Sermons from 2021 (Page 5)
2 Cor. 4:1-12
Treasure in Clay Pots There’s a program on PBS I like to watch once in a while called “Antique Roadshow.” In virtually every program someone discovers that a piece of furniture picked up at an estate sale for $18 turns out to be worth $50,000 (or $100,000 if he hadn’t scraped the old paint off). Someone else finds a photograph in the attic of her deceased aunt that is an original signed by Ansel Adams and they make off like a bandit. Or…
2 Cor. 4:13-5:10
Is Your Earth Suit Wearing Out? In case you have any doubt in your mind, the answer to the question in my sermon title this morning is, “Yes.” Our bodies begin to deteriorate the moment we’re born, and the rate of deterioration speeds up considerably as time goes on. Children and teens don’t notice it, of course, but the 30- and 40-something’s are already getting a taste of it, those in their fifties and sixties understand it quite well, and the geezers…
2 Cor. 5:9-10, 1 Cor. 3:10-15
Here Comes the Judge! Last Lord’s Day we introduced the issue of future judgment at the Judgment Seat of Christ, and today we’re going to delve into it in much more detail. To many in our pluralistic, tolerant, subjective, and relativistic culture, judgment seems crude, self-righteous, hateful, and proud. But that is only because our society rejects the notion of moral absolutes or accountability to a creator God. If God is even acknowledged to exist, He is seen as a celestial Santa Claus…
2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2
Joy to the World: God’s Enemies Can Become His Friends! As we enter this Advent Season, we need to be reminded once again that Christmas is ultimately the story of God reaching out to those who are alienated from Him and inviting them to become His friends. That’s what brings real joy to the world-when former enemies become friends. While there are many great words in Christian theology–words like forgiveness, salvation, redemption, justification, sanctification, glorification–one of the greatest to me is “reconciliation.” According…
2 Corinthians 6:3-10
Reasonable Fanaticism I have an article I want to read this morning entitled, “It’s a Strange World.” It’s very relevant to my sermon topic this morning. “Shy sedate, conservative, normally very quiet people scream at the top of their lungs, yell obscenities at the umpire, jump up and down, hug the person sitting next to them whom they have never seen before in their lives, and we call them fans! Hundreds of thousands of people endure sub-freezing temperatures, and wind-driven rain, sleet,…
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1
Are We to Engage the Culture or Separate Ourselves from It? Yes! We return this morning to our study of 2 Corinthians, which we started in September and interrupted with Advent. Our text for today is one of the most familiar passages in the book, but that doesn’t mean it’s one of the best understood. As a teenager growing up in a fundamentalist church, I probably heard 2 Cor. 6 quoted as often as any other passage in the NT: “Be ye not…
2 Corinthians 7:2-16
The Deadly Difference Between Regret and Repentance I want to talk today about one of life’s most painful experiences–the feelings of regret and remorse that can overwhelm us when we have done something wrong that we suspect might change the course of our life forever. The first time I remember feeling that way was in junior high school. I can’t even remember the specifics of what I had done, but it could have been just about anything considering my junior high years. I…
2 Corinthians 8:1-24
Generating a Spirit of Generosity I want to say a word about where I will be next Sunday and who our guest speaker is going to be. Some of you remember Carlton Harris, who served as our summer intern 25 years ago and who preached here 18 months ago. After 13 years of wonderful ministry in Cleveland, Carlton has been called to pastor the College Avenue Baptist Church in San Diego, one of the largest churches in the Baptist General Conference. He invited…
2 Cor. 9:1–15
Giving: What’s In It For Me? My sermon title today, “Giving: What’s In It For Me?”, is a bit facetious, but not entirely. You are probably thinking, “Isn’t giving supposed to be about the recipient, about meeting needs, and about serving God?” Yes, but the fact is the Bible speaks often, including in our text today, about the various benefits in a life of generosity–not only for the recipient, but also for the giver. We’re going to read the entire ninth chapter…
2 Corinthians 10:1-18
When you Go to War, Use the Right Weapons For the past two weeks we have been examining a section of 2 Corinthian (chapters 8 and 9) in which the Apostle Paul addresses the issue of generous giving, especially to the poor. It’s related to the rest of the book in that the reason he’s having to address the subject is that certain leaders have come into the church after he founded it, undermined his authority, and caused the people to neglect the…
2 Corinthians 10:12-11:15
Spiritual Predators in the Church My message today is about predators in the church–not a pleasant topic. We’ve heard a lot over the past few years about sexual predators among the clergy. Although the Catholic church certainly has no corner on this plague, I think it’s pretty obvious why they have had the biggest problem in regard to sexual abuse–no doubt because they do not allow their clergy to marry. Forced celibacy is neither biblical nor natural, and as long as they…
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
The Man Who Visited Paradise and Returned to Tell About It We come today to one of the strangest and most fascinating passages in the whole Bible. It contains two remarkable stories–Paul’s visit to Paradise and the thorn in the flesh he was given as a result of his visit to Paradise. This is not an easy passage to interpret or to understand, and I’m convinced we will never understand it fully unless we see it in the context of the dispute…