Sermon manuscript:
It is a part of our human nature that we like to fix things.
Wherever there might be a problem, let’s figure out a way to fix it. So if
you’re naked, go make some clothes. If there is pain with childbirth, let’s
give an epidural. If there’s oppression against women, let’s start a movement.
If the work is heavy or boring let’s get some hydraulics and robotics. If
thorns and thistles come up let’s spray some Roundup. If there is sweat on our
brow, let’s fire up the air conditioner. If we are to turn back into dust go
get the formaldehyde. Whatever the problem might be, we figure there must be a
way to eliminate it or at least make it easier.
Because we are more or less successful in eliminating
problems, we come to believe that we must be doing alright. Our civilization is
doing quite well. All the different parts keep humming along. The future looks
bright because just look at all the problems that we’ve been able to solve in
the past. Surely we will be able to solve some more in the future.
But all of this problem solving only has to do with one side
of life. It has to do with created things. We manipulate the created things of
this world in order to bring about our desired outcomes. What about the things
that have to do with our Creator? Are there problems there? Certainly. But here
we can see another way of dealing with things besides fixing them. We can also
ignore things.
This has been the natural strategy with God from the
beginning. As soon as Adam and Eve came to believe that there was no way that
God could be their friend, they tried to put God out of mind. God had said, “You
will surely die.” The devil had said, “You won’t surely die.” Adam
and Eve hoped the devil was right.
Then they got busy fixing what they took to be problems.
First things first, let’s cover up this nakedness. That will make us more
comfortable and secure. Then let’s figure out other ways to make ourselves more
comfortable. When God started to walk through the garden in the cool of the day
it sounded horrible to Adam and Eve. They worked harder at ignoring God by
climbing into some bushes.
This is so typical and programmatic for how we deal with
God, particularly when we have fallen into sin. When we feel and know our sin
we want to stay away from God just like a criminal wants to stay away from the
police station. The criminal doesn’t want to get caught. Sinners don’t want to
get caught. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll get away with it. Let’s hope so. In the
meantime, let’s get busy trying to get some more money so that we can buy
ourselves some more comfort. Maybe if we can get more comfortable we can just
forget about all this God business.
But God still exists whether we ignore him or not. Whereas
we might be very impressed with ourselves in the way that we can fix problems,
God is not impressed. We might think that we are at the pinnacle of
civilization, achieving great things, God is totally bored with our fumbling
and bumbling. Like an adult watches a toddler play with blocks, that’s how God
looks at us with our nano-technology and nuclear reactors. God has an
expectation of us as his creatures, and it is not that we should know many
things about many things or be able to do this, that, or the other thing with
his creation. Of all the creatures God has created, human beings are the only
ones who have been made in his image. Human beings are the only ones who can
hear him, believe in him, and pray, praise, and give thanks. That is what God
intends for his people, because God intends good things for his people.
In our Gospel reading Jesus spoke about a landowner who
planted a vineyard. He took good care of that vineyard. He put a wall around
it. He dug a winepress for it. He built a watchtower to keep it safe. These
words of Jesus’s would have been quite familiar to the Jews to whom he was
speaking. The prophet Isaiah, hundreds of years before, used the same picture
to describe the relationship that God had with his chosen nation. God chose the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be his people. He put them in the
vineyard that he had made for them. He made it quite safe and free from
anything that would adulterate and ruin it. But, as Isaiah said, instead of
sweet clusters of grapes it only produced sour grapes. The Lord had an
expectation for the vineyard that he had planted, but the vineyard didn’t
produce anything good.
What God would have us produce as his vine is, first and
foremost, faith. We should believe in him. We should not ignore him. We should
not go after other gods who promise to give us comfort and happiness. Faith is
the fountain and source from which all other spiritual goods must come. Without
faith everything else is going to be hypocritical, shallow, and self-seeking.
Another fruit that God would have us, as his vine, produce,
is a happiness in God’s Word. We should want to hear and learn more about God.
We should want to learn about how he has dealt with his people in the past, how
he deals with his people now, and learn what he has in store for his people in
the future. What an amazing thing it is that we have either no desire or such a
coldness towards learning about our Creator. We’d much rather spend our time
doing this, that, and the other thing. No matter how important these earthly
things might be, they are necessarily trifles compared to God’s Word.
So we should take in God’s Word. We should also send our
words to him. It’s kind of like breathing in and breathing out. We breathe in.
We take in God’s Word and will. We should also breathe out. We should call upon
his Name in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks. Just as human beings
can’t be healthy and vigorous if they are only breathing in or only breathing
out, so also our spiritual life is quite hampered if we only breath in and
never out, or if we are only breathing out and never taking in God’s grace
through his Word. There needs to be both. We must hear God speak to us. We must
speak back to him.
The good fruit that is to be produced in God’s vineyard is
this relationship with God. We are to believe in him. We are to hear him. We
are to speak to him. This is all that God wants from us. He couldn’t care less
about all our other accomplishments. They do not impress him. In so far as they
are good, they come from him anyway. What he desires is that we become like a
little child. We should love him, listen to him, and speak to him in psalms,
hymns, and spiritual songs. This is what it meant to be created in God’s image.
The reason why God sent his only-begotten Son was to restore that image that
was lost through sin, to reconcile us to God, so that we could gladly be his
creature and he could be our God. Without Christ it is impossible for the vine
to produce good fruit.
Now that we know about this other side of our life, the side
that has to do with our Creator, the side that we are so prone to ignore, we
might start to think about how we can solve this problem too. Our Old Adam is a
Mr. Fix-it. He always hopes he can fix things up in a jiffy. Barring that, he
believes with his whole heart that he can fix things if only he tries hard enough
and never gives up. While this might be the case, somewhat, with earthly things
(but even here I’m skeptical), it definitely is not the case with our
relationship with God.
When it comes to our relationship with God there is no
self-help that will work. This relationship flows from faith, and there’s no
way to have true faith unless the Lord himself should give it to you. There is
no way to try hard and never give up and thereby create faith. Whatever such a
technique might produce would not be true faith. It might, indeed, be something
that you hope is faith—something selfish, where you can thereby believe that
you won’t be condemned—but that is a far cry from the real deal.
True faith is created by God. Since it is something that is
not dependent upon us, or our efforts, or our fixing, it necessary kind up jams
up the gears of our brain. Faith is different from the way we think things
should go. Nevertheless, it is something that God works in us by his Word.
Consider our Old Testament reading. God says, “Hey, all
of you who are thirsty, come to the water, even if you have no money. Even
though you have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without cost.” How can you buy something without money? How can
something be purchased that has no cost? You might think that God is just
speaking gobbledy-gook, but I assure you he is not. He is making a very
important point about our relationship with God and faith.
When it comes to that relationship we do not have any merit
or worthiness in us. We don’t have any money, you might say. There’s no amount
of effort, tears, or sacrifice that can fix that relationship—no matter how
pious or churchy those efforts might appear to be. Everything comes from God.
He is the one who establishes the covenant. He is the one who provides the
atoning sacrifice. He is the one who will even give us faith in his promises. Since
it is all his doing, it is just a matter of making a happy announcement.
That is what is going on in that Isaiah reading. It is a
happy announcement which is completely one-sided. God is providing everything
that is necessary. He gives water to the thirsty. He gives wine and milk
without money and without cost. What he has to say is able to satisfy one’s
soul. So incline your ear to him and listen to him. Make sure that you don’t
let this opportunity pass you by. Call upon him when he is near.
The only way that we can really appreciate and appropriate
this message is when we are no longer trying to fix our relationship with God,
but instead are happy to receive a gift. If we still think that we have some
merit or worthiness we are going to be working on fixing things. But our fixing
of things is always tainted. It’s always looking for self-advantage. It’s
looking for a way we can use God—use him
for what we want, but then we can get away with not doing other things. We like
being in charge of our own salvation because then we decide what we want to do and not do, believe and not believe. We
need to just stop all of that and receive with empty hands the gift that God gives
to us.
The gift is perfect reconciliation and friendship for
Jesus’s sake. He invites us to fear, love, and trust in him. He’d like to
establish us more firmly in Christ with his Word and Holy Spirit so that our
joy may be full in God’s love towards us. He would like us to come to him in
every trouble instead of trying to fix everything by ourselves. He would like
to us pray and give thanks to him for his goodness and his mercy that never
ends.
But the only way that this can come to us is when we are
quiet and behold the works of the Lord. That is what God told the Israelites
when they were at the Red Sea, convinced that they were about to be slaughtered
by the Egyptians. He said, “Be still and know that I am God. You will see
your salvation.” Then God fulfilled his Word and promise to them. Then the
Israelites gave God thanks and praise.
God’s Word comes to you. He speaks to you in the Scriptures.
He speaks to you through preaching and teaching that is in accord with that
Word. He gives his covenant to you in Baptism. He gives you the New Testament
in Jesus’s blood for the forgiveness of your sins in the Sacrament. These are
all things that no amount of money can buy. And yet he says, “Come, eat;
come, drink.”
God is at work in you, creating spiritual fruit. Jesus is
the vine, and you are the branches. Apart from him, you can do nothing. In him
you can have faith in God and all the goodness that flows from that. This is
the fruit that our God is looking for. He does not care about buildings,
technology, or mountains of cash. He is looking for those who will worship him
in spirit and in truth. God’s Word to you today would have you embrace this gift
of friendship with God and enjoy it to God’s glory.
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