Matthew 13:24-30 (New International Version)

The Parable of the Weeds

 24Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

 27"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?'

 28" 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
      "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

 29" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30Let 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.' "

Sermon “Weed Problem” based on Matthew 13:24-30 (NLT)

 

From growing up mowing and working on my parent’s lawn in Chicago, to working a landscaping job for three summers during college, to now tending my own yard; I have had my share of pulling weeds, all sorts of weeds.  There are weeds that are easy to pull out by the root, and the ones that hover low to the ground that you are quite certain you have not seen the last of them. 

 

There is a saying the only thing for sure is “death and taxes” and I would like to add to that “weeds”.  At my current home I work on the lawn about once a week.  I do my best to pull out the weeds, which grow really well when there is water.  So if I want my garden to be nourished, I can expect the weeds to be not far behind.  I try to get as many of them as possible, but invariably as I walk out the house I will find one that has escaped my grasp!  (pic of weeds)

 

Jesus knew about weeds as well.  The meaning of Jesus’ parable about the wheat and the weeds becomes clearer when we look at the specific kind of weed he talks about. The word for “weeds” is a technical Greek word that needs to be explained since it unlocks the meaning of the story.  The Greek word for weeds is “zizania” which is a very particular type of weed that looks just like wheat as it is growing up.  You can hardly tell the difference. 

 

Today it is called “darnel” wheat. It looks like wheat, it appears like wheat but it is not wheat.  It fools you.  It is similar to “wild oats” and “true oats.” They look alike but they are very different.  (pic of darnel weed)

 

I believe the basic message of this parable is that as Christian we are called to be in the world but not of the world. We assume we can make ourselves pure and pleasing to God by distancing ourselves from those whom we deem impure, all the while forgetting the parable of the wheat and tares. 

 

Sometimes churches schedule so many activities at the church that they effectively pull their members out of the places where they can have the most impact.  In seminary they had a term for this it was called, “redemption and lift”.  Meaning churches members are redeemed through faith in Christ and then lifted from the world. 

 

The problem is that as I have said before the word church comes from the word, “ecclesia”, which means the sent out ones.  Churches are meant to be in places where people discover God’s love for them in Christ.  Then grow in what that means for their daily living. And then share that love with others who don’t know that love yet.  We are sent back out as wheat in a world of weeds.  This is our Know, Grow and Show values!

Sometimes I think it easy to sit back and say, “Look at all the bad things in the world.  Look at all the immorality, corruption, lack of godly values etc…”  But the bible tells us today that we shouldn’t be surprised by that.  As the passage says there are weeds and wheat.  There is good and evil in the world. If God’s kingdom were completely reigning on earth it would be like heaven.  But there are still some blind to the Good News!   

2 Corinthians 4:3-7 “If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. 4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”  (NLT) (slide)

In this way instead of judging others (especially outside the church) for their behaviors, we should have compassion on them because they are like sheep with a shepherd. Now don’t get me wrong I am not saying we should saying everything’s okay you can do what you want.  I am saying is that as we see those who are blinded to the light of Christ and lost in darkness, our hearts should be moved toward compassion. 

Why? First of all because we are all sinners!  “There is no one that is righteous, no not even one”, the book of Romans says.  Then in 3:23 it says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  If we have received the grace of God and are wheat and not weeds it was a gift.  So as we look out at the weed problem, we remember that if not for the grace of God there go I. (2 bullets)

That is actually a big phrase in the 12 step movement, as in A.A. and other recovery groups.  Although people are in recovery, they are not to judge others, as they are only one step or one drink from going back to the streets.  In fact a big indicator that someone is on a slippery slope in these movements is when they are overly judgmental of others. 

 

Likewise some of the most judgmental Christians end up falling in the same ways they have been denouncing.  We have seen that with some TV evangelists in the past.   (pic of tv evangelist)

As Christians too, although by God’s grace we move from the weeds to wheat category, we still struggle with the weed problem until we die.  Just as in my lawn I have to continually root out the weeds, in my spiritual life I need to continually root out the sin in my life. 

And just as there are many varieties of weeds, we all struggle with different forms of sins.  Some struggle with greed and its opposite quality would be generosity.  Some struggle with pride and its opposite would be humility.  Some struggle with anger and its opposite would be peace.  Some struggle with self centeredness and its opposite would be serving. Some with lust or gluttony and its opposite would be self control.  Okay I think I have named most of the 7 deadly sins!

And isn’t ironic that the biggest cry from those outside the faith is, “Christians are a bunch of hypocrites.”  Why is that?  Because sometimes we let the weeds get into the wheat and we look more like the weeds than the wheat.  And like we said from the beginning Jesus mentioned this type of weed because it looked so much like the wheat. 

So what’s our take home for today?

Deal With the Weed Problem 

The garden of our spiritual lives will have to be well kept to keep out the weeds.  I have found that instead of focusing on sin, if we tend and nourish our garden there is less likelihood for a proliferation of weeds. As we are rooted deeply in God’s word and watered with prayer, fellowship and service to others we will become wheat that produces grain, which is what we were intended to do. 

This Fall, we will be launching a three week series based on the book “The Divine Mentor”, by Wayne Cordeiro, . (Pic of book)  which will focus on how we tend our relationship with God, who is the only one who can produce healthy growth in our lives. We will couple that with a four week midweek program at Northwood that will challenge each of us to go deeper through getting in God’s Word, journaling and sharing that with others

We can talk about growing numerically at North campus all we want, but unless each of us is growing in our own spiritual lives it is not likely to happen.  The whole church will embark on this journey to go deeper together and see what God can do.   

I talked about the opposite qualities of the 7 deadly sins, like humility, generosity, service, self control and peace.  As those characteristics are cultivated in us individually and as we celebrate that together more often as a community, we will begin to look more like the wheat than the weeds. 

As we begin to look more like wheat than weeds, I believe God will send us out into the harvest to bring more to know Him.  God’s Word says, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”(slide)  May God prepare us to deal not only with our own weed problem in our own lives, but to prepare us to be workers in the harvest that is to come!   

Although I haven’t talked about it much there is an ominous ending in this passage.  It says one day the harvester will come to separate out the weeds and the wheat.  This stark conclusion reminds us that this weed problem is a little bit more serious than the one in our backyards!     

Amen…