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.