Submit to One Another Out of Reverence for Christ by Pastor Klusmeyer

Submit to One Another Out of Reverence for Christ

In Ephesians chapter 5 the Lord commands us to be imitators of God as his dearly loved children. In the rest of chapters 5 and 6 the Apostle Paul gives us some very specific applications of what it means to be imitators of God. This morning, we are going to focus specifically on the end of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6. In 5:21 Paul tells us that part of walking in the love of Christ is submitting to one another. This is not a command that our sinful natures want to hear. Our sinful natures hate the idea of submitting. We love to be selfish. Our natural inclination is not to put the needs of others first, but instead to look to our own wants and desires first. We do not want to submit to others; we want others to submit to us.

One of the important things to remember as we consider this section of Scripture is that the Apostle Paul is sharing with us God’s ideal plan for Christian marriage and Christian life in general. We are never going to achieve this ideal this side of heaven. We are sinners who live in a fallen world. Husbands are going to fail in their duty to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and wives will fail to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. We all daily fail to submit and serve one another in love. It is only by the death of our perfect selfless Savior that we have been forgiven of all of these sins. It is because we have been born again through the waters of baptism that we strive each day to live in submission to each other.

Think of how Jesus summarized God’s law: love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Christian love means that we are going to put the needs of others before our own needs and live a life of service. Paul illustrates this love by offering specific advice on how husbands, wives, parents, and children are to love and submit to one another. The general principle of submitting to one another applies to all people. No matter our vocation or life situation we are called to selflessly serve one another in love. A Christian marriage gives us a beautiful picture of how the selfless love of Christ is to be reflected in our lives. Because there is so much in this section of Ephesians we are going to work through these verses together this morning. I invite you to follow along in Ephesians chapter 5 as we learn what it means to submit to one another in love.

5:22Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.

Paul begins by giving God’s expectations for wives. Our modern world does not like to hear the word submit, especially when it deals with the relationship between men and women. The world demands perfect equality and equity between the sexes. Paul reminds us that God created humanity in a particular way. God created Adam first and then Eve. God assigned the role of headship to man and the role of helper to woman. God intended this to be a perfect and harmonious relationship with each member complementing the other. However, when Adam and Eve fell into sin, they destroyed God’s perfect creation and brought sin, death, and pain into the world. The harmonious relationship between men and women was also ruined. Women seek to usurp the role of headship that God has given to men, and men seek to dominate and rule over women. God says to Eve in Genesis 3:16, “Your desire will be for your husband, but he will rule over you.”

5:23For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he himself is the Savior. 5:24Moreover, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.

In these verses, Paul says that the relationship between a husband and wife is like the relationship between Christ and the church. Wives are to submit to their husbands in all things just like the church submits to the rule and authority of Christ. The church is willing to submit to Christ’s rule because it knows that Christ will always do what is best for the church. Christ’s rule is not burdensome or abusive, but instead is a rule of perfect selfless love. This is the expectation that Paul has for husbands: they are to love their wives the same way Christ loved the church. They are to carry out their role of headship always putting the needs of their wives first and serving in selfless love.

As members of the church of Christ, we know that we do not always submit to the will of Christ. We daily sin and break God’s commands. We selfishly seek to fulfill our own wants and desires. In the same way, husbands and wives do not follow God’s plan for marriage. Wives do not submit to their husbands when they are exercising their authority in a godly way, and husbands do not selflessly put the needs of their wives first.

God clearly does not want wives to submit to their husbands when they are doing things contrary to his will. Nor does God want husbands to use their authority in an abusive or domineering manner.

5:25Husbands, love your wives, in the same way as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

After commanding wives to submit to their husbands Paul then commands husbands to love their wives in the same way that Christ loved the church. Husbands are to show complete and total sacrificial love to their wives. Paul emphasizes that a godly husband will make decisions for his household that always put the needs of his wife first. He is to live selflessly and is willing to sacrifice everything for his wife including his own life. Husbands, we know that we have not lived up to this standard. We have not loved our wives selflessly. We are often selfish and put our own needs and desires first. We do not exercise our authority in the way that Christ does for his church which always puts the needs of others first. We have failed to be imitators of Christ.

5:26to make her holy, by cleansing her with the washing of water in connection with the Word. 5:27He did this so that he could present her to himself as a glorious church, having no stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that she would be holy and blameless.

In these verses, Paul beautifully reminds us of the selfless love our Savior has shown to us. By nature, we are dirty and filthy sinners. There is nothing in our natures that is pleasing to our God. But Christ in his great mercy lowered himself and took on our humanity. He lived a life of perfect, selfless love that always put the needs of others first. He did this most fully when he offered his holy perfect life as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this to make us holy. Through the water of baptism, we are connected to the death and resurrection of our Savior. Notice in verse twenty-seven that all the work is done by Christ. We could do nothing to make ourselves presentable to him. Instead, he washed and cleansed us so that we could be free of any stain or wrinkle of sin. The death of Jesus Christ has made us holy and blameless. The death of Jesus has fully paid for all the times that we have not submitted to others in Christ. The death of Jesus has cleansed us of all the times we have failed to live as husbands and wives according to the will of God. We are forgiven of all our sins and stand before our Savior as his radiant and holy bride.

5:28In the same way, husbands have an obligation to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 5:29To be sure, no one has ever hated his own body, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 5:30because we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. 5:31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will be one flesh.” 5:32This is a great mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church. 5:33In any case, each one of you also is to love his wife as himself, and each wife is to respect her husband.

In these final verses, Paul reminds us that when a man and woman are united in marriage, they become one flesh. Because of this, a husband should love his wife because she is part of his body. This sounds self-serving but it is not. This echoes God’s command that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Paul is making the comparison between a head and a body. A head would not deliberately harm its own body because that would be harming itself. In the same way, a husband should selflessly love his wife because she is part of his body.

Finally, Paul tells us this is a great mystery because the proper relationship between husband and wife is only revealed in God’s Word. It is only because we have been born again that we can live our lives in accordance with God’s plan. As Christians, we seek to be imitators of God. We see the amazing and selfless love of our Savior and so we seek to submit to one another in Christ. Wives submit to their husbands, husbands love their wives with the selfless love of our Savior, and we all strive to love one another with the love of our Savior. Each day we struggle to live as God commands and each day we take comfort in the amazing love of our Savior who has washed us and made us holy through his blood. Amen.

Those who are with us are more than … by Pastor Zarling

Those who are with us are more than …

2 Kings 6:8-17 Now when the king of Aram was waging war against Israel, he would make plans with his officials, saying, “My camp will be at such and such a place.” 9But the man of God would send a message to the king of Israel, saying, “Be careful when you pass this place because the Arameans are going down there.” 10So the king of Israel would send scouts to the place that the man of God had pointed out. So the man of God warned him, and he was kept safe—and not just once or twice.11The king of Aram was enraged because of this. He summoned his officials and said to them, “Won't you tell me who of us is for the king of Israel?” 12One of his officials said, “No, my lord the king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words which you speak in your bedroom.” 13Then he said, “Go and see where he is. Then I'll send men and capture him.” He was told, “Dothan is where he is.” 14So he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They came at night and surrounded the city.

15When the man of God's servant got up early and went out, there were soldiers, horses, and chariots surrounding the city. So his attendant said to Elisha, “Oh no, my lord! What will we do?” 16He answered, “Don't be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, open his eyes so that he can see.” Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire, all around Elisha.

Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ. Amen (Revelation 12:20).

The spy was sharing all the king’s pillow-talk!

At least, that’s what King Ben-Hadad II of Aram thought. The king of Aram kept trying to set up ambushes to trap the Israelite army. He was telling his Aramean officers, “I’ll set up my camp in such and such a place” (2 Kings 6:8). But then the Israelite king would receive a message to avoid such and such a place.

The King of Aram was ticked! He gathered all his Aramean officers together and challenged them, “Which one of you is a spy for the King of Israel?!” One of Aramean officers bravely announced, “There’s no spy, O King. It’s Elisha the prophet, who tells the king of Israel what you say in your bedroom” (2 Kings 6:12).

When the King of Aram learned that Elisha was giving away his secrets, he told his officers, “Go, find out where he is so I can send men to capture him” (2 Kings 6:13). The king was told that Elisha was in the little town of Dothan. So, the King of Aram sent his army of horses and chariots to surround the city during the night.

The Aramean officers were talking with each other as played cards by torchlight. They spoke in low voices. One said, “This is a little overkill, don’t you think?” “Yeah,” another replied, “A whole army to arrest one little prophet?” Another said, “This is going to be over fast!”

How right they were! This was going to be over fast! But they were the ones who were outmanned! That’s because their fight was not against the Lord’s prophet, but with the Lord himself!

The next morning as the sun came up, the servant of Elisha opened the curtains on the windows of the prophet’s house. He rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he saw. He ran to get binoculars. He still couldn’t believe what he saw. He ran to get Elisha. The servant cried out, “Look at that sea of spears and the countless chariots! What will we do” (2 Kings 6:15)?

Elisha calmly replied, “Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so that he can see” (2 Kings 6:17). The Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the hills were ablaze! The whole countryside was filled with fiery horses, pulling fiery chariots, driven by fiery angels.

“Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). How awesome of a statement is that?!

We can so easily be like Elisha’s servant. We see the events and situations of life with our eyes, and everything looks overwhelming. We’re afraid! Elisha’s servant saw all those Aramean horses and chariots and he thought the worst.

We have an unseen enemy with seemingly unlimited power. Satan is a seven-headed dragon. He has his demonic allies. St. John describes the titanic war between the hosts of heaven and the hosts of hell: “There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down-- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him” (Revelation 12:7-9).

The Lord kicked Satan out of heaven. God called upon St. Michael and his fellow angels to be his enforcers. The devil became a trespasser on God’s property, and the holy angels were the military force who made sure he left.

The great news for us is that St. Michael and his angelic army are more powerful than Satan and his angelic allies. The bad news for us is that that spiritual war in the heavenly realms has been brought to earth. “[The dragon] was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. … Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12:9, 12).

Satan is ticked! He is filled with furious rage against God. He knows he has a limited time before Judgment Day ends all his wicked activity forever. So, he is busy – attacking ferociously like a dragon. We see Satan attacking us in our nation in so many ways.

We might see this battle as we focus on the upcoming elections. But we so often get caught up in discussions of right vs. left or Republican vs. Democrat or conservative vs. liberal. Those labels are so silly. A better way to view everything and discuss everything is based on what is godly vs. demonic. What is God’s will and what is Satan’s will. What glorifies Christ’s kingdom and what elevates Satan’s kingdom.

We so often wrongly believe that things like politics, government, entertainment, culture, athletics, etc. – are all neutral. But there is no neutral ground in this world. Christ is the King of kings (Revelation 17:14). Satan is the ruler of this world (John 14:30). Everything is claimed by Satan and then counter-claimed by Christ and then counter-counter-claimed by Satan. That’s why St. Paul observes, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Every battle we Christians fight in this world is ultimately a spiritual battle.

Satan snickers as citizens segregate themselves into various groups based on their skin color or economic status or political affiliation. Satan screams with delight when the Bible is banned in public schools, but pornography is put on the library shelves. Satan snorts with glee as Christians attack each other instead of uniting forces against his demonic doctrines.

Satan may have been kicked out of heaven, but he is alive and well here on earth, in our nation, in our homes, always pursuing the offspring of Christ’s Church. Satan’s end game – whether it is a full-frontal attack, or slight irritations, or appearing as an angel of light – is the same. His single, solitary goal is to distract the citizens of this world from Jesus Christ and the salvation he won on the cross and out of the grave.

Satan is a furious dragon who works to steal you and your children away from the Good Shepherd. He wants to devour you like a lion consuming his prey. His ploys may send a shiver down your back to terrify you or send a tingle up your leg to seduce you.

We have an unseen enemy with seemingly unlimited power. So, we can become terrified like Elisha’s servant. … But don’t forget. Even in the darkest moments, God’s people have an unseen army with God’s definitely unlimited power behind them. God is never surprised. His will will be done. We pray that God opens our eyes. So that we can see that those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

Who are those who are with us? God has promised that St. Michael and his angelic army are fighting for us in the spiritual realms. We are in a war. There is a spiritual fight for every soul. As Christians, we are in the middle, caught between heaven and hell here on earth. But that’s why this festival of St. Michael and All Angels is so important. It reminds us that Satan and his demons have been conquered – not with gold or silver, or moneybags or knapsacks, not with guns or tanks or even flaming swords. “[The angels] conquered [the dragon] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:20).

Satan has fallen. He has been struck down by a lamb on a stick – Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God on a cross. Dragons should easily defeat lambs, but not when the Lamb is the Son of God! The wounds of the Lamb mortally wounded the dragon.

The ancient serpent hung from Eden’s tree and set a trap for Adam and Eve. All of humanity has fallen into that trap. To release humanity from Satan’s trap, the Son of God became flesh to set a trap of his own. Entering the dragon’s domain and seeking to plunder his lair, the Son of God made himself bait. The old evil foe saw the Son of God made man and coveted Christ more than any other trophy he had won. Lucifer wanted to throw Christ down from heaven’s throne and regain his angelic place in heaven. So, Satan stirred the Romans’ bloodlust. He deceived the Jewish priests with power. He seduced the people with mob justice. He sought the death of the Lamb.

Satan took the bait. The Lamb was sacrificed. The Son of God was crucified and in one short day, in a matter of hours, all that the dragon had worked millennia for, came crashing down around him. Satan became the loser! Jesus, the murder victim, was the Victor! The head of the ancient serpent was crushed (Genesis 3:15)! All dominion, power, and authority was wrenched out of Satan’s hands and put into the nail-scarred hands of the Christ (1 Corinthians 15:24)! In one moment, as Christ breathed his last, the gates of Hades were slammed shut and the gates of heaven were thrown wide open! In a split second, Satan fell like lightning from heaven (Luke 10:17).

The war is over. But Satan is not going away without a fight. He and his demons are still battling. They are going to tempt, tease, and torment you. They will try to lead you to despair, doubt, and depression.

Jesus has given you mighty allies for these battles – his angelic army. The Old Testament often calls God “Yahweh Saboat” – “The Lord of Armies” (1 Samuel 1:11). God designed the powerful and wise angels to serve his Christians on the spiritual killing fields versus the Enemy who is rugged and relentless.

My mom used to collect angels. They were often friendly, feminine angels or little chubby-cheeked cherubs. That’s not the way the Bible describes real angels. You don’t really want to be “touched by an angel” like the 90s TV series or walk around with an angel on “Highway to Heaven” like the 80s series. Angels are fearsome warriors They are combat veterans.

The angels are fiery six-winged seraphim. They are battle-tested two-winged cherubim. They are fiery chariots and horses. They are our guardian angels who will guard us in all our ways so that our foot will not strike against a stone (Psalm 91:11-12).

The angels protected God’s people by shutting the mouths of lions, walking in a fiery furnace, slaying 185,000 of God’s enemies, and busting God’s apostles out of prison. They minister to God’s people as they did to Jesus in the wilderness and Gethsemane. St. Michael, the archangel – God’s five-star general – commands his angel army. Ten thousand times ten thousand angels will protect God’s people, fight the last great battle against the forces of Satan, and gather God’s saints and take them to heaven.

We cannot always see the danger or the Dragon or the demons lurking around us. We cannot always see the protection the angels provide us. Let us pray that the Lord opens our eyes to see and believe in the innumerable angels Christ has sent to serve and protect us.

Don’t be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Amen.

Jesus assures us, “Nothing will ever harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been written in heaven” (John 10:19-20).

Content to Serve by Pastor Klusmeyer

Content to Serve

How many of you remember Ernie von Schledorn and his famous tagline, “Who do you know wants to buy a car?” What is the purpose of every car commercial on television? They want to convince you that you should not be satisfied with the car you have. Our society is consumed with a compulsive need to never be satisfied. We are bombarded with ads telling us to always look for the next best thing. And it is not necessarily wrong to want good things. Maybe you do need that new car, but there is a danger that we may be lured into the trap of never being satisfied with what God has given us. In our scripture lesson, we heard how Miriam and Aaron were not content with the blessings God had given them. Their story serves as a warning for us on how seriously God views not being content with the blessings he has given us. God has blessed all of us in numerous ways and desires that we be content to serve him and others with the gifts he has given to us.

Our scripture lesson takes place shortly after Israel had left Mt. Sinai and was traveling in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. The children of Israel had grumbled against God several times during this journey and Moses had shown his servant’s heart by interceding for them. God spoke with Moses face to face and allowed him to see the form of the Lord. Miriam and Aaron envied the unique relationship Moses had with God, and they began to grumble against Moses. Miriam and Aaron were not satisfied with the blessings that God had given them. Miriam was a prophetess among the women of Israel and Aaron had been appointed as the high priest who made intercession for the people before God. But this was not enough for them. They were consumed with envy and selfishly wanted the gifts and abilities that God had given to Moses.

Miriam and Aaron failed to see that what they considered a greater gift was a burden that Moses had to bear. Ironically, Moses would have gladly shared his gift with Miriam and Aaron if they had asked. In the previous chapter of Numbers, Moses had asked for help in leading the nation of Israel. God had answered his request by selecting 70 elders to help with administration. In that same account, one of Moses’s aides wanted to safeguard his position of authority, but Moses wished that others could share in his special relationship with the Lord. But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” Moses could have jealously guarded his position, but instead, he served his people with humility as their servant. Miriam and Aaron were filled only with thoughts for themselves and were following their own selfish ambition. God’s anger was swift and severe at Miriam and Aaron for their lack of contentment. He treated this as a serious offense against him and struck Miriam with leprosy. God dealt with Miriam more harshly than Aaron because she was the one who began the attack against Moses. God also views our lack of contentment as a sin.

How often do we disregard and forget the numerous blessings that God has given us because we see that our neighbor has a different blessing from God? This sin is so common in our society that we even have clichés to describe it, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” and “keeping up with the Jones.” We can be so quick to look at our neighbor’s life and think that what they have is better than what we have. We can be envious of their material blessings, but often we can also find ourselves envying the talents and abilities that God has given them. This discontentment with our gifts can quickly lead us to other sins like coveting and envy. Like Miriam and Aaron, we forget the unique and bountiful blessings that God has given us. God has blessed us all with amazing and unique gifts. But in our sinful way of thinking it may seem like God has blessed others with “better” gifts either physically, materially, or spiritually. But the truth is our good and gracious God in his wisdom has blessed us with the gifts that he knows are best for us.

The Apostle Paul deals with this same issue in his first letter to the Corinthians. Some in that congregation felt that since they had not received the same gifts as others, they were not as worthy or blessed by God. Paul reminds them and us that God has richly blessed every one of us with the gifts he feels are best suited for us. God has chosen for us the gifts that he feels we can best use to build up the body of Christ. We can be content with these gifts knowing that God has richly blessed each of us in a way that can best serve him. The different gifts that God has given us do not make us better or worse, or more or less blessed than our neighbors. God has given to us each exactly what gifts we need to serve him best. Paul writes, “Now the body is not made

up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”

Moses gives us an example of how we can be content to serve with the gifts we have been given. Moses was able to have a heart of selfless love because he knew and believed the promises of God. He had his faith and hope in the promised Messiah. He knew God’s gracious love because he had seen it in his own life. We have plenty of examples where Moses sinned and was forgiven by God, and he mirrored God’s love as he dealt with his brother and sister.

As this section of scripture reminds us Moses was a humble man. He did not seek to be a prophet of the Lord but was called by God to that position. He did not boast of his unique calling but instead served his people in love. Moses repeatedly demonstrated his heart of love by interceding for the children of Israel when they sinned. He shows that love by immediately interceding for his siblings who were facing the wrath of God. When Aaron asks for forgiveness, Moses would have been justified in telling Aaron no. Aaron and Miriam had challenged him as God’s representative. This is what the wisdom of the world would have told him to do. Instead, he immediately forgives his brother and sister and asks God to cure Miriam of her leprosy.

Moses shows us by his actions how we are to forgive those who have sinned against us. We will be wronged by others in this life. Like Moses, the world would tell us that we are in no obligation to forgive those people. But as Christians, we know how often we have sinned against God. God does not hold any of those sins against us. All our sins, including our sins of discontentment, have been forgiven through the death of Jesus on the cross. That amazing love and grace is what motivates us to forgive others.

We have experienced God’s love and grace in our lives so we can have true contentment. God has already blessed all of us with the greatest gift ever. He sent his one and only Son to be the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins. Christ lived as a perfect servant. He is the king of the universe and yet he lowered himself to live and suffer as one of us. He took all our sins upon himself and suffered and died for us. He did this because he loved us and wanted us to have eternal life with him in heaven. God has shown such love and grace to us that we cannot help but reflect that love in our lives. We serve God in contentment not because we must, but because we love him and want to show our thankfulness to him. This is what Christians do, we do what pleases God and use our talents and abilities to his glory.

The world constantly screams at us to never be content. We are told that coveting and envy are virtues to drive us to succeed. But God gives us a very different command. As redeemed children of God, we are no longer to conform to the pattern of the world. He wants us to be satisfied with the gifts he has given us. This doesn’t mean that we can’t ask God to bless us, but we should avoid the temptation to be consumed with a need to desire gifts and abilities that we don’t have. We can be content to live peaceful and quiet lives because we have already been given the greatest treasure of all, redemption, and eternal life through the blood of Jesus Christ. We can joyfully and faithfully serve our God and be content with the gifts he has given us. Amen.

Choose Your Side by Pastor Klusmeyer

Choose Your Side

In our Old Testament lesson, the Prophet Elijah asks the people of Israel to choose their side. For many years they had been wavering between two opinions. They had been trying to serve both God and the false gods of the neighboring nations. God was angry with the people for worshiping these false gods, including the false god Baal. As a demonstration of his mighty power, God had Elijah prophesy that the land would receive no rain for 3 ½ years. This was a powerful demonstration that Baal had no power since he was worshiped as the god of storms. God sends Elijah to confront the prophets of Baal and call the people to repentance. Will they continue to follow the false god Baal, or will they return to the worship of the true God? The people need to choose their side. Elijah asks, “How long will you stagger around on two crutches? If the LORD is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him.”

God demands our complete and total obedience. His law is clear. God says, “Fear the LORD your God, serve him, and swear by his name. Do not go after other gods from among the gods of the peoples around you. If you do, the LORD your God will be a jealous God in your midst, and the anger of the LORD your God will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the earth.” The children of Israel had forgotten this command from the Lord. They forgot the disasters God had brought on their ancestors when they wandered away from the Lord and served other gods. The people wanted to have it both ways. They wanted to worship the God who had brought them out of Egypt, but they also wanted to worship the gods of the peoples around them. They wanted to fit in. And so instead of choosing a side they staggered around on two crutches and wavered between two opinions.

How often are we guilty of the same thing? Now, we don’t blatantly worship false gods, but we do break the First Commandment in other ways. Jesus tells us that the First Commandment means, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” We don’t do this very well. We come to church on Sunday, but on Monday we go to work and hide our faith so that others won’t think that we are weird or strange. We approve of things the world says are good, but we know go against God’s Word because we don’t want to face ridicule and persecution. We praise God one moment and the next we are uttering profanity and crude humor. We greet our brothers and sisters in Christ warmly as they are sitting in the pew next to us, but then gossip and ridicule them later. The list could go on and on as we stagger around on two crutches. We don’t choose a side. We want it both ways. We want to be good and faithful Christians, but we also want to hold on to our pet sins.

This is the constant spiritual battle that we fight each and every day of our lives. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Satan is waging a constant war for our souls. We see how he did this in the Old Testament by using wicked leaders like King Ahab and Queen Jezebel to lead the people to worship false gods instead of the one true God. Satan continues to use the forces of this world and our own sinful natures to lead us away from the truth and down the path of temptation. It can often seem like we are surrounded by enemies on all sides. The forces of evil look powerful and invincible and the faithful church seems like it is few in number.

Elijah shows us how to have courage in the face of these seemingly overwhelming odds. On Mt. Caramel it was Elijah versus the 450 prophets of Baal. Yet Elijah was not discouraged. He knew that he had God on his side and that “all things are possible for the one who believes.” This is why Elijah was not afraid to do things that seemed like he was giving the prophets of Baal an advantage. He wanted the people to see once and for all that only God was the true God. So, he proposed a demonstration. Each side would prepare an ox for a burnt offering and would call on their god to consume that offering with fire. Elijah let them choose which one of the bulls they wanted to use, and he let the prophets of Baal call out to their false god all day long. Elijah knew that Baal would not answer because he wasn’t real. He wanted to show the people just how foolish their worship of this non-existent god was, so he began mocking the prophets of Baal. “When noon came, Elijah mocked them: ‘Shout louder! He is a god, isn’t he? He may be deep in thought or busy or on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and will wake up!’”

Elijah let the prophets of Baal continue their raving and shouting until evening, but no fire came from Baal. Finally, Elijah had enough. He told the people to draw near. He then rebuilt the altar of the Lord that was on the mountain using twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. He prepared the ox and then did something that must have seemed strange to everyone there. He ordered that a trench be dug around the altar and that jars of water be poured on the altar so that the trench was filled with water. He did this so that there could be no thought that he had used trickery or deception to start a fire. Only an act of God could burn that saturated wood.

Then Elijah prayed to the Lord. He didn’t ask God to send fire from heaven. He simply asked the Lord to answer his prayer and show the people that he alone is God. The Lord responded in a spectacular fashion, he sent fire from heaven that not only burned up the ox and the wood, but it also even burned up the stones and the water in the trench. There could be absolutely no doubt in the minds of the people. Baal had not answered, but God had. The people responded, “The LORD, he is God! The LORD, he is God!”

The spiritual battles that we face each day are not as vivid as the battle Elijah fought on Mt. Caramel, but they are just as real. As we face temptation in our lives, as we look at the chaos in the world we may be tempted to wonder where God is. Where is the fire from heaven that will destroy our enemies? Dear friends, we have a far greater wonder than God sending fire from heaven. God sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to earth to destroy the work of the devil. Our enemies have all been defeated. On the cross, Christ crushed the head of the Serpent and freed us from the power of Satan. When just rose victorious from the grave he shattered the gates of death and hell and gave to us the certainty of eternal life with our Lord.

Satan can no longer accuse us of the times that we have wavered in our commitment to the Lord because we have been washed clean by the blood of Christ. Jesus lived a perfect life in our place. There was never a time he wavered in his commitment to God. When Satan tempted him in the wilderness Christ remained steadfast. When he was tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane our Savior stayed faithful to God’s purpose. On the cross, Christ endured the temptation of the mockers he tempted him to save himself. Jesus always put God first in his life. He kept the First Commandment and all the rest of God’s law perfectly in our place so that he could offer his perfect life as a sacrifice to make complete payment for our sins.

This is the certain victory that we have as followers of Christ. We do not need to fear the attacks of the world and Satan. We do not need to fear persecution or hatred from the world, because we know that the power of the world has been broken by the death of Christ. We can take our stand as witnesses of our Savior because we know the eternal victory that is ours. We fight our battle each day against the temptations of our sinful nature knowing that when we fall into temptation, we are still secure in our salvation. Satan’s flaming arrows of doubt and accusation have no power over us. We stand firm on the rock of our Savior knowing that nothing can snatch us from the protective hand of our God who is our refuge and our fortress. This is the encouragement that Paul gives us in Romans 8, “What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him? Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies! Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us! What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Just as it is written: For your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“Ephphatha!” – “Be opened!” by Pastor Zarling

“Ephphatha!” – “Be opened!”

Mark 7:31–37 31Jesus left the region of Tyre again and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of the Decapolis.

32They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. 33Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) 35Immediately the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was set free, and he began to speak plainly. 36Jesus gave the people strict orders to tell no one, but the more he did so, the more they kept proclaiming it. 37They were amazed beyond measure and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

With God's own retribution, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged. (Isaiah 35:4, 5). Amen.

Jesus is nearby! Daniel, Joseph, and Benjamin excitedly find their friend, Heresh. The last time Jesus was in the area, he healed two crazy men of their demon possession (Matthew 8:28-34).

Daniel signs the name “Jesus” to Heresh. Heresh has been deaf from birth. His parents named him after his physical disability – “Heresh” – which is the Hebrew word for “deaf.” Heresh’s deafness also created a speech impediment.

Heresh doesn’t quite understand what the big deal is about going to see this Jesus. Obviously, he hasn’t heard about any of Jesus’ healing miracles. For his entire life, he hasn’t heard anything. But being deaf and mute, he has nothing else to do. So, he joins his friends. On the way through the Decapolis, the friends take turns signing to Heresh about all the healing that Jesus has been doing in their region and how Jesus is the promised Son of God.

The four friends find Jesus. It’s easy to figure out where Jesus is in the city. A huge crowd is surrounding him. It seems like everyone in the Decapolis is there bringing to Jesus their lame, blind, and crippled (Matthew 15:30). And Jesus is healing all of them.

Daniel, Joseph, Benjamin, and Heresh wait patiently in line to approach Jesus. Finally, when it’s their turn, Joseph pleads with Jesus, “My friend, Heresh, was born deaf. He can speak a little, but only the three of us can really understand him. You’ve healed so many today. Will you lay hands on Heresh to heal him, too?”

Jesus immediately takes Heresh away from the crowds to avoid all the commotion. Heresh can focus Jesus and Jesus can focus on Heresh.

Since Heresh can’t hear, Jesus does some visual actions to convey what he is about to do. He puts his fingers into Heresh’s ears as if to say, “I’m going to fix what’s wrong with your ears.” He spits and touches Heresh’s tongue. “I’m going to fix that, as well.”

Heresh wonders why Jesus is using spittle. But, he thinks, that if his mom could use her spittle to wash his childhood face when it became dirty, then surely the spittle of the Son of God can fix his tied tongue.

Jesus looks up to heaven to communicate from where this blessing is coming. He prays: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).

Then Jesus sighs. Jesus is moved with emotion as he deals with the damage that sin has done to one of his children.

Now Jesus is ready to commence with the healing. To open Heresh’s closed ears, Jesus speaks a word – a funny-sounding word, “Ephphatha.” It may sound strange to our ears, but it is a powerful word – precisely because the Great Physician proclaims it. “Ephphatha.” It’s an Aramaic word, which is the language that Jesus speaks. “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And when the Son of God speaks, things happen.

The same fingers that formed man out of clay now reform Heresh’s inner ear canal. The same divine power that opened the floodgates to fill the oceans at creation, now opens Heresh’s ears to hear the flooding of sounds both strange and wonderful at the same time. For the first time, he can hear sounds … words … music! He is released from his prison of silence.

Heresh’s name, which means “deaf” doesn’t fit any more. He can hear for the first time in his life! Tears of joy stream down his face.

He starts praising God. And now he is even more amazed! He hears his own voice! His tongue is set free and he speaks … clearly. No learning how to enunciate. No speech impediment. He can hear and speak clearly. When Jesus heals someone, there is full restoration. He never does things half-way. Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “With God's own retribution, he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged” (Isaiah 35:5-6).

Daniel, Joseph, and Benjamin can hear Heresh’s voice calling to them. For the first time! They find their friend and they are hugging and laughing and crying and praising God. They tell everyone they see about Jesus, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” (Mark 7:37)!

At one time or another, all of us are going to have to endure some kind of ailments. It could be knee or back surgery, arthritis or migraines, cataracts or root canals, stroke or heart attack, cancer or dementia. We trust that God has the power to heal us completely. He may do that miraculously or through modern medicine. Or God may heal us partially as we continue to endure the ailment. Or God may not heal us at all, so we learn patience and so others learn from us about perseverance.

However God chooses to deal with us, we trust that he is caring for us individually. He is aware of all things, yet he gives each of us tender, individual care, just as Jesus did with this deaf and mute man. Jesus sighs when he sees what sin and Satan has inflicted upon us. He gives the specific healing that we need at that specific time. Whether we are completely healed, or we still struggle physically, Jesus always deals with us in grace.

St. Paul prayed for God to remove his thorn in the flesh. God allowed the thorn to remain in Paul’s flesh. When God allows our thorn to remain in our flesh, we need to be reminded of the words God spoke to Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

We don’t know if it is Jesus’ will to heal us physically. Thankfully, we know that it is Jesus’ divine will to heal us of our spiritual ailments.

What are those spiritual ailments? Sadly, they are ones that are often self-imposed. We tune out God’s voice so we can live in sin with our boyfriend or girlfriend. We turn a deaf ear to God’s peace so we can walk in the door in the afternoon ready for a family fight. We close our ears to God’s love so our hearts are filled with resentment and revenge.

We turn a blind eye to the beauty of God’s creation so we may complain about whatever piddly annoyance aggravates us. We fail to see God’s overarching will for our lives so we are consumed

with worry and doubt. We are so nearsighted looking only at the trinkets of this world that we miss out on the treasures of the world to come.

We shut up our mouths, so we do not give God the glory he deserves because of our lack of worship. We close our lips, so we do not avail ourselves of God’s almighty power because of our lack of prayer. We are afraid to speak God’s truths to our children, so we don’t share our saving faith with them.

We don’t read our Bibles. We skip worship. We don’t pray with our children. We have no clue what the voice of our Savior really sounds like. We have no idea what God’s holy will for our lives really looks like. We live for ourselves and let the Savior just walk on by.

We have become comfortable with our deafness. We have become complacent in our blindness. Like Jesus warned: We have eyes but fail to see. We have ears but fail to hear (Mark 8:18).

Thank the Lord that this is why Jesus came. Satan has ruined what God made perfect. Sin has twisted the beauty of the human body. Jesus came to fix what Satan has broken. He came to heal what humanity has hurt. He came to save sinners from the damnation they deserve.

“He has done all things well,” the people said when Jesus healed the deaf and mute man. Jesus has done all things well, but the supreme thing he has done well is to rescue, redeem, and reclaim a world of lost, blind, deaf, and dying sinners.

Jesus does the fixing at the cross. All the damage that Satan caused – disease and disability and death – Jesus reverses it. All the people not living right and enjoying their sin – Jesus saves them from it. All the spiritual blindness and deafness that we allow in our daily lives – Jesus heals us from it.

We humans are out of step with God. We disobey God’s will and rebel against our Creator. And everything is messed up – our bodies, our lives, even our souls. You are here today because you know you aren’t perfect. You realize that you need a perfect Savior. You need the Great Physician to heal your physical deficiencies and your spiritual diseases.

And that’s who Jesus is.

Jesus is the perfect Son of God who came down from heaven to be our Savior. He took on our flesh. He came face to face with Satan. He came to put finger to ear and spittle to tongue with the effects of our sin. He lived the perfect life of always having an open ear to the voice of his Father and an open mouth to praise his Lord. Jesus gave that perfection to us. His holiness covers our sinfulness, heals our blind eyes, opens our deaf ears, loosens our mute tongues, and softens our hard hearts.

Jesus went to the cross to finish the job of fixing us. With the scourge marks in his back and the crown of thorns pounded into his skull and the nails in his hands and feet – Jesus saved us. That’s why the sign language for Jesus is no longer five letters. The universal sign language for Jesus is touching the tip of the middle finger into the palm of the other hand and doing the same in reverse. The sign for Jesus is the nails through his palms on the cross.

On the cross, Jesus bore the sins of our selfishness, our laziness, our lack of worship, our disobedience to his holy will, etc. He was the innocent who bore the penalty for the guilty. Jesus became our Substitute and our Savior. He spoke his own “Ephphatha” at his tomb and opened the grave so he could walk out.

Our physical ailments may continue to plague us and even kill us. But our spiritual ailments have been covered, forgiven, and eternally healed through faith in the Great Physician of body and soul.

Ephphatha. Jesus has slammed shut the doors of hell and opened wide the gates of heaven.

Ephaphatha. Jesus will open your grave on the Last Day.

Ephaphatha. Jesus has opened your heart to him through Baptism and his holy Word. Now you can believe. Now you can hear. Now you can speak. Your ears have been opened to hear the voice of the Lord. Your tongue has been loosened to praise your Savior for what he has done for you. Your heart has been healed. Your soul has been saved.

But my once broken but now healed brothers and sisters in Christ, the best is yet to come. Because of Jesus you will soon see the glories of heaven. You will hear the praise of the angels. You will sing the song of the saints.

Ephphatha. Amen.

He who has an ear, let him hear (Mark 4:23). Amen.

Rotten on the Inside by Pastor Klusmeyer

Rotten on the Inside

A few years ago, I was cutting down a large oak tree near my parent's house. From the outside, this tree looked perfectly healthy. I went through my normal cutting procedure: I made my notch on the side I wanted the tree to fall. However, as I started making my cut to drop the tree in a controlled fashion the tree suddenly and unexpectedly began to topple. What I didn’t know when I started cutting this tree was that even though it looked healthy on the outside, it was rotten on the inside. We know how true this can be in our lives. Things can look good and wonderful from the outside, but they are rotten on the inside. Appearances can be deceiving. Think of examples where from the outside it seems that someone is living an upright and virtuous life, but in reality, they’re concealing a host of sins: a police officer who’s convicted of falsifying evidence or a pastor who’s caught embezzling from the church.

When we hear about situations like this we are greatly offended. We instinctively dislike people who claim to be one thing but are really something else. This is one of the reasons that we dislike the Pharisees so much. They appeared to be pure and holy from the outside, but they were rotten on the inside. The Pharisees serve as a powerful warning of how easy it is for Christians to become inwardly focused. Instead of completely relying on Christ, we foolishly think we can add to our salvation. We quickly forget that all our good works are tainted by sin. We can do nothing to contribute to our salvation. We must be reminded daily that we are not good people; we are sinners. And it is only because of our God’s great love and mercy that we have been washed and purified in the blood of our Savior.

Our Gospel lesson begins with some of the scribes and Pharisees making the journey to Galilee to confront Jesus. As they were watching his disciples, the Pharisees noticed that the disciples were not washing their hands before eating. Now to a modern reader washing your hands seems like something perfectly good and reasonable. It’s good to wash your hands before eating to remove germs and dirt. But this isn’t the kind of hand washing that Pharisees were obsessed with. In the laws that God had given to Israel through Moses, he had declared that many things could make a person ceremonially unclean. Over the centuries the religious leaders of Israel had added to God’s law. They thought that keeping God’s law was good, but if they could keep all these additional requirements that would be even better. They foolishly thought that slavish obedience to these manmade traditions could earn them salvation and they harshly judged anyone who failed to live up to their standards of purity and holiness.

Jesus knew the hearts of the Pharisees. He understood that even though they looked pure and clean on the outside they were rotten on the inside. They did not believe they needed God to get into heaven because they could earn salvation on their own. They were skilled at following the outward requirements of God’s law, but their hearts were not in it. They kept God’s law to show how they were better than others and purer than everyone else. This is why Jesus says, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written: These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching human rules as if they were doctrines.” Jesus further explains to the crowd the error of the Pharisees. They did not understand that the purpose of God’s law is to show us our sins, not give us a blueprint for earning heaven. The law exposes the evil inside of us and reminds us how filthy our sins make us in the eyes of God. Jesus said, “What comes out of a man, that is what makes a man unclean. In fact, from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual sins, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and make a person unclean.”

As Christians, we understand this. We know our sins and our desperate need for a Savior. However, we also know that Satan is constantly seeking to undermine the message of the Gospel. It is very easy for us to fall into the same trap as the Pharisees. We like to think that we are better than we are. We don’t like facing the hard truth that we are by nature rotten on the inside. As we compare ourselves to the list of sins that Jesus talks about, we realize that we are guilty. We have failed to keep God’s law perfectly. And yet what do we so often do? We make excuses to try and justify ourselves. We blame others for the sins that we have committed. Or we draw comparisons between ourselves and others. We are willing to admit that we are a little rotten, but others

are far worse. We foolishly think that God will compare us with others instead of judging us for our own sins. This makes a mockery of how serious all sins including our sins are in the eyes of God.

Or maybe we have the opposite problem. Our sins are always on our minds. We carry around our guilt and shame every day. We want God to see how very sorry we are because we think that this will make God love us more. We think that carrying our burden of guilt will somehow make up for the evil that we have done. Or when we manage to keep from sinning, we want God to see what a good job we have done. But what are these things? They are simply other forms of works of righteousness. When we carry around that burden of guilt, we are making a mockery of the cross. We are saying that Jesus didn’t do everything on the cross and that we need to do something extra to ensure our forgiveness. This is the same trap the Pharisees fell into.

Dear friends, we can do absolutely nothing to add to our salvation because even our best good works are tainted by sin. We can do nothing to make ourselves clean. But this is the amazing message of the Gospel. We do not need to make ourselves clean because we have been washed and purified through the waters of baptism. Through baptism, we are connected to the death and resurrection of Christ. On the cross, our perfect and holy Savior took all our sin and guilt on himself. He offered his perfect life as a sacrifice to make full and complete payment for all our sins. We have been washed and purified by the blood of the Lamb. Through the waters of baptism, we have been made a new creation that is no longer rotten on the inside, but pure and holy. This amazing gift of forgiveness is ours by faith, not by works.

The Apostle Paul illustrates this great truth in Romans 3 where he writes, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

We have been declared not guilty in the eyes of God. We have been washed and purified by the blood of Christ. We no longer need to carry around a burden of guilt and shame because every sin we have ever or will ever commit has been paid for by the death of Christ. We don’t need to fear the wrath of God because Christ was punished in our place. We have been freed from the burdens of God’s law. We do not need to keep God’s law to be saved which is why Paul says, “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”

If we have been freed from the requirements of the law, why do we still talk about the 10 Commandments? Why does Jesus still encourage us to do good works and live according to God’s holy law? We do this because this is what our God desires. We have been reborn through the waters of baptism to live in service to our God. We are grateful for the many blessings that he has given us and so we want to live according to his will. God’s law serves as a guide for our lives. We see and know his will and desire to live according to it. We do good works because they are good and pleasing to our Father in heaven. We love our neighbor, and we flee from impurity because this is what we have been called to do. Our identity is in Christ Jesus, so we no longer conform to the patterns of this world, but instead live as God has called us to live.

From the outside, the Pharisees looked good, but they we rotten on the inside. By nature, we too are rotten on the inside. But through faith in Christ, we have been reborn. We are no longer unclean, but clean. We have not cleaned ourselves, but instead, we have been made clean by the blood of Christ. We don’t need to worry about doing good works or carrying around a burden of guilt for our sins because our salvation was won on the cross of Christ. We have been freed to live our lives in service to God in thankfulness for all that he has done for us.

Walking or Remaining? by Pastor Zarling

Walking or Remaining?

John 6:51-69 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day. 55For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. 56The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like your fathers ate and died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

59He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60When they heard it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching! Who can listen to it?” 61But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this cause you to stumble in your faith? 62What if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh does not help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning those who would not believe and the one who would betray him. 65He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.” 66After this, many of his disciples turned back and were not walking with him anymore. 67So Jesus asked the Twelve, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

“Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). Amen.

The teenager was a little aloof. He kept people at arm’s length – especially after the fire.

The teen’s neighbor was shooting off fireworks on the Fourth of July, when one of the fireworks landed on the roof of the teen’s house. The house caught on fire and became unlivable.

Thankfully, insurance allowed the family to buy a different home in a different town. But the teen – who already had difficulty making friends – now lost all his childhood friends, his neighborhood, and his church in the move.

The pastor in his new church invited the teen to become involved in their church youth group. Things went well for a while. The teen was beginning to connect with other teens and was making new friends. Until the youth group had a bonfire. The teen became agitated. None of the other youth knew what the problem was. Even though they tried to help, nothing worked. From that moment, the teen and his family little by little pulled away from the youth group and the church and began walking away from Jesus.

Sadly, this is nothing new. There are many Christians who are on the fringe and can easily walk away. Perhaps you know someone who has walked away from Christ and his church. Or maybe you are that person who had walked away for a while … but by God’s grace he has

brought you back to walking with Jesus. Or perhaps you could walk away in the future when something or someone offends you.

You may have noticed that worship attendance in churches is down. Since 2020 faithful church members became less faithful in their worship attendance. Less faithful attendees became even less faithful. Those on the fringe disappeared. The walked away from Christ and his church. They are gone.

Jesus knows this walking away will happen. It happened to him. After Jesus fed the five thousand, the people wanted more bread from Jesus. So, Jesus used this desire for bread to teach how he is the Bread of Life. Anyone who eats of him will live eternally. Jesus taught, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51).

The people understood that Jesus was not really teaching cannibalism when he talked about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Jesus taught, “The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him” (John 6:54-56). The people knew that eating Jesus as the Bread of Life equated to believing in him.

Flesh and blood go together. This is a way of describing the whole human being. Jesus is referring to accepting his human person as the person of the Messiah. With all this talk of being the Bread of Life, eating his flesh and drinking his blood to receive eternal life, Jesus is making a claim on people’s lives as their Lord.

And that’s where they had their problem. Many of these people are part of Jesus’ larger group of disciples. These disciples were willing to go to school and be students of their rabbi. But they stopped following Jesus when he claimed to be more than a rabbi and be their Lord.

John writes, “When they heard it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching! Who can listen to it’” (John 6:60)? This teaching was offensive to them. Like your teenagers with their geometry, they grumbled, “This is too hard!”

Like a teacher who can see everything going on in his classroom, Jesus can see his students grumbling with each other in the Capernaum synagogue. Jesus asks them, “Does this cause you to stumble in your faith” (John 6:61)? The Greek for “stumble” is our English word “scandal.” This teaching tripped them up. They stumbled over it. They were trapped by it. This teaching of Jesus as the crucified Christ and also the Lord of life is the dividing line for all humanity. We either believe it or reject it. Follow or walk away. Let Jesus be Lord or make ourselves little lords.

People still walk away from Jesus. People can be upset about the style of worship, the time of worship, and even the temperature of worship. In 20 years as pastor in Racine, I’ve had as many conversations about certain doctrines of the Bible as I’ve had about the thermostat.

Sadly, there is always something that we sinners will find to become upset with in the church, the pastor, or the people. We use that something as an excuse to grumble, become offended, and

walk away from Christ and his church. Whatever it is, we feel that others aren’t listening to us. We desire to be little lords.

Satan will use any excuse to tempt us to walk away as soon as our church is not scratching the itch we feel.

The itch we feel ultimately is that we don’t want to accept Jesus as Lord. We can become upset with him when we are enduring an illness or struggling in this economy or grieving a family member’s death or really anything else where we feel like Jesus should be listening to us. We can also become offended by one of Jesus’ hard teachings like the roles of men and women or the doctrine of fellowship or the necessity of forgiving even our enemies. We grumble and walk away because we want to be little lords. We don’t want to accept Jesus as Lord. Because as Lord, he is going to make a claim on our lives.

Jesus knows his larger group of disciples are grumbling as he concludes this discourse on the Bread of Life. He finishes his sermon with this point: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:63-64). John comments, “Jesus knew from the beginning those who would not believe and the one who would betray him” (John 6:64).

John adds, “After this, many of his disciples turned back and were not walking with him anymore” (John 6:66). Jesus knows many of his disciples will stop believing and walk away from him. He knows Judas will betray him. So, what does Jesus do? Well, I’ll tell you what he does not do. He doesn’t soften his message. He doesn’t make his teachings less hard. He doesn’t give the people what they want to hear. He gives them what they need to hear. He doesn’t feed their sinful nature’s sweet tooth. He wishes to feed their spiritual soul with the Bread of Life.

Jesus keeps preaching. He keeps teaching. This is where we see our Savior’s love. He knows many of these disciples will walk away … but he keeps preaching. He knows Judas will betray him … but he keeps calling him to repentance for the whole next year.

Jesus knows many of us will become offended, upset, on the fringe at some time in our lives. There will be some excuse we will use to walk away from Christ and his church. What does Jesus do to keep you here and connected to him? Here is Jesus’ great love for you. Jesus keeps doing the same thing he did to bring you here and bring you to faith. He keeps feeding you the Bread of Life.

The Bread of Life you hear and believe in the Scripture readings, sermon, and hymns.

The Water of Life you received and remember in your Baptism.

The flesh and blood of Jesus for you to eat and to drink in the Sacrament of the Altar for forgiveness now and eternal life later.

Jesus descended from heaven to earth to be laid in a manger. He walked and taught during his ministry. He was raised up on the cross and laid in the tomb. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. He did all this so those who believe in him can rise from the dead and ascend to be with him in eternal life.

Jesus challenged the remaining twelve disciples, “You do not want to leave too, do you” (John 6:67)? Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).

I pray that you respond to Jesus by remaining with him. Where else are you going to go? Jesus alone has the words of eternal life.

Respond like the Old Testament Israelites did to Joshua’s challenge. Joshua asked the Israelites at Shechem, “Choose for yourselves today whomever you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household—we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15)! The people responded, “We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God” (Joshua 24:18)!

Dads, you are the head of the household. You take the lead and, Lord willing, your children will follow. You cannot lead only by talking. You must also lead by doing. Present a good example. Let your children see you casting away the idols of the world and serving the Lord in all faithfulness. Joshua was the leader, hoping that Israel would follow his lead.

Mothers, you are following your husband with your children. Allow him to lead. Nurture your children in their faith. They see dad leading. They see you trusting his leadership. They are going with you following where their father is going.

I pray all of you respond and remain with the Lord. Even if you must stand in a small group, that’s OK. You are standing in good company with Joshua, the Israelites, and the Twelve.

There will be times we will end up on the fringe. Or times when other Christian we know are on the fringe. We are all in danger of being offended and walking away from Christ and his church. The devil will tempt us with the false gods of our culture and the sugary sweet tastes of our world. Like God’s Old Testament disciples of the Israelites and Jesus’ New Testament disciples of the Twelve, you have a choice to make. Will you be offended, grumble, and walk away to be your own little lords? Or will you continue to follow Jesus as Lord and remain? Amen.

“But as for me and my household—we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15)! Amen.

Drawn to Christ by Pastor Klusmeyer

Drawn to Christ

What is the hungriest you have ever been? Maybe you’ve had to miss a meal or two because of a busy schedule. I once had to go four days without eating because of a medical issue. During that time, I couldn’t stop thinking about food. In our current age, we are blessed with an abundance of food. We can go to the grocery store and buy pretty much anything we want to eat. We can even pick up our phones and have food delivered right to our doors. Imagine not having that blessing. Imagine living in a world where you don’t know where your next meal will come from. Imagine that a change in the weather can mean that your family is going to starve. Imagine how important the idea of bread becomes to those who are starving.

The people who saw and heard about Jesus performing the miraculous miracle of multiplying bread wanted him to continue providing bread for them. They understood physical hunger. They saw Jesus as a never-ending food supply, but he wanted to give them something better. He wanted to give them himself; the Bread of Life which would give them eternal life. We too understand physical hunger, but we don’t always understand spiritual hunger. By nature, we want to satisfy our spiritual needs on our own by earning our way into God’s favor. As Paul tells us in our reading from 1 Corinthians the truths of the Spirit are foolishness to human reason. It is only by faith when we have been drawn to Christ by the Father that we can understand the truths of salvation.

The message of salvation simply does not make sense to our limited human reason; instead, it offends our reason. When the crowd heard Jesus say that he is the Bread that comes down from heaven they began to grumble against him. Their reason could not accept what he was saying. First, they could not accept that this man they knew from Nazareth was claiming to be from heaven. They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? So how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” And secondly, they could not understand how this same man was claiming to be God. When Moses was at the burning bush, he asked God what name he should use to refer to the God who sent him to the Israelites. God responded that his name was I AM. When the people in the crowd heard Jesus say, “I am the Bread of Life that came down from heaven,” they knew that he was claiming to be God. They simply could not accept that this man standing in front of them was God.

The world struggles with this truth as well. Think of how foolish the incarnation sounds to worldly wisdom. Jesus Christ true God from eternity set aside the full use of his divine power and glory for a time to be born as a helpless infant. God then lived a life of poverty and humility on this earth and then willingly suffered and died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world. All this he did to purchase and redeem those who are by nature his enemies. Think of how foolish it is to picture God hanging in humiliation and dying on a cross. But this is the central truth of the Gospel. This is the profound spiritual truth that Luther restored to the church. On the slide, this morning is a picture of part of the altarpiece in the town church of Wittenberg. Luther from his pulpit is pointing to Christ dying on the cross because this is the center of Christian faith.

This message of the Gospel sounds like complete foolishness to the world. This is not how we would expect an all-powerful God to act. The world would expect the Son of God to come to this world with majesty and glory, not be born in the lowliness of a manager. The world would expect the Son of God to smite his enemies and rule this world with power and authority, not allow himself to be beaten, humiliated, and tortured. And the world would certainly not expect the Son of God to die. Just think how rare it is for someone to willingly die to save someone they love. Christ died to save those who are by nature his enemies. But this is exactly what Christ did for us. He did not come to this world to rule but to do the will of the Father. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me, but raise them up on the Last Day. For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the Last Day.”

Our God is just and holy. He cannot leave sin unpunished. But our God is also merciful and gracious. 2 Peter 2:9 reminds us, “The Lord is not slow to do what he promised, as some consider slowness. Instead, he is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.” God’s will was to send his one and only Son to this world to suffer and die for the sins of all people. On the cross, Jesus made full

and complete payment for all of our sins. But this too is a truth of Scripture that we struggle with. Our foolish human reason insists that we must do something to earn the forgiveness of God. We don’t like hearing the truth that by nature we are born dead in our trespasses and sins and can do nothing to save ourselves. This is why Luther wrote in his explanation of the Third Article, “I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”

Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” It is God working through the gospel and the Holy Spirit who creates faith in our hearts. We do nothing to earn this salvation. We need Jesus to be our substitute. In John 6 Jesus tells us that he has seen the Father. The OT reminds us again and again that sinful humans cannot stand before the presence of God and to see the face of God is death. Because of our sins, we cannot stand in the presence of God. Christ alone is perfect and can see the face of God. Christ offered his perfect life as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of the world. By his death, we have been washed and cleansed in his holy blood. His perfection and righteousness cover our sins. Because of this, we can now stand in the presence of God. We are no longer objects of God’s wrath but are saints clothed in the perfection of Christ.

Jesus wants us to have this gift of salvation. He invites us again and again to eat the Bread of Life which gives life and salvation. He wants to draw us to himself through the proclamation of the gospel. We cannot earn heaven on our own. It is only by eating the Bread of Life that is Christ that we have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Jesus emphasizes this point 5 different times in this section of John. He tells us that eternal life is found in him alone. By his death Christ paid for our sins and by his resurrection from the dead he destroyed the power of death and hell. All those who the Father has drawn to Christ have the amazing gift of eternal life.

The wisdom of the world rejects the message of the Gospel as pure foolishness. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. In fact, it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nothing. Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Jewish law? Where is the probing thinker of the present age? Has God not shown that the wisdom of this world is foolish? Indeed, since the world through its wisdom did not know God, God in his wisdom decided to save those who believe, through the foolishness of the preached message. Yes, Jews ask for signs, Greeks desire wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified—which is offensive to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. We preach Christ crucified, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” We boldly proclaim the message of Christ crucified. Our Savior looks foolish to the world as he hangs in shame on the cross, yet we know that it was on the cross that he won our salvation. This is the message that draws people to Christ. This is the message that offers forgiveness of sins, and this is the message that gives eternal life to all who eat the Bread of Life. Amen.

Hungry by Pastor Zarling

Hungry

John 6:24–35 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26Jesus answered them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27Do not continue to work for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” 28So they said to him, “What should we do to carry out the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent.”

30Then they asked him, “So what miraculous sign are you going to do, that we may see it and believe you? What miraculous sign are you going to perform? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the real bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34“Sir,” they said to him, “give us this bread all the time!” 35“I am the Bread of Life,” Jesus told them. “The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

They all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them—and that rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:3). Amen.

The family was in New Orleans for the day. They came hungry. They were ready to eat.

They began with a breakfast of beignets at Café du Monde. A beignet is a square piece of dough that is fried and covered with powdered sugar. Not healthy. But delicious. And addicting.

For lunch the family stopped at the French Market. They shared plates of Alligator Po Boy, Seafood Gumbo, and Grilled Catfish. For dessert they had Po Boy Ice Cream Sandwiches. On the way back to their rental home, they stopped at Whataburger.

They weren’t hungry anymore.

The people following Jesus were hungry. Earlier in John 6 crowds follow Jesus into a remote area. It’s dinner time and no one has any food except for a young boy whose mom packed his lunchbox with fish and bread. Jesus used that boy’s dinner to provide fish sandwiches for dinner for over 5000 people.

After the people went home with full bellies, Jesus sends his disciples across the Sea of Gailee. They are caught in a terrible storm, Jesus walks on water, climbs into the boat, calms the storm, and brings the boat to safety on the other side of the lake.

The day after the feeding of the 5000, the people can’t find Jesus. So, they get in their boats to create a search party. When they finally find Jesus, they are tired and frustrated and a little cranky. You can hear the edge in their voices, “Rabbi, when did you get here” (John 6:25)?

They are hungry. They want more of what they had the previous day. Jesus answers them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26). Jesus knows they are hungry. But they are hungry for the wrong food. They want fast food. Not heavenly food. The crowds think that they can speak into the intercom, place their order for more fish and bread, and their stomachs will be full again for another day. But Jesus insists that he is no bread king. He is no Burger King.

The people are hungry. They know Jesus has something they want, though they are not real clear on what it is. Jesus doesn’t turn them away. He turns their attention away from what they want to what they need. He offers them himself. He says, “Do not continue to work for the food that spoils, but for

the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval” (John 6:27)

We really are not all that different from the people searching for Jesus in Capernaum. We are hungry, too. The Lord gives us physical gifts like “clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals and all I have.” They are great blessings of providence – just like God providing manna and quail in the desert or Jesus providing enough food to feed over 5000 hungry travelers. God provides us all these good gifts … and then we make them into idols because we believe the lack of them is death … and the possession of them is life.

In the movie The Lion King, the lion named Scar wants to usurp the throne, and he’s recruiting the hyenas to be his henchmen. His sales pitch? “Stick with me, and you’ll never go hungry again!” That sounds pretty human, doesn’t it?

We are so easily focused on the things of this world, thinking that if we could satisfy earthly longings, that we could then be content: “If only I had more money in my retirement account, then I could be happy.” “If only I had a different job, then I could be happy.” “If only I could get that new car, house, clothes, shoes, furniture, phone, then I would be satisfied.” But it never works.

We fill up our eyes with things that appear good to our flesh. But our eyes ignore what is godly for our soul.

We fill up our ears with the words and music of the world. But our ears are muted to the words and music of the spiritual world.

We fill up our bellies with regular meals and snacks. But our soul is often starved of the Bread of Life.

We fill up our time with education and entertainment, activities and athletics. But we leave little time to be educated and entertained by our Lord and his Word.

We fill up our days with work. But we are so tired with physical labor that we have no energy left to labor and work for our Lord.

Our natural appetites have a sweet tooth for the devil’s sugar and are turned off by the Living Bread from heaven. But that’s what happens when we have Adam and Eve’s taste for forbidden fruit. God’s food starts to taste bland, dull, and boring.

We spiritually starve ourselves for weeks by not sitting down to eat in the House of the Lord. We want quick and easy meals for the body. Sitting down to eat a seven-course meal for the soul with confession, absolution, liturgy, Scripture lessons, sermon, hymns, and benediction seems to take way too long.

What the body wants the body usually gets because we allow God’s physical blessings to become our stomach’s idols. Jesus wants to replace our idols with himself as the true God of heaven and earth. That’s the connection he makes when he says, “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). This is the first of Jesus’ “I am” statements in the Gospels. He is reminding the people of when Moses was on Mt. Sinai, and he saw the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush. Moses asked the Lord, “Who should I say sent me?” The Lord replied, “I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:13, 14). Every time Jesus says, “I am,” he is connecting himself to the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush. He is more than a rabbi or teacher. He is the eternal, all-powerful Lord.

The eating we’ve been working for, the bread we’ve been chasing after, doesn’t give life. None of these bear the seal of the Father (John 6:27)! None of these shoulder the burden of guilt, the weight of glory, nor the hope of everlasting life. As long as we continue to scarf down the wrong kind of bread, we will continue to slowly starve ourselves to death. There is only one Bread that offers and delivers life.

Jesus declares, “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Some people stay away from bread because they are trying to cut carbs. I tried cutting back on bread once. I lasted one whole meal. I know sandwiches are Pastor Klusmeyer’s favorite food. Bread is essential. It can meet any need. So can Jesus.

Not only is Jesus the great I Am. He is also the Word made flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelled among us” (John 1:1, 14). Jesus is the Word that fills you up when you are hungry.

When you are afraid, you read, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me. From all my terrors he delivered me” (Psalm 34:4).

When you are anxious, God reminds you, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

When you are hurting, depressed or lonely, you pray, “Do not forsake me, O Lord. My God, do not be far from me. Hurry to help me, O Lord, my salvation” (Psalm 38:21, 22).

When you are tempted, you are told, “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Jesus says the reason God gave the Israelites manna in the desert was to nourish their bodies (John 6:31-33). But it was also to draw the people to trust that God would provide enough food for each household for each day (unless it was a Sabbath). The manna was given to sustain them body and soul, to strengthen faith, and point them to God (Exodus 16:15-31).

And so it was with Jesus and the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus provided this meal for the people not just to fill their bellies, but to point them to himself. That he is God in the flesh. That he is the One who has come to satisfy our greatest need – our need for forgiveness to overcome our sinful desires; our need for life to overcome death; our need for salvation to re-establish our fellowship with God. For that is the hunger we can never satisfy – only Jesus can. Only he who came for us, to be the Bread of Life.

That is true whether you are in the wilderness or by the lake or outside for worship; whether you have much or little; whether struggling or secure. There is only One who has what you need. Only One who can satisfy your hunger and fill you with good things. Only One who can purge death from you and grant you life eternal.

He is the One who has come down from heaven to do the work we could never do in defeating sin, death, and the devil. He is the Bread of Life baked in the fiery furnace of God’s wrath against sin. Like manna laying on the ground, so the Bread of Life was laid within the ground for three days. Now risen from the ground and death, he is the Bread of Life that is preached from our pulpits, taught in our classrooms, and laid upon our altars.

We don’t have any problems praying for the obvious needs of our stomachs. We are always hungering for something. Earthly problems are a concern. Earthly emergencies demand attention. Earthly conflicts need solutions. We must confess that the needs of our heart are not as pressing. That’s why we need to hear Jesus’ message on the Bread of Life today and for the next two Sundays. We need what the Bread of Life offers us – a stronger faith, the peace of forgiveness, the strength to overcome temptation.

Our prayer life is a good indicator of what is more important – our stomach or our heart.

Notice what Jesus does. He answers your prayers to fill your stomach with daily bread. But then he gives you so much more to meet the needs of your heart. He gives you his Word to refresh you. He gives you his forgiveness to renew you. He gives you his Spirit to regenerate you.

Still, we struggle. Our stomach is powerful. It controls our decisions, and it makes countless demands. Yet, your heart strengthened by the Lord is more powerful. It leads you to make God-pleasing decisions and helps you to recognize what is really important and what you really need.

What is really important and what we really need most is food for our souls. We need to know that our sins are removed and that we are at peace with God. We need to know where we are going when we leave this world. We need to have an answer to guilt and a purpose in life.

And in Jesus, we get all those things. Jesus paid for our sins and washed our guilt away. Jesus opened the gates of heaven for us. We are given purpose in life in loving and serving Jesus.

So, do you never want to be hungry again? Then feast! Feast on God’s Word, feast on the good-news message of Jesus, your Savior. And you will never go hungry again. Amen.

Jesus told them, “I am the Bread of Life. The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). Amen.

Don’t Be Afraid by Pastor Klusmeyer

Don’t Be Afraid

Fear is an incredibly powerful emotion. People are afraid of all sorts of different things according to the internet there are more the 500 specifically named fears. Some of these are ridiculous like triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13, and phobophobia, the fear of being afraid of things. And some are completely rational like the fear of snakes (I say rational because I’m afraid of snakes and there’s only one animal that God specifically cursed). Sometimes fear is a good thing, for example, a fear of high places keeps us from getting hurt. Other times fear is a bad thing because it demonstrates a lack of trust in the promises of God. We don’t believe that God is going to provide for our daily needs. We don’t believe that God is going to work all things out for our good. We don’t believe that we are saved by grace alone, surely, we need to do something to earn forgiveness. At its core, this kind of fear is a lack of faith. The solution to this kind of fear is not to find courage in ourselves but to put our trust in Christ our Savior whose Word is so powerful that it accomplishes in and for us the impossible, even courage in the most impossible circumstances.

Our gospel lesson this morning gives us two examples that show how fear often is a lack of trust in the promises of God. The first happens immediately. Jesus had just miraculously fed this large crowd. The people were so impressed with this miracle that they wanted to make Jesus their king. John tells us in his Gospel, “When the people saw the miraculous sign Jesus did, they said, ‘This really is the Prophet who is coming into the world.’ When Jesus realized that they intended to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” The people did this because they were afraid. They were afraid of the Romans. They feared that their nation, culture, and very way of life were being destroyed. They knew God had promised he would send a Savior who would rescue them, but they wondered where God was. Why wasn’t he keeping his promises?

When they saw the power of Jesus displayed in this amazing miracle they decided to take matters into their own hands. They were not satisfied with the Messiah God had sent so they wanted to force Jesus to be king. They didn’t trust God’s promises. They didn’t understand that God had sent Jesus to destroy an enemy far more powerful than any earthly empire. They wanted someone to save them from the Romans, but God had sent Jesus to save all people from the power of death and hell.

In a way, we can sympathize with the crowd by the Sea of Galilee. We see our Christian values and morals under constant attack by a world that is hostile to God’s Word. We may be tempted to wonder where God is. Where is the God of the Old Testament who rained down fire and brimstone on his enemies? Where is the God who promised to rule over all things for the good of his church? Why isn’t God keeping his promises?! It’s so easy for us to get caught up in things that we can see and measure. We want God to act in big and exciting ways. But that’s not how God grows his kingdom. God is keeping his promises, and his kingdom is ever-growing. He grows his church by things that seem so simple and ordinary that we sometimes take them for granted. He grows his kingdom through the simple, ordinary act of one person sharing the love of Jesus with another. He grows his kingdom by the simple yet amazing act of sprinkling ordinary water on the head of a child. He gives his forgiveness through ordinary yet amazing means of a morsel of bread and a sip of wine that is also miraculously the body and blood of our Savior. We don’t need to be afraid of the raging of the world against the church of God because our enemies have already been defeated.

This is the blessed comfort we have. This is the reason that we don’t have to be afraid of the world. On the cross, our Savior crushed the head of Satan. He removed Satan’s power over us by paying for our sins with his holy precious blood. When Christ burst forth from the tomb on Easter morning he destroyed the power of sin, death, and hell once and for all. Our victory over the world is complete. The nations may plot and rage against us, but they are powerless before our Almighty God. This is the comfort we hear in our Psalm for this morning, “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who can always be found in times of trouble. That is why we will not fear when the earth dissolves and when the mountains tumble into the heart of the sea. Its waters roar and foam. The mountains quake when it rises. The LORD of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is a fortress for us.”

The second example of fear happens with the disciples. As they were making their way across the Sea of Galilee a sudden storm broke out. The disciples were struggling and straining at the oars just trying to keep the

boat from being overwhelmed. Imagine being in a small boat struggling for hours against the wind and the waves. The disciples were already exhausted. This day began by trying to get away from the crowds, then feeding and ministering to a group of more than 5,000 people. Now they were in a boat struggling for their very lives against the wind and the waves. They must have been asking each other, “Where is Jesus? Why isn’t he here to help us?”

I think we sometimes feel this way as well. We are battered and tossed by the storms of life. We feel exhausted as we face one struggle after another. We feel like we are straining at an oar, but for every stroke forward we go three strokes back. We wonder where God is. We wonder why a loving God would pile one more thing on top of us. Why would God take a loved one away from us? Why would a loving God give me this disease? Where is God when I need to pay these bills? We feel frightened and angry because we don’t trust that God is keeping his promises. Like the disciples, we feel like we are doing everything we can just to stay afloat, and we’re doing it all alone.

But what the disciples had forgotten, and what we often forget is that we are never alone. Our God is faithful, and our God always keeps his promises. Suddenly in the dark and gloom, a figure appears walking on the water! The disciples were terrified probably thinking this meant that they were about to die. But out of the darkness comes the well-known voice of their friend and teacher, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Jesus was not simply speaking empty platitudes to his disciples. He was showing his disciples that he was true God. His Words had power! As Christ stepped into the boat suddenly the wind and the waves became still. The disciples did not understand that the power that multiplied a plate of bread and fish into a meal for the multitudes was the same power that now saved them from the raging storm.

When we face the storms of life we can be tempted to doubt the power of God as well. Christ’s Words remind us that we don’t need to be afraid. Christ’s Words remind us that God is always with us and is always watching over us. We know our God is faithful because he has kept every promise including the great promise to send his Son to destroy the power of the Devil. The same Jesus who was able to walk on water and calm the power of the storm was the same Jesus who willingly allowed himself to be arrested, to be humiliated, and to be nailed to a cross. Christ willingly allowed himself to be tortured and crucified because of his great love for you. He wanted you to be part of his kingdom. He knew that there was nothing that you could do to save yourself, so he offered himself in your place. Christ wanted to cover you with his blood so that you could stand pure and holy before the throne of God.

There will be times that we feel like we are all alone on a storm-tossed sea. We may be tempted to fear and think that God is not with us. We may even be tempted to think that God has forgotten us. Satan wants us to give in to this temptation. Satan wants us to doubt God’s promises. In those moments we remember the cross of Christ. We remember that God knows each of us by name. That he loved us so much that offered himself as a sacrifice to save us. We remember that we have God who fights for us and who is mighty to save. We remember the strong right arm of our God who drowned Pharaoh in the depths of the sea, who surrounded his prophet Elish with a host of angels, and who crushed the head of our enemy Satan on the cross. Our courage is found in the death and resurrection of Christ, so we cling to his words, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Rom 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.