David Rocks and Goliath Rolls

After the sermon today a young man approached me with two questions. The questions were not about the sermon I had just presented but about sermons in general. Both questions were reflective in nature so I will present them here with some of my thoughts.

Question #1 - What do you hope will be accomplished through your sermons?
Every sermon has a specific objective but these fit into an overall desire for my preaching. My desire is that my sermons would help people to know God better. God's greatest revelation of himself has been made through Jesus, so I want to lean heavily on that revelation, but God has revealed himself in others ways as well (such as the Old Testament). When people walk away from any sermon I hope that the message will resonate within them all week. I consider it a great compliment when someone says to me, "I've been thinking all week about what you said Sunday."

Question #2 - What do you listen for in sermons?
Unfortunately, I must be honest that for years I was a terrible sermon listener. I'm ashamed to admit that while listening to others I would often be thinking about how I might preach that particular message. That kind of thinking came out my own insecurity and arrogance. Thankfully, God has sufficiently humbled me so that I now listen to the sermons of others with a much more profitable attitude of mind. When I have the opportunity to hear others preach what I listen for is a word from God. That word might be found in the scriptures being read or expounded upon. I might hear a word from God in a particular illustration, or even in an off the cuff comment the speaker makes. The question I try to answer is, "What is God saying through this message?" If I can find that answer I have something to ponder and hopefully to use to help me grow in my knowledge of the Almighty.

God Doesn't Choose Sides

Today's sermon left me with a lot of unanswered questions. Accepting the fact that God doesn't choose sides but calls us to join Him seems a relevant application of Joshua's conversation with the angel (Joshua 5:13-15). But wrestling with exactly what that means in everyday life is troubling to me.

Should I protest the abortion clinic, strip club, or pornographic movie theater? Or, should I seek to build a relationship with the owners to understand them better and hopefully communicate the gospel? Or, should I simply help people in general come to know the Lord and grow spiritually believing that the only sure way to change culture is for there to be a radical revival that is orchestrated by the Holy Spirit?

How active should I be in the political process? Does concern for changing abortion laws really trump concern for the poor and needy? Is saving the environment better than saving jobs? I no longer believe the naive assumption that one political party stands for righteousness and the other for moral debauchery. It's much more complicated than that, and if it's true that God doesn't choose sides, then Christians have a much more difficult job than simply joining one side or the other and thinking God is for them.

I honestly believe the only hope we have in following God is to truly humble ourselves before him. It has been my experience that when I do this he leads me to people and places that I would have never been open to going to before. When Joshua fell on his face, removed his sandels, and asked what message God had for him -- he received the most bizarre set of battle instructions ever given. Following the leading of God will undoubtedly cause us to do things that we otherwise would not have done. This is the path of the cross.

So, I guess I should expect to have a lot of questions. The only one who has ALL the answers is God himself. Let's humble ourselves before him and let him be the leader of our lives.

Esther: Providential Irony

Judging by the blank looks on the faces of some, my Flintstones reference didn't connect. (Listen to their 30 sec theme song; noting especially the final phrase, by clicking here.) I was making the point that language evolves over time thus changing definitions. Some insist that word meanings should remain static and not change. However, if we are to communicate well to THIS culture we must use the most commonly accepted definitions, regardless of our personal preferences.

Now, regarding the story of Esther; this is an example of story telling at his best! The good guys win and the bad guys lose as in all good stories. But along the way there is danger, risks are taken, and difficult choices are made. There is no specific word from the Lord and Mordecai and Esther must decide what it means to live lives that He would approve. For Mordecai this means thwarting an assassination attempt as well as encouraging Esther to appeal to the king to save her people. For Esther this means risking her life. Surely her body shook with fear when she uttered the words, "When this [fast] is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16).

Esther's faith is what made this Bible story one of my daughter's favorites when she was young. There are many stories of men of faith told in the Bible; but this particular story shows the fate of an entire race of people hinging on the decision of one woman. Thank God she was a woman of faith!

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The sermon title today raised anticipation that was never fully satisfied. Therefore, I have provided a link for my faithful readers to have their unmet expectations fulfilled. Click this link to hear the original 1961 version of the Tokens singing, The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Now that you have that out of your system, consider the character of Daniel. It has been said that every man has his price. I don't think that's true of a person with true integrity. Daniel was not a person who could be "bought." Even the threat of certain death would not deter him from doing what he believed to be God's will. The person with no fear of death is free to truly live!

Is this not the eternal life that Jesus has given to us? Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it too the full." (John 10:10). Living a life of faith means keeping your eyes on the savior instead of on the lions. Trusting God means listening to the Word of God rather than being distracted by the lion's roar. People of faith are always attractive -- because they live the kind of lives that deep down everyone really wants to live: lives of principle, character, and integrity.

Born to Be Wild

My new favorite form of sermon preparation is soliciting help from my friends on facebook. Last Monday I asked if there was anything redeeming about Samson. Danny McNeal, a college club brother of mine, wrote, "No man is completely worthless. He can always be used as a bad example." It appears I followed his advise in this morning's sermon.

Although Samson is included in a list of people with great faith in the NT book of Hebrews (11:32) it's difficult to find much faith in his story. My hunch is that the author is thinking about when Samson asked God to give him his strength back so that he might have one final shot at hurting the Philistines. Samson certainly demonstrated faith by trusting that only by God answering his prayer would he be able to destroy Israel's enemies; however the OT portrayal of Samson does not seem to indicate (at least in my mind) that he's completely repented and changed his ways. Rather, it seems that after his foolishness and wild living have come to their horrible end, his only hope of getting his final revenge is by turning to God for strength. God supplied what was needed because it accomplished His purposes - something Samson, it seems, has never spent much time considering.

The Five Problems of Moses

I got into a brief discussion yesterday with my son, Ben and my brother, Paul (both preachers) concerning two different types of sermons: inductive and deductive. The difference between the two was summarized as:

1) Deductive tells people what to do;
2) Inductive invites people to journey with the preacher on an exploration.

Formerly deductive preaching was the predominate type of sermon where the preacher would begin with a conclusion and then present arguments to support it. Now it seems that inductive preaching has become much more popular. I asked Ben which type of sermons he thinks that I preach and he said it is a mixture. I think he's right.

When I was a young preacher I heard Jim Woodroof say that one should only preach what God has first taught you. I'd like to think that my sermons come out of my life and not simply out of my head. My goal is to have each sermon say, "Hey everybody, let me tell you what God's been teaching me." Then the big question would be "What does this say to you?"

One of the best post-sermon comments I received today came from someone who benefited from a single line in the sermon. I made some statement about how Moses' life was going really well in Midian until God "messed it up" by calling him to go back to Egypt. She reflected on her life and how she had finally reached a point where things were going well. It was at that point that God "messed her life up" as well! He called her to a new mission which has had it's share of new stresses and struggles. Through the sermon she was able to see a larger picture of what God was doing and, consequently, move forward in faith. Christianity is a journey and a destination. This is why we are called "followers" of Christ. Let's keep moving!

Standing Against A Flood of Evil

I loved the movie Evan Almighty and it's depiction of how utterly humiliating it would be if God called a person to do something as ridiculous as building a giant boat to survive a coming flood. Perhaps that's why the Biblical narrative of Noah has captured the attention of story tellers for generations. One man stands alone to protect his family. Who cares what others might say--Noah was convinced that what God said was going to happen and because of that he would endure any amount of ridicule.

But the Genesis story is about more than that. It is about one man who believed God and thus followed God's leading. This is what the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews calls faith. "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family." (11:7)

I thought the building image might connect with guys who often enjoy building things with their hands. But whether we are literal builders or not; keeping our homes as places of spiritual safety and security is the responsibility of us all. God is looking today for the same type of men and women as he was in Noah's day - people of faith who will follow his leading.

Don't Blame Me!

At our visitor lunch today after church one of our new members remarked that for they felt like they had been in the desert but in the past few weeks have been in an oasis. Praise God for using our worship services to have such a positive influence in someone's life. Those, like myself, who take a very public role in our services have a great responsibility to be prepared and to do our assigned jobs well. However, I want everyone to know that your friendliness, thoughtful questions, and genuine interest in our visitors and new members goes a long way to encourage people in their spiritual growth. May all who pass through our doors find a spiritual oasis for their souls.

Next Sunday is Father's Day. For the past couple of years we have held "Man Church" on Father's Day, complete with a sport's theme and manly gifts. This year we're going to stick with our Bible Adventure theme and build the service around the story of Noah. We will be encouraging our men (and everyone else) to "Stand Against a Flood of Evil".

Creation: True Self Esteem

I am anxious to hear reports from families about what happened as they played the board game we created for this sermon series. My hope is that parents (or grandparents) and their children will have a fun and creative way to talk about things that are important. Who knows what kind of information we might learn about one another as we have these informal discussions. Maybe we could even have a few testimonials about the value of talking as a family about what was presented at church. Let me know if you want to volunteer.