1 Corinthians 10:1-10

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It’s important to know your history. If you don’t know your history, then you’re likely to make the same mistakes that other people have in the past. The Apostle Paul in First Corinthians chapter ten warns God’s people to learn from Israel’s history. He says,

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. (1 Corinthians 10:1-5)

So he says, all right, there’s people who saw the glory of God. He rescued them. They saw his great deliverance. They were aligned with Moses. They were baptized into Moses. They were following him, and they were following the Lord. And yet many of them turned away, even though they had Christ and His Word right there with them. So take this as a warning, he says.

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. (1 Corinthians 10:6-10)

He gives all these examples from Israelite history, and there’s lots of applications a Christian can make for all of this. We’re going to focus on one, the last one, because I think this is a challenge for long term Christians. Verse ten says, and do not grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. God says that our grumbling or complaining, our criticism is actually a really dangerous thing. And he’s making these allusions to Israelite history. And here’s one of the ones that’s going through his mind.

God’s people are coming, and they’re just not happy with the leadership. So they go to Moses and Aaron, their spiritual leaders, and they say, hey, we’re all God’s people. Why are you taking the lead here? Let’s overthrow them. Then they start to stage this revolt. And at this point, you’d think that their spiritual leaders would just say, no, stop this. But they actually say, well, let’s check in with God on this. We’ll see if God does something dramatic here. We’ll see who he’s actually chosen as a leader. And God does.

They have all the rebellious people stand off by themselves, and the earth opens and swallows them up. And then God sends a plague that starts ravaging the people. And there are just people dying in rows and lines, you would imagine. What is Aaron, the high priest who’s been appointed by God but has been rebelled against, what does he do? He takes his censer of burning incense, and he just runs into the ranks of people. You can picture people dropping like flies all around him until he gets to the end and stops the plague.

These people that were rebelling against him, he still loves them and cares about them. And he does what high priests do: stand between God and mankind and atone for, cover their sinfulness, and plead for them.

We get a picture of Jesus doing something like this too for people like me and you, who often do grumble and complain. People who start to think that criticism is a spiritual gift. No, it’s not. And we see Jesus come into our world where people are dropping like flies apart from Christ, and he runs into our world, ready to live perfectly for us and to offer a sacrifice for the sins of the world, to shed his blood so that we can be forgiven and so that we can live.

And Jesus would be swallowed up into the heart of the earth, too, in a way, as he dies on the cross and as he’s buried in the grave. But that couldn’t hold him. As he takes all of our sins, he rises victorious, leaving them in the grave, leaving them out of God’s sight. And you stand forgiven. And really, we stand ready to live a different kind of a life, not criticizing and complaining in negative ways, but instead focused on one mission: getting to the promised land and bringing as many people with us as we can. And instead of saying, I don’t like how that’s being done, saying, how can I help? How can I share my Savior? How can we work together? God bless you as we do that.

2 Corinthians 3:7-8,13,18, Exodus 34:29

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God’s ministry is glorious. That’s what the Apostle Paul tells us in Second Corinthians chapter three. He begins by saying,

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? (2 Corinthians 3:7-8)

He compares two different kinds of ministry the ministry that Moses brought into the world through God, and then the ministry of the Spirit. Now there’s a glorious minister there, Moses. You’ve looked through the Old Testament, you’ve seen just how popular and important Moses was.

One of my favorite artistic representations of Moses is by Michelangelo, and it’s a marble statue. And you look at this statue and Moses looks glorious. He is powerful. You take a close look at his arms and his hands, and you can see the veins and the muscles on them. It’s real life, larger than life. He’s enormous. He’s huge. He’s powerful. And then you take a closer look at Moses, and you even see horns? All right, what’s going on there? So this is actually when Michelangelo and other Renaissance artists portrayed Moses, they would use a translation from Exodus chapter 34, verse 29 that said,

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. (Exodus 34:29)

Moses had had a glowing, radiant face, beams of light.

But there was also a mistranslation of that word in the Latin Bible, where it said Moses had not beams but horns protruding from his head. (Exodus 34:29 DRA) So sometimes you’ll see that. Paul gives us what it really meant here, because it talks about how the face of Moses was glorious. And that glory would fade. Moses would put a veil over his face so the Israelites wouldn’t see that glory fading away. (2 Corinthians 3:13) But God’s law was glorious. It was wonderful. And so was he.

But there was a problem. God’s law that tells us what to do and not to do, how to follow God can only really result in condemnation because we can’t do it perfectly. It’s a glorious ministry. It’s important for us to know God’s standards in the world would be a much better place if everybody followed what the Lord and what Moses told them to do, but it can only lead to condemnation on its own, because we can’t keep it perfectly.

Thankfully, there’s another ministry, and there’s another minister that is even more glorious. Picture Christ, picture him, maybe you remember on the Mount of Transfiguration when he’s with Moses and Jesus lets a little bit of his glory shine through and his face erupts in light and his clothing is bright. He’s glorious. Think of him when he rises from the dead in all of his glory, when he ascended into heaven and now rules over all things. Jesus is the glorious minister who came not just with a message of be better, do better, make this world a better place. But he came with a message of how he is perfectly kept the Law of Moses in our place, how he gives us his righteousness, how he transforms us from the inside out with his word of forgiveness and peace.

And now Paul goes on to say that as we are forgiven by Christ, as he’s given us his righteousness, not only was Moses transformed, not only is Jesus transformed and we got to see a glimpse of his glory, but we are transformed. Verse 18 says,

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

You’re transformed from the inside out. It might not always look like it to everyone around you, but God sees you as holy, righteous, and he gives you a glorious ministry to share the good news of Jesus, the Gospel.

John 11:21,23-25,35

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Have you had to watch the moving truck pull away, while someone you really liked, a friend, maybe a family member was was moving? I remember when I was in about third or fourth grade, just knowing that one of my best friends was moving away, moving hours away to a different state, and just how sad and disappointed you felt about that. So at that time, you know, you write letters, you make phone calls, you try and stay in touch. And with that particular friend we have.

As I’ve become a pastor now, you see that too. People that you love and care about move away. I’m a campus ministry pastor, so students graduate and they go on. You’ve probably experienced things like that too. You have close friends, good relationships, and then eventually a lot of times people move on and there’s disappointment, there’s sadness, there’s loss that goes with that. Well, what do we do with something like that as Christians? What are some strategies that we can have?

Well, one is in the short term, stay connected. You know, we do live in this world where we have technology, we have phones, we have social media, we have texting. Continue to reach out to those people just because they’ve moved away, it doesn’t mean that they’re gone. And sometimes you may just feel like nobody’s reaching back out to me. I’m the only one putting work into this relationship. Maybe you can just keep that up and see what happens over time, and see how God uses those relationships.

One of the other things that I’ve noticed, I’m a pastor in a small Lutheran denomination in the WELS, or maybe you’re in the ELS. One thing you can do is stay connected to church. It is just a beautiful thing how you can see fellow Christians move away and move on. But you’re connected by faith. You’re going to run in some of the same circles. And if you’re a member of a church community, odds are you’re going to run into them again. And it’s just a joyful thing. So as they move on, encourage them to stay connected to a church and do that yourself.

Now there’s lots of little short term things you can do to be able to maintain friendships and relationships. But one thing that the Christian has that nobody else has is the opportunity for friendships that go on eternally. We can think about loss and moving away and ultimately the greatest separation, the most final seeming separation is death. But the Christian knows that even when that happens, even when it’s a hearse pulling away, it’s not the end. Jesus makes that so clear. When his close friend Lazarus dies, he goes to his other friend Mary and Martha, and Martha comes to him. If you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. He wouldn’t be far away from us. And even Jesus is sad, (John 11:21,35) but he gives her these amazing promises. He says, you know

Your brother will rise again.

And she knows her scriptures. She knows God’s promises. She says,

I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

And Jesus said to her,

I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. (John 11:23-25)

For the Christian, we have this sure hope that we will see our Christian friends again. Hopefully again in this world and on this earth as it is now. But we have the promise that we’ll see them again in heaven, because Jesus has washed away their sins and yours and the sins of the whole world. He’s connected you to him by faith. He is our greatest forever friend, and he allows us to have friends that will last eternally. Thank God for that.

This is the third and final part of the devotional series Be Strong.

2 Timothy 2:6-9

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You then, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul gives us three examples of ways to be strong, to be focused like a soldier, to compete according to the rules, to cross train like an athlete. And now he gives us one more example in verse six of Second Timothy, chapter two.

The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. (2 Timothy 2:6-7)

To be strong, Jesus gives us this encouragement. Work hard. And apply that to yourself. And as you do that, maybe just think about your Christian life and think about what would it look like if I was working harder? If I was working like a farmer who just needed to put in the time to be able to see the results? Now that can be a dangerous thing for us because, like all people, we want to put that pressure on to ourselves and say, if I just work a little bit harder then things will go better and I’ll accomplish more, and it can be absolutely exhausting. So we need to remember to stay strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ.

The only way to have power to go out and work hard in our Christian life is to look at and be inspired by, and to know our Savior, Jesus, who came in and spread seeds of the gospel like a hard working farmer who went to the cross, even giving his life unto death to be able to forgive all of our sins who came and worked hard in this world so that we can work without pressure and work with joy, knowing that we’re doing that for the Lord. And then God gives us some promises first, and then some more encouragement after that, as we do that.

The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. (2 Timothy 2:6)

There’s some neat blessings that happen when you go out and share Christ with people and share your lives with them. Sometimes you get to see the crops grow. There’s just incredible joy. As a pastor, I probably get to have a front row seat at this more than some people, but to be able to see the lights go on for somebody as they realize that, wait a second, there’s no hard work that I have to do to earn my salvation to get into God’s good grace? No, nothing. Jesus did it all for you. When you get to share the love of Christ with others and see them start to understand it, see them change their life, see them start working hard for Jesus too, that is an incredible blessing.

So how do we do that? Well, verse eight of this section is so beautiful. It says,

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, (2 Timothy 2:8)

Remember Jesus, remember who he is, your Savior, who took your place on the cross. Remember who he is. A true human descended from David, the King of the universe, descended from King David, raised from the dead. Did not stay dead, but rose again to prove that his victory is yours. To prove the heaven is yours. That’s the gospel. The good news for which I’m suffering. There’s there’s still going to be suffering in this world, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. The Apostle Paul is in prison at this time. But, listen up. God’s word is not chained. (2 Timothy 2:9)

You go out working hard like a farmer, casting seeds recklessly. And you know that God’s powerful word that you’re sharing is just that. It is not chained down. We just do the easy job of sharing his message. And God does the extraordinary, miraculous work of changing people’s hearts. So my prayer for myself and for you is let’s work hard, and by God’s grace, he’ll show us some exciting results.

(This is part 2 of a 3 part series titled Be Strong.)

2 Timothy 2:5

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God’s Word says, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. In second Timothy, (2 Timothy 2:3-7) the Apostle Paul gives us three examples of ways to be strong, and he tells us to reflect on them. And the Lord will give you insight into all this. He talked about being a soldier. The next thing he says is in verse five he says.

Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. (2 Timothy 2:5)

So what does it look like to be strong? Well, it looks like following the rules of the race, of the athletic competition. The only way to win is to compete according to the rules. Otherwise, you can be disqualified. And without naming any particular names, I bet you can probably think of some high profile times when people have been excluded, disqualified from athletic events. You can think about baseball or swimming or cycling or gymnastics. And even though a person seems to perform well, if they don’t perform according to the rules, they’re out.

Dear Christian friend, I don’t want you to be disqualified from running this race and winning this race. So how do we do that? Well, first of all, if we want to compete according to the rules, we should have a good idea of what the guidelines are. So we’ll get to know our Bibles well, and we’ll see what God’s Word says to us. And God’s Word and his promises might even inspire some real changes in your life. If you see that I’m not competing according to the rules, and I’m on a dangerous track, that actually leads me away from Christ, it’s a beautiful thing when people repent and turn and change. And the only way that we can do that is by knowing how this race actually goes. What are the rules to this?

And as I reflect on that, the Christian faith is not all about Following rules. It’s about standing in the grace that comes from Jesus and the one who kept all the rules for us. In fact, the Christian faith really looks like you’re cheating because there’s actually no rules that you have to follow. You simply look to Jesus, who kept every rule, every stipulation, every commandment perfectly in your place. And you trust that he took all of your failures to the cross, and that he gives you his perfect life, that he’s actually carried you across the finish line, and that you’ve won the race and that God has taken away and doesn’t count any of your sins against you. You have the victory because Jesus won it for you.

That grace, that undeserved love, is the only thing that creates a desire for us to look at God’s rules and follow them with joy. So dear Christian compete as an athlete. You’ve won the victor’s crown.

This is part one of a Three Part Devotional called Be Strong. The next parts will be posted in the coming weeks.

2 Timothy 2:1,3-4,7

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This is part one of a Three Part Devotional called Be Strong. The next parts will be posted in the coming weeks.

How do you get strong? Now, if you look at me, I’m probably not the guy to answer that. I’m not doing a whole lot of weight lifting. But you’ll see that I am holding a Bible, and God’s Word gives us some encouragement on how to be strong. I want to just take a few devotions and look at Second Timothy chapter two, where the Apostle Paul writes to this young Christian, this young pastor Timothy, and he starts out by saying,

You then, my son, be strong… in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:1)

But that’s not all that he says. He says,

…be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 2:1)

And that’s what we’ll see as we look at this. The way for a Christian to be strong is to dig deeper and deeper into the undeserved love of Jesus, and appropriate that to ourselves and live in God’s love. He’s going to give three different examples here of how a Christian can be strong. So today we’ll look at this first one. He says,

Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. (2 Timothy 2:3-4)

And at the end of each of these illustrations, he’s going to say,

Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. (2 Timothy 2:7)

So that’s what I want to do today, to reflect on that. What would it be like to be strong by serving like a soldier trying to please his commanding officer, not getting entangled in civilian affairs? I think what Paul is getting at here is that we have a single minded focus. What would it look like to have a single minded focus in your Christian life? To avoid being distracted by all kinds of other things that come up, whether it’s sinful temptations or just good things that take us away from really a focus on Christ and His grace and his forgiveness?

So we act like a soldier. And as we do that, we recognize that Jesus gives us the weapons, the armor, the means to do that. Back in Ephesians six, it talks about how as we go out as a soldier with a single minded focus on Christ, we’re struggling against not other people, but against Satan and against his demons. But he gives us the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit. Jesus has clothed you with his breastplate of his righteousness. He’s given you his perfect life as a gift. He sees you as holy and perfect, and he gives you one weapon. And it’s not political influence. It’s not weapons or guns, but it’s the sword of the spirit. He gives you his powerful word, that very grace that rescued you and focused your mind on him, is the thing that will rescue others.

So be strong and go into battle like a single minded, focused soldier of Christ.

Matthew 10:7, 9-11, 16, 19, 26, 31

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Do you remember the first time that you left home? Like, really left home, not just for a grocery shopping trip, but the time when you went to start something new somewhere else for you, it was maybe college. You leave your house and your support network and your bedroom and your things, and you go off somewhere else. It’s jarring. It’s a little bit scary as you go and do that.

Or maybe after you go off to college, you go somewhere else. You find out that it was okay, and you got to meet new friends and start new relationships. And then that eventually stops, too. And maybe for you, you’re thinking about that first job, that new city that you got to move out to, and you knew a few people, or maybe you didn’t know any people. And there’s some worry and there’s some anxiety that comes from that, too.

Jesus disciples knew how you felt on probably even a different kind of a level. I just want to point out a few things from Matthew chapter ten. This is early in Jesus ministry, very early in the disciples ministry. They haven’t gone to eight years of seminary, and yet God sends them out to go and be his missionaries. He sends out the 12 apostles. And maybe you can just read through Matthew chapter ten too for some encouragement as you maybe go out and start some kind of a new adventure.

He gave the 12 disciples instructions to go and proclaim this message.

The kingdom of God has come near. (Matthew 10:7)

He doesn’t tell them to take anything special with them. Just wherever you go, search for some worthy person and stay in their house until you leave and let your peace rest on that house. (Matthew 10:9-11) He tells them to go, but he also warns them that it will be hard. It will be challenging. There will be danger. He doesn’t pull any punches. He says, I’m sending you out like a sheep among wolves. (Matthew 10:16) Yet over and over Jesus gives them these promises. He says, do not worry. Do not worry about what you’ll say or how to say it. He says, do not be afraid of people that would challenge them or persecute them because he’s with them. (Matthew 10:19, 26) The Holy Spirit is going to be with them and giving them the things to say. Do not be afraid, because your heavenly father knows you, the one who created all things, even the little birds flying through the sky, even the sparrows, he created them and he cares for them. And guess what? You’re worth a whole lot more to him than any sparrow. (Matthew 10:31)

And Jesus proves that by not just sending out his disciples, but sending them out with the power of His word to go and and change hearts, sending them out with the promise that he’d be with them always. And then and then by him going out to as you’re worried about leaving places that are comfortable, think. Think about Jesus, who wasn’t worried at all, who left all the peace and comfort of heaven so that he could enter our world as a true man, to stand in our place and live a perfect life where we couldn’t. To be harassed and persecuted, to have just a small group of friends and many enemies also, that he could take your sins and mine and the sins of the world to the cross, so that he could die for them once and for all, to give us an eternal home in heaven with all of his forgiveness, so that we don’t have to be afraid. We don’t have to worry as we go and start any kind of a new adventure.

So as you do that, as you’re thinking about doing that, one of the other things that I would encourage you to do is stay connected to a family of faith. And one of the ways that I encourage my new college students, I’m a campus ministry pastor. As they go out and start new adventures, I tell them, make sure that you find a Christian church to be connected with because you need Jesus with you, and you need his people and His Word with you. So if you’re connected to an ELS congregation, then ELS.org you can find all kinds of locations. Or WELS.net if you’re connected to a WELS congregation, look for a local church find one and then do not be afraid. Do not worry. Jesus is with you. He’s sending you out.

James 4:15-17

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All right, here’s one more thing to add when we think about how am I going to find and follow God’s will for my life? Determining what God’s will is, is relatively simple. We look at what His Word says, and we see if is this according to God’s will or not? We don’t look at our feelings and try and just feel out what I feel like must be the direction. But look at his word, and then if the options are according to his will, go and do that. Now, what kind of option should we be looking for? Listen to some more of these verses from James chapter four.

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. (James 4:15-17)

So we can see God’s law working in our heart as a mirror here. He shows us not just sins that we commit the sins of commission, but also sins of omission, that God gives us all these opportunities. And when we know good that we can do and we don’t do it, that’s sinful too. We need a Savior, and we have a Savior for that, even for our sins of omission, the good that we didn’t do. Jesus came and he looked at people. And the Bible says that he saw them, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He went and he rescued and saved and helped them physically and ultimately took their sins and our sins to the cross.

And that empowers us to also use these words as a guide for us, right? He says, if anyone knows the good they ought to do. They should do it. So what is according to God’s will? Well, look at all the stations in life that God has placed you in, and start there and look for good that you might be able to do.

Are you a mom or a dad? There are probably opportunities for you to do good in your family, your spouse, your children. Who can you help? Are you an employee or an employer? Look for good. Look for people that you can help as you go about your day to day life. Stop and listen and hear people’s story and see what they’re going through because there’s probably opportunity for good. He says watch out for arrogant schemes. And that happens because arrogance is when we’re mostly thinking about ourselves, he says instead, look to others.

As we look for ways to follow God’s will, maybe your prayer will be God, show me opportunities to do good. Show me your Son who looked for opportunities and was good already in my place. And then empower me to follow your will as I serve others.

James 4:15

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So what is God’s will? The book of James says instead, instead of just making all of our own plans as if God doesn’t exist.

Instead, you ought to say, if it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. (James 4:15)

So when we start with that question of what is God’s will? The first place I always want you to go is, is to remember that God’s will, the will, the very desire, the heart of God our Savior, is that all people are saved by coming to a knowledge of the truth. God’s will for you is that you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And as you grow in that, it happens by looking at his revealed Word and by studying His Word. So what is God’s will for us? It doesn’t have to be this mystical thing, or a feeling or a sign that we’re looking for. In fact, it really shouldn’t be. If you want to know what God’s will is, you look where he’s expressed his will in his word. And a lot of times that answers the question for us.

For our questions, we can just start by saying, well, does God speak about this? You can start with things like the Ten Commandments. If you’re wondering, what does God have to say? What’s God’s will for me in my marriage? If it’s going, oh, it’s just it’s really hard and there’s a lot of stress going on here. Well, God’s will isn’t for you to go and get a divorce. God’s will is for you to work through this and to get support and to have forgiveness and reconciliation. He says that in his word. So we don’t get to say, well, it’s God’s will for me to be happy, so I’m going to go do this or that. A lot of our questions can be answered by looking at the Ten Commandments and looking at what God says.

And if God speaks about a topic, then we can know what God’s will is. It’s pretty simple, but sometimes it can be hard for us to swallow if it’s not what our sinful nature wants to do.

What is God’s will in all of those situations where he doesn’t speak about this? Well, here’s what we can do. You can start by looking at the biblical principles. What does God say about this in general? You can hold those out. You can weigh them, you can talk with Christian friends, and then you can figure out, are my options according to God’s will? And if they are, if your choices, maybe it’s a new job and neither a job option is a sinful option. They’re both according to God’s will. You don’t have to know one specific thing that God in his all knowing mind has decided in advance for you to do. You can just say, God is going to bless me with either of these decisions. And I and I pray to him, and I ask him to bless me. And then using the judgment and the wisdom that he gives you, go and step forward boldly and make a good decision.

And here’s the thing, as we make decisions, as we seek to follow God’s will, we have a Savior who has done this perfectly in our place. Jesus came, and every moment of his life he was seeking to follow His Father’s will. His will as true God was right in line with God the Father’s will. And he never made a decision that was against the revealed will of God. The Bible tells us he never sinned, even though Satan was tempting him to do that and he he followed God’s will even when it was the hardest option.

Sometimes we think, Oh God is opening a door for me, and we think God’s will must be the easiest option out there. Well, that’s not even how it worked with Jesus. It was not the easiest option for the Son of God to carry all of our sins, including our sins of trying to make, our will, God’s will. He takes all of them to the cross, submits to the will of the father so that he can live and die in your place, and that your sins are forgiven. All of these options of joyful freedom are open to you as we’re empowered to make decisions according to God’s will. God bless you as you do that.

James 4:13-15

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Hi, I’m Pastor Marcus Nelson at Saint Paul’s North Mankato and the Beacon campus ministry. One question that we get a lot with our college students is, how do I know what I should do with my life? What is the Lord’s will for me? So over these next few devotions, I want to just take a little bit of a look at that and we’ll start in James chapter four.

So James talks about this a little bit starting in verse 13 as he says,

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.” (James 4:13-15)

So as we just start by thinking about this concept of what is, what is the Lord’s will, how should we make our plans? First, God’s word says, know yourself, remember who you are and check your attitude about that too. Because he says you don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while. It seems like as people were making their plans, they were saying something that at face value doesn’t seem like there’s anything wrong with it. We’re making our plans. We’re going to spend a year here, we’re going to have our business, we’re going to make money. Nothing wrong with that, except that it seems like they are just leaving God out of the equation.

Do you ever find yourself doing that too? Just functionally living as a secular humanist, thinking that you are the be all and end all and that it’s your plans and really, really is God all that involved at all? Well, God wants us to check our hearts and think about that and remember that he is the one who guides all things in this world, and that we should go to him with our plans. And remember, if it’s the Lord’s will, we’ll do this or that.

As we make decisions, as we seek to follow God’s will. We have a Savior who has done this perfectly in our place. Jesus came and he looked at people, and the Bible says that he saw them, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He went and he rescued and saved and helped them physically and ultimately took their sins and our sins to the cross.

So we remember who we are. We’re a mist. We’re just here for a little while. We are not God himself, so there’s no reason for us to act like that. But who is God? Well, he’s our Lord and Savior, who looks at us, who are just here for a little while, a little insignificant mist. And what is God’s will for us? Well, here’s one aspect of it God wants all people to be saved. God our Savior wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. He wants you not just to be this little mist that disappears far apart from him, but to be with him forever and ever.

So in some future devotions, we’ll look at what is the will of God. But for now, we check our attitude and remember who our Lord is.

Matthew 14:16-18

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Jesus feeds the 5000. We learn some things from this true story of what Jesus actually did, this incredible miracle. We learned that we can trust God to take care of us physically, but even more importantly, we can trust that God takes care of us spiritually. Jesus is the bread of life from heaven that gives us eternal life, forgiveness, salvation. But there’s something else we can learn from this too. Jesus gives us bread to distribute. Sometimes when I look at really familiar stories like this, it’s helpful to just slow down and think about what is actually pretty amazing, what is unexpected in this section, or put yourself in the sandals of the people in the story. What are they thinking?

We’ve talked about how Jesus was trying to get away privately by himself. He had learned that his cousin had just been murdered, but yet the people come to him. So he has compassion on them. Imagine the disciples at that time. They know Jesus wants to get by himself. They come and see all the people crowded on the shore. How frustrated are they that these people just keep coming to Jesus? They won’t give him a break. And yet Jesus goes and he’s filled with compassion.

Eventually the disciples come up to Jesus because they realize there’s a problem. Jesus, it’s getting late and the people don’t have any food to eat. So they notice there’s this problem. The people are in this remote place and they’re getting hungry. Maybe there’s even a little bit of compassion for them. Jesus, what should we do about this? And they have a plan that they’ve come up with. Jesus, send them away. Send them to a nearby town. They can find some food then. Then they won’t be hungry. There’s so many of them. Here’s a solution, Jesus. And what does he do?

He says something that is really unexpected. He says

They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. (Matthew 14:16)

Okay! They check their resources that they see what they have. It’s completely inadequate, but they bring it to Jesus and say,

“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish.” “Bring them here to me.” He said. (Matthew 14:17-18)

How does it sometimes work for us? We’re around Jesus. We’re in his word. He’s rubbing off on us, his love and his compassion for people. And we see people who are hurting, who maybe have physical needs, who have spiritual needs for eternal life. And we say we got to do something about this. There’s something wrong here. So we go and we take it to Jesus and we say, Jesus, there’s some huge problems here. Here’s my best guess at a solution. Here’s how maybe you could solve this, Jesus. And like he so often does. He says no. You give them something.

No, Jesus, that’s not what I was hoping you would say. I was hoping that you could take care of this. Or I could pass it off to somebody else. No, you. You give them something. So the Christian goes back and they evaluate and they say, what can I do in this situation? And they bring back to Jesus. All right, here’s what I have to offer. And it is woefully insufficient and inadequate. And Jesus says. Yeah. Bring that to me. That’s perfect. I can use that. And Jesus takes this from the Christian and he gives thanks for it. And then, like the disciples, what did he do?

He fills up their baskets. After breaking and giving thanks for what they so inadequately supplied him. And he sends them out and they go and they distribute the bread and they distribute the fish. And then, and then their baskets are empty and they’re like, All right, what’s next? I fed 15 or 20 people, and then they go back to Jesus and there he is, and he fills them back up. And then they go out and they distribute and they run out. And then they go back and he fills them back up.

And it is kind of a neat picture of the life of discipleship, isn’t it? We see these opportunities. We bring them to Jesus. Jesus says, you, you help them. And he gives thanks for us. And he sends us out, filled up to be able to go and, share physically or spiritually sharing the life that we have, the good news of the gospel. And sometimes we go and do that and we run out and we’re like, oh, I don’t have anything left. And what do we do? Go back to Jesus. We go back to His word. We go back to church. We go back to the Lord’s Supper where he forgives our sins and fills us back up and sends us out again. And after all of that life of service, there’s always leftovers. And there’s always Jesus. And he equips us to serve him. God be with you as you do that.

Matthew 14:13-21

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Welcome back. I want to take another look at how Jesus feeds the 5000. One of the last videos we talked about how Jesus takes care of us physically. We can trust him to do that. He has the means. He has the power to do that. Jesus fed 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two small fish and had leftovers. (Matthew 14:13-21) It was a lesson for the disciples. It’s a lesson for us today. God can take care of us and He uses us and he uses other people to do that.

But that wasn’t the main point of what Jesus did when he fed the 5000. It wasn’t to show I can and will physically give you food every day. Because that’s what some people wanted the main lesson to be. What happens after this in the Book of John is that people want to make Jesus their king by force. They wanted to make him their bread king. Yes, give us bread like this every day, just like you did, just like God daily provided for his people with Manna when they were in the desert. If you’re really who you say you are, take care of us physically. And Jesus would go on to say, That’s not the point.

The point isn’t to have bread day in and day out and take care of our bodies, I have something so much better for you. He would say, I am the bread of life. I am the bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats and drinks of me will have eternal life and never hunger or thirst again. Sadly, many of the people didn’t want that. They just wanted God to take care of them physically. They just wanted the temporal, the here and now instead of the eternal that Jesus gives life forever.

How often do we do that? We you think about all those times in the Bible where God provides bread for his people and there’s always this question, Will they trust me? Will they trust me with bigger things than that, with their eternal life, too? Back when God provided manna bread from heaven in the desert and on their way to the promised land, he gave them daily bread. Every day. The manna was on the ground and they had to pick it up. And every day they were only supposed to pick up enough for the next day. And if they decided to hoard it and save it up and think, I’m not sure if God’s going to take care of me for the next day, so I’m just going to pile up more. They would go and do you remember what it was like? The bread was moldy and rotten and full of worms and grubs. They just needed to trust God every day to take care of them.

And do we do that sometimes too where we’re not trusting in God, but instead we’re just piling up securities for ourselves. And if we place our trust in them, instead of in the God who gives us spiritual bread from heaven. They will rot and they’ll rot us too, in a spiritual way. If we start to trust in ourselves or in what we can do for eternal life or a real good life, now it rots and it results in death and hunger. But Jesus gives us something that doesn’t rot or spoil or fade away. It’s kept in heaven for you. He is the bread from heaven. He is the bread of life.

God knew that he needed to provide for us and more than just physical bread. So God provided what we actually needed. He provided this baby in the manger at Christmas time that we celebrate. He provided the man Jesus to come and live the perfect life that we could never achieve. He provided Jesus to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. So we die on the cross and pay for our sins, even our sins of saying, I don’t trust you, God, or I want something physical. And I’m not thinking of the eternal anymore. God provided what we really need. The bread of Life. And now I encourage you to go and eat that bread as you find yourself at worship or regularly studying your Bible. This is where God fills us up with His promises and his life. And as we’ll see in the next video, prepares us to go and distribute that bread to others too.

God be with you.