Sexagesima (60 Days until Easter)

Preached on January 31, 2016

St. Luke 8:4–15

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit – Amen

On the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father said, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.” And once again we are gathered to listen to Jesus. Once again He tells a parable. And once again, the thing we should notice in the parable is how God is NOT like us. What kind of farmer throws his seed on the blacktop? Who would let it fall on rocky ground or toss it into a thicket of weeds and thorns? And yet Jesus’ sower sows His seed anywhere. What does this mean? “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Listen to Him. The ear that you need is faith. And faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Last week’s parable was about Grace Alone. This week’s parable is about the Word of God Alone.

The parable of the sower is a unique one. It’s one of the few parables where Jesus actually gives the meaning. Jesus interprets the parable for His disciples, and for you. He gives the meaning to those with “ears to hear.” Those are His disciples. Those are the ones with faith. And that includes you too. “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God.” You – the believing ones, the hearing ones, the disciples of Jesus – you get the meaning. For those who do not believe, the kingdom of God stays a secret. It stays hidden. Unbelievers, or we could call them “un-hearers,” they strive to understand what Jesus is saying but they always end up with the wrong conclusion. They think they are like God and so they get the parable wrong. They think there is something for them to do. Unbelievers think they need to contribute something to their salvation. They are too important, too good, to just sit back and let God do the work. That would mean that they are powerless. That there’s nothing they can do. And they don’t like that.

Those who cannot understand the meaning of the parable are focused on what they’re doing: “I’m a good person. I have morals. I’m a member of a church. I’m an American. I serve in the community…” The list can go on and on. But when they are focused on themselves, they are not looking for God in the parable, they are looking for themselves. What is this parable telling me I need to do? And here’s the interpretation they come up with: I’m the soil. But which soil? The path, the dry soil, the thorny soil, or the good soil? Which soil are you? Better examine your life, see what you’re doing wrong, and fix it. Because if you’re not the good soil, then you’ve got work to do: There’s plowing to be done. Rocks to be removed. We need irrigation and weed-killer. Don’t forget to scare the birds away. Make yourself into the good soil and then you will bear fruit.

Do you see where that interpretation goes wrong? It’s all about you! As if God is just sitting there, waiting for you to prepare yourself. Waiting for you to make yourself good. And yet, no matter how good the soil is, it still needs the seed. The soil is not the point of the parable. The seed is the point. “A sower went out to sow his seed.” Who is doing the action? The sower! And the seed! – the seed is working too. In each case the seed grows despite the soil. It is good seed and it always works. In certain soils it does not bear fruit, but the point of the parable is still what the seed is doing. The soil does nothing. It can do nothing. The soil is passive – it lies there, like soil does. God the sower is the active one and He is active with His Word.

“The seed is the Word of God.” The sower is Jesus Himself, spreading His Word everywhere and anywhere. He is not stingy or careful. He is reckless in His grace, what we might even call wasteful. He sows His Word on bad and good alike. That is the generosity of Christ: Love for sinners who could never be worthy of Him. Furthermore, it’s not up to us to make sure that Jesus’ Word succeeds. He isn’t relying on us to get the job done, to save souls, to make sure that the Word of God works. He is God and it is His Word and it will work as He wants it to. The Lord said to Isaiah: “For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 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, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” The Word works. And in hearing the Word, God gives us faith, and faith bears fruit.

Now be sure of this: without the seed of the Word, there is nothing. If our faith is based on anything other than the Word of God then our faith is wrong and empty. The Word of God alone tells us of our Savior, the crucified and risen God in whom we believe and by whom we are saved. If our faith is not nourished by the Word and sacraments, it will wither and die. The Word can be snatched away if we ignore it. Faith can grow weak and doubt God, when it is not fed by the sacraments. The Word of the Gospel and the Lord’s Supper is food that strengthens the Christian and makes him grow. And our faith can also get choked with all the other things in this world. The Word of God can get pushed aside by the thorns and weeds. I’ll admit it, there are a hundred other things you could be doing right now this morning, and they’re all probably more fun than coming to church. But what happens when we let the Word get snatched away or crowded out by everything that we like more? We die.

This parable is full of warnings, and they are true. Very true. You can lose the Word of God. Your faith can die. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! But the warnings don’t save you. Working on your soil does not save you. You cannot make yourself good soil. It is the Word of God that makes you good. He declares to you what is true of Jesus: you are holy and righteous, perfect and forgiven. You did nothing to deserve this. And yet He throws His seed out into the sinful thorns anyway. All for you. God’s Word will accomplish what He wants it to. It will perform miracles. God’s Word can transform bad soil into good. Listen to Him.

If your life is full of thorns and briars, and you are choked by the cares or pleasures of this world, listen to Jesus. His Word is true bread that gives better and longer-lasting life than anything you could work for or worry about on this earth. His Word gives greater joy and gladness than any of the sinful pleasures we so quickly turn to. If your life is full of stones and you’re parched, running into one obstacle after another, listen to Jesus. His Word is living water that cleanses and renews the soul. If you’re surrounded by demonic birds that try to snatch away your certainty of salvation and peace, listen to Jesus. His Word cannot be shaken or made untrue. As long as God is true, His Word is true, and He speaks it for you.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. He who believes, receive what Jesus has to give. He transforms bad soil into good. He declares sinners to be saints. His Word is powerful. It gives you what you need: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The Word of God gives you Jesus Himself. It plants Him in you, and makes your heart a rich and fertile soil, where the Word grows, and faith grows, and produces fruit, a hundredfold. The Word is God’s great gift to us. Through His Word He speaks, comforts, forgives, and loves us. Hear it. Hold it. That is where our faith comes from. The Word of God Alone! Jesus has done it all. By His cross He paid the price for our sins. By His Word He forgives you all your sins. The Lord speaks. He does the work. He sows the seed. Listen to Him.

Stay with us, Lord, and keep us true;

Preserve our faith our whole life through –

            Your Word Alone is our heart’s defense,

            The Church’s glorious confidence. (LSB 585:6)

In the Holy + Name of Jesus – Amen

Septuagesima (70 Days until Easter)

Preached on January 24, 2016

St. Matthew 20:1–16

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit –

The main point of our Lord’s parable is Grace Alone. The last workers received a full day’s wage for not doing a full day’s work. They were given what they did not deserve. We call that grace. But Grace Alone has a darker side. Grace Alone excludes our works completely from the equation. Anything you contribute or think you contribute towards salvation is counted as nothing. In fact your contributions often get in the way of salvation. Grace Alone shoves all that aside. And makes room for Jesus Alone.

And I say this is the “darker side” of Grace Alone because this is what the first workers hated. They had agreed to work for a day’s wage and they had dutifully done their work. They had borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. And yet the Master gave the same wage to the lazy last workers as he did to the first. The last workers didn’t get their pay docked and the first workers didn’t get a bonus. The Master was good to all, and the first workers hated him for it. They thought they should get some kind of extra reward for the extra work. They thought that salvation was based on works of the Law. They are the people who think the Ten Commandments are something we have to do in order to be saved. Our great Lutheran Hymn of the Day calls that what it is: a lie.

It was a false, misleading dream

That God His Law had given

That sinners could themselves redeem

And by their works gain heaven.

The Law is but a mirror bright

To bring the inbred sin to light

That lurks within our nature. (LSB 555:3)

Only God’s Grace Alone can give us salvation.

Grace Alone – a Lutheran doctrine if ever there was one. It is at the heart of Christianity. But I’m afraid we have grown numb to it. We have come to expect it. God’s salvation by grace is no longer a happy surprise. It doesn’t shock us. Grace is assumed. Salvation is a foregone conclusion: We think, of course God will forgive me! But why should He? We might reply, “Because I said, ‘I’m sorry.’” Really? Just because you are sorry for your sins you think God must now forgive you? Maybe that worked with mom and dad, but not with God. Because that is not Grace Alone. That’s still sticking yourself – sticking your “I’m sorry’s” into the mix, as if God forgives us because of something we do, because of our tears and regret.

Even worse, grace is not only assumed but it is demanded. We might claim we are saved because we deserve it. And we offer various reasons: “I’m a member of the church. I pray every day. I help out with the church suppers. I give back to the community. God will forgive me. He has to.” Obviously, that’s not Grace Alone either.

Or finally, we demand grace for all: “If God were really as nice as He claims, then everyone should go to heaven. Sins shouldn’t matter.” But that is still demanding something from God, still sticking ourselves into the equation, shaking our little fists in His face and demanding fairness.

The Lord owes us nothing. Nothing except death and hell. That’s fairness for you. That’s what we deserve. The wages of sin is death. That’s the payment you should get. But even this earthly life is an example of grace. For no life on earth is as bad as what we deserve in hell. And as wonderful as that is, it should also cause us to fear Him. The Lord owes us nothing. And yet He gives us life, and even more, He gives eternal life – by grace. It’s a free gift. It is NOT fair. But it is good because the Lord is good.

He is not like us. He doesn’t measure your worth. He isn’t frugal. He is generous, even wasteful with His love, loving even those who do not love Him. He absorbs the cost. Because even though salvation is free for us, it was not free for Him. Nothing is truly free. There is always a cost. When a shopkeeper gives away his candy to the children he is paying for it. And when the Father gave up His only Son to death so that we might live, He was paying the price we owe.

As the Law must be fulfilled

Or we would die despairing,

Christ came and has God’s anger stilled,

Our human nature sharing.

He has for us the Law obeyed

And thus the Father’s vengeance stayed

Which over us impended. (LSB 555:5)

Salvation is free for us but costly for God. It cost the price of Christ’s blood. The Father saw His Son hang on a cross with nails and spear stuck through His flesh, so that He could see you in His kingdom. He poured out all His wrath and punishment on His perfect Son as if Christ were the worst sinner of all time, so that you could be God’s beloved children. And if that doesn’t shock you… If the love of God in the cross of Jesus doesn’t smack you in the face and wake you up, or at least send a shiver of joy down your spine… Well, then shame on you. Repent. And know that the blood of Jesus forgives all your sins, and even heals your numb, cold heart.

Since Christ has full atonement made

And brought to us salvation,

            Each Christian therefore may be glad

And build on this foundation.

Your GRACE ALONE, dear Lord, I plead,

Your death is now my life indeed,

For You have paid my ransom. (LSB 555:6)

The Lord is good. His cross and death and blood are good. He gives them for you. By His Word and Spirit in your ears, by His body and blood in your mouth, by His Grace Alone, He gives you a new heart, and a home in His kingdom, and a place at His family table. He gives what is not deserved. He gives more than is even imagined.

The workers who did not do a full day’s work didn’t know what they would receive for payment. The Master had told them, “Go into the vineyard and whatever is right I will give you.” Not whatever is fair. But whatever the Master sees as right. Whatever the Master sees as good – that is what He gives. And so the workers went into the vineyard on the basis of the Master’s promise. They didn’t hammer out a deal. They didn’t demand their rights. They trusted the Master’s promise. They trusted that He is good. So it is for all who believe in the Lord. They believe His promise. They do not assume forgiveness. They know their sin – they are terrified by their sin – And so they confess their sin. And then they hear the gracious promise, the free absolution from the pastor as from God Himself: “I forgive you all your sins.”

All blessing, honor, thanks, and praise

To Father, Son, and Spirit,

The God who saved us by His grace;

All glory to His merit.

O triune God in heaven above,

You have revealed Your saving love;

Your blessed name we hallow. (LSB 555:10)

In the Holy + Name of Jesus –

The Transfiguration of Our Lord

Preached on January 17, 2016

St. Matthew 17:1–9

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit –

Last week we recognized the restless searching of sinful humans – how so much of our lives are spent looking for something, grasping for something that is not ours, that we think will make us the people we want to be. But we also recognized the futility of this search. We don’t even know what we’re looking for, and really that’s because we’re not even sure who we are. At the bottom of our restless hearts, in the darkness of sleepless nights, hidden behind all the worries of everyday life, is the question we struggle to answer: “Who am I?” It’s a challenge that comes from within and from without. “Who am I? Who are you? What right do you have to exist? And what are you doing with this existence?” And our whole lives are full of justifications, excuses, explanations, attempts to answer these questions. We attempt to justify ourselves, giving ourselves reasons for who we are and what we do. We can sense that we’re accountable, that we must respond to these challenges. The fact that we exist and that we did not create ourselves, drives our need to justify, to explain ourselves, to give our existence meaning. And inevitably, these questions spill over into our relationships with others. Questioning, judging, investigating them. And ultimately, the questions are thrown at God. Who are You, God?

In our frustration and arrogance we expect God to explain Himself, to justify Himself, to open the heavens and answer. And in His grace He has done just that. In the Gospels, God the Father spoke from heaven three times. The first time was at Christ’s baptism. After Jesus was baptized, the heavens were opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove, coming to rest on Him, and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:16–17) This Jesus is the eternal Son of the Father, and He pleases His Father by coming to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. The second time was on the mount of Transfiguration. Jesus’ face shone like the sun, and behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” (Matt. 17:2, 5) Again, Jesus is the Son of God, the pleasing sacrifice for sin, and we must listen to Him, for it is in Him and in His Word that the Father’s love is revealed to us. The third time was during the final days of Christ’s earthly life. Jesus said, “Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” (John 12:27–28) The Father had glorified His name through His Son’s baptism and ministry on earth. Now He would glorify it again in His Son’s death and resurrection. The name of God is glorified by the Son of God dying to save sinners.

Isn’t it striking that the three times God the Father speaks from heaven, He is talking about His Son and the cross? Each time He speaks, His Word is Christ-centered, for it is in Christ that God answers us and reveals Himself to us. Each time He speaks, His Word is cross-focused, for the cross is how God reconciles the world to Himself and makes us His own. Each time the Father speaks from heaven His Word is Christ-centered and cross focused, because that is how God wants to show His glory. That is how God wants to be known. “Who are You, God?” we ask. “Look at Jesus,” He answers. “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”

Listen to Jesus. He is the Word, the answer to all the questions, all the challenges from man, devil, and God Himself. In Jesus we really have the heart of Christianity: Listening to God’s answer, His answer for sin, His answer for death, His answer for relationship, life, and love. It should come as no surprise that Christianity is Christ-centered and cross-focused. What’s more, the universe, our existence is Christ-centered and cross-focused. This is how God has made Himself known and it is how He knows you – in Christ.

This is also why we have the Bible. It is the Word written – Jesus written down. If the Father’s answers spoken from heaven were all about His Son and the cross, then the answers written down in Scripture are likewise all about the Son and the cross. Listen to Jesus, said the Father. And Peter did, and the Apostle bids us to do so as well. Peter wrote, We have something more sure than the glorious mountain or the thundering voice from heaven. We have the prophetic Word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place. (2 Peter 1:19) We have the spoken Word, the preached Word, the written Word, the Word that comes from outside our dark hearts that are so full of unanswered questions and self-made justifications and excuses. We have the Word, the answer that comes from God Himself, for no prophecy, no preaching, was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21) The Bible is God’s Word written down by the inspiration of the Spirit so we have a clear and certain answer from God on who He is and who we are.

Moses also had questions for God, along with his own justifications and excuses. Not only did he challenge God by asking, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” But he asked, “Who are you? What is your name, God?” And God answered Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:11, 13–14) That’s God’s name for Himself: Yahweh – I AM. He is the One Who Is – the One Who determines what is. He is the One Who created all things out of nothing by His Word. “Let there be,” He said… and there was. Solely by I AM’s speaking all things have come from non-existence into existence.

And He is the One Who has re-created all things by His Word made flesh. Including you. Out of the nothing of the sinner, He creates the saint. He declares the ungodly to be righteous. He speaks the righteousness of Christ over you, giving you a new identity, telling you who you are in Christ. In the nothingness of your sin, God challenges you, “Who are you?” And none of our justifications, no excuses, no feelings or plans from our hearts can stand up under His scrutiny. But in Christ, God answers the question for us. He tells us who He is and who we are – that He is for us. He justifies us. That righteous life of Christ counts for us. The death of Christ is the death of our sin. The resurrection of Christ is our life. This is how God wants to be known and how He wants to glorify His name: In Christ, in the cross, in justifying sinners. This is why we listen to Jesus, because that is where we hear the answers.

So when your heart asks, “Who am I?” Here’s how you answer: I am the one addressed by God in love, through Christ, by the power of the Spirit. I am the one to whom it is said, “I am the Lord your God.” I am the one who is created by this Word from God my Savior. I am the one to whom it is said, “I forgive you all your sins.” I am the one to whom it is said, “This is My beloved child, with whom I am well pleased.”

In the Holy + Name of Jesus –