Ultimately!
Commentary
One of the little books that ought to be required reading for every Christian is The Will of God by Leslie Weatherhead. Its purpose is to help us as we deal with the paradoxes and problems we encounter when we begin to think about how God acts in and deals with the world. The problem arises when one asserts that God is all-powerful and yet one observes that everything that happens is this world is not according to GodÕs will. Is he all-powerful or not? If he is not, who is? Weatherhead helps us deal with the problem by teaching us to conceive of the will of God in three ways.
1. The intentional will of God. What God intends is good. He is for all that means life and health and well being for all his children.
2. The circumstantial will of God. It ought to be clear that, when God gave us the gift of freedom, he placed some limits on himself. We can refuse his will. We can thwart his purposes. We can delay -- or work at cross purposes. Because of the way things are, God must deal with these circumstances.
3. The ultimate will of God. However! No matter how much we refuse or delay or thwart, God has all the time and all the power he needs to become the ultimate victor. What he intends will finally come to pass. That is the biblical faith. Even though it might not happen in our brief lifetime, we can be certain that when all is said and done God will be the victor and we will share in the victory. Check out Hebrews 11:13 for a wonderful piece of insight at this point.
To live faithfully is to live from day to day with the full confidence that finally, in the long run, ultimately the prayer we pray that GodÕs will may be done will be answered with a resounding Yes!
OUTLINE I
A Universal Prayer
Psalm 80:1-7
Introduction: As has already been observed, the Psalms are most difficult to date. You read through one of the Psalms and are ready to say that it speaks to a situation in such and such a century only to remember that it could probably fit in a dozen other places. What one discovers is that the psalms, like our own songs, speak to universal experiences that are common among people of every age and place. That is why they last. They speak to us and for us when we need the word. Little wonder many turn daily to the Psalms for sustenance and guidance. Here we discover a prayer as modern and as up-to-date as today.
A. Begin with God. Good prayers begin with ascriptions of praise and worship to God. Alas, many of us begin our prayers as beggars and come into the presence of God blurting out our needs. The Psalmist knows that any hope that is his comes from knowing that his God leads, is enthroned, and will come and save.
B. Then comes the petition. Behind verses 4-6 is a veiled admission that the judgment that has come has been deserved. What is at stake here is whether or not the punishment now is sufficient. It is the hope of the petitioner that God will now remove both the pain and the embarrassment.
C. End where you began. Interestingly, this part of the prayer psalm ends with an ascription of glory to God: ÒLet thy face shine.Ó Here is the confidence that must accompany prayer, for if answers are to come, if hope is to be real, if salvation is to come, it will be so only because GodÕs face shines in our midst.
Conclusion: Help your hearers approach the Psalms as they approach the hymnal used in worship and let it become an instruction model, a guide to understanding something of the disciplines of the faith we share.
OUTLINE II
The Last Sacrifice
Hebrews 10:5-10
Introduction: Take time to preach a series on Hebrews and to preface each sermon with some introductory material. In all probability, Hebrews is not widely read in most churches. The language, the symbolism, the ideas are strange for most Christians who have been nourished largely on the Gospels. A review of the major ideas of the letter will assist your hearers in understanding todayÕs Scripture.
A. No sacrifices needed. It ought to be clear that this section is addressed to a conflict in the early church, centering on the question as to whether or not sacrifices must still be made. Check out Psalm 40 from which verses 5b, 6, 7 are taken and you will see that the writer of Hebrews has taken some liberty with the text in order to fit it in with the messianic understanding that it is. God does not need to be cajoled, paid off, begged. No sacrifices are needed.
B. One sacrifice ends all. What Jesus has done in his life and death so fully reveals the heart of God as a heart of grace that there is no further need for more show and tell. We need no more examples, no more sacrifices. The point is made once and for all. The deed is done. The message is clear. It will be helpful for you to read on past the lesson. The explanation comes clearer in verses 11ff.
Conclusion: In his assertions that Jesus is the High Priest that supersedes all priests, and in his claim that he is the sacrifice that makes all other sacrifices meaningless, the writer of Hebrews launches an assault against a return to a doctrine of works grounded in a priestly sacrificial system. By contrast, he makes a full claim for grace. That is what we have to offer to those who listen to us from week to week.
OUTLINE III
Listening to LukeÕs Social Gospel
Luke 1:39-55
Introduction: All too many of us listen to the Gospels with a sort of romanticized idea of what we read. For us these are gentle birth stories remembered by the friends and family of Jesus. A more realistic approach to what we have in todayÕs lesson is taken when we are reminded that Luke fashions his birth stories squarely on the style of the opening chapters of 1 Samuel. We should not preach on this text until we have taken time to compare these chapters and see what Luke is doing here.
It seems clear that Luke is fashioning a message that will reawaken hope in the hearts of his people who are under crushing persecution by the Roman emperor Domitian. Economically and politically, they have been eliminated from the possibility of living their daily lives with any success at all. In all likelihood this poem we call ÒThe MagnificatÓ was a hymn sung by the early church, a hymn sung with great emotion and hopefulness.
You may be put off a bit by this suggestion, but consider it anyway: Forget Mary. Keep the early church in mind. Now take a look.
Begin with praise. All hope rests in certainty of his power as Savior.
Low estate. That was where the early church was living. Now go on with the rest of it and see the hopes and dreams that are spoken here. They related not to a teen-age mother but to a church, an entire people whose only hope is that there is a God who can turn the tables and remedy their situation.
Conclusion: Now apply what you have discovered to our own situation. Note that this Scripture is still popular among those who are the disenfranchised, the exploited and those who cannot help themselves. In these lines we discover the hope of such as these in early age. Their confidence rests in knowing that, while in the current moment it seems they are lost, in the long run their God is the ultimate winner.
1. The intentional will of God. What God intends is good. He is for all that means life and health and well being for all his children.
2. The circumstantial will of God. It ought to be clear that, when God gave us the gift of freedom, he placed some limits on himself. We can refuse his will. We can thwart his purposes. We can delay -- or work at cross purposes. Because of the way things are, God must deal with these circumstances.
3. The ultimate will of God. However! No matter how much we refuse or delay or thwart, God has all the time and all the power he needs to become the ultimate victor. What he intends will finally come to pass. That is the biblical faith. Even though it might not happen in our brief lifetime, we can be certain that when all is said and done God will be the victor and we will share in the victory. Check out Hebrews 11:13 for a wonderful piece of insight at this point.
To live faithfully is to live from day to day with the full confidence that finally, in the long run, ultimately the prayer we pray that GodÕs will may be done will be answered with a resounding Yes!
OUTLINE I
A Universal Prayer
Psalm 80:1-7
Introduction: As has already been observed, the Psalms are most difficult to date. You read through one of the Psalms and are ready to say that it speaks to a situation in such and such a century only to remember that it could probably fit in a dozen other places. What one discovers is that the psalms, like our own songs, speak to universal experiences that are common among people of every age and place. That is why they last. They speak to us and for us when we need the word. Little wonder many turn daily to the Psalms for sustenance and guidance. Here we discover a prayer as modern and as up-to-date as today.
A. Begin with God. Good prayers begin with ascriptions of praise and worship to God. Alas, many of us begin our prayers as beggars and come into the presence of God blurting out our needs. The Psalmist knows that any hope that is his comes from knowing that his God leads, is enthroned, and will come and save.
B. Then comes the petition. Behind verses 4-6 is a veiled admission that the judgment that has come has been deserved. What is at stake here is whether or not the punishment now is sufficient. It is the hope of the petitioner that God will now remove both the pain and the embarrassment.
C. End where you began. Interestingly, this part of the prayer psalm ends with an ascription of glory to God: ÒLet thy face shine.Ó Here is the confidence that must accompany prayer, for if answers are to come, if hope is to be real, if salvation is to come, it will be so only because GodÕs face shines in our midst.
Conclusion: Help your hearers approach the Psalms as they approach the hymnal used in worship and let it become an instruction model, a guide to understanding something of the disciplines of the faith we share.
OUTLINE II
The Last Sacrifice
Hebrews 10:5-10
Introduction: Take time to preach a series on Hebrews and to preface each sermon with some introductory material. In all probability, Hebrews is not widely read in most churches. The language, the symbolism, the ideas are strange for most Christians who have been nourished largely on the Gospels. A review of the major ideas of the letter will assist your hearers in understanding todayÕs Scripture.
A. No sacrifices needed. It ought to be clear that this section is addressed to a conflict in the early church, centering on the question as to whether or not sacrifices must still be made. Check out Psalm 40 from which verses 5b, 6, 7 are taken and you will see that the writer of Hebrews has taken some liberty with the text in order to fit it in with the messianic understanding that it is. God does not need to be cajoled, paid off, begged. No sacrifices are needed.
B. One sacrifice ends all. What Jesus has done in his life and death so fully reveals the heart of God as a heart of grace that there is no further need for more show and tell. We need no more examples, no more sacrifices. The point is made once and for all. The deed is done. The message is clear. It will be helpful for you to read on past the lesson. The explanation comes clearer in verses 11ff.
Conclusion: In his assertions that Jesus is the High Priest that supersedes all priests, and in his claim that he is the sacrifice that makes all other sacrifices meaningless, the writer of Hebrews launches an assault against a return to a doctrine of works grounded in a priestly sacrificial system. By contrast, he makes a full claim for grace. That is what we have to offer to those who listen to us from week to week.
OUTLINE III
Listening to LukeÕs Social Gospel
Luke 1:39-55
Introduction: All too many of us listen to the Gospels with a sort of romanticized idea of what we read. For us these are gentle birth stories remembered by the friends and family of Jesus. A more realistic approach to what we have in todayÕs lesson is taken when we are reminded that Luke fashions his birth stories squarely on the style of the opening chapters of 1 Samuel. We should not preach on this text until we have taken time to compare these chapters and see what Luke is doing here.
It seems clear that Luke is fashioning a message that will reawaken hope in the hearts of his people who are under crushing persecution by the Roman emperor Domitian. Economically and politically, they have been eliminated from the possibility of living their daily lives with any success at all. In all likelihood this poem we call ÒThe MagnificatÓ was a hymn sung by the early church, a hymn sung with great emotion and hopefulness.
You may be put off a bit by this suggestion, but consider it anyway: Forget Mary. Keep the early church in mind. Now take a look.
Begin with praise. All hope rests in certainty of his power as Savior.
Low estate. That was where the early church was living. Now go on with the rest of it and see the hopes and dreams that are spoken here. They related not to a teen-age mother but to a church, an entire people whose only hope is that there is a God who can turn the tables and remedy their situation.
Conclusion: Now apply what you have discovered to our own situation. Note that this Scripture is still popular among those who are the disenfranchised, the exploited and those who cannot help themselves. In these lines we discover the hope of such as these in early age. Their confidence rests in knowing that, while in the current moment it seems they are lost, in the long run their God is the ultimate winner.
