Title: Stay Out of the Weeds!

Transcription

1 Title: Stay Out of the Weeds! Matthew 13:24-30, Grace Church of Eden Prairie May 26, 2013 Pastor Troy Dobbs You and I both know that every church is full of - believers - un believers - make believers Right : - I mean some people are dead serious about Christ and it shows BIG TIME! - Other people are honest about not being there yet which I completely respect. 1

2 - And then some play the Christian game so well that NO ONE KNOWS for sure whether they are in or out. And sadly, I ve watched a lot of Christians get WAY MORE into trying to pinpoint the phonies than in persuading unbelievers towards new life in Jesus Christ. To which Jesus would say DON T GO THERE THAT IS NOT YOUR JOB. Our job is not to set everyone straight our job is to share the Gospel. And in Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus tells a parable to that END. 24 He put another parable before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but 2

3 while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? 28 He said to them, An enemy has done this. So the servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and gather them? 29 But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. Fortunately this parable has an answer sheet! 36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the 3

4 field. 37 He answered, The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. Before we study the text let me explain what a parable is and why Jesus used them. 4

5 The word parable means: To place one thing beside another to illustrate a truth. Parables are simple stories used to illustrate profound spiritual lessons. Now the reason Jesus taught with parables is because they package truth in a memorable way. They appeal to: The intellect The feelings The imagination Moreover parables are unique because they reveal truth and conceal truth at the same time. Parables release truth into the hearts of some and restrict truth from the hearts of others. 5

6 Jesus used parables to sift the audience and find out the willing hearers and the reluctant hearers. Jesus actually confirms that for us in His response to the disciple s question why do you speak to the people in parables? in v And he answered them, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. i (Matthew 13:11) So parables reveal and conceal truth! Consequently interpreting parables is no easy task. Some people erroneously treat them as myths or proverbs or allegories which convolutes/botches the meaning. 6

7 Quite simply, a parable is a commonplace/everyday story that has one main truth in it. Not multiple points. One point. Not multiple interpretations. One interpretation. As well, please understand that Jesus parables are not Garrison Keillor -like stories designed to entertain people. On the contrary, Jesus clothed his most revolutionary truths and radical ideas in the street language of the day. Jesus in essence took explosive truth covered it in a common yet interesting story and presented it to his audience. 7

8 And when the story finally sunk in BOOM truth would explode all over them and some would get turned on to the Kingdom of God while others would get even further turned off to the Kingdom of God. So let s break it down: The sower is Jesus. (v37) The field is the world. (v.38) The wheat are the sons of the kingdom. (v38) The weeds are the sons of the evil one. (v38) The enemy is the devil. (v39) The harvest is the close of the age. (v39) The reapers are the angels. (v39) 8

9 This parable is pretty straight forward so we ll just spend a few minutes in explanation before we move to application. Here goes: A man sowed good seed in his field which is what all smart farmers do However, after hitting the rack after a long day s work an enemy slipped in in the middle of the night and sowed weeds among the wheat. And for an undisclosed amount of time the wheat and the weeds grew together unbeknownst to the owner. It only became evident to him that his field was full of weeds at harvest time. 9

10 Now obviously it was a disturbing scene to everyone so much so that the owner s servants began to pepper him with questions: How did this happen? Did you make a mistake? Did you sow good seed in your field? To which the owner flatly stated AN ENEMY DID THIS! Meanwhile, the servants are get-it-done people so they say no worries boss: we ll grab the weed eaters and get on it! But the owner says: NO! NO! NO! Because in the process of mowing down the weeds they might harm the wheat as well. And so he says 10

11 Just let both GROW together until the end/until the harvest. And at that time the reapers will separate the wheat from the weeds. The wheat will be brought into the barn and the weeds will be burned. So what is the main teaching of this parable? OUTLINES In the end, Jesus will weed out and punish every enemy of the Kingdom of God! Look at what it says in vv 41-42: 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes 11

12 of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You see, Jesus unapologetically tells his disciples there will be a day of reckoning at the end of history. And - all the lawbreakers and - gospel haters and - Christ deniers will be rounded up and punished on judgment day. This is a sobering passage! So let s look at some of the ways the main idea of this parable touches down in our lives applicationally. 12

13 What is God saying to us today? Before Jesus weeds out and punishes every enemy of the kingdom what do we do in the meantime. OUTLINES 1. Be patient Evil has an EXPIRATION DATE! One day evil will be NO MORE One day there will be no more: Violence Terror Abuse Murder Abduction Torture 13

14 Wickedness/evil will finally be eliminated and eradicated altogether. But please understand EVIL and WICKEDNESS will not be eliminated completely until the END. Which means God s people have to contend with it while we live on earth. So, in order to keep from getting discouraged and depressed (by all the evil/wickedness around us) I want to remind you that vindication for the people of God is not in doubt but it is delayed. Justice is certain but not always immediate! So keep your head evil may win a few battles but it won t win the war. 14

15 Additionally and this is important for your sanity don t let the delay in God s judgment make you angry or apathetic. It will happen! Now I know waiting for anything is tough but waiting for justice is grueling. You see waiting is the hardest part of hoping. Even today some of you are: waiting for the truth to emerge about a situation at work waiting for justice to be served in our court system waiting for a spouse to come to their senses waiting for evildoers to be caught and brought to justice 15

16 And the longer you wait the easier it is to LOSE HOPE BECOME ANGRY or APATHETIC. So Jesus is teaching us to: wait with anticipation/faith wait with joy wait while trusting in God Because one day evil will be eliminated. Every wrong will be made right and every record will be set straight So don t miss that our patience comes from trusting in God s promise that evil has an expiration date. Jesus is going to weed out/punish every enemy of the kingdom one day! Until that day comes we need to be patient and #2 we need to: 16

17 OUTLINES 2. Be verbal everyone needs the Gospel (v 29) In this passage Jesus reminds us the final judgment of others is not ours to deliver! And this is painfully obvious but here s the deal only God knows the state of a person s heart. So if we GO ON WEED PATROL we are going to hurt the cause of Christ, not help it. Right I mean you and I don t know if SAUL will become Paul or Cephas will become Peter. You and I don t know who God may use as the next Billy Graham. 17

18 SO OUR RESPONSIBILITY IS NOT TO WEED OUT/ROOT OUT THE PHONY CHRISTIANS OUR JOB IS TO SHARE THE GOSPEL WITH EVERYONE WHO HAS A PULSE. SO PUT THE WEED EATERS DOWN and BACK AWAY SLOWLY. Now that is not to say we don t take sin or hypocrisy seriously we do. However none of us have X-ray vision into a person s heart. So we trust that Jesus will set the record straight and take care of everything on Judgment Day. WHICH MEANS WE NEED TO CONCENTRATE ON BEING FAITHFUL WITH THE GOOD NEWS TODAY! 18

19 Moreover, knowing what we know about the END should compel us to go verbal with the Gospel. Those in Christ know verses are true! (Matthew 13:40-42) 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Listen the reality of eternal damnation should cause every Christ follower to shudder at the thought of someone missing heaven! 19

20 It is usually right about NOW that people begin a silent revolt in their hearts about what I am saying. You ve heard statements like this: Well, my God, the God that I love, wouldn t send anyone to hell. To which I would say, what Bible have you been reading? Or My God wouldn t be so narrow to say that Christ was the only way of salvation. Again, what Bible are we reading friends? If we are not willing to take our thinking and our ideas and subject them to scripture, then we re going to end up in trouble. 20

21 All of our thinking must be brought captive to the word of God which is one of the first steps in Christian discipleship. I love that when the disciples were baffled about what Jesus meant, they didn t make something up on their own. They went to Jesus and asked Him, Tell me what this means. Tell me what I am to believe. And we need to go to the word of God the same way. Listen the word of God is the only rule of faith and practice, not my ideas. And your ideas are not the rule of faith and practice. The word of God is! 21

22 We must defer to His Word. We don t want to make it up as we go along! So listen one day Christ is going to separate The believers from the unbelievers and make-believers. The wheat from the weeds. The sheep from the goats. And for those outside of Christ, the Bible presents a dreadful ending. (Revelation 14:11) 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. ii 22

23 I tell you this because it is real. It is the strongest of warnings to turn from your sins and to the Savior of the world Jesus Christ. I tell you this because you will never know how good the GOOD NEWS of Jesus is until you know how bad the BAD NEWS of Hell is So please know it doesn t have to end badly for any human being. God is willing and able to SAVE! So until Jesus weeds out/punishes God s enemies we are to: BE PATIENT Knowing evil has an end date BE VERBAL Knowing how dreadful the day will be for those outside of Christ. 23

24 OUTLINES And thirdly: 3. Be informed Evil was not created/caused by God. The number one lie that Christians are often confronted with is the argument that evil proves there is no God. The issue of evil drove CS Lewis to atheism. Until, upon deeper reflection, Lewis began to realize that if there is NO God, then there is no such thing as evil, either. He said, evil can only be known and measured against a standard of good. Apart from God (and morality that flows from God) there is no standard and therefore no evil either. 24

25 But we KNOW (Lewis said) that evil is REAL. So, what initially seemed to be an argument against God turns out to be evidence for God. Now it is important that we understand evil was not created or caused by God God is NOT the author of evil. The truth is we live in a fallen world a world where the vast majority of evil/suffering has been inflicted either directly or indirectly by other people. As well, there are other natural disasters/evils that are not caused by humans but are the result of the curse we live under due to human sin. (Genesis 3, Romans 8) 25

26 But praise be to God applicationally we see in this parable that God will finally judge evil And not only will He judge EVIL He will also bring good out of bad (Genesis 50:20) 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. iii (Romans 8:28) 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. iv God is that GOOD God is that POWERFUL 26

27 Not only will He weed out/punish evildoers He will also (and I don t know how He ll do it) He ll also overcome evil for our good and His greater glory. But until He does: BE PATIENT Evil will be eliminated! BE VERBAL People need us to share the gospel not straighten them out! BE INFORMED Evil will be OVERCOME FOREVER and God will have His way! 27

28 i Matthew 13:11 ii Revelation 14:11 iii Genesis 50:20 iv Romans 8:28 28