[Propertalk] Fw: Sermon Resources for September 19 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

Sermons for Proper 20: 
 Luke 16:1-13 – “Increasing Our Standard of Giving”
 1 Timothy 2:1-7 – “Peace and Quiet” by Leonard Sweet

Luke 16, the sermon titled "Increasing Our Standard of Giving" 

Before John Wesley became the founder of the Methodist Church he was a teacher at Oxford University back in the 1700’s. When he began his career he was paid 30 pounds per year - in those days a lot of money. His living expenses were 28 pounds - so he gave 2 pounds away.

The next year his income doubled - but he still managed to live on 28 pounds - so he gave away 32 pounds. The third year he earned 90 pounds - lived on 28 - and gave away 62. The fourth year he earned 120 pounds - lived on 28 - and gave away 92. One year his income was a little over 1,400 pounds - he lived on 30 and gave away nearly all of the 1,400 pounds.

Wesley felt that with increasing income, what should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living but the standard of giving. Increasing our standard of giving. What a great Christian man and what a great lesson he taught us. It is the same lesson found in the parable for today. Let’s take a look. The Pharisees are standing off to the side watching Jesus as was their custom. Jesus’ disciples are listening intently as he tells his story. Probably on this occasion there were more than just the 12. A large number of followers are gathered around. He tells them about a steward who handled all the business affairs of a wealthy man. But the steward has squandered his master’s money; he was reckless and wasteful. Notice that this story follows another story about a reckless young man who squandered his father’s wealth, the prodigal son. But in this story the reckless y oung man does not come to his senses in time and he is fired from his job.

Then he does something so shrewd and conniving. As he is cleaning out his desk and clearing out his things he calls in his master’s debtors, those who had outstanding accounts, and cut those debts in half. You owe 800 gallons of olive oil? Write me check for 400 and we will call it even. You owe a thousand bushels of wheat? Write me a check for 800 and we’ll call it even. He forgives the debts that are not his to forgive, and he gains friends in the process. As a result his master commends him.

So what is Jesus’ point? Well, there’s not just one point there are a few. Let’s take a look. 

1. First, He Explains the Wise Use of Worldly Wealth.
2. Second, Trustworthiness Is Measured by Character.
3. Third, Our Service Must Be Singular.

The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining www.eSermons.com.
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1 Timothy 2, the sermon titled “Peace and Quiet” by Leonard Sweet 

When you check into a Sheraton hotel room these days you have a new message you can hang on your doorknob to keep the housekeeper away. Instead of “Do Not Disturb” the message now reads “Peace and Quiet.” The sign at Sheraton’s more upscale sister, The Westin, simply reads “Peace.”

People are not just looking to keep disruptions and disturbances at bay. They are looking to find something positive. They are searching in life for some “peace and quiet.” Or if “quiet” is too much to ask, just some “Peace.”

The Russian Orthodox church introduced a word which is now quite popular in a variety of Christian circles. The Russian word is poustinia, and it refers to a remote cabin or place for prayer, even a hermit’s hut in the woods where you can encounter God in silence, serenity and peace. Who doesn’t want one of these “poustinia,” . . . . with bath and shower, of course, . . . . with hot meals available every day cooked by someone else, of course, . . . with the possibility of walking down daisy-strewn paths, maintained, of course, by someone else, . . . . where you can attend worship presided over by someone else, of course. 

It is doubtful you’ll find your “peace and quiet” poustinia in a sterile hotel room surrounded by the sounds of hundreds of other guests, electronics, elevators, street noises, and airplanes on their approach path. But the quest for somewhere and something that offers poustinia, that offers “peace and quiet” on demand is a dream that seems harder and harder to realize in a TGIF world. 

TGIF: that is, a Twitter, Google, iPhone, Facebook culture. All those wonderful electronic connections that make it possible for us to stay in touch, stay on top, stay informed, stay current 24/7 also make it almost impossible to encounter “peace and quiet.” 

When you made your summer vacation plans, how important was it that wherever you were headed there was wi-fi available? Is there anything more pitiful than watching your teenage daughter discover she has left her cell phone re-charging at home? A dropped cell phone connection is now the direct cause of spikes in blood pressure.

The most endangered of our planet’s great gifts is not the polar ice caps. It is not rare species like the black rhino or the big leaf mahogany. It is not a pristine aquifer or wilderness area. The most endangered gift the twenty-first century is eroding? It’s the existence of “peace and quiet.” It is precisely this promise of “Peace and Quiet” that the pastoral epistle of First Timothy promises. If you follow Jesus, you will find a way to “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.”

But what does “Peace and Quiet” really mean for the Christian? …

The rest of Leonard Sweet's sermon can be obtained by joining www.Sermons.com 
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Making Choices

In our society thousands of people are losing their homes because of foreclosures. They can’t pay their mortgage rates which are higher now than when they first obtained a loan. Some banks show no mercy while others are going out of their way to help people keep their homes. The last thing a bank wants to have is to have thousands of empty houses with no buyers. They rely on those monthly mortgage payments to underwrite their investments.

I believe this story is about making choices. The manager had to decide whether or not to make it easier for debtors to pay their bills and risk losing his job, or resign and do nothing. Remember that this story follows the story of the elder brother of the prodigal son who didn’t want to go to his “forgiveness party.” He was choosing to stay away because, “right was right.” He didn’t want to have any part in a celebration where incompetent behavior was rewarded with mercy.

Here, the master showed mercy for his manager. The manager was incompetent but at least he acted. He made a decision and he was merciful to the debtors. Whether or not he got to keep his job we don’t know. Neither do we know if the debtors actually paid their bills. What we do know is that Jesus used this story to confront the stingy behavior of the Pharisees.


Notice that in the following verses it says that “The Pharisees were lovers of money…and God knows what is in their hearts.”

Keith Wagner, Living With our Choices
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The End of the Value of Money

In his book, How to Preach a Parable, Eugene Lowry says that in order to understand a parable we must look for the itch before we can feel the scratch. We must sense the tension before we can receive relief from the tension. We must place ourselves in the puzzling setting before we can see the resolution to the puzzle. Lowry calls this "finding the focus of the story."

All this talk about participation and finding the focus notwithstanding, what do we do with the steward who is a rascal, making deals with shady debtors and a master who commends the shrewdness of his steward for the deals he makes? What's the sharp point Jesus is trying to make?

The sharp point of this parable is that the master commends the use of money for people, instead of for pride, power, position, and possessions. In other words, the value of money and possession comes to a dead end when we die. The sharp point of this parable is that money and possessions will do us no good when we arrive at eternity and face the judgment of God.

Ron Lavin, Sermons for Sundays After Pentecost (Middle Third): Only the Lonely, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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Like Running a Business

There was an interesting legal question posed in The Saturday Evening Post recently. It seems that one lovely Sunday when the sermon was overlong, the congregation rushed, as usual, from its pews on the first syllable of "Amen!" Faithful Abigail, the only worshiper held entranced by the sermon, moved slowly and was trampled. She sued the church and its officials for damages. 

"Those in charge of the church knew that most of the congregation stampedes after long sermons," Abigail argued. "They should have recognized the danger in the situation. Not being prepared to cope with it, they were negligent." 

The church's attorney argued like this in response: "A church is a nonprofit organization manned for the most part by volunteers. No one has a right to expect it to be run with the smart efficiency of a business concern. Abigail, therefore, has no real claim." 

If you were the judge, asks the writer, would you award damages to Abigail? 

What I found interesting in this hypothetical situation was the characterization of the church. "A church is a nonprofit organization manned for the most part by volunteers. . . No one has a right to expect it to be run with the smart efficiency of a business. . . ." 

Why not? What if we were as good at what we do as McDonald's is at what they do, or Coca Cola or Microsoft? What if we were as committed to spreading the good news of the kingdom of God as American business is to winning new customers? This is the point Jesus is trying to make. He wants people who bear his name to not only be nice people but to be people who make a difference in the world. 

King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.eSermons.com 

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God’s Grace

The grace of God is like the man who went into the clothing store to buy a suit and was shown a blue one. "No," the customer said, "That won't do. I want a green suit." So the clerk called out to his partner, "Turn on the green light, Joe, the man wants a green suit!" It is not that things are changed. But we see them differently. In Christ we are given spectacles which give us a kingdom perspective. We see ourselves in a heavenly light; through God's eyes. We see how things really are. We need no longer suffer from the stigma that "sinner" - forgiven or otherwise - denotes. We can see ourselves as "heirs" with Christ of the Divine inheritance. The world is not changed, but we see it and ourselves in a new light; a kingdom light.

Robert McClelland, Fire in the Hole, CSS Publishing Company 

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