God's People Among Weeds

The kingdom proclaimed

So our first point, the kingdom proclaimed. I wanna start there because our text is already gonna be unusual, right? So we have a parable, verses 24 to 30, and then we have Jesus' own exposition of that parable, so isn't that fantastic? We have 36 to 43, we don't have to wonder what that parable means, Jesus tells us again. And then we have two parables in the middle, that are really parallel, they're both speaking of prosperity, but I want to start with Matthew's declaration here, his own narrative insertion in 34 and 35, and begin by looking at the kingdom proclaimed, specifically in parables here.

So our first point, the kingdom proclaimed, verse 34.

All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables, indeed he said nothing to them without a parable, And this was fulfilled, what was spoken by the prophet, I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.

Now last week, if you were with us, we had another one of these fulfillment and purpose of the parables, and that's in Matthew 13, 10 to 17. And they're a fairly challenging text. Jesus says, I am speaking in parables to hide what the kingdom is from some people. He's declaring that I'm intentionally not being clear. I'm intentionally not revealing. I'm intentionally hiding. And that is challenging in many fronts because God is the God who designed us to know him, promised that we would know him again. The whole point of the Gospels and the promise fulfillment language is actually that God has made promises and he will keep them and to restore us to himself. But that teaching last week was emphasizing how the parables are used to hide from some. And that's a central tenet of the Christian faith. God makes himself known his way to his people. In that way, God is kinda like us. You decide who you speak to and what you're gonna share with him. You're selective in what you say and to who you say it to. This is how we function. God chooses who he will speak to and what he will reveal. And he's just, he's perfect.

Now, last week's text ended with

blessed are you if you do have ears to hear and blessed are you if you have eyes to see.

Blessed are you if you do understand. So thank you, Jesus, for being the God who speaks, and the word not returning void.

This week is a different angle on fulfillment. Notice there, he's quoting from Psalm 78.

I will open my mouth in parables,

but in this declaration,

I will utter what has been hidden.

I'll actually reveal what was not known. So here he's showing that other flip side of the parables. They are hiding it from some, but they're making known as well. Here it's, I'm clarifying what was not yet clear. If you remember from your membership class, or if we taught on scripture scan, scripture is sufficient clear. Jesus is going to clarify what was once not known.

The psalm, Whenever the authors, they quote scripture, you can assume they're assuming the bigger portion. Psalm 78 4 continues,

they will not hide the truth from the children.

Here, Matthew is giving us this wonderful narrative interlude and interpretation of what's happening. Jesus is speaking in parables to reveal what was once undisclosed, and it is for our good.

Church, can I have the transition here too? Notice 36 changes scenes. All right, so you have the parable, and then you've got the interpretation. There's a different scene. Matthew ends this crowd's teaching of parables with his declaration that it's going to be now made known, and then Jesus goes with just the disciples in a house to make that known.

It's encouraging truth that God is powerful to make himself known. He's able to communicate perfectly. He's able to speak truth about himself and even able to open up our minds, our hearts, and our ears so that we would understand him. It's important for us because I fear too many Christians pretend the Bible is too confusing to really believe it. Or the Bible somehow isn't clear enough to really obey it. There's some kind of weird form of new Gnosticism that's really agnosticism, as if God's word isn't clear enough for us to have confidence in who God is as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, to know what he's done for us so we have confidence that Christ has come to forgive us completely. He restores us and makes us complete as a new humanity that is not clear as to what he expects of us as citizens.

Again, go back to Matthew 5 to 7. It's wonderfully clear. But we like to pretend God isn't so clear so that we can fill in the gaps where we want to. That's a dangerous approach to God. See, God's good. He's not like a bad parent who's constantly moving the goalpost, who's constantly giving different kinds of instruction that would confuse the children, make them paranoid, fearful of how they would disobey when they don't really understand. No, he's perfect. He's true.

Christian being encouraged this morning. The text here is, well, a lot easier than last week. The kingdom is proclaimed. The king has come to declare who he is and what his kingdom is. The call is,

he who has ears, let him hear.

He who belongs to that family wants to know what it means to be part of that family. He who has believed in Jesus wants to grow in confidence in who Jesus is and what he's done for them. If you're here today and you have doubt, we're thankful you're here. Doubters welcome. Our encouragement for you is to take God's word and read it, read it with others, hear it proclaimed. If you have doubt, take God's word and ask him to show you who he is so that you might be made complete.

Kingdom preserved

So 34, 35, that's Matthew telling us that it's a revealed kingdom here. God is revealing something that was once disclosed or not disclosed or hidden. Well, now we're gonna look at the parable of the wheat and the weeds. Taking notes, kingdom preserved.

Let's first look at the parable spoken to the crowds.

He put another parable before them, saying, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? He said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servants said to him, then do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, no, less than the gathering the weeds, you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. And at harvest time, I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.

All right, so we see the first kingdom is like here, the kingdom is compared. A man is sowing. Now if you were here last week, a man was sowing in that parable as well. And we have to make sure we are interpreting these with Christ and making sure we understand this is a different parable and it is going to be somewhat different in terms of what he's teaching. Last week he was sowing words. The word of God was going out and the soil mattered. Here, the seed is going out and it's producing wheat. And the significance is the weeds are going to go out, or the wheat goes out from the good man in his field, and then others come who are in his enemy, and they sow weeds.

Now, I don't know where you buy a bag of weeds, but apparently that's what I did in my yard. Thankfully, Caleb came and sowed grass, and that looks great, but now the rest of my yard looks horrible in comparison. Now, notice it wouldn't be evident for a while. The weeds and the wheat would look similar. It wasn't until they spread a grain that they could see the difference in the fruit. The man who's called Master is asked, should we pull up the weeds? And notice that he's a good farmer. He's a good patient farmer. He understands his crops. No, if you pull up the weeds, it'll destroy the wheat. He's protective, preserving the wheat. So he says, don't pull up the weeds, but at Harvest time, the weeds will be pulled up first. They'll be burned with fire, therefore that fruit, that grain could not reproduce, but the wheat will be gathered and they will be stored, protected in the barn.

Now, if we drop down to verse 36, notice, remember, it's a new setting. He's speaking to his disciples. He is going to now tell them what this parable means. The man who sows, He is the Son of Man. This is Jesus' most common way of referring to himself, but it is not a common reference at all. The Son of Man is referring back to Daniel 7. It's a grand declaration of authority, of divine authority. Here Jesus himself saying, the Son of Man is me, the one who has all authority, and sowing and planting in the field. And notice the field is the world, verse 38. Creation, all over God's creation he is planting seed.

Now, remember the seed was the words of God, the word of God, but now it's the sons of the kingdom, 38. The son of man is planting his kingdom citizens, his kingdom sons all over the world. And among his kingdom's sons, the devil, the enemy, he's planted weeds. Those who are evil, those who follow his evil way, those who follow his evil path and his example. The evil sons of Satan are the ones sown by the devil himself.

Let's just pause here. Jesus has planted a people. His kingdom is a people. a new citizenship, a new kind of people, a new kind of identity, and they're all over the world, the world he created, the world he has come to redeem. And as we hear this seed, plant, fruit language, we've heard it over and over again in Matthew. And it's one of the common themes you'll see throughout scripture, a way of God referring to his people and himself. Jesus is divine and we are the branches and we bear fruit. We see the word picture throughout scripture.

And Satan, he's planted people all over the world as well. They're citizens of the fallen world. They're disciples of their own sinful desires. They're following Satan's ways. They believe his lies. They're not literal sons, but they act like their father, Satan. If you're a son of God, you're supposed to act like your father. Very important theological truth.

There are two kinds of humans, spiritually speaking. You could say there's two kinds of humanity. There are those who are in the covenant with Adam, born in sin, under his headship. They're born in sin and they will die. They're living as children of Satan under the curse. That is a one kind of humanity that we see alluded to here and clear in Romans 5. And there's a second, those who are in covenant with Jesus, under his headship, in covenant with him, a new identity of blessing in life.

So we need to make sure every human being is made in the image of God with that same dignity and honor, but there's two different ways to live as those humans, one in Adam, in sin, following Satan and one in Christ following Christ. They're sons of the kingdom, sons of God. They're sons of wickedness following Satan.

Church, we meditated in the second great discourse. This is the third discourse of parables. Remember the second great discourse was how the disciples were to go to the Jewish people and they were to proclaim Christ and he kept warning them, they're going to despise you just like they despised me. They're going to not receive you and they're going to punish you, those sons of wickedness.

And the point of this parable is that both these kinds of people are going to continue in this world. Notice the explanation of the parable makes clear that judgment is coming. Verse 41,

the son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of the kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers. and throw them into the fiery furnace, in the place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,

there's going to be a future judgment. It's what we read of in 2 Peter. It is what we trust that God the great vindicator will bring in his perfect justice.

Then the righteous will shine,

verse 43,

like the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear.

We take great comfort in this in that God will bring perfect justice. Because in my experience, when humans try to bring their own justice, we usually overdo it or underdo it. We trust those who have the authority of the sword, and that's what we pray for them. But there's a way in which when we take justice in our own hands, we typically want more punishment than the crime is expected to have. We tend to be excessive.

Oh, what a relief. The perfect, true, just God, He will exercise perfect justice. The problem for us is we don't like to wait for Him. The other problem for us, we might be like Jonah, we might not want to think He would be merciful and pay their penalty on the cross and save them. God will bring perfect justice.

Implications and applications

A few implications and applications to consider in light of what this kingdom is. There are sons of the kingdom throughout the world. We first have to see that he's correcting probably a problem we're going to see come up over and over again. The disciples had a hard time understanding there were two comings of Christ. If we were to go back and look at all the promises in the Old Testament, there's promises that he would come to suffer and die, and that he would come in glory and power and judgment. He would come in grace and he would come in glory. And they seem to have a hard time understanding that these are two different comings. They wanted to lump them together so that there's a big assumption, it seems, that they're going to see Rome removed from Israel.

Remember, they're suffering under an occupation of Rome, of Western power, and they're being abused, and they're not able to be under their own rule with Jewish representation. or Jewish officers. Remember even an ax, even after the resurrection and after Christ has appeared again, they're still asking,

when will you restore the kingdom?

They still haven't even gotten it then. They wanted a complete kingdom with all the enemies removed in this parable. The declaration is the kingdom, yes, there's a sons, they're all over the world, Jews and Gentiles, all nations, all peoples represented, but he's not removing all the evil people yet from this world. He's not gonna punish the evil people. He's not coming to complete this one nation, what they might think of Israel, pure, only the people of God. No, they're spread throughout.

This is why we consider Psalm 2. We are still, as God's people, in this world that has nations raging against Christ and his people. We seek to know the blessings of Christ so that we can be the blessing of Christ. A big assumption, and this is a wonderful gospel, what actually happens, God can turn weeds into wheat. We're all, by nature, born in sin. We're all, because of our covenant with Adam, we're all, because we entertain our own sin and counsel our own hearts, we're all, by nature, deserving wrath. But God in his grace transforms us, because Christ came to be like us, to die for us, and rise again to give us new hope. And those who have that hope wait for Christ to return.

Another implication here. The sons, that wonderful identity of being adopted a new family and sons of the kingdom, the adoption and the citizenship come together as one right here. But it's not individual sons that are supposed to just exist. No, we're designed to form churches, little polises, cities of light, a new kind of family, a new kind of unit because together we shine brighter. Together, we come together and grow together to be more like Christ, to know the King, to rejoice in the King. Evangelism is so much greater when the church is doing it together. And how odd it is that many want to do evangelism without a church because if people are being turned into new kind of citizens and a new family, without a church, you don't have anything to invite them into. You're only bringing them out of sin.

No. One of the more confusing interpretations of this parable that has confused centuries of Christians is that many have thought that this parable says that the field is the church and that the church is supposed to be mixed with weeds and wheat. Well, I don't think that's true. Do you wanna know why I don't think that's true? Jesus is his own interpreter. Verse 38. The field is the world. It's very important. We're talking about what the church is, what the kingdom is. The church is not the field. The field is the world. I say that because it's confusing if you think the church is supposed to be intentionally and designed mixed.

Jeremiah 31 made it very clear it would be a new kind of people where everybody knows the Lord. Jesus here is making it clear there's a new kind of people who are his sons. I even find it more confusing. Those who are insisting that the church is supposed to be mixed insist the nation, the political state, should be Christian. That's weird, isn't it? What kind of a flip-flop? Like, let's make the church mixed, but let's make the nation Christian.

Jesus says the world is mixed, the church is fixed,

Quit rhyming and I mean it, anybody wanna peanut?

Yes, the church will have false professors, but this is where there are two places where Jesus uses the word church. Matthew 16, the church will prevail over the gates of Hades. They're all around us, and with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we're gonna bring life. Weeds will turn into wheat with the gospel proclamation.

The other place is Matthew 18, where the church is clearly designed to be a purified people, a pure people, because the church casts out those who are misrepresenting Jesus. The main emphasis of the end is that the son of man, he has planted you as a son of the kingdom, his people forever. He will keep you, he will guard you. The whole reason to pull up the weeds is for your own sustaining and protection.

And they'll be gathered. And that description in verse 43.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father.

That's kind of interesting because in Revelation, God tells us there is no sun. The Lord is the sun. There is no need for these temporary lights that give guidance and light. The Lord himself is the sun. So how are we gonna shine like the sun? You're being restored to the image bearer you were created to be. You're shining in the way God designed you to be. You're an image reflecting the glory of God forever. That's what God is restoring in the end. That's what we're becoming while we wait.

Kingdom prosperity

There is no salvation without Christ. There is no salvation without faith in Christ. There's two ends. There's those who will be gathered and judged who do not know Christ because they're following their own sin, and there's those who Christ has planted, who Christ has renewed. The only way to be saved and to be that shining like the sun in the kingdom is to believe in Jesus Christ as your savior. Our third point, kingdom prosperity. And this is looking at 31 and 33, two short parables and Because they're stuck in between the big parable and his own interpretation, I think we need to consider Jesus' explanation of the bigger parable as a kind of a key card or a clue as to how to interpret these parables. They're united together as a unit here. He gives two more parables.

The first,

he put another parable before them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed. that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree. So the birds of the air come and take, make nests in its branches."

Okay, so the kingdom of God is like, we're in the same ballpark, the kingdom of heaven may be compared. All right, so he's giving us these similes now to help us understand what is the kingdom like.

Now, we see another seed, right? We need to make sure the sower is not the, he's the same sower, but it's a different kind of seed. It's a different kind of metaphor or picture when it comes to the seeds in the previous parables last week, the seeds turning into sons or being sons. Let's especially look at how we understand. Notice the birds of the air come and make nests in the branches.

We have to understand there's different parables. Remember last week the birds were the evil one? That's not the same kind of bird here. This isn't Satan coming and nesting in the tree. That would be odd and confusing. I believe the whole point here is that the bird could have once eaten the seed. But that seed is so small and it grows so big it then gives rest. to that bird.

The first parable, the emphasis is on how small it may appear, how small it is, but the power that resides within it and how it grows and prospers and becomes great and large so that even the birds that could have consumed it are now resting in its branches. It's a blessing for others. That which begins small is going to be great.

Now the most direct and obvious point of what he's teaching here is that these disciples are small. Small in number, not the great reputation of of well-trained men, in terms of the academy, they're not the most educated, even though they have been taught by the greatest teacher of all time, but in terms of the world's eyes, they seem small and significant. They're fishermen, they're common folk, they're even despised tax collectors. That small beginning is gonna turn the world upside down. That very small beginning.

So I think there's a very unique application for these men and those small group of disciples that are gonna see that what appears to be small and significant, not threatening to the world, is going to spread and it's gonna grow. It's gonna be great. Remember the council of Caiaphas and Acts. When there's Christians in court, he says,

if this is of God, we cannot stop it, let's wait and see.

I don't believe he understood what kind of prophet he actually was.

Not all those disciples saw all the growth. We can even go back one step further from just this small group of disciples who are unassuming and do not appear to be great, but they will produce what is great. Jesus himself came, not esteemed by man. not appearing as a great man. It wasn't until he opened his mouth and taught that they understood what great authority he had. It wasn't until he spoke and miracles took place. But he appears small, unassuming in appearance in every way. And in even his end, he dies in a humiliating way with the death on the cross. What's amazing is he's the greatest great. I know that's grammatically impossible to say, but we must say it. He is the greatest great.

That the greatness of Christ, he came down, appeared small, came to be like us so that he would become great and he would show us his greatness and he would make us great.

The small seed

Another way to consider this. Christian, do you remember the small seed that was planted in you when you first read the gospel? Do you remember how little you actually understood what was going on? Do you remember that small seed? That Lord willing has changed you greatly.

You may have just thought, I'll be forgiven of my sin. That's good news, and that is good news. But then you learn, I'm adopted. I'm loved. I'm not just forgiven of sin, I'm free from the power of sin. I'm not just someone who God is gonna care for, but he uses me then to care for others.

That small little planting that took place in you at some point because God blessed you with good soil and said, you will be the son of my kingdom. How he changes us and grows us to be greater.

Those who proclaim the gospel to your family, those who are thinking of who I'm gonna witness to when I go home or go somewhere for Thanksgiving, co-workers, fellow students, teachers, you're planting what might feel like small, insignificant seeds, but it's the power of the gospel that saves sinners.

It may appear like a small moment of a seed planted But scripture tells us it is the power of that small seed planted that turns weeds into wheat, that takes one from being condemned to being loved by God.

Praise God, He regularly saves those who are weak, small, and insignificant, and that He regularly uses those who appear small, weak, and insignificant.

Now here we need to lean into the text Again, too often folks are eager to do that big, special, exciting thing. No, it's the small, regular, repeated acts of faithfulness. We too often judge by the world's standards of what's great, big, exciting, and fantastic.

No, the smallness of what you can do in the kingdom of God can produce great glory for God. Simple hospitality, welcoming somebody into your home, into your life. The opportunity to go down with the children and teach, that's why we pray for them right now, that those who are taking that opportunity to plant those small seeds are gonna possibly do a great work and God will use it greatly in those children's lives.

The way of God is regularly working through the ordinary means of grace.

The kingdom of heaven is like leaven

Now the other parable that's connected here, these are a couplet, they do need to be understood together. He told them another parable, the kingdom of heaven is like, so these two things have to be agreed in agreement, and I believe they inform each other.

The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it all was leavened,

okay? So previously all we've had is agriculture, now Jesus is gonna speak of the baking scene. He is all things to all people, so we're thankful for a little bit different analogy.

Now, again, we need to make sure we understand words don't always mean the exact same thing in different contexts. In a little bit, he's gonna warn us about being influenced by the leaven of the Pharisees. Here, leaven's good. Leaven is the kingdom of God and the truth of the kingdom and the power of the kingdom and the grace of the kingdom that's going to influence and affect everything. The leaven that is hidden in will change the entire loaf, will change the entire dough so that it grows. Here, the kingdom of heaven, it spreads. It starts small. It's again, unappearing. It doesn't seem to be anything great. The letter of the kingdom is small, unnoticed, but it affects everything.

Now, let's remember the field is the world. At some level, the kingdom of heaven is going to be great and grow in the world. And I believe here we should consider how the kingdom is like leaven that is going to influence the world. We're gonna try to be consistent with what Jesus says. So there's a way in which the kingdom is going to influence and spread throughout the world. Kingdom growth happens in the world. Kingdom permeates and influences the whole world.

Question. The leaven of Christ should influence and change everything about this world. Now, you might get real excited here. The kingdom should affect our home, our church, our governing societies, our politics. That the kingdom should actually change, the kingdom of God acting like leaven should affect every citizen and that should then change the nation. We're supposed to be making disciples of all nations, the peoples. The leaven of Christ here is supposed to be a blessing everywhere and in every way. Same as the Sermon on the Mount. We're called to be salt and light in the world. We are to see how we are supposed to seek to have an influence like leaven everywhere in God's world. The hope is that everyone will be transformed by Christ, transformed by the gospel. I do pray our nation would see the goodness of God's laws because God's laws promote human flourishing. If the church remains faithful as a church, every member of every church walking with Christ, following Christ, will make for a better society, a better state, a better world.

My concern is most of the people who are talking about what we call Christian nationalism, they're not doing the first things. Those who seem to be really excited about Christian nationalism and changing the state, they're not themselves being changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. They themselves are not building within the body of Christ, the church, the first place where this kingdom is empowered and enacting. See, too many who are talking about this, they're merely babblers, they're not builders. If you want a Christian nation, it starts with you, your home, your church. There's a long game of how Christ would change this world.

These parables of the smallness of the seed and the leaven, I want to make sure you understand, it really must first begin with your own mind, your heart, and your actions. The gospel must permeate you and change all of you to make you complete. It begins with you taking on the faith to believe in all God has said, to put on the practices Christ has commanded, to be changed as his son and daughter. And then in your home, the gospel should change your home. Husbands, so that you would love your wife as Christ loved the church. Wives, as you would submit and obey your husbands as the church submits to Christ. It's supposed to affect the home in the way we don't exasperate our children. Sorry, this is not playing. Man, I've been a jerk this week. I'm sorry. The church is supposed to be the gospel, bears fruit of confession, repentance, grace and forgiveness that transforms us. It's too easy to think how the world there needs to change. It's too hard to actually do it here. This is where Christ expects us to be his citizens. who want change and to be a change and to grow up in the change that Christ would have us.

The kingdom affects all of us first. Christ who has all authority, he promises he will keep us to the end. He promises that he will store us and protect us and even make us shine like the sun. He will use us and grow us and bless us in the growth.

Will we trust him and follow him?

Will you pray with me?

Father, we thank you for your goodness. You do not leave us alone to follow the ways of Satan in our own sin. to be left with only our rebellion, to see your wrath. You sent your son so that we could be changed, restored. Lord, may we rejoice in that great restoration. May we long to see others restored. May we be part of the restoration together as a people.

Lord, we long to see your churches full of saints shining light. that neighbors would see, that would change the nation, that would change the world. May we first see our first obedience is to follow you and obey you as your children, as your citizens, and build up your church to make disciples of all nations.

Bless our hope in you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.