Friends, would you please be seated?
Again, I just want to welcome you.
My name is Hillary, if we haven't met.
And I would love to meet you downstairs.
! Lisa and I will be down there after the service.
We'll have coffee.
If you're new, we'd love to meet you.
Our head pastor, Pastor Thomas, is away for a couple weeks.
And I checked in with him last night.
And he's doing great.
He's feeling really refreshed.
And he's praying for us.
And sends his greetings and his prayers.
So these last couple weeks, we've been looking at chapter 13 of Matthew's gospel.
Which is a collection of several parables.
And all of these parables are coming in response to this question of why are people rejecting Jesus' message?
Even John the Baptist, Jesus' forerunner.
And the one who baptized him, probably one of Jesus' best friends, asked Jesus,
Are you the one who is to come?
Or should we expect somebody else?
And John's question is one that most people were probably asking.
And it reveals the simple fact that the kingdom of heaven and Jesus as the Messiah were not what people expected.
So after the Sermon on the Mount, after all these healings and exorcisms that Matthew's been talking about,
Jesus tries another way.
He tells stories.
I was talking to a friend this week who said,
Whenever I want my kids to pay attention to me, I start by saying, once upon a time.
And they immediately, they clue in.
Because we love stories.
And Jesus uses a similar phrase with each of these parables.
Designed to get people to lock in and pay attention.
He says, the kingdom of heaven is like.
So again, this idea of the kingdom of heaven to Jesus' listeners,
People would have been like, oh, tell me what it's like.
They want to know.
So this morning, we're going to dig into that question.
What's the kingdom of heaven like?
We'll look at it in two parts.
First, what does this parable tell us about the kingdom of heaven?
And second, what does it mean for us?
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for your great love and your mercy.
That you have lavished on us.
That is more than we can possibly imagine.
So Lord, from that place of being rooted in your love,
Would we have ears to hear and eyes to see?
Would we listen well to you this morning?
Thank you for your word.
Would you nourish us with it?
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
First, what does this parable tell us about the kingdom of heaven?
So let's take a look at how Jesus' original audience
Would have understood this parable.
Or heard this parable.
Like all of Jesus' parables,
This agrarian scene was something immediately compelling
And relatable to Jesus' listeners.
He always used these commonplace things
That people were really familiar with.
But even though these things were really common,
Even though people were used to,
They would immediately be able to have a visual image
When he was talking about these things.
Jesus also chose language that signaled
Spiritually significant realities
To his Jewish audience.
And that would have kind of served as a signpost
To say, hey, there's something else going on here.
Pause and think about this.
So the choice of seed, of a sower, of an enemy,
A harvest.
These were also spiritually significant realities.
So we'll start by looking at these things,
At these figures in this parable,
Along with Jesus' explanation to the disciples.
First, the sower goes out
And he sows good seed in his field.
Jesus clearly identifies himself
As the sower in this parable.
But he uses this language with his disciples
Of the son of man.
And that would have triggered something
For his disciples.
Because it points directly to Daniel 7, 13 and 14.
Where the prophet Daniel writes,
In my vision at night,
I looked.
And there before me was one like a son of man.
Coming with the clouds of heaven.
He goes on to describe the son of man
As being given all authority,
Glory,
And sovereign power.
All nations and peoples of every language
Worshipped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
That will not pass away.
And his kingdom is one
That will never be destroyed.
So Jesus calling himself
The son of man
Is very significant.
He's telling us
The kingdom that he's inaugurating
Is the same kingdom
That Daniel describes in his prophecy.
Secondly, the field.
Jesus' field is the world.
Now this was small
When Jesus was ministering.
The size about the size of New Jersey.
Not very big.
But it expanded.
Especially at the end of Matthew's gospel.
He told his followers to go out
And preach the gospel
To all nations.
And again,
Jesus is setting up his sovereignty
And his rule.
He's saying,
The kingdom of heaven is my kingdom.
Third, the sower sows good seed.
This image of seed in the Bible
Stands for the word of God.
And the word of God
Can be different things.
It can be the scriptures.
The holy scriptures.
It can be word that's spoken.
But it can also be a person.
Remember, it says in the book of John
In John's prologue,
John chapter 1
The word was with God.
The word is Jesus.
So when Jesus talks about this seed.
Sowing this seed.
He's bringing other people into this.
People that have received
And believed his message.
Who are hearing and obeying.
The parable of the sower
Comes just before this one.
It identifies these as people
Who bear crops for the kingdom.
But like a lot of Jesus' parables,
There's a catch.
There's something that's going to make us think.
Probably multiple things.
Hopefully multiple things.
The enemy or the devil sows weeds.
So this is definitely
A very culturally specific thing.
But the idea of an enemy
Sowing weeds in someone's field
Was not uncommon
In this time period.
And we don't know how often it happened.
But we do know there were Roman laws
That addressed what to do
If this happens.
Like what are the consequences?
What are the repercussions?
And it could have been a way
If you sowed weeds
In your neighbor's field
It could have been a way
To sabotage competition.
To drive up prices.
To get back at somebody.
A dispute with your neighbor.
Something like that.
Well here with the enemy,
The devil,
It's all about sabotage.
But it's really important
To notice the order.
The enemy comes after the good seed.
And that's because
All the enemy can do
Is corrupt
And manipulate
And twist
What is good.
The enemy can't create.
He's someone who entangles.
Who destroys.
Jesus says of him,
The thief comes to steal
And kill
And destroy.
I have come
That they might have life.
And have it to the full.
And I also want to note here
That in this parable
There's not a confrontation
Between the enemy
And the sower
Between the person
That owns the field.
And why is that?
Because Satan and Jesus
Are not inverses.
Jesus is the one
With all the authority.
There's no competition.
Satan does this
Under cover of darkness.
He has no power
Compared to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's a defeated foe.
And also notice
That in this parable
The enemy does not cause
Any kind of lasting harm
To the weed.
So let's talk a little bit
About the weeds
That Jesus is mentioning.
So he uses this word
Darnell.
And Darnell was a specific
Type of weed
That was kind of a wheat imposter.
That's probably the best way
To say it.
It looked a lot like wheat.
Especially in the early
Stages of growth.
And you really couldn't tell
Until both plants
Were pretty mature
If you had Darnell
Or wheat.
And by that time
The roots were enmeshed
With one another.
And so you couldn't harvest
You couldn't start
Pulling out the weeds
Without potentially
Harming the wheat.
So you had to wait
Until the harvest.
And if you didn't know
What you were doing
You shouldn't try
To separate them.
And if you didn't
Separate them
You just harvest them
All together
Then the flower
Would be contaminated.
Because Darnell heads
It's just like
You know
They're like wheat heads
Darnell heads
Are poisonous.
So if you just say
Like oh it's not
That big a deal
I'm just going to
Mix it all together
It could actually
Really harm people.
It could actually
Cause blindness.
But the point is
It was possible
To separate the good
From the bad.
To protect the wheat
Even if there was Darnell.
So when Jesus says
These weeds are people
Of the evil one.
Maybe these are people
Who are overtly evil.
But they could also be people
Who seem okay.
Externally.
Just like the Darnell
Seems okay.
At first.
People who are religious.
Religious.
People who may have
External trappings
Of faith.
Maybe they use
Religious language.
They do religious activities.
But the big difference
Is that they don't have
An actual relationship
With the living God.
They have not been
Transformed.
These are people
Who are sitting in darkness
But who have the
Appearance of light.
And then lastly
The harvest
And the harvesters
Or the angels.
So again
Like the son of man
The sower and the seed
These were words
That triggered meaning
For people embedded
In Jewish scripture.
Harvest is all over
The Old Testament prophets
As a sign of judgment.
And angels were seen
As carrying out
God's divine purposes.
They were his messengers
And his agents.
So now that we've been
Through the figures
In this parable
Let's connect
All these threads
And see what they tell us
About the kingdom of heaven.
So first
The kingdom of heaven
Is everlasting.
It's ruled by
A sovereign
Powerful ruler.
Jesus is that ruler.
He is
The kingdom of heaven.
Secondly
The kingdom of heaven
Comes in two parts.
There's the inauguration.
The planting of the seed.
The inbreaking
Of the kingdom
That began
With Jesus' incarnation.
And that has already happened.
But then there's
The consummation
Of the kingdom to come.
The end of the age
That he talks about.
And here's a huge point
In this parable.
The inbreaking kingdom
Exists in a world
Inhabited by evil.
And this was another twist.
Something that Jesus
Was trying to help
His listeners understand.
This combination
Of the inbreaking kingdom
And then the consummation
Of the kingdom
At the end of the age.
Sometimes we call this
The already
But not yet.
This wasn't something
People expected to hear.
They just expected
The end of the age.
Sort of a one and done scenario.
They expected the kingdom
Of heaven
To be immediately pure.
For evil to be obliterated.
Peace to reign.
And if that wasn't
Immediately happening
People were questioning.
Well is this
The kingdom of heaven?
He says it is
But it doesn't look
Like we thought it would.
And so that's why
There was a lot of rejection
Of Jesus' message happening.
And Jesus is using
This parable to say
Hey that's gonna happen.
It will eventually.
But not yet.
Now we don't have time
To get into this fully.
But I do want to
Briefly touch
On two main responses
To God's judgment.
Because it does come up
In this parable.
And it's a hard thing
To hear.
Especially read out loud.
Right?
They'll be burned.
They'll be weeping
And gnashing of teeth.
That's an image
That can evoke a lot of fear.
And so let's just talk
About it for a little bit.
So here's the thing.
For Jesus' listeners
Most of whom were
Under oppressive Roman rule.
Divine judgment
Was really good news.
And I think that's true
For anyone
Who's been abused.
Who's been traumatized.
Treated unjustly.
A victim.
So imagine how
A concentration camp survivor.
Or someone whose entire family
Has been killed in a genocide.
Feels when they think
About divine judgment.
They're begging for it.
Right?
And there's another group
Who feels really uncomfortable
With this language.
That hears the phrase
About the weeds being burned
And thinks
How could God be loving?
And banish someone forever?
And whichever of these
Two camps you tend towards
I mean I think
It's one of those things
That we all kind of wrestle with.
I want to suggest
That this whole time
Between the already
And the not yet
Is to give the weeds
A chance
To become wheat.
To give those
That the enemy
Has corrupted by evil
The chance to turn
From wickedness.
Peter writes
In 2 Peter 3.9
The Lord is patient
With you
Not wanting anyone
To perish
But everyone
To come to repentance.
And here's the really
Important takeaway
For all of us.
Y'all
Everyone
Starts as a weed
As people of the enemy.
Paul uses this phrase
Children of wrath.
He says
You were once
Children of wrath.
But the sower
Is on a rescue mission.
He came to get us
To transfer us
From the kingdom
Of the enemy
To the kingdom
Of Jesus
To transform us
From weeds to wheat.
But there will come
A day
When those who
Persist in evil
And who reject
That invitation
From the Lord Jesus
Will receive
God's justice.
And so to answer
That question
To come back
To that question
Of how could
A loving God
Banish someone forever?
The answer is
He doesn't.
C.S. Lewis
Says it better
Than I ever could
In the great divorce.
He says
There are only
Two kinds of people
In the end.
There are those
Who say to God
Thy will be done
And there are those
To whom God says
In the end
Thy will be done.
All that are in hell
Choose it.
Without that self-choice
There could be no hell.
No soul
That seriously
And constantly
Desires joy
Will ever miss it.
Those who seek
Find
To those who knock
It is opened.
What does this mean
For us then?
And for Jesus' listeners?
Three main takeaways here.
This is not the time
For judgments
But judgment
Will come.
Friends
We will not be
The ones
Who do the judging.
We need to be
Really careful
About assuming
Who the wheat
And the weeds are.
Those we might expect
To be part of the kingdom
Might not be.
And those who are
Unexpected
Might be.
This was true
In Jesus' day.
There were a lot
Of people
Unexpected
That were part
Of the kingdom.
Take who Jesus
First revealed himself
To as the Messiah.
A Samaritan woman.
An outcast
Among outcasts.
Who did he count
Among his followers?
He counted tax collectors.
Religious zealots
Who hated Rome.
Women who had
No status
In society.
People who were
Poverty stricken.
People who were
Wealthy.
People who
Had been healed
From leprosy.
Delivered
From demons.
Raised from the dead.
People that would
Have been considered
Weak
And despised
And unlovable.
That were
Unexpected.
And most often
Jesus' biggest
Opponents
Were externally
Religious.
Even among
The twelve apostles
There was someone
False.
Judas Iscariot
Who betrayed
Jesus
To the Romans
To the
To the Jews
And turned him
Over to be crucified.
Jesus doesn't care
A wit
About externals.
He cares
About the heart.
About people
Who drop everything
And go
When he says
Follow me.
And the same
Is true
For us.
We tend
To assume
That people
Like us
Are righteous.
But I think
It would be good
For all of us
To ask ourselves
This question.
How often
Do we make
An effort
To spend time
With people
Who are really
Different than we are?
Elizabeth Oldfield
Is a British author
Who just wrote
A book called
Fully Alive.
She also has
A podcast
Where
It's a podcast
Called The Sacred
And she hosts
People that are
Kind of all over
The map
Belief wise
And she calls
People that are
Different than us
She really exhorts
People in her book
To hang out
With other people
That are
She uses the term
NLMs
Not like me's
And she says
The goal
Is an agreement
But understanding
And something
I really appreciate
About her approach
Is that
When you listen
To these conversations
On her podcast
There's a way
That it sharpens
Discernment
What's truly evil
And what's a
Difference of opinion
What's true fruit
And what's
External posturing
And figuring this out
Takes a lot of
Patience
A lot of humility
And a lot of courage
And frankly
Y'all
It's not our job
Christians are
To be out
In the world
In God's field
With whomever
God has placed
Us next to
To love them
To be in
Relationship with them
To help the weeds
Become wheat
So remember
What Jesus says
To the servants
When they say
Well do you want us
To pull up these weeds
He says no
Because you could
Harm the wheat
When we start
Trying to sort
People
We can cause
A lot of harm
We have to
Trust the Lord
With that
Secondly
Suffering and evil
Shouldn't surprise us
In this time
Between the already
And the not yet
We live in this world
That's still inhabited
By evil
And that's a hard
Thing
To reconcile
The evil
In the suffering
In the world
With the promise
Of God's kingdom
Or even with
God's power
And his love
Let's come back
To John the Baptist
Question at the
Beginning of the
Sermon
Are you the one
Who is to come
Or should we
Look for another
So John didn't
Get to ask that
To Jesus directly
He sent some
Of his followers
And that was
Because he was
Sitting in prison
He had been
Unjustly thrown
In jail
By Herod
And immediately
After this chapter
Of Matthew's
Gospel
Herod orders
John's beheading
In the middle
Of a drunken
Party
And John's
Experience
The story
Of John's
Life
Is not uncommon
When you look
At saints
Throughout history
When you look
At the
Apostles
All of them
Except for the
Apostle John
Were martyred
For their faith
And it would
Seem like
If you're just
Looking at the
Physical reality
That evil wins
Doesn't it
But let's think
About the passage
That Tom just
Read for us
In Romans
Because it shows
This is something
Different
Instead of being
Hopeless
The decay
And the evil
And the pain
Are birth
Pangs
I remember
When I was
Pregnant
I did a lot
Of pregnant
Lady
Diligent pregnant
Lady sort
Of reading
And listening
To things
And one of
The things
That stuck
With me
Was they
Encouraged
You in labor
To cry out
To moan
To groan
It can help
You
And it might
Sound strange
Why is this
Because it's
An expression
It's a release
Of the big
Intense
Difficult work
Your body
Is doing
And that's
True for the
Spiritual groaning
Too
It's okay
To groan
In fact
It'll help
It's honest
It's saying
This isn't
Okay
I don't think
This is what
I don't think
This is what
The Lord
Created the world
To be
Jesus groaned
And the
Greek word
For groaning
Here
Is one
That Mark
Uses
In his
Gospel
In chapter
7
Verse 34
And Jesus
Is about
To heal
A man
Who can't
Hear
And just
Before he
He heals
Him
He groans
As he prays
And it's
The same
Word that
Paul uses
It's this
Groaning
That expresses
A longing
For things
To be made
Right
It's an
Ake
At the
Pain
And the
Brokenness
Surrounding
Us
But it's
Not a
Groaning
That's
Hopeless
Because it
Recognizes
That this
Isn't
The end
Paul and
Jesus both
Use this
Incredibly
Hopeful
Beautiful
Language
To describe
What those
Who belong
To God
Have to
Look forward
To
Paul writes
I consider
That our
Present
Sufferings
Are not
Worth
Comparing
To the
Glory that
Will be
Revealed
In us
Jesus
Says
The righteous
Will shine
Like the
Sun
In my
Father's
House
I would
Encourage you
This week
To spend
A little
Time
If you
Have a
Book of
Common
Prayer
To look
Up the
Anglican
Funeral
Liturgy
It might
Be one
Of my
Favorite
Liturgies
In the
Book of
Common
Prayer
Because at
Its heart
It's a
Resurrection
Service
It's
Recognizing
In the
Face of
Death
That we
Have this
Hope
So listen
To these
Words that
Are said
As the
Body is
Taken
Out of
The
Church
This is
The
Prayer
Christ
Is risen
From the
Dead
Trampling
Down
Death
By
Death
And
Giving
Life
To
Those
In
The
Tomb
The
Son
Of
Righteousness
Is
Gloriously
Risen
Giving
Light
To
Those
Who
Sat
In
Darkness
And
In
The
Shadow
Of
Death
The
Lord
Will
Guide
Our
Feet
Into
The
Way
Of
Peace
Having
Taken
Away
The
Sin
Of
The
World
Christ
Will
Open
The
Kingdom
Of
Heaven
To
All
Who
Believe
In
His
Name
Saying
Come
Oh
Blessed
Of
My
Father
Inherit
The
Kingdom
Prepared
For
You
Inherit
The
Kingdom
Prepared
For
You
Paul
Says
We're
Heirs
That
Means
One
Day
We
Will
Inherit
This
Kingdom
And
This
Leads
To
Our
Last
Point
How
Do
We
Know
That
The
Inheritance
Is
Coming
Because
The
Holy
Spirit
Is
Our
Down
Payment
To
Deposit
Paul
Uses
The
First
Fruits
To
Describe
The
Spirit's
Presence
In
The
Life
Of
Believers
The
Spirit
Anticipates
And
Guarantees
What's
Coming
The
Spirit
Bridges
The
Gap
Between
The
Already
And
The
Not
Yet
And
Friends
This
Spirit
Is
The
One
Who
Opens
Our
Eyes
To
The
Power
Of
God
That's
Available
To
All
Who
Believe
So
Where
Does
This
Leave
All
Of
Us
This
Morning
First
If
You're
Not
Sure
What
You
Believe
And
If
You've
Struggled
With
Some
Of
These
Questions
We've
Mentioned
That
Is
Okay
It's
Okay
To
Ask
These
Questions
About
God
Are
You
Loving
What
Does
This
Mean
See
If
You
Can
Find
A
Quiet
Place
To
Sit
And
Ask
The
Lord
Those
Questions
This
Week
Ask
Him
To
Speak
To
You
And
Remember
Christ
Will
Open
The
Kingdom
Of
Heaven
To
All
Who
Believe
In
His
Name
Saying
Come
Oh
Blessed
Of
My
Father
And
Inherit
The
Kingdom
Prepared
For
You
The
Lord
Longs
For
You
To
Come
Home
He
Loves
You
He
Loves
You
He
Loves
You
He's
Holding
His
Hand
Out
To
You
Will
You
Take
It
And
If
You're
Suffering
Or
If
You're
Looking
At
The
State
Of
The
World
And
Groaning
And
Longing
For
Renewal
If
You're
Grieving
Beloved
Know
That
You
Have
A
Savior
Who
Groans
And
Grieves
With
You
And
Know
That
Evil
And
Grief
And
Decay
And
Sadness
Will
Not
Have
The
Final
Word
Jesus
Christ
The
Savior
Will
Have
The
Final
Word
And
One
Day
He
Will
Bring
You
Into
His
Father's
House
Where
You
Will
Shine
Like
The
Son
In
Glory
Reigning
With
The
Lord
Jesus
Christ
Forever
Let's
Pray
Lord
Would
You
Expand
Our
Hearts
To
Be
To
Receive
More
Of
You
Lord
Pour
Your
Spirit
Out
On
Us
Thank
You
For
The
Gift
Of
Your
Spirit
Thank
You
That
You
Are
Mighty
And
Strong
To
Save
All
Who
Cry
Out
To
You
Lord
I
Pray
That
Those
Who
Are
Sitting
In
Darkness
Would
Come
Into
Your
Glorious
Light
As
You
Call
Them
!
Pray
For
The
Broken
Hearted
And
Place
That
They
Would
Feel
You
That
They
Would
Know
You
That
You
Would
Sustain
Them
And
Lord
As
A
Community
Will
We
Be
Those
Who
Bring
This
Truth
To
A
World
That
Is
Needy
And
Broken
and desperately in need of healing.
We pray that you would flood this city
with your grace, your mercy, and your healing.
Give us your imagination
and give us a willingness to go when you call us,
when you say, follow me, to follow.
Thank you that you are good and that we can trust you.
And we pray these things in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.