Good morning. It is my privilege, pleasure, and responsibility to bring you the word of God as it is given to me.
“I don’t come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in fancy words or touting my graduate degree in theology. All I have is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion and resurrection. And I came to be here in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.”
What I just said, with slight variations, did not originate with me. It is an adaptation of Paul’s first letter to the Cornthians. But his humility and confidence solely in bringing the Gospel to the church in Corinth are words everyone who stands here in the pulpit, 2000 years later, should remember.
A good sermon, in the 21st century, is based first on the Bible – be it Psalms, Old Testament, the Gospel or the letters. In 2025, we are blessed with resources that would astound preachers a generation ago – less time than many of us have been attending Bethany, let alone hearing sermons.
Where once Preachers were limited to the printed Biblical commentaries which may have been owned or borrowed – there now have thousands of commentaries – entire libraries of history – available to at the stroke of a key.
And this is all well and good. But it is not enough. If we – you and I – are to speak God’s words, we must call upon one more resource — the Holy Spirit.
To paraphrase Paul, whether or not we speak with plausible words of wisdom, it is the demonstration of the Spirit and of power which moves us, so that our faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
Those of us who speak God’s wisdom speak for eternity. While billions of words are lost every year – yes, even brilliant sermons *koff* – if I mention the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I’m certain all of us are thinking of four words. “I have a dream.” President John Kennedy said, “Ask not…” and I am confident you know the rest.
This is my generation. Those of you who remember World War II or grew up in a post-9/11 age – may have your own quotes to remember, from “We have nothing to fear but fear itself to… well, we’ll see what history has to say.
But great quotes didn’t begin with the invention of the radio. History is littered with them. Yet, except for the rare exception of a Shaekespeare, an Abraham Lincoln, or a Mark Twain, those human quotes are lost.
Not so with God’s words, which live eternally. In fact, the oldest quote in history goes back over 3000 years and is one you already know – “In the Beginning.”
Jesus knew the word of God – what we Christians refer to as the Old Testament – which had been handed down to him, mostly through oral traditions, for centuries.
In regard to those writings, Jesus said, in Matthew 5, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.”
This reading is from the New International Version – the translation I generally prefer. But for this particular passage, I enjoy the King James Version, which was written in the time of Shakespeare and reflects the language of the time in the 1500s. It reads, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.“
“…one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law…”
While we don’t see a lot of jots or tittles these days in our modern language, the phrase was extremely important in Jesus’ day.
Pharisees at the time were in charge of “keeping the books,” as it were. They were more concerned with “God’s laws,” as handed down from Creator God to Moses to ensure that the letter of the law was specifically followed. The Pharisees would intently watch the Scribes as they copied what had been written before, so that every Hebrew letter and note – every “jot and tittle” – would be followed exactly. Take a moment to imagine that. Let’s say you have a handwritten page from your favorite book – John Stteinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, for example. Steinbeck wrote his books in longhand, in a cramped, cursive style. And you must exactly duplicate every mark that Steinbeck made – every “jot and tittle” – while a Pharisee was literally looming over your shoulder, surveying every mark you made. A little intimidating, to be sure. These writings are what Jesus meant – that “nothing would be changed.”
Which is contrary to everything we have learned about Jesus – that he was sent to earth by his Heavenly Father so that we here may live by God’s will and not strictly by God’s word.
Yet, there it is.
Keep in mind that Jesus did not set out to create a new religion. To the contrary, he was a good, faithful Jew who obeyed the laws and saw his mission as taking the religion to the next step.
Jesus knew he was not going to accomplish this alone. We are challenged with the school-yard riddle that if God is all-powerful, can God create a rock too heavy for God to lift? I ask, if God is all powerful, then why doesn’t God just wave a heavenly wand and make us all what God wants us to be?
The answer to that is, of course, I have no idea. “Maybe something to do with free will,” to quote Time Bandits.
But I do know that Creator God had no intention of just making it so. Which is why God sent his son, Jesus, to us – to teach us God’s will.
Jesus gathered up his 12 disciples, to teach them, through example and stories, God’s will. And he spoke to the thousands, feeding their stomachs with loaves and fishes and their hearts and minds with God’s intentions. And those people taught others and a second, New, Testament was written and churches were built to house the believers and 2000 years later, here we are – studying the word and trying to live the life Jesus taught us.
But it is not enough that we sit here politely in the pew, murmuring “amens” and joining together in our beautiful music. We must go out and share the good news of Jesus Christ – of a life of love and service. Live the will of God. Because “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus tells us “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way,” Jesus continues, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
And this, my friends, is the word – and the will – of God.
Amen