Sermon for 7/12/26: Proper 10a

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The Word Works
Isaiah 55:10-13 

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

 

         

One of the challenges of life is that some things work, while others don’t, and we need to find those things that work. Even more frustrating is when something that used to work no longer does, and you need to figure out why or find something to take its place. Thank God that our salvation does not depend on our intelligence or talent or wit. In this reading from Isaiah, God tells us that there is no chance of failure when things have to do with His Word. He has taken the chance of failure out of the equation.

The Church belongs to God. It is His creation, His work. He created it by the power of His Word. If we want the Church to live and thrive according to God’s will, we need to faithfully hear that Word and then faithfully proclaim it it to others. As we are faithful to God and live in and under His Word, our churches will be precisely what God intends them to be. That is His promise.

This promise is also a guarantee: the Word will accomplish what it says it will do. There is no chance of failure. The Word of God will change your life if you believe it. And that’s the problem: it is hard to believe. Even great churchmen through the ages have stumbled over the Word of God. The Church staggers at times in the presence of the Word like a drunken man. The guarantee God gives is that His Word works. Still, many imagine that they need to use clever gimmicks to make the right sort of things happen in the Church. They want to devise ways to be more effective than simply proclaiming and listening to the Word of God—as if anything man devises on his own can be expected to succeed!

All Christians say that they believe the Word of God. We Lutherans are especially known for our confidence in the power of the Word. But then we behave as if everything depends on us. The guarantee here is that, whatever He sends His Word to accomplish, He will do it—not us! How many times in the Scriptures does God deliver His people in the face of insurmountable odds? He does just what He says He will do. The promise of God is that He will accomplish what He desires to do: He will build His Church; He will cause us to believe; He will cleanse us and make us holy—all by His Word. But we often act as if the survival and growth of the Church depends completely on us doing the right things, that our spiritual growth depends on our efforts. But our lives, individually and corporately, are in the hands of God. He will make things happen by power of His Word. We need simply trust God and step back, and we will see what God accomplishes in us through all that He has promised and all that He intends by means of His Word. There is no chance of failure!

What the Lord requires of us is faithfulness, which means that we need to learn the Word; we need to live the Word; we need to prayerfully study the Word; we need to speak the Word; and, above all, we need to trust the Word. And we don’t need to dress it up to make it more acceptable to others. We don’t need to tinker with what the Church does so that the context of the Word is more inviting. These things may not be bad in and of themselves, but they do nothing to enhance the power of the Word and, indeed, they may actually get in the way of the Word. The Word works because God gives it the power to do so.

If we have problems in our Synod—and we do, and we always have had some; and if our congregations have problems—and they do, and always have—the reason, ultimately, is because we don’t trust the Word of God. We talk a lot about trusting it and believing it, but we don’t really expect it to work. History bears witness to the fact that our Synod grew and was strongest when we simply trusted God and His Word. And that is why the promise of this text is so challenging. It flies in the face of our expectations. It says something that offends our human natures. Just listen to and speak the Word of God, be faithful and trust God, and everything will work out as God intends. No, not everything will work out pleasantly; not every moment will be happy; you may not be the envy of the community. But it will all work just the way God wills it to work.

God wants us to know Him, to trust in Him, to live with Him in joy and in peace forever. But for that to happen, we need to confess that we are sinners, that we are not good or decent or holy. We need to confess that we cannot by our own reason or strength earn the salvation we so desperately need; we can’t even come to faith in Him on our own. We are sinners, and He is our Savior, who has purchased us from our guilt and sin and shame by His death on the cross; He has poured out forgiveness, life, and salvation; He has sent His Spirit to us so that we can believe and hold fast to His precious Gifts. The peace we have is the fruit of the faith we are given in the waters of Holy Baptism: trusting God and believing that our sins have been forgiven. When we stand with Him in faith, it can’t get any better.

The work of the Church is accomplished by the Word of God. There is no chance of failure when we faithfully use His Word. Some believe that, if the Word of God is really effective, God will do things we want Him to do in the way we want Him to do them. But God does not perform on cue like a trained dog; the Word will not always do what we expect. What is true, however, is that when we use the Word of God faithfully—when His Word is preached in its truth and purity, when His Sacraments are administered according to His institution and will—good things are happening: God’s good things. The Word works exactly as God wills it. That is a guarantee with no chance of failure. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.