Strength in the Soil

Strength in the Soil. This morning, we look at St. Paul shows his weaknesses as an opportunity for Christ's Strength, and how it reflects into the Parable of the Sower.

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Good Morning. We’re looking this morning at the call to share God’s Word, as well as show his Love in works of mercy, as found in our Gospel, and our epistle this morning. It would really warm a pastor’s heart if you remember some of Paul’s problems with the Corinthians that led to 2^nd Corinthians, but you’re good if you don’t. What you should know for sure is that when he wrote this epistle, Paul was a worn-out man. He was late into a 10.000 mile mission trip, on foot for most of his time. That’s walking Atlantic City to Sacramento, along route 40, and back, TWICE. But he’s worn out from preaching the Gospel. He’s tired of his fellow Christians fighting against amongst themselves, and fighting with him, the worst grumblers most likely being the Corinthians.

He loved those people deeply. He had prayed for them, pastored them for 18 months. But in return, they offered him no respect. They began getting excited about other teachers who sounded more impressive. Men who bragged about their visions, their eloquence, their spiritual experiences. Paul was poor, plainspoken, and because of his travels, he was often sick. His life looked like one long struggle.

And so, in 2 Corinthians 11, our epistle lesson shows Paul saying something remarkable: “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”

We know that’s not how the world works. The world teaches us to hide weakness. Dress it up, polish it, and pretend it is not there. But Paul says, I’ll boast in my frailty, because that is where the power of Christ is most clearly seen.

Paul starts listing what he has been through. Beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks, hunger, sleepless nights.

“Apart from other things,” he says, “there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” 

Anxiety is a funny word for Paul to use, because he is one who tells us to be anxious for nothing. But he admits here, how he can’t actually keep this goal himself.  You know what this is? Paul admits his weakness, just like he makes this list, not of accomplishments but of trials and scars.

And Paul says, “This is what I will boast about, the way Jesus Christ has carried me on a stretcher through every failure, every wound, every fear.”

In a real sense, weakness is the heart of the Gospel. The CROSS  ITSELF is the greatest display of weakness the world has ever seen, and yet it was there that God’s power saved the world. Now, hold that image of weakness and contrast it with the parable Jesus tells in Luke 8.

A sower went out to sow some grain. And as he scattered, A lot of seed fell along the path, some on rocks, some among the thorns, and some on good soil. Jesus paints a picture of him walking through the fields, his hand full of seed, throwing it everywhere. It’s not efficient. He doesn’t prepare or aim. Some will never grow. Some will sprout for a while, then wither. But still, he keeps throwing.

Anyone seeing that farmer would likely think, “What a waste.” And honestly, it can sometimes feel like a waste spending time caring for the physical and spiritual needs of people you, in your head, are thinking they are just going to be right back here with the same story. But Jesus says, “That’s what the kingdom of God is like.” Because the sower is God Himself, and the seed is His Word. God’s way of working in the world often looks wasteful to us. He pours His grace into hard hearted, stubborn people, even when there’s no visible return.

Paul’s ministry was the work of a sower. He scattered the Word everywhere, across the Roman world, often to people who mocked or attacked and assaulted him. He poured himself out for those who didn’t appreciate him, because he believed that every patch of ground was worth a try.

The Corinthians were one of those fields. They were among the richest in the world and had lots of spare time to argue and kvetch.

They had heard the Word, but thorns had grown up—pride, jealousy, and moral compromise. Paul is pleading with them to realize that the Gospel does not grow best in prideful soil. It grows best in weakness. The same weakness they despised in him was the weakness that made his ministry fruitful.

And that’s the same truth Jesus was teaching in the parable. The good soil isn’t good just because it looks rich and healthy on the surface. Good soil receives the seed deeply and lets it take root even when the sun is hot and the weeds are thick. Good soil is humble soil. It’s broken up, turned over, ready to receive.

We don’t know what kind of ground a heart really is. We sometimes like to decide ahead of time where God’s Word will work. We look at certain people or situations and think, “That ground is too hard,” or “That soil is too thorny.” Jesus’ parable warns us against that.

Our job is simply to scatter the seed. God calls us to share His Word not only with those who seem receptive, but also with those who are resistant. To pray for those who seem hopeless. To love those who seem unlovable. Because the moment we stop sowing, someone misses their chance to hear.

Jesus warns about the thorns—the cares and riches and pleasures of life—that choke out the Word, so it doesn’t mature. Thorns are all around.

They’re the distractions that fill our minds, the anxieties that crowd out prayer, desires that leaves no space for God. Sometimes, like I said last week, they are good things that take up too much room and keep us from doing better things.

When we put these two passages together, something beautiful happens. In the world’s eyes, Paul was weak.

 But in God’s eyes, his weakness made him fertile ground for grace.

After he was emptied of pride when God met him on the road to Damascus, God filled him with Heavenly power by the Holy Spirit.

The same is true for us. God’s Word flourishes in hearts that know they need it. If we are proud, we’ll be like the packed-down path where the seed cannot enter. If we are shallow, we’ll be like the rocky soil that burns out quickly.

 But if we bring our weakness to God, if we confess our sins, our doubts, our failures, then our hearts become soft enough for the seed to take root.

 The power of the Gospel is not that Jesus finds strong people and makes them stronger. It finds broken people and makes them alive.

At the end of his list of weaknesses, Paul says, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”

That is the same spirit Jesus praises in the good soil, the heart that does not pretend to be perfect, but who, on hearing the Word which offers God’s Strength to us, receives the Word and holds fast to it, clinging to it with patience.