Lesson Goal
To encourage the correct labeling of things and living up to the labels used in the churches.
Lesson Intro
Like it or not, we are all labeled. Some of those are false labels and some are true descriptions. Some of the labels which we may not like are true of us as well as some of the labels that we do like.
Lesson Plan
Let's discuss labels that we have read, labels that we wear as a result of how we live, labels that preachers all want to wear, and how to preach a label as a sermon.
Lesson Body
1. Labels we Read
Have you ever read a label? Most of us have. Perhaps you are sitting at the kitchen table with a few minutes to kill and you pick up the cereal box, or the coffee jar and read the label. Do those stiff new tags on shirts really irritate your neck like they do mine? Yet, they too contain information. What items are on a label? A label often contains the following items:
Product name: Spacepac Oaty Crunch
Product description: Breakfast food with mild laxative
Ingredients: Freeze-dried oats, wheat bran, prunes, salt
Net quantity of product: 500 grams (ca. one pound)
Price: $5.99
Use by date: January 22, 2050
Directions for use: Open space pack, pour into bowl, add milk
Name and place of manufacturer: Spacepac Brekkies Inc., Big Pool, MD, USA
2. Labels we Wear
Are you a political conservative, moderate or liberal? What sports team do you support? When it comes to clothing are you a casual or dressy person? When it comes to your taste in music are you a rocker, jazzer, classical buff or do you like only two kinds of music, country AND western? When it comes to beverages are you a wine connoisseur or do you prefer the poor man's champagne, a small glass of beer? Or are you a teetotaler who is into the hard drinks, like Coca Cola and Pepsi? We all wear labels and our friends who know us well, know what those labels are. The following may be a semi-serious label that some people people place on Christians:
Product name: Christian
Product description: religious nut, wacky, but honest, faithful husband
Ingredients: does not swear, judgmental, uses funny religious words
Net quantity of product: one
Price: everybody has his price
Use by date: out of date
Directions for use: treat with disdain, gossip about, respect his integrity
Name and place of manufacturer: Denomination, Denominational HQ
3. Preachers' Labels
The religious labels we wear are often not of our own design. Some labels are the result of community prejudice and our personal reputation. Among some of our non-Christian friends, if you believe the Bible, you may be labeled a fundamentalist, which may not be a label you would choose for yourself. If you are a Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal or something else, there will probably be community prejudices and other such labels which are out of your control.
However, to some extent, we can influence the labels that people place upon us. They may call us "religious" but do they also call us "honest" and "friendly?" Some Christians deservedly wear the label of dishonest and unfriendly, probably because they have never even thought about how their light shines.
Somebody once introduced me as a preacher and their automatic reaction was that I must be a very encouraging and uplifting person to be around. They didn't know me from a bar of soap, but had obviously been around some other preachers who fit that description. What a wonderful example they must have been! I hope that you wear a label similar to the following among your congregation:
Product name: Preacher
Product description: zealous, orthodox, informative, attention-grabbing, caring
Ingredients: Bible, great stories, clean jokes, excellent exegesis
Net quantity of product: one
Price: priceless
Use by date: none
Directions for use: listen intently to, pray for, thank, support
Name and place of manufacturer: from the Great Shepherd, heaven
4. Preach a Label
Preaching a label then is just taking the items of a label and organizing them to describe a particular aspect of Christian life. It may be the label light, or salt, or loving, or Christian, or in a denominational sense, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran or Pentecostal. I don't recommend using denominational labels. I personally just prefer the label Christian. All denominations have strengths and weaknesses in theology and practice and I personally don't believe that any one of the mainstream denominations is better than any other in an overall sense.
I don't even prefer the labels fundamentalist, evangelical, centrist or liberal, because I really believe that healthy Christianity is all of those things, depending on which particular doctrine or practice you may be talking about. For instance, I believe that we ought to be liberal with God's love, balanced on non-essentials such as 2,000 years worth of church traditions, evangelical in regard to the Gospel and our use of the Bible, and fundamentalists when it comes to what Jesus actually taught.
Example Sermon
Title: "What is a Christian"
Goal
Understand the real meaning of the word Christian.
Intro
When were we first called Christians? (Acts 11:19-26) What is a Christian? Ask some people and they will say that Christians are narrow-minded, judgmental, tee-totaling, fundamentalist bigots. Talk to others and they will say that Christians are encouraging, uplifting, happy, friendly, honest, charitable citizens. What is a Christian really?
Plan
Today I want to discuss the label Christian, the name, what it describes, its ingredients, its price, use by date, directions for use and where it comes from.
Body
1. Product Name
A Christian is first and foremost a follower of Christ. If a Christian follows the teachings of Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas or the Pope, that may be fine, but it ought not to be what they are primarily. First and foremost, Christians ought to follow Christ and his direct, personal, unambiguous teachings. The followers of Christ were first called Christians at Antioch.
2. Product Description
What is the description of a Christian that best fits the label? Jesus taught the essentials of Christianity, not the side issues. He taught nothing about tongues, worship music, liturgical calendars, dancing, card playing, religious garb, or what position our hands ought to be in when we pray. He did teach plenty about the kingdom of heaven, and how to love God and our neighbors, including our enemies, including many ideas which were contrary to the popular religious ideas of his day and ours.
3. Ingredients
There are many Bible lists of ingredients which describe a Christian. The most important one is perhaps the word saved or a similar description such as converted. Jesus described other ingredients like good works, serving the needy, and hospitality. Paul described ingredients which the Holy Spirit gives to us such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
4. Price
Of course the price label that would go on any Christian must include the ultimate price that Jesus paid so that we can even have the privilege of wearing his name. There is also a price that we must pay. We must follow Jesus' example by becoming a living sacrifice, self-sacrificing and giving of our lives to others in love.
5. Use by Date
Some Christians do have a very short use-by date. They are those people who are on the hard path who hear the Gospel and maybe believe for a minute, but never even become Christians. Then there are those Christians in the rocky ground who lose faith as soon as they are persecuted or have other troubles. Then there are those Christians who are among the thorns who eventually lose faith because of the lust for money and the cares of this life. But some Christians do not need a use by date, because they will endure until the day they die, and will be around forever.
6. Directions for Use
How do you use Christians? They have so many wonderful uses. They can be used for encouragement, help in times of need, intercessory prayers, reliable wisdom and advice, and many other excellent purposes. Christians with special gifts can be used for specialized purposes such as music, translation, teaching and community leadership.
7. Name and Place of Manufacturer
Christians like all human beings can easily become self reliant and work in the power of the flesh alone. Yet, Christians must focus on who gives them their name and where he comes from. We are first and foremost "of Christ" not of a particular denomination or Christian teacher. Our citizenship is first and foremost in heaven. Jesus is not an American or a European. Sorry, if that disappoints you! I get rather tired of jingoism and xenophobic nationalism being mixed with Christianity.
There is nothing wrong with being a loyal and thankful citizen of any country, but we must always remember that our earthly citizenship is a distant second to our heavenly citizenship. There is likewise, nothing wrong in loving a particular denomination and its culture and liturgy. However, we must always remember that the church of God is diverse and encompasses a wide variety of denominations, cultures and liturgies.
We are Christians and Christ came from heaven. We only have a diplomatic visa to serve heaven in a temporary society on this planet, but our permanent citizenship is in heaven.
Outro
We have discussed that to be called a Christian means to follow Christ first, what the Bible describes that to be, its price was the life of Jesus and our living sacrifice today, that a Christian ought not have a use by date, that Christians are wonderful friends to have around and that our citizenship is in heaven. How does all this fit you? Are you a Christian?
Suggested Assignment
Choose a label that you believe needs explanation. Organize it according to the above details of a label or add other ingredients of your own.
Lesson Outro
We discussed labels that we have read, labels that we wear as a result of how we live, labels that preachers all want to wear, and how to preach a label as a sermon. Hopefully, this will be of help in defining many terms that our churches need to better understand and use.
