John 6:32-33 - Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

When things seemed grim for the Israelites, God sent manna from heaven to sustain them on their sojourn in the desert. Here, in what is often called the Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus says that he is the Bread of Life come from heaven to give life to the world.

Ancient Christians tell us that the "bread of heaven" is nothing other than the Word of God, which normally sustains the angels and has become foor for us in the Incarnation. A mother nursing her infant is an apt metaphor. We cannot eat the food of heaven as we are but infants not ready for the solid food. This food must first be made milk. The food is made milk for us only by passing through the flesh. The metaphor here is saturated with an excess of meaning, and Christians have pondered this to great lengths, but the important thing is that the Word of God, by whom the angels are sustained, has become True Bread for us.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Psalm 78:24-25 ...he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. Man ate the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.

This passage from the Psalms is but one of a half dozen references in the Bible to the story of the manna in the desert. The frequency with which the biblical authors go back to this story tells us that they see it as an important event in God's relationship with Israel: The Lord not only freed the people but nourished them, even when they grumbled and complained.

The grumbling of the Israelites and God's response may remind us of a common scenario between children and parents: Even in lean times, good parents will do all they can to provide for their children, even if those children grumble and complain. Confronted with this story, we are convicted. How are we sometimes like the grumbling Israelites? How has God provided "bread" for us or our community? How can we imitate a God who provides "bread" for even those in our life who seem not to appreciate us? As we journey together through the desert of Advent, how can we practice trust and gratitude for a God who has given us and will give us each day bread from heaven?

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

1 Kings 17:13 And Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.

When Elijah encounters the widow of Zarephath, they both are in the midst of a terrible drought and famine. Elijah, for his part, has been wholly reliant on God, being ministered to by ravens. When God sends him to Sidon, he does not know how he will continue to survive in the drought-stricken land. The widow has resigned herself to the likelihood that she and her son will starve. However, through her hospitality to God's prophet, she discovers what Elijah has already encountered: God's abundant care.

The bread that the widow gives Elijah is all that she has. And yet, she finds that despite, or maybe because of, this radical act of hospitality, she is always able to offer more. Her food stores, though meager, do not run out. The daily bread she bakes for Elijah and her son does not diminish how much she can give. In this way, it is a symbol of love. No loving parent ever runs out of love for their children, just as there is no limit to God's love for us.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Colossians 3:12-17

Some of us have been told what we want our whole lives. We’ve been told whether we should want to go out for sports or not. We should want a college education or a graduate degree or a particular career. We should want to date this person and not the other one. None of it is mean-spirited, of course, and no one means any harm. It just doesn’t sit well with us.

It happens in our churches and schools and faith communities too. We’re told by someone what God wants us to do and not do. We’re told we shouldn’t drink or cuss or watch certain movies. We’re told we should want to have “quiet times” in the mornings and talk to strangers about “a relationship with God.” We’re told we should want to go on “mission trips” and “witness” to people, so we do it even if we don’t really know what the words mean. But often just for a while. After long enough, what looks like faith isn’t really faith anymore. It’s just compliance.

The problem with mere compliance is it turns us into posers. Rather than making decisions ourselves, we do what everyone we respect tells us we ought to do, and we sacrifice our ability to make choices of our own. The fix is as easy as the problem is hard. Instead of telling people what they want, we need to tell them who they are. This works every time. 

We’ll become in our lives whoever the people we love the most say we are.

God did this constantly in the Bible. He told Moses he was a leader and Moses became one. He told Noah he was a sailor and he became one. He told Sarah she was a mother and she became one. He told Peter he was a rock and he led the church. He told Jonah he’d be fish food and, well, he was. If we want to love people the way God loved people, let God’s Spirit do the talking when it comes to telling people what they want. 

Our first goal in ministry is to show broken people they are loved and worthy of God's grace and forgiveness.

All the directions we’re giving to each other aren’t getting people to the feet of Jesus. More often, the unintended result is they lead these people back to us. When we make ourselves the hall monitor of other people’s behavior, we risk having approval become more important than Jesus’ love.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

Our Lutheran churches teach that the remembrance of saints may be commended to us so that we imitate their faith and good works according to our calling. . . . However, the Scriptures do not teach us to pray to the saints or seek their help, for the only mediator, propitiation, High Priest, and intercessor whom the Scriptures set before us is Christ.  [Jesus] is to be prayed to, and he has promised to hear our prayers. Such worship Christ especially approves, namely, that in all afflictions he be called upon. “If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father,” etc. (1st John 2:1).

First, a definition of who is a saint. The apostle Paul wrote to the saints at the various Christian churches. Obviously he was not writing to those who had already died, rather he was writing to those who had been blessed with faith by the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ.

We are to honor the saints in three ways.. The first way is to thank God for saints because He has shown examples of His mercy, because He wishes to save people and because He has given teachers and other gifts to the Church. Thank God for saints!

The second way to honor those who have been blessed with faith is by being encouraged by them to believe all the more that grace truly superabounds over sin. What an encouragement to observe the faithful who attend weekly worship, who care for the sick, who open their homes and their hearts to those in need, and who keep the faith in spite of ridicule and persecution.

The third way to honor saints is through imitation, first of faith, and then of the other virtues. In other words, to heed the voice of Jesus, the good shepherd, and be like Him!

Jesus invites you to pray to Him and in His name, He is more than willing and able to intercede for you as your High Priest, seated on the right Hand of God His heavenly Father.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Our Lutheran churches are falsely accused of forbidding good works. . . Our Lutheran churches begin by teaching that our works cannot reconcile us to God or merit forgiveness of sins and grace but that we obtain forgiveness and grace only by faith when we believe that we are received into favor for Christ’s sake, who alone has been ordained to be the mediator and propitiation through whom the Father is reconciled. Consequently whoever trusts that he merits grace by works despises the merit and grace of Christ and seeks a way to God without Christ, by human strength, although Christ has said of himself, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). … This teaching concerning faith is everywhere treated in Paul's epistles, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.' [Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV) … Our teachers teach in addition that it is necessary to do good works, not that we should trust to merit grace by them but because it is the will of God.

Note well: There is no place for good works in one saving oneself. One is declared saved through faith in Jesus alone, however, the one who has faith will naturally bear good fruit as the Spirit of God is abiding in his/her heart. This is made clear in verse 10 of Ephesians chapter 2: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

Another key Scripture passage comes from James, the second chapter: 'What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 'James 2:14–18 (ESV) One is declared saved through faith in Jesus alone, however, the one who has faith will naturally bear good fruit as the Spirit of God is abiding in his/her heart.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Our Lutheran churches teach that although God creates and preserves nature, the cause of sin is the will of the wicked, that is, of the devil and ungodly men. If not aided by God, the will of the wicked turns away from God, as Christ says in John 8:44, “When the devil lies, he speaks according to his own nature.”

In other words, the cause of sin never had its source from God. God is holy and when the first male and the first female were created they too were holy. They were placed in a garden with all the blessings of food. They were naked and without shame.

God is not the source of evil. Nor does He have a dual personality, like yin and yang, half good and half evil. No, the cause of sin is the will of the devil, who although created as one of God's messengers or angels, turned on God in an attempt to be equal or greater than God. The Sacred Word of God labels him as the 'father of lies.'

However, one can not simply blame the devil for his or her rebelling against God as Eve did. Or like the excuse that 'the devil made me do it.' People have the free will to turn away from God. This is the nature of mankind since Adam and Eve's fall into sin. At times it is referred to as original sin. A sinful man who fathers a child through the union with a sinful woman is not able to produce innocent or sinless offspring.

This doctrine of the Cause of Sin underlines the need for a Savior. Thank God for Jesus who was not conceived in the natural manner, but the Holy Spirit came upon virgin Mary and was born sin-free.

You do not need to look any farther than the one you see in the mirror for the cause of sin. You do not need to look any farther than in Jesus as the full payment for the forgiveness of your sin! 

-Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,