Proper 11 / Pentecost 8 / Ordinary Time 16
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IX, Cycle B
Object:
Theme of the Day
All are one.
Collect of the Day
Petitions are offered that the powerful and compassionate God would heal everyone, making the faithful a whole people embodying the justice and peace of Christ. Justification, Sanctification, church, and Social Ethics receive attention.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 89:20-37
* See Advent 4 for the analysis up to verse 26.
* David is considered the Lord's firstborn, the highest of all the kings of the earth (v. 27).
* The Lord pledges steadfast love for David and that His covenant with him will be established forever (vv. 28-29). John Wesley contended that this covenant was only accomplished in Christ (Commentary on the Bible, p. 293).
* If David's heirs forsake God's law the Lord says He will punish them, but will not remove His steadfast love (vv. 30-33).
* Reiterates the eternity of His covenant with David (vv. 34-37).
or Psalm 23
See Easter 4.
Sermon Text and Title
"God Thinks Bigger Than We Do"
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To explain the Christological implications of the Lord's establishment of the Davidic line and decision not to allow David to build the temple. In getting hearers to recognize that God had greater plans than David had in mind, efforts are made to help them appreciate that God is still in the business of giving us more than we can ever imagine.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The story of David's desire, expressed to the prophet Nathan, to build a temple (vv. 1-3), but the Lord appears to Nathan indicating His contentment with continuing to dwell in a portable tent (vv. 4-7). Scholars tend to conclude that the entire pericope is a later addition to older sources. Others argue that, insofar as verses 6-7 seem to give no permission for the tabernacle to be placed in a permanent building, these passages are in fact part of the earlier source.
* The Lord instructs Nathan instead to recount to David how the Lord had brought him to power, from the life of a shepherd to an internationally known, uncontested leader (vv. 8-9).
* Yahweh claims He will appoint a place for Israel from which they will no longer be disturbed and afflicted (v. 10).
* The establishment of a permanent Davidic dynasty is promised (vv. 11b-12). Reference is made to a Davidic offspring who would build the house in Yahweh's name and the throne would be established forever (v. 13). (Only in the parallel account in 1 Chronicles 28:6 is Solomon expressly designated as the one who will build the temple.) Yahweh promises to be a Father to the Davidic ancestor and his status as Yahweh's Son is proclaimed (v. 14a). The promise and the desire to build a temple have close parallels to ceremonial texts of the royal house in Israel.
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* A testimony to Solomon's role in building the Jerusalem Temple and the promise of the eternity of the Davidic line. Christians have historically read this text as a prophecy of Jesus the Son of David, who retains the Davidic line and who in His person is the builder of the temple, the temple Himself in whom God dwells.
* Martin Luther made this point expressly. He wrote:
Now such an eternal house of David is nowhere to be found unless we place the scepter before the Messiah and the Messiah after the scepter, and then join the two together: namely, by asserting that the Messiah appeared when the scepter departed and that David's house was thus preserved forever.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 47, pp. 199-200)
* John Wesley likewise understood Yahweh's promise to be a Father to David's heir to be a promise not just pertaining to Solomon, but also to Christ Himself (Commentary on the Bible, p. 198).
* Luther also adds why Solomon and not David was to build the temple. In his view it has to do with the fact that David was not the one to build it because he had been a military man. As Christ did not wield the sword, it would need to be a man of peace like Solomon (his name in Hebrew connotes "peace," rooted as it is in the word shalom) who would erect this religious structure (Luther's Works, Vol. 45, p. 93).
* Luther also contends elsewhere that apart from the gospel we do not even desire the right things (Ibid., Vol. 18, p. 382).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* A 2010 survey of the American labor force revealed the pessimism of our times. Only 45% of the labor force were satisfied with their jobs, down from 61% in 1987. Over half a million Americans were so discouraged in late 2010 as to give up looking for work.
5. Gimmick
Ever had a dream that didn't materialize, and what you got instead was better than anything you could have ever hoped for? Larry King wanted a career in baseball as a Dodgers radio announcer. Instead he became a major power-broker in American politics and in the entertainment industry. Ruth Graham wanted to serve the Lord on the mission field like her dad and to marry a missionary. Instead she married the most famous evangelist of our times, assisting in the bringing of millions to Christ (not just a couple of hundred members of a small tribe). Sometimes you get a lot more in life than you ever dreamed.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Tell the story of the text, based on the insights in Exegesis. David never got to build the temple he had hoped to undertake. (Note the fourth bullet point in Theological Insights.) David's immediate dream was dashed. Instead he received a greater honor, the promise that the Davidic dynasty would remain in perpetuity (vv. 11b-13).
* But wait, that promise, that dream, was not realized. Israel has not had a Davidic monarch since the Babylonian Captivity. That is not quite true. It's just that God promised something more than how David took it. He promised to become a Father to David's heir, the one who would build the temple where the Lord would reside (vv. 12-14). (Now Jews and many historians believe that this was a reference to Solomon, in which case God's promise wasn't kept.)
* But suppose Martin Luther and the Christian church as a whole are correct. (Note the second and third bullet points in Theological Insights.) Then God's promise to David was fulfilled. Through Jesus, the Son of God the Father, the temple in which the incarnation of the Lord happened, the eternal kingdom of David (realized in Jesus the Messiah) has been maintained throughout the ages! That's the way it is with God: He gives us things we never dreamed possible. God thinks bigger than we do.
* What does all this have to do with us? Quite a bit, as we consider life and the directions it takes (along with the disappointments it offers).
* There is an aphorism that commonly circulates in African-American circles: "God answers prayers. But He doesn't always answer 'em de way you want 'em."
* It is all so reminiscent of the one of the verses of the great hymn "I Love to Tell the Story."
I love to tell the story,
more wonderful it seems
than all the golden fancies
of all my golden dreams.
* What God offers, nurturing our yearnings and dreams, taps into the emotions that American Idol inspires, the hope that maybe, just maybe, my dreams can be realized. God also provides way more than the hopes and dreams that unfolded in High School Musical and Glee.
* America needs this word of hope. Allude to the disappointments with life revealed in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Relay some other ways in your community where hopes and dreams are getting lost. Our Bible lesson proclaims that God will find a way to realize all our dreams, just not the way we expected them fulfilled.
* Too often our real dreams get waylaid, distorted by social pressures and popular culture. What we think we want is not really what we want. Two anonymous quotes say it all:
The world is full of kings and queens, who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
We mustn't let our passions destroy our dreams.
Most of the time, what we think we want, we really don't want; it's society who told us we should want it. Add the comments by Martin Luther in the last bullet point of Theological Insights. Except in the light of the gospel, we don't even desire the right things.
* No, David's dreams, the promises he heard, were not realized (at least not on the surface). The desire, the passion, for power and great earthly accomplishments lured him away from appreciating the great things God had in store for him. Ask the congregation about whether it will be that way for them. Remember, God thinks bigger than we do.
7. Wrap-Up
Ask the congregation about their dreams (individually and corporately). Tell them it doesn't matter if their dreams are different. The message of our First Lesson is it's best to hold those dreams loosely, because probably they're not good for us. In a way, God has the same plan for all of us. What He has in mind is bigger and greater than anything we had planned, greater than all our golden dreams; He may not answer our prayers the way we want 'em. That's because God thinks bigger than we do.
Sermon Text and Title
"No Outsiders in the Church!"
Ephesians 2:11-22
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the unity of the church and its implications for fully including all through Christ's breaking down the law and bringing us near the Father (Justification by Grace).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* An exposition of Christ's benefits, with special attention to implications for Justification by Grace and Ecclesiology.
* Though the Gentiles were originally aliens from Israel, in Christ they have been brought near (vv. 11-13).
* Christ has made the two groups one, breaking down the dividing wall (v. 14).
* Abolishing the law, Christ creates a new humanity to reconcile the group into One body through the Cross (vv. 15-16).
* Through Christ we have access to the One Spirit and Father. None are aliens, but members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles with Christ the cornerstone (vv. 17-20).
* Speaks of the church as a holy temple of the Lord in which we are all joined together in the Spirit (vv. 21-23).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The lesson helps us understand the church as the body of Christ, how it all grows out of our nearness to the Father brought about through the abolition of the law (Justification by Grace).
* John Chrysostom clarified the text with an illustration referring to two men -- one a slave, the other an adopted son. Both have offended the father. But in response he makes them heirs, both trueborn sons (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 13, p. 171).
* For insights regarding our reconciliation in a single body (v. 16), see the next-to-last bullet point in this section for the Gospel, Pentecost 13.
* John Calvin describes the peace Christ proclaims (v. 17):
It was necessary, therefore, to explain the true nature of evangelical peace, which is widely different from a stupefied conscience, from false confidence, from proud boasting, from ignorance at our own wretchedness. It is a settled composure, which leads us not to dread, but to desire and seek the face of God.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XXI, p. 241)
* On the idea of building together through the Spirit (v. 22), Calvin notes that all human exertions are of no avail without the Spirit (Ibid., p. 243).
* On our nearness to God, Augustine powerfully expresses this in a prayer: "Great are Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised… for Thou hast formed us for Thyself and our hearts are restless 'til they rest in Thee" (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1, p. 45).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Martin Luther King Jr. once claimed that 11:00 AM on Sunday is the most segregated hour in America. This observation remains correct and pertinent. According to Time magazine, 9 out of 10 American congregations in 2007 were populated by at least 80% of some racial group.
* Concern about immigration is suggested by the text's stress on unity. See the second bullet point in this section for the First Lesson, Pentecost 13.
* The unity of humankind in sharing a single African mother from whom the human race sprung has been established by a study of the remarkable similarity of all human beings who have ever lived regarding common mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited directly from the mother. The likelihood of African origins is a function of the fact that Africans have the widest genetic diversity, indicating that that strand of humanity has existed the longest (Alan Wilson and Rebecca Cann, Scientific American [April, 1992], pp. 69-71).
5. Gimmick
Cite the reference in the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Then read verses 15-16.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* What are we to make of this disconnect? Why should we listen to Paul's words?
* Let's get clear on what Paul says. Then we will know if we should accept all this talk about unity. For Paul, you have all this unity, no outsiders, only insiders, because of Christ.
* Review the points made in the Exegesis, stressing points about the Gentiles, once aliens in relation to Jews, who have been made one through Christ abolishing the law, bringing us near to the Lord. A single humanity has been created in one new body.
* Stress how these dynamics work. Christ's abolishing the law entails that what we do and are does not define us. (The law divides people by behavior and actions, since it is behavior and actions that define our relation to God on its grounds.) But when the law is abolished by Christ when He justifies us, then what you do and who you are no longer matters. The barriers are removed! We are all equally near to God. Jew and Gentile, no matter the ethnicity, we are one people. (Like we were one people in creation in Adam and Eve [see last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights].)
* On nearness to God, how our common Father makes us one despite significant differences, use the observation made by John Chrysostom in the second bullet point of Theological Insights. Also consider the fourth bullet point.
* Martin Luther did a great job explaining the implications of being part of the body of Christ. Use the citation in the third bullet point of Theological Insights. So intimately connected are we, Luther writes, that when we strike each other or do honor to each other, we do it to Christ too. We are one, like the ear and the eye, like the nose and the rear end, are all part of the same body.
* Alas, the reality of the church has not been realized concretely. )Cite the second bullet point in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.) Martin Luther King offered a remark that helps further explain why we haven't gotten there yet: "Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But oh! How we blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformist."
* No, what Martin Luther King said in the middle part of the twentieth century is still timely. The black/white suspicions remain, the native born/immigrant suspicions remain, and so do gay/straight barriers, male/female barriers, and nobody above the poverty line pays much attention to anybody below that line except to berate them. Dr. King is right. Even those of us who lament these relations don't do much to heal them lest we be seen as controversial nonconformists. As a result, we fail to be the body of Christ.
* The unity about which we speak was nicely captured in a poem cited by John Wesley in one of his sermons: "Earth and heaven all agree; All is one great family" (The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 5, p. 152).
* In the same spirit, we can say with nineteenth-century Russian writer Leo Tolstoy: "I know that my unity with all people cannot be destroyed by natural boundaries and government orders."
* Mark Twain echoes these points: "The universal brotherhood of men is our most precious possession." Why don't our churches behave that way? We don't want to be nonconformists. We also don't seem to have realized that how to continue living in our separate communities is a denial of Jesus and the unity He brings.
7. Wrap-Up
Ask the congregation where we go from here. How can we truly live like the body of Christ, be a church where there are no outsiders, where everyone is an insider. We can start by getting clear on the connections between the unity of the church and the work of Christ, helping people to see that to live as if racial, sexual, and economic differences divided us would be to continue to live under the commandments (the law), which Christ abolished in His death. If we commit to getting this point clear in the minds of our membership, of American Christianity, we might just begin to start living like the church we were created to be, one with no outsiders, where all the dividing laws have broken down. And then Martin Luther King's words would be vindicated. We would become nonconformists to the glory of God and to the good of the nation. Be what you are, body of Christ.
Sermon Text and Title
"Life's Not So Aimless When You Spend Some Time With Our Lord"
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
A proclamation of the meaning that God's grace and compassion gives life (Justification by Grace) in the midst of its meaninglessness occasioned by sin. Implications of the divine compassion for daily life (Sanctification and Social Ethics) are explored.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The beginning of the story of the feeding of the 5,000, with the actual miracle omitted.
* Having returned from their commission to preach and heal (vv. 7-13), the disciples return to Jesus, report, and they retreat to a deserted place (vv. 30-32).
* Many saw Jesus and His followers and followed them on land, meeting them when they docked their boat. Going ashore, Jesus saw a great crowd and had compassion on them, as they were like sheep with no shepherd (vv. 33-34).
* The actual feeding of the 5,000 account follows (vv. 33-44), along with a story about Jesus walking on water (vv. 44-52). Both accounts are omitted from the lesson.
* The account resumes with Jesus and His followers landing their boat at Gennesaret. The crowd recognizes Him and brings the sick to Him, begging that they might touch the fringe of His cloak to be healed. All touching His cloak were healed (vv. 53-56). (It was common belief in the ancient Near East at the time to expect holy people to have magical powers, and so touching them to gain blessings was common.)
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The text bespeaks the faithful's total dependence on Christ and His profound compassion (Justification by Grace). It also has implications for sin, Sanctification, and Social Ethics.
* Karl Barth notes that this text is an account that shows how disciples are totally dependent on Christ (Church Dogmatics, Vol. II/2, p. 447).
* Medieval mystic Bernard of Clairvaux beautifully captures what Christ's compassion is like in our encounter with Him:
… I have had good reason to be astonished at the depths of his wisdom, His goodness and the kindness I have known… I have perceived in some degree the loveliness of His beauty. And I have been filled with wonderment at the magnitude of His greatness….
(Elmer O'Brien, Varieties of Mystic Experience, p. 105)
* In a similar vein, another great mystic of the era, Meister Eckhart, wrote: "You may call God love, you may call God goodness, but the best name for God is compassion."
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Søren Kierkegaard well describes the contemporary American ethos: "I have the courage, I believe, to doubt everything; I have the courage, I believe, to fight everything; but I have not the courage… to possess, to own anything" (Either/Or, Vol. 1, p. 23).
* Relativism's impact on America is evident in a 2009 Barna Group poll indicating that 71% of adults develop their own beliefs rather than those taught by a church. The same poll revealed that only 1 in 3 Americans believe in absolute moral truth.
5. Gimmick
Ever wondered what your next move might be? Where you are headed in life? What comes next? What you are here for? This is a story about a group of folks who wondered about what comes next. They were aimless. The Bible says they were like sheep without a shepherd (v. 34).
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Why? Why this aimlessness, with all the things we have in our lives to keep us occupied -- nice homes, fine clothes, furniture, large-screen color TVs, iPhones, and iPads? Why is life so empty? Why, with all the people to whom we have access through face-to-face and through virtual relationships, are we still lonely and aimless?
* The twentieth-century CBS hit show All in the Family had one episode that is a parody about life. Archie and his son-in-law Mike had been arguing over whether computers ruled our lives. In the middle of the argument Archie's wife Edith announced that she had received a letter from the Veterans Administration. The letter was a notice informing her that Archie had died. Obviously that was not accurate since Archie was very much present. With all the hassle it caused, Archie probably wished that he was dead. A computer error had put him on a list of the recently deceased. As a result the Bunkers were hounded by undertakers, real estate salesmen, and sympathy cards. Archie decided to get things straightened out. What he learned from the VA was that the computer error had been caused by a hole accidentally punched in a card in the wrong place. The VA administrator held the card with the holes punched in them and said, "Archie Bunker, this is your life." To which Archie looked at Edith and said: "Geez, I guess that's what it all comes down to, Edith; just a bunch of holes."
* Just a bunch of holes in an index card. Seems like a profound observation. No wonder we get depressed and feel aimless about life. It all seems so futile. We wake up one morning and realize that at best we only have ten, twenty, thirty years to live, and that nothing we have done is going to last. It all seems so meaningless, so aimless. That's why we get bored or take irresponsible, self-serving risks -- anything to forget how bad life is.
* This sense of aimlessness is not surprising if people are not in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Our gospel describes this when it refers to Jesus having compassion on the crowd, for they were like sheep without a shepherd (v. 34). We are indeed aimless unless we are in relationship with our Lord.
* Saint Augustine made this point profoundly in a prayer. Cite the last bullet point in Theological Insights for the Second Lesson. He is right, is he not? (See the comment by Karl Barth in the second bullet point of Theological Insights.) The more we live far away from God in our Monday through Saturday lives, the more likely we are to feel distressed, to find life a bore, an aimless grind.
* But Jesus has compassion on us, the Bible says (v. 34); He brings us near (Ephesians 2:13). Use the quotation of Meister Eckhart in the last bullet point in Theological Insights. God is all about compassion.
* How can we be sure? Our Gospel Lesson shows it. Tired and hungry as He was, just needing some time alone, Jesus saw the big crowd, depressed, bored, aimless, and He had pity on them, like He has pity on us. And we are pitiful.
* We are given so much in life, are so filled with material goods, yet we stick needles in our arms and alcohol down our guts so we can get high and forget the drift and boredom in our lives. We go from one worry to another, get depressed over the most insignificant problems. We get mean, we cheat, we lie, we complain. We are always complaining.
* With all our education and skills, Americans seem to use their rational capacity these days for doubting, questioning authority and values, and running away from commitments. Cite bullet points in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. We are pitiable people. But Christ pities us.
* Christ is present when we get depressed; He is right there when we get bored, showing kindness when we feel aimless. Use the quote by Saint Bernard in Theological Insights.
* How lovely, how wonderful, how great is our Lord's kindness. Where is He? As He went out of His way to come to the aimless crowds, He comes to us. He comes to be with us, to give our lives meaning. He comes to us here in the worship event, comes when you pray or read the Bible.
* When He comes, He comes with a plan and task for us in our aimlessness. It's what He did in today's gospel. He comes to feed the hungry (vv. 33-44) and to heal the sick (vv. 53-56). Life's not so aimless when you hang out with our Lord.
7. Wrap-Up
How can we spend time with this Christ who puts our lives in order? Where is He? He is right here in worship and in the time you spend with Him privately. He will be there the next time you are down, not quite sure where you are headed. We never have to face our aimlessness, sadness, and disappointments in life alone (without a shepherd) again.
All are one.
Collect of the Day
Petitions are offered that the powerful and compassionate God would heal everyone, making the faithful a whole people embodying the justice and peace of Christ. Justification, Sanctification, church, and Social Ethics receive attention.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 89:20-37
* See Advent 4 for the analysis up to verse 26.
* David is considered the Lord's firstborn, the highest of all the kings of the earth (v. 27).
* The Lord pledges steadfast love for David and that His covenant with him will be established forever (vv. 28-29). John Wesley contended that this covenant was only accomplished in Christ (Commentary on the Bible, p. 293).
* If David's heirs forsake God's law the Lord says He will punish them, but will not remove His steadfast love (vv. 30-33).
* Reiterates the eternity of His covenant with David (vv. 34-37).
or Psalm 23
See Easter 4.
Sermon Text and Title
"God Thinks Bigger Than We Do"
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To explain the Christological implications of the Lord's establishment of the Davidic line and decision not to allow David to build the temple. In getting hearers to recognize that God had greater plans than David had in mind, efforts are made to help them appreciate that God is still in the business of giving us more than we can ever imagine.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The story of David's desire, expressed to the prophet Nathan, to build a temple (vv. 1-3), but the Lord appears to Nathan indicating His contentment with continuing to dwell in a portable tent (vv. 4-7). Scholars tend to conclude that the entire pericope is a later addition to older sources. Others argue that, insofar as verses 6-7 seem to give no permission for the tabernacle to be placed in a permanent building, these passages are in fact part of the earlier source.
* The Lord instructs Nathan instead to recount to David how the Lord had brought him to power, from the life of a shepherd to an internationally known, uncontested leader (vv. 8-9).
* Yahweh claims He will appoint a place for Israel from which they will no longer be disturbed and afflicted (v. 10).
* The establishment of a permanent Davidic dynasty is promised (vv. 11b-12). Reference is made to a Davidic offspring who would build the house in Yahweh's name and the throne would be established forever (v. 13). (Only in the parallel account in 1 Chronicles 28:6 is Solomon expressly designated as the one who will build the temple.) Yahweh promises to be a Father to the Davidic ancestor and his status as Yahweh's Son is proclaimed (v. 14a). The promise and the desire to build a temple have close parallels to ceremonial texts of the royal house in Israel.
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* A testimony to Solomon's role in building the Jerusalem Temple and the promise of the eternity of the Davidic line. Christians have historically read this text as a prophecy of Jesus the Son of David, who retains the Davidic line and who in His person is the builder of the temple, the temple Himself in whom God dwells.
* Martin Luther made this point expressly. He wrote:
Now such an eternal house of David is nowhere to be found unless we place the scepter before the Messiah and the Messiah after the scepter, and then join the two together: namely, by asserting that the Messiah appeared when the scepter departed and that David's house was thus preserved forever.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 47, pp. 199-200)
* John Wesley likewise understood Yahweh's promise to be a Father to David's heir to be a promise not just pertaining to Solomon, but also to Christ Himself (Commentary on the Bible, p. 198).
* Luther also adds why Solomon and not David was to build the temple. In his view it has to do with the fact that David was not the one to build it because he had been a military man. As Christ did not wield the sword, it would need to be a man of peace like Solomon (his name in Hebrew connotes "peace," rooted as it is in the word shalom) who would erect this religious structure (Luther's Works, Vol. 45, p. 93).
* Luther also contends elsewhere that apart from the gospel we do not even desire the right things (Ibid., Vol. 18, p. 382).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* A 2010 survey of the American labor force revealed the pessimism of our times. Only 45% of the labor force were satisfied with their jobs, down from 61% in 1987. Over half a million Americans were so discouraged in late 2010 as to give up looking for work.
5. Gimmick
Ever had a dream that didn't materialize, and what you got instead was better than anything you could have ever hoped for? Larry King wanted a career in baseball as a Dodgers radio announcer. Instead he became a major power-broker in American politics and in the entertainment industry. Ruth Graham wanted to serve the Lord on the mission field like her dad and to marry a missionary. Instead she married the most famous evangelist of our times, assisting in the bringing of millions to Christ (not just a couple of hundred members of a small tribe). Sometimes you get a lot more in life than you ever dreamed.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Tell the story of the text, based on the insights in Exegesis. David never got to build the temple he had hoped to undertake. (Note the fourth bullet point in Theological Insights.) David's immediate dream was dashed. Instead he received a greater honor, the promise that the Davidic dynasty would remain in perpetuity (vv. 11b-13).
* But wait, that promise, that dream, was not realized. Israel has not had a Davidic monarch since the Babylonian Captivity. That is not quite true. It's just that God promised something more than how David took it. He promised to become a Father to David's heir, the one who would build the temple where the Lord would reside (vv. 12-14). (Now Jews and many historians believe that this was a reference to Solomon, in which case God's promise wasn't kept.)
* But suppose Martin Luther and the Christian church as a whole are correct. (Note the second and third bullet points in Theological Insights.) Then God's promise to David was fulfilled. Through Jesus, the Son of God the Father, the temple in which the incarnation of the Lord happened, the eternal kingdom of David (realized in Jesus the Messiah) has been maintained throughout the ages! That's the way it is with God: He gives us things we never dreamed possible. God thinks bigger than we do.
* What does all this have to do with us? Quite a bit, as we consider life and the directions it takes (along with the disappointments it offers).
* There is an aphorism that commonly circulates in African-American circles: "God answers prayers. But He doesn't always answer 'em de way you want 'em."
* It is all so reminiscent of the one of the verses of the great hymn "I Love to Tell the Story."
I love to tell the story,
more wonderful it seems
than all the golden fancies
of all my golden dreams.
* What God offers, nurturing our yearnings and dreams, taps into the emotions that American Idol inspires, the hope that maybe, just maybe, my dreams can be realized. God also provides way more than the hopes and dreams that unfolded in High School Musical and Glee.
* America needs this word of hope. Allude to the disappointments with life revealed in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Relay some other ways in your community where hopes and dreams are getting lost. Our Bible lesson proclaims that God will find a way to realize all our dreams, just not the way we expected them fulfilled.
* Too often our real dreams get waylaid, distorted by social pressures and popular culture. What we think we want is not really what we want. Two anonymous quotes say it all:
The world is full of kings and queens, who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
We mustn't let our passions destroy our dreams.
Most of the time, what we think we want, we really don't want; it's society who told us we should want it. Add the comments by Martin Luther in the last bullet point of Theological Insights. Except in the light of the gospel, we don't even desire the right things.
* No, David's dreams, the promises he heard, were not realized (at least not on the surface). The desire, the passion, for power and great earthly accomplishments lured him away from appreciating the great things God had in store for him. Ask the congregation about whether it will be that way for them. Remember, God thinks bigger than we do.
7. Wrap-Up
Ask the congregation about their dreams (individually and corporately). Tell them it doesn't matter if their dreams are different. The message of our First Lesson is it's best to hold those dreams loosely, because probably they're not good for us. In a way, God has the same plan for all of us. What He has in mind is bigger and greater than anything we had planned, greater than all our golden dreams; He may not answer our prayers the way we want 'em. That's because God thinks bigger than we do.
Sermon Text and Title
"No Outsiders in the Church!"
Ephesians 2:11-22
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the unity of the church and its implications for fully including all through Christ's breaking down the law and bringing us near the Father (Justification by Grace).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* An exposition of Christ's benefits, with special attention to implications for Justification by Grace and Ecclesiology.
* Though the Gentiles were originally aliens from Israel, in Christ they have been brought near (vv. 11-13).
* Christ has made the two groups one, breaking down the dividing wall (v. 14).
* Abolishing the law, Christ creates a new humanity to reconcile the group into One body through the Cross (vv. 15-16).
* Through Christ we have access to the One Spirit and Father. None are aliens, but members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles with Christ the cornerstone (vv. 17-20).
* Speaks of the church as a holy temple of the Lord in which we are all joined together in the Spirit (vv. 21-23).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The lesson helps us understand the church as the body of Christ, how it all grows out of our nearness to the Father brought about through the abolition of the law (Justification by Grace).
* John Chrysostom clarified the text with an illustration referring to two men -- one a slave, the other an adopted son. Both have offended the father. But in response he makes them heirs, both trueborn sons (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 13, p. 171).
* For insights regarding our reconciliation in a single body (v. 16), see the next-to-last bullet point in this section for the Gospel, Pentecost 13.
* John Calvin describes the peace Christ proclaims (v. 17):
It was necessary, therefore, to explain the true nature of evangelical peace, which is widely different from a stupefied conscience, from false confidence, from proud boasting, from ignorance at our own wretchedness. It is a settled composure, which leads us not to dread, but to desire and seek the face of God.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XXI, p. 241)
* On the idea of building together through the Spirit (v. 22), Calvin notes that all human exertions are of no avail without the Spirit (Ibid., p. 243).
* On our nearness to God, Augustine powerfully expresses this in a prayer: "Great are Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised… for Thou hast formed us for Thyself and our hearts are restless 'til they rest in Thee" (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1, p. 45).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Martin Luther King Jr. once claimed that 11:00 AM on Sunday is the most segregated hour in America. This observation remains correct and pertinent. According to Time magazine, 9 out of 10 American congregations in 2007 were populated by at least 80% of some racial group.
* Concern about immigration is suggested by the text's stress on unity. See the second bullet point in this section for the First Lesson, Pentecost 13.
* The unity of humankind in sharing a single African mother from whom the human race sprung has been established by a study of the remarkable similarity of all human beings who have ever lived regarding common mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited directly from the mother. The likelihood of African origins is a function of the fact that Africans have the widest genetic diversity, indicating that that strand of humanity has existed the longest (Alan Wilson and Rebecca Cann, Scientific American [April, 1992], pp. 69-71).
5. Gimmick
Cite the reference in the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Then read verses 15-16.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* What are we to make of this disconnect? Why should we listen to Paul's words?
* Let's get clear on what Paul says. Then we will know if we should accept all this talk about unity. For Paul, you have all this unity, no outsiders, only insiders, because of Christ.
* Review the points made in the Exegesis, stressing points about the Gentiles, once aliens in relation to Jews, who have been made one through Christ abolishing the law, bringing us near to the Lord. A single humanity has been created in one new body.
* Stress how these dynamics work. Christ's abolishing the law entails that what we do and are does not define us. (The law divides people by behavior and actions, since it is behavior and actions that define our relation to God on its grounds.) But when the law is abolished by Christ when He justifies us, then what you do and who you are no longer matters. The barriers are removed! We are all equally near to God. Jew and Gentile, no matter the ethnicity, we are one people. (Like we were one people in creation in Adam and Eve [see last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights].)
* On nearness to God, how our common Father makes us one despite significant differences, use the observation made by John Chrysostom in the second bullet point of Theological Insights. Also consider the fourth bullet point.
* Martin Luther did a great job explaining the implications of being part of the body of Christ. Use the citation in the third bullet point of Theological Insights. So intimately connected are we, Luther writes, that when we strike each other or do honor to each other, we do it to Christ too. We are one, like the ear and the eye, like the nose and the rear end, are all part of the same body.
* Alas, the reality of the church has not been realized concretely. )Cite the second bullet point in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.) Martin Luther King offered a remark that helps further explain why we haven't gotten there yet: "Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But oh! How we blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformist."
* No, what Martin Luther King said in the middle part of the twentieth century is still timely. The black/white suspicions remain, the native born/immigrant suspicions remain, and so do gay/straight barriers, male/female barriers, and nobody above the poverty line pays much attention to anybody below that line except to berate them. Dr. King is right. Even those of us who lament these relations don't do much to heal them lest we be seen as controversial nonconformists. As a result, we fail to be the body of Christ.
* The unity about which we speak was nicely captured in a poem cited by John Wesley in one of his sermons: "Earth and heaven all agree; All is one great family" (The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 5, p. 152).
* In the same spirit, we can say with nineteenth-century Russian writer Leo Tolstoy: "I know that my unity with all people cannot be destroyed by natural boundaries and government orders."
* Mark Twain echoes these points: "The universal brotherhood of men is our most precious possession." Why don't our churches behave that way? We don't want to be nonconformists. We also don't seem to have realized that how to continue living in our separate communities is a denial of Jesus and the unity He brings.
7. Wrap-Up
Ask the congregation where we go from here. How can we truly live like the body of Christ, be a church where there are no outsiders, where everyone is an insider. We can start by getting clear on the connections between the unity of the church and the work of Christ, helping people to see that to live as if racial, sexual, and economic differences divided us would be to continue to live under the commandments (the law), which Christ abolished in His death. If we commit to getting this point clear in the minds of our membership, of American Christianity, we might just begin to start living like the church we were created to be, one with no outsiders, where all the dividing laws have broken down. And then Martin Luther King's words would be vindicated. We would become nonconformists to the glory of God and to the good of the nation. Be what you are, body of Christ.
Sermon Text and Title
"Life's Not So Aimless When You Spend Some Time With Our Lord"
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
A proclamation of the meaning that God's grace and compassion gives life (Justification by Grace) in the midst of its meaninglessness occasioned by sin. Implications of the divine compassion for daily life (Sanctification and Social Ethics) are explored.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The beginning of the story of the feeding of the 5,000, with the actual miracle omitted.
* Having returned from their commission to preach and heal (vv. 7-13), the disciples return to Jesus, report, and they retreat to a deserted place (vv. 30-32).
* Many saw Jesus and His followers and followed them on land, meeting them when they docked their boat. Going ashore, Jesus saw a great crowd and had compassion on them, as they were like sheep with no shepherd (vv. 33-34).
* The actual feeding of the 5,000 account follows (vv. 33-44), along with a story about Jesus walking on water (vv. 44-52). Both accounts are omitted from the lesson.
* The account resumes with Jesus and His followers landing their boat at Gennesaret. The crowd recognizes Him and brings the sick to Him, begging that they might touch the fringe of His cloak to be healed. All touching His cloak were healed (vv. 53-56). (It was common belief in the ancient Near East at the time to expect holy people to have magical powers, and so touching them to gain blessings was common.)
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* The text bespeaks the faithful's total dependence on Christ and His profound compassion (Justification by Grace). It also has implications for sin, Sanctification, and Social Ethics.
* Karl Barth notes that this text is an account that shows how disciples are totally dependent on Christ (Church Dogmatics, Vol. II/2, p. 447).
* Medieval mystic Bernard of Clairvaux beautifully captures what Christ's compassion is like in our encounter with Him:
… I have had good reason to be astonished at the depths of his wisdom, His goodness and the kindness I have known… I have perceived in some degree the loveliness of His beauty. And I have been filled with wonderment at the magnitude of His greatness….
(Elmer O'Brien, Varieties of Mystic Experience, p. 105)
* In a similar vein, another great mystic of the era, Meister Eckhart, wrote: "You may call God love, you may call God goodness, but the best name for God is compassion."
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Søren Kierkegaard well describes the contemporary American ethos: "I have the courage, I believe, to doubt everything; I have the courage, I believe, to fight everything; but I have not the courage… to possess, to own anything" (Either/Or, Vol. 1, p. 23).
* Relativism's impact on America is evident in a 2009 Barna Group poll indicating that 71% of adults develop their own beliefs rather than those taught by a church. The same poll revealed that only 1 in 3 Americans believe in absolute moral truth.
5. Gimmick
Ever wondered what your next move might be? Where you are headed in life? What comes next? What you are here for? This is a story about a group of folks who wondered about what comes next. They were aimless. The Bible says they were like sheep without a shepherd (v. 34).
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Why? Why this aimlessness, with all the things we have in our lives to keep us occupied -- nice homes, fine clothes, furniture, large-screen color TVs, iPhones, and iPads? Why is life so empty? Why, with all the people to whom we have access through face-to-face and through virtual relationships, are we still lonely and aimless?
* The twentieth-century CBS hit show All in the Family had one episode that is a parody about life. Archie and his son-in-law Mike had been arguing over whether computers ruled our lives. In the middle of the argument Archie's wife Edith announced that she had received a letter from the Veterans Administration. The letter was a notice informing her that Archie had died. Obviously that was not accurate since Archie was very much present. With all the hassle it caused, Archie probably wished that he was dead. A computer error had put him on a list of the recently deceased. As a result the Bunkers were hounded by undertakers, real estate salesmen, and sympathy cards. Archie decided to get things straightened out. What he learned from the VA was that the computer error had been caused by a hole accidentally punched in a card in the wrong place. The VA administrator held the card with the holes punched in them and said, "Archie Bunker, this is your life." To which Archie looked at Edith and said: "Geez, I guess that's what it all comes down to, Edith; just a bunch of holes."
* Just a bunch of holes in an index card. Seems like a profound observation. No wonder we get depressed and feel aimless about life. It all seems so futile. We wake up one morning and realize that at best we only have ten, twenty, thirty years to live, and that nothing we have done is going to last. It all seems so meaningless, so aimless. That's why we get bored or take irresponsible, self-serving risks -- anything to forget how bad life is.
* This sense of aimlessness is not surprising if people are not in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Our gospel describes this when it refers to Jesus having compassion on the crowd, for they were like sheep without a shepherd (v. 34). We are indeed aimless unless we are in relationship with our Lord.
* Saint Augustine made this point profoundly in a prayer. Cite the last bullet point in Theological Insights for the Second Lesson. He is right, is he not? (See the comment by Karl Barth in the second bullet point of Theological Insights.) The more we live far away from God in our Monday through Saturday lives, the more likely we are to feel distressed, to find life a bore, an aimless grind.
* But Jesus has compassion on us, the Bible says (v. 34); He brings us near (Ephesians 2:13). Use the quotation of Meister Eckhart in the last bullet point in Theological Insights. God is all about compassion.
* How can we be sure? Our Gospel Lesson shows it. Tired and hungry as He was, just needing some time alone, Jesus saw the big crowd, depressed, bored, aimless, and He had pity on them, like He has pity on us. And we are pitiful.
* We are given so much in life, are so filled with material goods, yet we stick needles in our arms and alcohol down our guts so we can get high and forget the drift and boredom in our lives. We go from one worry to another, get depressed over the most insignificant problems. We get mean, we cheat, we lie, we complain. We are always complaining.
* With all our education and skills, Americans seem to use their rational capacity these days for doubting, questioning authority and values, and running away from commitments. Cite bullet points in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. We are pitiable people. But Christ pities us.
* Christ is present when we get depressed; He is right there when we get bored, showing kindness when we feel aimless. Use the quote by Saint Bernard in Theological Insights.
* How lovely, how wonderful, how great is our Lord's kindness. Where is He? As He went out of His way to come to the aimless crowds, He comes to us. He comes to be with us, to give our lives meaning. He comes to us here in the worship event, comes when you pray or read the Bible.
* When He comes, He comes with a plan and task for us in our aimlessness. It's what He did in today's gospel. He comes to feed the hungry (vv. 33-44) and to heal the sick (vv. 53-56). Life's not so aimless when you hang out with our Lord.
7. Wrap-Up
How can we spend time with this Christ who puts our lives in order? Where is He? He is right here in worship and in the time you spend with Him privately. He will be there the next time you are down, not quite sure where you are headed. We never have to face our aimlessness, sadness, and disappointments in life alone (without a shepherd) again.
