Easter 5
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IX, Cycle B
Object:
Theme of the Day
What God's love does to us.
Collect of the Day
Petitions are offered to nourish our lives in the resurrection that we might bear the fruit of love and know the fullness of God's joy. Same emphases as the Easter 4 prayer, though with a clearer stress on grace.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 22:25-31
* See Good Friday Psalm.
Sermon Text and Title
"Get God's Love Straight: It's for All"
Acts 8:26-40
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the need to read and study the Bible for oneself, while offering insight into the inclusivity of Christian faith.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The story of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch by Philip (probably not the disciple, but one of the seven deacons noted in 6:5).
* Philip is summoned from Jerusalem by an angel to go south on a wilderness road (v. 26). He meets an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official (the chief financial officer) of the Ethiopian queen (v. 27). (Ethiopian in this context is less an identification of his residence than the fact that he was black.) It was not uncommon in the ancient world for men serving female heads of state to be castrated. He had been in Jerusalem worshiping and was returning home. (Presumably he was one of the Gentile "God-fearers," interested in the Jewish faith, but might have been a member of the Falasha tribe in Ethiopia -- a tribe of Black Jews.) But Jews or proselytes were not to be castrated, as per Deuteronomy 23:1. However (see Isaiah 56:3-5), seated in his chariot he had been reading Isaiah (vv. 32-33).
* The Spirit directs Philip to the chariot (v. 29). Hearing the Ethiopian reading, he asks him if he understood the prophet (v. 30). The eunuch invites Philip's interpretation (v. 31).
* The Ethiopian had been reading the Fourth Servant Song in Isaiah 53:7b-8. He asks Philip to whom the prophet speaking referred when speaking of the sheep led to slaughter who had been denied justice (vv. 33-34). Philip responds by proclaiming Jesus (v. 35).
* Hearing the proclamation, the Ethiopian asks for baptism and receives it (vv. 36, 38). Many ancient manuscripts omit verse 37 and its reference to the Ethiopian's confession of Christ as Son of God.
* After the baptism, Philip is snatched away by the Holy Spirit (v. 39). He finds himself in Azotus (formerly known as Ashdod in the Old Testament era, a coastal town west of Jerusalem) and while passing through the region proclaimed the good news in all the towns until reaching the Palestinian seaport of Caesarea (v. 40).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* A text testifying to the importance of careful Bible study and social ethics (the black presence in the Bible).
* John Calvin, commenting on the Ethiopian asking Philip for help in interpreting scripture writes: "But God will not have us to despise those helps which He offereth unto us…" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/2, p. 355).
* Karl Barth comments on this text as illustrating the need for interpretation of scripture. He wrote:
As the word of God it [scripture] needs no explanation, of course, since as such it is clear in itself... But this word in scripture assumes the form of a human word. Human words need interpretation because as such they are ambiguous.
(Church Dogmatics, Vol. I/2, pp. 712f)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* A 2000 Gallup poll revealed that 4 in 10 Americans never read the Bible. This was a higher percentage than the less than 3 in 10 who were not Bible readers twenty years ago. Based on this trend, should we not assume that the percentage of those who never consider the Bible has risen in the last decade?
* The words of Martin Luther seem to confirm recent scientific findings. He claimed that "Therefore he who is imbued with the knowledge that God is love is happy" (Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 300). Neurobiological research indicates that belief in a loving God impacts the brain in such a way that it results in a positive sense of self and behavior leading to health and happiness (Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman, How God Changes Your Brain).
* In this text we have a good example of the black presence in the Bible.
5. Gimmick
People just don't read the Bible like they did in the old days. Cite poll statistics above in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Note how hard it is to get adults to Sunday school and how relatively few members of your congregation are involved in Bible study groups.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Today's lesson is about Bible study and Bible reading. It also reminds us what we miss if we are not reading the Bible regularly and in community.
* We have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch's conversion by the apostle Philip. Use the second bullet point in Exegesis.
* The Ethiopian God-fearer was reading the Bible. But just like most of us experience the Bible, it can be a confusing book. Seems like this Ethiopian gentleman had been reading Isaiah 53:7b-8 with its reference to the Suffering Servant and was not quite getting it. But Philip helped him see it was really about Jesus! Sometimes you need other people to help you see things in the Bible, to see things about faith that you can't see yourself.
* Consider the second and third bullet points in Theological Insights. There's no two ways about it. Reading the Bible more than once helps you get something out of it. Human words are ambiguous and sometimes are hard to understand. That's why it helps to have some friends along with you to interpret them. There's a lot you might overlook in the Bible if you try to do it without others, without interpretive tools. Today's First Lesson makes that apparent.
* Keep in mind who the story is about. Philip was probably not the Jewish disciple of that name, but a Gentile appointed as a deacon in order to provide leadership roles to Gentile believers, and a Gentile Ethiopian. There is a lesson here. The Gentiles (who had largely been disenfranchised, second-class members of the early church [allude to the story in Acts 6]) had been given some leadership positions. Appoint leadership from the underclass, from the minorities in your church. And look what happened. This Gentile reached out to another Gentile -- to the Ethiopian eunuch. Sometimes people from the oppressed classes can do the most effective ministry with people from a similar situation in life. (If the preacher's congregation is considering an outreach ministry to impoverished/disenfranchised groups, this is an important point to stress.)
* But there is another related lesson here, one which refines the last point. We need to see this to get God's love straight. The story of the Ethiopian eunuch reminds us that God's love is for all!
* One of the important issues raised in the African-American church is that we need to appreciate God's love for all, including for people of African descent. It is common in these circles to speak of a black presence in the Bible. Do we not see that here in the story of this Ethiopian's conversion? That may come as a surprise to many white Americans. Human nature being what it is, it is common to picture biblical characters looking like us, looking white in the case of white Christians, even if we know that the characters in the Bible (including Jesus) are mostly Jews. (And remember, Jews of the last centuries before Christ did not look like European Jews most of us know. They too were of a darker complexion, like today's Arabs!)
* But now Philip, though a Gentile, was not black like the Ethiopian who was converted in our story. And that is the beautiful, profound point in our story. It is a reminder that God's love, that the work of Jesus, is not just for the Jews, not just for Gentiles in Israel (like Philip), it is for the people of Africa and even for European-American Gentiles too! It might help to have an ethnic or social-class "in" with your targets when doing evangelism. But God's love overcomes the gaps. It's for all! For us too.
7. Wrap-Up
Study of the Bible with someone else (with Philip) changed the man's life in our story. Note how such study can change the lives of the members of the congregation. Such study changes your perspective on things. In the case of this story it reminds us that God's love is not just for people like us; it is for everyone. Ask the congregation if we can ever continue in our church programs to act like that were not the case. Suggest some local options for concretizing God's love for all people -- for the children of the Ethiopians, perhaps. Each time a point is made in that connection, keep repeating how God loved the Ethiopian and his people, how God's love is for all!
Sermon Text and Title
"Why We Can't Stop Loving; the Spirit Makes Us Do It"
1 John 4:7-21
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To help the flock understand how the love Christians display (Sanctification) is rooted in God's love (Justification by Grace) and the work of the Holy Spirit.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* A discourse on the blessedness of love.
* Begins with an exhortation to love one another, because love is from God. Consequently, all who love are born of God (v. 7). Elaborates on this further, claiming that because God loves us so much, our love follows (v. 11). God is love, so those who abide in love abide in God, and He in them (v. 16b). We love because He first loved us (v. 19). But speaks of a commandment, that those who love God must also love brothers and sisters (v. 21).
* Whoever does not love does not know God who is love (vv. 8, 20).
* God's love is revealed in sending His Son into the world to give life through His atoning sacrifice for sin (vv. 9-10). To this the faithful testify (presumably by the Spirit) (v. 14).
* No one has seen God, but if we love one another God lives in us and His love is then perfected in us (v. 12). Love is perfected in giving us boldness for the day of judgment (v. 17). There is no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear. To fear is not to have reached perfection in love (v. 18).
* We know we abide in Him and He in us by the gift of the Spirit (v. 13). God abides in those who confess that Jesus is Son of God. This shows the faithful know and believe the love God has for us (vv. 15-16a).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* A consideration of Sanctification (Christian love) and its dependence on Justification by Grace (God's unconditional love) along with the work of the Holy Spirit. A Satisfaction Theory of the Atonement is also embedded in the text.
* About God as love, John Calvin commented on its awesomeness:
For it was not only an immeasurable love, that God spared not His own Son, that by His death He might restore us to life; but it was goodness the most marvelous, which ought to fill our minds with the greatest wonder and amazement.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XXII/2, p. 239)
* He further elaborates:
God freely loved us -- how so? Because he loved us before we were born, and also when, through depravity of nature, we had hearts turned away from Him, and influenced by no right and pious feelings.
(Ibid., p. 240)
* But the Spirit God dwells in us, he adds (Ibid., p. 243). "The love ought to reign in us, since God unites Himself to us." (Ibid., p. 244) The language here is suggestive of Justification as Intimate Union.
* Some spontaneity of love and also teaches at points a third use of the Law.
* References in verses 17-18 suggest the Methodist/Holiness view of perfection (The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 11, p. 377).
* John Wesley himself does note that "It is by the Spirit that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 587). Augustine also makes sure God gets all the glory, as he urges, "Be the beast He [our Lord] rides. It is good for you that He rides and leads" (Love One Another, p. 68).
* Martin Luther sees the text as an excellent opportunity to teach Justification by Grace. He writes: "For if salvation and life are through Christ alone, it follows that they are not through our works and efforts, no matter what nature those works and efforts are" (Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 294).
* Augustine described how we are changed by justification and the love of God that makes it happen:
Through iniquity our souls, my friends, are loathsome. In loving God they become beautiful… The one who is always beautiful loved us first… But it wasn't to leave us loathsome that he loved us, but to change us and to make the ugly beautiful… As love grows in you so does beauty, because love is beauty of the soul.
(Love One Another, p. 96)
* The African father gives some advice on how to do the loving exhorted by the text: "Don't love anyone's error but love the person.… Love what God made, don't love what we ourselves have done" (Ibid., p. 75).
* He also elaborates on whom this love is for:
"The crowd judges friendships by their usefulness" [Cicero]. No one wants to associate with those who are deaf, weak, unlearned, and ungrateful. Christ loved all without making a distinction -- even His enemies. Therefore we, too, should love as brothers even those who are not worthy of love.
(Ibid., p. 304)
* Reinhold Niebuhr profoundly described why love is good for us:
The law of love is the final law for man in his condition of finiteness and freedom because man in freedom is unable to make himself in his finiteness his own end. The self is too great to be contained within itself in its smallness.
(Reinhold Niebuhr: Theologian of Public Life, p. 195)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Contemporary neurobiological research demonstrates that love is an addiction, since love is a function of the amphetamine-like monoamine dopamine (Anthony Walsh, The Science of Love).
5. Gimmick
Love makes the world go round. Pause. Then ask questions: Love makes the world go round, but where does this love come from, what do we have to do to make it happen? Is it really true, as some married couples or friends say, that love is hard work?
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Our lesson gives answers to these questions. In essence, the answer is "Chill out." Love isn't something we have to worry about. It's not hard, because it just happens very easily, pleasantly when the Holy Spirit gets hold of you, when you get caught up in God's love. Why, when that happens, love is downright addictive.
* Our lesson starts it out just right. Loving one another, it says, is a matter of love being from God (v. 7). We love because God loved us so much (v. 11). And that love gets to us, gets in our guts, because God and Jesus come to live in us (vv. 15-16). How does it happen? The Holy Spirit makes it happen, is the proof that we abide in Christ and that He is in us (v. 13)!
* Who is this Holy Spirit? Not some [Holy] Ghost that haunts you. No, in Hebrew the word for Spirit is ruach or nephesh, which refers to the active life force (Genesis 2:7; 6:3; 41:8; Psalm 31:5; 143:4). And so the Holy Spirit is the active element in life, in God's life. The Holy Spirit is God's presence with us right here and now! When God is active in your life, the Holy Spirit is present!
* In a way the Spirit is God riding us. Use the seventh and fourth bullet points of Theological Insights. When God rides you He's accompanying you, living in you. And when you hang around a compelling lover like that, somebody who died for you like our Bible lesson teaches, it changes you (vv. 9-10).
* Elaborate on the awesomeness of this love God has for us by citing the second and third bullet points above in Theological Insights.
* This kind of love can't help but change you. John Calvin spoke (in text cited above) about how it fills our minds with the greatest wonder and amazement. Note Augustine's point in the ninth bullet point in Theological Insights. Ugly as sin makes us, God's love makes us beautiful! Beautiful people have no trouble loving.
* God's love changes you. Grace and the Spirit make you do it. Love is not hard work. When you're really loved, truly in love, loving deeds just seem to happen, like in the case of happily married couples and good parent-child relationships. Well, we Christians are the recipients of the greatest, most immeasurable love ever given. And the Holy Spirit keeps Him hanging around us.
* There is another dynamic involved in understanding why Christians loved by God can't stop loving. Introduce the neurobiological data in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Love is an addiction! The more you are wrapped up in love, the more you get of that good-feeling dopamine. You just can't help yourself when you are wrapped up in God's love. And it's just so easy, feels so good.
7. Wrap-Up
Close by noting Reinhold Niebuhr's observation in the last bullet point in the Theological Insights. Point out how good and fulfilling the life of love is. We need the life of love in order to get out of ourselves, beyond our narrow experience. And that's what love is, getting outside yourself into other's lives. Love is good for you, feels good, is driven by the love of God. That's why Christians can't stop loving!
Sermon Text and Title
"Christ Does the Good for All His Branches"
John 15:1-8
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim Justification by Grace through Faith (as Intimate Union with Christ) and Sanctification (our spontaneous growth in the Christian life, even in face of evil of suffering).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Part of Jesus' discussion of the pattern of a Christian life, taken from his farewell discourse. The parable of the true vine and the branches.
* The author of the gospel seems here to deliberately get his readers to see Jesus here as the true Israel, which was identified as the true vine in Isaiah 5:1-7 and Jeremiah 2:21.
* The Father is said to be the vinegrower and Jesus the True Vine. The Father removes the branches bearing no fruit and prunes the fruit-bearing branches to help them bear more fruit (vv. 1-2).
* The "cleansing" (may relate to the Greek word for "pruning" in v. 2) has already happened to Christians through the Word (v. 3).
* Jesus exhorts His followers to abide in him as he abides in them, like a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, but must abide in the vine (v. 4).
* Jesus' followers are said to be branches of His vine. Those abiding in Him bear much fruit, because apart from Him one can do nothing (v. 5). Those not abiding in Him are thrown away, into the fire (v. 6).
* Those abiding in Jesus and in whom He abides receive whatever they request. The Father is glorified by their bearing much fruit and being His disciples (vv. 7-8).
3. Theological Insights See Charts of the Major Theological Options
* A text exhorting faith (Justification by Grace through Faith), interpreted as Intimate Union with Him and Sanctification (bearing fruit).
* Martin Luther notes how we become grafted into Christ and become clean:
For by such faith in the word he is grafted into the vine that is Christ and is clothed in His purity… And I lay hold of the word by faith, it creates in me -- through the Holy Spirit, who works through it -- a new heart and new thoughts, which adhere to it firmly and do not doubt but live and die by it. Because I cleave to it, for this reason whatever impurities and sins still cling to me are not imputed to me….
(Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 212)
* Christ and the Christian become one loaf, he adds (Ibid., p. 226).
* Augustine offers some penetrating reflections on why Jesus' image in this parable clearly entails that salvation is by grace. He wrote:
Why your assertion that man of himself worketh righteousness, that is the height of your self-elation. But the truth contradicts you, and declares, "The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine…" For whoever imagines that he is bearing fruit of himself is not in the vine, and he that is not in the vine is not in Christ, and he that is not in Christ is not a Christian.
(Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 7, p. 345)
* The Reformer (in reference to v. 2 to being pruned by the vinegrower) invites us to regard suffering and distress which prunes for growth as the piling on of manure on plants (Luther's Works, Vol. 24, pp. 194-195). The devil and evil throw manure at us every day.
* Among other points, John Calvin noted that the text teaches that "we have no power of doing good but what comes from [Christ]" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/1, p. 107).
* This is only possible, Luther says, because we know God is love:
Scripture and the doctrine of the gospel, however, teach us that it is essential for us to be convinced first of all that God is our gracious Father… and then construct all our words, deeds and life on this foundation. I must be able to say: "I know that I have a gracious God and that my works performed in this faith and according to his Word and good fruits and are pleasing to him."
(Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 218)
* Such a faith gives confidence for living everyday life, for seeing that it has meaning:
Wherever there is such faith and assurance of grace in Christ, you can also confidently conclude with regard to your vocation and works that these are pleasing to God and are true and good Christian fruits… develop into fruit that endures unto life everlasting.
(Ibid., p. 220)
* Christian life lived this way is a joyous, confident existence of bearing fruit:
The life of such a person and whatever he does, whether great or small and not matter what it is called, is nothing but fruit and cannot be without fruit… Everything such a person does becomes easy for him, not troublesome or vexatious. Nothing is too arduous for him or too difficult to bear.
(Ibid., p. 230)
5. Gimmick
Well into spring, we are confronted with images about the growing season in our gospel today.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Our story is likely set in the spring. Jesus was getting ready to say good-bye to His disciples -- His famous "farewell discourse." In a way it is a prayer; in another sense it might be considered as Jesus' love-letter to His faithful.
* What were Jesus' aims regarding His followers? He prayed for them, urged they would bear good fruit, and then He tried to offer comfort to them (and to us) that such prayers are already answered. Bearing good fruit is not so difficult after all!
* The compelling image Jesus used is to proclaim that we belong to Christ organically, kind of like branches growing from Him (He is the vine), and the Father is vinedresser. As branches growing from him we are made clean!
* The image of the true vine had been applied in the Old Testament to Israel (Psalm 80:8; Hosea 10:1). Consider the implications of this. Whereas in Israeli culture the true vine had given the Jewish branches life, given them their identity, so it is that Jesus as the true vine does that for us! Just as our own family circumstances and ethnicity have been the vine which gives us identity, so it is that Jesus the True Vine does that for you and me.
* The branches share all that is the vine's. We have been grafted into the vine, as clean as Jesus is clean. Use the second and third bullet points of Theological Insights. We are one with the vine, like we were one loaf. Also cite verse 7, noting how good life is on the messianic vine.
* There is a word of judgment in the gospel today. But ultimately it is still a word of love. Read verse 2. It is good news to be reminded here as we are that we are so intimately connected to Christ that we cannot flourish apart from him. We can never get away from Christ once we have been baptized. Branches cannot be independent of the vine.
* Cite Augustine in the fourth bullet point of the Theological Insights to make clear how dependent we are on Christ. Vines like us deserve no credit for the fruit they grow. But that's the beauty of Jesus' profound image. Branches don't worry about their growth. You never saw a branch worry about burnout or about thriving, have you? No, the vine of the tree does the work. So it is with us and Jesus.
* Remembering our status as vines helps us when facing the tough times in life. Recall the reference to pruning in verse 2. Martin Luther put all the trials and hardships and suffering we endure in perspective:
This is indeed a fine and comforting picture. Happy is the Christian who can interpret it thus and apply it in hours of distress and trial, when death upsets him, when the world reviles and defames him as an apostle of the devil. Then he can say: "See, I am being fertilized and cultivated as a branch on the vine. All right, dear hoe and clipper, go ahead. Chop, prune, and remove unnecessary leaves. I will gladly suffer it, for these are God's hoes and clippers. They are applied for my good and welfare."
(Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 195)
* Luther's point is that the tough times in life are opportunities for growth. Actually they're just a little manure. Luther tells us more about this:
Praise God who can use the devil and his malice to serve our good!... But now God takes him in hand and says: "Devil… You shall be My hoe; the world and your following shall be my manure for the fertilization of my vineyard."
(Ibid.)
* Essentially Luther's point is, "there ain't nothin' so bad in life that God can't make good out of it."
7. Wrap-Up
Conclude by noting that life is not a pressure cooker for Christ's fruitful branches. He (the True Vine) does all the work. Urge the congregation to enjoy the fellowship with Jesus and all the other branches, to enjoy life, and then even its ups and downs will be sweet. Christ does all the good for all His branches!
What God's love does to us.
Collect of the Day
Petitions are offered to nourish our lives in the resurrection that we might bear the fruit of love and know the fullness of God's joy. Same emphases as the Easter 4 prayer, though with a clearer stress on grace.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 22:25-31
* See Good Friday Psalm.
Sermon Text and Title
"Get God's Love Straight: It's for All"
Acts 8:26-40
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the need to read and study the Bible for oneself, while offering insight into the inclusivity of Christian faith.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The story of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch by Philip (probably not the disciple, but one of the seven deacons noted in 6:5).
* Philip is summoned from Jerusalem by an angel to go south on a wilderness road (v. 26). He meets an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official (the chief financial officer) of the Ethiopian queen (v. 27). (Ethiopian in this context is less an identification of his residence than the fact that he was black.) It was not uncommon in the ancient world for men serving female heads of state to be castrated. He had been in Jerusalem worshiping and was returning home. (Presumably he was one of the Gentile "God-fearers," interested in the Jewish faith, but might have been a member of the Falasha tribe in Ethiopia -- a tribe of Black Jews.) But Jews or proselytes were not to be castrated, as per Deuteronomy 23:1. However (see Isaiah 56:3-5), seated in his chariot he had been reading Isaiah (vv. 32-33).
* The Spirit directs Philip to the chariot (v. 29). Hearing the Ethiopian reading, he asks him if he understood the prophet (v. 30). The eunuch invites Philip's interpretation (v. 31).
* The Ethiopian had been reading the Fourth Servant Song in Isaiah 53:7b-8. He asks Philip to whom the prophet speaking referred when speaking of the sheep led to slaughter who had been denied justice (vv. 33-34). Philip responds by proclaiming Jesus (v. 35).
* Hearing the proclamation, the Ethiopian asks for baptism and receives it (vv. 36, 38). Many ancient manuscripts omit verse 37 and its reference to the Ethiopian's confession of Christ as Son of God.
* After the baptism, Philip is snatched away by the Holy Spirit (v. 39). He finds himself in Azotus (formerly known as Ashdod in the Old Testament era, a coastal town west of Jerusalem) and while passing through the region proclaimed the good news in all the towns until reaching the Palestinian seaport of Caesarea (v. 40).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* A text testifying to the importance of careful Bible study and social ethics (the black presence in the Bible).
* John Calvin, commenting on the Ethiopian asking Philip for help in interpreting scripture writes: "But God will not have us to despise those helps which He offereth unto us…" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/2, p. 355).
* Karl Barth comments on this text as illustrating the need for interpretation of scripture. He wrote:
As the word of God it [scripture] needs no explanation, of course, since as such it is clear in itself... But this word in scripture assumes the form of a human word. Human words need interpretation because as such they are ambiguous.
(Church Dogmatics, Vol. I/2, pp. 712f)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* A 2000 Gallup poll revealed that 4 in 10 Americans never read the Bible. This was a higher percentage than the less than 3 in 10 who were not Bible readers twenty years ago. Based on this trend, should we not assume that the percentage of those who never consider the Bible has risen in the last decade?
* The words of Martin Luther seem to confirm recent scientific findings. He claimed that "Therefore he who is imbued with the knowledge that God is love is happy" (Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 300). Neurobiological research indicates that belief in a loving God impacts the brain in such a way that it results in a positive sense of self and behavior leading to health and happiness (Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman, How God Changes Your Brain).
* In this text we have a good example of the black presence in the Bible.
5. Gimmick
People just don't read the Bible like they did in the old days. Cite poll statistics above in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Note how hard it is to get adults to Sunday school and how relatively few members of your congregation are involved in Bible study groups.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Today's lesson is about Bible study and Bible reading. It also reminds us what we miss if we are not reading the Bible regularly and in community.
* We have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch's conversion by the apostle Philip. Use the second bullet point in Exegesis.
* The Ethiopian God-fearer was reading the Bible. But just like most of us experience the Bible, it can be a confusing book. Seems like this Ethiopian gentleman had been reading Isaiah 53:7b-8 with its reference to the Suffering Servant and was not quite getting it. But Philip helped him see it was really about Jesus! Sometimes you need other people to help you see things in the Bible, to see things about faith that you can't see yourself.
* Consider the second and third bullet points in Theological Insights. There's no two ways about it. Reading the Bible more than once helps you get something out of it. Human words are ambiguous and sometimes are hard to understand. That's why it helps to have some friends along with you to interpret them. There's a lot you might overlook in the Bible if you try to do it without others, without interpretive tools. Today's First Lesson makes that apparent.
* Keep in mind who the story is about. Philip was probably not the Jewish disciple of that name, but a Gentile appointed as a deacon in order to provide leadership roles to Gentile believers, and a Gentile Ethiopian. There is a lesson here. The Gentiles (who had largely been disenfranchised, second-class members of the early church [allude to the story in Acts 6]) had been given some leadership positions. Appoint leadership from the underclass, from the minorities in your church. And look what happened. This Gentile reached out to another Gentile -- to the Ethiopian eunuch. Sometimes people from the oppressed classes can do the most effective ministry with people from a similar situation in life. (If the preacher's congregation is considering an outreach ministry to impoverished/disenfranchised groups, this is an important point to stress.)
* But there is another related lesson here, one which refines the last point. We need to see this to get God's love straight. The story of the Ethiopian eunuch reminds us that God's love is for all!
* One of the important issues raised in the African-American church is that we need to appreciate God's love for all, including for people of African descent. It is common in these circles to speak of a black presence in the Bible. Do we not see that here in the story of this Ethiopian's conversion? That may come as a surprise to many white Americans. Human nature being what it is, it is common to picture biblical characters looking like us, looking white in the case of white Christians, even if we know that the characters in the Bible (including Jesus) are mostly Jews. (And remember, Jews of the last centuries before Christ did not look like European Jews most of us know. They too were of a darker complexion, like today's Arabs!)
* But now Philip, though a Gentile, was not black like the Ethiopian who was converted in our story. And that is the beautiful, profound point in our story. It is a reminder that God's love, that the work of Jesus, is not just for the Jews, not just for Gentiles in Israel (like Philip), it is for the people of Africa and even for European-American Gentiles too! It might help to have an ethnic or social-class "in" with your targets when doing evangelism. But God's love overcomes the gaps. It's for all! For us too.
7. Wrap-Up
Study of the Bible with someone else (with Philip) changed the man's life in our story. Note how such study can change the lives of the members of the congregation. Such study changes your perspective on things. In the case of this story it reminds us that God's love is not just for people like us; it is for everyone. Ask the congregation if we can ever continue in our church programs to act like that were not the case. Suggest some local options for concretizing God's love for all people -- for the children of the Ethiopians, perhaps. Each time a point is made in that connection, keep repeating how God loved the Ethiopian and his people, how God's love is for all!
Sermon Text and Title
"Why We Can't Stop Loving; the Spirit Makes Us Do It"
1 John 4:7-21
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To help the flock understand how the love Christians display (Sanctification) is rooted in God's love (Justification by Grace) and the work of the Holy Spirit.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* A discourse on the blessedness of love.
* Begins with an exhortation to love one another, because love is from God. Consequently, all who love are born of God (v. 7). Elaborates on this further, claiming that because God loves us so much, our love follows (v. 11). God is love, so those who abide in love abide in God, and He in them (v. 16b). We love because He first loved us (v. 19). But speaks of a commandment, that those who love God must also love brothers and sisters (v. 21).
* Whoever does not love does not know God who is love (vv. 8, 20).
* God's love is revealed in sending His Son into the world to give life through His atoning sacrifice for sin (vv. 9-10). To this the faithful testify (presumably by the Spirit) (v. 14).
* No one has seen God, but if we love one another God lives in us and His love is then perfected in us (v. 12). Love is perfected in giving us boldness for the day of judgment (v. 17). There is no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear. To fear is not to have reached perfection in love (v. 18).
* We know we abide in Him and He in us by the gift of the Spirit (v. 13). God abides in those who confess that Jesus is Son of God. This shows the faithful know and believe the love God has for us (vv. 15-16a).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* A consideration of Sanctification (Christian love) and its dependence on Justification by Grace (God's unconditional love) along with the work of the Holy Spirit. A Satisfaction Theory of the Atonement is also embedded in the text.
* About God as love, John Calvin commented on its awesomeness:
For it was not only an immeasurable love, that God spared not His own Son, that by His death He might restore us to life; but it was goodness the most marvelous, which ought to fill our minds with the greatest wonder and amazement.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XXII/2, p. 239)
* He further elaborates:
God freely loved us -- how so? Because he loved us before we were born, and also when, through depravity of nature, we had hearts turned away from Him, and influenced by no right and pious feelings.
(Ibid., p. 240)
* But the Spirit God dwells in us, he adds (Ibid., p. 243). "The love ought to reign in us, since God unites Himself to us." (Ibid., p. 244) The language here is suggestive of Justification as Intimate Union.
* Some spontaneity of love and also teaches at points a third use of the Law.
* References in verses 17-18 suggest the Methodist/Holiness view of perfection (The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 11, p. 377).
* John Wesley himself does note that "It is by the Spirit that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 587). Augustine also makes sure God gets all the glory, as he urges, "Be the beast He [our Lord] rides. It is good for you that He rides and leads" (Love One Another, p. 68).
* Martin Luther sees the text as an excellent opportunity to teach Justification by Grace. He writes: "For if salvation and life are through Christ alone, it follows that they are not through our works and efforts, no matter what nature those works and efforts are" (Luther's Works, Vol. 30, p. 294).
* Augustine described how we are changed by justification and the love of God that makes it happen:
Through iniquity our souls, my friends, are loathsome. In loving God they become beautiful… The one who is always beautiful loved us first… But it wasn't to leave us loathsome that he loved us, but to change us and to make the ugly beautiful… As love grows in you so does beauty, because love is beauty of the soul.
(Love One Another, p. 96)
* The African father gives some advice on how to do the loving exhorted by the text: "Don't love anyone's error but love the person.… Love what God made, don't love what we ourselves have done" (Ibid., p. 75).
* He also elaborates on whom this love is for:
"The crowd judges friendships by their usefulness" [Cicero]. No one wants to associate with those who are deaf, weak, unlearned, and ungrateful. Christ loved all without making a distinction -- even His enemies. Therefore we, too, should love as brothers even those who are not worthy of love.
(Ibid., p. 304)
* Reinhold Niebuhr profoundly described why love is good for us:
The law of love is the final law for man in his condition of finiteness and freedom because man in freedom is unable to make himself in his finiteness his own end. The self is too great to be contained within itself in its smallness.
(Reinhold Niebuhr: Theologian of Public Life, p. 195)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Contemporary neurobiological research demonstrates that love is an addiction, since love is a function of the amphetamine-like monoamine dopamine (Anthony Walsh, The Science of Love).
5. Gimmick
Love makes the world go round. Pause. Then ask questions: Love makes the world go round, but where does this love come from, what do we have to do to make it happen? Is it really true, as some married couples or friends say, that love is hard work?
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Our lesson gives answers to these questions. In essence, the answer is "Chill out." Love isn't something we have to worry about. It's not hard, because it just happens very easily, pleasantly when the Holy Spirit gets hold of you, when you get caught up in God's love. Why, when that happens, love is downright addictive.
* Our lesson starts it out just right. Loving one another, it says, is a matter of love being from God (v. 7). We love because God loved us so much (v. 11). And that love gets to us, gets in our guts, because God and Jesus come to live in us (vv. 15-16). How does it happen? The Holy Spirit makes it happen, is the proof that we abide in Christ and that He is in us (v. 13)!
* Who is this Holy Spirit? Not some [Holy] Ghost that haunts you. No, in Hebrew the word for Spirit is ruach or nephesh, which refers to the active life force (Genesis 2:7; 6:3; 41:8; Psalm 31:5; 143:4). And so the Holy Spirit is the active element in life, in God's life. The Holy Spirit is God's presence with us right here and now! When God is active in your life, the Holy Spirit is present!
* In a way the Spirit is God riding us. Use the seventh and fourth bullet points of Theological Insights. When God rides you He's accompanying you, living in you. And when you hang around a compelling lover like that, somebody who died for you like our Bible lesson teaches, it changes you (vv. 9-10).
* Elaborate on the awesomeness of this love God has for us by citing the second and third bullet points above in Theological Insights.
* This kind of love can't help but change you. John Calvin spoke (in text cited above) about how it fills our minds with the greatest wonder and amazement. Note Augustine's point in the ninth bullet point in Theological Insights. Ugly as sin makes us, God's love makes us beautiful! Beautiful people have no trouble loving.
* God's love changes you. Grace and the Spirit make you do it. Love is not hard work. When you're really loved, truly in love, loving deeds just seem to happen, like in the case of happily married couples and good parent-child relationships. Well, we Christians are the recipients of the greatest, most immeasurable love ever given. And the Holy Spirit keeps Him hanging around us.
* There is another dynamic involved in understanding why Christians loved by God can't stop loving. Introduce the neurobiological data in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Love is an addiction! The more you are wrapped up in love, the more you get of that good-feeling dopamine. You just can't help yourself when you are wrapped up in God's love. And it's just so easy, feels so good.
7. Wrap-Up
Close by noting Reinhold Niebuhr's observation in the last bullet point in the Theological Insights. Point out how good and fulfilling the life of love is. We need the life of love in order to get out of ourselves, beyond our narrow experience. And that's what love is, getting outside yourself into other's lives. Love is good for you, feels good, is driven by the love of God. That's why Christians can't stop loving!
Sermon Text and Title
"Christ Does the Good for All His Branches"
John 15:1-8
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim Justification by Grace through Faith (as Intimate Union with Christ) and Sanctification (our spontaneous growth in the Christian life, even in face of evil of suffering).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Part of Jesus' discussion of the pattern of a Christian life, taken from his farewell discourse. The parable of the true vine and the branches.
* The author of the gospel seems here to deliberately get his readers to see Jesus here as the true Israel, which was identified as the true vine in Isaiah 5:1-7 and Jeremiah 2:21.
* The Father is said to be the vinegrower and Jesus the True Vine. The Father removes the branches bearing no fruit and prunes the fruit-bearing branches to help them bear more fruit (vv. 1-2).
* The "cleansing" (may relate to the Greek word for "pruning" in v. 2) has already happened to Christians through the Word (v. 3).
* Jesus exhorts His followers to abide in him as he abides in them, like a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, but must abide in the vine (v. 4).
* Jesus' followers are said to be branches of His vine. Those abiding in Him bear much fruit, because apart from Him one can do nothing (v. 5). Those not abiding in Him are thrown away, into the fire (v. 6).
* Those abiding in Jesus and in whom He abides receive whatever they request. The Father is glorified by their bearing much fruit and being His disciples (vv. 7-8).
3. Theological Insights See Charts of the Major Theological Options
* A text exhorting faith (Justification by Grace through Faith), interpreted as Intimate Union with Him and Sanctification (bearing fruit).
* Martin Luther notes how we become grafted into Christ and become clean:
For by such faith in the word he is grafted into the vine that is Christ and is clothed in His purity… And I lay hold of the word by faith, it creates in me -- through the Holy Spirit, who works through it -- a new heart and new thoughts, which adhere to it firmly and do not doubt but live and die by it. Because I cleave to it, for this reason whatever impurities and sins still cling to me are not imputed to me….
(Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 212)
* Christ and the Christian become one loaf, he adds (Ibid., p. 226).
* Augustine offers some penetrating reflections on why Jesus' image in this parable clearly entails that salvation is by grace. He wrote:
Why your assertion that man of himself worketh righteousness, that is the height of your self-elation. But the truth contradicts you, and declares, "The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine…" For whoever imagines that he is bearing fruit of himself is not in the vine, and he that is not in the vine is not in Christ, and he that is not in Christ is not a Christian.
(Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 7, p. 345)
* The Reformer (in reference to v. 2 to being pruned by the vinegrower) invites us to regard suffering and distress which prunes for growth as the piling on of manure on plants (Luther's Works, Vol. 24, pp. 194-195). The devil and evil throw manure at us every day.
* Among other points, John Calvin noted that the text teaches that "we have no power of doing good but what comes from [Christ]" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/1, p. 107).
* This is only possible, Luther says, because we know God is love:
Scripture and the doctrine of the gospel, however, teach us that it is essential for us to be convinced first of all that God is our gracious Father… and then construct all our words, deeds and life on this foundation. I must be able to say: "I know that I have a gracious God and that my works performed in this faith and according to his Word and good fruits and are pleasing to him."
(Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 218)
* Such a faith gives confidence for living everyday life, for seeing that it has meaning:
Wherever there is such faith and assurance of grace in Christ, you can also confidently conclude with regard to your vocation and works that these are pleasing to God and are true and good Christian fruits… develop into fruit that endures unto life everlasting.
(Ibid., p. 220)
* Christian life lived this way is a joyous, confident existence of bearing fruit:
The life of such a person and whatever he does, whether great or small and not matter what it is called, is nothing but fruit and cannot be without fruit… Everything such a person does becomes easy for him, not troublesome or vexatious. Nothing is too arduous for him or too difficult to bear.
(Ibid., p. 230)
5. Gimmick
Well into spring, we are confronted with images about the growing season in our gospel today.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Our story is likely set in the spring. Jesus was getting ready to say good-bye to His disciples -- His famous "farewell discourse." In a way it is a prayer; in another sense it might be considered as Jesus' love-letter to His faithful.
* What were Jesus' aims regarding His followers? He prayed for them, urged they would bear good fruit, and then He tried to offer comfort to them (and to us) that such prayers are already answered. Bearing good fruit is not so difficult after all!
* The compelling image Jesus used is to proclaim that we belong to Christ organically, kind of like branches growing from Him (He is the vine), and the Father is vinedresser. As branches growing from him we are made clean!
* The image of the true vine had been applied in the Old Testament to Israel (Psalm 80:8; Hosea 10:1). Consider the implications of this. Whereas in Israeli culture the true vine had given the Jewish branches life, given them their identity, so it is that Jesus as the true vine does that for us! Just as our own family circumstances and ethnicity have been the vine which gives us identity, so it is that Jesus the True Vine does that for you and me.
* The branches share all that is the vine's. We have been grafted into the vine, as clean as Jesus is clean. Use the second and third bullet points of Theological Insights. We are one with the vine, like we were one loaf. Also cite verse 7, noting how good life is on the messianic vine.
* There is a word of judgment in the gospel today. But ultimately it is still a word of love. Read verse 2. It is good news to be reminded here as we are that we are so intimately connected to Christ that we cannot flourish apart from him. We can never get away from Christ once we have been baptized. Branches cannot be independent of the vine.
* Cite Augustine in the fourth bullet point of the Theological Insights to make clear how dependent we are on Christ. Vines like us deserve no credit for the fruit they grow. But that's the beauty of Jesus' profound image. Branches don't worry about their growth. You never saw a branch worry about burnout or about thriving, have you? No, the vine of the tree does the work. So it is with us and Jesus.
* Remembering our status as vines helps us when facing the tough times in life. Recall the reference to pruning in verse 2. Martin Luther put all the trials and hardships and suffering we endure in perspective:
This is indeed a fine and comforting picture. Happy is the Christian who can interpret it thus and apply it in hours of distress and trial, when death upsets him, when the world reviles and defames him as an apostle of the devil. Then he can say: "See, I am being fertilized and cultivated as a branch on the vine. All right, dear hoe and clipper, go ahead. Chop, prune, and remove unnecessary leaves. I will gladly suffer it, for these are God's hoes and clippers. They are applied for my good and welfare."
(Luther's Works, Vol. 24, p. 195)
* Luther's point is that the tough times in life are opportunities for growth. Actually they're just a little manure. Luther tells us more about this:
Praise God who can use the devil and his malice to serve our good!... But now God takes him in hand and says: "Devil… You shall be My hoe; the world and your following shall be my manure for the fertilization of my vineyard."
(Ibid.)
* Essentially Luther's point is, "there ain't nothin' so bad in life that God can't make good out of it."
7. Wrap-Up
Conclude by noting that life is not a pressure cooker for Christ's fruitful branches. He (the True Vine) does all the work. Urge the congregation to enjoy the fellowship with Jesus and all the other branches, to enjoy life, and then even its ups and downs will be sweet. Christ does all the good for all His branches!
