A Time to Weep; A Time to Witness

A news reporter navigates through the wreckage of a Cub Foods grocery store: the entire floor was flooded with water, covered with broken glass, and completely plastered with store products that had been ripped and riffled from their shelves. Outside, you can hear gunshots and shouting. Firetrucks speed down the street towards an AutoZone engulfed in flames. Black smoke fills the skies and tear gas fills the streets. You’d think you were in a war zone: but no, you’re walking the streets of Minneapolis.

On Tuesday, May 26, protesters mobilized and rallied by the hundreds outside Minneapolis’ Third Precinct Police Station, demanding justice for George Floyd, and that the four police officers involved with Floyd’s death be arrested and put immediately on trial. Many protesters tried their best to patiently keep the peace, but others resorted to more violent tactics: they vandalized; they threw rocks at squad cars; they defaced and looted local stores; they even set some businesses on fire. Things escalated even more once protesters stormed the gate surrounding the Third Precinct and tried to breach the front doors. Police in riot gear emerge and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Rioters throw stones at police officers, who in turn respond with rubber bullets and more teargas. But by Friday, the police had abandoned the precinct and rioters successfully broke in and set it ablaze. By Friday, over 170 Minneapolis businesses had either been looted or damaged; dozens more were burned. Rioters assured reporters that, as long as there is no justice, the violent riots would continue. You can hear them chanting everywhere: “No justice; no peace.”

It all started with the arrest and death of George Floyd in police custody the day before. Video of Floyd’s detainment and abuse at the hands of MPD was recorded on a smartphone by a witness – a video that went immediately viral. The video is horrific.

But this video of a white police officer kneeling on a black man’s neck while he pleas for his life was perceived not just as someone dying due to police negligence or abuse of power; no, this event struck a nerve that runs deep throughout the cultural fabric of America: the death of George Floyd was perceived as yet another example of racial inequality and oppression – someone black suffering at the hands of someone white.

The issue of racism has gruesome chapters written in both America’s past and present; prejudicial discrimination and antagonism based on race is a cancer of global proportion. And we rightly want justice to run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. But the reconciliation we all hunger for – that absolute reconciliation we all need - is one far greater than even restoring race relations in our broken country. And that message of global reconciliation and sins forgiven is one the world needs to hear now more than ever.

And that was the message proclaimed at Pentecost in Acts 2:1-21.

The “Feast of Weeks” or Pentecost was celebrated annually in Jerusalem, on the fiftieth day after the beginning of the Passover. It had been ten days since Jesus had ascended into heaven – ten days since Jesus had promised that they would be powerfully equipped by the Holy Spirit to go and be witnesses – to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the world. And now, at the festival of Pentecost, Jesus would keep that promise: God the Holy Spirit would sweep through that upper room, manifest as “tongues of fire” resting on each of the disciples, and he would enable them all to speak “the wonders of God” in the various languages – the very languages spoken by the diverse makeup of worshipers who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate this festival.

Did you catch that? This was not an arbitrary, thoughtless endowment of the Holy Spirit’s equipping. God-fearing Jews from all regions within the Mediterranean world had now gathered to one singular location. And now, the Holy Spirit specifically equips these twelve disciples for the very task they were called by God to carry out: to bring the good news of redemption and eternal life through our Savior Jesus to all nations of the world: the gospel is the message our divided world needs to hear.

Be it George Floyd’s death in May, or the shooting of Jacob Blake this past week, such events and their aftermath reveal a dangerous fixation on what divides us – and an ignorance to that which unites us. Such events showcased a dysfunction in how we societally define one another – including ourselves. Such events demonstrated the deadliness in diagnosing the ills of others, and failure to also diagnose ourselves.

When we, as a people, exclusively – even primarily define our core identity or the identities of others by gender, age, or race – we invariably begin to play a game of “us vs. them”. We think that we, by virtue of our gender, age, or race, aren’t inherently part of the problem.

There was an Indian restaurant not far from the Third Precinct Police Station that had put up a sign in front of their restaurant that said “Minority Owned.” I’m sure you can imagine why they did: they were hoping that, by designating their restaurant as “Minority owned” that somehow they’d be spared from the rioting and looting. Be it their intention or not, it’s a sign that communicates “We, by virtue of our race, are not part of the problem.” There’s massive irony here. It’s ironic because the windows of that same “Minority-owned” Indian restaurant were still smashed and that building was still set on fire. It’s ironic because that same store owner said, as he watched the riots in the news, changes his tune and says “Let my building burn. Justice needs to be served.”

But it’s even more ironic than that: this business owner was citing his status as a ‘minority’ to protect him from city-wide injustice that is being done in the name of injustice done towards a minority. Turns out, citing your skin color to exempt you from injustice is ironically just as racist as inciting injustice against someone because of their skin color.

This is the inherent danger of viewing people through the lens of race and ethnicity: it is actually dehumanizing. We fail to see the people of this world for who they really are – including ourselves. When I build my core identity on talking points of gender, age, or race, I’ve failed to capture who I really am. So it’s no wonder why so many fail to see how they possibly could be part of the problem.

“But we’re not part of the problem!” the mob shouts. “White police officers like Derek Chauvin are part of the problem.” Millions took to Facebook to preside as both judge and jury, arguing whether or not Derek Chauvin should be charged with 3rd Degree Murder and manslaughter. Some argue that sentencing isn’t enough – that the evidence calls for a harsher charge – that racial intent can be determined; some caution that intent isn’t apparent from the evidence gathered. Still others argue they’d rather have Chauvin do time for a lesser sentence than be charged with 1st or 2nd Degree murder, be found “not guilty” and then walk free. And still others insist that they will not rest until true justice is done – even if that means more destruction, rioting and looting in the streets.

And yet, it should be apparent to anyone that we – you and I – are part of the problem: broken police officers who abuse their power, broken judicial systems that fail to provide true justice, broken people who justify their hatred – even to the point of destroying people’s lives.

It sickens me how deep-seated the issue of racism is in our country. It sickens me how often I hear undeniable stories of being pulled over for “DWB”: “Driving while Black.” It sickens me when the headlines read “Black man shot seven times by police officer” and someone’s first instinctual response is “Well, did the guy have a criminal record?” There is something seriously wrong when we focus only on the manner of protests and forget the racism people are protesting. There is something seriously wrong when we justify destroying someone’s livelihood to make a point. Such violent, destructive actions are just as dehumanizing as racism: you’ve objectified someone’s life for your own gain.

I weep for the black youth of our country who now have yet another reason to feel the system is stacked against them. I weep that another name is added to a long list of names. I hurt for police officers of integrity who are either embarrassed or afraid to wear the badge. I hurt for business owners whose lives and livelihood were destroyed in just hours – the hundreds of employees who lost their jobs and incomes. I hurt for burned and looted communities everywhere, as new businesses will likely think twice before going there to set up shop.

It equally sickens me – as it should you – that we appeal to racial injustice to warrant and justify the injustice we then inflict on others – that we appeal to the horrible treatment of a man to justify treating our fellow man horribly.

But if we’re gonna talk about core problems – not symptoms of the problem – then let’s get real and talk about the core problem: and it’s not racism.

That’s right. Racism isn’t the core disease of our country. Make no mistake, there is a disease that ravages our nation – but it isn’t racism: no, racism, like rioting, police brutality, and broken judicial systems, is just a symptom of a fatal, widespread, globally-infected disease – a disease you and I both were born with: sin.

Believe it or not, in the courtroom of God, George Floyd and Derek Chauvin stood equally convicted by God’s Law.

I’m going to let that sink in a minute – because chances are, that strikes you as offensive – that George Floyd and Derek Chauvin stood equally sinful, equally guilty of innumerable sins before a holy, righteous God.

And not just Floyd and Chauvin – but you too.

And we can appeal all we want to our race, but we aren’t exempt from the issue. We can appeal to our cultural or ethnic background, but that’s not enough. We can appeal to how “woke” we are and cite every protest we’ve been part of – how much an ally we are to societal reform – but in the courtrooms of God, these are but pennies towards the infinite debt of sin.

You and I are not exempt from the problem – we are part of the problem.

God himself tells every person in this world that surely, we were sinful already at birth – sinful from the time we were conceived. You and I – because of who we are, are only entitled to God’s wrath and punishment. If I, as I’m tallying up all that’s wrong with the world, fail to see me as a part of this world’s ugly dysfunction, I haven’t looked into the mirror of God’s Law long enough: the hatred we justify in our heart; our coldness to those who are in need; our failure to listen, and impatience with others; our unwillingness to understand; when we distance ourselves from those not like us; the looting, the rioting – all of it is sin; the ethnic slurs, our racist comments – all of it is sin; when we tear lives down with our words, our actions, with stones or with fire – it’s all sin in God’s eyes. Jesus says if you hate someone in your heart your guilty of murder in the eyes of God. You can argue with me why that is all you want. But your justification will not hold up in the courts of heaven. There is no “us and them” when it comes to God’s Law. “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God” and “The wages of sin is death.”

Suddenly, our demands for absolute justice are silenced – because God’s law demands something I can’t give him; because God’s Law demands that sin be punished – and I am sinful in thought, word, and deed. We needed a mediator to intervene – to stand in our place and save us.

And that’s exactly what the Son of God did – not just for you and me – but for this entire, dysfunctional, broken world! Certainly, Jesus’ physical suffering and death – the whipping, the beating, and the crucifixion, was all part of drinking the cup the Father had given the Son, for “without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness.” Yet, the suffering and death of the God-Man entailed far more than bloodshed. Christ bore the weight of every single sin. The brokenness, sin, suffering, and evil of billions and billions of people was thrown on Calvary’s altar: the hanging trees of America, the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, the famine of the Great Leap Forward, the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The totality of sufferings and evils past, present, and future converged onto the Crucified God. The skeletons of every closet, the wounds of every sin, the weight of all grief and shame was carried by Jesus on that cross.

Certainly, Christ’s suffering struck at the very depths of his soul. He was scorned, ridiculed, rejected, and abandoned; yet, none of that compared to his hell he experienced not only by becoming sin, but being rejected by his own Father.

Think about it: the severity of pain we experience when relationships end corresponds with the length of that relationship. A break-up of two months hurts, a break-up of two years is crushing, and a divorce after two decades “unmakes a man.” But such pain is trivial compared to the infinite pain experienced in time by Christ on Calvary, as his Father in heaven rejects him.

You want to talk about “No justice; no peace?” Well, the justice that should rightfully have fallen on us fell on Jesus – so you would have peace! Peace with God forever! Jesus endured the wrath of God for us!

Did the Father take pleasure in the punishing of his Son? Certainly not; God takes no delight in the death of the wicked—even if that wickedness be the convergence of every single sin in the world on his only Son.

Nevertheless, a God who loves what is good inversely hates what is evil, and unrelentingly punished the sins of the entire world in sinful man (Romans 8:3). Did the Father love his Son as his Son suffered on the cross? Most certainly, but his love for his only-begotten Son did not stop the Father from punishing him—because of his unrelenting love for you. “The reason the Father loves me,” Jesus said, “is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.” Christ laid down his life for you – for the world! Loving a broken, sinful world meant God would suffer and die to save it! That’s the message you and the world needs to hear.  

And that was the message powerfully proclaimed at Pentecost. That same day, 3,000 from that diverse audience were brought to faith. And they, in turn, carried the message of Jesus to their hometowns – and shared it in their own language. Think about that! Think about all the racial and cultural diversity congregating in Jerusalem that day: Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome; Cretans and Arabs (Acts 2:9-11).

Also, take into consideration that Greek was most certainly known by all traveling to Jerusalem – it was the lingua franca, the trade language of the Greco-Roman world. And yet, God the Holy Spirit empowers these disciples for a time to speak in the native tongue of those travelers coming to Jerusalem. When it would appear language or culture would divide 12 Jewish men from the diverse crowds gathered in Jerusalem, God the Holy Spirit makes a way. That’s the message of the gospel and the power of the gospel!

You see, the very fact Christ not only calls the disciples to go into all the world and preach the good news of salvation, but then also, through the sending of the Holy Spirit, equips and empowers them to do just that tangibly demonstrates several things:

1. Jesus had not abandoned his church,

2. Our God equips those he calls to be his witnesses by sharing the gospel,

3. and the gospel message we have been called to proclaim is a message for the entire world - and the entire world needs to hear it.

The fact that the disciples were proclaiming “the wonders of God” in the heart-language of all who traveled to Jerusalem is tangible demonstration not only of God’s power but God’s love for all people – tangible demonstration that the message of reconciliation to God through Christ and deliverance from sin and death is for all people and all nations! The multitudes who traveled from all over the Mediterranean world heard Peter profess that “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” (Acts 2:32). But not only that - that Jesus’ death and resurrection means the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God has been won for the world.

Because of Jesus, there is no separation - no line in the sand - that once divided us from God. Through Jesus, we are brought close to God, no longer estranged by our mistakes and bad choices, but made members of God’s family. People from every tribe, language, and nation are made family through the God and Savior who first made us family with him. In other words, just as we all share a desperate need for a Savior, we all find a common identity in Jesus - the Savior of the world from sin and death. Through faith in Christ, we’re not only restored to God and made family with God, but made family with one another. In Christ, there is no more “white” or “black” “Asian” or “Hispanic”. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

We live in an increasingly polarized country. We are drowning in a sea of information streaming from sources more committed to pushing a particular narrative than actually pursuing the truth. The ‘truth’ value of an idea is now weighed by how trendy that idea is. Tight-knit communities dissolve into clans. Civil conversations become scarce. Attempts at dialogue devolve into personal attacks. Finding common ground seems improbable, and reconciling the divide seems impossible. We claim to be more ‘connected’ than ever before; fact is, studies show the complete opposite: we’re more lonely than ever before.

When there are a million-and-one things that divide people, is there something that breaks down barriers and unites people together? In a world of competing ‘identities’, is there somewhere that everyone - regardless of age, race, or gender - finds a common identity? In the white noise of competing ideas that proliferate never-ending to-do lists on how to ‘be spiritual’ and get right with God, is there someplace we can find absolute assurance of who our God is and our relationship with God? When the relationships in our lives crash and burn and our friends leave us high and dry, is there someone who is there for us? Who loves us unconditionally? Who is always faithful? Always reliable? Someone working for our eternal good? There is someone who is the answer to all of these questions.

That someone is Jesus. And in him, and him alone, there is forgiveness and life for the world. That is the message this world needs to hear. Right now.

Weep for our country. Weep for those men and women of law enforcement who wear the badge with integrity and bravery and now wear it with shame. Weep for a world that has tuned out the call of their God – who have ignored the pleading voice of their Savior – a world drowning in the white noise of hateful rhetoric. Weep for those who don’t know Jesus. Weep for those who neither know who he is but don’t know what he has done for them. Weep for a world that plunged into darkness when she rejected God and his goodness in the Garden of Eden. May the bones of our heart be crushed and broken by the Holy Spirit working through God’s Law. And may that same Holy Spirit work joy and confidence in our hearts in the gospel-assurance of sins forgiven forever in Jesus - who lived, died, rose, and now reigns forever.

Yes, weep for the sins of this world. But may lament and mourning not be all we do. Yes, we as a church are to weep. But, more importantly, we are called to witness.

Don’t just care about the “issues” – care about true reconciliation – and true reconciliation cannot happen absent the gospel – the good news of Jesus for you! May our reconciliation flow from the reconciliation that Christ won for us on the cross. That means we take Christ’s words seriously: love your enemies. If I can’t love my enemies, how can I pursue them with the gospel – the only message that truly changes hearts and lives forever?

May God the Holy Spirit, through God’s Word, work in our hearts a righteous anger that burns for justice and against racism. May that same Holy Spirit give us just as much zeal that burns for pursuing all people with the message of Jesus.

Amen.

Totally Free. Totally Worth It.

Isaiah 55:1-5

1 Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

Totally Free. Totally Worth It

Is it worth it? That’s the question Steven Lim and Andrew Ilnyckyj (il-nitz-kee) ask every episode of their quirky web series called Worth It. Each episode, Steven and Andrew go to three different restaurants to try similar foods at three “drastically different price points” – affordable, mid, and luxury. They then evaluate which dish from which restaurant was their Worth It Winner. For example, on one episode, they try steaks for $11, $72, and $306. That’s right, a $306 steak – a New York strip of Japanese Wagyu beef, seasoned to perfection, grilled over white oak and charcoal, broiled, then glazed with garlic butter. I know, just the description gets your mouth watering. All the food Steven and Andrew try on the show is, by their own admission, delicious. But the premise of the show is not what food tastes the best – or even which food tastes delicious. Their mission is to evaluate which dish – pound for pound, bite per bite, dollar per dollar - was worth it. When you’ve had a decent steak for $20, it’s hard to imagine how $306 steak is worth the price. But for Steven Lim, , that savory steak “[tasted] like pure luxury.” For Steven, that steak was his Worth It Winner.

That’s generally how it is, right? We associate the cost of items on a menu with quality: the higher the cost, the higher the quality. Let’s just say what Steven Lim insists is true – that $306 New York strip of Wagyu beef is absolutely worth the cost: would you buy it? Maybe you would. Maybe you wouldn’t. Maybe you couldn’t. Maybe you’re vegetarian. Or maybe you can’t afford to drop $306 on a steak: the cost is simply to high to pay. Well what if that steak was set before you this afternoon for lunch and – get this – it was absolutely free. Would it still be worth it? Does the fact that it cost you nothing diminish or detract from the worth of that steak? In fact, wouldn’t that make it even better? Because the pinnacle of all steak experiences cost you absolutely nothing and you still got the same $306 experience!

In our Scripture reading today, we’re not bouncing around from restaurant to restaurant. The prophet Isaiah paints the picture of a marketplace, where people bounce from shop to shop buying food and drink. Storeowners shout left and right trying to win the business of potential customers – customers who need water, wine, milk, and bread. And in the midst of these storeowners lobbying their sales pitch and itemizing their competitive price points – you hear the distinct cries of one storeowner, who graciously and genuinely invites all to come to his shop. But this storeowner is no ordinary storeowner: it’s God himself! And his business model is completely different than everyone else’s: he’s giving all his goods away for free! And God extends such reckless love to the world. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”

Without cost? Red flags go up as soon as we hear that, right? I’d imagine that was the case for the people of Judah, Isaiah’s immediate audience – a people constantly at war and quite familiar with severe food shortages, drought, and famine. An abundance of rich food for free? Sounds too good to be true – even for us living in the 21st century. If a sales pitch like this were an online add, we’d immediately assume it’s either click bait or a scam. If this were a video promo on YouTube, we expect to get “Rick Rolled”. We hear “without money and without cost” and we raise an eyebrow. “Where’s the fine print? What’s the gimmick?” We brace ourselves for an imminent bait-and-switch. Even the cliché “Buy one, get one free” isn’t free: I had to buy something first. There’s always a catch. There’s always a condition. There’s always an angle or agenda that’ll bite me in the end. And even when God offers something for free, our sinful nature insists that free is never free, right? “What’s God’s angle? What does he get out of this? What’s it really cost?”

But the skepticism doesn’t stop there. We hear the word “free” we immediately assume whatever it is God’s giving must not really be worth it. Kind of like when we hear, “Free concert” and we assume it won’t be worthwhile. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” we say, and on the rare occasion there is a free lunch, we assume it won’t be a good lunch – let alone a $306 steak. Free becomes synonymous with poor quality. We hear “free” and we assume it’s not worth it.

But there’s another reason we bristle at the word free: because whatever it is God’s giving, we want to earn it. We want to deserve it. We want some hand in obtaining whatever it is God’s giving. We want to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and buy it ourselves. We want to climb to the top by our own initiative. We don’t want to be given any handouts. We don’t want to be seen as a charity case. “I’m not so bad” we say to ourselves. “Why wouldn’t God love someone like me after all?” So, go figure, ‘Free’ insults our pride. And God knows that, too. He’s not worried about insulting our pride. He’s concerned about us dying on a steady diet of spiritual junk food. So, he graciously calls out to us in the marketplace, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”

We are a hungry people. And no, I don’t mean physically hungry – but spiritually hungry. And even full pantries of physical bread won’t cure that kind hunger. We crave true satisfaction. We’re starving for real hope. We hunger for real, absolute peace. We thirst for sound, substantial answers to life’s greatest questions: who we are, where we are going, and why we are here. We ache for lives of meaning and purpose. We want the solace of being not only in a right relationship with God but being loved by God. And there are countless shops in the marketplace that promise they have just the bread for you! Just as long as you have enough to buy it! Have you heard their sales pitch?

Certainly, there are loads of religious vendors in the marketplace. Catholicism promises you heaven if you’re pure enough. Islam guarantees you salvation if you’re devout enough. Buddhism promises Nirvana for those who are ascetic enough. Mormonism offers you a celestial kingdom if you’re obedient enough. But how, in any of those systems, do you know that you’ve actually done enough for God? You don’t. Labor and toil all you want – you’ll never do enough.

But there’s other bogus bread out there – and it doesn’t take much a sales pitch for us to come running. Our culture promises that social media is a ticket to stardom, so we spend hours and hours scrolling through and idolizing the lives of others – and we’re left with this inescapable feeling that you’re not cool enough, popular enough, or attractive enough. Even with photogenic filters, our Instagram never garners the attention we’re told we need. We are drowning in a consumer-driven culture, and no matter how much stuff you buy, what is reiterated is, you can still buy a little bit more! Put it on the credit card! No matter how many TV shows you binge watch, what is constantly reinforced is you haven’t watched enough TV. Go ahead! Sink further into your couch! Door Dash will bring you dinner! Don’t feel fulfilled enough? Buy the latest self-help book. Not accomplished enough? Try putting in more hours at work, work overtime – even if you don’t need it – even if that means coming in on Sundays. Marital problems? Have you tried pornography? Stress and anxiety? Have you tried self-medicating? Feeling angry? Try taking it out on everyone around you. Is your life a mess? Have you tried running away from your problems? Or, better yet, blaming everyone else for them?

Spiritual hunger requires spiritual food – real spiritual food. The grand irony is, we, in postmodern America, think we’re living in an age of a spiritual buffet, when, in actuality, we’re starving ourselves in a spiritual wasteland. There is a lot of bogus food out there – marketed as spiritual sustenance, but ultimately leaves us broke, broken, and just as hungry as we were before. Such “bread” really isn’t bread: it’s nothing. You can slap whatever price tag you want on nothing: the price does not matter. In the end, nothing amounts to nothing. The bogus bread we buy will never satisfy. And if we line up to buy that kind of food, we’ll never get what we truly need, but we’ll always get what we paid for.

But that’s not what’s on God’s menu. He’s got something way better. And when the hustlers would take that gift and corner the market, your God flips the economy of the world upside down and gives it away for free: his amazing, faithful love; the forgiveness of each and everyone of your sins; a restored, right relationship with God. It’s free! And we needed it to be free! If I insist on buying all those things - I’ll never have enough. I’ll never do enough. I’ll never be enough. I’ll never earn it. I’ll never deserve it. If God’s economy is that of causal reciprocity – where I must do something first, or I must be something first in order for God to be something or do something for me – than I’m dead where I stand. Why? Because you and I are born spiritually dead – doomed to die of spiritual hunger, desperately seeking satisfaction and finding nothing but spiritual garbage. But God operates on a grace-based economy. Otherwise, grace wouldn’t be grace!

But if the cost is free, how could it be worth it? Don’t confuse the “free nature” of God’s grace to mean the quality is lacking. The greater food is free! The true drink is of no cost to you! God isn’t just offering you something on par with the rest of the world: what he offers you is the richest of fare! But don’t think for a second that God’s free gift of salvation didn’t have a cost. It did – one that you couldn’t pay. So, he paid it. Jesus, God enfleshed, was perfectly devout, perfectly obedient, perfectly pure for you! He paid the price to make us at peace with God on the cross. “By his wounds, we are healed.” Why would God do such an amazing thing? Because you were worth it! You are worth dying for. So Jesus did.

In Christ, we have every spiritual blessing. In Christ, the buffet of God’s blessings is fully and freely laid before us! And that gracious God still provides for you daily; maybe it isn’t a $306 steak – but you’re fed nonetheless. That God brought you to the waters of Baptism and made you his child. Our Savior brings you to his table and gives you his body and blood in bread and wine. And yes, your God gives you a window into his very heart and mind – His Word! Read it! Meditate on it. Inwardly digest every syllable. Because the food God gives is totally worth it. And it’s totally free. Amen.

A Humbled Heart Sees Help as a Blessing

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-17, 24-29

4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

10 Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. 11 He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? 13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”

16 The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

24 So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.

26 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”

29 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!”

---

A Humbled Heart Sees Help as a Blessing

“Why don’t you ask for help?”   

That’s what my mom said to my dad during our family road trip out to the Dakotas. As we were nearing the edge of Minnesota, my dad made a wrong turn and we got lost. “Why don’t you pull over and ask for directions?” my mom asked. My dad – holding the map over the steering wheel – reassures my mom he actually knew where he was going. He was the one who planned the trip after all. I mean, it’d be pretty embarrassing for him to get lost on a trip he himself planned! So it became a showdown between my dad’s pride and the ever-growing dilemma of us being lost. Eventually, pride lost the day, and my dad pulled over at a gas station and asked for directions – but not before my sister got carsick and my little brother started crying his eyes out.

“Why don’t you ask for help?” Maybe you’re better about stopping for directions than my dad was, but there are plenty of other times we find ourselves in need of help. But, we use our own resourcefulness to come up with a solution for those problems. We call an IT guy to troubleshoot our computer issues. We go to the grocery store when we need to buy food. If you’re sick, you go and see a doctor or physician to get the help and treatment you need. So long as we have the time, energy, and resources, we feel we can solve just about anything. But what if the problems you face start to strain your time, energy and resources? What happens when we are financially unstable? What happens when we are emotionally drained? What happens when we start to buckle under all our responsibilities? What happens when those hardships reach the point they are far beyond your ability to handle?

Why don’t we ask for help? The answer is pride. Pride sees help as unnecessary. As weakness. As no good. Instead, the better response to hardship is humility. Because a humbled heart sees help as a blessing.

Our story picks up in the desert of Sinai. It’s been many years since the people of Israel left Egypt. God had done so much for his people since then. Time and time again, God had shown the strength of his arm to help and save his children. But our story picks up in the midst of controversy in the camps of Israel, where a group of people within the camp start to hunger for different kinds of food. They were tired of manna – the bread God gave them from heaven. They missed the buffets of Egypt: the exotic fruits, the vegetables, and the meat. To them, their affliction and slavery in Egypt was better than their freedom as nomads in a desert with bread from God as their diet. In their eyes, that bread was literally next to nothing. Now, Israelites from every clan audaciously stood outside their tents in protest against Moses and against God.  

This left Moses feeling overwhelmed. He had done everything that God asked him. God asked him to lead, and he led. God asked him to bring his people out of Egypt, and Moses did. God asked him to lead them through the desert to the land he promised them. And Moses was. And now the people are crying out, saying their time as slaves was better than now – demanding that Moses give something better to eat. The anger and frustration of the people left Moses feeling like he couldn’t do the job God gave him. But if God was the one who gave him this calling, then why is the workload too much for him to bear? Then we hear the voice of Moses’ pride. “These children aren’t mine, yet you’ve asked me to function as their parent! I didn’t “father” these children. You did! And yet you’ve asked me to bear the weight of “raising” this nation by myself! I can’t do it alone! It’s just too much!”

Ironically, Moses was absolutely right. But his attitude about it was absolutely wrong. In his despair, it seemed that God had set him up for failure. Like the deck was stacked against him. God asked him to lead, and when he couldn’t do it alone, it nearly burned him out. So deep was this despair that he was convinced that the best thing – the only thing –  God could do for him would be putting him out of his misery. Moses had thrown in the towel. He was confronted with the reality that he couldn’t carry the work of leading God’s people alone. But his pride had him searching for the solution inside himself. And when his search came up empty, his pride led him to despair.              

Suddenly, Moses sounds pretty relatable, doesn’t he?

God has called us, too. Some of those responsibilities are plumber, police officer, CEO, doctor, musician, manager, teacher, technician, parent, or student. These are callings uniquely tasked to us by God himself. We set out with zealous intention to faithfully carry out the tasks we’re given. But what happens when we can’t? What happens when your financial insecurity seems like it couldn’t get much worse? What happens when the bills keep on coming and you’re in between jobs? What happens when you are emotionally drained after a brutal week and are now going into a new week feeling completely empty? What happens when your health takes a turn for the worse? How do respond when things seem too big for you to carry? To wild for you to control? What happens when you start to buckle under the weight of your responsibilities, under the weight of all the hardships and stressors. You see the surmounting list of things wrong in your life – and you wonder, “How am I going to get through this?”

Our eyes turn inward for the solution. We double-down and say “I got this. I just need to work harder. I need to plan better. I need to do more.” But what happens when that still isn’t enough? When that trust in ourselves is broken and we are confronted with the reality that our own strength just isn’t enough, we often turn to despair. “How can I possibly get through this week?” “How am I going to make it through today?” “How am I going to possibly pay all these bills due this month?” “How will I meet all these deadlines?” “God, are you setting me up for failure? Can’t you see I’m trying my best here?” Pride blinds us. We don’t ask for help. We don’t want to burden someone else with our problems. We feel no one understands our problems anyway, so how could they help? We role our eyes when someone gives us suggestions. We still feel we can fix it ourselves. Or we’re convinced there’s nothing anyone can do to help – not our friends, our family, or even our spouse. Pride causes tunnel vision that has us seeing every problem in our lives as something we personally must be able to fix on our own. But we can’t.

The thing is God knows you can’t. The real question is, do we? There are tons of things we regularly experience that are physically, emotionally, and spiritually too heavy for us to carry. Maybe it’s the weight of our schedule, the hurt in our hearts, or the guilt from our sins. But what about for God? Is God’s arm too weak to carry our sorrows? Are God’s shoulders not strong enough to bear our burdens? Is our God too wimpy to remove the guilt of our sins forever? Moses, in his despair, didn’t think God was strong enough to help him. But God says to him, “Is the LORD’s arm to short? Is the LORD too weak to help you? Or are you, Moses, too proud to ask for it?” For Moses, it took humbling for him to see the importance of help. Because a humbled heart sees help as a blessing. And a humble heart will ask for help.

God knew Moses couldn’t lead 2 million people by himself. So God provided help for him. God says, “Moses, I will take the Holy Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on 70 men who will also serve as spiritual leaders. They will help you carry the burden of spiritually leading this nation – so you don’t have to carry it alone.” This brings joy to Moses’ humbled heart. “I wish all of the LORD’s people were prophets!” But that wasn’t all God did. God knew Moses couldn’t provide food in the desert for 2 million people, either. So God did. But God has done one far greater than even that! The weight of our sins and the holy demand for perfection was far, far beyond our ability to carry. Our sins of pride trip us up every month, every week, every day. A humbled heart stands before a holy, righteous God very conscious of the reality that we can’t do what he demands. So is God setting us up for failure? No. Because our God has given us the greatest help we could ever ask for. He’s given the gift of himself: Jesus. Jesus came to serve us, by putting us first and fulfilling the law perfectly in our place. There was not a drop of pride found in him. He lived a life of perfect humility, and then carried our sin, guilt and shame to the cross. Because our God is strong to save. So, why don’t you ask for help?

Since that trip to the Badlands, my dad has certainly gotten better at asking for help. Because challenges daily humble us. They remind us to look – not inside, but – outside ourselves for the solution. They remind us to look to God. He knows we can’t do our callings by ourselves. But he never sets us up for failure. He promises to hold you up when you can’t stand. He promises to always be with you – even when you’re alone. He promises that the sin, guilt and shame that weigh us down has been lifted from our shoulders and placed on his Son Jesus. He’s proved it. He’s delivered you this far, hasn’t he? The God who got us through yesterday will get us through tomorrow – and he uses people in your life to do it! The helping hands of your God can be seen all around you: your friends, your family, your husband, your wife, and your church. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Because a humble heart knows help is a blessing. Amen.

Branches of the Vine

John 15:1-8

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

---

Branches of the Vine

This laptop is an HP Spectre x360. This is by far the best laptop I have ever owned. And, having now been a pastor for a year, I can’t tell you how much of the Our Shepherd ministry is done through this device: text studies, sermon writing, service folder preparation, website design, graphic design, creating the publications and promotional material for our church, Zoom Bible studies, Zoom Council Meetings, Zoom conference calls, podcasting, blogging, posting on social media, and, of course, emailing each and every one of you. This is a quality, efficient machine that is made to get work done.

But there are two reoccurring problems I have with this laptop. The first problem is, occasionally when I’m at the parsonage, my internet starts to cut out, if not drop out completely. Depending on where I’m working, I’ve discovered that some places in the parsonage have great signal, while others are dead zones. The other problem is, it always seems that when I’m in the middle of something really important, the “low battery” notification goes off.

What’s the connection between these two problems? Well the connection is their connection – or, better put, their bad connection: their ‘no connection’. This laptop - without internet - loses a massive amount of its intended functionality: no online gaming; no posting on social media; no software updates; no Hulu or Netflix; no downloads; no uploads; no messages going in, and no emails going out. I can click “send” or “submit” all I want, but that post will never post. This laptop – without being plugged into a power source – immediately loses the ability to run demanding programs on high settings. And, over time, if left unplugged, the battery on this laptop will completely lose its charge, its screen will fade to black, and it will power down. I can press the power button all I want, but it will never start.

Sure, it still looks like a laptop. Even if it isn’t connected to internet. Even if it isn’t connected to power. But without a connection to internet and power, this laptop loses all of its intended functionality – what it was designed to be, and what I, as a pastor in the 21st century, need it to be. Without the critical connection it needs, this laptop can do absolutely nothing. Without that connection, this laptop is just a $1,200 paperweight.

How’s that connected to Jesus’ words in John 15? The connection is the importance of your connection. Being connected to Christ not only makes all the difference, it makes the only difference.

John 15 places us in the upper room on the night that Jesus was betrayed. Judas had already left to round up a detachment of soldiers and officials to arrest Jesus. It was Jesus and the other 11 disciples. They were scared. Jesus had told them that night we would soon be returning to the Father, and that evidently didn’t sit well with the disciples. Not only that, Jesus informed them that one of the disciples would betray him – a betrayal that Jesus had spoken of well before that night, a betrayal Jesus broadcast as they prepared to enter Jerusalem – where he would be arrested, sentenced to death, and crucified. The mood that night was tense. The disciples’ hearts were evidently troubled.

Wouldn’t yours be? If your best friend, your leader, your teacher – the one who you hoped would be the One who was to redeem Israel – the Messiah and Savior of the world – if he was soon to be arrested, put on trial, and murdered as an enemy of the state and a blasphemer? You can imagine what the disciples were thinking. “This can’t be! He has to be the One! He is the Son of God, isn’t he? He demonstrated all those amazing miracles! He healed the sick! He raised the dead! Why, then, is he talking about being arrested and sentenced to death? This can’t be!” So, Jesus gives them, what is sometimes referred to as Jesus’ “Last will and testament”, gospel words of encouragement to emotionally, mentally, and spiritually prepare these disciples not just for what was literally about to go down in a few hours, but to begin preparing them for Jesus’ eventual ascension into heaven and return to God the Father – reminding them of a personal connection they had with him, as intimate as branches connected to a vine.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. Christ is the vine, and we, as Christians, are the branches. Spirit-worked faith in Christ – worked through the gospel in Word and Sacrament- is the only way we are connected to him. Outside of faith in him, we are incapable of producing fruit that pleases God. Jesus continues, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. There’s only one vine, and there are only two kinds of branches: a connected branch that is fruitful, and a fruitless, disconnected one that is cut off the vine and burned.

Talk about sobering words for a somber occasion. But these were sobering words they needed to hear. You have to remember that one of the twelve disciples had just left the table to go organize Jesus’ arrest – someone who was part of Jesus’ ‘inner circle’, someone who sat at Jesus’ feet for every lesson, someone who witnessed all the miracles and wonders that Jesus performed. By all outward appearances, Judas was someone who literally followed Christ! But he didn’t have faith in Christ. In fact, Judas had rejected Christ – who he is and what he has done. So, by his own choosing, Judas was cut off from the vine. He was a branch that wasn’t connected to the vine. He was a dead branch.

To be clear, Jesus isn’t saying you need to earn your way to heaven by doing good works. Good works contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation. Period. It is through faith in Christ alone that you are saved – no catches or conditions – no fine print. But that’s just it: faith in Christ alone finds ways of expressing itself in thankfulness to God as we serve God and our neighbor. It seeks to glorify God in our lives. If faith connects us to Christ – who he is and the saving work he has done and won for us – then that same faith naturally produces fruits of faith – just as an apple tree naturally produces apples, just as branches connected to a vine naturally produce fruit. Conversely, a fruitless branch is a dead branch: fruitless faith is dead faith – and dead faith doesn’t connect you to Christ. Apart from Christ, not only are we unable to be what we were made to be; apart from Christ, we have no life.

This section of Scripture prompts a question: what kind of branch am I? “You will know a tree by its fruit,” Jesus says in Matthew 7. “…every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” Am I, then, a branch that bears good fruit? How does Jesus describe a branch that is fruitful?         

A branch that is fruitful manifests itself in a joy that only the gospel gives – a joy we shine and share as Christ’s witnesses. You see that in a patience that models the loving patience shown us by God. That fruit is seen in Christ-imitating kindness and goodness done and expressed towards those in our lives. The Christian exhibits a gentleness when interacting with others. The Christian strives to live a life of self-control and self-discipline. You see the fruit of the Christian faith as they strive for faithfulness – desiring to steward all that I am for all of God’s glory – our mind, our bodies, our money, our abilities – all used in appreciation for all that God has graciously given us. The Christian loves as Jesus loves. “Love one another, as I have loved you,” Jesus would also say in that upper room. “This is how the world will know that you are my disciples – if you love one another.” The Spirit-wrought, faith-filled fruit we produce is intended to be visible to those around us – that they see us and see who our God and Savior Jesus is – we as branches of the vine! They see us and see where true joy, hope, and peace is found: in Jesus, the true vine!

So, it should rightly concern us when our lives are characterized by bitterness and hostility. It should bother us when we harbor hatred instead of forgiving. It should unsettle us when we constantly strive to be served, not to serve. It should bother us when we relegate the joy and reality of the gospel to Sunday – but is silent and absent in our lives Monday through Saturday. It should bother us when time in God’s Word isn’t seen as a joy, but a burden. It should bother us when we derive peace from something other than Jesus – when we invest our happiness and hope in money, in popularity, in acceptance – but not Jesus. It should bother us when impatience characterizes our interactions with others – when hostility, not gentleness describes our interactions with others – when passive aggressiveness and disrespect is seen in our actions. This isn’t the ‘good fruit’ that flows from the vine. This is sin.  

But instead of asking “What kind of branch am I?” a better question to ask is “What kind of vine is Jesus?” The same Jesus who said, “I am the Vine” is the same LORD who said “I AM who I AM.” He is the good shepherd. He is the bread of life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus isn’t just any vine: he’s the only vine – the true vine. He is the vine that gives life – life to the full – life now and life into eternity. Apart from Christ, we’re not only unable to be that which we were made and meant to be, apart from Christ, we’re but dried, dead branches doomed to burn. Disconnected from Christ, we had no forgiveness; we had no peace with God. So our God, in his amazing grace, came to our rescue. Our Savior Jesus died on a tree – having carried the rotten fruit of our sin on his shoulders and enduring the punishment that brought us eternal peace with God. And the vine that was crucified for you, rose from the dead for you. And that vine is what pumps life – true life – through you - fellow branches! The God who made you is the same God who saved you, who, through Word and Sacrament, sanctifies you – so you bear fruit. No, we, as sinners on this side of heaven, will never bear perfect fruit. Thankfully, where we are imperfect branches, Christ is the perfect vine.

 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Did you catch that? As we remain in Christ, Christ remains in us. There exists a mutual remaining! This isn’t just our God residing in us, but that we “abide in Christ, as he abides in us.” Our Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - who resides in us has us reside in his heart. You, in Christ, aren’t just intimately connected to God: God, in Christ, is intimately connected to you! That same God nourishes and strengthens you through His Word. And that same God will lovingly prune his branches. Tenants who worked the many vineyards within Israel would prune and trim the grape vine’s branches in order that the not only produce more fruit, but that the fruit they do produce is even better. It’s no different with you. Sure, no pruning seems pleasant at the time; but God does that in love, that we, in faith, produce more and better fruit – that we grow strong and stay healthily fixed to the vine.

You’re not a laptop without power: you’re a branch intimately grafted into the vine. God pursued you with his gospel and brought you to faith through his Word. God, at your baptism, washed you and made you part of his family. Your God continues to lovingly and daily provide for you. That same God feeds your very soul with his life-giving Word. And that same God is still with you. He dwells inside of you! And the same Jesus who lives in you will come back to take you home to be with him in heaven. “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” your Savior says. “You trust in God – so, trust also in me! In this world, you will have great trouble; but take heart: I have overcome the world! You are at peace with God! You are connected to the Vine that gives life.”  Amen.

Our Plans in God's Hands

James 4:13-17

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

---

Our Plans in God’s Hands

If you could have a cup of coffee with Liz Elfman, she’d tell you how important it is to have a good plan.

Liz is a marketing specialist who works at Google for Startups, an international suborganization of Google that supports tech-based startup companies throughout the world. Liz took on the marketing and organizing of a multi-corporation tech conference. It had all the hallmarks of a slam-dunk event. The subject matter was intriguing, relevant, and important. The scheduled presenters were experienced and insightful. The corporations running the event provided the space, a quality venue fit to seat 200 people. They even provided all the drinks and snacks. It was shaping up to be an awesome conference. But on the day of the event, only 18 people came. So, what happened?

It boiled down to her planning.

Well, really, her lack of planning.

Even before she took the job, Liz was already way too busy to give this conference the attention it needed. And what time she had, she focused on the logistics of the event itself – and the actual marketing and promotion of the conference fell by the wayside. In other words, her ‘marketing strategy’ was to ride on the hope that the quality of the content and the quality of the conference would naturally sell itself. But it didn’t. Sure, it didn’t help that the event’s name was wordy, vague, and boring – so boring, she said “it would put anyone to sleep.” But it doesn’t help when you don’t plan to promote it, either. How are people supposed to know they’re missing out if you never plan to tell them about it? And she knew that. That’s Marketing 101.

But that’s where she, self-admittedly, dropped the ball. And because she didn’t really have a marketing strategy, it showed at the conference. It showed as high profile presenters spoke to an empty conference hall. Talk about a marketing specialist’s “own personal nightmare.” She had no marketing plan, and it showed.

But marketers aren’t the only ones who need plans, right? An architect sketches out blueprints – plans for what her building will look like and how it will be built. A football coach fills up his play book – plans for how his team will win and what plays they’ll need to make in order to win. A physical therapist lays out a recovery roadmap for a patient – a plan for how that patient will recover and what they need to do to get there.

Plans lay out in detail not only what objectives you’re seeking to accomplish, but how you’re going to accomplish those objectives. Good plans are structured and comprehensive in scope. Good plans have metrics and benchmarks for evaluation and assessment. Good plans strive to steward the time and resources at hand towards a given objective. Good plans are inherently strategic. Whether you’re planning a graduation party, a family vacation, or your retirement, good planning is a systematic process of envisioning a desired future and then translating that vision into goals – goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-sensitive. A good plan give direction, focus, and reiterates purpose to why we do what we do.    How about for the Christian life? What about here at church? Should we engage in strategic planning, too? Absolutely. We plan to do God’s will, and we trust that our plans are in His hands.

“Hang on a second Pastor. If Christians or churches engage in strategic planning, doesn’t that inherently mean they are placing their faith in men rather than in God?”

You certainly see that attitude reflected in section of Scripture we read for today, right? 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. In this section of his letter, James is going after a particular attitude that he saw among some Jewish Christians. It was an attitude of presumptuousness and arrogance – a sinful pretentiousness where people live their lives as if they are God - that whatever they will or wish – that’s what’s going to happen – they circumvent their use of time, talents, and treasures right back to themselves – it’s all about their wants, their needs, their priorities, their projects – they act as if they’re going to live their earthly lives forever – they put their trust in themselves, not God. And God calls such foolishness out, doesn’t he? Such pretentiousness isn’t simply forgetting how fleeting our lives are – how weak, frail, and fragile we ultimately are, how not-in-control we are of even basic aspects of our lives. Such boasting isn’t just naïve. Such [boasting] in [one’s] arrogance…is evil. 

But that’s not the only evil that James calls out in these verses. In verse 17, he adds that, 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. In other words, I can fail to carry out and live God’s will not just by doing that which is displeasing to God, but knowingly not doing what IS pleasing to God – knowingly not doing God’s will. Put another way, when I know the God-pleasing things I should do and yet I don’t do them – that’s sin. In the context of planning, just as it’s sinful to make plans to do what you want, it’s also sinful to knowingly neglect to do what God wants.

Jesus himself spoke to that, in a particular parable, where three servants all receive various amounts of money from their master and were tasked with putting that money to work. The first two servant did. The last servant did not – instead, he buried that which was given in the ground: he made NO plans to use it. So, no surprise that, when the master returns, he says, “You wicked, lazy servant!” He made no plans to use what he was given and instructed to use; instead, he deliberately planned to not do what he knew he was called to do.

You and I – as fellow Christians and as a church – have been given so much by God: our gifts, our talents, our time, our treasures, our worship space, our house, our home, our jobs, our networks – all are a gracious gift from God. But that’s not all we’ve been given. We’ve been given a gracious calling to be Christ’s witnesses – to intentionally proclaim the eternal hope and joy we have in him with the world! God calls us and equips us where we are as we are to share the good news of Jesus – the God who died so we would live! So, as stewards of all that we have been tasked to – not bury in the ground – but USE for the advancement of God’s kingdom, when we sit down as Christians and plan a budget and schedule our time – when we, as a church, set tangible metrics for our ministry, when we set measurable goals for outreach, when we lay out timelines for 1) what we, by God’s grace, want to get done and 2) when, by God’s grace, we plan to have it done, when we evaluate and reevaluate our governing documents (i.e. our constitution and bylaws, our mission statement and vision statement, our policies and procedures), when we conduct demographic surveys and articulate who our target audience is, when we build and train lay members within our church to be evangelists and leaders of the church, such Godly planning actually demonstrates a love and trust in God. Strategic planning of ministry – planning to use every ounce of God-given time, talents, and treasures for God’s will is an expression of thankfulness and stewardship.

And yet, even in the face of all that God abundantly gives, our sinful nature creatively crafts abundant excuses for why we don’t do any strategic planning as Christians or as a church. Even we, as Christians, can quickly fill up our schedules to do everything but the Lord’s will – even when we know better: parents neglect to be in God’s word with their children; we don’t even fight for Sunday off when the boss tells us we have to come in to work; we divvy up our paychecks to pad our pockets and pay for vacations, and neglect giving at all back to God; we avoid carrying crosses for Christ, even though we know that cross-carrying inherently comes with the territory; we shy away from sharing Jesus when opportunities to share Jesus would force us from our comfort zone.

Even we, as a church, can fail to do the Lord’s will: we hear Christ’s call to action, to proclaim the gospel with passion, creativity, and innovation, but instead we retreat to the familiar – the status quo; we see the opportunities to pursue the lost with the live-changing message of Jesus, and instead we justify the complacency, laziness, and fear inside of us that would shackle our efforts. We justify our inactivity with expressions like “God will take care of it – after all, it’s God who grows his church” – which is totally true, but when we cite such promises to justify our inactivity, are we expressing a trust in God’s promises? Or are we testing God’s promises? God deigns to use you! God himself has given you the message of Jesus to share – and yet, so often, we dig a hole and bury it in the ground.

We concern ourselves only being faithful to God’s Word, but fail to be faithful with God’s Word – which means using it – living it, proclaiming it, mailing it, sharing it, streaming it, carrying it to our communities. And yet, how fast are we to say “Oh, God will take care of it; God will provide.” It’s true, God promises to give us today our daily bread, but that same God says, “If a man does not work, he shall not eat.” The the same God who says that he will not fail in gathering his people to himself – that he will grow His church – He is the same God who calls you to “Go and make disciples.” James isn’t advocating against planning; he’s advocating against planning without faith in God. And when we don’t have a faith-filled plan, it shows.

But when we do have a plan, it shows. When we plan our ministry with the visitor in mind, it shows. When we pursue excellence in all we do – all for the glory of God, it shows. When we intentionally engage in gospel-ministry, it shows. It shows when we plan to do the Lord’s will.  

15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” You catch that? The Christian is a planner! We plan to do God’s will! The verb here that James uses for doing when combined with units of time denotes rooting where you’re planted. It denotes a settling and working where God has uniquely placed you – where God has planned for you to be. That’s right. You and I aren’t the only ones who engage in planning. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD. The LORD himself is described as one who makes plans.

Don’t believe me? This is the God who – before the foundations of the world were laid – God had already drafted his plan of salvation. Because we had fallen into sin, God planned to save us – to deliver us from sin, death, and estrangement from God. Jesus, God the Son, planned to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins – he planned to step in for us, to live a perfect life as our substitute, to die as a curse on a cross and endure the wrath and justice of God the Father! And it was all part of God’s plan that Jesus should suffer for our guilt, our shame, our regrets, our mistakes – so we wouldn’t. And it was God’s plan that Jesus would rise again on the third day – fulfilling all of God’s prophetic promises – promises he made for you. God, before you ever loved him, he already loved you. Before you were even born – God in grace set you apart for himself. Our Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – uniquely made you, personally saved you, and continues to nourish and build up your faith – that God is a planner. And that God has equipped you to carry out the good works that he in advanced planned and prepared for you to do: as parents, as teachers, as pastors, as brothers and sisters, as friends and neighbors, as a congregation.

If you could have a cup of coffee with Liz Elfman, she’d give you this piece of advice: if quality is what you have to offer, plan to give it the time and attention it deserves. And when it comes to offering ‘quality’, does it get any better than giving people Jesus? Does it get any better than sharing with others the joy we have in sins completely, fully, and freely forgiven? Does is get any better than knowing that – in Christ - the skeletons in our closet are no more? Does it get any better than knowing we have a home in heaven waiting for us? You and I have been made heirs of heaven – family with God! You, fellow redeemed children of God, God most certainly has a plan for your future – one ultimately with him in heaven! But God also has a plan for your present: to share Jesus. We are privileged to give people Jesus! So, let’s make faith-filled plans – plans to do God’s will! And not just as Christians, but as a family of Christians: our church. “If we’re doing all we can with the gospel, the numbers don’t matter.” So, let’s plan to do all we can with the gospel. Let’s not merely listen to the word, and so deceive ourselves. Let’s do what it says. God improves the plans that exist, not those that don’t. Let’s plan to do God’s will, and we trust that our plans are in His hands.

Amen.

When We Trust the One Who Gives, We Give

1 Kings 17:8-17

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

---

When We Trust the One Who Gives, We Give

How can someone with so little, give so much? That’s probably what the disciples were thinking when they saw  that poor widow give the temple treasury all she had left. That was certainly the thought on my mind when I went to our fellow Lutheran congregation in Grenada. I remember the houses made of sheet metal and cinder blocks. I remember seeing sailboats lodged in the hillsides from Hurricane Ivan that the whole Island was still recovering from. I remember the poverty. But the thing that made the most memorable impact was the congregations love and generosity towards me and my family while we were there. That congregation gave so much of their time and treasures to make us feel welcomed. They didn’t have much to give, but they gave it up anyway. How can someone with so little give so much?

You see, the gifts we give communicate something, kinda like when a son buys flowers for his mom – he’s communicating he loves her. The gifts my family got from our brothers and sisters in Grenada certainly communicated they loved us. Just as that woman’s few coins she gave to the temple communicated that she loved God. But there’s something else that is communicated in these stories – when a believer with so little gives so much. What’s communicated is trust, an amazing trust in God. And when we trust the One who gives, we give.

Our story for today picks up around 870 B.C. during the reign of King Ahab. Ahab’s reign was one defined by false worship practices, blatant idolatry, and active persecution of those who followed the LORD, the one true God. And so bad was the current religious climate that God sent the prophet Elijah to tell Ahab that God, for the purpose of calling Ahab to repentance, would withhold rain from the entire land until his prophet Elijah said otherwise. Instead of repenting, Ahab channels his anger towards Elijah, forcing Elijah to flee and hide for safety.

Not only were believers actively persecuted, but they too felt the pangs of hunger as a result of this famine. Elijah himself, a prophet of God, worried about if he would have food to eat or water to drink. But God – by protecting him, and giving Elijah food to eat and water to drink – reminds Elijah that God will always provide for his people! It’s equipped with this comforting promise that God sends him Northwest, to the region of Phoenicia. “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.”

When Elijah arrives at the main entrance to the city he sees a woman gathering sticks. This widow was collecting firewood to bake a measly cake with the very last of her oil and flour for her and her son. Elijah approaches her and asks her to bake him a small cake to eat. When she hears this, she must have known this was the prophet that God had told her about. Nevertheless, she responds with fear. “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I don’t have any bread – only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I’m gathering some firewood that I’m going to take home and use to bake one last cake for myself and my son, one last meal, and then that’s it. Then we’re going to die.”

It wouldn’t be the first time death had entered her house. It was the husband’s job to provide for the family, and with her husband dead, this widow – from a societal, cultural perspective – was extremely vulnerable. Her only son was essentially her life insurance policy. This last meal was her last investment in any foreseeable future. But that morning when she shook that jug of oil and opened that jar of flour, any hope she had of a future seems to be empty. And now she’s being asked to give that last meal back to God. Essentially, she was being asked to put all she had in God’s hands. But she was afraid to do it. And it’s hard to give when we’re afraid, isn’t it?

But the question is, should we be? You and I live in far better conditions than most of the world – far beyond this poor, starving widow trying to feed her only son. And yet we’ve all responded to giving back to God with similar reservation. We also are afraid to give to God. Why?

One reason is we’re tempted to see giving to God as zero-sum – where giving back to God is only financial loss. A zero-sum view of giving to God sees the collection plate as a shakedown, like a weekly invoice or bill – except this bill I have the ability to say “No.” The widow saw her situation no differently: she, in fear, saw giving the last of her food to Elijah – even after God himself asked her to – as zero-sum, a lose-lose for her. Because was afraid. Fear defines giving to God only as making ourselves more vulnerable. It’s this same fear that leads to doubt. When the oil jug is almost empty, we wonder if God really is able to give us today our daily bread. When the flour jar is running out, we question if God really loves us more than the birds of the air or the flowers of the field. Will God really provide for all of my needs? Or am I on my own to provide for myself? If I doubt God’s promises to be true, then giving to God is, at best, a gamble – no different than coughing up money for a lottery ticket at a gas station. And if I don’t trust God, then why would I give to God at all?

“But I do give money back to God!” you may be saying. Maybe you don’t see giving back to God as zero-sum, but there are other ways that fear can dictate our finances. Allow me to illustrate.

In college I was really into this girl. We started dating and everything seemed to be going well. Until she dumped me. Here’s why: My Senior year in college was packed: I had maxed out on credits, and was involved in tons of extracurricular activities. Whatever time I had left after all these commitments, I gave to my girlfriend. In my male brain, as long as I gave her some time, I thought I was okay. But what I actually was communicating to her by how I allotted my time was that she wasn’t a priority. I didn’t give her prime portions of my time. I gave her whatever was left. Whatever time I didn’t need for something else. Whatever time I didn’t want for something else.

What about you? Do you give your first, your best back to God? Or do we only give what we don’t need? What we don’t want?

Notice how in our story today Elijah asks this woman to make him food first. This is how we give offerings to God. We give our first-fruits – our first, our best. Before we slice and partition our paychecks for ourselves, for our bill payments, toys, gadgets, and vacations, we set aside an amount proportionate to our income, and give it first to God. But our sinful nature doesn’t like that. We catch ourselves prioritizing the things we want over the things we need. We fear giving our best offerings to God means saying “not now” to the latest iPhone, that brand new car, or a bigger house. The slice of pie gets smaller and smaller until it’s not even a slice, but a sliver.

Whether it’s fearing over our needs or fearing over our wants, here’s what it boils down to: we’re afraid to give our best to God because we’re afraid to trust God. We’re afraid he won’t meet our needs. We fear we won’t be able to meet our wants. And yet, our Gracious God of Promise says to you and me – just like he did to that widow in Zarephath - amidst our fears and worries, “Don’t be afraid.” Why? Because we can trust our loving God! And when we trust the One who gives, we give!

The widow of Zarephath didn’t have much, but she gave it all to God. She took a leap of faith and trusted her God would provide – and He did! That jar miraculously never ran out of flour! That jug of oil never ran dry! For three years, that jar of flour and that jug of oil never ran out – just like God promised! But God does far more for us than fill empty jars. Later in this story, we find out that the widow’s son suddenly dies. But God shows his power over even death and brings her one and only son back to life! The God who sustains our lives is the same one who gave us life! And would you believe me if I told you God has given you something far greater than that? Not just physical life, but spiritual life! Because of sin, we were born spiritually dead, and enemies of God. So God sent his Son, Jesus, into this world, who took on human flesh, who made himself poor, so that through his poverty we would be rich! Through Jesus, we have the gift of eternal life! Never again will we hunger. Never again will we thirst! Until that day in heaven, we hold fast to the promise that our God always meets our needs. He truly sustains and satisfies. We can take God at his word, because his word is good – because he is good! He’s won salvation for us! Our God has given us so much! When we trust in Him and His promises, we give too!

How can someone with so little give so much? The answer is trust. That widow at the temple, those brothers and sisters in Grenada, and that widow at Zarephath trusted the promises of God. And when you and I give our best gifts, we communicate where our trust is, too. We trust in God – the God who gave us life and breath, the God who has given us house and home, friends and family, our jobs, our gifts and talents, the God who richly gives us his grace every day.  When we give our best offerings to the Lord, we communicate thankfulness for all the things he has given us, and a trust that he will provide for all our needs to come. “What” we give is used to support the growth of the church, the spread of the gospel, the advancement of God’s very kingdom! “Why” we give is Jesus, our God who gave up heaven itself for a time so that we would have it for an eternity. Don’t be afraid to give back to your God. You can take him at his word. Trust him.

Amen.