Sermons from June 2022
The Call to Be Christlike – Putting on a New Self
Ephesians 1: 3-10–We live in a society that carefully parses identities. African American, Native American, Caucasian, Latino, cisgender, LGBTQ, gen X, millennial, etc. – we have categories into which we place others and ourselves that mark our place in our culture. That same boundary marking exists in religious circles where people are identified by their affiliation – Protestant, Catholic, mainline, fundamentalist, charismatic, progressive, etc. And, categories can overlap to create increasingly narrow subgroups – African American gen X charismatic or…
Good at Being a Man
Good at Being a Man
Reading: Mark 3:24-27
Jesus is the strongest man. The gospel of Mark reveals Jesus’ strength and power over nature, over disease, and over demons. Jesus walked the earth as a man, God’s Son. He wields his strength & power as a man. He shows us that when a man is good at being a man, he brings glory to God the Father.
Thinking Like Jesus: About Self
For forty years, Burger King marketed its burgers with the motto “Have it your way.” Then, in 2014, the company changed its slogan to “Be your way,” stating that its changed saying had been designed to remind people “they can and should live how they want anytime.” A year later, the company changed its motto to “Your way,” a more familiar slogan that maintained the spirit behind its predecessor.
Slogans offer insights into our culture because they attempt to capture the ‘spirit’ of a generation to capture consumers’ attention. Burger King’s mottos points to something I suspect we all recognize – we live in an increasingly individualistic and self-absorbed culture. Paul’s teachings stand in contrast to our culture’s focus. Because of his understandings of Jesus, Paul urged people to have an attitude about themselves that would motivate them to put others’ interests ahead of their interests. We will consider Paul’s comments to the Philippians, in which he holds out Jesus as a model for how his audience should think about themselves.
God Loves Me
I recently read a short news story about “body-positive models,” about plus-sized fashion models trying to change perceptions of beauty. Those models sit within our culture’s growing emphasis upon positivity that advocates love for self regardless of one’s shape, color, sexuality, or any other identifying features or qualities they may possess.
Loving oneself also holds an important place in the Bible. Consider, for example, Jesus’ second greatest command – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 7:39, emp. added). While positivity culture and the Bible may overlap, a key difference separates them – the love our culture advocates is individualized to each person, while the love the Bible discusses focuses on God. We will use this lesson to consider God’s love for us and some of the applications it has within our lives.