Sexagesima

Luke 8:4-15 - Sexagesima Sunday - January 31, 2016         
The Sower and the Seed

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This morning, our appointed Scripture lessons for Sexagesima Sunday invite us to consider the power of words.  Words have immense power.  We know this as a matter of Christian conviction for at least three reasons: First, because we know that by speaking his word almighty God created heaven and earth.  Second, because we know that the divine Word became human flesh and dwelt among us in order to atone for all human sin on the cross.  And third, because we know that whoever abides in the words of Jesus has life abiding in him, and that it is through his holy word that the Holy Spirit persuades us of God’s love for us in Christ and makes us temples of the triune God.  Words have immense power.  To deny this is to deny the power of God and naturally also the Christian faith.  But we affirm that words are immensely powerful as a matter of Christian conviction.  That is why we are gathered this morning to hear God’s word. 

Sexagesima

Isaiah 55 - Sexagesima Sunday - February 23, 2014           
What It Pleases God to Accomplish

“Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.” This is Luke 8:1, which is just a couple verses before our Gospel lesson begins. What a wonderful thing to consider: Jesus going all over the place – not to select cities and villages that have somehow earned the honor of his visit, but to every city and every village around. This is because what Jesus had to give was not just for some; it was for everyone — just as the sky opens up and pours rain and snow on the earth with no concern as to where it lands.

Sexagesima

Luke 8:4-15 - Sexagesima - February 3, 2013 

What Do You Want to Hear?

God’s word is powerful.  The reason it is powerful is because it is God’s word.  He speaks it.  It goes forth from His mouth to accomplish what He pleases.  It isn’t powerful because of what we see it do.  No.  Rather, it has the power to save because of who says it.  It is God’s word.  God says it.  God saves.  He is almighty, and so His word accomplishes what He purposes to accomplish, and it succeeds in the thing for which He sends it … because it is His word.  And He is God.  We should listen to God’s word – not insofar as it saves us, or insofar as it otherwise appears to benefit us, but because God says it.  That settles it.

By God’s word the heavens and the earth were made.  This is the written record of Genesis 1.  As Psalm 33 attests: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.”   Think of all that stuff described by evolutionists on the Discovery Channel.  They display in such marvelous detail the amazing and beautiful wonders of creation.  And of course they give all the credit to random chance just to avoid reckoning with God … but still! — You can really learn a lot about the created world by listening to them, can’t you?  And yet, it wasn’t made by them.  Their scientific descriptions didn’t cause anything to be.  It was all made and it is all upheld still by the power of God’s almighty word alone.  I think this helps put things into perspective.  When you look at the natural world, it isn’t just God who made it; it is God who made it by speaking.  And He speaks to us.  Here; this morning.  God’s word is powerful. 

Our word, on the other hand, is not.  It is weak.  It is often false.  We say things and nothing happens.  We exaggerate things, but reality doesn’t change.  We promise things and vow to do things, and then we fail.  And so our words fail with us. 

Sexagesima

Luke 8:4-15 - Sexagesima - February 12, 2012

What God Accomplishes

The word of God is powerful.  The reason that it is so powerful is because it is the word of God — and God is powerful.  God has the power to accomplish what He wants to accomplish.  And God accomplishes things by speaking His word.  That’s how He does it.  God does not speak simply to hear His own echo, but in order to accomplish on earth His good and gracious will toward men. 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth by speaking.  When He had finished, He looked at what He had made and called it good.  God doesn’t create bad things.  He creates good things.  The purpose for which God continues to send His creative word today is a good purpose.  Through it, He accomplishes good things.  The word of God is powerful and good because God is powerful and good.  And because God is everlasting, so also the word of God shall not pass away.  

God speaks to us today in the words of Holy Scripture.  There is no other place where we can expect to hear His voice, because there’s no other place where the Almighty God promises to speak.  Only by hearing what God wants to tell us in the Bible are we able to come to saving faith in Him, because there’s no other place where God makes promises to save us.  We are saved from our sin by believing what we hear.