July 23, 2023         Text:  Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Dear Friends in Christ,

During June when we got very little rain our grass did not grow.  But did you notice what else didn’t grow?  The weeds.  Very little yard work was needed.  No spraying, no pulling.  The weeds were dormant.  Once the rains came and the grass started coming, here came the weeds.  After finishing mowing, the next minutes were spent pulling weeds.  You too?

That is the point of our parable in Matthew’s gospel.  Along with the good seed of wheat there have to be weeds.  Sometimes that is hard for us to take.  Why does it have to be that way?  Let’s let Jesus explain.  

“PATIENCE . . . HIS HARVEST IS COMING”

The weeds are growing.  Love of possessions, godless ideologies, false beliefs, misguided thoughts on marriage, the church, the family.  More and more weeds keep popping up.  Are they going to overtake everything?

Even more dangerous weeds are the false theologies of the church.  Alternate ways to heaven, clergy that aren’t clergy, the prosperity gospel, keeping the law.  These all turn people away from Christ and His work.  Many of us have been to other churches, with Christian in their name and they barely mention Christ.  How can that be?  Weeds!

How do we deal with the weeds?  Some of us want to be weed-whackers.  We figure it is up to us to give these charlatans a good spray of Roundup.  It is true we do not want to aid or even passively accept what we see in society or the church.  We are encouraged to speak the truth.  We are expected to witness for Christ and His Word.  We are to take a stand on the Lutheran Confessions as we have been catechized.

Jesus though gives us a warning.  Don’t become an out of control weed-whacker.  It is not up to us.  The master of the house tells the servant to let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest.  Because of the intertwining roots, if we start pulling up the weeds, we will also pull up the wheat.  Now is not the time to act, but to wait, to be patient, to suffer the difficulties with hope until the harvest arrives.  The Greek compound verb “grow together” is found only in this verse of the Bible.  It serves to underline again how intermeshed the weeds and wheat have become during their growth, as a result of the enemy’s clever strategy.  Yet, we know that the strategy will fail.

With this assurance, we who live and work and serve in the Lord’s Kingdom can continue to be confident of what we do.  In spite of the fiercest opponents, the naysayers, the lying teachers and those taking the wrong path, we know that the Lord’s harvest will come according to His will and Word.  Patience, my child.

Ok, Pastor, but “what about all the damage and loss the church is undergoing as these weeds grow?”  It is reasonable to feel anxious at times, but again look to the parable and what the Lord says.  God will do the judging.  “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (v. 41-42)

He knows all and sees all and He will do the weeding.  After all, He is the one who from eternity devised the plan, the only plan, that could save any of us.  We all deserved to be uprooted and thrown into the fire.  Our weed like behavior can infest others.  But God sent his Son to take our fiery torment, to suffer the pains of hell for us at the Calvary.  Because Jesus has paid for the sin of everyone, God will allow no one to be uprooted until the last stalk of wheat has been brought to saving faith. 

Our impatience can get the best of us.  You might think that Satan and the weeds are choking the harvest.  You want action, but see you aren’t God.  This is part of our spiritual test.  How patient can you be?  The day of redemption is coming.  God will not, I repeat will not tolerate evil indefinitely.  It is up to Him to bring in the harvest and separate the weeds from the wheat.  The reformers suffered evil and falsehood in the Church even more than us.  They in fact refer to this parable in the Augsburg Confession.  They knew as we need to acknowledge that there are hypocrites and wolfs in sheep clothing who mix with true believers in the Lord’s Church here on earth.  God will judge them for who they are.  It is not your job or your place.

We have to fight the urge to pull all the weeds.  When working in our yards, do we ever get all of them?  Never.  It is the same with the weeds in our world.  The devil is evil.  People buy into the lies.  Mankind has always had opposition to Christ.  Have confidence, Christian men and women.  The Lord teaches us to wait patiently . . . knowing that His harvest is coming.

Amen.     

July 16, 2023 Text:  Isaiah 55:10-13

Dear Friends in Christ,

This little gem of a news story is over 35 years old.  “Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin reported to the Senate that the Department of Transportation had squandered $225,000 (a pittance by today’s dollars) on a study forecasting the transportation needs in 2025.  Proxmire pointed out this study took the entire federal tax payments of more than 120 of his Wisconsin constituents.  And for what?  To produce findings like these:  1). If there is a new Ice Age, a lot of people will have to move to the South or Southwest; 2). If people start having a lot of kids again, there will be increased demand for transportation services for them.  (What an Einstein to figure that out).

Human wisdom?  Things have only gotten worse since then.  When you think of human reasoning is it any wonder how mixed-up critics who twist and distort historical fact to demean the Word of God are?

Aren’t we glad for the strength and clarity of God’s Word?

“NOW A WORD FROM THE WORD”

Communication is always a problem.  Do you think there are more problems with the way we say things or the way we hear them?  Listening to me is the bigger problem.  We don’t concentrate enough to be interested.  We tune out.  I’ve talked with many politicians in my day and many of them, not all, have this way of conversing with you, but I always feel their mind is elsewhere when you talk to them.  God’s Word is clear.  His words are always right.  It is our Creator speaking to us:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water to 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.” (v. 10-11)

Scripture takes us to the very Word Himself – Jesus.  “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (Jn. 1:1 & 14). The Word bled and died for all human sin – rose from the grave – secured our Heaven.  In the Word, God communicates His love and mercy to us.

Haven’t we seen the power of rain in the last few weeks?  I was out in the country the other night and there were tassels on the corn!  Those stalks just took off with the recent rain.  That is what God’s Word does.  It causes growth.  When we are in the Word our Christian faith can take off, we sprout, we grow.  

The Word can also convict us of sin.  It keeps us in check, so we don’t become self-righteous.  Michael Green tells a story that illustrates the convicting power of the Word:

“In a frontier settlement in the west the people were engaged in the lumber business.  The town wanted a church, so they built one and called a minister.  The preacher was well received until one day he saw some of his parishioners out at the river pulling in some logs from another village upstream.  Each log was marked with the owner’s stamp on one end.  To his distress, the Pastor saw his member sawing off the end where the telltale stamp appeared.

“The next Sunday, he prepared a forceful sermon on the text, ‘Thou shalt not steal.’  At the close of the service, the people lined up and thanked him for a wonderful message.  However, that next week he continued to see his parishioners stealing the logs.  He was bothered.  So, he went home and worked on a sermon for the following Sunday.  The topic was ‘Thou shalt not cut off the end of thy neighbor’s logs.’  When he got through, the church membership ran him out of town.”

The Word either convicts to repentance or to eternal damnation.  People today still walk away when the Word is properly applied.  The Word is not just there to make us feel bad.  Its purpose is to confront us with our weaknesses and bad decisions.  It jolts us from our spiritual lethargy and points us to Jesus as the One who has paid the price for our wrongs.  We need this each and every day.

The Word is full of hope and promises.  You know the spiritually uplifting words, “it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.”  What is God’s purpose for us?  “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions…and remembers your sins no more.”  (Is. 43:25).  Or listen to this:  “For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear, I will help you.” (Is. 41:13)

“The Cynics Guide to Life” did a spoof on familiar cliches concerning life.  “I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows…and a foundation leaks and a ball game get rained out.”  “Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead.  Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow…Do not walk beside me, either, just leave me alone”

They express how we feel at times and the “just leave me alone” most of all.  But listen, the Word of God has a wonderful way of lifting the heart from the pit of upset, despair, and uncertainty.  It directs us to Christ, and He draws us to the love of God; to comfort and guide now and to give joy someday when we have eternal life.  

It is always uplifting to have A WORD FROM THE WORD.

Amen.