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.
And whether we want to admit it or not there will be times that how we are and how we act will be like a “weed” in someone else’s life. We will find ourselves being their weeds and they will be wondering how they can get rid of us for either for a short while or perhaps permanently.
That may not be good news this morning but it is truthful news. As long as we live in this present age there will be weeds in our lives.
II. There will also be weeds in our lives that are designed to harm us
There are those weeds that will come into our lives that have only one purpose and that is to cause us pain, heartache, depression and in the end defeat.
Those weeds do not come from the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
Let me say that again –
Those weeds do not come from the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
They come from Satan and from the presence of evil/sin in our world.
Satan has one purpose here on our earth. It is to lie, kill and destroy. Satan/the Devil will do anything to accomplish those tasks. And one of the weapons he uses is to sow some tares (some weeds) into our churches, our fellowships, our families, our places of work/school and into our individual lives.
Satan loves nothing more to put some darnel (some false wheat) into our pure wheat environment. He will do his best to plant seeds of evil, seeds that will harm us, stunt our growth (physically, emotionally, socially, mentally and spiritually) and cause us to doubt, stumble, and fall and ultimately fail.
For the Children of Israel it was the Moabite, the Gibeonite and the Philistine weeds.
For Samson it was a little alluring weed called Delilah.
For Hannah it was Peninnah who like a weed tormented her for being barren.
For Mordecai and Esther it was an evil weed of a man called Haman.
For the Rich Young Ruler the weed in his life was his love of money. His love of money and riches was greater than his love for God and others.
For many of the Pharisees it was the weeds of arrogance, self-importance and self-righteousness.
You can read about any of the people in the Bible and you can usually see where the Devil tried his best to sow some “weeds” to trip them up.
We need to fully understand this morning that the Devil will do his best to trip up a church by planting a few weeds. He will do his best to do the same in a marriage, in a friendship or in an individual person’s life. We must always remember that the Devil is not above lying, cheating, deceiving or doing any other underhanded thing to harm a person’s life.
We have to understand that we have a real enemy; the Devil. He is an enemy that has been at work for a very long time and knows about every trick in the book. While he is very knowledgeable, he is neither omnipresent nor omnipotent. The Bible is crystal clear that he can be defeated (James 4:7).
I love the old hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, especially verse three
“And tho’ this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim- We tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure, For, lo his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.” (words- Martin Luther, 1529)
That little word is Jesus!
So, all of that being said what does Jesus advise us to do with the weeds around us and perhaps even some in us?
1. Be very careful what you cut out
There is an old saying – Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.
There are some things that come into our lives that if we are not careful we will do more damage than good by trying to get rid of them too soon.
This is what was being discussed by the farmer’s workers in our parable. As the plants began to grow they began to recognize that along with the wheat someone had planted something else. Something that they believed could harm the wheat and cause the wheat crop to be ruined.
They wanted to go through the field and pull out all the weeds. They were more than willing to put in the extra hard work.
But the wisdom of the farmer came into play. He knew that they would do more damage to the wheat crop if they pulled out the weeds to early than if he just left them alone. I am sure there was something inside of him that said that it would be better to listen to his workers but he knew also in his heart not to be rash.
Not every conversation we are having needs to have an immediate answer.
Not every so called emergency needs to have a quick or rapid response.
James and John wanted to pull down fire from heaven against the Samaritans who snubbed Jesus. They wanted to make an example out of them to the level of a Sodom and Gomorrah annihilation. They wanted to send a message that no one better mess with Jesus or His disciples (Luke 9:51-56).
Jesus knew better. He knew that fire and brimstone was not the answer for that situation. He knew that it would be too rash and in the end it would cause more problems than good. He also knew that James and John would be damaged in the process if they were allowed to be so rash.
Notice, in our passage the weeds were eventually cut out. But they were not immediately cut out. Again not everything needs to be answered or taken care of instantaneously.
2. Let some things mature for a while
The more things mature the more their true nature will appear. While this is difficult at times to allow, the truth is the more things mature the more their true nation will appear.
This is the advice that Gamaliel gave to the members of the Temple council about the rise of the Early Church. We read about the story in Acts chapter five.
The Early Church was steadily growing. Following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Church was continuing to grow in numbers and in spiritual strength. Miracles were happening in the name of Jesus. Thousands of people were beginning to believe that Jesus was the Risen Messiah. All of this was causing quite a stir amongst the High Priest, the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the rest of the Temple authorities.
How in the world could all of this be happening when the High Priest and the Temple authorities had condemned Jesus and then used Rome to crucify Him? How could this be happening when they (the High Priest and Temple Authorities) were supposed to be the ones who had the best connections with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY?
The problem was this rag tag bunch of disciples were sharing that Jesus was the Risen Messiah and the Son of God. They were also performing miracles that were unheard of at the time all in the name of Christ Jesus.
At first, the Temple authorities wanted to immediately crush and destroy the Early Church but in the midst of their arguing about what needed to be done a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel gave them some wonderful advice. He wasn’t sure if the Early Church was a new outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit or was just another wild religious weed doing its best to confuse and destroy God’s people. But he also was a very wise man and he cautioned everyone to take this advice:
“So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” – Acts 5:38-39
In other words, let this movement in the name of Jesus mature. We don’t fully understand what is going on so, let’s step back a moment and let the light of day shine on the situation. In time the truth will come out.
Gamaliel had earlier pointed out that other movements that had started had caused a great deal of confusion and struggle. Over the test of time those movements had died out and no real harm was done. The same might be true of this new movement of Jesus’ followers.
Gamaliel gave sound advice; advice that we can still use today. As we said earlier not every conversation needs to have an immediate answer and not every emergency requires radical life changing surgery. Don’t try to solve every problem the minute it happens. Some problems need a little seasoning so that we can get a proper understanding. So that we can see what is really truth and what is full of false.
3. Being 1st is not always good – look at the tares
I know we live in a world that believes that being #1 or first is all that matters. The person who wins the race, the team that wins the game and the person who makes it to the top are all seen as successful.
But not all early winners are life winners. Not every team that wins today has a long term winning record. Not every President of a large company is able to stay solid and on top.
Notice in our parable what gets harvested first. It is not the wheat but it is the tares; the weeds.
Take notice of what happens to them. They are all gathered into bundles and instead of being brought into the barn they are thrown into the fire. They are destined to be completely annihilated.
Jesus reveals just a few verses later that those who follow the Evil One will in the end be like these tares. They will have done all they can to stop the wheat (the pure ones) but in the end they too will be gathered up and put into fiery furnace of damnation.
Talk about getting your attention.
Talk about not wanting to be one of these tares.
What about the wheat? What happens to the wheat? It too is gathered. It is gathered and put into the barn where it can be used to nourish people, provide future seed and bring the farmer prosperity and honor. It possesses life so it is saved.
None of this would have happened had the farmer not be careful and patient. None of this would have happened had the farmer not be diligent about discerning what was a weed and what was pure wheat. None of this would have happened if the farmer had not stayed the course and treated the entire crop with care.
What does this say to us this morning?
Sadly, it tells us that there will be some weed people in our world and in our lives. It tells us that there will be some people who will choose not to be disciples of Jesus and in the end they will be harvested like the tares and thrown into the lake of fire. I know that is not a pleasant thought on a Sunday Morning but it is true and it will be a reality.
At the same time those who have accepted Jesus and have remained faithful will be like the wheat that was harvested and taken to the barn. Only in our case the barn will be heaven and we will be able to spend eternity with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
So, we see that Jesus’ parable has all kinds of lessons to teach us.
1. The most important being to make sure that you are not a tare – that you don’t live your life as a weed or as a person who forsakes Jesus. That would be wasting this precious gift we have called life. Nothing is sadder than a person who had an opportunity to accept Jesus as Savior and LORD and rejected that opportunity and therefore condemned themselves to Hell.
2. It also teaches us how to properly deal with people and situations that are like weeds (tares). We need to be careful what and who we cut out of our lives. Some things need an appropriate amount of time to mature so that we can see their true nature and once we see their true nature then we can either lean into them or disconnect from them.
The Bible gives us a wonderful promise about this:
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” – 1 John 4:1-3
3. And it teaches us to be careful for the weeds that try to grow in own lives. We must be diligent to not allow the enemy (the devil) to sow his tares into our lives. We must be diligent to make sure that we do as the Apostle Paul instructed the Church of Ephesus –
“Finally, be strong in the LORD and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” – Ephesians 6:10-11
For those of us who are parents and grandparents we need to be prayer warriors and discerners for our children and grandchildren. We need to actively protect them from evil tares that the devil wants to put into their lives.
And for all of us we must always understand that the devil wants to sow seeds of discord, disharmony and destruction so that he may be able to destroy us as individuals and as a church. This is why we need each other and need to lean on and into one another. We need people who as the military says will watch our six.
We live in a world that is full of tares; that is to say is full of all kinds of weeds that the Devil will use to harm us. We live in a world in which honestly there are a lot of people that enjoy causing confusion, doubt and problems in our lives. And I think all of us know that in our own lives it is easy to allow a few weeds to grow unchecked.
This morning as we close let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us to have the wisdom to know what to do with the weeds (people) that are already in our lives. Let us pray for wisdom to know how to treat them and how to deal with them.
Let us pray for protection so that we may not fall victim to the schemes of the Devil and allow him to sow some tares in our lives.
Let us help one another for we are a community. A community that both loves the LORD and one another. A community that encourages, supports, teaches, corrects and leans into one another.
Invitation/prayer/blessing or Communion
