Sermon and Worship Resources

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Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

"Conflict" is a dirty word in most churches. As Christians, we seek to avoid it at all costs and do so in the name of Christian love. We call it, "seeking the peace, unity and purity" of the church. And then Jesus comes along and says, "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34)," or as Luke has it, "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" The ...

2. A Normal Part of Life?

Luke 10:38-42

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

Some time ago a friend of mine came to me with the exciting news that he had just received a job promotion. He said it would mean professional advancement and a sizable increase in salary. Unfortunately, it meant leaving the community. "My family doesn't want to leave," he lamented. "We simply hate to leave our friends here, and the church which has meant so much to us. The whole thing is tearing ...

3. A Seeking Savior

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

Christian thinking about salvation has divided itself into two main streams which I like to think of as: "Monkey-hold" salvation or "Cat-hold" salvation. The difference in theological viewpoint is seen in how monkeys and cats protect their young. A mother monkey will sound the alarm when danger lurks. The baby monkeys come running to her and hold tightly to her fur as she runs to safety. A mother ...

4. All of God's Chillun Got Shoes

Luke 14:1,7-14

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

During the dark days of slavery in this country, Blacks worked in the cotton fields stripped of their dignity, naked to the waist, and barefoot in the dirt. But the human spirit refuses to be broken. From deep within the Black psyche rose that rebellion spawned by Christian faith and expressed in the music of the soul; the Negro spirituals. In them the note of human dignity is never far from the p...

5. Daddy, Do You Mean It?

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

A minister was in the habit of telling his little girl a bedtime story each evening before tucking her in for the night. One evening he told her such a thrilling tale her eyes popped open. She sat up in bed studying her father. "Daddy, do you mean it, or are you just preaching?" Sometimes it is hard to know with preachers. Sometimes it is even hard to know with Jesus.

6. Good Ole Joe

Luke 12:49-59

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

To love people as Jesus did is to stand for something. G. K. Chesterton observed that tolerance is the easy virtue of people who do not believe anything. Some unknown bard has put the observation poetically. Popularity was his middle name. Its prod was pride, its price was pain. He never learned the word called, "no." They spoke of him as "good old Joe." His life was one long laughing spell, and...

7. I Never Lived

Luke 16:19-31

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

A woman in the hospital was weeping after being told she was terminally ill with cancer. When a friend sought to console her she replied, "I'm not weeping because I'm dying. I'm weeping because I never lived." The awareness of limits and wasted time means we can take up a conscious stance with regard to our own inevitable mortality. It is this mature insight that will protect us from slavishly fol...

8. Innate Potential

Luke 17:5-10

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

Once a farmer sought to raise a single baby eagle which he had found in the wilderness. He raised it with his chickens, and it grew strong. But alas! This king of birds came to think of itself as a chicken rather than an eagle. Each day the farmer would throw it into the air hoping to see it fly, and each time, it would return to the earth to eat the chicken feed thrown on the ground. One day, how...

9. Kingdom Etiquette

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

This parable of Jesus is often treated as a call for humility. When invited out for dinner, stand aside and let others be seated first. If that is its purpose it seems to be much ado about very little. But to interpret his words as a teaching on self effacement is to miss the point of the parable. Jesus told parables to describe the kingdom of God not to give lessons in social etiquette. Here, Jes...

10. Know What Time It Is!

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

While reading the Bible, Mark Twain once quipped, "It is not the parts of the Scripture that I don't understand that bother me. It's the parts that I do understand." There are plenty of passages of Scripture that speak to us and trouble us. But, alas! for me, this is not one of them. Bernard Anderson referred to the Bible as a special delivery letter with our address on it. That may be true, but t...

11. Let Us Pray!

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

In James Baldwin's Blues For Mister Charlie, there is an arresting scene in which a young boy announces before his grandmother and the world that he no longer believes in God. The wise and unperturbed woman replies, "Ain't no way you can't believe in God, boy. You just try holding your breath long enough to die." No less than breathing or the sucking of a newborn infant, prayer is instinctive huma...

12. Living The Alternatives

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

"Christ" is the Greek word for Messiah or King. To believe in Jesus Christ, therefore, is to affirm more than certain doctrinal statements about his divinity or the assurance of eternal life. To believe in Christ is to refuse to acknowledge anyone else in this life as King. It is to insist that the powers and principalities of this world do not have authority over us, even when they appear to be i...

13. Mary Has Chosen The Good Portion

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

The Genesis creation narrative tells us that God created the world, and all that is in it, in six short days, a remarkable burst of energy even for God. Understandably, God was tired - an idea which has eluded learned theologians - but the author of the story insists that, "... on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work ... So God ...

14. Monkey-hold or Cat-hold Salvation

Luke 15:1-7

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

15. Seeing the New Reality

Luke 17:5-10

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

It was said that the great Michelangelo attracted a crowd of spectators as he worked. One child in particular was fascinated by the sight of chips flying and the sound of mallet as the master shaped a large block of white marble. Unable to contain her curiosity, the little girl inquired, "What are you making?" Pausing, he replied, "There is an angel in there and I must set it free." Faith is seei...

16. Servant Morality vs Master Morality

Luke 14:1-14

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

Freidrich Nietzsche drew the distinction between a servant morality and a master morality with disturbing clarity. A servant morality adopts values and follows a morality which is imposed upon us by others. It negates the self. A master morality, on the other hand, sees the self as the creator of both values and morality. It, therefore, affirms the self. Nietzsche saw religion as the great espouse...

17. Sharing Shalom

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

The Bible has a great deal to say about wealth and the people who own it. This parable of Jesus for example: The usual interpretation speaks of it as a teaching concerning the folly of a life devoted to the accumulation of wealth. It is ridiculous to seek security through riches. The foolishness becomes obvious, so the interpretation goes, when suddenly one night the man dies and must stand before...

18. Storing What We Do Not Need

Luke 12:13-21

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

Jesus did not condemn the man for eating, drinking and being merry, nor even for being rich. Rather the man was called foolish for building bigger barns. The point of the story is that the entrepreneur was planning to store more of his wealth than he needed to eat, drink and be merry. Look again at the words of the story. The man says, "What shall I do for I have nowhere to store my crops?" Not tr...

19. Taking Life Seriously

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

This parable reminds me of the time I attended an evangelism workshop offered by my denomination and which was intended to demonstrate the latest techniques for saving souls. A team of experts had come to town intent on training us to make cold calls in the community - door to door - seeking converts for Christ. I was assigned to one of the experts as an observer. I was to watch and, thereby, lear...

20. The Politics Of Love

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

Luke sets the familiar parable of the good Samaritan in the context of two commands: Love God and neighbor; and Go, do likewise! Furthermore, it is clear that by casting the parable with Jewish bad guys and a Samaritan good guy, Jesus wants our love to transcend ideological differences and respond to human suffering and injustice wherever it may be found. Christian spirituality has always been cha...

21. The Virtuous Castle of Work

Luke 10:38-42

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

Brazilian theologian, Rubem Alves, suggests that we imagine ourselves locked in a room with no windows or doors. No matter how nice the room is furnished we will very quickly become bored and suffer claustrophobia. Inevitably we will begin to probe the walls and floor, looking for a way of escape. Then, Alves suggests, that we imagine ourselves in a castle with a thousand and one luxurious rooms, ...

22. The Wisdom In Waiting

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

"Fear not!" Jesus says. These are the same words spoken by the angels to the Bethlehem shepherds on the occasion of his first coming. Now they are used to speak of his second coming. The reason why we need not fear is because God's good pleasure is to give us the kingdom. We cannot earn it. We cannot build it. It is a gift of grace. Despite all the evidence to the contrary and all attempts to oppo...

23. Two Doors; One Choice

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

In The Lady And The Tiger, Frank Stoc_esermonskton sets before the reader the dilemma of a gladiator who faces his fate in the arena standing before two doors. He must choose which of them to open. Behind one door waits a hungry tiger. Behind the other, a lovely maiden. Jesus presents us with a similar dilemma in this parable. Behind one door to the kingdom waits the tiger of divine wrath. Behind ...

Showing 1 to 23 of 23all results

Showing all results

1. A Faith That Burns

Luke 12:49-53

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

2. A Normal Part of Life?

Luke 10:38-42

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

3. A Seeking Savior

Luke 10:1-24

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

4. All of God's Chillun Got Shoes

Luke 14:1,7-14

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

5. Daddy, Do You Mean It?

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

6. Good Ole Joe

Luke 12:49-59

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

7. I Never Lived

Luke 16:19-31

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

8. Innate Potential

Luke 17:5-10

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

9. Kingdom Etiquette

Luke 14:1-14

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

10. Know What Time It Is!

Luke 16:1-15

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

11. Let Us Pray!

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

12. Living The Alternatives

Luke 17:1-10

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

13. Mary Has Chosen The Good Portion

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

14. Monkey-hold or Cat-hold Salvation

Luke 15:1-7

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

15. Seeing the New Reality

Luke 17:5-10

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

16. Servant Morality vs Master Morality

Luke 14:1-14

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

17. Sharing Shalom

Luke 12:13-21

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

18. Storing What We Do Not Need

Luke 12:13-21

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

19. Taking Life Seriously

Luke 16:19-31

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

20. The Politics Of Love

Luke 10:25-37

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

21. The Virtuous Castle of Work

Luke 10:38-42

Illustration

W. Robert McClelland

22. The Wisdom In Waiting

Luke 12:35-48

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

23. Two Doors; One Choice

Luke 13:22-30

Sermon

W. Robert McClelland

Showing 1 to 23 of 23all results