Today’s sermon was one of those rare pieces that drew from all four of the Scripture passages from the Lectionary for the day.
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28
From the Deuteronomy passage, we find how important it is to recognize that we get the message right. Though the reference is to faithful prophets who speak the word of God in truth and accuracy, it reminds us that our words and deeds are seen by others. Christians speak for God on a regular basis.
The Corinthian passage underscores this. We have to be mindful of our actions. Even if what we do is lawful and permissible, our actions are worthless if they cause another to turn away from God.
Finally, Jesus speaks with authority to release a man from the bondage of demonic possession. Without going into all the demonology, there’s a great deal to be said for the fact that it was the sheer power of Jesus’ authoritative presence that carries the day.
The Psalm points to God’s praiseworthiness, a reminder that all authority and power originate with God.
The challenge for the folks at Raleigh today was this:
- Remember all of the folks who don’t have a voice. We are called to speak for them as well as to them.
- Remember that there are people in our lives to whom God is sending us. Perhaps for a word of grace; or maybe God is sending us to say, “I love you too much to let you keep behaving that way.”
- Listen for God to speak to us–perhaps with words that God has already given in Scripture, Sunday School lessons, or life experience from years past. Those words are meant to be shared.
I pointed out that this was a pretty big responsibility, but it wasn’t an impossible task. If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it. That was a good time to point out that I was rooting for the refs because they had authority AND responsibility. Good thing I did, since they had to review that record-breaking play to close out the first half.
Spooky. 🙂
The key image, I borrowed from Dr. Len Sweet: Each of us is called to be the Fifth Gospel and the Third Testament. It was a great way to show them that there is deep truth to St. Francis of Assisi’s exhortation to “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
Every Christian has an opportunity to retell his or her story, casting God in a starring role and sharing the “way through” that they found through their relationship with Christ. It’s time for us to start speaking out again.
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