Lessons From Seeds

[00:00:01] In the name of Jesus, Amen. [00:00:08] Seeds are amazing. [00:00:10] Growth like that is amazing. [00:00:13] You put a seed in the ground and you water it or let it be watered by the rain and up it sprouts. [00:00:25] It is just hard to imagine what happens under the ground as that's going on. Although maybe you've seen a video or something like that, carefully filmed shot where you see what's happening underneath the ground, but still you just kind of see it starting to take shape and whatnot. And then maybe it's fast motion and it starts to come up and you see the little. Funny, it doesn't really explain how it happens. [00:00:58] Somebody more astute than Me in Science, Mr. Thorgeson, or someone could tell you the mechanics of how it works. [00:01:08] The seed kind of partners with the soil. It's maybe just a very oversimplified way to say it, and I couldn't really go further into depth. You know, partners with the soil and then the soil feeds it nutrients, but somehow the seed gathers the right nutrients. [00:01:30] The seed, it's not like the seed gets a bunch of stuff that it didn't need. [00:01:35] It gets just the right things from the soil and then it's not like the nutrients in the soil. I'm just going to call it the soil, all right? It's not like the soil takes the wrong shape. No. [00:01:51] If it's going to grow a sunflower seed, a sunflower plant, the flower, then that seed, it shapes the soil into the proper pattern. [00:02:05] It's really amazing. You can think of a seed as kind of being in charge. In that sense. [00:02:10] The seed is what determines what that soil will become. [00:02:14] And it's the soil that becomes the plant. [00:02:18] There's nothing else there. [00:02:20] I mean, I suppose maybe water, water that gets added. [00:02:25] But that seed, it starts out just this little bit of something, the pattern of what's going to be. [00:02:34] And then it gathers to itself a bunch of body from the soil and that soil takes the shape that the seed determined and becomes a plant. [00:02:46] That's amazing. [00:02:50] And of course, there are lots of different shapes that the soil could take depending on the kind of seed. And as we just discussed up here, God has a particular shape for us to take, a shape that we should have taken at the beginning when we were made in the garden, long ago. [00:03:13] But we gave up listening to God's word and being shaped by him, and turned instead to our own ideas about how to get wisdom and what's delightful to eat, what's pleasant to the eyes, and we went our own way and were shaped according to our own desires. And we became disfigured. [00:03:37] You could say there's more than one kind of word. There's more than one kind of thing to listen to and to be shaped by. And we left God's word for something else, became misshapen. So then comes Jesus Christ, the word of God in the flesh. [00:03:59] Like, you want to see the pattern, the word, the seed, and then what it looks like, all fleshed out, embodied in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. There it is. [00:04:15] And you see him giving himself in love for those around him, suffering gladly for the sake of obedience to his Father and love for you and me. [00:04:33] He dies on the cross, pouring himself out for us, and then rises from the dead. [00:04:42] And John tells us, the gospel writer tells us that. [00:04:47] That Jesus in dying, he's like a seed. [00:04:52] First the seed has to die and fall into the ground. And if it does, then it grows up and bears much fruit. And he's talking about Jesus death, dying and being planted in the tomb and then springing up on Easter morning, not just for his own sake, but to bear much fruit. A plant actually produces a bunch of seeds. [00:05:15] It reproduces itself. [00:05:17] Jesus came and did all that, taught and suffered and died and rose from the dead, not just for himself or not even just to be an example for us to follow, but to reproduce himself in us. [00:05:36] He, the embodied pattern, the pattern of what a human being is, of what we were made to be as God's creatures. That's Jesus. And he reproduces himself. He's working in us by his spirit to make us like himself, so that we are conformed to the image of God's Son, who is the image of God, we being remade in God's image. [00:06:05] So that's the kind of growth that God is producing in us. [00:06:11] That growth can be disrupted. [00:06:14] So Jesus gives this warning. [00:06:18] Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come. [00:06:27] Now, why does that matter? Well, we could think about temptations to sin like temptations to depart from the pattern. [00:06:36] I mean, that's really what it is like to not sin would just to be like Jesus. It would be to be like Jesus, just totally embodying the pattern of God's word. Well, do any of us do that without fail? Well, you could say when we got messed up in the beginning, we totally departed from the pattern. Like, forget the pattern, forget the seed of God's word. I'm going to go my own way, is what we said. [00:07:05] And boy, when I disregard God's word and just go about my life without reference to him, without attention to God. That's what happens. [00:07:18] I get angry or I fall into some other kind of sin. We start to embody other patterns, just like Eve embodying the word of the serpent. There we start to listen to another seed that sets a different pattern. [00:07:36] So woe, woe to those through whom temptations come. Because temptations, they draw us away from the pattern, away from the seed. [00:07:49] See, if we're acting in faith, if we're looking to Jesus and being led by his Spirit, if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body and the Spirit of Christ is leading us, then a certain kind of fruit is produced, a certain kind of plant is grown. [00:08:09] But if we give soil, if we receive a different seed, then something else is grown, and that's. [00:08:21] That's truly dangerous. [00:08:33] O God, our refuge and strength, the author of all godliness, the one who produces godliness, who authors it, who sets the pattern. [00:08:42] By your grace, hear the prayers of your church. [00:08:45] Grant those things which we ask in faith, Give us those things that are in accord with the pattern of what's good for us and for those around us. [00:08:59] Grant that those things which we ask in faith we may receive. [00:09:03] Through your bountiful mercy, we might add, guard us from those things that would draw us away. [00:09:13] All right, so back to the Gospel reading here. Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come. [00:09:20] It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. [00:09:32] Boy, have you ever caused one of these little ones to sin? [00:09:38] I have. I mean, just think about. I mean, this is not just talking about children, these little ones. Jesus calls us all children and that we all must become children if we want to enter the kingdom of God. [00:09:51] But, yeah, I'm a bad example sometimes, and I can stir up anger in other people or set a bad pattern for my children. So what do I do? Because Jesus is pretty serious here. [00:10:11] It would be better for. For him to be thrown into the sea than to lead others astray. [00:10:21] Well, repent. You know, we have been thrown into the sea in our baptism that old Adam has been drowned and died. And that's exactly what we need when we're causing others to sin, when we're scandalizing them. That's the actual Greek word there, scandalizo. It's like when we scandalize the faith of others by presenting to them a different pattern that pulls Them away from the pattern of Jesus Christ. What do we do? [00:10:53] We need somebody to speak God's word to us and call us to repentance, to throw us into the sea. Like Jonah, you know, falling, falling down. He's been running away from God and determined not to hear what God has for him. [00:11:11] And then at the bottom of the sea, he repents and the fish spits him out. It's like, okay, Jonah, here's the pattern. Go right? [00:11:22] That's what you and I need. [00:11:24] We need to be thrown in the sea, to be drowned and. [00:11:29] And die according to the old Adam. And then to rise to new life in Christ, to be united with Christ in his death, to die, to sin, and to be united to Jesus in his resurrection and to live to God, to be members of Christ, to be members of righteousness, to be guided by Christ, the seed, according to God's good pleasure. [00:12:03] So there's a warning in there, right? And then Jesus goes right into repentance and forgiveness like we've just been talking about. He says, yeah, there's an opportunity to repent and to be forgiven. In fact, you have a responsibility to call your brother to repentance. You see them departing from the pattern, receiving other instructions, another seed. Pay attention to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebukes him, and if he repents, forgive him. [00:12:37] And if he sins against you seven times in the day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him. [00:12:44] That's such an encouragement for the other side of things, too, you know, that means you have to forgive me seven times. [00:12:58] But then it goes the other way too, right? We forgive and we forgive as we've been forgiven. [00:13:05] Well, it's not always easy to forgive or to call people to repentance. [00:13:12] So the apostles say to the Lord, increase our faith. [00:13:21] And then Jesus says something interesting. [00:13:24] He says, actually, like, maybe don't think about it in terms of increasing faith, because just the tiniest little bit does a whole lot. [00:13:36] Does, like, more than you could imagine you could have done, you know, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if you had faith like a grain of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you. [00:13:51] It's like, wow, just takes a little tiny bit. [00:13:56] So here's one way to think about that. [00:14:01] Well, seed. It is amazing that a little seed produces a whole lot. You just stick this little tiny seed in the ground. Some of them are really tiny. I mean, some of those flower seeds, wow, so tiny. You stick it in the ground and then it gets to work, governing and guiding the growth of this plant. [00:14:26] And I think part of Jesus point here is that the disciples are thinking, well, that's a lot to ask of us. And it's like, well, no, that's not your work. It's not your power that's going to do this. [00:14:42] It's the word of God coming into you and taking root. It's Jesus Christ himself, the Word in the flesh, coming to you and producing the growth, coming to you and setting the pattern. [00:14:55] By receiving Christ in faith, you're being brought up into his life. [00:15:03] God's spirit is dwelling in you and conforming you to Jesus Christ. [00:15:09] And you know what part of the pattern is? [00:15:11] It's calling others to repentance for their sake. [00:15:15] Not because you're angry about it or something like that. Calling others to repentance for their sake and then forgiving them. That's just part of the pattern. [00:15:24] So you receive the pattern in you, the seed in you, and that's what's going to happen. [00:15:31] It's going to bear fruit. [00:15:33] It's going to govern your heart. It's going to guard your heart and mind in the proper pattern. The pattern of sound words that Paul spoke to Timothy in the epistle reading. [00:15:49] Well, the seed is faith. [00:16:00] In the epistle reading. Jesus. I'm sorry. Paul speaks of faith as something that dwells in you. [00:16:07] He says it to Timothy. [00:16:11] He says, I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. It's almost like this separate thing. [00:16:26] It's something that lives in you and does things. [00:16:30] Luther has a famous quote, and I don't remember the whole quote, but it's like faith is this living, active thing, bold thing that just does whenever it gets a chance. [00:16:43] Think of it like Jesus Christ himself coming to dwell in you. [00:16:49] And that's another reason not to get overly bold or proud, let's say, right as we do the work that God has given us to do. It would be easy to kind of go around and enjoy rebuking people, you know, potentially feel kind of lifted up and like, well, now I can see what you're doing wrong and you're doing wrong and that kind of thing. And so Jesus right after that says, just remember, like, you're a servant, right? You may be participating in Christ's mission by calling people to repentance and forgiving them. [00:17:36] That is powerful and so important. [00:17:41] But Just remember, you're not doing it on your own account. You're not doing it for you. [00:17:46] You're working for the big guy. [00:17:50] You are a servant in his field, in his harvest field. [00:17:55] And so when you have done all that you were commanded, say we are unworthy servants, we've only done what was our duty. [00:18:04] We're only embodying the pattern that's been put in us by God's word. [00:18:10] We're only embodying Christ who's come to dwell in us. [00:18:15] And so any glory or thanks for doing that work goes straight to Jesus Christ. [00:18:23] And then we'll just keep serving as Christ shapes us. [00:18:31] What a gift that Jesus Christ would come to us and dwell in us and shape us to be like himself and make us grow according to that pattern. And that we would get to participate in such a wonderful pattern. [00:18:45] I mean, you can't have a better pattern than Jesus Christ. [00:18:49] It's like, well, I'm not Jesus, you know, but well, by his grace, like, you know, he's making me like himself. Which also involves me being thrown into the sea every day, remembering my baptism, so that everything in me that thinks it's something would become nothing and would die and that Christ would daily rise in me and that I would be able to say I no longer live, but Christ lives in me and, and I'm just a humble servant doing my duty, thanks be to God. That's our life together and that, you know, as we live our life together like that, right? [00:19:31] Dying to ourselves and living to God in Jesus Christ. Looking to Jesus Christ who is everything for us, boy, that's a way to stick together. [00:19:42] Not just stick together, but to be built of up together. And all of this is aiming somewhere, it's aiming toward the fulfillment of God's promises for you and for me and for others, some of whom don't even know yet. [00:20:00] God's promise of everlasting life in Jesus Christ, that's the fruit that he's producing through our humble service, by his grace and our life together in Jesus name, amen.