Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: humiliation, mortification, chagrin, ignominy, loss of face, shamefacedness, embarrassment, indignity, abashment, discomfort, discomfiture, discomposure, guilt, remorse, contrition, compunction, disgrace, dishonour, discredit, degradation, disrepute, ill-repute, infamy, scandal, odium, opprobrium, obloquy, condemnation, contempt, pity, misfortune, crying shame, cause for regret, source of regret, sad thing, unfortunate thing, discredit to, disgrace to, stain on, blemish on, blot on, blot on the escutcheon of, slur on, reproach to, bad reflection on, bring into disrepute, degrade, debase, defame, stigmatize, taint, sully, tarnish, besmirch, stain, blacken, drag through the mud/mire, give a bad name to, put in a bad light, humiliate, mortify, make someone feel ashamed, embarrass, abash, chasten, humble, put someone in their place, take down a peg or two, cut down to size, show up

Antonyms: honor, pride, respect, glory, praise, dignity, honor, esteem, glorification, laud, compliment, regard, credit, elevate, acclaim, pleasure, favor, kudos, recognition, flatter, admiration, greatness, happiness, self-confidence, reverence

Showing 1 to 25 of 237 results

1. Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Exodus 19:1-25

Sermon

... about to see what others are doing during the prayer, we pay little attention to the reading of the Word of God, we ignore the message of the hymns we sing, we let our thoughts wander during the preaching of the sermon. We let familiarity breed contempt for the holy. C. S. Lewis said, "A good way to worship is to be unaware of time, light, and those about us, but center our attention solely upon God." Ideal Worship is the Blending of Transcendence and Immanence Ideally, we experience both the Transcendence ...

2. Are You Still Frightened of the Dark?

Genesis 1:1-5 · John 1:4-5 · Psalm 139:11-12

Sermon

Robert Noblett

... we will then learn to be more accepting and loving of other people. Maybe the contempt we have for others is often a reflection of the contempt we have for ourselves. In our contempt for the success of other people, can we not find a contempt for our own failures? In our contempt for another’s strength, can we not see disdain for our own weakness? In our contempt for the advantages of our neighbor, can we not find a contempt for our own disadvantages? In our criticalness of other people, can we not find ...

3. Jesus Radical Prescription

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... -calling it’s being thrown into Gehenna, the smoldering garbage dump in the Hinnon Valley outside the Jerusalem city walls. Do you see what Jesus is doing here? He’s saying deal with your anger before you become its slave. Before it leads to violence, to contempt, to degradation. Once you degrade someone, so that they are less than human, you will find killing them an easy next step. Gordon Peerman admits that dealing with his anger is his greatest growing edge. As he puts it: how to be with his anger ...

4. What Money Can't Buy

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... could have conceived of such a mundane cure because it was revealed only to the prophet and man of God. It was a unique method of healing that could easily have been taken for granted. The apparent frivolity of the method is evident in Naaman's contempt at the suggestion to dip himself into the Jordan seven times. This method of being cleansed and healed was not a standard prescription for leprosy. But it was a method of healing that money couldn't buy! In a world where money buys virtually everything, even ...

5. A New Kind of Teaching

Mark 1:21-28

Sermon

Maurice A. Fetty

... stake his life on what he was saying. He was not just a spectator-commentator observing the news. He was committed to making the news. His was a new kind of teaching. II. Note further, Jesus' teaching had authority because he regarded his hearers with concern, not with contempt. Once in a while when I am out of the city someone will suggest I record my sermon in advance to be played on Sunday. Imagine that! I never do, because I always am reminded of a cartoon I once saw. The first panel of the cartoon ...

6. Trash Cans or Treasure Chests

1 Corinthians 1:18--2:5

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... called. Few of you are people of wisdom, by any human standard. Few are powerful or highly born. Yet to shame the wise God had chosen what is foolish in the world. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen things low and contemptible. Things that are not, to overthrow existing order. And so there's no place for human pride in the presence of God for you are in Christ Jesus by God's act. For God has made Him our wisdom. He is our righteousness, in Him we are consecrated and set ...

7. No Room for Gloom

Isaiah 9:1-4

Sermon

Tony Everett

... ," said the Lord, "those who speak like this will have no dawn ... but will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness" (Isaiah 8:20, 22). In today's text, Isaiah states: "In the former times he brought into contempt the Land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali" (Isaiah 9:1). On the one hand, this was a bitterly humiliated and devastated group. Their sin had brought the wrath of God upon them. For God's people, it was the worst of times. On the one hand ...

8. God Can Turn Your Trash Cans into Treasure Chests

Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... s act. He is our righteousness, and in Him we are consecrated and set free. And so, in the words of scripture, if you must boast, boast of the Lord." The gospel is about the way in which what is most weak, what is most despised, what is most contemptible in your life and mine, what is most detested in this world, can become, through the power of the Holy Spirit, what is most beautiful, what is most radiant, and what can be most a blessing. You see, we have a topsy-turvey upside down, inside out gospel. Like ...

9. The Sign of Jonah

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... God's act. He is our righteousness, and in Him we are consecrated and set free. And so, in the words of scripture, if you must boast, boast of the Lord." The gospel is about the way in which what is most weak, what is most despised, what is most contemptible in your life, in this world, can become, through the power of the Holy Spirit, what is most beautiful, what is most radiant, and what can be most a blessing. You see, we have a topsy-turvey upside down, inside out gospel. Like you do to a sock, you turn ...

10. That Carpenter Is God

Mark 6:1-6

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... get his point across. The heart of the story is the hard-heartedness and stubbornness of the townsfolk. They even go so far as to ridicule Jesus; "Is not this the carpenter, Mary’s son...?" (stated); "Who does he think he is?" (implied). Familiarity breeds contempt. Contempt comes in a highly dramatic moment. Jesus returns home and no one will listen to him. The last line of the dramatic little story is: "He was amazed at their lack of faith" (Mark 6:7). In stark contrast to the triumphant Lordship of the ...

11. Let Familiarity Breed Contentment

Hebrews 13:1-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... t there as it is to live in one where what you don't see is" (119). There is no better description of the terminal illness of the soul. We even have a trite truism to describe and excuse our blindness and deafness: familiarity breeds contempt. This phrase holds water for what surrounds us physically, and is a valid summation of the spiritual heritage and history that surrounds us. Is there anyone among us who can claim complete innocence from having… · Complained about having to squeeze a midnight candle ...

12. Thanks, But No Thanks

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... child for the Pharisee in today's passage from Luke. Let's look at that passage and you'll see what I mean. Luke 18:9-14 (NRSV) [9] He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: [10] "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector ...

13. Who Is Right

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

James Merritt

... are a lot of us in this room, and a lot of us watching by television, or listening via the Internet that Jesus is directly talking to today. “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.” (Luke 18:9, ESV) Jeff Foxworthy has become famous for identifying rednecks. To go into Foxworthy mode, you just might be in this parable if any of the following things are true about you. Do you ever look at people who don’t go to church and ...

14. Silent Sinning

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... God.” And so from the vantage point of that ego trip, they could look down their noses at anyone else who was not… well, them. The Greek word for despise here is exouthenountas, a very long word that meant, they treated people with contempt, treated others as though they were worthless and nothing, the same word used in Acts 4:11 in reference to Jesus: “He is the stone, which was rejected (exouthemountas) by the builders.” The very same word that describes the way the “righteous” men treated ...

15. When Self-esteem Gets Out Of Hand

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

J. Will Ormond

... the church. She was compassionate, kind, thoughtful, and a great teacher of little children in Sunday School. Nor did she "regard others with contempt" -- or at least, not many others. I don't think she liked the phrase in an old hymn, "Would he devote that ... self-righteous arrogance. He addressed this parable "to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt." Their sense of self-worth had taken the bit in its mouth and dashed down the road out of control. ...

16. It Is Blessed To Receive

Luke 17:11-19

Sermon

William G. Carter

... Hately, reveals why two adopted nieces grew up to despise her. You praise my self-sacrifice, Spoon River, In rearing Irene and Mary, Orphans of my older sister! And you censure Irene and Mary For their contempt for me! But praise not my self-sacrifice, And censure not their contempt; I reared them, I cared for them, true enough! -- But I poisoned my benefactions With constant reminders of their dependence. All through their lives, under the guise of generosity, Constance said, "Girls, I took you in ...

17. It Is Blessed To Receive

Sermon

William G. Carter

... woman, Constance Hately, reveals why two adopted nieces grew up to despise her. You praise my self-sacrifice, Spoon River,In rearing Irene and Mary,Orphans of my older sister!And you censure Irene and MaryFor their contempt for me!But praise not my self-sacrifice,And censure not their contempt;I reared them, I cared for them, true enough! -- But I poisoned my benefactions With constant reminders of their dependence.4 All through their lives, under the guise of generosity, Constance said, "Girls, I took you ...

18. Proclaim Peace

Sermon

Alan Bacon Bond

... making peace. The Church has borne a major responsiblity for that ignorance. The Academy Award-winning film, Chariots of Fire, helped to clarify that fact for me. The Church, as it was institutionalized in the academic system of England at Cambridge, looked with contempt on the abilities of the young runner Jacobson, because he was a Jew. Even the homecoming from his 1924 Olympic victory in Paris left him out of the victory parade. As long as the Church has operated with the official sanction of governments ...

19. Our Splintered World

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

Carveth Mitchell

... on a cross, and under it are the words "Alexamenes worships his God." Today Christian churches, once open to every passer-by, are being kept locked because they are being vandalized and looted with a vicious contempt - a modern version of the division over Jesus, an updating of the ancient contempt "Alexamenes worships his God." Jesus said, "I came to bring division." The important question for us is this: Where are we in this division? How does this Gospel apply to us? At least three things apply. 1 ...

20. Our Splintered World

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

21. Bitter-Sweet Recollections

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... -equal with the Father - and they hated him so much they spewed saliva in his gentle face. Their expectoration was a despicable, repulsive expression of their aversion for Christ. His shame was further felt when he was clothed in a purple robe. With condescending contempt and cruel horse-play with reed, robe, and crown of thorns they ridiculed him as King of the Jews. But even that derogatory act was carried an ugly step further when they crucified him. Gone, then, was his own robe. The soldiers gambled for ...

22. The Grace of Disillusionment

Matthew 26:69-75

Sermon

Robert Bachelder

... said such a prayer was the word of a soul cut off from God, the mind of one who does not understand that he depends for life upon God. Can we not see how Isaac Watts could consider Jesus’ life and write: "I survey the wondrous cross and pour contempt on all my pride." This morning we come to our Lord’s house as publicans, with a sense of our unworthiness, leaving behind the Pharisee’s pretence. We come as brothers and sisters who share the full range of human sinfulness, but we know, too, of God’s ...

23. Journey To The Cross V: Jesus and Simon Peter

Mark 14:66-72

Sermon

James W. Moore

... marks of Christian faith and discipleship… profanity is not one of them! Now let me hurry to say that profanity is more than verbal expletives: the problem is much deeper than that. Profanity is treating holy things or human beings, or sacred relationships with contempt or disrespect or disregard. Our words may be profane, but more than that, we can be profane in our attitudes and in our actions… and none of that portrays discipleship. Now, let me bring this closer to home. Let me be more specific. Let ...

24. Broken and Beautiful

Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 51:1-19

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... faithful fast or go without food just one day per year. Holy Harry did it two days per week. He was a religious over-achiever. Holy Harry stood at the front of the sanctuary, off to himself. He glanced around at the other worshippers; some he eyed with contempt. Then offered a prayer which if translated into modern terminology would sound something like this: "0 Lord, how thankful I am that I'm not loitering on some street corner, a no- count drug abuser, or living off welfare. I thank you that I'm not a ...

25. The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

Brett Blair

... my talent. Fearful of doing the wrong thing, he chose to do nothing at all. This was perhaps a man who did well under supervision, but now he is left on his own and he is terrified. We view this man with contempt because he hid his talent in the ground. But our contempt is misguided. This was considered the traditional way of saving money in that day in time. He was being a good conservative businessman. He was not going to risk someone else’s money by buying into some speculative venture. It seems like ...

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