"THE WORD WORKS"
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 10)
July 16, 2017
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10, 11 (ESV)
Things can become very frustrating for the person who seeks to serve the Lord in this world. A preacher prepares a sermon that less than half of the congregation will hear. A congregational leader tries to recruit new people for Bible study and for serving the congregation through its various offices, only to find out that the people who do get involved are the same ones who always have and always will. A Sunday School teacher carefully prepares her lesson but when Sunday morning arrives her class is empty--everyone is absent. Some of these scenarios may sound familiar to you, or maybe not. But I can assure you that they are commonplace for those who are involved in one way or another with sharing the Word of God. These experiences can be quite discouraging. They can make a person wonder whether he or she should be pursuing other, more profitable endeavors rather than trying to proclaim God's Word to deaf ears.
If you find yourself sharing in that frustration, the Lord has Good News for you this morning! He has Good News for the preacher and for the church leader and for the Sunday School teacher. He has Good News for all who may feel a bit discouraged by the apparent futility of their efforts. His Good News for all of us is that it is worth it--every bit of it! It's worth it because the Word works! When God's Word is proclaimed it accomplishes God's purpose in that particular time, place and situation, even though it may not seem that way to us. God assures us that His Word is never proclaimed in vain. He tells us not to give up, no matter how fruitless our efforts may appear to us or to others, for they are not at all fruitless as far as He is concerned. With this passage of Scripture before us let's look at why the Word works, how the Word works, and for what purpose the Word works, all the while being open to the encouragement of the Spirit who works through the Word that He gives us.
Why does the Word work? It works because it is God's Word. Any word or message that is shared is only as reliable as its source. If the word that we share is our own, it will be no more reliable than we are. But since it is God's Word that we proclaim, it rests entirely upon God Himself. This can be both encouraging and frightening at the same time. It can be frightening because we'd better make sure that it is really God's Word that we are sharing. Where God's Word speaks, we cannot silence or compromise it; where God's Word is silent, we must remember that our opinions are only opinions, no better or worse than anyone else's. But it can be encouraging because when we share God's Word, we can do so with confidence, knowing that we can speak as though we are God Himself, since the Word that we share is His, not ours.
How does the Word work? The Holy Spirit works in and through the Word whenever and wherever that Word confronts people. The Spirit is there working God's will whenever any of us share God's Word in any way. If the hearers reject the redeeming love of Christ that the Word offers them, it's not because the Spirit isn't working through the Word; it's because they are resisting the Spirit. You can't blame the Holy Spirit or the Word for people's hardness of heart. The Spirit teaches people about sin and salvation and calls them to faith, but He doesn't force anyone to believe. The Spirit empowers people to believe, but He doesn't force them to. This encourages us too, because we know that it is our job only to proclaim the Word. It's not up to us to convert people, but simply to share the Word through which the Holy Spirit converts them.
But the Word works only if it is proclaimed. The Word of God printed on the pages of a book between two covers that remain closed is not going to work on the hearts of anyone. That's why Christ has commissioned you and me--all of us who are His people--to spread the Word that has taught us and has changed us so dramatically. If we neglect our responsibility to share the Word of God, we have no right later on to complain that somehow God has let us down or that His Word does not work as it claims to do. The Word does work but, like any other tool, it must be used. It must be put to work.
For what purpose does the Word work? The purpose of the Holy Scriptures cannot be stated any more clearly than God Himself states it: "to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15). The Word works for the purpose of bringing lost and condemned souls to faith in Jesus Christ. It's not a matter of any particular individual or church-body merely using the Bible to prove themselves right. Yes, Scripture can be a weapon, but it is a weapon to be used against the attacks of Satan, who constantly harasses us by calling our salvation into question with false doctrine and doubt. Since we are aware of this all-important purpose of the Word of God (the purpose of bringing salvation to sinners) and since we are also aware of the never-ending efforts of Satan to interfere with this purpose, we should be moved to redouble our efforts in sharing this valuable and precious Word with others.
When you get right down to it, our assurance that the Word works lies in the promise of God Himself. And if there is one thing that we know about our God, it's that He keeps His promises. His promise in the Isaiah passage before us is that the proclamation and sharing of His Word is never done in vain. It is never worthless or without purpose. Whenever, wherever, and to whomever the Word of God is proclaimed, the will of God is being carried out. What a comfort that promise is to us! What joy and encouragement it gives us when we feel as if our efforts just aren't worth all the bother! Whether we think so or not, God's will is being done in us and through us (and sometimes in spite of us!). We can't go wrong if we share that Word, because sharing that Word accomplishes the will of the God who sent it.
As many of us know all too well, sharing the Word of God is not always an easy task. At times it can be just plain frustrating. But is it worth it? You bet it is! It's worth it because in sharing God's Word we are God's representatives, since the message that we share is His, not ours. It's worth it because there is power in the Word that we share and that power is from the Spirit who works in and through that Word. It's worth it because the Holy Spirit accompanies our sharing of God's Word. It's worth it because there is no other work as important as sharing the Word of God, since that Word communicates the love, grace, and forgiveness that God offers in His Son Jesus Christ to poor lost sinners who need it so desperately. And finally, it's worth it because of the assurance that we receive from God's promise--an assurance and a promise that we can receive nowhere else: the promise that it is God Himself who accomplishes His good and gracious will through the sharing of His Word.
Amen.
May the Lord bless your hearing of His Word, using it to accomplish in you those things for which He gave it. May you be enriched and strengthened in faith that you may leave here today to go out into our world armed w