Sermon Illustrations for Fourth Sunday of Advent (2017)
Illustration
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
How is it that we presume to know what God wants? David is so very sure that God wants him to provide a permanent home for the ark and for God to dwell within. Yet God has not placed this request on David’s heart. It is David who thinks this will be a good idea.
How often do we presume to know the mind of God? God will forgive this, but not that. God will understand this, but not that. God loves this person, but not that one. We make assumptions all the time about what God wants or needs or seeks from us, instead of listening for the still small voice of God in our heart leading us, guiding us, and directing us in the paths God is laying before us. Listening for God doesn’t mean not doing our part, but it does mean pausing to determine and discern whether our actions are for us and for our idea or for God. Pausing to listen... a good thing to do as children of the Living God.
Bonnie B.
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
David’s desire to build the Temple and God’s decision to have David’s son take up that task remind us of a comment by Martin Luther that human wisdom desires nothing “except that which is high and precious and that which brings honor” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/1, p. 33). No doubt this human wisdom is what motivated David’s desire, but such wisdom is not the way of God. He had other plans. Evangelical author and radio host Joni Eareckson Toda has put it this way: “God never closes a door without opening a window.”
God fulfills his promises in ways we do not expect. This is true in the case of Christ, as he did not show up as the People of Israel and even we today expected him to be. Martin Luther
nicely makes this point: “Yes, but what the Lord God has in mind is this: Man, you ought to accept Christ just as God sends him, not as you want him to be” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 5, p. 81). To this the Reformer reminds us of the importance of Jesus’ humanity, that it is the true temple of God, the only way God is known: “It is because of his [Christ’s] humanity and his incarnation that Christ becomes sweet to us, and through him God becomes sweet to us. Let us therefore begin to ascend step by step from Christ’s crying in his swaddling clothes up to his passion. Then we shall easily know God. I am saying this so that you do not begin to contemplate God from the top. But start with the weak elements” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 17, p. 331)
Mark E.
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
In a five-hour excursion on February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth -- making him a national hero. This was particularly the case because it was in the early years of the Cold War, and the Soviet Union had been winning the space race. The Soviets had orbited the first satellite, Sputnik 1. Further, the Russians had already had two astronauts orbit the earth, Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov. Americans feared being left behind in the space age, as only two of our astronauts, Alan Shepard and Virgil Grissom, had been to the fringes of space. Glenn, having orbited the earth, restored America’s confidence. In fact, Glenn was such a national hero that President John Kennedy would not allow him to return to space for fear that something would happen to the man who had restored our country’s faith in itself. Glenn was never told this. Glenn never understood why he was not permitted to fly again. Dejected and discouraged, he retired from the astronaut corps in 1964. It was only years later that Glenn learned of the president’s refusal to let him fly to the moon and beyond.
But Glenn never lost his interest in being an astronaut and entering space once again. At the age of 77, while being a United States senator representing his home state of Ohio, Glenn received his second chance to venture into the outer limits. Glenn was a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Glenn developed the medical rationale and argued that there was scientific significance to studying the effects of space flight on an older individual. NASA agreed. On October 29, 1998, 36 years after his Mercury flight, Glenn became the oldest person to travel in space aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
Upon his return, the 77-year-old astronaut shared this thought on what he experienced in outer space: “To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible. It just strengthens my faith.”
Application: Our reading tells us of the importance of being receptive to a revelation.
Ron L.
Romans 16:25-27
When I was in school long, long ago, we were required to diagram sentences in order to be able to identify the parts of the sentences -- nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and other words I’ve long forgotten. It always strikes me that Paul’s doxology is such a dense and tangled bramble of a sentence that it needs unwinding and straightening out to make sense, though it is glorious all the same.
One of the things Paul is saying is that the revelation of the mystery of Jesus Christ, kept secret for long ages, is now revealed to the nations. That’s good. But it’s also made known or made understandable through the prophetic writings.
Whoa! Paul is writing to the Christians of Rome. Some would have been native Romans. Many others have made their way to the center of the universe, or at least the Roman empire, in order to find work, fulfill a dream, or simply be at the center of the action.
How would the prophetic writings have helped them? We can’t imagine that all these Gentiles would have taken time to learn Hebrew in order to study the scriptures. But wait -- they didn’t have to. Three centuries earlier a great many Jews were scattered throughout the western world. They no longer spoke Hebrew, and they needed scriptures in their language -- Greek. Greek was everyone’s second language, and the first language for many. This Greek translation, known as the Septuagint, helped to make known God’s will and God’s work to all people.
So we see how important it is that everyone is able to receive God’s message in terms they understand! Otherwise it remains a mystery yet to be revealed.
Frank R.
Romans 16:25-27
Paul is addressing us. Without the strength of being in God’s church, it is hard (if not impossible) for us to hear the message of Jesus Christ proclaimed. We find many of those mysteries hidden in our Bibles, and we count on our pastors to reveal them for us.
It’s not just Israelites Paul is talking to. He was a missionary to all the people and nations. This sounds like it could be a job for us to continue with, not only here in our country but around the world. We don’t get the glory. Jesus gets it. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give the glory to God.”
It is true that some are won to Christ when they see the good works that others are doing. That should be true of us as parents also, so that our children will turn to Jesus and give him the glory for what they have learned through seeing us and our lives (and also in their church).
Yes, it is worth studying the Old Testament as well as the New if we are looking for the hidden mysteries. Doesn’t it build our faith to hear predictions in the Old Testament prophets that came true, sometimes centuries later? Some are even coming true today! We see it when people are converted here in America and in other places on earth.
Some of the other faiths in our world were only “revealed” by one man like Muhammad or Buddha, but our faith is built on many prophecies in our Bibles and eyewitnesses in our New Testament. I tell some Muslims that four of those who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection wrote about it in our New Testament. It tells of many more who witnessed his appearance after dying on the cross -- men, women, and even 500 more! That should be proof enough. Our churches have many who have experienced God’s presence in their lives today. So spread the message!
Bob O.
Luke 1:26-38
Who is Mary, this mother of Jesus, and why would she agree to such a thing as to bear a child as a single woman? Who is this Mary who sings of the Lord and God’s power and graciousness? Who is this Mary, and what does she have in common with the rest of us?
Whether you accept the idea of a virgin birth, Mary clearly has an important role to play in the gospels and in the life and death of Jesus. Here let us put aside our skepticism and simply rest in the knowledge that a call from God was placed on the heart of a young woman and she responded. She prepared to marry her fiancé, told him her truth, and accepted the gossip of her neighbors. She walked in faith.
Perhaps that is the most important thing about Mary. No matter what befell, what challenges entered her life, she walked in faith. When the challenges and the darkness begin to encroach on our lives, Mary’s example may be one of the best to follow. We too need to walk in faith.
Bonnie B.
Luke 1:26-38
In the post-apostolic church, which spans from the death of the last of the twelve apostles through the fourth century, membership required three years of preparation. Catechumens followed a succession of three classes. When first admitted they were called “hearers,” as they listened to lectures and sermons. The “kneelers” followed, who remained for the prayers. The final class was called “the chosen.” To become a member of the last year of study was a serious undertaking. Only students who could endure martyrdom were accepted. A student came to the episcopal school (so called because it was presided over by a bishop) to complete the educational requirements for baptism and church membership. Participants studied creeds, liturgies, and the bishop’s approved list of apostolic writings. Absent of a canonized New Testament, the equation employed for determining an orthodox writing was the “Logos Doctrine,” which parallels the prologue to John’s gospel.
Application: The birth narrative of Jesus recounts how those involved were chosen by God. We must realize that when we join the church we are chosen and must act accordingly.
Ron L.
Luke 1:26-38
It was hard for Mary to believe -- as it would be for anyone today. There are a few idiots who try to explain Mary’s birth of the Son of God. Some say she must have gotten pregnant by some stranger, or maybe even Joseph jumped into bed ahead of schedule. Others say that this story was just made up for Christians to believe the impossible. They also have trouble with the resurrection. But then, God has a place for non-believers.
I have told some who expressed these doubts that if they were gamblers and had to place bets I would choose to believe the stories about Jesus -- because if that idiot is right then we will both be going to the same place, but if I am right then I will inherit a fantastic reward and he will go to a place of agony.
Our Bible is full of stories about people who did believe and those who doubted. Those who believed the word of God that came through the prophets in those days were rewarded with a new country. Moses believed and it took years, but he brought his people out of years of slavery and took them to the land the Lord had for them.
Do we believe that everything is possible for God? Is that why we come to his church? My mother believed that I would be a pastor one day, and it happened 30 years later! Mary got her answer faster!
Bob O.
How is it that we presume to know what God wants? David is so very sure that God wants him to provide a permanent home for the ark and for God to dwell within. Yet God has not placed this request on David’s heart. It is David who thinks this will be a good idea.
How often do we presume to know the mind of God? God will forgive this, but not that. God will understand this, but not that. God loves this person, but not that one. We make assumptions all the time about what God wants or needs or seeks from us, instead of listening for the still small voice of God in our heart leading us, guiding us, and directing us in the paths God is laying before us. Listening for God doesn’t mean not doing our part, but it does mean pausing to determine and discern whether our actions are for us and for our idea or for God. Pausing to listen... a good thing to do as children of the Living God.
Bonnie B.
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
David’s desire to build the Temple and God’s decision to have David’s son take up that task remind us of a comment by Martin Luther that human wisdom desires nothing “except that which is high and precious and that which brings honor” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/1, p. 33). No doubt this human wisdom is what motivated David’s desire, but such wisdom is not the way of God. He had other plans. Evangelical author and radio host Joni Eareckson Toda has put it this way: “God never closes a door without opening a window.”
God fulfills his promises in ways we do not expect. This is true in the case of Christ, as he did not show up as the People of Israel and even we today expected him to be. Martin Luther
nicely makes this point: “Yes, but what the Lord God has in mind is this: Man, you ought to accept Christ just as God sends him, not as you want him to be” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 5, p. 81). To this the Reformer reminds us of the importance of Jesus’ humanity, that it is the true temple of God, the only way God is known: “It is because of his [Christ’s] humanity and his incarnation that Christ becomes sweet to us, and through him God becomes sweet to us. Let us therefore begin to ascend step by step from Christ’s crying in his swaddling clothes up to his passion. Then we shall easily know God. I am saying this so that you do not begin to contemplate God from the top. But start with the weak elements” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 17, p. 331)
Mark E.
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
In a five-hour excursion on February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth -- making him a national hero. This was particularly the case because it was in the early years of the Cold War, and the Soviet Union had been winning the space race. The Soviets had orbited the first satellite, Sputnik 1. Further, the Russians had already had two astronauts orbit the earth, Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov. Americans feared being left behind in the space age, as only two of our astronauts, Alan Shepard and Virgil Grissom, had been to the fringes of space. Glenn, having orbited the earth, restored America’s confidence. In fact, Glenn was such a national hero that President John Kennedy would not allow him to return to space for fear that something would happen to the man who had restored our country’s faith in itself. Glenn was never told this. Glenn never understood why he was not permitted to fly again. Dejected and discouraged, he retired from the astronaut corps in 1964. It was only years later that Glenn learned of the president’s refusal to let him fly to the moon and beyond.
But Glenn never lost his interest in being an astronaut and entering space once again. At the age of 77, while being a United States senator representing his home state of Ohio, Glenn received his second chance to venture into the outer limits. Glenn was a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Glenn developed the medical rationale and argued that there was scientific significance to studying the effects of space flight on an older individual. NASA agreed. On October 29, 1998, 36 years after his Mercury flight, Glenn became the oldest person to travel in space aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
Upon his return, the 77-year-old astronaut shared this thought on what he experienced in outer space: “To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible. It just strengthens my faith.”
Application: Our reading tells us of the importance of being receptive to a revelation.
Ron L.
Romans 16:25-27
When I was in school long, long ago, we were required to diagram sentences in order to be able to identify the parts of the sentences -- nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and other words I’ve long forgotten. It always strikes me that Paul’s doxology is such a dense and tangled bramble of a sentence that it needs unwinding and straightening out to make sense, though it is glorious all the same.
One of the things Paul is saying is that the revelation of the mystery of Jesus Christ, kept secret for long ages, is now revealed to the nations. That’s good. But it’s also made known or made understandable through the prophetic writings.
Whoa! Paul is writing to the Christians of Rome. Some would have been native Romans. Many others have made their way to the center of the universe, or at least the Roman empire, in order to find work, fulfill a dream, or simply be at the center of the action.
How would the prophetic writings have helped them? We can’t imagine that all these Gentiles would have taken time to learn Hebrew in order to study the scriptures. But wait -- they didn’t have to. Three centuries earlier a great many Jews were scattered throughout the western world. They no longer spoke Hebrew, and they needed scriptures in their language -- Greek. Greek was everyone’s second language, and the first language for many. This Greek translation, known as the Septuagint, helped to make known God’s will and God’s work to all people.
So we see how important it is that everyone is able to receive God’s message in terms they understand! Otherwise it remains a mystery yet to be revealed.
Frank R.
Romans 16:25-27
Paul is addressing us. Without the strength of being in God’s church, it is hard (if not impossible) for us to hear the message of Jesus Christ proclaimed. We find many of those mysteries hidden in our Bibles, and we count on our pastors to reveal them for us.
It’s not just Israelites Paul is talking to. He was a missionary to all the people and nations. This sounds like it could be a job for us to continue with, not only here in our country but around the world. We don’t get the glory. Jesus gets it. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give the glory to God.”
It is true that some are won to Christ when they see the good works that others are doing. That should be true of us as parents also, so that our children will turn to Jesus and give him the glory for what they have learned through seeing us and our lives (and also in their church).
Yes, it is worth studying the Old Testament as well as the New if we are looking for the hidden mysteries. Doesn’t it build our faith to hear predictions in the Old Testament prophets that came true, sometimes centuries later? Some are even coming true today! We see it when people are converted here in America and in other places on earth.
Some of the other faiths in our world were only “revealed” by one man like Muhammad or Buddha, but our faith is built on many prophecies in our Bibles and eyewitnesses in our New Testament. I tell some Muslims that four of those who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection wrote about it in our New Testament. It tells of many more who witnessed his appearance after dying on the cross -- men, women, and even 500 more! That should be proof enough. Our churches have many who have experienced God’s presence in their lives today. So spread the message!
Bob O.
Luke 1:26-38
Who is Mary, this mother of Jesus, and why would she agree to such a thing as to bear a child as a single woman? Who is this Mary who sings of the Lord and God’s power and graciousness? Who is this Mary, and what does she have in common with the rest of us?
Whether you accept the idea of a virgin birth, Mary clearly has an important role to play in the gospels and in the life and death of Jesus. Here let us put aside our skepticism and simply rest in the knowledge that a call from God was placed on the heart of a young woman and she responded. She prepared to marry her fiancé, told him her truth, and accepted the gossip of her neighbors. She walked in faith.
Perhaps that is the most important thing about Mary. No matter what befell, what challenges entered her life, she walked in faith. When the challenges and the darkness begin to encroach on our lives, Mary’s example may be one of the best to follow. We too need to walk in faith.
Bonnie B.
Luke 1:26-38
In the post-apostolic church, which spans from the death of the last of the twelve apostles through the fourth century, membership required three years of preparation. Catechumens followed a succession of three classes. When first admitted they were called “hearers,” as they listened to lectures and sermons. The “kneelers” followed, who remained for the prayers. The final class was called “the chosen.” To become a member of the last year of study was a serious undertaking. Only students who could endure martyrdom were accepted. A student came to the episcopal school (so called because it was presided over by a bishop) to complete the educational requirements for baptism and church membership. Participants studied creeds, liturgies, and the bishop’s approved list of apostolic writings. Absent of a canonized New Testament, the equation employed for determining an orthodox writing was the “Logos Doctrine,” which parallels the prologue to John’s gospel.
Application: The birth narrative of Jesus recounts how those involved were chosen by God. We must realize that when we join the church we are chosen and must act accordingly.
Ron L.
Luke 1:26-38
It was hard for Mary to believe -- as it would be for anyone today. There are a few idiots who try to explain Mary’s birth of the Son of God. Some say she must have gotten pregnant by some stranger, or maybe even Joseph jumped into bed ahead of schedule. Others say that this story was just made up for Christians to believe the impossible. They also have trouble with the resurrection. But then, God has a place for non-believers.
I have told some who expressed these doubts that if they were gamblers and had to place bets I would choose to believe the stories about Jesus -- because if that idiot is right then we will both be going to the same place, but if I am right then I will inherit a fantastic reward and he will go to a place of agony.
Our Bible is full of stories about people who did believe and those who doubted. Those who believed the word of God that came through the prophets in those days were rewarded with a new country. Moses believed and it took years, but he brought his people out of years of slavery and took them to the land the Lord had for them.
Do we believe that everything is possible for God? Is that why we come to his church? My mother believed that I would be a pastor one day, and it happened 30 years later! Mary got her answer faster!
Bob O.
