July 17, 2005

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like …

Weeds in the Garden

Matthew 13:24-30

Opening Words: There came a point in Jesus’ ministry when he was no longer welcomed in the synagogues. The leaders of the orthodox faith were now in open opposition against him. The Master found himself leaving the sanctuary of synagogue and using the sanctuary of the seashore. It was in this setting that Jesus really develops his use of the parables. It is at the seashore that we find Jesus today. In the thirteenth chapter of Matthew we find seven parables. Six of those seven parables begin with the phrase “the kingdom of heaven is like.” Hence, we find the sermon series title. Each one of these parables answers a basic question about the kingdom of heaven. Today Jesus answers the question, why does evil persist?

Introduction

On December 8, 1980 Mark David Chapman assassinated former Beatle John Lennon in New York City. Lennon’s death shocked the music world but Chapman’s life still puzzles many. On the morning of the shooting Chapman went to a bookstore to buy a copy of Catcher in the Rye. He told police in his statement he associated with the main character in that book, Holden Caulfield. However, he admitted there is a small part of the devil in him. Chapman went on to say there were two things he regretted about the murder. First, he regretted the pain he caused Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono. Second, he regretted the fact that people misunderstood him. He said, “I am not a bad person. I just killed one person.”

Someone once said, “A compromise is nothing more than changing the question to fit the answer.” Compromise is at the very heart of our reaction to this parable. We are not bad people we are just responsible for killing one person.

Body

Jesus tells us there are weeds in the garden! According to the story a farmer went out to sow his seed. It was good seed. It was wheat seed. He dreamed of standing in his wheat field and selling it for profit. However, the dream turned into a nightmare when an enemy came and scattered weed seeds. In Jesus’ day this did happen. There were laws and big penalties to curb such behavior. In time the seeds begin to grow. Side by side the wheat seed and the weed seeds grow. They looked identical until they reached full maturity. It is only then that the farmer sees the crime. The farm hands want to pull up the weeds but the farmer says to wait. He says once the crop is harvested the weeds and the wheat will be separated. The weeds will be burned but the wheat will be taken to the barn. Jesus tells us there are weeds in the garden!

It is not just a story about an ancient farm. It is a story about our world. Our world is facing some big problems, some big weeds. There are some wonderful people trying to eliminate those problems. There is no shortage of problems in our world. Just think about it. There are people tonight who will sleep in the street. There are people today who will die from starvation. There are people who still can not read or write. There are people who have no hope for a bright future. There are people in our own community who are being victimized by loved ones. There are people who have no kinds of standards or morals in their life. Jesus was right! There are people who still don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. There are weeds in the garden! This parable tells us three things about those weeds, three evil thoughts. Let us look at them one at a time.

Evil Thought Number One: No Insulation (vv. 25-26) The farmer sowed the good seed and went to bed. He thought he was safe. Then the enemy came. The seeds for the weeds were planted. The farmer did nothing wrong but he had weeds. You may not be living an evil life but your life is being affected by evil.

If you do not believe me then go to the Pittsburgh airport, go to any airport in our world. Don’t expect to jump out of your car and get on your plane. It is not going to happen. You are going to have to take some extra time to pass through all that security. The person behind the counter is going to want to see some photo identification and ask you if a stranger has touched your bag. You are going to have to stand in a long line, where your boarding pass is going to be required. You and your carry on bag are going to be x-rayed. You are going to have to empty your pockets and take off your shoes and belt. Security is big business at the airport. Why? September 11 was evil and we are all affected by evil. There is no insulation from evil. That is evil thought number one. If you can agree with this say, “Amen!”

Evil Thought Number Two: No Isolation (vv. 27-29) When the farm hands came to report the weeds the farmer had to make a decision. He had two options. Either, he could have the weeds pulled up or he could separate them at the harvest. He chose option two because the roots of the weeds and the wheat were intertwined. There is no isolation from evil.

The other day The Vindicator reported that Canfield was on the list of one of the best places in America to live. (I thought Warren would have been on the list. Everyone in Warren is a little smarter and little better looking!) However, Canfield was number 82 according to Money magazine and CNN. I was kind of proud. I live in Canfield. However, I have lived in Canfield long enough to see The Vindicator report on the crime in Canfield. In my time in Canfield there have been murders and rapes. The other night thirteen police cars flew down Main Street chasing a robber, who got away. I don’t care where you live. There is evil. There is no isolation from evil. That is evil thought number two. If you can agree with this say, “Amen!”

Evil Thought Number Three: No Indefiniteness (v. 30) In time the crop will be ready to be harvested. The wheat and the weeds will be separated. It is a picture of judgment. Jesus is answering the question, why does evil persist? The Master is saying to his generation and our generation that we need to be patient. In time the evil ones will get theirs. It is a parable of judgment.

Can I be honest with you? I really struggled with this passage. Preaching is not just reading commentaries and giving a report. Preaching is listening to God’s words and the congregation’s needs. That is not always easy. I struggled with this parable because I could’t find that balance between God’s word and human need. Something in my soul told me there was more to this passage than those three points. That is why I talked to some of you about evil.

In time, I had quite a list of evil people and evil events. My evil list included Scott Peterson, OJ Simpson, and Adolph Hitler, Ivan the Terrible, Adolph Eichmann, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, Idi Amin and Genghis Khan. Some people mentioned the events of September 11 or the London subway bombing. Some mentioned the tsunami or the hurricanes. Someone mentioned the dropping of the atomic bombs that ended the Second World War. I wrote that list down and looked at it when I went to bed on Wednesday night. It was about 2:00 in the morning when it hit me. It was at 2:00 in the morning that I found the balance between God’s word and human need. I turned the light on and I looked at my list of evil people. My list was incomplete! Do you know whom I was missing? My list was missing me! My list was missing you!

Perhaps in the parable we aren’t the farm hands. Perhaps we are the evil ones helpers. In a world that is filled with weeds, we have chosen to do nothing of significance. We are just letting the weeds grow because we really don’t care. Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.” Pogo once said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Former pastor of the St. Luke Community Church in Dallas and creator of Disciple Bible Study, Zan Holmes tells the story of a street preacher. He stood on the corner of a busy street and yelled “guilty” at every person he saw. A husband and wife walked by the street preacher and he yelled guilty at them! The husband looked at his wife and said, “How did he know?” The point of the story is we are all guilty of letting evil, the weeds, spread in our world. God calls us to be change agents in this world but we are doing next to nothing!

Conclusion

However, it is not just a story of judgment. It is a story of grace. The scriptures tell us we are going to heaven if we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior! We are going to heaven not because of our good works. We are standing in the middle of the garden and we aren’t pulling any weeds! There is no way you are going to heaven by what you have done. You are going to heaven because of what Jesus has done for you.

Let me end this message with two simple requests. First, I want you to praise God today for Jesus. He died for your sins so you could have life and life abundantly. Second, I want you to go home and pull out a weed. The Lord knows there are too many weeds! And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

Several years ago I was in Bay City, Michigan with our youth during their mission trip. On Sunday evening we broke up into a work groups and were given our assignments. They were home repairs that the residents couldn’t do because of age or a medical condition. On Friday evening it was reported that all those tasks were done by the youth except one. A handrail had not been installed in the home of an elderly gentleman with arthritis. It just so happened that one of our own youth was in the group that didn’t finish that job. One of the local sponsors said he would go back on Monday to install that handrail. On Friday evening I took a head count to make sure I had not lost anyone. One of our youth was missing! The youth whose group failed to install that handrail. Everyone else was relaxing and getting ready to home. This young man went back to the old man’s house to install a handrail. He knew he would need it that weekend. He was afraid he would fall. He didn’t just install a handrail. He pulled up a weed! Can’t you find any weeds to pull in your world?