Title: “When the Sermon is Hot”
Text: Psalms 39:3
Focus: “…then spake I with my tongue…”
When the sermon is hot it talks about one’s sin, it makes known one’s need, and it builds up one’s hope.
No one is exempt from having to deal with issues in life. I really don’t have a definition for issues, but I believe you know what I mean. I remember hearing a person calling in to work for time off. When asked the reason why? Are you sick, are you taking a vacation, the person said no, put down that I’m having issues. Have you every felt like taking time off because of issues. Issues appear to be interwoven into life’s journey. Regardless the stage that you are in life journey you will have issues: children have issues, teenagers have issues, adults have issues, and seniors have issues. It don’t matter the race, the status, or your religious affiliation – in life you will have issues.
The net effect of having issues is that they create tension. Tension is worry, anxiety, stress, pressure, or apprehension. Tension is damaging. Tension is detrimental. Tension is destructive.
No one is exempt from having issues and issues create tension. In my analysis of this text, the writer uncovers three fundamental issues that every human being faces: the effects of sin, the reality of death, and the awesome power of God.
Sin is what we do against others, sin is what we do against ourselves, and sin is what we do against God. In this life there appears to be no escape from sin. Sin abounds it everywhere. If the writer had known Paul, he would have known that Paul calls it a “thorn in the flesh.” In Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, he discusses this thorn in a particular context. He says it acts as an antidote to vanity. NIV says it this way, “to keep me from becoming conceited…there was given to me a thorn in my flesh; a messenger of Satan to torment me.”
In other words the effects of sin should keep everyone from getting the big-head. Vanity is the idea that you are better than someone else.
Last Friday, the Churches in the community conducted an evangelistic service on the corner of Lafayette and Pennsylvania Avenue. Bethel AME, Pennsylvania Ave AMEZ, Sharp Street UMC, and Union Baptist. Dr. Proctor preached and I gave the call to salvation. Dr. Proctor preached from the idea of one’s need for an extreme makeover - being made brand new. Over thirty people responded to the call to salvation - they where young, old, male and female.
What I realized was those person had thrown off all pretension, vanity, and had responded to there need to be release from the bondage of sin. They needed an extreme makeover by the renewing of their minds, hearts, and spirits. This need to be released from the bondage of sin is everyone’s need.
The second tension that this text discloses is the reality of death. Paul helps us in this same letter when he says, “therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
The Psalmist says, “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.”
Frailty is strength. Paul says when I am weak, God is made strong.
If people are dealing with these two basic tensions, I need you to understand that people need sermons to be heard not only in the church place, but also in the work place, the marketplace, and the community place. Therefore, effect sermons can be preached not only from pulpits, but also from pews.
Collectively we come in contact with people everyday who are wrestling with these two tensions: sin and death. They are trying to make sense out of life. They are losing their grip and need a firm foundation, an anchor in the midst of their storm. People need to hear a word right where they are. They are dealing with issues. They are dealing with tension. They are dealing with stress. They are dealing with anxiety. They need a word; they need to know that there is hope.
I look at this grand piano. Inside the grand piano is a hart and connected to the hart is 230 strings under 30 thousand tons of pressure. The pressure is so great that at any moment the piano could literally explode. But, in the midst of the tension that is inherent to the piano, Mike sits there are plays beautiful music that stirs our hearts and soothes our spirits.
For everyone that is experience issues, that struggling with tension. For everyone who is being affected by stress and anxiety. They need to know the hope of God who can play music in the midst of pain. Who can bring a melody even in your midnight? Who can bring joy in the morning?
The need to know is why the writer speaks. “I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spoke I with my tongue.”
There should be a fire burning within the heart of every Christian that even while dealing with your own tensions, you can speak a word to someone who needs to know that even in their midnight hour, God is near. When as they go through the storm, God is a comforter. Even when they face torment and ridicule, God is a buffer. Even when they face a lack of resources, God is a provider.
If the church even could understand that it’s the power of a word spoken that speaks to a person’s situation right where they are. Whether in the work place, the market place, the community place, or in the home place; people need a word.
And, some of the most effective sermons are not preached from the pulpit; they are preached from the pew.
When the sermon is hot it talks about one’s sin, it make’s known one’s need, and it build’s up one’s hope.
I known some of you follow sermonic messages closely. Some have begun to take notes. You are saying, early you said their where three tensions that everyone faces. But you have only preached about two: the effects of sin and the reality of death. What is the third?
The third is the awesome power of God. It the power that says, My will will be done in heaven and in earth. It’s the power to cause even the rocks to cry out. It’s the power to make animals speak. It’s the power that causes the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear.
The awesome power of God is not confined to a person.
Everyone can testify to His power.
Everyone can speak about His glory.
Is there anyone here who has not experienced the power of God in their lives? Is there anyone hear who does not have a testimony about the goodness of God? Is there anyone here who has not witnessed a miracle in their lives?
You don’t need a PhD, MD or a D.Min to talk about God. All you need to say is that I was once blind, but now I see. Some of the most effective sermons are not preached from the pulpit, but are preached from the pew.
Last week, I was in Dayton, Ohio at United Theological Seminary for my final intensive week of study. I had to turn in my rough draft of my project thesis and was walking down main street to Kinko’s to have copies made. As I was walking back from Kinko’s I was feeling pretty good about myself. My rough draft numbered 234 pages. It analyzed the servant church, servant theology, preaching, and discussed the theological and biblical underpinning for service in the community and to God. I walked by a gentleman standing on the street corner who passed me a tract whose title was “How to get to Heaven.” My first reaction was don’t you know who I am. I don’t need a four page tract discussing how to get to heaven. I walking down the street with 234 pages of discussion on that matter. Just as soon as I was about to get the big head. I saw a man sitting on the bench waiting for the bus. He appeared to be stressed. His clothes where unkempt an disheveled. He was reading the tract. Immediately I asked for forgiven because I realized that that man would never read the 234 pages under my arm. We would probably never cross paths again. But, because a man was standing on the street corner passing out tracts, he may be the very person that God used to save a soul.
Some of the most effective sermons are not preached from the pulpit, but are preached from the pew.
When the sermon is hot it talks about one’s sin, it make’s known one’s need, and it build’s up one’s hope.
Let me close with this story: There was a Shakespearian Thespian who conducted a one man show throughout all of Europe. His fame because of his acting prowess spread throughout Europe and eventually throughout the world. He was in great demand and became know as one of the greatest Shakespearian Thespians of all time. His articulation was precise. His poise and stage presence was pronounced. At the close of his show, he was noted for his recitation of Psalm 23. He would always close the show with Psalm 23 and wherever he went he would receive thunderous applause and ovations. The audience would stand and cheer until he came for a final bow.
He was in a theatre in Vienna and on this occasion as he was about to close his show with his trademark rendition of Psalm 23. A little old lady sitting in the second row raised her hand. He asked the lady what do you want. She asked if she could say the 23 Psalm this evening. He thought for a moment and said maybe the contrast of this old lady and his world famous recitation might be an interesting contrast for the audience.
So he asked her onto the stage to recite Psalm 23. She did. And when she finished the audience was silent. There was no applause, no cheering, no standing ovation. Everyone in the audience was wiping tears from their eyes. Even the Shakespearian Thespian had tears streaming down his face.
As they walked off stage, a little boy asked why didn’t the actor recite Psalm 23. His father remarked. The Actor is the world’s best at reciting Psalm 23. He knows the words intimately.
But that old lady knows the Shepard.
That what a sermon is all about someone who knows the Shepard talking to someone else who needs to know the Shepard.
