200216 Sermon on Luke 8:4-15 (Sexagesima) February 16, 2020

200216 Sermon on Luke 8:4-15 (Sexagesima) February 16, 2020

Harvest is a time of judgment. The amount of the harvest determines the judgment. If the harvest is bountiful, then the judgments will be positive. The farmer did a good job in planting and tending the crop. The weather was cooperative. When the harvest is scant, then the judgments will be negative. Something bad happened along the way. Perhaps the seed was planted too deeply or too shallowly. Perhaps there was too much rain or not enough. These are explanations that might be used when a farmer goes out into his field in the fall to see what is there.

Because harvest is a time of judgment, it is used in several instances in the Bible to describe the final judgement—when all people will be judged. Those who are worthy of it, will be congregated into heaven. Those who are unworthy will be cast into the outer darkness, the unquenchable fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Who, then, is worthy? Nobody is worthy of eternal life. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of us deserve to have hell as our eternal home rather than heaven. But because God loved us from eternity, he planned for our redemption and salvation. He sent his eternally begotten Son to be born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, died on the cross, and was buried. The third day he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father. In this way atonement was made for our sin. Jesus suffered and died and bore God’s wrath. It fell upon him so that it might not fall upon us.

You are quite familiar with these wondrous facts. These are the things that have been done to work our forgiveness and the forgiveness of the whole world. But this is not the end of the story. As Christ sits at the right hand of the Father—the position of authority—he reigns and rules as King in a spiritual kingdom. This spiritual kingdom does not consist of weapons or courthouses. It consists of the preaching of the Gospel—the Good News of forgiveness, righteousness, and salvation in Jesus’s name. Jesus causes his Word to go out over all the earth. It is by faith in the word of promise that we receive what Jesus did on Good Friday and Easter to make us worthy of eternal life. Good Friday and Easter are followed by Pentecost. Pentecost is when the promise of salvation in Jesus Christ was made known. The Holy Spirit created faith in those who heard it. That is when their eternal life as the children of God began.

Although the times and circumstances have been altered a bit, the same is true for you. Your eternal life began when you were given a promise from God that you would be saved. For most of you, this happened when you were baptized, for I believe that most of you were baptized as babies. This Word from God to you did what it said by the power that is in that Word. When you were baptized, you received adoption as God’s child by being baptized into Jesus, God’s Son. To use the language of Jesus’s parable—the seed was sown.

What has happened to that seed? Into what kind of soil was that seed sown? Will that seed come to maturity so that it produces a bountiful harvest? It might seem as though Jesus’s parable is designed to lead us into uncertainty. Who, after all, has been able to withstand all the tests that have been made to one’s faith? Who has not had their energy sapped for making money and keeping money—trying to make our earthly life as pleasant as possible? The yield, therefore, has suffered, just as surely as a hailstorm takes its toll on a soybean field. Jesus’s parable can sound as though we should wonder about ourselves—whether there will be anything left come harvest time.

Understanding Jesus’s parable this way is not totally wrong, but it is mostly wrong. We seem to have a perception about faith, deeply planted within us, where we think that doubting and struggle is good. We think that a tortured faith is commendable. Therefore, among Christians, there is a common mistaken notion that we should not be sure of our salvation because we don’t know if we will remain believing. While our reason is impressed with this kind of thing, it isn’t the way that the Bible speaks of having a strong faith.

According to the Bible we should have the faith of a child. Children are not wracked by doubt. They do not torture themselves over whether what they are told is true or not. When you tell a child that something is true, then the child will take that for granted. That is why it is so important that you do not fill a child’s head with lies, but with the truths that come from God. It is only when a child gets older that it starts to become skeptical. In the eyes of the world this is a magnificent advance, but it’s not all that impressive. It is much better to hold to God’s truth with a single-minded devotion than to wonder whether or not God might be a liar. Faith is strong, not when it doubts, but when it doesn’t doubt.

And so when it comes to how you fit in with Jesus’s parable today, you should consider yourself to be the good ground into which the seed has been sown. Why should you think that? Because you have the Word of God right in front of your noses at this very moment. As we speak, right now, you are hearing God’s will for you. As the Scriptures say, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Are you not a part of this world? The Scriptures also say that it is God’s will that all people should come to a knowledge of the truth and be saved. Are you a part of that group that is called “all people?” Of course you are! Now the only question is whether or not God is lying when he says that Jesus is the Lamb of God, or when he says that it is his will that all people should be saved. Do you think God is a liar? No? Good! Then I assure you that you are good soil, for God has brought it about that you should be hearing his Word. It would not be impressive or sophisticated for you to disbelieve this. All that you would be doing is saying that God is not trustworthy.

The purpose of Jesus’s parable is not so much to describe what faith is like for you who believe, but to describe the way that God’s Word is brought to nothing by those who do not believe. Jesus says to his disciples, “It has been given to you to know the mysteries of God, but to the rest I speak in parables so that ‘even though they see they may not see, and even though they hear, they do not understand.’” You know the mysteries of God. Others do not. You know the mysteries of God because you are being told them right now, and so long as you do not reject them as untrue, then they are yours. But there are others who do not hear this Word. With the three types of soil besides the good soil, Jesus is describing these people. He is not describing you. You should be confident that God, who has begun a good work in you, will bring it to completion. You have been chosen for salvation by God. God is greater than all, and so no one can pluck you out of his hand.

It can sound as though this confidence in our salvation is presumptuous. Who are we to say that we will be able to maintain our faith? But that only makes sense if you think that your faith is your own accomplishment, that it is the part that you play in bringing about your salvation. That’s not how your salvation works. It’s not that God does his part, and now you’ve got to do your part. Rather, God has done everything for your salvation. Then he comes to you and says, “Here, this is for you. Christ’s redemption, the adoption as a child of God—this is for you.” Faith is nothing other than saying, “Amen. This is for me. Yes, yes, it shall be so.”

Mysteriously, there are those who hear this Word, but do not believe it. Likewise, there are others who believe it for a while, but then something happens. They have to choose between the truth of God and the lies of men or of the devil. They choose the lies rather than the truth. Others believe, but they get sapped of all their strength. Their heart clings to things besides this promise God makes to them.

Perhaps these kinds of things described you at some time in your past, or yesterday, or even this morning. But you should not consider this to be you anymore, nor should you trouble yourself with wondering whether this will be you in the future. Jesus is sowing his seed right now. He is causing you to hear that Jesus died for you. For his sake, you are forgiven. He gives you his body and his blood, by which you were redeemed, to eat and to drink. He says this is the New Testament—this is the new arrangement between God and you—the nature of this arrangement is that God forgives you for Jesus’s sake. Sin, death, the devil, hell—none of these things can harm you. You are his and he is yours.

Jesus is saying this to each and every one of you right now. How can you know this is for you? Because he has made it so that you hear it. There are a lot of people who are not here right now. There are a lot of people still lying in their beds. There are a lot of people who do not want to be here and so they are somewhere else. You are here. What I’ve said to you I have not made up for myself. I’m only telling you what God has said to his prophets and apostles in the Scriptures. Those Scriptures tell me and all other Christians that I am supposed to say this to you. This is not my Word and Sacraments. These are God’s Word and Sacraments. You lucky duck: God has brought it about that you should receive it! God is faithful. I know that he will see you through—all the way to the grave—keeping you in the true faith, for he will keep sowing the seed, bringing the Word to you.

I’d like you to notice what a difference there is between believing God when he speaks on the one hand and doubting whether you believe or will continue to believe on the other. When you believe that salvation is yours because God tell you so and God does not lie, then you can be happy. Why shouldn’t you be happy? The most sublime gift there ever was, the most valuable gift there ever was, has been given to you even though you are a poor, miserable sinner. You know this because God says it to you in his Word and Sacraments. This mentality is very different from the misguided Christian who thinks that doubt is an essential ingredient to faith.

The misguided Christian wrings his hands and wonders whether his faith will hold out or not. This leads to a ridiculous situation where God, through his Word and Sacraments, tells the Christian that his salvation is for the Christian. He says, “Here, this is for you,” but this misguided Christian says, “Well, I don’t know! Who’s to say whether or not I’ll hold on to it in the future?” God says, “Here, take it!” But the misguided Christian says, “I don’t know—there’s a whole bunch of people who haven’t believed. Who’s to say whether I believe it or will continue to believe it?” This hemming and hawing might make for a good novel or a good movie. Our stupid reason thinks it is ever so deep and clever. But I think it has to annoy God to no end. It is so foolish.

Do you want to know if you are forgiven? Then come to me or to any other Christian. Tell them that you are a sinner. If there is some sin that Satan keeps throwing up in your face, then you can tell them about that too. Then ask them to use the authority to forgive sins that Jesus has given to them. Then, when they tell you that you are forgiven for Jesus’s sake, believe them. The forgiveness a Christian or a pastor gives is Jesus’s forgiveness, because he’s the one who told us to do it.

And keep coming to church. Start coming to Bible study. Are you interested in listening to a podcast? I could suggest a couple of them to you. That is to say, don’t cut yourself off from the Word. If you cut yourself off from the Word, then you do not and cannot believe. Unbelievers who want to pretend that they are believers, even though they do not listen to God, will get upset at me saying this. So be it. If anybody does not want to hear God talking to them, then let them go their way. As for you, rejoice that God has revealed your salvation to you by his Word and Sacraments. That’s a pretty good deal.