Peace Lutheran Church
Posts Tagged "Complaining"
Feast of Pentecost
May 24, 2026
Text: Numbers 11:24–30
Theme: “Lord’s Sprit on His People”
Outline
1. People are angry, dissatisfied with the Lord’s provisions
a. We often dissatisfied, complain as well
2. Lord’s response? Continues to be merciful, pours out Spirit
a. Still does so to us
3. Joshua angry, thinks more worthy then 2 men still in camp, get Spirit as well!
Sermon
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament reading from the book of Numbers chapter eleven verses twenty-four through thirty.
Beloved Lambs, I pray that you are doing well today. Do you know what I have here? I have a candle. Specifically, it is a baptismal candle. This is a candle that is given to your dads and moms at your baptism. It is lit from the really tall candle, called a Paschal Candle. The Paschal Candle is a picture of Jesus presence with us every day. The Baptismal candle lit from it, shows that Christ lives in you. Christ lives in you as a dear beloved child of Him. We do the same thing on Christmas Eve. We light a bunch of candles from the Paschal candle that glow more brightly than a single flame. A similar thing happens in our Old Testament lesson for today when the Lord takes the Spirit given to Moses and gives it as well to the elders of the people. How do the people of Israel react to this? How do we shine brightly like candles with the Spirit and Christ in us? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
1. People are angry, dissatisfied with the Lord’s provisions
How would you feel if you gave someone a great and expensive gift, only for them to respond with anger, outrage, and a ton of complaining? How many of you would be happy? Angry? Wanting them to pay for their outburst?
Just before our text, the Lord has given to the people of Israel many gracious provisions. The people of Israel were gifted with freedom from slavery, with God’s visible presence with them on their journey to the Promised Land in the fire by night and cloud by day. He has given them bread every morning that appeared like dew on the ground. The Israelites called it Manna, what is this? Bread that tasted as sweet as honey and dissolved in their mouths. The Lord gave them meat in the form of quail every night. As the psalmist saying, “These all look to you, to give them their food in due season” (Ps 104:27). God did not withhold his hand of blessing to the people of Israel but provided for their physical needs as they followed Him.
How do the people of Israel react? They grumble and complain, the meat is not enough for them. They complain about this worthless bread that they have. They desire meat, fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. Granted, any simple meal would be more appealing if it was accompanied by juices from roasted meats and seasoned with savory vegetables. Ungrateful hearts see not what they need and have but what they want and lack.
How often our hearts are ungrateful to the provisions our Lord blesses us with today! Our Lord continues to give us daily breath. He blesses us with jobs so that we can earn a living and be a blessing to our spouses and children. He blesses us with technology, intelligence, and wisdom that we can have a better life than our forefathers. He blesses us with an abundance of food and drink, to the point that our fridges and freezers are bursting.
What is our reply? Often, it is the same as the Israelites. We grumble and complain because the grass always looks greener on the other side. It seems like my neighbor has better things than I do. They have a prime rib steak, why should I be happy with this Mcdonald’s hamburger and fries? They are not always sick. I am in the hospital yet again for the third time this month, why should I be happy with this type of health that the Lord has given? They have a new car or Television. They are going on an extravagant vacation with beautiful pictures and here I am stuck at home with this old beater that burns oil and gas like it’s the sole cause of climate change. Complain, complain, complain.
2. Lord’s response? Continues to be merciful, pours out Spirit
The Lord’s reply is not one of anger or disappointment as the people deserve. Rather, in our text, the Lord continues to pour out blessings upon His people. He gathers Moses, as well as the seventy (70) elders of Isreal, those who were appointed to help Moses in ministering to the people. The Cloud descends on the tent of meeting, not with a crack of thunder and lighting, to sweep them out of His sight. Rather, He gives them a gift. The Lord takes the Spirit that He had gifted to Moses, and places it on the elders as well. Moses loses none of his gift, but as one candle lights another, the Spirit is given to each and they all begin to prophesy. This is God’s gift to his people to be a blessing to others. The Lord gives of His Spirit to the Elders that they can minister to the needs of the people well. That everything that they do can be done to the praise and glory of God.
3. Joshua angry
The Lord’s gift extends to more than just the ones gathered with Moses. We get the note that two of the elders are missing from the gathering. Eldad and Medad are in the camp. We do not know why they were not with the rest. But the Lord gives of His spirit to them as well. They prophesy in the camp. Joshua gets word of this. He complains to Moses that something should be done to stop them. Joshua is mad because they were missing. He thinks that since he had served since his youth and he was there, that he was more worthy than the two elders who were not present.
Moses stops Joshua’s outburst. “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” Moses desires that it was not only himself and the Elders that had the Spirit, but all of the Lord’s people that they might truly be His people and the Lord their God.
This is fulfilled in our Second Reading for today from the Acts of the Apostles. We see the Holy Spirit fill the disciples, the same as He filled Moses and the Elders. They were filled so that they could witness, in languages of nations foreign to them, about the Wonderous working of God in and through Jesus Christ, especially about His death and resurrection from the dead. Jesus died and rose again, not only for Jew or Gentile, but for everyone across all of time and space. Jesus takes our anger, our complaints, all our sins upon Himself. Jesus dies our death, sheds His blood, that He might showers us with constant blessings as He gives us new life through His resurrection of the dead.
This new life is given to us in the waters of Holy Baptism. In Water and the Word, the gift of the Holy Spirit is given to you as well. Just as the Lord pours out His Spirit on Moses, the Elders, and the Disciples, so too He does upon you. The Holy Spirit gives you faith that clings to Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit connects you to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Here, you die with Christ and are raised to newness of life.
It is the Holy Spirit in us that curbs our complaining mouths and tongues. He enables us to see the blessings we have rightly. Rather than complaining because we do not have this or that gift, we can be thankful for what we have. We obey the ninth and tenth commandments, be content and happy with what we have. Content that we still draw breath in spite of our sinful flesh. Joyful that God has blessed us with food and drink. Overjoyed that God has given us doctors and nurses, people who are not fools, but skilled and intelligent, so that we can be restored to health according to His good and gracious will. Content that even in the midst of our weaknesses, the Lord’s love, mercy, and strength prevails. That we can FROG. Fully Rely On God in all things. Just as the Elders used their gift to minister to the people of Israel, so too, we minister to the needs of those around us. We take of the blessing and provisions God has given to us and share it with those around us, especially the gift of faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We are blessed to be a blessing to others.
Today we celebrate God’s faithfulness to the Israelites, to Moses, to his church throughout the ages. We rejoice that God continues to gift His people and church with all things needful. We repent for being ungrateful when God’s hand stretches forth and provides abundantly all that we need for body and spirit. We repent for the times we look at other baptized brothers and sisters and become jealous of how God has blessed them. Today, on a day of great celebration, and renewed by the Spirit, we pray God will use each of us to tell of his marvelous blessings.
The Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Third Sunday in Lent
March 08, 2026
Text: Exodus 17:1-7
Theme: Complainers, is the Lord with us?
Outline:
1. People grumbled.
2. We Grumble/complain
3. God still had mercy upon His people, provided water for them, provides us with all great blessings.
4. God's mercy in our Lives
Sermon
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament Lesson of Exodus chapter seventeen verses one through seven. Beloved lambs, I pray that you are doing well today. Do you know what I have here? I have a box of chocolates, would you like one? Give kids a “chocolate” and see their reactions. What do you think? Do you like this chocolate? No! why not? Because it is not actual chocolate. It only appears to be chocolate. Just like how you complained, when you did not get what you wanted, so too we see in our text the People of Israel complain when they do not get what they want. How does God react to their complaints? How does He react to ours? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
1. Israel Grumbles
The People of Israel are wandering in the wilderness. The Lord tells Moses to tell the people of Israel to turn back and appear to be wandering in the wilderness for a very good reason, so that Pharoah would leave them alone. The Israelites have been following the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night wherever it leads. It sets down, they set up camp. It departs, they break down camp and follow in their ordered groups. They “left the wilderness of Sin by stages according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim.” This area “is a long circuitous defile about forty feet in breadth, with perpendicular granite rocks on both sides. The wilderness of Sin through which they approached to this valley is very barren, has an extremely dry and thirsty aspect, little or no water, scarcely even a dwarfish shrub to be seen, and the only shelter to the panting pilgrims is under the shadow of the great overhanging cliffs. ”
Imagine walking through a desert, there’s no green grass, everything is scorched by the heat of the sun and freezing at night. There is no food and very little water. The people have been complaining about the lack of food, even going so far as to desire to return back into slavery in Egypt. So, the Lord provides for them Manna, literally called what is this? A bread that covers the land in the morning like the dew of the ground. It melts in their mouth and tastes sweeter honey. The Lord does this every single day providing for His people. Yet now, the complaints have gotten worse. The people ryb, they bodily struggle with Moses to the point that Moses fears for his very life. He says that the people are about to stone him.
The people are rebelling, not against Moses but against the Lord. They desire water and they doubt whether the Lord is among them, because they are wasting away with thirst. They doubt His divine care and provision for them, even though they have seen His gracious provisions every morning, as well as His might arm stretched forth to save them with the plagues upon Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground.
2. We Grumble/complain
This should not surprise us. How often do we doubt when the Lord leads us where He will? When it seems as though there is no food, no water, absolutely nothing. How often do we grumble against the Lord when it does not seem as though things are going the way that we want them to go? When cancer, sickness, and pain get worse. We do not get that promotion that we have been working hard for. The kids need braces and the bank account is already stretched thin. Food needs to be put on the table and the cupboards have been bare for days. Gas prices keep going up. Medication and doctor’s appointments fill up the day and the expenses keep getting worse. We complain. ‘God are you really at work?’ ‘You say that you are providing, where is it in my life?’ ‘Why does John have such good things and I am barely scrapping by?’ “Why do I have to suffer so?’
We doubt that God is really active in our world. We doubt that even if He is, He either does not care about us, or does not have the almighty power to work for our good and for our wants or desires. Even if it seems that the Lord is not with us at all, will we continue to believe his word that he is our God and we his people?
3. God’s Mercy
What is the Lord’s reply to the complaints of the people of Israel? He tells Moses to pick up the staff with which he struck the Nile, not to beat the Israelites over the head and pay back their complaints in their own blood, but rather to strike a specific rock. The cloud rested on a particular rock, just as the star rested on the house where the infant Saviour was lodged . When Moses does so in the presence of the Elders, water gushes forth. Enough water to satisfy them, their children, and their livestock. It is perhaps the greatest miracle Moses performed and bears a resemblance to that of Christ. As our Lord says in John 4:14, “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””
As Saint Paul states, this rock is Christ and it followed the people of Israel throughout their wanderings. As he states in 1 Corinthians 10, “I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1–4) ”
The reply of the Lord is to shower grace and mercy upon sinners. Both then and now. He graciously provided water for the people of Israel in their wanderings. Even more graciously, He provides for all of our needs of body and soul by sending His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus took God’s wrath fully in our place. He died our death upon the cross, making atonement for our transgressions. He rose from the dead that we can have life with Him forever and ever.
4. Mercy in our Lives
We do not have to wonder if the Lord is among us. He has shown in Jesus Christ that He is! The mercy and grace that God shows to us in Christ is not merely in our minds as knowledge. The Lord being with us in grace and mercy, shows itself in our daily lives. Just as our Lord gives us every blessing under the sun, we use them. How? Not for our own gain or glory, but to meet the needs of those around us. To thirsty ones we give water, to hungry food, to those who are depressed, anxious, hurting in conscious or spirit, we show them the grace and mercy of God. We remind them that Jesus is with them, even in the valley of the shadow of death. He gives them the comfort of sins forgiven, death, Satan, and Hell vanquished and destroyed, and life with Him forever and ever. By actions such as these, and many more, we confess that the Lord is among us with grace, mercy, strength, and, forgiveness.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.