Sermon illustrations for Easter 4 (2016)
Illustration
Object:
Acts 9:36-43
For what are you known? There was some concern in the advertising world not long ago when KFC introduced a “new” Colonel Sanders. New ads, even now, ponder the question of whether or not he “really” is the colonel. Whenever we see the iconic image of Colonel Sanders, we think of fried chicken. Other images are indelibly etched in our minds. Whenever we see the “unusual” king, we think of Burger King. You can’t see golden arches without thinking of McDonald’s. Many people, when they order a soft drink, naturally say, “I’d like a Coke, please.” This is not only true with images; it’s also true with people. Many times when folks see a picture of Abraham Lincoln, they think of honesty or freedom. When they see a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. they connect the “I have a dream” speech. People are often known by the things they do.
That’s true biblically too. Tabitha, or Dorcas as she is known, is an example of this. She was devoted to good works and charity. When she died, the people around her were devastated. They sent right away for Peter. When he came, they could not hide their grief and showed him all the things she had made and what she’d done for others. Peter, after seeing all that she did, had everyone leave the room. Then he prayed and God raised her back to life. What an amazing story! It’s another example of how death is no match for the incredible power of God. What I wonder, though, is what Tabitha did with the extra time she was given. I think I can make a good guess. She continued to be devoted to charity and good works. That’s who she was. It makes me wonder: for what am I known?
Bill T.
Acts 9:36-43
James proclaims faith without works to be dead. Here we have the example of Tabitha, Dorcas, a woman whose good works and acts of charity are lived out of her faith. She has dedicated her life to caring for others, to doing what needs to be done as charity in the name of God. Her gifts have been shared over and over again, until she becomes ill and dies. The community mourns her and Peter is called to them.
As pastors and teachers we are often called to hold the hands of the grieving, to comfort the ill or the lost, to pray over the bodies of the dying or the dead. We can imagine this is what Peter has come to do. Somehow Peter understands in his time of prayer that Tabitha’s work is not yet done. “Tabitha, get up!” Through the actions of a faithful pastor and teacher, God performs a miracle, a life-giving miracle. While I have not had experience with resurrection, I have seen God’s life-giving miracles offered in places of loss, fear, despair, and great moments of darkness. The call is to get up, to get up and to do what needs to be done.
Bonnie B.
Acts 9:36-43
Two themes: First, death is not the end. Tabitha’s ministries were extraordinarily important, and her return to life made a difference in the lives of those most needy. We do not need to let the ministries of others end when they pass, either. Someone has to pick up the torch.
The other thing is so obvious that you may have missed it. Peter is staying at the home of Simon the Tanner. Tanners are unclean. They touch dead carcasses. They deal with unclean things. They work with some pretty noxious chemicals, and they smell bad. By staying with Simon the tanner, Simon Peter is demonstrating one of the important elements of our faith -- there are no untouchables. We are one in Christ. And this is the precursor to this whole Cornelius the Centurion thing, with the dream about the unclean animals and the command to eat.
Frank R.
Acts 9:36-43
What does it take to make some people believe? Would any of us doubt in the reality or the power of God if we saw someone rise from the dead? Yes, it still happens! I think it happens more often in the mission field, where some may need more than a good sermon to convert them.
Yes! I know many who have been healed, but when I tell the stories of healings people usually just say “Nice story, pastor” and walk away. Others are trying to find out what really happened in a healing. Was it psychosomatic? Had the malady been misdiagnosed? Prayer healed my asthma when I was 42 years old and it never came back -- now I am in my 80s. We can be doubters until it happens to us or to someone we know and we watched it happen. But then we may have trouble making others believe -- even good Christians!
One more thing I notice in this text is the number of women involved. The Bible is not sexist! When St. Paul writes about churches he knows, how often is the woman mentioned first as head of a church? After her name comes the man’s name.
Also notice that Dorcas is called a “disciple.” The New Testament still suggests that a wife can put a woman first, though the equality is much stronger than in the Old Testament.
The other women produce evidence of Dorcas’ faith in the care she felt for the poor. It was not just in what she said she believed -- it came out in what she did for others. Her actions spoke louder than words.
Peter believed so strongly in God’s presence and power that he died a terrible death on a cross because of that faith and as evidence to others! It is that kind of faith that can raise the dead. We can get that kind of faith ourselves only through faith in God’s word confirmed by our fellow believers in our church -- plus much prayer.
Bob O.
Revelation 7:9-17
This Fourth Sunday of Easter meditates on those who struggle. For instance: the newly widowed being crushed by grief; the 55-year-old who lost his job and has found that the job market no longer considers him valuable; the single mother overwhelmed by her circumstances; the parents of a teenaged heroin addict; the teenager growing up in a severely dysfunctional household; the person recently diagnosed with metastasized cancer; the judgmental man whose frustrations with the behavior of others has morphed into an energy-sapping, uncontrollable rage; the wife terrified of her husband; the husband constantly berated by his wife; the loving couple who can no longer meet the family’s basic needs; the wealthy family that has come to realize their financial success did not come with a guarantee of the deeper joys of meaningful lives; the child in a war-torn city terrified by the thoughts of where the bombs might land today; a Syrian refugee mother sitting in a Hungarian wheat field holding her sleeping child, praying that some peaceful country will admit her. Etc., etc., etc....
There is no way to make a complete list of circumstances that lead to struggle. In fact struggle is, quite simply, an integral and universal part of the human experience. For that reason, it is important to remember to keeping preaching a word of comfort and hope -- particularly during the season of Easter.
Fortunately, this passage from the Revelation of John does just that. Do not permit the struggles of life to overwhelm you. There will be a time when there will be no hunger and no thirst. The heat of the sun will not always be scorching. The power of the risen Christ will guide the struggling to the cool spring of the waters of life. God will wipe every tear streaking down the cheeks of the struggling (vv. 16-17).
R. Robert C.
Revelation 7:9-17
Roy Halladay was a two-time winner of the Cy Young Award. During his career he had 67 complete games and 20 shutouts. He played for 16 seasons in the major leagues with Toronto and Philadelphia, spending 12 of those years with the Blue Jays. After he finished playing for Philadelphia in 2013, he signed a one-day contract with Toronto so that he could retire as a Blue Jay.
Application: Revelation talks to us about the importance of worship, and how we are to worship that which is important to us.
Ron L.
Revelation 7:9-17
Hints of heaven may be found on earth. Martin Luther believed that the Kingdom of God came to earth most every day, in apparently ordinary things. In answer to the question of how the Kingdom of God comes, he wrote: “When the heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit so that by his grace we may believe his holy Word and live a godly life, both here in time and hereafter forever” (The Book of Concord, p. 346). The End comes, we catch glimpses of heaven on earth, whenever we believe or see a good work.
Luther adds that this glorious vision of the End helps us forget the trials and tears of daily life: “This forgetting should gradually come upon us even in this life. For although at the present time, while worms and rottenness are before our eyes, we cannot be unmindful of them, nevertheless there will be a time God will wipe away every tear...” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 7, pp. 210-211).
Mark E.
John 10:22-30
Unity, oneness, relationship, connection -- this is what Jesus calls us to. We are called by the great shepherd, called by name to follow in the path that Jesus has laid before us. It’s like a game of follow the leader. Can’t you almost hear Jesus saying: “Come, follow me; the Creator and I are one. Won’t you follow and join us”? Jesus the protector says, “No one can snatch the faithful from me. They are mine.”
Do we belong to God? Do we follow Jesus? Much of the distrust of the church doesn’t come about because we follow Jesus, but because we fail to do so. Instead of hope, we embrace hopelessness. Instead of grace and mercy, we embrace judgment and retribution. Instead of love and peace, we embrace anger, hate, and violence. It seems inherent in our culture, and causes those who have little or no experience with church to see us as hypocritical, politically unrealistic, disconnected from reality, homophobic. If those of us who go to church and claim to follow Jesus are behaving in ways so unlike Jesus, what is the world to think?
I can hear Jesus calling to us. “Come, follow me.” I’m all in, all for following the shepherd. Are you?
Bonnie B.
John 10:22-30
Have you ever played the penny game? It is a simple game in which one person puts a penny in his or her palm and the other person tries to snatch the penny. The one holding the penny tries to close his/her hand before the person can take the penny away. It’s a game I’ve seen played most often on long road trips. The key to the game is to be really fast. An amazingly quick “snatcher” is hard to beat. You have to have quick reflexes and coordination to keep your opponent from getting the penny and winning the game.
There is a promise that Jesus gives about his sheep in this text. Jesus notes that his sheep know his voice and he knows them. He gives them eternal life and then promises that no one will be able to snatch his sheep from his or his Father’s hand. There is a sense of security when you are one of Jesus’ sheep. You cannot be stolen or snatched away. Another person cannot pull you away from him. You don’t have to fear or worry that somehow you will, unwittingly, be stolen from the Good Shepherd. No matter how fast the “snatcher” is, he won’t get one of Jesus’ sheep.
Bill T.
John 10:22-30
There is the danger of doubt. If we don’t believe, it says we are not one of Jesus’ sheep! So if you doubt, the answer is simple: read his word and pray. Jesus has told us that he is the Christ. There is evidence of him being the Christ in the healings he did in the scripture written by men who saw them with their own eyes. Some doubters today say that the Bible was written so long ago that it could have been written just to make up a good story!
I attended a large meeting of Lutherans in Minneapolis where many stood up and told how they were healed -- but to top it off, we saw some healed right before our eyes! Yes, they were Lutherans!
It may happen more often on the mission field, where healings can be almost a common thing. When they saw those healings, it converted Hindus and Buddhists. When they heard about healings or had a friend experience one, they came to church to find out about this Christian God. The church in Nepal grew from the work of the first Christian and the first pastor in Nepal. It grew to a million and a half Christians in his lifetime!
Some churches in our country have grown because there was a healing. I knew one Catholic church that grew because of a healing. The one I saw at a service where I was invited was a demon cast out of a girl.
It is encouraging to read that once we believe, no one can take us from the Lord. If we believe, then we are his sheep. We need to keep looking for the Shepherd. A church should be full of God’s sheep!
Bob O.
John 10:22-30
The Jewish festivals permeate the gospel of John. Indeed, while the other gospels would give us the impression that the ministry of Jesus lasted around a year, John takes us through three cycles of festivals. This one, the feast of Dedication, is very important. It’s the remembrance of the great days only two centuries before, when the Selucids ceased to practice religious tolerance and attempted to wipe out the Jewish identity and their religious practices. This feast of Hannukah is a remembrance of taking back the Temple from those who had defiled it, and rededicating that extraordinary building.
Frank R.
For what are you known? There was some concern in the advertising world not long ago when KFC introduced a “new” Colonel Sanders. New ads, even now, ponder the question of whether or not he “really” is the colonel. Whenever we see the iconic image of Colonel Sanders, we think of fried chicken. Other images are indelibly etched in our minds. Whenever we see the “unusual” king, we think of Burger King. You can’t see golden arches without thinking of McDonald’s. Many people, when they order a soft drink, naturally say, “I’d like a Coke, please.” This is not only true with images; it’s also true with people. Many times when folks see a picture of Abraham Lincoln, they think of honesty or freedom. When they see a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. they connect the “I have a dream” speech. People are often known by the things they do.
That’s true biblically too. Tabitha, or Dorcas as she is known, is an example of this. She was devoted to good works and charity. When she died, the people around her were devastated. They sent right away for Peter. When he came, they could not hide their grief and showed him all the things she had made and what she’d done for others. Peter, after seeing all that she did, had everyone leave the room. Then he prayed and God raised her back to life. What an amazing story! It’s another example of how death is no match for the incredible power of God. What I wonder, though, is what Tabitha did with the extra time she was given. I think I can make a good guess. She continued to be devoted to charity and good works. That’s who she was. It makes me wonder: for what am I known?
Bill T.
Acts 9:36-43
James proclaims faith without works to be dead. Here we have the example of Tabitha, Dorcas, a woman whose good works and acts of charity are lived out of her faith. She has dedicated her life to caring for others, to doing what needs to be done as charity in the name of God. Her gifts have been shared over and over again, until she becomes ill and dies. The community mourns her and Peter is called to them.
As pastors and teachers we are often called to hold the hands of the grieving, to comfort the ill or the lost, to pray over the bodies of the dying or the dead. We can imagine this is what Peter has come to do. Somehow Peter understands in his time of prayer that Tabitha’s work is not yet done. “Tabitha, get up!” Through the actions of a faithful pastor and teacher, God performs a miracle, a life-giving miracle. While I have not had experience with resurrection, I have seen God’s life-giving miracles offered in places of loss, fear, despair, and great moments of darkness. The call is to get up, to get up and to do what needs to be done.
Bonnie B.
Acts 9:36-43
Two themes: First, death is not the end. Tabitha’s ministries were extraordinarily important, and her return to life made a difference in the lives of those most needy. We do not need to let the ministries of others end when they pass, either. Someone has to pick up the torch.
The other thing is so obvious that you may have missed it. Peter is staying at the home of Simon the Tanner. Tanners are unclean. They touch dead carcasses. They deal with unclean things. They work with some pretty noxious chemicals, and they smell bad. By staying with Simon the tanner, Simon Peter is demonstrating one of the important elements of our faith -- there are no untouchables. We are one in Christ. And this is the precursor to this whole Cornelius the Centurion thing, with the dream about the unclean animals and the command to eat.
Frank R.
Acts 9:36-43
What does it take to make some people believe? Would any of us doubt in the reality or the power of God if we saw someone rise from the dead? Yes, it still happens! I think it happens more often in the mission field, where some may need more than a good sermon to convert them.
Yes! I know many who have been healed, but when I tell the stories of healings people usually just say “Nice story, pastor” and walk away. Others are trying to find out what really happened in a healing. Was it psychosomatic? Had the malady been misdiagnosed? Prayer healed my asthma when I was 42 years old and it never came back -- now I am in my 80s. We can be doubters until it happens to us or to someone we know and we watched it happen. But then we may have trouble making others believe -- even good Christians!
One more thing I notice in this text is the number of women involved. The Bible is not sexist! When St. Paul writes about churches he knows, how often is the woman mentioned first as head of a church? After her name comes the man’s name.
Also notice that Dorcas is called a “disciple.” The New Testament still suggests that a wife can put a woman first, though the equality is much stronger than in the Old Testament.
The other women produce evidence of Dorcas’ faith in the care she felt for the poor. It was not just in what she said she believed -- it came out in what she did for others. Her actions spoke louder than words.
Peter believed so strongly in God’s presence and power that he died a terrible death on a cross because of that faith and as evidence to others! It is that kind of faith that can raise the dead. We can get that kind of faith ourselves only through faith in God’s word confirmed by our fellow believers in our church -- plus much prayer.
Bob O.
Revelation 7:9-17
This Fourth Sunday of Easter meditates on those who struggle. For instance: the newly widowed being crushed by grief; the 55-year-old who lost his job and has found that the job market no longer considers him valuable; the single mother overwhelmed by her circumstances; the parents of a teenaged heroin addict; the teenager growing up in a severely dysfunctional household; the person recently diagnosed with metastasized cancer; the judgmental man whose frustrations with the behavior of others has morphed into an energy-sapping, uncontrollable rage; the wife terrified of her husband; the husband constantly berated by his wife; the loving couple who can no longer meet the family’s basic needs; the wealthy family that has come to realize their financial success did not come with a guarantee of the deeper joys of meaningful lives; the child in a war-torn city terrified by the thoughts of where the bombs might land today; a Syrian refugee mother sitting in a Hungarian wheat field holding her sleeping child, praying that some peaceful country will admit her. Etc., etc., etc....
There is no way to make a complete list of circumstances that lead to struggle. In fact struggle is, quite simply, an integral and universal part of the human experience. For that reason, it is important to remember to keeping preaching a word of comfort and hope -- particularly during the season of Easter.
Fortunately, this passage from the Revelation of John does just that. Do not permit the struggles of life to overwhelm you. There will be a time when there will be no hunger and no thirst. The heat of the sun will not always be scorching. The power of the risen Christ will guide the struggling to the cool spring of the waters of life. God will wipe every tear streaking down the cheeks of the struggling (vv. 16-17).
R. Robert C.
Revelation 7:9-17
Roy Halladay was a two-time winner of the Cy Young Award. During his career he had 67 complete games and 20 shutouts. He played for 16 seasons in the major leagues with Toronto and Philadelphia, spending 12 of those years with the Blue Jays. After he finished playing for Philadelphia in 2013, he signed a one-day contract with Toronto so that he could retire as a Blue Jay.
Application: Revelation talks to us about the importance of worship, and how we are to worship that which is important to us.
Ron L.
Revelation 7:9-17
Hints of heaven may be found on earth. Martin Luther believed that the Kingdom of God came to earth most every day, in apparently ordinary things. In answer to the question of how the Kingdom of God comes, he wrote: “When the heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit so that by his grace we may believe his holy Word and live a godly life, both here in time and hereafter forever” (The Book of Concord, p. 346). The End comes, we catch glimpses of heaven on earth, whenever we believe or see a good work.
Luther adds that this glorious vision of the End helps us forget the trials and tears of daily life: “This forgetting should gradually come upon us even in this life. For although at the present time, while worms and rottenness are before our eyes, we cannot be unmindful of them, nevertheless there will be a time God will wipe away every tear...” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 7, pp. 210-211).
Mark E.
John 10:22-30
Unity, oneness, relationship, connection -- this is what Jesus calls us to. We are called by the great shepherd, called by name to follow in the path that Jesus has laid before us. It’s like a game of follow the leader. Can’t you almost hear Jesus saying: “Come, follow me; the Creator and I are one. Won’t you follow and join us”? Jesus the protector says, “No one can snatch the faithful from me. They are mine.”
Do we belong to God? Do we follow Jesus? Much of the distrust of the church doesn’t come about because we follow Jesus, but because we fail to do so. Instead of hope, we embrace hopelessness. Instead of grace and mercy, we embrace judgment and retribution. Instead of love and peace, we embrace anger, hate, and violence. It seems inherent in our culture, and causes those who have little or no experience with church to see us as hypocritical, politically unrealistic, disconnected from reality, homophobic. If those of us who go to church and claim to follow Jesus are behaving in ways so unlike Jesus, what is the world to think?
I can hear Jesus calling to us. “Come, follow me.” I’m all in, all for following the shepherd. Are you?
Bonnie B.
John 10:22-30
Have you ever played the penny game? It is a simple game in which one person puts a penny in his or her palm and the other person tries to snatch the penny. The one holding the penny tries to close his/her hand before the person can take the penny away. It’s a game I’ve seen played most often on long road trips. The key to the game is to be really fast. An amazingly quick “snatcher” is hard to beat. You have to have quick reflexes and coordination to keep your opponent from getting the penny and winning the game.
There is a promise that Jesus gives about his sheep in this text. Jesus notes that his sheep know his voice and he knows them. He gives them eternal life and then promises that no one will be able to snatch his sheep from his or his Father’s hand. There is a sense of security when you are one of Jesus’ sheep. You cannot be stolen or snatched away. Another person cannot pull you away from him. You don’t have to fear or worry that somehow you will, unwittingly, be stolen from the Good Shepherd. No matter how fast the “snatcher” is, he won’t get one of Jesus’ sheep.
Bill T.
John 10:22-30
There is the danger of doubt. If we don’t believe, it says we are not one of Jesus’ sheep! So if you doubt, the answer is simple: read his word and pray. Jesus has told us that he is the Christ. There is evidence of him being the Christ in the healings he did in the scripture written by men who saw them with their own eyes. Some doubters today say that the Bible was written so long ago that it could have been written just to make up a good story!
I attended a large meeting of Lutherans in Minneapolis where many stood up and told how they were healed -- but to top it off, we saw some healed right before our eyes! Yes, they were Lutherans!
It may happen more often on the mission field, where healings can be almost a common thing. When they saw those healings, it converted Hindus and Buddhists. When they heard about healings or had a friend experience one, they came to church to find out about this Christian God. The church in Nepal grew from the work of the first Christian and the first pastor in Nepal. It grew to a million and a half Christians in his lifetime!
Some churches in our country have grown because there was a healing. I knew one Catholic church that grew because of a healing. The one I saw at a service where I was invited was a demon cast out of a girl.
It is encouraging to read that once we believe, no one can take us from the Lord. If we believe, then we are his sheep. We need to keep looking for the Shepherd. A church should be full of God’s sheep!
Bob O.
John 10:22-30
The Jewish festivals permeate the gospel of John. Indeed, while the other gospels would give us the impression that the ministry of Jesus lasted around a year, John takes us through three cycles of festivals. This one, the feast of Dedication, is very important. It’s the remembrance of the great days only two centuries before, when the Selucids ceased to practice religious tolerance and attempted to wipe out the Jewish identity and their religious practices. This feast of Hannukah is a remembrance of taking back the Temple from those who had defiled it, and rededicating that extraordinary building.
Frank R.
