WSM 17-07-2011
Mt 13:24-43 The Parable of the Weeds
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
The Parable of the Weeds Explained
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
The Parable of the Wheat and Tares
Jesus gave us some wonderful teaching about how God wants us to live our lives. And to do this he used Parables or stories to help us understand God’s message to us
Last week we looked at the Parable of the Sower and we saw how the four different types of soil represented the four possible different responses to Jesus’ words
Today’s parable of the wheat and tares begins where last week’s parable left off - with the good crop growing in the good soil.
In today’s parable, Jesus is speaking about people who want to be disciples
In this parable, the seed has taken root in the good soil.
Jesus’ words have taken root in the hearts of disciples – and the seed starts to flourish.
But the devil isn’t content to let Christians grow in peace and quiet - he is out to disrupt us and so he sows a weed.
But it wasn’t just any weed – it was darnel (lolium temulentum)
"this resembles wheat-like grass and is a weed in whose grains lives a poisonous fungus and grows exclusively in grain fields in the Middle East (per The Parables of Jesus – David Wenham p.57)
RT France says this about darnel. It is
" a poisonous plant related to wheat and which is virtually indistinguishable from it until the ears form.
To sow darnel among wheat as an act of revenge was punishable in Roman Law – so it probably depicts a real life situation."
(Matthew- R.T. France p. 225)
The meaning of Jesus parable is simply this:
In the world in which we live, there will be true disciples of Jesus and there will be those who are counterfeit.
And you will only recognise the counterfeit not by what they say but by the fruit they bear.
And the counterfeit disciples aren’t neutral, they are out to stop the word of God growing.
The battle is not just in the world – the devil has brought it into the Church – where God’s people meet and grow together.
As Keith Green once poignantly said:
"Going to church no more makes you a Christian than going to Mc Donald’s makes you a hamburger"
So what is it that makes us a Christian.
In Jesus’ parable we see three characteristics of Christians.
1. Their spiritual life comes from God. The sower of the seed in their life is God
2. God is described as their Father – abba – a very intimate family word and
3. They are called “righteous”
What does righteous mean?
1. Firstly this means being in a right relationship with God.
Perhaps that is what Jesus meant when he said in the parable : they will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father
2. And secondly this means they live a righteous life.
Story: In the American Declaration of Independence there are three unalienable rights of man to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
For the Christian there are three unalienable rights to:
1. The Right to Eternal Life
2. The Right to Liberty from sin and
3. The Right to Happiness that can only be found in a personal relationship with God – where we are able to be able to call him our heavenly Father
But with those rights comes one major responsibility to righteous living or expressed more simply to
1. Christian Discipleship
Christian discipleship is not about “being happy” by itself – it has to be RELATIONAL. As the Westminster Confession states.
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Article 1
Happiness in relation to God, in my opinion, is about being OBEDIENT to the will of God – listening to God and living our lives as he tells us to do.
Father Raniero Canta – la – messa, the Preacher to the Papal Household under Popes John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, once said :
“Being in the likeness of God, Jesus had the “right” to happiness but he chose obedience- suffering on the cross. And what happened? God exalted him and made him Lord”
(C of E Newspaper 15th July 2005 p. UK3)
If we want to be enjoy a relationship with God and a place in God’s kingdom, we need to learn to obey.
Story: In the Old Testament, in 1 Sam 15:22, the prophet Samuel said this to King Saul:
Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices as much as in obeying the word of the Lord.
To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
And listen to this:
For rebellion is like the sin of divination and
arrogance like the evil of idolatry
But just in case you think this is simply Old Testament, you find a similar thing in Hebrews 3:12-19.
The writer - speaking about the Exodus and the Generation who disobeyed God and so did not enter the promised land - said this about them.
"And to whom did he swear that they should not enter into him rest, but hose who did not obey".
If obedience is important for the disciple, then we need to look at what God tells us to do.
The Christian is not someone who lives to please himself. He lives to please God.
Therefore, if we are going to take Jesus seriously in our lives, we need to orientate our church life to reflect this command.
Kevin this morning referred to a doughnut in his talk about the mission of the church – and dividing the doughnut into six segments
A balanced Church needs to deal with six segments or areas if it is going to succeed in mission
SHOW PICTURE
1. To discern direction
2. To give space to enable action
3. To develop leaders
4. To nurture people
5. To facilitate communication
6. To build teams
Central to all this – the jam in the centre of the doughnut - is our need to GROW IN CHRISTLIKENESS
And on the outside of the doughnut we need to have
1. Faithful teaching of the Bible
2. Prayer
If we come to church to worship and obey God, then may I suggest that we need to have a healthy concern for the lost in our towns and villages – for those who do not know Christ.
It might mean we need to rethink our vision of what Church is all about.
For, in the words of one of our former Archbishops of Canterbury William Temple:
“The church is the only organisation that exists for the benefit of its non-members.”
If we exist for the benefit of our non-members, then the challenge is to make ourselves available for God to use us
And this often means operating outside our comfort zone
Conclusion
In conclusion, obedience to the will of God, is I would suggest to you, the difference between the Wheat and the Tares in Jesus’ parable this evening.
Because at the end of the day, that will decide whether you are working to promote the kingdom of God.
WILL what you do be brought into God’s barns?
Or WILL what you do be consigned to the fire.
The choice is yours!
