Behold The Man Who Taught By The Sea
Sermon
Behold The Man
Sermons And Object Lessons For Lent And Easter
It was the end of the school year and a first grade teacher was saying good-bye to her students. One little boy said to her, ''Teacher, I sure do like you. I'd like to stay in the first grade forever, but I've been promoted. Boy, I wish you knew enough to teach me in the second grade.''1
So many people who are successful are able to look back at a person who first turned on a light inside the mind, who quickened the thinking, who first stirred the desire to learn. Behind every successful person there is the teacher. Most of us can look back across the years and remember such a person.
I can remember Sunday school teachers in my childhood years. I remember the songs we sang, the lady who played the piano and was so happy about it, the cookies they gave us, the warm feeling they created which caused me to think of Sunday school as a wonderful place to be.
I remember a teacher in college who first introduced me to Paul Tillich and Karl Barth, and opened up a world of new insight and understanding.
I remember a teacher in seminary who convinced me I could learn how to be the best possible preacher.
I remember the many teachers I met through their books as I sat on the porch of a country parsonage, which was my only office, on warm summer mornings and had my mind inspired.
Most of us can remember a person who helped us understand what it means to be taught. But, we also know that not every one has the gift of teaching.
Yogi Berra was a great ballplayer with the Yankees. He was the Most Valuable Player in the American League three times. But he was not as successful as a manager. One of his players once said, ''Yogi knows more about baseball than all of the team put together. It's too bad he doesn't know how to tell us about it.''2 Yogi has become famous for unclear non-communication. He is not a teacher.
Elton Trueblood was a well-known Christian teacher, preacher, and writer. After he retired he published a book of essays under the title, The Teacher. The title, he said, described his vocation for half a century.3
Jesus was the master teacher. In a world which can so easily lose its way and in a time of such moral confusion -- behold the Man who taught by the sea.
William Barclay points out that in the New Testament gospels we find several titles for Jesus. He is called Rabbi, Teacher, and Master more than 50 times. All three titles really mean ''Teacher.''4
Jesus was the greatest teacher. No one ever spoke the way he did. He understood clearly the motives, the hopes, the dreams, the fears and the frustrations of those to whom he spoke.
Most of his teaching ministry took place up in Galilee, centered around the city of Capernaum where he made his headquarters. We know that in all those towns he visited he taught in the synagogues. But there were some places where the crowds were so great that he could only address them in the open air. One such occasion is reported to us in what we call the Sermon on the Mount.
Here in our lesson for today in Mark, chapter 4, we find Jesus teaching by the sea. So many people came to hear him that he had to get in a boat and speak to them from the water's edge. In this passage we find some key elements about the teaching of Jesus.
Now, the whole season of Lent, moving toward Easter, reminds us that were it not for the death and resurrection of Jesus we would know nothing of his teaching. Yet because of his death and resurrection his teaching has authority and is the only way to live. He is the ultimate teacher and his words are the words of life. Let us examine some key elements about his teaching.
*aaa*aaa*
His teaching attracted the crowds. That is the first thing which strikes us about the teaching of Jesus. Mark tells us here in this passage that ''a great multitude was gathered to him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.'' So many people came to hear him, thousands of them, that he was being pushed by them on the edge of the lake. To keep from being pushed in the water, he got in the boat and sat there speaking to that great multitude of people.
Why did that happen? What caused those people to come there? Why was it that everywhere he went people wanted to hear him?
It was not that this was something new, the latest form of entertainment, a way to pass the time, or some new diversion. There were many traveling preachers, magicians and exorcists who traveled up and down the highways and byways. Jesus was not just another in a long line of wise counselors. No, there was something else different about him.
One thing was that magnetic personality which drew other people to him. He looked at people the way no one ever had. He communicated his concern for them. They wanted to be close to him.
Another thing was the fact that there was something so appealing in what he said. He spoke words of hope, comfort, rebuke, and encouragement, words of life. They are still words of life for us today. We still need to hear the things he said. He still speaks clearly to us.
A farmer went into town one night to hear a political candidate for a state office. When the farmer returned home his wife asked him what the man had talked about. The farmer scratched his head and replied, ''He didn't say.''
It was never that way with Jesus. The message of Jesus is clear. Those words still speak to us. We are drawn to them. We know that as he speaks of God, faith, courage, joy and life he is speaking to us where we live. And we know we need his words in order to live.
As Simon Peter confessed, ''Lord, to whom shall we go? Only you have the words of life.''
In 1942 W. A. Smart, a theology professor at Emory University, published The Contemporary Christ. At the end of that book he wrote about how we think of Christ as belonging to first century Palestine. But then we discover him walking with us and we hear what he says. We hear him speak the homely things of his long-ago world and we know these are ''the things by which our world must live if it would escape the abyss.''5 His words still draw us to him.
*aaa*aaa*
His teaching contained a call. That is a second striking thing about the teaching of Jesus. Mark states, ''Then he taught them many things by parables.'' The first parable Mark relates is what we call the parable of the soil. It is a simple story about a farmer sowing seed. Jesus pictures him walking through a field, and as he sows the seed some of it falls by the way and the birds eat it. Some of it falls among the rocks and cannot take hold. Some of it falls among the thorns which choke the sprouts. But some seeds fall into good soil and they produce a fine crop.
A man from the city decided he wanted to change his way of living and become a chicken farmer. So he bought an old run-down farm, moved out there, cleaned it up, bought 100 baby chicks and planted them head down. But nothing happened. Then, he bought 100 more and planted them head up, feet down. Nothing happened. He called the county agent, who came out to see him. He explained the problem to the county agent. After thinking a minute the county agent asked, ''Have you had your soil tested?''
Jesus was saying in this parable that people who hear what he says will be like these kinds of soil. His words will take root in the lives of some and it will bear fruit in the Kingdom of God.
Most of the teaching of Jesus was in the form of these parables.
George Buttrick, the great Presbyterian preacher, wrote a book about the parables of Jesus. He pointed out that these parables were plain stories spoken to common people. They were stories about life. They did not have some great hidden meaning.6
C. H. Dodd, a New Testament scholar, said of these parables, ''They are the natural expression of a mind that sees truth in concrete pictures rather than conceives it in abstractions.''7
So Jesus was a storyteller. He chose to speak to people with these little stories about the common, everyday things they understood. In fact at one point the gospels say, ''From then on he spoke to them only in parables.''
These parables had a purpose. They were meant to call people into the Kingdom of God. In so many places we hear Jesus saying, ''The Kingdom of God is like ....'' Then he draws a picture with words.
Now not all of the things Jesus said were original. He borrowed some things he said. However, many of his parables were original stories he took from life.
These stories Jesus told are the greatest stories ever told. Who could ever forget the parables of the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Mustard Seed, the Pearl of Great Price? No such stories were ever told by anyone before or since.
These stories contained a call to citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Jesus called people to live in God's Kingdom, and to allow the Kingdom of God to live in them. He called them to look around and see it everywhere, and to anticipate its coming. He called them to realize the Kingdom's great power, and to submit their lives to the rule of God.
This is a call we must continue to heed. We are still called to come live in the Kingdom of God, and to allow the Kingdom of God to live in us.
In a children's Sunday school class all the children were singing, ''Praise him, Praise him, All ye little children.'' They sang through that song, which also contains the verses, ''Love him, Love him'' and ''Serve him, Serve him!'' At that point they heard someone announce that refreshments were being served in the kitchen. They started to leave their room, but one little boy said, ''We forgot to crown him!'' They all came back in the room and finished the song, ''Crown him, Crown him, All ye little children.''8 We are still called today to crown him King and become citizens of his Kingdom.
*aaa*aaa*
His teaching offered a challenge. That is the third striking thing about his teaching. Mark tells us that at this point, ''He said to them, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear!' '' Jesus was saying, ''Listen! Have ears that will listen. And then, do something about this. Let what I say take root in your life.''
He was telling those people who came to hear him that they would have to decide which kind of soil they would be like. They would have to let his words live in them.
A lady was talking with her doctor. He asked how things were going, and if she had any problems. She said, ''Nothing medical. But, you know I live alone and sometimes I hear people running through my house at night.'' He said, ''Let me see. You are hearing your own heartbeat. You have your hearing aid in backward.''
A man went in a restaurant and saw a sign which said, ''We will serve anything you order.'' He thought about that and
decided to see. He said to the waiter, ''I'll have an elephant ear sandwich.'' The waiter replied, ''Coming right up.'' In a minute the waiter came back and told him he could not serve him that. The man said, ''That's what I thought!'' The waiter answered, ''Oh, we have the elephant ears. We're just out of that big ole bread!''
Here is the challenge for us today -- using the ears we have and catching the ear of our society. The Christian gospel has a difficult time getting through the clamor of today. Most people are being bombarded by words and information. The age of communication makes communicating some things quite difficult. But, those who have ears to hear -- listen!
Would you listen to what Jesus has to say to us today? Would you receive what he says in the sense that you will let it filter through and speak to your heart and mind, your way of thinking, your way of living, your values and ideals, your way of making decisions, who you are and what you have? Would you become good soil that is fertile so a tiny seed of what he says can take root in your life, spring up and bear much fruit in the Kingdom of God?
A college student named Fred Smith wrote a paper on developing an overnight parcel delivery system. His professor did not like the idea and gave him a ''C'' on the paper. But that idea kept growing in Fred Smith's mind. He transformed the idea into a $4 billion business which he called ''Federal Express.''
Some wonderful things happen when we get in our thinking the teaching of Jesus and the things he said about the Kingdom of God. Somebody else begins to see that Kingdom living in us.
Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald told the story about the woman who saw a little boy who had no shoes. It was a cold winter day, and her heart went out to him. She bought him some shoes to wear. At first the boy went running off without saying thank you. She was disappointed about that, but suddenly he was back. He said, ''Lady, I forgot to thank you for my shoes, and I want to ask you a question. Are you God's wife?'' She
was surprised by that, but managed to say, ''No, I'm just one of his children.'' To that the boy replied, ''Well, I knew you were kin to him in some way.''9
Marvelous things happen when we hear what Jesus is saying. I know all of you have ears. Are you listening?
1. Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Ask Him Anything, Word, Inc., Waco, Texas, 1981, p. 94.
2. Bruce Larson, Setting Men Free, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1967, p. 53.
3. D. Elton Trueblood, The Teacher, Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1980, p. 9.
4. William Barclay, The Mind of Jesus, Harper & Row Publishers, New York and Evanston, 1960, p. 89.
5. W. A. Smart, The Contemporary Christ, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, New York-Nashville, 1942, p. 163.
6. George Buttrick, The Parables of Jesus, Harper & Row Publishers, New York and London, 1928, p. xxv.
7. C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1961, p. 5.
8. John Thomas Randolph, ''What You Need Is What You See,'' Emphasis, CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio, January-February, 1993, p. 67.
9. Ernest A. Fitzgerald, Diamonds Everywhere, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1983, p. 52.
Lent 3
Pastoral Prayer
Our Father, we gather today to worship and serve thee and to give ourselves to thee. Accept our thanksgiving and speak to us in this time together.
We thank thee, gracious God, for all thy rich blessings upon us. For thy goodness we see at work in our lives, we thank thee. For thy hand of mercy and graciousness and bounty, we thank thee, O God.
We thank thee for the gift of thy Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. During this season of Lent we follow him along those roads which led him toward Jerusalem and the cross. Prepare our hearts and minds to suffer with him that we may know the true joy of resurrection.
We thank thee, O God, for this church and for the call to serve thy Kingdom here. We are thankful for all who give themselves in the mission and ministry of this church. Bless us as we teach and learn here the ways of thy Kingdom.
Forgive our sins, merciful God. Give all of us faith and hope and love. Help us to be renewed in our faith in these days. May we continue to hear the voice of Christ calling us onward, outward, and upward.
Heal our sick, and keep thy hands upon them. Be with those who are alone and afraid. Comfort all who mourn.
Be with suffering people the world over. Use us in the answering of prayers for hurting people everywhere.
We make this prayer in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lent 3
Children's Message
''Everybody Loves A Story''
Object: a children's book
Good morning, boys and girls. Welcome to our story time. I am so glad to see each of you here today. Now, today is the Third Sunday in Lent. As we think about Jesus on the way to Jerusalem I want us today to look at Jesus and the way he taught people. Jesus was a teacher. People called him a ''Rabbi.'' He called his closest followers ''Disciples.'' That word means 'students.'' So, they were trying to learn his way. He taught about God, God's Kingdom or rule in our lives, faith, love, and service to God. He had a special way of teaching.
Look at this book. Everybody read the title together, The Cat In The Hat. That's right. This is a book most all of us love. All of us love stories, don't we? Everybody loves a story. Young people and old people, little people and big people, all people love a good story. That is why we read books and watch television and go to movies.
Jesus told a special kind of story called a ''parable.'' This was a story with a special meaning about God and God's kingdom. I want you to listen closely to the scripture lesson today. There is a story in it Jesus told. The point of that story is that we must let the Good News we hear in the things Jesus said take root in our lives and live and grow. So, don't just listen and love the story. Let the truth of Jesus' words live in you.
May we pray. O God, help us to hear the stories of Jesus and open our hearts to him. Amen.
Lent 3
Order Of Worship
Prelude
Chiming Of The Hour
Introit
The Hymn Of Praise ''To God Be The Glory''
Affirmation Of FaithaaaaaaThe Apostles' Creed
Invocation
Moments Of Fellowship
Pastoral Prayer And The Lord's Prayer
The Children's Message ''Everybody Loves A Story''
The Anthem ''The Earth Is The Lord's''
The Prayer Of Dedication
The Offertory
The Doxology
The Hymn Of Preparation ''Near To The Heart Of God''
Scripture Lesson Mark 4:1-9
Sermon ''Behold The Man Who Taught By The Sea''
Invitation To Christian Discipleship
Hymn Of Invitation ''Jesus Is All The World To Me''
Benediction
The Choral Response
Postlude
Lent 3
Discussion Questions
1. Have someone read the scripture lesson again: Mark 4:1-9.
2. Share with the group the significance of a teacher who influenced you. What difference did this make in your life?
3. What is different about the teaching of Jesus?
4. What do the teachings of Jesus mean to us today?
5. What is there about Jesus' teaching that speaks to us today?
6. How can we best live out the meaning of the teaching of Jesus?
7. What does every teacher, including Jesus, desire that his or her students do?
Close with a time of prayer, with each person praying for the ability to be students of Jesus who live his way and possibly teach his way.
So many people who are successful are able to look back at a person who first turned on a light inside the mind, who quickened the thinking, who first stirred the desire to learn. Behind every successful person there is the teacher. Most of us can look back across the years and remember such a person.
I can remember Sunday school teachers in my childhood years. I remember the songs we sang, the lady who played the piano and was so happy about it, the cookies they gave us, the warm feeling they created which caused me to think of Sunday school as a wonderful place to be.
I remember a teacher in college who first introduced me to Paul Tillich and Karl Barth, and opened up a world of new insight and understanding.
I remember a teacher in seminary who convinced me I could learn how to be the best possible preacher.
I remember the many teachers I met through their books as I sat on the porch of a country parsonage, which was my only office, on warm summer mornings and had my mind inspired.
Most of us can remember a person who helped us understand what it means to be taught. But, we also know that not every one has the gift of teaching.
Yogi Berra was a great ballplayer with the Yankees. He was the Most Valuable Player in the American League three times. But he was not as successful as a manager. One of his players once said, ''Yogi knows more about baseball than all of the team put together. It's too bad he doesn't know how to tell us about it.''2 Yogi has become famous for unclear non-communication. He is not a teacher.
Elton Trueblood was a well-known Christian teacher, preacher, and writer. After he retired he published a book of essays under the title, The Teacher. The title, he said, described his vocation for half a century.3
Jesus was the master teacher. In a world which can so easily lose its way and in a time of such moral confusion -- behold the Man who taught by the sea.
William Barclay points out that in the New Testament gospels we find several titles for Jesus. He is called Rabbi, Teacher, and Master more than 50 times. All three titles really mean ''Teacher.''4
Jesus was the greatest teacher. No one ever spoke the way he did. He understood clearly the motives, the hopes, the dreams, the fears and the frustrations of those to whom he spoke.
Most of his teaching ministry took place up in Galilee, centered around the city of Capernaum where he made his headquarters. We know that in all those towns he visited he taught in the synagogues. But there were some places where the crowds were so great that he could only address them in the open air. One such occasion is reported to us in what we call the Sermon on the Mount.
Here in our lesson for today in Mark, chapter 4, we find Jesus teaching by the sea. So many people came to hear him that he had to get in a boat and speak to them from the water's edge. In this passage we find some key elements about the teaching of Jesus.
Now, the whole season of Lent, moving toward Easter, reminds us that were it not for the death and resurrection of Jesus we would know nothing of his teaching. Yet because of his death and resurrection his teaching has authority and is the only way to live. He is the ultimate teacher and his words are the words of life. Let us examine some key elements about his teaching.
*aaa*aaa*
His teaching attracted the crowds. That is the first thing which strikes us about the teaching of Jesus. Mark tells us here in this passage that ''a great multitude was gathered to him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.'' So many people came to hear him, thousands of them, that he was being pushed by them on the edge of the lake. To keep from being pushed in the water, he got in the boat and sat there speaking to that great multitude of people.
Why did that happen? What caused those people to come there? Why was it that everywhere he went people wanted to hear him?
It was not that this was something new, the latest form of entertainment, a way to pass the time, or some new diversion. There were many traveling preachers, magicians and exorcists who traveled up and down the highways and byways. Jesus was not just another in a long line of wise counselors. No, there was something else different about him.
One thing was that magnetic personality which drew other people to him. He looked at people the way no one ever had. He communicated his concern for them. They wanted to be close to him.
Another thing was the fact that there was something so appealing in what he said. He spoke words of hope, comfort, rebuke, and encouragement, words of life. They are still words of life for us today. We still need to hear the things he said. He still speaks clearly to us.
A farmer went into town one night to hear a political candidate for a state office. When the farmer returned home his wife asked him what the man had talked about. The farmer scratched his head and replied, ''He didn't say.''
It was never that way with Jesus. The message of Jesus is clear. Those words still speak to us. We are drawn to them. We know that as he speaks of God, faith, courage, joy and life he is speaking to us where we live. And we know we need his words in order to live.
As Simon Peter confessed, ''Lord, to whom shall we go? Only you have the words of life.''
In 1942 W. A. Smart, a theology professor at Emory University, published The Contemporary Christ. At the end of that book he wrote about how we think of Christ as belonging to first century Palestine. But then we discover him walking with us and we hear what he says. We hear him speak the homely things of his long-ago world and we know these are ''the things by which our world must live if it would escape the abyss.''5 His words still draw us to him.
*aaa*aaa*
His teaching contained a call. That is a second striking thing about the teaching of Jesus. Mark states, ''Then he taught them many things by parables.'' The first parable Mark relates is what we call the parable of the soil. It is a simple story about a farmer sowing seed. Jesus pictures him walking through a field, and as he sows the seed some of it falls by the way and the birds eat it. Some of it falls among the rocks and cannot take hold. Some of it falls among the thorns which choke the sprouts. But some seeds fall into good soil and they produce a fine crop.
A man from the city decided he wanted to change his way of living and become a chicken farmer. So he bought an old run-down farm, moved out there, cleaned it up, bought 100 baby chicks and planted them head down. But nothing happened. Then, he bought 100 more and planted them head up, feet down. Nothing happened. He called the county agent, who came out to see him. He explained the problem to the county agent. After thinking a minute the county agent asked, ''Have you had your soil tested?''
Jesus was saying in this parable that people who hear what he says will be like these kinds of soil. His words will take root in the lives of some and it will bear fruit in the Kingdom of God.
Most of the teaching of Jesus was in the form of these parables.
George Buttrick, the great Presbyterian preacher, wrote a book about the parables of Jesus. He pointed out that these parables were plain stories spoken to common people. They were stories about life. They did not have some great hidden meaning.6
C. H. Dodd, a New Testament scholar, said of these parables, ''They are the natural expression of a mind that sees truth in concrete pictures rather than conceives it in abstractions.''7
So Jesus was a storyteller. He chose to speak to people with these little stories about the common, everyday things they understood. In fact at one point the gospels say, ''From then on he spoke to them only in parables.''
These parables had a purpose. They were meant to call people into the Kingdom of God. In so many places we hear Jesus saying, ''The Kingdom of God is like ....'' Then he draws a picture with words.
Now not all of the things Jesus said were original. He borrowed some things he said. However, many of his parables were original stories he took from life.
These stories Jesus told are the greatest stories ever told. Who could ever forget the parables of the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Mustard Seed, the Pearl of Great Price? No such stories were ever told by anyone before or since.
These stories contained a call to citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Jesus called people to live in God's Kingdom, and to allow the Kingdom of God to live in them. He called them to look around and see it everywhere, and to anticipate its coming. He called them to realize the Kingdom's great power, and to submit their lives to the rule of God.
This is a call we must continue to heed. We are still called to come live in the Kingdom of God, and to allow the Kingdom of God to live in us.
In a children's Sunday school class all the children were singing, ''Praise him, Praise him, All ye little children.'' They sang through that song, which also contains the verses, ''Love him, Love him'' and ''Serve him, Serve him!'' At that point they heard someone announce that refreshments were being served in the kitchen. They started to leave their room, but one little boy said, ''We forgot to crown him!'' They all came back in the room and finished the song, ''Crown him, Crown him, All ye little children.''8 We are still called today to crown him King and become citizens of his Kingdom.
*aaa*aaa*
His teaching offered a challenge. That is the third striking thing about his teaching. Mark tells us that at this point, ''He said to them, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear!' '' Jesus was saying, ''Listen! Have ears that will listen. And then, do something about this. Let what I say take root in your life.''
He was telling those people who came to hear him that they would have to decide which kind of soil they would be like. They would have to let his words live in them.
A lady was talking with her doctor. He asked how things were going, and if she had any problems. She said, ''Nothing medical. But, you know I live alone and sometimes I hear people running through my house at night.'' He said, ''Let me see. You are hearing your own heartbeat. You have your hearing aid in backward.''
A man went in a restaurant and saw a sign which said, ''We will serve anything you order.'' He thought about that and
decided to see. He said to the waiter, ''I'll have an elephant ear sandwich.'' The waiter replied, ''Coming right up.'' In a minute the waiter came back and told him he could not serve him that. The man said, ''That's what I thought!'' The waiter answered, ''Oh, we have the elephant ears. We're just out of that big ole bread!''
Here is the challenge for us today -- using the ears we have and catching the ear of our society. The Christian gospel has a difficult time getting through the clamor of today. Most people are being bombarded by words and information. The age of communication makes communicating some things quite difficult. But, those who have ears to hear -- listen!
Would you listen to what Jesus has to say to us today? Would you receive what he says in the sense that you will let it filter through and speak to your heart and mind, your way of thinking, your way of living, your values and ideals, your way of making decisions, who you are and what you have? Would you become good soil that is fertile so a tiny seed of what he says can take root in your life, spring up and bear much fruit in the Kingdom of God?
A college student named Fred Smith wrote a paper on developing an overnight parcel delivery system. His professor did not like the idea and gave him a ''C'' on the paper. But that idea kept growing in Fred Smith's mind. He transformed the idea into a $4 billion business which he called ''Federal Express.''
Some wonderful things happen when we get in our thinking the teaching of Jesus and the things he said about the Kingdom of God. Somebody else begins to see that Kingdom living in us.
Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald told the story about the woman who saw a little boy who had no shoes. It was a cold winter day, and her heart went out to him. She bought him some shoes to wear. At first the boy went running off without saying thank you. She was disappointed about that, but suddenly he was back. He said, ''Lady, I forgot to thank you for my shoes, and I want to ask you a question. Are you God's wife?'' She
was surprised by that, but managed to say, ''No, I'm just one of his children.'' To that the boy replied, ''Well, I knew you were kin to him in some way.''9
Marvelous things happen when we hear what Jesus is saying. I know all of you have ears. Are you listening?
1. Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Ask Him Anything, Word, Inc., Waco, Texas, 1981, p. 94.
2. Bruce Larson, Setting Men Free, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1967, p. 53.
3. D. Elton Trueblood, The Teacher, Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1980, p. 9.
4. William Barclay, The Mind of Jesus, Harper & Row Publishers, New York and Evanston, 1960, p. 89.
5. W. A. Smart, The Contemporary Christ, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, New York-Nashville, 1942, p. 163.
6. George Buttrick, The Parables of Jesus, Harper & Row Publishers, New York and London, 1928, p. xxv.
7. C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1961, p. 5.
8. John Thomas Randolph, ''What You Need Is What You See,'' Emphasis, CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio, January-February, 1993, p. 67.
9. Ernest A. Fitzgerald, Diamonds Everywhere, Abingdon Press, Nashville, 1983, p. 52.
Lent 3
Pastoral Prayer
Our Father, we gather today to worship and serve thee and to give ourselves to thee. Accept our thanksgiving and speak to us in this time together.
We thank thee, gracious God, for all thy rich blessings upon us. For thy goodness we see at work in our lives, we thank thee. For thy hand of mercy and graciousness and bounty, we thank thee, O God.
We thank thee for the gift of thy Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. During this season of Lent we follow him along those roads which led him toward Jerusalem and the cross. Prepare our hearts and minds to suffer with him that we may know the true joy of resurrection.
We thank thee, O God, for this church and for the call to serve thy Kingdom here. We are thankful for all who give themselves in the mission and ministry of this church. Bless us as we teach and learn here the ways of thy Kingdom.
Forgive our sins, merciful God. Give all of us faith and hope and love. Help us to be renewed in our faith in these days. May we continue to hear the voice of Christ calling us onward, outward, and upward.
Heal our sick, and keep thy hands upon them. Be with those who are alone and afraid. Comfort all who mourn.
Be with suffering people the world over. Use us in the answering of prayers for hurting people everywhere.
We make this prayer in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lent 3
Children's Message
''Everybody Loves A Story''
Object: a children's book
Good morning, boys and girls. Welcome to our story time. I am so glad to see each of you here today. Now, today is the Third Sunday in Lent. As we think about Jesus on the way to Jerusalem I want us today to look at Jesus and the way he taught people. Jesus was a teacher. People called him a ''Rabbi.'' He called his closest followers ''Disciples.'' That word means 'students.'' So, they were trying to learn his way. He taught about God, God's Kingdom or rule in our lives, faith, love, and service to God. He had a special way of teaching.
Look at this book. Everybody read the title together, The Cat In The Hat. That's right. This is a book most all of us love. All of us love stories, don't we? Everybody loves a story. Young people and old people, little people and big people, all people love a good story. That is why we read books and watch television and go to movies.
Jesus told a special kind of story called a ''parable.'' This was a story with a special meaning about God and God's kingdom. I want you to listen closely to the scripture lesson today. There is a story in it Jesus told. The point of that story is that we must let the Good News we hear in the things Jesus said take root in our lives and live and grow. So, don't just listen and love the story. Let the truth of Jesus' words live in you.
May we pray. O God, help us to hear the stories of Jesus and open our hearts to him. Amen.
Lent 3
Order Of Worship
Prelude
Chiming Of The Hour
Introit
The Hymn Of Praise ''To God Be The Glory''
Affirmation Of FaithaaaaaaThe Apostles' Creed
Invocation
Moments Of Fellowship
Pastoral Prayer And The Lord's Prayer
The Children's Message ''Everybody Loves A Story''
The Anthem ''The Earth Is The Lord's''
The Prayer Of Dedication
The Offertory
The Doxology
The Hymn Of Preparation ''Near To The Heart Of God''
Scripture Lesson Mark 4:1-9
Sermon ''Behold The Man Who Taught By The Sea''
Invitation To Christian Discipleship
Hymn Of Invitation ''Jesus Is All The World To Me''
Benediction
The Choral Response
Postlude
Lent 3
Discussion Questions
1. Have someone read the scripture lesson again: Mark 4:1-9.
2. Share with the group the significance of a teacher who influenced you. What difference did this make in your life?
3. What is different about the teaching of Jesus?
4. What do the teachings of Jesus mean to us today?
5. What is there about Jesus' teaching that speaks to us today?
6. How can we best live out the meaning of the teaching of Jesus?
7. What does every teacher, including Jesus, desire that his or her students do?
Close with a time of prayer, with each person praying for the ability to be students of Jesus who live his way and possibly teach his way.
