Proper 10, Pentecost 8, Ordinary Time 15
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII, Cycle A
Object:
Seasonal Theme
The teaching and ministry of Jesus the Christ.
Theme For The Day
Profound encouragement for disciples and sharing the gospel in the most unpromising places.
Old Testament Lesson
Genesis 25:19-34
Esau's Birthright
The Jacob stories, which could be named "the descendants of Isaac," make up the next portion of Genesis. The stage is set for the conflicted family relationships which follow after. The verse 23 oracle tells us that national issues are at stake. These two will shape history for years to come. Rebekah, like Sarah and Rachel, is without child. So Isaac prayed for children and she becomes pregnant with twins whose activity in her womb causes her to seek counsel at Beersheba (26:23-25). The name Jacob is ancient and means "God protects." Jacob was a herdsman and Esau a hunter.
Then comes the story of Jacob acquiring Esau's birthright by demanding it for some stew he was cooking. We can't tell just what the birthright was good for but it may have meant he got a double share of his father's property (Deuteronomy 21:15-17) and, of course, leadership of the tribe. This is where it becomes evident that Jacob becomes the one in whom Abraham's promise from God became true.
New Testament Lesson
Romans 8:1-11
Flesh And Spirit
Two words dominate this reading: flesh (sarx) and spirit (pneuma). The former means seeing things as a human being. Also it means, in Paul's writing, those who do not live the Christian life (Romans 8:4, 5). This is human nature with all its imperfections and weaknesses. In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul gives us a list of sins of the flesh.
Then there is the Spirit mentioned more than twenty times in this chapter. In the Old Testament it was ruach and mind with power. In the New Testament it is always superhuman. When people became Christians, according to Paul, a new power came into their lives. We could name it God's spirit. We begin living victoriously rather than as people defeated. It's a new life which is not restrained by the past sin but is empowered by the present power of God.
Verses 5 and 11 deal with contrasting ways of living: setting our minds on things of the flesh or setting our minds on things of the spirit (v. 5). William Barclay on this passage in his Daily Study Bible portrays the contrast well:
1. Flesh -- passion controlled or lust controlled, or pride controlled or ambition controlled.
2. Spirit -- Spirit controlled or Christ controlled, or God focused.
They are going in very different directions. Paul says that one is death and one is life and peace (v. 6). We live more and more in Christ, so much that at our physical death we easily move right on into eternal life.
The Gospel
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
The Parable Of The Sower
This was no doubt told by Jesus to his disciples to offer encouragement to them (Ecclesiastes 11:6). The early church turned parables into allegories and we often hear this one treated this way. Actually we learn here that we ought be active listeners to God. Some would point out all the seed was the same but the ground was different. So this could mean that there are different kinds of receptivity to God's word. Different hearts. I think it wise to not categorize people as different kinds of soil but consider that each person is all the soils at different times in their lives.
There is something else here which is big and often overlooked. This is a parable about how God sows seed in even the most unpromising places. Still God sows -- even when the possibility, according to the world, is almost nil! Whether the sower used the method of sowing by broadcasting with a hand from a sack or marching a donkey around with a hole in a sack, the fact is, it goes in a lot of unpromising places. So we sow, trusting even when reason says it's not worth the effort or the seed -- we sow and sow and sow....
Preaching Possibilities
A. The Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau is one which can easily stand alone and be done in narrative style. It would go like this:
1. Re-tell the story.
2. Look at what we can learn from it.
3. Recap the story and tell the learnings in reverse order.
4. Pray as summary and conclusion.
Some possible learnings we can share with our listeners from this story could be:
1. Conflicted families have been around for a long time and God can bring good things from the conflict.
2. Rebekah's conception is a witness to God's role as creator.
3. Prayer played a big part in the lives of these foremothers and forefathers. The relationship with God was a personal one.
4. What happens in any one generation influences what happens in the following generations.
5. God elects us for special mission in the world.
6. Family conflicts have far-reaching consequences.
B. The Romans passage will lend itself to an exposition on the two key words: flesh and spirit. We can use Paul's claim that one is death and one is real life and peace. Close to the ground stories which illustrate each in our day and age will be helpful.
1. I was following a car one day and read its bumper sticker: "To know me is to love me." Just as I finished reading it, someone inside rolled down the window and threw out a bunch of paper trash and garbage from Burger King. We imperfect sinners may not be all that lovable when people get to know us!
2. In the 65th anniversary show of the Grand Ole Opry, there was a monologue telling of country western "hurtin' songs." When Willie Nelson got the prize, he was called one who composed and sang "close to the ground." Perhaps "hurtin' songs" reflect how painful our sinful lives are. I wonder if our preaching and ministries are close enough to the ground.
C. After saying the above, I believe the Gospel parable is so compelling we need preach on it today. The following are my suggestions.1
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
1. Retell the parable and mention that many take this to mean that the message of the gospel which the disciples will preach will be received differently by different people. But they are not to get discouraged, as there will always be some good soil which will receive the word and grow it into something worthwhile. (Sometimes I have added here the fact we Christians ought do better cultivation of the soil as well: Christian Education. We ought to deepen soil too shallow, pull out the weeds and thistles, and cultivate that which is too hard. And please water the good dirt, too!)
2. Now move to say you understand this to describe how it is for all of us. We all have times of hardness, shallowness, lack of prayer priorities, and so on. Thank God there are times of good earth too.
a. There are times in our lives when we are burned out, hardened by bitterness, and disappointed with clergy and the church organization.
b. There are times when we give in to fads and crazes which crowds out the good gospel.
c. There are times of thistles when second best crowds out the best.
d. There are times of good ground when we are willing to translate our hearing into doing.
3. Now see if you can come up with telling the same parable in modern terms and in your context. Like: There was once a Mary Kay saleswoman who went out to sell her products. She put signs with her phone number in the supermarket, at the gas station, at the beauty parlor.... It will preach.
Prayer Of The Day
When we are tempted to get discouraged and give up sharing the gospel with others, move us to try again and again. And bless us with receptive hearts as well so we might hear and grow because of it. Please help us to know how and where to be sowers of the seed and do it with joy from knowing we plant on your behalf. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Possible Stories
Elmo Zumwalt, III in Vietnam was exposed to Agent Orange which his own father, Admiral Zumwalt, had ordered to be sprayed. Elmo III's son was born with a birth defect. Elmo has cancer. The admiral has had a bone marrow transplant and is "... doing okay for now." "The sins of the father upon...."
ChemLawn did the church lawn today and left a note to tell me they had given it a "pre-emergence treatment for crabgrass." Is there such a pre-emergence treatment to prevent greed, wealth addiction, selfishness, racial hatred, adultery, and all the other sins which destroy our lives?
In a little town in Missouri they spread oil mixed with dioxin, a toxic impurity in herbicide, on the dirt roads. It was to prevent dust. Now the Environmental Protection Agency is buying the whole town to protect the people from the effects of dioxin. What we spread can be healing or toxic, but we rarely buy it back to protect those we love. Let's watch what we sow as well as where we sow!
____________
1. Another treatment is available in my The Parables Of Jesus And Their Flip Side, CSS Publishing Company, 2001.
The teaching and ministry of Jesus the Christ.
Theme For The Day
Profound encouragement for disciples and sharing the gospel in the most unpromising places.
Old Testament Lesson
Genesis 25:19-34
Esau's Birthright
The Jacob stories, which could be named "the descendants of Isaac," make up the next portion of Genesis. The stage is set for the conflicted family relationships which follow after. The verse 23 oracle tells us that national issues are at stake. These two will shape history for years to come. Rebekah, like Sarah and Rachel, is without child. So Isaac prayed for children and she becomes pregnant with twins whose activity in her womb causes her to seek counsel at Beersheba (26:23-25). The name Jacob is ancient and means "God protects." Jacob was a herdsman and Esau a hunter.
Then comes the story of Jacob acquiring Esau's birthright by demanding it for some stew he was cooking. We can't tell just what the birthright was good for but it may have meant he got a double share of his father's property (Deuteronomy 21:15-17) and, of course, leadership of the tribe. This is where it becomes evident that Jacob becomes the one in whom Abraham's promise from God became true.
New Testament Lesson
Romans 8:1-11
Flesh And Spirit
Two words dominate this reading: flesh (sarx) and spirit (pneuma). The former means seeing things as a human being. Also it means, in Paul's writing, those who do not live the Christian life (Romans 8:4, 5). This is human nature with all its imperfections and weaknesses. In Galatians 5:19-21, Paul gives us a list of sins of the flesh.
Then there is the Spirit mentioned more than twenty times in this chapter. In the Old Testament it was ruach and mind with power. In the New Testament it is always superhuman. When people became Christians, according to Paul, a new power came into their lives. We could name it God's spirit. We begin living victoriously rather than as people defeated. It's a new life which is not restrained by the past sin but is empowered by the present power of God.
Verses 5 and 11 deal with contrasting ways of living: setting our minds on things of the flesh or setting our minds on things of the spirit (v. 5). William Barclay on this passage in his Daily Study Bible portrays the contrast well:
1. Flesh -- passion controlled or lust controlled, or pride controlled or ambition controlled.
2. Spirit -- Spirit controlled or Christ controlled, or God focused.
They are going in very different directions. Paul says that one is death and one is life and peace (v. 6). We live more and more in Christ, so much that at our physical death we easily move right on into eternal life.
The Gospel
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
The Parable Of The Sower
This was no doubt told by Jesus to his disciples to offer encouragement to them (Ecclesiastes 11:6). The early church turned parables into allegories and we often hear this one treated this way. Actually we learn here that we ought be active listeners to God. Some would point out all the seed was the same but the ground was different. So this could mean that there are different kinds of receptivity to God's word. Different hearts. I think it wise to not categorize people as different kinds of soil but consider that each person is all the soils at different times in their lives.
There is something else here which is big and often overlooked. This is a parable about how God sows seed in even the most unpromising places. Still God sows -- even when the possibility, according to the world, is almost nil! Whether the sower used the method of sowing by broadcasting with a hand from a sack or marching a donkey around with a hole in a sack, the fact is, it goes in a lot of unpromising places. So we sow, trusting even when reason says it's not worth the effort or the seed -- we sow and sow and sow....
Preaching Possibilities
A. The Old Testament story of Jacob and Esau is one which can easily stand alone and be done in narrative style. It would go like this:
1. Re-tell the story.
2. Look at what we can learn from it.
3. Recap the story and tell the learnings in reverse order.
4. Pray as summary and conclusion.
Some possible learnings we can share with our listeners from this story could be:
1. Conflicted families have been around for a long time and God can bring good things from the conflict.
2. Rebekah's conception is a witness to God's role as creator.
3. Prayer played a big part in the lives of these foremothers and forefathers. The relationship with God was a personal one.
4. What happens in any one generation influences what happens in the following generations.
5. God elects us for special mission in the world.
6. Family conflicts have far-reaching consequences.
B. The Romans passage will lend itself to an exposition on the two key words: flesh and spirit. We can use Paul's claim that one is death and one is real life and peace. Close to the ground stories which illustrate each in our day and age will be helpful.
1. I was following a car one day and read its bumper sticker: "To know me is to love me." Just as I finished reading it, someone inside rolled down the window and threw out a bunch of paper trash and garbage from Burger King. We imperfect sinners may not be all that lovable when people get to know us!
2. In the 65th anniversary show of the Grand Ole Opry, there was a monologue telling of country western "hurtin' songs." When Willie Nelson got the prize, he was called one who composed and sang "close to the ground." Perhaps "hurtin' songs" reflect how painful our sinful lives are. I wonder if our preaching and ministries are close enough to the ground.
C. After saying the above, I believe the Gospel parable is so compelling we need preach on it today. The following are my suggestions.1
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
1. Retell the parable and mention that many take this to mean that the message of the gospel which the disciples will preach will be received differently by different people. But they are not to get discouraged, as there will always be some good soil which will receive the word and grow it into something worthwhile. (Sometimes I have added here the fact we Christians ought do better cultivation of the soil as well: Christian Education. We ought to deepen soil too shallow, pull out the weeds and thistles, and cultivate that which is too hard. And please water the good dirt, too!)
2. Now move to say you understand this to describe how it is for all of us. We all have times of hardness, shallowness, lack of prayer priorities, and so on. Thank God there are times of good earth too.
a. There are times in our lives when we are burned out, hardened by bitterness, and disappointed with clergy and the church organization.
b. There are times when we give in to fads and crazes which crowds out the good gospel.
c. There are times of thistles when second best crowds out the best.
d. There are times of good ground when we are willing to translate our hearing into doing.
3. Now see if you can come up with telling the same parable in modern terms and in your context. Like: There was once a Mary Kay saleswoman who went out to sell her products. She put signs with her phone number in the supermarket, at the gas station, at the beauty parlor.... It will preach.
Prayer Of The Day
When we are tempted to get discouraged and give up sharing the gospel with others, move us to try again and again. And bless us with receptive hearts as well so we might hear and grow because of it. Please help us to know how and where to be sowers of the seed and do it with joy from knowing we plant on your behalf. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Possible Stories
Elmo Zumwalt, III in Vietnam was exposed to Agent Orange which his own father, Admiral Zumwalt, had ordered to be sprayed. Elmo III's son was born with a birth defect. Elmo has cancer. The admiral has had a bone marrow transplant and is "... doing okay for now." "The sins of the father upon...."
ChemLawn did the church lawn today and left a note to tell me they had given it a "pre-emergence treatment for crabgrass." Is there such a pre-emergence treatment to prevent greed, wealth addiction, selfishness, racial hatred, adultery, and all the other sins which destroy our lives?
In a little town in Missouri they spread oil mixed with dioxin, a toxic impurity in herbicide, on the dirt roads. It was to prevent dust. Now the Environmental Protection Agency is buying the whole town to protect the people from the effects of dioxin. What we spread can be healing or toxic, but we rarely buy it back to protect those we love. Let's watch what we sow as well as where we sow!
____________
1. Another treatment is available in my The Parables Of Jesus And Their Flip Side, CSS Publishing Company, 2001.
