Sermon Illustrations for First Sunday after Christmas Day (2012)
Illustration
Object:
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
The idea of giving things up for Jesus seems rather quaint; not very fashionable these days. Certainly we are too good parents to give up our children to the Lord like Hannah and Eli did. But we want to give our children everything and sacrifice for them (we say). In fact, Americans do not give up as much for their children as they think. Genetic research indicates that parental love is a selfish, not a sacrificial love, for in loving our children we are loving our own genes, especially if we get them to conform to our agendas. We don't sacrifice much time. At least a 2009 study of the U.S. Department of Labor indicates that on the average Americans spend twice as much time on leisure a day as they do with their children. This lesson prods us to more sacrifice for our children, as compared to Eli and Hannah we are all slackers in willingness to sacrifice on that matter.
Sarah and Eli put Samuel in the hands of God. But we put our children in the hands of reality shows and violent computer games like Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil 5 more than we bring them to the presence of Jesus in church or in discussing Bible stories. What John Wesley wrote over two centuries ago is still true: "Will not the things of the present world surround these children on every side, naturally take up their thoughts and set God at a greater distance from them (if that be possible) then he was before? What can be done to cure it? From the first dawn of reason continually inculcate, God is in this and every place... He gives us all the goodness we have; every thought and workday and work are from Him" (The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 7, pp. 91-92).
Nurturing our children to lives with all-encompassing vision of God is the sort of sacrifice Hannah and Eli made, and an appreciation of giving all we have, including our children's time to this vision of God, may just contribute to nurturing some Samuels in our families, maybe even turn us into Hannahs or Elis!
Mark E.
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
The Moravian community of Herrnhut in Saxony was well established by the year 1727. Unfortunately, dissension and bickering began to plague the commune. The leader of Herrnhut, Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, realized that only a revival would restore order among his followers. On May 12 the revival was held and a great spirit came upon the people. By the end of the summer the communicants wanted this magnificent blessing to continue, so on August 27 a prayer vigil began. On an August morning, 24 men and 24 women decided to spend one hour in prayer, with the time being scheduled so someone was praying every hour of the day. Soon others joined what became known as the "hourly intercession." Amazingly, this discipline lasted for 100 years. Those who participated based their calling on this Old Testament text: "The sacred fire was never permitted to go out on the altar" (Leviticus 6:13).
Just as Samuel grew "both in stature and in favor with the Lord," so did those at Herrnhut who prayed unceasingly.
Ron L.
Colossians 3:12-17
Great advice! Memorize this passage and try to fulfill it. Most of the "suggestions" (?) in that passage we may resent. They may sound foolish. Why should we be compassionate to those who are lazy and ignorant? Why should we be kind to some who don't deserve kindness -- like the neighbor whose dog barks all night or the family who lets there children scream in the restaurant where we are trying to eat in peace? How can we be humble when we are hard-working, honest people who pay our taxes and who are trying to win in this competitive world? How can we be patient when some around us are so slow to do anything about situations that need immediate attention? I am guilty of a lack of patience when the driver in front of me is creeping along at the speed limit. What about when you are starving and the waitress is so slow about bringing your food? What about standing in line at the checkout counter and the cashier is having a friendly chat with someone ahead of you?
How hard it is to forebear when someone is hurting you? Do we always put up with our mate or our children when they try our patience? Are we ready to forgive or do we like to make the other one suffer a little first?
Does this sound like the basis for a New Year's resolution? I think God wants to make it a new life resolution. New Year's resolutions only last a few days!
Forgiveness is often thought of as a sign of weakness. We excuse ourselves by saying that we just want to teach the other one a lesson or by yelling that we can't stand what the other one is doing and forgiveness will just encourage it. (As we forgive others?) Is that showing love? Love is the most important element in life. God so loved the world -- what are we doing to deserve that love?
One of my members complained about her husband's drinking. Every weekend he succumbed. She told me that she "admonished" him and yelled at him, but it did no good. I suggested something that made her laugh. I said, "Why not just treat him with love and see what happens?" She said she tried everything else, but even though it sounded stupid, she would try. When I came back from vacation a few weeks later, he was in the hospital. He told me, "I don't know what you did to my wife, but she even helped me to bed when I came home plastered. She was so good to me that it drove me crazy. I had one weekend when I didn't get sober for two days, but when I came around, I told her to bring me to this detox ward." I received a letter from her years later saying that he never drank again. God's ways can sound stupid to us, but they work. Happy New Year!
Bob O.
Colossians 3:12-17
When we dress for the day's activities, we do not put on just one piece of clothing. We don a shirt or blouse, pants or a dress, a tie or scarf, socks, shoes or boots, a watch, rings, a necklace, earrings, a bracelet, a purse or a man bag, a hat, gloves, a jacket. There is lots of variety in our apparel. We dress abundantly for the day -- whether for work or play or chores or a date with our beloved. Paul describes the kind of spiritual clothing the Christian wears for each day as God's beloved. To live abundantly, it takes many fabrics to outfit the Christian lifestyle.
Mark M.
Luke 2:41-52
The belief of a military apocalyptic Messiah that would come from the House of David was so dominant in Jewish eschatology that two Roman emperors in the first century ACE, Vespasian, who destroyed the Jewish Temple in 70, and Domitian in the year 90, ordered their soldiers to seek out and kill every male from the lineage of David. This occurred two to three generations after the execution of Jesus, the unrecognized Messiah by the Jewish elders. A stubborn religious belief held by the overseers of prophecy would not be reconciled to the facts of history.
Just as those in the temple who listened to the adolescent teach, through the centuries people have failed to understand the message of Jesus.
Ron L.
Luke 2:41-52
The boy Jesus was focused on the things of God, so much so that he even overlooked his parental ties. He was not distracted. Biologically, distraction seems to contribute to a diminished spirituality and is even idolatrous in a way. When we are distracted our brains are disordered, not governed by the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain most active in spiritual experience (Daniel Amen, Change the Brain: Change Your Life, pp. 116-117). Distracted people are not focused on God, like Jesus was. Distracted lives are confused, not able to find much meaning, according to the famed German novelist Johann von Goethe: "A distracted existence leads us to no goal." Jesus gets us back to lives with a meaning and a goal, precisely in the focus on God. Early seventeenth-century French Catholic bishop Saint Francis de Sales describes this dynamic: "If the heart wanders or is distracted... replace it tenderly in its Master's presence."
It is the presence of God that gives our lives focus and meaning. That's why it was so important for the boy Jesus to remain in the temple with the Father. Devoting ourselves more single mindedly to our Lord can bring more focus and meaning to our lives too.
Mark E.
The idea of giving things up for Jesus seems rather quaint; not very fashionable these days. Certainly we are too good parents to give up our children to the Lord like Hannah and Eli did. But we want to give our children everything and sacrifice for them (we say). In fact, Americans do not give up as much for their children as they think. Genetic research indicates that parental love is a selfish, not a sacrificial love, for in loving our children we are loving our own genes, especially if we get them to conform to our agendas. We don't sacrifice much time. At least a 2009 study of the U.S. Department of Labor indicates that on the average Americans spend twice as much time on leisure a day as they do with their children. This lesson prods us to more sacrifice for our children, as compared to Eli and Hannah we are all slackers in willingness to sacrifice on that matter.
Sarah and Eli put Samuel in the hands of God. But we put our children in the hands of reality shows and violent computer games like Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil 5 more than we bring them to the presence of Jesus in church or in discussing Bible stories. What John Wesley wrote over two centuries ago is still true: "Will not the things of the present world surround these children on every side, naturally take up their thoughts and set God at a greater distance from them (if that be possible) then he was before? What can be done to cure it? From the first dawn of reason continually inculcate, God is in this and every place... He gives us all the goodness we have; every thought and workday and work are from Him" (The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 7, pp. 91-92).
Nurturing our children to lives with all-encompassing vision of God is the sort of sacrifice Hannah and Eli made, and an appreciation of giving all we have, including our children's time to this vision of God, may just contribute to nurturing some Samuels in our families, maybe even turn us into Hannahs or Elis!
Mark E.
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
The Moravian community of Herrnhut in Saxony was well established by the year 1727. Unfortunately, dissension and bickering began to plague the commune. The leader of Herrnhut, Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, realized that only a revival would restore order among his followers. On May 12 the revival was held and a great spirit came upon the people. By the end of the summer the communicants wanted this magnificent blessing to continue, so on August 27 a prayer vigil began. On an August morning, 24 men and 24 women decided to spend one hour in prayer, with the time being scheduled so someone was praying every hour of the day. Soon others joined what became known as the "hourly intercession." Amazingly, this discipline lasted for 100 years. Those who participated based their calling on this Old Testament text: "The sacred fire was never permitted to go out on the altar" (Leviticus 6:13).
Just as Samuel grew "both in stature and in favor with the Lord," so did those at Herrnhut who prayed unceasingly.
Ron L.
Colossians 3:12-17
Great advice! Memorize this passage and try to fulfill it. Most of the "suggestions" (?) in that passage we may resent. They may sound foolish. Why should we be compassionate to those who are lazy and ignorant? Why should we be kind to some who don't deserve kindness -- like the neighbor whose dog barks all night or the family who lets there children scream in the restaurant where we are trying to eat in peace? How can we be humble when we are hard-working, honest people who pay our taxes and who are trying to win in this competitive world? How can we be patient when some around us are so slow to do anything about situations that need immediate attention? I am guilty of a lack of patience when the driver in front of me is creeping along at the speed limit. What about when you are starving and the waitress is so slow about bringing your food? What about standing in line at the checkout counter and the cashier is having a friendly chat with someone ahead of you?
How hard it is to forebear when someone is hurting you? Do we always put up with our mate or our children when they try our patience? Are we ready to forgive or do we like to make the other one suffer a little first?
Does this sound like the basis for a New Year's resolution? I think God wants to make it a new life resolution. New Year's resolutions only last a few days!
Forgiveness is often thought of as a sign of weakness. We excuse ourselves by saying that we just want to teach the other one a lesson or by yelling that we can't stand what the other one is doing and forgiveness will just encourage it. (As we forgive others?) Is that showing love? Love is the most important element in life. God so loved the world -- what are we doing to deserve that love?
One of my members complained about her husband's drinking. Every weekend he succumbed. She told me that she "admonished" him and yelled at him, but it did no good. I suggested something that made her laugh. I said, "Why not just treat him with love and see what happens?" She said she tried everything else, but even though it sounded stupid, she would try. When I came back from vacation a few weeks later, he was in the hospital. He told me, "I don't know what you did to my wife, but she even helped me to bed when I came home plastered. She was so good to me that it drove me crazy. I had one weekend when I didn't get sober for two days, but when I came around, I told her to bring me to this detox ward." I received a letter from her years later saying that he never drank again. God's ways can sound stupid to us, but they work. Happy New Year!
Bob O.
Colossians 3:12-17
When we dress for the day's activities, we do not put on just one piece of clothing. We don a shirt or blouse, pants or a dress, a tie or scarf, socks, shoes or boots, a watch, rings, a necklace, earrings, a bracelet, a purse or a man bag, a hat, gloves, a jacket. There is lots of variety in our apparel. We dress abundantly for the day -- whether for work or play or chores or a date with our beloved. Paul describes the kind of spiritual clothing the Christian wears for each day as God's beloved. To live abundantly, it takes many fabrics to outfit the Christian lifestyle.
Mark M.
Luke 2:41-52
The belief of a military apocalyptic Messiah that would come from the House of David was so dominant in Jewish eschatology that two Roman emperors in the first century ACE, Vespasian, who destroyed the Jewish Temple in 70, and Domitian in the year 90, ordered their soldiers to seek out and kill every male from the lineage of David. This occurred two to three generations after the execution of Jesus, the unrecognized Messiah by the Jewish elders. A stubborn religious belief held by the overseers of prophecy would not be reconciled to the facts of history.
Just as those in the temple who listened to the adolescent teach, through the centuries people have failed to understand the message of Jesus.
Ron L.
Luke 2:41-52
The boy Jesus was focused on the things of God, so much so that he even overlooked his parental ties. He was not distracted. Biologically, distraction seems to contribute to a diminished spirituality and is even idolatrous in a way. When we are distracted our brains are disordered, not governed by the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain most active in spiritual experience (Daniel Amen, Change the Brain: Change Your Life, pp. 116-117). Distracted people are not focused on God, like Jesus was. Distracted lives are confused, not able to find much meaning, according to the famed German novelist Johann von Goethe: "A distracted existence leads us to no goal." Jesus gets us back to lives with a meaning and a goal, precisely in the focus on God. Early seventeenth-century French Catholic bishop Saint Francis de Sales describes this dynamic: "If the heart wanders or is distracted... replace it tenderly in its Master's presence."
It is the presence of God that gives our lives focus and meaning. That's why it was so important for the boy Jesus to remain in the temple with the Father. Devoting ourselves more single mindedly to our Lord can bring more focus and meaning to our lives too.
Mark E.
