Sermon Illustrations for Reformation Day (2013)
Illustration
Object:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
This is a passage that bears repeating. It has been used and will be used again. It certainly sounds like Jesus is the one who brings about this new covenant. Jeremiah laid the groundwork for this change centuries earlier. It makes us think that God does not just change his mind. It sounds like he has a plan that goes back -- far back to the beginning of creation. God always has a plan for "the time that is coming." The fathers looked like they needed a different covenant. When they were under that old covenant they still sinned gravely -- as a nation. Democracy failed, or we would worship a golden calf today. Aaron even helped them! He made all kinds of excuses, but Moses did not accept them and they paid a price.
It sounds like we shouldn't even need a confirmation class to know God. It can be a step, but the next one is the most important. If God's word is now in their hearts it will be revealed in their faithful attendance in church -- for the rest of their lives! It not, they have missed the message.
It sounds like one day we will all know the Lord. Only then can he forgive our wickedness and forget our sins. God searches the heart. No one had memorized scripture more than the Pharisees, yet they missed God's message sent to them in the body of a Savior. Sometimes Lutherans put too much emphasis on the learned. (I once wrote a piece asking "Can Ph.D.s be saved?") It is true that some may go too far in the other direction and look only or mainly to emotions rather than some solid scripture. We need a balance. A pastor needs to bring that balance!
Bob O.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Just as Jeremiah was called by God to speak a reforming word to the people of his day who were living through the Babylonian horror, so too was Dietrich Bonhoeffer called. At age 14, he knew he wanted to become a pastor-theologian. His family members were not thrilled, being non-religious, quite secular in their orientation toward life. They criticized the church, as they saw it as "self-serving and cowardly" (in the words of Bonhoeffer scholar Geffrey B. Kelly). Young Dietrich's response was, "In that case, I'll reform it." Bonhoeffer experienced just how God would write God's law upon his heart, as his devotion to his Lord Jesus led him to carry the cross of resistance to Hitler's leadership and Final Solution. Bonhoeffer's understanding of costly grace and the cost of discipleship has been a reforming word reverberating through the church since those dark days of Nazi horror.
Mark M.
Romans 3:19-28
This text gets us to the heart of the Reformation; it is about the righteousness of God and Martin Luther's Reformation breakthrough, his new understanding of this concept:
For I hated the word "righteousness of God," which, according to the use of custom of all [is]… the formal or active righteousness… with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner… At last… I began to understand the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God… the righteousness of God revealed by the gospel, namely the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 34, pp. 336-337)
This new understanding of the righteousness of God, that he is no judge but a caring Savior, gets us out of ourselves and into Christ, for he buries our sins, according to John Calvin. As he puts it: "… for God by no means keeps his riches laid upon himself, but pours them forth upon men" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XIX/2, p. 146).
To this point Martin Luther adds: "This knowledge and confidence in God's grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all creatures" (Luther's Works, Vol. 35, pp. 370-371).
Mark E.
Romans 3:19-28
Leona Helmsley was a real estate entrepreneur who was worth $8 billion when she was convicted in 1989 of income tax evasion. In response to the charges she said, "Only little people pay taxes." It is for this comment and others like it that she came to be called the "Queen of Mean."
Application: Some people continue to live under the law, never understanding the meaning of grace.
Ron L.
John 8:31-36
Jesus is talking to Jewish believers and makes the promise that if they are faithful to his teachings then they will really be his disciples. A disciple is a student -- one who is learning from the master. Later they may be "sent" to do God's work. Then they are called apostles. We should all be disciples, but some of our members may become apostles! Exciting thought!
What are we set free from if we are disciples? We are set from ignorance, from the desire to sin, from impure thoughts and deeds. We are no longer bound by Satan if we know the truth of God -- which is Jesus.
They claimed their dissent from Abraham as proof that they were free and had never been slaves. That was false historically! They were slaves in Egypt for one, plus to the Chaldeans, the Persians, and the Romans. So their claim was false from the start!
Jesus points up their slavery to sin (which is the worst slavery)! By our actions we show that we are still slaves to sin! We confess it every Sunday in church and hopefully we mean it! By admitting it, we acknowledge that only through Jesus, who is the truth (the way and the life also), can we ever be truly free.
Some will claim their freedom by showing their baptismal certificate. That should also prove that we are really children of Abraham. At least that is a start, but it is not the end. Have we learned the truth? Only a true disciple will know the truth. That is something we learn in our lives (as well as confirmation class -- and in the Sunday sermon).
It is not anything we can do or say or think that frees us from Satan's power. It is only the Son who can set us free! That is the truth! He is the truth.
Bob O.
John 8:31-36
One of the best illustrations of freedom in Christ comes from the life of Zacchaeus. He was a slave to greed, taking more from the people in his tax collection responsibilities than was necessary to do his job properly. When he met Jesus, all that changed. He experienced a freedom of generosity that not just made amends for his greed, but did so four times over. Not only this, he downsized his opulence by giving half of his possessions to the poor. With Zacchaeus' heart changed, a new relationship (covenant) was established and his future unfolded with a newfound freedom.
Mark M.
This is a passage that bears repeating. It has been used and will be used again. It certainly sounds like Jesus is the one who brings about this new covenant. Jeremiah laid the groundwork for this change centuries earlier. It makes us think that God does not just change his mind. It sounds like he has a plan that goes back -- far back to the beginning of creation. God always has a plan for "the time that is coming." The fathers looked like they needed a different covenant. When they were under that old covenant they still sinned gravely -- as a nation. Democracy failed, or we would worship a golden calf today. Aaron even helped them! He made all kinds of excuses, but Moses did not accept them and they paid a price.
It sounds like we shouldn't even need a confirmation class to know God. It can be a step, but the next one is the most important. If God's word is now in their hearts it will be revealed in their faithful attendance in church -- for the rest of their lives! It not, they have missed the message.
It sounds like one day we will all know the Lord. Only then can he forgive our wickedness and forget our sins. God searches the heart. No one had memorized scripture more than the Pharisees, yet they missed God's message sent to them in the body of a Savior. Sometimes Lutherans put too much emphasis on the learned. (I once wrote a piece asking "Can Ph.D.s be saved?") It is true that some may go too far in the other direction and look only or mainly to emotions rather than some solid scripture. We need a balance. A pastor needs to bring that balance!
Bob O.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Just as Jeremiah was called by God to speak a reforming word to the people of his day who were living through the Babylonian horror, so too was Dietrich Bonhoeffer called. At age 14, he knew he wanted to become a pastor-theologian. His family members were not thrilled, being non-religious, quite secular in their orientation toward life. They criticized the church, as they saw it as "self-serving and cowardly" (in the words of Bonhoeffer scholar Geffrey B. Kelly). Young Dietrich's response was, "In that case, I'll reform it." Bonhoeffer experienced just how God would write God's law upon his heart, as his devotion to his Lord Jesus led him to carry the cross of resistance to Hitler's leadership and Final Solution. Bonhoeffer's understanding of costly grace and the cost of discipleship has been a reforming word reverberating through the church since those dark days of Nazi horror.
Mark M.
Romans 3:19-28
This text gets us to the heart of the Reformation; it is about the righteousness of God and Martin Luther's Reformation breakthrough, his new understanding of this concept:
For I hated the word "righteousness of God," which, according to the use of custom of all [is]… the formal or active righteousness… with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner… At last… I began to understand the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God… the righteousness of God revealed by the gospel, namely the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 34, pp. 336-337)
This new understanding of the righteousness of God, that he is no judge but a caring Savior, gets us out of ourselves and into Christ, for he buries our sins, according to John Calvin. As he puts it: "… for God by no means keeps his riches laid upon himself, but pours them forth upon men" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XIX/2, p. 146).
To this point Martin Luther adds: "This knowledge and confidence in God's grace makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all creatures" (Luther's Works, Vol. 35, pp. 370-371).
Mark E.
Romans 3:19-28
Leona Helmsley was a real estate entrepreneur who was worth $8 billion when she was convicted in 1989 of income tax evasion. In response to the charges she said, "Only little people pay taxes." It is for this comment and others like it that she came to be called the "Queen of Mean."
Application: Some people continue to live under the law, never understanding the meaning of grace.
Ron L.
John 8:31-36
Jesus is talking to Jewish believers and makes the promise that if they are faithful to his teachings then they will really be his disciples. A disciple is a student -- one who is learning from the master. Later they may be "sent" to do God's work. Then they are called apostles. We should all be disciples, but some of our members may become apostles! Exciting thought!
What are we set free from if we are disciples? We are set from ignorance, from the desire to sin, from impure thoughts and deeds. We are no longer bound by Satan if we know the truth of God -- which is Jesus.
They claimed their dissent from Abraham as proof that they were free and had never been slaves. That was false historically! They were slaves in Egypt for one, plus to the Chaldeans, the Persians, and the Romans. So their claim was false from the start!
Jesus points up their slavery to sin (which is the worst slavery)! By our actions we show that we are still slaves to sin! We confess it every Sunday in church and hopefully we mean it! By admitting it, we acknowledge that only through Jesus, who is the truth (the way and the life also), can we ever be truly free.
Some will claim their freedom by showing their baptismal certificate. That should also prove that we are really children of Abraham. At least that is a start, but it is not the end. Have we learned the truth? Only a true disciple will know the truth. That is something we learn in our lives (as well as confirmation class -- and in the Sunday sermon).
It is not anything we can do or say or think that frees us from Satan's power. It is only the Son who can set us free! That is the truth! He is the truth.
Bob O.
John 8:31-36
One of the best illustrations of freedom in Christ comes from the life of Zacchaeus. He was a slave to greed, taking more from the people in his tax collection responsibilities than was necessary to do his job properly. When he met Jesus, all that changed. He experienced a freedom of generosity that not just made amends for his greed, but did so four times over. Not only this, he downsized his opulence by giving half of his possessions to the poor. With Zacchaeus' heart changed, a new relationship (covenant) was established and his future unfolded with a newfound freedom.
Mark M.
