The Sower and the Seed Quotations

The Sower by Norma Boeckler

The Sower and the Seed in Mark 4:3-9
(Luke 8:5; Matthew 13:3)

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KJV Mark 4:3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.



Mark 4:14-20 Explanation of the Parable


KJV Mark 4:14 The sower soweth the word. 15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. 18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. 20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.




J-207
"Christ compares the Word of God to a seed, to a grain of wheat sown in the ground. (Matthew 13:3-23) A seed possesses power and life in itself. Power and life belong to the properties of the seed. Power is not communicated to the seed only now and then, under certain circumstances, in peculiar cases. But the Word of God is an incorruptible seed, that is able to regenerate, a Word which liveth and abideth forever. (1 Peter 1:23)"
E. Hove, Christian Doctrine, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1930, p. 27. Matthew 13:3-23; 1 Peter 1:23.



The Sower and the Seed is explained by Jesus Himself. In the Means of Grace chapter of Isaiah, the Word is compared to rain and snow, which invariably cause growth. In this comparison, the Word is similar to seed, full of potential growth. If God gave us only one illustration, or a few, we would have more than enough to consider. But our gracious Heavenly Father shows His abundance in providing many different ways for His Scriptures to illustrate the whole counsel of God.



The Seed
Seed is a marvel because it is a storehouse of life in a portable package. Seed will endure heat, cold, storage, travel, and perhaps many years of hardships before taking root and growing. Seed travels by wind, animal, and human transportation. Each seed has its own destiny programmed within its genetic structure. The vitality of seed is easy to appreciate when a few beans or peas are placed in a damp towel to germinate. The dry, rough seed swells with moisture at first, then sends both a root to drink water and absorb moisture, and a cotyledon (baby plant) to search for the rays of the sun.





J-208
1) "Preach you the Word and plant it home

To men who like or like it not,

The Word that shall endure and stand

When flowers and men shall be forgot.



2) We know how hard, O Lord, the task

Your servant bade us undertake:

To preach your Word and never ask

What prideful profit it may make.



3) The sower sows; his reckless love

Scatters abroad the goodly seed,

Intent alone that men may have

The wholesome loaves that all men need.



4) Though some be snatched and some be scorched

And some be chocked and matted flat,

The sower sows; his heart cries out,

'Oh, what of that, and what of that?'



4) Preach you the Word and plant it home

And never faint; the Harvest Lord

Who gave the sower seed to sow

Will watch and tend his planted Word."

Martin H. Franzmann, 1907-76, "Preach You the Word," Lutheran Worship, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982, Hymn #259.





The parable teaches us about four groups of people who hear the Word.



Satan takes away the seed
The first group is represented by those who have the Word snatched from their hearts by Satan. When the sower casts his seed, some will fall upon the hard footpaths that border the planting area. These footpaths were well known to Jesus’ audience and not unknown today. If a path is worn in grass from frequent traffic, sowing seed on it alone will not restore the growth. First the soil must be softened and turned to promote germination. So it is when people with hardened hearts hear the Gospel but do not grasp it. It goes in one ear and out the other. They are hearers only and not doers.[16] They may acknowledge the faith in some minor way, even earn a living as ministers or teachers, but they do not sincerely believe and therefore do not act upon faith. Luther emphasizes in the strongest terms that synodical unbelievers belong to Satan.



J-209
"The first class of disciples are those who hear the Word but neither understand nor esteem it. And these are not the mean people of the world, but the greatest, wisest and the most saintly, in short they are the greatest part of mankind; for Christ does not speak here of those who persecute the Word nor of those who fail to give their ear to it, but of those who hear it and are students of it, who also wish to be called true Christian and to live in Christian fellowship with Christians and are partakers of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. But they are of a carnal heart, and remain so, failing to appropriate the Word of God to themselves, it goes in one ear and out the other, just like the seed along the wayside did not fall into the earth, but remained lying on the ground..."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 114.



Satan is always at war against Christianity and never stops stealing faith from people, just as birds never seem to stop feeding. As Lenksi has noted in his commentary on Mark, Satan snatches away faith in many different ways:



J-210
“Once he tells a man, that the Word which disturbs his conscience is a mere exaggeration, sin is not so deadly, God cannot have wrath, we must not allow our enlightened minds to be moved by such outworn notions; again, it is all uncertain, no uncontested fact in it, and no up-to-date man believes such things; then, the preachers themselves do not really believe what they say, they preach only to make an easy living, and are really hypocrites, as their own actions often show.”

R. C. H. Lenski, Mark, Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1934, p. 108.



Rocky Soil
The second group is similar to seed sown on rocky soil. A grain crop will send down deep roots, but rocky soil will first promote rapid germination by soaking up the warmth of the sun and then kill the plant by preventing proper root growth. Often sunflower seeds will germinate and grow on a flat roof with some soil blown onto it. But the seedlings quickly die from the heat as well as the lack of moisture and soil. In the same way, people will hear the Gospel and rejoice in the forgiveness of their sins. However, they cannot tolerate any hardship from illness or poverty. They are like Sloth, who falls into the Slough of Despond in Pilgrim’s Progress. “If this is how the journey begins, then how can I finish?” These people miss the joys of being a Christian during times of affliction and persecution, for the Light shines all the more brightly in the dark night of the soul.



J-211
"The second class of hearers are those who receive the Word with joy, but they do not persevere. These are also a large multitude who understand the Word correctly and lay hold of it in its purity without any spirit of sect, division or fanaticism, they rejoice also in that they know the real truth, and are able to know how they may be saved without works through faith...But when the sun shines hot it withers, because it has no soil and moisture, and only rock is there. So these do; in times of persecution they deny or keep silence about the Word and work, speak and suffer all that their persecutors mention or wish, who formerly went forth and spoke, and confessed with a fresh and joyful spirit the same, while there was peace and no heat, so that there was hope they would bear much fruit and serve the people."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 116.



Lenski adds that the rockiness of the soil is the hidden hardness of men’s hearts, revealed only when persecution comes because of the Word. Rocky soil can look outwardly soft and fertile, like the front yard of our last parsonage. Digging a few inches revealed construction trash, rocks, and excess concrete dumped in the ground. No gardener would expect long-term growth in such soil.



Thorns
Jesus compares the third group to seed sown where thorns grow and choke the crop. How many have returned from a long vacation in August to find their favorite crops choked by weeds? The plants may grow, but they will not produce well and be fruitful. Thus many different cares push the Gospel from the hearts of believers: ordinary concerns, lust for money, self-centered pleasure. Many are too busy working for their daily bread, and luxuries, to thank their Creator for their material and spiritual blessings. One would be hard-pressed to find many faithful and thankful Christians on the Forbes magazine list of the wealthiest people in America. In the parable, not wealth, but “the deceitfulness of riches” is compared to the thorns.[17] Lenski wrote: “Wealth as such, whether one has it or not, always tends to deceive, by promising a satisfaction which it can not and does not bring, thus deceiving him who has it or who longs for it (Mark 10:24, p).”[18] Weeds have the ability to seem harmless at first. Many believers have fallen away from the faith by saying to themselves, “This particular evil desire (alcohol, gambling, prestige, power, another person’s spouse, another man’s divine call) will not harm me.” Slowly the weed chokes the plant. We are inclined to praise ourselves for withstanding one obvious temptation while letting our faith be strangled by a different evil desire, one more subtle.



J-212
"Therefore they [who are fallen among thorns] do not earnestly give themselves to the Word, but become indifferent and sink in the cares, riches and pleasures of this life, so that they are of no benefit to anyone. Therefore they are like the seed that fell among the thorns...They know their duty but do it not, they teach but do not practice what they teach, and are this year as they were last."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 117.



The three groups are meant to warn listeners to avoid the dangers of 1) letting go of the Word because of Satan’s work; 2) running from the Gospel during difficult and dangerous times; and 3) letting anything displace God from our hearts.



Good Soil
The fourth comparison, the seed sown on good soil, assures us that the fruitfulness of the Word will be evident in the yield: 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold. When children are handed packets of sunflower seeds in the spring and told to plant them, they soon find out how the parable repeats itself in their own experience. Some seeds are lost on the way home. Others are eaten by the children. Some plants begin to grow but fail. However, one sunflower seed-head alone is always more than all the seeds originally given away. When a few children bring their largest seed-heads to church, they see the power of God in Creation and in the Gospel. The baptized children themselves are testimony to the growth of the Gospel through the visible Word. (See Chapter Eight.)



The perfect harmony of the Scriptures is illustrated in St. Peter’s use of the seed image:



Incorruptible Seed in 1 Peter 1:23


KJV 1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.



BYZ 1 Peter 1:23 avnagegennhme,noi ouvk evk spora/j fqarth/j avlla. avfqa,rtou dia. lo,gou zw/ntoj qeou/ kai. me,nontoj eivj to.n aivw/naÅ



The Vacation Bible School class got into an old musty closet in the basement of the church in New Ulm, Minnesota. Lining the shelves of the closet were large glass jars of seed: corn, grass, and wheat. No one knew how long the jars had been stored there. Two bats had died in the closet and dried up, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown. So we took the seed outside and spread it on the ground. The seed retained its appearance but years of storage robbed it of vitality. Time corrupted the seed and made it unappealing to the birds. Instead of swarming to the seed, they left it alone.



The born-again language in this passage is a refrain from the introduction:



KJV 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,


Baptists walk all over Lutherans with their version of “You must be born again.” The apostle Peter does not connect being born again to “making a decision” any more than the apostle John does. The spiritually dead are given a new birth through the preaching of the Word. The opening of the epistle speaks of being born again by the resurrection of Christ, and verse 23 through the Word. This is not a contradiction. The power of the resurrection of Christ comes from the proclamation of that central truth. The Gospel gives life and defeats death. A corollary is that the resurrection of Christ reveals that death is defeated through the Savior. The Gospel is both forgiveness of sin and resurrection, so we are born again by the Word and by the resurrection of our Lord.



J-213
“Through a seed are we born again, for nothing grows as we see except from seed. Did the old birth spring from a seed? Then must the new birth also spring from a seed. But what is this seed? Not flesh and blood! What then? It is not a corruptible, but an eternal Word. It is moreover that on which we live; our food and nourishment. But especially is it the seed from which we are born again, as he here says. But how does this take place? After this manner: God lets the word, the Gospel, be scattered abroad, and the seed falls in the hearts of men. Now wherever it sticks in the heart, the Holy Spirit is present and makes a new man. Then there will indeed be another man, of other thoughts, of other words, and works. Thus you are entirely changed. All that you before avoided you now seek, and what you before sought that you now avoid. In respect to the birth of the body, it is a fact that when conception takes place the seed is changed, so that it is seed no longer. But this is a seed that cannot be changed; it remains forever. It changes me, so that I am transformed in it, and whatever is evil in me from my nature passes away. Therefore it is indeed a wonderful birth, and of extraordinary seed.”

Martin Luther, Commentary on Peter and Jude, ed. John Lenker, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1990.



J-214
“Just why the fact of our regeneration should prove such a strong motive to us to give evidence of our faith in love is shown in the description of regeneration, when the apostle states that this new birth in our hearts is not the result of perishable, corruptible seed, as the growth of earthly plants would be, but of an incorruptible, imperishable seed, the Word of God, The Gospel of the Savior Jesus Christ. This Word of God is in itself living, full of life and of life-giving power. And it abides in eternity; even after the form of the Word, in Scripture and preaching, has passed away, the content of the Gospel will remain in eternity. Thus the life which is wrought in the hearts of men through the Gospel is a true, divine, and therefore imperishable life, and it will continue in the life of eternity.”

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible, The New Testament, 2 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 19 , II, p. 523.



Many of those who love the classical Lutheran authors of the past find themselves bewildered by the rejection of these men by their own synodical publication houses. Superb old volumes go out of print, while dreadful new books of false doctrine get promoted as required reading. In these last days of a mad old world, such things must take place. Unbelievers in charge of Lutheran synods do not want to associate with the imperishable Word. They prefer the worldly wisdom that promises them—not eternal life—but material blessings. Those who love the voice of the Shepherd follow Him. They are not gathered by the synod or by the newest methods, but by the Word.



J-215
“They that trust in the things of this world will find themselves bitterly disappointed at the last. For only God’s Word has lasting value; it endures throughout eternity, it alone stands firm and unmoved in the midst of this world of death. If we but place our trust in this Word, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it will lift and take us safe through the uncertainty and decay and misery and wretchedness of this world to the eternal life of salvation. Once more, then, the apostle calls out: But this is the Word which in the Gospel is preached to you. If we place our trust in this Word, in this glorious Gospel, then we are safe, here in time and hereafter in eternity.”

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible, The New Testament, 2 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 19 , II, p. 523.[19]



The Engrafted Word in James 1:21


James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.


Another example of Biblical harmony can be found in James’ concise yet powerful reference to the Sower and the Seed. The author urges his listeners to receive the Word with meekness, the very quality of Christ Himself.[20] The vineyard and orchard workers would understand immediately the image of the Word grafted onto their hearts and growing, pushing aside the works of the flesh and promoting the fruits of the Spirit.



J-216
”To be sure, the readers are also to hear it [the Word] again and again, James himself in this epistle continuing this implanting; what he means is that they shall completely accept the Word, which they have already heard and will continue to hear. James may, indeed, have in mind the parable of the Sower and the Seed, and the good soil that produces a hundred fold.”

R. C. H. Lenski, James, Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1938, p. 561.



J-217
“It is not the man but the Word that multiplies. The Word indeed, in itself, is a fixed entity, and as such neither to be increased or decreased. Its multiplication is in its spread more and more in one heart, and more and more from one heart to other hearts. It is thus that the hearers bear fruit. When thus the Word remains and flourishes in a heart, repentance, faith, Christian virtues and works result, whereby the Word spreads more and more.”

R. C. H. Lenski, Mark, Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1934, p. 111.



J-218
“The disposition of the believers rather is this, that they daily and ever again receive the implanted Word, accept anew the message of their salvation and sanctification as it is brought to them in the Gospel. The seed which has sprouted in their hearts is supposed to grow into a strong, healthy plant, and therefore it is necessary that they hear and learn the Word, which alone is able to save their souls, day after day, never growing weary of its wonderful truths.”

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible, The New Testament, 2 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, II, p. 501.



J-219
1) Almighty God, thy word is cast

Like seed into the ground,

Now let the dew of heaven descend

And righteous fruits abound.



2) Let not the foe of Christ and man

This holy seed remove,

But give it root in every heart

To bring forth fruits of love.



3) Let not the world's deceitful cares

The rising plant destroy,

But let it yield a hundredfold

The fruits of peace and joy.



4) Oft as the precious seed is sown

Thy quickening grace bestow,

That all whose souls the truth receive

Its saving power may know."

John Cawood, 1775-1852, "Almighty God, Thy Word Is Cast," Service Book and Hymnal, Philadephia: Board of Publication, 1958, Hymn #196. TLH Hymn #49.



The parable does not teach that we should test the soil before we proclaim the Word. A farmer, using this logic, would know which seed and even what plants would produce well. Those with actual experience in growing plants are too humble to predict the future, knowing that their field is in God’s hands, even today, with satellite weather services, advanced drainage, scientific fertilizers, and hybrid seed. Experienced pastors also realize that they must preach the Word faithfully without trying to measure when and how God will bless the labor.



J-220
"The efficacy of the Word, unlike that of the seed, always has a result. The man to whom the Word of God comes, and who repels it, is not as he was before. Where long and persistently refused, hardening at last comes, Exodus 8:15; 9:12; John 12:40; Hebrews 4:1, and the Word becomes a 'savor of death unto death,' 2 Corinthians 2:16. Every word heard or read, every privilege and opportunity enjoyed, leaves its impress either for good or for evil. It is not so properly the Word, as man's abuse of the Word; not so much the efficacy of the Word, as the sin taking occasion of the efficacy that produces this result, Romans 7:8."

Henry Eyster Jacobs, Elements of Religion, Philadelphia, Board of Publication, General Council , 1919, p. 155.



The parable does not teach the exact percentage of results from proclaiming the Gospel. The four groups are not meant to represent to us that one fourth of our work will be fruitful and three fourths unproductive. Instead, we see that God’s Word will multiply in spite of all the discouraging things that work against it. Soil-testing, a Church Growth concept, is nonsense based upon Zwinglian doctrine.



J-221
"Soil Testing. An evangelistic strategy that seeks out those people who are open to receiving the gospel at the present time."

C. Peter Wagner, ed., with Win Arn and Elmer Towns, Church Growth: The State of the Art, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986, p. 300.[21]



J-222
"In my opinion, therefore, Church Growth receptivity and 'soil testing' techniques are often unfairly criticized as if they were by definition synergistic. It is a fact that some fields are, for various historical and sociological reasons, more receptive to the preaching of the gospel and church planting than others. Our home and world mission boards make these judgments all the time in deciding where to begin churches or send missionaries."

Rev. Curtis Peterson, former WELS World Mission Board, "A Second and Third Look at Church Growth Principles," Metro South Pastors Conference Mishicot, Wisconsin, February 3, 1993 p. 12.



J-223
"Those, however, who set the time, place and measure, tempt God, and believe not that they are heard or that they have obtained what they asked; therefore, they also receive nothing."

Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 172.



J-224
"If the world were willing to take advice from a simple, plain man—that is, our Lord God (who, after all, has some experience too and knows how to rule)—the best advice would be that in his office and sphere of jurisdiction everybody simply direct his thoughts and plans to carrying out honestly and doing in good faith what has been commanded him and that, whatever he does, he depend not on his own plans and thoughts but commit the care to God. Such a man would certainly find out in the end who does and accomplishes more, he who trusts God or he who would bring success to his cause through his own wisdom and thoughts or his own power and strength."

What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1151. Luke 5:1-11.



The first three groups of hearers are not enemies of the Gospel, for Jesus taught this parable to warn us within the visible Church, that many have no genuine relationship with Him. They have heard the Word, but the Gospel has been snatched away, scorched, and choked to death. Jesus also taught the parable to help us realize the abundant harvest that will take place from the growth of the Word. The parable illustrates the ultimate fate of the proclaimed Gospel, so we are not to reckon, worry, predict, or assume, but simply to fear, love, and trust God above all else. God will accomplish what He has promised, through His efficacious Word.



J-225
“We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land,

But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand.

He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,

The breezes and the sunshine and soft refreshing rain.”

Matthias Claudius, 1740-1815, “We Plow the Fields,” The Lutheran Book of Worship, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978, #362

Stolen Concordia Books Available - Where?

From Lutheran Notes:

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Where the Seminex library ended up

The Seminex library is owned by the ELCA seminary in Wartburg in Debuque, IA, but is used by an un-accredited (I think) Lutheran seminary in Austin, TX. There it is housed in a library on an Episcopalian campus--a library that the Austin Lutheran seminary shares.

Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest

ETSS Library

The Booher Library maintains and develops collections and services in support of the present and future teaching and research needs of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, the Lutheran Seminary Program in the Southwest, and the church as a whole.
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Affiliated Libraries

LSPS/Seminex Library
The Library of the Lutheran Seminary of the Southwest is integrated in the Booher Library shelves and catalog. This collection, still owned and provided by Wartburg Theological Seminary, developed originally in Christ Seminary Seminex (St. Louis). The LSPS/Seminex Library serves all the patrons of the Booher Library but is especially dedicated to supporting the academic curriculum of LSPS.


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Lutheran Seminary of the Southwest library access

Our students have access to three libraries: The Booher Library of Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, in which the LSPS library is incorporated.

***

GJ - The Seminex library was comprised of books stolen from Concordia Seminary's library (St. Louis). I asked a Seminex supporter if it was true they stole books from the seminary to start their library. He said, "They were OUR books!"

The seminarians grandly walked out but came back the same day for the food and dorms. They put up a sign, "EXILED," but they exiled themselves, in the most comfortable way possible. The exiled professors continued to receive their pay, but they did not work.

The Left Wing of Missouri called the seminary "801" after its address, because they were the real Concordia Seminary. Eventually they had to give up that ruse and call themselves Christ Seminary. They were befriended by the LCA and the United Church of Christ. The gay activist Metropolitan Community Churches sent their students to Christ Seminary, which included a professor caught in the park chatting up a male undercover officer. That same professor, Deppe, went on to teach at Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago (LCA, now ELCA).

Apostates are always victims. They are always being persecuted. They really play that up.

Wane, Mueller

Rev. Wayne Mueller, first vice president of WELS, announced today that he will accept the call to be lead associate pastor at St. John Ev. Lutheran Church, Jefferson, Wis. His duties as first vice president will conclude Aug. 31; he has served in that position since 2001.


In a message to the Synodical Council, Mueller wrote, "As I weighed my two calls, I tried to consider where the greatest needs of the church are today and how I could best apply my talents to them." He wrote that he was led to believe the greatest need is in the parishes. "The best thing I can do at this point in life is to apply my talents directly to that pressing need."

In a message to staff members at the Synod Administration Building, Pres. Mark Schroder wrote, "We are truly thankful to God for the many years of faithful service and leadership that Pastor Mueller has provided. We will say our farewells to him, confident that God will continue to use this faithful servant in proclaiming the gospel and shepherding God's people in their lives of faith and service."

St. John will be the third congregation Mueller will serve as pastor in his ministry. He served Trinity in Crete, Ill., from 1970-77 and Trinity in Waukesha, Wis., from 1977-84. He served as a professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, from 1984-90 and as administrator for the Board for Parish Services from 1990-2001.

Rev. James Huebner, second vice president of WELS, will assume some of the duties now carried out by the first vice president until an election for a replacement takes place at the synod convention next summer.

***

GJ - At the Love Shack, Wayne Mueller was a key figure supporting the Church Growth network in WELS. James Huebner is another Church Growth fanatic. He was trained at Fuller Seminary (with Larry Olson and Paul Kelm) to be a church growth consultant in WELS.

The Love Shack is still knee-deep in Church Growth disciples and doctrine. Note that adult and youth education became adult discipleship and youth discipleship when Mueller was removed from the seminary faculty and given a new job at 2929. Yes, removed, according to Slick Brenner. So he got a new job and a raise, because administrators make more than seminary faculty members.

WELS is supposedly going to study the Means of Grace, as if it were something new in Biblical doctrine. Unfortunately, the same scornful attitude toward the Means of Grace is evident in their announcement of the study, as I mentioned before. A lot more will have to change for WELS to become Lutheran. Many more years will have to pass and many more heads to roll before anyone can say Amen to Mueller's published claim, "There is no Church Growth Movement in WELS."

Are the Episcopalians Different from the Lutherans?

Pope John the Malefactor, enjoying himself after extending
the Left Foot of Fellowship to ELS pastors and congregations.

Rowan Williams Post-Colonial Paternalism is Underlying Cause of Anglican Communion Angst

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
7/3/2008

The ink was barely dry on the Declaration coming out of GAFCON in Jerusalem, when the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote a letter to the Anglican world telling us, in no uncertain words, exactly what he thought. It was revelatory.

Rowan Williams declared that certain things were not in dispute like the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the imperative of evangelism and the common life of the Communion. All very commendable. But then, he went on a tear, blasting orthodox primates for "lacking legitimacy, authority and integrity", accusing them of breaking the "bonds of affection" and much more.

First, he talked about the "risks entailed" in moving forward. Then he blasted the idea of a "Primates Council" because of its self selection and saying it will not pass "the test of legitimacy." He then said "mutual recognition of ministries" would be strained because of "geographical and cultural divides."

Archbishop Williams doesn't get it. First of all, the current 38 primates are now so divided they can't even take Holy Communion together! It is already in schism. "Legitimacy" rests on who is preaching what to whom. Evangelicals now say that there are two religions operating in the Anglican Communion that are at odds with one another. One is rooted in Biblical faith while the other is a secular gloss over religious language. Does Williams not understand that tens of thousands of Episcopalians and dozens of churches are fleeing The Episcopal Church because Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori preaches "another Gospel" (Gal. 1:8)? They want nothing more to do with her or her church.

Does he not also realize the litigation against orthodox parishes is precisely about theology, morals and doctrine and that the so-called "bonds of affection" are thinner than a spider's web, incapable of holding anything together? He got that message in New Orleans, when he listened to all the voices in the HOB. Williams came away saying that TEC had met the demands of the Windsor Report! It was a lie. They had not. Even Durham Bishop N. T. Wright was honest enough to say so.

What about "geographical and cultural divides"?. The truth is they don't exist for orthodox folk. Over 1,000 gathered in Jerusalem from 38 countries united by a single non-pluriform, truly inclusive understanding of the gospel, making geography and culture totally and utterly irrelevant. There was no "black theology" or "white Western theology". There was only Biblical theology that everybody there understood. It did not require either an explanation or an apology!

Williams writes, "Two questions arise at once about what has been proposed. By what authority are Primates deemed acceptable, or unacceptable members of any new primatial council? And how is effective discipline to be maintained in a situation of overlapping and competing jurisdictions?"

The answer is simple. The new primatial council will be made up of men who have a clear fix on what the gospel is, who Jesus is, what morals are, recognize the authority of Scripture and can articulate and preach it. Discipline (presently non-existent) will be maintained by those who have a clear understanding of what truth is. If Dr. Williams can't figure it out, all he needs to do is read "The Way, the Truth and the Life" where it is spelled out for him in grim detail. There is no ambiguity, no misunderstandings. Clarity is 100%.

Writes Williams, "How is a bishop or primate in another continent able to discriminate effectively between a genuine crisis of pastoral relationship and theological integrity, and a situation where there are underlying non-theological motivations at work? We have seen instances of intervention in dioceses whose leadership is unquestionably orthodox simply because of local difficulties of a personal and administrative nature. We have also seen instances of clergy disciplined for scandalous behaviour in one jurisdiction accepted in another, apparently without due process. Some other Christian churches have unhappy experience of this problem and it needs to be addressed honestly."

The answer is, again, very simple. Homosexuals are not being persecuted in the Episcopal Church. Those faithful to Scripture are. If there is a failure to discipline, it is because liberal and revisionist bishops hate orthodox clergy, want to get rid of them and will do everything to excoriate them by not letting ordinands or clergy into their dioceses and by not renewing their licenses. The "honest addressing" is just not taking place. It is all about exploitation, litigation and property ownership.

The liberals and revisionists have no gospel to proclaim. They will not save the world with MDGs. It's a secular fiction pumped up by TEC pomp and purple. There is no appeal to Scripture to "discriminate" anything. Bishop Walter Righter took a walk for ordaining an avowed homosexual to the priesthood, Spong has never been disciplined for his heresies, and Bennison goes down for covering up his brother's sexual abuse of a minor but not for his theological heresies.

Writes Williams, "If they are not working effectively, the challenge is to renew them rather than to improvise solutions that may seem to be effective for some in the short term but will continue to create more problems than they solve." This is a fiction. How can the politburo police itself, especially when at least one of the Instruments of Unity - the Anglican Communion Office -- is in thrall and in hoc to The Episcopal Church and has most of its budget paid for by TEC!

The Episcopal Church has no intention of conceding anything - from its acceptance of totally unbiblical views of sexuality, to a truncated gospel, to property grabbing etc. Williams thinks he can change all this in 20 days at Lambeth! This is a total fiction. When he sides with US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, he, by definition, colludes with her and those who proclaim a different gospel than that proclaimed by the Evangelical Anglicans in Jerusalem.

"This challenge is one of the most significant focuses for the forthcoming Lambeth Conference. One of its major stated aims is to restore and deepen confidence in our Anglican identity. And this task will require all who care as deeply as the authors of the statement say they do about the future of Anglicanism to play their part."

The truth is nothing will change because two very deeply held understandings of what true religion is, are in play. Mrs. Schori's notion of saving the world for God through Millennium Development Goals is irreconcilable with an evangelical, worldview, which says we are sinners in need of salvation, and that social reform flows from personal encounter not from a UN mandate. Does Williams think for a moment that a couple of days of prayer (retreat) in Canterbury Cathedral will bring a Holy Spirit outpouring and that liberals will suddenly get enlightenment and repent? That's the stuff of novels.

Williams says that the answer lies in "renewing the existing structures of the Communion." Now that has been tried for the past 10 years ever since Lambeth 1998. It has gone absolutely nowhere. TEC pan-sexualists and revisionist bishops have raised the middle finger against Resolution 1:10, repeatedly, over the last decade and have only entrenched their power in the church. "We're not going backwards" said Bishop Jon Bruno.

Over time, the orthodox have become more and more marginalized, their gospel laughed at, and sodomy proclaimed, with some being inhibited, sued or prosecuted. Why has Dr. Williams never spoken up about the marginalization of faithful orthodox Anglicans in North America, but is quick to condemn allegations of homophobia in Nigeria (which were false)? He says nothing about the millions of dollars being spent in litigation by Mrs. Jefferts Schori and her legal schnauzer, David Booth Beers, as they snatch properties away from faithful Anglicans for a future generation of non-existent Episcopalians.

Why is Williams dead silent about all that is going on in TEC? Why has he invited those who consecrated Gene Robinson to Lambeth, some of whom have "partners", according to Mrs. Jefferts Schori. Why are orthodox bishops like Robinson Cavalcanti, Martyn Minns, Bill Atwood, and John Guernsey (to name but a few) denied entrance into Lambeth? Because the litmus test is institutional loyalty. not the gospel! Let Williams explain this to the masses.

The structure cannot be renewed because there are two different gospels in play. Is the politburo capable of transforming itself when its ideology brooks no opposition? If Alexander Solzhenitsyn believed it couldn't be done in the Gulag Archipelago, why does Rowan Williams believe it can be done in the Communion? Does he think that the Anglican Communion Office, formerly the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), will miraculously reform itself when its budget is paid mostly by the revisionist Episcopal Church? Canon Geoffrey Cameron (ACC) recently criticized the US church, which donates generously to the African and Asian evangelical provinces of the Global South, for placing "implicit obligations" on the recipients of their largesse! That's choice. He failed to mention that 60% of his budget also comes from TEC!

Said Williams, "The language of 'colonialism' has been freely used of existing patterns. But emerging from the legacy of colonialism must mean a new co-operation of equals, not a simple reversal of power. If those who speak for GAFCON are willing to share in a genuine renewal of all our patterns of reflection and decision-making in the Communion, they are welcome, especially in the shaping of an effective Covenant for our future together." That's precious.

Do Williams and the whole liberal left (US. and Canada) think, for a moment, that they want or plan ever to share power with the Africans whom they despise and vilify as theological troglodytes, barely out of the jungle and share decision-making? Why did no liberal elitist (or Williams) challenge PA Bishop Charles Bennison's remarks when he likened the growth of the church in Africa to the growth of the Nazi Party, or John Spong's remarks about African Evangelicals at the last Lambeth conference? This is the height of hubris. Frank Griswold said that the Global South will one day catch up to the West and then they will understand all about homosexuality.

No they won't. Look at the way Canadian Primate Fed Hiltz treated Archbishop Greg Venables, recently. Where was the "conversation" when Venables came a calling? There was none. Hiltz went public with his condemnation of Venables. He never had the decency to pick up the phone and talk to him privately about the matters of concern to Canadian evangelicals. Mrs. Schori did the same in the US.

Dr. Williams talks about a "new co-operation of equals".

If it weren't such a big lie, this would be laughable. If Mrs. Schori wants to talk about cooperation of equals, she should begin in her own church and start meaningful "cooperation" talks with Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, instead of threatening to toss him out of the church before he has done anything to deserve it. Then consider what Mrs. Schori said about the GAFCON gathering.

She said, "Much of the Anglican world must be lamenting the latest emission from GAFCON. Anglicanism has always been broader than some find comfortable." EMISSION! Three dictionaries I consulted said that could mean only one thing. It means to "expel air," "to fart" or, in the vernacular, "blow it out your ass". So where is all the vaunted talk of renewal or "cooperation of equals" that Williams talks about? What she really said was: you Africans function at the level of animals!

Why hasn't Williams reprimanded her for using that word? He won't because he is an elitist who genuinely believes that Western minds are better and superior to African minds, and because Mrs. Schori, a theological light- weight compensates for her inadequacies with a big check book. Shaping a covenant is also a fiction.

The present draft covenant has been roundly criticized by NZ theologian Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa (she called it patriarchal) and by TEC liberals. It is going absolutely nowhere in the Communion and it will go nowhere because nobody can find common ground to build it on. Furthermore, we already have the 39 Articles, The Articles of Religion and the Lambeth Quadrilateral to draw on...who needs a covenant that appeals to no one and nothing and for which agreement will never be found?

Here is the real truth. The fulcrum of Anglicanism has moved from the West to the Global South. The Rt. Rev. Bill Frey, former Bishop of Colorado, spoke prophetically at Trinity School for Ministry over 10 years ago when he said the gravitational center of Anglicanism had moved to Africa. And the deeper truth is this, the Africans have had it with the paternalism and post-colonial attitude of Rowan Williams and the Church of England House of Bishops (including the evangelicals) who think that the vast majority of the world's Anglicans owe them their allegiance.

They don't. The Global South doesn't need Canterbury to get to Jesus. To make the point clear, the Nigerian Province changed its canons and constitution to reflect this new reality. The Africans have been deeply hurt and wounded by Western liberals. Williams and the so-called Instruments of Unity have looked down on them, treated them paternalistically, and regarded them as backward and so much more. Now they have risen up and started a spiritual and theological revolution. They will not be stopped, turned aside or deterred.

GAFCON is the beginning. They have gotten on a new train. If the train stops to pick up new passengers on the way, that is Williams' and Schori's loss. If Rowan Williams wants to get on the train, he is going to have to do so on their terms, not his. The days of follow the (Canterbury) leader is over. They know the gospel., Williams' version, whatever it is, and nobody seems to know what that is, is incomprehensible. If there is schism, it began when The Episcopal Church went wildly astray long before Gene Robinson's consecration. That was the last defining act. The TEC HOB has no stomach to put Jack Spong on trial because they know they would never win.

A case in point. Bennison was found guilty of covering up his brother's sexual abuse of a minor. He should have been put on trial for heresy. He once said, "Jesus was a sinner who forgave himself." That in itself is heretical enough. But if he had been brought up, he would have walked, just as he walked on misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars of diocesan funds. So they finally got him on 30-year old sexual stuff.

Wrote Fr. Greg Brewer, Worship leader at GAFCON, "When the majority of the Communion has the distinct impression of being ignored in favor of a tiny but rich and rebellious white minority, then it is only a matter of time before the credibility and the integrity of that leadership is called into question.

This is especially true when that leadership acts in ways that are in conflict with the historic theological underpinnings of Anglicanism. No wonder the statement expresses the desire to be a part of a structure that is "more representative of the demographic distribution of global Anglicanism today" and is "stronger as an instrument of effective mission, ministry and social involvement. " It may be considered extreme to "not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury". What are these global south leaders to do when it is a fact that there has been a "manifest failure of the Communion Instruments to exercise discipline in the face of overt heterodoxy"? Is there an alternative method of calling these Communion Instruments to account for failing "to guard the unity of the Communion and uphold the clear teaching of the Gospel?"

Concluded Williams, "I believe that it is wrong to assume we are now so far apart that all those outside the GAFCON network are simply proclaiming another gospel. This is not the case; it is not the experience of millions of faithful and biblically focused Anglicans in every province. What is true is that, on all sides of our controversies, slogans, misrepresentations and caricatures abound. And they need to be challenged in the name of the respect and patience we owe to each other in Jesus Christ."

This is unadulterated garbage. The Anglican Communion is going in two different directions. We are already too far apart. For over a decade, at one primatial gathering after another, there has been nothing but verbal sleights of hands and compromises. No more. It is over.

The evangelicals in the Global South have spoken. Those "millions" Williams talks about are evangelicals, not Affirming Catholics or liberals. Williams cites the Apostle in I Cor.11.33: "wait for one another". I would say the same to those in whose name this statement has been issued. Perhaps Williams should consider some of the Scriptures that talk about not having fellowship with heretics.

"Patience" is just another delay tactic that allows the Episcopal Church to go on litigating, tearing orthodox priests out of their parishes, denying them a place at the Episcopal table and blaming "schism" on the Global South. Nothing will ever change now. It can't. Talk of patience is like the much talked about "listening" that we have been asked to do for 10 years. Listening is designed to wear the orthodox down till they agree with Louie Crew. The truth is two different gospels are at loggerheads in the Communion.

The Most Rev. Yong Ping Chung, the Archbishop of Southeast Asia (ret.) stood up and prophetically called on Evangelical leaders to speak up and not to remain silent. He cited the famous incident in the Book of Esther where Queen Esther had remained silent in the face of her peoples' suffering. Mordecai's response was plain, "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place."

"Don't be anonymous," cried Archbishop Yong Ping Chung, "Speak up on behalf of the truth even if it costs you."

Williams says that im patience, at all costs, to "clear the Lord's field of the weeds that may appear among the shoots of true life" (Matt.13.29) will put at risk our clarity and effectiveness in communicating just those evangelical and catholic truths which the GAFCON statement presents.

Well, Dr. Williams, those "shoots of true life" are in Nigeria (among other provinces), which has grown from 18 million to 25 million. What "new shoots" are there in the dying Church of England, which is coming apart over women bishops and sodomy? Will the illegal gay marriage at St. Bartholomew's ever be prosecuted? Not a chance. Is it any wonder that the greatest living Anglican theologian Dr. J. I. Packer called for Williams to resign.

The tired old appeal to work together on the structures of the Communion, and to keep waiting forever for the Covenant is dead on arrival. Williams has forgotten that there are some equally clever primates elsewhere in the world, who have been denied a primates' meeting. Primates have been offered a Lambeth where they all sit around in focus "Indaba" groups while Bishops Jon Bruno and John Chane et al are laughing, knowing that back home there is no change in direction for their church. Bishops Schofield, Iker, Ackerman and Duncan are history. Everyone knows it.

GAFCON has stiffened spines for the first time in 500 years and strengthened sagging sinews. Forward in Faith has at last become the Church Militant, and will take action. Church of England Evangelicals will, in time, shuck off their liberal bosses (bishops). If Rowan Williams fails to deliver at Lambeth, the floodwaters will break open over the Church of England, indeed the whole Anglican Communion.Great will be the spiritual and ecclesiastical toll. It is Williams' kairos moment. It is his communion to lose.

***

GJ - Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Synod attacks the Means of Grace while pretending to study that central doctrine of the Lutheran Church. Pope John the Malefactor (pictured above) also teaches another Gospel, Galatians 1:8.

Episcopalians Study at UCC Seminary

Bishop Spong is the apostate who made some waves by channeling Bishop James Pike, attacking the basic tenets of the Christian faith.

Bruce Church has left a new comment on your post "Lefty Piscy Sems Losing Students, Funds, Faculty":

The Episcopal Church's Missouri Diocese uses UCC's Eden Seminary as their seminary:

http://www.diocesemo.org/whoweare/episcopalschoolforministry/edenseminary.htm

Eden seminary in St. Louis only has ~142 M.Div students, and even though it a UCC seminary, it has students from 19 other denominations, including, I kid you not, Universal Unitarians!

http://www.eden.edu/PartnersInMinistry/Ecumenical.aspx

Eden is one of seven seminaries of the United Church of Christ (UCC)....

• American Baptist
• African Methodist Episcopal
• Missionary Baptist
• General Baptist
• Christian Methodist Episcopal
• Disciples of Christ
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of America
• Episcopal
• Interdenominational
• Metropolitan Community Church
• National Baptist
• Non-Denominational
• Presbyterian Church (USA)
• Pentecostal
• Roman Catholic
• United Church of Christ
• United Methodist Church
• Universal Unitarian
• Other (denominations not represented by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS)

***

GJ - The United Church of Christ is the shrunken remnant of a bunch of mergers, each one fueling even more apostasy. As I mentioned in the study of Enthusiasm today (Bethany Lutheran Worship), rationalism is a form of Enthusiasm that leads to Unitarianism in a generation or two.

I fail to see a doctrinal difference between the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ. The distinctions are historical rather than doctrinal.

Mother Angelica had it right when she said that liberals do nothing for the Church. They do not produce church vocations, missions, institutions, or anything else. They are parasites. When Notre Dame embraced the new theology, their seminary shriveled down to a dozen or so men.

Mainline seminaries merge time after time, flailing around, trying to survive by splicing weak schools together. The Baptist seminary with bragging rights for the Social Gospel Movement merged six ways from Sunday and remains D.O.A.

Colgate-Rochester-Crozer-Bexley Hall: a four-way merger. Now they have 100 students and 7 full-time faculty. But, Leonard Sweet graduated from one of those schools, so they must be good.

I Need Some Feedback - Sunday Service

Sometimes the abyss stares back - and gives a Bronx cheer.

I put the new computer to work today. It has 4 gigs of RAM and quad-core, so it has plenty of power for the broadcast. I also checked over the settings for Flash to help the video and audio.

You can post here or send an email to my qwest.net account.

Let me know how the saved files work out, in DSL, cable, and 56k phone. I hope a phone line can read the files, but maybe not.

Thank you.

Vatican Secretly Meeting with Anglican Bishops

Pope Benedict XVI, often called B-16.

The Vatican's highest office is meeting secretly with Anglican bishops. Of course, it is not so secret if the news is posted all over the Web. The bishops leaked the news to an English paper. The names are not being divulged, but people will figure that out soon enough.

The event implies that the Roman Catholic Church will take in a group of Episcopalians, including their bishops. The meeting could be a way to frighten the Archdruid of Canterbury into being a little more conservative, but matters have gone beyond the tipping point already.

Long ago, Gaylin Schmeling's professor, Anglican Charles Caldwell expressed his hope for reunion with Rome. That is buried in the bosom of most high church Anglicans. I will have to dig up my funny quote on the topic. Rome is increasingly successful in seducing Protestants into this reunion. The Protestants are equally adept at driving away their own ministers and members.

The Seventh Sunday after Trinity

The Seventh Sunday after Trinity

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 8 AM Phoenix Time

The Hymn #44 by Koren – Guds Menighed syng
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual Romans 6:19-23
The Gospel Mark 8:1-9
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn # 305 1,6-9 Frank Schmucke dich
God Will Provide

The Hymn #36 by Rinckart – Nun danket alle Gott
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 316 by Rist - Nun lob, mein seel


Romans 6: 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mark 8 1 In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, 2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: 3 And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. 4 And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness? 5 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. 6 And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people. 7 And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them. 8 So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. 9 And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.

SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Lord God, heavenly Father, who in the wilderness didst by Thy Son abundantly feed four thousand men besides women and children with seven loaves and a few small fishes: We beseech Thee, graciously abide among us with Thy blessing, and keep us from covetousness and the cares of this life, that we may seek first Thy kingdom and Thy righteousness, and in all things needful for body and soul, experience Thine ever-present help; through Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

God Will Provide

This Gospel lesson reminds us that the Bible records two miracles of feeding the multitudes, not only the Feeding of the Five Thousand, but also the Feeding of the Four Thousand. In this miracle selected for this Sunday, the Gospel emphasizes how Jesus cares for our bodily needs. From this one brief story we can see how kind and loving our Savior is. We crave the assurance given by this miracle. It awakens faith in our hearts and satisfies our faith in Him.

The setting for this miracle is very simple. A vast multitude followed Jesus for three days, listening to Him teach. That alone gives us a glimpse of how compelling people found our Savior to be. Thousands of people hung on His words, knowing that He spoke with the authority of God. They had plenty of work to do, so giving up their daily tasks was a sacrifice they were willing to make. Perhaps they took along some food, as people often do when planning a big event. But no one took along enough food for three days. Most importantly, a multitude would never say, “Now we are hungry. Let’s ask God to feed all of us miraculously.”

Before anyone thought to ask for food, Jesus was already concerned about their needs. He brought up their inability to reach home. “They will faint along the way.” Those of us who live in the desert know how difficult it is to get work done in the burning heat. A Chicago native said, “The first thing I learned was not to mow the lawn at 2 in the afternoon.” Fainting in the heat is easy to imagine when someone daydreams about his next glass of ice water during a meeting. Or when a cup of 100-degree water left in the car is swallowed eagerly.

When people hike in the desert they often neglect to bring enough food. They don’t think of the calories they need to keep from weakness and fainting. This miracle is especially vivid for those who have lived in the desert.

Jesus brought up the problem, already knowing the solution He would provide. But His disciples said, “How can anyone feed all these people in the wilderness?” Thus we can see how different the Scriptures are from human records. An official church history would have the disciples say, “Yes, Lord, you can do anything. You are the Word of Creation. You are the true Son of God.” But the Bible records them as doubting whether the people could be fed at all. Therefore, the disciples serve men expressing our doubts in the same kinds of situation.

When I suggest that pastors do the right thing, the ministers reply, “Yes, but who will feed me?” Whenever I have seen a congregation attempt to carry out a minor project, the anxieties set in. How can we do this? People won’t support it. The bank won’t give us the money. Someone will be upset and quit. General George S. Patton called this taking counsel of your fears. If we listen to our fears, our fears will advise us not to trust in God.

This miracle comforts us by showing us how Jesus cared for the material needs of the people before they even thought of asking Him. In the same way He still cares for our material needs, before and even without us asking. Yes, He is generous and loving toward unbelievers as well. Unfortunately, they do not realize it.

KJV Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Fear is the opposite of faith, as Luther often observed. Being anxious about our daily needs is the same as not trusting in God to provide for us. Whenever we listen to stories about Jesus during His earthly ministry, we need to remember that His human nature gave Him a special compassion about our needs. He knew what it meant to be thirsty (John 4) and to be hungry (The Temptation of Jesus). He was mocked, scorned, and physically attacked. His human nature remains united with His divine nature, so He understands our needs completely.

As I mentioned before, Jesus knew the needs of this multitude and planned for their needs before they could ask, beyond His own disciples’ comprehension of His power. When you worry about your income, physical health, and other material needs, think about this miracle. Jesus has already seen your need and has planned an answer for your needs before you thought to ask.

Then why should we pray for our daily bread? The catechism reminds us that we pray for what God provides so that we will be thankful for these blessings and number them as coming from God rather than ourselves. Then, when we consider what matters most, we praise God for giving us what we need so generously and for denying us what we do not need in His wisdom.

Few parents with any wisdom will say that we should give children what they want, when they want it, all the time. Parents will even allow children to face certain hardships in order to prepare them for adult life and responsibility. If children learn to face frustration by having tantrums, they never progress beyond having fits to get their way as adults. When Bjorn Borg had a tantrum on the tennis court, his parents made him lock up his tennis racket for a year. He was famous for never shouting insults at refs during games, even when his trained eye saw a miss or a foul differently. He was so polite that the TV commentators were shocked that he looked a few seconds at a ref who made a bad call. That was in the days when some overgrown brats screamed at refs, hit tennis balls at them, and used obscenities.

So we should not look at God’s discipline as hatred but rather as love toward us. This miracle comforts us by showing us first that our material needs are provided by God before we even ask. Then we can understand more completely how God also takes care of our spiritual needs, which are not so obvious and can be easy to overlook. If someone does not eat for three days, he can only think of food. If he skips worship for months, he may say, “I am fine. In fact, I am doing better than ever. I still believe and I have saved time by not getting involved in all those little matters.”

We are poor judges of spiritual matters on our own. If we were so wise, we could worship once a year. But all of human history tells us that we quickly forget our Creator, that we take for granted what our Savior Jesus has done for us, that we receive spiritual wisdom from the Holy Spirit and then thank ourselves for being so intelligent. Here is one small example. The world observes a 7 day week. Why? Most people exposed to evolution no longer believe in the Six Day Creation. Why not have a 5 day week or a 10 day week? Why would the entire world follow this pattern set up by Genesis? Could it be that we have a world-wide acknowledgement of the Creation and yet a vast forgetting of that Creation?

Rip Rehwinkel has an interesting observation in his book “The Flood.” It relates to what I said above. He pointed out the existence of a death holiday across the world. Every culture has a holiday where people seem to remember and defy a time of universal death. These holidays feature skeletons and they all fall at the same time, the end of October. Rehwinkel wondered if this was a remembrance of The Flood. And yet today, we can celebrate Halloween, but we cannot talk about The Flood seriously, or people start discussing how hard it is to build an ark as large as a battleship and then fill it with animals. Difficult yes. Impossible? We have monumental construction from ancient times that we cannot reproduce today with our best and most powerful tools. The pyramids of Egypt are so mysterious that people still debate how they were made. If all of them were gone, no one would believe than ancient man built such enormous structures with such perfection. (Some fell down, but so did some of the cathedrals built in Europe many centuries later.)

So whenever we see God placing a cross upon us, we have to say, “My Old Adam does not like this one little bit, but I must need this experience in some way to serve God’s purpose.” God told Noah to build the ark in the midst of a jeering population. No one listened to his sermons about the impending disaster.

KJV Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

The entire building of the ark was grievous to Noah and his family, building a battleship sized ship on dry land. He was a failure in saving others, but Noah’s ark became an important lesson in teaching us about the effectiveness of baptism.

KJV 1 Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Noah built the ark in faith, not for a few months or years, but for 120 years.

KJV Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

So we can see in the miracle of the Feeding and in Noah’s ark, God’s plan to take care of the material needs of people in advance. Then we know how completely God has planned for our spiritual needs as well. It is a good feeling when someone looks to our needs in advance. When someone has shown us dozens of examples of kindness, we are inclined to listen to that person when he offers us advice. We are inclined to trust a person who has anticipated our needs and provided for them. Children will often clamor for something, anxious that their demands will not be met, sounding like robins in the nest, all cheeping at once with their mouths wide open. Then they learn that mother and father have already provided for them and they settle down to enjoy what they longed for, whether it is food or a special event.

When I get food ready in the kitchen, Precious (the Sheltie) comes to the kitchen door and supervises, to make sure food comes her way as well. She stands there watching until I take it to my desk in the bedroom. As Luther observed, a dog always expects the best from its owner. It can here no a hundred times and look expectantly for that favor. Luther said we should always expect the best from God – in the same way. Chytraeus wrote that it was a sin to question God’s goodness.

Jesus is our answer for the most important aspect of our lives – the forgiveness of our sins. Just as He provided an abundance of food, and far more than enough (7 man-sized baskets of leftovers), so also He gives us a superabundance of forgiveness through His atoning death on the cross. He rose from the dead (Romans 4:25) to show us that He alone is the One who conquers sin, death, and the devil.

This is where many people become confused, so we cannot think about it too much. How does one become forgiven of his sins? Almost everyone agrees that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. He redeemed the world, paying for all sins. Forgiveness was accomplished through His atoning death and resurrection. However, this forgiveness is distributed to every single person through the preaching of the Gospel and the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.

Once again, (just as we see with the Feeding of the Four Thousand) before we even knew we were sinners, God provided for the forgiveness of our sins, our salvation and eternal life. Whenever the Gospel is proclaimed and taught, people believe in Christ as their Savior and receive the forgiveness of their sins. Whenever and wherever the Gospel of Christ is believed, death is overcome by eternal life through our Savior.

Many things will happen in the next decades to tempt people away from the Word of God. Satan tempts believers and not unbelievers. The believers will be few at the end of time, as Jesus taught us. “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith?” Because the time of Satan is short and the believers are few, the rage of the devil will be all the greater against God’s Kingdom. When things become more chaotic and tribulation increases, we must remember that our trust is not in men or institutions but in the Gospel of forgiveness. In the wilderness to come, we will be fed by the Word.

“So they did eat and they were filled.” They were filled to such an extent that the entire multitude, as many as 12,000 people (if we assume 4,000 men, their wives and children) ate as much as they could but were unable to consume another 7 baskets of fragments. They were famished and faint from hunger but God provided an avalanche of food, just as He freely offers us an avalanche of blessings with complete and total forgiveness of sin.
Quotations

"In reconciling the world unto Himself by Christ's substitutionary satisfaction, God asked no one's advice concerning His singular method of reconciliation. In like manner, without asking any man's advice, He ordained the means by which He gives men the infallible assurance of His gracious will toward them; in other words, He both confers on men the remission of sins merited by Christ and works faith in the proffered remission or, where faith already exists, strengthens it. The Church has appropriately called these divine ordinances the means of grace, media gratiae, instrumenta gratiae; Formula of Concord: 'Instrumenta sive media Spiritus Sancti' (Triglotta, p. 903, Solid Declaration, II, 58). They are the Word of the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, as will be shown more fully on the following pages."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 103.

"As distinguished from the Gospel, Sacraments are acts, we apply water in Baptism, and we eat and drink in the Lord's Supper. They are sacred acts, and must, as such, be distinguished from ordinary washing, eating and drinking...A Sacrament which offers God's blessings cannot be instituted by man or the Church, but by God alone." Edward W. A. Koehler, A Short Explanation of Dr. Martin Luther's Small Catechism, Fort Wayne: Concordia Theological Seminary Press, 1946, p. 254.

"Since God has connected His most gracious promise of forgiveness with Baptism and the Lord's Supper, these also are true and efficacious means of grace, namely, by virtue of the divine promises that are attached to them."
John Theodore Mueller, Christian Dogmatics, A Handbook of Doctrinal Theology, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1934, p. 444.

"Both Baptism and the Lord's Supper qualify as Means of Grace because of the simple fact that they are visible forms of the essential Gospel message announcing the forgiveness of sins."
Martin W. Lutz, "God the HS Acts Through the Lord's Supper," God The Holy Spirit Acts, ed., Eugene P. Kaulfield, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1972, p. 117.

"Today's Gospel paints to us the Lord in a way that we may fully know how we should esteem Him, namely, that He is merciful, meek and loving; that He gladly helps everybody and freely associates and deals with all people. And such a picture as this, faith really craves."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House 1983, IV, p. 203.

"Therefore the Scriptures present to us a double picture; one is that of fear or the overpowering picture of the severe wrath of God, before which no one can stand; but must despair unless he has faith. In contrast with this the picture of grace is presented to us in order that faith may behold it and obtain for itself an agreeable and comforting refuge in God with the hope that man cannot expect so much from God, that there is not still much more to be had from Him."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House 1983, IV, p. 203.

"Today's Gospel treats of the temporal and bodily blessings, teaches us the faith of the child, and it is a picture for the weak, in that they should look to God for everything good, and that they might thus later learn to trust God and depend on Him for spiritual blessings. For if we are instructed in the Gospel, how Christ feeds our stomachs, we can then conclude that He will also feed and clothe our souls. For if I cannot trust a person to sustain my body, much less can I trust him to sustain my soul forever."
Sermons of Martin Luther, , IV, p. 204.

"Therefore Christ asked His disciples that everyone might learn to know by experience what reason is, and acknowledge how reason and faith in no way agree. Here we learn to blindfold reason, when we begin to believe, and then give reason a permanent furlough."
Sermons of Martin Luther, IV, p. 205.

"O God, I am Thy creature and Thy handiwork and Thou hast from the beginning created me. I will depend entirely on You who cares more for me, how I shall be sustained, then I do myself; Thou wilt indeed nourish me, feed, clothe and help me, where and when You know best."
Sermons of Martin Luther, IV, p. 206.

"But when one inquires of reason for counsel it soon says: It is not possible. Yes, you must wait a long time until roasted ducks fly into your mouth, for reason sees nothing, grasps nothing, and nothing is present. Just so the apostles do also here who thought: Yes, who will provide food for so many, no one is able to do that; but had they seen a great pile of money and in addition tables laden with bread and meat, they would soon have discovered good counsel and been able to give good consolation; that would have gone to their thinking very reasonably."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House 1983, IV, p. 206.

"Therefore, beloved friends, let us once make a beginning to believe; for unbelief is the cause of all sin and vice, which now have taken the upper hand in all stations of life. How does it come to pass that everywhere there are so many foolish women and rogues, so many rank imposters, thieves, robbers, userers, murderers and sellers of indulgences? It all comes from unbelief."
Sermons of Martin Luther, IV, p. 208.

"Just so it is also at present: Where true pastors and preachers are so poorly supoorted that no one donates anything to them, and moreover what they have is snatched out of their mouths by a shameless and unthankful world, by princes, noblemen, townsmen and famers, so that they with their poor wives and children must suffer need, and when they die leave behind them pitiable, rejected widows and orphans. By this very many good-hearted and very clever people are more and more discouraged from becoming pastors and preachers."
Sermons of Martin Luther, IV, p. 214.

"How does it happen that although all of us are certainly Christians, or at least want to be such, we do not take this attitude of unconcern and neither comfort ourselves with abundance and surplus nor are frightened by want and by worrying about it? For if we faithfully and devotedly cling to God's Word, there shall be no want. Christ takes care of us, and from this it must follow that we shall have something to eat."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I, p. 436. Mark 8:1-9