PENTECOST
12
August
10-12, 2024
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Exodus 16:15-31
“GOD’S WORK, GOD’S
WAY!
This weekend we are installing teachers
for this coming school year. It’s important that teachers know how students
learn. One way that people learn is to go from the lesser to the greater. You
show how something is true for something small and easy to grasp to teach how
something is true for something that is bigger and harder to grasp. God knows
how people learn and Het taught that way. In the book of Hebrews, the Holy
Spirit had these words written, “For every house is built by
someone, and God is the one who built everything.” He teaches from the
lesser to the greater. Everyone admits to the truth that if a house exists,
someone built it. So the greater is true. The universe has to have a builder,
and that builder is God. That’s why God calls those who say there is no God,
fools. They are ignoring obvious truth. Another way to teach is to use
something simple and visible to teach about something you can’t see. God does
that too. Think of Baptism. He has us use water. It’s everywhere and necessary.
What do we mostly use water for? To clean and sustain life. So if we think
about it, every time we wash dirty dishes or dirty hands or enjoy that cold
glass of water on a hot, humid summer day it can teach us that our Baptism that
connects us to Jesus washes and cleans dirty sinners and gives spiritual life.
A similar thing was done by God for
the Old Testament people and us with the sending of manna. You heard about it
in our first reading. In Hebrew “What is it?” sounds like “manuh, manuh?” Manna,
bread from heaven. A quick catch up on the background. God had rescued the
Israelites from slavery in Egypt with the miraculous plagues. Now they were
wandering the wilderness. They grumbled and complained that God had rescued
them because they had no more food. These former slaves had a lot of learning
to do, most of it spiritual, to trust in the Lord with all their heart and lean
not on their own understanding. Instead of punishing the Israelites for their
lack of trust God graciously provided manna, bread from heaven that had a honey
taste to it. There were specific instructions that came with this food from the
Lord. “This is what the Lord has
commanded: All of them are to gather as much of it as they need to eat”…and “No
one is to leave any of it until morning.”
God was teaching. God’s work must be
done God’s way! Trust God. He will provide for you. Daily bread. Now if they
would follow their own understanding they would gather as much food as they
could. “What if it didn’t come the next day? Better to store up plenty for
yourself. God’s way doesn’t make sense.” Let’s see how that worked for them.
“However, they did not listen to Moses.
Some of them left part of it until morning, and it became full of worms and
stank.” Ooh, gross! Maggots.
Smell! It does not turn out well when God’s people trust in themselves with all
their heart and lean not on the Lord who loves them.
Then
God switched things up. “They gathered it each morning. All of them gathered
as much as they needed to eat. When the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22On
the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers for each person, and
all the leaders of the community came and reported to Moses. 23He
said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: Tomorrow is a complete rest, a
holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to
boil, but set aside for yourselves all the rest of it to be kept until
morning.” 24So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded,
and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25Moses
said, “Today eat whatever is left over, for today is a sabbath to the Lord.
Today you will not find any around the camp. 26Six days you
will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”
Again, God was teaching them. He knew their needs. They needed rest for their
bodies and rest for their souls. The seventh day would be a day to find rest
from their regular physical work and to worship and find rest in God’s word.
The manna they saved on the 6th day would not rot. It’s just like
Jesus told us, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all
these things will be added to you as well.” And what about those who didn’t
listen? “On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but
they did not find any.” Students! They had to learn.
So do
we and God knows how we learn. From the lesser to the greater and from the
visible to the blessings we can’t see. His lessons for Old Testament Israel are
there to teach us just as Paul alluded to in his letter to the Corinthians.
Let’s start with the lesser and the visible. We need food for our bodies. God
provides. It’s His work. It must be done His way. If you can’t get a job or are
unable to work, He will provide. Trust in Him and don’t lean on your own
understanding. Trust Him when you are past your working years. He will provide.
If we are able to work and can get a job in our working years, we should. And
God will provide for us. If we don’t work, we shouldn’t expect to eat. It’s
God’s work to provide for our physical needs and His people need to do that
God’s way. The lesser and the visible are our physical needs.
The
greater and the blessings we can’t see are the spiritual ones. Once again, this
is God’s work. Only He knows what we need spiritually. Only He can provide what
we need spiritually. His work. And His way? Through the word! Specifically,
through the Gospel messages that points us to all the blessings we have in
Jesus. What we need is the forgiveness of our sins. What we need is the
righteousness we lack. What we need is the ability to trust what God says. Only
Jesus gives us this. The manna in the desert was a set up to point people to
Jesus, the Bread of Life you heard about in the Gospel lesson. The way He
chooses to be found is in His words and the Gospel of the Sacraments. How
foolish the Israelites were who did not gather the manna God provided. How
foolish they were to put physical needs above spiritual. And how much more
foolish we are if we don’t use God’s word. How much more foolish we are not to
gather for public worship one day a week. Because we know better than they did.
We have their example to learn from. It’s God’s work. It must be done God’s
way.
And
for you new teachers to St. Jacobi and teachers taking on new duties, remember
that truth as a warning, and as a comfort. St. Jacobi operates a school to proclaim the
Gospel. That is the work God has given to us as a congregation. You have been
called to do God’s work. It must be done God’s way. God’s way relies on the
power of the Gospel in God’s Word. So, if you excel in teaching reading,
writing and rithmatic but do not excel in feeding Jesus’ lambs, doing what you
can to feed their faith and tie their hearts to Jesus, you are going to stink
up God’s classroom, school and church. It will smell worse to God than rotting
manna did to the Israelites. On the other hand, when you seek first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness in your classrooms, all the other things will be
added to you as well. You will be able to sleep good every night you can say,
“I gave them Jesus!” It’s God’s work, God’s way!
For
most students and teachers a new school year will begin soon. Every teacher’s
goal, hope, prayer is that their students learn what is taught, grow and become
productive members of their families, their communities. God’s goal for us is
the same. Learn, grow and be productive with His work until He takes us to the
glory of heaven. To that end may He bless His teaching and our learning. Amen.
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