WHAT’S WRONG WHEN THE CHURCH DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THE CHURCH

WHAT’S WRONG WHEN THE CHURCH DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THE CHURCH Matthew 13:24-30, and 36-43 With grateful acknowledgement of these sources of direction and inspiration: the Holy Spirit; the Word of God; September 11, 2005 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction We are returning this morning to the kingdom parables of Matthew 13. Two weeks ago we studied the Parable of the Sower, which was really a study of the different ways people hear and respond to the gospel message. The analogy Jesus used as a vehicle of truth was that of different kinds of soils on which the “seeds” of the gospel fell as the farmer broadcast the message. We move from seeds to weeds in our discussion today, as Jesus tells another parabolic story to illustrate another important aspect of the kingdom of God – the delay of judgment. We have a parable with another agrarian theme. This time the farmer is not out casting seed, but he is the landowner who has servants planting the seed and tending the crops. Let’s read the parable – Matthew 13:24-30. 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 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.’” The Parable The first thing to strike the reader here is that the parable told in order to explain an aspect of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus has been teaching that the kingdom of heaven is encroaching on the earth. In one sense it has arrived in His incarnation; and in another sense it is still arriving, as men and women become obedient to the gospel; and in still another sense the kingdom will not be fully present until the very end of history when Christ returns and the judgment occurs. It is both fascinating and frustrating how the kingdom is simultaneously present and yet still coming. But we disciples of Christ live between the now and the not yet until Christ comes again and closes the curtain on our space-time existence. Then is when the kingdom of heaven has fully and completely arrived, and the glorious heavenly existence commences. As Jesus taught about the kingdom don’t you suppose the disciples and other listeners were wondering where is the dynamic difference? Why is there still evil in the world if the kingdom is arriving? People don’t seem to have changed much; some of them have changed since they met Jesus, but most of them not much if at all. Isn’t the world supposed to be different when the kingdom comes? And look at the church—it is not always a paragon of virtue. It’s full of sinners who most of the time act as though Jesus has not made a difference in their lives at all. Good questions. So Jesus says, Look, the kingdom is like this: a harvest is coming and God is ensuring that it will occur at the right time, but until then, all is not well in the garden. The seed of the kingdom has been planted, but there is competition from some weeds that have been planted by a malicious enemy. The crop is wheat and the wheat berries/seeds have been planted. But when the seedlings begin to emerge and grow the servants are gradually able to discern that much of the field is not wheat, but weeds. Namely, zizanium. It looks just like wheat when it is very young, but it gradually becomes apparent that it is not wheat. This slide shows emergent wheat plants in a field. This slide is emergent darnell—the modern equivalent to zizanium that is still today giving wheat farmers grey hair and costing them thousands in herbicide expenses. It is a weed, a grass really, that mimics wheat. Can you tell the difference? It isn’t easy, especially at this young age. What makes it so bad is that by the time the darnell is recognizable as non-wheat, the darnell’s longer and stronger roots have wrapped themselves around the roots of the tender wheat plants, not only stealing moisture and nourishment from them, but they’ve become so entangled that if you try to pull the weed, up comes the wheat plant as well. Fortunately today’s farmers have a post emergent herbicide that kills darnell, but is harmless to wheat. No such luxury in Jesus’ day. The obvious question is Where did all this zizanium come from? The owner knows the answer right away—an enemy did this. Somebody held a grudge against him, or just didn’t like him. For whatever reason, this enemy sabotaged his crop by sowing weed seed under cover of darkness, and no one was the wiser—until today. When the servants suggest a weed-pulling party, the boss nixes the idea knowing the wheat would be destroyed in the process. Let them grow together—I know the wheat crop will suffer some, but I am confident there will still be a bumper crop. At the harvest we can separate the weeds and burn them. So, the kingdom of heaven is like this? Righteous people will have to live alongside wicked people until the final harvest? Redeemed people who have trusted Christ for their salvation and are honestly trying to grow in their relationship with God and become Christ like will have to coexist with the godless and immoral of society? And even in the church will be the seemingly unbearable situation where some are serious about their faith and others couldn’t care less about the kingdom? How discouraging is that! No wonder people of faith often feel choked and alone. They’re being squeezed by weeds! No wonder believers look like an oppressed minority. They’re lopsidedly outnumbered by secularists outside, and often inside, the church! No wonder it seems hard to maintain Christian equilibrium in our culture. The weeds are everywhere! And no wonder the scriptures so desperately enjoin Christians to draw nourishment from the Word and the Spirit through study and prayer and to tenaciously cling to the sweet fellowship they can have with other devoted followers of Christ! The Parable Explained Wow, there is a lot to this parable! You could use your imagination and really go crazy making spiritual applications. But let’s remember that a parable is not an allegory, where every detail in the story has an explanation and application. Parables should not be pressed too far—they are designed to make one key point, and parables are not opportunities to get creative with our whimsical wishes about spiritual realities. You can find some who go crazy finding some exoteric meaning in everything: Did you notice that the owner’s men were “sleeping” in verse 24? That means church people are lazy and inattentive! Look at verse 30 – the harvesters will tie the weeds up in “bundles”—that must mean that all the murders will be lumped together for the judgment and all the liars will be together… What is legitimate interpretation of the parable? Well, let’s go and ask Jesus like the disciples did, shall we? Verses 36-43. 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.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. 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. 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. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will  be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” Well, we learn a good deal about the kingdom of heaven when we sit still and listen, don’t we? The Son of Man, of course, is Jesus. He is the one in charge of disseminating the good seed, and the good seed are the sons of the kingdom. That is quite simply all those who by faith have been reconciled to God through Christ. The picture here is Jesus making certain that there are believers planted in the field, and the field is the world. But there is an enemy of Christ who does his best to plant his evil followers in the same field. This is the devil. As much as we Christ followers would like to have all the evil influence removed from the world, the Lord in His wisdom, says not until the harvest will that happen. And verse 39 reminds us that the harvest will happen at the end of the age, the close of history as we know it. The angels will be his harvesters, Jesus says. It will be their job to cleanse the world of all evil and all evildoers—that is, they will pull up the weeds first. By harvest time the roots of the weeds will have dried up and removing them will no longer pose danger to the crop of wheat. This process is the same as “weed[ing] out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.” (Verse 41) This harvest is a fearsome and dreadful time, in that all the evil of the world and all those who have perpetrated the evil, including the devil and his emissaries, will be thrown into the fiery furnace. If the imagery of a fiery furnace isn’t enough, there is added the sad image of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Virtually the same words appear in the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation to describe the final judgment scene. By strong contrast, verse 43 details the existence of those who are saved, the righteous, from then on. Some Important Lessons from the Parable 1. The church is not equivalent to the kingdom of God Many people try to equate the kingdom of God with the church. That is a mistake. The two are close, but they are not the same. The kingdom of God/heaven on earth is the realm in which men and women are obedient to the Lord. You might say that the church is where that is happening. Theoretically, yes. But I would remind you that among those who claim to be sons of the kingdom there are some illegitimate pretenders. Many of them are members of churches, but they have no connection with Christ, because there is no genuine faith or love of God there. Many join the church like they join a club—trying to lay hold of the benefits, but not much interested in true, devoted service to the king. Many hang around the church because someone expects them to and so they dutifully attend services help with a few projects and give a little, when it doesn’t get in the way of what they truly love. Kingdom people are in the churches, certainly, because the church is the only visible gathering place of redeemed people given by God in this world. All that glitters is not gold and all that sounds religious is not holy. In fact, Jesus said, again in the context of the final judgment scene, Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23) So if you are hanging around the church building, church programs and church membership rolls, thinking you are in the kingdom, but your heart is far from God, you will be in for the rudest awakening on the day of judgment. You’re not a Christian just because you’re on some church roll any more that you are a movie star because you wear designer sunglasses. The church is not equivalent to the kingdom of heaven. What is the church, then, according to this parable? The church is simply not referenced in this parable. But notice that the one responsible for planting seeds (or sons of the kingdom) in the field (or the world) is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. He commissioned His church to go and make disciples of all people. He said all authority in heaven and on earth was His, and He gave that authority to the church. The church is not equivalent to the kingdom of heaven, but we are the agency of Christ on this earth that introduces people to the kingdom! 1. The church is not equivalent to the kingdom of God 2. The church doesn’t judge or harvest Being sons of the kingdom does not qualify us for any special status other that being in the kingdom of heaven—which should be enough. We are not judges of others (that job belongs to the Lord alone), nor are we harvesters (that job belongs to the angels). Our calling is to get out the Word about the Kingdom, and to preach and teach it as clearly and compellingly as we can in the power of His Holy Spirit. We leave all final judgment to God. We are wheat only by God’s grace. That means we should always be mindful that we once were weeds. This will be our protection from pride. We are not to compare ourselves qualitatively with others who are not yet in the kingdom. What we have in the way of our salvation is not something we’ve earned or deserved. We are the humble recipients of His saving grace. The analogy of the wheat and weeds breaks down here. In agrarian science, weeds and wheat can never change. In the kingdom economy, however, weeds can become wheat. If you have never taken Christ at His word and received Him into your life by faith, you may be a church member, you may even be a very active church member; you may be a lot of things, but you are not yet wheat. 1. The church is not equivalent to the kingdom of God 2. The church doesn’t judge or harvest 3. We wheat people must learn to coexist with the weed people in this world. There is no such thing as “Weed-Be-Gone” in the kingdom of God. Just because we are uncomfortable being around people who are comfortable in their sins, doesn’t mean we can just wish those weeds away. They’re here to stay. When you have a new yard and you plant grass seed you have to water it carefully and plentifully. What happens then is an unpleasant surprise. All kinds of strange vegetation comes up—crab grass, bull nettle, thistles, nut grass, you name it. What happened of course is that the seeds of all those weedy things were in the ground already, and your watering brought them to life. But with the tender shoots of new grass coming up you can’t injudiciously apply weed and feed or you’ll kill your grass. Wise landscapers will tell you not to worry about the weed, just concentrate on growing your grass. When the grass comes in thick and green, eventually it will challenge the weeds, and by then you can apply your herbicide. There’s a message for the church here. Let’s not worry quite so much about how bad things are in the world. Of course it’s bad—immorality is out of control, the culture seems to be going to the dogs and all kinds of evil surrounds us. The best thing we can do is keep sharing the message of salvation encouraging people to come to and grow in a personal relationship with God through Christ. Leave the judging, the harvest and all the other things that are out of our control anyway in the hands of God. Fight evil with good. Counter Satan with the gospel. Sure our kids are exposed to all kinds of evil influences, but you’re never going to shield them from everything. Focus on raising them in the faith, pray for them and trust God for the outcome. Too much worry and concern about the weeds distracts us from our real mission: planting seeds that will bear more wheat. As the veteran mail carrier says, If you stop to fight with every dog, you never get the mail delivered. And just this quick word about the devil. Sure, he’s our enemy, but only secondarily. He’s really God’s enemy, and I’m pretty sure God can handle him. The trouble with focusing too much on the devil and all his evil schemes is we forget to focus on God and give Him His rightful worship. When we get all involved and fearful of the devil we actually are giving him worship. 1. The church is not equivalent to the kingdom of God 2. The church doesn’t judge or harvest 3. We wheat people must learn to coexist with the weed people in this 4. There is an end time judgment coming It is true, Jesus tells us, and there are a couple of things we can be sure of. At the time of the final judgment, God will finally render true justice. All of the unjust, inhumane and unrighteous actions of sinful humanity will be made right at that time. You can trust God for it. Another thing about the last days judgment—it will be in conjunction with the great harvest. Jesus says (verse 39) that the harvest is the end of the age. He further promises that at the end of the age the weeds will be pulled up and burned in the fire (verse 40). That fire is most unique, because when the wicked are cast into it, they don’t just burn up—they ongoingly weep and gnash their teeth. May I suggest to you one more thing to not get too hung up on? The end times chronology. There are dozens of ideas and agendas out there with proponents who are all absolutely sure that the last days are going to happen in the exact way and time that their chart says. Can’t happen. They’re all different and they can’t all be right. My money’s on them all being wrong. If the Word of God is not perfectly clear on the exact chain of events, then we obviously don’t need to try to figure it out on our own, let alone insist that others agree with us. All we need to know is that these things are going to happen, and God is in charge of when and how: final judgment, second coming of Christ, the gathering of the church to be with the Lord, and the opening of hell and the opening of the kingdom of heaven. And speaking of those two openings, one last thing: there will be only two consequential options in the final judgment on the final day of history: heaven and hell. In some of the clearest language in the entire book, Revelation 20 says that the devil will be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur (10) along with the beast and the false prophet (10), and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (10). Then death and Hades themselves will be thrown into the lake of fire (14). Each person will be judged according to what he has done. And then verse 15 says, If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Then, speaking of heaven, Revelation 21:27 says, Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s gook of life. 20:12 makes it clear that there are two books—one is the record of all that every person has done, both good and bad. If everyone were judged only by that book we would all deserve nothing but the lake of fire. But there is a second book that is opened—the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. To be in the second book—the book of life—you must have received Christ by faith into your heart and your life. Because it is only by His atoning sacrifice that our sin debt can be paid. God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  [webmasters note: John 3:16 (ESV)] The choice is yours. You may remain a weed in the garden of God or you may be transformed by His grace into wheat. You may face the final judgment in fear and trembling and dread, or you may face it with hope and confidence that the reward Christ has bought for you will soon be yours.   [Back to Top]