One Kingdom, Two Peoples and Two Destinies

01/29/12

Scripture:

This morning I want to ask you to turn with me in your Bible to Matthew chapter 13.  Matthew is one of the biographies of the life of Jesus and the 13^th chapter is where Jesus tells many parables as he discusses the kingdom of God.  This morning I would like us to look and to reflect on what Jesus might teach us today about the kingdom of God.  This is one of two parables where Jesus gives an interpretation to his teaching and his disciples wrote it down for us to hear those instructions.  Often times we have parables where we don’t know exactly how to interpret it and we look and we listen for the wisdom of the Lord to speak to us, but today we have the privilege of having the interpretation provided for us here in Matthew.  That’s why the scripture skips from verse 30 down to verse 36.  Hear now this parable that’s called “The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds.”

Matthew 13:24-30  He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵ but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.  ²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.  ²⁷ And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?'  ²⁸ He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'  ²⁹ But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.  ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" 

Matthew 13:36-43  Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."  ³⁷ He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.  ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.  ⁴⁰ Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age.  ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, ⁴² and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears, let him hear.   

Dandelions—they’re my most interesting weed.  I live in Glen Carbon and a house across the street sat empty for I don’t know, 6-8 months, and I think there were literally 50,000 dandelions in that front yard.  Some of you--Gail and Brittany--you know from riding right by, on the left, right across the street...just close enough that the wind could pick up their seeds and blow them right over into my yard.  Ah, dandelions...you know they’re tenacious.  They just don’t seem to die.  I can Roundup dandelions and they get kind of ‘weaky’ and I think I've killed them, and then they come right back again.  They are just super super tough.  I did find out this week that there are good purposes for dandelions.  The bees really need them whenever the nectar on the fruit trees is not available.  Bees really need that to gather their nectar and pollination and stuff.  And so they serve a good purpose, just not in my lawn.  Maybe in yours but not in mine.  If you’re like me, you spend tons of money to get rid of those blasted little weeds.  But dandelions can do a lot of things.  They’re not just good for the bees they’re also good for people.  They have medicinal value.  You can make tea from them that’s supposed to be good for you.  I don’t know if I’ll try that, but they are good.  And they also serve a good purpose because they can help you and me think about this story of Jesus.  So this summer when you’re out in the yard and you’re digging up those blasted dandelions or you’re setting those little balls of seeds on fire so they don’t spread—however you try to treat them—I hope you’ll think about weeds and what they might teach us about the kingdom of God. 

That’s what we’re doing today.  We’re looking at a text where Jesus makes a reference here to weeds and wheat growing in a field, and this is an illustration for you and me about something called the kingdom of God.  We are doing a sermon series here called Finding Your Way into the Kingdom of God, and my desire and Pastor Mike’s desire in teaching you the words of Jesus, the teachings about the kingdom, is that we might understand the kingdom of God and we might be able to participate in it and experience the true blessings of the Lord.  As we have in past weeks, we’ve looked into the teachings of Christ, the images painted for us with his words to understand the kingdom and today we look into a field.  So today I want to start and I want us to look at what I call “One Kingdom, Two Peoples and Two Destinies.”  We’re going to look at this text and understand what it shows us about how God's kingdom is at work in the world even now.  Let’s start with one kingdom.   

One Kingdom 

He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.”  So right away we have a man, a landowner, a person wealthy enough to have servants working for him, and he as a man of authority has planted his crop in the field.  He’s prepared the ground and he’s sowed the wheat.  But in this story we’re introduced not only to the landowner but to an enemy unnamed who has come in at night when servants and master are asleep and come to sow seed in the master’s soil.  But not more wheat, a weed called a darnel.  

Now when we look into this story you might be wondering what in the world does this mean—what’s this guy doing?  Well, he’s an enemy and when you’re an enemy of someone you might want to take a jab at them.  And one of the ways you can do that is ruin their crop, and the way you can ruin their crop is to sow their fields full of weeds.  Now I'm not encouraging you to gather your dandelion things and go into your neighbor’s yard and sprinkle them out at night to put it into practice.  I just want you to understand that this was the practice, a common practice, in the time of Jesus.  In fact, so much so that the Roman government even had a law on the books against sowing weeds in your neighbor’s field, and there was a penalty involved if you were caught.  Again, that’s a great way to ruin your neighbor, to bring them down by slipping in at night and subtly doing an awful thing.  

Jesus says this is the kingdom of God and he in his interpretation tells us that the characters can be identified.  The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the king of the kingdom, Jesus himself.  The field is the world, and the good seed are the sons and the daughters of God's kingdom.  The weeds are the sons of the evil one, the daughters of the evil one.  And the enemy that slipped in at night is in fact the devil. 

So we have here a picture of the world, of the kingdom in which we live.  We understand that God created this world.  He established his kingdom here.  It’s his planet.  He created human life.  He made the first people, Adam and Eve, and if you read the story not long after the beginning what happens?  The enemy shows up and causes problems.  That is the picture I want you to get of the kingdom of God.  God allows this world, which is his kingdom, to exist with evil in it.  God is allowing war against him from his enemy.  Now I think this is significant because this is a picture or reality.  It’s a picture of a world in conflict, not so much with bullets, but a spiritual conflict between God and his enemy and those who follow both parties.  

Mike last week alluded to this concept when he taught the parable of the sower scattering the seed on the different soils.  If you were here you know the story pretty well.  Some fall on the rocky soil, some fall in the weeds.  Only those that fall in the good soil produce the fruit that are productive, and in that story we get the idea that there is a resistance in this world to God and his rule and his kingdom.  We see it every day in people who say no to God because they want to say yes to themselves.  This is the picture—one kingdom.  

Now I want you to realize that in the story we’re going to move from one now to two.  There are two ages.  When we think about the kingdom of God, we have to understand the kingdom of God is known in two ages.  The followers of Jesus did not understand that at first.  Jesus was coming and there were announcements that he was here to bring the kingdom of God.  And they had it in their mind that the kingdom of God meant the righteousness of God on the earth through his ruler and the destruction of the enemies of God by that righteous ruler.  And so the followers of Jesus and John the Baptist and many Jews that were looking for the kingdom of God were scratching their head.  They were seeing Jesus teaching about the kingdom saying that the kingdom was there.  They saw him healing the sick, casting out demons, doing all these powerful things to show the kingdom has arrived and they were going, “Well, wait a minute.  Where is the justice that’s supposed to come?  Where is the sense of God punishing his enemies?  We have Romans that rule over us and crucify us and force us to pay taxes to them unrightly.  What’s going to happen with that?”  

Jesus’ answer is this parable.  His answer is that in fact there are two ages to the kingdom of God.  Think about is as kingdom phase one/kingdom phase two.  Or, kingdom 1.0/ kingdom 2.0 for those of you that are a little more tech savvy.  Alright, so Jesus elaborates that here with the metaphor of the harvest.  He says, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”  So we have the wheat and the weeds growing for a season in the same field and then we have harvest time.  And Jesus tells us in his interpretation that the harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels.  Now think about that phrase ‘end of the age.’  Jesus uses that language several places in the scripture to teach us about kingdom part one and kingdom part one.  Let me just read to you two examples.  

The first one comes from Matthew 12 where Jesus has been accused by his opponents of doing his miraculous powers by the power of Satan.  And Jesus comes back and tells them wait a minute, I'm doing this by the kingdom of God’s power, and he tells them that they’re close to doing something really significant called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  And he says this in verse 32, “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”  All I want you to hear is the last part.  We’ll talk about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit later.  But notice he says either in this age or in the age to come.  He’s saying that this is the present age and then we have a new age to come, and that age is centered around the issue of God bringing his final judgment.  I just want to make sure you understand that, that we live in a world Jesus says where we are co-mingled with people who are evil and now is not the time for them to be facing their ultimate judgment.  They are permitted as the enemy in the story to do great wrong.  

Let me ask you a quick question.  How many of you can tell me the number of people, the number of Jews, that you think Hitler had exterminated?  How many million?  Six, correct.  Do you know that he was not the worst person in the 20^th century?  Do you realize that Joseph Stalin, who was a contemporary of Hitler, who was the head of the Soviet Union (modern-day Russia) had people exterminated, too?  Do you have any idea how many?  Forty-three million he had executed in the Soviet Union during his leadership, sent off to prison, executed, sent to Siberia to work to death.  Forty-three million people!  You know, I look at things like that.  I look at people like Hitler.  I look at things that happen in this country.  I watched a video this past week about the Ku Klux Klan and how they were lynching blacks and how they were electing governors and how they had such political clout.  And I scratch my head and I go, “God, why do you allow that kind of wrong to happen?  Why do you permit atrocities to take place?”  And the answer is this parable.  We’re in an age where the weeds and the wheat are co-mingled, but a day is coming when justice will arrive.   So I just want you to think about this story.  This story represents two ages, the current age and the age to come.  It also represents two peoples. 

Two Peoples

Jesus tells us the field is the world and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom, men and women who are in the kingdom of God who belong to Jesus, and the weeds are the sons or the daughters of the evil one.  Now it’s interesting.  In the story here the servants begin to recognize the difference between the weeds and the wheat.  Initially they looked very similar, but once they got to maturity they saw the difference.  And they said hey, do you want us to go out and gather them in because we can see the difference at times between people that we think are the sons of the evil one and the people that are the sons and daughters of God.  Or can we?  Sometimes we may not get it right.  

If I had introduced you to a man named Tom Papania when he was 20 years old, you would have thought he was a son of the evil one.  He was brutal.  He got involved in the mafia.  He executed people.  He sold all kinds of illegal things.  He bribed politicians, all that kind of stuff, but he became a Christian.  He’s now a minister that travels the world and talks about his former life as a member of the mob.  See you and I, as we live in this crowd of mixed people, we don’t always know how people are going to turn out.  But we do know this, that there are two types of people in the world—those who will belong to the kingdom of God, those who are subject to the Lord Jesus Christ, those who serve his Lordship, who submit to his sovereignty and who belong to his kingdom.  And if you’re a person of faith, you’re a person that believes in Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter the past that you’ve walked.  When you’re a forgiven person you become a son or a daughter of the kingdom.  And God's planted you in this world for a reason.  It’s good to know that you’re not here by accident but God has a purpose for you in this world and in the world to come when the harvest is done.  And so that means that we as Christians, we’re called not to live in a holy huddle away from the world.  We are not to go off into monasteries to stay locked away from the world.  We’re to be scattered in this world, and through our relationship with God and through our pursuit of righteousness we’re to make a difference in the world, perhaps touching a person’s life and bringing them to Christ.  Those are the children of the kingdom.  But the scripture says that there are children of the evil one, men and women who ultimately are still under the authority of the devil, of Satan.  This is a concept that’s all throughout the New Testament, that either you’re on the side of God or you’re a child of the enemy.  Jesus himself mentions this to his disciples and to his opponents in John chapter 8 when he says to the leaders of Israel, “You are of your father the devil.” (John 8:44).  The Bibles says that basically people fall into one of two categories—children of God or children of the enemy.  

So what does that mean?  Well, back to the story.  We’re told that we exist together.  We, who are people of faith, people who are children belonging to Jesus Christ, we live in a world with people who are God's enemies.  Some are really really bad like Joseph Stalin and some are people who we might think are pretty decent people but they’ve said no to God and said yes to themselves.  The Bible says that we exist together.  We breathe the same air.  We eat the same food.  We drive the same highways.  We live in the same neighborhoods.  We work at the same factories.  We go to the same schools.  We visit the same doctors.  We entertain ourselves with the same music.  We live under the same sky.  We enjoy the same warm sun.  We breathe the same air.  The just and the unjust are reigned up in this age because we’re all co-mingled until the end.  But it doesn’t stay that way and this leads me to two destinies.  

Two Destinies

Jesus tells us at harvest time, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”  This is not the age of judgment, but there is a judgment to come.  So in this age where the wheat and the weeds are co-mingled, what should be our attitude toward them?  Should we be like the servants in the story that say hey, let me go out and remove the weeds so that the wheat can grow?  No.  The church has done horrible things in its history when it sought to pick up the sword and to go against those that are his enemies.  You’ve heard of the crusades.  You’ve heard of the inquisition.  It’s a time when the church thinking it was the righteous was persecuting those it thought were the unrighteous.  And irony of ironies, many of the real Christians were those under the sword.  

No this is not the age of judgment.  This is the age where we are to treat others, enemies of God and maybe even our enemies, the way that Jesus treated them.  How did he treat the publicans and the sinners?  With meekness and love and kindness.  How did he treat Judas, the one who would betray him?  He washed his feet at the Last Supper.  Jesus was patient with those who rejected him and so should we be.  This is the time of patience.  This is the age of tolerance.  Jesus was gracious and we should be too for this is the time of grace.  But we need to understand that a time of judgment is coming.  It’s not up to us to bring that judgment.  God will bring it himself and those who belong to the evil one will be separated from God and will experience judgment, and those who belong to Christ will be gathered in to be with him forever.  

Application

So, what is the application of this story, this one kingdom that has two ages, that has two types of people and two destinies before us?  What’s the application?  It’s interesting.  As Jesus is teaching his disciples this text, he ends with these words, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  He wants us to pay attention, to listen closely.  And I think he wants us to first of all begin with self-examination.  Where do you stand with the Lord?  Where do I stand?  Are we people that have come to Christ and been forgiven and are a part of his kingdom here in this world?  Or are we simply following a different leader?  Where do you stand?  It begins with self-evaluation.  But I think we need to begin to look at those around us, not to judge them and to say well you’re the weed and you’re the weed and you’re the weed.  That’s not our job, we’ll get it wrong.  But our job is not to inflict judgment on others.  We’re to co-exist with people that are different from us.  We’re to love them.  We’re to forgive them.  We’re to reach them with the love of Christ.  God will judge them.  Jesus will deal with them upon his return.  And so I want to challenge you as we think about the kingdom of God to make sure you’re a child of the king, and then as you live in the world with horrible evil people like Joseph Stalin or maybe just that neighbor down the street that backed into your car and never admitted to it, follow the way of the Lord.  Be kind, loving and patient and be Jesus to them.  Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, I thank you that we live in this age of tolerance and that you give people like me an opportunity to move from being a follower of the evil one to belonging and following our Lord Jesus Christ.  Lord, if there are any that are here today that are uncertain about whose side they’re on, I pray that you would speak to their heart, you would, Lord, lead them to call out to Jesus for mercy and grace.  Lord, help us not to be a holy huddle here that just complains about how evil the world is.  Help us to be scattered in this world, to be examples for good and honesty and integrity in this age where often people look out for themselves.  Lord, help us to be tolerant toward those who would harm us, who would bring evil against us, just as Jesus was patient with those who rejected him.  And Lord, until that day comes when you bring the new age, the new kingdom and you bring judgment, Lord until that day comes keep us strong in our faith that we might not be discouraged by the evil around us but it might lead us to cling more tightly to you.  For we ask this prayer in Jesus name.  Amen.