For those who have ears to hear
Commentary
This is a day when a lot of ears will burn if the preaching follows the lead of the texts. They are heart-searchers and spiritual gut-checkers, peppered with ominous warnings as well as with thrilling challenges. I personally prefer biblical passages that comfort and reassure. While some of that can be found in these three readings, the central luminous truths, as my first professor in homiletics used to call them, are demands to do something for God ... and do them fearlessly and selflessly.
Ezekiel starts off with warnings to both preachers and healers to hone in on what is being asked of them. The consequences for failing at either is death! Paul puts it more gently, but just as clearly. Love received is love to be repaid. When the time comes to do ... do it! And Luke reports Jesus jolting the smiley-faced throng that had tagged along with him from village to town, sizing him up.
Discipleship is more than lecture attendance. It is more than just being present. It is an all-or-nothing, a put it on the line or back off and let those who will get in the front row kind of venture. And if you won't put up now, don't piddle around the edges, because embarrassment and humiliation are all that's in store for your future.
This Sunday is not a day for dedicated fence straddlers, to be sure. But it is an occasion that none of us dare miss! Whether pew-sitters or pulpit-fillers, it is a day for cocking our ears!
OUTLINE I
When the word of the Lord came
Ezekiel 33:1-11
A. v. 1. How often a preacher struggles to have something to say! The sermonic larder gets low, or the illustration well goes dry and it seems that getting Sunday's sermon ready to deliver will be like having a tooth pulled without anesthesia. The prophets apparently seldom had such dilemmas where their proclamations were concerned. "The word of the Lord came to me (Ezekiel 33:1; Jeremiah 1:2, 4, 13)," or a "vision ... concerning Judah and Jerusalem" was given by God (Isaiah 1:1; Amos 1:1, 7:1, 7) to those he had laid his hand upon to deliver his messages. When the inspiration did not come they did not speak. But, then, the prophets did not have a congregation week after week that had contracted with them to have something to say, vision or no vision, visitation or no visitation! And both those who deliver sermons, and those who listen to them can tell the difference when the proclaimers are having to say something instead of having something to say.
B. vv. 2-6. The responsibility of the watchman is to relay the facts as they are revealed. The proclaimer is not accountable for the responses of those to whom God sent them. They are there because the Lord is bent on saving from destruction those he formed in the womb of his hand. Even the most wayward and hard-hearted of the lot he tries, by one means or another, to get to turn, repent (Hebrew shuv, "to make a complete revolution and move back toward the one who has called him/her"). The challenge for the hearer is to choose life over death. The challenge to the word-bearing watchman is to hang-in when they get a multitude of deaf ears turned in their direction. To those tottering on the knife-edge between suicide and salvation, the invitation must be persistent ... Turn back from your evil ways and live! A stark message, and to the point! And it is one that still needs to be broadcast.
OUTLINE II
The appeal from a prisoner
Philemon 1:1-20
A. vv. 1-11. This appeal is to the owner of a slave, who, in one manner or another, had left his owner and ended up in prison with Paul. No details are given as to how that happened, but Paul makes it clear that though Onesimus came to him as a bondman he has become a son. Onesimus had become a convert to the Faith. As such, he had been made a free man by Christ. The missionary is sending him back to the person who once had brought him, expecting Philemon to live up to his name. Philemon has as its root the Greek term phileo, "one who loves another as a brother." Moreover, as one who himself was slave that Jesus had "bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20)" the gift of freedom was one Philemon should pass on willingly. The moment arrives for every ransomed one to liberate someone else less indebted to us than we were to God! For Philemon, the time to do his liberating had dawned.
B. vv. 12-20. Note how Paul reminds Philemon that he personally holds some I.O.U.s on Onesimus' human master! Philemon owes Paul his very life. But Christ-like love does not seek to be reimbursed personally for what it does, or shows. Jesus did not ask the thief on the cross beside him to cough up an entry fee to follow him into paradise. What Jesus did look for from those who chose to follow him was the willingness to pattern themselves after him. So . . . "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you love one another (John 13:34-35)." Doing that is what marks us for others as Christ's.
In this action the operative term is agapate, "self-giving that is done utterly for the benefit of the one who is its object." Underline that! It is done, not simply felt. It is self-giving, not self-serving, nor other-obligating! Remember that it is commanded by Jesus, not merely recommended. As one pardoned slave to another, Philemon, as a hearer of the gospel, should do the right thing. That should happen as a matter of course among family members, isn't it so? And it should still be happening among those of us who hold our own I.O.U.s on one another.
OUTLINE III
Looking at the finish from the start
Luke 14:25-33
A. vv. 25-27. Great Multitudes trekked after Jesus knowing well that they not only were following an extraordinary Teacher, but one who had the power to make people who were sick and morally tattered well and whole again. But I wonder how many of them, thinking about signing-up to become disciples, fathomed anything about the other side of making such a commitment to Jesus. The One who was so generous, and compassionate, and forgiving, could make enormous demands on the individuals who drew-in closest to him. It was one thing to be in audience, and quite another to be in cadre! To make it plain that discipleship has its cost, Jesus laid it on the table for potential signers-on. The provision at the top of his requirements was that everyone, and everything, else had to fall away for those who lined up with him. Christ, and Christ alone, had to be first and foremost, come what may (26-27).
B. vv. 28-32. With many things in life, you can try them to see if you like them before you buy them. It is true of everything from autos to yogurt. And if after trying them you shake your head and say, "No, thanks, that's not for me!" you are not any the worse for the effort. But when it comes to other things, trials are not allowed. You make up your mind before you begin, and if you start and then stop, heads turn, and tongues wag, "Bit off more than you could chew!" "Couldn't gut it out!" "You should have looked before you leaped!" And the things that bring up those barbs are failures made at the really critical junctures, and on the life-shaping issues, of existence.
Discipleship is more than hanging-out on the fringes to try out religion with Jesus. It is not dabbling with ideas, or flirting with systems. Discipleship involves falling in love with Christ, and then making a commitment that pushes him and his will for you to the front of life's line. To take that leap and then peter out, is not only humiliating when you face the public that saw you join in. It gets a shake of the Master's own head, and the stripping query, "Why didn't you count the cost before you began, to see if you had enough in you to stay with me?" How often, in our let's make it easy to join up atmosphere of contemporary, main-line Christianity, is that question ever asked of anyone, anymore? The avoidance of the issue can be tragic.
Ezekiel starts off with warnings to both preachers and healers to hone in on what is being asked of them. The consequences for failing at either is death! Paul puts it more gently, but just as clearly. Love received is love to be repaid. When the time comes to do ... do it! And Luke reports Jesus jolting the smiley-faced throng that had tagged along with him from village to town, sizing him up.
Discipleship is more than lecture attendance. It is more than just being present. It is an all-or-nothing, a put it on the line or back off and let those who will get in the front row kind of venture. And if you won't put up now, don't piddle around the edges, because embarrassment and humiliation are all that's in store for your future.
This Sunday is not a day for dedicated fence straddlers, to be sure. But it is an occasion that none of us dare miss! Whether pew-sitters or pulpit-fillers, it is a day for cocking our ears!
OUTLINE I
When the word of the Lord came
Ezekiel 33:1-11
A. v. 1. How often a preacher struggles to have something to say! The sermonic larder gets low, or the illustration well goes dry and it seems that getting Sunday's sermon ready to deliver will be like having a tooth pulled without anesthesia. The prophets apparently seldom had such dilemmas where their proclamations were concerned. "The word of the Lord came to me (Ezekiel 33:1; Jeremiah 1:2, 4, 13)," or a "vision ... concerning Judah and Jerusalem" was given by God (Isaiah 1:1; Amos 1:1, 7:1, 7) to those he had laid his hand upon to deliver his messages. When the inspiration did not come they did not speak. But, then, the prophets did not have a congregation week after week that had contracted with them to have something to say, vision or no vision, visitation or no visitation! And both those who deliver sermons, and those who listen to them can tell the difference when the proclaimers are having to say something instead of having something to say.
B. vv. 2-6. The responsibility of the watchman is to relay the facts as they are revealed. The proclaimer is not accountable for the responses of those to whom God sent them. They are there because the Lord is bent on saving from destruction those he formed in the womb of his hand. Even the most wayward and hard-hearted of the lot he tries, by one means or another, to get to turn, repent (Hebrew shuv, "to make a complete revolution and move back toward the one who has called him/her"). The challenge for the hearer is to choose life over death. The challenge to the word-bearing watchman is to hang-in when they get a multitude of deaf ears turned in their direction. To those tottering on the knife-edge between suicide and salvation, the invitation must be persistent ... Turn back from your evil ways and live! A stark message, and to the point! And it is one that still needs to be broadcast.
OUTLINE II
The appeal from a prisoner
Philemon 1:1-20
A. vv. 1-11. This appeal is to the owner of a slave, who, in one manner or another, had left his owner and ended up in prison with Paul. No details are given as to how that happened, but Paul makes it clear that though Onesimus came to him as a bondman he has become a son. Onesimus had become a convert to the Faith. As such, he had been made a free man by Christ. The missionary is sending him back to the person who once had brought him, expecting Philemon to live up to his name. Philemon has as its root the Greek term phileo, "one who loves another as a brother." Moreover, as one who himself was slave that Jesus had "bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20)" the gift of freedom was one Philemon should pass on willingly. The moment arrives for every ransomed one to liberate someone else less indebted to us than we were to God! For Philemon, the time to do his liberating had dawned.
B. vv. 12-20. Note how Paul reminds Philemon that he personally holds some I.O.U.s on Onesimus' human master! Philemon owes Paul his very life. But Christ-like love does not seek to be reimbursed personally for what it does, or shows. Jesus did not ask the thief on the cross beside him to cough up an entry fee to follow him into paradise. What Jesus did look for from those who chose to follow him was the willingness to pattern themselves after him. So . . . "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you love one another (John 13:34-35)." Doing that is what marks us for others as Christ's.
In this action the operative term is agapate, "self-giving that is done utterly for the benefit of the one who is its object." Underline that! It is done, not simply felt. It is self-giving, not self-serving, nor other-obligating! Remember that it is commanded by Jesus, not merely recommended. As one pardoned slave to another, Philemon, as a hearer of the gospel, should do the right thing. That should happen as a matter of course among family members, isn't it so? And it should still be happening among those of us who hold our own I.O.U.s on one another.
OUTLINE III
Looking at the finish from the start
Luke 14:25-33
A. vv. 25-27. Great Multitudes trekked after Jesus knowing well that they not only were following an extraordinary Teacher, but one who had the power to make people who were sick and morally tattered well and whole again. But I wonder how many of them, thinking about signing-up to become disciples, fathomed anything about the other side of making such a commitment to Jesus. The One who was so generous, and compassionate, and forgiving, could make enormous demands on the individuals who drew-in closest to him. It was one thing to be in audience, and quite another to be in cadre! To make it plain that discipleship has its cost, Jesus laid it on the table for potential signers-on. The provision at the top of his requirements was that everyone, and everything, else had to fall away for those who lined up with him. Christ, and Christ alone, had to be first and foremost, come what may (26-27).
B. vv. 28-32. With many things in life, you can try them to see if you like them before you buy them. It is true of everything from autos to yogurt. And if after trying them you shake your head and say, "No, thanks, that's not for me!" you are not any the worse for the effort. But when it comes to other things, trials are not allowed. You make up your mind before you begin, and if you start and then stop, heads turn, and tongues wag, "Bit off more than you could chew!" "Couldn't gut it out!" "You should have looked before you leaped!" And the things that bring up those barbs are failures made at the really critical junctures, and on the life-shaping issues, of existence.
Discipleship is more than hanging-out on the fringes to try out religion with Jesus. It is not dabbling with ideas, or flirting with systems. Discipleship involves falling in love with Christ, and then making a commitment that pushes him and his will for you to the front of life's line. To take that leap and then peter out, is not only humiliating when you face the public that saw you join in. It gets a shake of the Master's own head, and the stripping query, "Why didn't you count the cost before you began, to see if you had enough in you to stay with me?" How often, in our let's make it easy to join up atmosphere of contemporary, main-line Christianity, is that question ever asked of anyone, anymore? The avoidance of the issue can be tragic.
