There Are Weeds Among The Wheat
Text: Matthew 13:24-30 & 36-43
24 Jesus put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 “But while the men were sleeping his enemy came and was resowing weeds among the wheat and went away.
26 “Now when the stalks sprouted and produced heads of grain, at that time the weeds also appeared.
27 “Then the slaves of the master of the house came forward and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How, then, does it have weeds?’
28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ And the slaves say to him, ‘So do you wish that we go and gather them up?’
29 “But he says, ‘No, lest while gathering up the weeds you uproot the wheat with them.
30 ‘Permit both of them to grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the harvesters, “First gather up the weeds and bind them into bundles to burn them up. Then gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
36 Then after he sent the multitudes away, he went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”
37 Then answering, he said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 “The field is the world. And the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. And the weeds are the sons of the wicked one,
39 “and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 “Consequently, just as the weeds are gathered up and burned up in fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41 “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather up out of his kingdom all the things that cause sin and those who practice lawlessness,
42 “and they will cast them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears, let him hear.”
Sermon:
Do you plant flowers around the house or a small garden in the spring of the year? If you do, what grows among your flowers and vegetables throughout the spring and summer? Weeds, correct? Among the beautiful flowers and the vegetable plants those nasty weeds keep sprouting and growing. We then must spend the time to weed them out. That is a never-ending job.
While you are weeding out those weeds, do you ever think about whom you have to thank for those weeds in your garden? The devil, who led Adam into sin, for which reason the ground was cursed to produce weeds.
Not only is the devil through sin responsible for the weeds in your garden, he is also responsible for another kind of weed in the world. We learn this through Jesus’ Parable of The Weeds Among The Wheat.
During his earthly ministry in Galilee Jesus went about preaching the good news of the kingdom and casting out demons to free people from the tyranny of the devil. Through us Jesus continues to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the people of the world so that they, together with us, believe in Jesus and walk with him. But all the time the devil is working in the hearts and minds of people to reject Jesus and his gospel and to keep them bound in unbelief and sin.cJesus’ Parable of The Weeds Among The Wheat gives us an insight into what is happening and what will happen in the end.
Verse 24 states Jesus put another parable before the people, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are one and the same kingdom. It is the kingdom that belongs to heaven and to God. Jesus is the King of this kingdom. His kingdom is within the hearts of people like us, in whose hearts he rules by his Word. His kingdom, then, consists of his believers and his heirs of heaven.
What happens in connection with his kingdom is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. From Jesus’ explanation of his parable we know that Jesus himself is the man who planted the good seed. The good seed is the sons of the kingdom, the believers in him, who have the right to inherit his kingdom of glory and life everlasting. His field is the world. In and throughout the world he raises up his believers through the preaching of his gospel.
While Jesus is planting and raising up his believers in the world, his enemy is at work. Verse 25 states: “But while the men were sleeping his enemy came and was resowing weeds among the wheat and went away.” Jesus’ enemy is the devil, who leads the whole world astray into unbelief and sin. In Jesus’ field of the world the devil plants weed seed among Jesus’ good seed. The weed seed is the sons of the evil one, the devil. They are those who reject Jesus and his Word and remain in the darkness of unbelief and commit acts of lawlessness.
If you have ever shared the gospel of Jesus with someone, only to have that person fail to understand it and reject it, you know whom you have to blame -- the devil, the god of this age, who has planted a weed seed. Look at what 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4 states: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those who are perishing, 4 in whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that the bright light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, did not shine forth in them.”
Verse 26 of the parable states: “Now when the stalks sprouted and produced heads of grain, at that time the weeds also appeared.” As a result of the devil’s evil work there are weeds among the wheat, unbelievers among the believers.
We might think: “I am glad that I am not a weed and a child of the devil.” But remember what we were by nature. By nature we were children of the devil, enslaved to his evil will, bound in the darkness of spiritual ignorance and unbelief, and inclined only toward sin all the time. We were numbered among the devil’s weeds.
Only by the grace of God have we been raised up to be Jesus’ wheat to believe in him and to live by his Word. Jesus has sown and planted us through his gospel, namely that he redeemed us by his perfect life which he lived for us and by his sacrificial death through which he paid for our sins. Through him we possess the forgiveness of our sins, salvation from hell, and life everlasting.
Among us believers in the world exist the devil’s weeds -- not only the idolaters, atheists, and the extremely wicked, but the false Christians, hypocrites, and heretics as well. Outwardly the latter may exhibit a faith and piety. Inwardly, however, they lack true faith in Jesus and do not do his holy will. We must remain faithful to Jesus and his gospel so we ourselves do not slip into becoming one of the devil’s weeds.
Verses 27-29 of the parable state: “Then the slaves of the master of the house came forward and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How, then, does it have weeds?’ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ And the slaves say to him, ‘So do you wish that we go and gather them up?’ “But he says, ‘No, lest while gathering up the weeds you uproot the wheat with them.' ”
The command that the weeds are not to be pulled up does not mean that when they are plainly evident within the church they should not be disciplined to be led to repentance and when necessary excommunicated from the congregation for impenitence. Indeed, they should be. The command not to pull up the weeds applies to Christians who desire to root out from the world the unbelievers and those of a different faith or religion. More than once the visible church has tried to eradicate the weeds from the world. The Crusades used the sword against the Muslim infidels. The Inquisitions tried people for heresy and imprisoned, tortured, and put them to death. The church burned at the stake those whom it considered heretics, such as Savonarola of Italy and John Huss of Bohemia. Martin Luther was declared an outlaw who should be arrested or killed on sight. Jesus does not intend his visible church to eradicate the false Christians, heretics, and unbelievers from the world. If this were tried, some true believers, the wheat, would be uprooted with the weeds in the process.
Jesus has a more effective way to eradicate the devil’s weeds. Verse 30 of the parable states: “Permit both of them to grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the harvesters, ‘First gather up the weeds and bind them into bundles to burn them up. Then gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”
The false Christians, hypocrites, heretics, and unbelievers are to be left in the world among Jesus’ true believers until the harvest. The harvest is the judgment at the end of the world. The harvesters are Jesus’ holy angels. He will have his angels gather up the devil’s weeds from among the wheat, bind them up, and throw them into the furnace, which is the burning fires of hell. There they will weep in sorrow and gnash their teeth in frustration and anger over being cast into the torments of hell. Then the angels will gather up the believers, who are righteous in the blood and righteousness of Jesus, and they will shine gloriously in the kingdom of the Father’s glory.
Jesus’ parable should cause us to reflect on whether we are a weed or wheat. We must be careful that we do not become a weed that will be burned in the end. We have had the gospel preached to us. We have heard the good news of the salvation and eternal life that Jesus has procured for us with his death for our sins. If we should turn astray from Jesus and his gospel and treat it with contempt, we will be gathered up as a weed to be burned. Hebrews 10:26-31 state: “26 For if we continue sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, a sacrifice for sins no longer remains, just a certain frightful expectation of condemnation and a blazing fire that will keep consuming the adversaries. Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy in the presence of two or three witnesses; so how much more severely do you think the one who has trampled the Son of God underfoot will be considered worthy of punishment, and has regarded the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified unclean, and has treated with contempt the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY;” and again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a frightful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!”
We surely must remain wheat. We must remain faithful to Jesus and his Word. Then in the end his angels will carry us into heaven. There we will shine in the glory of Jesus himself. For he will transform our lowly body into the likeness of his glorious body. We will enjoy the blessedness of his presence and every spiritual blessing he has prepared for us in heaven. Never again will we suffer the adversities and misery in this life. Never again will the devil be able to attack and torment us.
In this world there are weeds among the wheat. We must not become weeds. We must remain wheat through the hearing and believing of Jesus’ gospel and by living according to his Word.
Amen.
24 Jesus put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 “But while the men were sleeping his enemy came and was resowing weeds among the wheat and went away.
26 “Now when the stalks sprouted and produced heads of grain, at that time the weeds also appeared.
27 “Then the slaves of the master of the house came forward and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How, then, does it have weeds?’
28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ And the slaves say to him, ‘So do you wish that we go and gather them up?’
29 “But he says, ‘No, lest while gathering up the weeds you uproot the wheat with them.
30 ‘Permit both of them to grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the harvesters, “First gather up the weeds and bind them into bundles to burn them up. Then gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
36 Then after he sent the multitudes away, he went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”
37 Then answering, he said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 “The field is the world. And the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. And the weeds are the sons of the wicked one,
39 “and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 “Consequently, just as the weeds are gathered up and burned up in fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41 “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather up out of his kingdom all the things that cause sin and those who practice lawlessness,
42 “and they will cast them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears, let him hear.”
Sermon:
Do you plant flowers around the house or a small garden in the spring of the year? If you do, what grows among your flowers and vegetables throughout the spring and summer? Weeds, correct? Among the beautiful flowers and the vegetable plants those nasty weeds keep sprouting and growing. We then must spend the time to weed them out. That is a never-ending job.
While you are weeding out those weeds, do you ever think about whom you have to thank for those weeds in your garden? The devil, who led Adam into sin, for which reason the ground was cursed to produce weeds.
Not only is the devil through sin responsible for the weeds in your garden, he is also responsible for another kind of weed in the world. We learn this through Jesus’ Parable of The Weeds Among The Wheat.
During his earthly ministry in Galilee Jesus went about preaching the good news of the kingdom and casting out demons to free people from the tyranny of the devil. Through us Jesus continues to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the people of the world so that they, together with us, believe in Jesus and walk with him. But all the time the devil is working in the hearts and minds of people to reject Jesus and his gospel and to keep them bound in unbelief and sin.cJesus’ Parable of The Weeds Among The Wheat gives us an insight into what is happening and what will happen in the end.
Verse 24 states Jesus put another parable before the people, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are one and the same kingdom. It is the kingdom that belongs to heaven and to God. Jesus is the King of this kingdom. His kingdom is within the hearts of people like us, in whose hearts he rules by his Word. His kingdom, then, consists of his believers and his heirs of heaven.
What happens in connection with his kingdom is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. From Jesus’ explanation of his parable we know that Jesus himself is the man who planted the good seed. The good seed is the sons of the kingdom, the believers in him, who have the right to inherit his kingdom of glory and life everlasting. His field is the world. In and throughout the world he raises up his believers through the preaching of his gospel.
While Jesus is planting and raising up his believers in the world, his enemy is at work. Verse 25 states: “But while the men were sleeping his enemy came and was resowing weeds among the wheat and went away.” Jesus’ enemy is the devil, who leads the whole world astray into unbelief and sin. In Jesus’ field of the world the devil plants weed seed among Jesus’ good seed. The weed seed is the sons of the evil one, the devil. They are those who reject Jesus and his Word and remain in the darkness of unbelief and commit acts of lawlessness.
If you have ever shared the gospel of Jesus with someone, only to have that person fail to understand it and reject it, you know whom you have to blame -- the devil, the god of this age, who has planted a weed seed. Look at what 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4 states: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those who are perishing, 4 in whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that the bright light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, did not shine forth in them.”
Verse 26 of the parable states: “Now when the stalks sprouted and produced heads of grain, at that time the weeds also appeared.” As a result of the devil’s evil work there are weeds among the wheat, unbelievers among the believers.
We might think: “I am glad that I am not a weed and a child of the devil.” But remember what we were by nature. By nature we were children of the devil, enslaved to his evil will, bound in the darkness of spiritual ignorance and unbelief, and inclined only toward sin all the time. We were numbered among the devil’s weeds.
Only by the grace of God have we been raised up to be Jesus’ wheat to believe in him and to live by his Word. Jesus has sown and planted us through his gospel, namely that he redeemed us by his perfect life which he lived for us and by his sacrificial death through which he paid for our sins. Through him we possess the forgiveness of our sins, salvation from hell, and life everlasting.
Among us believers in the world exist the devil’s weeds -- not only the idolaters, atheists, and the extremely wicked, but the false Christians, hypocrites, and heretics as well. Outwardly the latter may exhibit a faith and piety. Inwardly, however, they lack true faith in Jesus and do not do his holy will. We must remain faithful to Jesus and his gospel so we ourselves do not slip into becoming one of the devil’s weeds.
Verses 27-29 of the parable state: “Then the slaves of the master of the house came forward and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How, then, does it have weeds?’ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ And the slaves say to him, ‘So do you wish that we go and gather them up?’ “But he says, ‘No, lest while gathering up the weeds you uproot the wheat with them.' ”
The command that the weeds are not to be pulled up does not mean that when they are plainly evident within the church they should not be disciplined to be led to repentance and when necessary excommunicated from the congregation for impenitence. Indeed, they should be. The command not to pull up the weeds applies to Christians who desire to root out from the world the unbelievers and those of a different faith or religion. More than once the visible church has tried to eradicate the weeds from the world. The Crusades used the sword against the Muslim infidels. The Inquisitions tried people for heresy and imprisoned, tortured, and put them to death. The church burned at the stake those whom it considered heretics, such as Savonarola of Italy and John Huss of Bohemia. Martin Luther was declared an outlaw who should be arrested or killed on sight. Jesus does not intend his visible church to eradicate the false Christians, heretics, and unbelievers from the world. If this were tried, some true believers, the wheat, would be uprooted with the weeds in the process.
Jesus has a more effective way to eradicate the devil’s weeds. Verse 30 of the parable states: “Permit both of them to grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the harvesters, ‘First gather up the weeds and bind them into bundles to burn them up. Then gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”
The false Christians, hypocrites, heretics, and unbelievers are to be left in the world among Jesus’ true believers until the harvest. The harvest is the judgment at the end of the world. The harvesters are Jesus’ holy angels. He will have his angels gather up the devil’s weeds from among the wheat, bind them up, and throw them into the furnace, which is the burning fires of hell. There they will weep in sorrow and gnash their teeth in frustration and anger over being cast into the torments of hell. Then the angels will gather up the believers, who are righteous in the blood and righteousness of Jesus, and they will shine gloriously in the kingdom of the Father’s glory.
Jesus’ parable should cause us to reflect on whether we are a weed or wheat. We must be careful that we do not become a weed that will be burned in the end. We have had the gospel preached to us. We have heard the good news of the salvation and eternal life that Jesus has procured for us with his death for our sins. If we should turn astray from Jesus and his gospel and treat it with contempt, we will be gathered up as a weed to be burned. Hebrews 10:26-31 state: “26 For if we continue sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, a sacrifice for sins no longer remains, just a certain frightful expectation of condemnation and a blazing fire that will keep consuming the adversaries. Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy in the presence of two or three witnesses; so how much more severely do you think the one who has trampled the Son of God underfoot will be considered worthy of punishment, and has regarded the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified unclean, and has treated with contempt the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY;” and again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a frightful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!”
We surely must remain wheat. We must remain faithful to Jesus and his Word. Then in the end his angels will carry us into heaven. There we will shine in the glory of Jesus himself. For he will transform our lowly body into the likeness of his glorious body. We will enjoy the blessedness of his presence and every spiritual blessing he has prepared for us in heaven. Never again will we suffer the adversities and misery in this life. Never again will the devil be able to attack and torment us.
In this world there are weeds among the wheat. We must not become weeds. We must remain wheat through the hearing and believing of Jesus’ gospel and by living according to his Word.
Amen.
Return to the Sermons page.