This Preaching Thing

(A sermon based on Luke 19:1-10 for Sunday, July 22, 2012) This saying has been going around on Facebook lately: “Some people are so poor all they have is money.” Zacchaeus was one of those people. He was one of those people who had everything and nothing, all at the same time. He had more money than anyone else in Jericho, he had more power than anyone else in town, and he had more enemies than anyone else in town. But he had no friends, no respect, no honor, and certainly no love. He likely had no hope that it was going to get any better for him. He had dug his hole and now it was just a matter of hanging around until he was completely covered up with dirt. Then along came Jesus. Evidently Jesus’ reputation had arrived in Jericho before Jesus did because a big crowd gathered to see him. Zacchaeus was among them. Look at him, jumping up and down trying to see over the crowd; look at the people, laughing at the little big man in town making a fool of himself. ...

(A Communion Meditation based on Luke 5:27-39 for Sunday, July 15, 2012. Fourth in a series...) Jesus called Levi the tax collector to follow him and Levi did. One of the first things that Levi did after he started following Jesus was to throw a big dinner party at his house for Jesus. That makes sense, because following Jesus is cause for celebration. Sure, following Jesus involves repentance which is a turning away from another way of living life and toward the way of living life in a free and full relationship with God, but that is no cause for mourning. It is reason for celebrating! Following Jesus is more about the life you are entering than it is about the one you are leaving; it is about the much that you are gaining rather than the little that you are losing! Levi’s guest list was made up of what Luke described as “a large crowd of tax collectors and others” and of what the religious folks described as “tax collectors and sinners.” Tax collectors are tax collector...

(A sermon based on Luke 11:1-13 for Sunday, July 8, 2012. Third in a series.) Richard Foster said, “Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life. Of all the Spiritual Disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father” ( Celebration of Discipline , p. 33). We see the truth of that statement when we look at the life of Jesus. Had we been among the people who followed Jesus during his sojourn on earth, we would have often seen him praying; we could also have assumed that, if he was not around, he was likely off somewhere by himself praying. Prayer, therefore, was central and essential to the life of Jesus. If we are his followers, then let’s make prayer central and essential to our life as well. Let’s make prayer central to our individual lives. Let’s make prayer central to the life of the church. And not the kind of prayer that is just a sharing of a list of the things we want or think we need. I’m...