Barking Dogs Isaiah 56:1-8; Philippians 3:1b-16 (The Message) I ve been your pastor now for a little over three years. We have come a long ways together and the exciting thing is where we are going. God is doing some amazing things in and through us in worship, mission and Christian education. During the time I ve be with you, I counted it up I have preached well over 150 sermons. Some of them were actually pretty good. Most of them even kept most of you awake, most of the time. I took some time to look back over the titles and re-read a few of them they re not too bad. One of the things a preacher has to guard against is saying the same thing over and over and over. We need to mix it up a little bit. Keep it interesting; keep you listening. That s not a bad thing. But the two important things that we preachers have to do are: (1) preach a sermon with theological integrity, and (2) give you something to do about it; leave here with an item on your to do list if you will. Theological integrity is hugely important in the Reformed tradition. For those visiting today and for those of you who have not taken our class titled When I say I m a Presbyterian, what does that mean I need to tell you that when I say Reformed tradition or Reformed faith, I talking about those churches that were born during the Protestant Reformation of the 16 th & 17 th centuries. We Presbyterians are one of those churches. John Calvin is the father of our denomination and he set a high standard for us preachers. He insist that we get our theology right when we preach and teach. In the Scots Confession, written mostly by John Knox, who studied under Calvin in Geneva, it says that the sign of a true church is first, the true preaching of the Word of God, in which God has revealed himself to us, as the writings of the prophets and apostles declare (Scots Confession 3.18). I have heard sermons preached where there is not one mention of Jesus Christ and if the Bible was mentioned at all, the text was ripped from the page to support what the preacher already had in mind to say. I listen to one sermon by a famous preacher and he spent the entire sermon talking about how to set goals to accomplish your desired results: lose weight, save for retirement, getting ahead at work, that sort of thing. That was a very good talk but it was not a sermon. has not been proofread. 11-14-10 Dick Powell 1
I heard another sermon just last week delivered by a Presbyterian minister on how to use Six Sigma to resolve conflicts in church not one word about Jesus, not one word about reconciling grace and love just Six Sigma as the good news. I wonder if those folks have ever read a word of Calvin? It really makes me sick for the church. Those are not sermons they are motivational talks. So, we have to get the theology right because in our theology we declare that when a Presbyterian minister preaches it is the Word of God for us today in this place. Folks, that keeps me up at night, I have to make sure I give you right theology. The second thing that I noted is that you have to walk away from here with something to do. I m not talking about a to do list like Lynne gives me and I have to make excuses for not doing pick up cat food, send in an insurance form, call the bank, that sort of thing. No, those are to do items to keep a marriage on track, the to do things I m talking about are things that have kingdom implications (I need to pause here and say that a good marriage has kingdom implications so keep up with that to do list). One of the visions that we articulate here at Forest Hills is Expand the kingdom of God in Helotes and Northwest San Antonio. When the benediction is said and worship is over we should leave the church as disciples going out into the world to expand God s Kingdom. So two weeks ago at the conclusion of the sermon I asked you to do something. How many of you remember it? How many of you are doing it? I preached about the five things that are important for developing healthy church members or as we say at Forest Hills in another one of our vision statement bullet points equipping for discipleship. The five things are: worship, grow, connect, serve, invite. I asked you to pray about an area you needed to work on pray about it every day for a month and see what God would do. I told you that I would and I have. God is telling me that I need to work on inviting people to worship. What is God telling you? I know that one of you were listening because you emailed me with an idea about how to connect and you are doing it the words I have to say about that are you go girl! So in a sermon we have to get our theology right and it has to make a difference in people s lives they have to have something to put on their theological to do list. has not been proofread. 11-14-10 Dick Powell 2
There is something else about sermons that just get all over me. I have a very low opinion of carnival acts turning a chancel where the pulpit, communion table and baptismal font are into a stage, a carnival act. It is a chancel not a performance venue. Some preachers do that with the titles of their sermons they re more like a movie teaser than an introduction to the Word of God. I was reading a book on preaching the other day and the writer, Fred Craddock, said he read in a church bulletin this sermon title, Eating Soup with an Ax. He said he didn t have a clue what that meant, and he imagined that neither did the pastor nor the people who heard it. He also recalled a sermon titled What s Under the Bed Sheet? On Sunday, a huge crowd showed up. They could not seat all the people. They were in the aisles, in folding chairs, standing in the back. People came. When the minister stood up to preach, two ushers rolled out a black board with a bed sheet covering it. The sheet was lifted to reveal the points the preacher was going to talk about in the sermon. There were a lot of disappointed and deceived people in church that day. 1 But that is what some preachers do; more carnival than church. I remember going to the state fair in Raleigh one time when I was in high school. The student government association sponsored a bus trip to the fair and we could get an excused day from school. I bought a ticket and went to Raleigh. When we got off the bus and gave the man our ticket to get in, I was immediately greeted by barkers. You know what I mean people standing out in front of a game trying to get you to play. Every game had a barker. They would show you how easy it was to win the game. They had all these big prizes up there that you could win big stuffed animals. I looked around and saw girls with big teddy bears holding onto their boy-friend arms, smiling. Those boys were strutting like peacocks. Well the barker would show how easy it was and then you saw the girls and well you just wanted to win one to impress your girl I lost about half my money at the first booth. I think to this day that that barker was not telling me the truth but he seemed so honest. That s what some folks do with sermon titles they draw you in but there s not much there, nothing to add to the to do list; just a lot of barking. 1 Craddock, Fred. The Cherry Log Sermons. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. P. 109. has not been proofread. 11-14-10 Dick Powell 3
Paul is warning the church at Philippi to watch out for the barkers or as Eugene Peterson put it steer clear of those barking dogs. Paul is warning the folks at Philippi that it s pretty easy to get off course - to begin to focus on form not substance. He begins by telling them what he has told them before. In fact he says exactly that, I don t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry so here goes (The Message, 2138). Paul loved the church at Philippi. Any preacher who does not love the church they serve ought to go sell shoes for a living but that s another sermon. And he wants them to keep to the substantive stuff of church, not the appearance of substance but the real deal. You know Paul was very qualified to talk about the subject of substance verse the barking dog style. He already had every credential that the folks were telling the church they had to have to be a real church: he was a prince of the church, good blood lines, trained in the best seminary, circumcised according to the law, a strict adherent to all the laws no pork, wash before supper, stay away from unclean people, not bad stuff, the law. Paul said he was the most zealous defender of the faith even to the point of persecuting Christians. In fact, when we first meet Paul in Acts he s holding the coats while the crowd stones to death the Deacon Stephen. Paul said if anyone has a right to brag it s him. He was a zealot s zealot. But Paul said when Christ came all that changed. All of that stuff in his life had to be thrown in the trash. He said that above all things he wanted to embrace Christ and be embraced by him. He would give up an inferior brand of religion that focused on a lot of rules so he could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ God s righteousness. But even after all of that Paul said that he didn t have it all together. That s good news for us folks if Paul didn t have it all together there is hope for us. But whereas he didn t have it all together, he kept his eye on the goal, Jesus Christ. And it is God who is calling him to the finish line of the race he is on. Paul tells us emphatically don t look at those prizes that the barkers at the fair are offering, don t be lulled in to feel good religion being peddled by has not been proofread. 11-14-10 Dick Powell 4
theologically vacuous preachers they are a sham and bogus. The real prize is God s righteousness in Jesus Christ. So, I m repeating something again, because it is worth repeating. Paul gave me permission to repeat it. Pray about where God wants to strengthen your faith: worshiping, growing, connecting, serving, inviting. God is depending on you there are elders who can help you and pray with you. I ll help you and pray with you. Pray this simple prayer: God where do I need to focus? God knows what the five points are he ll answer you because he said he would; he will. Amen. has not been proofread. 11-14-10 Dick Powell 5