I am a horrible gardener. I suppose my problem is not so much that I can't take care of plants as much as it is that I don't. If you have ever seen the plants that were living in my office you would know what I mean – there is a cactus in there that is just barely hanging on. It usually only gets watered when I am looking to get rid of some stale coffee.
This spring, the Schlueter family decided to try its hand at gardening. Being all too aware of my own limitations I was skeptical about the undertaking, but it was argued that the kids would enjoy watching the plants grow and they could help take care of it so I consented and now we have a small patch in the back of the house with a few vegetables growing in it, along with half a dozen sun flowers or so.
Up until a few days ago, if you would have taken a walk back to my garden and taken a look at it, other than the sunflowers that stand up tall above the rest you might have thought that I was cultivating a weed patch. The small plot was entirely overgrown with all kinds things that we certainly did not intend to be growing there. You might have wondered if there was any plan or intentional planting there at all. It mostly looked like a breeding ground for thistles and crab grass and the like. I finally got out and began pulling away some of those weeds – but there is still more work to be done...
In my garden, the reason for all the weeds is my own negligence. As I said, I am a terrible gardener. I don't take the necessary time to care for the things that I am supposed to be cultivating. I let them go and so it is not surprise when I look out in the back and it is overgrown. Jesus also has weeds in his garden – there is a world that is filled with unbelievers and certainly he could pull these weeds out and throw them away. But he does not! And the reason for that is he doesn't is not because he is a bad gardener (as I am) No. Jesus allows the weeds to remain. And the reason he allows them to remain is precisely the opposite – he is a good gardener. He loves every living thing that is growing in that garden and he is patient.
All this talk of gardens comes from our text. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus told a a parable in which He compared himself to a gardener who went out to sow seed in his garden. The seeds he sowed were to plant Christians – those who believe in the one true God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And after Jesus had finished planting his seed, His enemy the Devil came along and planted some weeds. Unbelievers. Non Christians. Worthless plants that have been sown by Jesus' enemy the Devil. Those who are doomed to be thrown into the fire and destroyed.
As much as weeds are unsightly and inconvenient in my little garden, for those of you who are farmers, weeds are a much bigger problem. After you have gone out and spent the money to buy the seed, gone to the trouble and expense of planting the seed, you hope to get some return on your investments. Weeds take away from your bottom line. They keep your crop from its maximum yield. So you do what you have to do to spray the weeds to get rid of them.
You would think that it would be the same in God's garden. You would think that God would be in a hurry to get rid of the weeds and be done with them. But he allows them to remain. In the parable, even when the harvesters, the angels came to ask the farmer if he wanted them to pull the weeds he said no. He commanded the angels to let the weeds remain. To us, that simply does not make sense.
Again, the answer to the conundrum is God's patience and his forbearance. God the Divine Farmer is merciful and He is good. He has patience with those things that are growing in his fields. He does not pull them out so quickly but allows them to remain.
A nuance in Jesus' parable that is not immediately seen is the type of weeds that have been sown in the field. Jesus calls them in Greek, Zizania. These days, zizania is a type of wild rice. In ancient times, zizania was a weed that looked very much like wheat. It's stalks and heads were similar in shape and appearance, but the grains were black. The weeds and wheat on the outside looked very much the same.
This is not to say that God's angels cannot tell the difference. The angels do God's bidding. If he wanted them to pull the weeds to get rid of them, they would pull only those God commanded them to pull. When the farmer in the parable commanded the workers to leave the weeds it was not that he was concerned that they couldn't tell the difference.
But for you and I that is a different story. When we look around at those who are planted beside us, we can't tell the difference. We can't see inside to someone's heart to know for certain if they are among the sons of God or among the sons of the devil. To us they all look the same. We are easily deceived.
On the outside you can't tell the difference between a believer and an unbeliever. They look the same. Side by side there is not much difference. But what is inside, the condition of the heart is where the difference lies. The heart of the unbeliever is black with sin. The heart of the believer has been washed clean by the blood of Jesus.
That truth is important for us to keep in mind. Often we want to determine our value in the kingdom of heaven, as Sons of God based upon how we look on the outside. Most of the tallest and healthiest plants in my little garden were weeds. And just a few days ago I pulled them out and threw them away. Some of the strongest, most successful, most well adjusted and selfactualized people on the planet are also weeds – sons of the devil. They look great on the outside. But on the inside their hearts are filled with sin. Some of the weakest, most frail, most conflicted people on the planet are believers like you and me who feel like we are going to fall over break apart with the next breeze that comes along. It is not a matter of outside appearances, it is a matter of what you have done or how well you are doing. It is a matter of what Jesus has done for you.
Jesus didn't want the weeds to be uprooted and thrown away and burned because he is patient. Again, it is hard for us to understand what his patience is all about . Weeds are weeds and they need to be gotten rid of. There is no sense in letting them hang around. The longer they remain the more problems they will cause for your crop.
But Jesus is a farmer unlike any other farmer. He does not share our same limitation. You and I would not love weeds, we hate them and get rid of them. Jesus loves them. In fact he loves them so much that he has died for them. When it came time for the weeds to be thrown into the furnace Jesus said – no leave them in their place, take me instead. Jesus the farmer gave up his life for the weeds, for you and me.
That doesn't make sense. I wouldn't give up my life or the life of my child to save the weeds growing in my garden. But God did that for us, for you and for me. Jesus died in our place on the cross to save us from the destruction that we deserve. We were those weeds doomed to be burned in the fire but He saved us when he sacrificed himself for us.
But that is not all.
Our farmer is a miracle worker. What if there was something that you could spray on the weeds to, instead of killing them, actually change them. Imagine if you could turn thistles into corn. Imagine if you could turn goldenrod into soybeans. You be a millionaire no doubt.
This is what God does with us. We were weeds in his garden but he changed us. He turned us from weeds destined for the fire into a crop guaranteed for the harvest. We were sons of Satan we are now sons of God. God is patient because he knows that there are weeds in his garden that he still intends to change, to turn, to reclaim. He plans to steal those seeds away from the devil and rescue them for his harvest. He is patient because he does not want to loose them. He does not want them to be destroyed.
If God were a farmer like me, we would all be destined for hell, there would be no hope for any one of us. But he is not. He is loving, he is gracious. He is merciful. He is kind. He cares for those things that grow in his garden. He sacrifices and surrenders himself. He works miracles to change us from what we are into what he wants us to be and then he brings us in to his harvest.
Truly our god has given to us more than what we could ever ask for or deserve. We were worthless yet because of his love and unheard of mercy we are his own and we will be called in at his great harvest.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Pentecost 9 - Isaiah 55:10-13
The other night, the Schlueter family was confessing the Apostle's Creed as a part of our evening prayers. After we were through, Will in the sincere honesty of childhood looked up at me and asked, “daddy, why does Pilate punch us?” . (He was probably wondering if Pilate had it in mind to punch him, and if so that was certainly a legitimate question) We straightened out the misunderstanding – Pontius is simply a Roman name, a form of the Latin word pons – the word for bridge.
The important thing about Potius Pilate, however, is not his name or the origin of his name. It is not who we call him or how we know him. The important thing about Pilate is the part that he played in the salvation of the entire human race. Pilate was the man who held the fate of Jesus in his hands – he was the judge who represented every man from every age and from every corner of the earth who pronounced the order for the death of the innocent Jesus. Knowing him to be innocent Pilate sent him to die the death that he himself deserved, indeed the death that even you and I deserve. Pilate gave that order and so therefore in our creed, we mention his name, I believe in Jesus Christ... suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified died and was buried. And so pontius became a topic of discussion at the Schlueter house.
In addition to being a good example of the cute things that kids say, it also happens to be a good illustration for the sermon this morning. Will's question born in childlike innocence, provided a wonderful opportunity for his parents to teach him the Christian faith, to teach him something that relates to the history of his salvation and the salvation of the entire humans race. That is the job of parents. God gave to us parents because it is his desire, it is his design that parents – especially fathers – teach their children the one true faith.
Our text this morning is about how that faith comes to be – how it is formed and where it comes from. Elsewhere, in Romans 10 Paul tells us that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.“ God puts faith in your ears. Your ears are like a laundry shoot that God opens up, He dumps in his Word, his Word slides down your ears, through your brain and into your heart where it settles in and becomes faith. God gives his word into you and once he has put it there it does exactly what he wants it to do. It fills you up, it grows, it nourishes and strengthens you and then it produces a harvest.
That is essentially what was happening the other night in our living room following the confessing of the creed. We were teaching our children the Christian faith. We were teaching them what to believe. Namely that God, the god they are to trust in and have faith in, the god who saves them and cares for them and protects them is the god of the Apostles Creed. The one true god, the only god is the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Occasionally parents will say that they are not raising their child to believe any particular religion. They plan to let them grow to the age where they can decide for themselves. Their reasoning is that they do not want to force their children to believe – they do not want to turn them off to Christianity by making it an obligation. Underneath all of this is the hope that their children eventually grow up to be believers in the one true God. But it is a naïve hope.
Children are sinful. If they are left to themselves they will do what every sinner does – they will worship themselves. They will make themselves into god, either in choosing the god that works for them, that fits their lifestyle and their preferences, the god who lets them be who they want to be, or they will deny god all together.
Children need to be taught. Because of their inborn sinfulness, they need to be taught the Christian faith, they need to be taught to attend church and Sunday School or Bible Study. They need to be taught to read and study the bible.
Teaching this is not as hard as we sometimes assume. I like the game of soccer. My kids know that I like to watch soccer on TV. I like to go watch the Crew play in Columbus. I am in a soccer league and I look forward to being able to play on Sunday afternoons. When we signed the kids up to play soccer in the spring, kids, being great imitators were excited to follow in their daddies footsteps and to actually have the opportunity to do the thing that they saw their daddy loved.
Dads, shouldn't we love to attend God's house where He comes for us in His Word and in His Supper to forgive us for all of our sins and to be with us – shouldn't we love coming here at least as much, and even more, than we love soccer... than we love football... than we love golf... than we love auto racing... Wouldn't our kids be that much more excited and willing to attend church if they saw a positive example from their parents?
Certainly they would.
But part of the problem is that we as parents often don't really want to go to church. We know we should go. We know that it is good for us to go. We know that God blesses us if we go and when we go. We know that we have a better week after we have gone to church. But still we don't want to go. Our sinful flesh wants to stay home, sleep in, go somewhere else, do something else, do anything else. Its not fun when we have to confess that we are poor miserable sinners. It's not fun to acknowledge and admit our unworthiness and our sinfulness. Our sinful flesh resists going to church!
We often become like those different types of soil that Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew: The well worn path – the hard hearted sinner who refuses to let the word of God penetrate his soul so that the host of devils that is always lurking around can easily steal the seeds of the the Gospel away. Or the rocky soil, that initially receives the Word of God with joy, yet when the Holy Spirit seeks to enter in to the private recesses of our hearts – we suddenly become hardened and attempt to keep him out so that when trials come we easily doubt and our faith is plucked out like recently sprouted seedling. Or the soil that is overgrown with weeds, that is - with the many distractions of worldly wealth and power so that the seed of the Gospel that has been sown suffers under the competition and is eventually choked out.
Yet God sends out the workers into the field – God sends out His pastors and preachers who proclaim his saving gospel of Jesus who died on the cross to save sinners. God sends out His people into the world who speak the gospel they have received so that every sinner receives the seed. The seed is thrown out recklessly and without reservation. We might think it wasteful to sow seeds on the highway or among the rocks, yet the Heavenly Master wants the seeds of faith, the seeds of the Gospel, the seeds of the Word of God to be thrown out, risking that they be wasted, because he knows where the cracks in pavement are. He directs those seed into those cracks where he waters them and makes them to grow. We always marvel when we see trees that grow up in the most unlikely of places, that somehow find nourishment on rocky cliffs and old parking lots and we wonder how they survive. Even more miraculous is the hardened sinner whose heart is changed so that it receives the Word of God in faith, so that it believes the Gospel, so that its roots are sent down into the deepest places of that sinner's heart to create a believer, to create a Christian.
God has done that very thing with you. As the rain and snow comes down from heaven and does not return without watering the earth, making it to grow and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so is the Word that goes out from the mouth of God. IT does not return to Him empty. It has gone where He has directed it. It has gone to your heart, it has created faith in your heart. It has caused you to believe.
At times this parable of Jesus can cause us some stress – what soil am I? I at times resist the Holy Spirit. I often refuse to allow Him access to my heart. I am easily distracted by the cares of this world. I think I will loose my faith. Your master gardener will not let you go so easily. He will water you. He will till you. He will fertilize you. He will produce a harvest from within you. So keep returning to the well. Keep placing yourself here where you will be watered. Keep coming back to the place where God offers his gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation and you will bear fruit for salvation. Not because of your work, but because of the work that Jesus has done in you.
The important thing about Potius Pilate, however, is not his name or the origin of his name. It is not who we call him or how we know him. The important thing about Pilate is the part that he played in the salvation of the entire human race. Pilate was the man who held the fate of Jesus in his hands – he was the judge who represented every man from every age and from every corner of the earth who pronounced the order for the death of the innocent Jesus. Knowing him to be innocent Pilate sent him to die the death that he himself deserved, indeed the death that even you and I deserve. Pilate gave that order and so therefore in our creed, we mention his name, I believe in Jesus Christ... suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified died and was buried. And so pontius became a topic of discussion at the Schlueter house.
In addition to being a good example of the cute things that kids say, it also happens to be a good illustration for the sermon this morning. Will's question born in childlike innocence, provided a wonderful opportunity for his parents to teach him the Christian faith, to teach him something that relates to the history of his salvation and the salvation of the entire humans race. That is the job of parents. God gave to us parents because it is his desire, it is his design that parents – especially fathers – teach their children the one true faith.
Our text this morning is about how that faith comes to be – how it is formed and where it comes from. Elsewhere, in Romans 10 Paul tells us that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.“ God puts faith in your ears. Your ears are like a laundry shoot that God opens up, He dumps in his Word, his Word slides down your ears, through your brain and into your heart where it settles in and becomes faith. God gives his word into you and once he has put it there it does exactly what he wants it to do. It fills you up, it grows, it nourishes and strengthens you and then it produces a harvest.
That is essentially what was happening the other night in our living room following the confessing of the creed. We were teaching our children the Christian faith. We were teaching them what to believe. Namely that God, the god they are to trust in and have faith in, the god who saves them and cares for them and protects them is the god of the Apostles Creed. The one true god, the only god is the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Occasionally parents will say that they are not raising their child to believe any particular religion. They plan to let them grow to the age where they can decide for themselves. Their reasoning is that they do not want to force their children to believe – they do not want to turn them off to Christianity by making it an obligation. Underneath all of this is the hope that their children eventually grow up to be believers in the one true God. But it is a naïve hope.
Children are sinful. If they are left to themselves they will do what every sinner does – they will worship themselves. They will make themselves into god, either in choosing the god that works for them, that fits their lifestyle and their preferences, the god who lets them be who they want to be, or they will deny god all together.
Children need to be taught. Because of their inborn sinfulness, they need to be taught the Christian faith, they need to be taught to attend church and Sunday School or Bible Study. They need to be taught to read and study the bible.
Teaching this is not as hard as we sometimes assume. I like the game of soccer. My kids know that I like to watch soccer on TV. I like to go watch the Crew play in Columbus. I am in a soccer league and I look forward to being able to play on Sunday afternoons. When we signed the kids up to play soccer in the spring, kids, being great imitators were excited to follow in their daddies footsteps and to actually have the opportunity to do the thing that they saw their daddy loved.
Dads, shouldn't we love to attend God's house where He comes for us in His Word and in His Supper to forgive us for all of our sins and to be with us – shouldn't we love coming here at least as much, and even more, than we love soccer... than we love football... than we love golf... than we love auto racing... Wouldn't our kids be that much more excited and willing to attend church if they saw a positive example from their parents?
Certainly they would.
But part of the problem is that we as parents often don't really want to go to church. We know we should go. We know that it is good for us to go. We know that God blesses us if we go and when we go. We know that we have a better week after we have gone to church. But still we don't want to go. Our sinful flesh wants to stay home, sleep in, go somewhere else, do something else, do anything else. Its not fun when we have to confess that we are poor miserable sinners. It's not fun to acknowledge and admit our unworthiness and our sinfulness. Our sinful flesh resists going to church!
We often become like those different types of soil that Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew: The well worn path – the hard hearted sinner who refuses to let the word of God penetrate his soul so that the host of devils that is always lurking around can easily steal the seeds of the the Gospel away. Or the rocky soil, that initially receives the Word of God with joy, yet when the Holy Spirit seeks to enter in to the private recesses of our hearts – we suddenly become hardened and attempt to keep him out so that when trials come we easily doubt and our faith is plucked out like recently sprouted seedling. Or the soil that is overgrown with weeds, that is - with the many distractions of worldly wealth and power so that the seed of the Gospel that has been sown suffers under the competition and is eventually choked out.
Yet God sends out the workers into the field – God sends out His pastors and preachers who proclaim his saving gospel of Jesus who died on the cross to save sinners. God sends out His people into the world who speak the gospel they have received so that every sinner receives the seed. The seed is thrown out recklessly and without reservation. We might think it wasteful to sow seeds on the highway or among the rocks, yet the Heavenly Master wants the seeds of faith, the seeds of the Gospel, the seeds of the Word of God to be thrown out, risking that they be wasted, because he knows where the cracks in pavement are. He directs those seed into those cracks where he waters them and makes them to grow. We always marvel when we see trees that grow up in the most unlikely of places, that somehow find nourishment on rocky cliffs and old parking lots and we wonder how they survive. Even more miraculous is the hardened sinner whose heart is changed so that it receives the Word of God in faith, so that it believes the Gospel, so that its roots are sent down into the deepest places of that sinner's heart to create a believer, to create a Christian.
God has done that very thing with you. As the rain and snow comes down from heaven and does not return without watering the earth, making it to grow and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so is the Word that goes out from the mouth of God. IT does not return to Him empty. It has gone where He has directed it. It has gone to your heart, it has created faith in your heart. It has caused you to believe.
At times this parable of Jesus can cause us some stress – what soil am I? I at times resist the Holy Spirit. I often refuse to allow Him access to my heart. I am easily distracted by the cares of this world. I think I will loose my faith. Your master gardener will not let you go so easily. He will water you. He will till you. He will fertilize you. He will produce a harvest from within you. So keep returning to the well. Keep placing yourself here where you will be watered. Keep coming back to the place where God offers his gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation and you will bear fruit for salvation. Not because of your work, but because of the work that Jesus has done in you.
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