The Parables
Series
#2
"TARING UP A CHURCH!"
TEXT: Matt.
13:24-30, 36-43
INTRO: There are
many reasons people join churches:
a. The social thing to
do
b. Curiosity about
religion
c. Their friends
go
d. They like to
sing
e. To keep their family
happy
f. To express worship to
God
g. For
fellowship
h. Don't like to be a home on
Sundays
i. To find out what's going on
in town etc.
j. They might even like the
Pastor!
Now stop and think; why do you
go to church?
ILLUS: Emerson
Colaw tells about doing some work with his church's nonresident membership list.
He wrote a letter to one family
that had been very active in his church. A letter came back saying, "Mr. Colaw, we
now live near a university campus and we go every Sunday to the chapel service
there. They have unusually fine
music -- they have nationally known preachers ever Sunday morning." And she added a note he didn't think
necessary. "We had not heard such
preaching as that before. The
children are being taught in church school by seminary students." And then she ended, "But the best of all
there is no membership, no pledging, and no women's society asking me to work.
So if you don't mind, we'll just
leave our membership at Hyde Park and continue to enjoy what we have here."
No involvement, no bother. No crosses. -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 87.
PROP.
SENT: This parable teaches us
that there are two kinds of people on this earth; sons of God's kingdom and
son's of Satan's kingdom ... and it is not a matter of just going to church that
determines which kingdom they are in but “why” they go to church and identify
themselves with the kingdom of God!
I. THE SOWER Matt. 13:24-26 (“Son of Man”
Matt.
13:37-38)
A. Seed
Matt.
13:24,38
1. The sower is Jesus Himself – the “Son of
Man.”
2. Good seed -- saved “sons of the
kingdom” (NIV) (wheat)
3. Bad seed -- unsaved “sons of the
evil one” (NIV) (weeds) (tares
KJV))
ILLUS: I
often visit newcomers in town and find them to be church shopping. They want to know what they can get out
of church. Churches are one more consumer commodity. Worship services are not a place for us
to serve God and neighbor but a place where people expect to purchase the
best: inspiring worship, good
music, moving sermons, quality child care.
As if we buy God and not vice versa. -- Arthur Boers in The Other Side (May/June 1989).
Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 11.
4. It is important to recognize that
the seed is NEVER the problem!
a. God’s Word is always good, it is
living, powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword.
b. God’s Word gives life … it is the
“Gospel”
or “good news” … the seed will always be good, we
do not have to worry about the quality of the seed, that is never
contested. It will yield life if
given opportunity to be planted properly.
c. The issue will be somewhere
else.
B. Sleepers Matt.
13:25
1. When the enemy attacks is when we
are asleep.
a. Off guard! The enemy’s plan cannot destroy the seed
… so he has to come up with another plan.
This new plan is simply to plant weeds in the midst of the good
seed. The best way to damage a good
crop if you can’t do anything about the good seed is to try and overwhelm it
with lots of weeds.
b. Apathy – draw away the energy from
the new life. This is what weeds do
to good new plants.
ILLUS: The
building is not really the Church. God's people are. Yet the Church today spends more money
for buildings than for anything else. When an artist was asked to paint a
picture of a decaying church, to everyone's astonishment, instead of putting on
canvas an old, tottering ruin, the artist painted a stately edifice of modern
grandeur. Through the open portals
could be seen the richly carved pulpit, the magnificent organ, and the beautiful
stained glass windows. To one side was an elaborately designed offering plate
for foreign missions -covered by a cobweb! – Source Unknown
2. Best time to do damage is when a
plant is just starting to grow!
3. This may also be a metaphor for the
period of time between Jesus giving the seed and the time of the harvest at the
end of time, in other words, the time of sleeping is simply a reference to His
being gone until He returns again.
a. If so it reminds us that during
this time frame there will be a mixture in the church, those of true faith and
those who are not true to the faith.
b. The problem with weeds in their
early stage is that they look a lot like plants you want … it will be hard
to distinguish at times the real heads of wheat from the weeds until they are
more mature.
c. Jesus warns however about starting
to yank everything out that looks like a weed too early, the point is to be
careful that we don’t go on purification hunts to try and purge all the weeds
out of the church … that is a job for the angels at the end of time. Our job is to simply continue to serve the
Lord until the end of time, not try and clean out the
garden.
4. Jesus recognized that Satan would
come and plant bad seeds among the good seed. Matt.
13:27-28
a. During this period of grace Satan
is able to plant his phony seed, and they grow up sometimes among the
wheat.
b. Notice that Jesus insisted however
that His disciples not get sidetracked at “pulling up the
weeds” … Matt. 13:28b Instead
Jesus wanted them to remain on task with spreading more good
seed.
c. How many Christians and churches
waste valuable time and resources doing this however … they continuously spend
their time and energy “purging the church” of sinners and sin
instead of reaching out to sinners.
They lose focus on the real mission of the
church.
C. Sprouts
Matt. 13:26
1. Formed heads --
wheat
a. Bears
fruit
b. Increases itself --
multiplies
2. No heads, but they appear also --
weeds
a.
Unfruitful
b. They appear at the same
time.
c. Notice that they may be in the same
location.
ILLUS: No
sooner is a temple built to God, but the Devil builds a chapel hard
by. -- As quoted in Bob Phillips, Phillips' Book of Great
Thoughts & Funny Sayings, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc,
1993), p. 68.
(1. Abide in
church
(2. Claim to be doing God's bidding
while hurting the church!
(3. Are you building up or tearing down
God's kingdom ... It is always easier to tear something down than to build
something up.
3. It is possible that too many weeds
could impact the fruitfulness of the wheat by crowding the wheat out. They would certainly compete for the
same resources. Yet the damage done
by trying to root out the weeds might be more powerful than simply allowing them
to exist in place.
II. THE SERVANTS Matt. 13:27-30 (“Angels”
Matt. 13:39-43)
A. Surprised!
Matt. 13:27-30,
36-38
1. Bad among the good and
Godly!
2. How can weeds be among the
wheat?
a. God allows this during this
age.
ILLUS: I
believe a very large majority of churchgoers are merely unthinking, slumbering
worshipers of an unknown God. -- Charles H. Spurgeon in Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit,
Vol. 11. Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 1.
b. Won't hurt God's true
work.
c. "I will build
my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it..." {Jesus}
3. If Jesus said to leave the weeds
alone He had good reason to do so.
a. Then why do some today feel that
they must “clean God’s house?”
b. In the process they do so much
damage to the kingdom of God, by “taring” up the church of Jesus Christ they
leave good wheat destroyed in their tracks!
c. This is NOT the mission of the
church … the Holy Spirit will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment …
the mission of the church is to reach the lost.
4. Some local churches have horrific
reputations of destroying peoples’ lives within the church body. Ironically the very place that we are
suppose to be building each other up in the most holy faith has far too often
been a slaughter house!
5. Jesus’ words could not have been
clearer here: Mat 13:30 “Let
both grow together until the harvest.”
a. There is no other way to interpret
this since Jesus Himself tells us the interpretation that the seed here is the
“sons of the
kingdom” and the weeds are the “sons of the
evil one.” Matt. 13:38 … and
He says to let them grow together until the
final harvest!!!!
b. If these are Jesus’ instructions
then why does anyone question them today?
B.
Satan Matt.
13:28,39a
1. Tries to “tare” up every church he
can!
2. Encourages everyone to focus on
each other instead of Christ.
a. Faults
b. Programs
c. The way we
dress
d. The parts in our hair,
etc.
3. Satan has many ways of killing a
church:
a. Don't
come!
b. If you do come, come
late!
c. When you come, come as a
grouch!
d. At every service ask yourself, "What do I get
out of this?"
e. Never accept an office or job, it
is better to stay outside and criticize.
f. Visit other churches about
half of the time to show your pastor that you are not tied down to him. There is nothing like
independence!
g. Let the Pastor earn his money; let
him do all the work!
h. Sit pretty well back and never
sing. If you have to sing, sing out
of tune and behind everybody else.
i. Don’t tithe, never pay in
advance, especially for religion, wait until you get your money’s worth, and
then wait a bit longer!
j. Never encourage the preacher;
if you like a sermon, keep mum about it, many a preacher has been ruined by
flattery. Don't let his blood be on
your head!
k. It is good to tell your pastor's
failings to any strangers that may happen in; they might be a long time finding
them out otherwise!
l. Of course you can't be
expected to get new members for the church with such a pastor as
he.
m. If there happens to be a few zealous
workers in the church, make a tremendous protest against the church's being run
by a clique!
n. If your church unfortunately
happens to be harmonious, call it apathy or hindrance or lack of zeal, anything
under the sun except what it really is.
ILLUS: Dear
Pastor,
You often stress attendance at
worship as being very important for a Christian, but I think a person has a
right to miss now and then. I think every person ought to be excused for the
following reasons and the number of times indicated:
Christmas
(Sunday before or after)—1
New
Year's (Party lasted too long)—1
Easter
(Get away for the holidays)—1
July
4 (National holiday)—1
Labor
Day (Need to get away)—1
Memorial
Day (Visit hometown)—1
School
closing (Kids need a break)—1
School
opens (One last fling)—1
Family
reunions (Mine and wife's)—2
Sleep
late (Saturday night activities)—4
Deaths
in family—4
Anniversary
(Second honeymoon)—1
Sickness
(One for each family member)—5
Business
trips (A must)—3
Vacation
(3 weeks)—3
Bad
weather (Ice, snow, rain, clouds)—6
Ball
games—5
Unexpected
company (Can't walk out)—5
Time
changes (Spring ahead; fall back)—2
Special
on TV (Super Bowl, etc.)—3
Pastor, that leaves only two
Sundays per year. So, you can count on us to be in church on the fourth Sunday
in February and the third Sunday in August unless providentially
hindered.
Sincerely,
Faithful
Member -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 88-89.
3. Satan doesn’t usually destroy
churches from outside sources, he usually is quite effective at destroying a
church from inside sources.
a. Ironically most churches suffer
from insider revolution … not outsider revolution.
b. Most churches that have bad reputations do
so because of church members attacking church members, and harsh judgmental
overtones, not because they are too aggressive with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
in the community.
c. No church ever gets a bad rap
for being a loving congregation!
C. Separate
Matt. 13:30,39b-43
1. A harvest however is coming! There is a time when the separation will
occur, God Himself will order it, and it will be done.
a. Wheat will be gathered. (For the
barn)
b. Tares will be gathered. (For the
burning)
c. Now they exist side by side, but
soon they shall be separated!
ILLUS: Most
professing Christians, from the liberals to the fundamentalists, remain
practical atheists. They think the church is sustained by the services it
provides or the amount of fellowship and good feeling in the congregation. This
form of sentimentality has become the most detrimental corruption of the church
and the ministry. -- Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon in the
Christian Century (March 15, 1989). Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no.
15.
2. Are you going to the barn or the burning?
a. There will be a day when the wheat
and tares will be separated … by God’s order and by God’s
power.
b. Then it will be too late to change
your nature, you will be gathered either to the BARN or to the BURNING.
c. Why not become wheat
now.
CONCLUSION: We are either destined
for the Father or the Furnace … the Barn or the
Burning, it is not so much if you go to church, but why you
go! Are you part of the real
kingdom of God or are you taring it
up?