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.’”
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.
Eternity
Love
Once
again, we hear a parable told by Jesus. Parables were prophesied about in
Psalms. So, Jesus telling of parables was predicted long ago.
Psalm
78:1-2 NIV
1 My people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
So, yea, we
will listen to hidden things again this week, spoken through examples of
earthly elements that we can relate to. So, listen to the words of Jesus
carefully, to grasp another eternal truth from God.
The “Kingdom
of Heaven” is one of the main points of Jesus teaching. And rightly so, after
all, Jesus came from heaven to earth, and returns to heaven. Why? It’s about
God’s relationship with His created… you and me, and all people, throughout
time.
So, Jesus is
bringing to you and me, His Word. A word of forgiveness and life, SO THAT, we
may live with Him in an eternal relationship of love, FOR Him, and all He came
to save. And that’s ALL of us.
So, this
field of Jesus, is like the fields we tend to think of also. We live and work
in our chosen or given field, or occupation. Even our location. And Jesus’
field, IS the world. And here His plan is to spread the seeds of faith to all
of us, SO THAT we may grow in this time and place, and likewise spread His seed
to one another, in the love that God gave to Jesus, and to us as well.
That is the
Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God. And God gives us “seeds,” all we need
to grow and bear the fruit of His Word to all the world.
But stuff
happens and gets in the way.
Satan gets
in the way. Satan invades the field, and sow’s weeds among the good seeds of
wheat. Satan is always attempting to muck up the works, with issues that
interfere with God’s work.
And notice
how we are asleep while Satan does his dirty deed. We sleep and aren’t aware of
his vile tricks and deceptions. Sin enters in. The weeds of evil spirits and
temptations grow into, and around, the lives of the seeds of God.
As we grow
in Christ, we are surrounded by those who may be false. We are surrounded by
evil people, and evil spirits, who have bought into the lies of Satan. And we
are tempted to move from God to Satan, to be satisfied with the greed and
hunger of his works, and this world. It happens day after day. And that’s where
sin enters into our lives, and we fail to do God’s will. We fail to love God
and our neighbor. Why? Because we get all tangled up in our own selfish ways.
This world can bring a fulfillment that is, just of this world.
But even
with this, God has planted us, not to turn away from Him. Rather He comes to us
to bring us in union with His love, for Him, and for one another.
We have Hope
in God, and have Hope to bear the fruit that He would have us bear.
As
we go to Jesus and question the sin in our lives, sometimes, for me anyway, I
wonder why this sin was set before me. This sin set before me, DOES NOT come
from God. Sin comes from the Deceiver, or Satan. Jesus only sowed good seed,
the weeds of my sin get in the way of my growth, they get in the way of bearing
the fruit that God has given me to bear. So, I must hold on to the hope of
Jesus, and bear His fruit of love, even while I grow among the weeds of this
world, and the weeds of my sin.
Instead
of pulling up the weeds of evil around me, God gives me all I ever need to turn
away from the weeds of evil, and the weeds of my sin, to seek Him, and to see
Him right there in my presence. Sometimes God lets me see the weeds of my life,
sometimes God sets the weeds in my presence, SO THAT, I can see my need for Him,
to rescue me from myself. Yes, God spins me away from the weeds and shows me
His forgiveness and His Source of life. The weeds are death, and the from the Sower
of the good seed, is life and salvation.
Pulling
the weeds is not my job. Jesus has come to me to pull the weeds of sin, FOR me,
and FOR you. When I think that I can overcome, by my own actions of pulling
weeds, I too will die along with the weeds around me, and wrapped all through
me. Jesus is the only human in this world that was able to live His life
without the sin of the weeds. Yet, He took on the sin of the weeds that we face
FOR us, SO THAT, in Him we have life and salvation.
The
Church is here not to separate weeds and people, or to judge them. The Church
is here to nurture the growth of the wheat, SO THAT, all may bear the love that
God has freely shown, even before the Creation.
At
the end of it all, the weeds will be bundled together and thrown into the fire,
and the good wheat will live forever with Jesus. The evil, the sin and all that
pulls us away from God, will be NO MORE. And that’s all the action of God, not
the action of the wheat.
So,
yea, actively seek God’s Word. Listen to the words and parables of Jesus. Pray
for understanding these parables that Jesus gives to us. Listen and respond
with that awesome “DO.” Not because you seek to earn favor, but rather because
you live now, a joyful life free from the power of sin and death.
We
live in a great field full of weeds and wheat. Wheat as the believers and
followers of God, and weeds that have rejected God and look to pull the wheat toward
death. Know the difference, not for fear, but rather to see which way to turn
and look. Will you look to God, or fall to the deceptions of this world’s power
and greed?
There
will be a harvest. A harvest of both wheat and weeds.
There
will be a separation. Sin will be rooted out, in the end. Death will NOT have
the final word for the wheat. But death will be the final word for the weeds.
Only through Jesus can the sin of the weeds be eliminated, AND, the wheat WILL
GROW abundantly.
AND,
I love this last part… The wheat WILL SHINE like the Son. Wow!
Jesus,
You are the first and the last. I need not fear, for You are with me. Always!
As
the weeds seek to bind me up and bring on death, I turn to You, Jesus. For You
fill the earth with the love that existed always, in heaven, and on earth. You
brought Your love to this earth, to finally reign forever.
As
the weeds bind me, Holy Spirit, free me from sin and death, SO THAT, I may live
in Your favor forever. I need You!
So,
what do I make of all of this? As I reflected day after day on this passage of
Scripture, I couldn’t help but to think of God, before. God before creation of
it all. He was Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always there. Spirit and Man
combined in love to and for each other, separately and collectively, somehow in
a way I can’t understand. But the point
being, there is a relationship of love always.
You
see, the likeness of God IS Love…
Genesis
1:26a
26 Then God said, “Let us make
mankind in our image, in our likeness…
See the
“us.” I believe the “us” to be God before creation. I believe the “Us” is the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit; all in relationship with one another in Love.
And in that
“Love” as mankind was created, the intention was always, for the little “us,”
to be in a relationship of love with the big, “Us.”
God created
us in His love, that we may always love Him and one another.
But then… the
evil spirit of Satan gets involved. Satan’s only power is to draw God’s flesh,
the little “us,” away from a relationship with God, the big “Us.”
Satan is not
flesh; Satan is spirit that chose to deny God’s love and claim power over
mankind. God’s loving creation, of the little “us.”
So, the
weeds of sin and death attempt to draw us away from our relationship of love
with God. And here are those weeds.
But God has
a way of turning all things upside down. And since God is also in the flesh and
blood of Jesus, God in Jesus comes down with the Love of God that was always
present, even before the world existed, to draw the wheat together and away
from the entanglement of the weeds, to live, once again in the Loving
relationship that God had planned from before the beginning, in Love with God
and in Love with all the wheat.
In the end
of it all, God’s eternal Love has all the power to defeat the sin and death, of
Satan, as Satan attempts to pull mankind from the relationship of love with
God. As Paul, so beautifully states…
Romans
8:38-39 NIV
38 For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor
the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height
nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As the wheat
and weed are separated, the wheat live in joy and eternal relationship with the
Love of God, as was always intended. And the weeds, those evil spirits, are
sent away into that eternal fire.
Revelation
20:10 NIV
10 And the devil, who
deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the
beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented
day and night for ever and ever.
And here is the really
“cool” part! Listen to John’s account from the book of Revelation…
Revelation
22:1-5 NIV
22 Then the angel showed me
the river of the water of life, as clear as
crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down
the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the
tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every
month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No
longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be
in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They
will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There
will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light
of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for
ever and ever.
That there, is the Love of
God, as it always was and always will be… today… tomorrow… and forever. Thanks
be to God!
Enjoy the YouTube Music Video
that I ran across that speaks to this passage of Scripture from Matthew…
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