The Cross – Luke 23

Posted on April 15, 2026 by salooper57

God is nowhere more clearly revealed than in the cross of Christ. In this sermon, we marvel at the wisdom and love of God that is displayed in the cross, see how the Old Testament led to the cross, and learn why the cross means that nothing can stop God. Nothing.

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Resurrection: Waking Up Into the Real World

Posted on April 11, 2026 by salooper57

“Think of yourself just as a seed patiently wintering in the earth; waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener’s good time, up into the real world, the real waking.” (C.S. Lewis, Letter to Mary Willis Shelburne, June 28, 1963. The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III.)

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What will people be like in the age to come? Will they eat and drink? Will they need to? Will they play (tennis, chess, basketball, pinochle)? Will they fish, hike, and hunt morel mushrooms? Will they paint, write music, and make love? Or will they, Star Trek-like, be giant brains in jars filled with some chemical preservative, experiencing life through some advanced virtual reality technology?

Were we to ask St. Paul these questions, I know what his answer would be: “How foolish!” for that is how he answered these kinds of questions in the first century. (See 1 Corinthians 15:35-36, where the word Paul uses in not an adjective, as in the NIV, but a nominative case plural noun: “Fools.”) In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle’s focus is not on what we will be. Like St. John (1 John 3:2), he would probably confess a high degree of ignorance about that. Instead, he focuses on what we will not be.

To make his point, he uses the analogy of a seed alongside its full-grown plant. Had Paul known the story of Johnny Appleseed, he might have pointed out the fact that Johnny planted apple seeds not apple trees. He did not dig large holes in the ground and bury trees, trunks and branches. In Paul’s words, “When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed…” If you want to grow an oak, you bury an acorn in the ground, not a tree.

When God sows, he does “not plant the body that will be,” only the seed. In 1 Corinthians 15, the seed is the analogue, and the Christian is the referent to which it points. Christians are the seeds God sows in this age, but that mature in the age to come. There is a vast difference between the seed (what we are now) and the mature plant we shall be (in the age to come). As Paul later states: “…we shall be changed.” The enormity of that change, which exceeds even the difference between little acorn and giant oak, is beyond imagination.

The Apostle goes further to differentiate between what we are now (seed) and what we shall be (fully mature humans). “The body” – the seed that we now are – “that is sown is subject to corruption, it is raised incorruptible; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”

When you read “spiritual body,” do not think of a body composed of spirit. A spiritual body is more like an electric car than it is like a brick house. It is not made of spirit, like a house is made of brick, but it is powered by spirit, like a car is powered by electricity.  The word translated “natural” in 1 Corinthians 15:44 supports this conclusion. It is an adjectival form of the word “soul.” Paul’s point is that the body/seed that God plants in this age is powered by this age’s natural energy source (the soul), but when it is raised, it will be powered by spirit.

What could bring about this remarkable? Paul’s answer to that question becomes clear in verse 45. The “first man Adam” was created to be a “living soul,” but the “last Adam” was incarnated to be a “life-giving spirit.” This “last Adam,” the “second man” who is “from heaven,” has become the source of a new kind of humanity, what humanity was intended to be all along, powered by a new kind of life.

But for the new kind of humanity to be realized, a change even greater than the one between acorn and oak is required. What could possibly trigger such a change? Paul’s answer: The resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). An evolutionary biologist might think that Paul is talking about a type of theological saltation – a sudden, large mutational change occurring in a single generation.

The Christian has a different word for it. What the biologist might call “saltation,” the Christian knows as “salvation.” It is the great God’s good gift to us through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57).

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Resurrection: More Than Heaven When You Die

Posted on April 8, 2026 by salooper57

An Easter Sunday sermon that helps us see that resurrection means more than life after death: It means the new creation is underway!

Don’t turn this sermon off after you hear what I say in the first three seconds! Hang around for the puzzle, if nothing else.

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Shutting Jesus In: An Easter Skit and Sermon (Matthew 27:65-28:15)

Posted on April 7, 2026 by salooper57

A fun two-part Easter skit (which churches are welcome to use) paired with Scripture readings and a short sermon that challenges us to let Christ into every area of our lives.

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The Ministry of Jacks and Queens

Posted on April 4, 2026 by salooper57

Occasionally, someone has introduced me as “the minister at our church,” or something like that. What, I wonder, would they think if I introduced them in that way: “I want to introduce you to Mary. She is a minister at our church”? I suspect Mary would object: “I’m not a minister. I just teach the third and fourth grade Sunday School class.”

But Mary would be wrong. Biblically speaking, every member of Christ’s church is a minister. They needn’t be a pastor or preacher to be a minister. They need to be Jesus’s, and they need to serve.

Today, the word “minister” is used as a synonym for “pastor” or “preacher,” but it originally had a much broader range of meaning. A minister was anyone who serves others. (We can still see this usage, albeit, through the fogs of politics, in parliamentary governments like that of Canada, where members of the cabinet are still referred to as “ministers.”)

In his Ephesians letter, St. Paul writes that the church’s apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors/teachers are responsible to “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (ESV). Notice that the “saints” (which refers to all of God’s people and not just his superstars) are expected to do the work of the ministry. They are the church’s ministers.

But many Christ followers are ignorant of the fact. They do not think of themselves as ministers. And if you tell them that good news, they are liable to object: “I cannot be a minister. I don’t know enough. I don’t have a degree. I could never get up in front of people.”

We need a more complete (and biblical) understanding of ministry. The men who were chosen to distribute food to Christian widows in Acts 6 were ministers. So were the people who devoted themselves to God’s word and to prayer. The collection of money to provide for Jerusalem’s poor is described as a “ministry.” In the Bible, offering hospitality, leading, teaching, and offering encouragement all fall under that heading.

To minister is simply to serve. Ancient Greeks thought that serving others was demeaning, which is why the Sophist asked, “How can a man be happy when he has to serve someone?” But Christians believed that serving others was a mark of greatness (see Mark 10:35). An ancient Greek would be mortified by the necessity of becoming “a minister,” but an ancient Christian would be grateful for the opportunity.

To minister is to serve another person at their point of need. A preacher can do that by providing biblically true and spiritually nourishing sermons. A preschool teacher can do that by loving a frenetic three-year-old. Driving an elderly person to a doctor’s appointment is certainly the work of a minister. Ministry doesn’t just happen on Sunday mornings. Whenever a Christ-follower serves someone else at the point of their need, he or she is a minister.

I’ve engaged in many forms of ministry over the years. I’ve preached, visited the sick, washed dishes, mowed grass, vacuumed carpets, taught youth group, played basketball, and a hundred other things that could qualify as ministry.

One unusual ministry I’ve had is playing (and losing at) cards. On three occasions, I have played cards with terminally ill people who were nearing the end of life in this age. My wife and I just did so last week with a couple from church. The husband told me the previous Sunday that “it wouldn’t be long” before he is gone. We had a great time, and I think they did too. Giving people who are going through a tough time something to enjoy can be ministry.

I once played Euchre with a man who was literally on his death bed. In a few hours, he would pass away. This excellent card player, who was wearing morphine patches and taking additional narcotics for pain, was having trouble following suit and remembering trump. When the game was over, he had to ask his wife, “Did I trounce the pastor?” She smiled, and said, “Yes,” and he laid his head on the pillow content.

That too was ministry.

Because every Christ follower is called to be a minister, it is important to find ways to serve people at their point of their need. This may mean teaching a junior high Sunday School class, or playing Euchre with someone who is terminally ill, or hosting a painting class, teaching piano, power washing playground equipment—who knows? Look for God-given opportunities in the church and in the community to serve people in the name of Jesus, go for it, and be a minister.

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If Only (John 11)

Posted on April 1, 2026 by salooper57

We’ve all done things we regret. We’ve experienced things we wish had never happened. What can even God do about our sorrows and regrets?

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Seven-Storied World: The Stories that Compose Literature

Posted on March 28, 2026 by salooper57
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The English journalist Christopher Booker published The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories in 2004. He argues – some would say unsuccessfully – that all the stories we know belong to one of seven plot types. These types can be classified as follows: “Overcoming the Monster” (think Beowulf); “The Quest” (Lord of the Rings); “Voyage and Return” (The Time Machine); “Rebirth” (A Christmas Carol); “Rags to Riches” (Jane Eyre); “Comedy” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream); “Tragedy” (Macbeth).

Critics argue that Booker’s categories exclude works by Kafka, for example, and Joyce. I’m not sure the Kafka I’ve read could not be folded into one or more of these categories, and I have never known what to do with Joyce. But for the sake of argument, let us assume that Booker was right: there are only seven basic stories.

If every human life could be told as a story, which of the seven basic plot lines would best fit your life? I, for my part, have certainly been on a quest. I have had to overcome the monster—most often the monster within me. I have experienced rebirth and been different because of it. The one category that does not fit my life is tragedy. Don’t get me wrong: I have known sorrow, as have all of us, but my life will not end in calamity, meaninglessness, or regret. No, my life is a comedy: everything will come out right in the end.

The Bible itself tells a long, often complicated story, which can (following Booker’s “Rule of Three”) be told in three acts: Creation, Fall, and Redemption. (It could also be told in more than three acts, depending on how finely one wants to divide it.) The Bible contains monsters (Goliath), rebirths (Zaccheus), takes us on a voyage and return journey (Nebuchadnezzar), a quest (Jesus) and celebrates rags to riches (Esther). It certainly contains tragedies (King Saul), but the Bible as a whole is not a tragedy; it is a comedy, as Revelation 21 and 22 make clear. If someone were writing a book review of the Bible, they could summarize it in the words the Lord Jesus spoke to the Lady Julian: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

I have previously tried to think of a plot structure that does not fit into Booker’s seven. One might go to Proust, but to my mind, the reason Proust does not fit into the plot structure categories is because he is unstructured. (I realize that serious scholars of his work would take me to task.) But for arguments sake, let’s imagine that Booker’s seven categories cover all narrative works, even Proust’s. When the world we know comes to an end, and an almost endless variety of stories have been told, they will all fit into the seven basic plots.

Humans know themselves and understand the reality around them in terms of story. Story is essential not only to art but to science. Copernicus made up a story that explained why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Einstein told himself a story that explained the apparent contradictions between Maxwell’s electromagnetism (as it touches on the speed of light) and Newton’s mechanics. That story is the basis for the Theory of Special Relativity and might be classified as “Overcoming the Monster” or as “Voyage and Return” (those familiar with Einstein will see the connection).

We know ourselves through the stories we tell, but we are more than we know. If we are ever to understand ourselves, much less understand God (to the degree our finite minds make possible), we need new stories, new plots, that fit under entirely new categories.

St. John says that “what we will be has not yet been made known” (I John 3:2) We will need new stories, new categories of stories to understand a glorified humanity in the presence of the glorious God. For someone who loves story, the prospect of a new story plot, one that comes from beyond the horizon of our understanding, is exhilarating.

What stories shall we tell? What story shall we be? The answers to those questions lies beyond us, but one thing we know: It will not be a tragedy.

*****************

My wife, who proofreads and edits my articles, called this one “a stream of consciousness” piece. And I call Proust unstructured?

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Kingdom Come (Mark 1:14-15)

Posted on March 27, 2026 by salooper57

In Mark 1:14-15, Jesus announces the nearness of the kingdom for which people had so long waited.

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Is This How Christians Can Reach the World?

Posted on March 21, 2026 by salooper57

Yes, you have seen this before, but it is worth a second look.

Jesus calls his followers to think of themselves as servants and even as slaves. For example: “… whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:44-45). Or this, after the disciples argued about who was greatest among them: “Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.’”

Jesus lived the servant life himself: “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” St. Paul summed up Jesus’s life of service succinctly when he wrote: he “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a slave…”

In the early church, it was understood that to be Jesus’s disciple, one must enter the life of service. Paul, for example, made himself “a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” He frequently referred to himself as the “slave of Jesus Christ” or of God (see Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:1). Peter, James, and Jude also refer to themselves as slaves. The apostles urged fellow Christians to follow Jesus’s example and live as servants (Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 6:7; 1 Peter 4:10) and exhorted them to put others interests ahead of their own (Philippians 2:4; Romans 15:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:24).

We know all this. We’ve heard and read it hundreds of times. Were someone to ask if we believed it (that we are to be slaves of Christ and servants of one another), we would say we did, though I suspect we have not given much thought to what that might entail. Does God really intend for us to act as if other believers are more important than we are? And what about unbelievers? Do we have to serve them too?

That last question captures how we feel about this. Do we have to? Serving (or slaving, Jesus uses both terms) is not the kind of thing American Christians do. We certainly don’t want people to think they are in charge. We can’t let people push us around like that. It would be a nightmare.

We want to keep our dignity in place and our options open—and dignity and options are not characteristic of slaves and servants. (Or so people think who have never been slaves and servants.) We know that Jesus said these things, but we assume that he just meant for us to be nice and do good when we can. But to act like you are the boss and I am the servant is to invite trouble or, at the least, inconvenience.

But what if we assume that (1) Jesus meant what he said and (2) that he knows more than we do? Perhaps Jesus knows that trouble and inconvenience play an indispensable role in advancing the gospel. Perhaps he knows that the church can only reach the world by doing something the world would never dream of doing: becoming servants.

When, during the Alexandrian plague of 261 AD, Christians buried the dead and cared for the sick that society had abandoned, their courageous service led others to faith in Jesus. It was the Christians who rescued and raised unwanted babies as their own. They practiced sacrificial generosity. They cared for the mentally ill. They were servants.

Christian groups were recognized by the way their members served one other. In St. Paul’s words, they took “the lead in honoring one another.” While they did good to all people, they especially did so “to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Christian servanthood, in the church and in the world, paved the way for the gospel to reach millions. But when we think of effective ways to reach people with the gospel, servanthood is not even on the list. We think instead about providing first-class programming and stirring music. We overhaul our webpage and rebrand our churches on social media. We depend on programs (some of them excellent, some not), and technologies, but we do not follow Jesus (Paul, Peter, and the early church) and live as servants.

It is time for an overhaul. The world will not come to Jesus because we have a talented band or because we updated the color palettes on our website. If they come to Jesus, it will be because we have come to look like Jesus, which among other things, means we will be servants.

Is that a price we are willing to pay?

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Put It Where It Belongs: Where the Incarnation Fits in God’s Big Story

Posted on March 18, 2026 by salooper57

This is the first time I’ve ever preached a Christmas text during Lent, and some hearers may have wondered if they had stepped out of time. But it is a mistake to isolate the great incarnation texts to a few weeks around Christmas. A big mistake.

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