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

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1. Vacillation - Pontius Pilate

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... other way. Would you have preferred a riot, then an angry delegation to Tiberius? In his present testy mood, he'd have listened only to their side of it, and I'd be recalled in disgrace, imprisoned, exiled or invited to commit suicide, while you'd be stigmatized for the rest of your life. It was simply a choice - a choice between us and this mad Jesus. Can't you see that? Be honest Procula!" "Yes, that's probably true," she said. "Well?" Slowly and deliberately she said, "To have acquitted him anyway would ...

2. He Commanded Us to Preach

Acts 10:23b-48

Sermon

Carlyle Fielding Stewart

... in their communities. Have we become so establishment-oriented that we cannot speak the truth and love in ways that will set the church free from its present sins? Truth tellers are called whistle blowers. Many of them have been ostracized and stigmatized by their own families and communities. Some churches have become bastions and citadels of untruth. The power of the gospel has been liquidated by a prevailing atmosphere of lies and untruths that have become a part of church life and culture. Preachers ...

3. Soulistic Health

Mark 5:21-43

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and attitudes have in common is that they now talk much more about maintaining health than they do about curing illness. With all the good that has come out of this continuing health-care revolution, it has in some ways managed to re-stigmatize illness. The advent of genuinely scientifically based medicine at the dawn of the 20th-century had reduced illness to a collection of bothersome bacteria and other microscopic marauders. Being sick was no longer anyone's "fault"; it was no longer a sign of ...

4. Imitating Christ's Humility

Philippians 2:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... doctrine was in keeping with certain current trends of thought but was rightly rejected as subversive of the foundations of the gospel. A later NT writer warns his readers against one form of this false teaching which denies that “Jesus Christ came in the flesh” and stigmatizes it as the teaching of Antichrist (1 John 4:2, 3; 2 John 7). Paul had no doubt that Jesus was truly man, “born of a woman” (Gal. 4:4), and that he died a terribly real death by crucifixion. Being made probably means “he was ...

5. Sexual Discharges

Leviticus 15:1-33

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... 3:7). Joy and love are replaced by pain, lust, and domination (Gen. 3:16). Sex can be wonderful, beautiful, and wholesome, but it can also be an expression of denigration, sadism, and perversion. Those who engage in wanton sex, such as prostitution, are stigmatized as outcasts by these laws. Note that it is not just women who are regarded as unclean; men are equally unclean by their sexual emissions. The sinful nature of humankind finds expression in the sexuality of both genders. This warping of sexuality ...

6. Holiness of Priests

Lev 21:1–23:2

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... 17). “Burned” typically is taken to indicate execution and cremation (cf. Gen. 38:24; Judg. 15:6), an ignoble punishment for putting her father into mortal danger in the sanctuary. Unlikely but conceivable is an alternative view that this refers to branding to stigmatize her and mar her beauty (Isa. 3:24; cf. comments at Lev. 20:14). 21:10–12 The high priest . . . must not make himself unclean. The high priest is to maintain even stricter holiness and avoid ritual impurity more than ordinary priests ...

7. “Endow the King with Your Justice, O God”

Psalm 72:1-20

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... its role in blinding the populace to the atrocities of the government: “Ordinary people—and ordinary Germans—cannot be expected to tolerate activities which outrage the ordinary sense of ordinary decency unless the victims are, in advance, successfully stigmatized as enemies of the people, of the nation, the race, the religion.”9Religion, or specifically, the “German Christian” movement, was driven largely by nationalism. While each of us identifies with a nation, we must always remember that ...

8. Adoption: Removing the Barriers

Ephesians 2:11-22

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... to. There can be no “inner ring,” in C. S. Lewis’s terms, unless there are despised outsiders. The Jewish nation, God’s “inner ring” in their own view, drew the circle at the law, epitomized in marks of Jewishness. Jews stigmatized Gentiles as the “uncircumcised,” often in self-exaltation (2:11). Without the despised Gentiles, Jews would have failed to be distinctive in their own nationalist perspective. Romans felt the same way toward non-Romans. Paul reminds his Gentile readers that, under ...

9. Marriage

1 Corinthians 7:1-40

Understanding Series

Marion L. Soards

... places, and in Greco-Roman settings Jews often suffered ridicule from non-Jews who viewed their religious practice as barbarian. Indeed, some Jews underwent the tedious and painful process of eliminating the physical impression of circumcision in order to avoid stigmatization. In regard to such a controversial matter, Paul says, Don’t bother. Jews could be scandalized even as some Gentiles might be comforted by the advice. 7:19 To emphasize his contention, Paul bluntly states the irrelevance of the matter ...

10. The Future Present

Luke 1:46-56

Sermon

Susan R. Andrews

... learned that the lack of discipline or achievement in many of their lives is a burden for them, as well as for the larger culture. Like Mary, some of Anna’s fourteen-year-old girls are poor and pregnant outside of wedlock. As a result, they are stigmatized and rejected by the “proper” world. Anna sees one of her tasks as helping these teenage girls see their lives as possibilities and as channels of God’s grace. It’s too bad that in a public school Anna cannot have her girls read today’s text ...

11. What's a Human Book?

Luke 13:10-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... all learn from the experiences of people who are different from us . . . if we could see life through their eyes. So he began recruiting people to share their life experiences with others. Specifically, he recruited people who were “stigmatized or unconventional”—people who are often marginalized by the larger society . . . people who are the targets of prejudice or misunderstanding . . . people with disabilities . . . people from minority religions . . . people who had grown up in situations of abuse ...

12. Loving Against the Grain

Mark 3:20-35

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... crazy love”! For those in authority and power around him, he’s become their chief “mad hatter.” They’ve been tracking him for a while. The more he heals and associates with those the powers that be deem the “dregs” of society, the more stigmatized he becomes. His crowd of followers is growing, so much so that they follow him home and entrench him wherever he goes. The Pharisees and other authorities begin to fear what this will mean politically. Will he bolster an uprising? Will he feed them ...

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