Ever questioned whether you’re saved or not? Kent is going to take us to a story from Jesus that will touch on that idea. Stay tuned to the end to get some practical ways to orient yourself to being good Seed. Jump in with us in Sections 80 & 83 of the Gospel Harmonies @ https://www.harmonychurch.cc/tracking-jesus-timeline/. IT’S EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ).
—————————–
CONNECTION GROUP QUESTIONS:
visit https://my.harmonychurch.cc/sermons
Choose the date from last Sunday’s sermon to see the questions
—————
OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
I hate having to search for my Starbucks drink.
I place my order online, walk into the store, and there are 75 other drinks sitting lined up like boys at a junior high dance.
I’ve just started grabbing the first one that looks good to me!
Ha, sometimes I take one that’s not mine and just watch for someone to come looking for their precious, mocha latte, with a double half twist cold brewed with a skoch of chai.
What if you just walked up and started taste testing till you found the right one? What do you think they would do? Ha, [act out] “Ew, that should be taken off the menu…”
Every time I go looking for my drink, I’ve got the “Sorry if I just touched your drink” look on my face. Because they are always hiding the label under the little drink skirt.
Seriously, I hate it!
I hate trying to find something that’s hidden right in plain sight.
We all know what that’s like, right
Ladies, how many times has your husband been looking for something and you walk over and say, “It’s right here!” and it’s literally right in front of his face!
Ever realized you left the report on your desk in a pile of papers and you’re rushing trying to find it, digging through stacks of junk to find the “one”?
Today, we’re going to jump into a story Jesus told, a parable about trying to find something that was hidden in plain sight.
b
A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning..
Check it out…
Mt 13:24-30
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
Actually, the weeds Jesus is referring to is a type of grass that grows in Israel, when it is first starting to grow, it looks almost identical to wheat, this is important for later… Keep it in your back pocket
26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
Good question, right?
Farmers today go to great lengths to not have weeds growing up along with their grain.
Weeds take nutrients, they take moisture, they take physical space up – they’re a terrible thing to have growing with your good seed.
How many of you have grown a garden – a good gardener goes out and regularly weeds their garden…
This story is about to turn dark though, listen to the answer of “where then did the weeds come from”
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
ILLUSTRATION:
Can you imagine hating someone so much you’d be willing to go try and ruin their entire crop? You’d be willing to sneak onto their property, put your own safety on the line, just to try and destroy their harvest…?
Some of you know what this is like, you work with the person who intentionally undercuts you with the boss, they plant little seeds in their mind about how bad you are. Some of you have an ex who does this with your kids, they plant weeds in there…
This is what’s happened to this guys crop –
Weed seed has been sown with the good seed by the enemy.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.
Remember, these weeds looked like wheat while growing. This farmer doesn’t want to lose any of his crop…
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.’”
This is being at Starbucks trying to find the right coffee x 1000
This guy’s livelihood, and likely family, is on the line.
What does the parable mean?
I want to read to you what Jesus says about it. Then I want to look at what we need to do out of it.
Mt. 13:36-43
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
You need to know, Jesus has told several parables here, but the one they don’t know what to do with is this one…
37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom.
Everyone good so far?
Jesus is the farmer, the world is the field, and the good seed is the people of the Kingdom.
b
So, what are the weeds?
b
Listen to what Jesus will say and pay attention because, in just a bit, He’s gonna tell us how we can tell the weeds apart from the seeds.
The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
got it? Jesus is being pretty clear
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
I need to prepare you, what Jesus is about to say, is hard…
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 blazing 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. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
can I read that again for you…?
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.
can I ask you a pretty tough question?
How do you know if you are a weed or a seed?
b
Jesus says both will grow in the same place and will look similar
If that question hits you hard, then I’d encourage you to listen up…
Weeds cause sin and do evil…
-The cause of sin is not just a person who causes others to sin, but this has the idea of being caught up in things that cause sin.
Can I have permission to punch you in the gut a little bit?
There are at least 3 reasons we might be more weed than seed.
- Some of us have grown desensitized to sin
- Some of us don’t know what sin even looks like – the culture you’ve grown up in normalizes sin (We the get out of hell free card, but didn’t want to savior/leader that came with it… So, we never went deeper to learn His heart)
- Some of us don’t really care about pleasing Jesus as much as pleasing ourselves…
- You are a jerk and you normalize it by saying, “I’m just a grump”
- You are more caught up in finding your identity in what you want than you are in trying to know how God sees you
- You know more bible than most people and can quote it but don’t ever live it…
Look, I’m hitting hard here because it matters.
It’s clear that Jesus is saying that seed will be drastically different from the weed around them in the end.
So, if you have any concerns that you might be a weed, I want to say this to you…
It’s time to take drastic, immediate actions in your life to be good seed.
- Make a PLAN to get into God’s word (learn the heart of Jesus – grab a trail guide and read the section on reading the bible)
- PUT it all on the table (Evaluate all the assumptions you bring to the Kingdom)
- PUT the plan into action (take a step THIS week – join a connect group, download the bible app and put it where their Tik Took app is) get practical.
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
Listen, I’m concerned that most of you have come in thinking you can have salvation, but leave behind who the savior is. That’s not how it works. This is why we baptize, it’s to remind you everything about your old life has died and you now live a live that is characterized by life in Jesus. You don’t live this way to gain salvation, you live this way because of salvation.
Salvation can’t be earned, but salvation is not opposed to effort
Today, I don’t want to give you an emotional call to action. I want to look you in the eyes and say, “you have a choice to be good seed today.” choose it. Take the next few moments to write up a plan. Make it reasonable – “over the next year, I’m going to study Jesus’ life and learn how He saw the world”. This is just pursuit at it’s best – it’s orienting your life towards Jesus instead of yourself.
————————-
Matthew 13:24-30 & 36-43
Mk 4:26-29
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Mt 13:24-30
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 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.’”
Mt 13:31-32
31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
Mk 4:30-34
30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Mt 13:33-35
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”[b]
Mt. 13:36-43
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 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 blazing 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. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
The Kingdom of God spreads, it is planted & we are the seeds – the active agents in spreading the message. God is not interested in weeding out the weeds from the seeds – He is only interested in letting you grow – it’s up to you what you will be and where you will end up.
STUDY:
- God is planting and letting things grow – He’s not judging things early – but waiting till it will be obvious at the end of the ages
- Wheat and Tares look similar – you can see from the images below. It would be very difficult to pull them up in the field without pulling up some wheat
- Jesus is intimating there will be people who seem to be a part of the Kingdom who are not – our job is to not try and guess who is in or who is not, He’s not even allowing the angels to do that. Our job is to grow and be wheat – make sure we are ‘in Christ’
- Both wheat and darnel belong to the natural order Gramineæ or Grasses. They are easily distinguished when in flower, by the wheat having two glumes, and its florets having their edges next the rachis or common stalk; while in the darnel there is one glume and the florets have their backs next the rachis.
- Jesus actually lets you know there is an enemy – this is something SO many Christians don’t actively appreciate, or engage. We just assume every thought, every experience we have is “God’s will or plan” but, Jesus very clearly says there are seeds that are sown that are not from Him. Do you have the discernment in your own life to determine what is from Him and what’s not? How do you know?
- You need to know God’s word – you need to be in His word and listening for His heart (Learn the Heart of Jesus)
- You need to get around people who are solid followers of Jesus to learn from them – get in a connect group
- We have this thing in our culture that “you do you” or “live your truth” the problem with that is it assumes you actually know truth – it assumes you have within you the highest form of truth – built in. It assumes you are perfect as you are, ultimately, you are a god unto yourself. You don’t have some place you need to grow? Some place where you have adopted wrong beliefs and behaviors?
- What if God has something to say about
- your identity
- your sexuality
- your ethics
- your family dynamics
- and more
- What if He has something to say, but you’re unwilling to listen because you’re not even looking for Him?
- What if God has something to say about
ILLUSTRATION:
What if I put $100 bill under one chair… and didn’t tell them I had done that till this point in the sermon. Point out, none of you even looked under your chairs, why? Because it wasn’t even on your radar – in your mind there was no reason to look under your seat, and now all you can think about is, “when can I look under my seat?”
- Jesus is looking for the wheat, what does that mean? He tells us – it’s what’s left after getting rid of everything that causes sin and those who do evil.
- In CS Lewis’ Great divorce, he gives a picture of people being offered heaven and they can’t see giving up their sin habits that keep them from Jesus – it’s too comfortable to stay where they are than to be threshed out and have that stuff stripped from them.
- The question some of you have to ask is do you even want what Jesus offers?
- What if He will require you to give up your medeling quarlesome ways – like you love to stir up the pot and don’t care about who you hurt – what if He will strip out those things?
- What if He strips out your lust, will you be happy with that, or will there be a part of you that doesn’t know how you’ll make it through a hard day?
- What if unbridled rage and anger isn’t there – you just hoping He will magically fix that? What will you do when things don’t go your way?
- The question is really, do you want Jesus more than you want this…
- The question some of you have to ask is do you even want what Jesus offers?
- In CS Lewis’ Great divorce, he gives a picture of people being offered heaven and they can’t see giving up their sin habits that keep them from Jesus – it’s too comfortable to stay where they are than to be threshed out and have that stuff stripped from them.
- This also means for ministry, we need to hold it loosely – you are going to have people you invest a lot in and don’t see what you think is fruit, other times people are magically going to start growing. To quote Paul, “one plants, another waters, God gives the growth.” If Jesus isn’t willing to judge the fruit of something before hand, who are you to do that – your job is to be faithful to Him
