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Introduction
I’m not sure about you, but I had a good time
studying and preaching the two parables I taught on last Sunday. We
looked at the Widow whose persistent requests resulted in a
favorable response from a wicked judge, and we studied the parable
of the two men who prayed in vastly different ways. The combined
teaching revealed to us the kind of balanced prayer that pleases
God: praying boldly and humbly.
This morning I’d like us to
consider just one more parable—the story that Jesus told about
fields of wheat that have been sabotaged by an enemy who sowed weeds
among the wheat. I want to make a special application of that
parable as regards the conditions in which we live in this world,
and how we pray in such conditions. I’ve entitled the message
“Prayer in the Weeds” and I would assure you up front that it has
nothing to do with my golf game. (“Lord, where is my ball?”)
Would you do yourself the favor, and God the honor, of praying right
now a simple prayer, “Lord, please speak to my heart all that You
want me to hear in this Bible teaching”? The God of truth is quite
interested in our hearing and obeying His Word.
The Parable of the Weeds
Matthew 13:24 - Jesus told them another
parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like
a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping,
his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the
wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
This was an exceptionally pernicious act and, as Jesus explains
later, represents the work of Satan in his evil efforts to destroy the
work of God in His fallen world. Can you imagine tilling up your front
yard, putting in hours of back-breaking labor, and then planting
expensive seed in the hope of raising a beautiful lawn, only to have
your neighbor sneak over at night and throw handfuls of nut-grass,
crabgrass and dandelion seed onto that perfectly prepared seed bed? You
wouldn’t even know it, as apparently this wheat farmer didn’t, until
after watering and fertilizing it this jumble of undesirable trash began
coming up.
Verse 27 – The owners servants came to him
and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did
the weeds come from?”
“An enemy did this,” he replied. The
servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?”
“No,” he answered, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may
root up the wheat with them. 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, than gather the wheat and bring it into my
barn.”
Later, after Jesus tells yet another parable, and
He and his disciples leave the crowd, His friends apparently are
reflecting on the weeds parable and find they are confused. It is rare
for Jesus to explain one of His parables, at least as recorded in
scripture, because their meaning is usually quite obvious to people of
faith. On this occasion, though, we are permitted to listen in to their
private conversation hear the Lord’s interpretation.
Verse 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.”
He answered, “The
one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world,
and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom.
The weeds are
the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The
harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
As
the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end
of the age. 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. They
will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
There is an awful lot in this story symbolizing a variety of themes in
biblical teaching. There is the issue of the end time judgment, an
important teaching in a world where most people, including many in
churches, think that God simply couldn’t condemn and punish for eternity
those who rebel and remain disobedient to Him. The judgment here is very
real and the details are stark, including the sending of the angels in a
harvest-like separation of the righteous and the unrighteous.
The
judgment of the unrighteous includes the clear image of suffering in a
fiery furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth, an anguishing
picture of hopeless regret and sorrow. But, in contrast, the righteous
will “shine like the sun in the kingdom.” This is a powerful visage of
what will actually take place at the end of this age, and parallels
everything else we know of biblical teachings about the end times. But
for purposes of the parable it is incidental to the point.
The
point is that something has gone terribly wrong with the good world God
created. Evil has entered and infested this environment where we live.
That evil is for the most part veiled to those who are the perpetrators
and victims of evil.
Verse 41 details for us that the evil of this world consists of “everything
that causes sin and all who do evil,” beginning with the devil,
but including those who are duped by him and follow him.
We are living among weeds We are compelled to look
at this spoiled environment and consider the original intent of the
Owner. God’s express desire is that His field, the world, would prosper
and grow in accordance with His will. How or why the devil is allowed to
work his treachery is not explained—it never is, not in all the
scriptures. But what is clear is that he has done and continues to do
all he can to destroy the world and the people who inhabit it. His aim
is to kill off the wheat, who represent God’s devoted people, by choking
them out with the presence of his life-sucking weeds and their hungry,
perfidious roots.
That helps me understand something. It helps me
see shy I am so uncomfortable in this field of betrayed intent, this
seemingly God-forsaken world. We are taught that the wheat remains; that
the owner has not abandoned His work; that He continues to carry out His
plan to harvest the wheat for good and conquer the weeds with judgment.
The surprising thing is that he will allow us who love Him and
are devoted to His purposes to remain and grow in the ravaged field.
Here is where the analogy breaks down by God’s grace. Normally the weeds
win an unqualified victory over the good crop. We side with the servants
here: You just don’t let the weeds remain in the field because you know
the thirsty weed roots will rob the nutrients from the soil and starve
the wheat to death.
But God says, “Not on my watch!” In this
tailor-made story the unexpected twist in the plot is, by God’s
providence and power, the wheat wins! And in the final judgment, that
supreme, final insinuation of divine justice, all is made right and
righteousness is vindicated in the field of God. His perfect plan will
not be ruined by the enemy’s dirty work! The wheat will endure and the
harvest is sure! I encourage each you who loves and serves God today,
you thin stalks of wheat surrounded by worrisome weeds, your survival is
certain and your reward is guaranteed by God’s immutable promise.
Prayer among the weeds But what of our life here and
now among the weeds? How do we maintain in the midst of evil? How do we
thrive in these evil circumstances? What is our part in this awesome
plan of God to let the wheat and the weeds grow up together? We live and
move and have our being here in the grace of God who saved us and will
bring us and all His creation to safe harbor in due time.
God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners Christ died for us. Since we have now been
justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath
through him? For if, when we were God’s enemies we were reconciled to
him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled,
shall we be saved through his life! (Romans
5:8-10)
Knowing we are saved and safe by mean of our
salvation in Christ and confident in this hope in which we stand, we may
stand strong. And He has given us a glorious gift by which we remain in
him until that day of reckoning, the unmatchable gift of prayer.
Isn’t it through prayer that we are strengthened; through prayer that
our lives are nourished in the knowledge of him; through prayerful
relationship with the living God that our understanding of His Word, our
appreciation for His provisions and our love for Him grow. Isn’t it
through prayer that our roots are enabled to grow deep into the soil of
His grace—deep, where the roots of evil cannot touch us? Isn’t it in
prayer that our lives are refreshed, our faith strengthened and our hope
restored?
The Word of God certifies that in prayer we are
established—as we pray not only for ourselves, but for one another. That
great passage in
Ephesians 6 about being strong in the armor of God closes with this
final exhortation for believers this: And pray
in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the
saints. (Ephesians
6:18)
In addition to our prayers for ourselves and the other
“wheat” people around us, we are called to intercede for our world at
large. Living among the weeds of the devil’s deviousness, there is an
unending list of needs for which we pray. If you are among those few
insipid saints who’ve ever said I just don’t know what to pray for –
how can I pray for half an hour? – here is a message for you: WAKE
UP! You’re sleeping!
The scripture enjoins us to pray for such
things as:
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Our government leaders (1
Timothy 2)
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Church leaders, missionaries and evangelists
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Those who are lost and confused in their
thinking (2
Cor. 10)
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Workers for the harvest
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The clarity and success of the gospel as it is preached
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For the sick and the oppressed around us
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For justice and righteousness among the nations
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For open doors for the preaching of the
gospel
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Pray about everything!
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