Sunday, July 23, 2023

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 44:6-8
Psalm 119:57-64
Romans 8:18-27
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.

The season of Pentecost is a time for the Church to learn what it means to be Christian, how to be the Church. This year we are following the stories of Jesus from the Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew included five discourses by Jesus: the Sermon on the Mount, the Mission Discourse, the Parabolic Discourse, the Discourse on the Church, and the Olivet Discourse. Chapter 13, which are readings we hear over three weeks in July this year, are from the Parabolic Discourse. It includes seven parables about the Kingdom of Heaven.

Last week we heard the parable of the seeds, this week is the parable of the weeds, and next week includes three parables about a treasure, a pearl and a net. We usually read these parables separately, interpret them individually, study every word in depth to fully understand what God wants us to know. Every book, paragraph, sentence, word and even “jot and tittle” in scripture are given for us to become the disciples He has called us to be. The words that we take for granted in the text are often the keys to truly understanding what God is saying, so it is valuable to look at the texts with a magnifying glass.

But sometimes we need to take a step back and look at the scriptures as a whole. We usually do try to put the passages in some sort of context, but we rarely take whole chapters to see how the stories and experiences fit together. For instance, the Sermon on the Mount. Some commentators think that Matthew 7 should not be considered part of the Sermon because it appears to be a number of random thoughts. Yet, if you look at the Sermon as a whole, you realize that chapter 7 is the “application” part of the message. How do you live the expectations of chapters 5 and 6 in your relationships with other people? Each different passage in the whole Sermon is important for us to learn, but we will grow even more if we see how it all fits together.

Matthew 13 begins (as we read last week) with Jesus going out of the house to the sea where the crowds gathered around Him to listen to Him preach. The image is interesting, and important: Jesus was sitting in a boat on the water while the crowds stood on the shore to listen. This is not a typical picture of a preacher, is it? We are used to our preachers standing in a pulpit high above us while we comfortably sit in our pews to listen.

The parables in Chapter 13 show us a scene of judgment, especially evident in this week’s passage. A farmer planted a field, but during the night an enemy planted weeds in that farmer’s field. It was not until sometime later that the farmer’s workers realized that there were weeds in the midst of the plants. They wondered if they should remove the weeds. We want to get rid of the weeds because we know that they take important nutrients and steal the water necessary for good growth. Unfortunately, all plants look similar at the seedling stage; it is easy to confuse a weed and a good plant in the early days of growth. It is not until the crops begin to mature that the farmer can tell the difference. By then the roots of the weeds are intertwined with the wheat. It is impossible to pull the weeds without damaging the crops.

Anyone who has a garden knows this is true. In our many years of home ownership, we’ve tried to have gardens. Neither my husband nor I have green thumbs, but we try. At one point we had a pond which we surrounded with rocks and pots of flowers. We had to pull a weed out of the bed once in a while as weeds sprouted between the rocks. Bruce weeded one day, pulling out some sprouts near the pots of flowers. A few days later he saw another “weed” in the same place, but it had managed to survive a few days longer than the others he had pulled. He realized that the flowers in the pots were dropping seeds into the bed, so instead of pulling weeds, he was pulling. It is easy to confuse a weed and a flower in the early days of growth, they look so much alike. Just like the wheat in the parable.

The farm hands might think they know the best way to deal with the fields, but the farmer knows what is best. Sometimes weeds can be beneficial. Wildflowers (which are, in essence, weeds) serve to give character to fruit like grapes. If you taste wine carefully, you may be able to identify flavors such as mushroom and lavender in the wine. Some plants become stronger because they send their roots deeper into the soil seeking water and nourishment. A landowner knows the plants, the risks and the benefits and is careful to do what is best for his fields. While it might be good to pull the weeds, we don’t always know which weeds to pull.

Jesus reminds us that there will grow up in our midst people who are not really Christian, they do not truly believe in Christ. The thing is, we can’t tell the difference between those who are true of faith and those whose faith is false. As I’ve come to say, “It is above my paygrade.” We can’t read their hearts, only God can. Like the weeds in a wheat field, the truth will eventually come to light. We might be tempted to uproot those we think come from the evil one, but in doing so we do not always know the damage we might do to someone who is weak in faith. We may think we are protecting them, but we are not God. God knows what He needs to do. He can protect His people much better than we can. We are simply called to live as God has called us to live, trusting that our God is just and that He will take care of the wheat and deal with the tares. We may just find that what we thought was a tare is actually someone to whom God has yet to finish His work. In the end all will be right because God is faithful.

We know that Jesus built His church, and we are uncomfortable with the thought that there might be some who are not truly believers in our midst. The church exists to encourage one another. We gather to worship together, to pray for one another, and to share our gifts. We rely on one another to keep us on the right path, but how can we stay on the right path if we are led by those who are purposely leading us down the wrong one? It is no wonder that the servant in today’s passage asks the master if they should pull out the weeds. We don’t want anyone in our midst that will be a risk to our lives, growth, faith, hope, and peace.

God says, “Don’t worry. My seeds will grow and survive and bear fruit, and I will nurture and protect those whom I have planted; the righteous will shine like the sun in my kingdom. In the end I will take care of the weeds; I will pass judgment on the seeds planted by the devil.” This is a passage about judgment; in the end the works of the devil will not succeed. The hard part is that we can’t always determine between the works of God and the works of the devil, that’s why God warns us to let Him deal with it. Sometimes we make mistakes in our quest to cleanse the church and we destroy those whom God has planted.

We would rather not see how these parables fit into a judgment scene. We aren’t bothered by the reality that there will be a judgment scene at the end of times, but we prefer to look at these parables as we always have: as comforting promises to those whose hearts are good soil, those who are the seeds He’s planted, those who are the good fish. We want to see God’s hand as He grows the mustard seed and the leaven. We know it will be hard, but we want to be the one who gives it all up for the hidden treasure and the great pearl. We struggle when we look at these parables in this new light. There will be judgment, and we fear that we may not benefit the way we have always expected. We will all experience judgment, but those who reject Jesus as He has revealed Himself to be will not like the way the story turns out.

The scriptures constantly remind us that God is in control. Some things are just above our paygrade.

“King of the Hill” is a fun game that children love to play. One child climbs a hill, and the object is for the other children to make them fall off. The one who gets to the top of the hill and knocks the “king” to the bottom gets to be “king” until someone else makes it to the top. The children end up rolling down the hill, sometimes more from laughter than from knocking each other around.

I don’t think we stop playing “King of the Hill” when we grow up, although our games don’t take place on hillsides. They take place in boardrooms and offices. Sometimes we see those who are on the hilltops above us and do whatever it takes to knock them down so we can move up. This is not the right way to get ahead in our careers, but unfortunately it has worked since the beginning of time. Too many men became king by getting rid of a sitting ruler through warfare.

I was reading from 1 Kings the other day and noted that while most of the kings of Judah did as their father David who had a heart for God, the kings of Israel did “what was evil in the sight of God.” God left them to their sin, gave them what they wanted, and allowed them to suffer the consequences. Some of those kings lasted for many years, more than a decade, but many fell quickly. A few lasted just two years. A few lasted no more than a few months. One lasted seven days. They were overthrown by those trying to get to the top. None of them served God. They served themselves.

In today’s world, the “king” is knocked down through less violent, though no less dangerous means. It doesn’t take much to destroy a person’s status, position, finances, or reputation. Just like the childhood game, for some the object of life is to get to the top of the hill and stay there by any means. Watch any political race and you’ll see men and women doing whatever it will take to put them on the top.

I thought of this game while I was reading and rereading this week’s Old Testament lesson. Doesn’t God sound like the big guy who has made it to the top of the hill and is calling out for everyone else to try to knock Him off? For many, this is a bothersome image of God, particularly because we see bullies grow up to be corporate bullies that destroy lives with their ambitions. However, God is not some bully playing a game. He is God. Who is there that can knock Him off the top of the hill?

The reality is that we let many things knock God off the top of our hill. We put so many things first: our jobs, our families, our romances, our education, our hobbies, our interests. We set God aside to take care of the business of living. Anything that we put ahead of God becomes our god. Though He is the One and only, we make gods of so many things. “Who is like Him?” Can money stand up against God? Can our wishes and dreams? Can our opinions really be greater than God? What about our truth? Are our gods reliable? Can they declare their greatness ahead of God?

Nothing is greater. There is nothing that can knock God off the top of the hill, but we get confused and look to so many things as if they are gods. We might confess God is the greatest, but when we rely on them above God, we are relying on something less than God, they are merely pebbles next to the Rock. None are like Him.

I have to confess that I’ve had my mind on something more than God, but I’ve justified my thoughts because of God. See, we have had issues with our internet for the past couple of weeks. There is construction in our neighborhood, and the construction crews are not paying attention to where they are digging, breaking the lines for our internet. I can certainly write without the internet, although it is so much easier to be able to type a question into my google machine to make sure I’m giving you facts. I admit that I copy and past the scriptures. And I need the internet to email and post these devotions. I can use my phone for research, and I can set up a hotspot to post, but it is less convenient. I’ve constantly checked the site to see when our service will return, even interrupting my scripture reading and prayer “just to see.” I realized last night that I was more focused on my worldly problems than on God. I justify it because I do so much ministry online, but I wasn’t trusting that God can use these struggles to make me stronger.

What are we to do with the truth that there will be judgment, even if we don’t like it? Jesus tells us these things so that we will keep our eyes on Him. We can wander off His path which can lead us to suffer the consequences of our own desires. We won’t be killed by some wannabee playing king of the hill, but we can become so focused on our own idea of what we think God should be doing that we destroy what God intends, like the workers who wanted to remove the weeds without even really knowing which sprouts are weeds. We have to let God do what God does, and that means that one day some will be cast away.

We have a hard time, especially today, accepting that a loving God would let anyone suffer the kinds of punishment we see in these texts. Who wants to believe in a God who will throw anyone into a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth? These stories of judgment, of law, cause us to cry out to God for mercy. So, Jesus tells us these things for the sake of our neighbors who might just be the ones who are falling away or being led astray. If we think everyone is saved anyway, why would we ever bother to share the Gospel? Why would we introduce our neighbors to Jesus? Why would we try to help them onto the right path? It doesn’t matter, God will save them anyway.

But we know this is not true because Jesus tells us that some will end up in the furnace of fire. So, as faithful Christians, we are called to share the Gospel of truth with everyone so that they might hear the Word and believe. As we heard last week, we are called to scatter the seed everywhere because God is gracious and merciful. It is up to Him to cause the growth. As we hear in this week’s text, it isn’t up to us to decide who is a fruitful plant or a weed. God will take care of it. Perhaps, and this is my hope, that ultimately everyone will hear and believe, but I’ll leave that up to God.

The world won’t like it, but Jesus wants us to know so that we’ll keep our eyes and hearts on Him. He suffered at their hands and so will we, but God will make all things right in the end.

Paul wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.” The world looks no different today than it did before Jesus’ birth. It is still filled with sinners, suffering, and pain. Yet, there is a difference because we now live in a hope that does not disappoint, a hope in the promises of God. Jesus Christ gives us a hope that is real, a hope that is assured. We look forward to the day when we will have true peace not only in our hearts but in the whole world. Even the creation will live to the glory of God. This hope is not something that we can make ourselves; we can’t push God off the top of the mountain and expect to experience peace. We can only patiently wait for it to come in God’s time and way. We can look toward that hope in the midst of our sufferings and know that one day we will inherit the promised Kingdom.

The worst suffering is death. And judgment leads to death.

Death is not what God intended for His creation. And when Adam and Eve sinned against God, they broke more than their relationship with God. They broke the whole world. People die because sin entered the world. A day will come when death will no longer have the final say, but until that day we’ll have to suffer the consequences of our brokenness. We’ll have to say good-bye to those who love. We do so with a hope that God’s promises have been fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Paul wrote that all of creation groans as we wait for that day. Death makes us hesitant to build relationships, but someone has said, “Love is worth the grief.”

The best we can do is remember that God loves us. Jesus loves us. And one day we’ll experience that love in ways we can’t imagine today. For now, we study the scriptures to learn how to live in the faith we’ve been given. We’ll deal with our struggles with the hope that God has already made things right and the patience to love while we wait for that which is ours by God’s grace, an eternity in the presence of our Creator Redeemer God. We learn to love our neighbors so much that we are willing to risk persecution and rejection for their sake.

The psalmist knew how to persevere despite opposition. Although I can’t possibly say better than the writer and two thousand years of translators, I like to paraphrase the text of Psalm 119 to see more clearly the Law and Gospel found within. “You have given me all I need, so I promise to obey everything you have spoken. I have sought your face with my whole heart; have mercy as you have promised. I have seen my failing and repented according to the evidence of my sin. I will quickly obey all God’s Law. I was trapped by the wicked but I held on to your teaching. I will be thankful for your right verdict. I am friends with all who follow your authoritative rule. The earth is full of God’s lovingkindness; teach me your boundaries.”

These words show us that God is a kind and just ruler. The life He calls us to live is never easy, but it is the life that will give Him glory. It is also the life where we will find peace. Chasing after the top of the hill might get us somewhere, but there’s always someone behind us that will threaten our peace at the top. Chasing after false gods might make us happy and satisfy our desires, but those gods will never be able to give to us what we truly need. There is no hope in heresy. No matter how hard it is to wait or how fraught with danger that time might be, it is worth holding on to the promise of God because He will be true.

God has planted us in this world, and the evil one has planted weeds. I don’t know about you, but I see too many weeds these days. I want to see the promise of last week’s lesson fulfilled, the harvest of 100, 60 or 30 times as much planted in the good soil, but I wonder if God’s Word is falling on deaf ears. I find myself crying “Come, Lord Jesus” because I am ready for that time when the righteous will shine like the sun and the weeds will be cast into the furnace of fire. And yet, is that any better than the Universalist response? Will I bother to share God’s grace with those who I have deemed unworthy? Some people will be judged and sent to the fire, but it is not up to us to decide who that might be. God is in control. We can have hope that all will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, and in that hope we will be disciples who share God’s grace with all in our path, even if they will persecute us for our faith.

Paul reminds us that hope is not something tangible that we can see or touch. We want immediate gratification, but what good is a hope that is already received? It is no longer hope but a promise fulfilled. There is then nothing to look forward to. Our hope rests in the fulfillment of His promises and we can be assured that those promises will be fulfilled because God is faithful. Hope in the promise of God is worth waiting for, waiting patiently because God is faithful. The day will come when the weeds will be destroyed. Until that day, we can rely on God to help us live side by side with the world because we have been given the His Spirit. He will bring us through as no other god can do.

Would it be better for it to be finished today? Yes! We cry out to Jesus to return so that He can finally set all things right. But as long as we have breath, then God has work for us to do. There are still those who have not yet heard the Gospel. It might hurt a bit at times to be a child of God. We will face persecution and suffering for our faith, but as we live in the Spirit which we have received from God, we’ll wait expectantly along with all of God’s creation for that moment when He finally finishes the work He began in Christ Jesus. For now, we are the first fruits of that work, holy and dedicated to God so that others might see God’s grace in our faith and come to believe that God is God and that He will make everything right.