The Story of the Wheat and the Weeds Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43

12 January 2015 Aghada & Trinity Presbyterian Churches, Cork 

Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43 

Something that has encouraged me in recent years

has been to meet many African Christians and their pastors.

There is a fresh approach to the applying the Bible and to ministry.

One pastor kindly invited me to his wedding.

On the front of the card was a scripture text Hebrews 13.4

'Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure,'

a very fine thought for a wedding invitation,

but the quotation went on

'for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.'

First I thought,

I wouldn't like that on my wedding invitation.

And then I thought, well why not?

Just because it wouldn't go down well with a lot of people

doesn't make the fact of God's judgement untrue.

You and I mightn't want the whole verse on our wedding invitations

but all honour to those who are concerned to use any opportunity

to present the whole balance of scripture:

not only that marriage should be honoured by all and kept pure

but also if not, if people choose a different way

then there is a judgement coming from God.

So I take this invitation from an African Christian

as one more example of God sending to us in recent times

Christians from other backgrounds to remind us of realities we may have lost sight of

particularly the reality that God will pass judgement on us all.

But when we talk about judgement, people get hot and bothered.

they may say, what right have you to pass judgement on me?

And if I was passing judgement on them they would be right to complain

because that is God's business not mine.

It reminds me of this simple one line summary of Christianity:

'There is one God: you are not God.'

Let me refine it a little:

"There is one God who will pass judgement:

  you are not that God.'

Many non believers mess things up here

by denying the reality that God will pass judgement.

They think they may live as they like and it doesn't really matter.

Many Christians mess things up

by deciding that they will pass the judgement, taking God's place -

we judge prematurely, far too early.

That is why Jesus told the story of the wheat and the weeds.

He took a sad everyday story of a jealous neighbour in the countryside

trying to mess up his enemy by contaminating his good crop with weeds.

Probably they were 'wild oats'

which look the same in the early stage as the good wheat

but then end up standing up higher above the rest of the field.

In this part of the world, there are sprays to help

or youngsters can be sent in to pull the wild oats when they grow higher

but in the middle east in Jesus' time there were no sprays

and the roots were intertwined in the hard stony ground

so that they could not be easily uprooted without damaging the good crop.

The point is that you have to wait,

and do not rush to judgement.

The farmer says wisely

30 '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.'

And Jesus explains this plainly:

41 '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.

42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace,

      where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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

'There is one God who will pass judgement:

you are not that God.'

We need to understand the difference between

making judgements and passing judgement.

It's common that people say you must never judge

and this sounds so plausible until you think about it:

does this mean that we cannot say that child abuse is wrong

or bankers getting big bonuses for losing money?

Is it all right for me to take your car without asking,

to pour boiling water over you,

to put weedkiller over your roses, poison your dog,

to sow bad seed among your good seed?

Of course not.

It is part of what it means to be human that we MAKE judgements:

but Christ's followers are not to be people who PASS judgement

people with critical, self justifying, judgmental condemnatory spirits.

But who is it these days who do the most condemning?

Sadly some church people have that reputation

and some church people do not help by dishing it out

But even though people try to block out the idea of final judgement by God

we live in what is actually a very condemning, writing off society

where people feel useless or are regarded as useless

just because they failed an exam, or are not good at sport

or do not look glamorous.

What is the ultimate insult in today's competitive world?

What do kids say (and what do adults think)

if they want to crush someone? 'Loser!'

Why is 'The Weakest Link' such compulsive viewing?

Or 'X Factor' or 'Strictly Come Dancing'?

Because we enjoy too much

Anne Robinson or Gary Barlow demolishing the losers.

But if we follow Jesus we assess the worth of a person

not by letters after their name nor by their points in the leaving

not by figures in bank balance nor their pictures in 'Hello'

nor by how much they bank in Weakest Link

or how far they got in X Factor

but only by this:

that God loves them and Jesus died to save them from eternal judgement.

Yes, we MAKE judgements that people do all sorts of wrong

but we can only make provisional judgements with a humble repentant spirit

God alone PASSES judgement that is final and awesome.

Whether condemned to be thrown out and destroyed

or to shine like the sun in the kingdom of his father

This means three things:

1 START WITH YOURSELF

We need to be so careful.

Somebody once observed:

'Saints are God’s wheat;

 fanatics (people full of religious zeal) are the weeds mixed with them.

 Reformers with loving hearts are God’s wheat;

 reformers with motives of hatred are Satan’s weeds.

 Lovers of truth are God’s wheat;

 haters of heresy are weeds.

 Zeal is wheat; persecution is weeds.

 Charity is wheat; indifference is weeds.'
Richard Glover

The worst enemy of true Christian faith 

is not atheism or godlessness or militant Islam. 

The worst enemy of true Christian faith is... religion. 

Religion is about trying without trusting.  

Religion is every attempt to impose Christianity without the Holy Spirit.  

I disagree with Islamic teaching 

because it denies the centrality of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. 

But I disagree just as much with those who rant against Muslims 

threatening to burn the Koran and encouraging hate crimes.   

I am concerned about the push for gay marriage 

but I am just as concerned 

about those who treat homosexuals with harshness and disrespect.

 2 TAKE THE LONG VIEW

Those who follow sport know that the game isn't over

until the ref blows full time.

How often can we see a team start out well but finish badly

Or play an awful first half and be transformed to win the game?

So it is with the much more important matter of our lives before God.

You may play a dazzling first half and then fade tragically.

A zealous young Christian, hungry for the Bible, eager to serve others

never missing church, always ready to speak about Jesus

can grow into a middle aged complacent 'fat cat'

dismissing and denying his youthful zeal.

Here's another memory of an African pastor, this time a sad one.

He was a gifted pastor, friendly, personable, spiritual.

White and black people mixed well together in his fellowship.

He was invited to speak at different meetings and conferences.

And then one day he left.

He left his wife and family. He left his fellowship

and he left his family and church without any money

and he ended up serving a prison sentence in another country.

What are we to make of that?

I MAKE the judgement that he was a weed among the wheat

and at first indistinguishable, very deceiving and disturbing

or if you like, a wolf in sheep's clothing, as Jesus predicted.

But I must not PASS final judgement on this man.

If he came to my door I would continue to make the judgement

that he is not to be trusted,

not unless he can show complete repentance,

showing that by seeking to restore what he has taken from others

(just as Zaccheus did when he met Jesus).

But as to where he stands at the final judgement of God

that is not my business nor yours.

The judgements we make about other people 

and about the direction of our own lives 

should be made provisionally, humbly, prayerfully 

so that we give God thanks that we trust him today and walk with him 

but we remember the warning 

“Let him who thinks he stands, take care lest he falls”  

1 Corinthians 10.12

or

if we sense that someone is far from God,

we make that a matter of prayer

we also think of ways in which we can help them

but we don't just dismiss them as worthless and hopeless.

We may have nothing left to offer them, but God can.

3 TELL PEOPLE OFF BUT DON'T WRITE THEM OFF

Maybe you shrink from the idea that we might even tell people off.

But there is a place for rebuke in the Christian life.

There are times for correction as well as for encouragement.

It is even right that church leaderships may reprove and discipline members

who are clearly doing things

which undermine their own and other people's faith.

We can see this in Matthew 18 and in other parts of the New Testament.

But all such correction is to be done in the spirit that

we are not passing final judgement.

There is a God who will judge us all.

We are not that judge.

The same Jesus Christ who will be our judge

also died on the cross and rose again to deliver us from condemnation

to offer forgiveness and a new way to live.

If we follow him, seeking forgiveness

then we may be confident that we shall be gathered into his barn

and shine like the sun in the kingdom of his father.

And if we are confident of that

we shall pray that many more may be in that harvest

LORD, your word in Psalm 1 says that

blessed is the one who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

but his delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

May we also be like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.

May whatever we do prosper, as we are deeply rooted in you.

And remind us Lord of what happens by contrast to the the wicked.

They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For you, LORD watch over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

May we like the righteous shine in the kingdom of our father

And may we never pass judgement on others

but take the long view of their lives and ours.

Teach us indeed how to rebuke and correct in utter love

but not to condemn.

The Story of the Sower Matthew 13.1-23

A sower went out to sow, sow, sow, - THROW THE SEED ABOUT
the seed began to grow, grow, grow. HANDS UP FROM GROUND
But as it fell in each kind of place
it showed its growth at a different pace. ONE HAND UP ONE DOWN, FROWN

Some fell on hard packed lifeless ground;
quickly for birds a feast was found. HANDS FLAP LIKE BIRDS' WINGS

In the shallow soil some made a speedy show; HANDS UP SUDDENLY - SMILE
but with no roots they couldn’t really grow. HANDS DOWN WAVING SLOWLY - FROWN

Some fell on thorny ground, never weeded:
young shoots couldn’t get the food so needed. HANDS ROUND THROAT

But some seed fell on soil so rich and deep HANDS OUT SMILING a steady growth it was seen to keep,
and brought a return of many times more. COUNT WITH FINGERS UP TEN, TWENTY THIRTY ETC

Now of these pictures please take heed:
the different ways to treat the seed.
Will the devil snatch it out?
When hard pressed will you turn to doubt?
Or let riches crowd it out?

If you really want to know
how God’s harvest can strongly grow,
let your lives be so receiving
that you hear and keep believing!

Matthew 13.1-23

I got an e mail from Starbucks the other day.
They were reminding me I had a loyalty card with them
and they were going to upgrade it to 'gold'
and I could get a free coffee after every 15 I buy
(that's a lot of coffee to buy for a free coffee)
but also as a gold customer
I can get free espresso shots, syrups, soy and whipped cream.
Despite all that I have to say I am not a very committed Starbucks customer.
Yes, I did sign up and (more fool me) there is a little money stored on my card
but those few times I am in Starbucks I usually forget about it.

In terms of the story of the sower where does that put me?
Somewhere between the seed that sprang up quickly but without a deep root
- I made an impulsive decision to join their card scheme
and the seed among the thorns - choked by other interests and concerns.
I can nearly see the Starbucks computer sadly shaking its head over me:
'We promised him many blessings and he was so eager to sign up
but he cannot be bothered to drink more of our coffee'.
No doubt the computer will continue to churn out the e mails, that's what they do
but it doesn't really matter if I take no notice of them.
But it matters so much how I receive the message Jesus has for me.

That's the point of this story in Matthew 13.
As Jesus says in v 9: "He who has ears, let him hear."
How receptive are you and I to what God is saying?

It is easy enough to hear,
but who actually receives, who takes the message in and responds.
It is not too different from the question posed by the Lord's Supper.
Easy enough to eat bread and drink wine
but who actually receives all the blessings of Jesus promised us?

The things Jesus is talking about
would have been easily recognised by those listening.
The seed lying on the hard packed ground, snatched away by the birds.
The sudden growth in the shallow soil warmed by the sun
and then when the sun grew too hot, scorched because there was no root deep down.
The problem of weeds choking what might have been good growth in fertile soil.
And then the multiple growth in deep fertile weed free soil.

How many actually got the message behind the story?

Years ago a student came to one of our services for the first time.
He expressed great enthusiasm. He talked to me about doing an Alpha course.
And then nothing.
I called to where he lived. He was out. I left a note.
Nothing.
What was going on there?
I suspect either the hard packed ground or the shallow soil.
Possibly somebody took him aside
and advised him not to get involved with those Presbyterians,
a pack of Orange bigots, bible thumpers or whatever.
Or maybe they said 'You don't need that God stuff, you're fine as you are.'
People often do the devil's work for him, discrediting Christians, distracting.
The seed of the good news is snatched away.

Or maybe his soil was shallow.
He was into Christianity that week but next week it was something else
or a friend pointed out they might be friends no longer
if he kept the company of Christians.

But Jesus said in this story that's how it is.
There are different levels of response to the message of God.
We are to take care how we hear.

If we asked everyone here to write down which kind of soil we think we are
I imagine most of us will identify ourselves with the third type of soil
receptive but cluttered.
We want to follow Jesus. We want to believe.
We can see that it makes sense.
But there's too much other stuff in our lives.

22 ... the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it,
making it unfruitful.

Isn't there a bit of weeding to be done in you and me?
A few false gods, or more than a few to be toppled and thrown out?

Maybe you saw a letter by Rev David Montgomery in the December Presbyterian Herald
on the question of can a practising homosexual be a true Christian.
I was struck by how David put it.
'A fundamental principle of Christian discipleship
is that Christ does ask us to choose between his way and ours.
Daily, he asks me to choose between God and money,
career, ambition, lust pride or selfish anger
- and I don't want to.
Yet this is the way of the cross. We cannot serve two masters.
How we deal with our sexuality is only one of very many discipleship implications
that this stark challenge forces us to face.'
The basic problem he is saying is not so much are we going against the seventh commandment (against adultery) but are we going against the first,
having a false God, whether it be money, career, ambition, lust pride or selfish anger or sexual choices.
If only we could see more clearly the weeds that are choking our spiritual growth.

The Letter of James deals with this (James 1.19-25)
'My dear brothers, take note of this:
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent
and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says
is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
and, after looking at himself,
goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom,
and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it
--he will be blessed in what he does.'

There's an image of weeding the garden there
and if you are a serious gardener you know that you don't just weed once
you need to keep doing it.
We don't just make a choice once for God
and against money, career, ambition, lust pride or selfish anger or sexual choices.
As David Montgomery says, it is a daily challenge.
Day by day we have to weed out the bad stuff
and 'humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you'
continuing to do this, 'not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it'.
There, James and Jesus say is the secret of blessing, of fruitfulness.

That is not a word primarily of 'do this' and 'don't do that'.
The 'perfect law of freedom' is the liberating teaching of Jesus
telling us that we are accepted in Christ
that our sin is forgiven
that we are loved with everlasting love
that we don't have to do the bad things any more
that those things not only choke our growth in God
but they grieve the one who loved us and gave himself for us.
That's how God's word can save us, free us and make us flourish and be fruitful.

23 ...the one who received the seed that fell on good soil
is the man who hears the word and understands it.
He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

The main message of this story is, as we have seen, to be careful in our hearing.

But I sense also another message: KEEP SOWING

Notice that the sower does not give up or get down
because of the first three types of unproductive soil.
He keeps scattering the seed.

I began with an advertising e mail which just left me feeling a bit guilty
about not drinking enough of the supposed right coffee.
But let me finish with a Christmas card which arrived the other day from Germany.

Sybille writes:
'I remember the time I spent in Ireland very well.
Thanks to your community it was something like a confirmation to read the bible,
which I do now, and it is of great help.
It's good to know that there are Christians all over the world
since we live in difficult times.'

I am going to write back to Sybille, who was only on a short visit to Cork
to tell her how encouraging her message was.
Whether it was in a service or in a visit to one of our homes
(and I think I was away when she visited)
God nudged her when among us to take the Bible more seriously
which is something we do seek to do as a community.
I don't imagine when she came into church that anyone thought
we are going to sow the seed of God's word in that girl's life
but by God's grace that's what happened.

Lets not be discouraged by hard packed soil, by seed snatched away
nor by a superficial response without a root.
Lets not be overwhelmed by our weeds.
Each day lets make the choice the true God and topple the false ones.
Lets keep sowing.

Sunday 1 January 2012 God's delight Zephaniah 3.1-17

Zephaniah 3.1-17
Zephaniah prophesied in the reign of King Josiah
around 600 years before the time of Jesus.

What makes you want to get up in the morning?

What does God think of you?
What does God think of this world?

Is God judging or joyful? Condemning or comforting? Disapproving or delighting?

How we answer those questions
will also shape how we think of the year that’s past and the year that’s to come
and how we feel about getting up in the morning

A short answer is of course that God is both.
He is a God of both judgement and mercy.
We need to accept that we are more wicked than we can understand
and more loved than we can ever imagine.

There are two one sided views of God around which are unhelpful.

One is that God judges and condemns and there is no hope. We are lost.
People reject a God like that and try to live out of their own resources.

The other one sided view is that because God is merciful, it’ll be all right in the end.
He’s the heavenly Santa Claus. There’ll be goodies all round.
He’ll always forgive, it doesn’t matter what we’ve done.
That’s an attractive but completely inadequate view of God
and it doesn’t satisfy because it doesn’t tackle the big problem of our guilt before God.

We need a view of God which accepts both his right to judge
and his decision in Christ to be merciful.

Zephaniah chapter 3 tells us at least two things
GOD CARES ABOUT OUR SIN
GOD CARES ABOUT US

GOD CARES ABOUT OUR SIN

Vv 1-4 tell us that Jerusalem was a corrupt oppressive society
and at the root of that was a rejection of God.
v 2 ‘She obeys no one, she accepts no correction.
She does not trust in the LORD , she does not draw near to her God.'
Whether officials, rulers, prophets or priests
their evil was rampant, relentless destructive, arrogant, lawless -
they did not trust or draw near God, they just used him.
Do you know anyone like that?

But, whatever about the servants of the LORD, the LORD himself was different.
5 'The LORD within her is righteous; he does no wrong.
Morning by morning he dispenses his justice,
and every new day he does not fail'
but some people just didn’t get it. 5 ‘yet the unrighteous know no shame. '

The LORD then declares two things:
First in v 8 a solemn judgement
‘The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.’
for God cares about our sin.
It is no slight thing that we have disobeyed God and fallen away from him.
It is an awesome reality,
matched only or in fact exceeded by this awesome reality:

GOD also CARES ABOUT US

From v 9 onwards we read of a new community based in Jerusalem, purified, united,
a community not of the arrogant God rejecters ‘ those who rejoice in their pride.’
but the meek and humble, who trust in the name of the LORD '.
a community of truth and without fear (13)
a community that rejoices because God is with them.
15 'The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy.
The LORD , the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.;
Doesn’t it remind you of Revelation 21.2-3 ?
‘I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.
They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘

God who cares passionately about sin and will destroy those who remain in sin
arrogantly rejecting him
cares passionately for his people who humble themselves
and seek refuge in the name of the LORD
(as another version translates v 12)

This is not just true for the end times
although that is where it shall be completely fulfilled
but we may and should apply it today.

A s v 17 says which could be a motto for us for 2012
‘The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.’

This is what Christmas really means.
This what Easter also means.
God is with us. Sin is taken away. His wrath is satisfied.
He delights in those who take refuge in him,
those for whom it means everything that Jesus is their saviour.

When our previous Moderator Norman Hamilton visited us last April
he used more than once in his loving and direct way this question:
‘What makes you want to get up in the morning?’

I hope and pray that 2012 will be the year when each one of us will want to get up
thrilled, delighted and excited
that God in his mercy delights in us and wants us to delight in him.

Yes, there will be days when we won’t feel like getting up
because we know that we have messed up, we have sinned
and we need to confess that and face up to it
or because other people are messing us about
and we don’t know how to handle it.

But what will make us get up is the sense that God shines on us in utter love in Jesus,
not denying that our sin is serious, but dealing with it in the sacrifice of Christ.

And then we will want to say or think each morning:
God delights in me. How will I delight in him?

If we delight in God, will we not want to keep in touch?

One of the things I enjoy at this time of year
is reviewing all the Christmas cards we have been sent and the letters.
It’s always interesting to know how the people you care for are doing.
Sometimes those Christmas bulletins become Christmas boasts
but I’d rather have the boastful news than no news.

One of the things I try to do is to work out who hasn’t sent us a card
not I hope in any reproachful, critical way, but out of concern,
and get in touch with them to find out how they are.

If you delight in God
whose friendship and care for you
is deeper and more dear than the deepest and dearest earthly relationship ...
keep in touch.

Read the Bible, deeply.
Psalm 1 and other Psalms commend those who delight in the law of God
who go over it again and again, taking its message in.

Pray, constantly and completely.
Tell God everything that’s going on, joys and sorrows,
what makes you get up in the morning
what makes you want to bury your head in the bed clothes.

Make friends with the friends of God and deepen each other’s delight.
i.e. we need to have a very good reason for missing church each Sunday
and we need to take the opportunities to meet together in smaller groups.

Delight to do his will.
Psalm 40 .8 I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
Some versions say ‘I delight to do your will’


This is the practical challenge of delighting in God’s friendship, delighting in his word.
We love to take. Do we also love to give?
Jesus said (in John 14.23-24)
‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. ’

One comment on that saying can also apply to our motto verse from Zephaniah 3.
‘While at one level the idea that God is within us is comforting,
it is also profoundly disturbing.
How can a holy God live side by side
with the profoundly unholy things that we know also live within us?
This God if he is true to himself will disturb us and challenge us.
He will want change. He does not come to us to fulfil our agenda but his.
Security? Yes. Cosiness? No.’
[J Graystone]

So my prayer for 2012 is that we should each know that God delights in us in Jesus
and that that will fire us up to delight in him
in such a way that on this day in 2013 we may be able to say
by God’s grace, I delight in him more and I obey his teaching more
I fulfil his agenda more.

Zephaniah 3.17
The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.

Lord, be your word my rule;
in it may I rejoice;
your glory be my aim,
your holy will my choice;

Your promises my hope;
your providence my guard;
your arm my strong support;
yourself my great reward.

Christopher Wordsworth, 1872