[Propertalk] Sermon Resources for August 30th - Part 2 of 2

[Joe Parrish]

Sermon Resources for Proper 17 (continued):
 

  

Seeing Only the Smoke, Never the Fire

 

In Luke 7:32, Jesus observed that this generation is like school children who pipe and their friends won't dance, who wail and their chums won't cry. "There is no pleasing you!" We simply find something wrong with everything. 

 

John Wesley pointed out that every gift God gives man is quickly sullied by human hands. He said every revival comes with defects. So he'd pray, "Lord, send revival without the defects." But then he told the Lord, "If you won't do it, then send the revival with the defects." 

 

Pharisees only see the smoke, never the fire. They complain about defects, never seeing the revival. Negative, critical persons, they are judgmental. 

 

Stephen M. Crotts, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost, CSS Publishing 

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Tradition Is a Powerful Thing

 

Years ago Harry Emerson Fosdick told about a church in Denmark where the worshipers bowed regularly before a certain spot on the wall. They had been doing that for three centuries -- bowing at that one spot in the sanctuary. Nobody could remember why. One day in renovating the church, they removed some of the whitewash on the walls. At the exact spot where the people bowed they found the image of the Madonna under the whitewash. People had become so accustomed to bowing before that image that even after it was covered up for three centuries, people still bowed. 

Tradition is a powerful thing. The Pharisees had learned to substitute tradition, custom, habit for the presence of the living God. Traditionalism rears its head in many ways, in many times and in many places. 

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

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Fault-Finding

 

Shakespeare said, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? I'm sure it would. You see, the truth is that the thing is what it is, not what someone calls it. Names are assigned to us, based on our outward circumstances by ourselves and other people. "Sinner, Failure, Stupid, Dummy, Unclean" all are names which label us. But what we are called, either by others or by ourselves does not determine who we are. It might speak of those external circumstances, but it might be wholly inaccurate. You see, a failure is not someone who fails. In reality, the people who fail the most are the ones who succeed. You only get to success by taking risks and risk-taking brings many failures along the way. A failure is someone who simply doesn't try. No, names do not determine who you are. You are who you are on the inside.

 

So, the first important lesson is that we must cultivate the inner person.

The inner person is the person who counts. The apostle Paul desired that we

be strengthened in the inner man.

 

It boils down to relationship. We are only as strong as our personal relationship with Christ.

 

J. David Hoke, The Inside Story, Mark 7:14-23.

 

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The Shoeshine Boy

 

A certain downtown businessman became fond of the little boy who shined his shoes every day. He did such a good job that one day the businessman asked him, "Son, how come you are so conscientious about your work?" The boy felt complimented. He looked up to the man, and said, "Mister, I'm a Christian and I try to shine every pair of shoes as if Jesus Christ were wearing them."

 

The businessman saw something genuine in the shoeshine boy. Soon after that he began reading his Bible. When he decided to be a Christian himself, he credited his decision to the little boy who shined every pair of shoes "as if Jesus Christ were wearing them." That's a blessing.

 

Charles R. Leary, Mission Ready!, CSS Publishing Company.

 

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Which Flowers Are Real?

 

The queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, and one day she put him to the test. She brought artificial flowers so perfectly formed that no human eye could detect them from real flowers. She put them in a vase on Solomon's table, in his throne room next to his flowers. As he came in, the queen of Sheba is reported to have said, "Solomon, you are the wisest man in the world. Tell me without touching these flowers, which are real and which are artificial." It is said that Solomon studied the flowers for a long time and spoke nothing, until finally he said, "Open the windows and let the bees come in." 

 

There are ways to tell the artificial from the real-let the bees come in; they will know where the real is. If we live with the authentic Jesus long enough, we will recognize the artificial when we see it. 

 

Brooks Ramsey, When Religion Becomes Real 

 

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Humor: A Tradition of Fighting

 

There is a story about a young, newly ordained minister who went to serve his first church. He noticed that on the first Sunday, when he said the prayers, the congregation on the left side of the church stood at the beginning of the prayers, and the congregation on the right side remained seated. The young minister thought this was a bit odd, but he kept going in the prayers-until he began to hear some murmuring between the two sides, then the murmuring turned into grumbling and then people yelling at each other, proclaiming that they were doing the right thing when came to the tradition of the church.

 

Distressed by what he had seen and all that was taking place, the young pastor went to seek the council of the former, now elderly pastor, who had served this congregation for years. He asked him, "So is it the tradition of the congregation to stand during the prayers?"

 

The older minister, whose memory was now failing, stroked his beard, replied, "No, that is not the tradition, as I recall."

 

"So, the tradition is that they remain seated during the prayers?"

 

To which the old minister responded, "No, that's not the tradition either."

 

The young pastor threw his hands in the air in exasperation, and said, "There must be some solution to this! The way things are now, half stand and half sit and all end up screaming at one another during the prayers."

 

The old pastor's face lit up in a smile.Yes, that is the tradition I recall.

 

 

Many additional illustrations and sermons for Proper 17 can be accessed at www.Sermons.com.

 



[Sent 12:10 PM Tuesday, August 25,2009]
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