Nobody likes weeds. Weeds are the bane of our existence. We do nothing, and weeds come up. We spray like crazy, and weeds come back. There’s one weed in particular that I dislike more than any other. I don’t know what they are called – but I have my own name for them: “Explode-a-weeds.”
I’m sure you’ve seen them. Innocuous looking plants with little seed pods on the top – innocuous, that is, until you go to pull one out. Suddenly you are surrounded by millions and millions (or at least it seems like millions) of seed pods. They literally explode around you – spreading seeds for next year’s crop all over the area you just carefully weeded.
We’ve probably had weeds as long as we’ve been planting things. Weeds are highly adaptable – have you ever noticed that weeds grow where other plants won’t? Weeds are also sneaky – sometimes we plant corn in our garden. Now, we may never see this particular weed in years – but as soon as we plant corn, up comes this plant that looks just like corn – but isn’t – it’s a weed. Now, I could go into the garden and pull it out, but when they are young they look just like corn seedlings – so I would be in danger of pulling up the corn plants right along side the weeds.
Jesus takes this very familiar scene in everyday life and applies it spiritually – in another one of His stories, called parables, designed to make us think about spiritual things in a new way. Let’s begin in Chapter 13, verse 24.
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 root up 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.’"
You’ve probably heard the story before, but picture yourselves in the sandals of someone hearing it for the first time – without the explanation. As I’ve mentioned before – after Jesus’ plain talk previously, these stories might seem confusing at first. It’s like Jesus is now addressing different audiences differently. To the Pharisees He speaks judgment, to the people, He speaks in ways the curious can understand, but the callous won’t have a clue.
We’ll skip around a little here – as Jesus explains the parable to His disciples starting in verse 36:
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 sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons 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 fiery 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. He who has ears, let him hear.
Remember – this is a story. Jesus is painting pictures for us – but we are simply too simple to understand the kingdom in all of its complexity, so Jesus gives us lots of pictures, each one with a different point of view.
This point of view is relatively simple on the surface: in the world Jesus has broadcast His gospel which is received by many, but not by all. Everyone is either a member of God’s kingdom (the seeds) or Satan’s (the weeds.) God will wait patiently until every one of His “seeds” is brought into the kingdom, then He’ll weed out the unbelievers and put them in a place of sorrow and pain.
There are a several obvious lessons for us to observe too.
1. We have an enemy who hates us
2. Not everyone will go to heaven
3. Hell is a bad place to be avoided at all costs
4. God is the only way to escape hell
There are also some not so obvious lessons that we can pull from Jesus choice of picturing a garden and weeds.
I want to talk about weeds – their characteristics and the parallels to the church and to our lives.
I want to focus on five characteristics.
1. Weeds confuse the appearance of who is a believer and who is not.
We’ve heard Jesus say it before: Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
The truth is that in the church as a whole there are among us those that look like a believer on the outside but aren’t redeemed on the inside. I call them “make believers” because they are “pretending” to be Christians. You can sing the songs and talk the talk – but without the Spirit of God living inside you, you won’t change on the inside – your character won’t be transformed – it’s all cosmetic changes.
It’s confusing because often we only see the outside appearance of a person. We don’t know what is or isn’t going on on the inside. So when you see someone that you think is a believer acting in a way that is totally contrary to the character of Christ, it’s hard to tell if that person just needs to grow – or if they aren’t a believer at all.
And so confusion sets in – which works nicely into the enemy’s plan. It’s like dressing up enemy soldiers in friendly uniforms. They can infiltrate without being detected.
So what do we do? Believe the best, and don’t judge – but be observant.
2. Weeds tangle the roots of real plants and impede growth
People that aren’t redeemed are going to try to tangle you up into all kinds of stuff that won’t help you grow closer to the Lord. So when someone you think is a Christian invites you to do something clearly immoral or hindering to your growth as a Christian – resist – don’t become entangled in that stuff just because someone you trust is saying it. Use the Word and what you know of Jesus’ character as a guide, not the words of another person.
3. Weeds rob the soil of nutrients
Unsaved people will generate all kinds of energy focusing on what they shouldn’t focus on – dividing the church, attacking other Christians, diluting the gospel by arguing over doctrine, subverting the church by drawing Christians off into ungodly pursuits. All this takes an even greater amount of energy to ward off.
So instead, focus more and more on the essentials – Word, Worship, Fellowship – not on the things that only distract us from getting fed and growing.
4. Weeds produce no fruit but plenty of seeds
A non- believer can be known eventually by the fact they produce no change in character that shows they are a Christian. But like weeds, non believers plant many seeds – seeds of mistrust, seeds of iniquity, seeds of apathy that if allowed to take root will harm us.
So – spread Preen around the yard of your life – in the form of the Word that won’t allow seeds to germinate, of prayer that kills the seedlings.
5. Weeds dry up quickly but are always present and return perennially
Even when we think we are weed free – know that weeds will return. Make-believers will always be among us, so we must keep up our guard.
So there are a couple of values we need to adopt in light of this – patience and careful observance.
Patience – God doesn’t rush to judgment but waits until the fruit shows. We need to wait as well as a general principal. Maybe you’re wanting to do great things for God – or maybe you’ve just called out to Him in pain and begged for His intervention – and it isn’t coming. Have patience, God may be growing fruit in you.
Careful Observance – I’m not saying that we should examine each other and judge the ones we think are not producing enough fruit and call them “weeds.” But Jesus said you will know them by their fruit. If someone you know is growing in the Lord, it will eventually show. And conversely, if they show no growth over a long period of time, then maybe its time to lovingly encourage them to examine their walk with the Lord to determine why the growth isn’t happening.
This also raises a question: Why does God allow evil and bad people to stay around? He lets every person produce their fruit – a weed just produces more weeds, but wheat produces fruit that feeds the world. We need the patience of the farmer, who waited until just the right time. God will wait until the right time to remove the weeds – but it will happen.
Now let’s move to another parable – and another view of the garden and the seeds planted in it.
31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
Mustard seed – things aren’t always what they seem.
Faith – it isn’t measured by its outward appearing size, but by its object.
What is the object of your faith – faith itself, or Jesus?
A mustard seed will grow into a mustard bush, but not a pineapple.
If your faith is in anything by trusting the person of Jesus, it’s not going to produce any French’s Mustard.
Faith, like a mustard seed is hard to see (it takes 20,000 to make 1 ounce). In fact, its nearly impossible to see when planted. But once God starts to move there’s no stopping it. Maybe you are feeling like your feeble efforts at serving God don’t amount to a “hill of beans” (to mix metaphors horribly). But it only takes that really really small seed for God to work with. All you need to do is trust Him – so trust Him.
“The average size of a church in America is around 100, and the largest percentile of churches have an attendance of less than 50. Out of the nearly 350,000 U.S. congregations, less than 1% will ever see an attendance of more than 700.”
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
Now we move from the garden to the kitchen. This parable gives us yet another perspective. First Jesus says that a small thing will grow big according to its nature. Now He’s saying that a small thing will pervade everything if worked.
Usually leaven or yeast is associated with sin – but not here. Here Jesus wants to convey the growth of the church in the world.
And it is amazing how someone who is excited about the Lord rubs off on other people. If you are “on fire” for the Lord – it’s great – it’s like yeast spreading that love and zeal to the rest of us – and to those who don’t yet know Jesus.
So Jesus spoke these and other stories – spiritual truths hidden in fiction. And that’s all He did.
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
"I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."
This comes from Psalm 78.
Ps 78:2 I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
Again, Jesus wanted to reveal truths hidden – but He did it in a way that they would remain hidden for those whose hearts were not open to Him.
So let’s look again at verse 43.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
If we attend our ears to His truths – look for what He is telling us, today – and then allow His character to invade ours – permeate us through and through – a light will begin to shine.
The contrast will grow between those who know Jesus and those who don’t until the differences are readily apparent.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone could come into a fellowship of believers and just know that the people were real Christians? I pray that would be the case for all of us.
Lessons
1. Pulling out weeds in your own life is different from pulling out weeds in God’s garden.
So – inspect your own life, but don’t condemn the lives of others – God will deal with them in time. Encourage, exhort where necessary, but don’t condemn.
2. Weeds, if not controlled, will take over.
That’s a lesson for church leaders – who must make sure that bad seeds are left to germinate and spread through the body of Christ.
But it’s also a lesson for us personally, not to let those habits and hobbies and character traits that come in from the world to stay long enough to seed.
3. Don’t judge a plant by its seed
Be patient with God as He grows your life. You may only see the seed, He sees the beautiful plant, and its fruit that will come.
