2.8.26

[00:00:00] Oh, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's a Sunday Drive to church podcast for February 8th, year of our Lord 2026, the second Sunday in the season of pre Lent. Sagsagesagesima, the week of the 60 days before Lent. We're getting closer. And this is the parable. This is the Sunday of the sower and the seed, which is marvelous. Make sure you take a look at the sculpture that we have on the front of the pulpit, which is a picture of this parable. And there's the sower sowing the seed and some falls in the thorns, and some falls on the path, and some falls in the stones, and some falls in the good ground and produces abundant fruit. [00:00:42] It's really quite marvelous. But this is coming to you late. I got carried away getting ready for our gospel study in Matthew, which we're going to start tomorrow in Sunday school. Matthew, chapter one, verse one. I don't know if we'll get farther than that. They're so. [00:00:58] I just want to. This is my idea is to just. [00:01:01] I want Sunday school to be like a Gospel of Matthew stew. And we're just going to seep in it. We're just going to get soaked in the Gospel of Matthew and just try to absorb it for all it's worth. There's so much there. It's really amazing. I'm digging into. I was just looking at Eusebius, church history on the origin of Matthew, who thinks that it was written originally in Hebrew. That. That's so interesting. And, you know, there's these two genealogies, Matthew and Luke, and there's a couple of different ways to kind of reconcile them. Normally we hear, well, one was Mary, one was Joseph, but that's a really modern idea. There's a couple of ancient ideas that are really amazing, but also to see how Matthew starts his Gospel with a direct reference to the book of Genesis, which we normally think about with the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word, but Matthew does the same thing. Anyway, there's so much there. I hope you can join us for Sunday school class. It'll be great. But that's not what we're talking about now. We want to get you ready for church, so let's pray the collect and then we're going to dig into these passages which are so good. Let's pray. O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you, mercifully grant that by your power we may be defended against all adversity through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. [00:02:26] Amen. [00:02:27] Amen. [00:02:29] Oh, early service. [00:02:31] We have Ambrose Dawson's baptism. [00:02:34] Oh, God be praised. For vicar and his growing family. [00:02:39] That'll be really wonderful. We'll baptize him. Remember a number of you asked me about this when we don't, when we have a baptism, we don't have confession and absolution. And you asked me why and the answer is, I don't know. I don't make these things up. [00:02:58] It's one of the rules, the rules that are in red for the conduct of the service. But I think the reason is because confession and absolution in a really beautiful way is a return to our baptism. Remember how Luther teaches us that when he says, what does baptism signify? That we should, by daily contrition and repentance, drown and die. [00:03:21] And that by faith the new man rises to walk and live with Christ every day. So repentance and faith is that drowning of the flesh and living the new life in Christ. And that's what happens in our baptism. And so the baptism, when we're there to be witnesses of a baptism, that's what's happening. It's this drowning and lifting back up. It's really great. There's so many. We're going to chant it. Oh, this is good. Jonathan has it in the bulletin for a four bar chant. So we'll do four bars that are there, which is, I think is really nice. [00:03:59] It's a little more, I don't know, I always think it's a little more musical. We have Psalm 84 for our entrance. Psalm. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts. My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. And then this line which we remember. Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. You have to picture Solomon walking through the temple and noticing that the swallows have built their nests, you know, like they do under a bridge or something. That the swallows have built a little nest up in the corner of the. Of the Lord's temple. And he writes a psalm, look. He says, even the swallows, they found a place in your home, which is where we want to live also. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. This is an amazing picture. So that we're longing for the courts of the lord, like Psalm 27, the one thing I've asked for, that would I seek, that I would dwell in your house to gaze upon your beauty. [00:05:12] Remember the word blessed. [00:05:14] That's here in verse four and verse five. There's a double blessing is the very first word of the whole Psalter. [00:05:22] The book of Psalms starts, blessed is the man, and then it says, who doesn't do this? Walk and sit and stand in the way of sinners and scoffers and wicked, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. [00:05:34] So really all of our theology is about that blessed life, which is the life that belongs to the Lord. That's the first sermon that Matthew puts down when Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. [00:05:52] So good the Lord is a sun and a shield. [00:05:55] The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. [00:06:06] This is a. It's interesting. [00:06:10] Oh, you know, the. I bet the whole reason we have this also for a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. [00:06:19] That's one of those key texts and really beautiful. But I think that verse nine is probably the reason why we have this. [00:06:31] It says, behold our shield, O God, look on the face of your anointed. That word anointed, remember, is the Hebrew word Messiah. [00:06:42] And we're praying that the Lord would look with kindness upon his son, our Lord Jesus. [00:06:49] So anytime you see that word anointed in English in the Old Testament, we should just translate it to Messiah in Hebrew, or if better, Christ in Greek, because Christ is how you christened one, the anointed one. So you could say, look on the face of your Christ. [00:07:06] That's how we should read it and understand it when we see it. [00:07:09] The Old Testament is Isaiah 55, which is a great verse. [00:07:14] It's one of our Sades doctrinae. Remember those seats of doctrine where the. [00:07:20] Where the Scriptures teach clearly one of these foundational truths. This is one of the sadies for the doctrine of the Holy Scripture. It says, as the rain and snow come down from heaven and don't return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. [00:07:41] So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. [00:07:54] So the Lord says, this is the efficacy of The Word of God, like the rain, comes down and waters the land and causes the plants to grow. So the Word of God comes out of his mouth and it doesn't go back. He sends it out and it accomplishes the purpose. And what's the purpose? Well, let's just pretend like the very next verse is that purpose. You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. [00:08:17] Look at this. The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing. And the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of thorns shall come up cypress instead of the briar, shall come up the myrtle, and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. [00:08:37] Well, that cut off. Well, that's a theme that's in Isaiah, but so is this. [00:08:42] Isaiah is always picturing the kingdom of God like the reversal of the fall. [00:08:48] Remember when Adam and Eve fell? And now you're going to bring forth. You're going to have to scratch the ground and make the wheat come up. And from the sweat of your brow you're going to eat bread all the days of your life. But that thorn is replaced by the cypress, and the briar is replaced by the myrtle tree. [00:09:09] And so the wilderness is replaced by the garden. [00:09:13] So it is in the Lord's kingdom. [00:09:16] And this is in the background of the parable that Jesus tells of the sower going out to sow the seed. It's so beautiful. That kingdom of God is that sower that sows the seed. And it's going to grow up into this lush garden. In fact, the whole kind of arc of the Scriptures is garden to garden. So the first chapter one, the Lord's building a garden for Adam and Eve. And chapter Revelation 22, we're back in this garden city where the rivers are flowing and the fruit of everlasting life is growing. [00:09:49] How marvelous is that? [00:09:52] That's the gospel. We get it from Luke 8, although we can find the parable in Matthew and also in Mark. [00:09:58] But in Luke we have this parable, and Jesus is telling it. [00:10:02] And he says, after he tells this parable, which we gave the summary already, he says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And we say, well, hey, I got ears. You know, I got ears. Raise your hand if you have ears. But it's a difference between ears to hear and ears that don't hear. [00:10:21] It doesn't mean that it's like being deaf. It's in fact, remember that the picture in the Scripture is there are people who are deaf. But they hear the voice of Jesus. They know the word of God. [00:10:33] There's people who are. Who are blind, but they see the face of Jesus and they see the kingdom coming. But then there's people who have perfect vision, perfect sight, perfect hearing. [00:10:45] 20, 20 sight and hearing. Is there 20, 20 hearing? How do you judge hearing anyway? People with perfect sight and hearing, but they miss the word of God. So that's what Jesus is talking about. The Holy Spirit opens our ears to hear God's word. [00:11:00] The disciples say, and this is kind of great. Jesus says, if you have ears to hear, let them hear. [00:11:06] And the disciples hear it. And they say, could you tell us what it means? [00:11:13] We're not sure. We have ears to hear. [00:11:16] We get it, Jesus. Maybe you just want to double check. [00:11:20] Can we just check our answers on your answer sheet here? [00:11:24] So Jesus is going to tell them the explanation of the kingdom. [00:11:28] In fact, he says to you, it's been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. For others, they're in parables so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. [00:11:38] That's a quote from Isaiah and the call of Isaiah. And we have to be careful because sometimes Jesus will say. So we don't want to take that as a blanket statement of the parables. I've seen people try to do this, that from this text we see that Jesus speaks in parables to. To disclose things to the unbeliever and to reveal them to the believer. [00:11:59] That's true sometimes. Other times Jesus uses parables to expose even the unbeliever. [00:12:06] So, for example, remember the parable of the unrighteous stewards. And they kill the Son and think they're going to get the farm, and then they get destroyed. [00:12:15] It says the Pharisees knew that he was talking about them. [00:12:18] So sometimes the truth is disclosed, sometimes it's revealed even to the unbeliever in the parables. But this particular parable, Jesus, Jesus says, is understood only by faith. [00:12:30] And he then explains that the parable is the seed is the word of God. The one along the path are those who heard. And the devil comes and takes away the Word from their hearts, so they may not believe and be saved. [00:12:42] The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the Word, receive it with joy. [00:12:46] But these have no root. [00:12:48] They believe for a while and in time of testing, fall away. [00:12:51] And as for that which fell among the thorns, they are those who hear. [00:12:54] But as they go on their way, they're choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and their fruit doesn't mature. [00:13:01] As for that, in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience. [00:13:09] That's what we're called to do. Well, more on that in the sermon. The epistle lesson, which we just skipped, but we'll talk about now, is from Second Corinthians, chapter 11 and 12. [00:13:21] It's a really interesting passage. [00:13:24] So the Bible commenters will make this note that there's a form of literature that comes out of the ancient world which is basically. [00:13:34] Well, it's like monument literature. It's like if you're a king and you're having a monument built for yourself, you'll make a list of all of the great works that you accomplished, all the kingdoms that you conquered, all the wars that you won, all the cities that you built. [00:13:53] It's a kind of a memorial sort of list. It's like a curricula vitae for a ruler. And Paul is going to use that form of writing, that literary device about himself. [00:14:13] But here's the twist, is that all the stuff that he lists are all the stuff that you would not want to list. [00:14:24] It's like an anti accomplishment list. He's boasting in his weaknesses and that's what he says. [00:14:32] And it gets wild because he almost gets carried away. And he points out that he gets carried away and then he ends with this really funny way of recounting this vision that he had on the way to Damascus when he's caught up into the third heaven. We're not going to talk about it tomorrow. At least I'm not planning on it. Oh yeah, I'm recording on Saturday, so let me say that again. [00:14:54] I'm not planning on preaching on this today when you get to church. [00:14:59] So maybe it's just a couple of verses and to get a feel for it because it's really a beautiful, interesting passage. [00:15:06] You gladly bear with fools being wise yourself. [00:15:11] One of the dangers, by the way of reading is you have to be able to recognize sarcasm because, well, Jesus will use it, Paul will use it, the prophets will use it. People who are writing will use sarcasm. But if you miss the sarcasm, you kind of get the opposite point and you get thrown off. So you got Luther all over that sarcasm here. You can't miss this sarcastic point. You gladly bear with fools being wise yourselves, for you bear it if someone makes slaves of you or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs or strikes you in the face. [00:15:43] To my Shame, I say. We're too weak for that. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I'm speaking as a fool. [00:15:51] I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I'm a better one. I'm talking like a madman. Far greater labors, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews. 40 lashes. Last one, I think we only hear about one of those times in the Book of Acts. So he's already been whipped 39 times by the Jews. 5 times. 3 times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. A night and day I was adrift at sea, frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And apart from the other things, the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches, who is weak and am I not weak? [00:16:56] Who's made a fall? [00:16:58] Am I not indignant? If I must boast, I'll boast of the things that show my weaknesses. The God and Father, my Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows I'm not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. [00:17:20] Can you imagine? Says, oh, yeah. You guys want to hear something impressive? One time they were going to grab me, but some of the old ladies in the church put me in a basket and let me down the window like the dirty laundry, and I escaped. Pretty impressive, huh? [00:17:38] This is Paul. Oh, he is talking like a madman. It's great. Then he says, I'll go on boasting there's nothing to be gained by it. I'll go on to visions and revelations. I know a man in Christ, and Paul's talking about himself, but just see the literary device. I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Now remember, the three heavens in the Bible are the bird heaven, the star heaven, the throne of God heaven. [00:18:03] So what we would call, I guess, the atmosphere, that's the bird heaven. And then there's the stars, the space, the universe, the cosmos, outer space. And then There's a throne of God, heaven, which is everywhere. We just can't see it unless you're a prophet and you're brought into that council. And that's what happened to Paul. He was brought into that council before the throne of God. [00:18:26] He says, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. I know that this man was caught up into paradise. Whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. [00:18:39] On behalf of this man, I'll boast, but not on my own behalf. I'll not boast except of my weakness. [00:18:44] Do you see what Paul does there? It's like, hey, by the way, I'm a prophet. [00:18:51] I stood before God and I heard his counsel. [00:18:55] I heard the unspeakable words. [00:18:58] I'm not going to boast about him, but here's how I'm going to give myself to you. I was beaten with rods three times. I had to float in the ocean overnight. [00:19:07] I was in a basket in Damascus. [00:19:13] And notice how Paul is so indignant because the Judaizers were there in Corinth trying to destroy the Church by claiming Paul was a false prophet and in it for himself. [00:19:27] That Paul was doing this fundraising campaign, which is kind of the whole. Well, not the whole point, but a big part of the first and Second Corinthians is Paul's doing this fundraising campaign to support the. [00:19:39] The church in Jerusalem undergoing famine. [00:19:42] And they're saying, oh, he's just enriching himself. Are you kidding me? He says, are you kidding me? [00:19:49] If I wished to boast, I would not be a fool. I'd be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it. So no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the Revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh. A messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. [00:20:09] When the Lord. It's an amazing thing, really. When the Lord gives, he also takes away. [00:20:15] And so when he gives a gift, he'll also give a burden. [00:20:19] When he puts on the crown, he also stabs with a thorn. [00:20:26] He lifts up and he humbles at the same time. [00:20:32] And here Paul prayed three times. I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me. Now there's a lot of speculation about the thorn in the flesh. Some people say maybe it was bad eyesight, was his because he was deformed because he was stoned three times. Maybe he was a kind of short, ugly man. [00:20:49] Maybe he. You know, some people, the eyesight is a big thing, because when he signs his own letters, he. He'd normally dictate to an amanuensis, and then he'd sign the letters at the end and look at what big letters I write. [00:21:05] Probably, though, my idea, Pastor Graff, my pastor has the idea that the thorn in the flesh is the memory of the stoning of Stephen. [00:21:14] That he just can't shake it, that he was involved in that. And that's that what Luther calls the yappy sins. You know, the old sins that just are always yapping in our conscience. [00:21:26] But I think it was just a demon. I think that the Lord let the devil assign a demon to just harass Paul constantly. That's my idea. [00:21:37] I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should be, oh, yeah, because he says, a messenger of Satan to harass me. I plead with the Lord it should leave me. But he said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. [00:21:54] Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. [00:22:02] I'll boast in my weakness. His strength is made perfect in weakness. [00:22:09] That's the watchword, by the way, for us. I think I've told you all the story that when I had Covid so bad and I was kind of out of my mind, I couldn't just sort of talk or think or move for those weeks. [00:22:23] That was the word that was echoing in my own mind over and over. [00:22:30] My strength is made perfect in weakness. [00:22:37] It's true. [00:22:38] It's true. God be praised. [00:22:41] God be praised. [00:22:44] The hymn of the day is May God bestow on us his grace. It's the old Luther Mission hymn, but we have a different tune for used to be this. May God bestow on his grace. But I think it's a different one. May God bestow on us his grace with blessing. Rich provide something like that. So, but it's a. You look down, you're like, what's going on with this hymn? And you look down to see who wrote it. Like, aha, I get it, Luther. But it's this prayer that the Lord would not only give his grace to us, but his grace to all people, so that that seed which he sows in our own hearts would be sown in the ears and hearts of people absolutely everywhere. May God grant it. May it be from our lips to the Lord's ears. All right, there's Sunday Drive to Church podcast. Can't wait to see you in a few minutes. Drive safe. God's peace be with you.