Scripture/Sermon of the Day

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

I. It’s been so long — I almost can’t remember the last time I preached. I had to look on my calendar — it was August 3rd. Were any of you there for that? Almost a month and a half ago. I’m impressed if you remember. And more impressed if you remember what the Gospel passage was — or the sermon! I had to go to my used sermon pile and look. The passage was the parable of the rich fool — the man who saved his money till he was wealthy and just as he retired and was about to live it up — the angel of death came and said: “I’m taking you TODAY! Now what will you do with all that money? You should have saved treasure in heaven!”

II. Now do you remember? The subject I wanted to speak about from that reading was MUSCLE MASS. Can you see the connection — rich fool/muscle mass?

III. Last week I had a long conversation with my friend Brad — over an hour because we hadn’t talked in a while. Brad is interested in AI — Artificial Intelligence — and was talking about the amazing things you can do with it. He told me I could download some of my sermons into AI and say what my scripture passage was and AI would write me a sermon in minutes — and it would sound like me — but it would be better than what I could write myself. Normally — it takes me many hours to do a sermon — and I’m not kidding — I’ll start thinking about next weeks sermon tonight. I’m working on it all week.

IV. But here’s the problem I have with Artificial Intelligence writing my sermons. It would not be a sermon. The whole magic of this process — or call it the work of the spirit — is what happens as you sit there and read — AND THEN SEE WHAT HAPPENS. That’s the joy — the mystery — the excitement! Who knows? What images will begin to flow? Would Artificial Intelligence EVER read the parable of the rich fool — and then begin a sermon talking about muscle mass? It will never, never happen! Only a perverted mind inspired by the Holy Spirit can come up with that!

V. Do you remember how the muscle mass sermon on August 3rd ended? A true story — one of the richest young men in the world — from India — was playing polo on the Royal Polo Field in England where King Charles used to play — a multi-billionaire — and he swallowed a bee and died right there on the polo field of anaphylactic shock — in minutes — because he was allergic to bee stings. His last words were, “I’ve swallowed something.”

VI. And the point is — we worry about things like our appearance, we use makeup, we worry about our health — our muscle mass. We spend time in the gym. We worry about money. We save it like the rich fool of Jesus’ story —

Then the angel of death comes — often when we don’t expect it — and takes us. We could be playing polo one second and the next, we swallow a bee and die seconds later.

And Jesus looks at us and says — “But — did you worry about how much treasure you’ve put in heaven? ARE YOU RICH IN LOVE?”

VIII. One more thing. Do you realize that up to now — I’ve said NOTHING about the reading today!!! But do you know what that proves? It proves that this sermon was not written by artificial intelligence.

IX. Now we have another week to think about the PARABLE of the lost sheep. I’ll give you a clue — it’s about God’s love that is so extreme, people would call it foolish and impractical and even, UNFAIR. That’s what a parable does — if you hear it and don’t feel some kind of dissonance — then you don’t understand it.

In this parable, Jesus assures us that ONE THING we will never have to worry about, is the unimaginable, extreme, and immeasurable love that God has for each of us. And nothing will ever change that. Do you know what’s most upsetting about the Lost Sheep Parable? I’ll tell you next week. You won’t want to miss this. Because after you feel terrible — you’ll probably want to celebrate.