Our Readings:
Psalm 86:11-17
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Good Morning!
I have a question for you so I’ll understand you better. How many of you have been attending church here for at least five years? 10, 20, 40, etc?
Great! That’s a great way to spend your years, learning about God. Let’s learn some more!
Last week, you will remember that we discussed Jesus’ parable of the sower, where the man scattered seeds on a path, on rocky ground, on thorn-covered ground and on good ground and we found that the seeds in this parable was the Word of God about the kingdom of Heaven. And we discussed how to prepare our hearts for the Word of God so that it might grow inside of us.
The last line of this parable talks about producing a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. But what was that crop? What is the crop that the seed is to produce?
In this week’s reading, Jesus tells us another parable about seed. This time, Jesus tells us that an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. Let me tell you a story.
As you may know, in Texas football there are two Christian powerhouse teams. There is Texas Christian University – TCU – and there is Southern Methodist University – SMU. They play each other every year and have a rivalry like WVU and Pitt used to have, or like Michigan and Ohio St.
In November of 1999, SMU traveled to TCU for a humiliating defeat that most people saw coming. SMU left town, defeated 21 to nothing. But the SMU band had the last laugh. It seems that just before halftime, each SMU band member was given a handful of rye grass seed. The band marched onto the field, and soon moved into their trademark Diamond M formation in the center of the field, marching in place for a minute or two. It was at that time that they all quietly dropped their rye grass seed and continued to march in place, tamping down those seeds into the mud of the field.
So when spring time came – the bright green rye grass quickly grew much faster than the other grass on the field, leaving a nice green outline of an M – M for Southern METHodist University on the field of Texas Christian University. And it came back over the next couple of years as the grass faded out.
Yes, an enemy had come and sowed weeds among the wheat that game day!
In the story Jesus told, much the same happened. The wheat grew – but there were weeds growing within the wheat field. An enemy had mixed weed seed in with the good wheat seed. The servants asked if they should remove the weeds, but the master said, “No, that will uproot the wheat, too. Let’s just wait until harvest time, when we’ll collect and burn the weeds and then gather up the wheat.
Now, once again, this time after Jesus had finished speaking, the disciples wanted to know the answer to the parable – what it meant. So they asked Jesus and He explained:
The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man – Son of Man is an expression used in Daniel and in Ezekiel to refer to the Messiah – the man who will become the savior of Israel. Jesus often used this expression to refer to Himself.
Jesus continued. The field is the world and the good seed are the people of the kingdom – in other words, the people who follow Jesus.
The weeds are the people of the evil one – Satan and the enemy who sows them is the devil. Notice – Jesus says there are people who do what the devil wants. The harvest is at the end of the age and the harvesters are angels.
Jesus goes on to say that the weeds will be pulled up and burned in the fire – and Jesus says that these weeds are everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will all be thrown into the blazing furnace, and then “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” “Righteous” means those who are right and acceptable to God. I’ll come back to that.
So we are beginning to get the idea that the crop Jesus keeps talking about, the fruit He sometimes talks about, the wheat He mentions here are people who will be part of the Kingdom of God.
Now earlier I asked you how long you’d been attending here and some of you said many years. Now, in all that time – or, let’s say, the last five years – how many of you have led at least one adult to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior? In the last five years, how many of you have led at least one adult to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior?
Hmm. We may have some work to do. Let me start with some basics, which you may already know, but we all need to be able to explain these things to others, particularly to the new people who will be joining us this fall. Let’s see if this can give you some ideas that you can use to help other people.
Jesus speaks of a fire and the kingdom of Heaven. Every person is headed for one of those destinations. We either are wheat or a weed, destined for the kingdom of Heaven or destined for the blazing furnace.
Now there is one thing I hope you’ll understand about me. I believe that Heaven is real and Hell is real because – Jesus speaks of these as if they are real. We can’t believe that Scripture is inspired without believing that Heaven and Hell are real!
Spending eternity with God in Heaven is wonderful, because God loves us more than any human ever could. Spending eternity without God in Hell is a terrible tragedy, for it means being alone except for the others who are also in Hell – the devil Satan, yes, but even if Satan were not there, there would be all those people who decided that they did not want to bow down and accept the Son of God as their leader, the people who wanted to be in full control of their future, the people who could not accept God in control – and that includes such people as Genghis Khan, Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, and millions of troublemakers, gangsters, bandits, murderers, thieves, and other people who took what they wanted and still take what they want from each other. If you go to Hell, you are left with them to negotiate some sort of rules and way of living together. Or you can accept life following the rule of the kindest, wisest, most patient Being that has ever existed.
You see, there are two types of people. The weeds are the people who say, “I will decide what is best for me,” like a toddler, or a teenager, or a little god would. And the wheat are the people who say, “God, please decide what is best for me.”
For God is like an ancient king whose word was law in the land. Humans are born in rebellion to God – have you ever noticed that an infant cares nothing for anyone else, but loudly demands service from Mom and Dad, and anyone else around it? They are totally selfish – we have to TRAIN them not to be selfish. “Johnny, share!” and usually by the time they are five or six they are reasonably able to think about the needs of others.
You see, the root problem of someone who is not ready to accept Christ is that that person really does understand that they are being asked to accept another’s leadership, to bow down, to accept that they are NOT little gods in control of the universe around them. They don’t want to admit they are not in control of the Universe around them. And accepting Christ as Son of God means that we have to accept someone else is more powerful than we are and worthy of being followed. And so for many people, it takes a bit of life lived to see that we really can’t control the Universe around us. We must lose a job, lose a relationship, lose our health before we will admit that we need the help of Someone much wiser and much more powerful than we are.
And so, for God the King, the question is really quite simple. Will we swear allegiance to God’s Son, Jesus Christ? Will we stop being in rebellion and follow the King’s Son? For if we will take that step, God knows that God has eternity to teach us how to live.
Just as the rebel breaks the King’s laws everyday and doesn’t even care, the rebel to God doesn’t care how a Christian should live. But the man or woman who stops being a rebel, who chooses to follow God’s Son Jesus, who bows down and says, “I need help” can then be taught. We won’t be perfect for many years, for we need to learn what God’s rules are before we can follow them. But God is happy, for now the new, loyal subject is trying to follow the King’s Son and to listen to the King’s rules.
For, you see, it is not our ability to follow God’s rules that matters most to God. It is whether or not we’ve chosen to follow the King’s Son and be loyal. For God has all of eternity to help us become better people if we have chosen to be taught.
On the other hand, the man or woman who remains in rebellion to God can never be taught.
I want you to think of a nice older woman you’ve known. She didn’t become nice overnight – she had to practice for 80 or 90 years. Now imagine how beautiful her soul will be after ten thousand years! How sweet the smile, how wonderful the expressions, how pleasant to be around!
Now think of the crabby old man you’ve know. He also did not become crabby overnight – he practiced for 70 or 80 years also. Now imagine how ugly and mean and distorted his soul will be after he practices for another ten thousand years!
God, more than any of the creatures of the world, knows that a single, simple flaw of character in a person left to themselves will grow and increase and multiply as the person lives longer and longer. And that is why we are given a choice for a while – during our lifetime – to either bow before Christ and be taught a better way – or to walk away and say, “That’s fine, God. I think I know better myself.”
And then when we die, God either takes us into God’s kingdom – or lets us continue to be alone, little gods playing at being in control until we encounter the other people like ourselves who have been practicing for centuries longer than us.
But if we want to be alone, then God no longer wants us around God and God’s Son in the Kingdom. For God, you see, is also more polite than anyone else. God lets us have our way – to follow Christ – or be alone to make our own way. It is really that simple.
The Bible talks a lot about righteousness. What is righteousness? It is simply choosing to follow Jesus, swearing allegiance to Jesus and accepting Jesus as our leader. By this decision, God decides that we are Jesus’ responsibility – and God loves Jesus very, very much, so we are accepted by God, just as you accepted that kitten because your child told you it was her's. It wasn't a particularly good kitten - all kittens have bad habits, like making messes in the corners, scratching the furniture, and leaving furballs around. But it was your child's kitten so you accepted it because of your love for your child. In the same way, God the Father accepts us because Jesus says, "They're mine!"
You may have heard that we are to believe in Jesus. That’s true. It says that a couple times in the New Testament. But the New Testament tells us to FOLLOW Jesus about 80 times. Righteousness is not a once-and-done sort of thing.
It is like walking a path through the woods. The path was made by Jesus and we are to follow Jesus. The gate that gets us started on the path is a declared belief that Jesus is the Son of God, accepting Jesus as our Lord, and baptism is the first step along that path. But it is only the first step. Sometimes we are on the path, sometimes we are off the path, sometimes WAY off the path. But as long as we are trying to find the path and follow the path behind Jesus, we are okay. God knows that with time, we’ll become wonderful people to associate with. And God gives us time – eternity.
Now, it is possible to walk so far away from the path that we choose to forget the path, to leave the path behind, to forge our own path because we think our own path is easier or better or leads to a great patch of blueberries. But then we are lost because we are no longer following Jesus, but we are following a path we’ve decided is better. Remember - blueberry bushes often hide rattlesnakes!
But if we change our mind, we are allowed to come back to the path and continue following this path of holiness that leads us into the kingdom of Heaven. For the path is the kingdom, the path teaches us to imitate Christ, the path leads us to a wonderful, abundant life, now and in eternity. Those of you watching at home, as soon as you feel safe, come back to the path and walk with us. Or call me and we’ll talk about how to follow the path even as you stay at home.
Think of the wheat seeds. Like those seeds, we grow in the soil of Scripture, are watered by the living water from Jesus, given the light of the Sun by the Son of God. And then we bear fruit. Weeds don’t bear fruit. At least, not fruit that is worth anything.
With wheat, the fruit are the new wheat seeds. How much fruit have you borne for the kingdom? How many seeds have you planted that have sprouted into baby Christians?
Remember last week? The good soil gives a good crop, a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown? Can you imagine what would happen if each of us brought two people to baptism over the next year? Can you imagine the excitement, the wonder, the good that would happen if we each one focused upon sharing what we know about Jesus to friends, neighbors, and family?
Let me suggest this. This afternoon, write down twelve names of people you know who probably aren’t practicing Christians. Begin to pray for them every day. Call them up once a week and tell them just a little bit about what you learned here. Lead them toward Christ, bit by bit, teaching what you know, listening to their lives, praying them through their troubles and their difficulties. And you will be blessed – as will we all. Make your list of twelve people to begin praying for this afternoon.
Father, I pray for these people in these churches. Ancient Gardener, your holy word is planted in our hearts as good seed in fertile soil. So nurture us that we may bear fruit abundantly. Pour down your grace and Holy Spirit upon all the people here, that they may do your will. May the soil of their hearts prove to be a wonderful and fertile place for your scripture, your word to take root and grow, becoming fruitful in their lives and the lives of those friends, neighbors, and family around them. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Remember: A grain of wheat is destined to bear a crop. Begin working on your crop today. Make a list of twelve people and begin praying for their eternal soul.
Benediction
Now Go into the world, hearing the word and understanding it as it lights your path. May what is given to you by God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit produce a wonderful crop of blessings for you and the world around you. Amen.
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