Sermon Illustrations for the Fourth Sunday of Easter (2018)
Illustration
Acts 4:5-12
“You’re not the boss of me,” is a catchphrase that many learned from the song recorded by the group They Might Be Giants, which was the theme for the popular TV series “Malcolm in the Middle.” It’s something children say to their parents, grandparents, baby sitter, older siblings, and anyone who actually is supposed to be their boss. And it feels sort of modern.
Yet a check of the internet suggests the phrase goes back to 19th century Great Britain!
Be that as it may, the mouthiness, the audacity, the authority wrested away from the powerful by the powerless, by Peter when Annas, Caiaphas and other religious authorities demand to know "By what power or by what name did you do this?" (Acts 4:7) seems to plead for a brave translator to render at least part of the apostle’s response with the words, “You’re not the boss of me.”
Frank R.
Acts 4:5-12
On June 17, 2015, Dylan Roof attended a Bible study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1816, Emmanuel AME is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the southern United States. As the study was concluding, Roof, who had sat, prayed and studied with the group, opened fire upon them. Roof murdered nine people. For several months the shooting was front page news, and because of this publicity the church received many contributions. Of the donations, the church kept $1.8 million for building maintenance, an endowment and a scholarship fund. The church designated $1.5 million for the family members of the victims. Many family members were upset that the church kept more money than it gave them.
Application: Peter said, “if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone…” We should always try to do our best, knowing others may question us.
Ron L.
1 John 3:16-24
What does it mean to love in action? Recently I had a conversation with a pastor who wondered if she should regret putting herself in possible danger by driving a homeless person to get some food and providing him with pastoral care. While it may not have been completely safe for her to open the door of the church and the doors of her car, alone, I cannot help but be grateful for her actions of love and compassion. How sad is it that she had to wonder about whether it had been wise to care in this way?
Now I am all for people being safe and I know that the world is a dangerous place. All one needs to do is look at the news to know that. Yet, I prefer to act in love and encourage others to act in love as well. A generous spirit that loves is one of the gifts of faith. After all we are called to love God and our neighbor. Could my friend have sought someone to come with her? Absolutely! Did her bravery and action make a difference in the life of one of God’s children. Absolutely! Be safe certainly, but love completely!
Bonnie B.
1 John 3:16-24
Those who marry make a pledge of love, but it better be with actions and truth and not just with words or tongue. A couple may not find out if it is real love for a year or two, but then love is more than an emotion. It can also be an act of will. We have promised to love. So it must be more than just a feeling.
The same should be true of our love for our Lord Jesus. He loved us so much that he died a terrible death for us. That should inspire a deep love for Him. One proof of our love for our Lord is faithful attendance at his church in order to worship him with words and tongue, but the rest of the week we show our love for him by our actions. That is true love.
Think how many showed their love for Jesus in the early church where they were abused and even killed by lions or also died on a cross. They showed their love by their actions. Even today some especially new Christians on mission fields show their true love by enduring rejection and torture or death. We know of good Christians in Muslim countries who were killed because they were converted!
We show our love by obeying his commands. We do not obey him in order to be loved by him. We don’t obey our parents so we can inherit their estate one day. That better not be our only motive.
Jesus knows that we love him by his spirit that we invited in us. We know that we love him when we are touched by the desperate needs of others (who he also loves) and who we see on TV or read about in the paper. Most of us live in a neighborhood where we are all fairly well off, so we may not see great need around us. We can’t all go over and help those who are struggling in the world, but we can give through our church where we often learn about those needs.
When I have told church members about those in need in Nepal, I have been pleased and often surprised by the generous offerings I receive. When a friend from Nepal visited our church last year he was given over a thousand dollars one Sunday for his work over there among the needy. We give out of love for God and his people.
Bob O.
1 John 3:16-24
Philosopher Alain de Botton has characterized much of the pressure and anxiety members of industrialized Western societies feel as a function of our mad quest for finding recognition by the world. We seem to think that we can gain this recognition by the acquisition of power, influence, and wealth. (Status Anxiety). None of us has really outgrown our teenage insecurity. Consequently, when we interact with the poor we tend to look down on them, to blame them for their plight. A 2016 New York Times poll indicated that 62% of Americans think the poor would rather stay on welfare.
We are indeed our own worst enemy. We need a faith, a sense of our own value, even when we do not feel valuable. Martin Luther made a well-known valuable, assuring point on this subject:
Mark E.
John 10:11-18
Aesop and his fables might seem to concern talking animals but he was really telling stories about human beings. Take this fable, for instance, about a wolf and a lamb.
A wolf seeing a lamb which had wandered away from the shepherd but didn’t rob him of life looking like a thief, but wanting to look virtuous as an enemy, asked, “Even though you were small last year, didn’t you slander me?”
“How could I? I wasn’t born a year ago!”
“How come you’re eating this grass which is not for grazing?”
“I haven’t eaten anything!”
“Didn’t you drink from the fountain I drink from?”
“I drink only mother’s milk!”
After that he seized the lamb and ate him.
“You’re not taking away a wolf’s dinner,” he said,
“Even if you contradict my accusations.”
In the same way when Jesus talks about the wolf snatching the sheep he’s not just talking about real wolves eating real sheep. He was talking about humans preying on other people, like the rich people of his time preying on widows and orphans.
(Greek text of “The Wolf and the Lamb”, Fable 89, p 111, from Babrius and Phaedrus: Fables,” Loeb Classical Library, my translation.)
Frank R.
John 10:11-18
Being a shepherd can be a challenging job, but not everyone realizes it. Take this story for example.
A shepherd was looking after his sheep one day on the side of a deserted road, when a new Porsche screeched to a halt. The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a Pierre Cardin tie, got out and asked the shepherd a question.
"If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?"
"Okay," he answered.
The young man parked the car, connected his laptop to his mobile phone, entered a NASA website, scanned the ground using his GPS, opened a database with 60 Excel tables filled with logarithms and pivot tables, and then printed out a 150-page report on his high-tech mini-printer.
He told the shepherd, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep here."
Surprised the shepherd replied, "That’s correct, you can have your sheep."
The young man took an animal and put it in the back of his Porsche.
Just as the man was about to drive off, the shepherd asked him, "If I guess your profession, will you return my animal to me?"
“Sure,” he replied.
The shepherd said, "You are an IT consultant."
"How did you know?"
"Very simple," answered the shepherd. "First, you came here without being called. Second, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew, and last, you don’t understand anything about my business. Now please can I have my dog back?"
This is a humorous story and a bit of a jab at tech folks. The underlying point, though, is clear. Being a shepherd was not easy work. Looking after sheep is a highly specialized job. It takes years for a shepherd to learn his trade -- and it is often passed on from father to son. A good shepherd knows his sheep well. Jesus’ audience understood that. They knew what he meant when he said, “I am the good shepherd.” Do we?
Bill T.
John 10:11-18
Ollie Cantons was born two months premature and lost his eyesight shortly after birth due to complications related to his birth. As he grew up he knew what it was like to be bullied. During those years Ollie said, “I felt humiliated every day. I felt worthless.” When Ollie was 45, in May 2010, a friend asked him to reach out to 10-year-old triplets who were also blind and being bullied. Ollie agreed saying, “I felt compelled to help. I could totally relate, because their story was mine as a kid.” As their relationship grew Ollie realized that he wanted to be more than a mentor to the boys, so he adopted them. During the week when Ollie is working the triplets stay with their mother, but weekends are spent with their adoptive father. Ollie Cantons said of the unfolding relationship, “It was just this feeling it was meant to be.”
Application: If we care enough and are able to relate to others, all of us have the gift to be a good shepherd.
Ron L.
“You’re not the boss of me,” is a catchphrase that many learned from the song recorded by the group They Might Be Giants, which was the theme for the popular TV series “Malcolm in the Middle.” It’s something children say to their parents, grandparents, baby sitter, older siblings, and anyone who actually is supposed to be their boss. And it feels sort of modern.
Yet a check of the internet suggests the phrase goes back to 19th century Great Britain!
Be that as it may, the mouthiness, the audacity, the authority wrested away from the powerful by the powerless, by Peter when Annas, Caiaphas and other religious authorities demand to know "By what power or by what name did you do this?" (Acts 4:7) seems to plead for a brave translator to render at least part of the apostle’s response with the words, “You’re not the boss of me.”
Frank R.
Acts 4:5-12
On June 17, 2015, Dylan Roof attended a Bible study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1816, Emmanuel AME is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the southern United States. As the study was concluding, Roof, who had sat, prayed and studied with the group, opened fire upon them. Roof murdered nine people. For several months the shooting was front page news, and because of this publicity the church received many contributions. Of the donations, the church kept $1.8 million for building maintenance, an endowment and a scholarship fund. The church designated $1.5 million for the family members of the victims. Many family members were upset that the church kept more money than it gave them.
Application: Peter said, “if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone…” We should always try to do our best, knowing others may question us.
Ron L.
1 John 3:16-24
What does it mean to love in action? Recently I had a conversation with a pastor who wondered if she should regret putting herself in possible danger by driving a homeless person to get some food and providing him with pastoral care. While it may not have been completely safe for her to open the door of the church and the doors of her car, alone, I cannot help but be grateful for her actions of love and compassion. How sad is it that she had to wonder about whether it had been wise to care in this way?
Now I am all for people being safe and I know that the world is a dangerous place. All one needs to do is look at the news to know that. Yet, I prefer to act in love and encourage others to act in love as well. A generous spirit that loves is one of the gifts of faith. After all we are called to love God and our neighbor. Could my friend have sought someone to come with her? Absolutely! Did her bravery and action make a difference in the life of one of God’s children. Absolutely! Be safe certainly, but love completely!
Bonnie B.
1 John 3:16-24
Those who marry make a pledge of love, but it better be with actions and truth and not just with words or tongue. A couple may not find out if it is real love for a year or two, but then love is more than an emotion. It can also be an act of will. We have promised to love. So it must be more than just a feeling.
The same should be true of our love for our Lord Jesus. He loved us so much that he died a terrible death for us. That should inspire a deep love for Him. One proof of our love for our Lord is faithful attendance at his church in order to worship him with words and tongue, but the rest of the week we show our love for him by our actions. That is true love.
Think how many showed their love for Jesus in the early church where they were abused and even killed by lions or also died on a cross. They showed their love by their actions. Even today some especially new Christians on mission fields show their true love by enduring rejection and torture or death. We know of good Christians in Muslim countries who were killed because they were converted!
We show our love by obeying his commands. We do not obey him in order to be loved by him. We don’t obey our parents so we can inherit their estate one day. That better not be our only motive.
Jesus knows that we love him by his spirit that we invited in us. We know that we love him when we are touched by the desperate needs of others (who he also loves) and who we see on TV or read about in the paper. Most of us live in a neighborhood where we are all fairly well off, so we may not see great need around us. We can’t all go over and help those who are struggling in the world, but we can give through our church where we often learn about those needs.
When I have told church members about those in need in Nepal, I have been pleased and often surprised by the generous offerings I receive. When a friend from Nepal visited our church last year he was given over a thousand dollars one Sunday for his work over there among the needy. We give out of love for God and his people.
Bob O.
1 John 3:16-24
Philosopher Alain de Botton has characterized much of the pressure and anxiety members of industrialized Western societies feel as a function of our mad quest for finding recognition by the world. We seem to think that we can gain this recognition by the acquisition of power, influence, and wealth. (Status Anxiety). None of us has really outgrown our teenage insecurity. Consequently, when we interact with the poor we tend to look down on them, to blame them for their plight. A 2016 New York Times poll indicated that 62% of Americans think the poor would rather stay on welfare.
We are indeed our own worst enemy. We need a faith, a sense of our own value, even when we do not feel valuable. Martin Luther made a well-known valuable, assuring point on this subject:
To this I reply: I have often said before that feeling and faith are two different things. It is the nature of faith not to feel, to lay aside reason and close the eyes to submit absolutely to the Word and follow it in life and death. Feeling however does not extend beyond that which may be apprehended by reason and the senses which may be heard, seen, felt, and known by the outward senses. For this cause feeling is opposed to faith and faith is opposed to feeling.Thus Luther adds:
(Complete Sermons, Vol.1/2, p.244)
Even if our conscience makes us fainthearted and presents God as angry, still “God is greater than our heart.” Conscience is one drop; the reconciled God is a sea comfort.With this confidence in God and the comfort that ensues, concern for the poor is more likely to follow. We have previously noted the Neurobiological data indicate that when engaged in spiritual activity we are led to forget ourselves (the brain’s parietal lobe which orients us in our environment goes dim) and our prefrontal cortex becomes active. As a result the brain is immersed in dopamine, a pleasurable neurochemical which also disposes us to more socially constructive behaviors (Dean Hamer, The God Gene; Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman, Why We Believe What We Believe, esp. pp.141-143,187ff.).
(Luther’s Works, Vol.30, p.280)
Mark E.
John 10:11-18
Aesop and his fables might seem to concern talking animals but he was really telling stories about human beings. Take this fable, for instance, about a wolf and a lamb.
A wolf seeing a lamb which had wandered away from the shepherd but didn’t rob him of life looking like a thief, but wanting to look virtuous as an enemy, asked, “Even though you were small last year, didn’t you slander me?”
“How could I? I wasn’t born a year ago!”
“How come you’re eating this grass which is not for grazing?”
“I haven’t eaten anything!”
“Didn’t you drink from the fountain I drink from?”
“I drink only mother’s milk!”
After that he seized the lamb and ate him.
“You’re not taking away a wolf’s dinner,” he said,
“Even if you contradict my accusations.”
In the same way when Jesus talks about the wolf snatching the sheep he’s not just talking about real wolves eating real sheep. He was talking about humans preying on other people, like the rich people of his time preying on widows and orphans.
(Greek text of “The Wolf and the Lamb”, Fable 89, p 111, from Babrius and Phaedrus: Fables,” Loeb Classical Library, my translation.)
Frank R.
John 10:11-18
Being a shepherd can be a challenging job, but not everyone realizes it. Take this story for example.
A shepherd was looking after his sheep one day on the side of a deserted road, when a new Porsche screeched to a halt. The driver, a man dressed in an Armani suit, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a Pierre Cardin tie, got out and asked the shepherd a question.
"If I can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?"
"Okay," he answered.
The young man parked the car, connected his laptop to his mobile phone, entered a NASA website, scanned the ground using his GPS, opened a database with 60 Excel tables filled with logarithms and pivot tables, and then printed out a 150-page report on his high-tech mini-printer.
He told the shepherd, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep here."
Surprised the shepherd replied, "That’s correct, you can have your sheep."
The young man took an animal and put it in the back of his Porsche.
Just as the man was about to drive off, the shepherd asked him, "If I guess your profession, will you return my animal to me?"
“Sure,” he replied.
The shepherd said, "You are an IT consultant."
"How did you know?"
"Very simple," answered the shepherd. "First, you came here without being called. Second, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew, and last, you don’t understand anything about my business. Now please can I have my dog back?"
This is a humorous story and a bit of a jab at tech folks. The underlying point, though, is clear. Being a shepherd was not easy work. Looking after sheep is a highly specialized job. It takes years for a shepherd to learn his trade -- and it is often passed on from father to son. A good shepherd knows his sheep well. Jesus’ audience understood that. They knew what he meant when he said, “I am the good shepherd.” Do we?
Bill T.
John 10:11-18
Ollie Cantons was born two months premature and lost his eyesight shortly after birth due to complications related to his birth. As he grew up he knew what it was like to be bullied. During those years Ollie said, “I felt humiliated every day. I felt worthless.” When Ollie was 45, in May 2010, a friend asked him to reach out to 10-year-old triplets who were also blind and being bullied. Ollie agreed saying, “I felt compelled to help. I could totally relate, because their story was mine as a kid.” As their relationship grew Ollie realized that he wanted to be more than a mentor to the boys, so he adopted them. During the week when Ollie is working the triplets stay with their mother, but weekends are spent with their adoptive father. Ollie Cantons said of the unfolding relationship, “It was just this feeling it was meant to be.”
Application: If we care enough and are able to relate to others, all of us have the gift to be a good shepherd.
Ron L.
