Seventh Sunday After The Epiphany
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IV
Lesson 1: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 (C, E); Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18 (L, RC)
Yahweh commands the people to be holy and to love one's neighbor. Leviticus emphasized the holiness of God. What he is by nature, his followers are to be the same. To have God is to be godly. What is God like? He is holy, generous, honest, truthful and above all is love. Accordingly, a godly person loves his neighbor as one loves himself.
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 (C, E, L); 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 (RC)
The only foundation for God's temple is Christ. Previously Paul used agriculture to explain the relationship of church leaders. Now he uses construction as a model. His work was laying the foundation (Christ) of the church and others who came later built on that foundation. This building is the temple which is the people of the church. The Spirit makes and sanctifies the temple. Now Paul returns to the subject of wisdom which he began to discuss in the first chapter. The problem in the Corinthian church was their having human rather than divine wisdom. To bring harmony in the church, Paul claims that all their leaders belong to them, and they belong to Christ who in turn belongs to God.
Gospel:
Matthew 5:38-48 (C, E, L, RC)
Christians are expected to do more than the Law demands. A Christian's morality is to far exceed the morality of others: turn the other cheek and go the second mile. It is not enough to hate enemies. Love them with Christian love. What gain do you have if you love only those who love you? A follower of Christ is to be complete and fulfilled just as God is perfect.
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 62:5-12 (L) - "On God rests my deliverance and my honor (v. 7)."
Psalm 119:33-40 (C) - "Lead me in the path of your commandments (v. 35)."
Psalm 71 (E) - "You, O Lord, are my hope (v. 5)."
Prayer Of The Day
"Lord God, we ask you to keep your family, the church, always faithful to you that all who lean on the hope of your promises may gain strength from the power of your love."
Hymn Of The Day
"O God, O Lord Of Heaven And Earth"
THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS
Gospel:
Matthew 5:38-48
1. Resist (v. 39). Jesus teaches, "Do not resist one who is evil." This raises a lot of questions. Don't resist one who attacks you? Who steals from you? Who demands involuntary service? He calls for passive resistance. It reminds us of Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Not to resist means not to hate, not to fight back but take whatever is given with patience. It is using moral persuasion, and in the cases of Ghandi and King, it seemed to work! Is there a theological basis for passive resistance? The key to the passage is the nature of God. He does not resist evil, even to the point of the cross. Humanity is to follow his example.
2. Enemies (v. 44). We are to love our enemies. Is Christ asking too much of us? How can we love those who hate us and hurt us? Love for enemies is not an emotional love. It is agape love, a love for the undeserving and the unlovely. Love is seeing that all people receive justice. It is helping those in need. Why do this? Again, we do it because of the nature of God. He loves his enemies - he allows the sun to shine on both the good and the bad and sends rain on the just and the unjust. As "sons of the Father," we treat our opponents as graciously and as generously as we do the faithful ones. If we love our enemies, we will do as God does - he shares his love and blessings upon all, whether enemy or friend.
3. Perfect (v. 48). Who can be perfect? The word does not mean moral perfection. Since Jesus was the only one who could say, "Which of you convinces me of sin?" There is no way to reach that goal in this life. "Perfect" means wholeness, maturity, holiness and fulfillment. In the Biblical sense, a perfect person is one who has completed or fulfilled his life's purpose. We are to be perfect because God is perfect.
Lesson 1: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
1. I am the Lord (v. 4). In chapters 18-20, "I am the Lord" appears 20 times! It occurs twice in this pericope. It is the basis for obeying the commands. It is God who commands. Because he is God, he has the authority to command. To disobey is to be faithless to God. Sin is unbelief. Moreover, God himself is the absolute standard for human conduct. Morality is not based on permissiveness nor upon consensus. The absolute is the very nature of God. Because he is holy, so must we be. Because he loves, we, too, are expected to love one another. A good person is a godly person. "Good" and "God" came from the same root word.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself (v. 18). Today's emphasis is "love yourself." The text is not a command to love self. Rather, love of self is taken for granted as a normal and natural phenomenon. The command is to love neighbor as much as you love yourself! To love oneself is normal. It is abnormal to hate oneself or to love oneself excessively. We can go to both extremes - either into depression or into pride and arrogance. If we loved our neighbor as ourselves, we would put the neighbor first and would desire for the neighbor only the best things in life.
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
1. Foundation (v. 10). If a Christian or a church is compared to a building, Paul says Christ is the foundation. Since there can be no building without a foundation, it teaches us that Christ is essential, indispensible. Any other foundation for life or a church is inadequate and untrustworthy. To have a foundation of Christ is to look at the Christian and the church as a building project or a process. No Christian or church is ready-made: it is constantly in the making, in the building. Therefore, no one can claim to have arrived, or to be finished, or perfect.
2. Temple (v. 16). If the church can be compared to a building, the individual life can be likened to a temple. A temple is the housing for God. It is the physical container for the Spirit of God, just as the church is the body of Christ. The body of the Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit, or God is in the believer. If the body is the temple of God, the body has an importance and value in relation to what it contains. This makes the body holy and it needs to be regarded with reverence and kept as a worthy receptacle of the Spirit, in strength and in purity.
3. Christ's (v. 23). Christians belong to Christ. How so? Not by nature or creation. They are Christ's because they have been born anew. They are Christ's because in grace they were accepted in the act of Baptism. Christ becomes ours when he is accepted by faith. If we are Christ's then we know who and whose we are. We know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going.
PREACHING POSSIBILITIES
Gospel:
Matthew 5:38-48
1. Do As God Does. 5:38-48.
Need: The basis of Christian ethics is God. "Be holy ... be merciful ... be perfect" as your Father in heaven. Our behavior reflects the kind of God we have. To believe in and to have a God is to be like him by obeying his commandments and pleasing him in word and deed. God does not ask us to be or do more than he is and does. The key verse in this passage is "so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven ..."
Outline: Live as God does.
a. Do not resist evil - vv. 38-42.
b. Do good to both the good and the bad - vv. 43-47.
c. Be perfect - v. 48.
2. Does God Expect You to Be Perfect? 5:48
Need: To be perfect is to be the impossible? If God knows the weakness and limitations of a human being, does he expect him to be perfect? There are some who answer the question negatively. If he does not, then God must expect us to be sinful. If we are not to be perfect, what does this say about sin? Is it normal and not something to be concerned about? If we are not to be perfect, what is the point of justification and the cross? This text seems to say that God does expect us to be like him: holy, merciful, perfect.
Outline: God expects all of us to be perfect.
a. Perfect in holiness and love.
b. Perfect in the sense of fulfillment and purpose.
Lesson 1: Leviticus 19:1-2
1. Why Be Good? 19:1-2
Need: We are living in a society where, like Israel of old, there is no king. Each person does what is right in his own eyes. American society is experiencing a collapse in morality:
sexual, political and economic. Scandal follows scandal. Like Diogenes, we must search for an honest person. Our morality is usually based on permissiveness, consensus and popularity - "Everybody's doing it!" It is high time for the pulpit to point to God as the absolute standard for our behavior. If God is our God, we worship, adore and imitate him. What he is we should be.
Outline: Why be good?
a. Because God says so - "And the Lord said ... (v. 1)."
b. Because God is your God - "I the Lord your God (v. 2)."
c. Because God is good - "I the Lord your God am holy (v. 2)."
2. How to Get Along with Your Neighbor. 19:17-18
Need: Here is a subject that will affect every listener. We are social beings. We live in a society, a community, a family, a church. Every day, unless we are recluses, we come in contact with people. How we get along with them usually determines our success in our work and life. We need to learn how to get along with people, for statistics and facts indicate that human relationships have deteriorated or have broken down: divorce, crime, hostages, war.
Outline: How to get along with your neighbor.
a. Do not hate but reason with your neighbor - v. 17.
b. Do not take revenge but love your neighbor - v. 18.
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
1. Behold the Body! 3:10-11, 16-17
Need: In this passage Paul refers to the Trinity: God the Father, the Son and the Spirit. He speaks of the church and her foundation, Christ. Then the body of the Christian is presented as the temple of the Spirit. In biblical thought, the Spirit is identified with the body. If we
consider the body as the container of the Spirit, then we see the Spirit of God the Father having the universe as his body, the church as the body of the Son, and the body of the Christian as the temple of the Holy Spirit. This sermon is needed by our people that they may recognize the importance of the body in relation to God's Spirit.
Outline: God has a body.
a. Universe is the Father's body - creation.
b. Church is the Son's body - vv. 10-11.
c. Believer is the Spirit's body - vv. 16-17.
2. Do You Want to Be This? 3:10-11, 16-23
Need: A Christian gets his identity from his relationship to God, Christ and the church. Because of this, he does not ask, "Who am I?" Yet, many in today's church do not know who they are. Is it because they have not discovered their relationship to God?
Outline: Do you want to be this -
a. A builder of the church? vv. 10-11.
b. God's temple? vv. 16-17.
c. Christ's people? v. 23.
Yahweh commands the people to be holy and to love one's neighbor. Leviticus emphasized the holiness of God. What he is by nature, his followers are to be the same. To have God is to be godly. What is God like? He is holy, generous, honest, truthful and above all is love. Accordingly, a godly person loves his neighbor as one loves himself.
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 (C, E, L); 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 (RC)
The only foundation for God's temple is Christ. Previously Paul used agriculture to explain the relationship of church leaders. Now he uses construction as a model. His work was laying the foundation (Christ) of the church and others who came later built on that foundation. This building is the temple which is the people of the church. The Spirit makes and sanctifies the temple. Now Paul returns to the subject of wisdom which he began to discuss in the first chapter. The problem in the Corinthian church was their having human rather than divine wisdom. To bring harmony in the church, Paul claims that all their leaders belong to them, and they belong to Christ who in turn belongs to God.
Gospel:
Matthew 5:38-48 (C, E, L, RC)
Christians are expected to do more than the Law demands. A Christian's morality is to far exceed the morality of others: turn the other cheek and go the second mile. It is not enough to hate enemies. Love them with Christian love. What gain do you have if you love only those who love you? A follower of Christ is to be complete and fulfilled just as God is perfect.
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 62:5-12 (L) - "On God rests my deliverance and my honor (v. 7)."
Psalm 119:33-40 (C) - "Lead me in the path of your commandments (v. 35)."
Psalm 71 (E) - "You, O Lord, are my hope (v. 5)."
Prayer Of The Day
"Lord God, we ask you to keep your family, the church, always faithful to you that all who lean on the hope of your promises may gain strength from the power of your love."
Hymn Of The Day
"O God, O Lord Of Heaven And Earth"
THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS
Gospel:
Matthew 5:38-48
1. Resist (v. 39). Jesus teaches, "Do not resist one who is evil." This raises a lot of questions. Don't resist one who attacks you? Who steals from you? Who demands involuntary service? He calls for passive resistance. It reminds us of Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Not to resist means not to hate, not to fight back but take whatever is given with patience. It is using moral persuasion, and in the cases of Ghandi and King, it seemed to work! Is there a theological basis for passive resistance? The key to the passage is the nature of God. He does not resist evil, even to the point of the cross. Humanity is to follow his example.
2. Enemies (v. 44). We are to love our enemies. Is Christ asking too much of us? How can we love those who hate us and hurt us? Love for enemies is not an emotional love. It is agape love, a love for the undeserving and the unlovely. Love is seeing that all people receive justice. It is helping those in need. Why do this? Again, we do it because of the nature of God. He loves his enemies - he allows the sun to shine on both the good and the bad and sends rain on the just and the unjust. As "sons of the Father," we treat our opponents as graciously and as generously as we do the faithful ones. If we love our enemies, we will do as God does - he shares his love and blessings upon all, whether enemy or friend.
3. Perfect (v. 48). Who can be perfect? The word does not mean moral perfection. Since Jesus was the only one who could say, "Which of you convinces me of sin?" There is no way to reach that goal in this life. "Perfect" means wholeness, maturity, holiness and fulfillment. In the Biblical sense, a perfect person is one who has completed or fulfilled his life's purpose. We are to be perfect because God is perfect.
Lesson 1: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
1. I am the Lord (v. 4). In chapters 18-20, "I am the Lord" appears 20 times! It occurs twice in this pericope. It is the basis for obeying the commands. It is God who commands. Because he is God, he has the authority to command. To disobey is to be faithless to God. Sin is unbelief. Moreover, God himself is the absolute standard for human conduct. Morality is not based on permissiveness nor upon consensus. The absolute is the very nature of God. Because he is holy, so must we be. Because he loves, we, too, are expected to love one another. A good person is a godly person. "Good" and "God" came from the same root word.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself (v. 18). Today's emphasis is "love yourself." The text is not a command to love self. Rather, love of self is taken for granted as a normal and natural phenomenon. The command is to love neighbor as much as you love yourself! To love oneself is normal. It is abnormal to hate oneself or to love oneself excessively. We can go to both extremes - either into depression or into pride and arrogance. If we loved our neighbor as ourselves, we would put the neighbor first and would desire for the neighbor only the best things in life.
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
1. Foundation (v. 10). If a Christian or a church is compared to a building, Paul says Christ is the foundation. Since there can be no building without a foundation, it teaches us that Christ is essential, indispensible. Any other foundation for life or a church is inadequate and untrustworthy. To have a foundation of Christ is to look at the Christian and the church as a building project or a process. No Christian or church is ready-made: it is constantly in the making, in the building. Therefore, no one can claim to have arrived, or to be finished, or perfect.
2. Temple (v. 16). If the church can be compared to a building, the individual life can be likened to a temple. A temple is the housing for God. It is the physical container for the Spirit of God, just as the church is the body of Christ. The body of the Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit, or God is in the believer. If the body is the temple of God, the body has an importance and value in relation to what it contains. This makes the body holy and it needs to be regarded with reverence and kept as a worthy receptacle of the Spirit, in strength and in purity.
3. Christ's (v. 23). Christians belong to Christ. How so? Not by nature or creation. They are Christ's because they have been born anew. They are Christ's because in grace they were accepted in the act of Baptism. Christ becomes ours when he is accepted by faith. If we are Christ's then we know who and whose we are. We know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going.
PREACHING POSSIBILITIES
Gospel:
Matthew 5:38-48
1. Do As God Does. 5:38-48.
Need: The basis of Christian ethics is God. "Be holy ... be merciful ... be perfect" as your Father in heaven. Our behavior reflects the kind of God we have. To believe in and to have a God is to be like him by obeying his commandments and pleasing him in word and deed. God does not ask us to be or do more than he is and does. The key verse in this passage is "so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven ..."
Outline: Live as God does.
a. Do not resist evil - vv. 38-42.
b. Do good to both the good and the bad - vv. 43-47.
c. Be perfect - v. 48.
2. Does God Expect You to Be Perfect? 5:48
Need: To be perfect is to be the impossible? If God knows the weakness and limitations of a human being, does he expect him to be perfect? There are some who answer the question negatively. If he does not, then God must expect us to be sinful. If we are not to be perfect, what does this say about sin? Is it normal and not something to be concerned about? If we are not to be perfect, what is the point of justification and the cross? This text seems to say that God does expect us to be like him: holy, merciful, perfect.
Outline: God expects all of us to be perfect.
a. Perfect in holiness and love.
b. Perfect in the sense of fulfillment and purpose.
Lesson 1: Leviticus 19:1-2
1. Why Be Good? 19:1-2
Need: We are living in a society where, like Israel of old, there is no king. Each person does what is right in his own eyes. American society is experiencing a collapse in morality:
sexual, political and economic. Scandal follows scandal. Like Diogenes, we must search for an honest person. Our morality is usually based on permissiveness, consensus and popularity - "Everybody's doing it!" It is high time for the pulpit to point to God as the absolute standard for our behavior. If God is our God, we worship, adore and imitate him. What he is we should be.
Outline: Why be good?
a. Because God says so - "And the Lord said ... (v. 1)."
b. Because God is your God - "I the Lord your God (v. 2)."
c. Because God is good - "I the Lord your God am holy (v. 2)."
2. How to Get Along with Your Neighbor. 19:17-18
Need: Here is a subject that will affect every listener. We are social beings. We live in a society, a community, a family, a church. Every day, unless we are recluses, we come in contact with people. How we get along with them usually determines our success in our work and life. We need to learn how to get along with people, for statistics and facts indicate that human relationships have deteriorated or have broken down: divorce, crime, hostages, war.
Outline: How to get along with your neighbor.
a. Do not hate but reason with your neighbor - v. 17.
b. Do not take revenge but love your neighbor - v. 18.
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
1. Behold the Body! 3:10-11, 16-17
Need: In this passage Paul refers to the Trinity: God the Father, the Son and the Spirit. He speaks of the church and her foundation, Christ. Then the body of the Christian is presented as the temple of the Spirit. In biblical thought, the Spirit is identified with the body. If we
consider the body as the container of the Spirit, then we see the Spirit of God the Father having the universe as his body, the church as the body of the Son, and the body of the Christian as the temple of the Holy Spirit. This sermon is needed by our people that they may recognize the importance of the body in relation to God's Spirit.
Outline: God has a body.
a. Universe is the Father's body - creation.
b. Church is the Son's body - vv. 10-11.
c. Believer is the Spirit's body - vv. 16-17.
2. Do You Want to Be This? 3:10-11, 16-23
Need: A Christian gets his identity from his relationship to God, Christ and the church. Because of this, he does not ask, "Who am I?" Yet, many in today's church do not know who they are. Is it because they have not discovered their relationship to God?
Outline: Do you want to be this -
a. A builder of the church? vv. 10-11.
b. God's temple? vv. 16-17.
c. Christ's people? v. 23.
