07.23.2023 - The Family of Jesus

Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Matthew 13:24–30 NIV

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.’ ”

Matthew 13:36–43 NIV

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.

Children’s Sermon

Jesus is the Vine (John 15:1-8)

Who likes fruit? I love fruit, and one kind I particularly enjoy is grapes!

Did you know that grapes grow in bunches on vines…the vines come out of the ground, and provide the nutrition and things that are needed to produce the fruit. Grapes have to stay close to the branches and vines for them to keep giving fruit.

Did you know that Jesus talked about grapes? People in those days knew a lot about farming and planting, and a lot of them probably had vineyards where they grew grapes. Jesus said that He was the vine, and that we are the branches.

He was explaining how important it is for us to stay connected to Him. Just as the vine provides nutrition that helps fruit grow on a plant, Jesus gives us all that we need to grow in our faith. The branches on a grape vine have to stay connected to the vine so that they can produce delicious fruit. Otherwise, they’ll dry up and wither away. If we walk away and abandon faith, we’ll “shrivel up”, too!

We need to stay close to Christ so that He can produce “fruit” in us. Of course, we aren’t going to start sprouting grapes or anything. Spiritual fruit refers to things that help others and show that Jesus lives in and through us. Those are things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

We can make sure we are connected to Jesus by reading God’s Word and study the Bible. We pray, talking to God and listening, too. We go to church so we can be connected with other “branches” that also abide in Him.

Most importantly, we recognize that Jesus is doing the work and producing fruit through us. We don’t have to do a special set of tasks or have “enough faith.” We stay connected to the “vine” of Jesus and let the Holy Spirit develop its fruit. We trust in God and rely on Him for all things, staying close to Him and thanking Him for giving us life and hope.

Will you pray with me.

Dear God,

You are the vine of life. Help us stay connected to you. We are your branches. Help us bear spiritual fruit and share with others around us. Thank you for your love. We love you, God!

In Jesus’s name, Amen!

The Family of Jesus

7/23/2023

God Created Family

God loves to see us grow. Humanity was created and called to subdue the earth, starting from the Garden of Eden and working outward to bring everything into the right relationship with God. God knew we needed to multiply to fulfill that task, so families were created to help us. Indeed, the first problem with the perfect creation was that it was not good for Adam to be alone, and the first command given to all creation was to be fruitful and multiply.

We each start as tiny seeds, full of promise and potential. God knows us inside and out before we are born and made us in His image to share His glory across all creation. He is our maker and the source of our strength. Without Him, we are empty ground, waiting to be awakened to new life with the seeds of God’s Word planted in us.

Just as God initially made us in His image, we reproduce more of who we are all around us. This goes far beyond having children. Through the power of family, those we adopt from outside begin to take on our characteristics. It should not be a surprise either because that is how God works. We are all adopted into God’s family, and we become more like Him the more time we spend with Him.

The problem we often face is that we grow and reproduce anything that comes into our family. Like the weedy soil we learned about last week, sometimes bad things get into our lives. Sometimes it is because of our decisions, and other times it is not our choice. Either way, those things can grow and increase throughout our life and then spill over into the lives of our families. Although those distractions and temptations may affect each of us differently, only God is immune to them.

God created family to help bring out the best in each other. Being connected to God allows us to be filled with His goodness instead of being broken by the fallen world around us. When we come together as God’s family, we can hold each other closer to Him and find life together the way God intended for us all.

📷

When You Can’t Tell

This parable is about two similar-looking kinds of plants: wheat and darnel, sometimes called “false wheat.” The wheat bears fruit (or grain), while the darnel is almost useless. Looking at the pictures of the two plants, can you tell which is wheat and which is darnel? Probably not. It is nearly impossible to tell them apart when they are young plants.

This is one of several parables about the exclusivity or separateness of being a disciple of Jesus. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were chosen to be separate from the rest of creation to be responsible for caring for it. God singled out Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to carry His name. Throughout the Old Testament, God called His people out of the crowds of others and gave them the task of witnessing His goodness rather than living like the rest of the world. The way to join God’s people was opened forever for anyone who wishes to follow Jesus. So, this parable is not a teaching about how to judge everyone. It is about how to judge between those within the family of faith - those planted in God’s fields.

How do we judge each other as brothers and sisters in Christ? We start with hope.

When we are taking the early steps of our faith, we do not always know what kind of plant we will become. We don’t expect our two and three-year-old children to bear spiritual fruit yet, but we hope for it, we watch for it, and we are going to encourage and celebrate any of it we see. Some people may be older but not as mature in their faith. We should not expect the same fruit from someone who has followed Jesus for 80 years and an 80-year-old who is a new Christian. We hope for that fruit, watch for it, and encourage and celebrate every bit of it we see.

This parable teaches us that we do not make permanent, final decisions with people God is not done with yet. When there is no fruit yet, there is no judgment to make.

📷

When You Can Tell

We can tell the difference after the fruit appears.

As the plants mature, you can distinguish between the wheat and the false wheat. The wheat is brown and full of grain. The false wheat is much thinner and is often darker colored. It is also very susceptible to fungal infection. Eating that false wheat will make you sick, and eating too much can be fatal. So it is essential to distinguish between this good and bad fruit of the crop.

With my best intentions, I would be tempted to start pulling that false wheat up as soon as it showed its fruit. But Jesus does not teach that. When these plants are big enough to be identified, they will have roots intertwining with the good wheat. Uprooting the false wheat might take some of the good wheat with it. I might be tempted to think that getting rid of the false wheat is worth losing some good crops, but Jesus teaches differently.

Jesus teaches us to lead with hope, even for those more mature in their faith. True, faith-filled hope is one of the hardest things to hold. Hope is the thing that we are called to do when we are not in control and cannot fix a situation. It is far easier to give up. It is much more comfortable to delude ourselves into thinking that things will always turn out great. It makes more sense to figure out something we can do that miraculously bring about change. However, hope means we truly put it in God’s hands and stand patiently and ready to serve however He asks.

📷

God wants us to distinguish between right and wrong. We do this the way Jesus did, by their actions. “Judge a tree by its fruit, not by its leaves,” He taught in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 7. Our judgments help us know how to pray, encourage, teach, and lead each other. Again, we lead with hope: watching, encouraging, and celebrating the good fruit we see in others. We do this with Him to produce the greatest amount of good fruit when Jesus comes for the harvest.

The Harvest

Yes, Jesus is coming back for a final harvest, and He will be the final judge over what was the true wheat with good fruit and what was the false wheat. Then, we will account for the fruit that God harvested there in our lives.

Last week we talked about our lives growing good fruit for God. It is helpful to think about our lives like gardens, even extensive gardens. When we put multiple gardens together and organize them, they become fields just as our lives together become families. The borders of our lives become a shared responsibility between us, and those are the places we can influence each other for good.

📷

The family might be the smallest but most important piece of God’s Kingdom. It is where people have the most influence on each other and, therefore, can best help each other grow in their relationship with God. Remember, God never intended for us to live our lives alone.

Families do not all look the same, though. Some are just parents and children. Others involve grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Some families are made up of people who are not related by blood at all. Jesus brought twelve men and several women together to be a family of disciples and learn what it meant to be a church family. Church family can be Sunday School classes, prayer groups, serving teams... anywhere people gather together to bring out God’s best in each other, allowing His Word to grow in their lives.

We are a church family at our best when we share the fruit of God’s Word growing in us together. Those testimonies of how God is working in our lives, what we are learning from Him, and even the moments we ask for prayer and help in the challenges we face help us all grow closer to God. God is responsible for the harvest and judging between the wheat and the weeds in our families. Our part is to share what God is doing in our life as examples of good fruit and to encourage that good growth in each other.

If you don’t have a church family to help you grow with God, I encourage you to let us know. We can only grow so much on our own, and God does not want us to be alone. We have a big week of serving opportunities ahead of us and some small groups that will likely be resuming soon.

If you know who your church family is, those who help God’s Word grow in you, take a moment this week to thank them as a small celebration of that gift. And keep your eyes open as we have many in our community who do not have that gift of a church family in their lives, and listen for God’s direction for one person to pray about inviting into your church family.

Can you do that? Will you share the growth that God has given you with others so that when Christ comes for the final harvest, we can show that we invested ourselves to bring out His best in each other and give Him the bountiful harvest of good fruit and gratitude He deserves?