Worship Notes for Pentecost 10 (August 2)

Thursday after Pentecost 9

Commemoration of Robert Barnes, Confessor and Martyr

July 30 2015

The Lord be with you.

Before I get to the worship notes, I wish to say a little something about Robert Barnes. He was born sometime around 1495. He was an Englishman and Roman Catholic priest who embraced the Reformation. Many consider his sermon delivered at Christmas Mass in 1525 as the first Evangelical sermon delivered in England. Fleeing to the Continent in 1528, he met Luther, Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, and others. He wrote an epitome of the main doctrines of the Augsburg Confession, which eventually led to him being burned at the stake in England in 1540. His final confession of faith was published in Wittenberg with a preface written by Martin Luther. Such heroes of the faith can be found in every age. They inspire us to remain faithful, even unto death, that we too may inherit the crown of life (Revelation 2:10). 

This coming Sunday is Pentecost 10. We will use the Service of Prayer and Preaching for our liturgy (page 260). This is a non-communion service. We will use the appointed Psalm for the Day (instead of the Introit). The appointed lessons are Exodus 16:2-15, Ephesians 4:1-16 and John 6:22-35. The Psalm is Psalm 145:10-21 (antiphon v. 15). Karen will be out-of-town, so we will speak the Psalm instead of chanting it.

The text for the sermon is Psalm 145:13 and is titled “For Thine is the Kingdom.” The sermon will be expository in style and will cover all of Psalm 145. An insert will be in the bulletin with the Psalm printed on it to make taking notes easier. Expository sermons tend to go verse by verse, or section by section, with comments from the preacher. In this case, the Psalm can be seen as a commentary on the closing of the Lord’s Prayer, hence the title of the sermon.

As the sermon covers twenty-one verses, my first draft was way too long for a Sunday morning message. Much has hit the “cutting room floor.” What I’m planning on doing is posting the text of the “long” version of the sermon with the video of the “short” version I preach, on the sermon page of the blog. That way people can see what got cut.

We sing only three hymns in Prayer and Preaching. This Sunday’s opening hymn will be “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (LSB 790). The sermon Hymn will be “All You Works of God, Bless the Lord” (LSB 930). The closing Hymn will be “Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices” (LSB 811).

Below is a video of our sermon hymn, “All You Works of God, Bless the Lord,” sung by the choir and congregation of First Baptist in Ashville, NC. I wonder what they would think if they knew it was written by an LC-MS pastor. It is good to see that Stephen Starke’s work is jumping denominations. That means it just might jump generations as well.  

What follows is a synopsis of Sunday’s lessons, provided by the synod, then the lessons and finally some additional notes. As always, the summary does not include the Psalm. However, if you meditate on the readings, I expect you will see the connection with the Psalm as well.

There are a few notes, following the readings, of interest.

Jesus Is the True and Living Bread from Heaven

Having rescued Israel “out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 16:6), the Lord manifested His glory and made Himself known to His people. He fed them with “meat to eat” in the evening and with “bread from heaven” in the morning (Ex. 16:4, 8, 12). But now, the “true bread from heaven,” which the Father gives to you, is the Son, “who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32–33). Whoever comes to Him “shall not hunger,” and whoever believes in Him “shall never thirst.” He is “the bread of life,” who gives Himself to you as “the food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:27, 35). By the gracious working of God, you believe in Him by the calling of one Spirit through the Gospel, so that you also have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Eph. 4:4–6). As you eat His one body in the Holy Supper, so you belong to the one body of His Church, in which you “are to grow up in every way into him who is the head” (Eph. 4:15).

Psalm 145:10-21 (antiphon v. 15)

^145:10     All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,

                        and all your saints shall bless you!

¹¹          They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom

                        and tell of your power,

¹²          to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds,

                        and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

¹³          Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

                        and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

            The Lord is faithful in all his words

                        and kind in all his works.

¹⁴          The Lord upholds all who are falling

                        and raises up all who are bowed down.

¹⁵          The eyes of all look to you,

                        and you give them their food in due season.

¹⁶          You open your hand;

                        you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷          The Lord is righteous in all his ways

                        and kind in all his works.

¹⁸          The Lord is near to all who call on him,

                        to all who call on him in truth.

¹⁹          He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;

                        he also hears their cry and saves them.

²⁰          The Lord preserves all who love him,

                        but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹          My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,

                        and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Exodus 16:2-15

^16:2        And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ³and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

⁴           Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. ⁵On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” ⁸And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

⁹           Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” ¹⁰And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. ¹¹And the Lord said to Moses, ¹²“I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³          In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. ¹⁴And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

           

Ephesians 4:1-16

^4:1         I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. ⁸Therefore it says,

            “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,

                        and he gave gifts to men.”

⁹(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

John 6:22-35

^6:22        On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

²⁵          When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” ²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ³⁰So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ³¹Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³²Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵          Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

Some Additional Notes

• The August Newsletter has been posted on the blog.

• The Voters’ Meeting that was scheduled for July 19 has been rescheduled for Sunday, August 16.

• There are only two Sunday’s left to bring in school supplies to donate to Jesse Boyd Elementary school. We will be dropping off the supplies August 10.  

·         Keep Praying for your Neighbors and Walking your Neighborhoods.

• At the District Convention this past May the delegates voted to have a special “Sunday for the City” August 9. This was shortly after the shooting death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Since then we had the murders in Charlotte at Emmanuel AME congregation. The planning for “Sunday for the City” has expanded to include, not only Charlotte, but all our cities. The SED is preparing special material for this local commemoration, and we will participate at Lamb of God.   

• Our Sunday morning Bible hour begins at 9:00 am. We will begin an new study from the Lutheran Spirituality Series title Word: God Speaks to Us. One of the questions in the first study is: “What does the Transfiguration tell us about the origin and use of the Scriptures?” If nothing comes quickly to mind, then join us Sunday morning and let the learning begin.

• Don’t forget to check out the other posts on our blog that have been made this past week. Many of these posts are from district, synod or one of the groups affiliated with us (like a seminary). For example, you can find a response from the LC-MS to the BSA decision to allow actively homosexual leaders for their Boy Scout troops.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Rickert