God's Word Works
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| "The Sower" by Eugene Bernand |
Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
In our
readings today, we have a paradox. God’s Word is all-powerful and yet can be
resisted. These truths seem to contradict one another. If God’s Word is
all-powerful, then it seems that it cannot be resisted. If God’s Word can be
resisted, then it must not be all-powerful, right? Yet our readings today call
us as Christians to believe this paradox: God’s Word is all-powerful and can be
resisted.
When you
hear the Old Testament reading from Isaiah, you see how God’s Word is
all-powerful. Using natural imagery, Isaiah proclaims God accomplishes what God
wants through His Word. “For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do
not return there but water the earth… so shall My Word be… it shall not return
to Me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose” (Isaiah 55:10-11).
God’s Word is all-powerful, and God accomplishes what He desires with it.
Yet, in
the Gospel reading, Jesus tells the parable of the sower and teaches His
disciples that God’s all-powerful Word can be resisted. The sower goes out to
sow and some of the seeds are snatched away, some are scorched, and some are
choked. Only a portion of the seed produces grain.
When
you hold these two readings together, you encounter a paradox of faith. God
speaks an all-powerful Word that can be resisted. This is an important paradox
for us to meditate on because it helps us make sense of the tension we see in
the ministry of Jesus, both in the Gospel of Matthew and in our lives today.
The seed is the Word of
God. And the different kinds of ground are the different types of hearers. The
seed that falls on the beaten down path and is quickly gobbled up by the birds
is illustrative of the Word which is proclaimed and never received in faith.
Satan comes and takes away the message about the Kingdom of God that Jesus is
proclaiming and His hearers never understand it or even begin to believe it.
The shallow, rocky
ground describes the person who gladly hears the Word of God and believes it.
He is very enthusiastic about being received into God’s Kingdom and into
membership in a Christian congregation. He expects that his Christian faith
will exempt him from the troubles that other people experience in this life. He
looks for success and prosperity, good health and uninterrupted happiness. (Sad
to say, there are some false prophets who lure people into their church by
giving them such false hopes.) But then reality strikes. Troubles, which are an
inescapable part of living as sinful people in a fallen world come into this
person’s life. Or hardships are inflicted upon him because of his Christian
faith. Unprepared for such trials, he gives up his faith without much of a
struggle.
Thorns represent “the
worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth.” The seed sown among
thorns grows for a while but never really thrives. This kind of hearer is still
too concerned about material things and the problems of this life. He has great
difficulty trusting God to provide for all his bodily needs. He imagines that
if he can only accumulate enough money and all the good things that money can
buy, then he will be perfectly happy. If he gets rich and still is not happy,
he imagines that the solution is to get even richer, and he never has enough. If
he fails to get rich, he may still pin his hopes on what money supposedly could
accomplish for him. Mammon is his god, and he becomes Mammon’s slave, so he
never produces fruits of faith to glorify God.
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| "The Sower" by Eugene Bernand |
Some of the seed falls into good soil. Some hear the Word and understand and believe it, and they produce abundant fruits of faith, such as good works, and the sharing of God's Word with others. In this way, the seed of the Word literally is multiplied 30 or 60 or 100 times or more.
So, the parable of the
sower describes the various ways in which people who hear God’s Word respond to
it. We can easily see that it is an accurate description. But what is the
benefit of hearing this parable? Is it just to enable us to pre-qualify our
evangelism prospects? To enable us to classify people as hard or shallow or
thorny ground? No, God’s Word works when and where He desires. Is the parable telling
us that people are inherently different and that some simply are more receptive
to the Word of God when they hear it? No, the Bible makes it very clear that by
nature it is foolishness to natural man. When people hear the Gospel and
believe it, it is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit, a gift of God. On the
other hand, when some hear the Gospel and reject it, that is entirely their own
fault.
That doesn’t sound
reasonable or fair to our human minds, but that is what God says, and we leave it
at that. Any attempts on our part to logically explain this mystery of “why
some are saved and not others” only leads to our denial or rejection of other
clear Bible truths. So, we simply marvel at the grace of God that saved us when
we were as bad as all the rest of sinful humanity, and we look for ways to
express our deep gratitude to our gracious God.
Jesus’ teaching in this
parable is an important antidote to a simplistic application of “church growth”
principles in our own day, principles that border on “marketing” the Church in
such a way that it gives the impression that the growth of the Church is predictable
and within our control. There is nothing wrong with careful long-range planning,
larger parking lots, or working hard to understand the people to whom you are
trying to reach out. These are good First Article gifts. But we must always
remember that it is the Word of God that makes disciples. Sometimes that Word takes
root and produces a harvest, often it does not.
The ministry of the Son
of God Himself met with widespread rejection, animosity, and lethal opposition.
Should we expect better results? The parable of the sower teaches us a sobering
reality. You can be right, you can do right, and you can get it right in your
participation in the ministry of Jesus, who is present as baptizing and the teaching
of His Word continues—and still for many, many people to whom you minister,
there will be no faith, no understanding, no discipleship. God has to give the revelation
to the people, and they have to keep their eyes and ears, heart and mind open.
So,
this paradox Jesus offers His disciples, that God has an all-powerful Word
which can be resisted, is not just an intellectual exercise. It is a spiritual
reality. They have seen the Word of God cast out demons, still storms, and heal
withered hands, but they have also seen the powers of government, religious
institution, and indeed the Devil himself oppose such work. How are they to
respond? In this parable, Jesus offers an encouraging word: God’s Word works,
even in the face of opposition. God’s Word will bear fruit.
Such
words are powerful for us today. Christianity no longer has the status it once
had in our cultural setting. While some might remember the good God has done through
the Church, others attack our beliefs as destructive of a common, public life. In
newsfeeds and Facebook posts, they make accusations that Christianity has been
used to subjugate women, to silence science, to foster racism, to fuel
homophobia, or that is has been used to cultivate self-loathing and a lack of
initiative through calls for repentance and humility. Such responses
demonstrate hearts that resist the words and works of Jesus.
In such
a world, it is easy to wonder how long we can go on. Jesus, however, offers us
an encouraging word. His parable acknowledges our reality. God’s Word can and
will be resisted. We are not missing the right communication techniques, the
appropriate public relations programs, or the gifted evangelists and
missionaries who will turn everything around. No, we proclaim an all-powerful
Word that can be resisted. And we know in our own lives, in great detail,
the power of such resistance.
But… Jesus
reminds us… but God does have an all-powerful Word. Rather than retreat
into the safe havens of our congregations, rather than hide our faith from
public notice, Jesus encourages us to trust in the Spirit’s work through the
Word. Even through this Word can be resisted, it remains all-powerful and will
accomplish the growth God desires in His Kingdom.
Jesus
is the Word made flesh, who encountered deadly resistance. He died under the
attacks of this world upon God’s Word. But God raised Him from the dead and
Jesus sent forth His people proclaiming His Word, bringing the Kingdom of God
to the ends of the world. We cannot control the resistance of people to God’s
Word, but we can trust in God’s power and promise to work through His Word. We
can continue to joyfully sow that Word here and abroad.
So,
this parable of the sower does not call us to turn our attention inward, to
examine our hearts and question, “What kind of soil am I?” No, this parable
turns our eyes outward, to the public conflicts of our world. It asks us to
look out the windows of our churches and see how the Word is being stolen from
some by Satan, how it is being scorched among others who begin to follow but fall
away, and how it is being choked out by those who would rather have the
pleasures of plenty than the poverty of the Kingdom.
But if
we continue to look out the windows and see all the suffering and resistance,
we will soon see a familiar figure walking on the distant horizon. Jesus, the
sower, continuing to walk amid such great opposition, and continuing to speak
His Word and do His work, trusting that, even though it is being resisted, this
is still God’s all-powerful Word and it brings about His Kingdom, where and
when God desires.
Go in
the peace of the Lord and serve your neighbor with joy. You are forgiven for
all of your sins.
In the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless otherwise
indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard
Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good
News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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