Sermon Commentary Library

Our weekly sermon commentaries are Lectionary-based, which across its three-year cycle, encompass a vast array of biblical texts. Filter the Sermon Commentary Library to search Scripture texts by book and chapter to find commentary, illustrations, and reflections to spark ideas.

Looking for something else? View our Heidelberg Catechism sermon resources and our Reformed Connections to the RCL section that traces Lectionary texts to specific parts of the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession.

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1 John 4:7-21 Sermon Commentary

Easter 5B

Contrary to the Beatles’ sung claims, all we “need” isn’t “love.” But the full-orbed, whole person love to which this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson summons Jesus’ followers will go a very long way to meeting all sorts of “needs.” Jesus’ friends might call John’s first letter his “love letter.” That emphasis is, in fact, a theme…

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1 John 4:7-21 Sermon Commentary

Easter 5B

If you preached on the Lectionary selection from 1 John 3 last week—and if you read the sermon commentary for that text that I posted here on the CEP website—then you will know a hard truth as we face this text: we probably both shot our wad on “love” last Sunday!  So much of this…

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1 John 4:1-6 Sermon Commentary

Comments and Observations: I once had a conversation with a colleague about the incarnation. “The incarnation,” she claimed, “is at the center of the Gospel to me. The Good News is that Jesus came into the world at all.” This conversation has stuck with me. While I may not necessarily place the incarnation at the…

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1 John 4:7-21 Sermon Commentary

Easter 5B

Comments and Observations When I read this passage, I hear the Beatles’ famous song, “All You Need Is Love.”  But I don’t hear John agreeing with John, Paul, George, and Ringo–not completely.  Though he insists on the absolute importance of love, John has more important things to say about love than “all you need is…

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