Living With Weeds

Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30

Title: Living with Weeds

Dirt Parables

This sermon deals with the issue of tares (weeds) in our lives. It shares with us some things that Jesus wants us to understand about weeds and how to deal with them.

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit!

I want to talk to you today about living with weeds in and around your life.

Now, at first glance that may seem like a strange thing to talk about on a Sunday morning. And yet, as we look again at our passage this morning that is exactly what Jesus is teaching about.

Jesus wants us to learn how to live with weeds all around us and perhaps even some weeds in our own lives.

Now, exactly what are weeds?

In both the natural and in the supernatural that question is a rather tricky one.

According to the leading botanists there are approximately 250,000 species of plants throughout the world. About 8,000 of those plants are considered to be a weed. According to the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA), there are about 312 common weeds that can be found all around the U.S.

The proper definition of a weed is a plant growing where it is not wanted. It can also include plants that were not intentionally sown in a specific location or plants that are more competitive or interfere with the activity of people. Another way to think of it is that the undesirable qualities of the plant are more problematic than the good qualities – based on the opinion of those who are viewing the plant.

Some of the characteristics that are given for weeds are:

• Plants that produce an abundance of seeds

• Plants that have an extensive root system or other vegetative structures that spread above or below the ground

• Plants that grow quickly

• Plants that can cause bodily harm to humans or animals

• Plants that can harbor diseases or insects that affect desired plants

• Plants that can produce chemicals that are toxic to surrounding plants

• Plants that can reduce crop growth or inhibit harvest

Now, that may be more than you ever wanted to know about weeds but since our passage deals with weeds I thought it might help us this morning.

But is the story really about weeds?

At first glance it looks like it is about wheat and a weed called darnel that looks similar to wheat but is just a weed.

Was Jesus really doing a lesson on agriculture?

Or was He talking about things like weeds?

I think we know this morning that Jesus was talking to us about things that act like weeds in our society and in our own lives.

Which means Jesus’ words could refer to quite a number of different things:

+People who act like weeds – who ultimately harm others and things.

+People who look good at the beginning but in the end are more like emotional, social and mental vampires sucking the life out of everyone that they are around.

+People who at the end of this age will not be able to enjoy everlasting life in heaven and will in fact experience the second death (Hell).

I think we could also include in this view:

+Difficult people that we find ourselves surrounded by at work, at school or in other places.

+Weeds could also be things that we have to deal with in our own lives – personal habits, personal addictions along with emotional and health issues like physical handicaps, fears, worries, anxieties, depression, etc...

+Weeds could also be seen as things that come into our lives and do their best to choke off our happiness and joy. This would include things like being overtaxed with necessary chores, having too much debt and even be called upon to do more caretaking than we can physically or emotionally handle.

We know not every plant is a weed. But any plant can act like a weed if it is in the wrong place or at the wrong time.

Not every friend or person we have in our lives or we encounter is a problem but at certain times they can be like weeds in our lives.

So now that we have enlarged our definition of weeds what can we do about them or perhaps a better question to ask is what should we do with them? Jesus gives us some very sound advice in this area.

I. Understand that in this life weeds are a given

I am sure that is what you wanted to hear this morning. I am sure that is what you wanted to hear at church this morning.

But the truth is as long as we live on this present earth we are going to have to deal with some weeds in our lives. We are going to have to deal with some people that act like weeds. We are going to have to deal with some issues in our own lives that act like weeds.