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This Week's Sermon THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 14 June 2009 "The seed planted in us" Mark 4:26-34 LSB Series B Vicar Gerald D. Heinecke Soli Deo Gloria!

In our gospel lesson we heard about seed. I am quite amazed at a seed. There are seeds all over the world! Some of these seeds grow to be what we call weeds while others we call flowers. Some we cultivate to feed our families and the world. Others grow naturally and we try to get rid of them. The size of a seed is even amazing. From the less than a millimeter long orchid seed to the giant 40 pound coconut palm seed. Yet all these seeds have one thing in common. If they don't grow they will not produce fruit.

Take an acorn for example, or a maple seed. This small seed forms a gigantic tree! There are others like mustard or corn that produce a phenomenal amount of food from one seed. Jesus used the mustard seed in his parable because it would have been a seed with which the Jews were able to associate.

Since you have probably not seen a mustard plant, think about corn. One kernel of corn will grow six feet and higher and can yield 800 kernels of corn per ear! What an amazing plant! In this manner corn and mustard are similar. Every plant starts out as a seed. That seed is expected to bear fruit, but before that is possible it must grow to maturity. Before that is possible it must be sown!

"The Kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground." This is the work of pastors and missionaries throughout the world. This is our work, to scatter the seed. To scatter seed sounds like such simple work. I'll throw some all around. Yet as farmers will attest to-being a farmer is no simple task. Even in today's world of seed hybridization, fertilizers, weed and pest control, irrigation, and onboard computers in the tractors, there are still many unseen obstacles. Farming is still not a simple task! Difficulties include drought, flood, freeze, invasive plants and pests. Even the rain is keeping the farmers from getting the fields planted.

Think about the task of the Gospel. The saving message of Jesus' death and resurrection is the seed that is scattered. Yet there are no fancy tools in order to bring these people to faith. There is only one tried and true proclamation, the seed which is the very word of God that tells us about him who takes away the sin of the whole world.

Yet some say you must be creative in planting the Word. You doubtless have seen them: the latest evangelism techniques, or books such as the so-called "classic" on the Christian life known as Rick Warren's, "Purpose-Driven Life." They attempt to water down Christianity or make it "less offensive." So many church bodies are concerned with being creative and figuring out how to get people in the church on Sunday morning. They bring in the pop-culture worship that supposedly draws youth into the church; some even hold the church service with a coffee shop in the back!

Yet these "creative" ideas at best mask and at the worst dismiss the real reason for the Divine Service! It is not to entertain, but to create and strengthen faith! It is right here that the seed is fed and nourished. Through the proclamation of the word it is here that the seed receives the water and light necessary to grow.

Remember what this seed is. It is the Word of God coming to you. It is planted in you by hearing and is continually being nourished as it fulfills its purpose of growing. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear. It is crucial to see what the plant is in this passage. It is your faith in the true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As you grow it is only through God's continual grace, hearing the Word of God, receiving the blessed assurance of forgiveness given in absolution, and the Lord's Supper that you continue to grow in him.

The harvester is patient as he watches his field grow. Night and day the plant surely takes form. This tiny seed of faith will continue to grow, producing leaves. These leaves serve to provide more nutrients. Gathering rays of light, for remember we are also children of the light. From the light of Christ we too receive strength. It helps us to sink our roots deeper grounding them in the faith so important to us.

Yet the question remains-how does this plant grow? Will the seed sprout and take root? It is as Jesus says, "the farmer knows not how." That is the most difficult thing that I have had to grasp. We are a results driven society. While working at Kohls, each day we had a specific sales goal, a credit application goal, even a goal to solicit emails. In farming I learned that there was goal to have so much wheat per acre. In education there are goals set for teachers to have a certain percentage of students pass the standardized test. Even in the church they set goals. We will have so many mission starts by this year or we will increase membership in the congregation by "x" number of people.

But where do we see in scripture that we have quotas for church? Rather it is as the farmer in the parable does, a man scatters seed on the ground. The church's work isn't to bring in "x" number of people. Rather the church's work is to proclaim Law and Gospel and to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Professor Marquart, in his book The Church reminds us that "the evangelical ministry is not manipulative. It relies totally on God's own working through His holy means 'when and where he please' not when and where human surveys, strategies, and 'goal settings may predict or prescribe." (Marquart, Kurt, The Church, Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics, Vol IX)

This evangelical ministry, that is the Ministry of the Gospel, its only "goal" is to preach the Word of God in all of its truth! If I asked a farmer what the condition of his seed is that he will be planting he had better say it is good seed! If the seed is rotten or diseased it will not come up right. It will not produce the desired fruit. It had also better be the right kind of seed. If you are planting a field of corn you expect to see corn and not dandelions. In Jesus' first parable he does not say what seed it is that the man sows because it is taken for granted, it is good and right seed.

This is the seed that is sown, God's never changing truth found within the Word and Sacraments He promises that where the Word is sown it will take root. That little plant must be nurtured, fed, and cultivated. It grows by being in the Word, hearing it, and understanding it. It is strengthened through the Lord's Supper, through Confession and Absolution, and through prayer. We weed around the plant keeping away the fruits of the flesh that the devil uses to choke out our faith.

While the church is not expected to see a specific number of people coming to faith, Jesus does remind us that the harvester is waiting for the grain to ripen. Which does say that those who come to faith will increase! The Word does go out into the world, even our own back yard. The seed is surely continuing to be scattered.

The seed must be scattered, but who is the sower? The sower is not all people. The sower is the church which possesses the office of the keys and intrusts them to pastors. But ultimately it is Christ, working through the pastors, who sow. It is through the Pastors as he preaches the Word of God and administer the sacraments that Jesus works. Pastors are not called to be creative by adopting new ministry techniques. They are not called to conform to culture and allow whatever the cultural norms are. No, they are called by God to be a servant to each church. Doing the will of Christ which is to faithfully proclaim his great and precious work.

One who sows, who tends the earth, is a servant of the earth. Yes, he reaps a reward from the earth, but if he does not tend the earth it will go wild. It will fall into disarray and many plants in the field will die. Thus the Pastor is charged with an important task; keep tending it with utmost care and gentleness, pruning with the law, and watering and fertilizing with the gospel.

Yet if this is the Pastor's task, what is yours? Your task is to live out your lives working within your vocation. Sometimes I feel like a broken record, "work in your vocation, work in your vocation." But this truly is your task, and not only to work but to grow in your vocation. Be in the Word, learn the Word. Be in the Divine Service, hear God's Holy Word, and receive his precious gifts that the Pastor administers.

To grow in your vocation does not mean that you must do door to door evangelism. It does not mean that you must have all the answers of the Christian faith, preach about Christ, or be an apologist, that is to present a defense of the faith. Rather you speak about Christ by living out your Christian vocation. It's so simple for us to do, yet it is the scariest part.

It forces us to engage our neighbor. We need to truly know our neighbor. Dr. Francisco, when he presented at our Christ on Campus weekend, pointed out how to confess your faith to Muslims, but this works for any neighbor. We don't do it through bashing them over the head with the Word of God. We do it through becoming a friend to them. The field is prepared for us as we meet our Muslim neighbors. Many of them are first or second generation Americans that first and foremost genuinely need a friend. They don't want to hear about Jesus, they want to know they can firmly develop a friendship with you.

Yet it is through friendship that the seed of God will begin to have the opportunity to be planted in every person's heart as he learns what it means to be a Christian. They will see Christ at work in you. Your friend will see someone who holds to the unwavering truth, who places confidence in salvation not in yourself but outside yourself in the unadulterated Word of God. When we trust in the seed the Holy Spirit has planted, it will naturally grow. It will naturally bear fruit, often times in the most unexpected way.

The Lord be with you as you grow in him!