On the Way to Wonder

7-8 For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle. Without bringing either Apollos or me into it, you’re sitting on top of the world—at least God’s world—and we’re right there, sitting alongside you! (1 Corinthians 4:7-8, The Message)

The phrase that catches my eye in this section of 1 Corinthians 4 in Paul’s summary is amazing.  First he encourages the Corinthians to be united and not to be jealous of each other or form cliques based on who is their favorite evangelist.  We might apply that to our loyalties during this political season and if our allegiances create divisions with our friends.  Then Paul claims that comparing and competing is pointless because we “already have all we need.”  Full stop.  Do you have all you need or are you chasing that one more dollar that might bring happiness?  Do we live with a kind of survival mentality or are we characterized by a sufficient mentality?  Not only are all of us building our faith on the foundation of Jesus, we also all have direct access to God Almighty.  He tells those early Christians that we being persecuted, dying on the cross, and loosing their lives, that they “are sitting on top of the world.”

I am visiting my daughter in Canada.  She is baby sitting a nice suburban home simply and tastefully furnished.  Her friend was headed on vacation and my daughter is babysitting the dog but the home allows for beds for her and me as her own apartment has only one bedroom.  That apartment too is very sufficient for her lifestyle.  Over the weekend we visited a farm house setting where she preached today.  That house was very different and very sufficient for its owners and setting.  We compare and contrast but we do not understand the values of the heart of others.   Only God knows our hearts.

The paragraph ends by saying we are sitting on top of the world and God is sitting with us!  We are not sitting on a tack.  We are sitting on the top of the world with God listening, on top of our world.  Lord, help me see and understand my life with your perspective and help me remember that you are sitting beside me, listening and caring.  Blessings.

This week we focused on 1 Corinthians 3 where Paul admonishes that the small group of believers in Corinth, the fourth largest urban center in the Roman Empire at the time, that they be united.  He had heard of divisions in the group as people creating subgroups based on who had led them to faith.  Paul points out that those evangelists are like the different types of workers in a field, or like different types of blocks in a building.  God gives the growth so deserves the credit.  God is the foundation of our faith building and we build on him, not the evangelist.  We are all parts of his Temple that is filled with the Holy Spirit and that praises God.  It reminded me of the worship song we enjoyed back in the day.  The song not only focuses on unit but it also has the flavor of purpose.  “We will guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride.”  May you enjoy and you prepare for worship tomorrow.

We Are One in the Spirit – CCS 359 – The Beyond the Walls Choir

1 Corinthians 4

5 So don’t get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers. Only then will any one of us get to hear the “Well done!” of God.

Paul warns the Corinthians and us today not to jump to conclusions when we judge someone else.  No one knows the heart and desires of another.  The Biblical stories that come to my mind are the reports of men who came to king David to tell him about the death of Saul.  They thought they would receive a reward for bringing what they thought was good news.  They thought Saul was David’s enemy because of how Saul chased David and tried to kill him.  Despite all the political intrigue surrounding the journey to kingship by David, there were other themes as Saul was the father of David’s beloved friend Jonathan.  Saul was someone David considered in power by the will of God and so not to be tampered with.  The reporters did not understand David’s value system.  We say many things with our mouths but when our back is to the wall and if we were to fully reveal our thinking, often our conclusion does not match our words.  We might be afraid to say which candidate we are voting for because we don’t want to be laughed at or argued with. We might share gossip to gain status. We have sayings like, “if the truth were told…’. I find it helpful to remember, “(Matthew 7:2) 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Let our prayer today be that we are not hasty to judge, to see the faults in others while forgetting our own short coming, or to jump to conclusions before we hear all sides of the story.  “Time will tell,” “history will give us perspective,” and ultimately only God knows everyone’s heart.  Lord, help me be humble.

1 Corinthians 4:1-4

 1-4 Don’t imagine us leaders to be something we aren’t. We are servants of Christ, not his masters. We are guides into God’s divine secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge. It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself. Comparisons in these matters are pointless. I’m not aware of anything that would disqualify me from being a good guide for you, but that doesn’t mean much. The Master makes that judgment.

Paul has compared the people in the congregation to workers in a field but he reminds them that it is God who gives the actual growth of the plant.  He compares them to blocks in a building but the foundation is really God, and then he compares them to a temple that God protects and the Holy Spirit inhabits.  Now he switches back to talking about the leaders, the evangelists that led the people in the congregations to faith.  Leaders are not to be put on a pedestal but should be recognized as guides that lead us on our faith journey.  The qualification for the guide is that the person be reliable and knowledgeable.  No matter who we are, there is almost for certain someone who is watching us and whose life we impact.  My teenage sons wanted their hair to be cut so they looked like their soccer heroes at school.  We all have people we want to emulate. Hopefully you have had a spiritual person who has impacted your life!

A “stubby” short prayer that ties in with this comes from Matthew 14:22-33.  The disciples cross the Sea of Galilee in a boat one night ahead of Jesus.  A storm blows up and suddenly they see Jesus come walking towards them on the water like a ghost.  They are petrified.  Jesus tells them not to be afraid because it is him.   Peter responds, if it is you, tell me to come to you.  Jesus says “come” and Peter steps out of the boat and walks toward Jesus.  But then Peter sees the wind, looses courage and starts to sink.  The stubby prayer? “Lord, save me.”

I suspect for many of us, we are aware of that little voice in our ear telling us that either we are poor disciples following our leaders but not quite in their footsteps, or that we are poor leaders not worthy or ready to be followed.  Paul tells us not to listen to the voice of fear and condemnation that would discourage us.  The only being that can truly evaluate us is God.  He is the Master.  It is Jesus calling us to walk on water and saying, “Do not be afraid, it is I.”  And it is he who lifts us up when we lose focus and confidence and sink.  He sees and he cares.  Blessings.

1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (The Message)

21-23 I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.

Paul now summarizes this chapter by giving us a severe warning about bragging.  Whether we are the fastest worker with the best crop this season or whether we are the flashiest brick in a wall, we need to guard ourselves against bragging, boasting or being excessively proud about our role because it leads to pecking order thinking, jealousy and divisions in the body of Christ.  Bragging can hurt others and is not constructive.  

I cannot help but ponder the role to which bragging contributes to some of the tensions in our political arena and ponder the Olympics where the difference between gold and silver might be a thousandth of a second.  To compete and still be respectful is a challenge in any arena.

Paul tells us to always remember that it is a privilege to be in union with God who gifts us with our talents and accomplishments.  Let’s take a moment and list what accomplishments God has gifted us and our family with today.  Lord guard our mouths and hearts from harmful boasting.  Blessings.Br

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

(1 Corinthians 3:16)

Paul has compared us to workers in a field.  We each have our talent but we must remember that God gives the growth of the plant.  Next he compares us to a building.  We work with different materials of varying values but we all build on the foundation of faith in Jesus.  Now he calls us God’s temple.  That is a mouth full!

I looked up temples on the Internet. The most famous temple in the world is Angkor Wat in Cambodia.The oldest temple in the world is Gobekli Tepe in modern-day Turkey. Angkor Wat in Cambodia is considered by some the largest temple in the world while others claim that Karnak in Egypt is larger.  None of these temples have I ever heard of!  Less famous are the Parthenon and the Roman edifices. The Temple built by Solomon is acknowledged as important to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.  In pictures these are all large beautiful buildings that people flock to for worship of their gods.  I cannot envision myself as part of a “temple” as compared to these buildings!

Perhaps I am more like a “cathedral?”  I learned that a cathedral must have a bishop in residence.  A church, on another hand, is a building were people gather to pray and worship.  So what distinguishes us as a “temple” according to Paul?  Paul describes our bodies as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit in our midst, not some Bishop.  We are designed for prayer and worship.  God is our protector and will revenge evil done to us.

One of the short prayers in the Old Testament is called the prayer of Jabez.  We know little except that Jabez was named because his mother gave birth in pain.  Jabez’s prayer was, “God keep me from harm. “  My name means “stranger” and since we moved a lot when I was a child, it seemed appropriate.  Looking for a name for my first child I found a book.  “Strangers” are people who come to us from afar bringing good news.  I liked that.

We are God’s temple.  He cares about us and protects us and his Spirit dwells in us.  Perhaps look for the meaning of your name on the Internet and form a prayer about your meaning in God’s temple.  Blessings.

11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)

Corinth was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire at the time Paul planted a small fellowship of believers.  He wrote this letter to them to talk heart to heart about the disunity he had heard about in the group.  There were “cliques” based on followers of favorite evangelists.  We know about cliques and how divisive they can be.   Paul first uses an agricultural image saying we each have our assigned task in the harvest work, we each have a talent, but the credit goes to God who gives the growth.

Paul now switches to an image of building.  The foundation of our faith, of our lives, is Jesus and then we all build on that foundation.  The foundation is the same for all people.  Paul continues with a statement that I have heard used in many different ways, often manipulatively.  He says we all build our houses using many different types of materials but when Jesus returns, on that Day, the truth of our work will be revealed.  Let’s consider that how we build depends on our context.  When we lived in a famine relief camp in Africa, people begged our cardboard boxes to cover their houses.  It was a desert with no wood, no clay and little to build with. The context of our lives so deeply impacts how we are building.  As a grieving widow, I handle life so differently than I did as a newly wed headed to the mission field. My building materials now feel like straw rather than gold and silver.

 I think maybe our lives are like that.  My college education might be considered a solid building wall and a lost lover I am prone to see as a frivolous investment of energy in retrospect, like straw.  We didn’t know at the time.  We live trying our best given the circumstances we envision we are dealing with.  Only God knows the big picture.  Paul says that on the final day when Jesus returns, it will become obvious to us if we built with gold, silver or stones and also if we built with wood, hay or straw.  It reminds me of the three little pigs building their houses and the wolf came along and threatened to blow their houses down. 

 When Christ returns justice will be given for all the victims of terrible evil and we will see clearly through the eyes of a God who loves us and walked with us through the good times and through the rough times.  I do not see that this verse is threatening us to give more to the financial campaign so we will have invested in eternity nor that somehow God is keeping a record of our good deeds for rewards in heaven.  Most importantly I see a consistent theme in the Bible that God is watching, is walking with us, and will make all things right in the end.  Paul is pleading that we not make a pecking order in this world based on which preacher we like or based on which person does deeds we value.

It is easy for me to reflect on the times in my life when I feel like I was building with straw.  Nehemiah of the Old Testament was about the fourth generation of Jews carried into exile when he heard a report that Jerusalem still laying in ruins while he served the king.  It tore his heart apart and he grieved about his past.  Nehemiah 2 tells how Nehemiah served wine to the King who noticed his downcast face and asked for an explanation.  He realized Nehemiah was suffering from sadness of heart, not from late night movies.  He asked Nehemiah for an explanation.  Nehemiah had no time to write out a flowery explanation.  The Bible says, “Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it. (Nehemiah 2:5)”

Sometimes we only have time to shoot a “stubby”, short prayer to heaven.  Help! Thanks! Hallelujah! What! Whew!  When we find ourselves overwhelmed with grief, anger, jealousy or even joy and happiness we need not find a quiet place or go on a big retreat, we can shoot a prayer up to God.  When the Evil One brings up those bad memories that seem like straw, we can pray, “forgive.”  We need not linger in the past for Jesus has our back and walks with us into our future.  Our foundation is Jesus, not our works.  Blessings as you face this week.

First Reading: Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15

2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.”

  9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’ ” 10 And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 The Lord spoke to Moses and said, 12 “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”

  13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”

Psalm: Psalm 78:23-29

God rained down manna from heaven; so mortals ate the bread of angels. (Ps. 78:24, 25)

 23 So God commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven,

 24 raining down manna upon them to eat and giving them grain from heaven. 

 25 So mortals ate the bread of angels; God provided for them food enough.

 26 The Lord caused the east wind to blow in the heavens and powerfully led out the south wind,

 27 raining down flesh upon them like dust and flying birds like the sand of the seas,

 28 letting them fall in the midst of the camp and round about the dwellings.

 29 So the people ate and were well filled, for God gave them what they craved. 

Second Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16

1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

  7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it is said,

 “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.”

9 (When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) 11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

Gospel: John 6:24-35

24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were [beside the sea,] they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

  25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

  35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

CHILDRENS SERMON.  The classic secular childrens’ story about making bread tells of a little red hen.  She found some wheat and decided to plant it so she could make bread.  She asked her friends, the duck, the dog and the pig to help her.  They all refused to help.  We remember the question, “Who will help me plant, who will help me harvest, and who will help me cook?”  All her friends refused.  “Not I” said each in turn.  When it was time to eat the bread, all were ready to enjoy!  Jesus calls himself “the bread of life” and yet the crowds resist him.  Let’s look a bit closer at their reservations.

Let us pray:  Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my Rock and my Redeemer.

SERMON

      For several weeks we have been following Jesus as he traveled near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel.  The hungry crowds have followed Jesus from one side to the other of the sea. They want to make him their king.  Today the crowds climb into boats to go to Capernaum to find Jesus. Our text shares three questions they still have when they are confronted by Jesus about their motives for looking for him.  He tells them that they want to make him king so they can eat the bread but actually they do not want to do the work of being a follower.  They want the reward without the relationship.

So why do we come to Jesus?  The crowds wanted to make Jesus king after he fed them bread in last Sunday’s text but then Jesus  melted out of sight and in today’s text they are looking for him.  The crowds return to Capernaum, possibly his command central, to try to find him. It would seem that they are still baffled about who he is and how their relationship with him works.  So what are their questions?

1.    Rabbi, when did you come here?

2.    What must we do to perform the works of God?

3.    What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you?  What work are you performing?

It seems to me these three questions are not that different from questions we ask today? Today we might ask where God is in our political war zone, if he has an opinion, and when he came to be involved.  Is there really a right answer for who is to be President or isGod  up in the clouds watching us fight it out?  Then again we might wonder what we have to do to gain God’s favor and the good life – here or here after.  Thirdly, many of us just want God to “show up” and prove that he cares.  We want to believe but like Thomas we want to touch and feel.   Most of us come today with some version of these three basic questions.  Are you here, do you care what I do, and please be real in my life.

“Rabbi, when did you come here?”   

      This question reminds me of the many people today who want to argue where the Little Red Hen’s wheat came from.  Was it her wheat?  We put probes on comets hoping to find answers to the creation of the universe.  We hypothesize with this theory and that.  So, actually the first word, “rabbi”, is significant and makes me realize there are two parts to this question that challenge us today.  

The crowd addresses Jesus as “rabbi”, teacher.  For many of us Jesus is a great teacher, one of the prophets like Mohammed, as good as Gandhi or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, on the level of Confucius or Buddha but not the only God.  Perhaps Christianity is one of many ways to reach some sort of God being or force.  We don’t want to be radical and judgmental or exclusive.  We come to church today hoping for a great sermon that will engage our minds but we are not necessarily expecting an encounter with the almighty God.  The better the preacher, the better the choir, the better the programs for the youth, we think means the better the church. Are we seeking answers for our questions from a great teacher or from God?  Why are we here today?  Do we believe the Little Red Hen is going to make bread as she says or are we listening but not ready to commit to help?

      Jesus reflects back to the crowds that they have come looking for him because their stomachs were filled with bread.  We might call it “health, wealth, and prosperity” messages.  Touch the TV for healing.  The size of your faith determines the answers to your prayers.  We only need to believe. We come to Jesus with our list of needs and wants.  That is not necessarily wrong except that when we approach Jesus like a bank, then prayer might become the check that draws from the deposits of tithes, good deeds, or faithful life we have lived or deposited in our account.  We come with an agenda for God, not to meet and ponder together. Our thinking is somehow off center.  We are focused on us and not God and are a bit surprised that he is already ahead of us.  Jesus accuses the crowd of selfishness or self-centeredness.  Unlike the Little Red Hen, Jesus is waiting to engage with us even before we are willing to be involved with him.

      Jesus was a rabbi for sure but he was more.  He was a great teacher, he was the Messiah, but he was also the Son of God.  To put it a bit crudely, having children is not the same as building a marriage. When we doubt that wheat can truly be turned into bread when we address someone with our list of wants and needs or to direct them as to where they should focus their attention, our understanding of our relationship is off balance.  We come to church to meet with God, not just to tick off our spiritual task list for the week or to give him a todo list. We find Jesus waiting for us because we are in his space.  Jesus is the wheat that will become the bread of our life.  So perhaps the question we need to ask ourselves today is if we came to worship just with our shopping list, or out of habit, or with hungry souls to meet with Jesus, the bread of life?

      “When did you come here?”  God’s presence is in our situations before we realize or acknowledge it.  We sometimes seem to be as surprised as the crowds that Jesus has entered a situation before us.  How did Jesus get there?  Perhaps we think our prayers wake God up and help him focus! Hmmm? We can fall into the trap of thinking that God is organizing everything to go according to our plans or conversely that he will organize to meet his agenda.  We are not open to hear the question, “Who will help me?”  

 Sometimes we look back on events and rationalize that “God knew” such-and-such needed to happen so that such-and-such would happen and so we would learn the lesson God wanted us to learn.  I didn’t get that job because God knew this better job was coming.  Even though I did not want to move, it worked out for the best because…fill in the blank.  That makes God very manipulative and diminishes our free will.  King David prayed in Psalm 139:7, “Where can I go from your spirit?  Or where can I flee from your presence? ”  God is everywhere and we often forget to factor in his presence.  God goes before us, walks with us, and God has our back but we are not drones being programmed by him.  We need not be surprised to find him already working in the events of our lives, not just for our good but for all concerned.  Jesus admonishes the crowd “27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”  Jesus is the bread, is present, but we must walk with him step by step – first we plant, then harvest, then grind, then cook and the final product smells good, tastes good, and satisfies as we walk the journey of faith.

      Next the people ask, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 

When the Little Red Hen goes to her friends, she does not speak to them about the final outcome of the process.  She invites them to join her in the work she is doing.  She is making bread but that is yet to appear.  Jesus is inviting the crowds to build the kingdom of God and trusting him and believing him is the bread that will sustain them to do it.  When asked what the crowds must do, Jesus responds, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” Jesus is not feeding them for their pleasure but to give them strength for the journey of partnering with him.  Faith is an ongoing decision to believe in Jesus

      Each Sunday we recite the Apostle’s Creed and remind ourselves what that means.  Our creeds and our prayers like the Lord’s Prayer are beacons pointing us to the ground zero of our faith.  We build on these foundation stones with the works of our heart, when we believe what God is asking us to do.

      Let us review the second article of the creed that unites our confession of what we believe about Jesus. 

• We believe Jesus Christ is God’s only Son, our Lord,
•  we believe he was conceived by the Holy Spirit—true God
• we believe he was born of the Virgin Mary—true man
• we believe he  suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried—he understands all aspects of our human existence
• We believe he descended to the dead and on the third day he rose again—he defeated death or death had no power to hold him or you
• We believe he resurrected and ascended into heaven—there is life after death
• We believe he is alive, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, 
• and we believe he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I love the explanation of this article in Luther’s Small Catechism.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, (pause and reflect)

who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with his holy, and precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death, (pause and reflect)

that I may be his own and  live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting, righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as he is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.  

THIS IS MOST CERTAINLY TRUE!  

We believe Jesus is my Lord, my redeemer, and we are his.

I should hear a loud AMEN now!  What is doing the work of God?  What does he want from us?  He wants us to believe these truths.  Full stop.  Period.  To believe he is here now and goes before us, goes with us, and has our back.  He is actually asking, “Who will help me?” 

      Third question:  “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?  

Sounds to me that the crowds are asking Jesus to prove that he cares and then they’ll believe.  When the Israelites traveled from Egypt and slavery to the Promised Land, they encountered problems, lack of food and water.  Moses, as their leader, met with God and told the people that God would give food the next day.  The Old Testament or First Reading tells the story.  God reigns down what the people call “manna”, meaning “what is it.”  For forty years God provides, not Moses.  The crowds are crediting Moses with the work of God that proved God cared.

      Just as we get all tangled up about the identity of Jesus as a member of the Trinity and don’t recognize his presence, we also get all tangled up about our role in our relationship with God, and so we seek proof that this relationship with the unseen is really there.  We often have trouble with silence.  Admit it.  We look for those flowers on anniversaries and all the little “works” that affirm that the other cares. I suspect the Little Red Hen’s friends were not convinced that what she was asking them to do would benefit them.  Perhaps they could not envision what bread was any more than we can envision what heaven is like or what a relationship with Jesus might look like.  He might ask me to go to Africa as a missionary or he might ask me to share my money or sit next to that odd person in church.  We want assurance that the step of. faith will not be too dangerous and will truly benefit us.

      The cross has become that symbol of what we call The Covenant between God and humans. I love the picture of a handshake.  In that mysterious handshake between God and humans, God holds on to us when we have little strength, when our faith is smaller than a mustard seed, and when our eyes are clouded with tears.  God holds on to us.  The empty cross shows how far God will go for us.  Jesus points the crowd to God and not to bread.  We cry like our children, “If you love me, you’ll let me do what I want to do,” and yet we know relationship is not built on giving us what we want, not giving us just bread but faith that is built on the cross.

1.    Crowd:  Rabbi, when did you come here?  Jesus:  God fills our past, present, and future, leading and loving us into his kingdom

2.    Crowd:  What must we do to perform the works of God?  Jesus:  Believe in Christ.

3.    Crowd:  What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you?  What work are you performing?  Jesus:  The cross is the reminder that God sees, cares, and has your back.

35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

What a wonderful promise.  May we cling to that promise as we help Jesus grow the Kingdom of Heaven this week.

Let the people of God say, “Amen.”

Tomorrow’s Gospel text ends with Jesus telling the crowds, “I am the bread of life.”  The crowds have sought him out to make him king after he fed the 5000 people on the mountain.  They are coming to him, not because he is God and they want to be part of his kingdom, but because they want God to make their life happy ever after.  As we prepare our hearts for church tomorrow let us listen and pray that we are not going for what we can get from God but listening for how we can partner with him to make this a better world.

I am the Bread of Life – Jaime Thietten

I am the Bread of Life

You who come to Me shall not hunger;

And who believe in Me shall not thirst,

No one can come to Me

Unless the Father beckons.

Chorus

And I will raise you up,

And I will raise you up,

And I will raise you up

On the last day!

The bread that I will give

Is My flesh for the life of the world,

And if you eat of this Bread,

You shall live forever,

You shall live forever!

Chorus

Unless you eat

The Flesh of the Son of Man

And drink of His Blood,

And drink of His Blood,

You shall not have life within you.

Chorus

I am the Resurrection,

I am the Life

If you believe in Me,

Even though you die,

You shall live forever.

Chorus

Jesus, we Trust in You!

1 Corinthians 3:5-9

5-9 Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working.

Paul compares the various preachers that the people of Corinth follow as being like servants working in a field, each with his own task and perhaps talent.  The team gets the task done but it is God who gives the growth, who does the “magic.”  So let us think about the story of Jonah we are following.  Jonah hears  the message from God to go to Nineveh.  He runs the wrong direction but even in his rebellion he must testify to the sailors on the ship that his rebellion has brought about the storm.  There is a God who has not let go of him.  They all pray to that God, throw Jonah overboard,  God saves Jonah and the sailors and God gets the glory. Jonah repents and goes to Nineveh.  For three days he walks across the city crying, “Repent, in 40 days God will destroy you!” Contrary to Jonah’s desire the people of  Nineveh “listen” and “repent.”  God again gets the glory.  Jonah did his part.  The sailors did their part.  The king and people do their part but who gets the glory – God.  We are the fields in which God is working and he deserves the glory.

Paul asks a good question.  What makes’s the jobs we do worth doing?   Let’s make it personal.  What makes the jobs you do worth doing?  His answer is the privilege of serving God.  What is your answer?  Turn that truth into a prayer.