"The Word Is Active" Sexagesima Commemoration of Polycarp of Smyrna, Pastor and Martyr February 23, 2014 Luke 8:4-15
There is only true kind of preaching and that is preaching to sinners. Preaching to the choir is not true preaching because it leaves sinners secure in their sins. If you think the declaration of God's judgment on sin does not apply to you, then you are left in your sin and under condemnation. There is only one kind of person Jesus died for on the cross and that is a sinner. If you think you don't need a Savior who has gone to the cross to suffer in the place of every sinner, then you remain in your sin and you remain under condemnation. There is only one kind of person God loves and that is a sinner. He is not interested in the righteous or the healthy or those who have it all. He has eyes only for sinners. For the weak, the weary, the unrighteous, those who have nothing. The only true preaching is preaching to sinners. In describing the different types of soil Jesus is holding up a mirror so that you can see yourself in all your sin and filth and wretchedness. Being the soil that is hardened ground where seed can't grow, or soil that has been overrun with weeds so that the seed is choked out, or soil that is on the wayside so that the birds quickly snatch the seed away so that it has no chance to grow--being these kinds of soil is what you need to see in yourself. The worst thing you can do in hearing Jesus' parable of the Sower and the seed He sows is to think of all those people you know who are this kind of soil or that kind of soil. The best thing you can do is have ears to hear. You aren't going to hear His preaching to you if you don't hear His preaching as preaching to you! You need to see yourself in that mirror Christ is holding up in front of you. You need to see yourself for the sinner you are. When you do, you will see how blessed you really are. You will see that Jesus came for just such a person as you. For a sinner. One whose heart is so often hardened against Him and His Word. One who is carried away so often by the cares of this world. One who is so ready and willing in joy to follow the Lord only to wither away in self-pity and doubt when it seems that God is so very far away. This is the great difference between the preaching of Christ and every other message in the world. Every religion, every philosophy, anything else people hold to, ultimately tells them that there's something within them that is good. That there's hope held out within themselves that everything will be okay. Christian preaching slams the prison door shut on this notion. It says, "You are utterly corrupt, there is nothing in you that is redeemable, you are a sinner. And you will rot in that prison cell eternally." It's easy to see, isn't it, why people gravitate toward other religions or other ideas in which they can look at themselves in the mirror and feel good about themselves, at least in some measure, because of something good within themselves. It's no wonder Jesus was utterly rejected and scorned. It's clear why people get offended, what with us telling them that they're sinful and need salvation. Is it any wonder Christians are afraid to speak this truth to others? Who wants to tell others that they're sinful and have no hope of themselves? We want to hear what we want to hear. And that why Jesus told this parable. That's why He concluded it with His warning: He who has ears to hear, let him hear. If you are blind and deaf to God's Word, you will not see and hear. If you seek to see and hear only what you want to hear, you will not see and hear the things of God. If you refuse God's judgment upon you, that you are by nature sinful can unclean, that you of yourself are worthy only of eternal damnation, then you will not want to hear the only true preaching there is. The only true preaching there is is preaching to sinners. The only true preaching is for those who see that they have hit rock bottom. That there is no way out on their own. That they are unable to save themselves. That they are unwilling to see that God is the one who determines holiness and goodness and righteousness because He alone is holy, good, and righteous. The only true preaching is to those who see that they are unworthy, unclean, and utterly unrighteous. That they are sick, weak, and powerless. Christ's preaching to these wretched sinners is preaching to them because He is the only who can save them. Why would someone want to hear Christ's preaching if they think they don't need Him and His salvation? Christ came to seek and save the lost. Christ died for sinners when they were still in their sin. Christ died for the sin of the world, when all were still enemies of Christ. Christ has come to give rest to the weary, strength to the weak, and comfort to the discouraged. He has come to bind up those who are broken and raise up those who have fallen. This true preaching can only be for sinners because why would anyone who thinks he is anything of himself need anything that God would give to him? No, Christ wants to preach to those who stand before Him with the realization and the confession that they are unable to stand before Him in their sin. That they ought to be struck down on the spot because of their unholiness and continuance in sin day by day. Christ wants to preach to these people because they are sinners, and they are exactly the ones Jesus came for and died for. Who is it He preaches to in the Gospel reading? Well, sinners, that's what we've been saying. But who is it that Luke tells us about? It's a great crowd. It's people coming from town after town. Who it is is everybody. That's who are sinners. Every single person. Every person from Adam and Eve and down through history. Jesus alone was born without sin. Every single person has been born in sin. Every single one of these was the recipient of God's grace on the cross, Jesus dying for all of their sins. Jesus dying for them. Jesus accomplishing salvation for them. That's who He came for, sinners. The tragic fact of the different types of soil Jesus describes is that sinners refuse God's grace. They stubbornly remain in their sin. They choose to remain under condemnation. That's why they are the soil that they are. It's not that Christ does not wish for them to hear the Gospel. It's not that He chose not to die for them and pay for their sins. It's not that He wishes that they would just get it together already and be holy people. It's that He has died for them and has sowed that seed in their lives but they reject it. They hold on to their firm belief that they are not utterly sinful and need to die to sin and be raised to a completely new life. They reject God's love and forgiveness and are left in their sin and condemnation. Then there's that last type of soil. The good soil. That's the ones who are Christians. What does it mean that you are this soil, that you are a Christian? You are Baptized, you believe Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you are forgiven and made holy by Him. What it doesn't mean is that you are somehow different from all those non-Christians, all those who are left in their sin. You are a sinner, just as they are. So what does this mean? It means that you are exactly the person Jesus has come for. You are good soil. How is it that you are? You are soil that has been worked over by Jesus Himself. He is the Sower. But He is also the Gardener. You could go to the store and buy some good soil. But the way Jesus does it is the way a farmer does it. He works the soil. He tills it. He sweats and works hard to break up that soil. It has to be turned upside down. It has to be worked over so thoroughly it effectively becomes new soil. But even then, the soil just sits there. So that's you, that last type of soil, worked over thoroughly by God's judgment upon you as a sinner, dead soil. Dirt just sitting there without any life. And that's all that will happen if that soil just remains there. It will get hard once again. It will be a blight in the neighborhood. It's not until Christ comes again with His Seed, the Gospel, following His working over with His message of judgment and bringing you to repentance, that life is given to the soil. The life-giving properties are in the seed and the soil is then watered and nourished. Life sprouts forth. You are a sinner, the only thing you're active in is sinning. The Word of God, the Seed which the Sower Himself has sown in you, that is what is active. The Gospel is constantly preached to you, constantly sown in your life, as you hear it so that Christ can do His work of sowing, and plowing, and bringing new life to you. The only true preaching is preaching to sinners. True preaching is preaching of the Word--God's word which brings judgment upon you as a sinner and God's word which proclaims pure Gospel to you, forgiveness for your sin, eternal salvation in Christ, new and fruitful life in Him. This is true preaching because it is not you, who are a sinner, who is active, but Christ Himself. He is the Sower and He is the Seed. He is active in the proclamation of His Gospel and He is the very Seed, the very Gospel, that is proclaimed. Active in your hearing of it, active in your life as you believe it and live in it and that is life in Him. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
