Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 3451 to 3475 of 4942 results

3451. The Rejection of Jesus in His Own Hometown

Mark 6:1-6

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Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: In mission one must expect serious opposition. When disciples participate in the life and work of Jesus, this will engender both mission to the lost and persecution from the lost. Understanding the Text Mark 6:1–6 is another conflict narrative (like 2:1–3:6; 3:20–35), and like many transition passages, it functions two ways: (1) it parallels 3:1–6 and ends the second cycle (1:16–3:6; 3:7–6:6) with a conflict story; (2) there is also an A-B-A pattern in 6:1–29 in which the mission of the Twelve (6 ...

3452. Jesus’s Glory and Majesty Disclosed

Mark 9:2-13

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Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: The two primary thrusts in this passage are Christology and discipleship. First, this is an epiphany story in which God reveals the preexistent glory of his Son as the majestic Lord and eschatological Moses. Second, the disciples continue to struggle and yet begin to experience a dawning comprehension. Understanding the Text This event is intimately connected with what has preceded. Most of the Jewish people have only rumors, no realization of the identity of Jesus (8:28), while the disciples ...

3453. The Model of Jesus for Discipleship Service, Not Self-Seeking

Mark 9:33-37, Mark 9:38-41, Mark 9:42-50

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Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: Discipleship demands becoming like Jesus in self-sacrificial service to others. His people must embrace diversity in the group and defeat sin and temptation in their lives. Understanding the Text The disciple-centered movement of Jesus from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem continues in this section. The series of interactions carry on the gradual uncovering of the disciples’ inability to understand and their self-seeking responses to the various stimuli that they receive. Structure This passage is ...

3454. Family in the New Kingdom Community

Mark 10:13-16, Mark 10:1-12

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Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: The emphasis here is on family life in the new kingdom community. Jesus states that the easy-divorce policy advocated by many rabbis was not God’s will, and that divorce was allowed only because of their stubborn sin. He further teaches that children are models for kingdom living; to enter life with God, all must have a childlike faith. Understanding the Text There is both geographical and thematic movement in this section. Geographically, Jesus continues south, moving through Galilee and across ...

3455. The Trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin

Mark 14:53-65

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Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: This is the first terrible contrast during Jesus’s trial: the horror of people condemning Jesus without seeking truth versus the reality of Jesus as final eschatological judge (which turns out to be the final stage in the christological development in Mark). Understanding the Text There is a frightening chronology and logical progression in each of the final scenes of Jesus’s passion. The movement away from Jerusalem to Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives is preparatory, as Jesus prayerfully ...

3456. Jesus Is Crucified

Mark 15:21-32

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Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: The central purpose of Jesus’s incarnation is his death on the cross (Phil. 2:6–8). All takes place in accordance with God’s will and plan, so divine sovereignty, not Jewish hatred or Roman might, controls the action. Jesus dies as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Understanding the Text There are four parts to the crucifixion narrative in an A-B-A-B pattern: the mockery by the soldiers (15:16–20), the crucifixion of Jesus (15:21–27), the mockery by the Jewish spectators and leaders and the two ...

3457. On the Cross Jesus Is Mocked and Dies

Mark 15:33-41

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Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: Every detail—mocking, hitting, scourging, death—fulfills messianic prophecy (the righteous martyr of Pss. 22 and 69; the Suffering Servant of Isa. 52–53). Jesus completes God’s plan of salvation via his vicarious sacrifice on the cross. Understanding the Text In fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy regarding the vicarious sacrifice of the Servant of Yahweh (Isa. 52–53; cf. Pss. 22; 69), Jesus has given himself up to be crucified. His mockery and his death here are an essential part of his ...

3458. The Baptism of Jesus

Luke 3:21-38

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R.T. France

Big Idea: Jesus is anointed as the Messiah at his baptism, and God publicly declares that Jesus is his Son. Understanding the Text This is the first appearance of the adult Jesus in Luke’s narrative. This and the following passage record his preparation for public ministry, which will begin in 4:14. The sequence from 3:20 is not strictly consecutive, in that John is here apparently still at liberty to baptize Jesus. Luke has rounded off John’s story, and now he goes back to locate the beginning of Jesus’s ...

3459. Jesus’s Manifesto

Luke 4:14-30

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R.T. France

Big Idea: Back in Nazareth, Jesus sets out on his mission of deliverance, but his own townspeople in Nazareth reject him because of his vision for the salvation of all people everywhere, which includes the Gentiles. Understanding the Text Jesus’s return from the wilderness area marks the beginning of his public ministry, which will be focused in his home province of Galilee until he sets off for Jerusalem in 9:51. Mark and Matthew record a single visit to Nazareth, which they place later in their ...

3460. Jesus and Women

Luke 7:36--8:3

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R.T. France

Big Idea: Jesus’s work of salvation extends to people shunned or ignored by Jewish society; women play an unusually large part in his mission. Understanding the Text After the characterization of Jesus as a bon viveur and a friend of the disreputable (7:34), we now find him at a dinner party and befriending a disreputable woman. Two themes from earlier in the Gospel reemerge in this story: Jesus’s openness to and welcome by unrespectable members of society (5:27–32) and his claim to forgive sins (5:17–26 ...

3461. The Messiah and His Glory

Luke 9:28-36, Luke 9:18-27

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R.T. France

Big Idea: Jesus, at last recognized as the Messiah, speaks of his own rejection and death but then is revealed in glory. Understanding the Text This is the climax to the christological theme that has been developing through the first part of the Gospel: the question “Who is this?” now receives two definitive answers, one from the human witness Peter (“God’s Messiah”), the other from God himself (“my Son”). Here too is the answer to John the Baptist’s question in 7:19. But Peter’s acclamation leads, to the ...

3462. “Love Your Neighbor”

Luke 10:25-37

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R.T. France

Big Idea: There are no limits to the disciple’s duty to love other people, even the most unlikely. Understanding the Text On Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem, which began in 9:51, much attention is focused on the nature and demands of discipleship. Here a question from someone outside the disciple group prompts Jesus to illustrate the central demand of discipleship by telling one of his best-loved parables. The famous “summary of the law” in the twofold demand to love God and to love one’s neighbor occurs in ...

3463. Ready for the Kingdom of God?

Luke 13:31-35, Luke 13:22-30, Luke 13:18-21

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R.T. France

Big Idea: The kingdom of God brings many surprises: not all who think they belong to it really do. Understanding the Text In 13:22 we are reminded that this whole section of the Gospel (beginning in 9:51) is set on the journey to Jerusalem, and that destination comes into clearer focus in 13:33–35: as Jesus looks ahead to the way Jerusalem will treat its “prophet,” we are prepared in advance for his eventual arrival there and his weeping over the unrepentant city in 19:41–44. Both Jesus (4:43; 8:1) and his ...

3464. Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-7, Luke 15:8-10, Luke 15:11-32

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R.T. France

Big Idea: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (19:10). Understanding the Text After the scene at a Pharisee’s table in 14:1–24 (cf. 7:36–50; 11:37–54), the focus turns to the much less conventional meals that Jesus enjoyed with social and religious outsiders. This theme was earlier raised by the meal in Levi’s house (5:27–39) and by the “sinful woman” who disrupted another more conventional meal (7:36–50), and it has been reflected in Jesus’s subversive ideas about who should be at the ...

3465. A Blind Beggar and a Rich Scoundrel

Luke 19:1-10, Luke 18:35-43

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R.T. France

Big Idea: Two incidents at Jericho demonstrate Jesus’s mission to save the lost, whatever their place in society, whether oppressed or oppressor. Understanding the Text The journey that began in 9:51 is near its end, as Jesus and his disciples cross the Jordan and enter Jericho before the final climb up to Jerusalem. Two events in Jericho illustrate again the deep social divisions that came to our attention in 18:14–30, and the issue of the salvation of the rich (18:18–27) is explored further in the story ...

3466. Challenge and Counterchallenge

Luke 20:9-19, Luke 20:1-8

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R.T. France

Big Idea: Jesus’s dramatic arrival in Jerusalem provokes the religious leaders to question his credentials, but Jesus in turn uses a parable to challenge their legitimacy. Understanding the Text After the long journey southward (9:51–19:44) Jesus has deliberately entered Jerusalem as the Messiah, and his actions and teaching in the temple have thrown down the gauntlet to the religious authorities of Jerusalem (19:45–48). Now they take up the challenge, and the rest of chapter 20 will continue the public ...

3467. The Risen Jesus Revealed

Luke 24:13-35

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R.T. France

Big Idea: Luke’s first record of an appearance by the risen Jesus is to two otherwise unknown disciples outside Jerusalem who do not recognize him until he breaks bread with them. Understanding the Text Following the discovery of the empty tomb, Luke’s Gospel records only two occasions (and hints at another one [24:34]) when the risen Jesus appeared to his disciples, both on the evening of Easter day itself, and chapter 24 taken alone would suggest that Jesus’s ascension followed immediately that same ...

3468. The Commissioning of the Disciples

Luke 24:50-53, Luke 24:36-49

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R.T. France

Big Idea: The risen Jesus meets with his disciples and commissions them as witnesses of his life, death, and resurrection. Then he leaves them and ascends to heaven. Understanding the Text This passage not only brings Luke’s Gospel narrative, and especially its developing resurrection motif, to a triumphant conclusion, but also prepares for the taking up of the story in Luke’s second volume, Acts. The summary of the gospel message in 24:46–48, the cryptic promise of “power from on high” in 24:49, Jesus’s ...

3469. The Faithfulness of God and the Covenantal Curses on Israel

Romans 3:1-8

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C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: God’s faithfulness is actually demonstrated through the covenantal curses on Israel. Understanding the Text In Romans 2 Paul showed that Israel’s attempt to obey the law is, ironically, the reason that they are still in exile and under divine judgment. Romans 3:1–8 therefore anticipates, in diatribe fashion, three Jewish objections to that notion: (1) there is no advantage to having the law, (2) God has broken his promise, and (3) God is unfair to punish Israel (see table 1). Historical and ...

3470. The New-Covenant Blessings: Peace and Hope

Romans 5:1-11

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C. Marvin Pate

Big Idea: Romans 5:1–11 presents three new-covenant blessings: peace, hope, and love (love will be covered in the next unit). Understanding the Text Romans 5 has been much debated in terms of its context: does it belong with 1:18–4:25, or does it begin a new unit?1Most scholars today believe that although chapter 5 does connect back to 1:18–4:25 (since the topic of justification so pervasive there occurs also in 5:1, 9, 16–19, 21), it most likely begins a new unit that concludes in 8:39. Several arguments ...

3471. Church Divisions and Confusion of Allegiance

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: Schisms and splits have no place in God’s community. Paul says, “Forget what you know from the world around you. Christians are followers not of various patrons and human leaders but of Christ alone.” Understanding the Text Paul’s introduction continues. Verse 10 is his summarizing thesis for the rest of the letter, a thesis he will return to throughout the letter (e.g., 3:1–15). Whether Paul thinks of verse 10 in formal rhetorical terms as a propositio1or simply as a strong reminder to Christian ...

3472. Christian Success and Christlikeness

1 Corinthians 4:1-21

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: When the Christian faith is reduced to a mere complement to cultural norms, churches come to affirm the very things they should despise and despise the very things they should affirm. Understanding the Text First Corinthians 4:6–13 ends Paul’s response to the deeper and broader issues in the report coming from Chloe’s household. Paul brings the tension between Corinthian ideals and true Christian ideals into their sharpest contrast yet by pointing to his own situation. Everything about Paul, both ...

3473. Being Wronged versus Claiming One’s Right

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

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Preben Vang

Big Idea: The church must be vigilant in protecting its identity as a Christ-empowered community and recognize that it is more Christlike to accept being wronged than to pursue retaliation through means that contradict Christ’s teaching. In the community of Christ, no interpersonal differences should be irreconcilable. Understanding the Text In a second practical example of the troubles arising from the behavior and wrongheaded allegiances discussed in chapters 1–4, Paul confronts a situation where one ...

3474. Sexual Discharges

Leviticus 15:1-33

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Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God wants to promote life, virtue, and an awareness of his holiness among his people. Understanding the Text Leviticus 15 completes the section in Leviticus on uncleanness (Lev. 11–15). The preceding chapters have treated unclean animals (Lev. 11), uncleanness due to childbirth (Lev. 12), and uncleanness due to “leprosy” (Lev. 13–14). The present chapter (Lev. 15) treats uncleanness due to sexual emissions. All this prepares the way for Leviticus 16 on the Day of Atonement, a chapter that will ...

3475. Lamps, Cakes, and the Blasphemer

Lev 24:1-23

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Joe M. Sprinkle

Big Idea: God, whose presence is in the midst of his covenant people, must be respected. Understanding the Text Leviticus 24 divides into two sections: Israel’s requirement to supply oil and bread to the tabernacle in its daily worship (vv. 1–9) and the execution of a blasphemer (vv. 10–23). Verses 1–9 move from the obligations for Israelites to worship on holy days (Lev. 23) to obligations to maintain worship on a daily basis. The connection of the second section to the context is less clear. The case of ...

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