A World of Wheat and Weeds and Trees.

Opening:

Good-morning Connection Church! It is good to be able to gather with you again so that we can worship God together! I hope that you had a great Easter. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate the resurrection of Christ together. We don’t just celebrate that once a year, but every week we celebrate this on the Lord’s day. It is why we are gathered today. We come together and worship God because He has risen from the dead. We are forgiven. We are the people of God. I am so glad to be able to gather and worship God.

Introduction of the Text:

This week we are back in the gospel of Matthew. We are picking up where we left off before Easter. We will be in chapter thirteen, verses twenty-four through forty- three. If you do not have a Bible, we have Bible’s by the door on the table. If you do not own a Bible, we encourage you to keep that as our gift to you. I encourage you to follow along in your Bible with us. There is a sense of ownership you get when you follow along in the text with us in your Bible.

A little bit of review about what we have covered in the book of Matthew. Matthew was written by the Apostle Matthew to a Jewish audience. Matthew specifically has been showing that Jesus is the fulfilment of Old Testament prophesy. He is the Messiah that God promised. Jesus is God the Son, who will save His people from their sins.

Most recently we have seen Jesus begin to teach the people in parables. Parables were stories that were meant to reveal and conceal the truth. They revealed the truth to those who Jesus taught the meaning to, but they concealed the truth from the masses who heard them. Jesus was withholding the truth from those people. Now Jesus is continuing on in His telling of parables.

Reading of the Text:

With this in mind I would ask the congregation to stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.

Matthew 13:24-43

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

34 All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables;

I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

The Word of God, Let’s pray.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us the privilege to be able to gather together and worship you. Let us not take it for granted. Lord, I ask that you would open our hearts to hear and be transformed by your word. May it impact us and teach us.

Lord, I ask that you would open the hearts of the lost who may be here today. May they come to know you today. We long to see people saved, but we know that we cannot save anyone. So we ask that you would save people today Lord. Let us be used by you to see people saved. Call to their hearts, and draw them to yourself.

Lord I ask for those here who are saved. May they be encouraged today. May this teaching from Christ encourage and strengthen them. Help them to grow in godliness. Sanctify them according to your word. Make them a holy people. Make them a people who are commited to you no matter what.

Lord, I ask specifically for this church. It is your church. We ask that you would use it. Help it to grow and to reach this community. May this be the mustard seed in Lead, South Dakota. We ask that you would use it and grow it.

I ask as always, finally for myself. May you use me, Lord. Do not let me speak against you or your word. Keep my mouth from lies and help me to shepherd your church well.

We ask this in Jesus name, Amen!

Transition:

As we open this text, we see Jesus tell the parable of the weeds.

The Parable of the Weeds.

Explanation:

Again Jesus uses agricultural language. He uses imagery common to the people. This parable is very similar to the one in verses one through nine. There are some differences however. Here Jesus speaks of two sowers. One was the owner of the field. The other was an enemy who was out to destroy the crop. In order to do this, the enemy went by night and sowed weeds into the wheat field.

This was not unheard of in the ancient world. Perhaps the most common field in the ancient world was a wheat field. It was also likely the most common field for this practice to be done to, since there were several weeds that looked like wheat. It was a despicable practice that was aimed at the destruction of your enemies. A person would go by night after the proper seed had been sown and would scatter weed seeds. But they would not scatter just any seeds. The person would chose a weed that looked very similar to the proper plant. This weed was not a good plant, but as a seed and as a sprout looked very similar to the proper plant. Commonly for wheat, they would sow what was known as darnel or tares. They looked like wheat until they reached maturity.

This is why the owner told the workers to wait until the plants were fully grown before they separated the weeds from the wheat. Th,e owner of the field was unwilling to lose even a single plant of wheat. Wait until the harvest then the weeds will be separated and burned.

Illustration:

Argumentation:

The act of sowing weeds in with the proper plants was an incredible act of aggression and hatred. It was an attempt to destroy the persons livelihood. It could ruin a persons crop. Some may even chose to destroy all the plants in the field and start over, therefore losing an entire planting crop and much time. The time it would take for them to notice the weeds would mean that much of the year had already passed.

This was the nightmare of the farmer. The people who heard this parable would likely have cringed at the idea of an enemy sowing weeds in with the good seeds. It was one of the worst case scenarios. The hardest question would come after the weeds were noticed. “What shall we do?” This was the question that the workers asked the owner of the field. It was the most important question.

But the owner shows a remarkable calm nature. There is no outcry. There seems to be a full knowledge of the situation. He calmly tells the workers not to pluck any of the weeds lest they accidentally destroy the good crop as well. Instead, they will separate the weeds from the good crop on the day of harvest. The weeds will be burned, and the proper crop will be taken into the barns. This is a well laid out plan. The owner clearly knew what happened, and how best to handle it.

Transition:

Let us at this point skip ahead a few verses and seethe parable of the weeds explained.

The Parable of the Weeds Explained.

Explanation:

As with the last parable, Jesus does not explain the parables to the crowds. He only explains it to the disciples. They ask of Him and He gives to them the explanation. Again as with last time, this is shown to be the fulfilment of prophesy. This time it is the fulfilment of a song of Asaph. This is quoted from Psalm 78:2. “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old...” I find this personally interesting because Matthew is here calling out the fact that Asaph is a prophet. This, to the best of my knowledge is the only time we see Asaph declared a prophet. I find things like that very interesting, but perhaps you do not.

But what does this parable mean? Jesus tells us. First, He tells us that He is the one who sows good seed. He is the owner. He is the not just the good shepherd who cares for His sheep, He is the good farmer who cares for His crop. Next, Jesus tells us that field is the world. Now, I will tell you that there is some debate on what the word “world” means. Some say it refers to the whole world, while others say it refers to the church. I will explain that more in just a moment, but let’s continue with Jesus’ explanation. After the field, Jesus says that good seed are the “sons of the kingdom.” This means Christians. Jesus then says that the weeds are the sons of the evil one. Here is one of the references I spoke of a few weeks ago when I said that the lost are referred to as children of the devil. The enemy who sowed the weeds is Satan. The harvest is the end of time, the final judgement. The reapers are angels who will be sent out to gather all.

Jesus then says that the weeds will be burned with fire. This is a reference to hell, where the lost will be sent. Jesus says that all sinners and causes of sin will be cast into the furnace where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. This again is a reference to hell. Jesus is clearly presenting the reality of hell.

Argumentation:

But what of the specifics? What exactly does this parable mean? Well, I said earlier that there is some debate on weather the word “world” is referring to the whole world or just the church. It is my belief that it must refer to the church, not the entire world. However, whatever it means, it does not change the application at all. But let me make a case for it meaning the church. The primary reason I don’t think it can mean the whole world is that we then get many unforeseen consequences of this parable. If it means the entire world, and the enemy is one who sowed evil people into the world, we have a heretical idea plainly on display of Satan creating wicked people. This is clearly not true. However, if we view that word “world” as being the visible church, the meaning becomes all the more clear. Satan is not creating anyone. Satan is simply mixing in evil people with God’s wheat in the church. I believe this communicates the meaning of the parable so much more clearly.

And that is how we are supposed to read the text of scripture. We do not interpret it woodenly. We look for the clear intent of this passage. I believe the clear intent of this passage is that Satan is seen as sowing his servants in with the saints in the church in order to cause disruption and destruction. Throughout church history there have been many who have tried to misuse this passage. They have attempted to say that we cannot exercise church discipline because of this. But if you read the clear meaning of this passage, you can see that it would reinforce Paul’s teachings on church discipline. Some have likely attempted to stifle evangelism. “If people are already wheat and weeds, then there is no reason to evangelize. We are the wheat, they are the weeds.” The only problem is that this is not what this passage is attempting to communicate. Yes people are either wheat or weeds. However, we do not know who is who, so we share the gospel with everyone we can.

Application:

I think when we see the intent behind this passage, we can see the warning and the hope.

The Warning: There are Weeds Among the Wheat.

We as Christians must know that there are weeds among the wheat, and in many ways we will likely not know who the weeds are. If they make themselves known there are guidelines in the Bible for how to handle that within the church. But we must firstly know this. There are going to be times where the enemy comes in and sows seeds in order to destroy us. If we know this and are ready for it, we will not be destroyed.

But how do we handle the weeds? Well, as I said, there are guides given to us in Paul’s letters on how to handle it if necessary. But first, I would say we must not obsess over who is a weed and who is wheat. We do not know the heart of men. We must love and serve all in our community. If we begin to say “they must be a weed, therefore I do not have to love them” then you are in sin. You do not know who is a weed or a stubborn wheat. We pray for all. We love all.

If a situation arises where a member of our fellowship begins to live in sin and therefore is harming this fellowship, I as your elder and God willing, the elders He will raise up to aid me in this difficult task will do what we must. Jesus Himself gave us the greatest passage on how to handle these situations. In Matthew 18:15-20 Jesus teaches us to take the situation to the brother. If they refuse to repent, then you take two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to repent, then it will be brought before the church. If the repentance is still lacking, they will be excommunicated from the church until such a time as they repent of their sin. We however will be praying to God and pleading with them for repentance the entire time.

What we cannot do is obsess over weather some are weeds or wheat. We do not know. And this leads us to the hope of the verses.

The Hope: The Wheat will Repent.

The reason we constantly pray for and plead for repentance is because we know that the children of God may fall into sin for a time, but if they are true Christians, they will repent. A Christian will not live in constant sin. The Holy Spirit within them will not let them live in open disobedience. Even if there comes a time where one must be cut off from us, we do that in hope of their repentance.

And that is the hope we have. The wheat will repent. We have no idea how long it may take. We have no idea what that process will be. Therefore, it is not ours to try to identify who is what. We simply do not know. In short;

We hope that all are wheat while recognizing that there will be weeds.

Transition:

Now let us look at Jesus’ other parables in this passage.Jesus tells the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven.

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven.

Explanation:

These two parables are joined because they are teaching the same thing. In these parables Jesus is speaking of the the kingdom of heaven. He says that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard see and like leaven. In the first example He says that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. Jesus says that it is the smallest of seeds, but when it is grows it becomes a tree that houses birds. One thing I must address is the accusation of Jesus lying here. The mustard seed is not the smallest of seeds in the plant kingdom. But Jesus is using hyperbole. The mustard seed is truly among the smallest of seeds. This is clear from the reading of the text. Just as you and I have sayings that are not factually correct, we use them as idioms or sayings to communicate a point. This is not dishonest.

In the second example Jesus compares the kingdom to a small amount of leaven that a woman mixes into a large amount of flour. Through mixing, the entire lump becomes leavened. Now this may be confusing because in other places Jesus uses the example of leaven in a negative way. However, just because He uses it often negatively does not mean that the same image cannot be used in a positive way. Here it is clearly indicating a positive outcome.

Argumentation:

But what does this mean? Jesus is using these examples to show how the gospel and the church would start and how it would progress. At this time, the entire kingdom of God was consistent of Jesus and a handful of followers in the entire population of Earth. This is a meager beginning. This is not a massive start. But Jesus tells these people not to lose hope. This small beginning would not stay small. Jesus says that like a mustard seed, it would grow massively. Jesus says that like the small amount of leaven, the whole world would be impacted. The gospel would spread. It’s impact would change everything.

But was Jesus right? Will the gospel spread? Will the impact of the church be like that of leaven in dough? Will the church grow and shelter many in its branches? Aren’t things going to get progressively worse until the end? Don’t we lose here on earth? Aren’t things going to get worse and worse until Christ comes again? Well, let’s think about the history of the church and examine if Jesus’ promise is true. You see, it is my belief that we have a hopeful history.

A Hopeful History.

Argumentation:

The church started with maybe four hundred people gathered together in Jerusalem, waiting for the Spirit of God. When the Spirit fell on these people, the church grew by over three thousand people in one day. From there we see in the book of Acts, a great growing and spreading of the church. Persecution came, but the church spread and the gospel went out. The Apostles made it into Asia, and everywhere they went, the gospel spread.

As time moved on, the church continued to grow. When the Apostles died, the church was greatly hurt. Many had questions and the leadership was unable to answer. But they did the best that they could. They held counsels and drafted the creeds that we still hold to, even to this day. They clarified the doctrine of the Trinity. They clarified the doctrines of the nature of Christ. They fought heretics. They fed the orphans and the widows. They spread the gospel everywhere they went.

When the government became involved in the church, the church again was deeply challenged. Throughout the middle ages the constant fight was where the church ended and where the gospel began. But even throughout the middle ages great movements of revival started and continued. The church never died, and it continued to spread. But there was a problem. Slowly the church began to wane and be corrupted. That line of church and government was blurred. The roman church was supreme and the light of the gospel seemed to dim. But as things seemed so dark, a light arose.

The protestant reformation had begun. The Scriptures were restored to where they had been and where they should be. The church spread like wildfire. From the fires of the reformation grew the puritans. The puritans are unmatched in their theological wisdom and practicality. They are unmatched in their pursuit of holy living. From there spawned the missionary movements to take the gospel to the remotest parts of the world.

The church did not grow worse and worse. The evidence from history is clear. The church has had rough seasons but it has never fallen. It has had times of great darkness, but the gospel has always continued to go out and grow. The reach of Christianity today is farther than it has ever been. But what of the future? Truly we have a hopeful history, but the future must be bleak. I don’t believe so. I believe we have a hopeful future.

A Hopeful Future.

Argumentation:

I believe that we are in a dire place within the church here in America. I believe as a whole, the church in America has and is abandoning the truths of the Christian faith. I believe that the light of the gospel is being clouded out and dimmed within this once great nation. Rarely has a nation become as sexually corrupt as America has at this point. Few nations have reveled in the murder of their children as we do. Few have celebrated sexual abominations as much as we have. I know of no other nation that has become so corrupted sexually that it has abandoned the very nature of male and female. The church has even opened itself to these lies and perversions. The church in Corinth has nothing on us. Sodom and Gomorrah have nothing on us.

So you must think that because I acknowledge these things, I must have a very hopeless outlook for the future of the church. I do not. I have a very hopeful outlook for the future of the church. I have this for several reasons. First, because of the evidence of the growth of the church in other countries. The church is growing rapidly in places such as China, India, and Africa. The gospel may be dwindling here in our nation, but it is growing there. Secondly, I have a hopeful outlook for the future because of the evidence of the past. In the past the gospel has been darkened but it has never once been snuffed out. And when it looks as if all hope is gone, the light of the gospel comes blazing out and spreads farther and faster than it ever has before. I believe this is the evidence of the history of the church.

Finally however, I have a hopeful view of the future because of passages like this one. I believe what Jesus said. I believe that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. I believe it will continue to grow from that small seed. I believe it will become a tree that will shade the entire Earth. I believe that all nations will be blessed in the gospel. I also believe the kingdom of God is like leaven. I believe it will spread and fill the entire Earth.

Not hear me clearly on this, I do not believe the prosperity gospel. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate with a burning passion the heresy known as the prosperity gospel. It teaches that we will get riches and health by following Jesus. I reject that! I believe we will face hatred and pain for following Jesus. However, I do believe that Jesus and His church will be victorious. We are at war. And I do not believe that war is hopeless. I believe in the church victorious.

Application:

But what does this mean for us? I believe it means two things specifically. I believe this speaks to a local hope.

1. A Local Hope.

I do not pretend to know God’s plans for the church here in Lead. But if you will allow me a little foolishness, I want to speak to you as your pastor who loves you dearly. My hope is that the church in lead will be like a mustard seed. I pray this church is like leaven in the flour of Lead, SD. I hope and I pray that God will grow this church. I hope and I pray that we will impact this place for the gospel.

Beloved, we have a small beginning. We are so small and have so little. But my hope is that God will take this small beginning and use it for something great. I want to see the gospel impact Lead and all the surrounding area. I want to see this community become saturated with the gospel. I love this town. I love the Black Hills. I love South Dakota. I long with every fiber of my soul that God will use us in this place to further the gospel. I want to look back twenty years from now and see how Connection Church in Lead, South Dakota succeeded. I want to see how it stayed faithful to God through all of the hatred and pain it will receive. I want to see how through that faithful commitment to God and His word, it impacted the entire community. That is my prayer.

But secondly I think it speaks to us of a worldwide hope.

2. A Worldwide Hope.

I hope to see this church partner with missions across the world. I long to see us aid in the global mission of seeing Christ place every enemy under His feet. I hope that we can do that.

But finally beloved, if you receive nothing else from this, please hear this. I as your pastor love you and long to see you grow closer to Christ. My mission is share the gospel with all here. I long to see the lost saved and the saved made holy. If I am ever rough or harsh, know that it is out of the love of a shepherd. I pray for you. I care for you. I do not know why God has blessed me with you, but since He has, I long to be a good shepherd to you. Let us pray and sing out. But as you leave today, I pray you leave knowing that as your pastor, I care greatly for you and am trying to help you grow in every way that I can.

Prayer:

Closing Hymn:

Closing Benediction:

Beloved, Our Lord, come! 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. 1 Cor 16:22-24