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Sexagesima—February 4^th, 2024 Trinity Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas Rev. Joshua Woelmer Text: Luke 8:4–15 “The Word Alone” Theme: Satan attacks the faith of Christians, but God grows your faith by His Word. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. One of my side interests is the history of World War II. It’s probably not surprising—many men find that war fascinating for many reasons. One thing in particular that interested me a little while back is a machine that the Germans used to encrypt their messages. It was called the Enigma Machine. I don’t understand all of the mathematics and wiring that went into the machine, but it was considered unbreakable because of its complexity. However, Polish and British mathematicians were able to crack the code and use the decoded messages from the German government to understand the German plans. This led to U-Boats being sunk, air raids being repulsed, and weak points in the Germans lines being exploited. Some claim that it shortened the war by a considerable amount. I believe it. Knowing your enemy’s plan is important to fighting him. This is as true with schoolyard bullies as it is with national leaders. It’s also true on a spiritual level as well. We have an enemy, the devil. On the one hand, we should not dismiss him as non-existent. If Jesus doesn’t, we shouldn’t. On the other hand, we should not elevate his power to more than he actually has. The middle road is found in knowing his goals and his methods. What does the devil want, and what is his plan to accomplish it? We know what the devil is aiming at: he wants to separate you from God. How does he do this? Well, that is what today’s sermon is about. Even more important than the attacks on your soul, today’s sermon is also about the power of the Word of God to create faith in your hearts. Jesus tells a parable about a sower who has gone out to sow seed. This is not like the farming of today that is precise and orderly. The men would just scatter the seed everywhere. Yeah, they’d aim at the good soil, but if a little gets on the road or some of those stones over there or into that patch that always has brambles, so what? Sometimes it’s better to make sure you cover the good ground than scatter too sparsely. Maybe compare this to planting grass seed in your yard. You might use one of those grass seed spreaders that sprays the seed everywhere. So, some of the seed lands on different soil. The first falls along the path. Birds come and devour it. What’s great about this parable is that Jesus interprets it for us. “The seed is the word of God” (11). When it falls along the path, that means that people have at least heard the word of God. This happens all the time. You might bring up going to church for a friend, or someone might even come to church for a special occasion like a wedding or funeral or baptism. They hear the word of God. Praise be to God! But we as Christians should know that the devil wants as much as possible to take that seed out as soon as possible. He wants to stop people from meditating on the word or thinking out their life matches up with what was said. Now, we as Christians should be on our guard for our own souls against this attack as well. It’s easy to drift away while listening to a sermon, isn’t it? I do it myself—not while preaching a sermon, but while listening to other pastors’ sermons. Getting those flicks in the ear from dad to pay attention again is a good thing for your soul. Second, there is seed that falls on rocky soil. It sprouts quickly but then withers away because it had no moisture. I think we can all think of some people who were all excited about God and church, and then they experienced some difficulty in their own lives or disagreement with others in church or any number of trials. This is the second attack of the devil: to isolate you from water, that is, from God and his mercy that would sustain the growing plant of faith. This is as true for new believers as it is for our children. We should continue to encourage them to continue deeper in the faith so that it can withstand the assaults of the devil. When someone leaves our midst to go to college or take a job elsewhere, the first thing you should do is to take them to another Lutheran church and encourage their attendance there. We have many campus ministries throughout our state and nation that would love to help with that task. On a further practical level, parents should tell their children that being Christian will not always be easy. It’s not like we have a better life just because we’re Christian. On the other hand, God wants to use difficulties in our lives as encouragements to turn to him in prayer and reliance. The last seed is cast in the midst of thorns. These grow up with it and choke it. Jesus identifies these as “the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (14). Those three words are important. The cares of life are what you worry about. Do you worry about money, the Chiefs losing in the Super Bowl, Taylor Swift breaking up with Travis Kelce? Ok, those are somewhat flippant examples. But the cares of this life could be regarding civil war, foreign war, or any number of things that our media would fill our minds with. The riches of life are equally dangerous thorns. It is no surprise that those who become rich no longer see a need for God. This is documented again and again in Scripture. Proverbs 30:8–9 is great: “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” The pleasures of life are those things that we pursue that make us happy and feel good. Again, it is tempting to give into those things that dull our senses. This does not need to be only physical pleasures like alcohol, sex, or drugs, but it can also be any number of things that take up our time and attention. Entertainment does more than alcohol to separate someone from God. All of these are warnings for the Christian, both for our own souls and also for the souls of others as we see them being tempted by them. But what does God commend? “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” (15). Hold fast to the word in an honest and good heart. Listen to and read the word of God, taking it in and thinking about it. Apply it to your life. Learn lessons of what not to do and what to do. Then live that out. That is what “bearing fruit” means. Finally, that last word “patience” is a good one, but I prefer “steadfastness.” That is, we live in this life living steadfastly. That gives the impression of a man who won’t move when someone pushes back against him. Why should we move off of God’s word? Why should we move off the truth? Why should we move from God’s love and mercy? Remain steadfast. In the end, I think it is helpful to know our enemy: his goals and methods. But it’s far more important to know who is on your side. For us, that is Jesus, who is true God. He is your friend and your brother. He supports you when you are attacked. He has told us here the secret to the enemy’s attacks. It is as though he cracked the Enigma Code for us and told us what to expect in this life. We would be fools to ignore it and live our life thinking that we are never under attack. We are, but by God’s grace, we will remain steadfast and bear the fruit of faith. Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. Return to Top \| Return to Sermons \| Home \| Email Church Office

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Sexagesima—February 4^th, 2024

Trinity Lutheran Church, Block, Kansas

Rev. Joshua Woelmer

Text: Luke 8:4–15

“The Word Alone”

Theme: Satan attacks the faith of Christians, but God grows your faith by His Word.

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

One of my side interests is the history of World War II. It’s probably not surprising—many men find that war fascinating for many reasons. One thing in particular that interested me a little while back is a machine that the Germans used to encrypt their messages. It was called the Enigma Machine. I don’t understand all of the mathematics and wiring that went into the machine, but it was considered unbreakable because of its complexity. However, Polish and British mathematicians were able to crack the code and use the decoded messages from the German government to understand the German plans. This led to U-Boats being sunk, air raids being repulsed, and weak points in the Germans lines being exploited. Some claim that it shortened the war by a considerable amount. I believe it.

Knowing your enemy’s plan is important to fighting him. This is as true with schoolyard bullies as it is with national leaders. It’s also true on a spiritual level as well. We have an enemy, the devil. On the one hand, we should not dismiss him as non-existent. If Jesus doesn’t, we shouldn’t. On the other hand, we should not elevate his power to more than he actually has. The middle road is found in knowing his goals and his methods.

What does the devil want, and what is his plan to accomplish it? We know what the devil is aiming at: he wants to separate you from God. How does he do this? Well, that is what today’s sermon is about. Even more important than the attacks on your soul, today’s sermon is also about the power of the Word of God to create faith in your hearts.

Jesus tells a parable about a sower who has gone out to sow seed. This is not like the farming of today that is precise and orderly. The men would just scatter the seed everywhere. Yeah, they’d aim at the good soil, but if a little gets on the road or some of those stones over there or into that patch that always has brambles, so what? Sometimes it’s better to make sure you cover the good ground than scatter too sparsely. Maybe compare this to planting grass seed in your yard. You might use one of those grass seed spreaders that sprays the seed everywhere.

So, some of the seed lands on different soil. The first falls along the path. Birds come and devour it. What’s great about this parable is that Jesus interprets it for us. “The seed is the word of God” (11). When it falls along the path, that means that people have at least heard the word of God. This happens all the time. You might bring up going to church for a friend, or someone might even come to church for a special occasion like a wedding or funeral or baptism. They hear the word of God. Praise be to God! But we as Christians should know that the devil wants as much as possible to take that seed out as soon as possible. He wants to stop people from meditating on the word or thinking out their life matches up with what was said.

Now, we as Christians should be on our guard for our own souls against this attack as well. It’s easy to drift away while listening to a sermon, isn’t it? I do it myself—not while preaching a sermon, but while listening to other pastors’ sermons. Getting those flicks in the ear from dad to pay attention again is a good thing for your soul.

Second, there is seed that falls on rocky soil. It sprouts quickly but then withers away because it had no moisture. I think we can all think of some people who were all excited about God and church, and then they experienced some difficulty in their own lives or disagreement with others in church or any number of trials. This is the second attack of the devil: to isolate you from water, that is, from God and his mercy that would sustain the growing plant of faith.

This is as true for new believers as it is for our children. We should continue to encourage them to continue deeper in the faith so that it can withstand the assaults of the devil. When someone leaves our midst to go to college or take a job elsewhere, the first thing you should do is to take them to another Lutheran church and encourage their attendance there. We have many campus ministries throughout our state and nation that would love to help with that task.

On a further practical level, parents should tell their children that being Christian will not always be easy. It’s not like we have a better life just because we’re Christian. On the other hand, God wants to use difficulties in our lives as encouragements to turn to him in prayer and reliance.

The last seed is cast in the midst of thorns. These grow up with it and choke it. Jesus identifies these as “the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (14). Those three words are important. The cares of life are what you worry about. Do you worry about money, the Chiefs losing in the Super Bowl, Taylor Swift breaking up with Travis Kelce? Ok, those are somewhat flippant examples. But the cares of this life could be regarding civil war, foreign war, or any number of things that our media would fill our minds with.

The riches of life are equally dangerous thorns. It is no surprise that those who become rich no longer see a need for God. This is documented again and again in Scripture. Proverbs 30:8–9 is great: “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”

The pleasures of life are those things that we pursue that make us happy and feel good. Again, it is tempting to give into those things that dull our senses. This does not need to be only physical pleasures like alcohol, sex, or drugs, but it can also be any number of things that take up our time and attention. Entertainment does more than alcohol to separate someone from God.

All of these are warnings for the Christian, both for our own souls and also for the souls of others as we see them being tempted by them.

But what does God commend? “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” (15). Hold fast to the word in an honest and good heart. Listen to and read the word of God, taking it in and thinking about it. Apply it to your life. Learn lessons of what not to do and what to do. Then live that out. That is what “bearing fruit” means.

Finally, that last word “patience” is a good one, but I prefer “steadfastness.” That is, we live in this life living steadfastly. That gives the impression of a man who won’t move when someone pushes back against him. Why should we move off of God’s word? Why should we move off the truth? Why should we move from God’s love and mercy? Remain steadfast.

In the end, I think it is helpful to know our enemy: his goals and methods. But it’s far more important to know who is on your side. For us, that is Jesus, who is true God. He is your friend and your brother. He supports you when you are attacked. He has told us here the secret to the enemy’s attacks. It is as though he cracked the Enigma Code for us and told us what to expect in this life. We would be fools to ignore it and live our life thinking that we are never under attack. We are, but by God’s grace, we will remain steadfast and bear the fruit of faith.

Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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