Good Morning Friends,
Maybe you like the sermons of Paul or of Peter. Maybe Charles Haden Spurgeon, N. T. Wright or John Stott is your style or Martin Luther. John Wesley, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, John Knox or John Calvin or John Wycliffe. They could all preach too but I doubt many millennials would be listening. There is also G.K. Chesterton, John Mac Arthur, Billy Graham, Tim Keller or Billy Sunday. And how about some of the Popes or T.D. Jakes who is considered by some to be the best preacher in America, but the best preacher of all time has got to be Jesus. So here is the question…and it is about the truth…Have You Heard a Good Sermon Recently For Those Facing Troubling Times?
Scripture: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.
2 Timothy 4:2 (NRSV)
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 55:6-13 (NRSV)
Blessed . . . are those who hear the word of God and obey it.
Luke 11:28 (NIV)
You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act–they will be blessed in their doing.
James 1:19-25 (NRSV)
Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
Luke 6:12,17-26 (NRSV)
Message: Don’t be so quick to rush to an application of today’s text before you understand the meaning behind the text in the Biblical world. We need a devotion to the peculiarities of what is presented in the Bible and the people who uttered the words we say are holy. There are a lot of great pastors who have given a lot of great sermons but none of them compared to Jesus and the point I am making is related to the message Jesus gave at what we know as the Sermon on the Mount from Luke 6 or the Sermon on the Plain in other Gospel readings. The context of the sermon in our text today is that Jesus had just spent the night in prayer on a mountain top to select the inner circle of disciples who reflected the nation of Israel. And if this scripture does in fact reflect the mind of Jesus as well then it is about the poor and poor in spirit… the Saints to be. He broke the message up into main points. Carrots and sticks if you will…blessings and woes. If Jesus was giving a TED talk, he would begin with the end in mind having a great clarity of the message and he would pique our interest to keep our attention. And he did that here. There are perils in the prosperity we experience today and one of them might well be our loss of attention. The Sermon on the Mount was meant to stick with the disciples so they might apply it. Once Jesus got their attention, he delivered his thoughts in an organized way using visual metaphors of pictures at the beginning to pre encode the brain to remember what he was saying. Only later did he ask them to apply the aspects of the message to their own lives. The message was self-relevant for the disciples and so it could be imagined in the context in which each might apply the message as they would learn to preach the Gospel message. Jesus was teaching his disciples how to share the Gospel message.
And So, frankly I don’t think God is very impressed about our discussions of who the best earthly preacher is. I think God cares much more about whether we are maximizing the unique gifts, abilities, and scriptural insights he has given us. Having said that, I am not even sure all would agree on what a good sermon really is. I think the Sermon on the Mount was a good sermon because it emphasized a practical counter culture guide to Kingdom living. Good sermons are rare because we live them so irregularly. Sure, we might agree that effective preaching is about sharing the Word of God with conviction, passion, and determination. We might agree that a good sermon is given by someone who relishes the challenge of interpreting difficult texts, who exposes people to the whole of Scripture, not just a few favorite passages. We might even all appreciate a preacher whose study of, and love of the Word is reflected in the circumstances of daily life. But let’s face it, there are a lot of barriers to good sermons being preached in the first place. The Word getting into us is a challenge. For today we have secularism in our culture. We have a hostile environment for any religious talk even in most churches. And then priorities are all out of proper order and moreover faith is pushed into our private lives and that makes for a bad environment for a good sermon to be preached to a congregation. Hedonism, individualism and materialism add to the barriers for a good sermon to even be given a shot at being heard. Friends, the truth is a hard thing to hear. And it is a hard thing to share. It is a hard thing to live. And maybe that is why good sermons are so rare. But the real problem is not that these negative trends permeate our society, but the lack of a message that bringspeople back to the real Jesusand to the real message of the Gospel. The real problem is sin and always has been…whether it is a sin of omission, commission or of our disposition. Friends, here is the deal, knowing the word of God is a lot easier than doing the word. The Word of God is not just meant to be preached…it is meant to be practiced. We must not only hear, but we must also heed the word. And when we heed the word…. that is a good sermon wherever and whenever it is shared. Friends, perhaps the best sermon is our own lives bearing the fruit that witnesses the purpose God has planted in each of us. Now being a doer in the Word made flesh…. that is a sermon.
Pray the Spirit would take up residence in our hearts … .and not just for preachers in the pulpit but for all of us so we might take up a new way of life. Pray we be doers not just hearers of the Word.Pray that we learn how to communicate. Pray we learn how to listen to God through His Word and through the Holy Spirit. Pray we learn to listen to others reflecting the Christ in them. Pray that we are committed to doing something of significance. Pray that we are committed to preaching and serving and teaching the Word. Pray we think before we speak. Pray we live in the truth of the Word. Pray that in relationship with the Living Word, in the reading of a written word, in the speaking of a word formed in silence and in the writing of a word for others, we experience the Word of God that speaks to our souls. Pray scripture for those going through troubling times such as: Philippians 4:12-13: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” James 1:12: Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. Isaiah 41:10: “I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Romans 8:18: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. Joshua 1:9: “Be strong and courageous.” Psalms 50:15: Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’ 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! …”
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 