Weekly Sermon: 03-08-2026 - Growing in Grace

The Holy Gospel according to Luke.

When a large crowd was gathering as people were coming to Jesus from town after

town, he said in a parable, A sower went out to sow his seed.

And as he sowed, some fell on a path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up.

Some fell on a rock, and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture.

Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it.

Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.

As he said this, he called out, If you have ears to hear, then hear.

Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant.

He said, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God,

but to others I speak in parables, so that looking they may not perceive,

and hearing they may not understand.

Now, the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. The ones on the path

are those who have heard.

Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts,

so that they may not believe and be saved.

The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy.

But these have no root. They believe only for a while, and in a time of testing, they fall away.

As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear,

but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures

of life, and their fruit does not mature.

But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the

word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with endurance.

This is the gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.

In this season of Lent, as we count down and prepare for Easter,

we are focusing on following in the way of Jesus, which is called discipleship.

We have online videos that go out each week with a devotional book,

and those are about your personal spiritual life.

I teach a class after worship, also on the way of Jesus, about developing and growing as a disciple.

And for those who didn't know, this also includes some of the catechism or confirmation,

which is taught in middle school.

So if you missed it or you forgot it all, you get a brush up in the discipleship class.

And on Sunday mornings, we are focusing on how we live together as a discipleship community.

So that's the theme, Better Together, so that we can become the strongest,

most loving, healthiest community possible.

Better together. So today we continue with growing in grace and each of these standalones.

So if you haven't heard any of these sermons, no big deal. Of course, they're on YouTube.

So today we're growing in grace. I wonder if you have ever heard of or thought

about writing your own spiritual autobiography.

Has anybody ever heard of this?

One or two people? A spiritual autobiography is the story of your life told

through the lens of your relationship with God and your journey of faith.

I wonder how would you write it? When would it begin?

What would have been the peaks and the valleys so far?

When have you experienced seasons of growth and seasons of doubt or stagnation?

What season or stage would you say your spiritual life is in right now?

In preparing for this morning, I thought about this and remembered something

I hadn't thought about, oh, for 20 years.

And when I interviewed and candidated at the church I was called to in St.

Louis, it was exactly 20 years ago in 2006, I shared my spiritual autobiography for the adult class.

And I'm trying to remember why I decided to do that. And I think it was because

this was the first call that I was going to have after staying home with our kids for nine years.

So I figured they were like, do we really want a pastor that hasn't been serving

as a pastor for the last nine years, even though I had served for eight years previous to that.

So I wanted to demonstrate, I think, that growth in faith and service happens everywhere,

not just at church, but also at home and with family and through children and

in neighborhoods and serving in the community and indeed all aspects of life,

all aspects of daily life.

And I wanted them to know that this was as true for me as it was for them.

Most often, our spiritual growth happens slowly, with frustration,

oftentimes, and with hard patience, especially when it seems like nothing is happening.

Like a seed under the soil, and all we can see day after day is the same old dirt.

This usually happens when we want change now, when we want patience yesterday,

when we wanted answers last week, last month, last year, what's going on.

Many of us, myself included, much prefer spiritual growth to be dramatic,

a powerful moment, a life-changing experience, a retreat with revelation,

a sudden transformation, big bursts of ahas that catapult us forward into complete

conviction and absolute knowing.

Well, once in a lifetime, we may have this experience, but this is not everyday

faith, at least not in my experience.

We forget that underneath the surface, beneath the soil, something is happening.

Roots are forming. Sprouts are peeking out.

Life is beginning to unfold. But all we see is dirt.

Yet this is how faith works. I had a spiritual director tell me once that God

works in secret under the soil, like in winter.

Because if you knew, she was talking about me particularly, this will not surprise you.

If you knew what God was doing, you would try to control it and you would totally mess it up.

And you're like, oh, yeah, that's true, Pastor Linda. Yeah, of course it is.

But Jesus tells us in the parable today that faith usually grows the way seeds grow.

Slowly, quietly, deeply, under the dirt.

Writing our spiritual autobiography can help us see the depths,

the process, the slow growth of faith over time, circumstances,

events, as God's grace grows in us bit by bit.

In Luke 8, Jesus tells us the parable of the sower and how the farmer scatters

seeds across a field and some falls on the path and never takes root.

Some falls on the rocky soil and it springs up quickly but has no depth.

Some falls among the thorns and grows for a while, but gets choked out.

And some seed falls on good soil.

And when that happens, the seed grows and produces fruit.

But one important thing that we notice in this parable is that the seed is always the same.

The seed is always the same. The difference is the soil.

The difference is the soil. So Jesus says, the seed is the word of God.

Well, who is the word of God?

Jesus, right? In the beginning was the word.

And the word was God. And the word was with God. Jesus is the word. That's Jesus himself.

Offering the grace of God, the life of God, the love of God,

the invitation of God into a relationship that is planted into our lives and our hearts.

But what determines whether that seed grows is the condition of the soil.

So this invites us to wonder, how is the condition of our soil this season of our life?

And sometimes we feel like the path, hard, dusty, nowhere for the love of Jesus to sink in.

And if that's you and you're struggling to stay upright, or you just feel trampled

on and nitpick to death, what a blessing that you are here today to be loved,

to hear the splashing waters of baptism, and to remind you that you are precious to God and to us.

Sometimes we feel like rocky soil, someone who once had enthusiasm for faith,

but now you're just going through the motions,

feeling parched, like your teeth are grinding on gravel.

Life is hard and you feel tested at every turn.

Thank goodness you came today to be fed in soul and body by Jesus'

forgiveness at this table and with cupcakes at that table out there and with

community to be reminded and to feel once again that you are loved.

Sometimes we feel like thorny soil. Life is busy.

Worries pile up. Finances, inflation, it's so complicated.

The world is so uncertain.

Distractions crowd out the quiet space where faith grows.

Not because we have misaligned values, but because it's just so much right now.

What courage it took to show up today, to till the soil of your faith. Thank you.

What a gift to hear the singing bowl, to hear the baby noises.

To welcome a baby in baptism, to let the music fill your heart,

to let the children reorder what matters most.

We are so glad that you made it.

If you're feeling like a hard path, rocky soil, or thorny ground,

an individual prayer might help, then please, please talk with Pastor Ashley

or me or anyone else you feel connected with.

So when you leave here today, after worship, you feel even more soaked in love and spirit.

Because you are so loved and you are not alone.

And sometimes, by the grace of God, we become good soil, open and receptive, and ready for growth.

And when we become good soil, by God's grace, for the presence and love and

the word of Jesus Christ to be planted and to grow in us.

And we hold it in an honest heart and we bear fruit for others with endurance,

that with lasting goodness, others might come to know Jesus.

Well, that's the part of the baptism service that says, let your light so shine

before others that they may see your good works.

Now, yikes, I know I'm kind of mixing metaphors here. We're seeds under the

soil and now we're letting our light shine. So I'm mixing metaphors.

But then I thought, well, you know, Moses saw a burning bush.

So they kind of go together, right? Plants and light, burning bush.

We're supposed to be a burning bush for Christ. Okay, it all kind of fits,

right? All right, I'm going to move on from mixed metaphors.

But you get it, right? Moses and the burning bush. Okay, you're all like,

Pastor Linda's crazy. All right.

So this is what the Apostle Paul is talking about in Ephesians 4,

he says the purpose of the church is to equip the saints for the work of ministry,

for building up the body of Christ.

For what? Until we all grow into maturity. That is until we all become good soil.

Paul's vision of the church is not just a gathering place. It's a growing place.

That's the mission of being together.

That we grow here together before

we're sent out. A place where people are rooted and built up in Christ.

A place where disciples grow into good soil.

And that is exactly what Rachel and Jared committed to as parents and what all

of us committed to in baptizing Sloan Elizabeth today,

to providing a community of growth where her life and all of the children's

lives can become good soil.

And we heard it again when we received new members and we all committed to being

this kind of community with them, to live together as God's faithful people, to hear the word,

to share together in the Lord's supper, to share the good news with each other

and pray together in Christ and to do that in our words and in our actions and

to serve people following the example of Jesus and to strive for justice and for peace.

So this is all behaviors of a growing community who's committed to developing

us together as good soil.

And during Lend, we pay special attention to the practices of prayer and devotion,

of generosity and acts of service.

Now, none of these practices, of course, are requirements for God's love.

Of course, we are not earning grace. We are not trying to be good enough for God to plant a seed in us.

Because the seed is already offered. The seed is already given.

The seeds of Jesus' presence and power, the gift of his word in us is already planted.

Right? That's what baptism is all about. The gift is already offered.

The spiritual practices that we engage in daily just make our hearts available.

We open ourselves and say, God, I'm ready. So that love and grace can grow in

us into deeper and greater service and love and faith.

Jesus is the one who plants the seed.

Grace always comes first. Grace always comes first.

God is already at work in your life, planting seeds of hope,

planting seeds of faith, planting seeds of love.

And our role as the church together and in our individual lives of prayer and

service is simply to keep the soil tilled and turning over.

And so that simply means that our job is to show up.

Isn't that awesome? That takes the pressure off, doesn't it?

Our job is to show up, to listen, to pray, to learn, to worship,

to engage in spiritual practices, to serve.

And we do this in our daily life as much as we do it at church.

You do it when you take care of your family. You do it when you help your neighbors.

You do it when you listen to a co-worker who is struggling.

In all of these things, you remain open to the Spirit's work in you.

And that seed keeps sprouting under the soil, even when you can't see what God

is doing in your life, growing faith, making you stronger, using you as a light.

And a sign to others of the goodness of your heart, of the sign of faith that you are.

And when we do that again, slowly and quietly, faith is growing and it continues

and roots deepen and faith matures and love expands.

And the Apostle Paul says something beautiful and miraculous continues to happen.

The body together builds itself up in love into a community where disciples are always growing.

And that is Paul's vision of the church. Isn't that awesome?

Not only where seeds of grace are taking root, but where people are becoming more like Christ.

That's what Paul is saying, where together each of us are becoming more like Christ.

That is the ultimate goal. Isn't that awesome?

Who would like us to become a community where each of us become more like Christ?

Is that a goal you're willing to sign on to?

I hope more of you raise your hand, right? Isn't that why we're here?

To become more like Jesus?

Amen. Let's say amen to becoming more like Jesus. That's what I'm trying to do.

I know that I'm flunking, but every day I'm trying to become more like Jesus, right?

That is our goal. always growing in grace to become more like Jesus.

And when this happens, the world begins to see the fruit.

And the world says, hey, that St. Luke's, that's a place where they do what they believe.

Where they walk the walk and they don't just talk the talk.

And, you know, this is happening already. I know you know this.

And it happened several times with the mission you are doing out in the world, out in the community.

And individual members of the congregation are reporting this back to me after

helping out in the community with housing, with food at Dover Food Pantry,

with a burrito breakfast,

with helping people with healthcare, with driving other people to doctor appointments.

And you know what they're being told by people out in the community?

More than once, members have come back to me and they said, community members

are saying to them, and I quote, I have never heard of a church doing what you're doing.

Wow. I've never heard of a church doing what you're doing.

Amen to that. Can we hear an amen for that?

That is a church. That is you becoming more Christ-like, doing what you believe.

That is great soil producing holy fruit, kingdom fruit.

That is blessed community behaving like Jesus right here.

So I wonder now, when you think about your spiritual autobiography,

what you would write as you look back, seeing God planting seeds,

putting people in your path,

growing deep roots, and how you kept showing up,

tilling the soil, how you kept showing up when you weren't feeling it,

how you kept showing up, whether you felt like the path or the thorn or the rock.

That's what you've been doing your whole life you've kept

showing up and god has been growing

these deep roots under the surface so i

have a sheet of directions if you would like to

try a spiritual autobiography and

if you want to pay closer attention to the tilling

of the soil of your faith and what god has already done in your life because

it's miraculous i've been a witness to the miraculous faith that you have already

shared with me and that the community has already given feedback to that I get to hear.

And those sheets are in the gathering area next to the devotion books underneath

the big cross in the gathering area.

And what's really wonderful about it is the deeper your roots,

the deeper we can all go together.

Why? Because we're better together. Let the church say amen.

Go forth in the world to serve God with gladness, be of good courage,

hold fast to what is good,

render to no one evil for evil, strengthen the faint-hearted,

support the weak, help the afflicted, honor all people, share the love of Jesus,

and rejoice in the power of the Holy Spirit, changing lives as disciples,

who love, serve, and welcome all.

They speak to God, and we will. If you were inspired by this week's.