Sermon illustrations for Easter 3 (2016)
Illustration
Object:
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Paul’s Damascus Road conversion experience is impressive. With the words of the Risen Christ coming out of that bright light, he was transformed from an enemy of the church into the gospel’s most articulate spokesman.
On the one hand, not many Christians have a conversion story as dramatic as Paul’s. On the other hand, many faithful people can point to events that turned their lives in a radically different direction. That is to say, they are many personal “Damascus Road” encounters in which people hear God’s call to go in an entirely different direction.
Personally, I can cite an encounter I had in the middle 1960s on St. Antoine St. in Detroit, Michigan. I was a new college graduate employed as an epidemiologist for sexually transmitted diseases. The neighborhood was blighted. I was in a dilapidated building talking to a 16-year-old girl who was both a prostitute and a heroin addict. My responsibility was to tell her that she had been exposed to syphilis and to convince her to get an examination at the city’s public health clinic.
As we talked, I remember thinking that this “child” never stood a chance at the abundance of life. At her age she should have been worried about a date to the prom, not about her next “john” to pay for a heroin fix. In the months that followed, I often reflected about that encounter. I started to think about trying to make a difference in people’s lives before they found themselves in the desperate circumstances of that young woman. That led me to consider pastoral ministry -- a calling that I followed as my life’s work.
It took a decade or two to realize that encounter was, for me, a Damascus Road experience. Although there was no bright light or loud voice from the heavens, it was no less the call of the risen Christ to go in a radically different direction with my life.
R. Robert C.
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
The narrative that Luke recounts in this lesson reminds us that it does not matter how much wrong you have done in the past, God can still use you. He chooses to use Paul and Ananias and us to bring people to Christ. Evangelism -- it is like the famed preacher of early Church John Chrysostom once proclaimed: “Nothing is more frigid than a Christian, who cares not for the salvation of others” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 11, p. 133). Evangelical author Kevin Harney puts it bluntly: “Evangelism is not a spectator sport. We are called to get into the game.” Martin Luther helps us understand that your qualifications are not what make you qualified for the job, not what make you a Christian: “So one is not called a Christian because he does much, but because he receives something from Christ, draws from him and lets Christ only give to him. If one no longer receives anything from Christ, he is no longer a Christian, so that the name Christian continues to be based only on receiving, and not on giving and doing” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 3, pp. 329-330).
Mark E.
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
A few years ago at Nichols Elementary School in Frisco, Texas, the PTA decided to call the Christmas celebration a “winter party” or a “holiday party” and ban any mention of Christmas or the words “red” and “green.” This was an effort on the part of the PTA to avoid offending anyone. The principal, however, posted on the school’s website that students could use any descriptive term they desired, including calling it a “Christmas party.”
Application: When he was converted, Paul was bold in his speech -- and as a former Jew he was not concerned about being politically correct.
Ron L.
Revelation 5:11-14
Have you ever had a vision? When you thought about the vision, did it make any sense to you? Was it simply symbolic or metaphorical? Could you see where God was leading you in your vision? John, the John whose vision became the book of Revelation, was a church pastor (actually a pastor of seven churches) who was exiled for professing faith in Jesus. His exile gave him time to pray, to be in meditation, to envision.
John hears the songs of angels and heavenly beings. John sees the throne of God. John knows the presence of God in a profound way, a way most of us can’t even imagine. In his vision, John knows that the Lamb, the innocent Jesus led to the slaughter, is honored for having sacrificed everything for his faith, for his ministry, for his relationship with God. John records the song of heaven: “God and Jesus be blessed forever!” This Easter season, may we sing that song, may we encounter God and the living Jesus, may we proclaim our faithfulness and our commitment to act on our faithfulness.
Bonnie B.
Revelation 5:11-14
People tend to get excited when they attend a major event. Tickets for certain concerts can easily cost hundreds of dollars. A chance to sit in the last row of the arena for a Final Four championship game can cost $1,000 or more. Some will pay hundreds of dollars for standing room only tickets at the World Series. Super Bowl tickets can cost as much as a week’s salary for a lot of people. Why do folks spend so much? The answer, I think, is that there is something amazing about being there. The excitement, the adrenaline rush, the thrill -- it’s all there if you’re there.
In this text we see the greatest moment of exhilaration, joy, and celebration humanity will ever know. The Lamb of God is praised by the hosts of heaven. He is worthy of all glory, honor, and blessing. Reading these words and envisioning this scene is incredible. The descriptions boggle the mind. A person would pay any price to be there, to witness this gathering, just to be there and see it. Wouldn’t that be something? What’s the cost? What do you have to do to get there? No amount of money will matter at this gate. It’s a matter of who you know. In this case, do you know Jesus?
Bill T.
Revelation 5:11-14
I’ve always been tempted to call the final book of the New Testament Revelation: The Musical! And in this passage, like many others, folks in heaven burst into song and dance: “Worthy is the Lamb!”
Why? Why is the lamb worthy? It might be helpful to look at the larger context for an answer to that question. Not long after the skies are peeled back and the Revelator gets a good look at what’s going on in heaven, he discovers there’s trouble in paradise. There’s the scroll with the seven seals, and no one is able to open it -- not the magnificent beasts nor the elders nor anyone. John weeps until he learns that the Lion of Judah will soon be on the scene to open the scroll.
The Lion appears as the symbol for God’s people both within and beyond the Hebrew scripture. A lion, a fearsome animal with powerful jaws and sharp teeth, to tear open the seals. But then in one of the most delightful -- and funny -- twists in Revelation, the Lion is revealed: only it is a lamb. But not even a lamb. Arnion means “little lamby-kin.” And it bears the marks of slaughter. The meek lamb, a symbol of sacrifice, was dead -- but now lives and reigns.
This sounds suspiciously like Jesus. This is Jesus. John is the one who twice in his gospel refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God. The imagery of the crucifixion in John deliberately calls to mind the perfect sacrifice. And since this is Revelation: The Musical!, the lamb is celebrated in a song (Revelation 5:9-10) that lists his qualifications to break open the seals as “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation” (v. 9).
This is repeated in the song that is a part of today’s passage. Look at some of the words: worthy, slaughtered lamb, power, rich, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, praise. God rules. The lamb redeems. The Jesus of Revelation is shown to be the same Jesus who we, in the words of the First Letter of John, “have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands... the word of life” (1 John 1:1).
Frank R.
Revelation 5:11-14
What a story! We enjoy hearing it, and may even have a hymn that contains some of those words. We might have no trouble singing that hymn, but the description here is so overwhelming that the only reason we may believe it is that it was written in our Bible. How can we doubt what we read in scripture?
Sometimes we just have to pass over the words and try to see what God is telling us here. It seems like the main purpose is to praise Jesus. We should be saying and singing those words, not waiting for thousands of angels to back them up.
I don’t think we have to see the lamb ourselves to praise God. We can see what he has done, convincing billions of people on earth to believe in him. We can see what he has done in the lives of many -- some of whom we may know personally. Mother Teresa came to our clinic in Nepal, and her works are beyond belief! I once had breakfast with Billy Graham in New York and invited him to come to Cheyenne for a crusade. He is enough to win millions to Jesus! There are also many whose names are not famous who have served our Lord in remarkable ways. I have met many of them, and just being in their company builds my faith. One that I keep mentioning is old pastor Tir in Nepal. He was the first Christian in Nepal and spent time in prison for his faith, but they let him out early because he was winning over his guards who had been beating him. Because of that one man whose church I had visited, there are now over two million Christians there.
When we meet such true believers -- like the pastor of your church, it may give you faith and make you want to shout praise to the Lord.
Bob O.
John 21:1-19
When this gospel reading opens, Peter and at least some of the other apostles have returned to the familiar environs of their hometown on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius. They feel the pain inflicted by events during their visit to Jerusalem. Thoughts of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot still cut deeply. They remain shocked by the cruel behavior of religious and Roman leaders. Peter must be bent double by the pain of his embarrassing denial of the Lord. Grief at the loss of the presence of Jesus, their leader, is still an open wound. The scene is one of a miserable group of people gathered under a cloud of darkness.
Rather than simply feeling sorry for themselves and continuing to stew in the bitter broth of their despair, Peter says, “I am going fishing.” We don’t know for sure, but perhaps he even added “Any of you guys want to join me?” We do know that six others chime in that they too want to go fishing. One can almost feel a little light breaking though the darkness of their collective dark mood.
What an excellent suggestion. When nothing seems to be going right, don’t sit around wallowing in self-pity. Get off the couch and do something you like to do. Go fishing. Bake a cake. Do something nice for the neighbors. Sing a song. Say a prayer.
There is no promise that the activity will resolve all your problems. Remember that Peter and the others didn’t catch a single fish that night. On the other hand, their night of unsuccessful fishing led to an encounter with the risen Lord -- not to mention an unexpectedly pleasant breakfast on the beach. Is it possible that something like that might happen to you?
R. Robert C.
John 21:1-19
This is a story of second chances, about Peter’s forgiveness. Martin Luther offers profound insights on this matter. About forgiveness he wrote: “...in the Presence of God all men must humble themselves and be glad that they can obtain forgiveness. Let no one think that he will ever in this life reach the point where he does not need this forgiveness. In short, unless God constantly forgives, we are lost” (The Book of Concord, p. 432).
This joyful forgiveness and second chance sends us, like Peter, into the trenches. In a sermon Luther proclaimed: “He who sincerely desires the forgiveness of sins must at least have the resolve not to incur guilt any more, that is, to abstain from sins to reform himself and become more pious. For to continue in sins and not to want to abstain from them but nonetheless to pray for the forgiveness of sins, is mocking our Lord God” (What Luther Says, p. 520).
Mark E.
John 21:1-19
The New York Times reports that in Denmark “joy is always in season,” as Denmark celebrates Christmas year-round. Since July 1957, the country has held the World Santa Claus Congress; the world’s largest Christmas market is at Tivoli Gardens, which covers 20 acres and has 900,000 visitors a year; and Christmas carols can be heard year-round in the land that gave us Hans Christian Anderson.
Application: After the resurrection and before the ascension, Jesus met the disciples fishing. It was on that beach that they recognized their risen Lord and with great joy affirmed his presence. It was from that time forth that both Christmas and Easter were times of constant and unending joy and celebration.
Ron L.
Paul’s Damascus Road conversion experience is impressive. With the words of the Risen Christ coming out of that bright light, he was transformed from an enemy of the church into the gospel’s most articulate spokesman.
On the one hand, not many Christians have a conversion story as dramatic as Paul’s. On the other hand, many faithful people can point to events that turned their lives in a radically different direction. That is to say, they are many personal “Damascus Road” encounters in which people hear God’s call to go in an entirely different direction.
Personally, I can cite an encounter I had in the middle 1960s on St. Antoine St. in Detroit, Michigan. I was a new college graduate employed as an epidemiologist for sexually transmitted diseases. The neighborhood was blighted. I was in a dilapidated building talking to a 16-year-old girl who was both a prostitute and a heroin addict. My responsibility was to tell her that she had been exposed to syphilis and to convince her to get an examination at the city’s public health clinic.
As we talked, I remember thinking that this “child” never stood a chance at the abundance of life. At her age she should have been worried about a date to the prom, not about her next “john” to pay for a heroin fix. In the months that followed, I often reflected about that encounter. I started to think about trying to make a difference in people’s lives before they found themselves in the desperate circumstances of that young woman. That led me to consider pastoral ministry -- a calling that I followed as my life’s work.
It took a decade or two to realize that encounter was, for me, a Damascus Road experience. Although there was no bright light or loud voice from the heavens, it was no less the call of the risen Christ to go in a radically different direction with my life.
R. Robert C.
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
The narrative that Luke recounts in this lesson reminds us that it does not matter how much wrong you have done in the past, God can still use you. He chooses to use Paul and Ananias and us to bring people to Christ. Evangelism -- it is like the famed preacher of early Church John Chrysostom once proclaimed: “Nothing is more frigid than a Christian, who cares not for the salvation of others” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 11, p. 133). Evangelical author Kevin Harney puts it bluntly: “Evangelism is not a spectator sport. We are called to get into the game.” Martin Luther helps us understand that your qualifications are not what make you qualified for the job, not what make you a Christian: “So one is not called a Christian because he does much, but because he receives something from Christ, draws from him and lets Christ only give to him. If one no longer receives anything from Christ, he is no longer a Christian, so that the name Christian continues to be based only on receiving, and not on giving and doing” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 3, pp. 329-330).
Mark E.
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
A few years ago at Nichols Elementary School in Frisco, Texas, the PTA decided to call the Christmas celebration a “winter party” or a “holiday party” and ban any mention of Christmas or the words “red” and “green.” This was an effort on the part of the PTA to avoid offending anyone. The principal, however, posted on the school’s website that students could use any descriptive term they desired, including calling it a “Christmas party.”
Application: When he was converted, Paul was bold in his speech -- and as a former Jew he was not concerned about being politically correct.
Ron L.
Revelation 5:11-14
Have you ever had a vision? When you thought about the vision, did it make any sense to you? Was it simply symbolic or metaphorical? Could you see where God was leading you in your vision? John, the John whose vision became the book of Revelation, was a church pastor (actually a pastor of seven churches) who was exiled for professing faith in Jesus. His exile gave him time to pray, to be in meditation, to envision.
John hears the songs of angels and heavenly beings. John sees the throne of God. John knows the presence of God in a profound way, a way most of us can’t even imagine. In his vision, John knows that the Lamb, the innocent Jesus led to the slaughter, is honored for having sacrificed everything for his faith, for his ministry, for his relationship with God. John records the song of heaven: “God and Jesus be blessed forever!” This Easter season, may we sing that song, may we encounter God and the living Jesus, may we proclaim our faithfulness and our commitment to act on our faithfulness.
Bonnie B.
Revelation 5:11-14
People tend to get excited when they attend a major event. Tickets for certain concerts can easily cost hundreds of dollars. A chance to sit in the last row of the arena for a Final Four championship game can cost $1,000 or more. Some will pay hundreds of dollars for standing room only tickets at the World Series. Super Bowl tickets can cost as much as a week’s salary for a lot of people. Why do folks spend so much? The answer, I think, is that there is something amazing about being there. The excitement, the adrenaline rush, the thrill -- it’s all there if you’re there.
In this text we see the greatest moment of exhilaration, joy, and celebration humanity will ever know. The Lamb of God is praised by the hosts of heaven. He is worthy of all glory, honor, and blessing. Reading these words and envisioning this scene is incredible. The descriptions boggle the mind. A person would pay any price to be there, to witness this gathering, just to be there and see it. Wouldn’t that be something? What’s the cost? What do you have to do to get there? No amount of money will matter at this gate. It’s a matter of who you know. In this case, do you know Jesus?
Bill T.
Revelation 5:11-14
I’ve always been tempted to call the final book of the New Testament Revelation: The Musical! And in this passage, like many others, folks in heaven burst into song and dance: “Worthy is the Lamb!”
Why? Why is the lamb worthy? It might be helpful to look at the larger context for an answer to that question. Not long after the skies are peeled back and the Revelator gets a good look at what’s going on in heaven, he discovers there’s trouble in paradise. There’s the scroll with the seven seals, and no one is able to open it -- not the magnificent beasts nor the elders nor anyone. John weeps until he learns that the Lion of Judah will soon be on the scene to open the scroll.
The Lion appears as the symbol for God’s people both within and beyond the Hebrew scripture. A lion, a fearsome animal with powerful jaws and sharp teeth, to tear open the seals. But then in one of the most delightful -- and funny -- twists in Revelation, the Lion is revealed: only it is a lamb. But not even a lamb. Arnion means “little lamby-kin.” And it bears the marks of slaughter. The meek lamb, a symbol of sacrifice, was dead -- but now lives and reigns.
This sounds suspiciously like Jesus. This is Jesus. John is the one who twice in his gospel refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God. The imagery of the crucifixion in John deliberately calls to mind the perfect sacrifice. And since this is Revelation: The Musical!, the lamb is celebrated in a song (Revelation 5:9-10) that lists his qualifications to break open the seals as “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation” (v. 9).
This is repeated in the song that is a part of today’s passage. Look at some of the words: worthy, slaughtered lamb, power, rich, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, praise. God rules. The lamb redeems. The Jesus of Revelation is shown to be the same Jesus who we, in the words of the First Letter of John, “have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands... the word of life” (1 John 1:1).
Frank R.
Revelation 5:11-14
What a story! We enjoy hearing it, and may even have a hymn that contains some of those words. We might have no trouble singing that hymn, but the description here is so overwhelming that the only reason we may believe it is that it was written in our Bible. How can we doubt what we read in scripture?
Sometimes we just have to pass over the words and try to see what God is telling us here. It seems like the main purpose is to praise Jesus. We should be saying and singing those words, not waiting for thousands of angels to back them up.
I don’t think we have to see the lamb ourselves to praise God. We can see what he has done, convincing billions of people on earth to believe in him. We can see what he has done in the lives of many -- some of whom we may know personally. Mother Teresa came to our clinic in Nepal, and her works are beyond belief! I once had breakfast with Billy Graham in New York and invited him to come to Cheyenne for a crusade. He is enough to win millions to Jesus! There are also many whose names are not famous who have served our Lord in remarkable ways. I have met many of them, and just being in their company builds my faith. One that I keep mentioning is old pastor Tir in Nepal. He was the first Christian in Nepal and spent time in prison for his faith, but they let him out early because he was winning over his guards who had been beating him. Because of that one man whose church I had visited, there are now over two million Christians there.
When we meet such true believers -- like the pastor of your church, it may give you faith and make you want to shout praise to the Lord.
Bob O.
John 21:1-19
When this gospel reading opens, Peter and at least some of the other apostles have returned to the familiar environs of their hometown on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius. They feel the pain inflicted by events during their visit to Jerusalem. Thoughts of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot still cut deeply. They remain shocked by the cruel behavior of religious and Roman leaders. Peter must be bent double by the pain of his embarrassing denial of the Lord. Grief at the loss of the presence of Jesus, their leader, is still an open wound. The scene is one of a miserable group of people gathered under a cloud of darkness.
Rather than simply feeling sorry for themselves and continuing to stew in the bitter broth of their despair, Peter says, “I am going fishing.” We don’t know for sure, but perhaps he even added “Any of you guys want to join me?” We do know that six others chime in that they too want to go fishing. One can almost feel a little light breaking though the darkness of their collective dark mood.
What an excellent suggestion. When nothing seems to be going right, don’t sit around wallowing in self-pity. Get off the couch and do something you like to do. Go fishing. Bake a cake. Do something nice for the neighbors. Sing a song. Say a prayer.
There is no promise that the activity will resolve all your problems. Remember that Peter and the others didn’t catch a single fish that night. On the other hand, their night of unsuccessful fishing led to an encounter with the risen Lord -- not to mention an unexpectedly pleasant breakfast on the beach. Is it possible that something like that might happen to you?
R. Robert C.
John 21:1-19
This is a story of second chances, about Peter’s forgiveness. Martin Luther offers profound insights on this matter. About forgiveness he wrote: “...in the Presence of God all men must humble themselves and be glad that they can obtain forgiveness. Let no one think that he will ever in this life reach the point where he does not need this forgiveness. In short, unless God constantly forgives, we are lost” (The Book of Concord, p. 432).
This joyful forgiveness and second chance sends us, like Peter, into the trenches. In a sermon Luther proclaimed: “He who sincerely desires the forgiveness of sins must at least have the resolve not to incur guilt any more, that is, to abstain from sins to reform himself and become more pious. For to continue in sins and not to want to abstain from them but nonetheless to pray for the forgiveness of sins, is mocking our Lord God” (What Luther Says, p. 520).
Mark E.
John 21:1-19
The New York Times reports that in Denmark “joy is always in season,” as Denmark celebrates Christmas year-round. Since July 1957, the country has held the World Santa Claus Congress; the world’s largest Christmas market is at Tivoli Gardens, which covers 20 acres and has 900,000 visitors a year; and Christmas carols can be heard year-round in the land that gave us Hans Christian Anderson.
Application: After the resurrection and before the ascension, Jesus met the disciples fishing. It was on that beach that they recognized their risen Lord and with great joy affirmed his presence. It was from that time forth that both Christmas and Easter were times of constant and unending joy and celebration.
Ron L.
