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Audio sermon by: Gordon D. Venturella | 25:39 min
In this sermon we take a look at another aspect of Jesus' life that we can celebrate - His use of plain speech.
Jesus may have spoken in parables at times, but they were relevant parables, accessible to those who really wanted to know. When Jesus spoke with people He spoke in terms everyone in his day could understand. His language was the language of everyday commerce – not King James English. He talked about sheep to shepherds, about fruit trees and planting seeds to farmers, about home construction to laborers and fishing to fishermen. He used common everyday objects to which his listeners could relate: A key, a door, a gate, bottles of wine, a wedding party. He used vivid illustrations; a big log in a person’s eye, a camel going through the eye of the needle. How is it that we’ve managed to complicate and confuse the gospel message?
Turns out that communicating the Gospel in plain language is sometimes complicated work. Those of us who have already trusted the gospel message need to use language people understand to tell the story of Christ. Too often we develop our own religious jargon, which is gibberish to seekers. Even though we may mean well, when we try to communicate with anyone outside our Christian subculture using God-talk, christianeeze, a spiritualized jargon that makes us sound otherworldly, we become less like Jesus not more like him. The fact of the matter is that God-talk can become a form of idolatry; a way of making God small and manageable, and like all forms of idolatry, easier to control.
So, how do we get outside of our own culture and begin to relate to other people around us? Listen to this sermon and find out.
Download mp3: Celebrate the Plain Truth
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