“Thankful Hearts” (John 6:25-35)

S-1279 TD/3C 11/24/11 Hymns: (O) #574; 568; S#36; L.S. 566 (C)#578

Text: Psalm 100; 103; Deuteronomy 8:1-10; 1Timothy 2:1-4; John 6:25-35

Theme: “Thankful Hearts” (John 6:25-35)

Question: “How grateful is your heart?” Armour, SD

Faithful followers of the Savior, Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! The text for the Thanksgiving Day celebration is the gospel lesson: “So they said to Him, ‘Then what sign do You do, that we may see and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, ‘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.’ They said to Him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I Am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst’” (John 6:25-35).

Introduction: In Nomine IESU

Saints in Christ, blessed Thanksgiving Day to each and every one of you. A story is told of two old friends who bumped into one another on the street one day. One of them looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, “Jimmy, What has the world done to you, my old friend?” The sad fellow said, “Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars.” His friend responded, “That’s a lot of money.” Jimmy continued “Two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me eighty-five thousand free and clear.” “His friend said: “Sounds like you’ve been blessed....” “You don’t understand!” he interrupted. “Last week my great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million.” Now he was really confused. “Then, why do you look so downcast?” “This week... nothing!”

That’s the trouble with receiving something on a regular basis. Even if it is a gift, we eventually come to expect it. This is the “entitlement mindset” that has permeated American society at almost every level—even in the church. We have been blessed to live in a land of plenty and as a result we become complacent and many times are completely unwilling to give thanks to anyone for anything.

Indeed the old saying is true “attitude is everything”... Well, it is no different when it comes to thanksgiving. The attitude we carry with us through life is of utmost importance if we are truly to live lives that demonstrate our gratitude towards our good and gracious God for His continual provisions and blessings in our lives.

St. John tells in the text of the unthankful crowd who had just been fed by the Savior. Jesus had just demonstrated His mighty power by feeding 5000 people with a few loaves and fish. Yet, these ungrateful people questioned Jesus as to how He is going to prove Himself to them yet again. They’d followed Jesus all the way around the lake and rather than recognizing the fact that they were being offered the solution to a REAL need, they were asking yet again to have a PERCEIVED need met. Jesus reminded them of the importance of what He was offering them in His teaching and then continues to teach them rather than meeting their perceived need for food.

When the masses demanded food, He referred them to Spiritual food by His teaching about the things of heaven. When these Jewish listeners were trying to grasp what He was teaching them, He made a historical connection for them referring back to the Manna from Heaven that God provided for the Israelites when they were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, demonstrating that God met their needs when they needed it. Again, Jesus turns the discussion to things of a spiritual nature and they asked Him to provide “this food” for them. Jesus then told them that He is the Bread of Life. With the Savior in their lives, they would never be hungry or thirsty... at least not in things of eternal significance. PAUSE.

How sad, that we are not any different than the people who followed Jesus around the lake. We don’t always have thankful hearts for all He gives us. WE ALAWYS WANT MORE! No wonder tomorrow many people, maybe even some of you here, would forgo sleep to go and shop for more stuff. We put the physical need, before the Spiritual—the Bread of Life Himself. We pursue cars and homes and trophy spouses and all manner of possessions and in the process neglect the importance of returning thanks to the Giver of all good gifts for the only thing that really matters for eternity.

Beloved in the Lord, you and I live in a land of plenty. Even the poorest among us are wealthy by the standard of the rest of the world! We still have a roof over our heads, a car or two in the garage, 2 or 3 TV’s, cell phones, computers, etc. Certainly, our loving Father has blessed us in ways too many to number, and yet, we feel just like the people in the text for today. We too, want Jesus to give us one more thing... to give us one more demonstration of His power. It is almost as if they were viewing Jesus’ ministry among them as a magic show of sorts and they weren’t satisfied with the things He had already done to demonstrate to them who He was and what it was that He had really come to do in their lives. They wanted yet another demonstration of His power so “then they would believe.” Likewise, we too, at times act just like the people in the text. We don’t believe in the power of the Father, who in love sent the Bread of Life to earth to feed and nurture us. True faith calls us to acknowledge and confess our dependence on Him—who provides every good and perfect gift—and with an attitude of gratitude, have thankful hearts.

I am indeed amazed at how many people wish others “Happy Thanksgiving Day” and rightly so, yet NOT many are happy. Perhaps you can’t see the gifts that God has given you... Maybe the pain of life has overwhelmed you to the point where you don’t see anymore how blessed you truly are. Perhaps, the economy and life’s situation has put a bad taste in your mouth and don’t see the hand of God directing and leading you.

If that is where you are today, then I implore you by the power of the Holy Spirit to lift your eyes to Him who is the Bread of Life—Jesus the Christ. Hear His Words again: ‘I Am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst’” Yes, my beloved, He is the source of every breath, bread and blessing. Jesus the Christ is the One who blesses us when we don’t deserve it.

As you, today, or this evening, munch on turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie; remember these are all gifts from Your loving God and Lord. But also today, as we gather in His house to feed on His Eternal Word, Body and Blood, may we have thankful hearts that appreciate His giving us His all, on the cruel cross of Calvary.

Today, my beloved and His beloved, in the simple, yet very clear way of worship, we have a great opportunity to teach the world, that our loving Father sent His Son for us so that we may be blessed. The Son fulfilled the will of the Father—by dying our death and rising again to fill our hearts with His love and blessings. And therefore, with great joy we do acknowledge our dependence on Him for every good and perfect gift and with an attitude of gratitude, have thankful hearts.

I pray that we don’t have the mind of Jimmy, who said, “This week…NOTHING!” Because every week, we are blessed, not only with material blessings, but more importantly with His eternal and spiritual blessings.

Therefore, we say, BLESSED THANKSGIVING DAY TO ONE AND ALL. AMEN.

Now the peace…

SOLI DEO GLORIA

“A Little Bit of Heaven!” (Revelation 7:9-10)

S-1272 All Saints Day/3C11/06/11 Hymns TLH(O) #656; (S) #457; (C) #360

Text: Revelation 7:9-17; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

Theme: “A Little Bit of Heaven!” (Revelation 7:9-10)

Main Street Living TV. Taped in Sioux Falls and will be aired on November 6, 2011

Faithful followers of the Savior, Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! The text for All Saints Day is a portion of the Epistle lesson: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10).

Introduction: In Nomine IESU

People of God, chosen, cherished, loved and adored in His sight and mine; in April of 2008, I was privileged to travel on behalf of the South Dakota District to Detroit, MI., for The Friendship of Jesus and Muslims Conference. After I arrived in my hotel I went to register for the conference. What a day that was. There were over 188 people registered for this conference. There were many Synodical representatives, along with the Mission Board, and the POBLO (People Of the Book Lutheran Outreach) servants of Detroit.

As the evening waned I felt I was experiencing heaven on earth and the fulfillment of Revelation 7, which states: “After this I saw a large number of people that no one could count, from all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues standing before the throne and the Lamb, dressed in white garments and holding in their hands palm branches.” (Rev. 7:9). This day to me was a mini Pentecost, a microcosm of eternity with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It was a moment in time when I literally saw a glimpse of heaven before my very own eyes. At the evening banquet there were Muslim converts to the Christian faith, from these different nations—Morocco, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Indonesia, Pakistan, Kosovo. Tears ran down my cheeks, as I sat at the conference and heard of the power of the Gospel in the lives of these people who have come to KNOW Jesus as the FRIEND of sinners. They spoke of the freedom of being burdened to earn God’s favor, or not certain of their salvation. They rejoiced when they came to know that their friends introduced them to the True Friend, Jesus Christ who won their freedom by the shedding of His blood on the cross. They spoke of the joy that filled their hearts because they knew this love that they have never experienced in the Muslim religion.

This is the scene here in our reading for this All Saints Day. It is righty called Saints Day, because these are the Saints that St. John on the Island of Patmos declares he saw. And what he saw is an amazing sight. Can you envision the sight?

It will be a beauty to behold. There will be billions of believers—a huge heavenly crowd far too great for any human eye to count. People from all nations and tribes, all races and languages will be there. These saints who have gone through any number of great tribulations, martyrdoms, persecutions, violent deaths and violent crimes, painful surgeries, setbacks, sorrow supreme, and Pauline perils will be perfectly united. They will be standing, dressed in white robes, waving palm branches, singing a heavenly salvation by grace song. They will be singing this heavenly hymn before the Throne of the Father and the Throne of the Lamb, heartily sing:

Salvation to our God on His Throne!

Salvation is from the Lamb, the eternal I Am!

This is a marvelous picture to behold and reflect on. All Saints Day helps us to think of those loved one who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb and have gone ahead of us to be with Him who loved us and gave Himself for us on that cruel and cursed tree. PAUSE.

On this day, let me remind you that you are precious in the sight of the Lord, you are loved, you are adored and you are blood-bought by the precious blood of the innocent Lamb—Jesus the Friend of sinners. And because of what the Savior has done for us, we have become saints—holy unto the Lord, washed from every stain of sin, and live under His grace now and look forward to the day we will be numbered among the throngs waiving our Palm branches with other saints from other places, and peoples and nations.

In order to be wholesome leaven we need a little bit of heaven—to enter our heart so that we can impart salt and light, love and life, help and hope to those who don’t know the Savior as their FRIEND.

The paradox here is that this little bit of heaven is quite a bit of heaven, even now. The often quoted, or should I say misquoted 1 Cor. 2:9 is speaking of how even now the Lord has blessed us with gargantuan gospel lifts. For example, we have been blessed with the gift of sainthood. Holiness, righteousness, sainthood are genuine gifts we have even now. Very few Christians grasp such a great gift as this.

In Romans 8 it declares we are already glorified. Paul uses a Greek tense to emphasize how much of the glory of God that has already come to us. A little bit of heaven turns out to be a lot of heaven even now, when we consider the rich resurrection realities that are already ours. Even now Jesus dwells within us as God and man. Even now The Holy Spirit has made us His temple. Even now we are incorporated into the body of Christ. Even now we are already saints. Even now we receive the very body and blood of the Savior. Even now holy angels surround us. We also sojourn through life knowing that God is working everything together for the good of the church—everything. We have been sanctified through the Word via our second birth—baptism. A little bit of heaven comes to us big time every time we receive Christ’s true body and blood.

This little bit of heaven, or more accurately a lot of heaven is yours today, because of Jesus our true Lamb who suffered our punishment. This little bit of heaven is yours not because of heritage, inheritance, position or possessions, but simply because someone washed you clean. Someone loved you enough to die for you on the cross (if there is a cross turn and point to it). On that cruel instrument, you and I have been made saints by your FRIEND and mine—Jesus the Christ—OUR ONLY SAVIOR. PAUSE.

At the Conference in Detroit, we were reminded that 90% of all who come to church come because of a friend who has invited them or told them about Jesus. Many of the Muslim converts spoke of the friend who cared and spoke about this Jesus who loved them by dying their death and rose again to give them life and salvation. One friend cared. One friend shared, and one friend told the truth that apart from Jesus Christ there is no salvation (Acts 4:12).

I further learned that in (2008) there were 350.000 Muslims who have gone through the on-line course provided by The Lutheran Hour Ministries about Christianity. What a blessing to witness and to behold how our Church body is reaching out in the name of the Friend of sinners to others, especially to the Muslims.

I like to inform you that there were 23 nations represented at the Conference. Here are the nations: Jordan, Syria, Togo, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Morocco, Iraq, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, Ireland/Scotland, Russia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Germany, India, Philippines, Malaysia, and USA. THIS IS A LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN FOR SURE.

What a blessing to have attended this conference. What a blessing to have heard former enemies of the Cross speak of their FRIEND Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. What a blessing to know that our church body is reaching out to others in the name of Jesus Christ.

On this All Saints Day, I encourage you to remain steadfast in the faith that is yours. And remember this little bit of heaven is a lot of heaven for today and forever. And soon, very, very soon, we, ALL BELIEVERS will be before the Throne and the Lamb shouting and saying: ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”Amen.

Now the peace…

SOLI DEO GLORIA