Theme(s): The mission of Jesus / The multiplying mission of Jesus / Gospel fruitfulness. Set free by the Spirit. Victorious life in the Spirit.
Sentence: There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
Collect:
Almighty God,
in your Son Jesus Christ
you have created a people for yourself;
make us willing to obey you,
till your purpose is accomplished
and the earth is full of your glory. Amen.
Readings (related):
Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65:9-13
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Commentary:
Isaiah 55:10-13
God's word (here, in context, God's covenantal promise to restore Israel from exile, see 55:3)
is powerful in its purpose (it will achieve what it sets out to do) and
purposeful in its power (it intends to do good).
It will be fruitful - Israel will 'go out with joy and be led forth in peace' (12).
This same word is the word of the gospel as taught and proclaimed by Jesus (see gospel below).
Psalm 65:9-13
This is a lovely picture of God blessing the earth. The psalm is chosen to complement the gospel reading. As the word of God brings forth fruit in people's lives, its warmth, beauty and loveliness is illustrated by this parallel scene in nature. Over both kinds of fruitfulness God is the caring farmer!
Romans 8:1-11
This 'continuing' reading through Romans brings us into a great chapter which represents an important stage in Paul's argument through the whole epistle.
Through seven chapters Paul has been expounding the grace of God, a grace which includes Jew and Gentile, which covers every sin, and is freely available because of what Christ has done. So he begins this chapter, 'Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus' (1) which is a fair summary of his argument to this point. But what now? What is Paul's next stage? What point does he now seek to make?
In part Paul continues a theme he has been developing through chapters six and seven: life in Christ does not mean continuing in sin in order for grace to abound, nor does it mean despair over continued sinning because a new way of life is available through identification in baptism with the death and rising of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless there is a new development, presaged in Romans 5:5 with mention of the Holy Spirit, in which Paul reminds his readers that the Holy Spirit is at work in them in the battle between doing good and doing wrong, between allegiance to God and allegiance to the sinful nature within them.
Effectively Paul repeats his argument through chapters six and seven but revises it to now talk about the Spirit of God and the work of the Spirit which every believer may expect and rely on.
Along the way Paul sets out some facts about the Holy Spirit:
One is that the Spirit of God lives in each person who 'belongs to Christ' (9). No Christian should think they do not have the Spirit, and certainly no Christian should run around congregations suggesting that some members do not (yet) have the Spirit ("But if you pray this prayer etc then you will have ...").
Secondly there is no division in the working of God between Christ being in the believer and the Spirit being in the believer (9-10).
Thirdly, the power available to the believer is the power of the one and same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead who now dwells within the believer (11).
Thus Paul, at the beginning of our passage, can confidently teach that the Christian believer is able to be victorious in overcoming sin (1-4) because there is a new, lively power at work in us (2), enabling us to meet the requirements of the law in a way which the law itself is not able to do.
One way to summarise all that is going on through chapters 6-8 is this: Christians, the Spirit will empower you to be what you are (in, through and because of Christ - who he is and what he has done for you)!
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 - The Parable of the Sower
A challenge for the preacher this week is to take a very familiar passage and say something fresh from it!
Something to observe is that Jesus tells the parable when 'such large crowds gather round him' (13:2). It is as though Jesus is sizing up the crowd and telling them that they will not all be found faithful to the word he is teaching them. Even at a high point of 'success' for his movement, measured in terms of interested listeners, Jesus recognises the reality of life.
Between the parable (1-9) and the interpretation (18-23), what Jesus recognises is understandable in every generation, including ours. Some simply do not 'get' the gospel message (4, 19); some hear the message and respond joyfully, but the hearing has no depth and when trouble comes, they fall away (5, 20-21); some hear the word but their response is quickly choked out by the worries of this life and the deceitful claims of wealth - materialism trumps spirituality (6, 22); some hear, understand, with joy, deeply, without choking (7, 23).
What does the reference mean to the crop being produced hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown (8, 23)? We might investigate what this meant in terms of the agriculture of Jesus' day. But more relevant could be investigating what this meant in terms of Jesus' own mission.
If the starting point above is valid, that Jesus was seeing beyond the crowds to the few who would be faithful to his word, then the multiplying of the seed is about the value of the faithful few: they will receive the word and multiply it, in terms of more faithful adherents across Israel and, later, throughout the world.
The very fact that you are reading this, that a congregation will hear your sermon this Sunday is testimony to what Jesus taught about the word. We are evidence of the multiplication!
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