Good morning church! Welcome to our gathering!
Today we continue walking through the book of Matthew, and we’re looking at chapter 13 verses 24-30 & 36-40 where Jesus talks about Wheat and Weeds.
When I was a kid, weeding the garden was one of my least favorite things to do. The garden was planted in the hot Florida sunshine, and I preferred being in the cool swamp out back in the woods.
Weeding is the worst part of a garden, and as a kid, I had a hard time knowing what was the weeds -
because they all looked the same.
That simple mistake of confusing a weed with the plant, is the basis of a parable that Jesus tells in our text today.
Matthew 13:24-30 says, 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.’”
That’s Jesus’ story. What does it mean? Fortunately for us, Jesus' disciples asked that question, and in Verses 37-43, NLT we have Jesus' explanation of His parable.
“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!’”
In this story, Jesus talks of the weeds - He gives a warning for those who don’t trust in, and follow Jesus Christ. These people may succeed in fooling other people, and everyone may think that he or she is a wonderful person – and even a wonderful Christian - But God can never be fooled.
When the end comes, it will become clear whose faith is truly in Jesus, and it will become clear who’s been playing a religious game. That’s a very solemn warning to anyone who’s not a genuine believer in Jesus Christ – Anyone who just plays the religious game, will face judgment in Hell. But there’s another important lesson to be aware of: It’s not always easy to distinguish between those who are believers in Christ, and those who aren’t believers in Christ.
In previous messages here at New Hope, we explored the parable of the sower, and the soils, and we saw, that not all, who claim to be Christians, really are.
There are those who seem very sincere in their belief, and excited about Christ, but their faith proves to be, very temporary.
One of the things Jesus does in this parable, is to remind us, that we as human beings should not be going around deciding who the true Christians are, and who the counterfeits are. That’s not our job.
If we try to do that, we’re going to do some real damage. We have to let God sort things out in the end.
This is an important truth, and we’ll come back to it later, but first, I want to respond to a couple of mistakes people make in understanding this parable.
First, the Lord is not prohibiting us from making moral judgments. Some people say because it’s difficult to tell the difference between someone who’s really a Christian, and someone who’s not – we shouldn’t judge them for their words or actions.
They tell us that we should see every person on the planet as a Christian brother or sister, even if they call themselves Muslims, Hindus or atheists.
And they usually quote Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, lest you be judged.” But they don’t understand the interpretation of that verse.
Jesus is saying, don’t fall into the trap of judging the motives of another person. This doesn't mean, that we can't evaluate someone’s words and actions.
For example, let's say someone comes to our worship service, and I preach that Jesus Christ is indeed, the sinless Son of God. Then after the service, on their way out the door, they say, that they don’t believe this about Jesus. Is it judgmental or wrong to say this individual is not a Christian?
No!
By their own words they have admitted that they aren’t truly a believer in Jesus Christ. Likewise, I don't think Jesus prohibits us from considering someone's actions.
Let's say our church has a Deacon who gets arrested and convicted for drunk driving. I can use this example because I have total confidence that this won’t happen in our church. But, if it did, it would be part of my duty, to go to him and say, “I don't think you should be in church leadership right now.
Your actions reveal that you have a spiritual problem that needs to be dealt with, before you’re ready to serve in this way.”
I hope you’re getting my point. Here, in Jesus’ parable, about the wheat and the weeds, He’s teaching us, that even though it’s not always easy to distinguish who are genuine Christians and those who aren’t,
it doesn't mean we have to be morally paralyzed. On the basis of what God has taught us in His Word, we should still be able to discern true ideas from false ideas; right actions from wrong actions.
A hot topic of today, that we hear far too much of, is the transgender, homosexual, immoral lifestyle that’s being pushed on our society in a big way. And people will tell you that you don't have a right to judge another person's behavior.
Our response should be: “You’re right - I don't have the right to decide whether someone is doing right or wrong - but God does. I’m able to say that an immoral sexual lifestyle is sinful, not because it goes against my personal preferences, but because the Bible tells us it’s wrong.”
Like Romans 1:26 says, ESV
“…God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature.” And Jude 1:7 says, ESV
“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
Jesus tells us we are to love our neighbor and if we don't think that includes someone who’s a homosexual, we'd better read our Bible more carefully, because Jesus says we’re to even love our enemies.
Now, loving someone who’s a practicing homosexual does include, telling them that what they’re doing is wrong, but that’s very different from hating them.
We should not be judgmental, but as Christians, we need to tell the truth to those around us.
When the Bible says that a certain practice is sinful, that practice is wrong.
When the Bible says that a certain belief is false, any teaching that reflects that belief, is also wrong.
The Lord is not encouraging us to become moral fence sitters who start to think that all ideas are equal, and all lifestyles are equal.
The wheat is still wheat, and the weeds are still weeds. We still need to call sin, sin, and false teaching, false.
The Lord is also not teaching that the church should member those who are not Christians.
Augustine, the Christian teacher in North Africa in the early 5th Century, said that the parable of the weeds means that the church will always be made up of both those who are true believers, and those who are not.
Augustine said it was not only foolish, but wrong, to attempt to purify the church and remove those from the church who do not appear to be genuine Christians.
Augustine was a great and brilliant man, but on this point, he was wrong.
Why?
Well, first of all, Jesus says the field in which the wheat and weeds are growing together is not the church, but the world.
Even though this passage is very relevant to discussions concerning church purity and discipline, it’s incorrect, to say that Jesus assumes the church will be made up of both wheat and weeds.
There are also, numerous texts in the New Testament which make it clear that Christians should distinguish between those who truly follow Christ and those who do not.
In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul writes
that Christians should judge within the church, and to expel someone in their group who’s living an immoral lifestyle.
Peter and Jude are two books of the Bible where the Lord calls us to identify false teachers, and reject their doctrine.
The Bible commands us to distinguish between wheat and weeds at certain times.
This parable does not teach that all nonbelievers appear to be Christians.
It simply teaches that some who are not following Christ, are wandering away from Him.
Church history shows that there can be big problems when only a minority of the members of a congregation are true followers of Jesus.
The Ang-li-can church which Charles Simeon pastored at Cambridge, England, in the 1800’s didn't like the fact that Simeon insisted on preaching from the Bible.
The congregation found the content to be too harsh and convicting. They preferred a Sunday morning sermon to only tell them how wonderful they were.
This was a time in history, when people rented a church pew. Because Simeon's opponents were angry with him, they stopped coming to church to hear him, and they bought up all the pews in the church, so anyone who did want to listen to his preaching would have to stand in the back of the sanctuary.
Simeon still hung in there, and when his opponents realized they couldn’t drive him from the pulpit, they gave up, and stopped renting the pews.
He ended up serving as pastor of that congregation for 54 years. This is an example of the type of problem which can occur, when a large portion of the members of a congregation are not genuine Christians.
So, here at New Hope, our goal is to keep our doors wide open to everyone - no matter who they are, what they’ve done, or what they believe, anyone who would like to come and hear the Word of God preached without compromise.
But, to become a member of New Hope, they must be a Christian, believe in our doctrines and practice, and sign their name in agreement.
What does Jesus’ parable mean for us?
The big lesson is: We must be very careful in judging others. Even though, we as Christians should make moral judgments, we need to be careful - very careful, how we judge others.
Here are some comments I hear from different Christians I know, and maybe even from my own lips:
> “I don't think he is a very committed Christian, he never comes to church on Wednesday night.”
> “Oh, she's not really serious about her faith. She always listens to the oldies station instead of a Christian station.”
> “Well, I know he says he is a Christian, but I’ve seen alcohol in his refrigerator.”
> “Yeah, I know everyone thinks they are great Christians, but I heard they hardly gave any money
to church last year, even though they bought that new car.”
Family, listen carefully, I think it’s good to go to church on Wednesday nights – Kelli shares great lessons, it’s good to listen to Christian radio, it’s good to abstain from drinking alcohol, and we should all be giving lots of money to the God through the church.
What’s wrong, what’s very judgmental, is when we start accusing people who don't do those things, of not being committed in their faith or maybe, of not even being a true Christian.
We need to remember that we can't see inside people's hearts - Only God can do that.
I don't know why someone doesn't come to church on Wednesday nights -
I do know they miss a huge blessing!
I don’t know why someone listens to the oldies station,
why someone has alcohol in their refrigerator,
or why someone doesn't give much money to the church.
Yes, if I talk to them and listen to their reasons, maybe I could make some accurate evaluation, but by just looking at someone, I can't tell what their motives are.
Remember, that in Christianity, motives matter - they matter a lot.
Why someone does, or does not do something, is very important.
A woman who has the oldies radio station on because that’s what her husband wants to listen to may be much more godly, than the woman who puts the Christian station on just to irritate her husband.
We need to be very careful so we don't misjudge others.
In recent years, I’ve seen judgmental attitudes do great damage in different churches. Some of you may have experienced that firsthand. Let me tell you about some Bible-believing, evangelical congregations, who have suffered greatly because people thought they could separate the wheat from the weeds, and it turned into a disaster.
> A new pastor assumed the pastor role, and quickly developed a very loyal following from a small group of people in the church. Then the pastor tried to make some big changes which generated opposition from the majority of the people.
This is pretty normal, it happens all the time in churches.
But then, the pastor said those who were opposed to his ministry were not really following the Lord and implied, that they were probably not true Christians.
The majority of the people left the church, and some stopped attending church at all.
A faithful follower of Jesus for many years, and a servant of God – using her spiritual gifts, decided, for a variety of reasons, that she didn’t want to be part of a Bible study the pastor was leading.
He told her, “Your refusal to be part of the study, indicates you have an unteachable spirit. I wonder if you’re really even a Christian.” That’s a very judgmental accusation. She left that church and joined another one.
A pastor and congregation gathered Sunday morning for a worship service. The pastor and the trustees had disagreements in a meeting the night before, and they all left for the night, with it being unresolved.
The service started as usual, with announcements, songs, offering, prayer – and then it was time for the sermon. The pastor entered the pulpit, and announced the names of the trustees, and told them to bring him their church keys, and to leave the building.
The congregation sat in shock and total silence as 3 men delivered their keys, and them and their families walked out of the building. The pastor immediately told the congregation that they were dismissed, and he departed out of the back door.
In the end, these churches suffered division.Many, many people were deeply wounded because of what happened in these churches, and their souls will carry those scars for years. The church is not supposed to be like that.
As a future pastor, I learned a lot about church division, and how to avoid it.
What do you do about church division?
In closing, let me give you an account of weeds trying to take over the wheat:
A wolf in sheep’s clothing started attending a church with his family. On the exterior, there was not anything concerning – you couldn’t see the looming problem from the outward appearance, because the problem lie deep in his soul. He quickly gained the pastor’s trust, and became a part of the volunteer staff. He seemed to lead well, but the pastor noticed something wrong – he was intentionally trying to push the church in a direction that was opposite of the direction God was leading the pastor for the church.
Then the pastor and his wife noticed that for the 1st time in their long ministry in the church, the congregation was against them both. The people had broken off contact, and it felt like they had no friends in the church. The pastor and his wife committed the matter to the Lord in prayer, without telling the congregation or anyone from outside the church, what was happening.
Then spiritual gifts kicked in, and Christians from outside the church and some within the churchtold the pastor and his wife about the wolf in the church, and his plan to take the church as his own, as the new pastor with new volunteer staff.
Through much prayer, and the power of the church constitution, the wolf was removed from his position, and the sheep were safe again.
God removed all of the division, and healed the church in a big way.
I think today is a good time to remind ourselves that God has called us here together as a congregation, not to judge each other, but to serve one another.
Instead of judging, we need to focus on serving. Maybe even here today, there’s someone, whose motives you question.
You kind of wonder if they’re really sincere in their expressions of faith in the Lord and their love for others.
My assignment for you today, is to try to stop asking those questions.
Unless you’re in a situation where you’re required to make some type of moral judgment, I encourage you to just be content, to let God judge that person's heart. Instead, think of a couple of ways you can help that person to become who God wants him or her to be.
Oh, being a judge may seem a lot more fun than being a servant, but remember what Jesus said,
“If you want to be great in God's kingdom, learn to be the servant of all.” must ask, believe, and confess. If you’ve never done this, you can pray this prayer and mean it:
Jesus, I ask you to forgive my sins.
I believe You died on the cross,
was buried, and rose again.
I commit my life to You.
In the name of Jesus.
