This Sunday I'll be preaching on the first two verses of the third chapter of Titus. The entire letter is short and very much to the point. It's one of the so called "pastoral epistles" because it is written by Paul for the benefit of a pastor with a difficult parish.
Titus was serving on Crete where he had a tough row to hoe.
To be honest, some of the instruction seems so elementary that we might be tempted to skim over it. That would be a mistake.
Paul instructs Titus to remind the people of things. These elementary, fundamental things (like being considerate) are not the things we need to be taught. We learned them in kindergarten for the most part. But we do need to be reminded. Forcefully.
If God directs my attention to a passage like Titus 3:1-2 I tend to get impatient. I want some new teaching, something to sink my teeth into. I say to God "I know, I know, I know." He says back to me "You know, you know, you know, but you don't do, you don't do, you don't do. You know you're supposed to be subject to authorities, but you're awfully anxious to pronounce judgment on them instead. You know you're to be obedient, but are you? You know you're to be ready to do whatever is good, but have you?" And so on.
So this Sunday shepherd and flock are going to do the difficult work together of submitting ourselves to this simple but demanding passage of scripture.
Call to Repentance
Ephesians 5:11 (page 1822)
Call to Worship
Psalm 19 (page 858)
OT Reading
Selections from the Book of Proverbs
NT Reading
Philippians 2:12-18 (page 1827)
Message
Consider Yourself Reminded
Titus 3:1-2 (page 1859)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Readings for Sunday, August 24th
This Sunday we'll be returning to the Gospels and to Jesus' spirited complaint in chapter 16 about the demand for signs. It doesn't seem that Jesus was reluctant to perform signs and wonders, but he was clearly upset about the demand for signs.
But I'm always tempted to think that the Pharisee's request is not an unreasonable one. If I was serving on the staff of an American consulate in the hinterlands of some remote country and one day someone arrived at the consulate claiming American citizenship and requiring my assistance I would, of course, ask for some evidence of that citizenship. Especially if that person did not look, act, or sound much like my idea of a U.S. citizen.
Jesus did not look, act, or sound much like the Pharisee's idea of the messiah.
But then Jesus wasn't exactly pounding on their door pleading to be admitted. He didn't go to them in search of validation.
Jesus had nothing to prove to them.
What we see, again and again in the gospel accounts, is that when people want Jesus they get him with signs and wonders. When people want signs and wonders they get neither signs and wonders nor Jesus. As it says in Matthew 16:4 "Jesus then left them and went away."
Call to Repentance
James 4:8-10 (page 1884)
Call to Worship
Psalm 146 (page 980)
OT Reading
Jonah 2 (page 1437)
NT Reading
Acts 2:22-33 (page 1693)
Message
The Sign of Jonah
Matthew 16:1-4 (page 1523)
But I'm always tempted to think that the Pharisee's request is not an unreasonable one. If I was serving on the staff of an American consulate in the hinterlands of some remote country and one day someone arrived at the consulate claiming American citizenship and requiring my assistance I would, of course, ask for some evidence of that citizenship. Especially if that person did not look, act, or sound much like my idea of a U.S. citizen.
Jesus did not look, act, or sound much like the Pharisee's idea of the messiah.
But then Jesus wasn't exactly pounding on their door pleading to be admitted. He didn't go to them in search of validation.
Jesus had nothing to prove to them.
What we see, again and again in the gospel accounts, is that when people want Jesus they get him with signs and wonders. When people want signs and wonders they get neither signs and wonders nor Jesus. As it says in Matthew 16:4 "Jesus then left them and went away."
Call to Repentance
James 4:8-10 (page 1884)
Call to Worship
Psalm 146 (page 980)
OT Reading
Jonah 2 (page 1437)
NT Reading
Acts 2:22-33 (page 1693)
Message
The Sign of Jonah
Matthew 16:1-4 (page 1523)
Saturday, August 16, 2008
New Hymn For Sunday
Following is the text of a hymn I wrote for this sermon, based on 1 Peter 4:4. I love to contrast the flood in this passage with the river of Psalm 46, whose streams make glad the city of God.
We'll be singing it to the tune "Mourner" from Joseph Funk's Harmonia Sacra, first published in 1832.
The settled things all shake;
The evil things all shout;
And reckless men all break
The laws they're lost without.
But sin's inventions can't surprise
The God who yet our grace supplies.
New kinds of vice proposed,
Unthinkable before;
Indifferently opposed,
Or vaunted more and more.
But sin's vain swelling can't dismay
The God who'll judge the world one day!
Sin sprints with desperate zeal,
Out pacing our restraint,
And calls the qualms we feel
Unworthy of a saint.
But sin's devices can't defy
The God who's strong to sanctify.
That dissipated flood
Flows far outside its banks
And catches sinners up
To swell its drowning ranks.
But sin's river will have run dry
When brighter streams refresh on high.
We'll be singing it to the tune "Mourner" from Joseph Funk's Harmonia Sacra, first published in 1832.
The settled things all shake;
The evil things all shout;
And reckless men all break
The laws they're lost without.
But sin's inventions can't surprise
The God who yet our grace supplies.
New kinds of vice proposed,
Unthinkable before;
Indifferently opposed,
Or vaunted more and more.
But sin's vain swelling can't dismay
The God who'll judge the world one day!
Sin sprints with desperate zeal,
Out pacing our restraint,
And calls the qualms we feel
Unworthy of a saint.
But sin's devices can't defy
The God who's strong to sanctify.
That dissipated flood
Flows far outside its banks
And catches sinners up
To swell its drowning ranks.
But sin's river will have run dry
When brighter streams refresh on high.
Readings for August 17th, 2008
Last night we got back from Kid's Camp at Camp Peniel. We returned tired, frayed, thrilled, damp, cranky and generally wrung out. I began the week strong with high expectations for the behavior of my eight little campers. But by the end of the week if they'd asked me for permission to go hit wasps nests with sticks I would probably have consented with a weary gesture of the hand. Monday morning I was bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter than the eight of them put together. By Friday afternoon any one of them could have beaten me up.
I can't help feeling that I and my fellow American Christians, in regard to depravity, are acting like it's Friday afternoon and we just have to get through the closing rally. Our culture has, for the past several decades, been assaulting the virtuous with a dizzying array of vices. I can, from where I'm sitting right now, commit dozens of sins that my grandfather might never have had opportunity to consider, and may have considered unthinkable.
Cultural changes happen faster and faster, over our increasingly feeble objections. Our outrage fades into indignation. Our indignation into irritation. Our irritation into resignation. Our resignation into indifference. Then comes tacit approval and full-fledged acceptance. August's unthinkable vice gets eclipsed by September's. Gay marriage gets a pass so we can marshal our dwindling resources to mount a spiritless defense against incestuous marriage or polygamy or whatever it is that gets foisted on us next.
And yet it seems so often like a waste of time and energy to nurse our moral outrage and cling to our objections when the world dismisses us with the same irritated condescension I display when swatting at a pesky fly. What are we to do when facing such a flood of dissipation?
Call to Repentance
Proverbs 3:7 (page 987)
Call to Worship
Psalm 46 (page 885)
OT Reading
Isaiah 52:7-12 (page 1144)
NT Reading
Romans 10:1-15 (page 1760)
Message
Unsteady, Stubborn, or Beautiful Feet.
1 Peter 4:1-6 (page 1890)
I can't help feeling that I and my fellow American Christians, in regard to depravity, are acting like it's Friday afternoon and we just have to get through the closing rally. Our culture has, for the past several decades, been assaulting the virtuous with a dizzying array of vices. I can, from where I'm sitting right now, commit dozens of sins that my grandfather might never have had opportunity to consider, and may have considered unthinkable.
Cultural changes happen faster and faster, over our increasingly feeble objections. Our outrage fades into indignation. Our indignation into irritation. Our irritation into resignation. Our resignation into indifference. Then comes tacit approval and full-fledged acceptance. August's unthinkable vice gets eclipsed by September's. Gay marriage gets a pass so we can marshal our dwindling resources to mount a spiritless defense against incestuous marriage or polygamy or whatever it is that gets foisted on us next.
And yet it seems so often like a waste of time and energy to nurse our moral outrage and cling to our objections when the world dismisses us with the same irritated condescension I display when swatting at a pesky fly. What are we to do when facing such a flood of dissipation?
Call to Repentance
Proverbs 3:7 (page 987)
Call to Worship
Psalm 46 (page 885)
OT Reading
Isaiah 52:7-12 (page 1144)
NT Reading
Romans 10:1-15 (page 1760)
Message
Unsteady, Stubborn, or Beautiful Feet.
1 Peter 4:1-6 (page 1890)
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Good Works!
Isaac Watts says
So let our lips and lives express
The holy gospel we profess;
So let our works and virtues shine,
To prove the doctrine all divine.
And in this verse he sums up the approach that most of us take to good works: our good works are a proof of something that would be true regardless of whether or not we ever demonstrated it. As such good works have a way of enhancing our faith, but our faith is no less sufficient in their absence.
There's some truth to this, but there are many more problems.
When I was converted and put on the uniform of faith it was an awful lot like taking a job. Being a disciple is my full time job. This job comes with a daunting job description.
Visiting orphans and widows in their affliction.
Working with my hands.
Providing for the needy.
The list goes on an on and ends with that ominous clause: "and other duties as assigned."
Good works are not the sort of things we congratulate ourselves for performing any more than a custodian looks for applause everytime he cleans a toilet. It's his job.
August 10, 2008
Call to Repentance
Isaiah 57:15 (page 1151)
Call to Worship
Psalm 111 (page 952)
OT Reading
Leviticus 26:3-13 (page 197)
NT Reading
James 2:14-26 (page 1882)
Message
Get to Work
Hebrews 10:24 (page 1874)
So let our lips and lives express
The holy gospel we profess;
So let our works and virtues shine,
To prove the doctrine all divine.
And in this verse he sums up the approach that most of us take to good works: our good works are a proof of something that would be true regardless of whether or not we ever demonstrated it. As such good works have a way of enhancing our faith, but our faith is no less sufficient in their absence.
There's some truth to this, but there are many more problems.
When I was converted and put on the uniform of faith it was an awful lot like taking a job. Being a disciple is my full time job. This job comes with a daunting job description.
Visiting orphans and widows in their affliction.
Working with my hands.
Providing for the needy.
The list goes on an on and ends with that ominous clause: "and other duties as assigned."
Good works are not the sort of things we congratulate ourselves for performing any more than a custodian looks for applause everytime he cleans a toilet. It's his job.
August 10, 2008
Call to Repentance
Isaiah 57:15 (page 1151)
Call to Worship
Psalm 111 (page 952)
OT Reading
Leviticus 26:3-13 (page 197)
NT Reading
James 2:14-26 (page 1882)
Message
Get to Work
Hebrews 10:24 (page 1874)
Friday, August 01, 2008
Readings for the First Sunday of August
I generally have an aversion to preaching on the topic of love. It sounds so namby-pamby to me that I have a hard time throwing myself into the preaching endeavor. It doesn't help that I've heard lots of sermons on the topic, but none that made me think or which I would care to hear again. It is a favorite topic of liberal preachers and a peg on which the sinful hang their favorite cloaks.
But two things make me ashamed of my cynical attitude toward love. The first is the amount of earnest biblical instruction regarding love, and the second is the place of love in the lives of some of my favorite saints.
But if I'm going to preach love it's going to have to be the sort of robust, sacrifice-demanding, leaving-nothing-unchanged, fear-expelling, muscular love I find demonstrated in Jesus' ministry, preached in Paul's letters, and revealed as the motivating force behind heroes like John and Charles Wesley.
August 3, 2008 Communion Sunday (Communion at North Chittenden Wesleyan is open to any believer who has called on the name of the Lord to be saved. If you are a guest you are welcome to participate in the sacrament with us. We observe the Lord's Supper by intinction, meaning that you will break a piece of bread off of the loaf and dip it in the common cup before eating it.)
Call to Repentance
Psalm 51:1-3 (page 889)
Call to Worship
Psalm 51 (page 889)
OT Reading
Jeremiah 2:1-8 (page 1170)
NT Reading
Philippians 1:1-11 (page 1824)
Message
Fanning the Flame of Love
Hebrews 10:24 (page 1874)
But two things make me ashamed of my cynical attitude toward love. The first is the amount of earnest biblical instruction regarding love, and the second is the place of love in the lives of some of my favorite saints.
But if I'm going to preach love it's going to have to be the sort of robust, sacrifice-demanding, leaving-nothing-unchanged, fear-expelling, muscular love I find demonstrated in Jesus' ministry, preached in Paul's letters, and revealed as the motivating force behind heroes like John and Charles Wesley.
August 3, 2008 Communion Sunday (Communion at North Chittenden Wesleyan is open to any believer who has called on the name of the Lord to be saved. If you are a guest you are welcome to participate in the sacrament with us. We observe the Lord's Supper by intinction, meaning that you will break a piece of bread off of the loaf and dip it in the common cup before eating it.)
Call to Repentance
Psalm 51:1-3 (page 889)
Call to Worship
Psalm 51 (page 889)
OT Reading
Jeremiah 2:1-8 (page 1170)
NT Reading
Philippians 1:1-11 (page 1824)
Message
Fanning the Flame of Love
Hebrews 10:24 (page 1874)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)