Preparing for Worship - August 4, 2024

The Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday is from Exodus 16:2-15. God had rescued His people from slavery and misery in Egypt and was leading them to the Promised Land. They quickly forgot God’s mercy and care, though, and began to grumble and complain as if God had led them into the wilderness to starve and die. God is patient with them, though, and provides daily food for them, in the gift of manna from heaven, and enough extra for the Sabbath Day, when they were to rest. God even provided meat for them, at times, with quail. God gave food on a daily basis as a kind of test for them and to teach them to trust Him each day, as we still pray in the Lord’s Prayer.

The Psalm is Psalm 145:10-21. David calls upon all people to give thanks and praise to God for His goodness. He is faithful in all His words and promises. Verses 15-16 are still used by some as a table prayer of thanks at meals, as God provides “food in due season.” Verse 18 is also a great promise of God: “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth,” trusting in Him and His mercy. “He hears their cry and saves them,” especially in the saving work of Jesus which was to come. There is a word of warning, too, and of judgment for the wicked who continually reject the Lord and His will. David, though, will speak with his mouth in praise of the Lord and His kindness and His “everlasting kingdom.”

In the Gospel lesson, John 6:22-35, Jesus had just done the great miracle of feeding the 5,000. Now many people were “seeking Jesus,” but primarily because they had eaten their “fill of the loaves.” They were focusing on “food that perishes,” while Jesus wanted to give them “food that endures to eternal life.” Jesus was the Son of His Heavenly Father, upon whom “the Father had set His seal.” The true “work of God” was simply to bring people “to believe in Jesus.” The people wanted more signs to be able to believe in Jesus, though, like the manna provided in the Old Testament. Jesus says that He is “the Bread from heaven… the Bread of Life.” Those who come to and believe in Him will not hunger or thirst but will have true and eternal life through faith in Him.

The Epistle reading continues readings from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians - this week, Ephesians 4:1-16. We heard Paul promising last week that the Good News of salvation through faith in Jesus was for all people, non-Jews as well as Jews. Now he says that this is a unity brought by the Holy Spirit for all believers in Christ, no matter who they have been. Seven times Paul uses the word “one.” There is only one Spirit who gathers people into “one body” by “one faith” in the “one Lord,” the Lord Jesus Christ, through “one baptism,” with “one hope” in “the one God and Father of all.” (Notice that this is the one true Triune God at work to accomplish this saving and uniting work. All believers have the same trust in the Father and His saving work in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. However, God gives different gifts of grace to believers to help in “building up the body of Christ,” the Holy Christian Church. The power is in “speaking the truth” of God and His Word “in love” so that believers may grow from childlike to mature “knowledge of the Son of God” through Christ and His Word. Otherwise, we could be “tossed to and fro” by false teachings and deceitful human ideas of those opposed to Christ and the teachings of God’s Word. We have the Scriptures, written by the apostles and prophets, as inspired by God Himself. Today, we also have pastors and teachers to help guide us through that Word and to be strengthened in our Savior. As “the body of Christ,” we can all help each other, too, doing what we can to encourage one another with the love of Christ. As Paul says, that takes a lot of “humility and gentleness and patience” toward one another, as our Heavenly Father enables us through Christ and by the Holy Spirit.