Rev. David Holwick O Parables of Jesus
First Baptist Church Wheat and Weeds
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 17, 2016
Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
WEED CONTROL
I. The wonders of glyphosate.
A. Once in a century.
Agricultural scientist Stephen Powles said it is a one-in-100-
year discovery that is as important for reliable global
food production as penicillin is for battling disease.
It was developed by Monsanto in 1970.
By 2013, 270 million pounds were being used every year.
The states of Indiana, Illinois and Iowa have about 88 pounds
of it applied to every square mile.
It became even more important when crops were developed that
are not affected by it.
You are probably not familiar with the word "glyphosate."
The commercial name will probably ring a bell - Roundup.
It is a weed-killer that attacks broadleaf weeds that compete
with crops.
By using specially genetically modified seeds, farmers can spray
it on their fields and kill the weeds but not their crops.
I once used Roundup on the parsonage yard.
I had a spray applicator and every dandelion plant I saw,
I squirted.
It worked amazingly quickly - in about a day my yard looked
like B-52s had carpet-bombed it.
Dinner-plate-sized brown circles appeared everywhere I squirted.
Apparently my yard does not have grass, just weeds.
And farmers may soon have the same experience.
Weeds have developed resistance to glyphosate...
#65183
B. Weed control is a touchy business.
1) Farmers pay a lot of attention to it.
2) Christians should too.
a) Because what Jesus has to say about weed control is
important, and unexpected.
II. Another parable about sowing.
A. Instead of being about the soils, it is about the seeds.
1) Good seeds, and bad seeds, are planted.
2) The evil seed is probably a weed called darnel.
a) When it is young it looks just like wheat.
b) It is only when it matures that you can tell the
difference.
c) But by then the roots are so intertwined you lose
the wheat when you pull up the darnel.
B. The farmers are perplexed. Who did it?
1) The answer is an enemy.
2) (The Romans actually had laws against agricultural sabotage
like this.)
C. Their next question is - What do we do about it?
1) Darnel can be dangerous to eat.
a) But it can also be dangerous to weed out because
that would damage the good stuff.
2) They are told to do nothing for now.
a) The wheat and the weeds can co-exist.
b) At the harvest they will be separated.
1> The bad stuff will be burned.
2> The good stuff will be barned.
III. The disciples needed help with this one.
A. Jesus gives an explicit identification of the details in v. 37:
1) The sower is Jesus.
2) The field is the world.
3) The good seed is those who belong to the kingdom.
a) In other words, Christians, those who are saved.
4) The weeds are evil people.
5) The enemy is the devil.
6) The harvest is the Judgment Day, conducted by angels.
B. It is what he doesn't explain that perplexes us (and them).
1) The parable is teaching something about the Kingdom of God.
a) Is this the same thing as the church?
b) Jesus also says the field is the world, which is very
different than the church.
c) So there is a basic question of who it applies to.
2) What does it mean to let the good and bad grow together?
a) Should Christians not make moral distinctions?
IV. Modern interpreters take two approaches.
A. It is popular to apply it to the church alone.
1) Have you ever been critical of organized religion?
a) You should be!
1> The church has lots of problems.
2> We preach about high-minded things, and live some
very low-minded things.
b) Every one of us has stories of hypocrites and
mean-spirited Christians.
1> Our own church has had Sunday School teachers who
were adulterers.
2) The church will always be a mixture of good and bad.
a) You can never have an absolutely pure church.
b) You can try, but you will always cause damaged people.
1> Christian attempts at pure churches has resulted
in the Inquisition by Catholics and the execution
of heretics by Protestants.
2> That is the extreme, of course. There are also
plenty of local people who feel they have been
burned by a church.
3) Should we ignore the bad in the church?
a) Bad apples can change.
Rev. Leonard Vander Zee of South Bend, Indiana, tells
of a guy in his church who struggled with alcoholism.
He sometimes came to evening services sloshed.
They could have gotten rid of the guy, purged him.
But they didn't.
The church gently confronted him and he got sober.
He didn't have a drink for his final 30 years.
His testimony had a big impact on their young people,
and the whole community.
Sermon #22912
b) On the other hand, the New Testament has many passages
on church discipline.
1> Even the gospel of Matthew records Jesus giving
the rules for kicking people out of church. 18:17
2> You do it in steps, and you always aim for
repentance, but if they refuse then you show
them the door. You "weed-whack" them.
B. Others apply the parable mostly to the world.
1) Note that Jesus explicitly identifies the field with the
world.
a) So we should weed the church, but not our communities.
b) In 1 Cor. 5:9-13, Paul talks about today's principle
in the context of both the church and the world.
I have written you in my letter not to associate with
sexually immoral people--
not at all meaning the people of this world who are
immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters.
In that case you would have to leave this world.
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with
anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually
immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a
drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
What business is it of mine to judge those outside the
church? Are you not to judge those inside?
God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from
among you."
2) This suggests we are to let God take care of the world.
a) We don't have to stamp out all its sin. We don't
have to wage "culture war."
b) Paul says Christians should leave the world's judgment
to God and focus on the church instead.
c) Instead of condemning the world, we should preach the
gospel to it.
1) But if you extend the principle of letting the world's weeds
alone, the church cannot condemn anything.
a) It would be wrong to criticize any vice or evil or
injustice.
b) All those prophets in the Old Testament would have to
zip their lips.
V. Perhaps there is a more subtle answer.
A. It is not either/or, but both/and.
1) Note that in verse 38 the field is the world, but in
verse 41 the weeding is done in God's kingdom.
2) The Kingdom is not exactly the same thing as the church,
but it is not equivalent to the world, either.
a) God's Kingdom on earth seems to be a mixture of genuine
and fake believers, in the midst of those who are
not believers at all.
b) Since only God can make the absolute distinctions,
we need to be careful when we make our own.
1> Whatever we do, don't harm the good wheat.
2> We should be gracious and loving in our dealings
with everyone, even those we disagree with.
B. Jesus' explanation doesn't say anything about ignoring weeds.
1) Instead, he focuses on the ultimate weeding - by God.
a) This may indicate that his main point is not how we
should deal with impurity in our fellowship.
b) Instead, we should take the long view and wait for
God's justice to set things straight.
2) God's long perspective should teach us patience.
a) It seems like God is taking a long time, but it will
eventually happen.
b) The church and the world will be one, and it will all
be pure.
c) The real issue is whether we are being faithful and good.
C. When the final weeding happens, what will happen to you?
1) In a similar passage in Matthew, someone who thinks he
is a devoted believer turns out to be a weed.
He says, "Lord! Lord!" but his lifestyle is corrupt.
He fooled all the weed whackers - but not God.
2) What will God see in you?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
Sermon #22912 “Weeds And Wheat,” Rev. Leonard J. Vander Zee, South Bend
Christian Reformed Church; South Bend, Indiana; <link>.
#65183 “The Wonders of Glyphosate,” Rev. David Holwick, adapted from
facts in <link>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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