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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning comes from the gospel reading as it has been carved in the front of our pulpit about the parable of the seed and the sowers. May be seated. He who has ears, let him hear.
Our Lord has promised that his kingdom will be extended where infants and adults are baptized. Our Lord has promised that his kingdom will be extended where the absolution is regularly proclaimed to his people. Our Lord has promised that his kingdom will be extended, that he will be present among us as the truth of his word is read and proclaimed and taught among his people. Our Lord has promised that his kingdom will be extended, will be furthered, as his flesh and blood are joined with the bread and wine and fed to his people who are weary, sin-laden, and in need of being bound up with forgiveness.
This is not a New Testament gimmick or a New Testament concept. It is nothing more than how God has worked since the beginning of time. In this morning’s Old Testament reading, Isaiah said it in a different manner, but as clarion as it was said in the parable: “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.” Verse 2. “And it shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
That’s meant to be comforting to us, brothers and sisters. That’s meant to instill confidence and hope. Not to cause us to despair. Not to cause us to question God’s goodness or mercy. But to instill God’s goodness and mercy and grace to minds like yours and mine that doubt.
But isn’t it interesting? Isn’t it interesting? As long as the attendance is going upward, these promises aren’t nearly as important to us. In fact, we think of them not often at all. As long as our treasury here at the church and our giving is moving upward, these things are not even called into question. As long as we see new members join the church at our attendance and so on, we don’t even think about these promises. But let our giving plateau and go down, we call them into question and think something isn’t right. Let our giving plateau or go down, and we think we’ve got to do something different, something more than what we’re doing already.
If our school’s attendance isn’t what it should be, we clamor and look around for what is wrong and what we need to do to fix it. And in doing so, we admit our sinfulness. That we struggle with God’s promises, more importantly, God’s way of doing things.
Now this isn’t unique just to you or me. And it is not unique to the first part of the 21st century in which we live right now. It wasn’t unique to the latter part of the 20th century. And it will not be anything but normal for the furtherance of time because it has been going on since Cain and Abel.
The disciples whom God gathered around him, Christ Jesus gathered these disciples around him and they saw miraculous things—people raised from the dead, thousands upon thousands, people fed by a few fish and a few loaves of bread. They saw people like prostitutes and tax collectors come and embrace the gospel and receive forgiveness. But then they saw something that caused them to doubt. The disciples saw the religious people of the day reject Jesus, the Pharisees. The disciples even saw many of the people in the towns in which they knew the people and in which we read last week God did most of his miracles through Christ reject the message and reject Christ.
One of the three cities that we mentioned last week, Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum. Capernaum was Peter’s hometown. Peter, who watched Jesus heal his mother-in-law—Peter, who sold the fish to the people within that community and who knew him and who weren’t Pharisees—rejected this message. That causes our hearts to sadden and we struggle with it just like the disciples did. Why? Because we see this rejection that happens and we see this rejection that happens. You and I savor, we savor that which God gives to us here, or we would not be here. But why does God allow folks to not embrace this and receive it, and their seed not bear fruit?
Well, ultimately, this is a very important truth. Listen, we can do all of this correctly, orthodox and pure, right? We can ensure that everything that is taught and proclaimed is right where it needs to be according to the scriptures. We can ensure that the absolution is spoken regularly and the Lord’s Supper administered correctly and frequently, and there will still be people who reject it and walk away. You know those people. You’ve seen them. Your heart still grieves for them not being present with you. And you and I question why and we wonder and we struggle with that.
This is not a new struggle, brothers and sisters. This is a struggle that God’s people have continually struggled over the years. Hence the purpose of Christ sharing this information through a parable. When Christ shares this information through a parable, he has a couple of important facts to make clear to you and to me.
One, that this age in which we dwell right now is not different than any other age in which the gospel has been proclaimed. Because at the very heart of all of this, it’s not the wealth that we have in our nation. It’s not the worry and anxiety of our daily lives. It’s not anything other than a spiritual issue. It’s a spiritual issue within us all. Because the battle that’s going on for the souls of all men and all women and all children and infants and adults is a spiritual battle with spiritual ramifications and spiritual consequences.
It is wrong and sinful for us to think, on one hand, that we need to change what God has given for us to extend his kingdom and deny its power. And then on the other hand, we also have to repent that though we may be faithful in every facet of the gifts that God has given us, God still is the one that allows seeds to grow, and he doesn’t answer us why.
We know in this parable there is either a seed that produces fruit or a seed that does not produce fruit. But the emphasis is not on the seed as much as it is on the sower of the seed. Because the sower of the seed is very obvious: Jesus. That’s what matters. Because Jesus does not adhere to worldly strategy or worldly efficiency or worldly wisdom when he sows his seeds. He is the most reckless abandon of sowing of seeds that there ever has been. He sows them not in certain places, but in every other corner of the world. He does not even think in terms of, oh, I probably shouldn’t sow it there. It’s not going to have any effect. He sows it anyway. Anyway.
And you are living proof that he sows it anywhere. If you and I think that it’s because we grew up in a husband and wife family that that’s why we are where we are, we’re forgetting it’s a spiritual issue. It doesn’t matter if we grew up in a single-parent home or a double-parent home. It doesn’t matter if those two parents are both of the same sex or not. It’s a spiritual issue. It doesn’t matter whether we grew up knowing the Bible since we were infants or whether we just were introduced to it as an adult. It’s a spiritual issue.
And it’s God’s reckless abandon of grace in this parable that says to you, live in confidence of God’s word. Live in confidence of his means that he brings his salvation. Live in confidence of the things that God has gathered to his church to extend his kingdom. Amen. And do not fear. His grace in this parable makes it very clear that it trumps human strategy. His grace in this parable makes it clear that it trumps all human efficiency and all human wisdom.
And you are living proof. The parable doesn’t explain why some babies or adults who have been baptized walk away from the church. It also doesn’t explain why children who have had a hellacious home life are believers. Grace is trumping God’s world. And Satan shall not have his way.
This is an invitation to you and to me. That we live out our life in this world with confidence that God’s promise will do as he has promised it will do, not questioning whether or not it has the ability. You are living proof that it does. And because you are living proof that it does, you are the one through whom he wishes to extend his kingdom with that same message of grace. And he’ll do it in spite of your sinfulness. He’ll do it in spite of your abilities. He’ll do it in spite of your upbringing because his grace trumps all human strategy, all human wisdom, and all human efficiency.
We know by faith that this happens among us, and we know it has the power to do miracles, and we’ve seen them. We’ve experienced them. But we’ve also seen disappointments too. We’ve also questioned and wondered about God’s wisdom and his reckless abandon of sowing seeds. It’s okay to have questioned and have wondered.
But here is where your soul is strengthened to live in confidence. Here is where your soul is bound up again to face this world that’s full of Satan, that’s full of persecutions, that’s full of wealth and worry. And know that God’s grace trumps it all, or you wouldn’t be here and neither would I.
He who has ears, let him hear. Jesus said very clearly, through these means, my kingdom will be extended. The example is the seed that grows and bears fruit. It works. We will be vigilant in this proclamation. And let us never forget the great words of the prophet Isaiah: “My word shall accomplish that which I purpose. My word shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
And we rejoice in such promises and find comfort in such assurance and confidently continue in this gift that God has given us to live and proclaim in the name of the one who has, by his grace, sowed the seed of faith within us, and it has taken root and bore fruit. Jesus, amen.
