Wheat and Weeds

Is God’s grace sufficient?

2 Corinthians 12:9 NASB95

9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Is God’s Word effective?

Hebrews 4:12 NASB95

12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

2 Timothy 3:16 NASB95

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

Is His Divine Power all we need for life and godliness?

2 Peter 1:3 NASB95

3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Is the work of Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, all-satisfying to be saved or does more need to take place?

These are important questions that each of us here in the Church and as Christians in the world, need to consider for they are the questions that seem to rise to the top each day in our lives. It is the same question that the servants in this parable are asking. “Did you not sow good seed? Then how are there tares?”

They ask this question because it has become evident that fruitless weeds have grown among the fruitful wheat.

Their question is natural and right:

How can this be?

How can tares grow in the same place where Christ has sown?

The Pastors

The pastor and elders of the Church ask this same question when confronted with gossips, slanderers, licentious living people who bear no spiritual fruit within the body.

The Parish

The Church asks this question when they are confronted the reality that though Christ has authority over all the world, the world is not yet under his full authority and His kingdom that He brought is not realized everywhere. In fact in some places there seems to be no evidence of any seed that Christ has sown.

The Person

We ask this question. How can this be? If Christ be Lord over my life then why do I still have weeds growing in my garden?

1. How Can this Be?

“An enemy has done this!”- (v.28a)

Ephesians 6:12 NASB95

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

1 Peter 5:8 NASB95

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

There is very little attention given to the work of the devil these days. In the early days of the church, you could hear being read the urgency of withstanding and resisting the devil. In fact they even put it in the baptismal liturgy “Do you renounce Satan?” It always amazes me how those who don’t even claim to believe in Christ, will attribute to Christ the bad things that come into their life as they need someone to blame and they cast it in the wrong direction for they are blinded and well deceived. We must be on guard, we must pray, and be must resist.

2. How did we need NOT see this before now?

“While you were sleeping…” (v. 25a)

Mark 14:38 NASB95

38 “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Ephesians 4:27 NASB95

27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

James 4:7 NASB95

7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Internship: Turning the lights out in the church.

We need to keep the lights on. We need to be on our guard. We need to be resisting the devil.

3. What shall we do then?

“Allow both to grow together until the harvest...” (v.30a)

This seems contrary to what we might would be best. Why not clean out the whole field? Why let the weeds grow among us? Let’s rip and pull until we are pure and whole. Here is where we find the true glimpse of the Kingdom of God that this parable is communicating. In this Kingdom, good overcomes evil, and love conquerors all. Consider how you where sown.

A. Kingdom of Mercy- You were once a weed.

Ephesians 2:1–10 NASB95

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

B. Kingdom of Good- Overcome Evil with Good.

Romans 12:21 NASB95

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1 John 5:4–5 NASB95

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

C. Kingdom of Love- Love them to death.

1 John 4:19–20 NASB95

19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

D. Kingdom of Light- show them what we are made of.

Matthew 5:14–16 NASB95

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

RESULT: Augustine says, “I say this to the tares. For they are in the field; and it may so be, that they who to-day are tares, may to-morrow be wheat.”

Conclusion

So is God’s grace sufficient? Is God’s Word effective? Is the work of Christ all-satisfying? YES!

What I observe in the end of this parable, is that the work of the enemy really doesn’t depreciate the work of Christ. In the end, his work is burned up and undone forever. While the work of Christ remains and is enjoyed forever. The Kingdom of God can be compared to a field where weeds are made into wheat by the power of the Sower.

1. Where are the tares that are sown in your life?

You will find them in the places where you slumber

2. Who are the tares near you?

Do not re(in)act to those who are fruitless, but sow in them the same seed that Christ sowed in you that produced your fruitfulness.

v.43- “He who has ears, let him hear.”