Sermon Text 2027.08.04 — What do you plan to do?

August 4, 2024               Text:  John 6:22-35

Dear Friends in Christ,

Herman Gockel in his book My Hand In His, shares the story of an elderly man on his deathbed.  His family is by his side.  One of his sons is a Pastor.  It’s a Saturday.  The man tells his son to go home and preach to his congregation the next day.  He tells his son that if he dies while the son is gone, his son will know where to find him.

“You’ll know where to find me.”  Imagine living your faith like that.  Imagine sharing your confidence and reassurance with your loved ones.  Eternal life is what really matters.  Life in this world will finally fail us.  Not the life our Lord gives.  Jesus says in today’s Gospel:  “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.  For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (v. 27)

Are you ready to die?  How often do you think about it?  It is an unavoidable appointment of stepping out of earthly sunshine and activities into  . . . into the what?  Where are you at this morning and . . . 

“WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO?”

We begin with verses 25-26:  “When the found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’  Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.’”

Jesus would have made a lousy politician.  He could have won everybody over by continuing to fill their stomachs or offering the ultimate health care plan or giving everyone a new car and home.  He put the brakes on them running after him just because He had fed them the bread and fish.

Some of us still remember the days when gas station attendants pumped your gas.  I’m not kidding kids!  They might even check your oil and wash your windows.  Remember what they’d ask?  “Fill’er up?”  That’s a look at our society.  Gimme that.  I want.  I deserve.  I intend to have it all my way.  They weren’t seeking Jesus because of the signs; they were crowding him because he filled their bellies.  What do we do with what we are observing?

Jesus goes on to say, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.  For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (v. 27)

What do want to get out of this world?  Do you have hopes and dreams or are you just surviving?  Do you want happiness?  Ah, yes.  Except you can’t except for some moments.  Don’t we smirk and say, “they can’t be that happy all the time.”  Can they?

Let’s check Scripture on this one.  Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation.” (Jn. 16:33b)  The Apostle John wrote, “Do not love the world or the things of the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)

Put them together and what do you expect?  Where are your expectations taking you in your walk with the Lord.

Jesus said earlier to “work…for the food that endures to eternal life.”  This gets the people wondering so they ask the question, “what must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (v. 28)  Jesus gives a simple and beautiful answer, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (v. 29)

“Believe in him. . .”  Jesus.  Everything comes back to this for God’s people.  The issue of this life is the Life given us in Christ.  It’s the daily comfort of forgiveness.  It’s the minute-by-minute presence in our tribulations.  It’s the joy of living because we know that heaven is our home.  It’s his Word that speaks to us in our daily trials and joys.  It is not just having our fill in our bellies but the strength of a Sacrament that fills our spiritual tanks.

James S Hewett writes, “Russian author Leo Tolstoy tells the story of a rich man who was never satisfied.  He always wanted more.  He heard of a wonderful chance for more land.  For a 1,000 rubles he could have all that he could walk around in a day.  But he had to make it back to the starting point by sundown or he would lose it all.

“He got up early and starting walking.  He walked on and on thinking he could get just a little more land.  But he went so far that now he would have to run to get back by sundown.  He saw the starting line, exerted his last energies, crossed the finish line, fell to the ground, and collapsed.  Blood streamed from his mouth, and he lay dead.  His servant took a spade and dug a grave.  He made it just long enough and wide enough and buried him.

“The title of Tolstoy’s story is ‘How Much Land Does a Man Need?’  He concludes by saying, ‘Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed.’”

What . . . do . . . we . . . plan to do?

Amen.

Sermon Text 2024.07.28 — the rainbow connection

July 28, 2024           Text:  Genesis 9:8-17

Dear Friends in Christ,

Many of you are familiar with the Irish Rovers hit song “The Unicorn.”  Here is a verse, “Now God seen some sinning and it gave Him pain and He says, ‘Stand back, I’m going to make it rain.’  He says, ‘Hey brother Noah, I’ll tell you what to do, Build me a floating zoo.”

The theme of the song is that all the animals made it into the ark except the unicorns.  The song goes, “Then Noah looked out through the driving rain, Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games, Kicking and splashing while the rain was pouring.”  The ark started moving and the unicorns floated away.  That is why we see no unicorns to this very day.

It is a catchy tune, but I like the message behind it.  The unicorns got distracted with their lives that they missed the ark, which would have saved them.

Does that ever happen to us?  We get caught up in our silly games and the salvation story passes us by.  You don’t think we get distracted?  Let’s focus on the rainbow today.  It is a beautiful symbol of God’s grace.  The world distracts us from that by it being a symbol for the homosexual community since 1978.  Isn’t it ironic that their symbol is one of God’s greatest promises?  With apologies to the Muppets and their 1979 hit let’s delve into . . . 

“THE RAINBOW CONNECTION”

A little science lesson to begin.  A rainbow comes in seven colors and involves refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets.  It is always opposite the sun.  It is a full measure of God’s creative power on display in a sign to remind you of His mercy and love.

What is our connection?  The promise we hear today is not just for the eight people left on earth.  It is for all of mankind forever.  This covenant is between God and His creation.  God is making a promise that all living things will never suffer and be destroyed by the devastation of a global flood again.  God is going to bring about hope and peace.

What are the terms of this covenant?   Rains will still fall.  Floods will still rage and foam in parts of the earth.  Life is still in peril due to this wrath expressed in nature.  But “never again” will waters wipe out all of life.  

In order to provide Noah and his descendants – including us – this covenant, God would provide a sign.  “My bow.”  He chooses a sign that reflects the light and glory of His creation:  the rainbow.  There is the connection.  It connects you and I to God’s promise.  It connects God to the world.  It is breathtaking.  Martin Luther states, “This sign should remind us to give thanks to God.  For as often as the rainbow appears, it preaches to the entire world with a loud voice about the wrath which once moved God to destroy the whole world.  It also gives comfort, that we may have the conviction that God is kindly inclined toward us again and will never again make use of so horrible a punishment.”

We can’t speak of all the continents, but some of us can attest to the rainbow in Europe.  We saw it after a very heavy rain that made it hard to see the road.  But that is how the rainbow works.  It always follows a storm.  Noah leaves the ark, there it is.  We have a downpour and go out on our decks, there it is.  A tornado may move through, we come up from the basement, there it is.  The Lord says, “When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.” (vs. 14-15a)

This is the first mention of clouds in the Bible, but certainly not the last.  There would be some horribly dark times to come.  We have them, don’t we?  We get trapped in our sinful darkness.  We build our own ark for safety, but the demons keep knocking at the door.  There is only one way out – the light of Christ.  His red blood shed on the cross is a sign of hope.  His yellowing skin from the beatings that He takes on our behalf.  The blue of death when He breathes his last.  Then the bright colors of Easter morning that announce that He has risen.  No tomb can hold Him in.  He bursts forth in full majestic color for the world to see.  His rainbow connects to His cross as symbols of His love, grace, mercy. 

Let’s also not miss the water connection.  In flooding, water is a symbol of destruction.  In our baptism that same water is a sign of hope and forgiveness.  But to get to the font we had to be born in sin.  There had to be something to wash away.  We come out of the font or lake or swimming pool or wherever we were baptized as new creations.  Just like Noah and family who left the ark.  The rainbow promise connects us together.

Noah and his family were in the ark for over a year.  Tossed about by the waves.  Probably had some fear and anxiety.  What would they see when they opened that door?  How different would the world look?  They saw light.  They saw a rainbow.  Something so beautiful that the whole of creation should never forget how great is the God of creation.

It is the same today.  We can look to the clouds, and we receive the same comfort.  Our rainbow connection says that God loves us and holds us dear.  He sent His Son Jesus to fulfill the terms of this everlasting covenant. 

Amen.