UNTIL THE HARVEST

UNTIL THE HARVEST Matthew 13:24-30 Matthew 13:36-43 Matthew 13:47-50 January 14,  2001 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory "A parable is one of those stories in the Bible which sounds at first like a pleasant yarn, but keeps something up its sleeve which pops up and leaves you flat." P. D. Wodehouse. "Parables are not meant to pat us on the back, but to give us a kick in the pants. They are not intended to comfort us, but to challenge us and change us. Parables speak out against the status quo. . .Parables are demonstrators waving signs of protest, speaking out against our ways of thinking, our traditional ways of experiencing and obeying God, our spiritual institution." M. Green Last week's parable was about a sower and the seed he was sowing. But the soil itself took center stage in that particular story-message. Today, we will be considering another story about growing things. Wheat is actually the produce of choice in this parable. But the wheat is embroiled in a competition with wild weeds that have been maliciously sown in the same field. Please notice that today's story opens, unlike last week's, with a reference to the "kingdom of heaven," saying "the kingdom of heaven is like this." In the parable of the sower, the only mention of the kingdom at all was when Jesus was explaining the parable. There he comments on the seed, saying it is the message of the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is a huge theme in the New Testament. Simply put, the kingdom is anywhere people are acting in love and obedience toward God. The parable teaches us that the kingdom is not in a place, but in people. Wherever you find people loving and serving God, you find the kingdom of heaven. And so, verse 24. The Parable "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 you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn."'" (Matthew 13:24-30) Another parable-and another set of confused listeners. Verse 34 of Matthew 13 says that "He did not say anything to them without using a parable." Interesting, you get the idea that all these people are listening with rapt attention, yet they are not understanding. In this sense it's a bit like people always enjoying the song, "Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie" by Don McLean. The song emerged in 1971-72 and was soon a big hit. But nobody understood what the lyrics meant. Once I heard Don McLean inter-viewed and he was asked what the lyrics meant. He said, "I don't know, I just wrote a bunch of lines!" Of course, I don't mean to imply that Jesus did not know the meaning of his parables. He certainly did. And He said that He taught using parables so that the right people would understand and those from whom He wanted to keep some kingdom secrets hidden would not understand. The Interpretation At any rate, a little while, and two more parables later, Jesus and the disciples left the crowd and went into the house. There in the privacy of that home, the disciples said to Jesus, "Remember how you told the parable of the sower and the four kinds of ground; then, later you explained it to us in private? Do you suppose you could do that again concerning the meaning of the parable of the weeds in the field?" Picking up at verse 37. "He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man." (Now He is clearly saying that the sower is the one prophesied by the prophet Daniel, the "Son of Man," and clearly He [Jesus] is that one). Jesus is building in His disciples interpretive skills for these parables by revealing more and more truth to them. "The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom." (Matthew 13:38) I can just see Simon turning to his brother Andrew and saying something like, "See? I told you it was about us!" "The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels." (Matthew 13:38-39) And so the plot of the parable unfolds, and it concerns the end of the age-which means for Jesus the close of history in this world. This is the time when the great harvest takes place-or, rather, the great judgment. It is then that those who are truly wheat (sons of the kingdom) and those who are truly weeds (sons of the evil one) will be separated. One rabbi said, "A time is coming for all men when they will be either born again, or wish they were never born at all." There really is coming a climactic end to life as we know it on planet earth, and concurrent with that end of the age, there is planned a Judgment Day. "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 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." (Matthew 13:40-41) This is how it's going to go down, folks (Jesus is no longer speaking symbolically here): He will send His henchmen, the angels (well, at least to the weeds, they will be henchmen). It is their responsibility to gather everyone on the earth, including the dead, and divide them between two categories, the wheat and the weeds. The other way of explaining the categories is the righteous and the wicked. Perhaps you would prefer the two categories as mentioned in the book of Revelation, chapter 20: those whose names were written in the book of life and those whose names were not written in the book of life. Now, there is something else that is significant about this parable. The weeds are growing in the "world" with the wheat, not in the kingdom, or in the church (the visible extension of the kingdom). So the weeds will be separated out from among the wheat in the world, but (look at verse 41), the angels will also "weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil." We're going to touch on this in a moment, but I want you to see while we're here that this is not simply a parable about the church, and the good and the bad in the church. It is about God's world, and how the kingdom interfaces with the evil all around it. Well, the Bible is clear that those who are made righteous by their relationship with Jesus Christ, the wheat in this world, have a hope beyond this world. And that is, eternal life and eternal joy with the Lord in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus will say to His disciples soon, "Rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb's book of life." But what about the weeds, those who are labeled at the judgment as the "wicked"? These are, by the way, not wicked because they sin, they are wicked because they have rejected the Son of Man and His offer of forgiveness. Here's a description of their fate, given to us by none other than the Son of Man Himself-the One who is going to be there overseeing this whole event at the end of history. He says. "They (the angels) will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13:42) Suddenly the parable takes a sinister turn. These are no longer weeds being thrown into the fire. These are human beings! Weeds don't weep and gnash their teeth. Remember, this is the explanation of the parable, not the parable any more. We human beings have a hard time with the judgment of God, don't we? The Bible speaks of the "wrath of God" being poured out on the wickedness of men. But the idea of God's wrath is, I think, very misunderstood. "Many think, invariably, of some sort of peeved deity, a kind of cosmic, terrible-tempered Mr. Bang, who indulges in violent, uncontrolled displays of tempter when human beings do not do what they ought to do. But such a concept only reveals the limitations of our understanding. The Bible never deals with the wrath of God that way. According to Scriptures, the wrath of God is God's moral integrity. When man refuses to yield himself to God, he creates certain conditions, no only for himself but for others as well, which God has ordained for harm. It is God who makes evil result in sorrow, heartache, injustice, and despair. It is God's way of saying to man, 'Now look, you must face the truth. You were made for Me. If you decide that you don't want Me, than you will have to bear the consequences.' The absence of God is destructive to human life. That absence is God's wrath. And God cannot withhold it. In His moral integrity, he insists that these things should occur as a result of our disobedience. He sets man's sin and His wrath in the same frame." (Charles Swindoll in Living Above the Level of Mediocrity) But the righteous? The wheat? The believers? What is their fate? "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear." (Matthew 13:43) Those whose names are written in the Book of Life have a far better future, wouldn't it seem? And there is no secret about how to be in that group. The Bible teaches clearly that if you will trust Christ as your Savior you will be "saved". That little word, often misunderstood, makes pretty good sense when we talk about the judgment, doesn't it? The Christians are "saved" from the judgment and wrath of God-not because they are better than other people, but because they admitted their sin and their need, accepted the lord and were saved from Hell! That's what the "harvest" is like at the end of this age, Jesus says. But I believe that this parable has some things to say to us about how we live and how we view things "until the harvest". Let's look at a couple of them before we close in a couple minutes. Application This parable acknowledges the presence of evil in our world (and even in the church) I know we don't have to be convinced that our world is not what it ought to be, and we don't need more evidence that there are wicked people in our world. But, once in awhile, it's nice to hear from God that He knows all about it. When Jesus describes this world as a place where the devil has trespassed and tampered and sown evil, don't you kind of say in your heart, "O, yeah, that's right!" Well, God has made it clear that there is evil in the world, and it is going to get worse before it gets better! As history moves toward its appointed hour of permanent recess, the devil is getting bolder and bolder. A simple read of the Bible tells us that it all culminates in the appearance of anti-Christ and a final cataclysmic confrontation between good and evil, God and Satan. But take heart, you willowy wisps of wheat-God says "I'm in charge, and while things continue to get worse, the kingdom will come more and more clearly into focus and you will be protected. People are always asking the pastor, "Don't you think we're near the end?" And I often have people come predicting this or that and announcing the great doom that's coming. Friends, I don't deny that evil is growing and pervading more and more of our world, but that's only half the picture! The kingdom is waxing stronger as well! And, after all, we win! Why should I worry about people getting secret numbers implanted under their skin, and someone getting 666? Something along that order has got to happen before the end, so I say, "Bring it on, and let's get this thing over with!" Why would a Christian, among the beloved, hope-filled shocks of God's wheat get all worked up about evil? It's got to be here! It's going to be here! Instead of getting all worked up and in a dither about the evil things and people around you, would don't you focus on Jesus and the precious promises that are your in Him? We do no good when we spend all of our energies trying to weed the garden-it's not our job! That kind of reckless human judgment only destroys the master's wheat crop. The parable teaches us about the postponement of judgment When I garden I love to grow corn. I love to watch God grow that huge stalk of corn out of that little seed, and to yank two or three ears off the stalk, each containing hundreds of delicious kernels similar to the one I planted. About 10 days after that little yellow seed goes into the ground, God shows evidence of the miracle he is doing with the seed by causing the first shoot to push through the soil. And if I've done my planting job right, there is a beautiful, straight row of green blades running the length of the garden. The trouble is that ten days is long enough for the grass that I have churned and chopped with the roto-tiller and ground into the soil to reseed and get a new start as well. So, right alongside my little green corn shoots there are growing another set of green shoots, and those grass shoots look at first just like the corn plant I've been waiting for. And for the next week or two, both similar looking plants are growing up side by side, competing for the moisture and nutrients in the soil. I want to weed, but I dare not, lest I pull out the corn by mistake. Even later, when I can differentiate the two, and I start to pull the weeds, I sometimes inadvertently pull up a corn plant because the roots of the weeds are tangled in with the corn's roots. I've learned what Jesus meant. Just leave it alone and trust God. In a few weeks it will be time for harvest. I'll pull those ears off, tear out the useless stalks and then it's time to destroy the grass! We are powerless to cleanse this world of evil. It's going to go on getting worse and worse. We've got enough to do to keep ourselves pure and devoted to the master. He said, "Judgment is mine." If it were up to us to pronounce judgment we'd be damning everything and everyone around us before they had a chance to get saved! Do you remember the account of Jesus and the disciples going into Samaria? The people there would not welcome Jesus or His message, because he was a Jew and on His way to Jerusalem. James and John, two brothers aptly named "sons of thunder" asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" Sometimes we'd like nothing more than to wipe out those people who refuse to believe in Jesus, forgetting we were one of them not very long ago. Jesus rebuked James and John and they went to another village. (Luke 9:51-56) We're too impulsive, too short-sighted, too sinful and judgmental-that's why Jesus reserved the right to judge and kept us from it. Jesus said, "Judge not, that you be not judged." He also said that if you judge others, the same standard of judgment you use will be used against you! Some believers love to interpret this parable as saying there are in the church the real believers and the pretend believers (weeds). That may be true, but that's not what this parable is about. Yes, God is going to finally cleanse the things that cause sin and all who do evil through his angels. Special Topic But isn't it true that we are not to fellowship with those who say they are believers but are continuing in sin? Didn't Paul teach to judge the immoral among us and discipline them with a view to seeing them repent? I want to take just a moment as I close to discuss this issue. How do we maintain purity in the church, which we know is the Lord's will, and at the same time honor His strict command to not judge each other? How can I help a brother who is caught in sin, if I can't make a value judgment about his behavior? On the other hand, how can I just remain quiet when I see a brother destroying his life? I think the perfect place to bring some understanding is in 1 Corinthians, chapters 4 and 5. 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 (cf: "Judge not that you be not judged" Matthew 7:1-5)) 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 and 9-13 (cf: Galatians 6:1-5, et al) The key is revealed in 1 Corinthians 4:5b. We cannot judge the motives and intentions of the heart, but we are obligated to judge sinful behavior in another brother's life! Conclusion Going back to the parable, the beautiful thing is that the analogy of the parable breaks down. In real life, in the kingdom of God, the Lord's intention is for weeds to become wheat! That can't happen in a field, but it can (and does) in the kingdom! Hell is God's final acquiescence to man's stubborn refusal to accept His forgiveness. John 3:16-18. 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, But to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, But whoever does not believe stands condemned already Because he has not believed in the name of God one and only Son.       [Back to Top]