Sermon Resources on Modernity

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Modernity slowly weakened spirituality, by design and accident, in favor of commerce; it downplayed silence and mere being in favor of noise and constant action. The reason we live in a culture increa...

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Author

Edward Casey

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In the past three centuries in the West—the period of “modernity”—place has come to be not only neglected but actively suppressed. Owing to the triumph of the natural and social sciences in this same ...

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Author

Colin E. Gunton

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Scripture

Genesis 11:1-9 , Exodus 32:1-8, Judges 21:25 , Acts 2:1-11, Romans 1:21-25, Psalm 19:1-4

An attempt to wrest from God the prerogatives of absolute freedom and infinity leads to the inversion of Pentecost and what is in effect a new Babel. 'Postmodernism' represents that Babel perf...

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Author

Tom Howard

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Genesis 4:6-7 , Ecclesiastes 2:10-11, Daniel 3:16-18, Romans 12:1-2 , Luke 9:23-24 , Psalm 73:25-26

Modern man is a bleak business. To our chagrin we discover that the declaration of autonomy has issued not in a race of free, masterly men, but rather in a race that can be described by its poets and ...

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Trying to Keep Up with the Jones’ in the 21st Century

Author

David Zahl

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Scripture

Exodus 18:13–27, Ecclesiastes 2:22–23 , Isaiah 40:28–31 , Luke 10:38–42, Matthew 11:28–30, Psalm 127:1–2

The picture shows cartoon villain Cruella de Vil, bloodshot eyes staring straight ahead, hands clutching the wheel of her infamous coupe, black-and-white hair waving wildly in the wind, oversi...

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Deconstruction is trending

Author

Ian Harber

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Scripture

2 Timothy 4:3-4, Colossians 2:8, Acts 20:30, Matthew 24:11, Ephesians 4:14, Numbers 16:

Deconstruction isn’t a trendy thing to do, but it is a trend that is happening at scale in our country and passing from person to person. Anecdotally, when I look up various hashtags on TikTok, th...

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Reformers' Impact on Modern Spirituality

Author

Tom Nelson

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Scripture

Genesis 2:15, Exodus 31:1-6, Proverbs 16:3, Matthew 25:14-30, Colossians 3:23-24 , Psalm 127:1

Noteworthy in this regard is the contribution of the Reformers, particularly Martin Luther, though John Calvin’s contribution is also very significant. Both called for a spirituality in the world that...

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The CNN Effect

Author

Ryan Holiday

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Philippians 4:8, Romans 12:2, Luke 21:34, Psalm 46:10, Matthew 6:22-23

In the 1990s, political scientists began to study what they called the “CNN Effect.” Breathless, twenty-four-hour media coverage makes it considerably harder for politicians and CEOs to be anything bu...

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Rudolf Bultmann

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Scripture

1 Kings 17:8-16, Daniel 6:16-23, Matthew 14:25-31, Luke 4:33-36, John 2:1-11 , Psalm 77:14-15

It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries, and at the same time believe in the New Testament world of spirits and miracl...

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The United States is Like Samaria

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Phillip Yancey

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Scripture

Jeremiah 29:4-7 , 2 Kings 17:24-33, Isaiah 1:18-20, John 4:4-26, Acts 8:4-8, 14-17, Psalm 46:1-2

The United States retains a basic respect for religion though it may be following European trends: surveys show a steady rise in the “nones” (now one-third of those under the age of thirty), that is, ...

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Did Nietzsche say God is Dead?

Author

Brian Zahnd

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Scripture

Isaiah 29:13, Judges 2:10-13 , 1 Samuel 8:4-9, Matthew 23:27-28 , 2 Timothy 3:1-5 , Psalm 10:4

Even though it’s now associated with him, Nietzsche didn’t coin the phrase God is dead. As the son of a Lutheran pastor, he would have heard that line in a Lutheran Holy Saturday hymn. And although...

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Author

Timothy Keller

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Preaching

It is a mistake to think that faithful believers in our time are not profoundly shaped by the narratives of modernity. We certainly are, and so when you unveil these narratives and interact with them ...

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The Slowness is the Point

Author

Brian Zahnd

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Scripture

Isaiah 40:31, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 , Matthew 11:28-30, Luke 10:38-42, Philippians 4:6-7, Psalm 131:1-2

[T]he old adage “it’s the journey, not the destination that matters most” is particularly true of modern pilgrimage. If the destination is the point, I can get to Santiago from anywhere in the world i...

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Scripture Guide, John 11:1-45

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

John 11:1-45, John 6:null, John 1:14

Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? Back to Bethany The trans-Jordan village of Bethany was the place in which Jesus’ ministry began. It is now the place in which our text...

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Fifth Sunday in Lent

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

John 11:1-45, John 6:null, John 1:14

Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? Back to Bethany The trans-Jordan village of Bethany was the place in which Jesus’ ministry began. It is now the place in which our text...

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The “Softness” of the Sermon on the Mount

Author

John R. W. Stott

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Sermon on the Mount

Probably nobody has hated the ‘softness’ of the Sermon on the Mount more than Friedrich Nietzsche. Although the son and the grandson of Lutheran pastors, he rejected Christianity during his student da...

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The Combination of Royalty & Stooping

Author

Fleming Rutledge

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Advent

It's been a few decades since Diana, Princess of Wales passed away in that tragic car accident. At the time, I was a teenager, and really didn’t understand what the massive outpouring of grief sho...

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Author

Mark Galli

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Liturgy

The liturgy lives out a story in a story-deprived world. Liturgy is not a once-upon-a-time story we merely watch others perform. We are the characters in this story, actors in the divine drama whose o...

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The Reconciling Love of the Father

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

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Scripture

John 1:12-13, Romans 8:15-17, Galatians 4:4-5, Ephesians 2:12-13, Colossians 1:21-22, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

In her book Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home , Jen Pollock Michel reflects on the nature of home in a transient age. In this short excerpt, Michel reflects on the Biblical doctrine...

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Preaching the Resurrection

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Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Easter after Resurrection Sunday One of the challenges of the Christian calendar for pastors is that we often put so much energy into Holy Week, that by the time we reach Easter Sunday , and parti...

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Modern Man

Author

Tom Howard

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Scripture

Galatians 5:13, John 8:36, Isaiah 30:1, Proverbs 14:12, Genesis 3:6-7

Modern man is “a bleak business…To our chagrin we discover that the declaration of autonomy has issued not in a race of free, masterly men, but rather in a race that can be described by its poets and ...

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Choice is a Value of Modern Society

Author

Os Guinness

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Scripture

Matthew 6:31-34, Luke 10:41-42, Philippians 4::6-7, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Proverbs 3:5-6

Life has become a smorgasbord with an endless array of dishes. And more important still, choice is no longer just a state of mind. Choice has become a value, a priority, a right. To be modern is to be...

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Author

Erroll Hulse

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Scripture

Matthew 5:17-18, Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, Romans 6:23, Proverbs 14:12, James 4:17, 1 John 1:8-9

Postmodernism (the thinking of our age) is fiercely antinomian (without law). It is admitted that people make mistakes, but the word ‘sin’ is seldom mentioned and the idea that we all sin against God ...

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Author

G. K. Chesterton

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The modern world has had far too little understanding of the art of keeping young. Its notion of progress has been to pile one thing on top of another, without caring if each thing was crushed in turn...

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Author

Alexander Schmemann

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Our modern theology, which in many ways has ceased to be personal, i.e. centered on the Christian experience of "person," nevertheless - and maybe as a result of this - has become utterly in...

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Honoring and Leaving

Author

A. J. Swoboda

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Scripture

Exodus 20:12, Jeremiah 35:18–19, Proverbs 22:1, Philippians 2:3–4, Matthew 6:1, Psalm 37:5–6

The challenge each of these faced in their deconstruction—and what we may face—is walking the tightrope between becoming our own person and honoring our past. In The Homeless Mind , sociologist P...

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Author

Richard Florida

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Digital Age

All these technologies have carried the promise of a boundless world. They would free us from geography, allowing us to move out of crowded cities and into lives of our own bucolic choosing. Forget th...

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The Sacred Alters of Modern Life

Author

A. J. Swoboda

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Our 24/7 culture conveniently provides every good and service we want, when we want, how we want. Our time – saving devices, technological conveniences, and cheap mobility have seemingly made life muc...

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Author

Jay Y. Kim

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The digital age is about getting what we want, when we want, how we want, and as much (or as little) as we want.

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Bowing Down to Progress

Author

N. T. Wright

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We are taught, often by the tone of voice of the media and the politicians rather than by explicit argument, to bow down before…progress. It is unstoppable. Who wants to be left behind, to be behind t...

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