Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 1401 to 1425 of 4884 results

Job 4:1–5:27

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... speeches, make it clear that the three friends are older than he (32:6–9). Of the three friends, Eliphaz appears most conciliatory toward Job. Job is not wicked. Far from it, Job is righteous; but, as with all humanity, Job cannot be perfect. The calamity Job is experiencing is divine discipline for something untoward. All humanity must deal with something of this sort. Job needs only to address the imperfection and move on. Though Eliphaz becomes harsher through the cycle of speeches, he remains the most ...

1402. The Passover Meal

John 13:1-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... would provide a servant who would work in this capacity, but if none were there he certainly would not take up the chore himself, as Jesus does (13:4–5). That which enables Jesus to serve like this may be described in 13:3. Jesus has perfect self-esteem: he knows of God’s love expressed in his origin and destiny and therefore can relinquish human status to become a servant. A variety of themes runs through the narrative. First, foot washing speaks of Jesus’s death. Jesus’s dialogue with Peter (13 ...

1403. Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the present, or the future—among those who belong to God. It will continue to do so even after prophecies, tongues, and knowledge cease (13:8; there is no indication here that Paul thought any of these events likely before the time when God’s kingdom is perfectly or completely manifested [13:10; 15:20–28]). For our knowledge of God and our words spoken in worship in the light of what we know (whether our knowledge is expressed in words of prophecy or in tongues) are only a part of what they should be ...

1404. Wisdom as Mutual Submission

Ephesians 5:22-33

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... imagination. He also describes the Christlike motivation for husbandly self-giving. As with Christ and the church, the purpose is to foster the wife’s full potential as God’s creation. The entire explanation (5:26–27) revolves around Christ’s plans for humanity’s perfection, but the principle applies equally to how husbands aim to enhance the humanly glory of the person to whom each has joined himself. It is as if a husband’s wife is an extension of his own body (5:28–29), again just as the ...

1405. Follow the Example of Paul As He Follows the Example of Christ

Philippians 3:12-4:1

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... motivation and goal, is explained in these verses: Christ has grasped Paul, so Paul presses on to grasp Christ, the goal of his life. Paul is fully aware that he has not yet reached this goal, nor is he “perfect” (3:12; NIV “arrived at my goal”). The Greek word here translated “perfect” could also be translated “finished” and fits well with the metaphor Paul uses in these verses of running a race. He forgets all that lies behind. Those things he now counts as “loss,” and he looks only at ...

1406. The Example of Paul’s Suffering

Colossians 1:24--2:5

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the connotation of completeness and realized potential. It suggests an understanding of basic facts about God and his salvation plan as well as an ethical lifestyle. Jesus uses the same Greek term in the Sermon on the Mount: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).Twice Paul uses an athletic image to stress his fervent efforts on behalf of the Colossians and their neighbors in Laodicea. He “contends” for them, using a term that draws on the rich imagery of the ...

1407. Rules for Christian Households

Colossians 3:18-4:1

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... poignantly portrayed the submission of Christ to the Father. They probably knew of Jesus’s words on the Mount of Olives: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus Christ practiced perfect submission to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28); wives have a similar opportunity to practice this sort of submission. The phrase “fitting in the Lord” (3:18) is an important qualifier. The verb carries the sense of duty. For example, the Stoics used the ...

1408. Melchizedek the Priest

Hebrews 7:1-10

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... be living” (literally “it is testified,” i.e., in Scripture; 7:8) looks back to verse 3 and the silence of the record regarding Melchizedek’s birth and death. By the absence of this information, the type is perfected and more perfectly foreshadows Christ’s eternal priesthood. This argument, a minor afterthought, may gain importance by reason of the preoccupation with the Levitical ancestry among the Essenes, who repudiated the established priesthood of their time precisely because it was no longer ...

1409. Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

Hebrews 10:1-18

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the Hebrew Masoretic Text, as referring to the body the Son of God assumed at his incarnation, the human nature in which he obeyed God and died in his people’s place (Heb. 2:14; 5:8; cf. John 6:38; Phil. 2:7–8). The citation is perfectly suited because it compares the Levitical sacrifices unfavorably with the work of Christ. It was a truism of the Old Testament revelation that the Levitical ritual served no good purpose without faith and obedience on the part of the worshiper (10:8; 1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51 ...

1410. Exhortations to Persevere in Christian Faith

Hebrews 10:19-39

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... (Heb. 4:15–5:12), but to the renunciation of the faith (3:12; 6:6). If, having once become acquainted with and having laid claim to the final and perfect sacrifice of Christ, one rejects it as the hope of salvation, all hope is forever lost. The Levitical sacrifices that this readership is tempted to prefer cannot make anyone perfect, and God will not grant repentance to apostates. This striking and grim definition of apostasy is a reminder of how differently the same thing may appear to a human and ...

1411. God Disciplines His Sons

Hebrews 12:1-13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... himself (cf. Phil. 3:8; Col. 3:1–4; Heb. 11:26–27; 12:24). Jesus is to be looked to as the one on whom every believer’s faith “depends from start to finish” (NEB; cf. Heb. 4:14–16). But his life is also the perfect paradigm for the believer, who also will find strength to endure hardship in the prospect of heavenly joy. In verses 3–4 the recipients of this written sermon are reminded that their present suffering—the opposition they are encountering on account of their faith in Christ—is ...

1412. Praise the Slain Lamb

Revelation 5:1-14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the scroll. Then suddenly the scene shifts from the Lion of Judah to the slain Lamb (5:6). Though “standing as if it had been slaughtered” (5:6 NRSV), this Lamb is paradoxically described as having “seven horns” (a symbol of perfect power) and “seven eyes” (a symbol of perfect omniscience through the Spirit). The Lamb shares the position of axis mundi, or “the cosmic center,” with the Creator himself (5:6). In a radical redefinition of true power, the slain Lamb, not the Lion, is the one who ...

1413. The Great Multitude in White Robes

Revelation 7:9-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

When the 144,000 appear again, they stand as a countless multitude whose diversity is evident, since individual persons can still be distinguished by nation, tribe, culture, and language and yet all are perfectly united in their litany to the Lord (7:9–10). This picture of the church triumphant provides hope for today’s divided congregation. Here the people of God are one voice, dressed in white priestly robes (Rev. 6:11), holding palm branches (a symbol of homage to a king during ...

1414. Live Spelled Backward

Matthew 26:14-27:66

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

... the church has helped breaks ranks. Not everyone will fall in line and march straight. Jesus selected Judas Iscariot to demonstrate that not everyone will follow sound leadership. Judas was with the Son of God for three years. It was three years of exposure to perfect goodness and unfeigned love; three years with the light of the world; three years with the finest example of humanity who ever set foot on this planet. Three years and every day of it counted for naught with Judas! Perhaps Jesus chose Judas to ...

1415. In the Event of Power Failure

Acts 1:1-11

Sermon

Charley Reeb

... in your world but fear the risk of being involved? Do you feel the power of Christ compelling you to become the person you know deep inside you were created to be but fear leaving your comfort zone? Remember what scripture says, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). And I will add, “Perfect power casts out fear.” You need not be afraid. If the power of Christ is inspiring you to move, to act, you can be sure that the power of Christ will give you every- thing you need to see it through. Paul ...

1416. Learning to Love

Matthew 5:43-48

Sermon

James L. Killen

... love. The Christian faith offers us a rather surprising role model to show us how to love. It is God. Surprise! Do you remember the scripture that left you scratching your head right at the end of today's gospel reading? It said "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect." If you have ever noticed that verse before, you have probably been wondering what it could possibly mean. But if we put it in the context of the larger reading, it will become plain what it means. It means that we are to ...

1417. The Temptation of Jesus

Matthew 4:1-11

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... . To discover for himself whether as the Son of God he was able to take care of himself would be an act of defiance against the Father. The first Adam had failed God by disobeying; the second Adam would surrender himself to the will of God in perfect obedience. Gerhardsson suggests that this temptation and the following two correspond to the three ways of loving God as charged in the Shema (Deut. 6:4; 11:13–21; Num. 15:37–41; heart, soul, strength) and expanded in the Mishnah (The Testing of God’s Son ...

1418. The Beatitudes

Matthew 5:1-12

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the sermon are intended not to drive people to despair so they will then cast themselves upon the mercy of God, but to guide and direct those who desire to please him. It is true that the demands are stated in absolute terms (“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” 5:48), but that is the nature of all great ethical teaching. Although we may not reach the stars, they still serve us well as reliable navigational aids. 5:1–2 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and ...

1419. Death, Risk, and Confidence

Matthew 10:24-39

Sermon

Tom Garrison

... , simply on the basis that we have found it trustworthy in the past, one can accept what it teaches about the future with perfect confidence. John Baillie, the Scottish theologian, tells of a doctor who was called one day to the home of a dying friend. As he ... the morning and flee to the uttermost parts of the sea, even there his right hand holds me, his right hand sustains me." It is "perfect love that casteth out fear," and you do not have to wait until you die to begin to experience it. On the other side of ...

1420. Some Enchanted Evening

Matthew 16:13-20

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... be a higher authority. Moses was against murder. Jesus was against vindictive anger. Moses was against adultery. Jesus was against recreational sex. Moses said love your neighbor. Jesus said love your enemy too. Moses said be good. Jesus said be perfect. Who did he think he was, anyway? Who can be perfect? Who even wants to try? The thought flickers through your mind that you could ask Jesus who he says he is. But you dismiss that crazy idea almost as fast as it appears. He's almost here. You remember that ...

1421. Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

Mark 8:1-13

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... 8:14–21 also, the questions concern the bread and its meaning. Seven: Note also that there are seven baskets of fragments gathered in 8:8 (see note). The number seven seems to have a symbolic meaning in the Bible having to do with perfection, or completeness, e g., seven days of creation (Gen. 1), forgiveness seven times (Matt. 18:21). It also appears, however, that seven and seventy were associated with Gentiles. Thus, in Jewish tradition the gentile nations are said to number seventy (based on the list ...

1422. Divorce

Mark 10:1-12

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... do so. The passages of the OT Jesus cites are from the creation account (v. 6 from Gen. 1:27; vv. 7–8 from Gen. 2:24), and his use of this material has two effects. First, it challenges the view that the law of Moses was the perfect and final reflection of the will of God, asserting that it was adapted to fallen and stubborn human nature. By his citation of the creation accounts, Jesus implies that the original, Edenic will of God concerning marriage is both superior to the law of Moses and continues to ...

1423. Paul's Longing to Visit Rome

Romans 1:1-17

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... was the goal in a long history of salvation, the anchor runner, so to speak, in the divine relay from Abraham to the day of salvation. God’s work in Israel had not been an impersonal force, randomly groping toward a higher state of perfection. Paul is rather proclaiming the one, personal God who before all ages created the world, called a people in Abraham, and throughout their history purposefully and patiently increased their knowledge of him. Then, in Paul’s own time, God spoke his last word. The ...

1424. Righteousness Through Faith

Romans 3:21-31

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... and temporally: logically, because it belongs to the strategy of Paul’s argument; temporally, because at a given point in history God intervened to consummate the plan of redemption. The temporal sense is reinforced by has been made known (Gk. pephanerōtai). The perfect tense here specifies something which began in the past and is still valid. When someone says that he or she has been married ten years, for example, it means that ten years ago a condition was brought into existence which is still valid ...

1425. Peace and Joy

Romans 5:1-11

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... . 2:18; 3:12). The verbal form of the word prosagō, for example, occurs numerous times in the LXX with reference to bearing sacrifices to the altar or entering the Holy of Holies. The verbs gained and stand are also instructive. Both are in the perfect tense in the Greek, meaning that their effect began in the past at the point of faith and continues into the present. Moreover, stand carries the sense of something firm and lasting, the opposite of a short-term, fair-weather relationship with God. To stand ...

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