Sermon Illustrations for Proper 16 | OT 21
Illustration
Object:
Jeremiah 1:4-10
It can be scary to think that God knows everything about us even before we were born. I used to produce movies before I became a pastor, and I thought of the long reel of film passing through the projector one frame at a time. We see only one day at a time in our lives, but God sees the whole reel of film from beginning to end. God also created time! He is not bound by it as we are!
Is Jeremiah the only one who has a mission? Not everyone is called to be a prophet, but we are all called to do something for the Lord. The Bible tells us that some have been called to be prophets, but others are called to teach, preach, heal, and have other callings. (I'm sure the list could be much longer and could even include cleaning the church.) I believe that God has called some to make extra money so they can help others who don't have that gift, but are called to do other things maybe even more important for God's kingdom. Whatever God has given us to do, it is not just for our own entertainment and pleasure. It is to serve him and his people. One of our main duties is to ask God what he wants us to do with our lives -- in our spare time?
How easy it is to make excuses. If you have trouble speaking but God wants you to be a preacher, don't worry! He will provide! He will even put the words in your mouth.
It may make us worry, but like God tells Jeremiah, don't be afraid! I will be there to rescue you. I must say I still worried when I was in Nepal as a missionary. Some were even getting tortured and killed for their faith. I might be more willing to suffer a quick death, but that torture bit bothered me. I have to remember the horrible end that Jesus faced for me. Yes, he asked if there were any other way, but "thy will be done" is the final word for him and for all of us.
One pastor in Nepal, old pastor Tir, was tortured and imprisoned for his faith, but his ministry changed the whole nation of Nepal. From that one man who we met in 1997, there are now over two million Christians in Nepal.
Everyone may not be given that mission. All we can do is ask God what he wants us to do with the life he has given us. Next we have to realize that he will give us the words and wisdom to accomplish whatever he asks us to do for him. So shut up and don't complain!
Bob O.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate, describes in her book Mighty Be Our Powers how sisterhood, prayer, and sex changed a nation at war. Liberia was embroiled in a civil war from 1990 to 2003. Hundreds of thousands were killed and many more were displaced into refugee camps. One night, Leymah Gbowee had a dream in which the voice of God commanded her: "Gather the women to pray for peace." Her response was quick and direct, like Jeremiah's, except the content was more blatant: "I drink too much. I fornicate. I sleep with a man who is not my husband and is even married to another. If God is going to speak to someone in Liberia, it can't be me" (slightly edited from her text). Yet, like with Jeremiah, God worked through Leymah Gbowee to bring the warring factions to the peace table. She faced down Charles Taylor and other warlords with gutsy courage and a simple faith in God.
Mark M.
Hebrews 12:18-29
It's never good when the earth moves. Earthquakes never build, they only destroy. When what you rely on to hold you up, when the very thing that supports you quivers and gives way, then all that you have built collapses. This is true of buildings that rise from the ground, and it is true of our lives as well. To be "all shook up" is to be upset, confused, and unsure of what to do next. Traumatic events can leave you "badly shaken," not knowing what to expect or how to react. Our plans can be shaken. Our foundations, be they emotional, financial, or professional, can crumble away. Only the kingdom of God cannot be shaken.
Scott B.
Hebrews 12:18-29
The text deals with the contrast between the two covenants (of the law and of the gospel). French intellectual Blaise Pascal so well describes our circumstances according to the law (the Old Covenant), according to way we live without Christ in view: "Our imagination so magnifies the present, because we are continually thinking about it, and so reduces eternity, because we do not think about it, that we do not think about it, that we turn eternity into nothing and nothing into eternity" (Pensees, p. 164).
Famed preacher of the early Christian centuries John Chrysostom reminds us that God is a consuming fire and the old order cannot bear the new order he initiates (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 14, p. 511). This new order is a realm full of love so compelling that it makes us forget the present. Seventeenth-century French mystic Jeanne Guyon gives us a powerful glimpse of what life is like in this New Covenant: "God never shows you a past fault so as to lead you to remedy it. He acts in the same way as a skillful gardener who shows his child the weeds without letting him pull them up; he wishes to do this himself" (Elmer O'Brien, ed., Varieties of Mystic Experience, p. 242).
God will do everything for us in love. And in so doing his love removes our focus from ourselves in the present to his eternal loving goodness that never considers the weeds in our lives.
Mark E.
Hebrews 12:18-29
A group of veterans goes to various churches around the country and asks permission to place American flags on the church lawn. When given permission, the veterans place 6,673 flags in front of the church, as a remembrance of the soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The veterans call this a "Field of Flags." This is a field of remembering and thanksgiving.
Application: Hebrews says that once we become a part of the kingdom, we should give thanks.
Ron L.
Luke 13:10-17
There was a woman in Nepal who couldn't walk. She had been crippled for many years. Then one of my seminary students, John, invited me to come and visit her. She was walking! Her son who was a Hindu wasn't sure if this was right! It was shaking his Hindu belief, but he had to believe what he was seeing. I should add that he was embarrassed by what his Hindu priests could not do! They had also warned him to avoid those Christians.
There are some denominations who won't allow people to do anything on Sunday (the Sabbath is Saturday, which only the Seventh-Day Adventists take off). There are some who insist that all we are allowed to do is sit in a chair all day. Some say that even looking out the window is wrong! It may make us want to be outside. When I was a child, few if any stores were open, though doctors were allowed to make house calls! Jesus did not have office hours and healed when there was need. He told the "hypocrites" that they did many things on the Sabbath like taking care of their livestock. When the people heard this they were delighted that those "fundamentalists" were embarrassed -- they were humiliated!
We have to be careful that we do not use this healing by Jesus on a Sabbath as an excuse for doing anything, any work, on his day. We tend to go overboard in our age. If one store can open, then any and all stores can open. Is golf work? Is going to a movie on Sunday work? Can we make the bed or wash the dishes?
The point of this story is that we must put the care of others first in our life. God looks in our heart and sees what is motivating us. Why not mow the lawn on Saturday? Do your shopping then also, so others won't have to work. We have to be careful not to be legalists.
One of my confirmands was a caddie who was called to work on a Sunday. The boss said that he couldn't use Roman Catholics on Sunday because they had to be in church. My boys were really annoyed and I had to set their boss straight. Maybe he could have used Seventh-Day Adventists! All Christians should go by the same rules, but more important: what we do should depend on our relationship with our Lord and what he wants us to do, like helping others who need our help. God does not have a scoreboard. Do only what your conscience tells you to do -- no more and no less.
Bob O.
Luke 13:10-17
What rejoicing words would the crowd utter after Jesus healed the crippled woman? Perhaps these words once used by the Caribbean Conference of Churches as they celebrated The Right Hand of God:
The right hand of God is healing in our land,
Healing broken bodies, minds, and souls,
So wondrous is its touch,
With love that means so much,
When we're healed by the right hand of God.
[from Desmund Tutu's An African Prayer Book]
Mark M.
It can be scary to think that God knows everything about us even before we were born. I used to produce movies before I became a pastor, and I thought of the long reel of film passing through the projector one frame at a time. We see only one day at a time in our lives, but God sees the whole reel of film from beginning to end. God also created time! He is not bound by it as we are!
Is Jeremiah the only one who has a mission? Not everyone is called to be a prophet, but we are all called to do something for the Lord. The Bible tells us that some have been called to be prophets, but others are called to teach, preach, heal, and have other callings. (I'm sure the list could be much longer and could even include cleaning the church.) I believe that God has called some to make extra money so they can help others who don't have that gift, but are called to do other things maybe even more important for God's kingdom. Whatever God has given us to do, it is not just for our own entertainment and pleasure. It is to serve him and his people. One of our main duties is to ask God what he wants us to do with our lives -- in our spare time?
How easy it is to make excuses. If you have trouble speaking but God wants you to be a preacher, don't worry! He will provide! He will even put the words in your mouth.
It may make us worry, but like God tells Jeremiah, don't be afraid! I will be there to rescue you. I must say I still worried when I was in Nepal as a missionary. Some were even getting tortured and killed for their faith. I might be more willing to suffer a quick death, but that torture bit bothered me. I have to remember the horrible end that Jesus faced for me. Yes, he asked if there were any other way, but "thy will be done" is the final word for him and for all of us.
One pastor in Nepal, old pastor Tir, was tortured and imprisoned for his faith, but his ministry changed the whole nation of Nepal. From that one man who we met in 1997, there are now over two million Christians in Nepal.
Everyone may not be given that mission. All we can do is ask God what he wants us to do with the life he has given us. Next we have to realize that he will give us the words and wisdom to accomplish whatever he asks us to do for him. So shut up and don't complain!
Bob O.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate, describes in her book Mighty Be Our Powers how sisterhood, prayer, and sex changed a nation at war. Liberia was embroiled in a civil war from 1990 to 2003. Hundreds of thousands were killed and many more were displaced into refugee camps. One night, Leymah Gbowee had a dream in which the voice of God commanded her: "Gather the women to pray for peace." Her response was quick and direct, like Jeremiah's, except the content was more blatant: "I drink too much. I fornicate. I sleep with a man who is not my husband and is even married to another. If God is going to speak to someone in Liberia, it can't be me" (slightly edited from her text). Yet, like with Jeremiah, God worked through Leymah Gbowee to bring the warring factions to the peace table. She faced down Charles Taylor and other warlords with gutsy courage and a simple faith in God.
Mark M.
Hebrews 12:18-29
It's never good when the earth moves. Earthquakes never build, they only destroy. When what you rely on to hold you up, when the very thing that supports you quivers and gives way, then all that you have built collapses. This is true of buildings that rise from the ground, and it is true of our lives as well. To be "all shook up" is to be upset, confused, and unsure of what to do next. Traumatic events can leave you "badly shaken," not knowing what to expect or how to react. Our plans can be shaken. Our foundations, be they emotional, financial, or professional, can crumble away. Only the kingdom of God cannot be shaken.
Scott B.
Hebrews 12:18-29
The text deals with the contrast between the two covenants (of the law and of the gospel). French intellectual Blaise Pascal so well describes our circumstances according to the law (the Old Covenant), according to way we live without Christ in view: "Our imagination so magnifies the present, because we are continually thinking about it, and so reduces eternity, because we do not think about it, that we do not think about it, that we turn eternity into nothing and nothing into eternity" (Pensees, p. 164).
Famed preacher of the early Christian centuries John Chrysostom reminds us that God is a consuming fire and the old order cannot bear the new order he initiates (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 14, p. 511). This new order is a realm full of love so compelling that it makes us forget the present. Seventeenth-century French mystic Jeanne Guyon gives us a powerful glimpse of what life is like in this New Covenant: "God never shows you a past fault so as to lead you to remedy it. He acts in the same way as a skillful gardener who shows his child the weeds without letting him pull them up; he wishes to do this himself" (Elmer O'Brien, ed., Varieties of Mystic Experience, p. 242).
God will do everything for us in love. And in so doing his love removes our focus from ourselves in the present to his eternal loving goodness that never considers the weeds in our lives.
Mark E.
Hebrews 12:18-29
A group of veterans goes to various churches around the country and asks permission to place American flags on the church lawn. When given permission, the veterans place 6,673 flags in front of the church, as a remembrance of the soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. The veterans call this a "Field of Flags." This is a field of remembering and thanksgiving.
Application: Hebrews says that once we become a part of the kingdom, we should give thanks.
Ron L.
Luke 13:10-17
There was a woman in Nepal who couldn't walk. She had been crippled for many years. Then one of my seminary students, John, invited me to come and visit her. She was walking! Her son who was a Hindu wasn't sure if this was right! It was shaking his Hindu belief, but he had to believe what he was seeing. I should add that he was embarrassed by what his Hindu priests could not do! They had also warned him to avoid those Christians.
There are some denominations who won't allow people to do anything on Sunday (the Sabbath is Saturday, which only the Seventh-Day Adventists take off). There are some who insist that all we are allowed to do is sit in a chair all day. Some say that even looking out the window is wrong! It may make us want to be outside. When I was a child, few if any stores were open, though doctors were allowed to make house calls! Jesus did not have office hours and healed when there was need. He told the "hypocrites" that they did many things on the Sabbath like taking care of their livestock. When the people heard this they were delighted that those "fundamentalists" were embarrassed -- they were humiliated!
We have to be careful that we do not use this healing by Jesus on a Sabbath as an excuse for doing anything, any work, on his day. We tend to go overboard in our age. If one store can open, then any and all stores can open. Is golf work? Is going to a movie on Sunday work? Can we make the bed or wash the dishes?
The point of this story is that we must put the care of others first in our life. God looks in our heart and sees what is motivating us. Why not mow the lawn on Saturday? Do your shopping then also, so others won't have to work. We have to be careful not to be legalists.
One of my confirmands was a caddie who was called to work on a Sunday. The boss said that he couldn't use Roman Catholics on Sunday because they had to be in church. My boys were really annoyed and I had to set their boss straight. Maybe he could have used Seventh-Day Adventists! All Christians should go by the same rules, but more important: what we do should depend on our relationship with our Lord and what he wants us to do, like helping others who need our help. God does not have a scoreboard. Do only what your conscience tells you to do -- no more and no less.
Bob O.
Luke 13:10-17
What rejoicing words would the crowd utter after Jesus healed the crippled woman? Perhaps these words once used by the Caribbean Conference of Churches as they celebrated The Right Hand of God:
The right hand of God is healing in our land,
Healing broken bodies, minds, and souls,
So wondrous is its touch,
With love that means so much,
When we're healed by the right hand of God.
[from Desmund Tutu's An African Prayer Book]
Mark M.
