Pentecost 9

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43- Pentecost 9 - August 14, 2011 

  God's Word Is Fruitful

The 13^th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew contains a section of Jesus’ words known as the “Kingdom of Heaven Parables.”  Last week we heard Jesus compare good seeds to the kingdom of heaven.  This week, He compares these same good seeds to the sons of the kingdom of heaven.  You can see the connection.  Last week, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to the word of the Gospel.  This week, He compares the sons of the kingdom of heaven to Christians who hear and believe the Gospel.  We see here the relationship between the word of God and Christians.  The one produces the other.  The other depends on the one.  GOD’S WORD IS FRUITFUL in that it creates Christian faith.  

Christians rely on the Gospel.  Just as the word of God comes from God, so also Christians come from God.  St. Peter tells us that we have “been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”  This is why we hold the word of God sacred.  This why we gladly hear and learn it – because we become children of God through it.  Our faith is the fruit of the Gospel.  St. James writes, “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”  GOD’S WORD IS FRUITFUL in that it creates faithful Christians.  

The kingdom of heaven, which is explained in these parables, is clearly not just a glorious celestial realm beyond this world where God lives surrounded by His holy angels and all the company of heaven. (Although this is such a place; it is called God’s kingdom of glory).  But the kingdom of heaven is also an authority exercised here on earth.  It is God’s kingdom of grace.  Grace is not a quality or virtue within our hearts.  Grace is an attitude in God’s heart toward us.  God’s kingdom of grace consists of the authority to forgive sins.  Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” – and how does one make disciples?  Jesus told His Apostles – “by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all these things which I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.”  

We have been given new life through the water and the word of Holy Baptism, which washed all of our sins away and made us children of our heavenly Father.  Because of this, therefore, we keep, that is, we cherish and defend all those things which God has taught us in His word.  The sons of the kingdom cherish God’s kingdom of grace.  Christians treasure the Gospel.  What a precious bond!  GOD’S WORD IS FRUITFUL in that it creates the Church.  

There is, however, an important distinction between what we call the visible Church on earth, and the invisible Church.  That which we call the visible church is the church which is identifiable by outward marks.  These marks are the pure teaching and preaching of the Gospel and the right administration of the Sacraments.  These are the very things that create the Church, because they create faith in God. 

There is also that which we call the invisible Church on earth.  As is implied by what we call it, it is not identifiable by any outward marks.  Only God can see it.  It is faith.  No one can see anyone else’s faith, because it is hidden deep in the heart of the individual believer where the word of God was first planted.  If we want to identify true Christians, we must identify the true Church by her outward, visible marks.  

The Church is identified by her doctrine, that is, by what she teaches.  She receives this doctrine from God who taught her.  The doctrine that all of our sins are freely forgiven, and that we are declared righteous by almighty God through faith on account of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the central article of the Christian religion.  Our Lutheran Confessions call it the article “upon which the Church stands or falls.”  It is true.  The Church is created by the word of the Gospel.  It is as we just sang, “She is His new creation by water and the word. From heaven He came and sought her to be His Holy bride.  With his own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.”  Without the forgiveness of sins, there is no true faith.  Without that by which God creates saving faith in Him, there can be no Church for us to identify.

Now, although we make the distinction between the visible and the invisible Church, there is really only one Church – one faith, one Lord, one Baptism.  Your faith which cannot be seen relies upon that which can, and must be identified.  The invisible Church (all who believe) is hidden within the visible Church (all those gathered around word and sacrament).  It isn’t hidden anywhere else, because faith is not created anywhere else.  

But, just as there are, within this outward structure of the Church, sons of God through faith in His word, so there are sons of the evil one through unbelief.  Martin Luther said on more than one occasion, “Wherever God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel.”  I suppose we could also adopt the terminology of our Lord and say, “Wherever God plants incorruptible seed, God’s enemy plants weeds.”  It is not possible to root out all hypocrites and unbelievers from the church, because we can’t even see them.  Unbelievers often look and act just like believers, even while they go through the motions of coming to church and worshiping God just like we do.  

But God does not call us to remove all hypocrites and secret unbelievers.  As He said to His servants in the parable we just heard, “No, [do not gather them up], lest while you gather up the tares, you uproot the wheat with them.”  Consider this.  The reason that God allows there to be hypocrites in your midst, within the assembly of believers on earth is for your sake.  Lest you root out the wheat with them.  Lest you scandalize and destroy the faith of those who trust the Gospel.  That’s what Jesus says.  God defends His Church today with the same power by which He created His Church – with the Gospel.  God preserves His Church, not by destroying unbelievers around us, but by preserving His word which creates faith in unbelieving hearts.  GOD’S WORD IS FRUITFUL.  Its fruit is good.  

But the fruit of false doctrine is not good.  Although we cannot root out all the unbelief and hypocrisy in the world and in our own churches, we can and must contend against both the source and the fruit.  Jesus tells us,

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matt. 7:15ff.). 

There is quite a bit of similarity between these words of Jesus from Matthew 7, and from today’s lesson.  Wheat and tares look a lot alike.  In fact, it is very difficult to even tell the difference between the two plants until they are mature.  Seeing them side by side, it looks as though both plants had grown from the same seed.  But once the fruit comes forth, then the identity, and the true source of each plant is made known.  “By their fruits you will know them.”  GOD’S WORD IS FRUITFUL.  The devil’s word is not.  

Being aware of false prophets, according to Jesus’ admonition, is learning how to distinguish between the wheat and the tares according to their fruit.  It is learning how to distinguish between false teachers and true teachers, between that which edifies faith and that which obscures the Christ-centered focus of our faith.  We distinguish between that which is planted by God, and that which is planted by the devil.  How? by looking at their fruits!  When we see the fruit, we see the source.  

The fruit of true faith is the clear and bold confession of the Gospel.  The fruit of false faith is a muddled confession that confuses Gospel with Law; it is a false confession that lays a burden on the sinner that Christ has already borne; it is an arrogant confession that dismisses portions of God’s word as though they were not relevant for the Church today; it is a shallow and vapid confession that reduces the Gospel to mere sentiment instead of plainly declaring what God has done for us in His Son Jesus Christ.  By their fruits you will know them.  The fruits of the Spirit are joy, peace and love which come only by knowing Jesus and having the righteousness that He earned for us in His life and death, and which He freely bestows on us in His word and Sacrament.  False doctrine produces no real fruit.  Tares produce only more tares.  And that is what Jesus teaches us in our lesson for today.  

No, we cannot eradicate false faith.  We live in the world, after all.  The devil is her prince.  But Christ, the Lord of the Church, never tells us to root anything out.  He tells us to mark and avoid.  And that is why we do not profess to have fellowship with those who teach and confess contrary to what we have learned in Holy Scripture.  A lot of people are offended by this.  Many who seem to have good intentions accuse us who contend for pure doctrine of wanting to internally purify the Church instead of spread the message of the Gospel.  They accuse us of judging other people’s faith as though there are not any true Christians outside of Lutheranism.  Perhaps you have heard these accusations.  “You can’t see faith,” they say.  Well that’s true.  That is exactly why we don’t judge faith; we judge the fruits of faith.   We judge doctrine.  

This is the distinction between that which we can see and that which we cannot – between the Church invisible (which certainly includes many true Christians who suffer from false and empty preaching and no clear understanding of God’s life-giving sacraments) and the Church visible, which is identified by the pure word of God, which He has graciously preserved for us, and that works saving faith in our hearts. 

When we contend for and stubbornly insist on the pure doctrine that we have been taught, we are simply defending that which makes us Christians.  We cannot eradicate false faith in the world.  We cannot root out hypocrisy hidden in the midst of the Church.  We cannot even uproot such things from our own hearts.  We are sinners.  We know the doubts and lusts of our heart like no one else.  We know the selfish judgments we have made against others; we know how often in our hearts we have grown proud of our own achievements as Christians; we know how often we have just not been too concerned.  We know in our heart what no one else can see.  It is invisible.  But God can see it.  And you know what He says!  Are you fruitful wheat, or are you a useless tare?  

Many people make the excuse that they don’t come to church because there are so many hypocrites there.  Well this is just the place where hypocrites and sinners of every stripe need to be.  Because it is here that Jesus takes your sin, and all the secret doubts and lusts of your heart, and patiently bears with you, even as He shows to you where He bore all your sin away on the cross.  And He does not direct you to your secret faith, but to that upon which your faith relies and in which you may find peace.  It is here that Jesus does not grow weary of speaking to you, teaching you, bearing with all your weakness.  This is where Jesus in His kingdom of grace turns useless tares that produce nothing good, into fruitful stocks of wheat, because it is here that we find all our worthiness in the obedient life of Christ whose righteousness is credited to each one of us by grace alone through faith in what God has spoken.  And what has God spoken to you?  Your sins are forgiven.  

This is what God has given His Church to confess.  And so we confess it – because GOD’S WORD IS FRUITFUL.  It is fruitful in that it creates in us confidence in God’s mercy in Christ, and the boldness to hang on every word He speaks. We who have become sons of the kingdom, through God’s pure word today, shall at the end of the age be ushered into the kingdom of God’s Son to live with Him forever.  There in the kingdom of glory, everything that offends and all lawlessness shall be removed and burned away.  But we will not be removed.  We will be included, because all our sin has been removed here in the kingdom of His grace.  

In Jesus’ name, Amen.