In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Bible tells us that after the feeding of the 5000, the people from the crowd tried to take Jesus by force and make Him their King, but our Lord would not allow it. As we read in verse 15 of our Gospel lesson: “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.” 

Now, obviously, the reason why our Lord didn’t allow the people to make Him their king that day, wasn’t because He isn’t a true king or that He doesn’t really want to be known as one. On the contrary, the Scriptures repeatedly teach us that not only is Jesus a King, but He is the greatest King of all. As it says in 1 Timothy 6, “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” And remember what Jesus Himself once said to Pontus Pilate when he was asked whether or not He was a king at His trial? Our Lord did not deny it, but openly declared, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth.” And, of course, very importantly, Jesus also specified to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” So, no, it’s not that Jesus isn’t a King all, it’s the kind of King that He is.

And the problem with the people in crowd who tried to make Jesus their king by force was that they didn’t recognize it. They wanted Him to be their king on their own terms. They didn’t want to receive Christ’s Kingdom for what it is, or have it in the way that He chooses to give it. Rather, they wanted Him to be a part of their Kingdom, and do their own bidding instead. Literally, they wanted Jesus around so that He could do more miracles, and give them more free food. But that’s not what His Kingdom is about! It’s a spiritual Kingdom where the main focus is the eternal salvation of our souls.

In the same way that the crowd at the feeding of the 5000 tried to make Jesus their king on their own terms, and for their own purposes, many people still try and do the same thing today. I’ll give you two different examples in this morning’s sermon. One of the ways this happens is when someone tries to claim a Christian identity, at the same time that they refuse to repent of their sins. They want to be known as member of Christ’s Kingdom to others, even though they aren’t actually interested in what His kingly reign is supposed to be for. They don’t want the forgiveness which Christ purchased for them on the cross, instead, they want God’s blessing and approval to keep on committing their sin instead.

The most obvious expression of what this looks like in our time comes from those who falsely assert that it’s okay for Christians to live as open homosexuals and adulterers, even though the Bible says otherwise. Recently, I listened to a sermon from an ELCA pastor who stated that his church affirms and accepts the whole LGBTQ community without exception. The basis for his argument was that each individual Christian has the “right of conscience” to interpret the Bible differently. But that makes each individual person, and their own personal opinion, the ultimate source of truth instead of God’s Word. It literally lets people ignore God’s Word, and be their own judge of it instead. It encourages them to try and take Jesus by force, and make Him the kind of king that they want Him to be. A king who apparently allows them to live in their sexual sin without repentance.

But, that, of course, isn’t the only instance where this sort of thing can happen. What about those who claim that they don’t have to go to church and worship with the rest of the Body of Christ because they can “do Christianity on their own?” Have you ever come across someone who thought that way before? I know I have. You tell them that they need to be in God’s house because that’s where God promises to be present to give us His Word and Sacraments, which strengthen our faith, and they respond by saying they already have a strong faith. In their mind, they’re still on good terms with God, even though they’re literally despising His means of grace. But it’s a lie! They aren’t on good terms with Him. In fact, they are doing exactly what the crowd did in our reading today, and trying to take Jesus by force and have Him on their own terms. But what did Jesus do in response? He slipped away from them and would not allow it to happen. So, those who will not have Christ in the ways that He chooses to give Himself, namely in His Word and Sacraments, will lose Him. Even if they think that they currently have Him, they will find out someday that they don’t.

And the same is true, by the way, for those who do come to church, but are secretively living a different life on the side. This is even more dangerous than the other situation because it’s easier to convince ourselves and those around us that we aren’t in danger. “I listen to the sermon. I sing the hymns. I take Communion.” Okay, but do you repent of your sins? Are you sorry for the ways that you offend God, and do you want the help of His Holy Spirit to do better in the future? Do you mourn your anger, lust, greed, and pride, and do you want to be rid of it? Why are you even here in Church today? Is it because your parents made you? Is it because you want other people to like you? It is just because that’s part of your Sunday morning routine? Or, is it to get the forgiveness of your sins from Jesus, and be strengthened to do God’s will? If it’s not that last one, you’re here for the wrong reasons, and you’re trying to take Jesus by force too.

Now, as I mentioned earlier on in the sermon, I said I was going to give two different examples of what it looks like to act like the crowd from the feeding of the 5000. One of them, again, is when people want to be known as a Christian, but refuse to repent of their sins. You can’t have Jesus that way. The other one, though, is when people try and turn the message of Christianity, or the focus of the Christian life in general, on temporal things instead of eternal ones.

The crowd in our reading today wanted to take Jesus by force and make Him their King because they liked getting free food from Him. They didn’t want to have to work for what they ate, and they thought that Jesus would be a kind of short cut to making their life easier here and now. They assumed that their greatest needs were physical ones, and so that’s all that they looked for when it came to Christ. But they completely missed the point of His ministry. As our Lord said to the same people later on when they followed Him all the way to the other side of the sea of Galilee, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”

The question is always, what do you want from God? Why do you want to be a Christian? And if the answer isn’t, first and foremost, “because I know that I need salvation for my soul, and its only Christ who has to power to give it to me,” then nothing else that you get from Him will make a difference. In fact, all the other stuff in your life might only get in the way of you entering into eternal life.  Remember what Jesus tells us in Mark chapter 8, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” And remember what He says in Matthew 6, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”  No, it’s not that we Christians should completely ignore the needs of our bodies and neglect them. After all, the same Christ who told us to not worry about what we will eat, drink, and wear, also tells us that we can pray for those things. That’s what it means in the Lord’s Prayer when we say “give us this day our daily bread.” But the point is that there are more important things in life than food and clothing, and material possessions. What we need to get through this day is not as significant as what we need for the Last Day. And when the order of those two things gets mixed up, or reversed, we can end up missing out on the real treasure.

For instance, if the expectation is that when we become a Christian, Jesus will immediately take away all of our problems, and whatever struggles we’re going through will just disappear overnight, we’ll soon find out that that’s not how it works. That is a false version of Christianity. Sometimes being a Christian is hard. Sometimes we even end up suffering more in this life because of it. As the Bible tells in Acts chapter 14, “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” So, those who seek only good days in God’s Kingdom, and won’t receive from Him the bad one’s too, have it wrong. Their faith is a sham, and it won’t result in the blessing that they think it will. Eventually it will cause them to walk away from Jesus completely, and give up on His Kingdom entirely.

The fact of the matter is that regardless of how we try and do it we can’t take Jesus by force and make Him king on our own terms. Jesus will always slip out of our grasp, and so will our eternal life. Rather, God’s Word tells us that we need receive His Kingdom in another way. We don’t make Him our King at all. He already is the King. We don’t force our way into His Kingdom. His Kingdom comes to us by itself. As we learn in the Small Catechism, “God’s Kingdom comes when our Heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.”

That’s how you enter into God’s Kingdom. That’s the right way to receive Jesus as your King. It happens through the power of the Holy Spirit who brings us to repentance and faith. What was the first message that Jesus ever preached in the New Testament? He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” When you listen to God’s Law, and turn away from your sins, and when you listen to His Gospel, and believe that for Jesus’ sake all of your sins truly have been forgiven, that’s when God’s Kingdom comes to you. That’s what makes you part of it. And that’s what His Kingdom is all about.

It isn’t about health, wealth, and prosperity. It’s about forgiveness, life, and salvation. Yes, Jesus fed the crowd in the wilderness with food for their bodies, and He promises to take care of your bodily needs too. But in His Church, He takes care of your greatest need. He saves your soul. Just like the baskets were overflowing with bread, in His Word and Sacraments, you have access to the Bread of Life. You have a never-ending supply of God’s grace and mercy. You have everything that you need to strengthen your faith so that one day you can make it to your heavenly home. God will heal you from your diseases. He will bless you with joy, happiness, and long life. But the place where that happens completely is not here in this life. It is only in the life of the world to come.

So, don’t try and take Jesus by force and make Him king on your own terms. That won’t work. Instead, listen to His decree. Repent of your sins, and trust in Him for forgiveness. Be content with what you have below, and set your minds on things above. Recognize that you already have everything that you could possibly need when you have the righteousness of Christ through faith. Because, in that case, even if you have nothing else, you still have a place in the Kingdom of God. In Jesus Name. Amen.