That same day, the day in which Jesus told the crowds that His mother and brothers were “whoever does the will of [His] Father in heaven,” that same day, Jesus went out of the house where He had been preaching and teaching and he went out and sat by the lake. As he sat by the lake the crowds gathered again. And so it was with Jesus. All during His life, wherever He went crowds gathered in order to see Him, to hear Him, to be touched by Him. And Jesus tells them a parable. Jesus spoke many times in parables. A parable we are taught is an “earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” Using parables, Jesus is able to connect to us using ordinary, every day things of which we might easily relate. But, not only does Jesus tell the parable, but, because of our ineptness and the ineptness of His disciples, He also explains the parable to make sure we understand.
Jesus, sitting in the boat spoke to the people. He said that “a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them” (v. 3b-4). These seeds are those people who hear the Word of God and ignore it. Day in and day out we come into contact with God and His good gifts and blessings. The world itself, our conscience, and the Word of God all tell us that there is a God. However, too many people simply want to ignore this fact, because the God of Holy Scripture is not the god they want to worship.
Others, on whom the seed of the Word of God is scattered, are those who join cults, sects and other religions. These people are those who hear the Word of God and then change it to be whatever they want it to be. These people are those who hear the message about the kingdom and do not understand it because the evil one snatches it away from them. I have said it before, “if you do not like what God’s Word says, rewrite it,” but of course, then it is not His Word. Those people who fall into this category of having the seed scattered and having the birds come and eat it up are the people who refuse and reject the Word of God.
And yet, the farmer continues on in scattering the seed. “Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away” (v. 5,6). These people are the people who hear the Word of God, perhaps they “make a decision for Jesus” and the rally ends. These people are the ones who have an emotional experience with the Word of God, but when they go back out into what we call the “real world,” they go back out into the world, and the same old sin and temptations are there, and when the frustrations of the world are still there, they wonder where is this “cure-all” God they thought they had found and so they just as easily give Him up.
There are those people who believe they can worship God in nature or worship God through some “moving” experience. They think they can worship God apart from others, watching the evangelist on TV and so forth. Their “faith” is a shallow faith, or faith with no roots. Perhaps these people are the ones who believe that there is something they can do to save themselves or that there is something they must do in order to be saved and because they are unable to fulfill whatever it is that they think they need to do they get discouraged and fall away. These people are the ones who hear the Word of God and make a shallow or an emotional decision and yet just as easily are moved to refuse and reject the Word.
And still, the farmer continues to scatter the seed. “Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them” (v. 7). These people are the ones who not only make a decision for Jesus, but also make a commitment for Jesus. On their own they commit their lives to Jesus, they make a promise to keep Him first, and then they go back out into the world, the cold, cruel world and the pain and struggles of this world are too much. It has been suggested by some that if you are not suffering from temptation in your life, then you need to be concerned. You see, the devil does not waste his time or energy on those he already has, but on those he does not yet have. So, when a person has come to faith, has been brought to faith by the power of the Holy Spirit through the means of Grace, the devil will work even harder in their lives to turn them back away from Christ and His Church. And the devil knows when and where to attack. He attacks at our weakest points. He attacks with thorns, weeds and vines that try to choke our faith in Jesus. He attacks with the trials and tribulations of this world. Here again, these people are the ones who believe that they must live a certain way, according to certain rules and regulations in order to be worthy of this commitment they have made to God, so that when they are unable, when they fall, they “feel” even more unworthy and fall, perhaps even further away.
Yes, there are those people who hear the Word of God and try to go it on their own. They believe they are strong enough on their own, they believe they can live up to their own standards, standards, rules and regulations which they have set for themselves, not living and resting assured on the promises of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here the devil is stronger and can turn them from faith. The devil tempts them so that they are unable to live the way they expect themselves to live. These people are the ones who hear the Word of God, make a self commitment and allow the cares and concerns of this world to turn their faith into no faith.
Still not discouraged in his scattering seed, the faithful farmer continues. “Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (v. 8). By the power of the Holy Spirit, working through the means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments, there are those people who hear the Word of God and receive it with great joy. There are those people who are given faith, who are strengthened in their faith, who are given forgiveness, life and salvation. There are those people who are gladly given to and rejoice and give thanks for the Lord’s good gifts and blessings.
The farmer understands the importance of sowing the seed, watering the seed and reaping the harvest. Paul talked about the fact that one may sow, another may water and a third may reap the harvest. In other words, one person may hear the Word of God several times before being brought to faith. That same person may need that faith watered many times over. And finally, there is the reaping of faith, there is the faith which blooms and blossoms and bears fruit as that person shares their faith with others.
There are those people who are given and recognize God as the gift giver and give Him thanks. Not only that, these people are the ones who also respond with the help of the Holy Spirit, living their lives in such a way that they witness the faith that God has given to them. The ultimate faith of the Christian is that which Paul expresses in his letter to the Romans, that is that we “consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” In other words, that we rejoice and give thanks to God that we are able to suffer for Him and for His name sake. Certainly this is against our nature. Our nature is to gripe and complain about any and everything in life. Our nature is to be the one who right off rejects God’s good gifts and blessings. Our nature is to “make a decision for Jesus” until things get too rough and our faith is put to the test. Our nature is to think we can do it on our own. The ultimate faith of the Christian is to rejoice and give thanks for the hardships, for the persecution, for the bad as well as the good understanding the temporariness of this life and this world and looking to the world to come, even eternal life in heaven.
The ultimate sowing of the seed is this fact that it produces a crop. Certainly we could break out the old cliche’s, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The fact is, as the Lord gives us faith, His desire is that we respond by bearing fruits of that faith. His desire is that we respond by sharing that faith, His Word with others. In our Old Testament Lesson for today, we have the promise of the efficacy of God’s Word, God’s promise that it will not return empty or void, but will do what He intended it to do, that is, give faith, give forgiveness, give life and salvation.
Again, Paul reminds us that the whole world has been infected and affected by Adam and Eve’s sin. The whole world is waiting patiently for God’s recreation. By faith in Jesus, we wait as well, but while we wait, we do not simply sit idly by, we go out and do the work which He has for us to do, the work of continuing to scatter the seed of the Word of God through which others might come to know Jesus as well.
Our text for today is a gentle word of encouragement for us here at St. Matthew. We might ask, what type of soil are we? Where are we in our own spiritual life? And we understand that we are all at different places in our own spiritual life. God continues to work in each one of us as we make regular and diligent use of His means of Grace. God continues to sow the seeds of His Word in our hearts and lives. God continues to water those seeds in order that we might grow up and mature in our faith in order that we might bear fruit, that we might do the good works which He has for us to do, good works which are a response to the greatest gifts which He gives to us, especially the gift of the life of His Son, Jesus for us, for our forgiveness and eternal salvation. Yes, our Lord knows us, He knows that the devil is still out there tempting us. He knows that we will backslide and that is why He is always there waiting for us, ready to forgive us, ready to give us a second chance. Thus we are encouraged with the words we often hear, “may the Lord who began this good work in you bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” My pray continues to be that Jesus will continue to strengthen and keep you in faith until He comes again to take us from this world to be with Himself in heaven where we will stand before the Lord’s throne with all the saints who have gone on before us and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Jesus, sitting in the boat spoke to the people. He said that “a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them” (v. 3b-4). These seeds are those people who hear the Word of God and ignore it. Day in and day out we come into contact with God and His good gifts and blessings. The world itself, our conscience, and the Word of God all tell us that there is a God. However, too many people simply want to ignore this fact, because the God of Holy Scripture is not the god they want to worship.
Others, on whom the seed of the Word of God is scattered, are those who join cults, sects and other religions. These people are those who hear the Word of God and then change it to be whatever they want it to be. These people are those who hear the message about the kingdom and do not understand it because the evil one snatches it away from them. I have said it before, “if you do not like what God’s Word says, rewrite it,” but of course, then it is not His Word. Those people who fall into this category of having the seed scattered and having the birds come and eat it up are the people who refuse and reject the Word of God.
And yet, the farmer continues on in scattering the seed. “Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away” (v. 5,6). These people are the people who hear the Word of God, perhaps they “make a decision for Jesus” and the rally ends. These people are the ones who have an emotional experience with the Word of God, but when they go back out into what we call the “real world,” they go back out into the world, and the same old sin and temptations are there, and when the frustrations of the world are still there, they wonder where is this “cure-all” God they thought they had found and so they just as easily give Him up.
There are those people who believe they can worship God in nature or worship God through some “moving” experience. They think they can worship God apart from others, watching the evangelist on TV and so forth. Their “faith” is a shallow faith, or faith with no roots. Perhaps these people are the ones who believe that there is something they can do to save themselves or that there is something they must do in order to be saved and because they are unable to fulfill whatever it is that they think they need to do they get discouraged and fall away. These people are the ones who hear the Word of God and make a shallow or an emotional decision and yet just as easily are moved to refuse and reject the Word.
And still, the farmer continues to scatter the seed. “Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them” (v. 7). These people are the ones who not only make a decision for Jesus, but also make a commitment for Jesus. On their own they commit their lives to Jesus, they make a promise to keep Him first, and then they go back out into the world, the cold, cruel world and the pain and struggles of this world are too much. It has been suggested by some that if you are not suffering from temptation in your life, then you need to be concerned. You see, the devil does not waste his time or energy on those he already has, but on those he does not yet have. So, when a person has come to faith, has been brought to faith by the power of the Holy Spirit through the means of Grace, the devil will work even harder in their lives to turn them back away from Christ and His Church. And the devil knows when and where to attack. He attacks at our weakest points. He attacks with thorns, weeds and vines that try to choke our faith in Jesus. He attacks with the trials and tribulations of this world. Here again, these people are the ones who believe that they must live a certain way, according to certain rules and regulations in order to be worthy of this commitment they have made to God, so that when they are unable, when they fall, they “feel” even more unworthy and fall, perhaps even further away.
Yes, there are those people who hear the Word of God and try to go it on their own. They believe they are strong enough on their own, they believe they can live up to their own standards, standards, rules and regulations which they have set for themselves, not living and resting assured on the promises of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here the devil is stronger and can turn them from faith. The devil tempts them so that they are unable to live the way they expect themselves to live. These people are the ones who hear the Word of God, make a self commitment and allow the cares and concerns of this world to turn their faith into no faith.
Still not discouraged in his scattering seed, the faithful farmer continues. “Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (v. 8). By the power of the Holy Spirit, working through the means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments, there are those people who hear the Word of God and receive it with great joy. There are those people who are given faith, who are strengthened in their faith, who are given forgiveness, life and salvation. There are those people who are gladly given to and rejoice and give thanks for the Lord’s good gifts and blessings.
The farmer understands the importance of sowing the seed, watering the seed and reaping the harvest. Paul talked about the fact that one may sow, another may water and a third may reap the harvest. In other words, one person may hear the Word of God several times before being brought to faith. That same person may need that faith watered many times over. And finally, there is the reaping of faith, there is the faith which blooms and blossoms and bears fruit as that person shares their faith with others.
There are those people who are given and recognize God as the gift giver and give Him thanks. Not only that, these people are the ones who also respond with the help of the Holy Spirit, living their lives in such a way that they witness the faith that God has given to them. The ultimate faith of the Christian is that which Paul expresses in his letter to the Romans, that is that we “consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” In other words, that we rejoice and give thanks to God that we are able to suffer for Him and for His name sake. Certainly this is against our nature. Our nature is to gripe and complain about any and everything in life. Our nature is to be the one who right off rejects God’s good gifts and blessings. Our nature is to “make a decision for Jesus” until things get too rough and our faith is put to the test. Our nature is to think we can do it on our own. The ultimate faith of the Christian is to rejoice and give thanks for the hardships, for the persecution, for the bad as well as the good understanding the temporariness of this life and this world and looking to the world to come, even eternal life in heaven.
The ultimate sowing of the seed is this fact that it produces a crop. Certainly we could break out the old cliche’s, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The fact is, as the Lord gives us faith, His desire is that we respond by bearing fruits of that faith. His desire is that we respond by sharing that faith, His Word with others. In our Old Testament Lesson for today, we have the promise of the efficacy of God’s Word, God’s promise that it will not return empty or void, but will do what He intended it to do, that is, give faith, give forgiveness, give life and salvation.
Again, Paul reminds us that the whole world has been infected and affected by Adam and Eve’s sin. The whole world is waiting patiently for God’s recreation. By faith in Jesus, we wait as well, but while we wait, we do not simply sit idly by, we go out and do the work which He has for us to do, the work of continuing to scatter the seed of the Word of God through which others might come to know Jesus as well.
Our text for today is a gentle word of encouragement for us here at St. Matthew. We might ask, what type of soil are we? Where are we in our own spiritual life? And we understand that we are all at different places in our own spiritual life. God continues to work in each one of us as we make regular and diligent use of His means of Grace. God continues to sow the seeds of His Word in our hearts and lives. God continues to water those seeds in order that we might grow up and mature in our faith in order that we might bear fruit, that we might do the good works which He has for us to do, good works which are a response to the greatest gifts which He gives to us, especially the gift of the life of His Son, Jesus for us, for our forgiveness and eternal salvation. Yes, our Lord knows us, He knows that the devil is still out there tempting us. He knows that we will backslide and that is why He is always there waiting for us, ready to forgive us, ready to give us a second chance. Thus we are encouraged with the words we often hear, “may the Lord who began this good work in you bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” My pray continues to be that Jesus will continue to strengthen and keep you in faith until He comes again to take us from this world to be with Himself in heaven where we will stand before the Lord’s throne with all the saints who have gone on before us and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.