Sermon Illustrations for Third Sunday of Advent (2023)
Illustration
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Depending on your local climate it’s quite likely that some of us have planted bulbs (or my wife has, anyway), with the hope — nay, the expectation — of seeing flowers shoot up in the spring after a long and even tiresome winter. For those of us in northern climates, a week less than a week from the solstice, we can’t help but think about the upcoming shortest days that we’re living through, and the weeks or months of difficult weather ahead.
Despite the fact that winter is a fact of life — and so are the perennials and the flowers sprouting up the following spring from the bulbs we planted this past fall — it still seems like a surprise, a happy surprise, when the flowers appear in the spring. Our response is, or should be, delight! It’s just what we needed!
Delight! In this passage we learn that “…I, the Lord, love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing.” God’s good will is for all to be set at rights. And the images in Isaiah 61:11 call forth that delight we feel each year when spring blooms (“For as the earth brings forth its shoots and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up….”) but assure us it is inevitable that “. . . the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”
This is God’s doing, but we also may plant bulbs of justice when we support food banks, legal aid for the poor, the rehabilitation of released prisoners, the reception of refugees, and other number of projects in Christ’s name that will flower forth with delight in God’s springlike renewal of the earth.
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Dr. Howard Hendricks tells the story of a young man who strayed from the Lord but was finally brought back by the help of a friend who loved him. After the man experienced full repentance and restoration, Dr. Hendricks asked him how it felt being far away from the Lord. The young man said it seemed like he was out at sea, in deep water, deep trouble, and all his friends were on the shore hurling biblical accusations at him about justice, penalty, and wrong. “But there was one Christian brother who actually swam out to get me and would not let me go. I fought him, but he pushed aside my fighting, grasped me, put a life jacket around me, and took me to shore. By the grace of God, he was the reason I was restored. He would not let me go.”
In order to make a difference in the lives of people around us, we have to be willing to pay the price. We have to be willing to get our hands dirty. Isaiah, with the voice of the Messiah, who promises to bring restoration, hope, and peace to the people of God. The Messiah will come “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners” (vs. 1). To achieve that, Jesus, the Messiah, became a human and walked among humans. He simply would not let humans go.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Paul warns against despising the words of the prophets. And yet in our day and time (throughout most of history) prophets are considered weird. It is as 19th-century English author George Eliot nicely put it: Among all the forms of mistake, prophecy is most gratuitous.” Famed 20th-century Jewish scholar Abraham Heschel offers a good defense of prophecy. He wrote:
In a sense, the calling of the prophet may be described as that of an advocate or champion, speaking for those who are too weak to plead their own cause. Indeed, the major activity of the prophets was interference, remonstrating about wrongs inflicted on other people, meddling in affairs which were seemingly neither their concern nor their responsibility. (Thunder in the Soul)
Alas, most American Christians (two thirds of us agree) seem to despise such prophecy according to a 2019 Pew Foundation poll. And all the while, some form of prophecy seems required by the ever-growing rich-poor gap and the gap between the phenomenal wealth being generated by American businesses while the average American family depends more and more on credit-card debts to pay bills. Thus in 2023, 69.1% of American wealth was owned by the top 10% while the lowest 50% of Americans economically owned just 2.6% of the wealth. And just months ago, it was found that the average American family was $67,000 in debt. Add to that wage gaps due to gender and race. Also, not to be overlooked is the political paralysis plaguing America, the inability of our legislators to compromise and the apparent lack of personal morality among our presidential and congressional candidates. Sounds like we need more prophecy, not less. What Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote still applies:
Any discussion of the role of the Christian minister today must ultimately emphasize the need for prophecy... May the problem of race in America soon make hearts burn so that the prophets rise up, saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” and cry out as Amos did “... let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (A Testament of Hope, p.481)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
“Rejoice always”, Paul asserts. Paul calls the faithful to remember that God is present, that their prayers are heard, and that God is with them. Rejoicing comes from praying unceasingly. I don’t know about you but sometimes I rush through prayers. Sometimes I forget to pray at all. And when I fail to pray, it is difficult for me to find joy, to rejoice at all. I continually recommit to praying regularly and unceasingly and I continually fail. What I have discovered is that God doesn’t judge me for my failure to pray. Rather God reminds me that joy comes from my faith and my relationship with God. I am not a failure when I forget to pray or put off praying. Rather I am reminded that coming to God in prayer is a second by second, moment by moment, gratitude for every breath, every experience, every joy and every sorrow. All is prayer.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Martin Luther praised John the Baptist for directing people away from himself to Christ (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/1, p.122). He [John] did not want people to imitate him and his lifestyle; he just pointed to Christ (Luther’s Works, Vol.22, p.51) The reformer also added that this humility is a testimony to God’s grace:
It is, therefore, important that we learn from the example of John the Baptist to preserve this testimony concerning Christ. For the moment this testimony and doctrine are gone, people begin to preach human works. (Complete Sermons, Vol.5, p.82)
Luther also noted that John played a role as prophet. He noted the prophet’s role in condemning sin but reminds us that prophetic teaching and preaching cannot let judgment have the final word. As he put is, “This then is the other office of John and of every preacher of the gospel, not alone to make all the world sinners...; but also, to give comfort...” (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/1, p.129)
Mark E.
* * *
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Beth Jones writes in an October 15, 2014, devotion about playing “second fiddle.” If you’re not familiar with that term it refers to the one who is not in the first chair, the obvious leader. S/he occupies the second chair and is in a supporting role. Jones observes, “The Bible is full of examples of amazing leaders who were mightily used of the Lord from their position in the second chair — not the first chair. In some cases, the #2 person was more effective than the #1 person.”
In this passage, the person in the second chair would not eclipse or do more than the person in the first chair. After all, that person in the first chair was Jesus. However, it is clear that John knows his role. John says of the one coming after him (Jesus), “he one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal” (vs. 27). John’s awareness and humility are evident. Rick Warren once wrote, “"Humility isn't denying your strengths; it's being honest about your weaknesses." Will we also be willing to play second fiddle, or sit in the second chair in deference to the king of Kings?
Bill T.
* * *
John 1:6-8, 19-28
In the other three gospels, John is referred to as “the Baptist,” or, more literally, “the Immerser.” The word is also used in conjunction with washing dishes or clothes, none of which are sprinkled and then considered clean, but are good and dunked. However, baptismal controversies are not the point in this passage. John is never called “the Baptist” in the Gospel of John. He might be better called “John the Witness” in this fourth Gospel. He is named twice as a witness in these verses. When John was actively engaged in ministry, he was asked if he was not the Messiah. He deflected such speculation, identifying himself as “the voice crying in the wilderness” named in Isaiah 40.
During the leadup to the holiday season it is easy to make getting the cookies baked, presents wrapped, meals planned, and the tree trimmed the most central activities. They become the central focus of this season. These things are important to the joy of spending time together, but they must remain subordinate — as John maintains his subordinate place relative to the one who is coming — to what the fourth gospel calls “The true light, which enlightens everyone, . . . coming into the world.” (John 1:9)
Frank R.
Depending on your local climate it’s quite likely that some of us have planted bulbs (or my wife has, anyway), with the hope — nay, the expectation — of seeing flowers shoot up in the spring after a long and even tiresome winter. For those of us in northern climates, a week less than a week from the solstice, we can’t help but think about the upcoming shortest days that we’re living through, and the weeks or months of difficult weather ahead.
Despite the fact that winter is a fact of life — and so are the perennials and the flowers sprouting up the following spring from the bulbs we planted this past fall — it still seems like a surprise, a happy surprise, when the flowers appear in the spring. Our response is, or should be, delight! It’s just what we needed!
Delight! In this passage we learn that “…I, the Lord, love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing.” God’s good will is for all to be set at rights. And the images in Isaiah 61:11 call forth that delight we feel each year when spring blooms (“For as the earth brings forth its shoots and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up….”) but assure us it is inevitable that “. . . the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”
This is God’s doing, but we also may plant bulbs of justice when we support food banks, legal aid for the poor, the rehabilitation of released prisoners, the reception of refugees, and other number of projects in Christ’s name that will flower forth with delight in God’s springlike renewal of the earth.
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Dr. Howard Hendricks tells the story of a young man who strayed from the Lord but was finally brought back by the help of a friend who loved him. After the man experienced full repentance and restoration, Dr. Hendricks asked him how it felt being far away from the Lord. The young man said it seemed like he was out at sea, in deep water, deep trouble, and all his friends were on the shore hurling biblical accusations at him about justice, penalty, and wrong. “But there was one Christian brother who actually swam out to get me and would not let me go. I fought him, but he pushed aside my fighting, grasped me, put a life jacket around me, and took me to shore. By the grace of God, he was the reason I was restored. He would not let me go.”
In order to make a difference in the lives of people around us, we have to be willing to pay the price. We have to be willing to get our hands dirty. Isaiah, with the voice of the Messiah, who promises to bring restoration, hope, and peace to the people of God. The Messiah will come “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners” (vs. 1). To achieve that, Jesus, the Messiah, became a human and walked among humans. He simply would not let humans go.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Paul warns against despising the words of the prophets. And yet in our day and time (throughout most of history) prophets are considered weird. It is as 19th-century English author George Eliot nicely put it: Among all the forms of mistake, prophecy is most gratuitous.” Famed 20th-century Jewish scholar Abraham Heschel offers a good defense of prophecy. He wrote:
In a sense, the calling of the prophet may be described as that of an advocate or champion, speaking for those who are too weak to plead their own cause. Indeed, the major activity of the prophets was interference, remonstrating about wrongs inflicted on other people, meddling in affairs which were seemingly neither their concern nor their responsibility. (Thunder in the Soul)
Alas, most American Christians (two thirds of us agree) seem to despise such prophecy according to a 2019 Pew Foundation poll. And all the while, some form of prophecy seems required by the ever-growing rich-poor gap and the gap between the phenomenal wealth being generated by American businesses while the average American family depends more and more on credit-card debts to pay bills. Thus in 2023, 69.1% of American wealth was owned by the top 10% while the lowest 50% of Americans economically owned just 2.6% of the wealth. And just months ago, it was found that the average American family was $67,000 in debt. Add to that wage gaps due to gender and race. Also, not to be overlooked is the political paralysis plaguing America, the inability of our legislators to compromise and the apparent lack of personal morality among our presidential and congressional candidates. Sounds like we need more prophecy, not less. What Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote still applies:
Any discussion of the role of the Christian minister today must ultimately emphasize the need for prophecy... May the problem of race in America soon make hearts burn so that the prophets rise up, saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” and cry out as Amos did “... let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (A Testament of Hope, p.481)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
“Rejoice always”, Paul asserts. Paul calls the faithful to remember that God is present, that their prayers are heard, and that God is with them. Rejoicing comes from praying unceasingly. I don’t know about you but sometimes I rush through prayers. Sometimes I forget to pray at all. And when I fail to pray, it is difficult for me to find joy, to rejoice at all. I continually recommit to praying regularly and unceasingly and I continually fail. What I have discovered is that God doesn’t judge me for my failure to pray. Rather God reminds me that joy comes from my faith and my relationship with God. I am not a failure when I forget to pray or put off praying. Rather I am reminded that coming to God in prayer is a second by second, moment by moment, gratitude for every breath, every experience, every joy and every sorrow. All is prayer.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Martin Luther praised John the Baptist for directing people away from himself to Christ (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/1, p.122). He [John] did not want people to imitate him and his lifestyle; he just pointed to Christ (Luther’s Works, Vol.22, p.51) The reformer also added that this humility is a testimony to God’s grace:
It is, therefore, important that we learn from the example of John the Baptist to preserve this testimony concerning Christ. For the moment this testimony and doctrine are gone, people begin to preach human works. (Complete Sermons, Vol.5, p.82)
Luther also noted that John played a role as prophet. He noted the prophet’s role in condemning sin but reminds us that prophetic teaching and preaching cannot let judgment have the final word. As he put is, “This then is the other office of John and of every preacher of the gospel, not alone to make all the world sinners...; but also, to give comfort...” (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/1, p.129)
Mark E.
* * *
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Beth Jones writes in an October 15, 2014, devotion about playing “second fiddle.” If you’re not familiar with that term it refers to the one who is not in the first chair, the obvious leader. S/he occupies the second chair and is in a supporting role. Jones observes, “The Bible is full of examples of amazing leaders who were mightily used of the Lord from their position in the second chair — not the first chair. In some cases, the #2 person was more effective than the #1 person.”
In this passage, the person in the second chair would not eclipse or do more than the person in the first chair. After all, that person in the first chair was Jesus. However, it is clear that John knows his role. John says of the one coming after him (Jesus), “he one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal” (vs. 27). John’s awareness and humility are evident. Rick Warren once wrote, “"Humility isn't denying your strengths; it's being honest about your weaknesses." Will we also be willing to play second fiddle, or sit in the second chair in deference to the king of Kings?
Bill T.
* * *
John 1:6-8, 19-28
In the other three gospels, John is referred to as “the Baptist,” or, more literally, “the Immerser.” The word is also used in conjunction with washing dishes or clothes, none of which are sprinkled and then considered clean, but are good and dunked. However, baptismal controversies are not the point in this passage. John is never called “the Baptist” in the Gospel of John. He might be better called “John the Witness” in this fourth Gospel. He is named twice as a witness in these verses. When John was actively engaged in ministry, he was asked if he was not the Messiah. He deflected such speculation, identifying himself as “the voice crying in the wilderness” named in Isaiah 40.
During the leadup to the holiday season it is easy to make getting the cookies baked, presents wrapped, meals planned, and the tree trimmed the most central activities. They become the central focus of this season. These things are important to the joy of spending time together, but they must remain subordinate — as John maintains his subordinate place relative to the one who is coming — to what the fourth gospel calls “The true light, which enlightens everyone, . . . coming into the world.” (John 1:9)
Frank R.
