Sermon Illustrations For Lent 3 (2010)
Illustration
Isaiah 55:1-9
Rosemarie struggled with the concept of tithing, giving 10% of her income to the church. It never bothered her to put a little in the offering plate each Sunday. She could list many reasons why she could not possibly give 10% for the work of the church. However, she had no problem spending the same amount on herself.
Then she met Karen, a single mother who began attending Rosemarie's Sunday school class. Even though Karen had financial struggles she was able to tithe. Karen had a joy and a confidence that Rosemarie envied. One day Rosemarie asked Karen how she did it. "I follow God's plan and trust him," she shared. She continued explaining that she did not view the tithe as a legal obligation but rather as a privilege and a way of showing love to God and others. "God has never let me down," Karen told her friend, "even during the hardest of times."
Through the witness of her friend Rosemarie felt challenged. She began tithing believing that God will meet all her needs. "God has faithfully kept the assurances given in the Bible, and blessings flow out to me every day," she claims. "Because of God's faithfulness, I always have enough." Rosemarie continues tithing and has experienced the joy and confidence that her friend had.
The prophet Isaiah challenges us as we journey through Lent to spend our money wisely. He asks us, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?"
Tim S.
Isaiah 55:1-9
Just how high are the heavens above the earth? Well, to give a little perspective, Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, reached an orbit over the earth with its shortest distance from the earth being 105 miles (169 km), a little more than the distance between Chicago and Milwaukee. At its farthest, Gagarin's orbit reached 203 miles (327 km), roughly the same distance between New York and Washington, DC. The International Space Station today orbits the earth at a distance varying between 173 miles (278 km) and 286 miles (460 km). In other words, if you wanted (and were somehow able) to drive your car straight up to the space station, traveling at 65 miles per hour, it would take you at least two and a half hours to get there.
In Isaiah, God tells us that "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (55:9). If our thoughts can allow our fellow human beings to live a two-and-a-half hour drive straight up from us, imagine how much greater God's thoughts are by comparison!
Craig K.
Isaiah 55:1-9
Todd, a three-year-old boy from Rhode Island went down to the seacoast to fly a kite. Never having flown a kite before, Todd had obvious doubts. His father assured him that all was well, and the kite would go up as planned. As Todd unraveled the string, and watched the kite go up, he was heard to say, "I knew it would fly, daddy. You said it would." Simple statement, profound implications.
Bethany S.
Isaiah 55:1-9
Faith honors God and God honors faith! A story from the life of missionaries Robert and Mary Moffat illustrates this truth. For ten years this couple labored faithfully in Bechuanaland (now called Botswana) without one ray of encouragement to brighten their way. They could not report a single convert. Finally the directors of their mission board began to question the wisdom of continuing the work. The thought of leaving their post, however, brought great grief to this devoted couple, for they felt sure that God was in their labors, and that they would see people turn to Christ in due season.
They stayed; and for a year or two longer, darkness reigned. Then one day a friend in England sent word to the Moffats that he wanted to mail them a gift and asked what they would like. Trusting that in time the Lord would bless their work, Mrs. Moffat replied, "Send us a communion set; I am sure it will soon be needed." God honored that dear woman's faith. The Holy Spirit moved upon the hearts of the villagers, and soon a little group of six converts was united to form the first Christian church in that land. The communion set from England was delayed in the mail; but on the very day before the first commemoration of the Lord's super in Bechuanaland, the set arrived.
Bethany S.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
C.S. Lewis compares our self-love to a man who looks down the road at a line of telephone poles and concludes that the pole closest to him is the largest. Our happiness looms so much larger in our hearts than our neighbor's happiness, even though God created us as equal in our capacity for happiness, just as a row of telephone poles are equal in height.
Bethany S.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
There are certain things which only the rains will produce; and certain experiences which only sorrow can beget. Sorrow can do two things for us. It can show us, as nothing else can, the essential kindness of our fellow-men; and it can show us as nothing else can the comfort and the compassion of God. Many and many a man in the hour of his sorrow has discovered his fellow-men and his God as he never did before. When things go well it is possible to live for years on the surface of things; but when sorrow comes a man is driven to the deep things of life, and, if he accepts it aright, a new strength and beauty enter into his soul.
-- William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1, ch. 1-10 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975)
Bethany S.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Twenty-eight years ago, ABC Evening News reported on an unusual work of modern art … hair with a shotgun affixed to it. The creator of this bizarre piece of art had the gun loaded and set on a timer to fire at an undetermined moment within 100 years. An integral part of the exhibit was the viewer. Each person that viewed the art work was asked to sit in the chair looking directly into the gun-barrel.
Amazingly, people formed long lines waiting for hours to sit and stare into the shell's path! Each one knew the gun could go off at pointblank range at any moment, but they gambled that the fatal blast would not happen during their one minute of sitting.
Foolhardy? Absolutely! Yet, many people who would not dream of sitting in that chair live a lifetime gambling that they can get away with sin. Foolishly, they ignore the risk until the inevitable self-destruction blasts them. That is precisely what happened to the Hebrews during Moses' day that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 10. They fooled around with sin and lost their lives. Don't make the same mistake.
Derl K.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
A high school history teacher passed out his class syllabus on the first day of sophomore world history. "Look at your syllabus," he said. "Notice the first line." The students looked. In large type across the top of the page, it read: "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it." For those students, that saying was true in more ways than one! Just so, the reading from 1 Corinthians calls Christians -- we included -- to study the history before the New Testament. Our faith does not begin with Jesus' birth in Bethlehem -- instead, it begins long before the star appeared in the east. Jesus' birth is the culmination of centuries of history between a people and their God -- a God who is now our God, and a people that is now us.
Leah T.
Luke 13:1-9
The FBI has been keeping a record of their Ten Most Wanted criminals since 1950, and it has become synonymous with the worst criminal elements in society. Many of the worst criminals in America have found themselves on this list, including James Earl Ray, the man convicted of murdering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.
Many of us can look at the people on this list, or at other notoriously evil people throughout history, such as Hitler or Genghis Khan, and think, "Hey, I'm not perfect, but at least I'm better than they are!" To this attitude, Jesus had one response: "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (v. 5).
Craig K.
Luke 13:1-9
One morning as Phil was getting ready to head out to work when the telephone rang. It was his son-in-law who delivered the tragic news that Phil's daughter had been killed in an automobile accident. She was on her way home from work when a truck ran a stop sign and struck his daughter's car, killing her instantly.
Phil and his wife immediately made plans to travel to their daughter's home several states away. When they arrived the next day, Phil went to the intersection where the accident happened. He walked around from one side of the street to the other, back and forth. At that moment the thought occurred to him that if his daughter had arrived at that intersection a few seconds earlier or later she would be alive. This terrible tragedy reminded Phil of the fragile nature of our life on this earth.
Phil struggled for years with his daughter's death. He wrestled with questions pertaining to his faith, repeatedly asking that age old question, "Why?" Then he came to the realization that God was present with him through this tragedy. He felt God's presence. "Since our daughter's death," Phil reflects, "I have frequently reminded myself that I live seconds away from facing Christ."
One day someone in the crowd asked Jesus to comment on recent tragedies, raising the question of whether or not the tragedy was God's way of punishing them. Jesus made it clear that God does not cause terrible things to happen to people. Jesus seized the opportunity to challenge his listeners to change their ways, the biblical word is repent. "Unless you repent," Jesus said, "you will all perish just as they did."
Lent provides us with the opportunity to confront our sin and make the necessary changes.
Tim S.
Luke 13:1-9
Several years ago, a reporter for the BBC named Jeremy Vine conducted a survey. It was a large survey. He and his associates asked over 10,000 people in various parts of the world certain questions about religious faith. One of the questions in the BBC survey was, "Does suffering in the world make it harder for you to believe in God?"
As he began to tabulate the results, Mr. Vine found something that surprised him to no end. When he asked that question in Britain, he discovered that large portions of the population said yes, the reality of human suffering is an obstacle to faith. But when he asked the same question in Lagos, Nigeria, or Delhi, India -- chronically poor and overpopulated places where life is short and difficult, and people are literally dying in the streets -- a very different answer came back. Comparatively few people in those poverty-stricken places said that suffering in the world made it harder for them to have faith.
-- Jeremy Vine, "Beyond Belief," in The Guardian, February 23, 2004
Bethany S.
Luke 13:1-9
"I trust in God so completely that I have no doubt that he will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul. Moreover, whatever evil he sends upon me in this troubled life he will turn to my good, for he is able to do it...."
-- from the Heidelberg Catechism
Bethany S.
Rosemarie struggled with the concept of tithing, giving 10% of her income to the church. It never bothered her to put a little in the offering plate each Sunday. She could list many reasons why she could not possibly give 10% for the work of the church. However, she had no problem spending the same amount on herself.
Then she met Karen, a single mother who began attending Rosemarie's Sunday school class. Even though Karen had financial struggles she was able to tithe. Karen had a joy and a confidence that Rosemarie envied. One day Rosemarie asked Karen how she did it. "I follow God's plan and trust him," she shared. She continued explaining that she did not view the tithe as a legal obligation but rather as a privilege and a way of showing love to God and others. "God has never let me down," Karen told her friend, "even during the hardest of times."
Through the witness of her friend Rosemarie felt challenged. She began tithing believing that God will meet all her needs. "God has faithfully kept the assurances given in the Bible, and blessings flow out to me every day," she claims. "Because of God's faithfulness, I always have enough." Rosemarie continues tithing and has experienced the joy and confidence that her friend had.
The prophet Isaiah challenges us as we journey through Lent to spend our money wisely. He asks us, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?"
Tim S.
Isaiah 55:1-9
Just how high are the heavens above the earth? Well, to give a little perspective, Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, reached an orbit over the earth with its shortest distance from the earth being 105 miles (169 km), a little more than the distance between Chicago and Milwaukee. At its farthest, Gagarin's orbit reached 203 miles (327 km), roughly the same distance between New York and Washington, DC. The International Space Station today orbits the earth at a distance varying between 173 miles (278 km) and 286 miles (460 km). In other words, if you wanted (and were somehow able) to drive your car straight up to the space station, traveling at 65 miles per hour, it would take you at least two and a half hours to get there.
In Isaiah, God tells us that "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (55:9). If our thoughts can allow our fellow human beings to live a two-and-a-half hour drive straight up from us, imagine how much greater God's thoughts are by comparison!
Craig K.
Isaiah 55:1-9
Todd, a three-year-old boy from Rhode Island went down to the seacoast to fly a kite. Never having flown a kite before, Todd had obvious doubts. His father assured him that all was well, and the kite would go up as planned. As Todd unraveled the string, and watched the kite go up, he was heard to say, "I knew it would fly, daddy. You said it would." Simple statement, profound implications.
Bethany S.
Isaiah 55:1-9
Faith honors God and God honors faith! A story from the life of missionaries Robert and Mary Moffat illustrates this truth. For ten years this couple labored faithfully in Bechuanaland (now called Botswana) without one ray of encouragement to brighten their way. They could not report a single convert. Finally the directors of their mission board began to question the wisdom of continuing the work. The thought of leaving their post, however, brought great grief to this devoted couple, for they felt sure that God was in their labors, and that they would see people turn to Christ in due season.
They stayed; and for a year or two longer, darkness reigned. Then one day a friend in England sent word to the Moffats that he wanted to mail them a gift and asked what they would like. Trusting that in time the Lord would bless their work, Mrs. Moffat replied, "Send us a communion set; I am sure it will soon be needed." God honored that dear woman's faith. The Holy Spirit moved upon the hearts of the villagers, and soon a little group of six converts was united to form the first Christian church in that land. The communion set from England was delayed in the mail; but on the very day before the first commemoration of the Lord's super in Bechuanaland, the set arrived.
Bethany S.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
C.S. Lewis compares our self-love to a man who looks down the road at a line of telephone poles and concludes that the pole closest to him is the largest. Our happiness looms so much larger in our hearts than our neighbor's happiness, even though God created us as equal in our capacity for happiness, just as a row of telephone poles are equal in height.
Bethany S.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
There are certain things which only the rains will produce; and certain experiences which only sorrow can beget. Sorrow can do two things for us. It can show us, as nothing else can, the essential kindness of our fellow-men; and it can show us as nothing else can the comfort and the compassion of God. Many and many a man in the hour of his sorrow has discovered his fellow-men and his God as he never did before. When things go well it is possible to live for years on the surface of things; but when sorrow comes a man is driven to the deep things of life, and, if he accepts it aright, a new strength and beauty enter into his soul.
-- William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1, ch. 1-10 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975)
Bethany S.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Twenty-eight years ago, ABC Evening News reported on an unusual work of modern art … hair with a shotgun affixed to it. The creator of this bizarre piece of art had the gun loaded and set on a timer to fire at an undetermined moment within 100 years. An integral part of the exhibit was the viewer. Each person that viewed the art work was asked to sit in the chair looking directly into the gun-barrel.
Amazingly, people formed long lines waiting for hours to sit and stare into the shell's path! Each one knew the gun could go off at pointblank range at any moment, but they gambled that the fatal blast would not happen during their one minute of sitting.
Foolhardy? Absolutely! Yet, many people who would not dream of sitting in that chair live a lifetime gambling that they can get away with sin. Foolishly, they ignore the risk until the inevitable self-destruction blasts them. That is precisely what happened to the Hebrews during Moses' day that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 10. They fooled around with sin and lost their lives. Don't make the same mistake.
Derl K.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
A high school history teacher passed out his class syllabus on the first day of sophomore world history. "Look at your syllabus," he said. "Notice the first line." The students looked. In large type across the top of the page, it read: "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it." For those students, that saying was true in more ways than one! Just so, the reading from 1 Corinthians calls Christians -- we included -- to study the history before the New Testament. Our faith does not begin with Jesus' birth in Bethlehem -- instead, it begins long before the star appeared in the east. Jesus' birth is the culmination of centuries of history between a people and their God -- a God who is now our God, and a people that is now us.
Leah T.
Luke 13:1-9
The FBI has been keeping a record of their Ten Most Wanted criminals since 1950, and it has become synonymous with the worst criminal elements in society. Many of the worst criminals in America have found themselves on this list, including James Earl Ray, the man convicted of murdering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.
Many of us can look at the people on this list, or at other notoriously evil people throughout history, such as Hitler or Genghis Khan, and think, "Hey, I'm not perfect, but at least I'm better than they are!" To this attitude, Jesus had one response: "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (v. 5).
Craig K.
Luke 13:1-9
One morning as Phil was getting ready to head out to work when the telephone rang. It was his son-in-law who delivered the tragic news that Phil's daughter had been killed in an automobile accident. She was on her way home from work when a truck ran a stop sign and struck his daughter's car, killing her instantly.
Phil and his wife immediately made plans to travel to their daughter's home several states away. When they arrived the next day, Phil went to the intersection where the accident happened. He walked around from one side of the street to the other, back and forth. At that moment the thought occurred to him that if his daughter had arrived at that intersection a few seconds earlier or later she would be alive. This terrible tragedy reminded Phil of the fragile nature of our life on this earth.
Phil struggled for years with his daughter's death. He wrestled with questions pertaining to his faith, repeatedly asking that age old question, "Why?" Then he came to the realization that God was present with him through this tragedy. He felt God's presence. "Since our daughter's death," Phil reflects, "I have frequently reminded myself that I live seconds away from facing Christ."
One day someone in the crowd asked Jesus to comment on recent tragedies, raising the question of whether or not the tragedy was God's way of punishing them. Jesus made it clear that God does not cause terrible things to happen to people. Jesus seized the opportunity to challenge his listeners to change their ways, the biblical word is repent. "Unless you repent," Jesus said, "you will all perish just as they did."
Lent provides us with the opportunity to confront our sin and make the necessary changes.
Tim S.
Luke 13:1-9
Several years ago, a reporter for the BBC named Jeremy Vine conducted a survey. It was a large survey. He and his associates asked over 10,000 people in various parts of the world certain questions about religious faith. One of the questions in the BBC survey was, "Does suffering in the world make it harder for you to believe in God?"
As he began to tabulate the results, Mr. Vine found something that surprised him to no end. When he asked that question in Britain, he discovered that large portions of the population said yes, the reality of human suffering is an obstacle to faith. But when he asked the same question in Lagos, Nigeria, or Delhi, India -- chronically poor and overpopulated places where life is short and difficult, and people are literally dying in the streets -- a very different answer came back. Comparatively few people in those poverty-stricken places said that suffering in the world made it harder for them to have faith.
-- Jeremy Vine, "Beyond Belief," in The Guardian, February 23, 2004
Bethany S.
Luke 13:1-9
"I trust in God so completely that I have no doubt that he will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul. Moreover, whatever evil he sends upon me in this troubled life he will turn to my good, for he is able to do it...."
-- from the Heidelberg Catechism
Bethany S.
