WEBVTT 00:00.890 --> 00:05.680 Grace and peace to you from God, our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06.290 --> 00:07.230 Amen. 00:09.090 --> 00:12.400 Grumblers tend to get what they want. 00:13.970 --> 00:16.480 I'm not saying I particularly like it. 00:17.330 --> 00:18.640 I don't really. 00:19.330 --> 00:22.846 But it seems to be true that if you look around, as they say, that the 00:22.868 --> 00:27.510 squeaky wheel gets the grease, whoever tends to complain the loudest 00:27.850 --> 00:30.870 tends to get the best results. 00:31.690 --> 00:33.846 I think you know what I'm talking about. 00:34.028 --> 00:39.206 Maybe it's a whining child and you really don't want to cave, but you 00:39.228 --> 00:39.800 do. 00:40.170 --> 00:43.898 Or maybe you're out to eat, and there's someone at the table next to 00:43.904 --> 00:47.642 you, got a hair in their food, and they are letting the server have 00:47.696 --> 00:53.120 it, and you know, they're probably going to get a fresh plate of food. 00:53.810 --> 00:56.974 They might even get their meal comp for them, even just to avoid a bad 00:57.012 --> 01:01.070 review, or maybe just to shut it down to stop the fuss. 01:02.690 --> 01:04.959 Grumblers tend to get what they want. 01:06.470 --> 01:11.170 I've noticed that grumbling tends to actually work pretty well around 01:11.240 --> 01:12.260 here, too. 01:13.990 --> 01:16.526 I've filled out some course evaluations. 01:16.718 --> 01:20.870 I know the kinds of things that I have written, and I know that I was 01:21.020 --> 01:26.258 a lot quicker to click that link and give them a piece of my anonymous 01:26.354 --> 01:30.790 mind when I wasn't a fan. 01:32.190 --> 01:33.660 Many times it works. 01:36.270 --> 01:41.854 You listen, you look around, and you realize that course used to be 01:41.892 --> 01:47.278 longer. When I took that class, that the book list seemed a little bit 01:47.364 --> 01:49.920 heavier than what the guys are taking now. 01:51.650 --> 01:53.330 Somebody is listening. 01:54.950 --> 01:57.700 Grumblers seem to get what they want. 01:59.670 --> 02:03.874 And it's clearly not a new phenomenon that grumblers get what they 02:03.912 --> 02:04.258 want. 02:04.344 --> 02:07.366 And much to our chagrin, it seems like this is even true of the 02:07.388 --> 02:10.120 relationship of God and his people. 02:13.650 --> 02:18.638 Over and over again, we see grumblers get what they want. In our in our 02:18.644 --> 02:19.342 text for today 02:19.396 --> 02:21.406 Israel has been traveling in the wilderness 02:21.438 --> 02:22.830 they've escaped from Egypt. 02:22.910 --> 02:25.810 They've seen their enemies dead in the water behind them. 02:25.960 --> 02:31.090 They've been brought safely thus far, but they've grumbled. 02:31.850 --> 02:35.538 They've grumbled as they looked behind and saw their enemies. 02:35.634 --> 02:41.110 They've grumbled as they were thirsty, and God turned the bitter water 02:41.180 --> 02:41.682 sweet. 02:41.746 --> 02:46.086 They grumbled when they were hungry, and God sent them manna from 02:46.108 --> 02:46.870 heaven. 02:48.330 --> 02:50.790 And now here they are again, grumbling. 02:53.290 --> 02:56.618 They're grumbling to Moses, and I can picture the scene. 02:56.674 --> 02:59.900 Moses the 03:00.410 --> 03:06.270 flustered and harried something of the middle manager of God's people 03:06.340 --> 03:13.706 trapped between these grumbling people and a holy God, I can imagine 03:13.738 --> 03:15.120 he was thirsty too. 03:16.450 --> 03:20.414 He's trying to keep a stiff upper lip, to keep everything together, to 03:20.452 --> 03:21.646 keep everyone in line. 03:21.748 --> 03:25.426 But they're grumbling, they're quarreling, they're angry, and it's 03:25.458 --> 03:26.598 starting to get out of hand. 03:26.684 --> 03:30.870 You can almost hear them saying, I want to speak to your manager. 03:32.490 --> 03:34.630 It's clearly getting pretty bad 03:34.700 --> 03:39.542 so Moses finally caves, and he's starting to get a little bit nervous. 03:39.606 --> 03:43.740 So you can I'll see what I can do. 03:45.710 --> 03:55.166 And he goes to God, and in desperation, he cries out, Lord, what am I 03:55.188 --> 03:56.880 supposed to do with these people? 03:57.970 --> 04:00.560 They're almost ready to stone me. 04:03.270 --> 04:08.340 Just like that, God gives grumblers what they want. 04:10.470 --> 04:11.906 Moses passes before them. 04:11.928 --> 04:19.046 He takes his staff, he strikes the rock and the water pours out and 04:19.067 --> 04:20.070 they drink. 04:21.850 --> 04:24.120 The grumblers got what they wanted. 04:25.450 --> 04:29.980 We may not like it, but God seems to do this time and time again, 04:30.670 --> 04:35.420 people of God grumble, and he gives them what they want. 04:37.070 --> 04:41.742 So we might be tempted to say, as we read these stories time and time 04:41.796 --> 04:45.502 again, the familiar stories of the Old Testament, there they go again. 04:45.556 --> 04:47.870 There's those Israelites grumbling. 04:51.090 --> 04:57.300 But maybe we're a little too hard on them. 04:58.950 --> 05:01.970 I'm not saying there isn't unfaithful grumbling. 05:02.630 --> 05:05.718 I'm not even saying the Israelites were doing the faithful thing. 05:05.884 --> 05:10.310 There's certainly plenty of grumbling that turns into self righteous, 05:11.210 --> 05:13.909 malicious turned inward. 05:16.010 --> 05:18.858 There was plenty of hard hearted and arrogant grumbling from the 05:18.864 --> 05:19.900 people of God. 05:20.830 --> 05:26.890 But I think that grumbling is often a sign of something deeper. 05:29.470 --> 05:31.690 Have you ever been truly thirsty? 05:34.030 --> 05:36.730 Have you felt your throat parched? 05:37.950 --> 05:40.378 Your tongue is heavy in your mouth? 05:40.474 --> 05:43.289 Your lips are chapped and cracked and bleeding? 05:43.370 --> 05:49.022 Have you ever seen your child crying out, her voice cracking with 05:49.076 --> 05:49.870 thirst? 05:52.289 --> 05:53.630 Or an infant 05:54.530 --> 05:59.860 at an empty bottle with no way to comfort them? 06:02.090 --> 06:03.582 What are you supposed to do 06:03.636 --> 06:10.366 but grumble? Grumbling is a pretty natural response to being trapped in 06:10.388 --> 06:17.600 the wilderness with no way to go back and no hope to go forward. 06:19.330 --> 06:23.742 Yes, I think grumbling is often a sign of something deeper, that 06:23.796 --> 06:30.786 underneath our grumbling is helplessness, a need a need that cannot be satisfied 06:30.978 --> 06:31.942 on one's own. 06:31.996 --> 06:36.230 So maybe we should be a little bit easier on the Israelites. 06:36.730 --> 06:41.466 It doesn't matter how far they've been, how they've been sustained up 06:41.488 --> 06:42.540 to this point. 06:44.510 --> 06:53.120 Grumbling is often a sign of helplessness. Under your grumbling too 06:55.170 --> 06:57.390 I think there's something deeper going on. 06:57.540 --> 07:02.894 I think even though it doesn't sound very pleasant, those course 07:03.012 --> 07:08.260 evaluations and those formation lab conversations and those late night 07:08.630 --> 07:12.274 talks with a couple of beers, just talking about just how much better 07:12.312 --> 07:15.714 it would be if we were in charge, well, they might not be the faithful 07:15.762 --> 07:17.000 way to do things. 07:19.610 --> 07:22.550 They are a pretty natural response to the wilderness. 07:23.930 --> 07:27.026 We hear the grumbling that the course loads are too heavy and there's 07:27.058 --> 07:29.482 too much reading, and how the heck am I supposed to get all this done? 07:29.536 --> 07:39.433 But under the surface, you haven't talked to your wife in a week. Your 07:39.472 --> 07:44.286 child cries every time you close the door to go work on yet more 07:44.468 --> 07:45.390 homework. 07:48.130 --> 07:54.186 Or you have a friend back home who is getting a divorce, or your 07:54.228 --> 07:59.906 brother is going into rehab again and you're not really sure if your 07:59.928 --> 08:02.962 seminary education has prepared you for this kind of thing. 08:03.016 --> 08:07.254 And while the world burns, you feel like your classes sometimes have 08:07.292 --> 08:10.039 hardly anything to do with pastoral ministry at all. 08:11.050 --> 08:14.710 You're worried about your first call, or you're nervous for vicarage, 08:15.930 --> 08:19.274 and there's so many things out of your control. 08:19.472 --> 08:21.180 And so what do you do? 08:24.120 --> 08:25.039 You vent. 08:25.120 --> 08:25.872 You grumble. 08:25.936 --> 08:28.789 You let your frustration out on whoever will listen. 08:29.960 --> 08:32.250 You just don't know how to handle it all. 08:34.140 --> 08:39.930 Underneath grumbling, there's something deeper going on. 08:40.940 --> 08:43.319 It's often a sign of our helplessness. 08:46.470 --> 08:52.066 I know that our response to grumbling, our grumbling, our response to 08:52.088 --> 08:54.925 injustice and suffering and helplessness, it's often sinful. 08:54.958 --> 08:55.314 It is. 08:55.352 --> 08:59.162 It's often tainted by our pride and our anger, anger and our self 08:59.216 --> 08:59.880 righteousness. And 09:00.090 --> 09:04.110 when our grumbling turns to sin, there's no doubt we need to repent. 09:05.010 --> 09:07.840 That isn't really what I'm talking about today. 09:09.090 --> 09:13.166 I'm talking about a deeper reality, the reality that we find in our 09:13.188 --> 09:17.390 text, which is that God meets grumblers with grace. 09:18.770 --> 09:21.834 God meets grumblers with grace. 09:21.962 --> 09:26.034 So maybe we ought to be a little bit kinder to grumblers, to Israel 09:26.082 --> 09:31.414 and to one another, because God is god helps grumblers time and time 09:31.452 --> 09:36.630 again, even when they were unfaithful, he was faithful. 09:37.870 --> 09:40.170 And we know this better than Israel. 09:42.270 --> 09:46.282 God has sent his Son, the Christ. 09:46.415 --> 09:49.890 The new Moses walked in our wilderness. 09:50.070 --> 09:52.506 He was hungry and he was thirsty. 09:52.538 --> 10:01.614 And wherever he went, he did works of mercy for God's people, even as 10:01.652 --> 10:04.690 they grumbled against him, as they had against Moses. 10:06.150 --> 10:08.974 He didn't just go for the symptom. 10:09.022 --> 10:10.334 He didn't just go for the grumbling. 10:10.382 --> 10:11.490 He went for the cause. 10:11.640 --> 10:13.170 He healed the sick. 10:14.870 --> 10:16.286 He cast out demons. 10:16.318 --> 10:17.890 He even raised the dead. 10:20.650 --> 10:27.786 The same Jesus, the ultimate help for the helpless, is risen from the 10:27.808 --> 10:28.182 dead. 10:28.246 --> 10:35.398 God has poured him out as a drink offering the water and the blood 10:35.494 --> 10:40.170 pouring out even for grumblers. 10:41.330 --> 10:43.790 God meets grumblers with grace. 10:47.010 --> 10:49.710 God meets your grumbling with grace. 10:53.880 --> 10:57.290 You are baptized into Christ. 10:57.740 --> 10:59.608 Jesus has brought you into a family. 10:59.694 --> 11:03.400 And in this family, we get to call God Father. 11:06.060 --> 11:08.340 God is a Father, and he listens. 11:08.420 --> 11:11.852 He listens to those who are willing to take him to tasks, who, as Dr. 11:11.906 --> 11:16.556 Luther says, to rub his ears with all the promises to hear prayers, we 11:16.578 --> 11:22.576 are able to recall. Time and time again,God meets the needs of his 11:22.598 --> 11:23.810 grumbling people. 11:26.180 --> 11:31.136 What kind of parent, Jesus says, would give their child a serpent when 11:31.158 --> 11:32.580 they ask for a fish? 11:35.160 --> 11:38.675 What kind of parent gives their child a scorpion when they ask for an 11:38.698 --> 11:38.944 egg? 11:38.992 --> 11:45.556 What kind of parent gives their child a cup of sand when they ask for 11:45.578 --> 11:46.790 a glass of water? 11:48.920 --> 11:57.175 Even the unjust judge will listen, will cave to the widow who calls 11:57.208 --> 11:59.770 out at his door day after day after day. And 12:00.090 --> 12:05.502 will not God give justice to his elect who cry out to him day and 12:05.636 --> 12:06.174 night? 12:06.292 --> 12:12.430 Christ gives us permission, even calls us to cry out to our Father. 12:12.930 --> 12:18.334 No matter how unpleasant it might sound, God promises to listen to his 12:18.372 --> 12:18.814 people. 12:18.932 --> 12:25.142 And because God approaches your grumbling with grace, that same 12:25.236 --> 12:29.670 grumbling can turn into a cry for mercy. 12:32.490 --> 12:39.098 Will our heavenly Father, who has raised Jesus from the dead, who has 12:39.184 --> 12:45.754 marked us with his name, made us his children, who feeds us with his 12:45.792 --> 12:50.302 word and with the very body and blood of our Lord, will he not hear 12:50.356 --> 12:51.390 our prayers? 12:52.930 --> 12:59.454 Our grumblings can be turned into a cry for mercy, can be lifted up 12:59.492 --> 13:04.370 with the groaning, the grumbling of all creation. 13:05.750 --> 13:10.146 Our prayers joined with those of the Holy Spirit, who cries out with 13:10.168 --> 13:13.140 us with groans that are too deep for words. 13:14.630 --> 13:21.094 We have the ear of the One who answered our cries, who came into our 13:21.132 --> 13:21.990 wilderness. 13:23.050 --> 13:26.614 And thanks be to God that in Christ Jesus he does not hold our 13:26.652 --> 13:33.722 grumbling against us, but meets it with grace. Again 13:33.776 --> 13:36.490 maybe we ought to be a little kinder to grumblers. 13:39.390 --> 13:42.190 Many of us in this room are on a path to ministry. 13:42.610 --> 13:44.830 Many of you already serve God's people. 13:44.900 --> 13:47.120 Many of you already represent Christ. 13:48.930 --> 13:54.420 And like Moses, you will hear the grumbling of God's people. 13:57.030 --> 14:00.930 And we may find ourselves, like Moses, at God's feet. 14:01.510 --> 14:04.020 What am I supposed to do with these people? 14:08.110 --> 14:16.698 But may we hear the grumbling of God's people, the grumbling of this 14:16.784 --> 14:18.620 whole hurting world. 14:19.069 --> 14:23.870 And may we, like Christ, meet that grumbling with grace. 14:25.490 --> 14:32.514 May we hear beneath the grumbling the real concerns, the fears, the 14:32.552 --> 14:34.819 worries and pain of life in this world. 14:35.270 --> 14:38.450 May we hear the grumblings of the suffering. 14:38.790 --> 14:43.970 And may we turn that grumbling into a cry for mercy. 14:47.630 --> 14:56.010 I've heard and done plenty of grumbling here at Concordia Seminary. 14:56.910 --> 14:59.600 But a few weeks ago saw what it looks like 15:00.000 --> 15:10.794 when grumbling is met with grace and when it's transformed, it's 15:10.842 --> 15:13.150 transformed into a cry for mercy. 15:15.090 --> 15:20.686 There was a few of us, we were in pastoral leadership and we had to do 15:20.708 --> 15:21.870 a little exercise. 15:22.290 --> 15:26.470 We had to just do this little practice for future circuit gatherings. 15:27.370 --> 15:30.194 So we had to get out of our seats and make a circle. 15:30.242 --> 15:31.730 Not without some grumbling. 15:31.890 --> 15:39.786 And then our job was to share some prayer requests with each other and 15:39.808 --> 15:41.180 then pray for one another. 15:43.150 --> 15:49.626 And it was a little awkward at first, but then we began to just lay it 15:49.648 --> 15:50.910 all out on the table. 15:52.530 --> 15:54.170 And there was no anger. 15:54.250 --> 15:55.754 There was no self righteousness. 15:55.802 --> 16:01.262 There were just the very real, concrete pains and struggles and 16:01.316 --> 16:04.819 worries of our lives laid out before one another. 16:07.270 --> 16:14.740 And then together, one by one by one, we prayed for one another. 16:17.290 --> 16:23.830 Our grumblings were transformed into a cry for mercy. 16:25.530 --> 16:27.590 We took it all the way to the boss. 16:31.470 --> 16:33.210 God heard those prayers. 16:35.069 --> 16:37.130 God hears your prayers. 16:38.190 --> 16:41.550 God meets your grumblings with grace. 16:42.930 --> 16:48.560 So may you hear the grumblings of this hurting world with the same. 16:51.170 --> 16:55.360 Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us. 16:56.690 --> 16:57.710 Amen. 16:59.010 --> 17:02.954 Now may the peace of God which passes understanding keep your hearts 17:03.082 --> 17:06.390 and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. 17:07.050 --> 17:07.990 Amen.