Sermon Illustrations for Proper 26 | OT 31 (2019)
Illustration
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
The prophet laments why things are not getting better in life, sort of like we complain. The words of the John Mayer’s early 21st century hit “Waiting on the World to Change” fit both the lesson and our feelings today:
Now we see everything that’s going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it.
So we keep waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change...
The lesson utters a word of hope that things will be changed by God, even if not on our timetable. As the black church puts it proverbially, “God will make a way out of no way.” “He may not come when you want him, but he’s always on time.” John Calvin makes similar points:
For to wish God to conform to our rule is extremely preposterous and unreasonable; and there is no place for faith, if we expect God to fulfil immediately what He promises (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XV/1, p.68)
... for though God may appear to delay, yet He is not slower than what is necessary and expedient. (Ibid., p.70)
Modern “Theologian of Hope” Jűrgen Moltmann urges us to endorse the future orientation of our lesson, that better days are coming. We need that future perspective in trying to change the present or we wind up getting chained to the heartaches, dead ends, and unjust structures of the present:
The reason why Christian hope raises the “question of meaning” in an institutionalized life is, that in fact it cannot put up with these relationships and sees the “beneficial unquestioningness of life” in them only as a new form of vanity and death... It will therefore endeavor to lead our modern institutions away from their own immanent tendency toward stabilization, will make them uncertain, historify them and open them to elasticity which is demanded by openness toward the future for which it hopes. (Theology of Hope, p.330)
Mark E.
* * *
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
There are days when I wonder if peace and justice will ever come — not just to places in the world, but even to my own heart. It is easy to get discouraged as wars rage on, as violence continues in our families, our relationships and our streets. It is easy to get and be discouraged when it seems justice and freedom from oppression is getting further away rather than closer. Yet, Habakkuk reminds us that this time is not the final moment. “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.” God’s promises will be fulfilled. Believe it. Know it. Live into it. Make it plain to those you meet that you believe in the vision of the future God creates.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
There were many people who went with nothing during the various government shutdowns and must have thought of this verse. They also looked at injustice for many families who were torn apart at the Mexican border. We are also involved in violence going on in the world that we have made ourselves a part of. The wicked are going after the righteous and we have to decide who is the righteous. We think we have succeeded but ISIS is still around. We must be the watchmen who wait for the Lord’s answer. Our churches are waiting stations. The answer may not even come in our lifetime.
Sometimes answers came as when Hitler was overcome. So we can have hope.
What makes us cry out for the Lord to solve the world’s problems as well as our own? As for the world’s problems we cry out that governments will listen to the Lord’s call. Maybe they don’t answer right away because the leaders of many countries don’t cry out to the true God. One of the things our church can do is pray that they turn to the God we know. The one true God.
Bob O.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
In this text Paul speaks of the Thessalonians and their endurance. There are subtle shadings to this word that bear thinking about. To endure is to remain behind; while others flee you hold your ground. Swords are said to have the power to sustain blows. That’s a use of the word “endure.” It is used with regards to plants that grow and even prosper in unfavorable circumstances. And in a negative sense, the word is used to show one is obstinate. Sometimes we are enduring for no good purpose.
Endurance is used several times in Revelation, where it is one of the virtues of God’s people. Enduring is essential to Christian faithfulness because persecution is part of Christian experience.
Frank R.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
The Jonestown Massacre occurred on November 18, 1978. It was a horrific event with repercussions reverberating today. In 1977, Jim Jones, the self-proclaimed “messiah” of his flock, led his followers to a remote jungle in Guyana to live in Jonestown. He sold the destination as an agricultural commune rich with food, where there were no mosquitoes or snakes and where temperatures hovered around a perfect 72 degrees every single day. It was all a lie. The alleged paradise became a prison. When the lie was about to be exposed to the world, Jones led his followers in mass murder in which 909 people died.
Leslie Wagner-Wilson, a survivor who is now a 61-year-old grandmother, explained how the deception happened and warned about it again. “There’s a need. People want to be a part of something. They want to feel safe; they want to feel a sense of community. There are still folks out there and they are running under the guise of religious organizations. I just want people to be careful. I want Jonestown to be a lesson.”
Paul warns the Christians in Thessalonica about deception, too. He speaks of one who “opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God.” (2 Thessalonians 1:4) The warning here is harsh and ends in a powerful way. “All who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.” (2 Thessalonians 1:12).
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 19:1-10
I have a deep understanding for Zacchaeus and the challenges of his short stature. As a short woman, I often view the world as not created for people my size. I have to admit that I haven’t climbed any trees lately in order to see, but even at my age I might if Jesus were walking by. Of course the point of this scripture is not shortness, or climbing trees. The point of the story is that encounters with Jesus transform the lives of people. Zacchaeus, who as a tax collector would have engaged in cheating people, offers half of all he has to the poor and to pay back four-fold anyone he has cheated. Those are big numbers, costly acts of repentance. Jesus transforms individuals, spirits, bodies, hopes, dreams, communities. That is the beauty of our faith. Our interactions with Jesus transform us as well.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 19:1-10
This is a story about repentance. Nineteenth-century Scottish Philosopher Thomas Carlyle said, “Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.” “Repentance comes from the heart,” former Georgia Governor and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, once said. But for all its virtues, Christian repentance is not something we can do on our own, and it does not merit salvation. Famed 19th-century English Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon put it well:
A sinner can no more repent and believe without the Spirit than he can create a world.
John Wesley warned against over-emphasizing repentance:
Likewise, let a man have ever so much repentance, or ever so many fruits meet for repentance, yet this does not avail; he is not justified till he believes. (Works [Baker Books ed.], Vol.6, p.48)
Even before Wesley, Martin Luther echoes similar comments:
It is true, of course, that I should repent and be heartily sorry because of my sin; but I do not come to forgiveness in this way. How then? Not by reason of my sorrow and repentance but only by paying heed to the Word. (What Luther Says, p.1213)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 19:1-10
How excited are you to meet the Lord? Would you climb a tree? Not at my age. This passage shows us other ways of expressing our excitement — like giving some of our wealth (if we have any) to those in desperate need. I suppose some would rather climb a tree if that would help. If we love our Lord then any price can be right. You have to decide.
When we come to church every week, we know who Jesus is, but have we met him?
In seminary pastors have learned all about Jesus, but have we met him? We hope each of us has met Jesus and that is why we went to seminary. Sometimes I felt that some of my professors knew Jesus, while some were just scholars. I even felt that some pastors I knew had not really met Jesus.
I met Jesus when I had a photography business. I asked him to reveal himself if he didn’t want me to do something sinful to make money. I should have gone to a pastor, but I was not even going to church. I just happened to have a Bible my folks had given me that I had not read. I decided that maybe God was talking to me in his book. Sure enough, I opened to a passage that made me feel I had met God. That Bible was the tree I climbed. I did not give away all the little money I had but I did give God myself to serve him as a pastor.
Our church may not show us a tree to climb, but it may show us how many there are in the world who need some of their money.
Bob O.
The prophet laments why things are not getting better in life, sort of like we complain. The words of the John Mayer’s early 21st century hit “Waiting on the World to Change” fit both the lesson and our feelings today:
Now we see everything that’s going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it.
So we keep waiting (waiting)
Waiting on the world to change...
The lesson utters a word of hope that things will be changed by God, even if not on our timetable. As the black church puts it proverbially, “God will make a way out of no way.” “He may not come when you want him, but he’s always on time.” John Calvin makes similar points:
For to wish God to conform to our rule is extremely preposterous and unreasonable; and there is no place for faith, if we expect God to fulfil immediately what He promises (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XV/1, p.68)
... for though God may appear to delay, yet He is not slower than what is necessary and expedient. (Ibid., p.70)
Modern “Theologian of Hope” Jűrgen Moltmann urges us to endorse the future orientation of our lesson, that better days are coming. We need that future perspective in trying to change the present or we wind up getting chained to the heartaches, dead ends, and unjust structures of the present:
The reason why Christian hope raises the “question of meaning” in an institutionalized life is, that in fact it cannot put up with these relationships and sees the “beneficial unquestioningness of life” in them only as a new form of vanity and death... It will therefore endeavor to lead our modern institutions away from their own immanent tendency toward stabilization, will make them uncertain, historify them and open them to elasticity which is demanded by openness toward the future for which it hopes. (Theology of Hope, p.330)
Mark E.
* * *
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
There are days when I wonder if peace and justice will ever come — not just to places in the world, but even to my own heart. It is easy to get discouraged as wars rage on, as violence continues in our families, our relationships and our streets. It is easy to get and be discouraged when it seems justice and freedom from oppression is getting further away rather than closer. Yet, Habakkuk reminds us that this time is not the final moment. “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.” God’s promises will be fulfilled. Believe it. Know it. Live into it. Make it plain to those you meet that you believe in the vision of the future God creates.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
There were many people who went with nothing during the various government shutdowns and must have thought of this verse. They also looked at injustice for many families who were torn apart at the Mexican border. We are also involved in violence going on in the world that we have made ourselves a part of. The wicked are going after the righteous and we have to decide who is the righteous. We think we have succeeded but ISIS is still around. We must be the watchmen who wait for the Lord’s answer. Our churches are waiting stations. The answer may not even come in our lifetime.
Sometimes answers came as when Hitler was overcome. So we can have hope.
What makes us cry out for the Lord to solve the world’s problems as well as our own? As for the world’s problems we cry out that governments will listen to the Lord’s call. Maybe they don’t answer right away because the leaders of many countries don’t cry out to the true God. One of the things our church can do is pray that they turn to the God we know. The one true God.
Bob O.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
In this text Paul speaks of the Thessalonians and their endurance. There are subtle shadings to this word that bear thinking about. To endure is to remain behind; while others flee you hold your ground. Swords are said to have the power to sustain blows. That’s a use of the word “endure.” It is used with regards to plants that grow and even prosper in unfavorable circumstances. And in a negative sense, the word is used to show one is obstinate. Sometimes we are enduring for no good purpose.
Endurance is used several times in Revelation, where it is one of the virtues of God’s people. Enduring is essential to Christian faithfulness because persecution is part of Christian experience.
Frank R.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
The Jonestown Massacre occurred on November 18, 1978. It was a horrific event with repercussions reverberating today. In 1977, Jim Jones, the self-proclaimed “messiah” of his flock, led his followers to a remote jungle in Guyana to live in Jonestown. He sold the destination as an agricultural commune rich with food, where there were no mosquitoes or snakes and where temperatures hovered around a perfect 72 degrees every single day. It was all a lie. The alleged paradise became a prison. When the lie was about to be exposed to the world, Jones led his followers in mass murder in which 909 people died.
Leslie Wagner-Wilson, a survivor who is now a 61-year-old grandmother, explained how the deception happened and warned about it again. “There’s a need. People want to be a part of something. They want to feel safe; they want to feel a sense of community. There are still folks out there and they are running under the guise of religious organizations. I just want people to be careful. I want Jonestown to be a lesson.”
Paul warns the Christians in Thessalonica about deception, too. He speaks of one who “opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God.” (2 Thessalonians 1:4) The warning here is harsh and ends in a powerful way. “All who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.” (2 Thessalonians 1:12).
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 19:1-10
I have a deep understanding for Zacchaeus and the challenges of his short stature. As a short woman, I often view the world as not created for people my size. I have to admit that I haven’t climbed any trees lately in order to see, but even at my age I might if Jesus were walking by. Of course the point of this scripture is not shortness, or climbing trees. The point of the story is that encounters with Jesus transform the lives of people. Zacchaeus, who as a tax collector would have engaged in cheating people, offers half of all he has to the poor and to pay back four-fold anyone he has cheated. Those are big numbers, costly acts of repentance. Jesus transforms individuals, spirits, bodies, hopes, dreams, communities. That is the beauty of our faith. Our interactions with Jesus transform us as well.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 19:1-10
This is a story about repentance. Nineteenth-century Scottish Philosopher Thomas Carlyle said, “Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.” “Repentance comes from the heart,” former Georgia Governor and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, once said. But for all its virtues, Christian repentance is not something we can do on our own, and it does not merit salvation. Famed 19th-century English Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon put it well:
A sinner can no more repent and believe without the Spirit than he can create a world.
John Wesley warned against over-emphasizing repentance:
Likewise, let a man have ever so much repentance, or ever so many fruits meet for repentance, yet this does not avail; he is not justified till he believes. (Works [Baker Books ed.], Vol.6, p.48)
Even before Wesley, Martin Luther echoes similar comments:
It is true, of course, that I should repent and be heartily sorry because of my sin; but I do not come to forgiveness in this way. How then? Not by reason of my sorrow and repentance but only by paying heed to the Word. (What Luther Says, p.1213)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 19:1-10
How excited are you to meet the Lord? Would you climb a tree? Not at my age. This passage shows us other ways of expressing our excitement — like giving some of our wealth (if we have any) to those in desperate need. I suppose some would rather climb a tree if that would help. If we love our Lord then any price can be right. You have to decide.
When we come to church every week, we know who Jesus is, but have we met him?
In seminary pastors have learned all about Jesus, but have we met him? We hope each of us has met Jesus and that is why we went to seminary. Sometimes I felt that some of my professors knew Jesus, while some were just scholars. I even felt that some pastors I knew had not really met Jesus.
I met Jesus when I had a photography business. I asked him to reveal himself if he didn’t want me to do something sinful to make money. I should have gone to a pastor, but I was not even going to church. I just happened to have a Bible my folks had given me that I had not read. I decided that maybe God was talking to me in his book. Sure enough, I opened to a passage that made me feel I had met God. That Bible was the tree I climbed. I did not give away all the little money I had but I did give God myself to serve him as a pastor.
Our church may not show us a tree to climb, but it may show us how many there are in the world who need some of their money.
Bob O.
