Diverse, Patient and Trans-formative.

Who is your neighbor? It’s anyone who has been in your place. Which is everyone, because we all need to move in to God’s Neighborhood of grace. May the orphans be embraced. May the lonely be loved. May the races be restored and may we empower the poor. - David Bowden

Matthew centralizes his gospel around the question in

Matthew 22:36–40 NIV

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Last week we looked at the first of several parables in introduced this idea that was suggested by William Barclay that here in the center of Jesus Ministry that the disciples were getting weary. The crowds that once were following Jesus were fading. More and more there were disagreements with the religious leaders. There was talk of them taking Jesus’ life. There was infighting about who was the greatest.

Here in the beginning of Chapter 13, Jesus tells a series of parables to address their weariness. Their feeling that they are not making a difference.

Have you ever felt that feeling? The feeling that no matter how hard you try you cannot seem to make a difference in the lives of those who you love?

Jenny and I know this feeling with our fathers...

Should I give up? No. Will either of them ever come to Jesus before death. I don’t know. But what I know is they are not just parents, but they are my neighbors and God does not want them to get away, but to live in his neighborhood of grace.

So, the take away last week was:

We are to sow seed whenever, wherever and to whomever we can and if we do, we have not failed our duty.

But Jesus continues to share more parables in light of this idea. Because not only are there different types of soil. Sometimes what type of seed we are takes awhile to be seen.

Pick up with me in

Matthew 13:24–29 NIV

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “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?’ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.

Matthew 13:24

We will get to the meaning of this parable in a few minutes, butt here are a few obvious things that even if Jesus had not told us the meaning of this parable we could glean from a cursory reading.

The owner of the field know he sowed good seed.

The owner is also concerned about pulling up the good wheat with the bad weeds.

2 Peter 3:8–9 NIV

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

See the parable of the soils show us that there are different people to who we are neighbors and it is our job to share with them God’s grace. God’s story.

It is there job to obey it.

The message here is both good and bad. The message is that God is patient and we should be as well. We don’t know everyone’s heart. We don’t know everyone’s story. We don’t know how they got here and it is our job to walk beside them and help them become what God wants them to be.

But know…It is their choice. They choose whether of not to follow him.

John 3:16–21 NIV

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

John 3:16 NIV

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16-21

So, let’s look at the interpretation of this parable by Jesus:

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.

Matthew 13:36

A few observations:

This is an end time prophecy. (harvest is the end f the age.)

We are not the harvesters. So who are we? Hopefully, we all see ourselves as being people of the kingdom.

Those who are people of the kingdom, will live in the Father’s kingdom. Those who are not will face judgment.

Sometimes, because of deception or because of a lack of spiritual maturity, we cannot right away tell the difference between good or bad.

How does this relate to us at Seven Hills today?

We are some of the most kind hearted, most caring individuals that I have met! But we have suffered some failures. We have faced persecution. Some of us have faced abuse, others suffer from depression, anxiety or health problems. But we continue to give. We continue to seek out the full life that Jesus promised us. But there are times we ask with weary hearts:

1. “Lord, when will we see victory?”

2. “Lord, when Lord will we get a break?”

3. “Lord, when will things go my way for a change?”

But Jesus wants us to realize that when we are weary, we ask the wrong questions. The parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast remind us that God and His Kingdom are bigger than us. They are the answer to the question of “Lord, is what I am doing for you matter.”

Matthew 13:31–33 NIV

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” 33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Matthew 13:31

Here, these two parables sandwiched in between these the parable and its explanation reminds us that even though God’s kingdom had humble beginnings, like the small mustard seed or a little bit of yeast, it has grown through the work of God into something amazing and that is a work that we are a part of.

We have not seen the conclusion of our work. Neither had the disciples for in just awhile. they were there to witness the conversion of over 3,000. They went out into the world and established churches. They are still impacting our lives today with the actions and words that they used over 2,000 years ago.

So, Jesus message for us today is to not lose hope or grow weary, but to keep our outward focus and to share the gospel message whenever, with whomever, wherever we have opportunity. That is our calling, our commission.

I will leave you with one last thought expressed about the people who lived by faith in .

Hebrews 11:13 NIV

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.