WATCHWORD:
3 He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. 4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! 9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Matthew 13:3-9
Meditation:
Cheap Grace
In Tim Keller’s book, The Prodigal God, he reminds us of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, being appalled at how many in the German church gave in to Hitler in the early 1930s, that he took it upon himself to write his great work, The Cost of Discipleship. In that book, Bonhoeffer warns about the dangers of what he referred to as “cheap grace”, the idea that stresses only that God’s grace is free, so that it doesn’t really matter how we live.
I have read and reread The Cost of Discipleship, and tried to understand Bonhoeffer’s thesis. I believe his point is that if we subscribe to cheap grace then we ignore how seriously God takes our sinful lives, and the infinite cost He paid for it. If we understand the cost of following Christ and the price He paid to rescue us, we would not be able to live selfish and cowardly lives. We would stand up for justice and sacrifice for our neighbor.
Jesus made this point in the parable of the sower that we find in Matthew 13. Those that share God’s Word… is like the sewer of seed. There are three groups of people who receive and accept the Word; two of the groups do not produce changed lives: One set are people who do not have the endurance and patience to handle suffering, while another group continues to live anxious and materialistic lives. The only group who produce changed lives are not those who have worked harder or been more obedient, but those who hear the Word of God and understand it.
It is at this point that Bonhoeffer insists that people whose lives remained unchanged by God’s grace did not understand it’s costliness, and therefore didn’t really understand the Gospel. Maybe they have a general idea of God’s universal love, but, at a deeper level, they did not grasp the seriousness of sin and the meaning of Christ’s work on our behalf.
I think Martin Luther’s statement sums up the point of this meditation — “We are saved by faith alone (not our works), but not by faith that remains alone.” I think the truth of that statement is that nothing we do can merit God’s grace and favor, we can only believe that he has given it to us in Jesus Christ and we receive it and pass it on only by faith. Amen.
Bulletin Board:
An imagined story of the start of Jesus’ ministry. After the miracle at the wedding at Cana, Jesus moved to the fishing village of Capernaum on the sea of Galilee. There, history suggests, he built his own house with skills as a carpenter. For a year or more, before he began his travels, He often had crowds gather at His home to engage Him in conversation. Sometimes He would wander down to the shore and speak to shoppers in the fish market and fishermen. This time the crowd grew so large, that He stepped into a boat and spoke, saying, “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds…” Informal ministry, interesting stories with meaning, touching lives…and so it began.
Closing Prayer:
Lord, help me to plant seeds of Your Word in good soil. Help me to grow in faith so my relationship with you is not shallow and weak, but a deep and mature faith. Grant me a faith that can move mountains of doubt and oceans of fear. Teach me to triumph over temptation. Help me to believe in you, even when I do not understand the capricious nature of life and the cruelty in some people. Lord, I am yours. Take me as I am. Shape me. Make me. Mold me into the person you would have me be. Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior we pray. Amen.
