Service on 23 February 2020 by Brother Gaius
Matthew 13:36-43 - “Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
This is a season of harvest, meaning that there are many souls placed in our lives for us to take action. He has already opened the door for us to go to the Heavenly Father. There are many harvests but few labourers.
The Harvest Series
The Purpose Of the Harvest
Growing Seed
The Harvest Is Ready
The Final Harvest
The four gospels came together to point to one Jesus.
Matthew 13:24-30 - Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’””
The parable is simple to understand, but it depends on whether we want to follow it. The weeds looked similar to wheat and the reapers couldn’t tell the difference between them.
In Matthew 13:36-42, Jesus taught the parable very well. However, we may be blinded by the truth as we limit God. We will share the Word like how God wants to share His Word to us. To understand the intent of Jesus well, we need to go to Him. Jesus is always very patient when His disciples ask Him questions. Some of us think that this story is only applicable in church. However, this story is not only applicable in church but in the world. It is beyond church and what we do out there. If you want to be a good seed and go to the barn of Jesus, we need to ask ourselves if we are sons and daughters of the Kingdom. The Kingdom means that there is a government and a King. You have to follow the instructions of the King and they are all written in the Bible. If I’m not a son of the Kingdom, I will be a son of another one. The harvest is the last thing we do before we see the Lord. The harvest is the end of the age.
In this passage, I have three things to share with you:
1. There will be a day of judgement and God is just
There is nothing we can do to buy or earn our salvation. However, we must also have a walk that must be fitting of the love He gives to us. If we ignore everything written in the Bible, when the day comes, the people who are weeds and wheats will be separated. God is a fair God. If we start to think that we should not get ourselves into trouble and behave nicely, we are wrong too. We shouldn’t live our whole life thinking to go to heaven as we are not living in line with God. We shouldn’t do things to earn a place in heaven as God can see our true intent. People who are selfish will have to face the burn.
Matthew 13:47-50 - “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
It shows the seriousness of this. At the end of our whole journey on earth, there will be a day we need to face Him and be accountable of the lifestyle we live. God is a being that cannot stand evil. When God sees us, we are supposed to be a white sheet as Jesus’s blood cleansed us clean. He cannot stand evil therefore He is just. No man can save ourselves as we will have sin. Only by the grace of God that we can save ourselves. We have to follow what is written in the Bible. There will be a day that we have to be answerable to our thoughts and actions. However, Jesus’s blood will cover the multitude of our sins and there is hope in Jesus. This is the type of hope we want to bring and we should go to Jesus for help.
2. Gathering of the weeds is not our mission. We should be merciful.
Those who gather the weeds are not the servants. Some people see a speck in someone’s eye but neglect the beam in their eye. For the past couple of years, we have seen many people coming into church and leaving the church too. Never have I seen any of the leaders here going up to anyone to send them away. If the followers feel that this is not suitable for them, they will leave and find somewhere else. This is not the spirit of Jesus. You cannot tell if someone is a good or bad person. You think that you are good but you may not be. Jesus do not want the servants to pluck out the weeds as they are not perfect. When these people come among us, they become great friends with us and a big group comes along too as they are rooted together. We should learn from the patience of the Lord to not root anyone up. When we share the gospel, sometimes we are overzealous and hard sell Jesus. Conversion of the heart is never our ability. Our part is just to introduce Jesus and observe whatever that He has taught us. When we love one another, people can see that we are disciples of Christ.
Matthew 7:15-20 - “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
We do not want to do things according to our own will and not the the Bible. By doing that, we become people of lawlessness. We do not do things that God didn’t tell us to do. Son of the Kingdom is humble but the son of the evil is proud. When we go back to work, are we the ones that tell people off or are we the ones that are humble? Do we only say things in season and tell people things to lift them up? We don’t go around condemning others, but show mercy to each other. Even though we are serving God and coming to church, we might be the one that would be rejected. God wants us to give mercy to others and give them time to come back. If King David fell, what more about us? If we show mercy, God shows mercy to us too.
3. Obey God and do good to others and be faithful
Matthew 13:41 - “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,”
I didn’t start coming to church knowing God well. Second generation Christians don’t have direct contact with the Lord before coming to church. There’s a limit to what my father can do to me. He encouraged me by prayer. When he prays, I can hear from my room as my house is not very big. It is not human advice or forcefulness but by the grace of God. When there are difficulties to deal with, we tend to use our humanly wisdom but we should go back to prayer. In my teenage years, I was very rebellious. My friends knew that I was a Christian not because I was a Christian by nature but because I couldn’t go out on Fridays. It came to a point where another friend wanted to be a Christian and he approached me. There was a Christian classmate that heard and told him not to go to me as I would lead him astray. When I went back and thought about it, I was ashamed as I was doing the reverse of what God wanted us to do. I thank God that I come to church every week because I want to come. No one should be trying to pull anyone away from God.
The Bible contains the Word of God and it contains the law. It was controversial during that period of time and the Pharisees always wanted to go against Jesus. God is always working. The law is not meant for us to corner people but to help us draw closer to God. Jesus told people that He came not to abolish the law, but to fulfil that. The law is important. The law is for ourselves, it’s like a mirror that shows you how dirty you are but it won’t change you. You will only be clean if you have the Holy Spirit. Let’s not think that the law isn’t important because we are living in grace period. Once the day of judgement comes, we will realise how wrong we are. When we give, we shouldn’t do it to feel good but to have the opportunity to bring people back to God.
If God was very stern, He would have written me off in my teenage years. God is faithful and He wants us to be faithful as well. Faithful to obey Him and do good. Jesus describes His relationship with the church like a marriage. God emphasise heavily on faithfulness. In your own life, if you sit down and think about the goodness of God, you can conclude that He has never let you down. When we walk in God’s love and when we are close to God, there is a crown of righteousness waiting for us. There will be a peace of God in us. He will give you assurance and that every step you take is ordered by Him.
Matthew 23:23 - “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
We shouldn’t do things for show, but to do things for God. He wants things that are right in His ways. It is a journey of challenges but we shouldn’t cower away from the challenges as it leads us to a life of peace. We want to be with Jesus all the time as without Him, there will be no peace and love. We still have to fulfil our own responsibilities, but we shouldn’t focus on the wrong things.
The harvest is the end of the age. God has given us many different purposes in life. We pray that at the end of the day, God would call us righteous.
Matthew 13:43 - “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Amen.