Wednesday in the week of the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany - Sermon text


Wednesday in the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

2 Corinthians 11:19-12:9    Luke 8:4-15

 

O Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen.


In considering the mystery of salvation, we must begin with the assuring image that the Good News of God, that is Christ Jesus, is cast far and wide. We should have in our minds eye the old-time farmer who sows the seed through broadcasting. The farmer casts his seed with the hopes that every seed will take root and produce abundantly for harvest. 

 

The Lord intends for the Good News of Christ to be widely cast. The Scriptures testify that God desires all people to receive Christ with faith. God sent Jonah the prophet into pagan Ninevah so that they could hear God’s Word. When Israel was allowed to leave their Babylonian captivity, many faithful Jews stayed. They witnessed their faith in ancient Persia, now Iran, for centuries. 

 

Jesus says that he comes for everyone’s salvation. In John 3:16 Jesus explains the grand scope of the Father’s desire. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” In his final instructions to the apostles, Jesus directs them outward into the world. “Go therefore aand make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded.” 

 

Paul repeats what he learned from the Apostles and the Lord. He states in 1 Timothy 2:3-4: “…it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” In his letter to the church in Colossae, he underscores the truth that redemption and reconciliation with God is made possible for everyone through the cross of Christ Jesus. “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” 

 

From the beginning God desires salvation to come to all. He has found many ways in which to bring people to hear the precious, saving Word of God, so that their faith may grasp the promises the Christ gives us. That is God’s intention and his desire. He is not satisfied with the way things are. He is not content with the disruption that sin has wrought. He does not stand helpless as Satan spreads his lies. The Lord our God provides a way to receive grace and forgiveness and to dwell within the warm assurance of a life reconciled with God. 

 

While the farmer sows his seed with hope, so God’s Word is spread far and wide. Yet, all we have to do is open our eyes and ears to know that many who could live with faith do not. Why? Jesus gives an answer. Humans are free to reject God’s offer of reconciliation. They are free to reject the faith that is extended to them. So, some with hardened hearts allow Satan to take the Word of God away from them. Others, cannot bear the potential challenge of living with faith in a faithless world and give up. Others, prefer to stay with what they know rather than grow with the gift of faith. The thorns cans can be almost anything that chokes out faith. 

 

Then, there is the good soil. Grace grows there. Christ’s cross is planted and faith is nurtured. Reconciliation with God is welcomed. Forgiveness and love is sought and folded into the fabric of a life that looks to God with hope and a desire for a moral compass in a chaotic world. 

 

We give thanks to God Almighty that He desires all to receive salvation through Christ. We rejoice that faith in Christ dwells within us. 


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

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letter from LCMS President Harrison about Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Recognized Service Organizations

  A Letter from LCMS President Harrison about LIRS and LCMS RSOs    FEB. 6, 2025 LCMS.ORG A letter from President Harrison about LIRS and LCMS RSOs Dear Saints of the LCMS, Grace and peace in Jesus! For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above ev...
Read more

2022-12-19 Vespers - Commemoration of Adam and Eve

 2022-12-19 Vespers - Commemoration of Adam and Eve - Isaiah 40:1-17 & Revelation 7:1-17 As we commemorate the first man and woman today, we recognize that Adam and Eve were endowed with great gifts from God. Adam is created in the image of God. And from Adam came Eve. Adam is given dominion over all the earth. A tremendous responsibility of stewardship is entrusted to him.  When they succumbed to the temptation to be like God, and fell into sin, their sin impacts us all to this day.  When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s command, they inaugurated a cycle of life and death that we have no choice but to participate in.   Creation is constantly changing. There is nothing steady.  The seasons come and go.  The sleep and inactivity of winter leads into the new birth of spring which is followed by a summer of growth which is then followed by a time of harvest and a slow dying as all of creation returns to its winter death waiting for the new life to ...
Read more

John Donne on Christmas

Image
As we are now happily within the Twelve Days of Christmas, I am pleased to share this snippet by John Donne that I have borrowed from Alan Jacobs blog:  https://buttondown.email/ayjay/archive/christmas-epiphany/ John Donne, from a sermon preached at St. Paul’s Cathedral on  Christmas Day 1626 : The life of Christ was a continual Passion; others die Martyrs, but Christ was born a Martyr. He found a Golgotha (where he was crucified) even in Bethlehem, where he was born; For, to his tenderness then, the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after; and the Manger as uneasy at first, as his Cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas-day and his Good Friday, are but the evening and morning of one and the same day. And as even his birth, is his death, so every action and passage that manifests Christ to us, is his birth; for,  Epiphany  is manifestation; And therefore, though the Church doe now call Twelfth-day Epiphany, because...
Read more