Yardley United Methodist Church
Mar 22 - Reshaping Images
  • I Know Whom I Have Believed
  • Arms Of Love

      • Matthew 16:21–25NRSVUE

      • Galatians 2:17–20NRSVUE

      • Ephesians 5:1–2NRSVUE

      • Matthew 16:21–25NRSVUE

      • Galatians 2:17–20NRSVUE

      • Ephesians 5:1–2NRSVUE

      • Matthew 16:21–25NRSVUE

      • Galatians 2:17–20NRSVUE

      • Ephesians 5:1–2NRSVUE

  • Selfishness or Selflessness?

    Scripture Selections: Matthew 16:24; Ephesians 5:2; Galatians 2:20
    Theme:
    The cross is not only something done for us but also that does something in us. Jesus’ self-giving love moves our hearts to repentance and calls us to live cruciform lives of selfless service.
    Purpose:
    This sermon emphasizes the moral influence and example of Christ’s death: how the vision of Jesus crucified moves us to repentance, reshapes our lives away from selfishness, and calls us to embody his pattern of selfless love in the world.
    Introduction:
    Begin by showing The Crucifixion by artist Leonard Limousin.
    Invite your folks to notice all the different ways the Crucifixion is expressed in the painting as you take them through the atonement theories that have been covered as a way of recapping.
    Briefly describe some of the scenes in the painting and relate them to ways of understanding the cross.
    Transition: We've spent time looking at the cross objectively—seeking answers like we might in a science book. But subjective atonement requires something different; it requires us to look inside ourselves just as much as we look at Christ. When we truly look inward and see the depth of what Christ did, we can no longer remain indifferent. We are moved to our core. And that brings us to our first point: The Cross Moves Us.

    1: The Cross Moves Us

    Explain how the cross evokes an emotional, moral, and spiritual reaction in us.
    Recite the words of the hymn “Were You There” … “Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble . . .”
    The context of this song of African American slaves relating their experience with that of their crucified Lord. This one of the clearest examples of connecting the cross to their unfolding story. Enslaved people sang this song not as theology on paper, but as lived faith—the suffering Christ understood their suffering.
    Consider how the story of Christ’s life unto death changes us.
    Tell a story of a time you were moved by someone’s example more than their words.
    The meaning of Christ’s death comes alive in knowing it is a blueprint for our lives. 
    Beholding the cross, we, too, are invited to be moved. Not indifferent, but trembling before the love of God.
    Help folks to consider where they are in the picture of the Crucifixion.
    Transition: It is a profound thing to stand before the cross and find ourselves moved, trembling at the love of God. But the cross is not just a moving picture we admire; it is a blueprint for how we are to live. God's love doesn't just evoke an emotion and leave us exactly as we were. Jesus came not only to forgive our sins but to actively save us from our own self-centeredness. The cross doesn't just move us; the cross transforms us.

    2: The Cross Transforms Us

    Explore the movement from death to life in us, that Jesus came not just to forgive sin but to save us from selfishness by showing us another way.
    Talk about a time you had to choose between the selfish way and the selfless way.
    We have these kinds of choices every day, big and small, but when it comes down to it, which do you choose?
    Relate this to Jesus’ model of unconditional selflessness as an example that should transform us.
    Elaborate on Jesus’ model of selflessness in his life.
    There are so many examples in his ministry of choosing others before himself. Even as he was in the garden of Gethsemane, Christ’s prayer was the: “Not my will but yours be done” (Luke22:42, NRSV)—this is the opposite of self-centeredness.
    Paint a picture of Jesus very clearly being the textbook definition of choosing others. Bring the struggle into real life terms.
    Sin often shows up as selfishness: me first, my needs, my way. This struggle exists within all of us as people conditioned, even wired, to prioritize ourself. The power of the cross exposes the true cost of our selfishness, yet, it also shows us the better way of self-giving love.
    Through this approach, the Holy Spirit inspires us with the vision of Jesus Christ crucified to begin reshape our hearts away from pride and toward obedience and compassion. But only by God’s grace!
    Transition: By God's grace, the Spirit uses this vision of Jesus on the cross to reshape our hearts, slowly turning us away from pride and our 'me first' instinct. However, this Gracious transformation by God is not merely a private, internal vision inspiring self-improvement. Once our hearts are changed, we are given a task. The cross we look to for salvation becomes the very cross we are asked to pick up. And so, finally, the cross calls us.

    3: The Cross Calls Us

    This not just a vision for self-improvement, but as a calling: to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow in lives of sacrificial love, service, and justice for others.
    Jesus said “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily” (Luke 9:23, NRSV).
    This is not something you perfect over Lent or even over a year, it is a life’s work, one day, one choice, at a time. Jesus seems to know we need to make the choice daily to remember the example of the Crucifixion if we are to follow him.
    Highlight the benefit of this atonement theory in being able to bring the Passion story alive to show that the cross is not just a past event—it’s a present calling. It means living with open hands: serving the poor, forgiving enemies, bearing one another’s burdens. Jesus reached beyond the bounds of life itself to show us the power of serving one another.
    Draw out some examples today from your context: caregivers, peacemakers, advocates for justice, everyday cross-bearers who mirror Christ’s love.
    Who are the saints among us that can help us to lay our lives down for others?

    Ultimately, The Cross doesn’t just Save Us; it Sends Us.

    Transition: When we look at the everyday cross-bearers in our own community—the caregivers, the advocates, the peacemakers—we see living proof that the Passion story is not just a past event, but a present calling. Their lives show us that the cross doesn't just save us; it sends us. As we leave today, may this be a message we don't just understand with our ears, but one we carry with our hearts and seek to live out every single day.
  • Cares Chorus
  • Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow
  • I Want To Walk As A Child Of The Light
Yardley United Methodist Church
office@yardleyumc.org
(215) 493-3345
https://www.yardleyumc.org
5 members