No Neutral Ground - The Parable of the Weeds

Thank you, Father, that all Scripture is God-breathed and is

useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training

in righteousness. Open our hearts to receive your Word,

that we may know you better and be thoroughly equipped for every

good work. Through your Son, Jesus Christ our

Lord. Amen.

I want to tell you the tale of 2 parkruns. The first

parkrun is set in Kununurra, WA. It's a 5-kilometer track. It's nice,

it's wide, it's flat, and for many years there were fewer

than 30 runners. It meant there were no obstacles. The gun

went off and as fast as my legs could carry me, I went. No obstacles.

The second tale is set right here in Rocky at the Botanic Gardens

where the track, especially the first kilometer, is narrow

and hilly, and on my first run there were about 300 runners.

The gun went off and I'd parked myself at the back of the pack,

and so I found myself dodging left and right, working out how to overtake

those who were slower in front of me. And at times I couldn't. I was

blocked from a nice smooth run.

Well, at the beginning of Matthew chapter 13— and it'd be good to have your

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

Bibles open at Matthew 13— Jesus teaches about how people respond

as he sows the seed of the gospel. This was last week's Gospel passage.

There are some who will hear the Gospel and ignore it. Others will

hear the Gospel but be more attracted to the things of the world than to

Jesus. Another group will hear the Gospel but lose heart

as soon as their faith faces challenges. The final group though are

those who hear the word of the Gospel, turn to Jesus and are saved.

And they in turn produce an abundance of fruit for God, 30,

60 to 100 times more. It's a picture

of the faithful in God's kingdom flourishing as they live for Jesus and

share the good news of the kingdom. Now,

you could be forgiven after reading that parable that Jesus'

disciples are going to have a smooth run, a Kununurra run,

as they live for Jesus and share the gospel.

But what Jesus goes on to share in Matthew 13 is that actually being a

member of the kingdom is more like the Rocky Park run. There will be

obstacles. It won't be smooth. In fact, there is a powerful

spiritual enemy that will seek to derail

Jesus' kingdom plans.

Now, through this chapter, Jesus is speaking in parables.

A parable is a story that uses everyday things that people understand,

like planting, harvesting, and gardening, to reveal hidden

truths about God's kingdom.

Truths that in verse 35 have been hidden since the beginning

of creation. And so let's

look at what these parables reveal about the kingdom of heaven.

First, the parable of wheat and weeds.

Now this is an everyday farming situation. In verse

24, a man sows good seed in his field,

seed that will grow into wheat. And yield a good harvest.

Then in verse 25, we see the twist.

But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and

sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. This is

first-century corporate espionage executed under the COVID

of darkness. So the farmer has a problem,

and it only becomes apparent in verse 26 when the weeds

grow. And the weeds are mixed in with the good wheat-producing

seed. Now,

the weeds are a surprise to the servants of the master.

In verse 27, they ask, where did the weeds come from?

The corporate espionage is coming to light. The magnitude of the damage

is becoming obvious. And the master, he knows straight away

what has happened. In verse 28, he says, an enemy did this.

And the servants, they jump into damage control. Do you want

us to go pull them out? The master is wise and he

says no in verse 29. And he gives the reason, because while you

are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.

One of the things that we've noticed in Rockhampton is our lawn and

many lawns in Rockhampton have this weed growing in

it that just kind of pops up. It makes the lawn look unkempt and messy,

but to dig it all up, we'd have to destroy the lawn as well.

So instead we just mow it so you can't see it.

Well, the master uses the same logic with the weeds. Don't pull them out because

you're going to destroy the wheat harvest as well. Instead, verse 30,

let both grow together until the harvest, and at that time

I will tell the harvesters, first collect the weeds, tie them in bundles to

be burned, then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.

The enemy won't be victorious. The good seed will still grow. The weeds will be

destroyed. So what

do we learn about the kingdom of heaven? Sounds like

maybe some good farming advice that Jesus is giving here.

It's not self-evident, is it?

Not even to the disciples is it self-evident. In verse

36, when the disciples were alone with Jesus, they asked, explain to us

the parable of the weeds in the field.

Jesus is the one who has to reveal the great deep truths

that have been hidden from creation, from before creation.

And so Jesus does. He starts by explaining the different parts of the

parable. In verse 37, the sower is the Son of Man,

that is Jesus himself. In verse 38, the field is

the world. So already we're seeing that the parable explains

what Jesus is doing in the world.

The good seed in this parable is the people of the kingdom,

and people of the kingdom in the Gospel of Matthew are those who have ears

to hear Jesus, who accept Jesus' invitation to come

and rest in him, to be blessed by him, to take up their cross

and follow him.

And Jesus has planted people of the kingdom throughout

the world. The weeds They're the people of the

evil one, and the evil one is

the devil. It's the Greek word diabolos,

the adversary, the slanderer, a spiritual creature that in every

fibre and being of its character stands opposed

to God, who at every point in history has been

trying to thwart God. Today,

most people would laugh off the existence of the devil,

but Jesus doesn't. The devil is

still trying to thwart God's plans for the kingdom of heaven.

The devil plants his weeds, his people throughout the world.

Now, as we read this today, we need to know that Jesus has defeated

the devil on the cross. The devil is a beaten enemy.

Like a team in a sporting league might know that they've lost

the league halfway through, But they still keep on playing.

Well, that is the devil. The devil has lost, but he still keeps on playing.

And here Jesus calls the weeds the people of the evil

one. These are people who align themselves not

with the purposes of God in Jesus,

but whether knowingly or not, have thrown their hat in

with the devil. As I heard someone put it this week in Bible

study, there is no Switzerland with Jesus. There is no neutral ground

with Jesus.

And so if you're not aligned with God, if you're

not a person giving glory to God through Jesus Christ,

you're aligning yourself with the purposes of the devil,

seeking to thwart God's plans and rule.

And so Jesus continues in verse 39, the harvest

is the end of the age, the day when Jesus returns. The harvesters are angels,

the ones who will sort the wheat from the weeds.

So Jesus tells us who is who and what is what.

Now what do we learn about the kingdom?

Well, first we learn that Jesus' kingdom is worldwide.

Jesus plants his seed not in one location but across the globe. It's not centered

in Rockhampton or Jerusalem or anywhere else, but can be found everywhere

from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Mexico

to Tasmania, even New Zealand.

And if our faith is in Jesus, we are part of Jesus's kingdom of

heaven. The second thing we learn about the kingdom of heaven is

that the wheat and the weeds are mixed. The people who

take up their cross and follow Jesus live in a world with those who do

not honor Jesus.

Imagine for a moment that you buy a limited edition Lego set and

then you get it home and you rip up all the bags with all the

pieces in it and then you mix it in with that big container of old

Lego that you have at home and then you mix it all together.

All the pieces are still there, but they're mixed with pieces not part

of the special edition set. God's people

are bought with the precious blood of Christ,

and we're mixed throughout the world with everyone else.

And the world is not a neutral place, but full of people who have

aligned themselves not with Christ, but with the evil one.

And it means that as we seek to live for Jesus, we can expect opposition,

we can expect obstacles, we can expect a rocky parkrun because

there is spiritual opposition to Jesus's kingdom.

And we see this play out in our world when Olympic opening ceremonies

mock Jesus, when governments legislate against conversion

to Christianity, when a member of a board makes it their agenda

to silence Christians. When a family member or a friend

mocks your decision to follow Christ.

The third thing we learn about the kingdom is that Jesus will have the last

word. At the end of the age, which is when Jesus

returns, Jesus's angels are going to collect those who

are loyal to Jesus and remove the weeds,

remove all those who live opposed to Jesus.

Jesus is going to come and collect all the pieces of his limited

edition Lego set, which he has purchased by his blood, which is his people who

have faith in him. But for the weeds,

there is judgment, and that judgment is real.

We see this in verse 40: Just as the weeds are gathered and burned

with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather

out of his kingdom all causes of sin and evil and

throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping

and gnashing of teeth.

It is sobering to think about what happens

to those who do not trust Jesus.

Verse 42, they will be thrown into a fiery furnace with

weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Hell is real. Jesus speaks about hell more than any

other person in the Bible. If a person refuses to give

glory to the God who made us, the God who loves

us, the God who sent his Son Jesus to die for us,

that person will bear the fruit of that decision and

will live forever under God's judgment.

The idea of partying with your friends in hell is just ridiculous.

Hell, whatever it may look like, will not be pleasant.

It will be away from God's blessing, away from all the good things that God

gives.

Now this is a hard teaching,

but it's not a new teaching. It's from Jesus.

The church has affirmed it ever since.

We say in our Nicene Creed, he will come again

in glory to judge the living and the dead.

Something we affirm every week at church, a phrase that is also found

in the Bible. Now, no one likes

to be confronted with this spiritual reality. It's much easier to ignore

it. It's particularly hard in our culture to hear this

because our culture at the moment really does not like the idea

that someone else might judge us,

even if that person is God.

Maybe you've heard the saying, who are you to judge me?

Often said in response to a conflict or

or receiving advice that they don't like.

The favorite Bible verse of our time, Matthew 7:1,

Matthew 7:1

judge not that you be not judged,

which is in the context of Jesus calling his disciples not to be hypocrites.

But Jesus will judge us for our sin,

judge us for all those times we have aligned ourselves not with him but

with the evil one. And we can choose to ignore it. We can choose to

live like this judgment when Jesus returns doesn't exist,

but it doesn't change the spiritual reality that Jesus will

return to judge the living and the dead.

But we also learn here that those who trust Jesus and are part of his

kingdom will be preserved, will escape judgment. Verse 43,

then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

I looked out at the sun this morning and I was nearly blinded.

That is what those who trust in Jesus are going to look like

on the day that Jesus returns— bright, shiny, sharing in his glory.

Now, there is a 4th thing we learn about the kingdom in this section of

parables, and while we haven't spent and won't spend much time on it

today, is that Jesus' kingdom, even among the weeds, is growing.

Like a mustard seed that turns into a tree or yeast spreads through a batch

of dough, verses 31 to 33.

And this is proven true. When Jesus first said these words about the kingdom growing,

he had a couple hundred followers at most.

Now there are 2.6 billion people who claim the name

Christian. That's astronomical growth.

That's Jesus' kingdom growing.

So we learned 4 things about the kingdom of heaven. It's scattered across

the world. It lives among those who live in opposition to God.

There is a judgment to come.

And the kingdom of heaven is growing.

These truths can be hard to hear.

That's why I think Jesus particularly finishes by

saying, he who has ears, let him Let them hear.

It's hard to think about the 80,000 people in Rockhampton.

Most of them would, according to Jesus, be called people of the evil one because

they passively resist God by not honoring Jesus.

They do not have ears to hear. These are people that you know,

that you love, that you do life with.

And that hurts. Jesus knows this.

He knows these people. He created them. He loves them just as he loves us.

And Jesus, as he tells this parable,

he knows that he came to die for our sin

and the sins of the world. See, without Jesus,

we deserve the judgment being spoken of. We are

sinners. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned

Romans 3:23

and fallen short of the glory of God. You, me,

everyone. We have all either passively or actively

turned away from God, turned away from giving him glory,

turned from honoring him in the way that we live.

And it means that we all deserve to use Jesus's language to be

thrown into the fire. Where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But God loved us and he sent his Son to die in our

place. That other favorite Bible verse, John 3:16, for God so

John 3:16

loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in

him will not perish but have

eternal life. See, Jesus on the

cross, he did the unthinkable. He bore God's judgment on

our behalf. He hung on a cross, and as he did so, he took upon

himself himself the curse and judgment

of sin. And he did that so that we could be forgiven,

so that we could gain his righteousness, so that in verse

43 we can shine like the sun with him in glory.

And so when we place our faith in Jesus,

we are forgiven. We're transferred

from being weed to being wheat.

And we're brought into a relationship with our heavenly Father. Judgment is no longer our

end but glory with Jesus forever. Praise God for that.

And so if you haven't yet,

turn and put your faith in Jesus.

Trust him. He will forgive you.

And for us who do have trust in Jesus, we ought to praise God Our

hearts should be filled with thankfulness for God's love towards

us in his Son.

But not only should we praise God, hearing a passage like this should put

a burden on our hearts, a burden

for those who do not trust the Lord Jesus Christ.

But also, we can know that Jesus has given us the very thing that we

need to share so that the people of Rockhampton can escape judgment. We have

the good news of Jesus. Jesus wants us to share it. He wants us to

boldly and unashamedly invite people to

come and to find the salvation that he gives.

The people that you know and love and do

life with. Now, our starting point for this

needs to be prayer. We need to ask God to be at work

to give people ears to hear so that the gospel doesn't

fall on deaf ears.

I've given this challenge once before, but I'm going to give it again.

The challenge is to start praying for one person that

you know is not a Christian regularly

through the week and

commit to doing so week after week and

ask God to work in them, to give them ears to hear.

And then also pray that God would give you boldness

and opportunity to invite them to church

or an opportunity to talk about your faith with them.

And here is, I think, great news in this little series

of parables, is that Jesus's kingdom is still growing.

Jesus's work is not finished.

And I'm confident that in Rockhampton, that more

and more people, as they hear the message of gospel, as we prayerfully proclaim

it, will turn and put their faith in him.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God

who loves us, that even though we do not deserve your mercy,

you sent your Son Jesus into this world to die on the cross.

Thank you that in him is found forgiveness and peace

with you and rest. And we

ask, Lord, that you

would continue to give us ears to hear,

that we would continue to follow Jesus, honouring him.

And we do pray for the people of Rockhampton, Lord.

We ask that as we proclaim the message of

the Gospel of Jesus Christ, That it would not fall on deaf

ears, but that people would turn and be saved.

And we pray this in Jesus' name.