Last week, in “Stories Jesus Told, Part 1“, we learned from the Parable of the Sower not to let discouragement keep you from being a witness, for you never know when or how God will take those seeds that you tried to plant and use them to draw those people to Him!
The next parable is recorded in Matthew 13:24-29: The parable of the Wheat and the Weeds! A farmer sows good wheat seed in his field, but during the night, his enemy comes and sows the seed of weeds in with the good wheat seed. This isn’t discovered until the seeds all begin to sprout, yet the farmer makes the decision to not pull out the weeds immediately, for fear that they would uproot the wheat. His command is to wait until the harvest, and then the harvesters could separate the good wheat from the weeds.
I’m not sure where I have gotten this idea, but every time I’ve read this parable, I immediately think about how the devil plants his own people alongside the people of God in each and every church. This is not, however, the context of this parable. Reading a bit further in the chapter, in verses 36-43, we see that the farmer isn’t a pastor, it is Jesus Himself. The field isn’t the church, rather it is the world, and the harvest is the end of time. Let’s also keep in mind that the entire parable begins with: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” (Matthew 13:24 NLT). Thus, the entire purpose of the parable is to give us a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God looks like! In God’s kingdom, the church of the living God isn’t segregated from the world! The church—comprised of each and every one of His children, those who have given their hearts to the Lord—is not meant to live apart from the world! In fact, in Jesus’ pastoral prayer, His last great recorded prayer in Scripture, He says, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.” (John 17:15 NLT)!
This seems a little contrary to some other scriptures that tell us, “Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.” (2 Corinthians 6:17 NLT), and “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?” (James 4:4a NLT). However, if you look closely at these two passages, you see that we aren’t to be friends with the world, we are to separate ourselves from touching their filthy things. In the world, but not of the world!
The truth of the matter is, when we segregate ourselves from the world, we are, in Jesus’ words, in response to the workers who wanted to uproot the weeds in the parable, the farmer, representing Jesus, says, “No… you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest.” (Matthew 13:29,30a NLT)
This is the first year in the past seven years that I’ve not had a formal garden. Instead, I planted vegetable seeds in pots on my deck. These pots came with my current house, and they were already full of what looked to be good dirt, so I simply tilled the soil and planted my seed in the existing dirt. It wasn’t long before my seeds sprouted…and so did a copious amount of thick weeds. I did not heed the advice of Jesus in this parable, and I pulled them up. And yes, by accident I pulled up my little vegetable plants as well… I did not have a vegetable harvest this year…
I think the lesson to be learned from this particular story of Jesus is that we actually need to be in the world. As long as we are in the world and not of the world, the worldly exposure will serve to strengthen our faith in Christ and make us more solid, adult Christians! Meanwhile, we can perhaps be good witnesses so that some of those “weeds” will turn into “wheat!”
And in the end, we have the promise: “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” (Matthew 13:40-43 NLT)
Please join us next Saturday as we continue to find hidden truths in the “Stories Jesus Told!”
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
(To access the entire “Stories Jesus Told” mini-series, please click here!)
