Category: Sermon Page
Sermon Page
Pastor Tim Weiser
Old Testament: Proverbs 9:1-10
Epistle: Ephesians 5:6-21
Holy Gospel: John 6:51-69
Pentecost 12 (Proper 14), August 11, 2024 Jesus Is Enough
Text: 1 Kings 19:1–8
Other Lessons: Psalm 34:1–8; Ephesians 4:17–5:2; John 6:35–51
Sermon Theme: We may tell God, “I’ve had enough,” but Jesus comes to give us more than enough.
Sermon Goal: That listeners will find confidence in Jesus’ resurrection in the face of life’s sorrows. Based on a Sermon Outline in Concordia Pulpit Resources by Rev. Donald O. Neuendorf, |
Sermon: Elijah has had it! Yahweh had just given him what any faithful prophet would call his greatest triumph. At Elijah’s request, the Lord had just sent fire from heaven to show Israel who was God! Not the Baal and Asherah of those weakling prophets who couldn’t raise their gods if they’d had a megaphone or a telephone, but Yahweh. “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God,” the people had all shouted (1 Ki 18:39). Then they’d rounded up and killed those 850 pagan prophets. At least for a day, Elijah was king of the prophets!
“Not so fast, Elijah!” said wicked Queen Jezebel. “By tomorrow I’m going to see that you’re as dead as my beloved prophets.” And so Elijah runs—out of the country, out of the neighboring country, out into the desert. And when he stops and catches his breath, he prays, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life” (v 4).
“I’ve had enough!” Look at it from the prophet’s point of view. He has endured years of deprivation: isolation, hiding, worry, hunger, getting by on meager rations, knowing he is hunted. To everyone else he seems strong, wise, successful, but to himself he seems a failure. And so he says, “Enough!” This is how he begins his prayer to God! “Enough!”
You are no Elijah, but I wonder if you know how he felt. To all those sitting around you, I’m sure you, too, appear confident, put together, responsible, much like Elijah.
But how do you see yourself—after years stuck in the same job? after all this time striving to make ends meet? with the long list of troubles that you could name, but you don’t want to sound like a complainer? Much of the music we hear on the radio expresses this theme, “I’ve had enough.” Lost love, loneliness, the death of your dog, and the rust on your pickup truck all show up in the list of our miseries. Country music didn’t invent this kind of song.
Listen to the complaints of a songwriter in the seventeenth century: “It is enough! Therefore, Lord, take my spirit from here to the spirits of Zion. . . . There is enough of the misery that crushes me! . . . There is enough of the cross that almost breaks my back; how heavy, O God, how hard is this burden! . . . It is enough” (“Es ist genug,” Bach Cantatas Website). In its original German, this hymn was called “Es ist genug”—literally, “It is enough,” taken from the very words Elijah cried out to God.
But when Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a cantata on the last verse of this hymn, he turned this cry of despair into a hymn of hope and longing for the Savior. Today this hymn doesn’t appear in our hymnal, but the tune for it does. You know it by this title: “I Am Content! My Jesus Ever Lives” (LSB 468). To this melody of despair, we sing about the victory of our Savior over death
“I am content! My Jesus ever lives.” Elijah was sustained by the “angel of the Lord” in the desert (vv 5–8). was given enough to go on, although his problems were not immediately taken away. Elijah was revived, but he did not see the final fulfillment of his hopes.
The fulfillment of God’s promise that Elijah longed to see was reserved for you. You may experience the same sense of despair. You may have the same long list of troubles. (Give possible examples.)
But you have received help from that same angel of the Lord—when he became a man in the person of Jesus. Jesus never said, “It is enough,” until he indeed had done enough to pay for all our sins, taking them to the cross. And that was enough! The work of saving us is finished!
Like Elijah, Jesus has fed you with bread that sustains you. Not just ordinary bread and water but his own body and blood, which are the food of healing and life.
And so our complaint of despair is transformed into a song of resurrection victory: “I am content! At length I shall be free, Awakened from the dead, Arising glorious evermore to be With You, my living head. The chains that hold my body, sever; Then shall my soul rejoice forever. I am content! I am content!” (LSB 468:4).
We May Tell God, “I’ve Had Enough,”but Jesus Comes to Give Us More Than Enough. Amen.
Pentecost 11 (Proper 13), August 4, 2024 Feed Me!
Text: Ex. 16:2–15
Other Lessons: Psalm 145:10–21; Ephesians 4:1–16; John 6:22–35 Sermon Theme: God provides the nourishment we need for our hungry bodies and souls in the bread that comes down from heaven, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Sermon Goal: That you trust that the miraculous feeding of the Israelites with the manna from heaven promises both physical and the ultimate spiritual feeding God provides in the true bread from heaven, his Son, Jesus Christ. Based on a sermon outline in CPR by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey E. Skopak
Sermon: Food and water are basic necessities that everyone needs to survive. Without food and water, we can’t live. When the Israelites left the land of Egypt, there was hope for a future in their own land, there was a measure of fear of the Egyptian army pursuing them, and there was faith that God would lead them quickly through the desert wilderness. So when the tenth plague occurred, the Egyptians urged the Israelites to leave in haste (Exodus 12). There wasn’t time to prepare and pack the proper provisions for such a journey. This was going to be a journey that was dependent upon faith. But did the Israelites have any idea how long this journey was going to take? Did they realize how much food and water they were going to need? When Egypt said, “Go!” the Israelites left. Fast-forward thirty days. Now the Lord had provided signs and wonders—the Passover, being led by a pillar of fire and cloud, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the provision of water at Marah and Elim. And still the Israelites had a problem. Roughly one month into their journey, Israel began to complain: “And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, . . . ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger’ ” (vv 2–3). The Israelites were fearful they were going to starve in the wilderness. Hunger can cause real panic—especially when everyone around you is hungry. But God Provides the Nourishment We Need for Our Hungry Bodies and Souls in the Bread That Comes Down from Heaven, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. We are starving in and because of our sin. There is no surprise that the food supply the Israelites brought out of Egypt is running out. Nor should we be surprised that the Israelites are now complaining about their plight. They found themselves in a desolate place—a place of rocks and limestone cliffs, a place not suited to sustain the nation of Israel. How desperate did they feel? “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt” (v 3). That’s how desperate! Sin was Their fear and physical hunger displayed lack of trust in Moses, Aaron, and, most of all, the Lord. bubbling from their hearts and mouths. At first glance, it’s not easy for us to relate to Israel’s predicament but look closer.
We, too, are burdened with fear in a desert place—the desert of sin—and so much of that sin arises over material things we have or think we should have. When confronted with the righteous Law of God and as materially blessed as we are, we see our selfish attitudes and lack of concern for others. We discover that we have continually grumbled against the Lord for what we don’t have, and we look backward or forward through rose-colored glasses to how much better things used to be or should be in our futures!
As we wander around this metaphorical desert, we discover that we, too, need food. No, not manna and quail, but soul-sustaining food. With longing eyes and troubled souls we look heavenward and cry out to the Lord, “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Thank the Lord he feeds our hungry souls! The Lord provides the spiritual food we desperately need. Our “What is this?” is the very bread of life, Jesus Christ. It is he who says of himself, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (Jn 6:35).
This bread of life, Jesus Christ, forgives our sins through his perfect sacrifice on the cross. It’s because the cross has taken away the sin that separated us from God that we receive all God’s good gifts, including material ones, whatever our manna and quail may be.
And because Jesus’ cross has reconciled us to God, we know he’s never holding back even any material things that are truly best for us. But, of course, far more important, he’s always feeding our souls for eternity. He nourishes our faith with his Word and feeds us with his very body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. When we cry, “Feed me!” he is always there to forgive, renew, and strengthen his dear children. Jesus himself would say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:32–33).Amen.
Pentecost 10 (Proper 12), July 28, 2024 Out of Destruction… Hope Text: Genesis 9:8–17
Other Lessons: Ephesians 3:14–21; Mark 6:45–56
Sermon Theme: God initiates the covenant and gives us signs that always remind of the eternal hope he provides.
Sermon Goal: That you understand God alone provides hope—through the covenant he made with Noah and creation and, ultimately, through Jesus and his cross. Based on a sermon outline in Concordia Pulpit Resources by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey E. Skopak,
Sermon: The overwhelming display of God’s power was fully at hand as Noah and his family (along with the animals) were sealed up in the ark—the overwhelming display of God’s power and his wrath. The consequences of wickedness and sinful indulgence had brought the world to this moment. Death and destruction were suddenly abounding—and all Noah and the inhabitants of the ark could do was ride it out.
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Gen 7:11–12). Inside the ark was safety and security. Outside the ark was death and destruction. Inside the ark was life and provision. Outside the ark was darkness—and eventually silence. And then the waiting began—waiting for the flood waters to subside, waiting for dry land to appear. Oh, Lord, how long? Noah and the inhabitants of the ark spent roughly 370 days inside! Our text is the story of how God Initiates the Covenant and Gives Us Signs That Always Remind of the Eternal Hope He Provides.
God makes the covenant. So what exactly is a covenant? Simply put, it’s an agreement between two parties—in this case, between God and his creation. We are most familiar with covenants that go something like this: “You do this . . . I will do that.” For example, “If you remain faithful, I will bless you.”
However, this covenant God is about to make with Noah and the creation is very different (vv 11–15). Out of the death and destruction of the flood, God was about to bring hope and peace. This was going to be a unilateral covenant. That is, God would be the one to establish the covenant, and he will obligate himself to the terms of this covenant. God would require nothing from the people, and his promise to them was unconditional.
Today, people struggle with fear and anxiety over the chaos and turmoil that abounds in the world—hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, flooding rivers—and they cry out, “Where is God?” In a personal way, we struggle as we find ourselves far off from God due to our disobedience of his perfect Law. We fear his wrath and righteousness. We seek mercy but live in the fear that mercy may not be found.
However, God chooses a sign that reflects the light and glory of his creation: the rainbow. This elaborate, beautiful, breathtaking sign is the vehicle God chooses to remind us of the covenant—a covenant born out of destruction and reminding us of hope.
The rainbow bespeaks: “Never again” shall the earth be flooded and all life wiped away. But this is not the only sign God provides in order to bring comfort and peace to our troubled hearts and minds. It is true that we no longer need to fear the devastating floodwaters that can consume all life, but we know that we have fallen short of God’s Law and all that it demands.
Sin is a terminal disease that separates us from God. We become prisoners of an ark of our own building, which keeps us from the light and glory of his promise in the rainbow.
Trapped in our sinful darkness, there is only one cure for our sin, only one way out of the darkness of our sin and into the light of God: the precious blood of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.
The symbol that God would choose to bring peace, light, and hope to the world was the cross of Calvary. There upon the cross, Jesus would pour out his lifeblood for the sins of the whole world. As Noah, his family, and the animals were hidden in the ark to preserve humanity, so you and I are now “hidden with Christ” (Col 3:3).
As the cross of Christ stands as the sign of your salvation, so you have received this amazing gift through the washing floodwaters of Baptism (1 Pet 3:20–22). Out of the destruction that your sin has brought to your life, God provides an everlasting hope that he alone could provide—your adoption as his sons and daughters through Jesus Christ.
The cross of Christ reminds us that our sins have been paid in full. As we daily rise and walk in his light, may we make the sign of the cross as a means to remember that we were baptized into this faith “in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Amen