Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: responsibility, obligation, commitment, obedience, allegiance, loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity, respect, deference, reverence, homage, job, task, chore, assignment, commission, mission, function, charge, part, place, role, concern, requirement, tax, levy, tariff, excise, toll, fee, imposition, impost, exaction, tithe, payment, rate

Showing 1 to 25 of 2225 results

1. Parables Discourse: Importance of Response to the Kingdom Message

Matthew 13:1-23

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... yet responded to Jesus in faith. Yet God’s revelation is a gift, and God often “gifts” it to those whom we least expect to receive it (9:9–13; 11:25–27). So we ought to be careful not to presume to know who will and will not be responsive to the message of the kingdom. As the parable of the soils indicates, the message goes out to all. In addition, there is an ebb and flow to the giving of revelation, as Matthew tells it. Chapter 13 sits midpoint in the story line of Jesus’ Galilean ministry and ...

2. Negative Responses to Jesus

Luke 11:33-36, Luke 11:29-32, Luke 11:14-28

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... within you is not darkness. This little complex of sayings about light, with parallels in different contexts in Mark 4:21 (= Luke 8:16 [see above]); Matthew 5:15; 6:22–23, is difficult to interpret. In this context it probably reflects on the response of Jesus’s contemporaries to the “light” that his ministry has now openly revealed (the “something greater” of 11:31–32?). The main point seems to be a warning against ignoring or distorting that light. Those who wish to please God must be fully ...

3. Ten Commandments and the People’s Response

Exodus 20:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... is death (Exod. 21:17); rebellion and disobedience receive a like punishment (Deut. 21:18–21). The Hebrew word translated “honor” literally means “to be heavy” or “give weight to” and may be directed to those children who are already adults and responsible for providing for their parents. This aspect of the commandment seems to underlie Jesus’s rebuke of the Pharisees in Mark 7:9–13. Finally, the promise regarding the land may refer to the fact that poor family relationships will mean ...

4. Social Responsibility

Exodus 22:16-31

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... on the land’s productivity, a more tenuous situation. Israelites could add interest to loans for foreigners because they were likely traveling with commercial and trade interests and, being more mobile, posed a greater financial risk. Both the individual and society were equally responsible to meet the needs of those who were in poverty; singular as well as plural verbs are woven into the commands. The command not to blaspheme (22:28) may refer to God or to judges (Hebrew elohim); in this context it may ...

5. Response to Redemption

Isaiah 56:1-8

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... is the act of God in which he gathers his people, both Jew and Gentile, and unites them with himself and with one another (56:1–2). To these he extends the privilege of being subjects under his righteous rule along with all its benefits. The proper response of the people of God is that of covenant loyalty. The Lord expects his people to act like him. He expects that the people who have been justified and thereby have entered into a relationship with him will act in accordance with his own standards. There ...

6. Individual Responsibility

Ezekiel 18:1-32

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... –23), showing preoccupation with repentance rather than with backsliding. Verses 30–32 are a clarion call to repentance, for God takes no joy in the death of anyone. What Ezekiel is hoping to accomplish is that the people in exile will accept responsibility for their circumstances. Because their relationship to God is not an intractable or inherited fate, they can return to the Lord. And that is good news. Ezekiel’s teaching in chapter 14 (no vicarious salvation) needs to be set alongside his teaching ...

7. Daniel’s Interpretation and Nebuchadnezzar’s Response

Daniel 2:24-49

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... be taken to Nebuchadnezzar by Arioch, the king’s hatchet man, is granted. It is possible that Daniel already had a reputation for integrity and for God’s being with him. The manner of Daniel’s speech (2:24) shows his confidence, and Arioch’s quick response reveals his trust in Daniel. In the presence of the king Daniel gives God the glory, as, together with the sages, he admits that “no wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about” (2:27). Only ...

8. Jonah’s Unjustified Anger and God’s Response

Jonah 4:1-11

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... the will of God, which is not constrained or dictated by his creatures. God questions Jonah’s right to be angry, since God has also extended grace and compassion toward Jonah despite his disobedience to the Lord’s commands (Jonah 1:4). 4:5–11 · God’s response to Jonah’s unjustified anger: Jonah travels east of Nineveh and settles down to wait for Nineveh’s demise, as if it is inconceivable that the city will be spared by God (4:5). In an expression of his divine mercy and compassion, the Lord ...

9. Dedicating the Temple – Yahweh’s Response to Solomon

2 Chron 7:1-22

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

In response to Solomon’s request for God’s manifest presence at the end of his prayer in 6:41–42, in 7:1–2 Yahweh fills the temple as he did in 2 Chronicles 5:13–14, again making impossible the ministry of the priests. The manifest presence of Yahweh triggers ...

10. Accepting Responsibility

Ezekiel 33:1-20, Ezekiel 33:21-33

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

Restoration and Renewal (33:1–39:29): The first part of chapter 33 takes up verses 1–20. With its emphasis on Ezekiel as a watchman, the importance of one’s present situation rather than the past, and individual responsibility, there are reverberations of Ezekiel 3:17–19 and 18:1–32. In 33:2 God tells Ezekiel to speak to his countrymen, indicating that what follows is an object lesson about the usefulness of a sentry to the townspeople. Those who hear the sound of the trumpet but choose ...

11. Jonah’s Second Commission and Nineveh’s Response

Jonah 3:1-10

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... :18; 34:28; Num. 13:25; Deut. 9:9–10; 1 Sam. 17:16; 1 Kings 19:8; Ezek. 4:6). The threat of judgment is not implausible in light of a military threat against Assyria from an enemy to the north. 3:5–9 · Nineveh’s response to the Lord’s message: Significantly, the peasants, believing the oracle from God, take the initiative and begin fasting as a result of Jonah’s pronouncement (3:5). The practice of fasting as well as the donning of sackcloth, a fabric constructed from goat’s hair and extremely ...

12. Parables of Responsibility

Matthew 21:28-32, Matthew 21:33-46, Matthew 22:1-14

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... , though the ending is not specific to them as at 21:31–32, 45. God’s kingdom is likened to a wedding banquet held by a king for his son. Those invited refuse to come, even killing the king’s servants who bring the invitation. In response, the king sends his army to destroy these murderers and burn their city (with a possible reference to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70; see “Author, Date, and Audience” in the introduction). Since the original guests refuse the king’s invitation, he opens the ...

13. An Appeal for Full Response to the Collection

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... Christ, who though he was rich yet agreed willingly to become poor “so that you through his poverty might become rich” (8:9; cf. Phil. 2:5–11). Paul is unwilling, however, to conclude his appeal apart from the provision of some specific advice with respect to response. As this is now the third time an appeal is being made to the church (1 Cor. 16:1–4; 2 Cor. 8:6), Paul’s primary counsel to the church is to “finish the work,” so that the “willingness” to respond, which has been commendably ...

14. Responsibility

Isaiah 59:1-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The postexilic experience was marked by disillusionment; God’s promises pertaining to the new era were not completely fulfilled. The early church also had to adjust to delay (see 2 Pet. 3:3–10). Isaiah explains that the delay is not because God cannot deliver. Instead of charging God with injustice or unfairness, the community of believers must look at its own sins and shortcomings (59:1–8). It is guilty of murder, untruth, and injustice, and is buried in all kinds of evil. Israel looks like the nations ...

15. God’s Response

Isaiah 65:1-16, Isaiah 65:17-25

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The Lord is ready to respond in a most self-giving way (65:1–7). But the people are still too engrossed in sin. They show themselves to be idolaters and have little concern for spiritual purity, as they keep vigils among the graves and eat pork—against God’s explicit commandment. They are like Gentiles. They respond with a self-made holiness. The Lord in turn will respond in judgment. Even as the Lord has promised not to be silent until he has accomplished the redemption of his people, so he will not be ...

16. Social Responsibility

Exodus 22:16-31

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

Covenant Laws III: Property Rights, Capital Offenses, Using Power, Relationship to God: Exodus 22 deals with eleven casuistic laws of the book of the covenant. These case laws protected property in cases of theft or negligent damage and established civility between neighbors by setting limits of liability for another’s property. They continue through verse 17, after which the legal form changes to commandments (apodictic law). The commandments address three more capital offenses, limitation of the use of ...

17. Conclusion: Response of the Believers

Jude 1:17-23

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

The final section of the letter counsels the readers what to do about this situation. It is here that Jude surprises the modern reader the most, for he does not instruct them to throw the others out. First, the “dear friends” are not to be surprised but rather to remember apostolic predictions (which were not passed down beyond that age, for they are not found elsewhere in the New Testament or church tradition) that this rejection of Jesus’s morality is precisely what would happen in “the last times” (or “ ...

18. God's Response

Isaiah 65:17-25

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

19. Elihu

Job 32:1--37:24

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... attached itself to Job (33:14–22). God has already decided Job’s case, and his suffering is God’s word of judgment for Job’s sin (34:7–12). God does not continue to speak to those he has already condemned and so will not come in response to Job’s pleas. So, regardless of whether the Elihu speeches form an original part of the literary complex of Job or represent a later independent insertion into the book, this block of material in its present position affects the final form of the book and has ...

20. Job's Third Reply to Bildad

Job 26:1--31:40

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... committed relationship, even when we do not see or experience the benefit of our faith in this life—or have any hope of it in another life. Our own concerns are legitimate and we need to explore them, but they ought not to cause us to dismiss the response the book of Job offers to this key issue that still remains a vital one for our contemporary human experience. 31:19–20 Job returns to his oath by shifting the focus to those who lack adequate clothing: if I have seen anyone perishing. It is unlikely ...

21. The Lord Speaks

Job 38:1--41:34

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... poetical portions of Job. Teman is also associated with the sons of Esau—the progenitor of the Edomites—in Gen. 36:11, 15, 42; 1 Chr. 1:36, 53. See also Jer. 49:7, 20; Ezek. 25:13; Amos 1:12; Obad. 9. Job’s Non-response Growing up in southeast Texas, I sat through a number of devastating hurricanes. I remember well the rushing winds, the deafening downpour of rain, watching the creeping floodwaters rising to submerge the landscape. But perhaps the most eerie experience of all was sitting in the dark ...

22. The Law of the Temple

Ezekiel 43:13-27, Ezekiel 44:1-31, Ezekiel 45:1-12, Ezekiel 45:13--46:24

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... Lord. 44:1–14 There are eight sections in the main body of the Law of the Temple (44:1–46:18). The first section, 44:1–14, is a judgment oracle against the Levites, denying them the title “priest.” This leads into a statement of the responsibilities of the rightful priests, the Zadokites (44:15–31). Next, in 45:1–8, comes a foreshadowing of the land division set forth in 47:13–48:21, together with the first prophetic critique of the prince (Heb. nasiʾ; 45:8). A second critique of the prince ...

23. The Glory Departs

Ezekiel 8:1-18, Ezekiel 9:1-11, Ezekiel 10:1-22, Ezekiel 11:1-15, Ezekiel 11:16-25

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... Ah, Sovereign LORD! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?” (v. 8; compare 4:14). Surely we share the prophet’s outrage. How can the Lord be so cruel, so arbitrary and unjust? But, in response to Ezekiel’s outcry, the Lord repeats the earlier denunciation of Jerusalem, and indeed extends it to the entire people: “the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice” (v. 9; see 8:17). The Lord further reminds Ezekiel of the ...

24. Personal Accountability

Ezekiel 18:1-32, Ezekiel 19:1-14

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... 5; 33:15; Ezek. 45:9). Indeed, it is the Lord, who “loves righteousness and justice” (Ps. 33:5; see also Job 37:23; Pss. 36:6; 103:6; 106:3; Isa. 5:16; 28:17; 33:5; Jer. 4:2; 9:24; Mic. 7:9) who is ultimately responsible for guaranteeing the rights of the powerless. This does not mean, however, that ordinary people need not concern themselves with justice. The Lord declares confidently that Abraham “will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right ...

25. Use It or Lose It

Luke 19:11-27

Teach the Text

R.T. France

... central theme of the story proper. To the question whether the kingdom of God was to appear at once, the answer seems to be no. The absence of the one who is to be king in “a distant country” provides a period of delay, during which it is the responsibility of disciples not to calculate and watch for his return, but rather to get on with the job that he has entrusted to them. They must also, of course, resist the overtures of those who dispute his kingship. All this will be food for thought in a period ...

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