Proper 26 / Ordinary Time 31
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IX, Cycle A
Theme of the Day
The marvelous things God's word does.
Collect of the Day
Petitions are offered to the generous and supreme God that just as the Son instituted us in the ways of humility and sacrifice, so may we have our burdens eased and led to serve Him. Sanctification (Works by Grace as a gift) is emphasized.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 107:1-7
• A group thanksgiving for pilgrims who have come to Jerusalem for a festival.
• God is praised for His love (v. 1). The redeemed of the Lord should concur, for they were gathered from north, south, east, and west (vv. 2-3). Reference is made here to the Babylonian Exiles.
• Then groups of verses follow offering thanks for deliverance from various dangers.
• Verses 4-9 are thanks for deliverance for those who traveled across the desert. In their hunger and thirst (v. 5), those traveling in the desert cried out to Yahweh, and He delivered them (v. 6).
or Psalm 43
• A prayer that by healing from a disease the Psalmist might be vindicated as righteous.
• The Psalmist pleads vindication and deliverance from ungodly and unjust people (v. 1).
• God is the one in whom the Psalmist can take refuge. He asks why He must walk about mournfully because of oppression (v. 2).
• God is petitioned to send out His light and truth that they may lead to God's presence, where we can joyfully praise Him (vv. 3-4).
• The Psalmist wonders why his soul is cast down. He would hope in God and praise Him (v. 5).
Sermon Text and Title
"God Always Finishes What He Starts"
Joshua 3:7-17
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim that God never compromises on His promises is consistent in His loving aims for us. Providence and Justification by Grace are emphasized, with attention to how these themes might impact contemporary American life.
2. Exegesis
• Part of the Deuteronomistic strand that gave rise to the histories of 1 and 2 Samuel as well as 1 and 2 Kings, during King Josiah's reign in the seventh century BC, telling of the story of Joshua's leadership of Israel. There is a tension in the book between an apparently unified assault against Gentile inhabitants of the land, which succeeded under Joshua (11:23; 18:1) and the more piecemeal victory by the various tribes as represented in the book of Judges. This may be deemed eschatologically, as a proclamation of what is to come if the Hebrews remain obedient (22:1-4).
• Main Sections: (1) Settlement of the Israeli tribes in Canaan (1-12); (2) Distribution of land among the various tribes (1331); and (3) Three stories focusing on the loyalty the Israelite tribes owe God (22-24).
• Central Themes: See that section for Deuteronomy in Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible. Special emphasis is placed on the realization that an obedient Israel under God's chosen leader could come into existence as a society based on justice and freedom. Of course the Mosaic Law is construed as playing a normative role.
• The story of the Hebrews' crossing of the Jordan under Joshua's leadership.
• Yahweh tells Joshua of His plan to exalt the prophet in the sight of Israel so that they might know him as their leader. Joshua is ordered to command the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant to come to edge of the Jordan (vv. 7-8).
• Joshua tells the people that by these actions they will know that God is living and will drive out the Gentiles in the region (vv. 9-10).
• He prophesies that when the Ark of Covenant is brought into the waters of the Jordan, the river will divide. In fact that transpires (vv. 11-17).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text reminds us that God remains faithful in the present to His past promises and actions. Such continuity provides wonderful assurance (Providence and Justification by Grace).
• John Calvin sees the story in the lesson as an assurance about how God finishes what He starts (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. IV/1, p. 62).
• Writing about the God of this lesson who delivers, John Wesley observes:
The Lord your God. Who is now about to give a proof that He is both the Lord, the omnipotent governor of heaven and earth and all creatures; and your God, in covenant with you, having a tender care and affect for you.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 153)
• About another text (Jeremiah 29:1,4-7) famed modern Reformed theologian Karl Barth writes: "He is the God who lets man come to Him with his requests, and hears and answers them" (Church Dogmatics, Vol. III/4, p. 93).
• Commenting on the Psalm of the Day (v. 107) John Calvin offers a comment most relevant for this text:
For what else can be said of us, seeing that our natural instinct drives us to God for help, when we are in perplexity and peril; and when, after being rescued, we forthwith forget Him...
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. VI/1, p. 250)
• Also commenting on that Psalm Martin Luther notes:
O man, what are you doing? Do you not know that we should give thanks to the Lord for His mercies, not to you? They are not your merits but His mercies, and they were not given to you to give glory to yourself, but to the Lord.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 11, p. 349)
• These comments suggest another often-cited remark by the Reformer:
The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ, as a bride is united with her bridegroom. By this mystery, as the apostle teaches, Christ and the soul become one flesh. And if they are one flesh... it follows that everything they have they hold in common... accordingly the believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as though it were its own, and what the soul has Christ claims as His own.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 351)
• Luther wants Christians to emulate an apple tree, offering fruit to everyone (Weimar Ausgabe, Vol. 36, p. 456-457).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• There is an obvious lack of stability of contemporary American life. See the last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Epiphany 2; the last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Transfiguration; the first bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Advent 1.
• Postmodern life and its social commentators stress life in terms of rupture and conflict, rather than life as a coherent meaningful narrative (Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character, p. 143).
5. Gimmick
There is a marked lack of stability in contemporary American life. Use the data and insights in the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Rupture and conflict, new chapters and flexibility, constant change are the mantras of twenty-first-century American life. Yet we are discontent and uneasy with this scenario. We yearn to have our burdens eased (Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character, pp. 15-31). We feel the yearnings of twentieth-century English actor Norman Wisdom, to whom is attributed the comment: "I like consistency... you want some things you can rely on to stay the same."
• Review the story of the lesson (last three bullet points of Exegesis). Just as God had saved Israel from the Gentile Egyptians when he safely guided the Hebrews in crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14:5-31), so also Israel after forty years of wandering was promised that her people would enter the Holy Land when the waters of the Jordan would be parted. When the people of Israel need assurance, with Moses dead and a new leader Joshua at the helm, God promises to do again what He had done in the past. It is a testimony to continuity. God always finishes what He starts. As He set Israel free from Egypt He plans to do it again.
• Use the comment by John Calvin in the second bullet point of Theological Insights regarding how God always finishes what He starts.
• God's consistency, revealed throughout the Bible and throughout history, is a wonderful comforting testimony. It reminds us that what He did for Israel, what He did on the Cross, He will do for us tomorrow.
• Use the quotation by John Wesley in the third bullet point of Theological Insights. How wonderful to have this God who has such tender care and emotion for us.
• It's like NBA star Isaiah Thomas once said: "Most players in this league... want consistency." Everybody we know in this league [of life] wants consistency and needs a God who never gives up on us!
• Praise this loving God even further. Use the quote by Karl Barth in the fourth bullet point of Theological Insights.
• What Charlotte Bronte wrote in her famed novel Jane Eyre is true: "Consistency, madam, is the first of Christian duties." Christians value consistency, precisely because that wonderful God of ours has been so consistent in carrying out His promises to us.
• Consider the quote by Martin Luther in the next-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights. Also see the last bullet point of that section for the Second Lesson, All Saints Sunday. In being joined to that consistent God of ours, His consistency becomes ours!
7. Wrap-Up
Consistency is good for American life, good for providing relationships of trust, good for our confidence and security. No wonder God wants that from faithful people like us. For our God is consistent -- even consistent in His love and care. The more we hang around him, the more that consistency will rub off on us. What good (comforting) news!
First Lesson Complementary Version
Micah 3:5-12
• Wicked rulers and false prophets are denounced. They are said to abhor justice and because of them Jerusalem will be destroyed.
• This condemnation of religious and political leaders can be linked with the assigned Gospel Lesson, relying on its resources to proclaim both judgment and forgiveness (keeping us in our place).
Sermon Text and Title
"The Word of God!"
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim and clarify what the word of God is -- it is more than just information about God but God's actual presence to us -- and then to explore what this insight might mean in stimulating more Bible study and in changing people's lives. Sin, Sanctification, and Justification by Grace (the awareness that God's word is not our own) receive special attention.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• Paul continues to describe his life and work in Thessalonica.
• The apostle notes how he worked day and night (on his trade [Acts 18:3]) among the people so as not to burden them (v. 9). They are witnesses to how blameless his conduct was (v. 10).
• He claims to have dealt with the Thessalonians like a father with his children, urging them to lead lives worthy of God who calls them into His kingdom (vv. 11-12).
• Paul notes that he constantly gives thanks to God that in receiving God's word the people accepted it not as human words but as His word, which is at work in them (v. 13).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text focuses on the word of God and how it overcomes our own words (Justification by Grace). Nurture (Sanctification) and ministry also receive attention.
• Famed theologian modern Karl Barth teaches that God is actually with us in His word (present to us) (Church Dogmatics, Vol. I/1, p. 199).
• In another context Barth made a related point:
It is clear that this statement is decisive for the whole. It is because of this, i.e., in the power of the truth of the fact that the Spirit of God is before and above and in scripture... at the decisive point all that we have to say about it can consist only in an understanding and delimiting of the inaccessible mystery of the free grace in which the Spirit of God is present and active before and above and in the Bible.
(Church Dogmatics, Vol. I/2, p. 504)
• These comments are in the spirit of Martin Luther:
Remember what God has said: When the word of Christ is preached, I am in your mouth, and I pass with the word through your ears into your heart. So then, we have a sure sign and know that when the gospel is preached, God is present and would have Himself found there.
(What Luther Says, pp. 1460-1461)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Bible reading seems to be on the decline in America. While a 1980s Gallup poll found 73% of Americans undertaking this task, in 2000 the number had dwindled to 59%. Since the elderly were nearly twice as inclined to read the Bible than those between 18 and 29 at the time, we must assume that the number of readers years later has fallen even more drastically.
• It is significant to note that a 2010 Survey of U.S. Religious Knowledge by The Pew Forum revealed that atheists, agnostics, and Jews had higher levels of such knowledge than Christians of various denominations. The headline of a 2009 Year-In-Review Report of the Barna Group noted (based on its polls taken during the year) that "biblical literacy is neither a current reality nor a goal in the U.S."
• Regarding the sense of distance many Americans feel from God, see the second bullet point of this section for the Gospel, Christmas 1.
5. Gimmick
Read verse 13. After completing the reading, repeat with force the phrase "word of God."
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• We need the word of God for our time. Follow the leads and use the data in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Not only don't we read the Bible or study it much. Many of us also feel estranged from God, distant from Him.
• Part of the problem, a reason for our disdain of God's word, is that we tend to think of the Bible as a book about God, about teachings concerning God. Sometimes we even think critically and regard the biblical text or a sermon as the opinion of the writer and speaker. His/her opinion is just as good as mine or yours, right? For more on how relativism plagues our culture, see the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for the Gospel, Christmas 1.
• Paul gives us some good medicine for our problems in this Second Lesson. As we already noted, he makes clear to the beloved Thessalonians (for whom he clearly cared) that what has been taught to them are not his own words, but God's word which is at work in them (v. 13).
• Have the congregation think further about the miracle that the word of God is the actual words of God! When we have Bible study, the sermon is heard, whenever what is said accords with God's word in the Bible, it is God doing the talking!
• Use the comments by famed modern theologian Karl Barth in the second bullet point of Theological Insights. Then use the third bullet point of that section. When the Holy Spirit is present, God is present! It is harder to take the word of God for granted when we keep its miraculous character in mind.
• Reiterate the idea that we actually encounter God Himself, Jesus Himself, in preaching and scripture. Use Martin Luther's comments in the last bullet point of Theological Insights.
• This kind of exposure to God, actually to meet Him in the word of God, cannot help but change us. Intimate association with others changes you. Consider the comments alluded to in the last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson. Highly regarded Anglican Evangelical John Stott makes a relevant observation regarding how the word changes us. The word of God, he claims comes "to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency, and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior."
• Of course there is something in us that still wants to resist this way of thinking and wants to resist disciplined study of the word of God. Part of it is just good old-fashioned laziness.
• Karl Barth, mentioned earlier, suggests that we are uncomfortable with the word of God, because it creates a krisis in our lives. The word reveals how miserable we are, how sinful we are, and how far we fall short! All the illusions about our goodness whither away when we get wrapped up in the word of God and actually meet God and Jesus there (The Epistle to the Romans, p. 363).
7. Wrap-Up
Invite the congregation to keep in mind the next time they read and study scripture, even as they consider this sermon, that they are hearing God's voice and actually meeting Jesus! It will be harder for the flock to get bored or neglect the sermon and scripture. If they still have a hard time with this exciting idea that they can encounter God each time His word is taught or proclaimed, point out the observations of the first great Pietist Philip J. Spener, who tried to bring about a revival of Bible study nearly 350 years ago in a world neglecting the word not unlike our time. To make his case he wrote:
We know that by nature we have no good in us. If there is to be any good in us, it must be brought about by God. To this end the word of God is the powerful means... the more at home the word of God is among us, the more we shall bring about faith and its fruits.
(Pia Desideria, p. 87)
If you believe in original sin, if you believe we sin in all we do, then if we are not immersed in God's word we will be good for nothing. There are a lot of wonderful reasons for us to get more immersed in God's word (the need for it if we are to do any good, the chance actually to meet God and be changed by Him). Those reasons, as alluring as they are, cannot but sometimes bring a revival of Bible study and cannot but change this church and us!
Sermon Text and Title
"God's Word Puts Us in Our Place"
Matthew 23:1-12
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To condemn our sinful pride and the tendency to "talk a better [Christian] game than play it," but to assure us that in humble faith God makes us great (great servants). Sin, Justification by Grace, and Sanctification (construed as Spontaneous Good Works) are emphasized.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• Jesus proclaims woe to the scribes and Pharisees.
• Jesus told the crowds and His disciples that they should realize the scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat and so His followers should do whatever these teachers of the law teach. But Jesus advises the faith not to live as the scribes and Pharisees do for they do not practice what they teach (vv. 1-3).
• It seems that the scribes and Pharisees place heavy burdens on people without helping them (v. 4). They do their deeds to be seen by others. Reference is made to the broad phylacteries and fringes they wear (v. 5). Phylacteries were leather boxes worn on the left and forehead; they contained strips of parchment bearing the text of Exodus 13:9, 16 and Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:18-20. To have them be broad would be to announce one's superior faithfulness to the Torah. Likewise fringes were blue twisted threads at the four corners of male garments, functioning as reminders to obey God's commandments.
• The Pharisees and scribes are said to seek places of honor at banquets and in the synagogues and also to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called rabbis (vv. 6-7). Jesus in turn tells His followers not to accept the title rabbi, for they are but students of His, the one teacher. Nor are they to call others father, for their one Father is in heaven (vv. 8-9).
• Likewise they should not accept the title "instructor," for they have the Messiah, the one true instructor (v. 10).
• The greatest among them will be their servant (v. 11). All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (v. 12).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text proclaims that the true way to greatness is to become aware of our sinful pride and hypocrisy, then receiving forgiveness we yearn to serve. Sin, Justification by Grace, and Sanctification are taught.
• A famed theologian of the early church Irenaeus claimed that the Pharisees in the text "appearing beautiful outward, but are within full of dead bones" (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 203).
• The great preacher of the early church John Chrysostom regards this text as an instance of Jesus teaching humility (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10, p. 438). About the life Jesus exhorts, the famed preacher proclaims:
For they, as being strong, are able even in the midst of the raging of waters to enjoy a calm; but those, who art leaky on every side, hast need of tranquility, and to take breath a little, after successive ways.
(Ibid., p. 439)
• The text provides John Calvin with an occasion to comment on how the Christian regards the law:
For those who truly fear God... are more severe toward themselves than toward others, they are not so rigid in exacting obedience, and, being conscious of their own weakness, kindly forgive the weak.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVII/1, p. 76)
• Subsequently he notes that "the highest honour in the church is not government, but service" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVII/1, p. 81).
• Famed twentieth-century American theological commentator Reinhold Niebuhr observed how the theme of sin in this text can be an important resource for Ministry and Social Ethics:
One of the great resources of this faith for social achievement is the sense of humility which must result from the recognition of our common sinfulness. Christian brotherhood is the brotherhood of common need rather than of common achievement... Men who are prompted to humility may differ in their ideals; but they will know themselves one in the fact that they must differ, that their differences are rooted in natural and historic circumstances and that these differences rise to sinful proportions beyond anything which nature knows.
(Reinhold Niebuhr: Theologian of Public Life, pp. 132-133)
For quotes on how thoroughly mired in sin we are due to our concupiscence and self-centeredness, see the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Epiphany 3.
• In Martin Luther's view, gratitude is the name of the game for Christian faith:
For our Lord God has every right to insist on receiving the honor of gratitude we owe to Him for all His blessings.
7. This we should do gladly and willingly, because, in any case, it is something that doesn't require any pain or trouble. How much trouble does it take to turn to God and say, Oh Lord, you have given me good vision, skillful hands and feet... for they are all gifts from you.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p. 424)
But love does not look on what is right nor does it contend, it is present only to do good, and so it does even more than it is obliged to do, and goes beyond what is right.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, p. 75)
• About faith, Luther also offers two observations that puts it in its proper place:
Faith takes hold of Christ and has Him present, enclosing Him as the ring encloses the gem.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 26, p. 132)
It [weak faith] is like a man who has fallen into the middle of a stream. He catches the branch of a tree somehow to support himself above the water and be saved. So in the midst of sins, death, and anxieties, we too hold Christ with a weak faith. Yet this faith, tiny though it may be, still preserves us and rules over death and treads the devil and everything under foot.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 12, p. 262)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Most American Christians think they are good. See the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 2. On scientific data bears out the truth of the doctrine of original sin, see the last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Lent 1.
• American Christians are less committed than they think they should be according to a 2011 poll of the Barna Group. It revealed that only 52% of American Christians say that there is much more to the Christian life than they have experienced, and in an earlier 2005 poll only 53% said they were full-time servants of God.
5. Gimmick
Tell the story of Jesus' confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees dramatically. Use the last five bullet points of Exegesis.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• This story surely could not apply to us. Note to the congregation that we are not hypocrites like the religious people Jesus addressed. Then use the data in the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights to clarify that most American Christians do not think that Jesus' critique pertains to us.
• Consider the latest spurious scandal (local or national) regarding religious leaders. The preacher could take an opportunity to confess his/her own sins, asking members if they are not also guilty of such sin. Especially highlight verses 6-7, noting the temptations the preacher and other modern religious leaders have with the lure of power and recognition in the community. Consider in this connection the last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
• For quotes on how thoroughly mired in sin we are due to our concupiscence and self-centeredness, see the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Epiphany 3. Also see the last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Lent 1, for neurobiological data supporting the selfishness and sin that underlie all we do. Consider the description by Irenaeus in the second bullet point of Theological Insights concerning the outward beauty and inward decadence of religious leaders.
• Religious people like us are certainly put in our place by God's word uttered by Jesus in our Gospel Lesson. In fact, religious leaders should not even be called teachers, for God alone is the teacher (v. 10). Note how this fits the understanding that God's word is really God speaking, that He Himself is present in the word (as noted in the quotes by Karl Barth and Martin Luther in last three bullet points of Theological Insights for the Second Lesson).
• In view of our self-perceived goodness we do not want to hear about our sin and pretensions. Famed American social commentator Reinhold Niebuhr reminds us why it is good for us to hear this word. Use his quotation in the sixth bullet point of Theological Insights. We need to know of our sin because it makes us humble, and humble people are a little easier to live with and a little more likely to be able to get along with us other messed up people. Humble people make the best leaders.
• Use the observations by famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom in the third bullet point of Theological Insights to underline that this lesson is all about the need for doses of humility from God's word to remedy our sinful pride.
• John Chrysostom's point also gives us insight about what happens to you in dealing with life when God's word puts you in your place. It strengthens you and then strong in Christ you can cope with the storms of life a little easier.
• In our lesson, Jesus promises that those who humble themselves in this way are exalted, becoming the greatest because they become servants (vv. 12, 11). Use Martin Luther's comments in the next-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights. When you realize that God deserves all the glory for all you have, then faith and love of others just happens spontaneously, without much effort. A better Christian life happens spontaneously, you become "greater" in your walk with God when you get humbled and put in your place by God's word.
• Close by noting that we need to be careful not to be caught up here on the strength of our faith, for that would lead to the kind of pharisaic pride Jesus critiques. Note Luther's quotations in the last bullet point of Theological Insights, about how even a weak faith is sufficient for salvation.
7. Wrap-Up
Tell the flock we should thank God that Jesus' critique of the religious people of His day is aimed at us. When God's word puts us in our place, then we have nowhere to go but to fall into His loving arms, finally to recognize that all we have is His, and then He puts us in a new place -- that of servant whom He makes and has made great!
The marvelous things God's word does.
Collect of the Day
Petitions are offered to the generous and supreme God that just as the Son instituted us in the ways of humility and sacrifice, so may we have our burdens eased and led to serve Him. Sanctification (Works by Grace as a gift) is emphasized.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 107:1-7
• A group thanksgiving for pilgrims who have come to Jerusalem for a festival.
• God is praised for His love (v. 1). The redeemed of the Lord should concur, for they were gathered from north, south, east, and west (vv. 2-3). Reference is made here to the Babylonian Exiles.
• Then groups of verses follow offering thanks for deliverance from various dangers.
• Verses 4-9 are thanks for deliverance for those who traveled across the desert. In their hunger and thirst (v. 5), those traveling in the desert cried out to Yahweh, and He delivered them (v. 6).
or Psalm 43
• A prayer that by healing from a disease the Psalmist might be vindicated as righteous.
• The Psalmist pleads vindication and deliverance from ungodly and unjust people (v. 1).
• God is the one in whom the Psalmist can take refuge. He asks why He must walk about mournfully because of oppression (v. 2).
• God is petitioned to send out His light and truth that they may lead to God's presence, where we can joyfully praise Him (vv. 3-4).
• The Psalmist wonders why his soul is cast down. He would hope in God and praise Him (v. 5).
Sermon Text and Title
"God Always Finishes What He Starts"
Joshua 3:7-17
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim that God never compromises on His promises is consistent in His loving aims for us. Providence and Justification by Grace are emphasized, with attention to how these themes might impact contemporary American life.
2. Exegesis
• Part of the Deuteronomistic strand that gave rise to the histories of 1 and 2 Samuel as well as 1 and 2 Kings, during King Josiah's reign in the seventh century BC, telling of the story of Joshua's leadership of Israel. There is a tension in the book between an apparently unified assault against Gentile inhabitants of the land, which succeeded under Joshua (11:23; 18:1) and the more piecemeal victory by the various tribes as represented in the book of Judges. This may be deemed eschatologically, as a proclamation of what is to come if the Hebrews remain obedient (22:1-4).
• Main Sections: (1) Settlement of the Israeli tribes in Canaan (1-12); (2) Distribution of land among the various tribes (1331); and (3) Three stories focusing on the loyalty the Israelite tribes owe God (22-24).
• Central Themes: See that section for Deuteronomy in Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible. Special emphasis is placed on the realization that an obedient Israel under God's chosen leader could come into existence as a society based on justice and freedom. Of course the Mosaic Law is construed as playing a normative role.
• The story of the Hebrews' crossing of the Jordan under Joshua's leadership.
• Yahweh tells Joshua of His plan to exalt the prophet in the sight of Israel so that they might know him as their leader. Joshua is ordered to command the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant to come to edge of the Jordan (vv. 7-8).
• Joshua tells the people that by these actions they will know that God is living and will drive out the Gentiles in the region (vv. 9-10).
• He prophesies that when the Ark of Covenant is brought into the waters of the Jordan, the river will divide. In fact that transpires (vv. 11-17).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text reminds us that God remains faithful in the present to His past promises and actions. Such continuity provides wonderful assurance (Providence and Justification by Grace).
• John Calvin sees the story in the lesson as an assurance about how God finishes what He starts (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. IV/1, p. 62).
• Writing about the God of this lesson who delivers, John Wesley observes:
The Lord your God. Who is now about to give a proof that He is both the Lord, the omnipotent governor of heaven and earth and all creatures; and your God, in covenant with you, having a tender care and affect for you.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 153)
• About another text (Jeremiah 29:1,4-7) famed modern Reformed theologian Karl Barth writes: "He is the God who lets man come to Him with his requests, and hears and answers them" (Church Dogmatics, Vol. III/4, p. 93).
• Commenting on the Psalm of the Day (v. 107) John Calvin offers a comment most relevant for this text:
For what else can be said of us, seeing that our natural instinct drives us to God for help, when we are in perplexity and peril; and when, after being rescued, we forthwith forget Him...
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. VI/1, p. 250)
• Also commenting on that Psalm Martin Luther notes:
O man, what are you doing? Do you not know that we should give thanks to the Lord for His mercies, not to you? They are not your merits but His mercies, and they were not given to you to give glory to yourself, but to the Lord.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 11, p. 349)
• These comments suggest another often-cited remark by the Reformer:
The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ, as a bride is united with her bridegroom. By this mystery, as the apostle teaches, Christ and the soul become one flesh. And if they are one flesh... it follows that everything they have they hold in common... accordingly the believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as though it were its own, and what the soul has Christ claims as His own.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 351)
• Luther wants Christians to emulate an apple tree, offering fruit to everyone (Weimar Ausgabe, Vol. 36, p. 456-457).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• There is an obvious lack of stability of contemporary American life. See the last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Epiphany 2; the last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Transfiguration; the first bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Advent 1.
• Postmodern life and its social commentators stress life in terms of rupture and conflict, rather than life as a coherent meaningful narrative (Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character, p. 143).
5. Gimmick
There is a marked lack of stability in contemporary American life. Use the data and insights in the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Rupture and conflict, new chapters and flexibility, constant change are the mantras of twenty-first-century American life. Yet we are discontent and uneasy with this scenario. We yearn to have our burdens eased (Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character, pp. 15-31). We feel the yearnings of twentieth-century English actor Norman Wisdom, to whom is attributed the comment: "I like consistency... you want some things you can rely on to stay the same."
• Review the story of the lesson (last three bullet points of Exegesis). Just as God had saved Israel from the Gentile Egyptians when he safely guided the Hebrews in crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14:5-31), so also Israel after forty years of wandering was promised that her people would enter the Holy Land when the waters of the Jordan would be parted. When the people of Israel need assurance, with Moses dead and a new leader Joshua at the helm, God promises to do again what He had done in the past. It is a testimony to continuity. God always finishes what He starts. As He set Israel free from Egypt He plans to do it again.
• Use the comment by John Calvin in the second bullet point of Theological Insights regarding how God always finishes what He starts.
• God's consistency, revealed throughout the Bible and throughout history, is a wonderful comforting testimony. It reminds us that what He did for Israel, what He did on the Cross, He will do for us tomorrow.
• Use the quotation by John Wesley in the third bullet point of Theological Insights. How wonderful to have this God who has such tender care and emotion for us.
• It's like NBA star Isaiah Thomas once said: "Most players in this league... want consistency." Everybody we know in this league [of life] wants consistency and needs a God who never gives up on us!
• Praise this loving God even further. Use the quote by Karl Barth in the fourth bullet point of Theological Insights.
• What Charlotte Bronte wrote in her famed novel Jane Eyre is true: "Consistency, madam, is the first of Christian duties." Christians value consistency, precisely because that wonderful God of ours has been so consistent in carrying out His promises to us.
• Consider the quote by Martin Luther in the next-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights. Also see the last bullet point of that section for the Second Lesson, All Saints Sunday. In being joined to that consistent God of ours, His consistency becomes ours!
7. Wrap-Up
Consistency is good for American life, good for providing relationships of trust, good for our confidence and security. No wonder God wants that from faithful people like us. For our God is consistent -- even consistent in His love and care. The more we hang around him, the more that consistency will rub off on us. What good (comforting) news!
First Lesson Complementary Version
Micah 3:5-12
• Wicked rulers and false prophets are denounced. They are said to abhor justice and because of them Jerusalem will be destroyed.
• This condemnation of religious and political leaders can be linked with the assigned Gospel Lesson, relying on its resources to proclaim both judgment and forgiveness (keeping us in our place).
Sermon Text and Title
"The Word of God!"
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim and clarify what the word of God is -- it is more than just information about God but God's actual presence to us -- and then to explore what this insight might mean in stimulating more Bible study and in changing people's lives. Sin, Sanctification, and Justification by Grace (the awareness that God's word is not our own) receive special attention.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• Paul continues to describe his life and work in Thessalonica.
• The apostle notes how he worked day and night (on his trade [Acts 18:3]) among the people so as not to burden them (v. 9). They are witnesses to how blameless his conduct was (v. 10).
• He claims to have dealt with the Thessalonians like a father with his children, urging them to lead lives worthy of God who calls them into His kingdom (vv. 11-12).
• Paul notes that he constantly gives thanks to God that in receiving God's word the people accepted it not as human words but as His word, which is at work in them (v. 13).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text focuses on the word of God and how it overcomes our own words (Justification by Grace). Nurture (Sanctification) and ministry also receive attention.
• Famed theologian modern Karl Barth teaches that God is actually with us in His word (present to us) (Church Dogmatics, Vol. I/1, p. 199).
• In another context Barth made a related point:
It is clear that this statement is decisive for the whole. It is because of this, i.e., in the power of the truth of the fact that the Spirit of God is before and above and in scripture... at the decisive point all that we have to say about it can consist only in an understanding and delimiting of the inaccessible mystery of the free grace in which the Spirit of God is present and active before and above and in the Bible.
(Church Dogmatics, Vol. I/2, p. 504)
• These comments are in the spirit of Martin Luther:
Remember what God has said: When the word of Christ is preached, I am in your mouth, and I pass with the word through your ears into your heart. So then, we have a sure sign and know that when the gospel is preached, God is present and would have Himself found there.
(What Luther Says, pp. 1460-1461)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Bible reading seems to be on the decline in America. While a 1980s Gallup poll found 73% of Americans undertaking this task, in 2000 the number had dwindled to 59%. Since the elderly were nearly twice as inclined to read the Bible than those between 18 and 29 at the time, we must assume that the number of readers years later has fallen even more drastically.
• It is significant to note that a 2010 Survey of U.S. Religious Knowledge by The Pew Forum revealed that atheists, agnostics, and Jews had higher levels of such knowledge than Christians of various denominations. The headline of a 2009 Year-In-Review Report of the Barna Group noted (based on its polls taken during the year) that "biblical literacy is neither a current reality nor a goal in the U.S."
• Regarding the sense of distance many Americans feel from God, see the second bullet point of this section for the Gospel, Christmas 1.
5. Gimmick
Read verse 13. After completing the reading, repeat with force the phrase "word of God."
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• We need the word of God for our time. Follow the leads and use the data in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Not only don't we read the Bible or study it much. Many of us also feel estranged from God, distant from Him.
• Part of the problem, a reason for our disdain of God's word, is that we tend to think of the Bible as a book about God, about teachings concerning God. Sometimes we even think critically and regard the biblical text or a sermon as the opinion of the writer and speaker. His/her opinion is just as good as mine or yours, right? For more on how relativism plagues our culture, see the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for the Gospel, Christmas 1.
• Paul gives us some good medicine for our problems in this Second Lesson. As we already noted, he makes clear to the beloved Thessalonians (for whom he clearly cared) that what has been taught to them are not his own words, but God's word which is at work in them (v. 13).
• Have the congregation think further about the miracle that the word of God is the actual words of God! When we have Bible study, the sermon is heard, whenever what is said accords with God's word in the Bible, it is God doing the talking!
• Use the comments by famed modern theologian Karl Barth in the second bullet point of Theological Insights. Then use the third bullet point of that section. When the Holy Spirit is present, God is present! It is harder to take the word of God for granted when we keep its miraculous character in mind.
• Reiterate the idea that we actually encounter God Himself, Jesus Himself, in preaching and scripture. Use Martin Luther's comments in the last bullet point of Theological Insights.
• This kind of exposure to God, actually to meet Him in the word of God, cannot help but change us. Intimate association with others changes you. Consider the comments alluded to in the last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson. Highly regarded Anglican Evangelical John Stott makes a relevant observation regarding how the word changes us. The word of God, he claims comes "to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency, and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior."
• Of course there is something in us that still wants to resist this way of thinking and wants to resist disciplined study of the word of God. Part of it is just good old-fashioned laziness.
• Karl Barth, mentioned earlier, suggests that we are uncomfortable with the word of God, because it creates a krisis in our lives. The word reveals how miserable we are, how sinful we are, and how far we fall short! All the illusions about our goodness whither away when we get wrapped up in the word of God and actually meet God and Jesus there (The Epistle to the Romans, p. 363).
7. Wrap-Up
Invite the congregation to keep in mind the next time they read and study scripture, even as they consider this sermon, that they are hearing God's voice and actually meeting Jesus! It will be harder for the flock to get bored or neglect the sermon and scripture. If they still have a hard time with this exciting idea that they can encounter God each time His word is taught or proclaimed, point out the observations of the first great Pietist Philip J. Spener, who tried to bring about a revival of Bible study nearly 350 years ago in a world neglecting the word not unlike our time. To make his case he wrote:
We know that by nature we have no good in us. If there is to be any good in us, it must be brought about by God. To this end the word of God is the powerful means... the more at home the word of God is among us, the more we shall bring about faith and its fruits.
(Pia Desideria, p. 87)
If you believe in original sin, if you believe we sin in all we do, then if we are not immersed in God's word we will be good for nothing. There are a lot of wonderful reasons for us to get more immersed in God's word (the need for it if we are to do any good, the chance actually to meet God and be changed by Him). Those reasons, as alluring as they are, cannot but sometimes bring a revival of Bible study and cannot but change this church and us!
Sermon Text and Title
"God's Word Puts Us in Our Place"
Matthew 23:1-12
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To condemn our sinful pride and the tendency to "talk a better [Christian] game than play it," but to assure us that in humble faith God makes us great (great servants). Sin, Justification by Grace, and Sanctification (construed as Spontaneous Good Works) are emphasized.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• Jesus proclaims woe to the scribes and Pharisees.
• Jesus told the crowds and His disciples that they should realize the scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat and so His followers should do whatever these teachers of the law teach. But Jesus advises the faith not to live as the scribes and Pharisees do for they do not practice what they teach (vv. 1-3).
• It seems that the scribes and Pharisees place heavy burdens on people without helping them (v. 4). They do their deeds to be seen by others. Reference is made to the broad phylacteries and fringes they wear (v. 5). Phylacteries were leather boxes worn on the left and forehead; they contained strips of parchment bearing the text of Exodus 13:9, 16 and Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:18-20. To have them be broad would be to announce one's superior faithfulness to the Torah. Likewise fringes were blue twisted threads at the four corners of male garments, functioning as reminders to obey God's commandments.
• The Pharisees and scribes are said to seek places of honor at banquets and in the synagogues and also to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called rabbis (vv. 6-7). Jesus in turn tells His followers not to accept the title rabbi, for they are but students of His, the one teacher. Nor are they to call others father, for their one Father is in heaven (vv. 8-9).
• Likewise they should not accept the title "instructor," for they have the Messiah, the one true instructor (v. 10).
• The greatest among them will be their servant (v. 11). All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (v. 12).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text proclaims that the true way to greatness is to become aware of our sinful pride and hypocrisy, then receiving forgiveness we yearn to serve. Sin, Justification by Grace, and Sanctification are taught.
• A famed theologian of the early church Irenaeus claimed that the Pharisees in the text "appearing beautiful outward, but are within full of dead bones" (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 203).
• The great preacher of the early church John Chrysostom regards this text as an instance of Jesus teaching humility (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10, p. 438). About the life Jesus exhorts, the famed preacher proclaims:
For they, as being strong, are able even in the midst of the raging of waters to enjoy a calm; but those, who art leaky on every side, hast need of tranquility, and to take breath a little, after successive ways.
(Ibid., p. 439)
• The text provides John Calvin with an occasion to comment on how the Christian regards the law:
For those who truly fear God... are more severe toward themselves than toward others, they are not so rigid in exacting obedience, and, being conscious of their own weakness, kindly forgive the weak.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVII/1, p. 76)
• Subsequently he notes that "the highest honour in the church is not government, but service" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVII/1, p. 81).
• Famed twentieth-century American theological commentator Reinhold Niebuhr observed how the theme of sin in this text can be an important resource for Ministry and Social Ethics:
One of the great resources of this faith for social achievement is the sense of humility which must result from the recognition of our common sinfulness. Christian brotherhood is the brotherhood of common need rather than of common achievement... Men who are prompted to humility may differ in their ideals; but they will know themselves one in the fact that they must differ, that their differences are rooted in natural and historic circumstances and that these differences rise to sinful proportions beyond anything which nature knows.
(Reinhold Niebuhr: Theologian of Public Life, pp. 132-133)
For quotes on how thoroughly mired in sin we are due to our concupiscence and self-centeredness, see the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Epiphany 3.
• In Martin Luther's view, gratitude is the name of the game for Christian faith:
For our Lord God has every right to insist on receiving the honor of gratitude we owe to Him for all His blessings.
7. This we should do gladly and willingly, because, in any case, it is something that doesn't require any pain or trouble. How much trouble does it take to turn to God and say, Oh Lord, you have given me good vision, skillful hands and feet... for they are all gifts from you.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p. 424)
But love does not look on what is right nor does it contend, it is present only to do good, and so it does even more than it is obliged to do, and goes beyond what is right.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, p. 75)
• About faith, Luther also offers two observations that puts it in its proper place:
Faith takes hold of Christ and has Him present, enclosing Him as the ring encloses the gem.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 26, p. 132)
It [weak faith] is like a man who has fallen into the middle of a stream. He catches the branch of a tree somehow to support himself above the water and be saved. So in the midst of sins, death, and anxieties, we too hold Christ with a weak faith. Yet this faith, tiny though it may be, still preserves us and rules over death and treads the devil and everything under foot.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 12, p. 262)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Most American Christians think they are good. See the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 2. On scientific data bears out the truth of the doctrine of original sin, see the last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Lent 1.
• American Christians are less committed than they think they should be according to a 2011 poll of the Barna Group. It revealed that only 52% of American Christians say that there is much more to the Christian life than they have experienced, and in an earlier 2005 poll only 53% said they were full-time servants of God.
5. Gimmick
Tell the story of Jesus' confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees dramatically. Use the last five bullet points of Exegesis.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• This story surely could not apply to us. Note to the congregation that we are not hypocrites like the religious people Jesus addressed. Then use the data in the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights to clarify that most American Christians do not think that Jesus' critique pertains to us.
• Consider the latest spurious scandal (local or national) regarding religious leaders. The preacher could take an opportunity to confess his/her own sins, asking members if they are not also guilty of such sin. Especially highlight verses 6-7, noting the temptations the preacher and other modern religious leaders have with the lure of power and recognition in the community. Consider in this connection the last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
• For quotes on how thoroughly mired in sin we are due to our concupiscence and self-centeredness, see the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Epiphany 3. Also see the last bullet point of this section for the First Lesson, Lent 1, for neurobiological data supporting the selfishness and sin that underlie all we do. Consider the description by Irenaeus in the second bullet point of Theological Insights concerning the outward beauty and inward decadence of religious leaders.
• Religious people like us are certainly put in our place by God's word uttered by Jesus in our Gospel Lesson. In fact, religious leaders should not even be called teachers, for God alone is the teacher (v. 10). Note how this fits the understanding that God's word is really God speaking, that He Himself is present in the word (as noted in the quotes by Karl Barth and Martin Luther in last three bullet points of Theological Insights for the Second Lesson).
• In view of our self-perceived goodness we do not want to hear about our sin and pretensions. Famed American social commentator Reinhold Niebuhr reminds us why it is good for us to hear this word. Use his quotation in the sixth bullet point of Theological Insights. We need to know of our sin because it makes us humble, and humble people are a little easier to live with and a little more likely to be able to get along with us other messed up people. Humble people make the best leaders.
• Use the observations by famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom in the third bullet point of Theological Insights to underline that this lesson is all about the need for doses of humility from God's word to remedy our sinful pride.
• John Chrysostom's point also gives us insight about what happens to you in dealing with life when God's word puts you in your place. It strengthens you and then strong in Christ you can cope with the storms of life a little easier.
• In our lesson, Jesus promises that those who humble themselves in this way are exalted, becoming the greatest because they become servants (vv. 12, 11). Use Martin Luther's comments in the next-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights. When you realize that God deserves all the glory for all you have, then faith and love of others just happens spontaneously, without much effort. A better Christian life happens spontaneously, you become "greater" in your walk with God when you get humbled and put in your place by God's word.
• Close by noting that we need to be careful not to be caught up here on the strength of our faith, for that would lead to the kind of pharisaic pride Jesus critiques. Note Luther's quotations in the last bullet point of Theological Insights, about how even a weak faith is sufficient for salvation.
7. Wrap-Up
Tell the flock we should thank God that Jesus' critique of the religious people of His day is aimed at us. When God's word puts us in our place, then we have nowhere to go but to fall into His loving arms, finally to recognize that all we have is His, and then He puts us in a new place -- that of servant whom He makes and has made great!
