Skeletons In The Church Closet
Preaching
Lions And Cows Dining Together
And 111 Other Sermon Ideas
Object:
Purpose Statement: The Church is not now, and has not in the past, been perfect. We must acknowledge our sinful history, and work with its current limitations, attempting to be the best "Body of Christ" we can be.
We should never try to cover up the unfortunate history of the church's failings, past or current, just as the Bible doesn't gloss over the sins of the great biblical figures (see sermon Z-5, "Blemishes And Biblical Authentication"). This sermon could begin by sharing some of the sins of the church through the ages such as: torturing people until they conform to church doctrine, converting people to the faith by the sword, burning witches, supporting slavery, and other terrible distortions of the Christian teaching -- for it was done in the name of Christ and the church. Jesus did not make any attempt to hide the corruptions of his religious tradition. Matthew 23:1-36 is one of the most amazing incidents of harsh criticism in literature, and it comes from Jesus. He castigates the religious leaders in hard terms, calling them names, and charging them with serious offenses. He brings the "skeletons" out of the closet for all to see, even describing the leaders as being "like tombs full of dead men's bones" (v. 27).
a. Skeletons from the past. Select any number of historic examples such as those mentioned above to inform church members as to how the church was not always very moral. Cite corruptions in church-state unholy alliances, pronouncements of church leaders, persecution of Jews and other non-Christians, and other scandals. Of course, we do not want to be totally negative even though the purpose of this message is to deal with our failings and sins as the church. It is necessary to share the beautiful moments and mountaintop experiences in our church history. We have been first in leadership regarding medicine, education, civil rights, welfare, and just plain loving service. The church has served and sacrificed well and so have countless individual Christians. Rehearsing the good and bad past is how we learn and grow.
b. Skeletons of the present. The church has grown, but we're still guilty of sins. Thank heaven, hopefully we are well beyond the atrocities of the past. We do have our scandals and embarrassments today, and we need to admit them, or we will never conquer them. If we really love our church, we will not pretend our mistakes and abuses don't exist. Airing them and dealing with them is mandatory. It is because we love our church that we don't transfer our membership, but remain to criticize and work to make our church stronger and truer to the call of Christ.
c. Skeletons in the future. The lessons of the past and present will be critical to understanding our future ministry as the body of Christ. We cannot seek to "preserve" the church in its current mode as if it were a museum. Jesus' remarks concerning losing our life in service for the sake others is applicable to the life of the church, and crucial for our future. Our business is building the kingdom of God: "Thy will be done on earth...." We won't be perfect and we'll continue to make our mistakes well into the future. But God forgives us and uses us despite the new skeletons we create.
We should never try to cover up the unfortunate history of the church's failings, past or current, just as the Bible doesn't gloss over the sins of the great biblical figures (see sermon Z-5, "Blemishes And Biblical Authentication"). This sermon could begin by sharing some of the sins of the church through the ages such as: torturing people until they conform to church doctrine, converting people to the faith by the sword, burning witches, supporting slavery, and other terrible distortions of the Christian teaching -- for it was done in the name of Christ and the church. Jesus did not make any attempt to hide the corruptions of his religious tradition. Matthew 23:1-36 is one of the most amazing incidents of harsh criticism in literature, and it comes from Jesus. He castigates the religious leaders in hard terms, calling them names, and charging them with serious offenses. He brings the "skeletons" out of the closet for all to see, even describing the leaders as being "like tombs full of dead men's bones" (v. 27).
a. Skeletons from the past. Select any number of historic examples such as those mentioned above to inform church members as to how the church was not always very moral. Cite corruptions in church-state unholy alliances, pronouncements of church leaders, persecution of Jews and other non-Christians, and other scandals. Of course, we do not want to be totally negative even though the purpose of this message is to deal with our failings and sins as the church. It is necessary to share the beautiful moments and mountaintop experiences in our church history. We have been first in leadership regarding medicine, education, civil rights, welfare, and just plain loving service. The church has served and sacrificed well and so have countless individual Christians. Rehearsing the good and bad past is how we learn and grow.
b. Skeletons of the present. The church has grown, but we're still guilty of sins. Thank heaven, hopefully we are well beyond the atrocities of the past. We do have our scandals and embarrassments today, and we need to admit them, or we will never conquer them. If we really love our church, we will not pretend our mistakes and abuses don't exist. Airing them and dealing with them is mandatory. It is because we love our church that we don't transfer our membership, but remain to criticize and work to make our church stronger and truer to the call of Christ.
c. Skeletons in the future. The lessons of the past and present will be critical to understanding our future ministry as the body of Christ. We cannot seek to "preserve" the church in its current mode as if it were a museum. Jesus' remarks concerning losing our life in service for the sake others is applicable to the life of the church, and crucial for our future. Our business is building the kingdom of God: "Thy will be done on earth...." We won't be perfect and we'll continue to make our mistakes well into the future. But God forgives us and uses us despite the new skeletons we create.
