Sexagesima Sunday – Vicar Lehne sermon
Text: St. Luke 8:4-15

In Christ Jesus, who never gives up on us, dear fellow redeemed:

When we hear the parable of the sower, we can easily focus on how each type of bad ground was described and wonder, “Well, what did the sower think was going to happen?” If you throw seed onto a path, of course it isn’t going to take root, but be trampled and devoured by birds. If you throw seed onto rocks, of course it isn’t going to have a deep enough root to get the moisture it needs to grow. If you throw seed among thorns, of course the thorns will grow up with the seed and choke it. But the picture that Jesus is using in this parable actually describes things that the people at that time would be familiar with.

Before the farmers did any sowing, the field was first plowed to break up the soil. After the plowing was done, the entire field would appear to be good soil, but that was not the case. Some parts of the field only had a thin layer of soil on the top with a layer of rock beneath it. Some parts of the field ended up growing thorny weeds along with the seed, weeds that can pop up anywhere no matter how much a person tries to protect their crops from them. Plus, as a sower threw his seed out onto the field, some of the seed would undoubtedly fall on the paths of soil that were packed down from people walking on them.

Jesus uses these relatable struggles of farming to teach us that God generously sows the seed of his Word in every type of heart, not just the hearts that are the most ideal, because God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). But not everyone who receives his Word is saved. Some people hear the Word, but their hearts are hard like the packed down soil of a path that runs through a field. So, the Word doesn’t take root in their hearts and is plucked away by the devil. Some people hear the Word, and the Word fills them with joy. They appear to be strong Christians on the surface, but in reality, their faith is shallow, like a thin layer of soil on top of a layer of rock. Their faith is unable to get the nutrients it needs to stay alive, so when they are faced with hard times, they fall away. Some people hear the Word and receive it in faith, but the cares, riches, and pleasures that surround them like thorny weeds choke their faith and kill it. And some people hear the Word and hold on to it. Their hearts are repentant and, through their trust in God, they are able to patiently endure what destroyed the faith of the others and produce a crop that shows the fruit of their faith.

Of these four types of soil, which soil are you? That seems like a silly question. Of course you’re the good soil. You know that you’re a sinner and are repentant of your sins, you put your trust in God, and you do plenty of good things throughout your life that prove that your faith has produced a plentiful crop. But this parable is not just a warning to those who have rejected the Word, fallen from faith, or are in danger of losing their faith. This parable is also a warning to all of us who think that we are secure in our faith. As the apostle Paul says, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

There are many dangers that could result from us thinking that we are secure in our faith. One of those dangers is thinking that we don’t need to worry about sin because God forgives us all our sins anyway. Sin is a very serious thing, and if we think that God will forgive our sins whether they bother us or not, then we could end up no longer viewing sin as the serious thing that it is. Not taking sin seriously could also lead to us living in sin without feeling the need to repent and turn to Jesus for forgiveness. And if we don’t think that we need forgiveness for our sins, then we could think that we don’t need Jesus and lose our faith. What starts off as us not taking sin seriously could end up with us having hardened hearts, and the devil will have an opportunity to pluck the Word away from us.

There are times when we all become comfortable in certain sins. But when that happens to you, God doesn’t leave you alone to see if you’ll pull through on our own. If he did that, then your hearts would become hardened for sure. Instead, he gets to work on you, plowing the field of your heart to break up its hard soil. Through his Word, he shows you the seriousness of your sin, and that you deserve eternal death in hell. Then, through that same Word, he gives you the comfort of the gospel, showing you that Jesus paid the price for even your most serious and repeated sins by his death on the cross, so that you will not die, but live forever with him in heaven. Because of the sacrifice that Jesus made for you, you are God’s own dear child, and he will make sure that the devil cannot pluck you out of his hand.

But that is not the only danger to our faith. There is also a danger for us to feel secure enough in our faith that we don’t think that we need to regularly remain in the Word. After all, we’ve heard these accounts countless times and can even recite some of them by heart. We know the basic truths of Scripture: that we are all sinners, and that Jesus died for our sins. This could cause us to think that we don’t need to keep reading the Word or coming to hear the Word, because we think that we already know everything. But, if we don’t keep coming back to the Word, then our faith won’t be able to receive the nutrients that it needs to stay alive. It will become shallow, like the thin layer of soil on top of the layer of rock. And if we have a shallow faith when we enter a time of testing, then we are in trouble.

There are many times throughout our lives when God allows us to enter a time of testing. These times of testing can be quite hard on us. There are times when work can be difficult due to people we are interacting with or due to the demands of our work that seem unattainable. There are times when we think that we are doing great at our tasks or with our relationships, and then suddenly, we mess up in a way that we don’t think we’ll be able to recover from. There are times when our loved ones fall ill and begin to suffer terribly, or their lives are taken from us in tragic ways. No matter what our difficult times are, God promises to be with us and help us through them. He gives us this comfort through his Word. But if we have not kept our faith nourished though his Word, then where are we going to get that comfort from? As a result, the burden of our troubles could appear to be too much for us, and we could end up falling away from the faith, wondering why God allowed this to happen to us.

If your faith is starting to get shallow because you are not remaining in the Word, God takes appropriate measures to help you. He breaks up the rock beneath your shallow faith and works through his Word to fill that space with more faith, so that the Word can take root in your heart and thrive. Often, he works through times of testing to accomplish this, reminding you of how much you need him and of how much he has done for you, including giving up his own life for you. By dying on the cross, Jesus dealt with your biggest problems of all: sin and death. And if God loved you enough to die for you, then surely, he also loves you enough to keep his promise to always be with you and bear your burdens in your time of need. When God turns you back to his comforting Word, the joy you feel is no longer a shallow joy that can easily be destroyed, but a joy that comes from the deepest parts of your heart.

The last danger to our faith is the distractions that the world surrounds us with. These distractions can appear to be harmless. After all, what’s wrong with earning a little extra money, or buying some items that we’ve always wanted, or going to sporting events and other fun places? There is nothing wrong with these things in and of themselves, but when those things start to become more important to us than God, then we have a problem. What starts as just wanting to earn a little extra money could turn into spending as much time working as possible, even if it means we don’t have time to gather around the Word anymore. What starts as just wanting a few items could turn into us obsessing over those items and wanting to spend all of our time making use of them rather than spending that time in the Word. What starts out as us wanting to go to a few fun events and places could turn into us going to them whenever we can, even if it means that we have to sacrifice gathering around the Word. When the distractions of this world overtake us, they can choke our faith out and kill it, like seeds growing up surrounded by thorny weeds.

When you are in danger of having your faith choked out by the distractions of this world, God comes to you to remove those distractions, like a farmer pulling weeds. He can remove these distractions in many different ways, whether it’s by helping you to realize that you need to distance yourself from them or by removing them from you by other means. It can be difficult for us to part from our distractions, but when we do, and God works in us to make our faith grow free of those distractions that were choking us, we realize just how little we actually needed them. We also realize how much we need the blessings that Jesus won for us on the cross that God brings to us through his Word: the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The work that Jesus did to earn you these blessings is more important than any work you could ever do. These blessings that Jesus purchased for you on the cross are more valuable than anything you could ever purchase. The event of Jesus’ suffering and death is a more significant event than anything you could ever attend. And thanks to the work that God does on your hearts through his Word, you realize just how much greater Jesus and the blessings that he won for you are than the distractions of this world.

When a farmer plants his seed, he doesn’t leave it unattended. He keeps coming back to make sure that it’s healthy and growing, and if he needs to work the ground some more to protect his crop, he will. God doesn’t leave you unattended either. He has planted his Word in your hearts and is constantly making sure that your hearts remain fertile soil for his Word. Even when your hearts are not the ideal ground for the Word to grow in, God never gives up on you and is always working the soil of your hearts to make sure that his Word can take root in your hearts and grow. Because of God, your faith is protected and taken care of. Because of God, you know that the blessings that Jesus won for you on the cross are yours.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from Hortus Diliciarum, a book compiled by Herrad of Landsberg in the 12th century)