The
Kingdom Under Siege . . . For Now
Parable
of the Wheat and Weeds: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Welcome
I
enjoy movies with a twist: Sixth Sense
(1999), at the end Bruce Willis sees his wife passed out on the sofa; his
wedding ring drops to the floor. Bruce
Willis looks at his hand and sees his ring isn’t on his finger, and then he
finally realizes, that his wife has been morning his death. He’s dead.
Parables have a surprise, a
twist, something that catches the audience off guard.
Good Samaritan, to make the
Samaritan the hero of the story
Prodigal Son,
that even though the son was so rebellious and offensive, the Father
would run and embrace his son
Soils, that the good soil would produce 100 fold;
this would be a big, big crop
parable of the soils shows that the
difference between Kingdom Citizens and counterfeit Kingdom Citizens is
fruitfulness. Kingdom citizens will be
fruitful, sometimes enormously fruitful.
Then
Jesus tells another parable: another farming scene
A farmer sowed good seed in
his field.
But while everyone was
sleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.
Only later, when the wheat
sprouted did the weeds also appear.
Servants asked the farmer,
“Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?
Where did the weeds come from?”
The farmer knew what had
happened. “An enemy did this.”
Servants: “Do you want us to pull out the weeds?”
Farmer: “No, you might root
up the wheat too. Let them both grow
until the harvest, then I will collect the weeds and burn them, and gather the
wheat and bring it into my barn.”
The disciples specifically
asked Jesus to explain this parable, and so we have its interpretation.
There is a traditional way
of understanding this parable:
that true Kingdom Citizens are
intermixed with people of the world; we’re intermixed in the world and even in
the visible church. But a day of
separation will come.
Last week I presented an
understanding of the parable of the soils that might have been a little
different from what you had heard before, and I think I’ll be doing the same
again today. My understanding of this
parable has taken a big turn, so please stay with me.
1. The Enemy Attacks
The Farmer plants good
seeds, but an enemy tries to sabotage the crop. There is a weed (tares) in Jesus day that
very much resembled wheat in the earlier stages. The roots would intermingle. The problem is that if you ate the kernels
from the weeds, it would cause vomiting and illness.
Jesus
sows the good seed (Kingdom citizens) into the world
Perhaps we might think of the Garden of Eden. God makes a beautiful world and begins a
kingdom of citizens, a people for himself.
But the Devil attacks. He enters and sows his people in the
world. His weeds are there to destroy
God’s wheat, to ruin the crop.
The
Kingdom is under attack.
There
are sons of God and the sons of the Devil, the kingdom of light and the kingdom
of darkness.
God wants to advance His
kingdom, but there is real opposition, real attacks. There is a war going on between two kingdoms,
and the battles are played out in the hearts and lives of people.
The
interesting thing is that Jesus’ audience probably wouldn’t have been surprised
by having an enemy plant weeds.
Apparently this sort of thing happened in Jesus day enough that Romans
had laws against it. They had their own
form of “bio-terrorism.”
2. God is permitting the Kingdom to be attacked.
The
puzzling part, the surprise, the shock, the twist is this: the command from the
farmer NOT to pull up the weeds
The normal thing would be to try to get rid of the
weeds that are destroying the wheat. It
would be very odd that the farmer did NOT pull out the weeds (as it seems the
servants expected).
A doctor sees an outbreak of
polio, but then he says, “No, we’re not going to give the vaccine.”
A commander knows there are
spies in his troops, but then he says, “No, we’re just going to let spies
remain.”
The chairman of Homeland
Security knows that there are terrorists in the airport today, but he says,
“No, we’re not going to be doing security checks.”
The shock of the parable is
not that Kingdom citizens are under attack.
The shock is that God is permitting His people to be attacked. He leaves us in the line of fire! Satan is specifically trying to destroy the
wheat and God doesn’t entirely stop him; God lets him do his work of sabotage. God is letting his people get attacked.
And those attacks are
real! There are real spiritual injuries,
casualties, temptations and failures. As
we saw last week, hearts get hard, hearts get rock and thorny, persecution comes,
worries and desires choke (internal).
The world is filled with
injustice, corruption, oppression, deceit, violence, child molesters,
terrorists and the rest (external).
The shock of the parable is:
Isn’t God going to do something about this?
No! God permits the attack. We want God to deal with the weeds now, but God says, No, later.
It’s
interesting that Christ permits our co-existence. God is not afraid to let his people be
attacked, assaulted. This has some implications:
We need to pray for deliverance and
protection.
Notice the tone of John 17
(Jesus’ prayer right before he gets arrested and crucified)
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the
world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your
name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and
kept them safe by that name you gave me. . .
. . . the world
has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the
world. My prayer is not that you take
them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. (Jn 17:11, 12, 14,
15)
Jesus prays not that we be
taken out of the world, but that we be protected from
the evil one while we’re here.
Jesus taught us to pray:
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from the Evil One.” This was a
literal prayer; we need deliverance, even moment by moment. We’re being attacked!
Jesus is praying for our protection and taught us to pray for our own
protect.
We pray for protection, but
let’s be clear: God’s main priority is not to keep his
kingdom citizens safe.
He would not have us avoiding
culture and society, just staying inside church walls or Christian huddles. He
permits us to live among weeds.
Parents, I think this has some
implications for how Jesus would raise his children. Of course we want to give them the best
environment we can. But let me suggest
that protection and safety are not Jesus’ highest priority.
I think this has some
implications on our social lives.
Of course we need Christian friendship and fellowship, but staying in
our comfort zone was definitely not Jesus’ priority.
Jesus himself walked a very
unsafe, uncomfortable road. Jesus
himself lived among weeds, attacks, enemies, opposition.
It seems God does not shield
us from the world, but puts us in the world. Better yet, he sends us into the world. His priority is not to keep us safe and
comfortable, but to use us. He is not sheltering us from the world, but sending us into
the world.
We need to go
into the world and minister
Before Jesus is crucified,
he warns his disciples (Jn
A few chapters earlier,
Jesus gives instructions as he sends out his disciples, and he says
“I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as
innocent as doves.” (Mt 10:16)
The Kingdom is not about defense but about offense.
We’re sent into a dangerous
world. So be careful, be wise, but
remain pure.
Parents, can you pray this
for your children: I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves!
Can you imagine Jesus’
heart, as he prays for protection for his disciples.
We need to be
bold
The unspoken assumption is
that somehow the wheat will indeed
survive, despite the appearance of the weeds and their likelihood of
choking out the wheat altogether.
There is confidence in the
kingdom, it will survive (indeed it will thrive, next parables). God will preserve his people and advance his
kingdom mightily until the end.
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to
see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into
the world. . . You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because
the one who is in you is greater than the
one who is in the world. (1 Jn 4:1, 4)
There are false spirits, there are enemy attacks,
but greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world!
Let
me talk about the attack a little
more.
In some places of the world,
the attack is obvious. If you’re in
But in the
Let me focus in on one: The
big enemy of the Church in the
What keeps people from seeking and saving God? For us it’s not persecution and martyrdom,
but by ESPN, CSI, IRA’s and 403(b)’s, Harry Potter, World of Warcraft, and the Eagles.
I think the enemy’s main
strategy in the
Let me also add that so much
of media is not God-honoring. We are
bombarded with a value system that often celebrates the very sins that God
detests. Media makes us laugh at the
things God cries at; what they call comedies God calls tragedies. Things that God condemns, the media convinces
us to accept as normal.
I’m not saying we need to
run away and hide, close our eyes and our ears.
But we do need to recognize
that we are being attacked, we do not live
in a spiritually conducive environment.
God has permitted us to live with
weeds. He has sent us as sheep among wolves. We live in the line of enemy fire.
We need to recognize those
things that are spiritually dangerous. We need discernment. You don’t walk through the streets of
We need to pray for
protection and deliverance.
We need to go into the world
and minister. We need to jump into this
society, love the people and show them something better.
And we do it with boldness
and confidence. Yes, we’re weak and
often fail, but God has complete confidence that His wheat will survive, His
citizens will bear fruit, for greater is He who is in us than he who is in the
world (more next week, Lord willing).
I was at a retreat a couple
weeks ago and met some who was a writer at Billboard, the music chart company,
and someone who was an assistant producer for MTV News.
I’m not recommending all of
us do this (not that these people were doing this either), but what a powerful
thing it would be if, instead of hiding from entertainment and media, maybe
some of us need to jump right in as Christ’s ambassadors, were excellent in
their profession, loved the people, and showed them Jesus.
I don’t think the world pays
much attention to a Church that only stays within itself, afraid they might get
contaminated if they get too close to them.
But a Church that isn’t afraid to get up close, to meet them where
they’re at, a Church that will love them
and not judge them, a Church that is radically inclusive, that sits with
the prostitutes and tax collectors of our day, then they might listen.
There’s
a little more.
Jesus
leaves the crowd and meets privately with his disciples, where they
specifically ask Jesus to explain this parable.
And it seems to me, that in Jesus’ explanation, he is emphasizing, yet
another point.
3. There will be a Day of Judgment
The Harvest Day will come,
and at that time (not now), the weeds will be pulled up, gathered and
burned. God will send his angels and they “will weed out everything that causes sin and all who
do evil.”
Disciples, you live in
danger, under attack. Weeds grow freely
and it may seem so difficult, so frustration, so unfair, so unjust. You might ask: Why do those who oppose God prosper,
why do the godless get their way? Why do
the righteous suffer?
But my friends, the weeds
will not remain forever. The Harvest Day
will come, and at that time (not now), they will be pulled out and burned.
“[The angels] will throw
them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Their end is certain, there
is no question. Today they grow . . .
today they lay siege on the
Citizens of the Kingdom
today they work their havoc and
have their way
But do not dismay, they will
not prevail. They will face a day of
judgment.
Today they grow, but
tomorrow there will be a Day of Reckoning.
Today the Kingdom is
attacked by weeds, but tomorrow she will be vindicated, she will rise
victorious, she will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of her Father.
Tony
Campolo tells about how his pastor at an
It was Friday, it was
Friday, and my Jesus is dead on the tree. [933]
But that’s Friday, Sunday’s
a coming.
Friday, Friday, Mary is
crying her eyes out and the disciples are running in every direction like sheep
without a shepherd. But that’s Friday,
Friday. Sunday’s a coming.
Friday, those are looking at
the world and saying, “As things have been so they shall be. You can’t change nothing
in this world. You can’t change nothing in this world.”
But they didn’t know, it was only Friday. Sunday’s a coming.
Friday, Friday them forces that oppress the poor and keep people down, them
forces that destroy people, them forces are in control and they’re going to
rule. But they don’t know. It’s only Friday. Friday. Sunday’s a coming.
Friday, Friday people are
saying, “Darkness is going to rule the world, sadness
is going to be everywhere.” But they
don’t know, it’s only Friday, Sunday’s a coming.
At the end of the message,
the preached just yelled at the end of his lungs, “Friday!” and everyone
responded, “Sunday’s a coming!”
Friends, the kingdom is
under siege. We live in the line of
enemy fire. God has permitted that we
live with the weeds. We do not live in a
spiritual conducive environment.
We in an entertainment
saturated society that lulls us into a spiritual complacency.
Please pray for
protection. Pray for discernment.
But don’t run away, don’t
think something’s wrong. This is where
God wants you to be. He has sent us,
sheep among wolves, to testify of who He is.
If you’re not a Christian,
maybe you’re just here to check things out.
Welcome.
We’re a far-from-perfect
church, but we want to be a church
that isn’t afraid to meet you where you are, a church that will love and not
judge you, a church isn’t running away from you, but running to you, a church
that says, “You matter to God, and you matter to us.”
For those of us who feel the
attacks and wonder why doesn’t God do something! Do not dismay. Yes today the weeds grow free. Yes today, it often seems the wicked prosper
and many righteous suffer. But don’t
worry, it’s only Friday. Sunday’s a
coming.