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Woship Resources 2008-2009 — Year B: Be a Sanctuary of Christ's Peace
Return to Year B: 2008-2009
Resource Index
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Let God Be Your Ruler
Ordinary Time (Proper 23)
Scriptures: Job 23:1–9, 16–17; Psalm 22:1–15;
Hebrews 4:12–16;
Mark 10:17–31/10:15–30 IV; II Nephi 12:56; Doctrine and Covenants 41:2a
Prelude
Gathering Song: “Open My Eyes, O Lord” HS 454
OR “Soften My Heart” NS 47
Call to Worship: II Nephi 12:56 OR Doctrine and Covenants 41:2a
*Opening Hymn: “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” HS 20
OR “Now Sing to Our God” NS 40
*Invocation
*Response
Disciples’ Generous Response
Each Sunday, as part of the Disciples’ Generous Response, we ask you to
integrate the message of “share equally” between Local and World Ministries
Mission Tithes. Generosity stories are provided to keep the church in touch
with how contributions to Mission Tithes spread the peace of Jesus Christ.
Please use the stories, testimonies, and up-to-date contribution information
as part of your offertory ministry. Visit
www.CofChrist.org/generositystories to print a copy, or contact your
pastor, congregational financial officer, or worship coordinator for a copy.
Blessing and Receiving of Mission Tithes
Focus Moment.
Have certain members of the congregation (preferably youth) go up front
and stand apart from each other holding individual signs that say:
Depressed, Sad, Fearful, Angry, Frustrated, Brokenhearted, Bruised, and
Abused. Have them hold their signs in front of them while they look down.
Then have one representing Jesus come forward and lay hands on the first
person’s head in silence for about ten seconds. Jesus then takes the sign
and rips it in half, placing it on the ground. He then takes the one who he
has just blessed, and they together go and lay hands upon the next person
doing likewise. Each time, the number of persons grows until all the signs
are ripped apart and left on the ground. You may have other needs in your
congregation that you might like to add or substitute for those suggested.
Prayer for Peace see
page 27
Congregational Hymn: “Bear Each Other’s Burdens” HS 369
OR “God Forgave My Sin in Jesus’ Name” HS 382
Message
Based on Hebrews 4:12–16 and/or Mark 10:17–31
*Closing Hymn: “Called by Christ to Love Each Other” SP 36
OR “Your Cause Be Mine, Great Lord Divine” HS 420
*Benediction or Sending Forth
*Response
*Postlude
Sermon Helps
Scriptures: Job 23:1–9, 16–17; Psalm 22:1–15; Hebrews 4:12–16; Mark
10:17–31/10:15–30 IV
Exploring the Scriptures
Though not immediately apparent, Hebrews 4:12–16 and Mark 10:17–31 share a
common theme. Both texts address two competing life-ruling alternatives: our
economy and God’s economy. Ours is a this-for-that economy where values are
weighed, bartered, and exchanged; whereas, God’s economy begs no exchange. We
cannot earn God’s favor. The text from Hebrews calls us to pray with great
daring and “approach the throne of grace with boldness.” It reminds us that such
boldness is not purchased by our goodness, merit, or self-reliance but through
the grace of Jesus, the “great high priest” who goes before us.
Similarly, Mark’s story of the rich man who asks Jesus what he must do to
inherit eternal life, confronts us with the same niggling question of
self-reliance. “In whom or in what do we place our allegiance?” When the rich
man reports to Jesus that he has kept all the commandments since his youth,
Jesus replies, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Shocked
and dismayed he departs in grief unable to come to terms with the “one thing” he
lacks.
The hyperbole, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (v. 25), has been
weakened and defused by suggestions that Jesus was referring to the small door
called “the needle’s eye” in the Jerusalem city gate. Any attempt to soften this
shocking verse blunts its meaning. Jesus is clearly saying it is impossible to
live the kingdom way as long as we are governed by lesser things. This verse has
been misused to denounce the evils of wealth and materialism; whereas, its
over-arching message is that the rich man does not own his possessions—they own
him. Two verses later (v. 27) Jesus expands the difficulty in entering the
kingdom of God to include not only they who are wealthy, but everyone, “For
mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
God’s grace and blessings are not subject to our economy but God’s economy; they
do not come on our terms.
Theologian Paul Tillich characterized God as “the ultimate concern.” Whatever
claims our ultimate allegiance becomes our ruler. Even the disciples—who walked,
talked, ate, and journeyed with Jesus—danced between their economy and God’s
economy and struggled to keep at bay that which vied for their loyalty as
revealed by Peter’s “this for that” statement at the close of this text: “Look,
we have left everything and followed you.” In other words, “What do we get out
of it?” Ironically, the answer is, “Everything for nothing!” We don’t get cheap
grace, but grace appropriated as God’s gift when we allow God to be our ruler.
Lamar Williamson Jr. said, “Entrance into the kingdom of God, or eternal life,
or salvation, so far from being easy, demands our best obedience and all we
have. Yet all we can do is not enough to achieve the life we seek.”
Central Ideas
- We cannot purchase love. Mark’s text reminds us that one’s commitment is
not measured by a set of rules, but by the giving of one’s self.
- The gospel is not a transaction. God does not give us what we deserve.
God gives more than we deserve.
- Whenever wealth, success, or status determines self-esteem, we have lost
more than we have gained. Whatever we cannot give away, we do not truly own.
- There is no sacrifice when choice and obedience are equal.
Questions for the Speaker
- What are your most prized possessions, and which of these would be the
most difficult to give away?
- What philanthropic examples dispel the bromide that wealth always rules
those who are successful and affluent?
- We may think our loved ones need more of this and more of that when they
really need more of us. What “one thing” do you lack at home, at work, and
in your faith journey?
- Why did Jesus challenge the rich man to sell all that he owned in order
to be a follower, when this prerequisite was not made of others? What
encumbrances, other than possessions, hinder your commitment and subtly rule
your life?
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