Sexagesima

February 12, 2023
Text: Luke 8:4-15

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you grew up as I did, you probably heard the word "church" and thought of the building or structure we are in now. And it’s good and salutary to have a place set aside for our gathering, hearing God's Word, and receiving His precious gifts.

But, Luther wrestled with what it meant to be “Church” and dove into what it meant to confess, "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, and the communion of saints,” in his Large Catechism. He realized there were similarities between what the Creed calls the “holy Christian Church” and the “communion of saints…." But Luther also highlighted a belief that the translation of the Creed at his time was not entirely on target because the translation of “church” led people to focus more on the building rather than the holy ones being gathered and kept by and in the Word of God.

Luther eventually summarizes things by saying, “Therefore, in real German, in our mother tongue, [Church] ought to be called “a Christian congregation or gathering” or, best of all and most clearly, “holy Christendom.”[1]

The gift of a beautiful and glorious place to worship is a gift. And Scripture clearly calls us to gather as we are this day. (Acts 2:42) But, in this hostile and corrupted world we continue to actively dwell within, the Christian must be ready to lose everything, even the pews that now hold and support your mortal bodies, while always clinging to God’s holy Word.

In the early centuries after Jesus' death and resurrection, it would not be uncommon for Christians to worship behind locked doors out of fear of their enemies. In other instances, to escape harm, Christians would not flock to a building but rather seek out deserted places to gather and worship, maybe a forest, cave, or even sometimes, an empty burial vault to hear the Word of Life and to call upon the Lord in their time of distress and need.

For such reasons, we should remember to thank God for providing such a wonderful place to gather and hear His precious and life-giving Word. We should pray and confess with David,
O LORD, I love the habitation of your house
                        and the place where your glory dwells. (Psalm 26:8)

Yet, there are also times when we also must say with David,
I have not sat with idolatrous mortals,
                       Nor will I go in with hypocrites.
            I have hated the assembly of evildoers,
                        And will not sit with the wicked. (Psalm 26:4-5)

These words of David remind us to be on guard for false doctrine, to ensure the holy assembly of God does not become a place of heresy, a place where a word that is in conflict with God’s is proclaimed.

For Jesus said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” (Matthew 21:13)

Jesus recalls here that the house of God is to be a place where the pattern of sound words, the pattern of prayer, is grafted into your hearts as they are made ready to receive the perpetual pouring out of the Holy Spirit for the confidence of your faith.

As Jesus spoke, the temple had become a refuge and sanctuary for thieves, bandits, and evildoers.

However, I believe the greatest thieves of our time are those who use the house of God for their own purposes. They are the “hypocrites” or “men of falsehood.” Those who genuinely reject God while gathering and speaking with the Church on earth. Those thieves and evildoers who desire to come and place a false word into your ears or snatch it from your heart.

We are seeing this in the headlines this past week as the Church of England considers removing “Our Father” in the Lord's Prayer because of the sex-specific language.

C.F.W. Walther wrote,
A church in which man’s delusion and wit are proclaimed instead of Holy Scripture is nothing but an open gate to hell, a butchering table of Satan, and a house of plagues to the soul. Whoever enters such a church of unbelievers and enemies of Christ would have done better to come into a den of robbers and murderers, for there only his mortal body would have been killed. In a church of unbelievers, it is his immortal soul that is slain.

So, this is at stake for the Church and the Christian, the soul and eternal life of man.

As the Holy Week theme for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod a couple years ago said, “It’s a matter of life and death.”

And truthfully, this is what the parable in today’s Gospel is about, life and death.

So, how you and the Church receive God's Word and keep it matters.

For this, we receive the parable to the Sower. It's not a difficult parable to understand. In fact, Jesus provides the hearer with the answer key. It’s like turning to the back of the math book in high school.

The seed is the Word of God.

And the first instance of the seed being sown, the devil snatches it as it is tossed upon the hardness of man’s heart.

The second scenario is when the Word is heard with joy, only to see faith not take root as the rocky ground lacks the water of life. These people cannot endure the tribulations and persecution that will follow the faithful.

Still, the third situation is when thorns choke the life produced due to God's Word. For some reason, this instance sounds worse than the others. The seed is sown, and it's producing faith. Still, over time and without proper care, the anxiousness and worry or carnal pleasures of life suffocate the faith once growing. Maybe Judas fell into this category as he found himself anxious over finances and worldly matters to the point that he was willing to betray his Lord. 

We wish to avoid all three situations (or at least we should pray that we avoid them). Because the hearing of and persevering in God's Word is a matter of life and death for you, the Christian.

And so, to persevere in the faith, we look to learn from our confession of the third article of the Creed, as we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and giver of life…."

As we know, "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

And where God's Word is heard and received, the Holy Spirit is active, creating an enduring faith that “bears fruit with patience.”

But patience is the challenge, is it not? Unfortunately, we don't have the patience for faith or life.

However, if you understand patience comes from the Lord, then you attend to His Word and hear it on a daily basis, and the fruit of confession and prayer is produced, and your heart's tender soil and faith are nourished.

To strive to avoid the pitfalls of parable of the Sower, to be given patience, and bear fruit, our journey throughout life and the season of Lent requires our hearts to be constantly turned and growing in God’s Word. It’s your guard against the men of falsehood and hypocrites, it’s your life in a world of death that continues to snatch and choke the precious Seed from your hearts.

It’s my prayer we never have to depart this place to meet and settle to receive the seed of God’s Word among the shadows of the woods or the deep underground caverns of this unholy city. But, no matter what happens, I pray that the fruit of faith produces a patience within you that will lead you confidently to the burial vault that will contain your body knowing you have been kept safely in “a Christian congregation” or, more precisely, “holy Christendom.”

So let us pray for the Lord to keep us steadfast in His Word and lead us out of death to life. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Churc
hAlexandria, VA

[1] McCain, P. T. (Ed.). (2005). Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (p. 404). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.