Holy Good Works

The Feeding of the Four Thousand and the Call to Sanctification

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrook. The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark.

The 8th chapter. In those days when again a great crowd.

Had gathered and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes they will faint on the way.

And some of them have come from far away. And his disciples answered him, how can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place? And he said to them, well how many loaves do you have? They said seven.

And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground and he took the seven loaves and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people and they set them before the crowd.

And they had a few small fish and having blessed them he said to these also should be set before them. And they ate and they were satisfied and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

And there were about 4 ,000 people and he sent them away. This is the Gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Here again the words of our Old Testament text. Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.

Sanctification, Vocation, and the Meaning of Ordinary Work

Hmm. Where are we going to go with this? Well you'll know that in our Epistle text, this is building off of last week's text and the sermon from last week, talking about sanctification. When you were slaves to sin you were free in regard to righteousness but the fruit that you were getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed, the end of those things is death.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end is eternal life. And then these important words. The wages of sin is death.

The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So when we talk about sanctification I would say that there is a lot of confusion regarding it. And the confusion goes something like this.

The late Dr. Rod Rosenblatt, one of my mentors, he would tell a story about a fellow who was an American Airlines pilot. And he happened to attend one of the congregations that he was serving kind of as an interim pastor.

Got to know the guy very well. And this fellow had a pretty good understanding of the Christian faith. And he had some co-workers that were also Christians and friends of his that were Christians. And at one particular meeting that they had, one of his friends asked him, so again what do you do?

He said, I'm an airline pilot for American Airlines. Oh, okay, and you're a Christian. Yeah, I'm a Christian. Oh, okay. So what do you do for the Lord? I'm an airline pilot for American Airlines. He said.

And you'll note that many people when we think about sanctification, they take a look at our life and they sit there and go, well, there's the mundane things that we have to do. You know, wash the laundry, wash the dishes, clean the car, get the ticks off the cat.

You know, things like this, right? These are the mundane things and there's nothing spiritual about them, right? And then there's things that you do for the Lord. You know, we're going to go and we're going to take territory for Jesus and stuff.

And so you decree and declare and you do all kinds of weird things like this. And at the end of it, you kind of ask yourself the question, it's like, well, if what I'm doing in the everyday life doesn't count, then maybe I should just become a monk.

Maybe I should become a nun. Because, I mean, after all, isn't that the kind of thinking that leads to such things? And so I would note that a good, careful study of Scripture in this regard is going to be helpful.

I recently read a book by Gene Edward Veith called God at Work, Your Christian Vocation. And boy, is it a good one. And listen to the opening from chapter 1. Here's what Gene Veith says. It says, When we pray the Lord's Prayer, observed Luther, we ask God to give us this day our daily bread.

How many times have we prayed that? You know, we pray that in our service today. We pray that every day. Give us this day our daily bread. And he does give us our daily bread. Do any of you deny that God gives you daily bread?

Do we not, before we eat, we pray? And I like to use the common table prayer from the catechism, or a variation of it. And the longer version of it is quoting one of the Psalms. The eyes of all look to you, O Lord.

You grant them their food at the proper time. You open your hands, and you, God, you satisfy the desires of every living thing. So bless us, O Lord, in these, your gifts, which we're about to receive from your bountiful goodness through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And so you'll note, when we pray the Lord's Prayer, when we pray the table prayer, we are acknowledging what? We have received this food from God. God wills for you to have your daily bread. He wills for you to pray so.

But that being the case, you'll note that God does give us our daily bread. He does it by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain, the baker who made the flour into bread, the person who prepared our meal.

We might today add the truck drivers who hold the produce, the factory workers in the food processing plants, the warehouse men, the wholesale distributors, the stock boys, the lady at the checkout counter also playing their part, are the bankers, the future investors, the advertisers, the lawyers, the agricultural scientists, the mechanical engineers, and every other player in the nation's economic system.

All of these were instrumental in enabling you to eat your morning bagel. That's a great quote. That's a great quote. God did, in fact, give us this day our daily bread, which means all these people who played their part were the means by which God brought us the thing that we pray for.

This is just straight up how this works, which means that everybody in this list is not unimportant or unspiritual. They're fulfilling the very will of God. And so, as we kind of work our way through some text today, you'll note that the whole basis of this is that God took Adam after God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

The first thing Adam sees is the face of God, and God immediately takes Adam and he puts him to work as a gardener. Now, he was a thieving gardener, and that's the reason why the world is in misery today, but he was a gardener nonetheless.

Was Adam not doing God's will when he was gardening in the Garden of Eden, or was he doing the exact thing that God willed for him to do? Of course he was doing the exact thing that God willed for him to do.

Calling, Circumcision, and Bondservants in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians

So, let me give you a text. 1 Corinthians chapter 7, and I'm going to start at verse 17. And this is a verse a lot of people have not considered. And I want you to listen very carefully to this text. 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 17.

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. Lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. The text goes on, but I want to point this out.

You'll note that Paul is not going to here give a comprehensive list of all the different callings that God gives to a person, but instead he's going to give some samples of what exactly that he's talking about here.

And we then, as Christians, need to understand that Christianity is not this compartmentalized world or life that we live in. We do the spiritual things, the Christian things, and then we go and we do the secular things.

Baloney. Everything you do is holy as a Christian. So, Paul says this. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Well, let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision.

Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision, for neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandment of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.

Were you a bondservant? A slave? That's what this is. Were you a slave when you were called? Do not be concerned about it, but if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity, for he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freed man of the Lord.

Likewise, he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price. Do not become bondservants of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, let him remain with God.

Which then gets to a very, very interesting fact, and that is that when it comes to those bondservants, they are given specific instructions by God the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 6.

Paul writes, bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and with trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or free.

Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. In other words, I would note that under so much preaching today, if there were bondservants around today, I'm kind of thankful there aren't, but if there were bondservants around today, these folks, based upon the bad preaching regarding good works, would feel that somehow that they weren't able to do any good works, because after all, they're slaves, and how can a slave do any good works, because all he ever has to do is do what his master is telling him to do.

But here Paul reveals that even the lowest of the lowly, the bondservant, that the work that he is doing is exactly what God wills for him to do, and God wills for him to excel as a bondservant, to do his work not with the idea that his master is his boss, but to do his work with the idea that Christ is his boss.

And I would note, even in the Old Testament, we have a great exemplar of this type of attitude. We see this in Joseph. Joseph, as a slave, excelled as a slave, and maintained his integrity as a slave, and then was made a prisoner, and then he excelled as a prisoner as well.

Isn't it fascinating how that all plays out? And so the idea is this, is that when you mix things up, and you compartmentalize the Christian life into, well, these are the spiritual things, and these are the secular things, these are the things that don't matter, and these are the things that really matter, that oftentimes has with it a very kind of hidden form of works righteousness.

I want you to think with me on this one. I need to be busy doing the things that God wants me to do. Well, why? Because I've got to do the will of God. Well, because if I don't, I'm not really saved. Well, what's the will of God?

Oh, he wants me to dig fresh water wells in Africa. Well, that is a good work, but I think you're kind of missing the point here. Right? And so you'll know that so many good works are exacted from people, put pressure on them.

You are, you call yourself a Christian, you better prove you're a Christian by doing these things. Baloney. That's just not how this works. I would note in Romans chapter 12, the apostle Paul, after taking 11 chapters of making it very clear that we are saved by grace through faith apart from works, and if that was not, if that was too confusing, he said it again, and again, and again, and then chapter 12 begins with the words, therefore, in light of God's mercies, because you are saved by what Christ has done, because you are forgiven, because all of your iniquity is atoned for, because Christ has redeemed you and set you free from slavery to sin, paying your redemption price with his very blood on the cross.

Because you are saved. Now, in light of God's mercies, you offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God. And here we recognize, then, that God is the one who gives people the ability to do the good works that they do.

Skill, Craftsmanship, and Holy Work in Exodus

Let me give you an example from the biblical text. In Exodus chapter 28, starting at verse 3, very fascinating words. God says to Moses, You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with the spirit of skill, that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him for my priesthood.

These are the garments that they shall make, a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checkerwork, a turban, a sash, that they make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priests.

Wait, what? God gave sewing and needlework as skill? Isn't that what the text.

Says? Hmm. Alright.

And then in chapter 35, the end of it, starting at verse 30, Moses said to the people of Israel, See, Yahweh has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah, and he, God, has filled him with the spirit of God with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, with all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs to work in gold and silver and bronze and cutting stones for setting and carving wood for work in every skill, craft, and he has inspired him to teach both him and Holiab, the son of Asamach of the tribe of Dan, and he has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns, fine twine linen, or by a weaver or by any sort of workman or skilled designer.

Bezalel, the son of Holiab, and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all.

That the Lord has commanded.". Huh. This is.

A little bit more than just the gifts of the Spirit. I would note, if this is true, and it is, then the ability to work in Excel spreadsheets is a skill given by God. The ability to be a wonderful engineer is a skill given by God.

The ability to be a good mother and a good father is a skill given by God. And if he has given you that skill, wouldn't it follow that doing those things that God has made you good at is, in fact, a good work and a way we practice our holiness?

Luther on Good Works, Vocation, and the Common Life

You see, back in the Middle Ages, at the common milkmaid, this is the girl who works on an estate, and her job is to milk the cows and to keep the cows and to do all the things related to the cows. She would be sitting there, she would be milking a cow, and off in the distance she can see some monk with his habit on and him walking and just yearning and going, oh, if only I could do something for the Lord.

Oh, if only. And in her mind, what she's been taught in the church is that, well, what she's doing is just common. It just doesn't count. And it's the people who've left all of this to go and devote themselves to prayer and stuff like that.

They are the ones doing the work of God. And I would note, Luther has a wonderful sermon on this. I'm going to read a portion of the sermon. A sermon within a sermon, I guess this is what that would be.

The name of the sermon, by the way, is Our Blessed Hope. And listen to what Luther says in this sermon. We did not learn in the papacy what constitutes a good work. Before the gospel came, we were told that the works which we ourselves devised and chose that they were good works, such as making a pilgrimage to St. James or some other place, giving money to the monks in the cloisters for the reading of many masses, burning candles, fasting with but bread and water, praying a certain number of rosaries, etc.

But now that the gospel has come, we preach thus. Good works are not those which we choose for ourselves, but those which God has commanded, those which our vocation calls for. A servant does good works when he fears God, believes in Christ, and obeys his master.

First, he is justified by faith in Christ. Then, he walks in faith, leads a godly life, is temperate and well-behaved, serves his neighbor, cleanses the stable, feeds the horses, etc. In performing such tasks, he does better works than any Carthusian monk, for since he is baptized and believes in Christ and in assured hope is waiting for eternal life, he goes on and he obeys his master and knows that what he does is his calling and that it pleases God.

Therefore, everything that he does in his occupation is a good and precious work. It does not look like a great fine work when he rides out on the field and drives to the mill, but since he has God's command and directive for it, such works mean as they seem are nothing else than good works and a service rendered to the Lord.

In like manner, also, a maid servant does good works when she performs her calling in faith, obeys her mistress, sweeps the house, washes and cooks in the kitchen, etc. Though these works are not as glamorous as the works of the Carthusian who hides behind a mask and has people gaping at him, still such works are much better and more precious before God than those of the Carthusian who wears a hair shirt, keeps his vigils, gets up at night and chants for five hours, eats no meat, etc.

He does them, he, the Carthusian, does all of these things without God's command and order. How then can he know that they please God? Likewise, when a burger or a farmer helps his neighbor, warns him of the dangers threatening his body, his wife, his child, his servant, his cattle and goods, etc., such works do not make a great show, but they are nevertheless good and precious works.

When the civil government punishes the wicked and protects the virtuous, and when the citizens yield obedience to the government and do so from faith and the hope of eternal life, they are performing good works.

I would note here, yesterday, somebody tried to take the life of former President Donald Trump, and as I was scrolling social media this morning, they have video of the snipers that took the shooter out, and of them taking the shots.

And as horrible as that is to watch, we must come to this conclusion, that in the circumstances that we saw yesterday, that when those snipers took out that shooter, they were doing a good work, and it was holy for them to do so.

Right? In fact, the shooter, he had no command from God to murder President Trump. None, whatsoever. He was acting against God's command that says.

Thou shalt not murder. Right?

Keep that in mind. So we need to yield obedience to the government and do so from faith and the hope of eternal life, that when somebody does so, they are performing good works, and though they do not shine and glitter in the sight of reason, if you ask reason, the works of a servant, a maid, a master, a mistress, a mayor, and a judge, well, they're considered as common, as lowly works compared with the Carthusian monks who keeps vigils, they fast and they pray, abstain from meat, but if you ask God's word, the works of all Carthusians and all monks melted together in one mass are not as good as the work of a single poor servant maid, who by baptism has been brought into the kingdom of God.

She believes in Christ and in faith is looking for the blessed hope. These two articles Saint Paul would keep alive among Christians, the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior, who has called us by baptism in the gospel as heirs of eternal life, waiting for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the knowledge that everything we do in our Christian calling and station by faith is altogether a good and precious work, on which account we should be zealous unto good works.

Baptism, Vocation, and Daily Good Works

Which means this, you'll note that many people are falsely believing that they have to discover their unique purpose in life. What is my unique purpose, right? In fact, I think Rick Warren would change Ephesians 2 .10.

We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for a single purpose. No, we're not. We're created in Christ Jesus for good works. And you're going to note then that contrary to medieval thinking, the only people in the medieval times who were believed to have a vocation were those who worked in the church.

They were the ones who had a vocation. Everybody else had some secular thing, right? But the thing is this, that's just not true. Each of us have vocations. We have vocations from God given to us. And so we are born in the vocation of son or daughter.

You'll note that God, in our Old Testament text, formed Adam's body from the dust, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, right? If God wanted to, he could make every human being the same way.

But that's not how God has chosen to make human beings since Adam and Eve. Instead, he has put Adam and Eve and then all of their children who then become of age and get married and become one flesh with their spouses and they produce children.

God has created generation after generation after generation of humanity through the vocation of father and mother. And that is a holy vocation. And excelling in that vocation is a good work. And being zealous to be good at it is a good work.

And then you children, when you are born, you are born in the vocation of child. You are instructed by God's word to honor your father and mother and to obey them. And so when you do, you are doing a good work.

When you do your homework, you are doing a good work. When you take out the trash, when you change the cat litter box and put fresh litter in there, when you go out in the yard and you clean up the dog poop and you mow the lawn and you wash the car, those are all precious good works.

And God will reward them. Moms, when you change diapers, when you breastfeed, when you teach your children their ABCs and their 1, 2, 3s and work with them and you potty train them, and boy that's a frustrating work.

If only they came potty trained, but they don't. How many times do they miss? All of that is a good work. When you stay up at night and you stand vigil over your children because they're sick and they're throwing up and they're running a fever and you are there to make sure that they don't take a terrible turn and you make sure that they get their meds in the middle of the night so the fever stays down, that is a good work.

I would note that God wills that there be peace and that lawlessness not reign in our world and so when a cop works the beat, he's in his patrol car doing his work, he's doing the will of God and this is a good work.

I could go on and on and on and on and when I talk about what good works are biblically, here's the thing. I'm not leaving you with a list of things to do. I'm not giving you marching orders. I'm telling you to take comfort that you are already doing the things that God wills for you to do.

So be zealous in it. Do good at it. Let me continue with Luther because Luther's points continue on. They're just so good. Therefore, since we have heard what a blessed hope we should look for, we should also learn that the works which we do by faith in our appointed calling according to God's command and order, that they are good works.

Though such works do not glitter in the sight of reason, they are nevertheless precious before God. While the Carthusians and the monks cannot see and understand these things, for example, Luther says, I'm a preacher.

That is my office. And I can say I am too. I am a preacher. That is my office. If now I believe in Christ and I look for the blessed hope and then go and tend to my preaching and perform my calling, even though men hold my office in low esteem, I would not trade my office for all the works that all the monks and the nuns do in their cloister.

Likewise, also, that wife is a living saint who believes in Christ, looks for the blessed hope in the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in such faith goes and does what belongs to the calling of a wife.

As reason knows nothing of the blessed hope of eternal life, so too it does not understand what constitutes truly good works. It reasons thus. The maid milks the cow. The farmer plows the field. They are performing common, lowly works, which also the heathen can perform.

How then can they be good works? But this man becomes a monk, this woman a nun. They look sour. They put on a cowl. They wear a rough garment. These are exceptional works, they think, but they are not performed by the common people, therefore they must be good.

Thus reason argues. Thus reason leads us away from the true knowledge of both the blessed hope and the good works. Luther's writings abound regarding such presentations. It's amazing. So brothers and sisters, note this, the two things.

You today have come again to hear the good news, that Christ has bled and died for your sins, and indeed He has. You've heard in the absolution that your sins are forgiven. And know this, that I always have to remind you all, that when you hear a pastor say, I forgive you all of your sins, that comes from John 20.

And John 20, the verbs are very clear in the Greek. The sins you forgive will have already been forgiven. The sins you retain are already retained. So know this then, that when you heard today that your sins were forgiven, I just got to echo what Christ said.

He said it first. You have been forgiven. You are bled for. You are died for. You have eternal life. And today, we are here today, together, in community, around the word of God and the means of grace, in the blessed hope of the resurrection to eternal life, believing that we have received this wonderful gift, all because of God's grace and mercy and His love, not by any merit on our part.

And when we leave today, we do not leave today this place, this spiritual place called Kongsvinger, to then go into that unspiritual place to do the unspiritual things. No. Just like Adam was a gardener, you leave today refreshed in the blessed hope of eternal life and the forgiveness of your sins.

And you now can go and gladly do the will of God with the skills that He has given you and the vocations that He has called you into. And note here, if that means that you are stocking shelves with Pepsi Cola, you're doing a good work, and Christ will reward it.

If you are a stay-at-home mom, that's a good work, and Christ will reward it. If you are working in a hair salon, or if you're retired, these are good works, and God will reward them. You'll note that we even do our good works when we pray.

And I would note that when your health fails, and I finally have to come visit you in the hospital and prepare you for meeting Jesus, as you get ready to expire, you will then be placed in the vocation of patient.

And others. They will care for you in the vocation of caregiver. Recently,.

I watched my mother-in-law pass. I was so thankful for those in the vocation of hospice nurses who came every day to teach us what we needed to do to keep her comfortable so that we can do our final good works in honoring.

My mother-in-law. These are holy.

These are right. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Do them joyously. Be zealous in them, and know that all of these you're doing.

To Christ, and He will reward you. So Luther was right.

The milkmaid is far more holy than the monk. In the name of Jesus,.

Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of.

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