Sermon Illustrations for Proper 15 | OT 20 (2018)
Illustration
1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14
It is no wonder that believers still view Solomon as wise and relate the wisdom of Solomon as an attribute we all might seek. Clearly, Solomon was a thinker, one who contemplated carefully. But it is even more important that Solomon sought wisdom as his blessing and gift from God. At a time when power or wealth or even military might may have been the obvious choices, Solomon wanted to be wise and discerning. Jesus says in Matthew 10:16, “Be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.”
Wisdom serves Solomon well. Wisdom also serves us. And let’s be clear, being wise is not the same thing as being knowledgeable. I know a lot of educated people who are not very wise. Wisdom comes from reflection on information, human nature, insight and instinct. It’s a gift we can all use. Perhaps we should be as Solomon and pray for wisdom.
Bonnie B.
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
This lesson’s account of Solomon’s famous plea for wisdom leads to some reflections about what wisdom is. Socrates said that “the Only true wisdom is in knowing.” Leonardo da Vinci claimed that “Wisdom is the daughter of experience.” It takes a special kind of experience in order to become wise. You need to be a good listener, American columnist Doug Larson says:
Mark E.
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3:14 and Psalm 111
It is a gift from God to have wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong. Our country has a supreme court to determine what is right. In most cases they succeed, but sometimes there is outside pressure to bend the truth a bit. The NRA, for one, has a history of doing this. (That is not a sermon topic.)
Solomon’s request may be a good one for us: ask God for wisdom. That may also be a great one for parents raising children and maybe for their children’s teachers in school. That would certainly be a good one for a president and a member of congress as long as it doesn’t interfere with the goals of their party.
A pastor might need this gift to help some with difficult problems in the parish.
We do need to ponder all of God’s works, and we may need to ask God to help us delight in them. Some may be harder to delight in than others. Our church is one place to help us with that.
We should not be afraid of the Lord! We should only fear hurting him with our complaints. If his wisdom is in us we should obey all his commands. Wisdom is a complex characteristic. It is only a gift from God. Even the wisdom we use in school shows where it came from. It is a gift and not something we need to practice only with our minds. Our friends should sense that we have it and know it is not something we just learned at home or in class. It is a gift from God.
A pastor friend prayed one night that God would give him the wisdom to help a faithful couple in his church who were at the point of breaking up but they didn’t tell him the reason. He made a wise guess knowing how the husband loved football. He asked the wife if she felt her husband loved his TV sports more than her. “How did you know that?” she asked. He complained, “She never lets me do what I want to do.” From that point on he gave them wise advice if they said they still loved each other. He pointed out that their problem was common with many other members who were having trouble. He told them that they had to deal with it in prayer together. No, they had never prayed about it before exept to complain to the Lord. They prayed about it before they left, and they told him after they left that they would pray about it every day after that meeting.
Prayer is one way we can get wisdom to solve our problems.
Bob O.
Psalm 111
John Calvin spoke of the immensity of God’s wisdom, justice, and mercy. But then he added:
Ephesians 5:15-20
There were two very different worship styles that existed side by side among God’s people in Judea. There was the Temple, where animals were sacrificed in worship led by a priesthood. This worship involved a great drama that sanctified the relationship of people to their God and to their food. The work was exclusively the province of a trained priesthood.
Alongside this was the synagogue worship. Led by the Pharisees (a few bad apples give the whole group a bad name in the gospels) the people sang, read scripture, chanted psalms, and listened to sermons explaining the meaning of the scripture for ordinary lives. Synagogue worship developed during the period when there was no temple, before the Second Temple was built and replaced the First Temple destroyed by the Babylonians. When that temple was rebuilt the synagogue remained. Here there was no need for a priesthood -- anyone could lead.
The Temple had layers of exclusion -- Gentiles could only enter the outer court. Women could only go as far as another courtyard. Men only went further, and only priests entered the inner sanctum, and the High Priest alone entered the holy of holies.
But it seems from some passages of scripture that anyone, including Gentiles, might attend synagogue services. Men and women might sit in different sections but all took place in the same service.
Christian services went further -- there was no need for ten believing men (women didn't count!) to provide a quorum for worship. As can be seen in Philippi, the home owned by a woman, Lydia, could become the house church. Women and men, slaves and free, Jew and Gentile could come to the same table of the Lord
Paul’s worship instructions reflect the way the worship of the Synagogue: “…you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (5:19-20).
Frank R.
Ephesians 5:15-20
A little girl had trouble sleeping and her parents had tried just about everything to get her to stay in bed. She was having an especially hard time one particular night. She’d been in bed for less than twenty minutes when she called out for a drink of water. After getting back to bed, she had to use bathroom. Being back in bed for another fifteen minutes or so, she heard some strange noises. Her mother went to her room and explained to her that there were no monsters or noises. She told her that it was getting late and she had to stay in bed this time or there would be a punishment. The child stayed in bed for quite a while.
As her mom and dad finished watching television for the night, they began to check the doors and close the curtains. The grandfather clock in the hall began to chime as it hit ten o’clock. It rang out eight chimes, nine chimes, ten chimes, then surprisingly, it kept going. Eleven chimes were heard, then twelve chimes; thirteen and fourteen! The mom and dad looked at each other, puzzled at what had happened to their clock. Their shock was broken by a small voice from the upstairs bedroom. The little girl called out, “It’s later than it’s ever been!”
“It’s later than it’s ever been.” These words were accurate for the broken clock and, perhaps, even more so for our text today. Paul writes that we ought to “make the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Our time is running out to make a difference for Jesus. It’s later than it’s ever been.
Bill T.
Ephesians 5:15-20
In March 2018, Affirm Films released the movie Paul, Apostle of Christ to theaters. In a movie review written by Leah Hickman for Christian Headlines she wrote, “while some ‘Christian’ and Bible-based films range from being low-quality adaptations of the Bible to being simply low-quality films, Paul appears to have hit a sweet spot for both its quality and accuracy.” Megan Basham, in a review written for WORLD Magazine, noted that the only fault she had with the movie was its length -- it just was not long enough to capture the full depth and breadth of the storyline. Basham wrote, “Paul’s story, as this movie proves, has enough drama, emotion, and spectacle to capture any binge-watcher. I’ll happily take the two hours it offers. But I’d love to have more.”
Application: What Paul wrote in Ephesians tells us a great deal about what he believed. We know from his story as it is recorded in Acts and the tidbits he shares in his letters that he lived a life that exhibited what it means to be a Christian to the Mediterranean world. But, we also know from his beliefs and the life he lived that he was a sincere and dedicated Christian. As we can read in the Bible, as we can read in biographies on Paul, and as we can learn from a movie such as Paul, Apostle of Christ, we will learn of a Christian apostle who lived a life of “drama, emotion, and spectacle.”
Ron L.
John 6:51-58
Regarding the significance of eating the living bread of Christ, Martin Luther notes:
John 6:51-58
It’s no wonder some of the ancients spread the lie that we Christians were cannibals. Jesus seems very clear, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:54-56, NRSV). If you look at the words literally this could be the interpretation.
We know better. Jesus is the living presence of God and we need to partake of the nourishment that comes from his words, his ministry and his life. We need to drink in the compassion, the forgiveness, and the grace Jesus offered everywhere he was -- even the cross. It’s not easy to follow Jesus. It’s not easy to love like, to care like, to heal like, to pray like Jesus, but that is the call to the disciples -- even us. So yes, we share the bread and cup. We talk about consuming Jesus’ risen spirit into our lives. We need that nourishment for our spirits and our hearts. So be the people who take in Jesus, who love Jesus and who emulate Jesus. Then there will be no question about our faith and the presence of the living Christ in the world.
Bonnie B.
John 6:51-59
This passage is obviously referring to the Lord’s supper. It is not easy to take a symbolic statement literally and we can only do it if we know the Lord! We can only know the Lord if we open our heart to receive what He sends us.
Some don’t believe in climate change. It is revealed to some who study it, but not to others who refuse to believe it as either symbolic or literal.
I studied the Lord’s supper in catechism, but it took a while before I accepted it in my heart and mind. In the meantime all we can do is obey what we are told, trusting the ones who told us.
There is much in our faith that we must believe in symbolically or literally, which we don’t see with our eyes. I still can’t get a picture of heaven or hell in my head. All I think I know is that if I love my Lord, then I want to be with him in his love -- whatever or wherever that means.
As a child I was not comfortable unless I knew where my parents were if I could not see them or hear them in the next room. I had to live with my faith in them. My faith grew because I knew they were faithful and would always be there for me.
The faith of others like our pastor who are close to us can also build our faith. I had a seminary professor whom I felt knew the Lord because of the life he lived and how he seemed to love us. It is something that can’t be explained, it can only be felt by the way they act and by the feeling that we sense in our heart that they really cared for us.
When we eat mom’s bread, we know it was made out of love for us regardless of how it might taste. When we eat the bread at communion we know that he cares and that Jesus’ love is in it.
We must keep in mind the promise that if we believe that and feed on his bread faithfully, we will live forever.
Bob O.
It is no wonder that believers still view Solomon as wise and relate the wisdom of Solomon as an attribute we all might seek. Clearly, Solomon was a thinker, one who contemplated carefully. But it is even more important that Solomon sought wisdom as his blessing and gift from God. At a time when power or wealth or even military might may have been the obvious choices, Solomon wanted to be wise and discerning. Jesus says in Matthew 10:16, “Be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.”
Wisdom serves Solomon well. Wisdom also serves us. And let’s be clear, being wise is not the same thing as being knowledgeable. I know a lot of educated people who are not very wise. Wisdom comes from reflection on information, human nature, insight and instinct. It’s a gift we can all use. Perhaps we should be as Solomon and pray for wisdom.
Bonnie B.
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
This lesson’s account of Solomon’s famous plea for wisdom leads to some reflections about what wisdom is. Socrates said that “the Only true wisdom is in knowing.” Leonardo da Vinci claimed that “Wisdom is the daughter of experience.” It takes a special kind of experience in order to become wise. You need to be a good listener, American columnist Doug Larson says:
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.In the same spirit Canadian writer Charles De Lint notes:
Wisdom never comes to those who believe they have nothing left to learn.It is as Confucius once said: “True wisdom is knowing what you don’t know.”
Mark E.
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3:14 and Psalm 111
It is a gift from God to have wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong. Our country has a supreme court to determine what is right. In most cases they succeed, but sometimes there is outside pressure to bend the truth a bit. The NRA, for one, has a history of doing this. (That is not a sermon topic.)
Solomon’s request may be a good one for us: ask God for wisdom. That may also be a great one for parents raising children and maybe for their children’s teachers in school. That would certainly be a good one for a president and a member of congress as long as it doesn’t interfere with the goals of their party.
A pastor might need this gift to help some with difficult problems in the parish.
We do need to ponder all of God’s works, and we may need to ask God to help us delight in them. Some may be harder to delight in than others. Our church is one place to help us with that.
We should not be afraid of the Lord! We should only fear hurting him with our complaints. If his wisdom is in us we should obey all his commands. Wisdom is a complex characteristic. It is only a gift from God. Even the wisdom we use in school shows where it came from. It is a gift and not something we need to practice only with our minds. Our friends should sense that we have it and know it is not something we just learned at home or in class. It is a gift from God.
A pastor friend prayed one night that God would give him the wisdom to help a faithful couple in his church who were at the point of breaking up but they didn’t tell him the reason. He made a wise guess knowing how the husband loved football. He asked the wife if she felt her husband loved his TV sports more than her. “How did you know that?” she asked. He complained, “She never lets me do what I want to do.” From that point on he gave them wise advice if they said they still loved each other. He pointed out that their problem was common with many other members who were having trouble. He told them that they had to deal with it in prayer together. No, they had never prayed about it before exept to complain to the Lord. They prayed about it before they left, and they told him after they left that they would pray about it every day after that meeting.
Prayer is one way we can get wisdom to solve our problems.
Bob O.
Psalm 111
John Calvin spoke of the immensity of God’s wisdom, justice, and mercy. But then he added:
It is not the design of God to furnish us with such a display of His power and sovereignty in His works, as might only fill our minds with terror, but He also gives us a display of His justice in such a manner so inviting as to captivate our hearts. (Calvin’s Commentaries, VI/1, p.314)Martin Luther notes how we fail to marvel at the wonderful works of God, especially that he has delivered us from death:
In short, we cannot sufficiently marvel at it and contemplate it in eternity. And yet, when we hear about it, we clods and blocks act as though a rotten apple were about to drop from a tree. (Luther’s Works,Vol.13, p.373)Oh how ungrateful we are. The first reformer adds a thoughtful formula for life:
... we do the work of God when we accuse ourselves and acknowledge our evil and at the same time magnify God. So we should glorify God in all our works and put ourselves to shame, attribute every good to God but every evil to ourselves. (Luther’s Works, Vol.11, p.375)Mark E.
Ephesians 5:15-20
There were two very different worship styles that existed side by side among God’s people in Judea. There was the Temple, where animals were sacrificed in worship led by a priesthood. This worship involved a great drama that sanctified the relationship of people to their God and to their food. The work was exclusively the province of a trained priesthood.
Alongside this was the synagogue worship. Led by the Pharisees (a few bad apples give the whole group a bad name in the gospels) the people sang, read scripture, chanted psalms, and listened to sermons explaining the meaning of the scripture for ordinary lives. Synagogue worship developed during the period when there was no temple, before the Second Temple was built and replaced the First Temple destroyed by the Babylonians. When that temple was rebuilt the synagogue remained. Here there was no need for a priesthood -- anyone could lead.
The Temple had layers of exclusion -- Gentiles could only enter the outer court. Women could only go as far as another courtyard. Men only went further, and only priests entered the inner sanctum, and the High Priest alone entered the holy of holies.
But it seems from some passages of scripture that anyone, including Gentiles, might attend synagogue services. Men and women might sit in different sections but all took place in the same service.
Christian services went further -- there was no need for ten believing men (women didn't count!) to provide a quorum for worship. As can be seen in Philippi, the home owned by a woman, Lydia, could become the house church. Women and men, slaves and free, Jew and Gentile could come to the same table of the Lord
Paul’s worship instructions reflect the way the worship of the Synagogue: “…you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (5:19-20).
Frank R.
Ephesians 5:15-20
A little girl had trouble sleeping and her parents had tried just about everything to get her to stay in bed. She was having an especially hard time one particular night. She’d been in bed for less than twenty minutes when she called out for a drink of water. After getting back to bed, she had to use bathroom. Being back in bed for another fifteen minutes or so, she heard some strange noises. Her mother went to her room and explained to her that there were no monsters or noises. She told her that it was getting late and she had to stay in bed this time or there would be a punishment. The child stayed in bed for quite a while.
As her mom and dad finished watching television for the night, they began to check the doors and close the curtains. The grandfather clock in the hall began to chime as it hit ten o’clock. It rang out eight chimes, nine chimes, ten chimes, then surprisingly, it kept going. Eleven chimes were heard, then twelve chimes; thirteen and fourteen! The mom and dad looked at each other, puzzled at what had happened to their clock. Their shock was broken by a small voice from the upstairs bedroom. The little girl called out, “It’s later than it’s ever been!”
“It’s later than it’s ever been.” These words were accurate for the broken clock and, perhaps, even more so for our text today. Paul writes that we ought to “make the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Our time is running out to make a difference for Jesus. It’s later than it’s ever been.
Bill T.
Ephesians 5:15-20
In March 2018, Affirm Films released the movie Paul, Apostle of Christ to theaters. In a movie review written by Leah Hickman for Christian Headlines she wrote, “while some ‘Christian’ and Bible-based films range from being low-quality adaptations of the Bible to being simply low-quality films, Paul appears to have hit a sweet spot for both its quality and accuracy.” Megan Basham, in a review written for WORLD Magazine, noted that the only fault she had with the movie was its length -- it just was not long enough to capture the full depth and breadth of the storyline. Basham wrote, “Paul’s story, as this movie proves, has enough drama, emotion, and spectacle to capture any binge-watcher. I’ll happily take the two hours it offers. But I’d love to have more.”
Application: What Paul wrote in Ephesians tells us a great deal about what he believed. We know from his story as it is recorded in Acts and the tidbits he shares in his letters that he lived a life that exhibited what it means to be a Christian to the Mediterranean world. But, we also know from his beliefs and the life he lived that he was a sincere and dedicated Christian. As we can read in the Bible, as we can read in biographies on Paul, and as we can learn from a movie such as Paul, Apostle of Christ, we will learn of a Christian apostle who lived a life of “drama, emotion, and spectacle.”
Ron L.
John 6:51-58
Regarding the significance of eating the living bread of Christ, Martin Luther notes:
For I believe that Jesus Christ and His flesh and blood were given for me, and thus I surely receive Him as my mouth received food and drink. If the mouth is not filled with food or beer or wine, there is not eating and drinking. Thus faith, too, cannot be a mere thought of our Lord God; for thoughts are not sufficient. It is not enough that I recall how Christ was crucified... (Luther’s Works, Vol.23, p.128)There is a sense in which we already have eternal life when eating Christ. Luther also helpfully makes this point:
There is no difference between the hour when you begin to believe and that of the last day, except that you do not yet see and hold eternal life. On Judgment Day you will have no more than is yours today. The very flesh and blood of Christ are mine at this hour; they are present and live just as they will also live on the last day, only with this difference that I do not yet see and feel them, for they are still hidden and concealed in faith. (Ibid., p.143)The first reformer elaborates on how receiving Christ gives life: “But if you are as Christian on earth, believe in Christ and thus eat His body and drink His blood, then life already abides in you.” (Ibid., p.154) He also reviewed the ethical significance of Christ living in us and we in him:
Thus we, too, have been joined with Christ into One body and being, so that the good or the evil that happens to me happens also to Him. When I strike you or harm you, or when I show you honor, I strike Christ, I do Him harm, I show Him honor; for whatever happens to a Christian happens also to Christ Himself; He has a stake in it. (Ibid., p.149)Mark E.
John 6:51-58
It’s no wonder some of the ancients spread the lie that we Christians were cannibals. Jesus seems very clear, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:54-56, NRSV). If you look at the words literally this could be the interpretation.
We know better. Jesus is the living presence of God and we need to partake of the nourishment that comes from his words, his ministry and his life. We need to drink in the compassion, the forgiveness, and the grace Jesus offered everywhere he was -- even the cross. It’s not easy to follow Jesus. It’s not easy to love like, to care like, to heal like, to pray like Jesus, but that is the call to the disciples -- even us. So yes, we share the bread and cup. We talk about consuming Jesus’ risen spirit into our lives. We need that nourishment for our spirits and our hearts. So be the people who take in Jesus, who love Jesus and who emulate Jesus. Then there will be no question about our faith and the presence of the living Christ in the world.
Bonnie B.
John 6:51-59
This passage is obviously referring to the Lord’s supper. It is not easy to take a symbolic statement literally and we can only do it if we know the Lord! We can only know the Lord if we open our heart to receive what He sends us.
Some don’t believe in climate change. It is revealed to some who study it, but not to others who refuse to believe it as either symbolic or literal.
I studied the Lord’s supper in catechism, but it took a while before I accepted it in my heart and mind. In the meantime all we can do is obey what we are told, trusting the ones who told us.
There is much in our faith that we must believe in symbolically or literally, which we don’t see with our eyes. I still can’t get a picture of heaven or hell in my head. All I think I know is that if I love my Lord, then I want to be with him in his love -- whatever or wherever that means.
As a child I was not comfortable unless I knew where my parents were if I could not see them or hear them in the next room. I had to live with my faith in them. My faith grew because I knew they were faithful and would always be there for me.
The faith of others like our pastor who are close to us can also build our faith. I had a seminary professor whom I felt knew the Lord because of the life he lived and how he seemed to love us. It is something that can’t be explained, it can only be felt by the way they act and by the feeling that we sense in our heart that they really cared for us.
When we eat mom’s bread, we know it was made out of love for us regardless of how it might taste. When we eat the bread at communion we know that he cares and that Jesus’ love is in it.
We must keep in mind the promise that if we believe that and feed on his bread faithfully, we will live forever.
Bob O.
