Sermon Illustrations for Reformation Sunday (2014)
Illustration
Object:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
In the post-apostolic church, spanning from the death of the last of the twelve apostles through the fourth century, membership required three years of preparation. Catechumens followed a succession of three classes. When first admitted they were called "hearers," as they listened to lectures and sermons. The "kneelers" followed, who remained for the prayers. The final class was called "the chosen." A convert came to the episcopal school, for it was presided over by a bishop, to complete the educational requirements for baptism and church membership. Participants studied creeds, liturgies, and the bishop's approved list of apostolic writings. Absent of a canonized New Testament, the equation employed for determining an orthodox writing was the "Logos Doctrine," which parallels the prologue to John's gospel.
Application: We will be able to put the word of the Lord in our minds and write it on our hearts if we are willing to study and learn.
Ron L.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
In our narcissistic ethos, a preoccupation with identity or the quest for self-consciousness and finding ourselves is a passion for many Americans (see Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, pp. 177-179; David Frum, How We Got Here: The 70s, esp. pp. 70ff). This lesson and the reformation word assure us that we already have an identity with the law written on our hearts. Spend your life looking for yourself or trying to become yourself, and you will never actually get to be yourself. Famed twentieth-century American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr makes a similar point about how we only get to be ourselves because God makes it happen: "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 ourselves. This is grace" (Justice & Mercy, p. 43).
Becoming yourself is a gift, happening paradoxically when you stop thinking about yourself and get focused on others. It is like happiness. You can't find it and make it happen; it happens as a happy (grace-filled) accident. Mahatma Gandhi was right: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."
The real you and me is one with the Ten Commandments and good works written on our hearts. Doing good is something spontaneous, who we are, like a good athlete loves to play the game, like a great musician finds joy in playing music. This is what the first Reformer Martin Luther meant when he wrote: "All that the Christian does is nothing but fruit. Everything such a person does is easy for him. Nothing is arduous" (Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 230).
The reformation word of grace finds us and makes life a lot of fun.
Mark E.
Romans 3:19-28
Dr. John Bowling, President of Olivet Nazarene University, wrote in the Wesleyan Preaching Annual (CSS Publishing, 2001) a sermon titled "Where Luther Stood -- We Stand" (p. 89). He writes in the sermon conclusion: "The picture of salvation that was prevalent in Luther's day was that of a man who was trapped at the bottom of a great cavern or well. And God through Christ came to save you but he came only partway. It was necessary for man, by good works and indulgences, to raise himself sufficiently so that God might then be able to save him.
"But then Luther comes along and he announces the truth of the scriptures which is this: Man is at the bottom of a well so deep that he can do nothing whatsoever to get out of it. But God does come down into that well, but he doesn't stop halfway. He comes in great love all the way! And he takes hold of man and lifts him up out of that pit of sin."
Derl K.
Romans 3:19-28
There are even some Christians who give us laws that must be kept. For example, some denominations insist that you should avoid drinking and smoking and dancing. They have a list of "don'ts." Not that we can do anything we want and please God. But we must be careful not to make laws that must be obeyed before we can please our Lord. We must obey laws only because we love the Lord who gave them to us and not just to earn his love.
The purpose of God's law is to let us know what things please or do not please him. We like to know what pleases our mate and do what they want to make him or her happy, don't we? So if we love God, we want to know what he wants us to do. We can search the scriptures to find out or go to church and ask the pastor or Bible class leader. Our parents let us know what they would like us to do, but whatever it is we are still their beloved child. The only thing we may do aside from counting on them for love and forgiveness is to deliberately ignore or reject what we know they want from us.
Even in our law courts it can make a difference if we truly confess our sins and show sorrow for them. But ignorance of the law is no excuse, and we should not make excuses. That goes for God also! That is one reason we read our Bible and go to church so -- we can learn what pleases and displeases God and confess our sins to him and receive his forgiveness.
There is no use boasting about how good a person we are. It is a temptation to look around us or watch TV and tell God (or whoever will listen) that we are really not as bad as those other terrible people. If we look hard, we can always find people worse than us -- maybe even fellow church members. There is always danger of becoming a latter-day Pharisee who brags about how good we are and how much better we are than those sinners out there. We are all sinners saved by grace.
But we are judged by our faith. That is what we need to work on so that we may become stronger every week.
Bob O.
John 8:31-36
The Christian spirit has permeated the Oval Office from the first day to the present. George Washington kept a prayer journal, writing: "And as thou wouldst hear me calling upon thee in prayers, so give me grace to hear thee calling on me in thy word." Barack Obama reads a morning devotional, with one lesson concluding "Only one way is the path of Christ."
Application: If we follow the truth of God we shall always be leading in the right direction.
Ron L.
John 8:31-36
Freedom is such a lovely word, a compelling concept. But what kind of freedom does Jesus afford? Martin Luther spoke first of freedom in terms of freedom from the bondage of good works: "From this anyone can clearly see how a Christian is free from all things and over all things so that he needs no works to make him righteous, free; saved" (Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 356).
But Luther is quick to add, as Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "With freedom comes responsibility." The first Reformer claimed: "A Christian is perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all" (Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 344).
In the same spirit the famed martyr in the cause against Hitler, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, elaborated on the social implications of the reformation word of freedom: "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" (A Testament to Freedom, p. 217).
John Calvin made a similar point in suggesting that freedom is nothing more than joyfully doing what God has planned to have us do all along.
Mark E.
In the post-apostolic church, spanning from the death of the last of the twelve apostles through the fourth century, membership required three years of preparation. Catechumens followed a succession of three classes. When first admitted they were called "hearers," as they listened to lectures and sermons. The "kneelers" followed, who remained for the prayers. The final class was called "the chosen." A convert came to the episcopal school, for it was presided over by a bishop, to complete the educational requirements for baptism and church membership. Participants studied creeds, liturgies, and the bishop's approved list of apostolic writings. Absent of a canonized New Testament, the equation employed for determining an orthodox writing was the "Logos Doctrine," which parallels the prologue to John's gospel.
Application: We will be able to put the word of the Lord in our minds and write it on our hearts if we are willing to study and learn.
Ron L.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
In our narcissistic ethos, a preoccupation with identity or the quest for self-consciousness and finding ourselves is a passion for many Americans (see Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism, pp. 177-179; David Frum, How We Got Here: The 70s, esp. pp. 70ff). This lesson and the reformation word assure us that we already have an identity with the law written on our hearts. Spend your life looking for yourself or trying to become yourself, and you will never actually get to be yourself. Famed twentieth-century American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr makes a similar point about how we only get to be ourselves because God makes it happen: "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 ourselves. This is grace" (Justice & Mercy, p. 43).
Becoming yourself is a gift, happening paradoxically when you stop thinking about yourself and get focused on others. It is like happiness. You can't find it and make it happen; it happens as a happy (grace-filled) accident. Mahatma Gandhi was right: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."
The real you and me is one with the Ten Commandments and good works written on our hearts. Doing good is something spontaneous, who we are, like a good athlete loves to play the game, like a great musician finds joy in playing music. This is what the first Reformer Martin Luther meant when he wrote: "All that the Christian does is nothing but fruit. Everything such a person does is easy for him. Nothing is arduous" (Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 230).
The reformation word of grace finds us and makes life a lot of fun.
Mark E.
Romans 3:19-28
Dr. John Bowling, President of Olivet Nazarene University, wrote in the Wesleyan Preaching Annual (CSS Publishing, 2001) a sermon titled "Where Luther Stood -- We Stand" (p. 89). He writes in the sermon conclusion: "The picture of salvation that was prevalent in Luther's day was that of a man who was trapped at the bottom of a great cavern or well. And God through Christ came to save you but he came only partway. It was necessary for man, by good works and indulgences, to raise himself sufficiently so that God might then be able to save him.
"But then Luther comes along and he announces the truth of the scriptures which is this: Man is at the bottom of a well so deep that he can do nothing whatsoever to get out of it. But God does come down into that well, but he doesn't stop halfway. He comes in great love all the way! And he takes hold of man and lifts him up out of that pit of sin."
Derl K.
Romans 3:19-28
There are even some Christians who give us laws that must be kept. For example, some denominations insist that you should avoid drinking and smoking and dancing. They have a list of "don'ts." Not that we can do anything we want and please God. But we must be careful not to make laws that must be obeyed before we can please our Lord. We must obey laws only because we love the Lord who gave them to us and not just to earn his love.
The purpose of God's law is to let us know what things please or do not please him. We like to know what pleases our mate and do what they want to make him or her happy, don't we? So if we love God, we want to know what he wants us to do. We can search the scriptures to find out or go to church and ask the pastor or Bible class leader. Our parents let us know what they would like us to do, but whatever it is we are still their beloved child. The only thing we may do aside from counting on them for love and forgiveness is to deliberately ignore or reject what we know they want from us.
Even in our law courts it can make a difference if we truly confess our sins and show sorrow for them. But ignorance of the law is no excuse, and we should not make excuses. That goes for God also! That is one reason we read our Bible and go to church so -- we can learn what pleases and displeases God and confess our sins to him and receive his forgiveness.
There is no use boasting about how good a person we are. It is a temptation to look around us or watch TV and tell God (or whoever will listen) that we are really not as bad as those other terrible people. If we look hard, we can always find people worse than us -- maybe even fellow church members. There is always danger of becoming a latter-day Pharisee who brags about how good we are and how much better we are than those sinners out there. We are all sinners saved by grace.
But we are judged by our faith. That is what we need to work on so that we may become stronger every week.
Bob O.
John 8:31-36
The Christian spirit has permeated the Oval Office from the first day to the present. George Washington kept a prayer journal, writing: "And as thou wouldst hear me calling upon thee in prayers, so give me grace to hear thee calling on me in thy word." Barack Obama reads a morning devotional, with one lesson concluding "Only one way is the path of Christ."
Application: If we follow the truth of God we shall always be leading in the right direction.
Ron L.
John 8:31-36
Freedom is such a lovely word, a compelling concept. But what kind of freedom does Jesus afford? Martin Luther spoke first of freedom in terms of freedom from the bondage of good works: "From this anyone can clearly see how a Christian is free from all things and over all things so that he needs no works to make him righteous, free; saved" (Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 356).
But Luther is quick to add, as Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "With freedom comes responsibility." The first Reformer claimed: "A Christian is perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all" (Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 344).
In the same spirit the famed martyr in the cause against Hitler, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, elaborated on the social implications of the reformation word of freedom: "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" (A Testament to Freedom, p. 217).
John Calvin made a similar point in suggesting that freedom is nothing more than joyfully doing what God has planned to have us do all along.
Mark E.
