Thursday, May 26, 2011

Sermon preview--Know Your Place

When I was in college, one day I came back from class to find a pigeon in my dorm room. One of my roommates had left the window open, and this poor bird had flown in and couldn’t remember how to get out. I tried to help, but every time I got near this bird, it went crazy, flapping its wings, flying into the walls of the room, and generally beating itself to death. So our little dance went like this: I lunged for him, he smacked himself into the wall, I backed off. I lunged at him…you get the picture. Finally, the poor guy was so tired and beat up, I managed to grab him with both hands covering his wings and hurl him underhand through the window. But first, I said to him, “I drive a silver Chevy Camaro. Leave my car alone!” There are so many people, including perhaps many of you room, who would say—if they were honest—that they feel like that bird. Life is a constant flurry of frantic activity that gets them nowhere. Everything they do seems to ultimately fail. They’re smacking into a wall, over and over again. And they just can’t see any way out.

You'll see Sunday why I told you that story. The parable we’ll study is not one of the more popular ones Jesus ever told…in fact, I’ve never heard it preached before. It’s not warm and fuzzy; it actually stings our pride. But there is freedom in this story. Read Luke 17:7-10, and pray that this Sunday, God will help each one of us get into a proper relationship with Him.