The Devil's Lettuce.

Introduction

Matthew 13:24–30 NLT

Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ “ ‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “ ‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. “ ‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’ ”

And since I enjoy beginning with the end I will also have us read through verses 36-43

Matthew 13:36–43 NLT

Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.” Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels. “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels 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 their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!

Let’s pray and then let’s dig a little deeper into this text.

So… I probably shouldn’t say this out loud but i’ve titled this sermon: The Devil’s Lettuce… sorry God. Now…you don’t have to be a well-read English prof. to get this parable…and by get I mean Jesus explains exactly what he means in it. For those of you who don’t know I’m an English teacher which means I have a tendency to look for symbolism in the text. Obviously, Jesus explains his symbolism in this parable. I also think that when we read the Bible we have a tendency to read a parable or a passage of Scripture and we want to symbolize everything or over symbolize I should say. Obviously Jesus isn’t just talking about plants in this parable and he clearly explains this to his disciples. Jesus’ explanation is simple and clear…other times it’s not.

I wanted to touch base on the fact that the majority of the parables (and Jesus’ time in the Gospels) is spent on an explanation of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus spends a lot of time in the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) on the concept of the Kingdom of God…about 86 references are made about the Kingdom of God. Now, we have a tendency to make statistics fit our point…so I’ll try not to but I would make an argument that Jesus spends the majority of the time in his teachings explaining or demonstrating different aspects of his Kingdom. Some would call this the upsidedown Kingdom (thats a little nod to my Stranger Thing folks)…

He spent a lot of time making statements like… “The Kingdom of God is like...” this, or… he would explain two separate things and tell you which one makes it into the Kingdom and which one doesn’t… the majority of the Gospels hone in on this concept. The Kingdom of God… The Kingdom of God is at hand.

For a good chunk of my Christianity I wasn’t super concerned with the Kingdom of God. I was concerned with:

Not looking at things on the computer that I wasn’t supposed to be looking at

Making sure I doubled up on today’s Bible reading if I missed yesterday

Going up to the altar to get prayed for because surely I sinned too much this week and need to be saved again.

My Christianity wasn’t even about Jesus half the time…it was about me being good enough. I missed the 86 mentions of the Kingdom. I spent years missing out on the promises of the Kingdom of God in the here and now and I didn’t focus on the hope of the Kingdom to come.

Why am I saying this? Jesus talked about the Kingdom as both something present and futuristic. He talked about the kingdom as a present reality with ongoing results and future a hope. We are so concerned with getting into Heaven that we miss out on the promises of today.

The decisive battle against sin and Satan and sickness and death has been fought and won by the King in his death and resurrection, but the war is not over. Sin must be fought, Satan must be resisted, sickness must be prayed over and groaned under (), and death must be endured until the second coming of the King and the consummation of the kingdom.

God’s plan

So, in Jesus starts off by saying that the Kingdom of God is like… a farmer who sows seeds and the enemy sneaks in and sows his own seeds. The farmer isn’t freaking out but the help is…

I want us to think about this verse:

(1) Numero Uno: Who are the characters in this parable? : (a) God/Jesus is the sower and is planting seeds (b) the help: who are freaking out about the weeds (c) the enemy: which is the Devil (d) weeds: those who will not inherit the Kingdom but who “grow” amongst the good crops, who are our final characters (the believers) and…the angels who harvest. Jesus is painting quite the picture.

(2) Big point #1 The farmer isn’t surprised by the weeds. Look to your neighbor and tell them “God isn’t surprised by the weeds” (Sarcasm). So, God is fully aware of the weeds…and didn’t prevent the enemy from sowing the weeds. This is where we get into a lot of unfulfilled expectations. We have war, famine, death, disease. We want to shake our fists at the sky and say how can an all-loving God exist and such brokenness exist in our world. Our job isn’t to respond with some trite answer but to be there for this hurting world and point them to the one who loves them. Sin exists in our world. Pride. Greed. Arrogance. Lust. This world is also broken and it moans as it waits for everything to be made right.

I wouldn’t be preaching if I didn’t at least mention J.R.R. Tolkien at least once…

: Eru Iluvatar is forming the word and invites his first created beings the Ainur to join in on the creation. They form a great music (Just so everyone is with me: Eru Illuvatar is “God”—symbolically of course. Melkor is the “Devil” and the rest of the Ainur are like angelic beings… (this isn’t a 100% apples-to-apples but you’ll get it).

“Then the discord of Melkor spread ever wider, and the melodies which had been heard foundered in a sea of turbulent sound. But Ilúvatar sat and hearkened until it seemed that about his throne there was a raging storm, as of dark waters that made war one upon another in an endless wrath that would not be assuaged.

Then Ilúvatar rose, and the Ainur perceived that he smiled; and he lifted up his left hand, and a new theme began amid the storm, like and yet unlike the former theme, and it gathered power and had new beauty. But the discord of Melkor rose in uproar and contended with it, and again there was a war of sound more violent than before, until many of the Ainur were dismayed and sang no longer, and Melkor had the mastery. Then again Ilúvatar arose, and the Ainur perceived that his countenance was stern; and he lifted up his right hand, and behold! a third theme grew amid the confusion, and it was unlike the others. For it seemed at first soft and sweet, a mere rippling of gentle sounds in delicate melodies; but it could not be quenched, and it took to itself power and profundity. And it seemed at last that there were two musics progressing at one time before the seat of Ilúvatar, and they were utterly at variance. The one was deep and wide and beautiful, but slow and blended with an immeasurable sorrow, from which its beauty chiefly came. The other had now achieved a unity of its own; but it was loud, and vain, and endlessly repeated; and it had little harmony, but rather a clamorous unison as of many trumpets braying a few notes. And it essayed to drown the other music by the violence of its voice, but it seemed that its most triumphant notes were taken by the other and woven into its own solemn pattern.

In the midst of this strife, whereat the halls of Ilúvatar shook and a tremor ran out into the silences yet unmoved, Ilúvatar arose a third time, and his face was terrible to behold. Then he raised up both his hands, and in one chord, deeper than the Abyss, higher than the Firmament, piercing as the light of the eye of Ilúvatar, the Music ceased.”

So, why did I just read that to you? Partially because I love literature and partially because I’m trying to make a point. God, in his providence, has allowed discord to be sown into the Great Music....but ultimately, just liked this parable tells us the Lord is in control. His Great Music is already at work. His Great Music will come to pass. And when the Great Music ends everything will be restored to its former glory…the world will be made right. This is the future hope.

Intertwined Roots

Okay… I got that out of my system, lets continue: the farmer tells them that the wheat and the weed must be allowed to grow fully. The roots are intertwined in the earth. Small anecdote: Sarah and I have 3 different types of tomatoes growing in pots in the backyard along with cubanelle peppers.... we have weeds that have grown amongst the peppers…and I can’t pull them or the pepper plant will be yanked up… so, Jesus knows what he’s talking about.

(2)

Okay… I got that out of my system, lets continue: the farmer tells them that the wheat and the weed must be allowed to grow fully. The roots are intertwined in the earth. Small anecdote: Sarah and I have 3 different types of tomatoes growing in pots in the backyard along with cubanelle peppers.... we have weeds that have grown amongst the peppers…and I can’t pull them or the pepper plant will be yanked up… so, Jesus knows what he’s talking about.

So… I was reading through a few commentaries along with these verses this week to help prep for today and I was reading through one specific commentary that made a very interesting point: the commentator mentioned the speed at which the field hands wanted to yank up the weeds. Remember, the field hands (i.e. pastors/ lay people/ church leaders/ etc.) are not the harvesters… those are the angels. This commentator also notes that yes we believe we can tell the difference between wheat and weed but this will be extremely clear at the time of the harvest. Let me say a different way: we won’t know which crops are wheat or weeds until the harvest… We are too quick to judge individuals at times....but we also don’t want to hurt feelings and we sit idly by.

The commentator goes on to talk about the fact that whether or not his move (of allowing the weeds and the good crop to grow up side by side) is a good move or a bad one. In the economy of the Kingdom of Heaven we are instructed to guard the body of believers, but this guarding is always rooted in a hope. Lets look at James and 1 Timothy

James 5:19–20 ESV

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

1 Timothy 4:1–6 ESV

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.

We are to take the path of redemption in restoration because ultimately we do not know whether this individual is truly a weed or a good crop in need of correction and growth. Its not your job or mine to do the judging of the heart.

James 5:19 ESV

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,

The harvest (v. 39)

The harvest then marks the final and complete separation. Just be glad we don’t get to decide who gets in and who doesn’t…we all have a biased view of who is good enough and who isn’t. We know the economy of the Kingdom and know that no one is good enough. As Nietzsche says “there was only one Christian, he died on the cross.” We know that he rose again…but all of us strive to be Christ but fail daily. The harvest requires heavenly clearness, purity, calmness and a holy decidedness… this is why the Lord doesn’t have us in charge of the harvest…

43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father

43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Luke 21:28 ESV

Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

The furnace (v.41-42)

The opposite to the righteous shining forth are the wicked perishing in the furnace.... in hell. A place of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Anytime you read of hell in Scripture it is sobering. We’re not called to play church… we are in the soul business....

We have this sobering conversation a lot in the church. We kind of don’t talk about the hell thing but we realize that its out there. We have pastors and other believers that don’t want to offend or they don’t want to make things awkward so they flex this line of heaven and hell… I’m not asking us to be fire and brimstone folks but I am asking us to be Jesus folks. I’m also asking us to have this conversation.

Land the plane

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

No one comes to the Father except through Jesus… accepting him as your savior. Jesus Christ is the only way that any of us are going to inherit the Kingdom.

Jesus is the only way. This isn’t moralistic deism. Life isn’t a tally mark game where if you have more good check marks than bad check marks you get in. God set in motion his plan for redemption of a fallen people and the restoration of a fallen world…a broken world.

You don’t inherit the kingdom by being good enough…

We are called to introduce people to the Kingdom of God here and now…but we are called to point them to the ultimate Kingdom that will come. We are in a world that is riddled with brokenness. I have a book that I keep reading and then I stew on a chapter for months and then continue in the book…its called Alone Together by the MIT professor Sherry Turkle. Her whole premise is that we are at an all time high for ‘connectedness’… but we are miserable. We are a depressed, lonely, and empty people… we want to stand for all things and end up standing for nothing. We want to reach self-actualization so hard that we’re killing ourselves in the process.... we are divided as a people, angry, bitter, lonely, tired. We want rest. We want to know who we are… and as cheesy as it sounds, we say “you don’t know who you are because you don’t know whose you are”… we are all created in the image of God and it is only at that point where we will begin to understand who we are at a much deeper level.

God set in motion his plan for redemption of a fallen people and the restoration of a fallen world…a broken world. We are called to introduce people to the Kingdom of God here and now…but we are called to point them to the ultimate Kingdom that will come. We are in a world that is riddled with brokenness. I have a book that I keep reading and then I stew on a chapter for months and then continue in the book…its called Alone Together by the MIT professor Sherry Turkle. Her whole premise is that we are at an all time high for ‘connectedness’… but we are miserable. We are a depressed, lonely, and empty people… we want to stand for all things and end up standing for nothing. We want to reach self-actualization so hard that we’re killing ourselves in the process.... Our job is to tell people about Jesus. No, this isn’t the magic spaghetti monster in the sky that acts like your cosmic vending machine…but I can promise you this: when you give your life to him you will be made whole.

Our job is to tell people about Jesus. No, this isn’t the magic spaghetti monster in the sky that acts like your cosmic vending machine…but I can promise you this: when you give your life to him you will be made whole.

Our job is to tell people about Jesus. No, this isn’t the magic spaghetti monster in the sky that acts like your cosmic vending machine…but I can promise you this: when you give your life to him you will be made whole.

Revelation 21:4 ESV

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

God’s Great Music will continue to pass…and all will be made right.... maybe not now, maybe not for years to come but Jesus will return. I want to end by reading a quote to you all (I promise its not from The Lord of The Rings or the Silmarillion): Leonard Ravenhill was a preacher from England he said the following:

"Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live!"

—end.

I think again of a statement Dr. Tozer made to me once. He said, “Len you know what?” He said, “We’ll hardly get our feet out of time into eternity and gaze on eternity that we bow our heads in shame and humiliation and say: “My God, look at all the richest there were in Jesus Christ and I come to the judgment seat [a beggar].”

Land the plane