Jeremy Hoover

Too often we are hypocritical in our religion rather than sincere in our faith. Jesus' experience in Mark 12:28-44 highlights how the simple command to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind can be compromised when we let our concerns for how others perceive us leap ahead of living a life of radical trust in God.

A teacher of the law steps out to challenge Jesus but is himself challenged when Jesus turns the table on him by answering that the greatest commandment is actually two merged into one: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Lest there be any confusion, Jesus teaches against the hypocrisy of the teachers of the law, who are more concerned with their status before others than with the law itself. Then he sits down to observe a widow who gave all she had to God--an act of complete, obedient, humble, radical trust in the God who provides for all her needs.

In this sermon, I contrast hypocrisy and sincerity as seen in the teachers of the law and the widow. I encourage us to develop lives of radical trust together with the action that must flow from that trust.

Sermon: Hypocrisy and Sincerity (Mark 12:28-44)

In this sermon, from March 22, 2009, I explore the ways we limit our love for others by justifying the rules we create that put space between us and our neighbors. Whenever we ask, "Who is my neighbor," or make a pre-judgment of someone based on how they look or where they come from, we break Jesus' command to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The text for this sermon is Luke 10:25-37, the famous parable of the Good Samaritan. Key, though, is the behavior of the expert in the law, who seeks to justify himself AFTER Jesus tells him to live out the commands to love God and love neighbors. He asks, "Who is my neighbor?" because he wanted to find some limit, some loophole, to the love he was supposed to share with his neighbor.

In this sermon, I apply the concept of loving our neighbors to the current political discourse in the United States. I point out that it is unbecoming for us as Christians to define ourselves by our political points of view and to view as enemies those whom we share a bond in Christ with. Loving our neighbors means loving even those with whom we disagree politically.

Sermon: Loving Neighbors (Luke 10:25-37)

I've added some more sermons. If you want to subscribe to this sermon feed in iTunes, iTunes will automatically check for updates and download the sermon each week. Open iTunes, click on the Advanced tab, and then click on Subscribe to Podcast. That will open a box. Copy the Link Location from the "Subscribe" link in the right column of this page TO that open box in iTunes. This should add this blog to your Podcasts in iTunes. Let me know if you have any problems.

February 15, 2009.

Sermon: Love (1 Corinthians 13)

February 22, 2009.

Sermon: Repentance (2 Chronicles 7:14)

March 1, 2009.

Sermon: Trials and Faith (Mark 1:9-15)

March 8, 2009.

Sermon: One Another Commands

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Most of us know why we share in the Lord's Supper. In 1 Corinthians 11:24, Paul reminds us that Jesus created this as a remembrance of himself and what he did for us. Because the Lord's Supper focuses on what Jesus did for us, his church, it should be a time of unity and remembrance.

But in practice, the Lord's Supper can be a time of division. Not only do we argue over how and when to observe it, we let our differences and relational conflicts come between us.

In this sermon from March 15, 2009, I look at the division that existed among the believers in Corinth who met to share the Lord's Supper but didn't take account of each other. As Paul reminds us to "examine ourselves" and "discern" Christ's body (1 Cor 11:28-29), may we be encouraged to be reconciled to each other so we may share the Lord's Supper in unity.

Sermon: Unity and the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11:17-34)