A few years ago I was working in my office in Pleasant View, TN and the phone rang. When I answered the voice on the other end immediately was very unhappy with me and let me have it. He said he had driven by our building and noticed our sign the other day and did not like what we had on it. Incidentally, at the time the only sign we had was an old piece of plywood painted white with black letters spelling out our service times and address; thus I wondered what about it he couldn’t like! He went on to explain that we had posted on our sign that “A Life Lived Without Christ is a Wasted Life” and that he did not believe you had to have Christ in your life in order to have a good and productive life. I quickly explained to him that we do not have a sign capable of posting messages like that and he quickly apologized and hung up, but after that I sat and thought about how true that message was. With that experience in mind I wrote the sermon below:
Title: “Christianity: The Better Life”
Text: Hebrews 8:1-6
Main Point: The world is good at offering us more of everything it contains (more money, possessions, notoriety, inner peace, more out of relationships, etc.), but we can never know the better life until we know the best life – when the life Christ offers is examined we find that Christianity is the better life:
Discussion Points:
1. Despite the Difficulty – some point out the hardships and sacrifices demanded by Christianity and claim that such make it unappealing (2 Timothy 3:12). However, while a worldly life might be an easier life, are we sure that the easiest life is necessarily the best life? Paul suffered as much as anybody ever has (2 Corinthians 11:24-28) but was still able to say that he gloried even in his infirmities (2 Corinthians 11:30). In fact, it was in the times he felt the weakest that he became the strongest (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
2. Because of the Blessings – In Acts 26 Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea and visited by king Agrippa to whom he preached but who refused the invitation (vs. 24-28). Agrippa saw no immediate urgency or benefit in Christianity – but was that a fair assessment? David and Solomon both wrote about the inherent blessings in a just and faithful life (Proverbs 10:6; 28:20; Psalm 24:4-5). What, though, are some of these blessings inherent in Christianity? Redemption and forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7); reconciliation (Ephesians 2:16); inheritance (Ephesians 1:11); access to God (Ephesians 2:18).
3. Looking toward Life – Attempting to explain to the Pharisees a very key concept of Christianity, Jesus stated that His mission in coming to earth was in order to present life to all who would enter His sheepfold (John 10:7-10). When you contrast the life Christ offers with the death that sin offers the decision should be clear (Romans 6:16; 6:23; 7:13; James 1:13-15)
I don’t know if anybody has actually used any of the material posted in these Sunday Sermon Starters yet but I have been encouraged by the number of people who have logged on to look at them the last couple of weeks. I hope this will be of help to you as you attempt to show people that Christianity truly is the better life.
-Andy Brewer