Sermon Illustrations for Proper 6 | OT 11, Cycle B (2015)
Illustration
Object:
1 Samuel 15:34--16:13
Though pundits tell us things may be better in the last part of 2015, 2014 polls indicate how badly Americans feel about life. A Wall Street Journal poll showed that an all-time record high of 76% do not believe that their children’s lives will be better than their own (and 71% believed that the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction). Polls by Ipsos revealed that we consistently perceive the state of our nation as worse than it actually is on issues like aging population (only 14% of us are over 65, but the public says 36% of us are), unemployment (6% of us are suffering in that state, while the public thinks 32% of us are out of work), murder rate (most Americans think it is growing when it fact it is shrinking).
This sense of pessimism permeated ancient Israel at the end of King Saul’s reign. And God acted then, as he does now, to find new solutions that give hope. He gives us fresh starts, like anointing David as king was a fresh start.
Christians have something to hope for that other people do not. It is like 18th-century Englishman Oscar Wilde once put it: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us [Christians] can see the stars.” We have this perspective because we know, as it is commonly said in the black church, that “God makes a way out of no way!”
Life is really magical, mysterious when you look at it this way. Again Oscar Wilde describes (without knowing it) how a Christian can experience life, can live every day: “I have always delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere in the morning.”
Because God is in our lives, this is a magic moment.
Mark E.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
Are we always confident? Are we always in good spirits? We know that the Lord is in charge of everything, including us. Haven’t we all had times when our faith seemed to be shaken? Do we really wish that we were away from our body? Would we prefer to be dead? Of course there are times when we would prefer death, as when a dear one goes on ahead of us or when our suffering is so great that we can’t bear it anymore. Are we so confident that we are ready to leave everything in the Lord’s hands?
There are some states that allow assisted suicide in case your death is imminent or your pain is intolerable. In other words, you and not God choose the time! I have been with families who had to decide when or if to pull the plugs to let someone go. There is a moral difference between that and suicide, but sometimes it might not be an easy distinction. Is there forgiveness for the persons in either case?
Our goal in life must be to please God. But what if we see a great need in our country or in another country, but think of a wonderful trip we are planning for ourselves? I know that God does not condemn us for wanting a vacation now and then, and my wife and I have visited many countries (and not all of them were missions). We just wanted to see them. When we were in Nepal, Tibet was just across the north border -- and we thought that as long as we were so close, halfway around the world, why not see it at our next break?
When we went to Tibet, we could fill a couple notebooks with the things we saw that needed prayer -- as well as financial resources. If we gave a dollar to each cause we would be broke, but maybe God has put one concern in our heart. We hear from some great missions in Nepal and send them what we can -- in some cases even sacrificially, as when the support for one of our “boys” failed to appear and we sent $800 to take care of him for one month until the support began again. Christ’s love compelled us. We loved that “boy” and his family too, and we didn’t feel it was a sacrifice although we had to give up some things that we wanted.
We are not to put the needs of our body first! God’s needs should come first, and that means not just for pastors but for all who call ourselves Christian. We need to remember that our bodies belong to the Lord, so let him set our priorities.
Bob O.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
“Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing” (v. 6). The word “of good courage” is used with reference to the persecutions, the plottings, and the continual deaths: as if he had said, “Doth any vex and persecute and slay thee? Be not cast down, for thy good all is done. Be not afraid: but of good courage. For that which thou groanest and grievest for, that thou art in bondage to corruption, he removes from henceforward out of the way, and frees thee the sooner from this bondage.” Wherefore also he saith, “Being therefore always of good courage,” not in the seasons of rest only, but also in those of tribulation....
(St. John Chrysostom, Homilies of Second Corinthians, Homily X, p. 4)
Frank R.
Mark 4:26-34
The parables of this lesson remind us that good things happen secretly, without our involvement or even without our noticing them. Good things seem to be surprises. That is such a good insight when we are feeling badly about our circumstances in life.
Eminent 20th-century Reformed theologian Karl Barth claimed that the parables teach us that we don’t do much to make good things happen: “We have here a growth which is as little the result of human industry as the completion of the building, and a human industry which is only the effect and symptom of this growth, so that whether a man sets his hands to work or folds them or even lays them in his lap he can only be a spectator and affirm that it takes place...” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/2, p. 631).
In a similar vein, the great American Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote: “So the kingdom of God comes without observation, without noise and tumult, but goes silently and calmly, but irresistibly on” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, p. 787).
Some of the best things in life are ultimately out of our hands -- like lifelong friendships, meeting a lifelong lover, maybe even having success in our careers (which we may not have even chosen). Novelist Alice Walker offers advice that clearly dovetails with Jesus’ remarks in these parables: “The best things in life are unexpected.... Live frugally on surprise.”
Mark E.
Though pundits tell us things may be better in the last part of 2015, 2014 polls indicate how badly Americans feel about life. A Wall Street Journal poll showed that an all-time record high of 76% do not believe that their children’s lives will be better than their own (and 71% believed that the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction). Polls by Ipsos revealed that we consistently perceive the state of our nation as worse than it actually is on issues like aging population (only 14% of us are over 65, but the public says 36% of us are), unemployment (6% of us are suffering in that state, while the public thinks 32% of us are out of work), murder rate (most Americans think it is growing when it fact it is shrinking).
This sense of pessimism permeated ancient Israel at the end of King Saul’s reign. And God acted then, as he does now, to find new solutions that give hope. He gives us fresh starts, like anointing David as king was a fresh start.
Christians have something to hope for that other people do not. It is like 18th-century Englishman Oscar Wilde once put it: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us [Christians] can see the stars.” We have this perspective because we know, as it is commonly said in the black church, that “God makes a way out of no way!”
Life is really magical, mysterious when you look at it this way. Again Oscar Wilde describes (without knowing it) how a Christian can experience life, can live every day: “I have always delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere in the morning.”
Because God is in our lives, this is a magic moment.
Mark E.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
Are we always confident? Are we always in good spirits? We know that the Lord is in charge of everything, including us. Haven’t we all had times when our faith seemed to be shaken? Do we really wish that we were away from our body? Would we prefer to be dead? Of course there are times when we would prefer death, as when a dear one goes on ahead of us or when our suffering is so great that we can’t bear it anymore. Are we so confident that we are ready to leave everything in the Lord’s hands?
There are some states that allow assisted suicide in case your death is imminent or your pain is intolerable. In other words, you and not God choose the time! I have been with families who had to decide when or if to pull the plugs to let someone go. There is a moral difference between that and suicide, but sometimes it might not be an easy distinction. Is there forgiveness for the persons in either case?
Our goal in life must be to please God. But what if we see a great need in our country or in another country, but think of a wonderful trip we are planning for ourselves? I know that God does not condemn us for wanting a vacation now and then, and my wife and I have visited many countries (and not all of them were missions). We just wanted to see them. When we were in Nepal, Tibet was just across the north border -- and we thought that as long as we were so close, halfway around the world, why not see it at our next break?
When we went to Tibet, we could fill a couple notebooks with the things we saw that needed prayer -- as well as financial resources. If we gave a dollar to each cause we would be broke, but maybe God has put one concern in our heart. We hear from some great missions in Nepal and send them what we can -- in some cases even sacrificially, as when the support for one of our “boys” failed to appear and we sent $800 to take care of him for one month until the support began again. Christ’s love compelled us. We loved that “boy” and his family too, and we didn’t feel it was a sacrifice although we had to give up some things that we wanted.
We are not to put the needs of our body first! God’s needs should come first, and that means not just for pastors but for all who call ourselves Christian. We need to remember that our bodies belong to the Lord, so let him set our priorities.
Bob O.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
“Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing” (v. 6). The word “of good courage” is used with reference to the persecutions, the plottings, and the continual deaths: as if he had said, “Doth any vex and persecute and slay thee? Be not cast down, for thy good all is done. Be not afraid: but of good courage. For that which thou groanest and grievest for, that thou art in bondage to corruption, he removes from henceforward out of the way, and frees thee the sooner from this bondage.” Wherefore also he saith, “Being therefore always of good courage,” not in the seasons of rest only, but also in those of tribulation....
(St. John Chrysostom, Homilies of Second Corinthians, Homily X, p. 4)
Frank R.
Mark 4:26-34
The parables of this lesson remind us that good things happen secretly, without our involvement or even without our noticing them. Good things seem to be surprises. That is such a good insight when we are feeling badly about our circumstances in life.
Eminent 20th-century Reformed theologian Karl Barth claimed that the parables teach us that we don’t do much to make good things happen: “We have here a growth which is as little the result of human industry as the completion of the building, and a human industry which is only the effect and symptom of this growth, so that whether a man sets his hands to work or folds them or even lays them in his lap he can only be a spectator and affirm that it takes place...” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. IV/2, p. 631).
In a similar vein, the great American Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote: “So the kingdom of God comes without observation, without noise and tumult, but goes silently and calmly, but irresistibly on” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2, p. 787).
Some of the best things in life are ultimately out of our hands -- like lifelong friendships, meeting a lifelong lover, maybe even having success in our careers (which we may not have even chosen). Novelist Alice Walker offers advice that clearly dovetails with Jesus’ remarks in these parables: “The best things in life are unexpected.... Live frugally on surprise.”
Mark E.
