Dear friends in Christ.
When I was about 12 I became the grill master for our family. Though it started off rather slowly with only a few opportunities, I quickly embraced my new position because I loved everything about it. Though we didn’t have a gas grill, or even a Weber, I embraced every part of my task, but my favorite part was lighting the charcoal. Now, you have to understand, we didn’t use lighter fluid. We had a charcoal lighting cylinder type of thing. We placed crumpled newspaper on the bottom. Over the newspaper was a metal grate where we first put the charcoal we had used for the last grilling before we added the new stuff. I can still remember how fun it was to light the newspaper kindling and watch as the flames grew, lighting first the older charcoal before it light the new. I remember watching with amazement as the kindling gave way to glowing briquettes that eventually produced flames that leaped out of the top of that cylinder. Well, in the same way that I used to kindle the flames that cooked the food on our family’s grill, our Savior has kindled the flames of faith that we embrace in our hearts to this day, by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.
In fact, now that our Savior has done kindled the flame of faith in our hearts, our we hear our God calling on us to embrace the flame that Jesus kindled. To do that we want to take a closer look at our Gospel lesson in Luke 12:49-53, which can be found on page 1032 of your Bibles. As you’re turning to Luke 12:49 let me refresh your memories as to what has been going on. Though we’ve been studying chapter 12 for the last three weeks, we have not been wanting for good teaching. After all, it was in this chapter that Jesus warned us against all kinds of greed as he taught us to find our true wealth in the Lord our God. It was in this Chapter that we saw just how precious we are to the Lord our God and how the Lord invites us to rejoice as we look forward to the return of our Savior; knowing that our God has already given us the keys to the kingdom of heaven through faith in Jesus. Now, today, as Jesus continues his discourse with his disciples and the crowd of thousands he is revealing to us the very nature of his mission here on earth, and he is inviting each and every one of us to embrace the flame that Jesus himself kindled when he went to the cross. Let’s look at Luke 12:49-51 where Jesus is speaking and says: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.” (Luke 12:49–51, NIV)
As Jesus spoke to the thousands who had gathered to hear him, he revealed to them the very purpose of his mission here on earth. Though so many had thought of the Messiah as the great peace bringer who would bring an end to the Roman tyranny, re-establish the sovereignty of the Jewish Nation, and rule on the throne for many years, returning the glory days of David and Solomon along with the same level of peace and prosperity, Jesus clearly revealed that his mission was not an act of peace, but an act of war! Jesus mission was to infiltrate satan’s territory, to seek out the lost sheep of Israel, and to proclaim freedom for the captives. This is what Jesus had been doing for the last three years as he cut a path of destruction through satan’s territory. Not actual destruction, mind you, but spiritual destruction; for everywhere that Jesus went he proclaimed the gospel of salvation. He preached the harshest law against the self-righteous servants of satan who thought that they did not need Jesus; and he preached the sweetest gospel of forgiveness to those whom he rescued from satan’s grip; soothing their wounds with the salve of his grace. Now, with only a few months left, Jesus is already preparing himself for the final showdown, the final battle between himself and satan, our enemy—the battle where Jesus would light the fire that will cover the earth. Look back with me at what Jesus is saying in verses 49 and 50: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!” (Luke 12:49–50, NIV)
With only a few months before the conclusion of his earthly ministry, Jesus tells us that he is more than ready for the conclusion of his mission. He is more than ready to completely destroy satan’s power over us by his death and resurrection from the dead. This is the baptism of which Jesus speaks—his crucifixion where he would forgive the sins of the world, destroy the power of the devil, forever, and where he would kindle the flame that would burn in the hearts of every man and woman until the very last day. This is the flame that was struck when Jesus was crucified; the flame that burns in some hearts as the flame of faith and the flame that burns in other hearts as the flame of offense and unbelief. Though Jesus was by no means eager to see people turn against him in unbelief, he knew it was best to carry out his saving work so that some might believe, be freed from satan, be forgiven of their sins, and receive the gift of eternal life. Though Jesus was by no means eager for his disciples to suffer and be persecuted, he knew that the result of his death and resurrection would be that the message of salvation would be preached to all people. Though Jesus was by no means eager for us to suffer persecution and divisions because we have embraced the flame that Jesus kindled—the flame which now burns in our hearts as faith—he knew that we would find peace, comfort and strength in the message of salvation whenever we faced fiery persecution from those who do not believe. He knew that because we had embraced the flame of faith that Jesus himself had kindled in our hearts, we would take comfort in the knowledge that satan’s power had completely been destroyed. We would take comfort in the knowledge that our enemy no longer holds any power over us. We would take comfort in the knowledge that eternal life in heaven is waiting for us because Jesus’ death and resurrection has washed us clean of all our sins; lighting the flame of faith which we have embraced since we were little children!
The problem is, however, that even though we have embraced the flame of faith that Jesus has kindled in our hearts by his death and resurrection, there are many others who have not embraced it. Instead they have embraced the flame of offense and unbelief where Jesus is concerned, which is exactly what Jesus is speaking about in verses 51-53 of our lesson today. Let’s take a look at what Jesus is saying in Luke 12:51-53: “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51–53, NIV)
Sadly, this is exactly what we are seeing in our world today! We are seeing more and more divisions where Jesus is concerned. We are seeing more and more people who are embracing the flame of offense and unbelief. Though Jesus completely destroyed satan’s power when he went to the cross, satan still hasn’t given up! Unlike Lee who simply rode away after the surrender at Appomattox, satan has refused to surrender. Even though Jesus has completely forgiven all sin, satan continually works in the hearts and minds of people doing everything he can to cause people to take offense at the idea that 2000 years ago, some man died on a cross and rose again from the dead. Whenever the message of salvation through faith in Jesus comes up, he is right there whispering to the heart about how foolish it is to believe something like that. He is right there stoking the fires of logic against the idea that the death of some person could possibly forgive sins, because something like that is simply too easy to believe. He is right there in the brain, screaming about how difficult salvation truly is and that if we ever want to attain it we must get busy right now to make it happen for ourselves. Thus, more and more people each day embrace the flame of offense and unbelief rather than the flame of faith.
But what is even sadder still is that we see these very divisions coming to light in our own families! Some of you have seen your own children, who so firmly embraced the flame of faith begin to loosen their grip on that flame and allow the flame of doubt and offense to take up at least partial residence in their hearts soon after the day of their Confirmation. Some of you have seen teens on our own families begin to question the value of worship, fight against their need to go and be bored for an hour by the Word of God, and even begin to keep themselves from fueling the flame of faith that Jesus kindled in their hearts. Some of you have watched your children leave the nest for school or work knowing that now it is up to them to make the decision to embrace the flame of their faith or to allow the flame of offense and unbelief to grow in their hearts. Some of you have seen your adult children change as they began embracing the flame of offense and unbelief. Some of you have faced the frustration of divisions between you and your children or you and your family because these very divisions have taken hold and not every member of your family is embracing that flame of faith that you hold so dear. Some of you may even be at your wits end because of the heart ache you feel for your family, your children, or even your relatives and you are worried about what you can do. Some of you may even be angry with the Lord for allowing such terrible divisions to come from the flame he kindled when he went to the cross.
If you have ever faced divisions like these, or if you’ve ever been worried that they might happen to you, allow me to share with you an illustration of God’s faithfulness to encourage you as you embrace the flame of faith that God himself kindled in your hearts. This illustration comes from a sermon by James MacDonald, which I’m sure that God saw to it that I heard when I was running errands so that I could share it with you. (Clip)
Though some of you may be facing divisions in your families, always remember the faithfulness of our God. Though some of you may be facing difficulties with children who are beginning to embrace the flame of offense rather than the flame of faith, place them in the Lord’s hands through prayer. And trust what the Lord has to say. Look back at Luke 12:52-53 with me one more time, and as we read pay attention to what Jesus does not say. “From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:52–53, NIV)
Though our Savior tells us that divisions like these can come into our lives, he does not say that they are permanent. He does not say that once the flame of offense and unbelief begins to grow in your heart forever will it dominate your destiny. He also gives us the very weapons we can use against divisions like this. For even before we face divisions like these we need to live our faith as an example to our families, to our children, and even to others. We need to speak with our children and teach them the precious truths of salvation so that as proverbs says, “when they are old they will not turn from it.” We need to encourage our children as they grow, especially if they begin to fall from their secure footing of salvation. We need to pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, and pray for ourselves, for our children, for our families, for our friends, for those who are slipping, for those who are struggling to hold on to the flame of faith, for those who have begun to embrace the flame of offense and unbelief, for those who have fallen away from the faith completely, and especially for those who have not yet heard the message of salvation. We need to do this so that our Savior might kindle or rekindle the flame of faith in the hearts of those who are struggling, fallen away or who have never heard the message so that they too can live in the salvation that Jesus won for them and once again embrace the flame of faith that he first kindled in their hearts.
So, dear friends, heed the invitation of your God to embrace the flame of faith that Jesus has kindled in your hearts. Embrace it in the same way that I embraced the task of grilling and lighting the charcoal for my family. Embrace it, feed it, and watch it grow into an all consuming flame of faith; one which you will never set aside or let go of, ever.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church,--Le Sueur, MN
Showing posts with label satan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label satan. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Listen to the Word of God (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23)
Dear friends in Christ.
When I was growing up, my mom was an avid follower of the TV show M*A*S*H*. Each week she made time to watch the new episodes as they came out, and then, when the re-runs began airing each afternoon on channel 9, she could be found watching them as she had the opportunity. It was because of her love for the show that I found myself constantly watching the show. Though I can’t say I was ever as big a fan as she was, because of the pattern of viewing M*A*S*H* episodes every afternoon, I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen most of the episodes. In fact, of all the episodes aired in the afternoons, the one I remember the most is the episode where Alan Alda’s character, Hawkeye Pierce, temporarily lost his eyesight. At first, he was scared and angry that he had lost his eyesight because a gas from a heater stove had flared back in his face, and he was worried that he might never regain his eyesight. Yet, as the episode went on he began using his other senses in ways he had never used them before; especially his hearing. In fact, in one conversation with his tent mate, he told how he had grown to simply love listening. He had spent the entire morning just sitting and listening to the rain as it fell. As he listened, he heard the different textures of sounds as the rain fell on the canvass of the tent and splashed into puddles. He even spoke about how funny it was to hear the sounds of someone slipping in the mud, falling, and splashing into a puddle. Because he wasn’t able to use his eyes, he began relying on his ears and he focused on intently listening to the world around him.
When it comes to God’s Word, we could take a lesson from this episode of M*A*S*H*. For the truth is, there are times when each and every one of us needs to lose our eyesight for the word of God, so to speak, so that we are forced to pay attention and listen to what the Lord has to say to us in his word. For the truth is, so often we see what the Lord has to say, or we hear what he has to say, but we don’t really pay attention, because in some ways, God’s Word has become something that we take for granted, as many of us take our eyesight for granted. Sometimes, it seems that what we really need to do is take time to close the eyes of our sinful logic and actively listen to what the Lord is telling us with his Word.
As we study the Word of God before us today, I invite you to do just that. I invite you to close the eyes of your logic and reason as you actively listen to the Word of God with me by opening your Bibles to our Gospel lesson today, which can be found on page 968. Now, as we read just a few minutes ago, Matthew 13 is the very familiar account of Jesus teaching the crowds of people by the Sea of Galilee. It was one of those days that so many people had gathered to hear the Word of God that Jesus had to step into a boat and push off from shore a little ways so that he could be certain that the people would be able to hear what he was saying, because as he spoke the words of the parable to them. He was telling them exactly why it was so important for them to listen to the Word of God. We read in verse 3 and 4 of Matthew 13: “A farmer went out to sow his seed and as he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up” (Matthew 13:3,4).
As you know, farmers no longer walk up and down their fields scattering seeds. Instead we see them driving their tractors up and down, planting something like 16 rows at a time. But not even this guarantees complete safety for the seeds as you can often see flocks of birds circling the skies over a field that is being planted. You can watch as those birds start flying right behind the planter, land in the field and snatch up any of the seeds that they can after the planter has gone by. This is the danger that Jesus is warning us against as he calls on us to listen to the Word of God. As Jesus says in verse 19: Jump down to verse 19 with me and listen to Jesus’ explanation. He says, “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path,” (Matthew 13:19).
In the same way that the birds longed to snatch the seeds form the sower, so also satan is always eager snatch the gospel away from us. That is his goal right now, even this morning, as the Word of God is being sown into your hearts. He is eagerly seeking ways to keep you from listening to the Word of God this morning so that he can snatch it away from you. He is looking for ways that he can snatch it away from you so that you will not hear it and will not grow in your faith and be strengthened in your faith. And yet, this is not his only goal. Though satan is patient and constantly seeking ways to distract us and snatch the Word from us, he also knows that he won’t be able to snatch it away from every one. He knows that there will be many in whose hearts the Word of God will be planted because they have listened to that Word, so for them he forms other plans. These are the plans that Jesus explains to us in verse 5-7 of chapter 13: Jesus tells us, “Some [seeds] fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants,” (Matthew 13:5-7).
I’d be willing to bet that you’ve noticed things like this as you drove passed different fields. Perhaps you’ve noticed a spot in a field of corn, or wheat, or soybeans that was a whole lot shorter than the rest of the field. Maybe it was a spot in the field that was simply dead. Though you could tell that the crops had once been thriving there, now there was nothing left, or if there was anything left it was just a huge patch of weeds. Again, these are descriptions of what satan longs to do to our faith when we take time to listen to the Word. As Jesus explains in verse 20-22 of chapter 13: Jesus says, beginning with verse 20: “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful,” (Matthew 13:20-22).
Because we have listened to the Word of God and faith has been planted in our hearts, our crafty adversary will stop at nothing to destroy that faith. He will do everything he can, use every weapon in his arsenal, as he seeks to scorch our faith with hardship and choke it out with temptations. How often haven’t we felt the scorching heat of sickness, broken bones, terminal illness, job loss, financial troubles, bankruptcies and all the other hardships that seek to cause us to stop listening to God’s Word and doubt his love and promises? How often hasn’t satan sought to wither our faith as even our most trusted friends turn against us and laugh at us for belonging to a church like Grace? How often haven’t we been surprised by how many weeds satan has planted in our hearts; weeds that he hopes will wind their roots around the roots of our faith to choke it out from beneath even as its quick growth is designed to keep our faith from the light of God’s Word? How often don’t those weeds begin as simple little weeds that quickly grow into huge weeds of worries and despair that grow so dense all we hear is the rustling of our problems and we are long longer listening to the Word of God?
These are but a few of the ways that satan is constantly trying to distract us from the Word of God so that he can destroy our faith, and these are the very reasons why we need to be continually listening to the Word of God. We need to be continually listening to the Word of God, because it is God’s Word alone that strengthens our faith in our Savior and enables us to guard against our enemy. We need to be constantly listening to the Word of God for the strengthening of our faith as well as the comfort we receive in knowing that we belong to the Lord who has freed us from our sins, and will one day gather us into the store houses of heaven along with the rest of the harvest. Let’s take a closer look at that very assurance that the Lord gives us in verse 8 of Matthew 13: Jesus tells us: “Still other seed fell on the good soil where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown,” (Matthew 13:8).
If you’ve ever driven through the United States of America, you would have noticed that each state seems to have a different color soil. In Wisconsin the soil color varies from reddish-brown to sandy-brown. Down in Southern states like Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia you will often find soil with a reddish hue. Over in South Dakota they have some good dark colored soil, but I still haven’t found dark rich soil like we have here in Minnesota. Now, you can say that I’m biased, having grown up here, but truthfully, I have never seen any richer soil than what we have right here. This is the kind of soil that produces not merely abundant cops but often times produces a super abundance of what is planted in it. This is the kind of soil that our Savior is speaking about in his parable, and this is the type of soil into which the seed of the word was planted when it was planted into our hearts. Just as Jesus tells us in verse 23, “the one who received the seed that fell on the good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it,” (Matthew 13:23).
Though satan continually seeks to scorch our faith and choke it out with weeds of sorrow and temptation, Jesus assures us that we who have listened to his Word, have had that Word planted in the rich soil of our hearts and it has been growing there ever since. Now that the Lord has planted the seed of faith in our hearts, Jesus calls on us to be constantly listening to his Word, because it is that Word which waters our faith so it will grow. It is God’s Word that pulls out all the weeds that satan plants in our hearts so that our faith might stretch toward the light of the Word and continue to grow. It is the Word of God that continually cultivates the soil of our hearts so that the roots of our faith can grow down deep, so that not even the windstorm of satan’s temptations can uproot our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.
So as you continue on in your Christian service, continue to listen to the Word of God. Make God’s Word a priority for your lives and set aside time each day to read it, study it, meditate on it, and listen to it. In the same way that Hawkeye Pierce was forced to utilize his other senses, especially his sense of listening, when he was accidentally blinded, so also we need to take time each day to close the eyes of our human logic and reason and open our ears to listen to the sweet message of the Gospel. When we do this there may be times when we will be surprised to hear what the Lord is saying, there will be times when we are shocked. There will be times when we will be convicted. But every time we read we will find comfort in the gospel, assurance of the forgiveness of sins, and the comfort that comes from knowing we are God’s people destined for the harvest home of heaven.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
When I was growing up, my mom was an avid follower of the TV show M*A*S*H*. Each week she made time to watch the new episodes as they came out, and then, when the re-runs began airing each afternoon on channel 9, she could be found watching them as she had the opportunity. It was because of her love for the show that I found myself constantly watching the show. Though I can’t say I was ever as big a fan as she was, because of the pattern of viewing M*A*S*H* episodes every afternoon, I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen most of the episodes. In fact, of all the episodes aired in the afternoons, the one I remember the most is the episode where Alan Alda’s character, Hawkeye Pierce, temporarily lost his eyesight. At first, he was scared and angry that he had lost his eyesight because a gas from a heater stove had flared back in his face, and he was worried that he might never regain his eyesight. Yet, as the episode went on he began using his other senses in ways he had never used them before; especially his hearing. In fact, in one conversation with his tent mate, he told how he had grown to simply love listening. He had spent the entire morning just sitting and listening to the rain as it fell. As he listened, he heard the different textures of sounds as the rain fell on the canvass of the tent and splashed into puddles. He even spoke about how funny it was to hear the sounds of someone slipping in the mud, falling, and splashing into a puddle. Because he wasn’t able to use his eyes, he began relying on his ears and he focused on intently listening to the world around him.
When it comes to God’s Word, we could take a lesson from this episode of M*A*S*H*. For the truth is, there are times when each and every one of us needs to lose our eyesight for the word of God, so to speak, so that we are forced to pay attention and listen to what the Lord has to say to us in his word. For the truth is, so often we see what the Lord has to say, or we hear what he has to say, but we don’t really pay attention, because in some ways, God’s Word has become something that we take for granted, as many of us take our eyesight for granted. Sometimes, it seems that what we really need to do is take time to close the eyes of our sinful logic and actively listen to what the Lord is telling us with his Word.
As we study the Word of God before us today, I invite you to do just that. I invite you to close the eyes of your logic and reason as you actively listen to the Word of God with me by opening your Bibles to our Gospel lesson today, which can be found on page 968. Now, as we read just a few minutes ago, Matthew 13 is the very familiar account of Jesus teaching the crowds of people by the Sea of Galilee. It was one of those days that so many people had gathered to hear the Word of God that Jesus had to step into a boat and push off from shore a little ways so that he could be certain that the people would be able to hear what he was saying, because as he spoke the words of the parable to them. He was telling them exactly why it was so important for them to listen to the Word of God. We read in verse 3 and 4 of Matthew 13: “A farmer went out to sow his seed and as he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up” (Matthew 13:3,4).
As you know, farmers no longer walk up and down their fields scattering seeds. Instead we see them driving their tractors up and down, planting something like 16 rows at a time. But not even this guarantees complete safety for the seeds as you can often see flocks of birds circling the skies over a field that is being planted. You can watch as those birds start flying right behind the planter, land in the field and snatch up any of the seeds that they can after the planter has gone by. This is the danger that Jesus is warning us against as he calls on us to listen to the Word of God. As Jesus says in verse 19: Jump down to verse 19 with me and listen to Jesus’ explanation. He says, “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path,” (Matthew 13:19).
In the same way that the birds longed to snatch the seeds form the sower, so also satan is always eager snatch the gospel away from us. That is his goal right now, even this morning, as the Word of God is being sown into your hearts. He is eagerly seeking ways to keep you from listening to the Word of God this morning so that he can snatch it away from you. He is looking for ways that he can snatch it away from you so that you will not hear it and will not grow in your faith and be strengthened in your faith. And yet, this is not his only goal. Though satan is patient and constantly seeking ways to distract us and snatch the Word from us, he also knows that he won’t be able to snatch it away from every one. He knows that there will be many in whose hearts the Word of God will be planted because they have listened to that Word, so for them he forms other plans. These are the plans that Jesus explains to us in verse 5-7 of chapter 13: Jesus tells us, “Some [seeds] fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants,” (Matthew 13:5-7).
I’d be willing to bet that you’ve noticed things like this as you drove passed different fields. Perhaps you’ve noticed a spot in a field of corn, or wheat, or soybeans that was a whole lot shorter than the rest of the field. Maybe it was a spot in the field that was simply dead. Though you could tell that the crops had once been thriving there, now there was nothing left, or if there was anything left it was just a huge patch of weeds. Again, these are descriptions of what satan longs to do to our faith when we take time to listen to the Word. As Jesus explains in verse 20-22 of chapter 13: Jesus says, beginning with verse 20: “The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful,” (Matthew 13:20-22).
Because we have listened to the Word of God and faith has been planted in our hearts, our crafty adversary will stop at nothing to destroy that faith. He will do everything he can, use every weapon in his arsenal, as he seeks to scorch our faith with hardship and choke it out with temptations. How often haven’t we felt the scorching heat of sickness, broken bones, terminal illness, job loss, financial troubles, bankruptcies and all the other hardships that seek to cause us to stop listening to God’s Word and doubt his love and promises? How often hasn’t satan sought to wither our faith as even our most trusted friends turn against us and laugh at us for belonging to a church like Grace? How often haven’t we been surprised by how many weeds satan has planted in our hearts; weeds that he hopes will wind their roots around the roots of our faith to choke it out from beneath even as its quick growth is designed to keep our faith from the light of God’s Word? How often don’t those weeds begin as simple little weeds that quickly grow into huge weeds of worries and despair that grow so dense all we hear is the rustling of our problems and we are long longer listening to the Word of God?
These are but a few of the ways that satan is constantly trying to distract us from the Word of God so that he can destroy our faith, and these are the very reasons why we need to be continually listening to the Word of God. We need to be continually listening to the Word of God, because it is God’s Word alone that strengthens our faith in our Savior and enables us to guard against our enemy. We need to be constantly listening to the Word of God for the strengthening of our faith as well as the comfort we receive in knowing that we belong to the Lord who has freed us from our sins, and will one day gather us into the store houses of heaven along with the rest of the harvest. Let’s take a closer look at that very assurance that the Lord gives us in verse 8 of Matthew 13: Jesus tells us: “Still other seed fell on the good soil where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown,” (Matthew 13:8).
If you’ve ever driven through the United States of America, you would have noticed that each state seems to have a different color soil. In Wisconsin the soil color varies from reddish-brown to sandy-brown. Down in Southern states like Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia you will often find soil with a reddish hue. Over in South Dakota they have some good dark colored soil, but I still haven’t found dark rich soil like we have here in Minnesota. Now, you can say that I’m biased, having grown up here, but truthfully, I have never seen any richer soil than what we have right here. This is the kind of soil that produces not merely abundant cops but often times produces a super abundance of what is planted in it. This is the kind of soil that our Savior is speaking about in his parable, and this is the type of soil into which the seed of the word was planted when it was planted into our hearts. Just as Jesus tells us in verse 23, “the one who received the seed that fell on the good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it,” (Matthew 13:23).
Though satan continually seeks to scorch our faith and choke it out with weeds of sorrow and temptation, Jesus assures us that we who have listened to his Word, have had that Word planted in the rich soil of our hearts and it has been growing there ever since. Now that the Lord has planted the seed of faith in our hearts, Jesus calls on us to be constantly listening to his Word, because it is that Word which waters our faith so it will grow. It is God’s Word that pulls out all the weeds that satan plants in our hearts so that our faith might stretch toward the light of the Word and continue to grow. It is the Word of God that continually cultivates the soil of our hearts so that the roots of our faith can grow down deep, so that not even the windstorm of satan’s temptations can uproot our faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.
So as you continue on in your Christian service, continue to listen to the Word of God. Make God’s Word a priority for your lives and set aside time each day to read it, study it, meditate on it, and listen to it. In the same way that Hawkeye Pierce was forced to utilize his other senses, especially his sense of listening, when he was accidentally blinded, so also we need to take time each day to close the eyes of our human logic and reason and open our ears to listen to the sweet message of the Gospel. When we do this there may be times when we will be surprised to hear what the Lord is saying, there will be times when we are shocked. There will be times when we will be convicted. But every time we read we will find comfort in the gospel, assurance of the forgiveness of sins, and the comfort that comes from knowing we are God’s people destined for the harvest home of heaven.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Le Sueur, MN
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