Sermon Illustrations for Reformation Day (2015)
Illustration
Object:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
I like the old television show The Jeffersons. Television buffs will know that it began as a spinoff of All in the Family. George Jefferson (played by Sherman Hemsley) is an irascible, egotistical short guy who owns a chain of dry cleaners. In the episode called “Change of a Dollar,” we see a different side of George. In it there is a flashback to George starting out in the dry cleaning business. He is struggling and doing all he can to get his first customer. Finally one arrives -- Mrs. Cody. She agrees to let George clean her clothes and has specific instructions for him. George promises good service and hopes Mrs. Cody will come back often. She thanks him but tells him how her husband is doing and that they might be moving. The flashback ends and the story picks up in real time. George is back in the store. As is her custom, every Thursday Mrs. Cody comes in. It is clear that she’s fallen on hard times. She and George, though, are friends. She brings her clothes to be cleaned, still with specific instructions. This time, though, she confesses she has no money. George says he’ll put it on her tab. She smiles and leaves. As she exits the store, George tears up her tab. There’s no charge for Mrs. Cody.
There’s no charge. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? After a time of rebellion and disobedience, God lets his people know that things are starting over. The debt is cancelled. The bill is torn up. No charge; two words that may well be the most gratifying words to ever hear.
Bill T.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
I was recently talking to a friend about the “big ten” -- the commandments, the Law to which Jeremiah and the Lord are referring. This was the Mosaic covenant, the Law that called the people to be God’s people. The covenant that God made at Sinai was that God would be our God and we would be God’s people. It was Law, handed down through generations and written on tablets and on scrolls. But when the Hebrew people were captured and dispersed among the nations, they lost sight of the tablets, of the scrolls and of the house of God, the Temple.
So God pledges to write the Law on the hearts of the people, instill the Law in the minds of the people. All people will now know God. God’s forgiveness would be offered to everyone. When Jesus came, he modified the “big ten” and made them the “big two”: “You shall the love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Has God written that Law on your heart, instilled it in your mind? Are you living into it? That is my hope for us all. Living into the “big ten” or the “big two” is the only way to make a difference in the world.
Bonnie B.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
One evening Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was dining alone in the Statler Hotel in Boston. Looking up from his meal, he saw a shoeshine boy in tattered dirty rags that substituted for clothes. When the headwaiter spotted the urchin, he immediately ushered the lad out of the lobby and back into the alley from whence he came. Sheen, with a sudden loss of appetite, went in search of the boy. Finding the child, the two sat and conversed. The archbishop learned that the boy had been expelled from Catholic school for misbehavior. The boy was adamant that the verdict of the mother superior was final and that the doors were permanently closed to his readmittance. The next day Archbishop Sheen visited the mother superior and shared this story with her: “I know of three boys who were thrown out of religious schools: one because he was constantly drawing pictures during geography class; another because he was fond of fighting; and the third because he kept revolutionary books hidden under his mattress. No one knows the names of the valedictorians of those classes, but the first boy was Hitler, the second Mussolini, and the third Stalin. I am sure that if the superiors of those schools would have given those boys another chance, they might have turned out differently in the world. Maybe this boy will prove himself worthy if you take him back.” Unable to dispute the wisdom of Fulton Sheen, the mother superior reinstated the boy. Upon graduation, the young man accepted a calling into the priesthood and journeyed forth as a missionary among the Eskimos.
Application: When the Law of the Lord is written on our hearts, we are truly able to serve him and help others in immeasurable ways.
Ron L.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Americans want to know who they are. This quest has become a burden. Unsure of who we are, we make the job a place for finding ourselves. The quest can lead to midlife crises, most evident in making this quest to be ourselves more important than long-term commitments like parenting or marriage. It is like author Gail Sheehy wrote -- we need to move “out of role and into self” (Passages, p. 364). We are trapped, it seems, by the endless quest for finding ourselves. We need an identity.
What we need is the Reformation Word: God has already given us an identity! We are people with the Law in our hearts -- people who want to do good. Having an identity gets you away from yourself; we are most truly ourselves when we are not so hung up on ourselves and our identities. On this matter the great American theologian of the last century Reinhold Niebuhr wrote: “We do not become unselfish by saying so. But thank God, there are forces in life and in history that draw us out of ourselves and make us truly yourselves. This is grace” (Justice & Mercy, p. 43).
We don’t make ourselves or even find ourselves. God finds us -- makes us who we are. That is the Reformation Word of freedom.
Mark E.
Romans 3:19-28
It is not enough for a spouse to know all the rules of marriage and try to obey them. They are only or mainly there to let us know if we have failed to keep them so that we can get back on track.
The same is true of a child who should know all the rules that his or her parents set down.It can not only change lives; it can also change society We often remind our children of the rules they need to obey, just as God has to remind us of his laws.
But when we know we have slipped, it will help little if we try to keep those rules literally. We must look for two things: 1) Forgiveness for what we have done or failed to do. 2) Demonstrate that we obey or struggle to obey out of love and gratitude.
A bouquet of flowers will do little to heal a marriage if it is given to settle a difference and not to show genuine love.
The main solution for our differences is to show that whatever we do we do believing and having faith -- and a sincere apology that our mate or parents will forgive us if we have done something to hurt them.
God gives us families so we can understand how he feels, just as he did with Habakkuk. We are God’s family. We are Jesus’ bride, but we are also the Father’s sons and daughters through Christ!
The Pharisees didn’t like this, partly because it put it out of their hands. Like attorneys, they wanted to know all the details of our disobediences so they could judge us!
In some cases the Roman Catholic church does not want to let go of the rules, but Pope Francis is gradually accepting gays, divorcees, and those living together without marriage. He is opening the doors, but that leaves only our faith in God’s mercy to free and forgive us. That can take the power away from the bishops and priests.
We dare not take that verse as a promise that we never have to worry again about our sins! We can help ourselves, but we must show a constant attempt to do better next time to prove our love and faith.
These verses jolted Luther out of his unthinking obedience to the rules of Rome, and gave him a message of peace and joy, which only recently has the Roman Catholic church come to recognize.
How many years will it be before we are all one church here on earth? We are already one in Jesus! Let us pass this message on to our children and give it to friends who need it.
This is what your church is here for -- and YOU are the church!
Bob O.
Romans 3:19-28
On the morning of October 21, 1892, schoolchildren across the nation stood facing the American flag and recited for the first time the 23 words of the Pledge of Allegiance. It was written by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist preacher, who was the publicist of the Youth’s Companion, the country’s largest circulation magazine. Bellamy aimed to promote white supremacy over foreign immigrants, arguing that “every alien immigrant of inferior race” eroded traditional values. He also believed pledging allegiance would ensure “that distinctive principles of true Americanism will not perish as long as free, public education endures.” During World War II all schools required the morning recitation of the pledge because it seemed to affirm American values, unaware of the author’s original intent. During the Cold War President Eisenhower had the words “under God” inserted, to demonstrate that the United States was different from “godless Communism.”
Application: The Law of the Old Testament was to make us aware of our sins and that with the coming of the new covenant grace would prevail. If we do not understand the past we cannot appreciate the present and use it properly, as we have seen with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Ron L.
Romans 3:19-28
Now all those believed in him who had hope towards him, that is, those who proclaimed his advent and submitted dispensations, the righteous men, the prophets, and the patriarchs, to whom he remitted sins in the same way as he did to us, which sins we should not lay to their charge, if we would not despise the grace of God. For as these men did not impute unto us (the Gentiles) our transgressions, which we wrought before Christ was manifested among us, so also it is not right that we should lay blame upon those who sinned before Christ’s coming. For “all men come short of the glory of God,” and are not justified of themselves, but by the advent of the Lord -- they who earnestly direct their eyes towards his light.
(Irenaeus against Heresies, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II, p 499)
Frank R.
John 8:31-36
He was going to be a junior in high school. He’d worked all summer to save money to buy a car. He’d saved a couple thousand dollars, so he was in pretty good shape to get a good one. His dad went with him to look at a car that a fellow church member was selling. It was an older car, a family-type car with quite a few miles on it, but it was a car that had been maintained. It didn’t look great, but it was a solid vehicle. The young man was not impressed. The next day, he and his dad went to look at a car the kid had found online. It was amazing! It was a sports car with chrome hubcaps and a new paint job. As far as the young man was concerned, this was the car of his dreams. He drove it a bit and was excited. His dad was able to get him to leave the lot without buying it right then, but it was tough. He told the young man that he understood why he liked it, but that he ought to get a mechanic to look at it -- he needed to know what it was really like. “After all,” he told his son, “once you buy it, you own it and all that goes with it.” The kid didn’t listen. A day later, he bought the car.
Sound like a familiar story? I wonder how many of us have been slaves to a “junker” car? How many of us have paid good money for what looked shiny and new, only to find that is was “fools’ gold” and a mirage? It ate up a ton of money, time, and energy. Frustration and regret were its most frequent passengers. The question What was I thinking? reverberates.
Sin is like that. Sin looks pretty snazzy at the onset. It entices and lures people all of the time. Once they buy, though, they’re in... deep. “Everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin.” That’s pretty clear. Freedom is available, though. It comes through the Son. If you’ve bought a “clunker” and you’re looking for a way out, consider these words of Jesus. You can find freedom.
Bill T.
John 8:31-36
“The truth will make you free.” How many people in our world live every day without the freedoms we take for granted: the freedom to eat, to work, to speak their minds, to be educated, to choose their own faith or path in life? What is the truth for these people? Is it prescribed by some outside force or oppressor, by poverty or by fear?
The Globe and Mail, a Canadian publication, wrote in 2013: “There are currently 29.6 million slaves around the world, more than ever before, about equal to the populations of Australia and Denmark combined. Slavery is a fast-growing industry worth $32 billion a year, equal to the profit of McDonalds and Wal-Mart combined.... Modern-day slavery takes many forms: human trafficking, forced and bonded labor, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced marriage. What these crimes have in common is the evil intention to strip human beings of their freedom, and then to control and exploit them.”
While Jesus is speaking about committing sins as what enslaves us, the sins of the world -- greed, lust, violence -- are impacting the lives of 29.6 million people. What can you do about slavery in the 21st century? Prayer will certainly help, but so will knowledge and action. Make it a point this “Reformation Sunday” to pledge to reform the world for freedom for everyone.
Bonnie B.
John 8:31-36
Roy Reed was born in Arkansas, and was a journalist in Little Rock for the Arkansas Gazette. As he worked with a reporter with the New York Times, it became apparent that Reed needed a larger byline -- so the Times hired him and immediately sent him back south to cover the civil rights movement. During those turbulent years, his articles were often front-page news as he reported on the violence that whites in authority inflicted upon black protesters. Fifty years have now passed since one of the seminal events of the civil rights movement -- the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama -- and in an interview Reed was asked if ensuring civil rights is an unending struggle. Reed replied, “The story’s changed in many ways, yet, I suspect -- deep down -- that it’s the same old story: racism, in its various permutations.”
Application: Jesus said everyone who sins is a slave to sin, and racism is a sin we are all enslaved to.
Ron L.
John 8:31-36
“Freedom” is such a good word. On this subject Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote: “a denial of freedom to an individual is a denial of life itself, the very character of the life of man demands freedom” (A Testament of Hope, p. 119). Of course, for Christians this freedom is not a license to do anything. John Calvin explains it well: “We are lord of all things; only we must not abuse that lordship in such a way as to drag out a most miserable bondage, being through intemperance and inordinate lusts under subjection to outward things, which ought to be under subscription to us” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XX/1, p. 215).
This kind of freedom is dangerous. It can not only changes lives, it can also change society. The famed Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer made that clear: “The person who loves, because he is freed through the truth of God, is the most revolutionary person on earth. He is the one who upsets all values; he is the explosive in human society. Such a one is the most dangerous person. For he has recognized that people are untruthful in the extreme, and he is ready at any time, and just for the sake of love, to permit the light of truth to fall on them” (A Testament to Freedom, p. 217).
Mark E.
I like the old television show The Jeffersons. Television buffs will know that it began as a spinoff of All in the Family. George Jefferson (played by Sherman Hemsley) is an irascible, egotistical short guy who owns a chain of dry cleaners. In the episode called “Change of a Dollar,” we see a different side of George. In it there is a flashback to George starting out in the dry cleaning business. He is struggling and doing all he can to get his first customer. Finally one arrives -- Mrs. Cody. She agrees to let George clean her clothes and has specific instructions for him. George promises good service and hopes Mrs. Cody will come back often. She thanks him but tells him how her husband is doing and that they might be moving. The flashback ends and the story picks up in real time. George is back in the store. As is her custom, every Thursday Mrs. Cody comes in. It is clear that she’s fallen on hard times. She and George, though, are friends. She brings her clothes to be cleaned, still with specific instructions. This time, though, she confesses she has no money. George says he’ll put it on her tab. She smiles and leaves. As she exits the store, George tears up her tab. There’s no charge for Mrs. Cody.
There’s no charge. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? After a time of rebellion and disobedience, God lets his people know that things are starting over. The debt is cancelled. The bill is torn up. No charge; two words that may well be the most gratifying words to ever hear.
Bill T.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
I was recently talking to a friend about the “big ten” -- the commandments, the Law to which Jeremiah and the Lord are referring. This was the Mosaic covenant, the Law that called the people to be God’s people. The covenant that God made at Sinai was that God would be our God and we would be God’s people. It was Law, handed down through generations and written on tablets and on scrolls. But when the Hebrew people were captured and dispersed among the nations, they lost sight of the tablets, of the scrolls and of the house of God, the Temple.
So God pledges to write the Law on the hearts of the people, instill the Law in the minds of the people. All people will now know God. God’s forgiveness would be offered to everyone. When Jesus came, he modified the “big ten” and made them the “big two”: “You shall the love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Has God written that Law on your heart, instilled it in your mind? Are you living into it? That is my hope for us all. Living into the “big ten” or the “big two” is the only way to make a difference in the world.
Bonnie B.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
One evening Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was dining alone in the Statler Hotel in Boston. Looking up from his meal, he saw a shoeshine boy in tattered dirty rags that substituted for clothes. When the headwaiter spotted the urchin, he immediately ushered the lad out of the lobby and back into the alley from whence he came. Sheen, with a sudden loss of appetite, went in search of the boy. Finding the child, the two sat and conversed. The archbishop learned that the boy had been expelled from Catholic school for misbehavior. The boy was adamant that the verdict of the mother superior was final and that the doors were permanently closed to his readmittance. The next day Archbishop Sheen visited the mother superior and shared this story with her: “I know of three boys who were thrown out of religious schools: one because he was constantly drawing pictures during geography class; another because he was fond of fighting; and the third because he kept revolutionary books hidden under his mattress. No one knows the names of the valedictorians of those classes, but the first boy was Hitler, the second Mussolini, and the third Stalin. I am sure that if the superiors of those schools would have given those boys another chance, they might have turned out differently in the world. Maybe this boy will prove himself worthy if you take him back.” Unable to dispute the wisdom of Fulton Sheen, the mother superior reinstated the boy. Upon graduation, the young man accepted a calling into the priesthood and journeyed forth as a missionary among the Eskimos.
Application: When the Law of the Lord is written on our hearts, we are truly able to serve him and help others in immeasurable ways.
Ron L.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Americans want to know who they are. This quest has become a burden. Unsure of who we are, we make the job a place for finding ourselves. The quest can lead to midlife crises, most evident in making this quest to be ourselves more important than long-term commitments like parenting or marriage. It is like author Gail Sheehy wrote -- we need to move “out of role and into self” (Passages, p. 364). We are trapped, it seems, by the endless quest for finding ourselves. We need an identity.
What we need is the Reformation Word: God has already given us an identity! We are people with the Law in our hearts -- people who want to do good. Having an identity gets you away from yourself; we are most truly ourselves when we are not so hung up on ourselves and our identities. On this matter the great American theologian of the last century Reinhold Niebuhr wrote: “We do not become unselfish by saying so. But thank God, there are forces in life and in history that draw us out of ourselves and make us truly yourselves. This is grace” (Justice & Mercy, p. 43).
We don’t make ourselves or even find ourselves. God finds us -- makes us who we are. That is the Reformation Word of freedom.
Mark E.
Romans 3:19-28
It is not enough for a spouse to know all the rules of marriage and try to obey them. They are only or mainly there to let us know if we have failed to keep them so that we can get back on track.
The same is true of a child who should know all the rules that his or her parents set down.It can not only change lives; it can also change society We often remind our children of the rules they need to obey, just as God has to remind us of his laws.
But when we know we have slipped, it will help little if we try to keep those rules literally. We must look for two things: 1) Forgiveness for what we have done or failed to do. 2) Demonstrate that we obey or struggle to obey out of love and gratitude.
A bouquet of flowers will do little to heal a marriage if it is given to settle a difference and not to show genuine love.
The main solution for our differences is to show that whatever we do we do believing and having faith -- and a sincere apology that our mate or parents will forgive us if we have done something to hurt them.
God gives us families so we can understand how he feels, just as he did with Habakkuk. We are God’s family. We are Jesus’ bride, but we are also the Father’s sons and daughters through Christ!
The Pharisees didn’t like this, partly because it put it out of their hands. Like attorneys, they wanted to know all the details of our disobediences so they could judge us!
In some cases the Roman Catholic church does not want to let go of the rules, but Pope Francis is gradually accepting gays, divorcees, and those living together without marriage. He is opening the doors, but that leaves only our faith in God’s mercy to free and forgive us. That can take the power away from the bishops and priests.
We dare not take that verse as a promise that we never have to worry again about our sins! We can help ourselves, but we must show a constant attempt to do better next time to prove our love and faith.
These verses jolted Luther out of his unthinking obedience to the rules of Rome, and gave him a message of peace and joy, which only recently has the Roman Catholic church come to recognize.
How many years will it be before we are all one church here on earth? We are already one in Jesus! Let us pass this message on to our children and give it to friends who need it.
This is what your church is here for -- and YOU are the church!
Bob O.
Romans 3:19-28
On the morning of October 21, 1892, schoolchildren across the nation stood facing the American flag and recited for the first time the 23 words of the Pledge of Allegiance. It was written by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist preacher, who was the publicist of the Youth’s Companion, the country’s largest circulation magazine. Bellamy aimed to promote white supremacy over foreign immigrants, arguing that “every alien immigrant of inferior race” eroded traditional values. He also believed pledging allegiance would ensure “that distinctive principles of true Americanism will not perish as long as free, public education endures.” During World War II all schools required the morning recitation of the pledge because it seemed to affirm American values, unaware of the author’s original intent. During the Cold War President Eisenhower had the words “under God” inserted, to demonstrate that the United States was different from “godless Communism.”
Application: The Law of the Old Testament was to make us aware of our sins and that with the coming of the new covenant grace would prevail. If we do not understand the past we cannot appreciate the present and use it properly, as we have seen with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Ron L.
Romans 3:19-28
Now all those believed in him who had hope towards him, that is, those who proclaimed his advent and submitted dispensations, the righteous men, the prophets, and the patriarchs, to whom he remitted sins in the same way as he did to us, which sins we should not lay to their charge, if we would not despise the grace of God. For as these men did not impute unto us (the Gentiles) our transgressions, which we wrought before Christ was manifested among us, so also it is not right that we should lay blame upon those who sinned before Christ’s coming. For “all men come short of the glory of God,” and are not justified of themselves, but by the advent of the Lord -- they who earnestly direct their eyes towards his light.
(Irenaeus against Heresies, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II, p 499)
Frank R.
John 8:31-36
He was going to be a junior in high school. He’d worked all summer to save money to buy a car. He’d saved a couple thousand dollars, so he was in pretty good shape to get a good one. His dad went with him to look at a car that a fellow church member was selling. It was an older car, a family-type car with quite a few miles on it, but it was a car that had been maintained. It didn’t look great, but it was a solid vehicle. The young man was not impressed. The next day, he and his dad went to look at a car the kid had found online. It was amazing! It was a sports car with chrome hubcaps and a new paint job. As far as the young man was concerned, this was the car of his dreams. He drove it a bit and was excited. His dad was able to get him to leave the lot without buying it right then, but it was tough. He told the young man that he understood why he liked it, but that he ought to get a mechanic to look at it -- he needed to know what it was really like. “After all,” he told his son, “once you buy it, you own it and all that goes with it.” The kid didn’t listen. A day later, he bought the car.
Sound like a familiar story? I wonder how many of us have been slaves to a “junker” car? How many of us have paid good money for what looked shiny and new, only to find that is was “fools’ gold” and a mirage? It ate up a ton of money, time, and energy. Frustration and regret were its most frequent passengers. The question What was I thinking? reverberates.
Sin is like that. Sin looks pretty snazzy at the onset. It entices and lures people all of the time. Once they buy, though, they’re in... deep. “Everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin.” That’s pretty clear. Freedom is available, though. It comes through the Son. If you’ve bought a “clunker” and you’re looking for a way out, consider these words of Jesus. You can find freedom.
Bill T.
John 8:31-36
“The truth will make you free.” How many people in our world live every day without the freedoms we take for granted: the freedom to eat, to work, to speak their minds, to be educated, to choose their own faith or path in life? What is the truth for these people? Is it prescribed by some outside force or oppressor, by poverty or by fear?
The Globe and Mail, a Canadian publication, wrote in 2013: “There are currently 29.6 million slaves around the world, more than ever before, about equal to the populations of Australia and Denmark combined. Slavery is a fast-growing industry worth $32 billion a year, equal to the profit of McDonalds and Wal-Mart combined.... Modern-day slavery takes many forms: human trafficking, forced and bonded labor, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced marriage. What these crimes have in common is the evil intention to strip human beings of their freedom, and then to control and exploit them.”
While Jesus is speaking about committing sins as what enslaves us, the sins of the world -- greed, lust, violence -- are impacting the lives of 29.6 million people. What can you do about slavery in the 21st century? Prayer will certainly help, but so will knowledge and action. Make it a point this “Reformation Sunday” to pledge to reform the world for freedom for everyone.
Bonnie B.
John 8:31-36
Roy Reed was born in Arkansas, and was a journalist in Little Rock for the Arkansas Gazette. As he worked with a reporter with the New York Times, it became apparent that Reed needed a larger byline -- so the Times hired him and immediately sent him back south to cover the civil rights movement. During those turbulent years, his articles were often front-page news as he reported on the violence that whites in authority inflicted upon black protesters. Fifty years have now passed since one of the seminal events of the civil rights movement -- the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama -- and in an interview Reed was asked if ensuring civil rights is an unending struggle. Reed replied, “The story’s changed in many ways, yet, I suspect -- deep down -- that it’s the same old story: racism, in its various permutations.”
Application: Jesus said everyone who sins is a slave to sin, and racism is a sin we are all enslaved to.
Ron L.
John 8:31-36
“Freedom” is such a good word. On this subject Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote: “a denial of freedom to an individual is a denial of life itself, the very character of the life of man demands freedom” (A Testament of Hope, p. 119). Of course, for Christians this freedom is not a license to do anything. John Calvin explains it well: “We are lord of all things; only we must not abuse that lordship in such a way as to drag out a most miserable bondage, being through intemperance and inordinate lusts under subjection to outward things, which ought to be under subscription to us” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XX/1, p. 215).
This kind of freedom is dangerous. It can not only changes lives, it can also change society. The famed Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer made that clear: “The person who loves, because he is freed through the truth of God, is the most revolutionary person on earth. He is the one who upsets all values; he is the explosive in human society. Such a one is the most dangerous person. For he has recognized that people are untruthful in the extreme, and he is ready at any time, and just for the sake of love, to permit the light of truth to fall on them” (A Testament to Freedom, p. 217).
Mark E.
