Christian community that not only rehabs dwellings and creates green space where concrete and garbage used to be, but also uses the technology of hydroponics to grow tilapia and garden produce in the middle of "the concrete jungle" to share with everyone in the neighborhood.
Mark M.
John 21:1-19
I was telling a Muslim I know why we were so sure Jesus was raised from the dead. The first thing I said was that 500 people witnessed his resurrection -- even though some doubted. Then I said that four of the eyewitnesses wrote books of the New Testament. Some who were witnesses died terrible deaths because of their testimony. (Why, I asked him, would any person die in agony to back up a story he knew was not true?) I showed him how many times Jesus appeared after his resurrection (as we read in this lesson). Then I asked him a dangerous question: "How many witnessed the angel talking to Mohammed?
Each time Jesus appeared it was still a surprise to his disciples. It took a few times for it to soak in that Jesus was really alive again!
It is interesting to notice in this passage that even after they saw Jesus raised from the dead, they still went back to work fishing! There they were in their boats, having little luck. Then Jesus gave them some advice, even though he was not a fisherman himself. It took another miracle for them to believe. To top it off, Jesus ate a fish with them. He was not just a ghost. He had showed them holes in his hands, which they could touch, and now he was eating with them. We are told that when we arrive in heaven, we can join a feast that has no end. It sounds like food will always be around!
It took three appearances before it finally dawned on the disciples that he had returned from the grave. When it finally convinced Peter, Jesus put him on the spot. He told him that he would have to quit fishing fish and start serving his Lord. He switched from fish to sheep. Now Peter could use all the training he had received when he walked with Jesus those few years before his crucifixion. The proof of Peter's love was that he changed his direction and served his Lord. Then Jesus hinted that serving him was going to cost Peter something more than just losing his fishing job. There is sometimes a great price to pay for serving our Lord. I discovered that on the mission field, where the indigenous pastors were thrown in jail and sometimes even executed! We need to ask ourselves: "If the Lord calls us to serve him, are we willing to stop what we are doing -- even quit our job? Are we willing to pay what price it may cost -- even jail or death?" History books are full of stories about those who served our Lord. They are still doing it today all over the world. Even I gave up my motion picture business to go to seminary to become a pastor. I met friends in seminary who also gave up everything to serve: some that I knew gave up careers in insurance, manufacturing, teaching, and farming. So the question for us is: "Are we ready to drop everything and follow him?"
Bob O.
Radiation therapy seeks to burn out the cancer that is within the body. Saul experienced a kind of radiation therapy on the road to Damascus. He had a cancer of misunderstanding and hate within him as he traveled to Damascus to persecute the Christians there. But the Great Physician had other plans for Saul, treating him with a radical therapy to open his eyes to a new truth so that he was now on a healthy, life-giving journey as a proclaimer of the faith.
Mark M.
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
There are some people and some denominations that believe God only comes to us dramatically, as he did to Paul. They aren't sure we are really saved unless we can point to a day and hour when the Lord came to us! Jesus certainly had to stop Paul from heading in the direction he was going! Of course, it is possible for God to come to us in such a spectacular way. Sometimes that is the only way he can get our attention! He came to me in a moment of enlightenment, though not as dramatic as Paul's experience. Some of my fundamentalist friends have accepted me when I told them about my experience. In my ministry I have rarely seen two people with the same experience of God's presence in their lives. Some have had a warm feeling, as though God has always been present in their life. I could never write a book about how we can come to God! I like to think that that first moment of God coming to me arrived at my baptism. What happened later was the result of my faithfulness to that first sacrament. I like to look at the way a person lives his life -- do I feel the love of God when I see him? Do I feel God's presence in his or her life? That is the best test. It is true that we may have a moment when God's presence became real to us, and we might want to share it, but don't tell others that your experience is the standard for all Christians.
One hint that Jesus has come into our life is if he sends us on an assignment for him, as he did for Paul. It is true that the assignment may not be to become a missionary to all the world. No one would be in our church here if that were the case. God gives us each a purpose for our life, even if it is only to be an example to our family and friends or to give generously to the church offering. Some may be given the gift of making much money. As the Bible tells us, we are blessed to be a blessing. Some are given great wealth so they can share with others who have little. Someone asked me how much I earned as a pastor. I told him that I earned about $500,000 a year. That shocked him and he said that he didn't realize pastor salaries were that high. I told him that he had asked how much did I earn and not how much did I receive as a salary. I pointed out that I worked at least as hard as some multimillionaires, but what I took home did not relate to how many hard hours I put in. I did mention that my work was in directing people to an eternal hope and not just how to raise a few bucks down here. How often what we take home bears little relationship to what we do in our job or career.
Paul spent the rest of his life serving his Lord. He even took a job on the side making tents so he wouldn't have to beg for a salary -- which he certainly earned! We don't have to go into all the world (unless that is where God calls us!) to serve our Lord. Most Christians perform one of the other many functions that the Lord has given us. Some of them are listed in the epistles, such as preaching and teaching and so forth.
Paul had to go through some painful moments while the Lord prepared him. Pastors have to endure four years of undergraduate work and then years and years of seminary as a starter! We should all prepare ourselves to serve the Lord for whatever he has planned for us. It started with Paul's baptism, and then the Holy Spirit led him. He will lead all of us too.
Bob O.
Revelation 5:11-14
Reference to the praise offered by all living creatures and animals to God warrants ecological concern. The following ecological data warrants attention: 1) Though Americans are only 4% of the world's population, we account for 25% of the carbon dioxide pollution; 2) The average American produces 29 pounds of garbage a week; and 3) Environmental destruction is also related to racism. People of color in America make up the majority of those living within 1.8 miles of the nation's hazardous waste dumps. But God will have creation praise him at the end, a thriving unpolluted earth, and so to work for ecology is to catch of glimpse of how God will be praised in eternity!
Mark E.
Revelation 5:11-14
When George Washington retired from public service as President of the United States, he returned to Mount Vernon to begin again his desire to be a gentleman farmer. Because of Washington's retirement from public to private life, many politicians referred to him as Cincinnatus.
In the fifth century BCE, Cincinnatus was a Roman farmer who was appointed dictator to secure central Italy from invading armies. After defeating the armies in a two-week battle, Cincinnatus surrendered his position as dictator and returned to being a farmer.
After Washington's resignation, the term Cincinnatus was used to name the organization whose membership was exclusively limited to prior military leaders and their sons. The common people feared the organization, thinking that in the newly formed democracy the members of Cincinnatus could become a new monarchy.
Ron L.
John 21:1-19
There is a church in the inner city of Philadelphia that takes literally Jesus' command to "Feed my sheep." Amidst urban decay and poverty, Shane Claiborne, author of Irresistible Revolution, leads a Christian community that not only rehabs dwellings and creates green space where concrete and garbage used to be, but also uses the technology of hydroponics to grow tilapia and garden produce in the middle of "the concrete jungle" to share with everyone in the neighborhood.
Mark M.
John 21:1-19
I was telling a Muslim I know why we were so sure Jesus was raised from the dead. The first thing I said was that 500 people witnessed his resurrection -- even though some doubted. Then I said that four of the eyewitnesses wrote books of the New Testament. Some who were witnesses died terrible deaths because of their testimony. (Why, I asked him, would any person die in agony to back up a story he knew was not true?) I showed him how many times Jesus appeared after his resurrection (as we read in this lesson). Then I asked him a dangerous question: "How many witnessed the angel talking to Mohammed?
Each time Jesus appeared it was still a surprise to his disciples. It took a few times for it to soak in that Jesus was really alive again!
It is interesting to notice in this passage that even after they saw Jesus raised from the dead, they still went back to work fishing! There they were in their boats, having little luck. Then Jesus gave them some advice, even though he was not a fisherman himself. It took another miracle for them to believe. To top it off, Jesus ate a fish with them. He was not just a ghost. He had showed them holes in his hands, which they could touch, and now he was eating with them. We are told that when we arrive in heaven, we can join a feast that has no end. It sounds like food will always be around!
It took three appearances before it finally dawned on the disciples that he had returned from the grave. When it finally convinced Peter, Jesus put him on the spot. He told him that he would have to quit fishing fish and start serving his Lord. He switched from fish to sheep. Now Peter could use all the training he had received when he walked with Jesus those few years before his crucifixion. The proof of Peter's love was that he changed his direction and served his Lord. Then Jesus hinted that serving him was going to cost Peter something more than just losing his fishing job. There is sometimes a great price to pay for serving our Lord. I discovered that on the mission field, where the indigenous pastors were thrown in jail and sometimes even executed! We need to ask ourselves: "If the Lord calls us to serve him, are we willing to stop what we are doing -- even quit our job? Are we willing to pay what price it may cost -- even jail or death?" History books are full of stories about those who served our Lord. They are still doing it today all over the world. Even I gave up my motion picture business to go to seminary to become a pastor. I met friends in seminary who also gave up everything to serve: some that I knew gave up careers in insurance, manufacturing, teaching, and farming. So the question for us is: "Are we ready to drop everything and follow him?"
Bob O.
