Sermon Manuscript101506
Running head: SERMON WORKSHEET & MANUSCRIPT
Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript
Robert L. Hutcherson, Jr.
Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church
Sermon Preparation/Delivery
Psalm 26
“Examine Me”
The Rev. Karla J. Cooper, Pastor
October 15, 2006
Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript
AUTHOR
1. Who wrote (or is credited with writing) the text?
While there is little if any direct evidence of authorship, it was the unanimous testimony of the early church that this gospel was written by John Mark. Mark was a close associate of Peter, from whom he received the tradition of the things said and done by the Lord. The first mention of him is in connection with his mother, who had a house in Jerusalem that served as a meeting place for believers. When Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch from Jerusalem, Mark accompanied them.. Mark next appears as a helper to Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey, but he deserted them to return to Jerusalem. When Barnabas proposed taking Mark on the second journey, Paul flatly refused..Barnabas took Mark and left for Cyprus. Mark reappears in Paul’s letter to the Collossians written from Rome. Paul sends a greeting from Mark and adds “you have received instructions about him about him, if he comes to you, welcome him.” by the end of Paul’s life, Mark had fully regained Paul’s favor..
2. From what perspective does the author write?
Mark writes this Gospel not as a finished sequential account of the life of our Lord, but as the preaching of Peter preaching, which was directed to the needs of the early Christian communities. Tradition holds that the Gospel of Mark largely consists of the preaching of Peter arranged and recorded by John Mark.
3. What are the historical and social contexts?
TEXT
" 17As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 18And Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 19You know the commandments, 'DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.' 20And he said to Him, Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up. 21Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. 22But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. 23And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! 24The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. 26They were even more astonished and said to Him, Then who can be saved? 27Looking at them, Jesus *said, With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God. 28Peter began to say to Him, Behold, we have left everything and followed You. 29Jesus said, Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, 30but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. 31But many {who are} first will be last, and the last, first." (Mark 10:17-31 NASBR)
I. What does this passage say? (exegesis)
2. What does the passage mean? (hermeneutic)
A. To the original audience?
B. To the contemporary context?
READER
3. What does this passage say to the larger community? (homiletic)
What is the "Bad News" in the text? What is the "good News" for our
time?
What is the "Good News" in the text? What is the "Good News" for
our time?
How can the conflict between the Bad News and the Good News be
reconciled?
7. Specific Purpose/Central Idea.
(In one clear sentence say what the sermon is about and why you are
preaching it).
I propose to show ______________________________________________
To the end that the hearers will
8. What will the listener/audience celebrate as a result of hearing this
sermon? (Celebration happens in preaching when the Gospel becomes
Good News for the listener). Just as the sermon must have a specific
aim, the celebration must be specific as well.
9. How will I conclude the sermon?
10. Where will I make sermonic moves and transitions? List specific
transitional sentences.
11. What biblical translation and/or paraphrased version are consistent
with what I want to say in the sermon? What cross-references and/or
literary sources will I use?
BODY
I have chosen this passage from Mark because it challenges every one of us about our relationship with our money. Most of us know this story as the story of the rich young ruler, although Mark is the only one who suggests he is rich, Matthew is the only one who says he is young, and Luke is the only one who calls him a ruler.
As Jesus is setting out on his journey to Jerusalem, an eager young man approaches him. This man seems to be an ideal candidate to be a disciple of Jesus. He kneels before Jesus and asks, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
His question shows his great respect for Jesus and his interest in matters eternal. His idea is that he can "inherit" eternal life. This word is well chosen because it reflects the Jewish tradition that eternal life was often seen as a given, as something one inherited by being born right. For the Jews, belonging to the people of God was a matter of race. For Jesus, belonging to the people of God was a matter of grace.
Instead of directly answering this man's question, Jesus first focuses on that reference to "goodness." He replies, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” Then Jesus listed some of the Ten Commandments. In fact, he lists numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 and 5. After the rather incomplete version of the commandments Jesus recites to this man, he swiftly insists, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth" (v. 20).
Here was a man who had found the emptiness of success. He had the very things that most of us think will bring us happiness. Most of us yearn all our lives for the very things this man enjoyed. First of all, he had a lot of money. That one suckers all of us. Our idle dreams of being rich and famous fuel the spate of lotteries springing up in almost every state of the union. We sit around trying to figure out how we would spend our millions if we could just win the lottery.
The same motivation drives up the ratings on television shows like “Survivor” where the winner becomes an instant celebrity and wins a million dollars. From obscurity to stardom and wealth in just 39 days.
But here is a man who had all that, and his life was still empty. How many times is that story repeated? We could point to countless individuals like Elvis Presley who had all the money imaginable, but he was miserable all the same. This young man also knows success in religious circles. He proves that even obedience to the law leaves life empty and meaningless. He has kept all the commandments from his youth, but he still has not found eternal life. Most of us think that wealth and obedience will bring us happiness because we don’t have either one. But here is a man with both, and he has found the emptiness of such efforts. He is still searching, so he comes to Jesus looking for answers and for real meaning in life.
That’s when Mark gives us a touching picture of Jesus who really understood this man. Mark likes to add comments about Jesus “seeing” or “looking,” and he often tells what Jesus was feeling at a certain time. Here he combines those by observing, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him…” Jesus loves this young man because he can instantly tell he is serious about his quest. No wonder Jesus loves him. He is ripe. He is ready for God. He has come to the end of what he can do for himself, to the end of what money can do for him, and to the end of what the law can do for him. Jesus knew he would make an excellent disciple, but he lacked one thing.
While Jesus states that the man lacks "one thing," he actually gives him two commands. First, he is to go, sell what he has and give it all to the poor. Second, he is to come and follow Jesus - a path that will lead him to the eternal life he seeks.
It is an invitation to become smaller and more agile by closing his accounts on earth and opening one in heaven so that his treasure is drawing interest inside that tiny gate instead of keeping him outside of it. It is a dare to him to become a new creature, defined in a new way, to trade in all the words that have described him up to now - wealthy, committed, cultured, responsible, educated, powerful, obedient - to trade them all in on one radically different word, which is free
You see, the opposite of rich is not poor. The opposite of rich is free. He was not free to take the hand of Jesus because his hand was too full of his things and his love of things. He might as well have had a ball and chain around his leg. He was not free to follow Jesus. In fact, the meaning of "rich" may have less to do with how much money one has as it does with what our attitude is about the money we have. Some people have a lot of money but they are not enslaved by it; others have very little but they cling to it with desperation.
At some point, all of us will let go of our things, but it may be too late when we do. When Jesus told the rich man to give away all he had, he was simply speeding up the process that each of us must go through in our lives. We have no choice but to give it all away. You will never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer. A very wealthy man died in a small town. One friend wanted to know the gossip, so he asked his friend, “How much did he leave?” His friend wisely replied, “Haven’t you heard? He left it all!” And so will we!
Jesus knows that sooner or later everyone has to give it all away. We give it away before we can enter heaven. Jesus told this one to give it away so that he could have eternal life. But in Mark’s story, we find a man who can’t bring himself to do it. He is no longer enthusiastic but "shocked." This man is no longer eager; he is "sorrowful" or "grieving," "for he had many possessions." He judges the cost of eternal life too high and sadly leaves.
Jesus doesn't call everyone to give away all they have. He simply wants us to understand the danger of money. As far as Jesus is concerned, money is like nuclear power. It may be able to do a lot of good in the world, but only within strongly built and carefully regulated corridors. Most of us do not know how to handle it. We get contaminated by its power, and we contaminate others by wielding it carelessly ourselves.
Contrast the sadness of this rich man with the joy the disciples have in following Jesus. Look what they had left behind. Two of them had left their fishing nets behind, two more of them a fishing boat (not to mention their father). Another one left a lucrative career, pushing his chair away from his tax collector's desk to follow the strange man with the burning eyes. All of them had walked away from something, but not because it was a prerequisite for becoming a disciple. It was more like a consequence, really. He called, they followed, and stuff got left behind. Not because it was bad, but because it was in the way. Not because they had to, but because they wanted to. He called, and nothing else seemed all that important anymore. Jesus presents each of us with a simple question about what kind of person we want to be. Do we want to be like this rich man who judges the cost of eternal life too high? Or do we want to be like the disciples whose priorities were so rearranged that their things just were not all that important anymore?
CHILDREN’S LESSON
Order of Worship
Sunday October 15th, 2006
11:00 A.M.
Opening Hymn…………………….”
Doxology………………………………………………..All
Call to Worship……………………………….Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Hymn…………………………………… “Take My Life and Let It Be”, Hymn 292
Prayer…………………………………………..Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Prayer Response………………………………….Give Us This Day”
Scripture Reading……………………………..Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Decalogue………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Gloria Patri………………………………………….Congregation
Sermon…………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson
Invitation to Christian Discipleship………...””I Surrender All”, Hymn
Altar Call/Offertory……………………………All
Offertory Response……………………………”All Things Come Of Thee”
Affirmation of Faith……………………………Congregation
Benediction……………………………………..Bro. Robert Hutcherson