Matthew 13:24-26 - Part 9 – TOXIC OR TRANSFORMED?
He didn’t look much like a missionary to me. He was built like a tank in terms of muscles. Not the way I pictured a missionary should be. He should have been skinny from lack of support from his home church, with an old brown cardigan. He should have had an expression that indicated that he was near to a breakdown or had experienced one already.
This man however spoke without the pious tones I expected and without trying to make me feel guilty for not packing my bags and taking the next plane to deepest darkest Africa to preach to a lost tribe of pigmy cannibals for the rest of my life. “Here I am Lord, send me” wasn’t even his theme.
What he did do was to open up God’s truth in a way I had never heard before and I found myself inspired to study my Bible and apply it’s truth to my life. I found myself wanting to go into the world and represent Christ. I was shocked! I think I had Bangladesh in mind at the time.
I was reminded of this incident when I read Matthew 13:24-30. Jesus tells another simple parable about a farmer. He has already shared a story about sowing good seed on different types of soils in Matthew 13:3-9. The farmer in this parable is also sowing seed, but this time the seed doesn’t represent the MESSAGE of Christ but the SERVANTS of Christ. Jesus the farmer is sowing FOLLOWERS of Christ into His field - the world.
Even before the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus was sending disciples into the world. In Matthew 10:5-18 (NLT) “Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions: “… Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received! …Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. … this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about Me…”
Someone said that the greatest mission field we have today is in the Church. Matthew 13:25 (NLT) says “But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away.” WEEDS sown amongst the wheat. Apparently there’s plenty of weeds in the Church. Titus 1:16 (NLT) says that “Such people claim they know God, but they deny Him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.”
It is called “Bastard wheat” because in its early stages it cannot be distinguished from real wheat. “When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew” (Matthew 13:26 NLT). I’m sure Jesus was looking at the Pharisees when He told this parable.
According to Matthew 13:39 Jesus says that the weeds are those who are not followers of Christ, and He lays it on the line by describing them as belonging to the devil. Prophetically they are people down through the ages who have not given their lives to Christ. They have not believed in Him and His work on the Cross for them. The Kingdom of heaven, Christ’s rulership, is not present in their lives. They therefore belong to the other kingdom. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NLT) says “If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”
The miracle is that any seed that Jesus touches is wheat, born again, a new creation with all the potential to make a difference despite the opposition we may face in the world. The invitation of this parable is to assess from whose hand I have been sown into the world? Is what I contribute going to end up being toxic. Weed or wheat? Pharisee or follower of Christ? God bless you as you respond to the touch of Jesus today. Are you TOXIC or TRANSFORMED?
Pastor Ross
