Worthwhile Sermons

These sermons are worth your while.

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On the Consecration of a New Church Bishop Basil (Essey) Sep. 28, 2013

A church building is more than a gathering place for worship, in the Orthodox tradition. It is an offering to God, an offering of ourselves, our material goods, our very lives. It is consecrated in much the same way as a new Christian is baptized: with holy water and holy anointing. It becomes, like the human body, a dwelling-place, a temple, of God. Even the most beautiful of earthly temples, however, pale by comparison with the glory of the Kingdom of heaven where the angels worship God almighty without ceasing. This should help us to remain humble, even if we have been involved in a successful building campaign resulting in a beautiful new church. God accepts our gift, not because he impressed with what we've done, but because he loves us dearly, as parents love their little children. (via St. Luke's Church, Erie, Colorado.)

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Shame is Good! A Pastoral Defense of Shame Fr. Justin Paterson, Sep. 29, 2013 2 Corinthians 1:21–2:4

St. Paul the Apostles writes to the Corinthians prior to his planned visit to Corinth in order that he might correct them from afar and thus have greater joy with them when present. He tells them that there are actions deserving of shame. What place does shame have in the Christian life? What is the origin of shame? Modern culture, including much professional psychology, tells us that our many problems do not arise from our wrong actions, but rather come from the shame we feel. Therapists typically want to treat shame rather than what we're ashamed of. Yet shame plays an important role in our becoming shaped into the people God intends us to be. Shame helps us avoid sin; it helps us to correct ourselves and to learn humility. Shame can be perverted by the devil in such a way as to make someone identify with what he is ashamed of, but godly shame has the affect of separating us from our sin, not binding us to it. (via St. Athanasius Orthodox Church, Nicholasville, Kentucky) 

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Taking Refuge: Reflections on Same-Sex Marriage  Pastor Dan Scott; June 30, 2013

How should American Christians respond to the increasing secularization of our nation seen particularly in the recent Supreme Court rulings in favor of gay marriage? There can be doubt that a Christian's allegiance is first and foremost to our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the clear witness of Christian Scripture and tradition regarding marriage is unalterable. On the one hand, this will likely mean difficulties ahead as the Church interfaces with a state that does not recognize or value those beliefs. On the other hand, Christians themselves have much to repent of with regard to the dismantling of the institution of marriage. How many straight Christians are willing to receive Church discipline about how they live their lives? The Church must speak the truth – with love, and without hypocrisy. (via Christ Church, Nashville)  

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Son of Thunder: St. John the Apostle, Evangelist, and Theologian  Fr. Josiah Trenham, Sep. 26, 2010  Luke 9:51–56; Mark 10:35–41; John 21:25; 1 John

St. John the Beloved Disciple was virginal in body and pure of heart, and so became the intimate of Christ Jesus. His purity made him bold – even if at times unwisely so – but it also made him trustworthy, so that the Lord made him his confidant and, before dying on the Cross, the guardian of his Mother. St. John became a great and confident missionary in Asia Minor, suffering for the Name of Christ and ending his days in exile on Patmos. His Gospel and his Epistles speak more frequently about love than any other book in the New Testament, for it was he who revealed to us this astounding truth: God is Love. For all these reasons, we honor him as a great friend of God. (via Ancient Faith Radio)

Note: the sermon begins after a brief introduction about Patristic Nectar Publications.

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The Sacrifice of Christ made Present in the Eucharist  Bishop Basil Meeking Maundy Thursday, April 1, 2010

“This is Me, giving myself to you!” Such might have been Jesus’s words as he celebrated his last, his mystical supper with his disciples on the night in which he was betrayed to death. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the Lord makes present to us all the mysteries of our salvation, which we remember one by one during the solemn days of Holy Week. He does this by making present his very Body and Blood through the Gifts of bread and wine. In the Mass, we are as close to Jesus as were his disciples on that first Maundy Thursday. Through the Eucharist, we become part of Jesus’ everlasting offering of himself to God; through him we are brought ever more deeply into the heart of God. (Via St. Aloysius Church, Melbourne.)  

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Ancient Sarah, Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon  Conception of St. John the Baptist, Sep. 23, 2008  Gen. 16, 17, 18; Gal. 4:22–31

The covenants with Abraham and David, as also the New Covenant, all begin with barren women: Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth. We know from St. Paul in Galatians 4 that Sarah’s barrenness is an allegory for us as Christians. She serves as a warning on several counts: 1. not to artificially manipulate the process of childbearing, which is a pure gift of God; 2. not to take oneself too seriously: Sarah was reprimanded not because she laughed, but because she denied having done so; 3. not to loose trust in God’s fidelity to his promises. (via Ancient Faith Radio)

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Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell – and a Very Merry Christmas to you! Fr. Andrew Mead, Dec. 4, 2011 2 Peter 3:8–15, Mark 1:1–8

In Advent, many Christian traditions prepare for the feast of Christ’s first coming in the flesh in Bethlehem by remembering his dreadful Second Coming in glory at the end of time, and the Judgment to follow. (The same theme is emphasized in the Orthodox Church during the first half of Holy Week, prior to Easter.) In eternity, all creation will be suffused with the fire of God, and this burning light creates different affects depending on what it heats. A live coal can effect sweet fragrance or foul stench depending on whether it contacts incense or sulfur. Just so with human beings. The burning heat of Christ’s impartial and all-knowing judgment will make manifest whether we, by our choices in this short life on earth, have made ourselves sweet or repulsive – for all eternity. (Via Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue. Transcript.)

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Santa Claus is real!  Fr. Alexander Tefft, Dec. 6th, 2009  Luke 13:15–16

St. Nicholas, the 4th century bishop of Myra in Lycia, sacrificed himself throughout his life so that Christ could give life through his hands. He poured out his life so that God, in Christ, could reveal himself to man and pour out his grace. He knew that Christ was God, so he did not take kindly to Arius or anyone else who taught otherwise. His generosity was an imitation of Christ's divine generosity. His courageous condemnation of falsehood was learned from Christ himself. Santa Claus, our modern-day version of this great bishop, is not to be shunned or pushed out of the public light, for he remains one last witness of how our culture was once imbued with Christianity. We must welcome him into our midst this December 6th, just as we prepare to welcome Christ himself this December 25th. (via St. Botolph’s Church, London)

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Loving our Enemies in the Midst of a War for Our Nation's Soul  Fr. Josiah Trenham 

Oct 3, 2012 – Pulpit Freedom Sunday; St. Luke 6:31–36, Psalm 110:1

‘Love your enemies!’ This teaching is the hallmark of the New Covenant, but it means that Christians do in fact have enemies. The teaching of the Gospel is not that Christ and his followers have no enemies, but that they must love them. Our enemies are putting up a strong front against Christians throughout the world. From bloody Islamic persecution in the Middle East to the affronts of militant secularism in the West, faithful Christians are suffering the world’s hatred just as Christ foretold. Our response must be love – not indifference. It is not loving to remain silent in the face of the atrocities of abortion, sexual perversion, and the trampling of religious freedom. Love and humility go hand-in-hand with valiance and solicitude, not apathy. (via Ancient Faith Radio)

Note: the sermon begins after a brief introduction about Patristic Nectar Publications.

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Justification by Faith, Fr. Patrick Reardon, winter 2005

1 Tim. 1:15–17; Rom. 7

Justification is not something that happened to you in the past, and in God’s mind. No, it is a state that you live in continuously; you are not just because God has decreed you to be just; you are just because God is making you just. As we increase our reliance on the justifying grace of God, we increase in humility – the realization that we are the first of sinners. This comes by traveling the same path St. Paul travelled. When, like St. Paul before his conversion, there comes a point in our life when we think we are well-pleasing to God, when we think we've really got it together spiritually, let's hope someone will come along and knock us of our horse. We cannot justify ourselves before God: we must accept the justification he offers us in Christ. (via Ancient Faith Radio)

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On the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, part 2. Metropolitan Jonah

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On the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, part 1. Metropolitan Jonah

June 29, 2010 – Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

Matt. 16:13–19; John 21:15–25; 2 Cor. 11:21–12:9

The apostolic witness of Peter and Paul has two characteristic poles: the confident, sure and certain proclamation of the true Faith, and the humble recognition of one's own weakness. The confident preaching of truth is revealed in St. Peter's confession, ‘Thou art the Christ…’ and the humility of acknowledged human weakness is seen in the Lord’s word to St. Paul: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’ We gain confidence in the truth of the Christian Gospel through genuine, transformative spiritual experience, and this experience of the grace and mercy of God also engenders in us lasting humility of spirit. (Via St. Innocent's Church, Olmsted Falls, Ohio.)

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Good Leaders Repent when they are Wrong. Pastor Mark Driscoll, Sep. 23, 2012.

Esther 1:10–22

If you’re in charge, it doesn’t mean you’re always right. Unrepentant people build cases to justify their sin. Leaders, in this case King Xerxes, can come to believe they are always right by virtue of their position. Good leaders, though, do not deceive themselves. When they are wrong, they need to repent. Jesus, though he did not sin, was a humble king. All leaders will have better leadership if they lead humbly. Husbands, parents, pastors, presidents – all who are in leadership must learn to repent in front of those they are responsible for.

This clip is part of a longer sermon “Jesus Has a Better Kingdom”, itself part 2 of a sermon series entitled Esther: God’s Perfect Work through Imperfect People. Via Mars Hill Church.

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Jesus: the Coming King. Dr. John Stott.

2 Thess. 1:7–12

‘Who is this Jesus?’ Jesus is the occupant of the throne of David to this day, and as King he is going to return to eradicate evil from the universe and be revealed in the glory of his Kingdom of peace. Environmentalists, secular humanists, even secular evolutionists, offer no hope for the future, only despair. The New Testament alone offers real and lasting hope for the future, that Christ our King will be glorified in his people (not simply among his people), that is, his glory will also be our glory. He will be glorified, and we shall be glorified in him. But our participation in this glory is voluntary; we may reject it, and there is great horror and tragic pain for those who repel God's love: separation from God and consequent alienation from their true nature as human beings. If we would avoid this in eternity, we must avoid it now; put otherwise, if we would participate in God's glory in heaven, we must begin to embrace his grace here on earth in our own day-to-day life.

Note: This is the last installment of a series of three sermons entitled ‘Who is This Jesus?’ The first two are also available on Worthwhile Sermons. (via All Souls’ Church, London)

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Jesus: the Suffering Servant. Dr. John Stott.

Isaiah 53; Acts 8:31–35; Rom. 8:17; 1 Peter 2:21–22

There is perhaps no Old Testament passage so important as Isaiah 53. It is only twelve verses long, and eight of them are used in the New Testament to identify Jesus. The Lord himself constantly speaks of his mission on earth as one of suffering, and he was truly acquainted with grief: the physical suffering of buffeting and death; the mental suffering of rejection and mockery; and the spiritual suffering of bearing the punishment of sin. The path of Christ's suffering service is re-enacted in the life of all his true servants. True Christianity is no ‘middle-class prosperity gospel.’ The prosperity gospel is a false gospel, one that does not challenge self-righteousness and self-indulgence as the true Gospel does. These two things keep more people from Jesus Christ than anything else. This is why true, uncompromising fidelity to the Gospel necessarily results in the world's hatred. 

Note: This is second in a series of three sermons entitled ‘Who is This Jesus?’ The last installment is forthcoming on Worthwhile Sermons. (via All Souls’ Church, London)

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Jesus: the Son of David. Dr. John Stott. 

Romans 1:1–4, 2 Tim. 2:8; Isaiah 9:6–7

When people ask ‘Who is this Jesus?’ they ask a crucially important question. But we rarely respond by saying, ‘He is the Son of David!’ Yet this is precisely the starting point of so many texts in holy Scripture. And necessarily so. For as much as we emphasize that Christ is true God, we must also proclaim that he is true Man. His descent from David reveals the continuity of the Gospel with the Old Covenant, it shows that he was long-expected, that he came to fulfill divine promises about the King of Israel, and that he himself is the true King. If we would know more intimately the Kingdom of this King, we would do well to study God's dealings with David, his ancestor according to the flesh.

Note: This is first in a series of three sermons on the theme ‘Who is this Jesus?’ The other two are forthcoming on Worthwhile Sermons. (via All Souls’ Church, London)

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The Name of Jesus. Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon. 

Acts 5:12–30, Acts 4:12, Acts 4:27–30, Acts 16:18.

The holy Name of Jesus is the only personal, and the only human, name invoked in prayer to God; it is the perfect one-word summary of the Christian Gospel that we preach to our fellow men, and it is the name to which we have recourse during our ascetic combat with the demons in the hour of temptation. The expression ‘Name of Jesus’ occurs more times in the Acts of the Apostles than in any other book of the New Testament: this Name is on Stephen’s dying lips in prayer, in Peter’s and John’s fearless preaching, and in Paul’s authoritative exorcisms. It is the only Name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. (via Ancient Faith Radio)