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Sermon Illustrations for Lent 1 (2025)

Illustration
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
The people of Israel celebrated together in worship.  Sociologists have noted that the experience of sharing a legacy like common worship nurtures a sense of fidelity to oneself which in turn enhances character and is good for society (Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character, pp.145-148).  Worship also gives you a sense that there is something else going on in life in addition to what you accomplish.  It helps you to recognize that what we have is undeserved, by the grace of God.  Famed modern theologian Karl Barth explained things well.  He wrote:

There is a people like this, a people of Jesus Christ, elected and called by God.  But there are no men who have any right of claim to be this people.  They can be what they are, namely this particular people, only by free grace. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/3 Second Half, p.726)

Sharing a common heritage makes you a bit more humble.
Mark E.

* * *

Deuteronomy 26:1-11
When we talk to the church about money, people get really uncomfortable. Yet, the idea of offering a gift, bringing the first fruits of our labors, this is an important practice. While wandering the wilderness with nothing, God provided to the Israelites. When they had something to offer, they brought their gifts to the priest, in honor of the gifts God had given them. Lent isn’t usually stewardship time. And yet, the idea that all we have comes from the blessing of God can be proclaimed in every season — and should be.

Churches have buildings and staff and programs and ministries and missions. In our world, all those things cost money. Maybe we need to speak more freely about bringing our gifts to God — and not just at the time of offering in worship. No one should give more than they are able to give, but I have found that God provides. When I went to seminary, I pledged to tithe. People thought it was silly to do so. After all, I had the responsibility for tuition, books, fees, on top of my living expenses. Yet, I was always about to keep my promise. God always provided for me — just as for the Israelites. God is a God of abundance, not of scarcity. This Lent we may need to remember that.
Bonnie B.

* * *

Romans 10:8b-13
I read about a television program that was shown during the 1988 Winter Olympics. It featured blind skiers being trained for slalom skiing, impossible as that sounds. Paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on the flats how to make right and left turns. When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them shouting, "Left!" and "Right!" As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line. The website for The American Blind Skiing Foundation also discussed this practice.

In many ways, this is a good description of what having faith in Jesus is all about. Christians proclaim the “word of faith” with their mouths (vs. 8).  Faith in Jesus brings salvation.  Believing and trusting in Jesus is the essence of life for the Christian.  We have to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). It all comes down to this. Will you trust Jesus and surrender your life to him or will you continue to make your own decisions in the dark?
Bill T.

* * *

Romans 10:8b-13
I suppose every preacher has a missing sermon they’d like to find in order to reuse some insight from a previous era in their lives, because you can’t quite remember why you thought it was so good.

Mine begins a particular translation of Isaiah 28. I’ll start by quoting Isaiah 28:16 “…therefore thus says the Lord God, “See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: ‘One who trusts will not panic.’” Which, after having been filtered through the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures is quoted here in Romans 10:11, “The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”

As often happens when you dig a little deeper, you find this is a sleeper verse. Now according to the practice of the time it was assumed that when someone quoted a scripture verse that the ones hearing would have enough familiarity to know the larger context. The apostle is describing how the salvation offered through Jesus is available to all. The context of the Isaiah scripture which is quoted here is there are people who are deliberately misusing the word of God, so God’s word to them will be become meaningless to them.

The people have a choice of hearing the message that one who trusts in God will not panic, or tremble, or fear (I’m quoting from the NRSV, Common English Bible, and Jewish Publication Society translations here), while those who deliberately misuse God’s Word will just as deliberately discover that to them it has become nonsense and therefore useless.

Just sounds.

The Common English Bible tells us as a result they hear “’tsav letsav, tsav letsav, qav leqav, qav leqav,’ a little of this, a little of that.” And states in the notes “A Hebrew version of baby talk or gibberish.”

In Robert Alter’s they choose to hear “filth-pilth, filth-pilth, vomit-momit, vomit-momit, a little here, and little there.” In his notes, he points out the connection between the Hebrew words and the words for “filth or excrement,” and “vomit,” pointing out the words “have been turned into gibberish by these drunkards.”

In the JPS translation they hear, “Mutter upon mutter, murmer upon murmer, now here, now there.”  And so they will march, but they shall fall backward, and be injured and snared and captured.” The notes identify this as “…the drunkards’ reaction to Isaiah’s reproof.”

The prophet warns that if they insist on hearing baby talk, or drunken filth and gibberish, they’re doomed. But if they stand by the cornerstone that God has lain stone by stone, they can trust God’s word without fear.

So when Paul quotes this last bit, after a string of prophetic statements about trusting in God’s word, promises, and salvation, he reminds us that there is a universal salvation that comes from studying God’s word and using God’s word as intended. Don’t misuse it.

Paul knows the Isaiah passage well, and may expect that the person reading his letter aloud to the Roman house churches will also know the context, and explain it. That’s what rabbinic teaching was like. And certainly we can share that there’s a choice being offered between gibberish that leads to doom and God’s word that leads to safety and salvation.

This is where I got revisiting these scriptures now. But that missing sermon I mentioned at the outset? I remember being excited about this passage back in the 80s, and typing out my sermon notes into an article I sent to our denominational magazine without making a carbon copy (are you old enough to remember those?). I never heard back regarding that article, and had no copy to remember how clever I think I was. Who knows if it was all that clever?
Frank R.

* * *

Romans 10:8b-13
Are you ever ashamed of being a Christian? I am not. I can remember being shunned and ridiculed as a young woman going to church every Sunday, praying regularly, singing in the church choir. All that and more rained down on me. I also remember the surprise of my classmates when I became a pastor in my 50s. They thought I was a little crazy to go back to school, to study, to preach, to proclaim gospel truths — even though some of them believed those same truths.

God is my shield in all of this. God knows the motivation of my heart. God enters into my pastorate and into the work I do, and I don’t feel shame. I feel joy. Do I feel saved from all the earthly comments? No. But I know that my redeemer walks with me, that God pours blessings over me and that my words are strengthened through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. That is enough.
Bonnie B.

* * *

Luke 4:1-13
Shakespeare stated that the devil can quote scripture to suit his purpose. I’m sure the reference was to this passage. In the temptation of Jesus, the devil quotes Psalm 91:11-12.

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.


By the way, these were very popular verses in the early Christian church, for they were written on strips of papyrus to be worn as amulets, bracelets that had a prayer meant to protect someone from disease or injury.

To me this is a great example of the danger of proof-texting, of pulling a verse or two to assert a point without taking into account genre and context. A psalm is a song, a lyric that expresses strong emotions poetically. The poet is expressing a belief in God’s love and protection.

At one point this poet asserts, in the midst of plague, “A thousand may fall by your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” (Psalm 91:7) No doubt at the time people are dying. Not everyone who recited these verses would be saved from calamity, but the people would survive. It’s not always about us, nor should we focus our prayers solely on our safety.

If you think about it, every believer who recited or sang this psalm over thousands of years has died. God’s protection against the ravages of circumstance, disease, misfortune, and old age only went so far. So this song is not going to always come to pass in a literal way.

More to the point, for Jesus to take a flying leap off a building because of a misinterpretation of Psalm 91 would put God to the test — which is why Jesus replied by quoting  Deuteronomy 6:16 — “Do not put the Lord your God to the test…,” a verse that called to mind the grumbling and complaining by God’s people in the desert.

Psalm 91 addresses plague and pestilence among other catastrophes. Masks and vaccines did not provide perfect protection during the recent pandemic, but they provided more protection than going without. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost because some people refused to observe what protections were available. The Lord has given us smarts — and we’re called to take advantage of our perfectly good brains. Jesus used his smarts when he refused to jump.
Frank R.

* * *

Luke 4:1-13
Temptations are part of life.  French scholar and social analyst Alain de Botton provides a penetrating insight into the source of our temptations.  He claims that political power is the ultimate temptation, for the ruling ideas of every age are the ideas of the ruling class.  Those with political power get us to want/desire what they say is important.  It is their values that tempt the working classes (Status Anxiety, pp.209-213).  Martin Luther noted how Christ’s temptation in this lesson is a great comfort to us.  Over dinner one time he claimed that

Christ, who was tempted in our flesh, is the best Intercessor before God in all temptations. (What Luther Says, p.1347)

Because Jesus is God, it means that our God has experienced our temptations.  How great to live with an empathetic God who knows and has experienced the temptations we face.
Mark E.

* * *

Luke 4:1-13
A.W. Tozer once wrote,  “One compromise here, another there and soon enough the so-called Christian and the man in the world look the same.” Compromise and temptation often ride together with the goal of wrecking people’s lives. 

In the musical The Music Man, people laugh when Professor Harold Hill warns that the boy who buckles his knickers below the knees  is “on the road to degradation,” but despite the laughter there is a truth. There’s no harm, directly, in most of life’s little misdemeanors, but they grow. An ancient raid, “Sin begins as a spider’s web and becomes a ship’s rope.”

Jesus demonstrates how to live a life of faith. Just after his baptism, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness. It was a time of testing and temptation. Jesus fasted forty days and nights and was potentially vulnerable. Satan came at Jesus hard and did all he could do to get him to compromise. He tried to misuse scripture and appeal to Jesus’ pride.  Jesus, though, would not compromise. He did not give in  compromise with wrong only leads to trouble.  May we always recall these words, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” and stand strong against temptation and compromise.
Bill T.
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John Jamison
Object: This is a role play activity.

Note: You will need to select six children to play roles in this activity. If you have a smaller group, you might ask some older youth or even adults to play the parts of the two attackers and the man being attacked. I will give suggestions for how they can play their roles, but feel free to help your children make the story as fun and memorable as you can. I have used boys and girls in the various roles, but you can change those however you want to change them.

* * *

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Katy Stenta
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
George Reed
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
For July 13, 2025:
  • Samaritans Among Us by Dean Feldmeyer based on Acts 2:1-21. Samaritans were despised and dismissed by the original audience who first heard Jesus tell this parable. Who are the Samaritans in our lives and how does this parable apply today?
  • Second Thoughts: The Helpers by Katy Stenta based on Amos 7:7-17.

StoryShare

Frank Ramirez
I say, “You are gods,
    children of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, you shall die like mortals
    and fall like any prince….”
(vv. 6-7)

There have been any number of brother-sister acts that achieved a measure of fame. Take the Carpenters, famed for their singing, musicianship, and songwriting skills. Also worthy of mention are John and Joan Cusack who have acted together in over sixteen films.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Wayne Brouwer
An ancient legend tells of a remote mountain village where people used to send their senior citizens out into the woods to die. The villagers had an eye to the future; they felt that those beyond a certain age would only slow down progress or use up valuable resources to no economically profitable end. Those who reached a certain age weren’t “put out to pasture” or “put out of their misery”; they were simply put out of other people’s way.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82
The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is more than 2,700 feet high—over half a mile tall. It has 160 floors and is twice as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. It is home to the world’s fastest elevator which reaches speeds of forty miles an hour. The Burj Khalifa also hosts the world’s highest outdoor observation deck (on the 124th floor) and the world’s highest swimming pool (on the 76th floor).

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Mabel hummed a familiar hymn tune as she made her way to church. She always enjoyed her Sunday morning walk. It was one of the few times she felt safe to walk alone through the inner city, for she knew nobody would be up at 7.45 in the morning. Today was a particularly beautiful morning, with blue sky, warm sunshine, and the song of a few intrepid blackbirds who still inhabited the city.

SermonStudio

James Evans
Often, a distinction is made between the pastoral or priestly work of the church and the prophetic work. Pastoral care has to do with the care of souls, the offering of comfort in times of loss. The priestly character of pastoral work seeks to mediate the presence of God to those who are hurting.

Schuyler Rhodes
Trusting is never easy. Even in the best of relationships, people step into trust slowly. There is wariness -- questioning -- worry. What happens if trust is betrayed? What if this doesn't work? Sometimes it's like a dance. We step in and out of trust, moving to the rhythms of fear. For many, the routine is achingly familiar. Indeed, it's not easy to trust.
John Jamison
It was back in the days when the railroad was the most common mode of transportation. There were automobiles, and some airplanes, but the steam locomotive was the way most folks traveled and the way that most of the goods were distributed around the country. After dinner, people sat in the drawing room and listened to the radio programs, fading in and out from some faraway location, over the magical broadcasting signal.
Robert Leslie Holmes
Not many tourists to Washington, D.C., look for the Federal Bureau of Standards offices. It's the Capitol and the White House, the Supreme Court Building or the Smithsonian most of us want to see when we go there. Yet, at the Bureau of Standards offices something very important is stored, something that impacts your life and mine every single day. Have you ever bought the materials for a new project? When you did, most likely you purchased so many inches or feet or yards. Or, you stopped to buy gasoline for your car and purchased it at a certain price per gallon.
David O. Bales
I have the two best jobs in the world. I teach social studies at Leon Griffith Junior High School (a fairly small junior high) and I am Sunday School Superintendent at Calvary Presbyterian Church (an enormous church school). Each job is my vocation. I tell people that at school they'll find my room where the halls cross. At church they can look but probably won't find me. I'll be in someone's classroom. At each job I practice what I most deeply believe: it's how you see the world that determines how you respond to it. I'll give you an example, actually, two examples.
Erskine White
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
(Stuart K. Hine)

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