Photo by Jacob McGowin on Unsplash

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Disclaimer: This is a transcript of Pastor Fenker’s sermon. It was preached from an outline, and the transcript taken automatically from the audio. Please forgive any typographical or formatting errors.

᛭ INI ᛭

Mark tells us in those days, in those days, literally, again, there was a multitude. Yes, again. The Lord does very similar miracles all over the place, so it is today with the feeding of the 4000. Yes, again, because the Lord fed 5000 previously. He fed a multitude of Jews, 5000 men excluding women and children. He did so with 5 loaves and 2 fish. It’s depicted on our banner. So also, he fed the 4000 here. This, however, is a multitude of Gentiles, coming to IHS from the Decapolis, 10 Greek cities on the east side of the Jordan River. Today, he fed them with 7 loaves, perfect number of loaves, and a few small fish.

In both these great miracles of Christ, the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of the 4000 God’s generosity in Christ is on display. And not just generosity in only one way. God’s generosity in Christ by means of the Holy Spirit is what is on display. And these, in this miracle today, the 4,000, we have a touch point, which eat, with each of the three articles of the Apostles’ Creed. You get a touchpoint with creation, With redemption, and with sanctification.

God’s generosity in terms of the 1st article is an abundance of the fruits of the earth. In fact, that’s what we see. The Lord created a world that delivers his own abundance. He created a world to deliver it. We heard that in Genesis 2. The Lord had created the whole world, and then he plants a garden. And there, the Lord God made to spring up all sorts of trees for eating for mankind, that man would always have something to eat to sustain the life that God gave him. 


But the abundance of the fruits of the earth isn’t just food. We heard it in the description of the various lands that are described. It’s an abundance of what we would call natural resources. There’s good gold around the world. There’s bdelium and onyx stone. That’s what the Lord does with the world. An abundance. And through the world, God still delivers his abundance. He provides the needs of all people.

But, as we know, looking out in the world, things are not working as well as they did, as described in Genesis chapter 2. Sin and Satan wreak havoc on what the Lord would be giving in the world. There actually is no lack of food in the world. It’s just that sinful men, and Satan himself stand in the way of the Lord’s supplying the needs of all people. As Christ says, The poor you will always have.

And he uses you and I to do it. In his providence, the Lord, lets this happen so that there would be work for us to do. Let the thief no longer steal Paul says, but let him work with honest hands doing work that he might have something to give someone in need. That’s what the Lord calls you and I to. To work and to strive, not for our own benefit, but that he might use us to supply the needs of others.

And Christ also, as we heard, had the abundance for the 4000. He had an abundance for the 5000, too. In Galilee, the Lord had 12 baskets. Large baskets of leftovers. And here today we heard that the Lord had 7 baskets of leftovers. There is always more to give. And there is no reason to doubt. We doubt that the Lord will take care of us. When the Lord gave the bread in the wilderness here today to the 4000, when he said, to give them something to eat, the disciples were flabbergasted. How can this possibly be that someone anyone is able to, in the wilderness, provide food for this many people? We too, look out in the world, look and see how the economy or prices are going, and we begin to wonder if the Lord can actually make good on his 1st article promise to sustain our bodies and lives. The Lord has done so. ever since the creation of the world. Even ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, ever since the flood. Do you think the Lord will stop now?


And this is why it’s good news for us that the Lord’s abundance doesn’t just stop at the dinner table. The Lord’s supplies and abundance of his redemption in Christ Jesus. He provides and satisfies salvation for both Jew and Gentile. For as we heard in our epistle reading, The wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. a free gift that has no ending. The salvation that never runs out. 


That is God’s gift. It is eternally so. And it is all tied to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in the shedding of his blood. 
He died for all people. Just as the Lord supplies daily bread for all people, even all evil people, making his son rise on the evil and giving rain on the just and the unjust, so also Christ dies for all people. At his death. 


The sun hid its face. As he shed his great drops of blood. Or even just one drop, is enough for the sins of the whole world. 
That is the redemption we have in Christ Jesus. And his redemption keeps on going. He redeems even you. 


Not only at Calvary, but bringing you abundantly into that redemption. Washing away all your sins at the font, forgiving all your sins in holy absolution, announcing the forgiveness of sins right now through me in this sermon, all your sins are forgiven. The forgiveness for all your sins in the sacrament of his body and blood, which were indeed given into death and shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins. 


And in this redemption, we are all one. Whether Jew or Gentile. No matter who we are, the Lord has abundant salvation for us. 
Abundant redemption for us, not only at the cross, but in the font and at the altar, where we are one body in him. And we see this even today in the feeding of the 4000. Because Christ didn’t just feed the 5000 Jews, but he fed the 4000 Gentiles with an abundance left over, so also that same Christ Jesus died for you, and for all. 


But the Lord’s not done. One more article to go. The Lord doesn’t just give abundantly the fruits of the earth or abundantly give forth redemption from the tree of the cross, but he has an abundance of his righteousness. 


Or, as we would call it, sanctification. The Lord isn’t stingy. The Lord gives abundantly. that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose for them. 


We think the Lord is stingy. that he won’t supply. That his creation will run out, that his redemption comes up short, or that he doesn’t have enough holiness to make even you holy, but that is not true. Whoever sows sparingly the apostle warns will also reap sparingly. 
But the Lord doesn’t give sparingly. Holiness, righteousness, at the font and word and sacrament. This is all the work of the Holy Spirit for you. 


For as many of you as were baptized into Christ Jesus, we’re baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. New life, fruits of the Spirit in abundance. for you, through you to others. 


The Spirit is the one who works sanctification. He is the one who bears the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control, and in you. And in all his saints. 
It is the fulfillment of his promise made to you in holy baptism. It is the promise he makes to you in his word. That his holy word would have its way with you. to lead you in the path of righteousness. and to lead you to faith in Christ. 


And the redemption that we have and the salvation we have, the sanctification we have, indeed works itself out for those around us. How can it not? This is what Paul is describing to us today in Romans chapter 6, that we have been set free from our sins. to be slaves of God. 


And then the fruit that we have is our sanctification for those around us. that we should no longer present our bodies as slaves to impurity, which lawlessness, living sinfully, according to our own selfish desires, but rather to live as we truly are. as redeemed and baptized sons of God in Christ Jesus, who indeed have the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit has indeed been poured into our hearts through faith in Christ Jesus.

THE LORD’S GENEROSITY IN CHRIST IS ON DISPLAY. And when it happens, when generosity happens from the Lord, it is abundant. When the Lord gives, he gives not only enough, but he gives an abundance, that’s Genesis 2. The creation of the world in the Garden of Eden. It’s the feeding of the 4000 and the 5,000. That’s the generosity. When the Lord gives salvation, he gives not only enough, but an abundance, a suffering and death, and a shedding of the blood of the Savior, that accounts not only for you, but for the sins of all people, of all times and all places. 


So also your sanctification. If it rests on you, You will reap only death. But it is the spirit who produces this fruit in you. 
And when he does, There is an abundance. For there is not many fruits of the Spirit, but just one fruit of the Spirit that abounds through you unto many. Love, and joy, and peace, and patience, and kindness, and goodness, and faithfulness, and gentleness, and self control. 
That’s just one fruit of the Spirit. And your great God and Father, who gave up his son for you. How will he not also with him freely give you all things? 


Things for your sanctification, your Christian life, for your redemption, and even your daily bread. For when the Lord gives, he gives not only enough, but an abundance.

᛭ INI ᛭