Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Mt 13:24-30

Theme: Believers are precious to God

Doctrine: visible and invisible church

Image: wheat and weeds

Need: tolerance

Message: always act like the other is wheat, not a weed

 

*Wheat and Weeds*

Mt 13:24-30

*Intro*

Most farmers are fastidious about weeds in their fields.

But we had a neighbour who really did not care that much.

This field was right across the road from our place, and we could see it from the dining room.

This one year he left the field alone the whole year.

He did not do a single thing to it.

He didn't cultivate it, he didn't spray it, he just let everything grow.

He decided that whatever grew was going to be his crop that year.

He must not have had his combine set very well the year before because he had a pretty good volunteer crop in rows behind the combine.

At the end of the year he came and harvested those rows of crop, then came back a while later and cultivated the crop.

This is not how the farmers here do things, and this is not how the farmer in our parable did things.

*Page 1: Man sows good seed in his soil, but an enemy sows weeds.*

Imagine, it was a glorious mid November day.

The sky was clear and bright, there was not a cloud in sight.

This would be a good day to begin seeding.

So the man got together his servants and went with them out into the field.

The early Israelites broadcast seeded, so the servants were sent around to prepare the soil, and remove the big rocks and things.

Then the owner walked in rows down the field, casting a handful of seed every couple of steps from a bag strapped to his sides.

This was a long, tedious process.

The men had to work through the heat of the day in order to get the field planted.

Finally, the job was done.

The entire field had been covered with a fine covering of grain.

As the men looked out and surveyed their work, they patted each other on the back and made a camp at the edge of the field.

Here they ate and drank and talked, while the master went back to his home.

They had worked hard, and they needed some time to wind down.

All they can do now is wait for the rains to come and germinate the seed.

As the light began to fade over the Jordan Valley they forgot to set a watch, and they laid down in the corner of the field.

They were admiring the stars as they lay on their backs, and one by one they all fell asleep.

They did not hear the approach of footsteps.

They did not awake to the sound of more seed being scattered on the ground.

They did not hear the evil chuckle of the person quietly walking up and down the field.

The workers went back to their normal routines.

One day, the workers walked by the field and they decided to check on the crop for their master.

As they were walking through the field, one of them noticed that something wasn't quite right.

He stooped over to inspect the plants which were growing.

“Is this what I think it is,” he said to himself.

He calls the rest of the workers to him.

“What do you think this is,” he says as he points to a plant which has just begun to go to seed.

They all gather in closely as the senior servant bends over to inspect the plant.

“This is bearded darnel.”

Everyone gasped in amazement.

This was bad news indeed.

This weed could not be distinguished from wheat at the early stages of growth.

The plants looked absolutely identical.

When they began to head out, however, the two plants are easily distinguishable, but by that time the darnel's roots are so intertwined with the wheat, that it is impossible to tear out the weeds without damaging the crop.

The two crops resembled each other so completely that the local farmers called it bastard wheat.

There was no way that this weed would stay in the wheat field, if the workers had anything to say about it.

The weed did all the things which normal weeds do, it uses up the little moisture in the ground, it uses up nutrients which should be used by the crop, it causes stress on plants, it causes a lack of yield.

The servants return to the master and they give their report, “Master, did you not sow good seed in the field?

Why then does it have weeds?”

The master responded, “An enemy must have done this.”

One of the younger servants could not contain his confusion any longer, “Why is this such a bad weed?”

They all turn to him incredulous.

“Well, sorry,” he said, “but I don't know.”

The master walks over to him, puts his arm around him and says, “For all we know, there could be more darnel in that field than wheat.

This weed has a more sinister side than most weeds.

The seeds are poisonous.

Even a small amount has a very bitter and unpleasant taste.

But it does more than that.

It causes dizziness, and sickness.

It is narcotic in its effects.”

The enemy had sown seed into the field which was extremely dangerous.

It was poisonous, and there was no way to get it out without hurting the good plants in the crop.

*Page 2: God converts people for his church, but the Devil sends in false converts.*

Jesus said the good plants are the children of the kingdom.

The field is the entire world.

Throughout that entire world, the Son of Man goes and sows the good seed.

He sows children of the kingdom.

He sows faith into those who believe.

The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them was the devil.

Christ goes abroad into all the world, teaching people, making them realise their sin, and bringing them back to God.

He does this through his servants.

He sends his people out to spread the good news of his kingdom.

But the Devil does the same thing.

The Devil follows behind Jesus.

He sneaks in at night.

He sneaks in when people are in despair, or when something in the church is not going right.

He sneaks in and he sows false converts.

This is where a good theological distinction is handy.

The people that we see in the world, who go to Church, who profess to be Christians, who work through various aid agencies, etc.

These people are what we call the visible church, because they are visible to all of us.

When survey companies report that 20 percent of the world's population are Christians, that is a measure of the visible church.

There is also something called the invisible church.

This does not mean that the people who belong to this church are invisible, no, it means that this collection is only visible to God.

There are people within the Mormon church, who I am certain are Christians.

We would not include them in the visible church because they belong to a cult which is opposed to the gospel message of Christ, but if they are truly Christian, if they accept Jesus Christ as revealed in the scriptures as their lord and saviour, then they are a part of the invisible church because God knows that they are Christian.

There is another separation within the visible and invisible church.

The visible church contains all those who go to church and call themselves Christian.

Doubtless, there are some who are not Christian, yet they attend worship regularly.

They may seem to be pillars of the church.

Maybe they had been strong contributors their whole lives.

Maybe they grew up in the church, and are committed to it.