Parables Sorting the Kingdom

Notes
Transcript

A Parable is a story that explains a concept or situation via extended metaphor or analogy,
Jesus’s parables were riddles that explained the kingdom of God, and sorted through those who wanted to hear and learn what Jesus had to say, and those that did not.
within many of the parables is a warning of coming judgment, and so those that paid attention and thought through it could repent.
we are going to look at some of those today
We discussed a few parables already, the parable of the sower, which shows how people can react to hearing the word of God,
and the parables of the mustard tree and leavened bread, which show how God can bring growth to his his kingdom.
Today we will look at a couple parables where God separates those who are saved from those who are not.

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Lets try something here, lets see if we can figure out what this is talking about in light of some of the other parables.
Most people and things in Jesus’s parables tend to represent something.
Farmer
Enemy
Servants
Field
Wheat
Weeds
Fire
Barn
Jesus does give an explanation for this parable, lets see how close you were.

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place 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.

The Sower is the Son of Man - Jesus
Enemy - Devil
Servants - Angels
Field - World
Wheat - Sons of the Kingdom
Weeds - sons of the evil one
Fire - Judgement, Hell
Barn - kingdom of the Father
The kingdom of heaven is going to be sorted between those who are true children of the kingdom, and those who are children on the devil, of the world.
God will sort through those who belong to the kingdom and those who do not. He does not take immediate judgement, because he does not wish to destroy those who belong to him in the process.
I have often heard the question, “Why does God allow evil to exist?” or “why does God allow horrible things to happen to the innocent?”
I don’t pretend to know the full answer to that question, but I see part of the answer here. God waits to judge the wicked until he is sure that it will not destroy his people before they are ready.

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This parable is the same parable, just said a little differently. The Kingdom of God is a net that gathers all sorts of people together, and at the end of the age, at the coming judgement, God will sort through the righteous and the wicked.
What is cool about this parable of the fish and the net is that I believe Jesus told this parable to help explain how his disciples were to act.
Four of Jesus’s disciples were fishermen.

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
What on earth does it mean to be a fisher of men?
Toss out a net
Gather in all kinds of people
let God sort them out later.
Church our calling is to gather as many people into the kingdom as possible.
We are not called to try and figure out who is in and who isn’t. Mostly because we are not the best judges. But the message of the Gospel, that Jesus Christ came and died to save us from our sin, is for everyone. Jesus will sort through those who believe and those who don’t.
Just like last week we said it was not up to us to make the kingdom of God grow. It is not up to us to say who gets in and who doesn’t.
God alone is the judge.
Later on Jesus tells a sort of half-parable, where he is explicit about who he considers righteous, and who he does not.
He compares them to sheep and goats. Sheep listen t the shepherd, goats do not.

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Church let us concern ourselves with two things: Trying to gether as many people into the kingdom of God as possible, and living as sheep, and not as goats.
Jesus basically gave us a checklist of how to live a righteous life.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick, visit the prisoners.
Church if i am honest, this is hard for me. I do not naturally like doing any of these things, and I am quick to come up with excuses.
The beggar might use the money for drugs instead of food. He should get a job.
My mom said i shouldn’t talk to strangers.
I don’t want to catch whatever the sick people have.
Prisoners are scary. some of them are there because they did some really scary stuff.
But Church when we push those excuses side and do the ministry, the results are amazing.
Give the homeless man a sandwich or a gift card, they are so thankful, and becuase its not cash, they cannot use it for drugs, but instead get food which they need.
OR think about this, there are children dying of starvation every day, and there are organizations out there that give students food, medical care, and education and its costs about $1 a day to sponsor a kid, and it can change their life.
Several years ago a community near my church had a main water line break and they were without water for a couple weeks, several of the local churches got together, and asked people to donate water bottles, the response of the people who were able to get water to drink and to cook, and to wash themselves with was amazing.
My brother is in a band that does prison ministry. when people share the gospel with them in the right way, showing How God redeems people, the response is incredible. I was blown away by the impact i saw there.
Church. We dont have to all do all of these things, but all of us should do a couple of them. We should find ways to feed the hungry, either directly or indirectly, we should find ways to give water to thirsty, clothe those who need clothing, visit the sick, minister to the imprisoned and welcome the stranger.
We need to be sheep, who listen to the shepherds voice, and we need to try and gather all sorts of people into God’s kingdom. He will sort out evreything in the end.
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