Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Especially these days, with the economy the way it is, I truly don’t know anyone who’s not aware of their spending habits. I know people who absolutely won’t buy something unless it is on sale or unless they have a coupon for it. I know people who today buy store brand generic products who never before looked beyond nationally recognized brand name products. I know people who drive out of their way to fill up their gas tank at a station where they can save a few cents every gallon. And once that gas is in the tank, I know people who used to make several trips from home every day who now make one planned and orderly trip to cut down on wasting gas. I know people who are holding back on major purchases about which, even just a few years ago, they would have never thought twice. I know people who are much more carefully monitoring their monthly or quarterly investment or retirement accounts to make sure their money is invested properly and is earning what they think it should be earning.

Maybe there are still people in this world today who continue to live economically carefree lives as if it were still the 1990's. I just don’t happen to know any of them. Do you?

We do see such a person in our Gospel today: the farmer who went out to sow his seed. Times must have been good because we see almost a reckless abandon as the farmer goes about his job, tossing seed here and tossing seed there. There seems to have been no planning. There seems to have been no preparation of the soil. There seems to have been no business plan as to how much should be returned into the farmer’s pockets in return for his investment.

If equal amounts of seed were sown in each of the four types of soil mentioned (25% along the path, which was later eaten by birds; 25% on rocks, which developed no root and later was burned by the sun; 25% among thorn bushes which choked the plants and 25% on good soil), then 75% of the farmer’s initial investment could rightfully be called wasted. If that farmer were you or me living in today’s economy, we probably would have sown that seed differently. More carefully. Or, maybe not even at all. Maybe we would have waited for better times, keeping that seed safely in our own pockets.

And that’s where this parable of Jesus, this “earthly story with a Heavenly meaning,” convicts us as individuals and convicts us as a congregation. For God has given us His “seed” which He has promised us will never ever return to Him empty or void [Isaiah 55:11]. He has given to us His Holy Spirit, that Spirit of sonship, not of fear [Romans 8:15]. He has commanded us to “go and make disciples of all nations,” promising to be with us always [Matthew 28:18-20]. Yet how do we often find ourselves as individuals? How do we often find ourselves as a congregation? I believe we too often allow our frugal economic minds to believe that we know better than God, that a frugal person is better in the long run than a lavish person, that if a fantastic payout is not guaranteed by our investment, that investment is not worth making.

That sounds logical, until you really stop to consider the ramifications of that statement.

If God had waited to create the world until He could have guaranteed that His free-will motivated human creations would never have wandered from Him and would never have subjected His beautiful creation to the ugly effects of sin, the world would probably still as yet be uncreated.

If God has waited to order the construction of the ark until there were more than just Noah and his family to save, there would have been no one to survive that massive flood and repopulate the earth.

If God had waited to send the human memo Moses to Pharaoh with the message “Let my people go” until such time as He was certain that not one complaint would be heard during the journey or until He was certain that no golden calf would be built, the Children of Israel would still today be slaves in Egypt.

And if God has waited to send Jesus until both thieves crucified alongside Him would have asked to have been remembered that day in paradise, Jesus would today still be the “hopes and fears of all the years.”

No, “Father” indeed knows best. When it comes to His gracious interaction with human beings, when it comes to the message of salvation, of an eternal relationship with Him, our God is as reckless as that farmer, tossing His Gospel here and there in the world, knowing full well that the vast majority of what is sown in this world will appear wasted, but He does it anyway for the sake of the seed that falls on good ground and produces that crop thirty or sixty or 100 times what was sown. Instead of looking at what is considered wasted, He looks at what results, which is astronomically greater than what seemingly produces nothing.

Some of you, I know, approach things analytically, mathematically. This parable stands the test. Start with 1. Divide it into four parts. Twenty-five percent finds good soil and produces 30, 60 or 100 times what was sown. That means that original 1 produces 7.5 (30 x .25), 15 (60 x .25) or 25 (100 x .25). Even in his seemingly recklessness, the farmer IS producing results. God, even in His seeming recklessness, produces results.

That productive Gospel seed, that message about God so loving the world that He gave His only Son to suffer, die and rise again for you and for me, has been sown into our hearts. That Gospel seed is what started this congregation. Imagine the effects – individually and corporately – if someone had not followed God’s example and seemingly sown recklessly in our hearts and in our city. Imagine the effects if someone had decided to wait until the “payoff” appeared better. Would you be here? Would you have Jesus in your heart? Would this congregation have been in this city for 119 years?

Those are scary questions to ask and to answer. But that is a question that you and I often decide for others when that beautiful Gospel message remains deeply and carefully hidden in our hearts or in the midst of this congregation gathered in this building.

So, my friends, our challenge this week, given to us from the mouth of Jesus Himself, is to be a farmer – His farmer, to stand upon His promise of being His children who will never be left alone throughout all eternity and to confidently cast His Gospel seed into the world around us, certain that His Word will never return to Him void.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena