Planted by the Word

For the past two weeks, our theme has been Define: Christian. The first week we looked at the story of Moses and the golden calf. We saw that a Christian worships the one true God, and no one or nothing else! Last week we saw that a Christian finds rest in Jesus because he promised to help us carry our burdens! Today we’ll look at God’s Word and once again learn how to define the word “Christian.”

On Thursday evening KOB4 reported on a desperate search for a 9-year-old boy who was missing. Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputies said that Sidney Giesen had disappeared around 6 PM Thursday in the East Mountains. He was reportedly riding an electric mountain bike near the Zuzax gas station in Tijeras. He was wearing an orange shirt and blue jeans. When that kind of alert goes out, what happens? Parents panic and start searching. The sheriff’s deputies began searching. Community members begin searching. Everyone desperately wants to find the missing child. We hear too many stories of children who are lost and never found. Maybe you heard that this story has a happy ending. According to BCSO, Sidney got lost and rode his bike all the way into Albuquerque, where he went into a business and was able to call his mom. Why do we search? Because we’ve lost something and we need to find it. When it’s a person, we are desperate to find them alive and safe.

What if we’ve lost God? The only way to lose God is to wander away from him. Where might people go to get away from him? Some choose the path of knowledge. They take in all that the world has to offer – the wisdom of newscasters, politicians, professors, and professionals – and try to find fulfillment. People try self-medication, hoping that something they smoke, or eat, or drink, or inject will help them escape the reality of life. Others hope that the metaverse will provide the answers they seek – living in an alternate reality where they can be whoever they want to be, and live whatever life they want to live. Each offers a path away from God!

Do we ever wander? It’s so easy to follow the world’s advice just like everyone else. Our friends have gone that route, and look how successful they have been. We’ve trusted them before and they’ve come through for us. Why not wander away with them? We can listen to the same wisdom, experiment with self-medication, and live out a metaverse fantasy too. Why not?

The temptation to wander begins with our thoughts. Mark Twain once said, “There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.” I think I’d like to try… I wonder what would happen if I watch this… I don’t think my parents would be that upset if I… I wonder what would happen if I don’t show up for work… I’m going to worry about this because it’s so important… and on it goes. As soon as we think about wandering away from God for something else, we have wandered, and we can so easily lose him!

Isaiah’s words break in, like the Google Maps voice, giving us the right directions: “Seek the LORD while he may be found! Call on him while he is near! Let the wicked man abandon his way. Let an evil man abandon his thoughts” (Isaiah 55:6 EHV). The wicked man? That can’t be me. There’s no way I’m an evil person. Aahh, but when we follow our own ways and immerse ourselves in our own thoughts, we are wicked. We are evil. Isaiah calls us to seek the LORD instead of wandering off on our own way. He wants us to pursue him as intensely as we would try to find a lost child and leave no stone unturned as we look for him. The LORD wants us to find him, to catch him, and to listen to everything he has to say.

The LORD isn’t far away. In fact, all we need to do is turn around to find him. “Let him turn to the LORD, and he will show him mercy. Let him turn to our God, because he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7 EHV). The LORD is right there, waiting for us to realize that we’ve wandered, straying from him in our thoughts, our words, and our actions. When we turn in repentance we find he’s been with us the whole time, waiting for us to recognize our wickedness, our evil, our sin and abandon all of it. When we turn and find him, he shows us mercy - “He does not treat us as our sins deserve. He does not repay us according to our guilty deeds” (Psalm 103:10 EHV). The LORD could punish us for all the ways we have missed the mark of perfection, but he doesn’t! He promises to “abundantly pardon” our sins. Literally the Hebrew word says that he will “multiply” his forgiveness. No matter what we’ve done and how much we’ve sinned, God’s forgiveness is always more. He will wash away every last sin like a tsunami sweeping over a seashore village.

How could the LORD show such mercy and forgiveness? “Certainly my plans are not your plans, and your ways are not my ways, declares the LORD. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my plans are higher than your plans” (Isaiah 55:8–9 EHV). If the LORD thought and acted the same way we did, the universe wouldn’t exist and neither would we because we wouldn’t be worth it. But the LORD had a bigger plan and more important things to do than just exist by himself. He had a plan before time began to show how much he loved us. The LORD would send a Savior who would make mercy and forgiveness possible. It was a foolish plan, at least according to our sinful human perspective. Why would God come here, become one of us, subject himself to a weak human body, and then willingly go to his death for a bunch of people who think they know better and can do more than he can? Because his plans are higher than ours! Because his love eclipses our love. Jesus knew how desperately we needed salvation and he carried out the plan step by step, perfectly, so that you and I have hope, forgiveness, and life!

God has provided exactly what we need to find him and become part of his family – Christians. The LORD told Isaiah, “Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return there unless they first water the earth, make it give birth, and cause it to sprout, so that it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater” (Isaiah 55:10 EHV). What happens in spring to the snow that fell in the La Plata and San Juan Mountains? It melts, and fills the rivers and reservoirs so that we have plenty of water. When that water flows through the irrigation system at NAPI, the seed in the ground pushes up and sprouts. Green leaves grow, absorbing sunshine and moisture until the corn, potatoes, pinto beans, and hay are ready for harvest. What happens when the monsoon comes in July and August? Rain falls and the parched land drinks its fill. The grass that has been sunbaked and struggling to survive becomes green and lush. The sage and junipers flourish. The tree leaves that curled against the harsh sun open and absorb the moisture. Flowers bloom, vegetables grow, fruit trees fruit. The rain and snow make it possible for farmers to farm and people to eat!

“In the same way my word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty. Rather, it will accomplish whatever I please, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11 EHV). God’s Word always works! We saw it in action in Jesus’ story about the sower and the seed. Wherever the Word goes it touches people’s hearts and lives. We have seen each kind of soil and what happens when the Word of God goes to work. A friend stays out all night every night with his girlfriend. When we share what God says about marriage and that God wants to reserve his gift of sex for husband and wife, the Word hits a hard heart and bounces off. Our friend doesn’t want to hear it and the devil swoops in and steals it away so he doesn’t have to hear it anymore.

A family member came to a Christmas Eve service and it affected them deeply. She started coming to church, eager to hear more, and even took the class to become a member. She was so excited to join the church family. About a year after she became a member, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went through chemotherapy, lost her hair, and was struggling with life. Pastor visited a few times, but then she didn’t return phone calls, and when he finally reached her she said, “Please don’t visit anymore. I don’t want to believe in a God who would allow this to happen to me.” The seed that sprang up so quickly burned out from the pressures of life.

Lifelong members love the Word, love coming to church each week, and love the family connections they and their children have made. The children get older, and life gets busier. School, sports, doctor and dentist visits. The bills add up and the hours at work get longer and more stressful. The family starts coming once or twice a month, then once every couple of months. When a friend called to see how they’re doing they answered, “We’re so busy! There’s so much to do, and the work schedule is unbelievable! We’re barely making our bills and we just don’t have time for church right now.” The faith that had been so vibrant was fading away, choked out by life’s demands.

Then there’s the little one whose parents had baptized and have been bringing ever since he was born. As he grows, he comes to Sunday School and when it’s time for the children’s message he’s ready to go. He hums the hymns on the way home and colors the children’s bulletin. The older he gets, the stronger his faith becomes. He invites his classmates to read the Bible with him. They ask him questions so he invites them to church where they can hear more. Other friends see what’s happening and want what the others have discovered. The seed planted in him has produced a hundred times what was planted, and now it’s producing in others.

Who is the sower in Jesus’ story? We are! What is the seed that we need to plant? The Word of God! What does God promise will happen every time we plant the seed of his Word? It will work! How can we be sure? God promised! “[My word] will accomplish whatever I please, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11 EHV). Whenever we share the tiniest bit of God’s Word, maybe even offering the simple message: “Jesus loves you!” God’s power makes it seed that grows. Maybe it won’t grow today, or tomorrow, or even 10 years from now. We might never see it grow. But when that person moves to Albuquerque, or Houston, or Phoenix, or Denver and makes a connection with a church that seed was there and growing. The seed doesn’t depend on you or me. Paul said it like this: “So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:7 EHV). God has given us the privilege to plant the seed and water it. He wants us to plant it wherever we go as much as we can. We need to depend on God for the growth and the results!

Do you remember the question we began with this morning? “What if I lost God?” We might lose him, but he will never lose us. He’s right there, waiting for that seed planted in us to grow so that we turn around and follow him. That’s what a Christian is. Planted by the Word, we grow and flourish in God’s gracious garden. Amen.

To God alone the glory! Pastor Jon Brohn