photo #5783253

THE SECOND SUNDAY BEFORE LENTSexagesimaPastor Tom SteersChrist the Saviour Lutheran Church, TorontoFebruary 4, 2024Hymn of Praise: 655 “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” By Martin Luther https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ViZi7M5p4The Invocation Confession and Absolution Page 184-185Lutheran Service BookOpening Versicles"Pastor: This is the day which the Lord has made.Congregation: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.P: From the rising of the sun to its setting.C: The name of the Lord is to be praised.P: Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.C: I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.P: Make me to know Your ways, O Lord.C: Teach me Your paths.P: Sanctify us in Your truth.C: Your Word is truth.P: From the rising of the sun to its setting.C: The name of the Lord is to be praised.(All) Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our Collect Prayer: O God, the strength of all who put their trust in You, mercifully grant that by Your power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.Our Bible Readings”First Reading Isaiah 55:10-13 Psalm 84 (antiphon: verse 4) Epistle Reading Hebrews 4:9-13 Gospel Reading Luke 8:4-15THE APOSTLES' CREED Page 192 HYMN OF THE DAY: 823 “May God Bestow on Us His Grace” By Martin Luther https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnhQJ8m3B3oTHE SERMON –Brothers and sisters, peace grace and mercy be to you through God our Father, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.There is a common misunderstanding that parables were used to make the truth of the Kingdom more understandable to people. It makes sense. The parables are, indeed, earthly stories with a Heavenly meaning. The problem is, the purpose of telling them wasn’t to make the truth more easily recognized. On the contrary, the parables concealed knowledge. As Christ said to the disciples in our Gospel passage, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”Did you notice the words “so that”? These words indicate a purpose, or result. The purpose of teaching the crowds in parables is so that they may not ‘see’ and not ‘understand’ the mysteries of the kingdom. The mysteries are the hidden knowledge God has revealed in His Son. But this knowledge is not ‘understood’ by the sinful human mind. Only by Spirit-given faith can the Gospel truth be known.Only through the means of grace, God’s Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper does the Holy Spirit work this faith within us and maintain it.The Apostle Paul explained in First Corinthians, Chapter 2,“12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit . . . . 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”So, the parables concealed knowledge to show that the Gospel is not understandable to those without faith. We only truly hear when God gives us ears to hear.Remember that in Christ’s earthly ministry He was already performing Messianic signs apparent to all.He performed miracles: healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead.He preached Good News to the poor.These signs would have been known to those who saw and heard about them.Yet, many doubted.What about those of us with faith today? How do we understand the Parable of the Sower?We can get this truth: There is nothing wrong with the Word of God. If people hear the Word, but do not believe, or believe for a time and then fall away, it’s not the fault of the Word, or the Sower. People fail to come to faith because of their sinful choice.As you look at the parable, it may not ‘sound’ like they lack faith because of sin.It may seem they lack faith because the devil snatches the Word from them. Or temptations lure them away.That they’re overcome by the cares, riches, and pleasures of life. None of this ‘appears’ to be the fault of people when these situations take place.But we should realize that it’s actually not the circumstances that confront a person that rob them of faith. Believers experience all these troubles and temptations too. The devil is never far from us and is always trying to separate you from the Word of God. Christians have our fair share of cares and concerns that may distract us from faith or lead us to despair.So why do we remain in the faith? Not because of any quality in us. Our Gospel text talks about hearing the Word with noble, honest, and good hearts.But where does that kind of heart come from? Not from human nature, which is corrupted by sin. No, good hearts are a gift from the Holy Spirit. There is no reason or strength in us by which we’re able to come to faith in the first place, nor any that can keep us in faith. It is only by God’s grace.Those who do not come to faith, or lose it, do so only by their refusal of God’s gift. Our sinful nature makes us all guilty from our mother’s wombs as Kind David wrote in the Psalms. Our own sins would make us guilty now, if it were not for the Biblical truth that they are covered by the Blood of the Lamb. However, if we commit the sin of rejecting the Christian faith, of refusing to accept Jesus as our Saviour, that is our fault, not God’s.Falling from faith isn’t a weakness in God’s Word, which is always perfect, and powerful. The Word brings us to faith through the Holy Spirit’s work.Our dead hearts are made alive, regenerated, as we receive a new heart and mind, a spiritual heart transplant.Where before we had only corrupt thoughts and emotions that lead to death, God’s Word gives life that does not end.The plants, the people in the parable that lost faith, died. But the plants and people that retain faith spring up to abundant life.That’s because the Word of God delivers the life of Christ to us, the Saviour who rose from the grave, never to die again. And that is your life as a Christian through the Word you hear.The life delivered by the seed is Christ. He’s also the living Sower, no matter what earthly man happens to be throwing the seed. If I speak God’s Word, Jesus is the true Speaker.If you share the Gospel with your neighbour, it is Christ speaking through you. He is always the Sower.Therefore, we can trust the power of this Word, and the Sower. Christ doesn’t strategically cast the Word. He flings it about generously to good soil and bad. He desires all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of Him.So, we also, should speak the Word as we have opportunity, trusting in its power to give life to men and women.This work of spreading the Gospel is only one part of the good crop the Word produces in us.Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s Word makes and keeps us patient.Personal evangelism can become stunted and bitter if we feel frustrated. If we feel unappreciated and don’t see results in our time. We may become tired of speaking the Gospel when others won’t listen. But the Holy Spirit helps us put aside such thoughts. As Christians, it is God’s work we do, not our own.Whether that work be in the Church, or among family, friends and co-workers.We should look to Christ, who out of love for us, patiently endured the sufferings set before Him.Even the Cross. We are sent on a journey of patient endurance to be followed by a glory, and eternal life, Jesus won for us at Calvary. Although that road may be difficult, believers are sustained by Him.Through His life-giving Word.Through the forgiveness and spiritual cleansing of Baptism.Through the forgiveness and reassurance of the Absolution.And through the forgiveness and strength we receive in the Lord’s Supper. In short, we’re sustained in the faith by God’s means of grace: His Word and Sacraments.The early Church spoke of the Sacraments as the mysteries of God.They said that veiled in these elements of water, bread and wine combined with the Word, are the presence and work of God bringing His Kingdom.Bringing salvation.Holding fast to the faith requires these means of grace.That’s why being part of, and attending Church, is so important.Jesus is both the Sower and the good soil, who through steadfast endurance overcame the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil for us.He is the one whose heart is noble and good, because He obeyed the Father with perfect obedience.Yet Christ is far more than the model; He is the One who makes possible the response of faith and the bearing of fruit.The true secret of the mystery of the parable is Christ in the believer.For from Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things. To Christ alone be glory forever. Amen.PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 Communion Hymn 623 “Lord Jesus Christ, We Humbly Pray”Post Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201 CLOSING HYMN 658 “Preserve Your Word, O Saviour”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiUYATE_Mts