Tag Archives: Poverty

Thanks & Blessing – Sermon on John 6:1-15 for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

John 6:1–15

1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 

15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

I have a fresh appreciation for this miracle. Last Friday, I was one of the volunteers at Sacred Heart’s Fish Fry. For about three hours, I stood along the buffet line making sure there was bread, coleslaw, tartar sauce, butter, sour cream, and lemons for people who then waited for fried fish and a baked potato. When something on the line got low, I was ready to swap out the tray or bowl and have a full one ready so the line would keep moving. I one of 64 people working that night, and in those three hours we served 1,316 people their supper.

Now, think about that. Sixty-four people, who have been organized to do particular tasks, fed just over 1,300 people in about three hours. Here, Jesus and his twelve disciples serve 5,000 men plus women and children (Mt. 14:21). In all likelihood, this was a crowd of twenty to thirty-thousand people who are fed by thirteen men doling out five barley loaves and two fish that was brought by a boy. Every person in that crowd ate as much as they wanted. And, when it was all over, the disciples gathered up twelve baskets full of leftovers.

This is easily the ‘biggest’ miracle of Jesus recorded for us in the Gospels, which might be the reason all four Gospels tell us about it. The only other miracle that even comes close would be Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana (Jn. 2:1-11). Sure, there are times when Jesus will heal many sick people who are brought to Him, but those were still one at a time miracles (Mt. 4:23-25; 8:16; Mk. 1:33-34; Lk. 4:40). This one miracle provided for tens of thousands of people all at once.

It’s no wonder, then, that the people reacted the way they did. Here is a Man who can feed people bread without needing soil or seed or rain or the right weather conditions or combines or grain elevators or flour mills or factories or bakers or truck drivers or grocers. Jesus can feed people fish without boats or bait or poles or nets or processing plants or even water. Jesus is not a politician who spouts empty promises but never delivers. He just delivers. This is the kind of guy who everyone wants to be king. So, they planned to take Jesus by force and chain Him to a throne because, sure, they were full now, but they’d be hungry again later.

Notice what everyone in this account is focused on. Phillip looks at their checkbook balance and says, “Two-hundred denarii? That’s not nearly enough.” Andrew looks at the boy’s snack and says, “This isn’t going to do it.” And the crowds – even after they are fed – they know they would be hungry again. The food Jesus provided that evening wasn’t going to be there for them tomorrow. So, they think, “If this Jesus guy can feed us like this in the wilderness, imagine what He can do if He’s the king with advisors and soldiers and tax revenue.”

We sinful creatures always seem to be fixated on our lack and desire to get more than what we have. But even when we get more, we aren’t satisfied. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says that the fact that we have desires means that satisfaction for those desires exists. Behind every desire – even sinful, evil desires – there is something good that is trying to be filled. The drug addict is trying to find the end of his pain or escape from sorrow. The sexually promiscuous are trying to find the good gift of companionship that God gives in marriage but fail to find it apart from marriage. Here, the crowds are doing the same thing. They want the gift of food but not in the way Jesus wants to give it.

You cannot force a gift to be given. Doing that is an attempt to twist gifts into wages, and that never works. All the things we long for and all desires we have are only filled by what God will give in the perfection of the New Creation. Because this world has fallen into sin, this world does not have the satisfaction of the desires we are seeking to fill. So, if you have unfulfilled desires, recognize you are made for another world. Stop looking to created things to fulfill your desires. Repent and instead, look to the Creator, and trust His promise to fulfill those desires. Then, be content with the good gifts God gives you in this life even as they seem to disappear.

In His infinite wisdom, God lets us see how things are used and depleted, but He doesn’t always let us always see how He supplies. None of the four Gospels tell us how the bread and fish are multiplied to feed this massive crowd. I doubt those loaves and fish grew into a massive pile that the disciples kept handing out – I think the Gospel writers would have included that. I like the suggestion that the disciples walk around with baskets of food, and each person reaches in to take some. While it appears to each individual that they are decreasing the amount of food in the basket, when the next person reaches in, there is still more. No matter how many people reach in and take, there is always more food in the basket.

Dear saints, your needs for food, house, clothing, money, health, etc. are things you can see and feel. But God doesn’t have to show you how He provides to meet those needs. He promises to meet them. So, trust His promises. You can see and feel hunger, but you can’t see the God who feeds you. You can see and feel sickness, but you can’t see the Great Physician who heals you. You can see and feel war and chaos, but you can’t see the Prince of Peace who has all authority in heaven and earth and governs all things from His throne at God’s right hand. But God supplies each of those things in ways you cannot see or understand. There are thousands of miracles that happen in your daily life. You’ve just gotten numb to seeing them because you experience them so often.

The fact that you work (in whatever job you have) and food gets to your pantry, cupboards, fridge, freezer, oven, and table is a miracle. When that food goes into your body and keeps you healthy, and when you do get sick but put nutrients, vitamins, or medicines into your body and recover, that is a miracle too. All those things – work, money, food, house, health – they are all good, miraculous gifts from God’s gracious hand. And what God gives He blesses. 

Here, we are told that Jesus gives thanks for the food before it is distributed to the crowd. In Confirmation class we recently went through the texts that recount Jesus giving the Lord’s Supper (Mt. 26:26-28; Mk. 14:22-24; Lk. 22:19-20; and 1 Cor. 11:23-25). In those texts, the Gospel writers use two phrases interchangeably. Jesus giving thanks for something is the same as Jesus blessing it. So, when you pause and take a moment to pray for your food, God is blessing that food to be a blessing for you. 1 Tim. 4:4-5 says that everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving because it is made holy by the Word of God and prayer. Receive with thanks the things that God gives and watch how it is blessed.

I’ll close with this: Jesus did not let the crowds take Him by force and make Him king that day, but He did allow them to take Him by force when a band of soldiers came and arrested Him. They forced Him to stand trial before Pilate and Herod. He wasn’t chained to a throne; instead, He was nailed to a cross where He shed His blood and gave His for you. Thanks be to God. Receive that gift with thanks and faith and watch how God blesses it. He blesses it and multiplies it to make you a blessing to others so that you can point them to Jesus, the One can and does fill their desires with the gift of Himself. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Carried – Sermon on Luke 16:19-31 for the First Sunday after Trinity

Luke 16:19-31

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Right off the bat, this text confirms that there are things much worse than being poor, hungry, covered with sores, and having dogs as your only friends and caretakers. There is eternal life after this life, and after you die, there are only two destinations. Heaven and hell are real. You will spend eternity either in bliss with God your Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, or in eternal damnation and torment.

Because that truth stares you in the face when hearing this text, I want us to focus for a moment on a rich man in this text.

There was a rich man who was adorned with the finest garb. This man daily feasted on the best food. Wherever he went, he was chauffeured around in decadence. This rich man had the most precious things in all creation and was truly blessed. And this rich man’s name was… Lazarus.

Now, I can hear what you’re thinking: “Pastor, Lazarus didn’t have anything good in this life. Abraham even said that Lazarus received bad things in his lifetime.” Absolutely, I’ll concede that point. But with this parable, Jesus is trying to fix our hearts where true joys are found. Both in this life and the next, true joy is to be found in the promises of God’s Word.

Too often, we Christians are tempted to think that if things aren’t going a certain way that God is mad at us. I often hear testimonies of Christians who will say things like, “I thought I was saved, but…” Then, they’ll recount some difficulty or hardship they have gone through. Then they will continue, “But then, I truly gave my life to Jesus, and everything got so much better. And now I’m really saved.” Honestly, that is sad to hear.

Dear saints, beware that kind of thinking and mentality. The devil wants us to tie our assurance of salvation to how things are going in this life. Honestly, that type of thinking is precisely what the book of Job is teaching against. God says that Job is righteous and upright (Job 1:8, 2:3), but the devil says, “Hey God, let me have a crack at him. Let me take everything from him – his wealth, family, possessions, and health. And Job will curse You to Your face, God” (Job 1:9-11, 2:4-5). And even when Job’s friends try to get Job to confess that he must have done something sinful to cause all the evil he endured, Job clung to faith in God’s promises.

Considering our life and judging what God thinks of us based on our blessings or lack of blessings is a dangerous place to be. Jesus Himself says that the life of faith is going to be difficult. Remember, Jesus promises that if the world persecuted Him, believers will be persecuted too (Jn. 15:20). Jesus calls Christians to follow Him which means picking up a cross – not a lazy boy (Lk. 9:23). If we are always stuck looking at how our lives are going, we’ll never be at rest as Christians. In fact, we will easily fall away. All the devil will have to do is keep bouncing us between highs and lows, and eventually, we will break.

Now, there are all sorts of ways we can go wrong when we consider this parable about Lazarus and the rich man unless we understand Jesus when He says, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it” (Lk. 11:28). Those who hear God’s Word and believe it live blessed lives despite all appearances to the contrary. And that is the main difference between Lazarus and the rich man.

So, back to the idea that Lazarus was the truly rich man in this parable: Yes, absolutely. Lazarus was poor in this life, but when we consider what God’s Word says, we see that Lazarus was rich. In the parable, Jesus doesn’t say what kind of rags Lazarus wore, but Scripture does say that all believers are clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:27). In fact, Ephesians 5:25-27 says that Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her and cleanse her by the washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish. Because Lazarus was a Christian, that is how he was clothed – despite the appearance of his beggarly clothes.

In the parable, Jesus says that Lazarus was hungry and desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. But because Lazarus was a Christian, he did not live on bread alone, but on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Mt. 4:4). Lazarus knew the mercy of Christ, the Word made flesh (Jn. 1:14), who is the living bread that comes down from heaven (Jn. 6:50-51). That Word of God was sweet to Lazarus’ taste, sweeter than honey (Ps. 119:103).

And Lazarus had the finest chauffeurs who, when he died, carried him to Abraham’s side. The angels took care of all his transportation needs. Yes, despite all the suffering Lazarus had in this life, he was truly blessed.

And when we consider the rich man in the parable, we see the opposite. For all the temporal blessings the rich man had in this life, he did not have the most important thing – faith in God’s Word. Even as he is tormented in hell, the rich man continues to reject God’s Word. In damnation, he has the audacity to tell Abraham that God’s Word isn’t enough to warn his five living brothers about the peril of their sins. He demands that Lazarus be raised from the dead and warn them. But Abraham responds, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets (in other words, the Scriptures), neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” In other words, to hold fast to God’s Word is to be truly rich through faith in Christ. Blessed are those who hear the Work of God and keep it.

Don’t trip up on v. 25 where Abraham says, “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things.” Some will say that statement teaches that the poor in this life go to heaven and the rich in this life go hell. That can’t be the case. Instead that again teaches us to not look at our blessings in this life, whether they be many or few.

Just think about the other rich man you heard about today in our Old Testament lesson (Gen. 15:1-6) – Abraham himself. In his day, Abraham was one of the wealthiest men in the world. One night, the Lord promised Abraham that His reward would be very great. But when Abraham looked at himself, he saw an old, wrinkled man. When Abraham looked at his wife, he saw an old woman who was past the age of bearing children. Abraham looked over at his servant Eliezer who was going to get all Abraham’s stuff when he died because Abraham had no heir. So God took Abraham outside, told him to look at the stars and try to number them. And God promised, “So shall your offspring be.” And Abraham stopped looking at his temporal blessings, and he looked past the limitations that seemed to contradict God’s promise. Instead, Abraham believed the Lord, and God counted it to him as righteousness.

Lazarus had that same faith. The name “Lazarus” means “one whom God helps.” Even with his beggarly status in life, Lazarus rested on the promises of God for forgiveness, life, and salvation despite all appearances to the contrary. Those promises carried Lazarus throughout his life, so when he died, the angels carried Lazarus to paradise. Yes, the rich man had earthly treasures in this life, but once he died, those treasures were gone forever. Because he didn’t have faith in God’s Word, he had nothing and was truly poor.

So, parents, this is mainly directed at you, but it is also for all of us Christians: We need to reconsider how we encourage our children and young people. Too often, we urge kids to grow up to be like the unnamed rich man in the parable. Obviously, he was wildly successful financially. He was a family man who cared about his siblings. He was probably a very generous man. Why else would Lazarus be begging at this man’s gate each day? The unnamed rich man was independent, successful, and a model, upstanding citizen. But he lacked the faith and fear of God. And without that, he had nothing.

And don’t get me wrong here. It is good to teach, instruct, and encourage our children to work hard, be independent, earn an honest living, and take pride in their accomplishments. It is important to do that. But never to the neglect of faith in God’s Word. Above all else, let us train our children and encourage one another to be dependent upon God and rest in His promises.

Those promises of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness carry us through this life. And when our time comes, may we be found faithful to Christ and like Lazarus be carried by the angels to the side of our crucified, risen, and ascended Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.