The Journey is Too Great for You

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 Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. John the 6th chapter.

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise

Him up on the last day. So the Jews grumbled about Him because He said, I am the bread of life that came down from heaven.

They said, is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say,

I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the

Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day, as it is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God.

Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me, not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God.

He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I will give him for the life of the world is my own flesh.

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, time for a, well, reality check.

When we talk to people out in the world, people generally believe that, you know, babies, they're born, they're cute, they're innocent.

No, they're not. They're not. Let's just get that out. Over and again,

I feel like I'm doing good therapy for myself when I talk about the fact that God gave my wife and I children that were broken.

And I couldn't fix them. I couldn't fix them at all.

In fact, I was broken too. Talk to my mom. She can tell you story after story after story.

In fact, think of it this way. When I was growing up in the 1980s, this was the first time we'd heard of that thing called crack cocaine.

And the terrible thing that was happening is that there were infants being born addicted to crack cocaine.

The term they came up with at the time that's still being used, they are crack babies, right?

Utterly tragic that you have a newborn child going through withdrawal symptoms, you know, the day after they're born.

This is a terrible thing. But have you ever stopped to think that each and every one of us, me included, that every one of us, we are born crack babies when it comes to sin, right?

It's true. I know it doesn't make you feel good. Sorry if your self -esteem is hurt.

It's a good thing that it's been hurt, right? But listen to what Paul says in our epistle text today.

Now this I say to you, and I testify in the Lord, you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.

And when Paul here is talking, he's talking about the pagan world, the pagan world that has not heard the gospel.

They remain in darkness under the dominion of the devil. He says this about them.

They are living in the futility of their minds. They're darkened in their understanding.

They're alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart.

They've become callous. They've given themselves up to sensuality and they're greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

Is it any wonder that so many people hate the apostle Paul when he talks so bluntly about just how lost in sin we all have been?

And it's with that in mind, consider our Old Testament text, at least this one's a rather interesting one.

A little bit of context here, I'll give you the quick summary if you would. In the previous chapters before 1

Kings 19, you have, well, the first appearance of the prophet Elijah, and he basically says to Ahab and to Jezebel, that's really her name,

Jezebel, the princess of Baal. What a horrible woman this was, right? He says to them, it's not going to rain until I say so.

So what's the big deal about that? Well, Baal, according to Jezebel and all those who believed in Baal, what a terrible religion by the way, it required human sacrifice.

What a terrible, terrible deity. And Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10 that what's behind Baal?

The demonic, the devil himself. So they are believing that Baal is the one who brings the rain, right?

It seems like all the old ancient mystery religions, it's all about fertility, has something to do with crops and also sex.

It's weird how this all works. But God decides he's going to have mercy on the northern kingdom of Israel.

How? By basically taking Baal behind the woodshed and beating him to a pulp.

You think that Baal brings the rain? Uh -uh. So Elijah says it's not going to rain until I say so.

And then he goes missing for three whole years. He goes missing. I always like to point out, during that time, every

Saturday night in Israel, on television, on Israel's Most Wanted, have you seen this prophet, right?

If you've seen him, please call 1 -800 -JEZEBEL, right? But no one finds him.

He's hiding out. And then after three years, he shows up. And nobody can believe it, but he basically says, let's have a showdown on Mount Carmel.

And on Mount Carmel, they have the showdown. And basically, Elijah says, listen, you offer a sacrifice to Baal, I'll offer a sacrifice to Yahweh, the

God who answers by fire. Don't touch it. You know, the God who answers by fire, that's the true

God. And they said, you're on, Elijah. And of course, we know that Baal failed to show up.

It's an embarrassing thing, if you think about it. These 500 prophets of Baal limping around the altar, oh,

Baal, answer us, right? But there was no answer. And so,

Elijah is one of the first prophets to engage in what we call holy trash talk. He says to the prophets of Baal, after they'd gone on and on for a few hours, why don't you cry louder?

Has he got to sleep? Does he need to be woken up? Is he on a journey? Oh, I know, he's in that little room, pooping, right?

He can't hear you over the noise. That's really kind of the gist of what's going on there.

And what does Elijah do after, well, Baal fails to answer? He takes the altar of God that had been thrown down, disassembled by the pagans of Israel at that time.

And he reassembles it, puts the sacrifice on the altar, digs a trench, has water taken from the

Mediterranean Sea, which is less than a kilometer away, fills the trench, not once, not twice.

But you'll note, kind of in an allusion to baptism, three times, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and God answered by fire.

And the people of Israel who witnessed this, who heard the words of the prophet that are recorded for us in scripture, note that when

Elijah was speaking that day, the words coming from his mouth were the word of God. Hearing the word of God, they repented, and they said,

Yahweh, he is God, Yahweh, he is God. Now you'd think that after this, right,

Elijah would write a book, you know, how to have the fire of heaven fall in your life, you know, something like this, right?

Go on tour, you know, show up on all the talk shows, and everybody praising, ticker -take parade in Jerusalem, right?

Everyone would think he's the bee's knees, this is the guy to talk to, his God is true. No, you never underestimate the power of just how dead, dead in trespasses and sins, we all are.

So Jezebel, hearing the report from Ahab, you know, and you can just see Ahab going, yeah, you know, it was kind of terrible, you know, it was really embarrassing, you know,

I always like to picture Ahab as being a little weaker than Jezebel. There's other stories that kind of flesh this out, you know, she wore the pants in that relationship, you know, because he was prone to sulking and being a crybaby.

You remember the whole story of the Vineyard of Nabal, right? I went to the Vineyard, and she won't tell me the

Vineyard, and then she says, don't worry, I'll get it for you, you weak little man, right? That's kind of the

Roseboro paraphrase. So you can just see her, you know, it was terrible. They cried out in bold and calm, and then

Elijah, he just prayed and boom, you know, and now they're all dead, you know, right?

I would love to have heard this report, it's kind of sad that there was no video at the time.

But anyway, Jezebel, Jezebel, does she repent? Does she sit down and go, oh, whoa, it hasn't rained for three years, but all hasn't come through?

Yahweh answered, oh, he's God. Does she do that? No. What does she say?

I kill you, I kill you, that's what she says, right? That's their answer.

So it says this, after Ahab had given the report, Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also, if I don't make your life as a life of one of them by this time tomorrow.

Hmm, well, this kind of blows apart all that theology of Bethel, you know. All you need to do is perform a sign and a wonder and people will believe.

Didn't work out so well for Jezebel, right? In fact, you'll note that Jesus puts in the words of Abraham down in Sheol.

He says, Abraham says to that man who's burning, that rich man who died, he says, send

Lazarus back because if he comes back from the dead, my brothers will repent and they'll not end up in this place.

And Abraham says, they have Moses and the prophets. No, no, no. And Abraham's all, if they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not believe even if somebody rises from the dead.

That is just how dead, dead and trespasses and sins is.

If God doesn't grant you repentance, if God doesn't work through his word, you don't have any hope.

And here's the thing, you're so lost in the futility of your mind that you think it's a good thing to chase after sin and you think people are stupid and weird when they don't.

But here's the thing, does Elijah at this point basically say, look at how wicked and evil she is, as if somehow he's not.

His prayer to God and his actions are actually very helpful for us.

So it says, Elijah was afraid. So he didn't decree, he didn't declare, he didn't stand his ground, he ran away.

He rose, ran for his life, and he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah.

He left a servant there. And then he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree and he asked that he might die, saying, it's enough now,

O Yahweh, take my life. I am no better than my father's.

That is a good, humble prayer. So no, he doesn't point to Jezebel's wickedness and say, oh,

I'm better than her. He basically says, no, I'm no better than she is. No better.

And this is the part that's a little bit tough for us, because we're all Christians. We've all been to the water.

We've all been united with Christ and his death and his resurrection. We're here because we believe. I mean, who would drive out to the middle of nowhere to hear me babbling on on a

Sunday morning? You've got a lot better things to do, right? You're not here to hear me. You're here to hear about Christ, hear a word from him.

All of that being said, you'll note that, well, Paul in our epistle text continues on when he says this.

So talking about the pagans that, you know, they're callous in their mind, their hearts have been hardened.

And we then as Christians, he says, that's not the way that you learn Christ, assuming that you've heard about him and you were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.

And here's the words, put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life. It's corrupt through deceitful desires.

And instead be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Now a little bit of a note. There are people out there who legitimately believe that once you become a

Christian, you no longer have a sinful nature. This is silly.

And this is actually very dangerous because Paul here is writing to Christians. And what does he tell us to do?

Put off our old self. Well, if Christians didn't have an old self, then why would

Paul be telling you to take that thing off? But you're going to note, he doesn't merely say that you have an old self.

He also says you have a new self. And so how often do we need to do this change of clothes?

Minimally daily. Realistically, sometimes minute by minute.

Because you're going to note your old sinful nature, you still have one. And I still have one.

And you know what your sinful nature wants to do? Same thing mine wants to do. All the things the pagans are doing in the futility of their minds.

That's what our sinful natures want to do. In other words, being a Christian feels a lot like being schizophrenic.

Being at war with yourself. There's a part of me that really wants to do good, and the other part says no!

And they're just going... And I noticed that you all participated in the confession of sins today.

So did I. You know why you did? Because you sinned like I did this past week. And you know what's going to happen after you leave church today?

Same thing that happened last week. And you're going to need to come back next week too. And me too. So you'll note then that we are wise to not think pridefully about ourselves.

I sometimes wonder as to why it is that God left Christians with an old sinful

Adam. It makes me think that probably it has something to do with continually being humbled.

So that prayer, that prayer of Elijah, doesn't sound like a prayer of victory, does it?

Kill me, Lord. I'm not better than anyone else. I'm no better than my fathers. And so he wanders off into the wilderness.

Now a little bit of a note here. You guys remember... Have you read the book, Where the Wild Things Are? You know what

I'm talking about? It's kind of a journey of Max. The night that Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another.

He said to his mother, I'll eat you up. And so she sent him to his room without any supper.

And that very night in Max's room a forest grew and grew and grew and grew until the walls became the world all around.

And there was a sea and a boat. And he went off. And so there's this journey that he takes off to the island of where the wild things are and then he comes back.

So the return journey is his heading back. But here we've got Elijah heading off into the wilderness to Mount Sinai.

This is backwards. This is backwards. But you're going to note here the mercy of God.

And we know that in the Old Testament we see types and shadows. And the wilderness of the Old Testament is a figure, if you would, of the very life that you are living right now.

The life of the in -between. This is not a place to set down a foundation to plant crops and to live a long life.

No, we're all dying. The life of the in -between. The in -between from you being set free from slavery to sin, death, and the devil, being baptized in the

Red Sea. You see what I'm saying here? And the wilderness wandering says you're heading towards what?

The Promised Land. Is the Promised Land a postage stamp -sized piece of property in the Middle East? No. The Promised Land is the new earth.

The heavenly Jerusalem come down from heaven when God makes his abode with man forever in a world without end.

The Tree of Life makes a reappearance. So that being the case here, you'll note that in the types and shadows, well, what

Elijah's doing doesn't quite fit. But does God sit there and go, Oy vey, get your act together,

Elijah. No. God has mercy on him. Because each and every one of us, this journey that we're on to the new heavens and the new earth, the inheritance given to us as a gift because Christ has borne our sins, made us righteous, declared us to be so, given us his

Holy Spirit, forgiven us all of our trespasses. God has mercy on Elijah and sustains him in his wilderness journey.

So he says, It's enough, Lord, take my life. So he lay down, he slept under a broom tree, and behold, an angel touched him and said,

Rise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water.

Isn't that interesting? Elijah is sustained in his wilderness journey by bread from heaven.

Weren't the children of Israel sustained in their wilderness journey by God with bread from heaven?

And indeed they were. And see, that kind of then connected dots. Aren't you sustained in your wilderness journey by God with bread from heaven?

Yeah, you are. So he ate and he drank. He lay down again.

And the angel of the Lord, this is Jesus, came again. It's Jesus who's feeding him, the angel of the

Lord, always an appearance of Christ, came a second time and touched him and said, Rise and eat.

The journey is too great for you. And he rose and he ate and he drank.

And he went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. Brothers and sisters, you're wilderness wandering as you're heading to the promised land.

This journey is too great for you. It's too great for me. I do not have the strength to make it.

Neither do you. We just don't. You can try as hard as you want, but you will fail.

You cannot make this journey on your own strength. Consider that humble Elijah was mercifully fed by God.

It's in that light, then, we consider our gospel text.

Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.

Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. And I said that you've seen me, and yet you do not believe.

All that the Father gives me will come to me. Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

What an amazing prayer that was of Elijah. Lord, I'm no better than my father's, confessing his own sin.

You know, there's places that call themselves Christian churches where those who attend fear to speak the truth about themselves.

They fear to say that they're sinful. Fear to confess that they're struggling. Fear. They fear to confess that they don't have the strength to make it.

That they haven't cleaned up their act enough. That despite all of their efforts, they continue to fall short.

What does Jesus say to people like that? Away from me? I never knew you? No, Jesus says all who come to me

I will never cast out. You see, Christ has taken all of your sins upon himself.

Bore them in his body on the cross. God has had mercy on us. He's not come to condemn us.

He's come to save us. To save you. And if you're weary, worn out, tired, and just ready to say

I can't go on another step, do not fear. You're in good company. The same company as Elijah, whom

Jesus mercifully appears to and feeds bread from heaven so that you can go in the strength of that food.

Today, we're having the Lord's Supper. We'll hear the words of Christ again when he says,

This is my body, given for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

This is my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

Are you tired? Are you weak? Are you weary? Are you laden with sin? Come! This wilderness wandering is too much for you.

It's too strong. The journey is too treacherous. You don't have the strength. Come and feed on Christ, the bread of heaven.

He will sustain you. He will give you strength. Because all who come to him, he will never cast out.

I've come down from heaven, Jesus says, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he's given me and raise it up on the last day.

But pastor, you don't know how janky of a sheep I am. Yeah, I do. I'm your pastor.

I get it. You'd be surprised how janky of a sheep I am. Christ has come and bled and died for all of his janky sheep.

He's the one who washes us and cleans us, feeds us and sustains us. This is the will of the

Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life.

I will raise him up on the last day. So don't worry about that old sinful Adam of yours. Don't worry.

Christ has taken care of it. He's nailed that guy to the cross. And don't worry, he's going to get rid of it properly.

Dispose of it in one of those graves out there in the graveyard or somewhere local nearby wherever you die.

Give me a second here. Sometimes I work myself up. But note then,

Christ says, I am the bread that has come down from heaven. And they took issue with him.

Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father. How can he say that he's going to give us his body to eat and blood to drink?

They're really offended by this concept. But Jesus kind of doubles down in a good way.

He says, whoever believes in me has eternal life, and I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

So this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my own flesh.

Oh, brothers and sisters, what a kind and merciful Jesus you have. The same Jesus who appeared to Elijah is here today.

Christ promises that wherever two or more are gathered in His name, He is present. We cannot physically see

Him, yet He is here. He's here to serve you. He's here to feed you, to comfort you.

He's here to give you the strength for the journey that is too strong for you. And He feeds you with His very body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins.

It is miraculous. It is kind. It is merciful. It is comforting.

That is our Jesus, the same one who comforted Elijah comforts you today.

So take note, brothers and sisters. Jesus is the true bread given from heaven, and it's not

His will that you should perish. It is His will that you would have eternal life, and He will never cast you out.

In the name of Jesus. Amen. 1 -59 -50 470th

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