[Propertalk] FW: Sermon Resources for October 2 - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

God's Patience

Robert Ingersoll, that great agnostic of a day gone by, once said to a
contemporary, "I will give God five minutes to strike me dead for the things
I have said." After five minutes and nothing had happened, Ingersoll's
friend remarked, "Did you think you could exhaust God's patience in just
five minutes?"

Jerry L. Schmalenberger, When Christians Quarrel, CSS Publishing Co., Inc., 

_____________________________

The Vineyard Belongs to God

A friend told me about an announcement in her church's weekly newsletter
saying that next Sunday the church would celebrate the Lord's Supper. A new
Christian with no church background saw the notice and called up my friend.
"I have two questions," she said. "It's about this supper thing. Am I
invited and how much will it cost?"

The world is still asking these questions. Can we come? And how much will
this supper cost? The way we answer these questions will determine the kind
of tenants we are. We still have much work to do. We keep reminding one
another that the table is not ours. We just work here. The vineyard belongs
to God.

Roger Lovette, Dinner Reservations, article in The Christian Century,
September 20, 2005, p. 21.
_______________________________________

Timebomb Parables

Eugene Peterson once suggested that parables are narrative time-bombs. These
simple-looking stories lodged inside people's hearts and imaginations,
slowly tick-tick-ticking away until finally, BOOM, they exploded into a new
awareness when the real meaning behind Jesus' homely stories about farmers
and seeds and sheep and bread-making finally sunk in. Well, if all of the
parables were like narrative time-bombs, then I think it's fair to say the
Parable of the Tenants was like a proximity-fuse grenade! In this case, it
did not take very long before this parable blew up in the faces of those
listening to Jesus. In the end we are told that the Pharisees and other
religious leaders in Jerusalem that day knew at once that "Jesus was
speaking against them." It made them furious and they were ready, right then
and there, to arrest him and be done with this meddlesome Nazarene once and
for all. Clearly Jesus got their attention!

Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
_____________________________

The Psychological Tricks We Play on Ourselves


In Tom Wolfe's book about the first astronauts, The Right Stuff, he says
that the corps of young test pilots from which the first astronauts were
drawn spent a lot of time going to the funerals of comrades who were killed
in the planes they were testing. Going home from those funerals, they didn't
face the reality that testing experimental aircraft is an inherently
dangerous line of work. Rather, they told themselves that the difference
between them-selves and the man they had just buried was that they had the
right stuff and he didn't. So also, we tell ourselves: Why should I fasten
my seat belt? I haven't even scraped a bumper in 20 years. What are the
chances that I am going to be in a car accident this afternoon?

We understand these psychological tricks we play on ourselves. Well, let me
put it this way: we understand these psychological tricks other people play
on themselves. We seldom understand the psychological tricks we play on
ourselves -- if we did, we wouldn't play them.

Roger G. Talbott, Good News for the Heard of Hearing, CSS Publishing Company


____________________________

The Rejected Stone

Jesus quoted the words of the Psalmist: "The very stone which the builders
rejected has become the head of the corner..." (Ps. 118:22) Later Simon
Peter would quote these words to the rulers and the elders in testimony
concerning the good news of Christ. (Acts 4:11) Later he would cite those
words again in his epistles. (I Pet. 2:7)

There was a legend that was well known in New Testament times that in the
building of the temple of Solomon most of the stones were of the same size
and shape. One stone arrived, however, that was different from the others.
The builders took one look at it and said, "This will not do," and sent it
rolling down into the valley of Kedron below. The years passed and the great
temple was nearing completion, and the builders sent a message to the
stonecutters to send the chief cornerstone that the structure might be
complete. The cutters replied that they had sent the stone years before.
Then someone remembered the stone that was different than all the rest that
somehow did not seem to belong. They realized that they had thrown away the
cornerstone. They hurried into the valley to retrieve it. Finally under
vines and debris they recovered it and with great effort rolled it up the
hill and put it in place so that the great temple would be complete. The
stone that had been rejected had become the chief cornerstone. Jesus, who
had been rejected now reigns at the right hand of the Father. From rejection
to rejoicing.

King Duncan, From Rejection to Rejoicing, www.Sermons.com

________________________________________________

Refusing to Share: Remember We Are God's Guests

One time there was a little village in the mountains of Italy where the
people grew grapes. The mountain sides were covered with vineyards and each
family in the community contributed to the making of wine. It was some of
the finest wine in the world. Each village had a number of different
recipes. Each family would bring their wine to the center of town and pour
it into one large keg. As a result, the wine was a mixture of many recipes
which made it very unique.

One particular year the weather did not cooperate and the vineyards did not
produce an abundance of grapes. One of the wine makers decided that since
things would be tight that year he would sell his wine elsewhere. He then
filled his barrel with water and poured it into the town keg, thinking that
one barrel of water in the gigantic keg would go unnoticed and not impact
the outcome of the wine.

The wine in the keg aged for seven years. At the end of seven years the
villagers all gathered around that particular keg to sell their wine to
merchants who had come from all over the world. The entire community
depended on the sale of their wine to provide for them until the next
season. The villagers gathered around the giant keg and it was tapped. A
pitcher was placed at the tap and out came nothing but pure water. It seemed
that everyone in the village that year had the same idea and none had put in
wine. Since everyone held back there was no wine to sell.

The villagers refused to share their wine with their neighbors and
consequently no one ended up with anything. The parable of the vineyard is
not unlike the villagers in Italy. The servants were to reap the fruits of
the vineyard for the landowner but were denied that opportunity by the
tenants. The tenants refused to share their grapes with others. They even
went so far as to mistreat the servants and even kill the landowner's son.

Jesus uses the parable of the vineyard to describe the kingdom of God. It
reminds us that we are here temporarily on earth and that we are God's
guests. God wants us to be grateful for all that we have and to share what
we have been given.

Keith Wagner, Guests at the Table

______________________________

Producing Fruit

Shouldn't we also consider a corporate sense of "producing fruit," i.e.,
what the church is doing; besides the individual sense, i.e., what I am
doing? In recent weeks the corporate sense of "bearing fruit" has been
discussed concerning the hurricane and flooding in the Gulf States. What
responsibilities does the city, state, and federal government have to
protect citizens from natural disasters? To relocate and support the
evacuees? To do what is necessary to rebuild the city? Besides these secular
bodies, what about churches and denominations? Is not the way we deal with
those needy people an indication of the fruit we are producing?

Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes

_____________________________________________

Shall I Sound the Eviction Notice? 

There is a fable about the Angel Gabriel who has just come from surveying
the earth and its inhabitants when he reports to God. "Lord, it's my duty to
inform you that you're the possessor of a choice piece of real estate known
as planet earth. But the tenants you've leased it out to are destroying it.
In another few years, it won't be fit to live in. They have polluted your
rivers. The air is fouled with the stench of their over-consumerism. They
frequently kill one another, and all the prophets you've sent to them
calling for an accounting have met with violence. By any rule of sound
management, Lord, you've got but one option." Then raising his trumpet to
his lips, Gabriel asked, "Shall I sound the eviction notice now, sir?"

And God said...

The conclusion to this list and for many additional illustrations and
sermons for Proper 22 can be accessed at www.Sermons.com.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20111001/f29d3e77/attachment.htm>