Sunday's Best

Sunday’s Best (eBook edition)

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Except as otherwise indicated, all sermons and previously unpublished content are © 2011 Christianity Today International. Used by permission.

eBook ISBN 978-1-59856-917-9

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Any Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE® is copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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First eBook edition — October 2011

Cover photo: Thinkstock / iStockphoto

CONTENTS

Introduction: Mathew Woodley

1. God Is Strong—Am I? (Numbers 13:25–33 & Joshua 14:7–12)

Francis Chan

2. Cover or Be Covered (Psalm 32)

Jeffrey Arthurs

3. The Unseen Footprints (Psalm 77)

Timothy George

4. Life Is Hard, but God Is Good (Psalm 107:1)

Joni Eareckson Tada

5. Intercepting Entropy (Proverbs 24:30–34)

John Ortberg

6. Beholding the King (Isaiah 6:1–8)

Rod Cooper

7. God in Our Sorrow (Isaiah 53 & John 11)

Mark Buchanan

8. Above All Earthly Powers (Jeremiah 36:1–32)

Philip Ryken

9. A Wonderful Night (Luke 2:14–20)

Bryan Wilkerson

10. Asleep at the Wheel (Luke 8:22–25)

John Koessler

11. Stepping into the Ditch (Luke 10:25–37)

Jill Briscoe

12. Affluenza: The Disease of Greed (Luke 12:13–21)

Joshua Harris

13. Drop Your Agenda (Luke 20:19–40)

Mark Mitchell

14. Jesus and John—Together to Trust (John 19:25–27; 21:24–25)

Leith Anderson

15. Doubters Anonymous (John 20:19–29)

Craig Groeschel

16. Gone Fishin’ (John 21:1–18)

Joseph Stowell

17. Unprovoked Love (Romans 5:6–8)

Mark Buchanan

18. The Christian’s Happiness (Romans 8:28–30)

Timothy Keller

19. Balcony People (Acts 9:26–28)

John Ortberg

20. Church: The Message of 1 Corinthians

Mark Dever

INTRODUCTION

It happens every Sunday. Week after week in thousands of churches across the globe someone stands up to preach a sermon. Regardless of church location—from the hollers of Appalachia, to uptown Manhattan, to the slums of Nairobi or the white sands of Costa Rica—and regardless of worship style—Baptist, Anglican, Pentecostal, or Lutheran—you can usually count on one common element of worship: the sermon. Someone will stand up before the congregation and proclaim the word of the Lord.

We often take it for granted, but the sermon is actually a rare and daring art form. Ponder this for a moment: What is a sermon? It’s a combination of Bible study, theological treatise, creative essay, private devotional, pastoral encouragement, spiritual challenge, and at times old-fashioned storytelling. As a mode of communication, there’s nothing quite like it. But for the follower of Jesus, sermons are also a key component in our relationship with Christ. According to the apostle Paul, Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). In other words, many of us started following Jesus through the same process: Someone wrote and then preached a sermon; God used it to touch our hearts; and Christ brought us from death to life. What made the difference? The power of the Holy Spirit worked through the humble, bold, loving act of someone who opened God’s Word to us.

That rich tradition of changing lives through a sermon continues in this book. We’ve collected twenty sermons from some of our best living preachers. There’s a rich diversity of voices and preaching styles in this volume. John Ortberg combines profound truths with engaging (and often hilarious) stories. Timothy Keller humbly displays theological and intellectual brilliance. Craig Groeschel exudes authenticity as he shares his personal struggle between doubt and faith. Francis Chan practically bleeds all over the page with his heart-pumping passion for Christ. Mark Dever leads us through a specific biblical theme (the purpose of the church) with theological clarity and au­thority. Someone has said that preaching involves God’s truth coming through a preacher’s personality. In that sense, this book contains a rich tapestry of different personalities all declaring God’s Word.

That’s why this book doesn’t offer vague, detached, generic spiritual messages. Each sermon presents a unique man or woman who is personally engaged with following Christ. For example, Joni Eareckson Tada opens her sermon with a tender story about two high school girls (Joni and her best friend) who comfort each other after a crushing loss in a field hockey game. A few months later Joni dove off a dock and broke her neck. How does a human being live confined to a wheelchair, permanently paralyzed from the shoulders down? How did Joni ever come to the conclusion that God is good? Joni opens her heart and shares a journey from crushing pain to unshakable hope. In one sense, every sermon in this book offers a similar invitation from some of our finest Bible teachers. Like Joni, they seem to say: Get a cup of coffee and pull up a chair. I have something to share with you that will change your life. So let me open my heart and show you what I’ve been learning from God’s Word.

But this personal angle doesn’t lead to a mere venting of personal opinions. Each sermon has been selected to help you treasure God’s Word in your heart (see Ps. 119:11). That’s the overriding passion behind each sermon and each preacher: to draw forth and then display the beauty of Scripture, especially the beauty of one Bible passage or one larger biblical theme. In this sense, all of the preachers in this book act like master diamond cutters, carefully handling Bible passages in their hand, exploring every angle and line with love and awe. For instance, many people can quote Romans 8:28, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose, but that verse often gets ripped out of its original context and meaning. Timothy Keller takes that beautiful verse and the surrounding context, carefully holds it up to the light, as he turns it this way and that way, so we can see the value of the gospel reflected at each turn.

Of course the preachers in this book aren’t just scholars or even experts. Scholars and experts often live in ivory towers, far removed from people who struggle to follow Jesus. The preachers in this book are students of the Word, but they’re also students of the human heart. They’re committed to what the ancient church called the cure of souls. Most of them pastor churches or run ministries that help ordinary people who battle doubt, grief, trials, discouragement, and spiritual entropy. As Joseph Stowell says in his sermon, If [Jesus] had waited for only perfect people to get involved, he’d still be doing it all by himself. But thank God that Jesus isn’t just waiting to use perfect people. As a result, this book addresses the spiritual needs of ordinary Christians—those deeply loved and deeply flawed people who hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness (see Matt. 5:6).

Thankfully, these sermons also outline practical steps for ordinary Christians. For example, Jill Briscoe’s teaching on the parable of the Good Samaritan motivates us to display Christlike compassion for people who have fallen into the ditches of life. Jeffrey Arthurs exposes our tendency to avoid rather than confess our sin. Josh Harris shows us how to combat the subtle forms of greed that often lurk in the depths of our hearts. John Ortberg helps us identify and overcome our habitual practice of spiritual entropy. Based on these examples, the practical steps in these sermons aren’t necessarily easy steps. Many of these sermons will challenge our assumptions about the spiritual journey with Christ. God may use these messages to stretch us to greater growth and love—and that stretching process sometimes feels uncomfortable.

But as these sermons stretch us in different ways, they also lead us to the same place: the beauty, provision and power of Christ. Jesus himself claimed that every passage of the Bible eventually led to him (see John 5:39). So although the chapters in this book may range over many biblical books—Numbers, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Romans, and 1 Corinthians to name a few—they bring us back to Christ. As Tim Keller reminds us, To be a Christian is to become passionately in love with the character of Jesus. . . . [God] is making you like him. He’ll give you Christ’s incredible compassion and courage.

So find a quiet spot, open your heart, open your Bible, and turn the page of this book. As you do, invite the Holy Spirit to speak to you. As you prayerfully read each message, it might be helpful to ponder a few simple questions:

Is there an invitation in this sermon? In the midst of my sin, weakness or suffering, what turns my eyes to Christ and fills me with hope? Is there something about God’s activity or character that causes me to pause and give thanks?

Is there a challenge in this sermon? Where or how is God asking me to change my behavior or attitudes? Is there any way I need to repent, change, or grow in my relationship with Christ?

Is there an opportunity in this sermon? Is God nudging me to serve someone else—either a brother or sister in Christ or perhaps someone who doesn’t know Christ? Does someone need my love or encouragement? How will I reach out to that person in the next week?

In the end, sermons aren’t meant to dispense information or provide entertainment; their ultimate purpose is to yield the fruit of spiritual transformation in Christ. So read these sermons slowly, prayerfully, and attentively. Pay attention to how God wants to speak to you through each message. Finally, ponder them so they can deepen your love for God, settle your trust and obedience to Christ, and then expand your love for others.

One last note: The preachers featured in this book use a great variety of Bible translations, most of them modern, though some use the King James Version, and one even uses his own translations of the texts. Additionally, these preachers don’t necessarily quote passages verbatim; there’s a great deal of personal paraphrasing. For ease of reading, we have chosen to omit the translation information that is generally included when Scripture is quoted.

Mathew Woodley

Managing editor, PreachingToday.com

1

GOD IS STRONG—AM I?

FRANCIS CHAN

Numbers 13:25–33 & Joshua 14:7–12

We must be people of courage, with faith in our mighty God.

Introduction

You know how we each have our idiosyncrasies? I don’t like repetition. For instance, I won’t watch a movie twice. That’s silly to me. So I seldom repeat myself, even from the stage. If I consider teaching something, I might think, I just taught that eight years ago. They’ll remember. But that’s bad, because in Scripture certain things are repeated over and over and over again. So I’ve realized that I need to say something over and over again, at least this month. I want to talk about courage, even though I spoke about this not long ago. I’m going to be speaking about it more and more, because I see it throughout Scripture.

I also want to repeat myself on this topic, because I may be the one guy that keeps telling you to believe in the power that’s in you, the Holy Spirit. We live in a world where everyone’s telling you that you can’t pull this off. We live in a time when people, even in the church, don’t believe in the power of the Holy Spirit and what he can do. Sometimes we look at the Scriptures and think, Well, yeah, that was back then. But it’s not about back then. It’s about always. It’s about ever since the beginning of this Book, and all the way to the end, the followers of God were filled with courage. There was a fearlessness in them. There was a confidence that my God will come through. We grew up with these stories, but some of us lost it in there somewhere, to the point where we come to church, and we’re scared and fearful.

Parents are more afraid than ever. If I tell my kid no, maybe he won’t like me. So we’ve got these kids running out of control, because we’re scared of losing their friendship. It’s easier to say yes to everything and let them have what they want. Then this mind-set impacts our jobs and even our economy. Eventually we don’t even think about doing great things for the Lord.

And yet from the beginning to the end of the Bible, we’ll find people who said, No, I’m not afraid. Revelation 21 says that those who conquer are the ones God is going to bring with him in the end. He says: I’m going to be their God, and they’re going to be my children. But the cowards, the disbelieving, will end up in the lake of fire. We’ve got to be bold, courageous people. I want to remind you week after week about how much power is in you—those who have the Holy Spirit of God inside of you.

We tend to become less courageous as we grow older

How many of you went to Sunday school as a kid? What were your favorite stories from Sunday school? Daniel in the lions’ den, good. David and Goliath. Jonah. Esther. Noah. The parting of the Red Sea. Jesus. Joshua. The Prodigal Son. Samson. Stephen. Joseph.

I always loved David and Goliath. I loved the story of the scrawny little guy with rocks in his pocket looking at this giant and saying, I can take him down. I don’t care how big he is; I’m going to take him down, because I’ve got my God.

Or think of Daniel in the lions’ den. Isn’t that a great story? God shut the mouths of all the lions.

And then there’s the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They said, No, we’re not going to bow to that idol. We don’t care if everyone else bows down; we’re not going to bow down. And the king said, Then we’re going to throw you in this fiery furnace. And remember what they said? They said, Go ahead. Our God can rescue us. We don’t care if you throw us in a pit of fire. Sure enough, the king’s guards threw them into the pit of fire. And what happened? A fourth person appeared with them in the fire, and everyone said, Who is that? And then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire, and they didn’t even smell like smoke. Everyone was amazed. We love that story.

We love the story of the Exodus, with Moses saying: Let my people go, or we’re going to send plagues on you. This last one’s going to be terrible. And he parted the Red Sea so God’s people could pass through.

Remember the story of Joseph. He was sold into slavery, but he kept believing.

We love the story of Elijah, standing on Mount Carmel against 450 prophets of Baal, and he’s mocking them. He was fearless. He said, My God is going to take you down. It doesn’t matter—you can jump and sing all day long, but your god’s not going to listen to you. He’s not real. My God is the real God.

These are the stories about courage that we grew up with. Don’t you remember as a kid having this faith, like God can do anything through me? When I was in high school and I first started believing for myself, I thought, God could use me to reach my whole campus. By the end of the year, I can fill this gymnasium with people. I believed that. I went through the yearbook calling people. I cut class to tell people about Jesus. I believed I was going to change that place.

But then through the years people calm you down. And we start to lose that courage. We get knocked down here and there, and people tell us we can’t pull it off. Our faith and courage subside. But that’s not right. That’s not how we want to live. It’s rare for someone to put an arm around you and remind you of how powerful you are, how powerful your God is who dwells inside of you, and what you can do. We become more and more cowardly, and we call it being responsible: I’m just being a good steward of my life, because God wouldn’t want me throwing it all away. I’m just being careful.

People say to me, Why do you spend time speaking to youth? I say, Because they still believe that God can do anything, and they live like it. They’re looking for forty-year-old guys with kids who will still do crazy things. They need to see us believe that God is still God, not just when we were little kids but when we’re forty or even when we’re eighty. God’s done some amazing things throughout time, but you can probably think of times when your dreams were squashed, when you felt that God wanted you to do something, but then things didn’t happen the way you thought they would. And pretty soon people started talking you into being more responsible, and eventually you said, Yeah, I can’t do anything great.

When I was in high school, I was going nuts for Jesus, but then I started getting more educated. And when you do that, you meet people more educated than you are, and you start to feel dumb compared to them. And then you think, I don’t want to say anything, because that guy’s so much smarter; just listen to him. The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know, and there’s always someone better than you. And you think, That guy’s got a Ph.D. in counseling and was a guest of Dr. Phil, and you start believing that God can’t do anything great through you anymore. Is that how we want to live? It doesn’t make sense. We’re children of God.

A guy in our church bench presses 1,150 pounds. It’s a world record. You can’t even fathom it. He’s the strongest man in the world. Anyone who has tried to bench press would say, I don’t even get that. That doesn’t make sense. That’s not humanly possible. That’s amazing! You know what’s even more amazing? His wife bench presses 405 pounds. I will never come close to doing that. I’d never even try that. They have kids. I don’t know them, but my guess is that they’re not picked on a lot. It would sure be weird if they were scrawny.

What I’m saying is that we’re children of the most powerful being in existence, and