Kingdom Confidence

Introduction

We introduced this section of the first major grouping of Jesus’ parables last week as we studied the parable of the sower. In that parable, the seed is the word of God, the different types of soil represent the preparedness of different people’s hearts, and the sower represented anyone who spread God’s word.

Today, we are going to look at a couple more agricultural parables. It is important to keep in mind that each parable is a picture of its own. And though today we will talk about sowing and reaping and growing, these things paint completely different pictures from the parable of the sower. So, when today we talk about seeds, these seeds represent something different than the seeds of the previous parable. When we see birds referenced in the second parable we will talk about today, these birds do not represent Satan as the birds did in the parable of the sower.

Today, we start ourselves off by reading what we commonly refer to as the parable of the weeds, or the parable of the wheat and the tares.

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

I do not believe that it is a mistake that the teaching of this parable fell on today’s date. As we analyze three different parables, parables that I had not ever really considered as being linked in their application until this study, we will see the importance of being confident in Christ and to trust in Him.

We have had a rough month or so as a nation. Two weeks ago I preached a sermon titled Why Do Bad Things Happen? In August there were 2 school shootings killing 3 children and injuring 23 other people. Another mass shooting that left four dead in a bar. Over 40 who had died because of the heat wave in Arizona, 360 others dead that also were victims in some way of the extreme heat there. And of course, the prominent figure of Charlie Kirk murdered this past Wednesday.

What is going on with this world. Evil is everywhere. Death is everywhere. It can be a bit troubling if we focus too much on all of it.

You might wonder what the parables have to do with any of it, but I do not believe in coincidences. Our God is far too big and far too caring to allow this kind of coincidence to happen. I believe He has orchestrated for this sermon to fall on this exact date. Because the parable of the wheat and the tares and the following two parables give us a reason that we can have confidence in the Lord. I’ve titled the message today Kingdom Confidence, because I believe that the study through these three parables will allow us to walk out of these doors trusting God even more than when we walked in.

Let’s begin by reading the first parable for today. It’s found in Matthew 13:24-30

Matthew 13:24–30 KJV 1900

24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

This comes a little after the parable of the sower. In fact, there is a small parable that Mark mentions that comes right before this. It is a parable of a man that sows seed, leaves it unattended for a period of time, then sees the crop grow and ripen, but does not understand how, nor has he played any part in the growth or ripening of the crop. Yet when it is time to harvest, he takes his sickle and harvests the grain.

It is a parable that speaks to the fact that as we sow God’s word, it is He who causes it to bring forth fruit, not ourselves. he is the one that makes people grow in Him, not us. Yes, we are to make disciples, but he is the one that causes the growth in us and in others.

But this parable, the one of the wheat and the tares is what we want to start to focus on today.

The Parable

A man who had a field sowed it with wheat, but when he was resting, his enemies came and sowed tares among the wheat. Tares are a weed that we today call darnel. Darnel is a weed that looks a lot like wheat, but it is toxic. It has been called “wheat’s evil twin” because in large enough doses, it can kill a person.

Darnel seeds are stowaways, one person wrote. Their survival depends on their seeds being harvested and replanted with wheat the next season. It has been pretty much eradicated from Europe’s wheat crops, but still makes up about 10% of the harvest in Africa and parts of Asia.

The thing about darnel is that it looks just like wheat until it is too late to do anything about it. It is a mimic weed. In the third century BC, Theophrastus, a Greek botanist, stated in a paper he wrote that wheat was actually able to transform into darnel. This is because the seeds were so alike, that when sowing, many farmers who believed they were sowing wheat, had been sowing both wheat and darnel or purely darnel.

Once the difference can be seen, darnel’s roots have intertwined with those of the wheat, and cannot be plucked up without damaging the wheat. The only thing to do then is to let the wheat ripen, harvest everything, and then separate the darnel from the wheat.

And this is what the man tells his servants.

They ask him, “Sir, didn’t you plant good seed here? Because there are tares, darnel, growing up among the wheat?” It is almost as saying, “Are you sure you bought the good bags of seed instead of the Great Value brand?” To which the man replies that he did indeed get the good stuff, but realizes that it was his enemy that came and sowed the tares later.

“Should we go through the field and pluck up all the tares?” they ask. But the man says, “No. That will just mess up the wheat too. We will wait until the harvest time, then we will harvest the wheat along with the tares and separate them - the wheat going into the barns, and the tares to be burned.”

The Parable Explained

At this time, Jesus does not give His explanation to this parable. Like the parable of the sower, the disciples ask Jesus to explain, and then He does. We find this explanation in Matthew 13:36-43

Matthew 13:36–43 KJV 1900

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Again, we need to take this as a separate parable than the parable of the sower. This time, the sower is named -Jesus declares that He Himself is the sower. He sows seed around the world, and clearly, the seed is a representation of the believers scattered around the world.

Through His grace, Christians will bear fruit.

The enemy has sown evil into the world, however. The enemy is Satan, and he has his children in the world as well. Evil people that do evil things because of the presence of evil sin in this world exist right alongside Christians that are looking to follow Jesus. This is a hard truth. This is frustrating. It would be so much easier to follow Jesus if not for the people that are not following Him. Think about what Jesus says about this, though.

His plan now is that until the end of the world, the righteous would live alongside the evil. That both would grow and mature in this world until the day of harvest. This day will be a day of judgment for the tares, the children of Satan, and a day of reward for the wheat, the children of God.

So what does this mean to us?

Well, we need to understand that this is a parable concerning the world, not the church.

Many have taken this parable to be applied to the church, even though Jesus clearly states that the field He is talking about is the world. I don’t know how much more clear you can get than, “The field is the world...,” but clearly, some people have not understood this. The wheat does not represent Christian church members, and the tares do not represent church members who are not Christians but look like it.

This parable is not saying that the church just needs to live with wickedness among it. Far from that, the rest of the Bible teaches that the church is supposed to deal quickly with evil in its midst, and that if they will not accept correction, they are to be put out of fellowship with the church.

So, this parable is however, about the state of the world. What is that state? Well, we live in a world where we have chosen to follow Jesus, however, within the world, there is evil and there are people who are evil as well. These people are those that have not chosen to follow Jesus. They may seem good. They may seem like they would produce good fruit. Many look the same, talk right, and do what we would consider “good things.” However, they are not Christians because they have not turned to Jesus for salvation and for the forgiveness of sins.

Though living in a world surrounded by those who do not follow Jesus can be taxing and difficult and frustrating, the solution is not to get rid of the unbelievers. It is not the church’s job to eliminate non-believers.

Throughout history, people who have either falsely interpreted the Bible through either ignorance or for manipulation and hunger for power, have done unspeakable atrocities in the name of God.

The servants ask the sower, “Should we go through the field and take out the tares?” But the owner of the field says, “No, that will damage the wheat.” And too many Christians have been damaged throughout the centuries by thinking it was their job to eliminate the unbelievers.

All anyone had to do to realize that the Crusades, the inquisitions, and the genocides that were all done in the name of the church and the name of God were all unbiblical was to read Matthew 13.

When I am approached by people who say, “I hate Christianity and I could never be a part of that religion because of what they have done in the past,” I tell them, “That is not Christianity. Those are the tares. They look like it, but they are not it. Their fruit is very different than that of real Christianity.”

But how can Christians grow and thrive among such evil? I don’t know, but we can. God takes steps to ensure that His children are not affected in their growth by the presence of evil. God has given us the ability to Grow in Christ even as evil grows all around us. Do not buy into the lie that the world is too evil for a Christian to thrive.

Is it sad to have to witness evil men do evil things? Is it heartbreaking when people fall prey to Satan’s evil devices? Absolutely, but that does not mean we cannot grow, and it does not change our mission to make disciples in this world. Our mission as Christians will never be to avenge fallen Christians. Aur mission as the church will never be to fight people who are evil. Our mission will always only be to make disciples by being effective disciples ourselves.

And while we live in this world and we await the day that Jesus gathers us all up, we will feel the effects of evil men. We will see, and our hearts will break as we see the evil that man can devise against others. The disgust will grow within, as we we see evil being called good, as we watch evil lifestyles championed, as we listen to those that make light of the massacre of innocents, and as we look on in horror at the celebration of the wicked when godly men are murdered in cold blood.

It is enough to make us want to loose hope. It is enough to drive us to ask God, like Habakkuk did, “God, are you not going to do anything about this?” It is enough to make us ask the question, “Can anything good flourish in all this evil?”

But the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” Despite the presence of the darnel weed, the wheat will ripen. Despite the presence of evil, followers of Jesus will grow and mature.

Not only can God’s children grow and be fruitful until the end of the world, but we will bless the world and impact it for the cause of Christ.

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven

Jesus follows the parable of the wheat and the tares with two other parables. Before I began studying these, I always thought these were standalone parables. But the more I read them, the more I understood that though these parables on their own teach important concepts about the Kingdom of God, together with the parable of the wheat and tares gives us a confidence that we can rest in.

Let’s look at these parables so I can show you what I mean. Matthew 13:31-33

Matthew 13:31–33 KJV 1900

31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

These two are very short parables, and Jesus does not give an explanation of this, so I believe we must take the obvious explanations and look to the Bible to see if there is anything that can help us understand the different elements.

First, let’s look at the parable of the mustard seed.

Matthew 13:31–32 KJV 1900

31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

The mustard seed, though small, is not the smallest seed in the world, that is not what Jesus is saying, but was the smallest of the common gardening variety in those days.

But when it is grown and fully matured, the mustard plant can reach a height of 10 - 12 feet.

This parable exemplifies the smallness of the Kingdom of Heaven when it began, but the level of growth that it has had and will continue to have. But there is something interesting about this growth.

A twelve foot tall mustard tree would be useful in different ways. First of all, mustard is a spice. It flavored food. Much could be harvested from a twelve foot tall mustard bush/tree.

Mustard seed and mustard oil has a very unique flavor, and much of it could be harvested from a large plant. Christianity is unique in its flavor, and as the Kingdom of God grows, we can add something to the rest of the world.

But not only that, a 12 foot tree would provide shade. The representatives of the Kingdom of God in this world should be refreshing to the rest of the world. What we do, how we carry ourselves, how we speak, should all be refreshing to the world. I am not saying do not call out sin, but I am saying we should that the Kingdom of Heaven should bring a coolness with it wherever it finds itself despite the abrasiveness of its message.

Not only that, but notice that the verse says that the birds of the air come and make their nests in it. This could be an allusion to the prophecy in Ezekiel that references the nations of the earth as birds coming to the Messiah who is the tree. If this is the case, we see that the birds of the air, other nations that are not from the original seed, find refuge, peace, and shelter in the branches of the tree.

The Kingdom of God would not only be for the Jews, but it would be far reaching. Gentiles would be a part of it, and even those that rejected the message of it, would be blessed by its presence in the world.

The next parable is the parable of the leaven, or yeast.

Look at the nest verse.

Matthew 13:33 KJV 1900

33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

It is important to note that in this parable, leaven, or yeast, does not represent sin. Leaven in the Bible often represents sin, because it shows how sin is so pervasive, infecting and affecting everything. This parable, however, speaks of the power of the Gospel. Even in small quantities, the righteous can have a massive effect on the surrounding world.

The disciples were few, compared to the general population of Thessalonica, but they succeeded in turning that world upside down with the preaching of the Gospel.

The leaven in this parable represents the quickness, quietness, and thoroughness with which the Gospel diffuses itself through human society.

Despite the evil that abounds everywhere, the Gospel has, and still does, make an impact on our society. It does even in ways that even many Christians are not aware of, let alone non-believers.

The reason for the abolishment of slavery was a Christian reason. It was a Christian movement that started it. The reason women are treated as more than property is because of Christianity. Go to places in the world where the gospel is not found and there you will see the weak blatantly preyed on by the strong, the majority enslaving the minority, and women and children treated as commodities instead of as people. Christianity changes things and affects things even in an unsaved world.

So what do these parable have to to teach us about Kingdom Confidence?

Kingdom Confidence

Taking into account all of these parables and their meanings as well as the other teachings of Jesus that we have already , we can come to the conclusion that we do not need to worry about all the evil in this world. Yes, evil will continue to grow until the end of the world, but the righteous will still grow, and thrive, and produce fruit as well.

Evil people will never stop God’s people from growing in Him. There is nothing that this world can do to prevent Christians from truly following and growing in Jesus.

But when we combine that parable with the others, we see that not only do we grow as individuals, but we have an effect on the world around us. Like leaven, we will influence every circle in which God has placed us. Like branches on a growing mustard tree, we will attract and win the lost from every tribe and nation and where we are, we will flavor the world with the Gospel.

Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Let Satan throw what he will at the church. Let Satan do what he will against God’s children, in the end, he and his are destined to a lake of fire, while the children of the Kingdom of Heaven are destined to be evermore with the Lord.

We win in the end, but we have victory even now.

The question comes down to this:

What Must We Do?

If you are saved, if you are a Christian, if you are a follower of Jesus, then there is only one thing to do - keep following Him. Live in the field God has placed you, grow in the field God has placed you. Yes, evil is all around you. Yes, watching evil people do evil things is heartbreaking. But know this, the only thing, the only person that can stop you from growing in Christ is you. So don’t bend to the lie that says that there is no sense i continuing to follow Jesus because you cannot effect change on this world.

You can! And with your obedience to Christ, you will. You have a place alongside the other citizens and ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven. We have the ability to seriously impact Cedar Rapids with the Gospel. And the way that is going to happen is by you being a follower of Christ in your home, at your job, with your friends, at your school, and everywhere you are.

This place, this city and its surrounding cities, will be impacted by the Gospel of Jesus once we decide to be full-time disciples and grow in Him.

If you are not saved, if you do not have a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus, then there is only one thing for you to do. In the book of Acts, we find two Christians, devoted followers of Jesus named Paul and Silas. They were in the city of Philippi preaching about Jesus, turning their world upside down, when they were arrested. Paul and Silas found themselves in a dungeon. So they sang and praised the Lord. No man was going to get them down.

There, locked in the dungeon and singing praises to God despite it, the prison was rocked with an earthquake. The cell doors were opened, but no one escaped. They stayed there with Paul and Silas, because the faith that they had in God was more enticing than freedom from their bonds.

The jailer in charge that night, however, feared the worst - that all the prisoners had left the prison. This would mean death for him, and possibly torture before he died. So he drew his sword and was about to kill himself when Paul called out, “Don’t do yourself any harm; we are all still here.”

Amazed, the jailer fell at the feet of these disciples and asked the most important question anybody could ever ask. He said, “What must I do to be saved?”

It is simple. And the answer for him is the same answer for you, if you are wondering. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

Believe what the Bible says about Him - that He is the son of God who came to earth and lived a perfect life, but willingly went to the cross to be crucified for me and for you. While on that cross, He shed His perfect blood to pay for your sins. He took all the wrath, all the anger that God has against sin, and suffered that for us too. And He died there on that cross - a death that He did not deserve. However, three days later that same Jesus rose from the dead, victorious over sin and death, and now, to all that will believe Him and ask Him to forgive their sins, He offers the gift of salvation.

That is what you must do. Until then, you are one of the tares growing alongside the wheat. Your fate is to be harvested, not into a barn, but unto judgment and a lake of fire.

Theophrastus believed that wheat could turn into tares, into the toxic weed darnel. He was wrong about that. But what Jesus can do for you this morning is turn you from being darnel, from being a weed, from being a tare, to being wheat.

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV 1900

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

You will be a new creature, a new creation. You will turn from being part of the devils children to being a child of God. From being toxic and evil to being righteous and holy, purified by the blood of Jesus.

What must you do? Believe, have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Invitation

Life Groups

What is God doing in your life? How or in what area is He causing you to grow?

What, if anything, stood out to you from the sermon?

Warm-up

1. What’s something in your everyday life that looked good at first but turned out to be harmful or disappointing?

2. Can you think of a time when you’ve been surprised by growth—whether in yourself, in nature, or in someone around you?

3. What’s one thing you’ve seen recently that made you wonder, “Why is there so much evil in the world?”

Scripture Based Questions

4. In Matthew 13:24–30, why do you think Jesus emphasized letting the wheat and tares grow together until the harvest rather than separating them early?

5. Why is it important to remember that the field in the parable of the wheat and tares is not the church, but refers to the whole world?

6. What is our role in our spiritual growth? What is God’s role in our spiritual growth?

Heart Focused Questions

7. How do you personally wrestle with the presence of evil in the world? Does it ever make you feel discouraged in your faith?

8. Have you ever been frustrated by seeing someone who looks like a Christian but whose life fruit reveals otherwise? How did it affect you?

9. What gives you confidence that God is still at work, even when it feels like evil is winning?

10. These parables show us that God is patient and merciful before judgment—how does that challenge or encourage your heart?

Application Questions

11. Thinking about the circles in which God has placed you, in what ways can you bring “flavor” to your environment like mustard, or spread quiet influence like leaven?

12. What would it look like for you this week to bring “refreshment” or “shade” to someone around you through your faith?

13. How can you remind yourself and others to have Kingdom Confidence when evil feels overwhelming?

14. The sermon emphasized that the only thing that can stop you from growing in Christ is you. What steps can you take this week to intentionally grow?