Epiphany Lutheran Church | Dorr, Michigan
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our Beliefs
    • Our History
    • Our Pastor
    • 25th Anniversary
    • Photo Gallery
    • Contact Us
  • Worship
    • The Singing Church
  • Resources
    • Food Pantry
    • Related Sites
  • Publications
    • Bulletins
    • Sermons
    • Monthly Newsletter
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Give Online
  • covid19

Seventh Sunday after Trinity 2018

7/15/2018

0 Comments

 
Unless Jesus does something miraculous, the four thousand will die.  Jesus doesn’t say that exactly, but you can connect the dots without much work.  What Jesus says is that they will pass out from exhaustion.  But before that He said that they have been following Him into the wilderness, listening to His teaching for three days.  If you have a three-day journey just to get home, you have to go without any food or water and no rest stops or McDonalds’ or grocery stores, and you pass out along the way, what do you think will happen to you?  These people are going to die unless Jesus does something.  The same is true of you.  Without the miraculous intervention of Jesus Christ, feeding you both in body and soul, you would die in this journey to your eternal home.
Think more about those people.  For three days they did nothing but listen to Jesus.  To put it into our context, they went to church for three days.  They didn’t tell Him they were exhausted.  They didn’t grumble about it taking too long.  They didn’t say He preached too long or that His message confronted them for too many of their sins, that the hymns were boring or too long or not old enough or not new enough, that Communion took too long or wasn’t done slowly and reverently enough.  For three days they listened, were taught, learned for what purpose Jesus had come, and they loved it.  They were so engrossed that they didn’t ask him for a pit stop at the grocery store for some snacks or a meal for later.  They wanted the Bread of Life, not the bread of the stomach.  But eventually came the benediction, the last hymn, the candles were extinguished.  They had a three-day trip to make just to get home.  They didn’t sound like the Israelites a few thousand years prior, grumbling and claiming that God had led them into the wilderness to kill them.  They trusted.  They weren’t concerned about where their next meal would come from, what manna might appear, what stricken rock would give them a drink.  They simply trusted, in reverent silence, knowing Jesus could—and would—provide for them. 
 
They had a physical hunger greater than we can imagine.  We can hardly go a few hours without a meal, let alone three days.  Though they aren’t grumbling, they have to feel that impending sense of doom, the firsthand knowledge of what Jesus says, that they will faint along the way if they try to go home without being fed first.  But they don’t complain.  They don’t blame other people for their problems.  They don’t curse God.  They don’t try to find satisfaction in other places.  But we sure do, don’t we!  When things go wrong in our lives, we turn to so many idols.  When we have discomfort in our life, think of all the things we want to make it better.  We expect money, food, drugs, alcohol, friends, Facebook to magically make us feel better.  We look for contentment from those and so many other sources.  Instead of trusting God to sustain us, we look to other things to sustain us.  We look for our greatest good, our greatest contentment in all the wrong places.  Instead of enduring, instead of singing the refrain from our hymn: “To God all praise and glory!” we throw a temper tantrum.  We turn to our idols and get mad when they don’t satisfy us, when they don’t live up to our expectations.  But what do you expect?  Is Facebook God?  Are friends God?  Is money God?  Is alcohol God?  No!  Only God is God.  Only God can get you through the roughest days of your life.  Jeremiah taught that the one who trusts in man, who trusts in earthly things is like a shrub in the desert, dwelling in uninhabited places, cursed because he has turned away from the Lord (Jer. 17:5-6).  Only God can sustain you when you feel like the only thing that can happen next is that you pass out from sheer exhaustion, from overwhelming stress, and die.  Repent.  Each and every one of us have feared, loved, and trusted in someone or something else instead of the Triune God.
 
So what hope is there for you, for me, for all of us who are on the verge of death, waiting for divine intervention?  Trust in the Lord.  The God who created your first parents in Eden, who fed them with perfect vegetation, with cool and clean waters, still feeds you, still waters you, still covers your sin and shame just like He did for Adam and Eve.  That may sound like law, a command--trust, do this and things will get better.  It’s not.  That invitation, that Word, is pure Gospel.  Just like those people in the wilderness with Jesus rejoiced when He said “Eat,” so can you rejoice when the Lord says “Trust.”  Just like the four thousand couldn’t do anything to feed themselves, neither can you do anything to make yourself trust.  That has been given to you as a gracious gift of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, calling you by the Gospel, enlightening you with His gifts, and keeping you in the faith.  The Holy Spirit causes you to trust.  He plants you by the water of life so you do not need to fear when the heat comes, when the trials and temptations of life come your way.  What is necessary is given to you by the God who created you, who redeemed you, who keeps you in the faith and sustains you to life’s end.  He forgives you for turning to other gods and gives you the strength and ability to look to the true God when crosses visit you.
 
The Lord is compassionate and kind.  He looks upon you with His mercy.  Your crosses and hardships, your pain and sorrow, every time in your life you have felt like the only next step is dropping dead—none of these are signs of His wrath or distance.  They are His loving chastisements.  By these He teaches you to trust Him more and more.  He answers your prayer in today’s Collect: “put away from us all hurtful things and give to us those things that are profitable for us.”  Pain and disappointments in this world send you running to the God who is constant in His love and keeps His promises.  Every agonizing moment serves to direct your gaze on heaven.  Like St. Stephen about to be stoned to death, you can confess in the face of evil, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).  That’s because the Son of Man, Jesus, has miraculously provided for you.  By His cross, His death and resurrection, He has given you forgiveness of all your sins, a promise, an uncancellable guarantee that heaven is yours, that one day He will take you on your journey home with Him for eternity. 
 
So, always be dissatisfied with this life, aware that it is a desolate place.  Until the trumpet sounds on the Last Day, find comfort here, in the Divine Service, where Christ Himself is present for you, where He bids you sit and be waited upon.  Here He speaks to you, instructs you, and feeds you to give you strength for the journey.  In this Divine Service find nourishment and satisfaction, a green place in the desert of sin and death, because here Jesus Himself takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it to you as His own Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins.  He never shall forsake His flock, His chosen generation.  He is your Refuge and your Rock.  To God all praise and glory!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About

    Why does the Pastor preach?  Scripture explains that the role of preaching the Word of God is how saving faith is created: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-17).  The Augsburg Confession, seeing this connection between the Preaching Office and saving faith, summarizes Scripture on the Office of the Holy Ministry in this way: “To obtain [saving, justifying] faith, God instituted the Office of Preaching, giving the Gospel and the Sacraments.  Through these, as through means, He gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when He wills, in those who hear the Gospel.  It teaches that we have a gracious God, not through our merit but through Christ’s merit, when we so believe” (AC V 1-3).  The whole reason the Pastor preaches is so saving faith can be created, so we know that “we have a gracious God” who loves us and has saved us from our sin by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
     
    Preaching at Epiphany is centered in this Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Every sermon approaches the Scripture Readings for the day by explaining what they mean by way of confessional Lutheran hermeneutics and applying them to our lives as Christians in the Church and in the world. 
     
    The Sunday Readings used at Epiphany are from the Church’s historic lectionary, or calendar of readings, that has been in place for nearly 1,000 years.  We use this lectionary because we are an historic Church and we acknowledge the value of what has been handed down to us.  We use this as a way of obeying the Fourth Commandment, honoring our fathers in the faith and trusting their wisdom that assembled this annual cycle of readings.  It also helps with the training of adults and children alike as we come back to the same Readings year after year and learn from them.  We strive for a deep knowledge of key passages of Scripture rather than a limited knowledge of a breadth of Readings.  Though a system like this is neither commanded nor forbidden in Holy Scripture, we voluntarily use it to shape our time together, to ensure that we learn from the whole counsel of God, not just the Pastor’s favorite verses. 
     
    May these sermons be beneficial to you for growth in knowledge of the Word of God and a stronger faith in Jesus Christ, your Savior!  They provided for devotional use and for those who might like to reference them.

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

    Categories

    All
    1 Corinthians 11:23 32
    1 Corinthians 11:23-32
    1 Kings 19:3-8
    1 Peter 1:3-9
    1 Timothy 5:3-10
    Acts 1:1-11
    Ad Te Levavi
    Advent 1
    Advent 2
    Advent 3
    Advent 4
    All Saints
    Annunciation
    Ascension
    Ash Wednesday
    Baptism Of Our Lord
    Cantate
    Christmas Day
    Christmas Eve
    Christmas Octave
    Commemoration
    Confirmation
    Deliverance From Pestilence
    Easter
    Easter Sunrise
    Easter Vigil
    Ember Wednesday Lent
    Ephesians 5:20-33
    Epiphany
    Epiphany 2
    Epiphany 3
    Epiphany 4
    Epiphany Octave
    Esther 13:9-18
    Exaudi
    Exodus 20:12-24
    Ezekiel 36:23-28
    Funeral
    Gaudete
    Good Friday
    Holy Monday
    Holy Tuesday
    Holy Wednesday
    Holy Week
    Invocabit
    Isaiah 62:11 63:7
    Isaiah 62:11 - 63:7
    Jeremiah 11:18-20
    Joel 2:12 19
    Joel 2:12-19
    John 10:11-16
    John 10:22-38
    John 1:1 14
    John 1:1-14
    John 1:19 28
    John 1:19-28
    John 12:1-11
    John 12:1-36
    John 1:29 34
    John 1:29-34
    John 13:1-15
    John 14:23 31
    John 14:23-31
    John 15:26-16:4
    John 16:16 22
    John 16:16-22
    John 16:23 33
    John 16:5 15
    John 16:5-15
    John 19:28
    John 20:1 18
    John 20:1-18
    John 2:1 11
    John 2:1-11
    John 3:1 17
    John 3:1-17
    John 4:46 54
    John 4:46-54
    John 5:24-29
    John 6:1 15
    John 6:1-15
    John 6:60-69
    John 8:42 59
    John 8:42-59
    John 8:46-59
    John 9
    Jubilate
    Judica
    Katharina Von Bora Luther
    Laetare
    Last Sunday
    Lent
    Lent Midweek
    Leviticus 19:1-19
    Luke 10:23 37
    Luke 10:23-37
    Luke 11:14 28
    Luke 11:14-28
    Luke 12:13 21
    Luke 12:13-21
    Luke 1:26-38
    Luke 1:39-56
    Luke 14:1-11
    Luke 14:15 24
    Luke 14:15-24
    Luke 15:1-10
    Luke 15:11-32
    Luke 1:57-80
    Luke 16:1 13
    Luke 16:1-13
    Luke 16:19 31
    Luke 16:19-31
    Luke 17:11 19
    Luke 17:11-19
    Luke 18:31 43
    Luke 18:31-43
    Luke 18:9 14
    Luke 18:9-14
    Luke 19:41 48
    Luke 19:41-48
    Luke 2:1 20
    Luke 2:1-20
    Luke 21:25 36
    Luke 21:25-36
    Luke 2:21
    Luke 2:22-32
    Luke 2:22 40
    Luke 2:22-40
    Luke 2:41-52
    Luke 5:1-11
    Luke 6:36 42
    Luke 6:36-42
    Luke 7:36-50
    Luke 8:4 15
    Luke 8:4-15
    Mark 10:17-22
    Mark 14:1-15:46
    Mark 16:1 8
    Mark 16:1-8
    Mark 7:31 37
    Mark 7:31-37
    Mark 8:1 9
    Mark 8:1-9
    Matthew 10:26-33
    Matthew 11:12 15
    Matthew 11:12-15
    Matthew 11:16-24
    Matthew 11:2 10
    Matthew 11:2-10
    Matthew 12:38-50
    Matthew 15:1-20
    Matthew 15:21 28
    Matthew 15:21-28
    Matthew 17:1 9
    Matthew 17:1-9
    Matthew 18:21 35
    Matthew 18:21-35
    Matthew 20:1 16
    Matthew 20:1-16
    Matthew 20:17-28
    Matthew 2:1 12
    Matthew 2:1-12
    Matthew 21:1 9
    Matthew 21:1-9
    Matthew 22:1 14
    Matthew 22:1-14
    Matthew 24:15 28
    Matthew 24:15-28
    Matthew 25:1 13
    Matthew 25:1-13
    Matthew 25:31 46
    Matthew 25:31-46
    Matthew 28:1 10
    Matthew 28:1-10
    Matthew 4:1 11
    Matthew 4:1-11
    Matthew 5:17 26
    Matthew 5:17-26
    Matthew 6:16-21
    Matthew 6:24 34
    Matthew 6:24-34
    Matthew 7:15 23
    Matthew 7:15-23
    Matthew 8:1-13
    Matthew 8:23-27
    Matthew 9:1 8
    Matthew 9:1-8
    Maundy Thursday
    Michaelmas 1
    Michaelmas 2
    Michaelmas 3
    Michaelmas 4
    Michaelmas 7
    Michaelmas 8
    Michaelmas 9
    Most Holy Name Of Jesus
    Nativity Of John The Baptist
    Oculi
    Palmarum
    Palm Sunday
    Passiontide
    Pentecost
    Pentecost 21B
    Philippians 2:5-11
    Populus Zion
    Presentation Of The Augsburg Confession
    Psalm 118
    Psalm 119:73-80
    Psalm 91
    Purification BVM
    Quinquagesima
    Reformation
    Reminiscere
    Revelation 12:7-12
    Revelation 7:9 17
    Revelation 7:9-17
    Rev. Jeffrey Miskus
    Rogate
    Romans 5:6-11
    Rorate Coeli
    Second Last Sunday
    Second-Last Sunday
    Septuagesima
    Seven Last Words
    Sexagesima
    St. John Passion
    St. Mary Magdalene
    St. Matthew Passion
    St Michael And All Angels
    St Titus
    Tenebrae
    Thanksgiving
    Third Last Sunday
    Third-Last Sunday
    Titus 1:1-9
    Transfiguration
    Tre Ore
    Triduum
    Trinity
    Trinity 1
    Trinity 10
    Trinity 11
    Trinity 12
    Trinity 13
    Trinity 14
    Trinity 15
    Trinity 17
    Trinity 19
    Trinity 2
    Trinity 20
    Trinity 21
    Trinity 22
    Trinity 25
    Trinity 26
    Trinity 27
    Trinity 3
    Trinity 4
    Trinity 5
    Trinity 6
    Trinity 7
    Trinity 8
    Trinity 9
    Trintiy 7
    Vicar Burgdorf
    Visitation Of The BVM
    Wedding

    RSS Feed

Location

Saved by God's Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

Contact Us

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our Beliefs
    • Our History
    • Our Pastor
    • 25th Anniversary
    • Photo Gallery
    • Contact Us
  • Worship
    • The Singing Church
  • Resources
    • Food Pantry
    • Related Sites
  • Publications
    • Bulletins
    • Sermons
    • Monthly Newsletter
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Give Online
  • covid19