Sowing Seeds that Yield a Harvest

Sexagesima

January 31, 2016

Luke 8:5-8

Sowing Seeds that Yield a Harvest

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Matt and Camille, you are farmers. I know you are a store manager and a chiropractic student, but Jesus called you farmers.

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown. (Luke 8:5-8)

Jesus was answering a timeless question, that even the young wonder about:

“Why won't everyone enter into everlasting life with Jesus?”

Jesus' pictures of seed being stolen away and new plants withering away isn't some riddle to figure out. The sad and simple answer is unbelief. They reject Christ and His hard-won and freely-given forgiveness.

Jesus' parable is also insightful for parents who are faithful farmers. As parents of two you have already been farming for a few years now. So often our efforts to sow the Word of God among our children seems to fall on rocky ground or among weeds.

For example, we teach our children to share with others. They often don't and even take things from others. We want our children to have a good sense of humor without being crude. They are often gross. We want our children to learn to receive Jesus' Word every Sunday. Sometimes they don't want to be here. There always seems to be a struggle about something. And this struggle can be felt in a small way in the struggle to keep plants alive. If you've ever tried to grow an avocado tree from seed in Iowa, it's frustrating.

Being a Christian parent can feel like being a farmer trying grow a crop on bunch of rocks. Yet faithful parents trust the Word that they sow will produce a harvest. Like a farmer, you sow the seed and our dear Lord makes the seed grow.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Today, Camille and Matt, you have seen the seed sown and watered in Jonah's baptism. This means that Jonah has been made into good soil where God's Word now grows.

And in the years ahead you will sow Christ abundantly into Jonah's ears. You will bring him to church to hear Christ speak to him. You will pray with him and speak Jesus to him at the dinner table and at his crib. Like farmers praying for rain and good crops, Camille, Matt, and Amelie, too, you will pray for little Jonah and join your hearts to the words of Paul:

We thank our God every time we remember Jonah. In all our prayers for him, we always pray with joy… being confident of this, that He who began a good work in Jonah will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6, paraphrased)

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

Christ and His Shepherds Use the Law Lawfully

Commemoration of St. Timothy,

Pastor and Confessor

January 24, 2016

1 Timothy 1:8

Christ and His Shepherds Use the Law Lawfully

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Timothy was taught how to be a pastor by his mentor, Paul. I always thought that an interesting name for our congregation when it was established 50 years ago this year would have been St. Timothy Lutheran Church because of the father-and-son connection that Paul spoke of in his letters to Timothy.

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight (1 Timothy 1:18)

Paul loved Timothy as his own son. He trusted Timothy as a fellow pastor and urged him to preach Christ to the worst of sinners. And that included Paul himself. As he taught Timothy how to be a pastor, Paul wrote:

But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. (1 Timothy 1:8-11)

Our immediate reaction is to ignore this section. One hears the foul and disgusting sins―and dare-I-say “lifestyles”―mentioned here and most of us immediately say, “Nothing to see here. That's not me. That's not my problem.”

But indeed, it is. Only perfectly righteous holy people can skip this part of Christ's words. Can you skip this damning Law? Only liars would try to. And we are liars. So we try. But Jesus stops our wagging tongues with some of His other words from Paul's pen.

[A]s it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one;

There is none who understands,

There is none who seeks for God;

All have turned aside, together they have become useless;

There is none who does good,

There is not even one.”

“Their throat is an open grave,

With their tongues they keep deceiving,”

“The poison of asps is under their lips”;

“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;

“Their feet are swift to shed blood,

Destruction and misery are in their paths,

And the path of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:10-20)

The Law that damns the lawless sinner is for us. And this is why Paul was telling Timothy to preach the Law to both unbelievers and believers. This preaching of the Law to believers is lawful because we always need to be shown our sin. Without the Law showing us our sin, we would always ignore our need for our Savior from sin. This Law and Gospel, our sin exposed and Jesus' cross revealed, is the good fight that Paul kept talking about several times in his letters.

Timothy's temptation, and the temptation for every pastor, is to preach the Law to “bad people,” but to remain silent about sins when speaking to his believing congregation. This can turn into a bashing of the people who aren't a part of our congregation and a self-congratulatory pep talk to his own flock.

No, the Law is for unbelievers and believers. Let's briefly explore a sin that plagues the Christians of our own congregation.

What of the sin that many Christians commit when they refuse to gather together on Sunday morning with their fellow sinners to receive Christ and His promise of forgiveness? Christ told Peter, and all pastors, to feed His sheep. This means pastors are to baptize sinners, to preach forgiveness to them, and to give them His true body and blood.

Since wise and faithful pastors assume that all the souls under their care are believers, they have the responsibility to go out and find the missing sheep of the flock. These sheep might wander by our green pastures once or twice a year. Other sheep of our congregation never come.

So faithful shepherds go out and find them and speak to them. They speak Christ to those who are ashamed to come to church because they think they aren't worthy to receive Christ's forgiveness. For these harassed and desperate sheep the shepherd will only speak Gospel to them: “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

But pastors will at times find stubborn sheep. They consider themselves very worthy, good people who don't really need Jesus and His forgiveness. To them they will only hear the Law. The pastor speaks of their sinful pride not to crush them to eternal death, but just the opposite: to crush them of their illusion of goodness, so that they will turn to the only One who is good, Jesus.

So pastors go out like shepherds among the sheep. They go to them and encourage them to come and hear the preaching of Christ and receive His Sacrament. If the members in questions cannot come to church on Sunday, the pastor will make arrangements to bring church, really Christ, to them.

This is what Pastor Timothy and his congregation did out of love for stubborn souls; this is what we must do also. To go out to our own people and bring them Jesus. If they tell us to go away, then we recognize the situation as it stands and pray that they repent and trust Jesus.

The Law is good and lawfully because it leads us to Christ, sometimes gently, sometimes roughly. Timothy knew the Law and so he knew his sin; by grace and preaching of Paul he knew his Savior Jesus who baptized him and washed his sin away. And then Jesus used Timothy to do the same good work for many others.

Let us pray.

Dear Good Shepherd, give us good men to be shepherds in Your church and to shepherds in Your homes. Strengthen the spines and hearts of our pastors and fathers so tha they might apply the Law and the Gospel to themselves first of all and then to those over whom You have given them the greatest responsibility on the face of the earth. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

Going Up and Going Down, They Saw Jesus Only

Transfiguration of our Lord

January 17, 2016

Matthew 17:8

Going Up and Going Down, They Saw Jesus Only

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sin makes you blind. In John 8 Jesus healed a blind man. He did this healing on a Saturday. The Jewish pastors, the Pharisees, taught that certain activity on Saturday was forbidden. And they ridiculed Jesus for helping a blind man on a Saturday. Their sin made them blind.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

"Who is He, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in Him."

Jesus said, "You have now seen Him; in fact, He is the one speaking with you."

Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped Him.

Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

Some Pharisees who were with Him heard Him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains." (John 8:35-41)

Jesus' concluding statement to these Jewish pastors riddles our minds. But the key to unlocking this mystery is that it is a warning to these Pharisees. They were guilty because they trusted in the wrong object. They could see themselves being good and following their own set of ten commandments (actually over 600 rules!) and they felt that they could look at themselves and see good people. They saw themselves as their own personal Jesus.

For three years Peter, James, and his brother John had seen the real Jesus. They had seen Him walk on water, heal all kinds of diseases, and drive out demons. They had heard His powerful authoritative preaching to large crowds.

But they had also seen Him sleep and eat. They had seen Him when He was tired and hungry. They had seen Him when He was rightly sad and correctly angry over the stubborn sinful hearts of those around Him, including their own.

They had seen Jesus for years and had seen that He was true God; they had seen Jesus for years and had seen that He was true Man.

They had seen who He truly is.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

"But what about you?" He asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven." (Matthew 16:13-17)

And so one week after Peter made his great confession, and before He was going to complete His mission to rescue Peter, James, John, and the whole world from our blindingly sin, Jesus took them up a high mountain.

I wonder what these men must have thought as they made their way up that mountain. Was Jesus taking them to another miracle of healing? Was a leper living up there? Was He taking them to witness an exorcism? Was there a demoniac roaming around up there?

Whatever their expectations, they were completely stunned by what they saw.

There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. (Matthew 17:2-3)

How they knew that these men were Moses and Elijah, we aren't told. But there they were talking with Jesus. Luke's account adds that Moses and Elijah were talking to Jesus about His departure, which meant His suffering, death, and resurrection.

Peter was speechless, but like most people who say they are speechless, he started talking a lot. Peter tries to be helpful and give advice to Jesus. But then they were really knocked out by what happened next.

While [Peter] was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. (Matthew 17:5-6)

The Father's voice speaks. He identified His Son. He loved Him. He was well pleased with Him. And then He gives some advice to Peter: “Listen to Jesus.”

And then they looked up and there was Jesus only. And He speaks, “Get up. Don't be afraid.” And they go down the mountain the same way they went up―with Jesus only.

What can we take to heart from Jesus' transfiguration? That God's glory doesn't save us. God's glory only terrifies, even those who believe. We don't need glory. Instead, we need Jesus and Jesus only to save us from our sin that makes us blind. And Jesus opens our eyes by speaking into our ears, just as He comforted Peter, James, and John: “Get up. Don't be afraid.” We might add the words: “You aren't going to die because I am going to die for you.”

Soon our many weeks of walking to the cross will begin. We will see and hear many things. But through all of it, we see Jesus only. Our life is often like their climbing the mountain. Many days we wonder what's going to happen next; where is Jesus leading us? And then other times, we're left to ponder what has just happened to us, what we have just seen and heard. Through our lives that sometimes go up and sometimes down, we are wise to listen to Jesus.

From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (Matthew 16:21)

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

God Made Jesus Who Had No Sin to Be Sin for Us

Baptism of our Lord

January 10, 2016

Matthew 3:13-17 & 2 Corinthians 5:21

God Made Jesus Who Had No Sin to Be Sin for Us

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” Each of my sermons last year ended with those words. This year my sermons end with these words, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (1 Timothy 1:15 & 2 Corinthians 5:21)

Both of these passages draw you right to the cross. The cross upon which Jesus hung is the victory that we have been given by God's mercy. This is why the cross upon which Jesus hung hangs around my neck. This act of mercy is my victory and yours. We are sinners; He became our sin and was punished for us on the cross.

He gave us His life to save ours―and His life for ours included His baptism.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. (Matthew 3:13-15)

We need to be clear. Christ is without sin.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are―yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

Yet He became us, a true Man, and our sin to buy us back from slavery to sin, death, and the Devil.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

With His conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary until He breathed His last breath on the cross, He became us and our sin to save us sinners. In His baptism, the One without sin and who is totally clean before God stepped into our dirty water and got dirty. He took on our filth and this is exactly why the Father loved His Son: “He fulfilled all righteousness.” This meant that Jesus did what His Father wanted. His Father wanted to save us from our sin.

So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “'Abba', Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:3-7)

In order to make you an heir, to receive His divine gifts, His only-begotten Son Jesus had to become our filth and pay for our sin. This is why He had to be baptized, not because He was dirty, but because He was clean.

Your baptism does the opposite: you are dirty, and your Baptism made you clean before God. Baptism saves you because you are receiving the divine gift of forgiveness. You are an heir of the heavenly Father and this is His most precious gift to you. And it is a gift. You didn't earn it. You don't deserve it. But Christ gladly made you clean with water and His Word. And now God is also pleased with you.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21