The Gospel for this Week

From the Lectionary (Series A) - Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 - The Parable of the Sower

This is an excellent parable. Be sure to read it this week (before Sunday morning...it's a good habit to get into, and the readings for the following Sunday should be available in your church bulletin). Then ask yourself this question:

"If I could sow the seed (speak the Gospel of Jesus Christ) only on the good soil, could I still make it grow?"

Perhaps an even better question is:

"Who is the sower, and who is the soil?"

And, while you're at it, check out this Tuesday's Worldview Everlasting!

So I said to the wife...

I regularly find myself apologizing to my wife. Not in the sense of "Oh, sorry, honey," with a tone that says, "I don't really mean this, but I'm saying it anyway because I have to so you don't make me sleep on the couch." Instead, I find myself asking for her forgiveness because I am truly guilty and seeking repentance in her eyes.

Before you think I am a horrible, evil husband (or have a guilt streak a mile wide), hear me out. It's important for me to clarify my position. I find myself apologizing to her because I sin against her. I get angry, and I say something with malice. I ignore her and do what I want. I find myself being uncaring at times, or not supportive, or lazy. I don't do the proper things for her. I find myself not living up to the Bible passage from our wedding, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her," Ephesians 5:25 (No, we didn't have the "Love Chapter" read at our wedding...you can ask about that story if you like...).

I am a sinner, it is true. I am a sinner against my wife, the person whom I love the most in this world. Even love cannot stop my sinfulness. As Paul said in this week's Epistle from Romans 7:15b, "For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate." And do I ever sin against her. It breaks me down when I do. My heart aches and I feel terrible and wretched. That is why I apologize. They are the apologies of a man torn and disfigured by sin. I do not just say, "I'm sorry," but instead, I seek repentance. That is the way God asks for us to show contrition.

"For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." - Psalm 51:16-17.

I go to my wife as a man who is broken under the Law, unable to stand before her sinless. And she, wonderful and gracious follower of Christ, forgives me! How amazing it is! She forgives me because of our shared faith in Jesus, who has come to remove these sins from our lives. She forgives because of Colossians 3:13b "as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." She, as a child of God and faithful servant of Christ, accepts my repentance. We then can, and do, go together to the table of Christ and receive His Body and Blood for our forgiveness together. We listen to the Gospel together and share the Good News of Christ with each other. Growing faith together, we live in love together and the words of Ephesians 5. It is the gift we are able to share with each other every day in our marriage: faith, which brings love.

Quote of the Day...

"...the spirit of Luther and of the entire genuine Lutheran Church is the spirit of childlike simplicity, the spirit of faith, the spirit that submits to the Word of God and takes human reason captive under the wisdom from on high...The characteristic mark of our Church is unquestioned submission to the divine Word, while our sectarian teachers are continually tossed about like the waves of the sea and betray the fact that they are not founded upon the rock of the Word of God."

- The Proper Distinction Between LAW AND GOSPEL - Dr. C.F.W. Walther

Fisk Friday!!!

How about a little Worldview Everlasting, just in time for the weekend...

One sentence of Law and Gospel

You'll notice that this post contains the same as the previous post. It had that kind of effect...

As I was listening to Issues, Etc. (shameless name-dropping and gratuitous plug) in the car the other day on podcast, I heard a commercial which included a soundbite from the LCMS President Matthew Harrison. In the audio clip, he says,

"My friends, Jesus comes only for sinners."

I found myself rewinding and playing the clip over and over again (thank you, iPhone, for the 30 seconds reverse scan feature!), which is what I'm doing now, actually. I kept hearing the phrase in my head for days afterwards. And only just recently did it finally occur to me why I cannot stop thinking about that statement. This is the perfect, one sentence proclamation of Law and Gospel!

You may look at the sentence and say, "Where is the Law? It says that Jesus comes!" True, but it also says that Jesus come ONLY for sinners. So, who are the sinners? Is Rev. Harrison talking only of the really horrible, wretched souls? The ones who make our blood boil when they splash on the evening news, or on the news websites? Are we discussing Pharisees and tax collectors, perverts and murderers and thieves? Is this the trash of the Earth whom Jesus comes for, and we are caught up in the net of salvation?

If your answer is "No, we are all sinners" then you are right! (Amazing...it's like we know we are sinful in our hearts...) We are the sinners! Jesus did not come to save perfect people, of which their are none. Paul says in Romans 3, while speaking about the Law, that "None is righteous, no, not one" and, later, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We are all, as the liturgy for Holy Baptism says, "conceived and born sinful." When we look to the Word of God to find out who it is that Christ ONLY came to save, we find that we are all part of the wretched, the lost, the really horrible souls.

And yet, we look to the whole sentence to find the answer to that sinfulness. JESUS! "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," says 1 Timothy 1:15. We look to Jesus and find that Gospel, the sweet, everlasting Gospel, which says, quite plainly and clearly, that Christ comes to redeem us from our sins. He comes to this Earth to bring "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." - Romans 3:22

Through simple act of hearing this message from Rev. Harrison are we given the demands of the Law and the message of the Gospel. Praise God for our Lord Christ, who DOES come only for sinners.

As President Harrison said...

"My friends, Jesus comes only for sinners."

Handel said it best (while quoting Isaiah)...

"And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed." Isaiah 40:5