Peace be yours in the name of our risen and living Lord Jesus. Amen.

Introduction: Nurturing Hearts Like Soil

Last week, we looked at the patience of the sower, trusting God is working even when we cannot see it. We also heard John 3:16-17 in different languages getting a glimpse of how God’s Word goes out into all the world. It was a reminder that the Good Shepherd calls out to all His sheep, across fields, forests, and frontiers.

Today, like turning over the ground in spring, we move forward into the next part of the journey: Tending the Soil. On this Mother’s Day, we give thanks for those who have nurtured and nourished us, and we honor their faithful work. Like a good farmer knows, a field doesn’t bear fruit by accident. It takes tending, careful watching, and a trust that God will send the growth. Today, we ask: How are we tending the soil of our hearts?

Part One: Hearing the Shepherd’s Voice

When Jesus stood at Solomon’s porch,¹ the religious leaders surrounded Him, demanding an answer, “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Jesus didn’t offer a new sign, miracle or a dramatic spectacle. He just pointed to His voice. A voice recognized only by His sheep. Listening to the Shepherd is the first step of tending the soil of your soul. Like a farmer sharpening his plow or greasing his equipment, we prepare them intentionally, on purpose, by hearing, clinging to, and trusting the Word of God.

Farmers know how to listen for the change in the wind that signals a storm. They see in the skies the shift in weather that others might not see at all. We need to be tuned into the right voice. Not the loudest voice. Not the most popular voice. The right voice: the voice of our Savior.

People who look for counterfeit money do not spend time looking at fakes, because the things that can clue you in to what makes it a fake change all the time. They spend their time looking at the real thing. Studying its features and characteristic. Then when something comes into sight that has a problem, the problem stands out because it doesn’t look like the real thing.

That’s how it is with God’s Word. If you’re looking at it and into it all the time when a fake-word comes along you’ll recognize it because the problem stands out, because it doesn’t look like the real thing. So the real question is: Are you walking those rows daily in the Word, tending what God has already planted in you? Are you praying for God to open your ears and soften your heart?

Jesus says it plainly:

My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me.²

Tending the soil of your soul starts with tuning out the world’s noise and tuning into the Word of God. The truth is, at first it won’t sound good. It will be boring, uninteresting, tedious, guilting. At first it will annoy you and honestly it is amazing how easily your mind will lie to itself and tell you that you don’t need it, don’t have time for it, need to get other things done.

There are many addictions in life. Most of them are legal. If you’re addicted to the voice of the world, when you hear the voice of God you won’t like it. The voice of the world can sound really good. When you’re addicted to something getting sober is a struggle. You have to want it. You have to know you need it. You have to be willing to pursuer it and persevere through it.

In time you’ll pick up a new addiction. Make it a good one. In time when you hear the Word read, preached, sung, and prayed, it will get comfortable, familiar, fostering the good in you. It becomes the voice of your Shepherd calling you by name. It becomes a voice you want to hear. We are all addict to something. Get addicted to things that are good for you. Start with God’s Word.

Part Two: Guarding Against the Weeds

In Acts 20, Paul gathers the elders of the church at Ephesus and warns them:

Fierce wolves will come in among you,
not sparing the flock.³

It’s a sobering reminder that faith needs tending and care. It’s not enough to plant the seed and walk away. The weeds grow too.

Anyone who’s ever looked out over a freshly planted garden knows the temptation: “Maybe those little green sprouts are the good plants.” A few days later it becomes clear: the weeds have snuck in. Left alone, they will steal the sunlight, choke the roots, and sap the life from what once promised good fruit.

The same thing happens to faith. A little sin left unchecked. A little pride left unchallenged. A little bitterness left to grow. The weeds creep in quietly but quickly. Luther’s Small Catechism reminds us that daily repentance is essential. Confessing our sins is like pulling out the weeds so the Word can grow strong and healthy in us.⁴

when you pray, start by admitting your missteps and mistakes. If you can’t think of any start by asking God to remind you of some. You will get an answer, and fast. Why? Because all of heaven shouts in joy and victory every time a person repents. The Bible says:

I tell you, there is joy
before the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.⁵

Today happens to be the Commemoration of Cyril and Methodius. These two faithful brothers who lived in the 800’s. Cyril (827–869) and Methodius (815–885) devoted their lives to translating the Bible into the language of the Slavic people. Their mission wasn’t flashy. It was slow and faithful, like a hand hoe in a garden. They were tilling soil in faraway fields.

Their work reminds us of last week’s service, when we heard John 3:16-17 spoken in different languages, a beautiful foretaste of heaven, where every nation, tribe, people, and tongue will stand before the Lamb. Cyril and Methodius tended the soil by guarding against error, uprooting falsehood, and planting the truth deeply, just as we are called to tend hearts today with truth, patience, and prayer.

Part Three: Fruit of Faith

When we look at Revelation 7, we see the harvest: a great multitude no one can number, from every nation, standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white robes, holding palm branches of victory.

This is the fruit of well-tended soil. Not people who lived perfect lives, but forgiven sinners, washed clean by the blood of Jesus. Not self-made successes, but dusty, hungry sheep who heard the Shepherd’s voice and listened to Him.

The Augsburg Confession teaches good works are the fruits of faith, not the roots of faith. You don’t earn salvation by your fruit, but where faith is alive, good fruit is inevitable.⁶ Like tomatoes popping out of rich black soil, like stalks of corn swaying in the wind, these things are quiet evidence that the seed has done its work. Faith bears fruit when tended with the Word, watered by the Spirit, and guarded against weeds.

Today, we give thanks for the mothers and mentors, for our Sunday School teachers who are too often hidden away, but who have done, and do, this labor of love among us: tending, teaching, weeding, watering helping faith take root and grow strong.

Conclusion: Trust the Shepherd’s Care

The soil of our hearts needs tending. It needs the Word. It needs repentance. It needs the patient care of the Good Shepherd who knows every rock, every weed, every dry patch, and every thirsty root. He knows you. He calls you by name,

And before we close, I want to take a moment to speak directly to our high school graduates. You’ve grown up here—among these pews, these prayers, and these people. You’ve been taught the Word, you’ve been nurtured in the faith. As you step into new fields—whether college, work, or wherever God leads you next—don’t forget what you’ve been taught or where you come from.

Life will get challenging. You’ll be asked questions you’re not sure how to answer. You may even wonder if what you learned here still applies. In those moments, remember this: we’re still here. This congregation, your church family, is still praying for you, still rooting for you, and still ready to walk with you.

And I mean it when I say: you can contact me any time, with any question, no matter how big or small. I will walk with you. You are not alone.

Next week, we’ll face a harder truth. That being: even with careful tending, sometimes weeds still sneak into the field. What do you do then? We’ll dig into “Weeds Among the Wheat.” Until then, may the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. May His voice be the melody your heart hears above the noise, clearer than the wind in the trees, firmer than the soil underfoot. May your faith, watered and guarded by His Spirit, bear abundant fruit in you, for those around you, to the glory of God.

In Jesus’ holy name. Amen.

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