Tag: Mark 6:14-29

Which Kingdom?

071424-SermonDownload

Biblical Text: Mark 6:14-29 (Amos 7:7-15)

It is a difficult text and a difficult day. I am always amazed at the synchronicity of the lectionary. Honestly you start writing the next sermon in your head by Sunday afternoon. You translate it. Make sure you understand the words. You read what a few solid commentators have said through the ages. But by Wednesday, Thursday at the latest, the general theme is locked down. In this case the text was the story of John the Baptist’s execution by Herod. And the general theme I had decided upon what a contrast of the Kingdoms. The Kingdoms of this World represented by Herod and the The Kingdom of Heaven represented by Jesus and John. The general thrust coming from the best prayer ever written by Thomas Cranmer (which is saying a lot) – may we pass through things temporal without losing things eternal. As the people of God we are citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet today the Kingdoms of this World and the Kingdom of Heaven exist side by side. Each exerting some authority over the other. How do we live in that overlap? And then Saturday evening someone tries to shoot a major Presidential Candidate. Someone was overtaken by things temporal and lost things eternal. And all of us, and entire nation, seems to be walking that same line. The propaganda assault we live in daily puts eternal weight (“The Republic Will Be Lost”) on temporal things. And it is not that those temporal things are not important. They are. It is that the Christian must not lose sight of the eternal. The Kingdoms of this world might listen and respect and protect us. We should pray for that. Herod did that for John, for a while. But they ultimately have a different master and work by different rules. They turn into beasts and chop off heads. The promise of the Kingdom of Heaven is not temporal rule or health and wealth. The promise of the Kingdom of Heaven is eternal life under the one true King, Jesus Christ. And if that means a temporal pit, so be it. The Kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord in his good time. And we shall be there to receive them.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Perfectly Free, Perfectly Bound

071215Wordle

Biblical Texts: Mark 6:14-29, Amos 7:7-15
Full Sermon Draft

The real question in free and bound is: to what?

The normal way we talk about free and bound is in regards to sin. That comes under the doctrine of the keys. But in this sermon we are looking not at that doctrine, but at the bets we all place at the foundation of our lives. We all place some. Sometimes we might not know it, but they are there. What these two passages do is give us a glimpse of two foundations and how they bind and free us.

There are several applications, but today we were saying good-bye to a man and family that is off to study for the pastorate. We as a congregation were wishing them farewell and Godspeed. We were freeing them for this larger call as much as it pains us, but we along with the entire church were binding them to the Word. The plumb line that makes us free from sin and the crookedness of the world, binds us all to Christ. We might be separated in the World, but we are still one in Christ. The hymn at the end – The Church’s One Foundation – perfectly expresses this.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download