Devotion: God's Answer to Our Grumbling (Exodus 16:2-15)

Audio file of "God's Answer to Our Grumbling"

² In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.  ³ The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."  ⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.  ⁵ On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days."  ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt,  ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?"  ⁸ Moses also said, "You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD."  ⁹ Then Moses told Aaron, "Say to the entire Israelite community, 'Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.'"  ¹⁰ While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.  ¹¹ The LORD said to Moses,  ¹² "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'"  ¹³ That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  ¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.  ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.

Exodus 16:2-15  

After God had delivered the Israelites from slavery and suffering in Egypt, the newly freed slaves celebrated God’s amazing gifts of freedom, prosperity, and a bright future by grumbling.  They were grumbling because they were out in the desert without any food.  It was apparent to them that the wilderness in which they were camped didn’t have nearly enough life in it for them to be fed.  Even though God had assured them that He would take care of them, they were overcome by their situation and grumbled against God.  They even said that they were better off as slaves being taken care of by the Egyptians than as free people being cared for by God!

The Hebrew word telunna that is translated as “grumbling” or “murmuring” refers to “an act of rebellion, disbelief, and disobedience to duly constituted authority.”  As Moses pointed out to the Israelites, they were not grumbling against him (or Aaron), but against God.  Their grumbling was their way of telling God that He was not a good giver and provider.   How amazing!  But even more amazing is God’s response to these grumblers: He sent them meat and bread to eat!

Like the Israelites of long ago, we can easily forget the many gifts that God has given to us.  We can look past our blessings of freedom, prosperity, and a bright future and focus on the momentary troubles that annoy us.  When we lock in on the things in our lives that we don’t like, we’re apt to complain to God.  Soon our complaining to God becomes a complaining against God.  We judge Him to be a poor giver and provider.  How amazing!  But even more amazing is His response to us grumblers: He gives us the Bread of Life, His Son Jesus.

God is a good giver and provider — there is none better.  He knows exactly what we need, when we need it, and how much is sufficient for us.  He never fails to provide what He knows is best for each of us.  When we are not satisfied with what God has given us and we grumble against Him, He shows us anew that He is the perfect giver and provider so we are able to rejoice in His goodness and be a blessing to others.

Reflection: Compassion to Gather the Scattered (July 22, 2012)

8th Sunday After Pentecost
Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-44

When Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee with His disciples in search of a quiet place for them to rest, He met a crowd that had raced ahead of them in order to intercept Jesus. While we may have reacted by avoiding the crowd in order to keep to our plan for rest, Jesus engaged the people whom He saw as being like “sheep without a shepherd.” He couldn’t turn them away and He couldn’t flee from them because He had compassion for them.

Jesus’ compassion for the people stands in contrast to his disciples’ attitude toward the crowd that had gathered. As the day grew long they became concerned about the large number of people who needed to eat. But their concern wasn’t as much for the welfare of the people as it was for the burden that these people had become for them. The disciples rightly understood that they had a responsibility for the people whom Jesus was hosting. Recognizing the great cost of meeting that responsibility (they had already calculated an amount before approaching Jesus on the matter), they come to Jesus asking Him to dismiss the people and rid them of their responsibility to feed them. In doing so, the disciples were behaving in much the same way as the spiritual leaders of Israel who ended up “destroying and scattering the sheep” of God’s pasture, driving them away instead of “bestowing care on them” (Jeremiah 23:1-2).

Jesus’ response to the disciples echoes in our time and circumstances. “You give them something to eat” is His call to show compassion to those who are helpless and harassed, the multitudes in our world, nation, and community who have no one to feed them the good food of God’s Word and have looked elsewhere for spiritual nourishment. We were once in that same terrible and hopeless situation. We were far away from Christ and His compassion, but now we have been “brought near through His blood” (Ephesians 2:13). Having been gathered into the Church, the pasture of Christ’s compassion, we are called to gather His scattered sheep and give them good spiritual food to eat. It may cost us eight months’ wages or even more in time, personal sacrifice, or worldly possession, but we gladly pay whatever it costs us to gather the scattered sheep so that they will enjoy the compassion of Christ that has brought us life and peace.

Audio file of the sermon "Compassion to Gather the Scattered"

Reflection: Chosen in Love for Love (July 15, 2012)

7th Sunday after Pentecost
Amos 7:7-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29

Chosen in Love for Love

There aren’t many doctrines of the Christian faith that are more confusing and confounding as the biblical teaching of Election by Grace (also called predestination). This very clear teaching of Scripture leaves no doubt that those who are saved are saved because God chose them to be saved. As much as we may struggle with it, question it, and even hate it, there’s no getting around the reality that God chose whom He chose and that those whom He did not choose cannot come to Him by their own choice. Ephesians 1:5 tells us that “He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.” But this verse leaves off the phrase of the first part of the sentence: “In love.”

How is it that so many people, even Christians, have come to see Election by Grace as portraying God as callous, harsh, or coldhearted? Perhaps it’s because so many people today accept the lie that we are basically good by nature or have the misunderstanding that we have the free will to choose God. When we properly understand that our situation before God chose us was one of hopeless despair and that we had no ability to change it by our choices or our actions, then we can start to see how Election by Grace is an act of love. In love God chose to rescue His elect from the death and everlasting condemnation that we deserved.

The questions that we are inclined to ask when considering this teaching start with “why.” “Why did He save some and not others?” “Why didn’t God save everyone?” “Why me?” Ask as we may, God does not provide answers to our demanding “why” questions. Instead He moves us to ask a question that He is eager to answer for us: “For what reason has God chosen me?” Asking this question shows that we’ve come to terms with Election by Grace and all of the unanswered (and unanswerable) questions that we’ve asked beforehand. It means that we can move beyond our insistence on God explaining Himself to accepting that He has chosen us in love for love. In love He has rescued us from what we deserved and given us more than we could have asked for or imagined. His incredible grace has been given to us “in conformity with the purpose of His will,” which is for us to love others with the love that has been given to us.

Audio file of the sermon "Chosen in Love to Love"

Devotion: Straining at the Oars

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⁴⁵ Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.  ⁴⁶ After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.  ⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land.  ⁴⁸ He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them,  ⁴⁹ but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out,  ⁵⁰ because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."  ⁵¹ Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed,  ⁵² for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.  ⁵³ When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there.  Mark 6:45-56 

Have you ever noticed that whenever a boat is featured in a romance-themed picture or video that the boat is a sailboat not a motorboat?  There’s something intrinsically romantic about a sailboat … until you actually go sailing. 

In biblical times sailing was a matter of necessity not choice.  Long before there were motors, man harnessed the wind to propel boats.  But the wind can be fickle.  Sometimes the wind is too light to propel the boat and the sails are useless.  Other times the wind is too strong and the sails are dangerous.  So ancient boats were outfitted with a back up system: oars.  In today’s Gospel lesson we find Jesus’ disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee in their sailboat.  The wind had grown contrary, so they had taken down the sails and taken out their oars.  Even though they had resorted to rowing the boat, they were battling the wind with little progress.  The wind had developed into a rather severe storm.  In the midst of this storm, Jesus walked across the water to meet them.  As they strained at the oars He called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I AM. Take courage!” Soon He had calmed the storm and they were safely on the shore.  But even on the shore, in many ways the disciples were still "straining at the oars."

We each have our own versions of being caught in the storms of life.  The smooth sailing we’ve enjoyed abruptly ends and things grow contrary.  We struggle with all that we have, but we can’t seem to make any headway.  We are “straining at the oars” without making any positive difference or getting closer to a workable solution.  It’s in the midst of such struggles, when we cannot overcome our circumstances and are at risk of being overwhelmed by them, that Jesus calls out to us, “Don’t be afraid.  I AM.  Take courage!”  He brings us to a shore, a place where we are safe in His love and care.  But once there — even when we are safely on the shore with Jesus — we often continue to "strain at the oars" by our worrying, fearing, and doubting.

One of the aspects of this rescue that is often overshadowed by how Jesus went out to meet His disciples is when He went out to meet them.  Although He saw them straining at the oars before sunset, He waited until the fourth watch of the night (between 3:00 and 6:00 am) to come out to them.  His intentional delay is a great reminder to us that God always times His coming to us perfectly.  The wind and waves of life will only wage against us until we are ready to welcome His intervention.  When we despair of our own efforts to defeat these storms and rely on the One who has crossed over death, we can be certain that He will intervene and bring us safely to the shore of eternal life.

Through the storms of life, He encourages us to put aside our fears and doubts, to have faith and courage, because He has “rooted and established” us in a love that is wider, longer, higher, and deeper than any ocean (Ephesians 3:17-18).  Through His love, we are safely on the shore.  No storm can harm us.  No waves overpower us.  No winds defeat us.  He’s calling us to stop straining at the oars and be secure in His love.

Reflection: Repentance, Rebellion, and Rejoicing (July 8, 2012)

The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Ezekiel 2:1-5; 2 Cor. 12:1-10; Mark 6:1-13

When God called Ezekiel to be His prophet He made it clear that Ezekiel was going to have a difficult and challenging audience for the message he would be sharing. God describes the people to whom He was sending Ezekiel as a “rebellious nation” and as being “obstinate and stubborn.” Compounding the problem of having an unreceptive audience, God gave Ezekiel a message that the target group was certain to object to and likely to reject. Ezekiel was to proclaim to these people who loved to sin and had no use for God a message of repentance.

On the surface, it appears as though God was setting Ezekiel up for failure. God was sending the prophet to a people who were not interested in or receptive to his message. Successful ministry leaders today have found ways around this problem. Carefully analyzing the people whom they are targeting for ministry, they either choose a target group that will be receptive to their message or they craft a message that will be embraced by the target group. By employing these tactics, ministries in our culture have recorded remarkable success — at least in numbers. But what about the groups of people who have been by-passed because they were “obstinate and stubborn”? How will they hear the message of repentance if they are excluded because they are not receptive? Or how will people come to repentance if what is proclaimed to them is a tailor-made, watered down message that they are able to accept as they are? God wasn’t setting Ezekiel up for failure. He was sending him to the people who most needed to hear the message that God had given him.

We might be tempted to follow the modern methods of ministry in order to be successful. By picking and choosing our audience or our message, we might accomplish some impressive things. But that would be rebellion against God’s call. He has set us apart to both live in repentance and to call our dying world to repentance. It’s a message that is often rejected by the “obstinate and stubborn” people who are comfortable in the sins and think they have no use for God. But it is the only message we are called to proclaim and it is precisely the message that they need to hear if they are to leave their rebellious ways, repent, and rejoice in God’s grace and mercy.

Audio file of the sermon "Repentance, Rebellion, and Rejoicing"

Reflection: Though He Brings Grief

The 5th Sunday after Pentecost
Lamentations 3:22-33; 2 Cor. 8:1-9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43

Does God cause suffering in our lives? There are a lot of Christians who would answer this question with an emphatic, “No!” Positive Thinking theology and the prosperity gospel have influenced many, maybe even most, Christians in our culture to think that God only wants us to experience joy, comfort, ease, and success in this world. They declare, “My god would never cause anyone to suffer!” And they are right because the god that they speak of is not the God of the Bible. That God, the true God, clearly says that He does cause suffering.

Why does God cause suffering? God Himself provides the answer when He says, “Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love” (Lam. 3:32). It seems strange to us that God brings us grief (i.e., causes suffering) in order to show us His compassion so that we will know that His love never fails us. While God could (and does) use other ways of teaching us His love, our hardness of heart and slowness to learn make this the best way for us to know what His love means to us. In grief, suffering, and loss we are drawn to God. We despair of our own understanding of things and the thought of having control over our circumstances. After everything and everyone in our lives has failed us, we embrace our God as our only hope. This was certainly the case for Jairus.

Jairus came to Jesus while his daughter lay dying. He knew only Jesus could save her. In response to Jairus’ urgent pleas, Jesus consented to go to the dying girl. Why didn’t Jesus just say the word and heal her from afar? He did so elsewhere, why not in this urgent situation? The answer comes when word that his daughter has died meets Jairus on his way to her side with her Healer. Jesus knew that His delay would result in her death. He brought this terrible grief to Jairus along with a word of hope, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” When faced with such a stark contrast between the facts as we know them and the promise of God’s grace, we stand with Jairus in grief tempted to fear all kinds of things. Our problems loom large, solutions evaporate, and suffering settles in. But then God shows His compassion. His unfailing love breaks through our doubts and fears. He does more than we ask or imagine. He does the impossible. But first He brings grief.

Audio file of the sermon "Though He Brings Grief ..."

Devotion: Expressing the Inexpressible

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2 Corinthians 12:1-10  

¹ I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.  ² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know-- God knows.  ³ And I know that this man-- whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows--  ⁴ was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.  ⁵ I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.  ⁶ Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.  ⁷ To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  ⁹ But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

When God called Paul to be His apostle, He came to him with a complete revelation of His Word.  In an instant God revealed everything to Paul that has been revealed.  In a single encounter Paul learned everything that we can know about God in this life and was given access to things that we will only know about God in the life to come.  Such a vast knowledge of God could have easily led to Paul becoming conceited and boastful.  But along with this revelation God gave Paul a reminder of his weaknesses and of his dependence upon God’s grace.  For the rest of his earthly life, Paul was troubled by this “thorn” … and challenged to share in human language the inexpressible things that he witnessed and knew.

There were many people before Paul who were called by God to proclaim His Word.  They were also challenged with expressing the inexpressible.  Their work as God's spokesmen was difficult and met with resistance and rejection.  God knew that their work would be challenging and that their message would not be well received.  But He wanted people to know His Word of promise, even if they would not take it to heart.  When He called Ezekiel to go to the Israelites and proclaim His Word to them, God told him that they would not listen.  Nonetheless, He sent Ezekiel to tell them that they had been “obstinate and stubborn” and that they had rebelled against God.  Ezekiel's message was a call to repentance to people who loved to sin and had no use for God.  More than an unpopular message, the word that Ezekiel was called to share with the Israelites was inexpressible.  How could he tell them what God had made plain to him?  What human words could convey the truth and power and grace of God?

At one time the whole world was held captive by sin.  We were all "obstinate and stubborn."  We loved to sin and we had no use for God.  Whether we knew it or not, we were tormented by all kinds of “messengers of Satan” and enslaved by the deceptive message of Satan.  Bound by his lies, we were spiritually dead to God.  Knowing that no human words could convey His inexpressible message of love, forgiveness, and new life, God sent His Word in the flesh to live among us in the person of Jesus Christ.  Only He could fully express the inexpressible love and grace and mercy of God.  Sadly, He was turned away by those who were bound by sin and death and unbelief, even in His home town.

The inexpressible love of God has been expressed in your life.  Through God’s Word joined to water, you have been set free from the bondage of sin and death and given a new life in Christ Jesus.  In the inexpressible mystery of His Holy Supper, you are refreshed with His very body and blood.  By the power of His Spirit working through His written Word, you are growing in the wisdom and knowledge of God.  And by that same Spirit you have been empowered to express the inexpressibly good news that, by God's grace expressed in and through Jesus Christ, those who are still captive to sin and death can also be set free by His love.