Sermon Sunday July 13 2008
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
Brothers and sisters
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel lesson for this morning, our Lord presents us with images that most of you can relate to, being that so many of you are either farmers or you come from farming backgrounds. In our Gospel lesson Jesus tells the disciples the parable of the sower. This is a parable that is rich with farming images, with seeds being sown and falling on three different types of soils and producing three different results. And so, like I said, this is a passage with a lot of images that a farming community can relate to.
Now granted, I am no farmer but this is actually not the first time I lived in a farming community. The town where I did my internship, Kimball, South Dakota was a farming community. If I remember correctly they were primarily wheat farmers. And I remember that in some cases, and I don’t remember if it was the combining or what, but I remember sometimes they would have to wait until as late as midnight to start their work out in the field.
It was explained to me that it was because that the soil was in the best condition for what they had to do in the hours between midnight and roughly 5 am. Any other time and it might have been either too moist or too dry.
And there was something really impressive about that to me. And I have been around here long enough to come to the conclusion that this same sense of care and devotion and commitment is common among most farmers. I have come to realize that farmers will do whatever they can to achieve a maximum yield. And don’t get me wrong, I am not naïve. I know that the bottom line, the desire to make as much money as you can is a big motivating factor here, and there is nothing wrong with that. But I have also sensed among farmers an inherent respect of the land, and a reverence for this section of God’s creation that you have been entrusted with.
Because you see ultimately farming is an act of faith. Even with all the preparation and hard work and studying of the soil, it is still an act of faith. All the hard work and preparation in the world does nothing to bring you all the rain you need, or protect your crops from an unexpected hail storm.
There are all these potential pitfalls that could make the efforts of the farmer null and void and yet the farmer continues to trudge along year after year. And this is to the farmer’s credit. Because ultimately what farmers do is place their livelihood in God’s hands. And that is an incredibly rare thing in a culture that would sooner place their faith in the stock-market and politicians and the lottery than they would in their Creator.
But the question that our Lord challenges you with in the lessons for this morning is ‘Do you show the same love, care, devotion, and commitment to God’s Word that you show to farming, or whatever livelihood your Lord has provided you with?’ Are you willing to put the same time, energy and sacrifice into the Word of your Lord that you do for your job or even for your recreation?
If not then what you are ultimately showing is that the commitment, devotion, work, sacrifice and faith that you display in farming or again whatever vocation your Lord has provided for you is not rooted in God’s Word. And a faith that is not rooted in God’s Word is a faith based more upon the creation than the Creator.
Indeed daily we show that we fit into all three categories of the bad and unproductive soil that Jesus refers to in this morning’s Gospel lesson. When we take something from God’s Word that confuses or offends us and we try to adapt what it says to fit our little box of reason, logic and inclusiveness then we show ourselves to be in the first category of seeds that fell on the path, which represent those who hear the Word of the kingdom and don’t understand it and were snatched up by the devil. And I would say in many cases it is not a situation of us simply not understanding, but actually refusing to understand.
Or maybe there are days when you hear and receive the Word of your Lord with great enthusiasm. Maybe there is a scripture passage that you stumble upon that really speaks to you and sustains you for a day or two, but you don’t continue to go back to God’s Word and so eventually the enthusiasm and that Word that once sustained you becomes a mere memory and footnote. When something like this happens you reveal yourself to belong in the second category as well which Jesus refers to as seeds that fell upon rocky ground. This image represents those who hear the Word and immediately receive it with joy but endure only for a little while or fall away immediately in the face of persecution because they have no root.
Or there is the seed sown among thorns. When you allow the demands of vocation, recreation and all the other daily demands that are thrust at us to divert you away from God’s Word and sacrament then you reveal yourself to belong in this category, for this image of seeds sown among thorns represents one who hears the Word but the cares of the world choke the Word and cause it to yield nothing.
Now contrary to popular belief, Jesus is not talking about three different types of people here but rather he is talking about three different ways in which we are all guilty of rejecting God’s Word; three different ways in which we all place our own limited understanding, desires and needs before faithfulness to God’s Word.
These are three ways that we show ourselves to be among those whom Paul refers to in the lesson from Romans today as those who set their mind on the flesh. And through the Word of Paul our Lord warns us that to do that is death. For you see all this is reflective of the delusion that we try to convince ourselves of ; that we can live by the law. On our own we can’t even come close to fulfilling one iota of the law, because on our own we live by the flesh and so we set our minds on things of the flesh which as Paul says is death. And so on our own, even on our best days through our best efforts, all we can accomplish is to trudge closer to death.
But our Lord is bound and determined to bring forth a good harvest in each of us. As impressive as all the planning, devotion, and sacrifice that farmers make is, it still produces a harvest that ends up being temporary, and while it may help sustain physical life, it gets us no closer to eternal life. But our Lord has sent His Son; the Word incarnate to deal with all the bad soil within each and every one of us.
And so hear the words of Isaiah through whom our Lord tells us this morning that the Word of the Lord does not return to Him empty but it shall accomplish that which the Lord purposes. And so the Word incarnate, the Word made flesh, or as Paul puts it, the Word in sinful flesh, our Savior Christ Jesus was sent to dwell among us and to live the perfect life for us.
And in order to accomplish His purpose and deal with the bad soil of our sin that plagues all of us, He took that condemned sin upon Himself in the flesh so that as Paul writes, the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. He took that condemned sin upon Himself when He laid down His life for you as He bore the punishment for that sin for you. And that condemned sin was taken with Him as He was planted in the ground in the tomb, having defeated sin and the devil for you. And that is where your condemned sin remained when He was resurrected three days later gushing forth in glory having ushered in eternal life for you.
And so in baptism the seed of faith which transforms the rocky and thorn-filled soil of your heart into the good soil which bears fruit, was planted in you through the Word of our Lord spoken over you by a sinful pastor. And indeed the Word of our Lord does not return empty, for this Word continues to come to you through Word and Sacrament, cultivating, nurturing and sustaining the seed of faith that was planted in you as you were cleansed in the waters of baptism.
And this frees you to build your faith on the Word of our Lord. You are free to continue to have faith in the livelihood your Lord has provided for you, but to now base it on the Creator who has provided it for you rather than on the creation that has been provided for you. And this Word which calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies us to faith has been placed in your heart and on your lips and has freed you to bring to your neighbor the Word of Christ that bears fruit and does not return empty.
Amen
Brothers and sisters
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel lesson for this morning, our Lord presents us with images that most of you can relate to, being that so many of you are either farmers or you come from farming backgrounds. In our Gospel lesson Jesus tells the disciples the parable of the sower. This is a parable that is rich with farming images, with seeds being sown and falling on three different types of soils and producing three different results. And so, like I said, this is a passage with a lot of images that a farming community can relate to.
Now granted, I am no farmer but this is actually not the first time I lived in a farming community. The town where I did my internship, Kimball, South Dakota was a farming community. If I remember correctly they were primarily wheat farmers. And I remember that in some cases, and I don’t remember if it was the combining or what, but I remember sometimes they would have to wait until as late as midnight to start their work out in the field.
It was explained to me that it was because that the soil was in the best condition for what they had to do in the hours between midnight and roughly 5 am. Any other time and it might have been either too moist or too dry.
And there was something really impressive about that to me. And I have been around here long enough to come to the conclusion that this same sense of care and devotion and commitment is common among most farmers. I have come to realize that farmers will do whatever they can to achieve a maximum yield. And don’t get me wrong, I am not naïve. I know that the bottom line, the desire to make as much money as you can is a big motivating factor here, and there is nothing wrong with that. But I have also sensed among farmers an inherent respect of the land, and a reverence for this section of God’s creation that you have been entrusted with.
Because you see ultimately farming is an act of faith. Even with all the preparation and hard work and studying of the soil, it is still an act of faith. All the hard work and preparation in the world does nothing to bring you all the rain you need, or protect your crops from an unexpected hail storm.
There are all these potential pitfalls that could make the efforts of the farmer null and void and yet the farmer continues to trudge along year after year. And this is to the farmer’s credit. Because ultimately what farmers do is place their livelihood in God’s hands. And that is an incredibly rare thing in a culture that would sooner place their faith in the stock-market and politicians and the lottery than they would in their Creator.
But the question that our Lord challenges you with in the lessons for this morning is ‘Do you show the same love, care, devotion, and commitment to God’s Word that you show to farming, or whatever livelihood your Lord has provided you with?’ Are you willing to put the same time, energy and sacrifice into the Word of your Lord that you do for your job or even for your recreation?
If not then what you are ultimately showing is that the commitment, devotion, work, sacrifice and faith that you display in farming or again whatever vocation your Lord has provided for you is not rooted in God’s Word. And a faith that is not rooted in God’s Word is a faith based more upon the creation than the Creator.
Indeed daily we show that we fit into all three categories of the bad and unproductive soil that Jesus refers to in this morning’s Gospel lesson. When we take something from God’s Word that confuses or offends us and we try to adapt what it says to fit our little box of reason, logic and inclusiveness then we show ourselves to be in the first category of seeds that fell on the path, which represent those who hear the Word of the kingdom and don’t understand it and were snatched up by the devil. And I would say in many cases it is not a situation of us simply not understanding, but actually refusing to understand.
Or maybe there are days when you hear and receive the Word of your Lord with great enthusiasm. Maybe there is a scripture passage that you stumble upon that really speaks to you and sustains you for a day or two, but you don’t continue to go back to God’s Word and so eventually the enthusiasm and that Word that once sustained you becomes a mere memory and footnote. When something like this happens you reveal yourself to belong in the second category as well which Jesus refers to as seeds that fell upon rocky ground. This image represents those who hear the Word and immediately receive it with joy but endure only for a little while or fall away immediately in the face of persecution because they have no root.
Or there is the seed sown among thorns. When you allow the demands of vocation, recreation and all the other daily demands that are thrust at us to divert you away from God’s Word and sacrament then you reveal yourself to belong in this category, for this image of seeds sown among thorns represents one who hears the Word but the cares of the world choke the Word and cause it to yield nothing.
Now contrary to popular belief, Jesus is not talking about three different types of people here but rather he is talking about three different ways in which we are all guilty of rejecting God’s Word; three different ways in which we all place our own limited understanding, desires and needs before faithfulness to God’s Word.
These are three ways that we show ourselves to be among those whom Paul refers to in the lesson from Romans today as those who set their mind on the flesh. And through the Word of Paul our Lord warns us that to do that is death. For you see all this is reflective of the delusion that we try to convince ourselves of ; that we can live by the law. On our own we can’t even come close to fulfilling one iota of the law, because on our own we live by the flesh and so we set our minds on things of the flesh which as Paul says is death. And so on our own, even on our best days through our best efforts, all we can accomplish is to trudge closer to death.
But our Lord is bound and determined to bring forth a good harvest in each of us. As impressive as all the planning, devotion, and sacrifice that farmers make is, it still produces a harvest that ends up being temporary, and while it may help sustain physical life, it gets us no closer to eternal life. But our Lord has sent His Son; the Word incarnate to deal with all the bad soil within each and every one of us.
And so hear the words of Isaiah through whom our Lord tells us this morning that the Word of the Lord does not return to Him empty but it shall accomplish that which the Lord purposes. And so the Word incarnate, the Word made flesh, or as Paul puts it, the Word in sinful flesh, our Savior Christ Jesus was sent to dwell among us and to live the perfect life for us.
And in order to accomplish His purpose and deal with the bad soil of our sin that plagues all of us, He took that condemned sin upon Himself in the flesh so that as Paul writes, the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. He took that condemned sin upon Himself when He laid down His life for you as He bore the punishment for that sin for you. And that condemned sin was taken with Him as He was planted in the ground in the tomb, having defeated sin and the devil for you. And that is where your condemned sin remained when He was resurrected three days later gushing forth in glory having ushered in eternal life for you.
And so in baptism the seed of faith which transforms the rocky and thorn-filled soil of your heart into the good soil which bears fruit, was planted in you through the Word of our Lord spoken over you by a sinful pastor. And indeed the Word of our Lord does not return empty, for this Word continues to come to you through Word and Sacrament, cultivating, nurturing and sustaining the seed of faith that was planted in you as you were cleansed in the waters of baptism.
And this frees you to build your faith on the Word of our Lord. You are free to continue to have faith in the livelihood your Lord has provided for you, but to now base it on the Creator who has provided it for you rather than on the creation that has been provided for you. And this Word which calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies us to faith has been placed in your heart and on your lips and has freed you to bring to your neighbor the Word of Christ that bears fruit and does not return empty.
Amen
posted by Steve at 8:25 AM
1 Comments:
Nice connection between those who are farmers and that parable from Matthew. One thing, I was waiting for more talk about faith in this seed as you spoke about faith earlier. You did that in the last paragraph, but perhaps you should have expanded on that more.
Nice sermon, though. It brought about the point of the need to attend to the Word as we do to the seed
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