Sermons for Easter 6
Out of This World Peace
Sermon Opener #1 - The Peace of Christ in a Chaotic World
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[Members: Please see John 14 or Easter 6 for the sermon titled “The Peace of Christ in a Chaotic World”]
One of the best newspaper cartoons of all time is Calvin and Hobbes. One day Calvin and Hobbes come marching into the living room early one morning. His mother is seated there in her favorite chair. She is sipping her morning coffee. She looks up at young Calvin. She is amused and amazed at how he is dressed. Calvin’s head is encased in a large space helmet. A cape is draped around his neck, across his shoulders, down his back and is dragging on the floor. One hand is holding a flashlight and the other a baseball bat.
“What’s up today?” asks his mom.
“Nothing, so far,” answers Calvin.
“So far?” she questions.
“Well, you never know,” Calvin says, “Something could happen today.” Then Calvin marches off, “And if anything does, by golly, I’m going to be ready for it!”
Calvin’s mom looks out at the reading audience and she says, “I need a suit like that!”
That’s the way many of us feel as we see the news and deal with life. Sometimes this world seems quite violent and people seem to be at each other’s throats. A suit like that would help, so we can say with Calvin, “Whatever may come my way, I’m going to be ready for it! Bring it on!”
Well, I don’t have a suit like Calvin’s to give you this morning, but I do have word for this morning: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
There is a defining phrase in that statement. One that tells us what kind of peace it is that Christ gives us. Listen to it again and see if you can pick it out: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” The defining phrase is: “Not as the world gives.” Do you see how that defines God’s peace? The world promises peace through the rule of law. Law and order is the only way for a society and a people to experience peace and law and order must be kept by the aggressive use of force. That’s the only way that the world can bring about peace.
But here is how Jesus will give you peace. If you obey his word He and the Father will come to you and make a home with you. Right in your heart. Not by force but by choice. They will abide in your heart bringing peace. The world’s peace is peace through strength. The Lord’s peace is peace through surrender. Let’s look a little closer at what Jesus means by peace....
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Sermon Opener #2 - No Follower Left Behind
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[Members: Please see John 14 for the sermon titled “No Follower Left Behind” or look under ‘This Week’s Sermons’ on the home page.]
A mother’s love is relentless! But pretty much any parent would go to whatever lengths necessary to retrieve a child if that child were lost or in trouble. We have something innate within us that drives us to dare nearly impossible feats if it means we can save our child.
Parents whose children have been stolen or lost can spend years seeking. Despite all evidence to the contrary, mothers in particular seem to have an inner sense that urges her never to give up on finding her child.
You probably remember the movie, “Not Without My Daughter,” about a mother determined to get her daughter out of a country in which she felt she was at risk. Likely, you have heard of at least one story, if not many, that demonstrates this extremely strong bond between parent and child.
Even when the end result means tragedy and mourning, parents will do anything to search, locate, and bring their children home! They will never give up hope.
When a child has these kinds of parents in their lives, the kind that care so deeply, feel so committed, love so unconditionally, they know that, if something were to happen to them, their parents would never give up looking for them. That kind of parental commitment and love builds a level of trust in children that secures their lives in ways that cannot be duplicated. They learn not only the meaning of deep and abiding love, but a kind of resilience that can’t be taught but only lived and experienced. Having this foundation allows them to live their lives more securely, hopefully, and take healthy risks more boldly.
But parents aren’t the only ones who demonstrate this kind of bond and commitment....
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Illustrations for John 14:15-21
Playing God
Mee Spousler of the Mount Hope United Methodist Church, in Aston, PA., tells how she was trying to put her three-year-old son to bed for a nap.
When she was unsuccessful, she put him in her bed and laid down with him to encourage him to rest. She fell asleep, but he didn’t. When she woke up, she saw him sitting on a chair at the end of the bed, and asked, “Luke, what are you doing?”
“I’m playing God,” he replied.
“Playing God?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I’m watching over you while you sleep.”
Children understand more than we do sometimes. God IS watching over us. Jesus gave that promise here in talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Not only will God watch over us but through the presence and reminder of the Holy Spirit, we will be reminded of what it means to “Love Jesus and keep his commands.” And God will help us to create the environment of love, grace, faith and security that we need for our homes today. Our challenge is to listen to the Holy Spirit and to trust Christ.
Billy D. Strayhorn, If You Love Me....
Accepting the Storms with Calmness
A story was written some years ago about a man who had discovered an amazing inner spiritual peace. He had lost his entire fortune in the stock market crash in the 1930s. He was drinking himself to death. He decided to take his life by walking out into the ocean and swimming past the point of no return. As he came to the edge of the water, he noticed something sparkling in the sand. It was a pale, delicate shell. He stood there, completely captivated by it. Finally he picked it up. It was so delicate that the least pressure of his fingers would crush it. Yet it was undamaged and perfect. He was puzzled by this fact as the waves roared in upon him. How could a shell remain intact and unbroken in the midst of the tons of seething water?
Suddenly it dawned upon him that the shell did not panic, fight the forces of the water, and seek to forge its own path in the ocean. The shell simply yielded itself to the waters. It has accepted the storms with calmness, just as it had accepted the stillness of the depths of the water where it had its beginning. By yielding itself to the water, it survived. Suddenly the man saw himself. He had been fighting God, disobeying him, and trying to defy the spiritual forces at the heart of the universe. He realized now why his life was troubled, and his days were not worth living. He dropped to his knees and placed his life in God’s hands. He walked away into a new life of faith.
O. Garfield Beckstrand II, The Word From The Upper Room, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
Humor: I’m Not Allowed to Cross the Street
A little boy was riding his tricycle furiously around the block, over and over again. Finally a policeman stopped and asked him why he was going around and around. The boy said that he was running away from home. The policeman asked why he kept going around the block. The boy responded, “Because my mom said that I’m not allowed to cross the street.”
The point is clear--obedience will keep you close to those you love.
Michael Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching
Responding to the Spirit, Responding in the Spirit
When Jimmy Carter was running for President of the United States, one of the more vivid moments in the campaign passed by almost unnoticed. One Sunday morning, candidate Carter had been worshipping at the Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. When the service was over, he exited the church into the swarm of press encamped on the church’s front lawn. Cameras whirring, video lights glaring, microphones thrust forward, the media mavens moved in for interviews, pushing themselves to think of clever questions to ask a presidential candidate on the way out of a Southern Baptist Church -- “Did you like the sermon?” “Did you enjoy the choir this morning?” “Do you plan to remain a Baptist in Washington?” -- on and on the banal questions spewed.
Suddenly, a reporter, probably in a stroke of luck, shouted out a question that genuinely mattered: “Mr. Carter, suppose when you are President, you get into a situation where the laws of the United States are in conflict with what you understand to be the will of God. Which will you follow, the laws of the state or the commandments of God?”
Carter stopped, looked up, and blinked into the bright Georgia sun, obviously turning the question over in his mind....
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Children’s Sermon: Love Is...
Exegetical Aim: Obedience is the most appropriate expression of our love.
Props: None
Lesson: [With each of these questions allow several children to express their thoughts.] Who knows what love is? (response) Ok, what is love? (response) A little humor for the adults: Now I suppose that your mom’s love you...they do don’t they? (response) How does your mom love you? What does she do for you? (response) Those are all very good ways that mom’s show their love. Now let me ask you a different question. Do you love your mom? (response) How do you show your love to your mom? What do you do for her? (response) Those are all very good ways to show your love for mom. Who knows what today is? (response) It’s Mother’s Day! Are you going to do anything special today to tell mom how much you appreciate her? (response) What are you going to do? (response) Well, if you haven’t gotten her anything yet, I can get you out of a little hot water. Here’s what you do. All day today when your mom ask you to do something, I want you to say, “Yes, ma’am,” and immediately go and do what she told you. It will be the best Mother’s Day ever if you do this.
Listen to something Jesus said; he said, “If you love me, you will obey me.” What did Jesus mean....
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