Don't Wait Til It's Too Late

Luther’s Works, Volume 45 To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany that They Establish and Maintain Christian Schools

Let us remember our former misery, and the darkness in which we dwelt. Germany, I am sure, has never before heard so much of God’s word as it is hearing today; certainly we read nothing of it in history. If we let it just slip by without thanks and honor, I fear we shall suffer a still more dreadful darkness and plague. O my beloved Germans, buy while the market is at your door; gather in the harvest while there is sunshine and fair weather; make use of God’s grace and word while it is there! For you should know that God’s word and grace is like a passing shower of rain which does not return where it has once been. It has been with the Jews, but when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have nothing. Paul brought it to the Greeks; but again when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have the Turk. Rome and the Latins also had it; but when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have the pope. And you Germans need not think that you will have it forever, for ingratitude and contempt will not make it stay. Therefore, seize it and hold it fast, whoever can; for lazy hands are bound to have a lean year.

Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Matt 13:3-12

Matthew 13:3–12 ESV

And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

There are only two parables in the Gospels for which Jesus gives an specific interpretation - this one, the parable of the sower, found also in Mark 4:3-10 and Luke 8:5-8, and the parable of the wheat and the weeds that followed it, found only in Matthew (Matt 13:24-30). Since it is interpreted by Christ Himself, there is no point in me pretending to greater wisdom that our Lord by giving an alternative explanation.

But there is still something about this parable that gives us pause. We understand that the parable is illustrating the fact that the Gospel is not received with the same effect in every place where it is preached, as well as giving the essential difference between those who bear fruit from hearing and those who do not. Those who do not understand the Gospel, sooner or later, fail to bear fruit. Those who understand it, to a greater or lesser extent, bear fruit.

But what are we to do, for what are we held responsible by our Lord? Why is this parable given to the Church in the Gospels? The first thing that I say to you is that Jesus makes no comment regarding blame. He does not say that those who lack understanding are responsible for their lack, nor does he explain how some are enabled to understand and bear fruit. He does say that there are circumstances that contribute to the failure of the Word of the Kingdom to bear fruit.

First of all, an inability to understand the Gospel will be noted by your adversary the devil. He will not delay to take away the Word that is preached to those who do not understand, before it can take root. Second, the devil will use every trick in his arsenal to take your eyes away from Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, because there is salvation in none other. It is so important that people be enabled to understand the Word that Dr. Luther viewed as essential to the cause of the Reformation that children receive a good education, and that it was a community leadership’s responsibility. My quote today came from a letter entitled, “To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany That They Establish and Maintain Christian Schools.” It was not a love for learning in general, but the specific love for evangelism and discipleship that drove Dr. Luther to press for this, not as an inherent right, but as a vocational responsibility. Dr. Luther answered Cain’s ancient question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” with an emphatic “Yes!” Matt 13:18-23

Matthew 13:18–23 ESV

“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

God calls us to love our neighbor, and just as the ultimate expression of God’s love for us is that He sent His only-begotten Son - the missio Dei- so the ultimate expression of the Church’s love for the communities where the Church is planted is the sending forth of God’s Word in preaching and teaching. When people cannot read God’s Word, they cannot know for certain that they understand God’s will. The invention of the printing press enabled the Gospel to spread in ways and with an intensity that only early days of the Church could match as the wind of the Spirit blew in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

Today, technology can be used to the glory of God, and it can be used to bring forth God’s judgment. We can use social media to converse and console, and we can use it to deceive and devour. People can be lifted up by a “word in due season,” and they can be crushed down by foolish disputes and false gospels. God sends His Word and it heals those who receive it, and God judges those who despise His Word of Peace by taking it away, leaving only the devil’s lies that offer no hope, no comfort, no healing.

God loves this world that resists His Word. God sends the milk of the Word to people who choose to become drunk on the wine of the wrath of God’s judgment. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, not philosophy, not politics, not propaganda. Money cannot buy deliverance, but it can provide access to the Word that sets sinners free to worship their Savior, or it can make your chains become tolerable when you worship and serve the creature over the Creator.

People are born and people die, ministries are launched and ministries fold. The Word of the Lord endures. 2 Cor 4:3-6

2 Corinthians 4:3–6 ESV

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We are not called to judge the soil, but if we have been given tools to cultivate it, “let us work while it is day, for night comes when no man can work.” God has not called us to make the world perfect; He has called us to sow the seed, which will bear fruit in good soil. If God blesses us to play a role in removing those things which make it harder for a person to hear the Word and understand it, praise God from whom all blessings flow as we “work while it is day, for night is coming when no one can work.” As long as we have access to God’s Word to share it, as long as we have His Word hidden in our hearts, and as long as we can share in the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters in the spread of the Gospel in all of its purity, “let us work while it is day, for night is coming when no one can work.”

And the peace of God that passes understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.