Sexagesima

27 February 2011
Rev. Jon C. Olson
The sermon for last week is printed in this month’s newsletter. Had there been Divine Service last week, we would have heard that eternal life always remains a gift of God’s grace. We might even think of last week, Septuagesima, as “By Grace Alone” week.
Today, Sexagesima, some 60 days before Easter, the readings are meant to continue preparing our hearts for Lent. God’s Word is very realistic when by His Word He calls us to turn from all that is sin and death. His Word continues to give us the new life that was first poured out upon us at each one of our baptisms. So, combining last week’s message with this week’s could be, the only way for a person to to be saved “by Grace alone” is through the “Word alone”. It is important to understand some things about God’s Word. First, God’s Word is not just data or information in black and white type written words on a piece of paper waiting for someone to tell you what it means. The power of the Word of God does not depend upon our interpretation. Listen to how the Word is described throughout today’s readings.
In Isaiah we heard that just like the rain and the snow descends from heaven and don’t return without doing what they were sent to do, causing the earth to bud and supplying seed for the sower and bread for the eater – so is the Word that goes forth from the mouth of God. Listen to His promise: “It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.”

What a great, great promise God gives to His creation! His Word has the power to do what God sends it to do. When God created the world He said, “Let there be light, and there was light”. He sends His Word to you this very day to create and bring repentance to awaken and keep you in saving faith. The Word of God has the power in itself to do that. Think of how the Word is described in our second reading from Hebrews 4. The writer of Hebrews tells us to rest from our works as He ceased from His work of creating the whole universe and everything in it on the seventh day. Why should we rest from our works? Because then we are able to find our rest in God. So the writer to the Hebrews tells us how our rest is to be found:
For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Word of God doesn’t just describe things, it actually does things. In relation to our sin the Word of God stops us in our tracks by showing us that the intentions of our heart are often times sinful in ways that none of us ever dreamed possible. After all, as the Word of God tells us, “no creature is hidden from his sight but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.” (Hebrews 4:13) We are unable to dodge the fact that when we listen to God’s Word, when we do not stop it from sinking deep down inside, we are convicted and are guilty before God. And so, when honestly facing the fact of our sinfulness, we fall on our knees before Almighty God and beg for mercy. And the great thing, the greatest thing about our God is that His mercy endureth forever! His is a Mercy that He is always eager to pour out on you. That mercy comes to you by Grace alone through His Word alone. In the Parable of the Sower Jesus is quite reckless as the sower of the seed. He plants His Word into all kinds of soil, throwing it out for whoever will bother to hear it. But there is one thing that we cannot understand this side of heaven: not all who hear it end up being saved. So this logical question follows, if God’s Word has the power to do what it promises why won’t all people who hear it believe and do what it says?
Well, first of all, the Word of God is a gift. And you all know that gifts can be rejected. In today’s Gospel Jesus warns against that rejection. Like that Christmas present that you stand in line to return because you don’t like it. The problem of rejection is not with the Word of God, it is with the person receiving the gift. Make no mistake about it: the Word of God you hear has power. Every time it is read, preached, and heard, God the Holy Spirit is present and seeking to give the gift of repentant faith that clings to Christ. But a gift is remains a gift. And as a gift we can reject it. This rejection can happen in more ways than when a person doesn’t like what the Word of God has to say to them.
First, the Word of God can be rejected by inattentive listening. Just sitting in church and letting the Word enter into one ear and exit out the other. What’s really going on when this happens, Jesus says, is that Satan snatches the Word away before it can bear fruit, before it can do what it has the power to do. Before it can sink down into your mind and heart Satan snatches it away. If Satan can keep you day-dreaming or thinking about anything but the Word of God during church, he’s already won.
Then there’s the listening that hear and rejoices, believes and thanks God, and yet it’s only a good-time faith. When the bad-times come along – and they always do – the person lets go of the Word of God and their faith withers up and dies. One of the reasons for religously hearing God’s Word is to store up in your heart and mind those passages that will get your through the terrible times with faith in Jesus unharmed. The Word itself has the power to do it, provided we don’t shove it out of the way or let it go when times are good or bad. For example, as is often the case, God’s Word is cast aside when tragedy comes – people stop going to church, stop listening to the Word, and then they’re surprised when their faith grows weaker and weaker and finally dies. Remember: faith is NEVER something you can keep alive inside yourself. St. Paul says in Romans 10:17 “Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ.” Faith is created and sustained only from hearing and holding the Word of God alone. Next, our Lord reminds us that even folks who listen to the Word attentively, can still lose it, and so their faith, if they let it get crowded out of their lives. Pushed out and shoved aside by what? Jesus speaks of cares, riches, and pleasures of life. Cares and riches often go together: “But pastor, you know that we spend the weekend at the lake; our kids had ballgames; we have so little family together that we like to keep Sundays just for us.” The third commandment is not optional. God’s Word does not say to remember the Sabbath Day once in a while when it is convenient. “Gotta finish that project for work. No time for being in the Word this week between Divine Services.” Pleasures? "No time to read my Bible today; too busy shooting bad guys on the computer, or watching T.V., texting on my iPhone or messaging on Facebook." What do all these excuses have in common? This: the strangling, choking and minimizing of the Word of God, squeezing it into an ever smaller and smaller place in our lives until at last it disappears and we don’t hear it at all.
Lastly, Jesus tells us that it is possible to hear His Word in such a way that it bears abundant fruit. He describes hearts that hear and cling to the Word as honest, good and full of power to do what it says. How did those hearts get to be honest and good? Precisely by hearing and holding the Word.
We are all, at one time or another, all of these kinds of rocks. Many of us are very religious when it comes to Church attendance. Yet, if I asked you if you were in the Word at all during the week, many of us, myself included, would have to answer, “not as often as I should be”. Thanks be to God that salvation does not depend on what we do. Thanks be to God that salvation is by Grace alone. Thanks be to God that the Word of God is sent to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Thanks be to God salvation is through God’s Word alone. Lent comes soon: we will travel alongside Jesus to the City of Jerusalem. We will watch as He is betrayed and beaten for sins He did not commit, as a substitute for our sins. We will stand at the foot of the Cross and look upon Him as He is punished for the sin of the world—including the sin of taking God’s grace for granted. Thanks be to God that Jesus was also crucified for our not hearing the Word; thinking other things in life are more important than what the One who give us life has to say to us. He will bear those sins and all sins in His body. Yet, He does NOT die for us in order that we can rejoice in forgiveness and go on ignoring God’s Word or returning to His Word after being freed from sin to change what we don’t like about it. God forgives so that we grow into grateful and faithful hearers of the Word. He forgives in order to strengthen that faith which clings to God’s promises in Christ. He forgives in order for us to cling to His Words and learn His teachings. He forgives in order for you to bear the good fruit of a faithful witness and confession of faith to God. He forgives you and gives you courage and strength to share the witness of salvation in Christ and to love your neighbor in their need by your good works. Even right now, with all His heart, the God who created and formed you wants you to share in His unending life, to enjoy Him and His presence. The Word gives the gift of that presence now–as happens when the almighty Word of Jesus causes the bread and wine to be what He declares them: His body and blood, for the forgiveness of sins.
God speaks His Word. Only by His Word comes repentance and renewal. This Lenten season will you listen when He speaks to you? Will you let His Word have its way with you? Will you let it be planted inside of you and grow inside of you that you may rest in Your Savior until death and through death to a life that never ends? That’s what He wants and His Word has the power to do it. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Amen.