Sermon Illustrations for Proper 9 | OT 14 (2018)
Illustration
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 and Psalm 48
King David was God’s choice and he increased his power over Israel.
David had more approval from God than Saul, but it is interesting that David was still not perfect. He had his faults.
Every US president has faults as well as blessings. They are all human -- like us -- and can make mistakes. They may put more faith in the military than in God, so they put most of our money in the army. God is telling us to put our faith in God.
David’s power was still there, but it was nothing without God. We need to meditate in God above all else.
It is a human thing to put our faith in something we can see. The people could see David (and his army). Yes, God works through what we can see, but it takes faith to also see what he wants us to see.
Our country can depend on us meditating on God for his help and on his powerful love. His love is our proof that we will survive. He loved us so much that he sent his only son to suffer for us.
Our churches or citadels are symbols of God’s love. Every time we see those symbols we see what the power of God’s love has done and is still doing.
We see how old David was and how long he lasted, but our God is with us forever. This is our message!
The main function of our church is to praise our God which we do in words and music.
Bob O.
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 and Psalm 48
Celebrating David’s greatness as the king and ruler of Judah and Jerusalem is great for us. We remember him as the underdog who won and like the fact that he comes into his own. But David’s history as a king was pretty violent. While the ancients believed that God took sides in conflicts, so the nations of Judah and Israel could survive, many people use that correlation in our current times. If the people are those who believe differently from us, then we should destroy and defeat them militarily. Thus, religious wars from ancient to present times continue to destroy the possibilities of peace in our world. Now, I know that our beliefs are very important, but do we think God wants us to destroy families, civilizations, and create havoc in the world.
Surely there is more to the readings. Perhaps it is David’s trust in God that we should be accenting, rather than the violent overtaking of cultures. David asks God what he should do at each juncture, at each point in the progression of his reign. That is a lesson for all of us. That is a lesson I can cling to in a world beset with division and violence, I can seek the face and word of God as direction for my life. Can you?
Bonnie B.
2 Samuel 5:1-15,9-10
We learn about leadership in this lesson, about David’s efforts to share power and keep people happy. He did this by entering into a covenant with the people of Israel. It seems to have been a covenant among equals, making clear that his power belonged to the people (v.3) (Gerhard Von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp.129-130). We need this model of leadership in America today. Martin Luther’s critique of the rulers of his day may still be timely in our context, perhaps even pertaining to certain American politicians:
Mark E.
Psalm 48
In the most recent 2014 poll on the topic, Pew Research Center found that 72% of Americans think religion is losing influence in American public life. But Christians have a role to play in society, the Psalm proclaims. Martin Luther once claimed that “Whatever the world has it has by the blessing of the Church,” that everything God grants the world is because of Christians (Luther’s Works, Vol.1, p.103; Ibid., Vol.34, p.304). There is certainly a role for Christians in society. As Martin Luther King Jr. once put it, the Church needs to be a “thermostat,” transforming the mores of society, not a mere thermometer of present popular opinion. It needs to disturb the power structure, to agitate on behalf of justice (A Testament of Hope, p.300). Christians are supposed to be good citizens who “heat up” our political rooms with their push for justice and freedom.
Mark E.
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Some of us look on those who speak of themselves in the third person as self-indulgent, self-absorbed, and perhaps just a little bit silly. So why does the apostle Paul speak of himself in the third person in this passage?
Paul at first speaks of this person who was taken up into the third heaven in the third person. This is someone he knows, although he doesn’t know if the experience was physically real or spiritually real -- God knows, he assures us twice. But gradually it comes out. It’s Paul.
Maybe it’s because these are the Corinthian Christians Paul is speaking to, and he’s had an up and down relationship with them. I can only assume that Paul does not want to appear boastful, and in finally admitting he’s talking about himself Paul is really using this opportunity to talk about the fact he has an affliction, a thorn in the side, which despite earnest prayers had not been cured. Paul’s willingness to lay claim to an imperfection in the first person is perhaps the better example he’s giving here.
Frank R.
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Religious institutions are still the single biggest recipients of overall charity donations, according to the 2015 survey by the Giving USA Foundation. About 32% ($119.3 billion) of what Americans gave to charities went to churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. But that is down from about 50% since 1990. Given these problematic numbers, we need to hear the advice of John Wesley about money: “Earn all you can; save all you can; give all you can.” (Works, Vol.6, p.133) Martin Luther further comments on Christian generosity, what Christ wants us to do with our money:
Mark E.
Mark 6:1-13
The Gospel reports that Jesus was rejected in his hometown and could do no mighty work there (v.5). Martin Luther, when commenting on this text, sees Jesus’ rejection as an insight into the impression he made on his contemporaries, claiming that “when Christ made his public appearance and began to preach he presented an unimposing and lowly figure.” (Luther’s Works, Vol.22, p.47) Sometimes the Gospel is understood that way too, but we know what a lie that perception is!
Augustine offered an image that helps us understand how it is that some things can happen in the world which are not God’s will, why Jesus was prevented by unfaith and evil from doing any mighty works. The African father would have us think of God like a vast ocean into which the universe (like a sponge) has been cast. The sponge is saturated by water but is not identical with the water (Nicene and Post-Nice Fathers, Vol.1/1, pp.104-105,74). Like the sponge floats in the ocean, influenced by the ocean’s tides where it will go, though the ocean not absolutely determining the sponge’s location, so God controls the universe without determining its every position and condition. Another modern model conveying these insights has been proposed by the English theologian Arthur Peacocke. He would regard God in relation to the cosmos as a band leader to a band (reported in Larry Witham, Where Darwin Meets the Bible, pp.48,288).
The band leader determines the music and the beat, but he can’t prevent mistakes. God can’t always stop our sin, though like the bandleader he does make sure how and when the performance starts and ends and sets the standards for the notes that should be played.
Mark E.
Mark 6:1-13
I often wonder how people who knew me as a child view my pastoral role. Do they assume God made a mistake in calling me? Do they think I am presumptuous in following this call to ordained ministry? Did they see something in me at an earlier age that caused them to say “finally” when I went to seminary at the age of 45? That seems to be the response to Jesus preaching and teaching in his home town. Isn’t this the carpenter? Who is this guy, anyway?
Yet, we know Jesus doesn’t seem to take offense. Rather Jesus instructs his disciples to go out and preach and teach and heal. There is to be no judgment and fighting with people who don’t believe -- simply depart and shake the dust off your feet. Don’t take their judgement on yourself. The responsibility you have is to preach and teach and heal -- not to try to argue people into believing as you do. That is our responsibility also -- to live our faith so that the light of Christ shines forth from us. We cannot pressure people into faith. What we can be is beacons of light and love and grace. That, my friends, is a noble calling.
Bonnie B.
Mark 6:1-13
When I was in seminary our dean told us that we should not take a call to a church in our hometown because many of the people there would remember us.
The people in my hometown of Racine, Wisconsin, knew that my father was a factory worker and even had a tool and die business which he left to take another production job in Los Alamos. It was not a background for a pastor. The main reason my folks wanted me to go into the Lord’s service was because I had a great grandfather who came to serve Danish churches in America.
I did many other things before going into the ministry. I was a school teacher, a salesman, a photographer. I was 30 years old before I started seminary.
I had pastor friends who had a father who was in prison, another had a mother who was unfaithful to his father. It might make it hard to take a church in his home town then.
When I was sent to Nepal, I counted on support from other sources. Even in our parishes we were not supposed to have a job on the side as some other denominations like the Baptists do. The Lutheran church was supposed to cover everything.
When we go to serve in this country, especially, we count on those we served to provide for us.
The only thing I did not concentrate on was “repentance.” Some denominations make that the primary goal even in their sermons. They want to be sure that every member is saved. You can only be saved if you repent of your sins!
Be careful when you read this text because you might be asked to speak or teach about the Lord in your hometown. It is not easy to look back at your reputation unless it has been perfect. Did you get all As in school? Did you star in sports? Were your parents always able to brag about you?
We can hope, if we do end up in our hometown, that our neighbors looked at their life and saw some of their imperfections also so that they were not able to look down on others.
This is a good topic for an adult Sunday school class in a church you are serving in your home town or for a council meeting where they discuss the pastor’s salary. If not positive, them shake the dust off your feet and go somewhere else.
Wherever we are, we should treat each other with love and respect if we want God’s respect and love.
Bob O.
King David was God’s choice and he increased his power over Israel.
David had more approval from God than Saul, but it is interesting that David was still not perfect. He had his faults.
Every US president has faults as well as blessings. They are all human -- like us -- and can make mistakes. They may put more faith in the military than in God, so they put most of our money in the army. God is telling us to put our faith in God.
David’s power was still there, but it was nothing without God. We need to meditate in God above all else.
It is a human thing to put our faith in something we can see. The people could see David (and his army). Yes, God works through what we can see, but it takes faith to also see what he wants us to see.
Our country can depend on us meditating on God for his help and on his powerful love. His love is our proof that we will survive. He loved us so much that he sent his only son to suffer for us.
Our churches or citadels are symbols of God’s love. Every time we see those symbols we see what the power of God’s love has done and is still doing.
We see how old David was and how long he lasted, but our God is with us forever. This is our message!
The main function of our church is to praise our God which we do in words and music.
Bob O.
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 and Psalm 48
Celebrating David’s greatness as the king and ruler of Judah and Jerusalem is great for us. We remember him as the underdog who won and like the fact that he comes into his own. But David’s history as a king was pretty violent. While the ancients believed that God took sides in conflicts, so the nations of Judah and Israel could survive, many people use that correlation in our current times. If the people are those who believe differently from us, then we should destroy and defeat them militarily. Thus, religious wars from ancient to present times continue to destroy the possibilities of peace in our world. Now, I know that our beliefs are very important, but do we think God wants us to destroy families, civilizations, and create havoc in the world.
Surely there is more to the readings. Perhaps it is David’s trust in God that we should be accenting, rather than the violent overtaking of cultures. David asks God what he should do at each juncture, at each point in the progression of his reign. That is a lesson for all of us. That is a lesson I can cling to in a world beset with division and violence, I can seek the face and word of God as direction for my life. Can you?
Bonnie B.
2 Samuel 5:1-15,9-10
We learn about leadership in this lesson, about David’s efforts to share power and keep people happy. He did this by entering into a covenant with the people of Israel. It seems to have been a covenant among equals, making clear that his power belonged to the people (v.3) (Gerhard Von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp.129-130). We need this model of leadership in America today. Martin Luther’s critique of the rulers of his day may still be timely in our context, perhaps even pertaining to certain American politicians:
There are in our day, too, people in our communities of excellent standing, high and mighty princes who rule well... they revel in themselves, parade and prance around proudly, idolizing their own persons. Such idolatry, presumption, pride, and haughtiness negates all good qualities (Complete Sermons, Vol.6, pp.381-382).In contrast, business ethics specialist Joseph Bardaracco comes closer to describing David’s style of leadership: “... the way to get power is by actually sharing.” In the same spirit, the great preacher of the early Church John Chrysostom contended that “he best knows himself, who accounts himself to be nothing.” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol.1/10, p.175).
Mark E.
Psalm 48
In the most recent 2014 poll on the topic, Pew Research Center found that 72% of Americans think religion is losing influence in American public life. But Christians have a role to play in society, the Psalm proclaims. Martin Luther once claimed that “Whatever the world has it has by the blessing of the Church,” that everything God grants the world is because of Christians (Luther’s Works, Vol.1, p.103; Ibid., Vol.34, p.304). There is certainly a role for Christians in society. As Martin Luther King Jr. once put it, the Church needs to be a “thermostat,” transforming the mores of society, not a mere thermometer of present popular opinion. It needs to disturb the power structure, to agitate on behalf of justice (A Testament of Hope, p.300). Christians are supposed to be good citizens who “heat up” our political rooms with their push for justice and freedom.
Mark E.
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Some of us look on those who speak of themselves in the third person as self-indulgent, self-absorbed, and perhaps just a little bit silly. So why does the apostle Paul speak of himself in the third person in this passage?
Paul at first speaks of this person who was taken up into the third heaven in the third person. This is someone he knows, although he doesn’t know if the experience was physically real or spiritually real -- God knows, he assures us twice. But gradually it comes out. It’s Paul.
Maybe it’s because these are the Corinthian Christians Paul is speaking to, and he’s had an up and down relationship with them. I can only assume that Paul does not want to appear boastful, and in finally admitting he’s talking about himself Paul is really using this opportunity to talk about the fact he has an affliction, a thorn in the side, which despite earnest prayers had not been cured. Paul’s willingness to lay claim to an imperfection in the first person is perhaps the better example he’s giving here.
Frank R.
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Religious institutions are still the single biggest recipients of overall charity donations, according to the 2015 survey by the Giving USA Foundation. About 32% ($119.3 billion) of what Americans gave to charities went to churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. But that is down from about 50% since 1990. Given these problematic numbers, we need to hear the advice of John Wesley about money: “Earn all you can; save all you can; give all you can.” (Works, Vol.6, p.133) Martin Luther further comments on Christian generosity, what Christ wants us to do with our money:
Christ says: “If I suffer or hunger or thirst in the person of my apostle or of any Christian, yes of a Christian child or of any person poor and in want, and you are aware of this situation, you are truly an archmiser if you close your eyes to this. I want you to know that I am the One Who is suffering hunger and thirst. If you feed this person, you are feeding Me...” (Luther’s Works, Vol.22, p.520)Paul’s reference to our becoming rich through Christ (v.9) is not a text substantiating Prosperity Gospel and its claim that our giving will be returned to us with material blessings (Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now, pp.260,262). The famous preacher of the early church John Chrysostom nicely explains what the reading means when it speaks of our becoming rich. In his view it entails “ the knowledge of godliness, the cleansing away of our sin... the countless good things which He bestowed upon us...” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 1/12:360).
Mark E.
Mark 6:1-13
The Gospel reports that Jesus was rejected in his hometown and could do no mighty work there (v.5). Martin Luther, when commenting on this text, sees Jesus’ rejection as an insight into the impression he made on his contemporaries, claiming that “when Christ made his public appearance and began to preach he presented an unimposing and lowly figure.” (Luther’s Works, Vol.22, p.47) Sometimes the Gospel is understood that way too, but we know what a lie that perception is!
Augustine offered an image that helps us understand how it is that some things can happen in the world which are not God’s will, why Jesus was prevented by unfaith and evil from doing any mighty works. The African father would have us think of God like a vast ocean into which the universe (like a sponge) has been cast. The sponge is saturated by water but is not identical with the water (Nicene and Post-Nice Fathers, Vol.1/1, pp.104-105,74). Like the sponge floats in the ocean, influenced by the ocean’s tides where it will go, though the ocean not absolutely determining the sponge’s location, so God controls the universe without determining its every position and condition. Another modern model conveying these insights has been proposed by the English theologian Arthur Peacocke. He would regard God in relation to the cosmos as a band leader to a band (reported in Larry Witham, Where Darwin Meets the Bible, pp.48,288).
The band leader determines the music and the beat, but he can’t prevent mistakes. God can’t always stop our sin, though like the bandleader he does make sure how and when the performance starts and ends and sets the standards for the notes that should be played.
Mark E.
Mark 6:1-13
I often wonder how people who knew me as a child view my pastoral role. Do they assume God made a mistake in calling me? Do they think I am presumptuous in following this call to ordained ministry? Did they see something in me at an earlier age that caused them to say “finally” when I went to seminary at the age of 45? That seems to be the response to Jesus preaching and teaching in his home town. Isn’t this the carpenter? Who is this guy, anyway?
Yet, we know Jesus doesn’t seem to take offense. Rather Jesus instructs his disciples to go out and preach and teach and heal. There is to be no judgment and fighting with people who don’t believe -- simply depart and shake the dust off your feet. Don’t take their judgement on yourself. The responsibility you have is to preach and teach and heal -- not to try to argue people into believing as you do. That is our responsibility also -- to live our faith so that the light of Christ shines forth from us. We cannot pressure people into faith. What we can be is beacons of light and love and grace. That, my friends, is a noble calling.
Bonnie B.
Mark 6:1-13
When I was in seminary our dean told us that we should not take a call to a church in our hometown because many of the people there would remember us.
The people in my hometown of Racine, Wisconsin, knew that my father was a factory worker and even had a tool and die business which he left to take another production job in Los Alamos. It was not a background for a pastor. The main reason my folks wanted me to go into the Lord’s service was because I had a great grandfather who came to serve Danish churches in America.
I did many other things before going into the ministry. I was a school teacher, a salesman, a photographer. I was 30 years old before I started seminary.
I had pastor friends who had a father who was in prison, another had a mother who was unfaithful to his father. It might make it hard to take a church in his home town then.
When I was sent to Nepal, I counted on support from other sources. Even in our parishes we were not supposed to have a job on the side as some other denominations like the Baptists do. The Lutheran church was supposed to cover everything.
When we go to serve in this country, especially, we count on those we served to provide for us.
The only thing I did not concentrate on was “repentance.” Some denominations make that the primary goal even in their sermons. They want to be sure that every member is saved. You can only be saved if you repent of your sins!
Be careful when you read this text because you might be asked to speak or teach about the Lord in your hometown. It is not easy to look back at your reputation unless it has been perfect. Did you get all As in school? Did you star in sports? Were your parents always able to brag about you?
We can hope, if we do end up in our hometown, that our neighbors looked at their life and saw some of their imperfections also so that they were not able to look down on others.
This is a good topic for an adult Sunday school class in a church you are serving in your home town or for a council meeting where they discuss the pastor’s salary. If not positive, them shake the dust off your feet and go somewhere else.
Wherever we are, we should treat each other with love and respect if we want God’s respect and love.
Bob O.
