Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. School will soon begin in many districts. Colleges will begin classes. Fall would be a great time to renew your study of the Bible. Join us on Sunday mornings, or let me know of your interest in gathering some other day to consider God’s Word.
During the worship August 11 we will follow the liturgy of Divine Service Setting Three beginning on page 184 in the Lutheran Service Book. Hymns chosen for the day are #790 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty; #571 God Loved the World; #625 Lord Jesus Christ, Life-Giving Bread; and #689 Let Me Be Thine Forever.
Scriptures assigned to the day are Psalm 34:1-8; 1 Kings 19:1-8; Ephesians 4:17-5:2; and John 6:35-51.
Psalm 34 includes a superscription indicating it was written by King David. It generally has the structure of an acrostic psalm, with almost all the verses beginning with a subsequent letter of the Hebrew alphabet. David is responding to an event in his life reported in 1 Samuel 21:10-15. When David was a young man, Saul, King of Israel at time, was jealous of David’s popularity among the people, so intended to kill him. Warned by Saul’s son, Jonathan, David fled to the land of Gath. The King of Gath recognized David as a soldier from Israel, and a possible threat to his reign. Afraid the King of Gath might also try to kill him, David pretended to be insane and was able to escape to yet another country. In the psalm, David praised God for keeping him safe from his enemies. David invites you and all who read the psalm to join him in praising God. God delivers us from shame. There is evidence that the ‘angel (could also be translated as messenger) of the Lord’ is a reference to the pre-incarnate Son of God. Taste and see that the Lord is good. In Him you will find refuge.
The prophet Elijah had challenged King Ahab and his 450 priests of Baal to a contest. Elijah and the priests would each prepare a sacrifice, and offer prayers to their corresponding god—Baal priests would pray to Baal; Elijah would pray to God. It would be obvious to the people that the god who responded with fire to light the sacrifices would be the true God. To demonstrate how powerful the true God is, Elijah even doused his sacrifice with water. You may know how the contest ended. Baal is a fake, an imaginary god. He can do nothing. Prayers to him accomplish nothing. But YHWH, the LORD Almighty, heard Elijah’s prayer and sent down fire that consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the water, and the surrounding ground. The people fell to their faces in fear and respect of the true God. Then at Elijah’s command, they killed the priests of Baal who had been misleading them. King Ahab’s wife Jezebel was a Baal worshipper. She pledged to have Elijah killed, so he fled into the wilderness. The narrative of 1 Kings 19 tells how God sustained Elijah, sending an angel/messenger to provide bread for him to eat. It was not only the bread that kept him alive, but God’s promises attached to it. This event is a foretaste of what Jesus offers us in His Holy Supper.
The epistle reading is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the congregation in Ephesus, in what is now western Turkey. Paul used several chapters to emphasize the grace of God and how He by His grace rescued us from darkness and death, and brought us to light and life through Jesus. Much of Chapter 4 is instruction how Christians should live in response to God’s gifts. God has made you new. So you should live like you are new. We should turn away from the dark, immoral, self-centered activities of the society around us. In particular we should avoid lies, anger, theft, gossip and coarse talk that tears down. Instead, we should be kind, gentle, and forgiving, and speak in ways that build others up. In these ways we imitate Jesus, the loving Savior who earned forgiveness for us by dying in our place. Even now He prays to God the Father in your behalf.
The gospel is a continuation of the narrative we began reading last week from John 6. Jesus identifies Himself as the Bread of Life. What does it mean to eat from this bread? Jesus gives us the answer—Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life. Trusting in Jesus as your savior from sin and God’s condemnation, He will bring you to eternal life and raise you up on the Last Day. His flesh is the bread we eat in the Lord’s Supper. If anyone eats this bread (while trusting Jesus’ identity and actions) they will not die. They will live forever.
COLLECT: Most gracious God the Father, Your blessed Son Jesus came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world. Grant that Christ, the Bread of Life, would live in us and we in Him who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Please let me know if you have any prayer requests or questions about Sunday’s Scripture readings. Also contact me if you would be interested in Bible study. God bless you. Pastor Boster
