Getting Out of the Weeds
When I saw the title and Scripture that I had planned out for this week on Monday morning at the office, I was a bit shocked. I had just preached this Scripture for the kids at camp. My initial reaction was to choose a different one. But after a day or so of pondering what to put in its place, I realized that it’s going to be a completely different sermon that what I used for the kids.
This week we are going to talk about weeds. Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43. It’s the parable of the weeds and then the explanation of it. For the kids, it was, don’t be a weed. Weeds are bad. But for you and me, we already know weeds are bad. We have some gardeners here in the congregation and we are very aware of the nature of weeds. Weeds can choke off healthy plants and deny us the fruit of our labors. I was really looking forward to corn on the cob this fall, homegrown tomatoes and peppers to make spaghetti sauce with, onions, fresh lettuce for salad, zucchini, yellow squash and butternut squash, watermelons and cucumbers and of course, homegrown pumpkins so I could attempt to make a homemade pumpkin pie for the first time. But this Spring, we got way too much water. By the time it dried out enough to get in the garden and work, the weeds had taken over and I got 6 tomatoes, 1 yellow squash, 2 zucchini’s and a whole bunch of radishes. That’s it. The weeds demolished my crop.
Jesus teaches the parable of the weeds and a few others from a boat in the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, we are nowhere near a lake, so we’re gonna have to do this from the Sanctuary. If you would, turn to Matthew 13:24 and read along with me.
24 He presented another parable to them: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds [a] among the wheat, and left. 26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. 27 The landowner's slaves came to him and said, 'Master, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?'
28 " 'An enemy did this!' he told them.
" 'So, do you want us to go and gather them up?' the slaves asked him.
29 " 'No,' he said. 'When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I'll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but store the wheat in my barn. ' "
Then skipping down to verse 36...
"36 Then He dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached Him and said, "Explain the parable of the weeds in the field to us." 37 He replied: "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. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and 39 the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 Therefore just as the weeds are gathered 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 gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin [d] and those guilty of lawlessness. [e]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 their Father's kingdom. Anyone who has ears [f] should listen!
Weeds are synonymous with bad things. Anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry is more than likely familiar with the term ‘weeded’. For those who aren’t familiar with it, let me set the scene for you. Picture a restaurant. Friday night. A dining room full of guests…a few tables are open, no one is waiting at the door yet because it’s only 5 o’clock. Everyone is doing their jobs, no yelling yet, no chaos. But all the sudden at 5:30, it’s like a bus full of 100 people pulled up at the door. Pretty soon, the hostesses can’t keep up with the guests coming in, so one of them starts a waiting list. One of the other ones is keeping an eye on the dining room for open tables. The servers are getting nervous now because there is a possibility that two of their tables might finish at the same time and they will get sat twice…two separate tables sitting at the same time is bad. It means the customer is going to get bad service more than likely. Because the hostesses got busy all the sudden, they had to seat a whole bunch of people really quickly. So now the servers are hurried and trying to take care of the customers without upsetting anyone. The minute they walk back to the kitchen to put their order in one of the waitresses hollers, “Man, I’m in the weeds! I need help!” That means that they have too much to do at one time. It’s not something they can handle on their own. One of the cooks hears this and preps the cook line to be prepared because they’re next. Sure enough, in about 15-20 minutes, the cooks are now, ‘in the weeds’. They now have instead of 10-15 tickets (or tables) of food in the window to be prepared, they now have 25-30. Waits become longer and customers wonder what’s going on. Once this happens, you know who’s next? Bussers and dishwashers. Then, the cycle starts over again…on a busy Friday or Saturday night, this cycle can happen anywhere from 3-8 times, depending on the restaurant and the occasion.
When someone is ‘in the weeds’ in a restaurant, that is the key for the manager to get behind the workers and help where they need it. One extra set of hands can make all the difference in the world. That is how ‘getting out of the weeds’ takes place. It comes from having help.
Here’s the thing. This parable talks about the end of time. It talks about how the weeds are allowed to grow with the wheat until harvest. Then, in the end the weeds are gathered up first, bundled and thrown into the fire and the wheat is then harvested. Weeds, being the children of the Devil, will be harvested and thrown into the fire with the Devil. However, the wheat, the good seeds, the sons of the Kingdom, will then live with Father God in Heaven and shine like the sun.
But that is at the end of time and we aren’t there yet. Naturally, we are getting closer all the time, but still, we aren’t at Judgment Day yet. Well, there is a sentence here that can provide some insight. The second part of verse 28-30…let me read it again. “ ‘So, do you want us to go and gather them up?’ the slaves asked him. 29 “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest.”
Did you catch that? We are allowed to grow together with the weeds because if the weeds are pulled up, we might get uprooted too. So, we are allowed to grow together until the time for the harvest comes.
I know, this is confusing isn’t it. We try to eliminate ‘weeds’ and purge the evil from among us all the time. But if we do this, while eliminating the ‘weeds’ or evildoers, we could very well end up uprooting good seed, or children of God, while we are at it. No, we won’t pull up all the wheat, but we cannot afford to lose any more than are already growing as weeds.
However, there are times when weeds can get so thick that they choke off the good plant and kill the fruit that it bears. But in my opinion only, I think that 99% of the people in our churches in the world are good natured people who want to do the will of God. Misguided at times yes, but wanting to do what God wants nonetheless. When weeds get too thick, I believe that is when we are surrounded by influences from the world too much. That is when we get into the weeds.
Indeed, there are a few weeds in the wheat patch in our churches or a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but no matter where they are, in our churches or the world, the weeds are allowed to grow with the wheat so we do not get uprooted before it’s time.
Remember back to the story I set up in the restaurant? How I said that being ‘in the weeds’ means that they have too much to do at one time. It’s not something they can handle on their own? I want you to think of being on Earth as the same way. We are constantly ‘in the weeds’. We are constantly being choked off by weeds…we need help. We need the manager to come and give us an extra set of hands at all times. The restaurant being Earth and the manager, of course, being Christ.
My friends, we are always in the weeds. We need Jesus to step in and give us a hand in the times we need it…which is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We need the master gardener to come along side us and help us grow through the weeds…to bear the fruit that he would have us bear. Only through Christ can we bear fruit in among weeds.
This week, as you deal with life’s trials…remember that weeds are prevalent and that we need Christ’s help to get through until the harvest.
This week we are going to talk about weeds. Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43. It’s the parable of the weeds and then the explanation of it. For the kids, it was, don’t be a weed. Weeds are bad. But for you and me, we already know weeds are bad. We have some gardeners here in the congregation and we are very aware of the nature of weeds. Weeds can choke off healthy plants and deny us the fruit of our labors. I was really looking forward to corn on the cob this fall, homegrown tomatoes and peppers to make spaghetti sauce with, onions, fresh lettuce for salad, zucchini, yellow squash and butternut squash, watermelons and cucumbers and of course, homegrown pumpkins so I could attempt to make a homemade pumpkin pie for the first time. But this Spring, we got way too much water. By the time it dried out enough to get in the garden and work, the weeds had taken over and I got 6 tomatoes, 1 yellow squash, 2 zucchini’s and a whole bunch of radishes. That’s it. The weeds demolished my crop.
Jesus teaches the parable of the weeds and a few others from a boat in the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, we are nowhere near a lake, so we’re gonna have to do this from the Sanctuary. If you would, turn to Matthew 13:24 and read along with me.
24 He presented another parable to them: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds [a] among the wheat, and left. 26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. 27 The landowner's slaves came to him and said, 'Master, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?'
28 " 'An enemy did this!' he told them.
" 'So, do you want us to go and gather them up?' the slaves asked him.
29 " 'No,' he said. 'When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I'll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but store the wheat in my barn. ' "
Then skipping down to verse 36...
"36 Then He dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached Him and said, "Explain the parable of the weeds in the field to us." 37 He replied: "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. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and 39 the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 Therefore just as the weeds are gathered 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 gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin [d] and those guilty of lawlessness. [e]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 their Father's kingdom. Anyone who has ears [f] should listen!
Weeds are synonymous with bad things. Anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry is more than likely familiar with the term ‘weeded’. For those who aren’t familiar with it, let me set the scene for you. Picture a restaurant. Friday night. A dining room full of guests…a few tables are open, no one is waiting at the door yet because it’s only 5 o’clock. Everyone is doing their jobs, no yelling yet, no chaos. But all the sudden at 5:30, it’s like a bus full of 100 people pulled up at the door. Pretty soon, the hostesses can’t keep up with the guests coming in, so one of them starts a waiting list. One of the other ones is keeping an eye on the dining room for open tables. The servers are getting nervous now because there is a possibility that two of their tables might finish at the same time and they will get sat twice…two separate tables sitting at the same time is bad. It means the customer is going to get bad service more than likely. Because the hostesses got busy all the sudden, they had to seat a whole bunch of people really quickly. So now the servers are hurried and trying to take care of the customers without upsetting anyone. The minute they walk back to the kitchen to put their order in one of the waitresses hollers, “Man, I’m in the weeds! I need help!” That means that they have too much to do at one time. It’s not something they can handle on their own. One of the cooks hears this and preps the cook line to be prepared because they’re next. Sure enough, in about 15-20 minutes, the cooks are now, ‘in the weeds’. They now have instead of 10-15 tickets (or tables) of food in the window to be prepared, they now have 25-30. Waits become longer and customers wonder what’s going on. Once this happens, you know who’s next? Bussers and dishwashers. Then, the cycle starts over again…on a busy Friday or Saturday night, this cycle can happen anywhere from 3-8 times, depending on the restaurant and the occasion.
When someone is ‘in the weeds’ in a restaurant, that is the key for the manager to get behind the workers and help where they need it. One extra set of hands can make all the difference in the world. That is how ‘getting out of the weeds’ takes place. It comes from having help.
Here’s the thing. This parable talks about the end of time. It talks about how the weeds are allowed to grow with the wheat until harvest. Then, in the end the weeds are gathered up first, bundled and thrown into the fire and the wheat is then harvested. Weeds, being the children of the Devil, will be harvested and thrown into the fire with the Devil. However, the wheat, the good seeds, the sons of the Kingdom, will then live with Father God in Heaven and shine like the sun.
But that is at the end of time and we aren’t there yet. Naturally, we are getting closer all the time, but still, we aren’t at Judgment Day yet. Well, there is a sentence here that can provide some insight. The second part of verse 28-30…let me read it again. “ ‘So, do you want us to go and gather them up?’ the slaves asked him. 29 “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest.”
Did you catch that? We are allowed to grow together with the weeds because if the weeds are pulled up, we might get uprooted too. So, we are allowed to grow together until the time for the harvest comes.
I know, this is confusing isn’t it. We try to eliminate ‘weeds’ and purge the evil from among us all the time. But if we do this, while eliminating the ‘weeds’ or evildoers, we could very well end up uprooting good seed, or children of God, while we are at it. No, we won’t pull up all the wheat, but we cannot afford to lose any more than are already growing as weeds.
However, there are times when weeds can get so thick that they choke off the good plant and kill the fruit that it bears. But in my opinion only, I think that 99% of the people in our churches in the world are good natured people who want to do the will of God. Misguided at times yes, but wanting to do what God wants nonetheless. When weeds get too thick, I believe that is when we are surrounded by influences from the world too much. That is when we get into the weeds.
Indeed, there are a few weeds in the wheat patch in our churches or a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but no matter where they are, in our churches or the world, the weeds are allowed to grow with the wheat so we do not get uprooted before it’s time.
Remember back to the story I set up in the restaurant? How I said that being ‘in the weeds’ means that they have too much to do at one time. It’s not something they can handle on their own? I want you to think of being on Earth as the same way. We are constantly ‘in the weeds’. We are constantly being choked off by weeds…we need help. We need the manager to come and give us an extra set of hands at all times. The restaurant being Earth and the manager, of course, being Christ.
My friends, we are always in the weeds. We need Jesus to step in and give us a hand in the times we need it…which is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We need the master gardener to come along side us and help us grow through the weeds…to bear the fruit that he would have us bear. Only through Christ can we bear fruit in among weeds.
This week, as you deal with life’s trials…remember that weeds are prevalent and that we need Christ’s help to get through until the harvest.
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