How Do We Handle Dangerous People?
From the editor
When people gather for worship on a Saturday night or Sunday morning, they bring with them their questions. The questions vary, but it's a safe bet to think someone has been thinking long and hard about why there is evil in the world. More specifically, they wonder why there is an unspeakable evil in the person who lives across the street, is just on the other side of their cubicle, is capturing the headlines of the nightly news. What is God doing about them? What is God going to do about them? Those are tough questions that deserve honest answers. That's why we're happy to feature this sermon from Kevin Miller. He makes a number of solid decisions that ought to inspire us in our own preaching on this delicate issue. Chief among them are two: he chooses to preach from a parable, using the power of story to speak into our story, and he doesn't ignore the now-and-not-yet element that is present in issues of good, evil, and judgment, courageously wading into the waters of eschatology.
Introduction
One Saturday Karen and I drove to a car dealership to buy a used Camry for my daughter, Anne, to get back and forth to college. Our salesman was a young guy named Patrick. The showroom was jumping with customers that day, so after he got us started with the paperwork, he asked to leave and help some other people with another sale. To help us with our paperwork would be a guy named Todd. Patrick whispered, "Todd is the only person here I can trust."
I looked around, and there were 12 or so salespeople on the floor. Apparently, 11 of these 12 would, without any thought or compunction, list that sale as theirs. They would steal Patrick's sale, and steal the commission that should have been his.
The fact is, as many of ...
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Kevin Miller is pastor of Church of the Savior in Wheaton, Illinois,