Sometimes people make big claims. I own a car. I own a sports car. I own a sports car that can go 0 to 100 in 4.2 seconds. I own a sports car that can go 0 to 100 in 4.2 seconds, uphill, around a tight corner, on ice, without losing traction.
        Sometimes people make big claims and we just smile and nod politely, or laugh right along with them, or at them, as the claims are made - sometimes loudly.

We just read a Question and Answer from our Catechism that also makes claims. Big claims.
        Claims about power and performance.
        Claims about the book we call The Bible, the Word of God.
        Claims that say the Gospel has a profound affect on the lives of its hearers; it does some permanent things to them.

When someone makes claims about an automobile the only way to be absolutely certain is to do two things:
        First, find a written set of specifications about that car from the manufacturer. See if what the person claims is true to spec.
        The other thing to do is to climb into that car and test drive it yourself.

        The catechism makes claims about the Scriptures. The only way that we can be sure about them is to go to the scriptures and examine them, to find out what the internal performance specifications are as set out by the Maker of the Bible - our Lord.
        We can also see examples of some people who actually road-test, try out, stretch to the limits the claims of the Bible.
        Let's do both those things this evening, beginning with studying what the Word of God is supposed to do.

        We find the description of what the Word of God does in certain parables, word pictures painted by Jesus that generally use the image of seed:
Mt 13.1-9: Seeds sown on different types of soil.
Mt 13.24-30: The parable of the wicked man sowing weeds in the fields of the good man.
Mt 13.31,32: It's like a mustard seed

The Bible as seed - wee, tiny seed, that you bury in the ground.
Which, if you start to think about it, would seem to lead to doubt, or at least a bit of hesitation.
I mean - think about seed.
        It seems a silly thing to do: putting a hard, little object into wet, warm earth and expect that in due course a green plant will be found there.
        Still, we sow our seeds. Every spring again I phone my order to Stokes Seed House, and every spring again I prepare the ground. Every spring I plant. For we have seen results before. And we have the promise of the seed distributors of great results.

        It seems a silly thing to do: to read and speak words from a book to people and expect that in due course a blooming faith life will be found there.
        Still, we speak and teach and live and spread - we sow - the Word of God, in our lives, and the lives of those we love and live with. For we have the promise of God of great results.

What kind of promise are we given?
Mt 9.37,38: Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful..."
Mt 13.31,32: The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed....the smallest of all your seeds...[ becoming] a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.

And, yes, it is true - when the farmer sows the seed, there are the times where the seed is rejected, or where growth is stunted. But there are also those times when spectacular results are found.

        You see, Scripture doesn't speak of a possible harvest, or of a meager crop. The Word of God is so powerful that when its message is spread, when it is sown, results are certain, and they will baffle even the most optimistic of onlookers and workers.
        No matter how tedious it seems to spread the gospel, be it from the pulpit or over a kitchen table, or backyard fence, or hood of a car, or café counter --
        no matter how hopeless, or how small it all seems, the promise is that one day the results from spreading that word will be the Kingdom of God come in all glory, stronger and more wonderful than any other kingdom.

Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah:
        As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. [Is 55.10,11]
Whenever the Word of God is used, spoken or heard, it cannot be shaken off like powdery snow from a coat, there for a moment but then forgotten. It is guaranteed to have an effect.
        Not always the same effect, but an effect.
        Not always instantaneous. In fact most of the time it is gradual, a slow sculpting process.

        Mt 13.24-30 uses the picture of seed being planted and then growing slowly over time into a full harvest. The growth to God-imaging maturity comes with patience and care and the continual feeding with God's Word.
        But don't let the sometimes long time span fool you. The working of the Word is powerful. And it cuts two ways, like a two-edged sword (Heb 4:12), says the Bible -- bringing salvation (Rom1.16) and judgement (Jn 3.18).
        Which is called in scripture - "the whole counsel of God." (Acts 20.27).
        We sometimes confuse that expression to mean the preaching of all the different aspects, locii, of Reformed Doctrine. That's not what the scripture means. It refers to being clear with people about the glorious promise of life eternal, and the horrible threat of eternal damnation.

It's a Word that some refuse to hear. And they curl up into a ball, or surround themselves in thick, cold metallic armour to prevent the word from penetrating. But in the process something inside dies. And they find themselves left outside in the cold and the snow. The warmth of God in their hearts is absent.
        A deep, aweful tragedy.
                That is side 1 of the sword; part A of the Counsel of God.
                That is judgement.

But there is also the other side of the sword; part B of the Counsel of God. The side of Salvation, which comes when the word resonates in the hearts of those who are open to it.
        They hear the voice of Jesus say, "Come unto me, and rest."
        They are strengthened in their faith that they belong to Him who died for them and rose again.
        They grow in their love of God, in the love with which He loved them through Jesus Christ.
        They are confirmed in the hope that finally, when the chips are down, will never fail them: the hope of an inheritance that is eternal, incorruptible, and undefilable, a hope that will never fade away as a whispy dream.

        And, over time, that Word in its powerful, life changing way, does a deliberate work. It doesn't hack with a blind fury, but works with timing and finesse and skill as a sculptor: chiseling a little here, polishing a little there, always with the vision of what the final and beautiful product will look like, and yet also keenly aware that what is before the sculptor is at the moment very rough in spots, still an uncarved marble block. It also recognizes that to take dynamite and try to blow away all the rough edges at one single time would be fruitless, it would destroy everything:

        Working on one area of Christian character and then another area, slowly growing, ever changing, becoming more and more a person who lives and thinks and behaves in a way that reflects the character of Jesus Christ.

        That's why with new believers God doesn't necessarily convict their conscience of every sinful pattern of behaviour at once. It would crush the new and fragile faith. That's why we as a church must be extremely sensitive when new or young believers come into the church. It would be extremely wrong to expect or demand the sort of God-honouring obedience in thought and lifestyle that would be expected of one who has been in the faith much longer. They are fresh marble blocks that need careful work. Or you could compare them to the tender shoots, freshly sprouted, that need careful and constant care to ensure healthy development.
 

        I said that when you look at performance claims you both check the listed specifications and do a road test. We have seen the so-called "specification of performance" sheet. Let's see some road tests.
        How many of you have heard of Charles Colson? Have you been able to read any of his work, such as LOVING GOD or THE BODY?
        There is a man who formerly was one of the most corrupt individuals in the office of Richard Nixon; a man who admitted he would step on his own grandmother if he had to. Now he is one of the most vocal Christians for prison reform - a totally changed person.
        An example of spectacular growth over a short time. Not all are so dramatic.

        I know for sure that none of you has ever met Jo-Ann. When I met her she was frightened, alone with two small children, having just run to the big city away from a town up north, to get away from her domineering, abusive husband. She didn't know the meaning of love. She thought that she was all alone.
        But a Christian woman took an interest. And shared the message of scripture. At first it was refused. Later, grudgingly listened to. Then examined. When I last saw her she was warming up inside, and the first signs of a new life in her were beginning to push through to the surface.

        These are people who road tested the gospel, stretched it to the limits of its claims. And it came through.

        But it is not just such folk. You, too, have done it. I know so. Many of you have told me. Perhaps not in dramatic ways, but God's Word has been working, carving, moulding and shaping you. I have seen it in action here at Calvin these last 6 years.
        In times of grief, telling that God too faced death when Jesus his son died.
        In times of temptation reminding of the truly evil nature of the devil who is trying to make this particular act seem good; reminding us that Jesus also was tempted.
        In times of lonliness telling that the God of heaven and earth is our Father and loves every corner of our lives and counts every hair on our head.
        Slowly, day by day, sustaining, strengthening, rebuilding, renewing, developing faith.

Road testing the gospel. Look back, even at your own life and you will see that -- YES, it does work!

        And how does all this happen?
        What are the dynamics involved? As Paul wrote in 1 Cor 3.5ff, we till the soil in peoples' lives and fertilize it by building relationships with them; we plant the seed by taking risks and actually sharing the words of Scripture, foolish though that may seem; we cultivate our relationships with those folk; we water the seed we have spread with reminders and additional helpings of scriptural truth.
        But finally, like with the seed that the farmers are planting in the land this spring -
        only God can make it all come to life.
                His divine, miraculous, life-giving power must work.

Says Paul:
"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."

Finally, the Word that we preach and share in informal ways with those with whom we rub shoulders -
        - that Word is powerful because it is the Word of Jesus Christ, the One who said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." (Mt 28.18) Says the apostle Paul,
        "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." (Rom 1.16)

Which finally is what leaves us with our assignment for the coming week and the present spiritual planting season:
        We have been commanded - we, not just the preacher or the elders or missionaries in some nameless, faceless distant land - but WE have been empowered and commanded to go out and liberally sow the seed of the Good News, the Gospel News of Jesus Christ.
        Remember, God wills that His Church grow. He WILL effect a harvest, a bountiful harvest. But He wants US to be his sowers, and His harvesters.
        - doing it in season and out of season
        - when we stand up and lie down, in the way and within the gate
        - seasoned with grace
        - with gentleness and respect, yet with boldness
        - without fear or shame
and most of all
        - doing it in reliance on the power of God, no matter how foolish it may seem from a human point of view, remembering that "the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength." (1 Cor 1.25)