Offensive Jesus

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 sixth chapter.

Jesus said, 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 flesh. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

So Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. I will raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is true food. My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.

As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as the Father's aid and died, whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

Jesus said these things in the synagogue as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying.

Who can listen to it? But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, do you take offense at this?

What then if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the

Spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him.

He said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father. And after this, many of Jesus' disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

So Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter had answered him,

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and come to know that you are the

Holy One of God. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus.

Can you believe the scandal of our gospel text today? Jesus offended people.

Wait, what? Yeah, apparently, didn't you know that offending people is the worst possible thing you can do nowadays?

I mean, it's as if the only dogma that exists is the dogma that says, there can be no dogma.

Right? You'll note that when we confess the Nicene Creed today, note the specificity of all of the things that we confess.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, right? In Jesus Christ, his only

Son, our Lord, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate.

You'll note that in our days, all of those really specific biblical doctrines and teachings have all, whoosh, vanished, right?

What have they been replaced with? Vague, vapid, nebulous, hard to define spirituality, if you would.

I remember last week, I think this might be a confession of sins, I'm not sure,

I have to work this out. We played Prophecy Bingo here at Kongsvinger, right? And I always loathe doing

Prophecy Bingo segments on the Fighting for the Faith YouTube channel, and the reason why is this. It is depressing to note that people have exchanged the real word of God that we find in Scripture, the real doctrines of Scripture, for things that go something like this.

I feel a download from the Holy Spirit. He's telling me that in the coming season, that God's going to be releasing breakthroughs and suddenlies.

You know, every time I have a suddenly, I have to take Kaopectate, but that's a different thing altogether, right?

In fact, if you think about it, what does the world really want? Vague, nebulous spirituality.

Haven't you talked to anybody who says, you know, I'm spiritual, but I'm not religious, right?

What exactly does that mean, you're spiritual but not religious? Now, we can kind of work through history.

Those of us old enough to remember the Beatles, do you guys remember the Beatles? I know they're still, you know, but you remember when they did that Maharishi Mahesh yoga thingy, and they were doing

LSD, and the Beatles became really, what, spiritual, right?

Consider that this particular Beatles song, written during the time of the Beatles' spiritual moments, right?

See if you can make any sense of these words. Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup.

They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe. Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind, possessing and caressing me,

Jai Guru Deva Om. Y 'all know the tune, right?

I'm not going to torture you with that. What exactly does that mean?

I have no clue, but man, people were eating this stuff up, going, wow, the

Beatles are so spiritual, right? And George Harrison, he was considered to be the super spiritual guy of the

Beatles. I mean, he even died in this weird, nebulous, esoteric, gnostic spirituality.

But what exactly is this? What does it mean? And see, that's kind of the point.

You'll note that Jesus, in our gospel text, he says some, well, you know, pretty outrageous, specific kinds of things.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven, Jesus says. 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. Wait, Jesus doesn't think that communion is a symbol?

No, he doesn't. You're right. And of course, the Jews are sitting there going, wait, what?

How can this guy give us his flesh to eat? And Jesus doesn't go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn't mean that.

Whoa, so what are you guys thinking? That's gross. What does Jesus do? He says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the

Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Jesus doubles down on the specificity of this dogma as it relates to the

Lord's Supper. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.

I'll raise him up on the last day. My flesh is true food. My blood is true drink.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. Wow, that's some really amazing stuff if you think about it.

Jesus pointing to himself, the fact that he's going to the cross, the very body and blood of Christ nailed to the cross for your sins and mine.

And all of our idolatrous, nebulous spiritualities, right? That's part of what

Christ died for. That he then promises the forgiveness of our sins and that in the Lord's Supper, when we have the

Lord's Supper, this is one of the ways in which we abide in Christ and he abides in us.

Ah, kind of nice that we're having that today, right? Yeah, so we got that abiding thing kind of going for us.

But here's what happens. When many of Jesus' disciples heard these things, they said, this is a hard saying.

Who can listen to it? This is what, we didn't sign up for this, you know.

Just the day before, you know, they were ready to make Jesus the bread king. Now they're sitting there going, ugh.

And Jesus, knowing that they were grumbling, he said to them, do you take offense at this?

Do you take offense? Then he like goes even more specific. You know that doctrine talking about the ascension of Christ?

And it's such an important one. It says then, what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

Oh, the ascension of Christ is one of those things that proclaims him to be King of Kings, Lord of Lords, God in human flesh, the exalted, glorified, risen

Savior, right? That's what he's pointing to. It is the Spirit who gives life and the flesh is of no avail.

Pay attention to those words. It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is of no avail.

The words that I have spoken to you, they are Spirit and they are life. You need to be listening to the words of Jesus, not the ramblings of weird fleshly spiritual people all claiming to be spiritual, right?

And you'll note here that one of the major mantras of our time, one of the major mantras, you need to be authentic to who you are.

You just need to find yourself. Have you ever watched somebody on social media kind of journal out for everybody to see, you know,

I'm on a quest to find myself. I'm thinking, just look in the mirror, okay?

Take your right hand, touch your left arm. There you are! Okay, you found you. Come out, come out, wherever you are, right?

This is nonsense, right? But what they're really saying is that they're struggling with the feelings and the passions and the desires that they have within themselves.

And we have those same passions and desires. Do you want to be authentic to your sinful nature?

That's not gonna end well. It's not gonna end well at all, right? As Christians, we recognize that we still have our old sinful nature to contend with.

And what does our old sinful nature want? All the things that God tells us no to. And all the things that God says yes to, our sinful nature says no to.

But we have a regenerate will because we have been raised from the dead by the powerful working of God, either in the waters of baptism or through the preaching of the gospel.

And that regenerate will desires to do the things of God. And so it feels like you're just kind of at war with yourself.

Being a Christian isn't easy because you know what's right and you don't want to do it.

You know what's wrong and you want to do it. And every Sunday, you keep coming to church and you say these words,

I confess that I am by nature sinful and unclean. I remember years ago, somebody asked me, how many

Sundays in a row are you gonna tell me I'm a sinner? Well, I'll stop saying that as soon as you stop sinning, right?

That's how that works. And the thing is, is that we don't want that. We want some vague spirituality that says, everything's gonna be okay.

And the true spiritual enlightenment is just embracing your sinful passions and saying, that's who

I am, right? That's how this goes. But Christ doesn't speak in these ways.

Christ calls us to repent. Christ calls us to be forgiven. Christ calls us to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Christ calls us to eat his flesh and drink his blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Christ says some very specific things.

And you're gonna note that Jesus has no problem, watch how I say this, hurting our fee -fees, right?

Our feelings. In fact, you'll note that when the crowd was offended by Jesus, Jesus doesn't sit there and go, wait, wait,

I didn't mean to upset you, I'm so sorry. Please, give me a second chance.

I'll tell you a bunch of sweet nothings. I'll just tell you what it is that you want to hear.

Please don't leave me. Because everybody knows true success of a ministry is gauged by how many followers they have.

And everyone will say that I'm a big failure because you left.

He doesn't do this, right? You'll note that Christ has no anxiety at this point. There's no conflict.

If you want to leave, go right ahead, right? Go right ahead. In fact, the text says, there were some,

Jesus says, there are some of you who do not believe, for Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe.

And who it was who would betray him. And note the who would not believe, that's a plural, that's a group. It's practically the entire crowd.

He said, this is why I told you, no one can come to me unless it's granted to him by the Father. And after this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with Jesus.

We're done with you, Jesus. We're done with you. And the thing is, is that this still happens in the church today, right?

I don't want to hear that pastor that teaches me that Bible stuff. I'm sick and tired of being made to feel like I'm a sinner.

Well, you are. And you need to hear this. But the law isn't the final word, the gospel is.

The gospel is the good news that Christ has died even for our annoyance at the truth of the word of God.

And our temptation to say, that's it, I'm out of here. I don't want to hear that Bible stuff anymore.

I know Jesus said his words are spirit and life and stuff, but they just annoy me. So Jesus, after this, many of his disciples turned back.

So Jesus turns to the twelve. And this is almost kind of an invitation. You want to walk, you want to go away with us too?

Go ahead if you want. And you can just see them all sitting there going, you were going to be king yesterday and now it's down to just us.

You know, you'll note that Jesus wasn't one of these seeker guys, seeker driven guys.

We've got to tailor the message to fit, so that it has the broadest appeal to a bunch of people. Jesus doesn't care anything about that, because that's not what we need.

And so everyone's left, the twelve are left, and Jesus said, you want to leave too? You can if you want. Awkward silence.

You can see them kind of kicking their sandals going, what did we sign up for? What is this all about?

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Everybody else, those are not words of life. Those are words that bring

God's judgment. In fact, consider our epistle text in this context. Listen to that Apostle Paul.

Have you ever noticed that a lot of people really, really hate Paul? And they always find these ad hominem attacks to slander him, to undermine him and make it so he has no authority.

Well that Apostle Paul, he just hated women. He was the official first member of the

He -Man Woman Haters Club. That's why he said that women can't be preachers. Oh, and that Apostle Paul, he didn't even walk with Jesus.

He wasn't even there when our gospel text took place, so you really can't trust him. He came up with his own version of Christianity, we'll call it

Paulianity. But real Christians, they follow Jesus, and this is how they talk, right, trying to drive a wedge.

Belogna, Christ himself, called Paul. In fact, when

Paul was on his way in a ship to Rome, Christ appears to him and says, don't stop preaching.

Keep saying what you're saying. Jesus puts his stamp of approval on the message of Paul, and so listen to these words.

Boy, in our postmodern age, this is going to ruffle some feathers. Let no one deceive you with empty words.

Wait, what? You mean there are words being preached from pulpits and spiritual people and gurus around the world that are empty?

Oh yeah. Oh, well that's not very loving of you. Not very inclusive.

How are we supposed to coexist with you having an attitude like that, right? You see, when people say things like this, they show that they have bought into those empty words.

Empty words cannot save you. Christ's words are the words of life. They are spirit and they are truth.

Empty words, false platitudes, vague spiritualities, these are just empty words.

Somebody claiming that the Lord has told me that you're going to have a suddenly, that's just nonsense, right?

Let no one deceive you with empty words. It's because of these, because of these empty words that the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience.

Those empty words are a lot easier to digest. I don't feel uncomfortable when somebody speaks those empty words.

Yeah, and that's the problem. You need to feel uncomfortable. I need to feel uncomfortable.

What does Paul say then regarding what our attitude should be regarding those who are trafficking in empty words?

Don't associate with them, he says. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the

Lord. Walk as children of the light. In fact, children of the light, do not associate with those who are speaking empty, vapid, nebulous spiritual words.

Don't associate with them. God's wrath is coming upon them for speaking those words.

The fruit of light is found in all that is good, all that is right, all that is true.

When people speak words that are not true about God, they are blaspheming. They are breaking the second commandment.

These are empty words. They cannot save you. Christ is the truth. He wants us to hear words that are good, right, true.

Paul then goes on, try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Try to discern that.

Well, how am I supposed to figure that out? Good news, he gave us a book. It's an open book quiz, okay.

You want to know what God's will is? Read the book. Hear the book.

God speaks to us through the book. Try to discern what is pleasing to the

Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness. Instead, expose them. It's shameful to speak of the things that the unbelievers, those who traffic in empty words, what they do in secret.

But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. Anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, awake,

O sleeper, rise from the dead, Christ will shine on you. So look carefully then how you walk, how you conduct your life, not as unwise, but as wise.

In fact, we have to come to grips with this, each of us, because of our sinful nature, because we were born dead in trespasses and sins, we were all born fools.

And I'm going to take issue with our translation of our Old Testament text. Remember the verse 10 of Proverbs 9, the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Note that all those letters, L -O -R -D, are capitalized.

Let me be more specific. The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All of this counterfeit, empty, vague, nebulous spirituality, this isn't wisdom.

This isn't the wisdom from God. This isn't the wisdom where wisdom is calling to us and saying, whoever is simple, let him turn here to him who lacks sense.

Come, eat of my bread, drink of the wine that I have mixed. Oh, you'll note that wisdom says, come and what do what?

Right. Eat of the bread, drink the wine. You want to be wise?

Fear Yahweh, the very specific God of the Old Testament, who gave us very specific words in Scripture.

And you'll note, they come to us with rigor, with precision. They have clear definitions, these words.

And we are to turn away, as Paul says, from the empty. So summing it all up, a whole bunch of people, an entire crowd.

Jesus had a mega church right there in his hands. And he speaks the words of truth.

And they don't want to have anything to do with it. So what do we do? Well, Jesus says to you, you've heard the truth, what do you want to do with it?

You want to walk away with the rest of them? Go right ahead. Don't let the door hit your butt on the way out.

Do you want to leave? Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

And we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God. And Peter is true here. He's speaking absolute truth.

Jesus does have the words of eternal life. In fact, you heard them today. Today when you came to church, you'll note that we always assume that everybody coming here is a sinner, because you are.

And what's the first order of business? Christ is here to care for you. He's here to feed you his word, feed you his body and blood, but also to assure you of his great love and compassion and mercy.

This same Jesus, who is God and human, Son of David, Son of God, he bore your sins in his body on the cross.

All of your sins, including your idolatry, your blasphemies, all the different ways in which you've believed falsely and even taught others falsely regarding Christ and God.

He has died for all of your imprecision and your foolishness. And he wants you to know that he loves you and he forgives you.

And so today you will have the body and blood of Christ given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins.

But Peter says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And those words were spoken to you today from Christ, not me.

And what were those words? You are forgiven. Those are the words of eternal life.

Who else can say such words? Nobody else does. You are forgiven of all of your transgressions, pardoned, reconciled to God, and because of Jesus, you have peace with him.

So repent and believe, trust in his true words. They are not empty, they are not void, they are the absolute truth.

You are forgiven, and Christ loves you. In the name of Jesus, amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

Avenue, Northwest, Oslo, Minnesota, 56744. And again, that address is

Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

Avenue, Northwest, Oslo, Minnesota, 56744. We thank you for your support.

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