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 229 results

1. The Remnant of Israel

Romans 11:1-10

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... man, having been subjected to every form of abuse, reproaches his tormentors. Since the early church identified the lament of Psalm 69 with Jesus’ fate, it is worth considering whether in this instance Paul employs the reproach of the righteous sufferer as Jesus’ reproach to Israel. The reference to their table becoming a snare and a trap (v. 9) might derive, according to some commentators, from a blanket on which a bedouin would lie to eat or sleep. Should he be surprised by an enemy and try to ...

2. One Step at a Time

Nehemiah 2:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... walls. It wasn't just that the physical welfare of the people was at risk. God's glory and God's honor was on the line. Nehemiah was saying in effect these walls need to be rebuilt not because they are broken down, but because broken down walls are a reproach to God's people and to God Himself. The Jews were God's chosen people. They were meant to be a light to the nations. They were going to produce the Messiah and the Savior of the world, but one look at the city and one look at the walls and ...

3. Do you need a Pharisectomy?

Matthew 9:27-34, Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 12:15-21, Matthew 12:22-37, Matthew 12:38-45, Matthew 12:46-50

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... the truth. Whereas the Pharisees become the true blind who speak with a “forked” tongue. “To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold the Ears are closed and they cannot listen. Behold the word of the Lord has become A reproach to them; they have no delight in it.” (Jeremiah 6:10) Isaiah’s prophecy is being fulfilled. The blind see, the mute speak, the deaf hear, the lame walk. Except those who deny the Holy Spirit itself! Jesus’ term “vipers” for the Pharisees is no ...

4. Thou Shalt Not Judge - True or False?

Matthew 7:1-6

Sermon

James Merritt

... judge a president by what he says, but you shall judge a president by what he does. You shall not judge a president by his conversation, but you shall judge a president by his character. The Bible says very clearly, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." (Prov. 14:34) I would add, and to refuse to deal with sin and to punish sin, is an even greater reproach. Any nation that says character doesn't matter is a nation that has lost its character. There is a moral to all of this ...

5. Last Words

Luke 24:36-49

Sermon

King Duncan

... in the nation seemed to have an opinion, it might be refreshing to know what God thought. "God told me He is rejoicing," his friend said. "Rejoicing?" Jamie asked. "How can God rejoice when one of His best-known TV evangelists has brought shame and reproach to the kingdom?" Then his friend quoted Jesus' closing statement in the parable of the good shepherd and the lost sheep. "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ...

6. Three Words America Needs to Hear

Acts 24:1-27

Sermon

Edward Inabinet

... us. Righteousness always deals with morality. It reflects a sense of obligation to God and to humanity to do that which is right, that which is upright, that which is just and honest and pure. The Bible says righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. I suggest to you that we are in a moral melt-down in our land today, a moral melt-down that is far more disastrous in its consequences than even a nuclear disaster would be. Bribes and deals, vendettas and violence, lies and greed ...

7. Separation of God and State?

Isaiah 44:24--45:25

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... the world, America stands for liberty and the good life. No other nation in today’s world has as much influence for law and order, peace, and justice. God chooses a nation not only for power but for righteousness. "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." When it comes to godly living, can we be God’s chosen vessel in the world? Let us not look at the huge crimes in high places like Watergate, Koreagate, or Abscam. Turn to the rank and file of plain citizens. Take a simple ...

8. A Man Who Was a Lion-Tamer

Daniel 6:1-28

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... with the king, had been elevated to a position of responsibility, honor, and power. But some of his peers, also in positions of leadership, were jealous and resentful. They plotted to slander and disgrace Daniel, but his integrity and reputation were beyond reproach; to accuse him, even falsely, of dishonesty or immorality was useless. They concluded: "He is just too good. He won’t steal, no matter the opportunity or the profit. He can’t be enticed by a beautiful seductress. There’s no way we can ...

9. America in the Mirror

2 Kings 17:5-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... the laws of God, you will see a flood tide of righteousness that will clean this land from one end to the other. What this nation needs is for its sewers of sin to be flushed out with rivers of righteousness. For "righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." Arnold Toynbee, that world famed historian, once said, "The fall of a great nation is always a suicide." I believe that with all of my heart. I believe unless America turns back to God, she is headed for a certain suicide.

10. The Fellowship of Joy

Philippians 1:3-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... God." (vv. 10b-11) There has never been a day when it is more important for the church to live like the church, than this day in which we are constantly under the microscope of a media that's always looking for some reason to criticize us and to bring reproach to the name of Jesus. We need to be "without offense." The word offense refers to the part of a trap to which bait was attached to catch an animal. The point is, don't ever cause a brother to fall into one of Satan's traps by the way you ...

11. Righteousness Exalts a Nation - The Fourth of July

Sermon

James McCormick

... ideal. Therefore, the person who loves his nation best is that person who insists that his nation be faithful to the best that we know. The scripture I read a few moments ago almost shouts it: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” In other words, the greatest nation will be the nation that serves the demands of righteousness…the nation that reaches for the highest values. That’s how our nation came into being. The founders of our republic did not organize a government ...

12. When It Is Tough to Follow Jesus: The Third Word

John 19:17-27

Sermon

Eric Ritz

... they done to Jesus?" The lady quickly tried to hush her young daughter, but to no avail. She repeated the question with even more fervor, "But Mother, what have they done to Jesus?" Suddenly, the work of Michelangelo was no longer just a piece of art, but a reproach to the world for how it has indeed treated Christ. (1) Yes, the third word of our Lord Jesus Christ from the cross is one of the most tender yet penetrating portraits of love anywhere in the inspired word of God. We know that in the Nicene Creed ...

13. John Mellencamp and the Danger of Procrastination

Mark 1:14-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... struggle to support his family, he asked young Samuel to go to the market at a nearby small community to take his place. Young Samuel smugly refused to do so. His father dressed and made the arduous trip himself--never saying a word of reproach to his son. Fifty years later, the renowned and prosperous Samuel Johnson, now his name a household word throughout England, stood bareheaded for hours close by a spot in that same small community where once his father’s bookstall had stood. People stared at him ...

14. People Who Procrastinate

Luke 9:51-62

Sermon

King Duncan

... family, he asked young Samuel to go to a certain market to take his place. Young Samuel--like many of us in our youth, too self-involved--smugly refused to do so. His father dressed and made the arduous trip himself--never saying a word of reproach to his son. Fifty years later, the renowned and prosperous Samuel Johnson, now his name a household word throughout England, stood bareheaded for hours close by a spot near that same market where once his father’s bookstall had stood. People stared at him as he ...

15. Palm · Passion Sunday

Isaiah 50:1-11, Psalm 31:1-24, Matthew 27:11-26, Matthew 27:32-44, Matthew 27:45-56, Matthew 21:1-11

Sermon Aid

... Lord because he, like Jesus, was in desperate straights and had only God for his refuge. He calls on God for help and cries out: Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble.... my strength fails me ... and my bones are consumed. I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbors, a dismay to those of my acquaintance.... I am forgotten like a dead man.... For I have heard the whisperings of the crowd; fear is all around; they put their heads together against me; they plot to take my life ...

16. True Freedom

John 8:31-41

Sermon

T. A. Kantonen

... . In the life of a nation, as well as in the life of an individual, true freedom is freedom for right living, not freedom from right living. There is timeless wisdom in the ancient proverb, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:33). The laws by which a free nation is governed represent its convictions about truth and justice. They are the expression, not the oppression, of the nation’s freedom. It is lawlessness that endangers this freedom. So we pray: "America ...

17. What On Earth Is God Doing? - 1940

Psalm 76:1-12

Sermon

Kent Moorehead

... , experience, prophetic declarations, and science itself, God has pled with us to obey his commandments. We have learned the ancient warnings by heart - that is, we say them over unctiously without thinking of taking them seriously: "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). "Unless the Lord built the house, they labor in vain who built it" (Psalm 127:1). "Be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). "God is not mocked, as ye sow, so shall ye also reap ...

18. Nicodemus Came By Night

John 3:1-21

Sermon

David & Marian Plant

... time had come when the Jesus way became so very different than its Jewish roots — so radical in its beliefs about Jesus of Nazareth — that Jewish followers of Jesus were forced out of the synagogues as blasphemers. We hear the echo of their plight in Jesus’ reproach to Nicodemus: “I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you — (plural) — you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you (still plural) about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you ...

19. Betrayed by God in Battle?

Psalm 44:1-26

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... for you have rejected them (v. 9). If victory comes by “the light of your face” (v. 3), defeat comes because “you hide your face” (v. 24). If, in victory, “you put our adversaries to shame” (v. 7), then, in defeat, you have made us a reproach to our neighbors (vv. 13–14, 9). The enemies play a surprisingly minor role in the psalm and are not even mentioned in the petition section. But the lament is more than a mirror image of the pre-battle confession, which emphasized the divine warrior’s ...

20. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 19:1-29

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... ḥsdw (but cf. 14:34). The MT has, literally, “the desire of a man is his kindness.” See Additional Notes. Verse 22b is rendered correctly, but the connection between the two lines is not clear. Translations vary considerably: “Greed is a reproach to a man” (the NJPS, marked as uncertain); McKane (Proverbs) follows the LXX, “A man’s productivity is his loyalty.” 19:23 Synonymous. Verse 23b is harsh and the NJPS has marked it as of uncertain meaning. Literally, the MT has, “And satisfied ...

21. Epiphany 2

Psalm 40:1-17, Isaiah 49:1-7, John 1:29-42, 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Bulletin Aid

B. David Hostetter

... the earth and bless with beauty growing things in their season. Send also showers of blessing upon your church everywhere in the world. Keep us in faithful and humble proclamation of the faith and deliver us from crying faults and unhappy dissension that brings reproach to the name of Christ. Give qualms of conscience to those neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some. Gather your people to encourage one another in the faith, and all the more as we see the Day approaching. Revive our congregation ...

22. The Christian Life Farmland

Hebrews 5:11-6:12

Bulletin Aid

... for the farmer receives a blessing from God. It speaks to the ability of the farmer and the owner. Congregation: Land that produces thorns and weeds is worthless and in danger of being cursed. It speaks to the neglect of the farmer and brings reproach to the owner. Leader: Our lives are farms owned by God and under our own managemant. If we consult his desires, as revealed in his Word by his Spirit, we shall produce abundant, useful crops. Congregation: If having once known his desires and having shared ...

Bashfulness is an ornament to youth, but a reproach to old age.

Aristotle

24. Reproached Rolled Away

Joshua 5:1-12

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

After wandering in the wilderness 39 years, braving many dangers, toils, and snares, and after watching a generation of their mothers and fathers perish in the wilderness, the Hebrews celebrate the first Passover in the Promised Land. This is the third Passover since their last at the foot of Mount Sinai. The first Passover they hovered in fear as they ate their unleavened bread, roasted lamb, and bitter herbs and prayed to God in hope that the blood of sacrifice which marked the door frames of their homes ...

25. By Faith

Hebrews 11:1-40

Understanding Series

Donald A. Hagner

The Nature and Importance of Faith The mention of the importance of faith in the last two verses of the preceding chapter leads naturally to this famous chapter on faith. It is impossible to know whether the author is making use of a source, which he now takes over in part or totally, or whether he is composing a fresh catalogue of heroes on the model of existing examples. Extensive reviews of the history of Israel had been composed to substantiate a warning or to provide encouragement, and some of these ...

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