JULY 20, 2008  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen.

The text for our meditation today is the Gospel of the Day, from St. Matthew 13. You have that text before you and I will reference it many times in our meditation. Amen

Dear Christian friends:

How would you define the term 'the Church?' What, or who would you say that it is made of? Well, dear friends, here is how I would define it. The Church is made up of believers and believers only. God's gift of faith is what makes you a Christian, God¡¯s declaration that you are a Christian makes you a Christian, and this same gift of faith and declaration makes you a part of 'the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints' (Apostles' Creed).

And, there are no unbelievers in the Church.

Yes, there are struggling and repentant sinners; there are those who confess the one true faith but are also tempted to doubt that which they confess; there are those 'who hunger and thirst for righteousness' (Matthew 5:6) because they cannot find any righteousness within themselves. But there are no unbelievers in the Church.

The Church is 'the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints.' Her members are holy, not because they are personally less sinful than all others, but because they believe by faith that God has declared them holy for the sake of Christ Jesus. Her members are called saints in communion, not because they form an exclusive club, but because God's gift of faith knits each believer together into one greater fabric, the body of Christ, the communion of saints.

Our Lutheran forefathers understood this.

They also understood that, so long as this life endures, the Church will continually be intermingled also with unbelievers. This is why they confessed, and I quote from the (Augsburg Confession, Article VIII, Reader's Edition 2005):

Strictly speaking, the Church is the congregation of saints and true believers. However. many hypocrites and evil persons are mingled within them in this life.

Jesus tells you the same thing in today's Gospel, when He tells you the parable of the wheat and the weeds:

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

Jesus later explained this parable by saying, as you heard, 'The field is the world, and the good seed-the wheat seed-stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one.'

My point is this. It would be very confusing if Jesus had said, 'The field is the Church,' because there are no weeds in the Church. That is to say, there are no unbelievers, no unrepentant sinners, no crass false teachers, no 'sons of the evil one.'

There is only good wheat in the precious field of the Church, which the Son of Man has planted. So when Jesus tells this parable about how wheat and weeds, faith and unbelief, most co-exist until the end of the age He says, 'The field is the world.'

That is to say, wherever the believers gather to hear the life-giving Word of Christ's forgiveness and to receive the Body and Blood of her redemption, there the un-believers are always present as well. There, associated with the believers are those who do not believe-secretly or otherwise-and who only pretend to be Christian. They mingle among, but not truly in, the communion of saints. They are 'the sons of the evil one,' the planting of the Son of Man's bitterest enemy.

'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 'An enemy did this.' 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' No. while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.'

Dear Christian friends, there is both great Law and comforting Gospel in these words from your Lord. In the first instance, it is not the Church's place to perform acts of self- purification. This parable from Matthew 13 warns that we must never look sideways at one another, wondering, 'Gee, is this person next to me a true believer or is he secretly an unbeliever?'

Yes, the Church most certainly has the responsibility to deal with those who openly and publicly willfully ignore the Ten Commandments, who reject the clear teachings of the Scriptures, or who live their lives as if God's Word does not matter. Jesus makes this clear later in Matthew chapter 18, where He says, 'If [the unrepentant person] refuses to listen even to the Church, treat him as you would a pagan or tax collector' (Matthew 18:17).

In other words, the Church must exclude and excommunicate the openly unrepentant and the rejecters of God's Word, refusing to give such rebels any impression that they possess the gifts of God's mercy and grace.

However, when the openly unrepentant must be excluded from our midst, this is NOT the Church's act of self-purification. Excommunication is an act of love toward the one excommunicated: that is, it is a strong preaching of the Law so that the unrepentant sinner might regret his or her rebellion and may turn again and believe the Gospel Christ's salvation. Such discipline is also an act of love for the Church, proclaiming to the believers that they must always regard God's Word with the utmost seriousness and never trade any part of it for their own selfish desires.

Today's parable of the wheat and the weeds shows that the Church is never given to acts of self-purification. In other words, excommunication and exclusion must never be carried out because we want to keep ourselves free from unbelievers. Who can judge the contents of a man's heart? Who can truly determine a person's motives based solely on their actions?

We read again in the confessions: Strictly speaking, the Church is the congregation of saints and true believers. However. many hypocrites and evil persons are mingled within them in this life (Augsburg Confession, Article VIII, Reader's Edition 2005).

Are you wise enough to tell the difference? Suppose you see a man who slips into the pew on Sunday morning, disappears immediately after worship, and never darkens the doorway of the Church building at any other time during the week: What shall you say about him? Is he a weed or is he wheat? How can any one of us determine who is truly the good wheat-'the sons of the kingdom'-and who is the false wheat-'the sons of the evil one'?

They asked Jesus, 'Do you want us to go and pull [the weeds] up?' Jesus said, 'No. while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.'

Jesus says these words because Jesus loves you more than anything else. Jesus so carefully and painstakingly cares for you that He will not allow any of those secretive 'hypocrites or evil people' to be uprooted from your midst, lest you also be uprooted with them. As unable as you are to determine another person's faith or the sincerity of his motives, so also are others equally unable to make such determinations about you.

Jesus allows the weeds to remain among the wheat so that you may believe and trust in Him without being required to prove your faith by means of petty exercises or religious acts. If you must prove the sincerity of your faith to your fellows in the Church, then your place in the Church will quickly become based on what you do, rather than what you believe. In that event, you would no longer be Christian-and for that matter, no longer part of the Christian Church.

The Church is made up of believers and believers only-not doers, but believers. God's gift of faith, and His declaration is what makes you a Christian, and this same gift also makes you a part of 'the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints' (Apostles' Creed). There are no unbelievers in the church. There are struggling and repentant sinners; there are confessors of the one true faith who are tempted to doubt that which they confess; there are also people 'who hunger and thirst for righteousness' (Matthew 5:6) because they cannot find any righteousness within themselves. But there are no unbelievers in the Church.

You, dear friends, are 'the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints.'

You, dear friends are holy, not because you are personally less sinful than all others, but because you believe by faith that God has declared you holy for the sake of Christ Jesus.

Together you, dear friends, are called saints in communion, not because you form an exclusive club, but because God's gift of faith knits each of you believers together into one greater fabric, the body of Christ, the communion of saints.

God's gift of faith is what makes you the good and precious wheat that has been planted by the Son of Man. You truly are, as Isaiah has said, 'a planting of the LORD' (Isaiah 61:3).

Do not concern yourself with who around you might be weeds or wheat: all of that will be determined by Someone much greater than you on the Judgment Day.

Simply rejoice in the great gift of forgiveness that God has given to you in His Son, Jesus. Grasp that forgiveness by faith, as a good and precious stalk of wheat. And do not worry: God's angels shall at last 'gather the wheat and bring it into barn.'

Rejoice that you, and you, and you my friends, will be among them. Because Christ Is Risen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.