Sermon Illustrations For Epiphany 4 | Ot 4 (2017)
Illustration
Micah 6:1-8
Americans are not very inclined to take their sin very seriously, just as the people of Israel needed reminders from Micah. A 2006 Barna Research Group poll found that most adults have a good impression of themselves, with 97% saying they are good citizens and 90% claiming they are generous. The new American economy also demands self-promotion in order to succeed (Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, pp. 114-119).
The answer seems to be that we need some humility. John Calvin made this point: “The true way of walking with God is, when we thoroughly humble ourselves, yea, when we bring ourselves down to nothing; for it is the very beginning of worshiping and glorifying God when men entertain humble and low opinion of themselves” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XIV/2, p. 344).
Augustine elaborates further on how humility helps you become more dependent on God: “There is, therefore, something in humility which strangely enough, exalts the heart, and something in pride which debates it.... But pious humility enables us to submit to what is above us... and therefore humility, but making us subject to God, exalts us (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 2, p. 273).
Eminent Christian writer C. S. Lewis makes a similar point: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”
Mark E.
Micah 6:1-8
On Memorial Day 2016, President Obama solemnly laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. This ceremony came during the revelation of how veterans were being mistreated at numerous veterans’ facilities and hospitals. There were countless reports of inadequate treatment, the need to travel long distances for treatment, and waiting lists than stretched to months. This is why in his speech Obama said that we must support the families of the fallen and still injured “not just with words but with our actions.” The president noted that over one million Americans had died in battle, and that we have a responsibility not only to honor them but to care for their loved ones. Obama said: “The Americans who rest here, and their families -- the best of us, those from whom we asked everything -- ask of us today only one thing in return: that we remember them.”
Application: Micah instructs us to do justice and love kindness, and that includes remembering.
Ron L.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
“For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” Most of us don’t like to be seen as foolish. Although I am learning to laugh at myself, embarrassment is not my favorite feeling. Herein we are reminded that our human wisdom is much less than God’s foolishness. So maybe my search for wisdom and proof is not all it’s supposed to be. Maybe I should rest a little in the foolishness of faith and not seek to prove that which is unprovable -- that God lives and breathes and offers blessings and grace and reconciliation. Maybe I can rest in the surrender of Jesus -- his unwillingness to fight against the rulers of the time, to demonstrate that love and reconciliation are always more powerful than hate. That foolish surrender of Jesus to death by crucifixion changed people for centuries, moved people to nonviolent protest, to love of stranger, to searches for truth, to expressions of compassion. God’s foolishness seems very wise and very powerful. In that, I will rest.
Bonnie B.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
It is interesting to look at how civilizations developed through time. Just a cursory glance through the pages of history reveals that the earliest civilizations after the fall were the agricultural people of Mesopotamia. They did some amazing things: irrigation, developing pictorial language, and constructing ziggurats or temples. They were mostly, however, polytheistic. They worshiped many gods. The ancient Egyptian civilization was also quite remarkable. They made some incredible advances, especially in building and medicine. They too were polytheists. The Phoenicians did some amazing things too, especially in shipping and trading. But like the others, they were polytheistic. The Greeks were perhaps the most advanced of them all. The Greek civilization brought education and training to the forefront. Their ideas about governance, building, citizenship, and a host of other things still affect western culture today. At one time they too were polytheistic. However, as learning progressed in Greece the view of the gods changed. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and others began to replace the Greek gods we know from mythology with reason and wisdom. The worthy Greek citizen would be passionate in his pursuit of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. These became the gods of the Greek philosophers. Into that culture we read Paul’s words to the Corinthian Christians.
As much as the Greek society glorified and deified wisdom, God declares it secondary. “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.” God’s plan of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus did not fit into any culture’s plan or model of how it ought to be, nor should it. Paul makes it clear that God’s wisdom and strength are so much greater than that of any other. He does what he wants because it is right.
Even today this truth remains. No matter how advanced, wise, or incredible society becomes, it is still inferior to the wisdom and strength of God. The question is: Will you trust him?
Bill T.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
We talk about people being book-smart or street-smart. People who write curricula are encouraged to think in terms of seven ways of being smart -- verbal, visual, mathematical, musical, naturalistic, interpersonal, and interpersonal.
I wonder if the Corinthian Christians felt that their cultural background gave them a different kind of smart: Greek-speaking-smart, Hebrew-scripture-smart, Roman-empire-smart. Since Corinth was located at the isthmus that separated the northern part of the Greek peninsula (and by extension Europe) from the southern part that jutted into the Mediterranean Sea, there was a good deal of money to be made by either transporting goods from a ship on the western side to the eastern side (or vice versa) or by putting smaller boats on wheels and dragging them across to the other side. In either event this meant skipping part of the perilous voyage upon the sea. This probably meant some Corinthians felt like they were economically smarter than others, making a good deal of money without actually creating any products!
In the midst of all these competing types of smart, the apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, suggests that despite their divisions the Christians of Corinth share an overarching type of smart -- the smarts of the cross, the self-sacrificing, salvationistic Christ thinking that puts others first, serves all, unites all, and saves all. It’s not that the other ways of thinking don’t have something to offer. But it is Christ Jesus who ties us all together.
Frank R.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
One of the items that comes from the wisdom of men is global warming. Only the wise accept it. It is not a miracle -- it just is. There is much evidence for it, but no absolute proof. The foolish may never believe it.
It is hard to believe that God would send his Son to live such a rough life and have such a painful death. We let our sons (and some daughters) become soldiers and face death, but we hope they will come back to us alive. We don’t send them if we know they will die a terrible death.
We have no absolute proof for Jesus, though there are some miracles even today. We also have people who seem to be very wise who doubt him; and others, just simple people, who believe in him.
We have only his written word in the Bible and the words from pastors or missionaries. Those words have won millions of people for Christ. I have seen that both at home and in the mission field.
Once you have met Jesus in your life you have no doubts, but it is hard to pass on your experience to someone if they refuse to believe. We cannot boast of our faith as though doubters are idiots! Our church can strengthen our faith, but faith comes mainly through God speaking in our hearts.
We have to get people to come to God on their own, and not just by quoting us. It starts by believing what sounds like foolishness on the surface. God is the one who makes it real in our hearts.
Bob O.
Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes can be dangerous if you read them the wrong way. In this spirit Martin Luther writes: “From these statements those silly preachers have drawn the conclusion that we enter the kingdom of heaven and are saved by our works and actions (Luther’s Works, Vol. 21, p. 85).
St. Augustine teaches us why Luther is correct in this assessment: “Why do we presume so much on the ability of human nature? It is wounded, battered, troubled, lost... by God’s mercy alone we stand, since by ourselves we are nothing but evil.”
These observations make it clear that the lifestyle sketched by the Beatitudes can only transpire by grace. John Wesley makes that clear: “Who is able to think one good thought, or to form one good desire, unless by that almighty power which worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure? We have need... to be... penetrated with a sense of this. Otherwise we shall be in perpetual danger of robbing God of his honor” (Albert Outler, ed., John Wesley, pp. 314-315).
Regarding the implementation of the rubrics of the Beatitudes (meekness, being merciful, making peace, enduring persecution for righteousness’ sake, etc.), Martin Luther claims that all temporal goods should be used “the way a guest does in a strange place where he stays overnight and leaves in the morning.” He dare not “take possession of the property as though it belonged to him by right” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 21, p. 13). The reformer proceeds to describe the nature of the Christian life lived this way (what living by the Beatitudes would look like): “If you do not want to have the gospel or be a Christian, then go out and take the world’s side. Then you will be its friend, and no one will persecute you. But if you want to have the gospel and Christ, then you must count on having trouble, conflict, and persecution wherever you go” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 21, p. 51).
Mark E.
Matthew 5:1-12
Thomas Gallaudet was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1822. As an Episcopal priest he began teaching the deaf at St. Stephens Church in New York City. He married a deaf woman, Elizabeth Budd, who was one of his students. The teaching ministry became too large for St. Stephens, so it was relocated to St. Ann’s Church. On October 3, 1852, Rev. Gallaudet held the first-reported worship service for the deaf.
Application: The Beatitudes teaches us to be humble servants.
Ron L.
Americans are not very inclined to take their sin very seriously, just as the people of Israel needed reminders from Micah. A 2006 Barna Research Group poll found that most adults have a good impression of themselves, with 97% saying they are good citizens and 90% claiming they are generous. The new American economy also demands self-promotion in order to succeed (Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, pp. 114-119).
The answer seems to be that we need some humility. John Calvin made this point: “The true way of walking with God is, when we thoroughly humble ourselves, yea, when we bring ourselves down to nothing; for it is the very beginning of worshiping and glorifying God when men entertain humble and low opinion of themselves” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XIV/2, p. 344).
Augustine elaborates further on how humility helps you become more dependent on God: “There is, therefore, something in humility which strangely enough, exalts the heart, and something in pride which debates it.... But pious humility enables us to submit to what is above us... and therefore humility, but making us subject to God, exalts us (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 2, p. 273).
Eminent Christian writer C. S. Lewis makes a similar point: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”
Mark E.
Micah 6:1-8
On Memorial Day 2016, President Obama solemnly laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. This ceremony came during the revelation of how veterans were being mistreated at numerous veterans’ facilities and hospitals. There were countless reports of inadequate treatment, the need to travel long distances for treatment, and waiting lists than stretched to months. This is why in his speech Obama said that we must support the families of the fallen and still injured “not just with words but with our actions.” The president noted that over one million Americans had died in battle, and that we have a responsibility not only to honor them but to care for their loved ones. Obama said: “The Americans who rest here, and their families -- the best of us, those from whom we asked everything -- ask of us today only one thing in return: that we remember them.”
Application: Micah instructs us to do justice and love kindness, and that includes remembering.
Ron L.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
“For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” Most of us don’t like to be seen as foolish. Although I am learning to laugh at myself, embarrassment is not my favorite feeling. Herein we are reminded that our human wisdom is much less than God’s foolishness. So maybe my search for wisdom and proof is not all it’s supposed to be. Maybe I should rest a little in the foolishness of faith and not seek to prove that which is unprovable -- that God lives and breathes and offers blessings and grace and reconciliation. Maybe I can rest in the surrender of Jesus -- his unwillingness to fight against the rulers of the time, to demonstrate that love and reconciliation are always more powerful than hate. That foolish surrender of Jesus to death by crucifixion changed people for centuries, moved people to nonviolent protest, to love of stranger, to searches for truth, to expressions of compassion. God’s foolishness seems very wise and very powerful. In that, I will rest.
Bonnie B.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
It is interesting to look at how civilizations developed through time. Just a cursory glance through the pages of history reveals that the earliest civilizations after the fall were the agricultural people of Mesopotamia. They did some amazing things: irrigation, developing pictorial language, and constructing ziggurats or temples. They were mostly, however, polytheistic. They worshiped many gods. The ancient Egyptian civilization was also quite remarkable. They made some incredible advances, especially in building and medicine. They too were polytheists. The Phoenicians did some amazing things too, especially in shipping and trading. But like the others, they were polytheistic. The Greeks were perhaps the most advanced of them all. The Greek civilization brought education and training to the forefront. Their ideas about governance, building, citizenship, and a host of other things still affect western culture today. At one time they too were polytheistic. However, as learning progressed in Greece the view of the gods changed. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and others began to replace the Greek gods we know from mythology with reason and wisdom. The worthy Greek citizen would be passionate in his pursuit of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. These became the gods of the Greek philosophers. Into that culture we read Paul’s words to the Corinthian Christians.
As much as the Greek society glorified and deified wisdom, God declares it secondary. “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.” God’s plan of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus did not fit into any culture’s plan or model of how it ought to be, nor should it. Paul makes it clear that God’s wisdom and strength are so much greater than that of any other. He does what he wants because it is right.
Even today this truth remains. No matter how advanced, wise, or incredible society becomes, it is still inferior to the wisdom and strength of God. The question is: Will you trust him?
Bill T.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
We talk about people being book-smart or street-smart. People who write curricula are encouraged to think in terms of seven ways of being smart -- verbal, visual, mathematical, musical, naturalistic, interpersonal, and interpersonal.
I wonder if the Corinthian Christians felt that their cultural background gave them a different kind of smart: Greek-speaking-smart, Hebrew-scripture-smart, Roman-empire-smart. Since Corinth was located at the isthmus that separated the northern part of the Greek peninsula (and by extension Europe) from the southern part that jutted into the Mediterranean Sea, there was a good deal of money to be made by either transporting goods from a ship on the western side to the eastern side (or vice versa) or by putting smaller boats on wheels and dragging them across to the other side. In either event this meant skipping part of the perilous voyage upon the sea. This probably meant some Corinthians felt like they were economically smarter than others, making a good deal of money without actually creating any products!
In the midst of all these competing types of smart, the apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, suggests that despite their divisions the Christians of Corinth share an overarching type of smart -- the smarts of the cross, the self-sacrificing, salvationistic Christ thinking that puts others first, serves all, unites all, and saves all. It’s not that the other ways of thinking don’t have something to offer. But it is Christ Jesus who ties us all together.
Frank R.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
One of the items that comes from the wisdom of men is global warming. Only the wise accept it. It is not a miracle -- it just is. There is much evidence for it, but no absolute proof. The foolish may never believe it.
It is hard to believe that God would send his Son to live such a rough life and have such a painful death. We let our sons (and some daughters) become soldiers and face death, but we hope they will come back to us alive. We don’t send them if we know they will die a terrible death.
We have no absolute proof for Jesus, though there are some miracles even today. We also have people who seem to be very wise who doubt him; and others, just simple people, who believe in him.
We have only his written word in the Bible and the words from pastors or missionaries. Those words have won millions of people for Christ. I have seen that both at home and in the mission field.
Once you have met Jesus in your life you have no doubts, but it is hard to pass on your experience to someone if they refuse to believe. We cannot boast of our faith as though doubters are idiots! Our church can strengthen our faith, but faith comes mainly through God speaking in our hearts.
We have to get people to come to God on their own, and not just by quoting us. It starts by believing what sounds like foolishness on the surface. God is the one who makes it real in our hearts.
Bob O.
Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes can be dangerous if you read them the wrong way. In this spirit Martin Luther writes: “From these statements those silly preachers have drawn the conclusion that we enter the kingdom of heaven and are saved by our works and actions (Luther’s Works, Vol. 21, p. 85).
St. Augustine teaches us why Luther is correct in this assessment: “Why do we presume so much on the ability of human nature? It is wounded, battered, troubled, lost... by God’s mercy alone we stand, since by ourselves we are nothing but evil.”
These observations make it clear that the lifestyle sketched by the Beatitudes can only transpire by grace. John Wesley makes that clear: “Who is able to think one good thought, or to form one good desire, unless by that almighty power which worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure? We have need... to be... penetrated with a sense of this. Otherwise we shall be in perpetual danger of robbing God of his honor” (Albert Outler, ed., John Wesley, pp. 314-315).
Regarding the implementation of the rubrics of the Beatitudes (meekness, being merciful, making peace, enduring persecution for righteousness’ sake, etc.), Martin Luther claims that all temporal goods should be used “the way a guest does in a strange place where he stays overnight and leaves in the morning.” He dare not “take possession of the property as though it belonged to him by right” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 21, p. 13). The reformer proceeds to describe the nature of the Christian life lived this way (what living by the Beatitudes would look like): “If you do not want to have the gospel or be a Christian, then go out and take the world’s side. Then you will be its friend, and no one will persecute you. But if you want to have the gospel and Christ, then you must count on having trouble, conflict, and persecution wherever you go” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 21, p. 51).
Mark E.
Matthew 5:1-12
Thomas Gallaudet was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1822. As an Episcopal priest he began teaching the deaf at St. Stephens Church in New York City. He married a deaf woman, Elizabeth Budd, who was one of his students. The teaching ministry became too large for St. Stephens, so it was relocated to St. Ann’s Church. On October 3, 1852, Rev. Gallaudet held the first-reported worship service for the deaf.
Application: The Beatitudes teaches us to be humble servants.
Ron L.
