July 23 2017 Growing Together Weeds and All

 Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43  Pastor Jacqueline Hines

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were perfect, if everything we did worked out just as perfectly as we wanted it to? Wouldn’t it be great if we lived in a perfect world, where things ran smoothly and perfectly?

All you gardeners can appreciate Jesus’ parable this morning about gardening. You spend hours choosing the right seeds and preparing the ground just right and putting up fences to keep the critters away. You water, you weed, and you constantly realize that no matter how hard you work, gardening will never work out perfectly the way you wish it would. There will be plenty of weeds. Rain may hide for weeks within the clouds above. Critters will run away with your plants and ruin your crops…there will be all sorts of situations that make our lives less than PERFCT.

It would be wonderful to be perfect and to live perfect lives, but when life is less than perfect, Jesus has the answer! [slide # 1 try Jesus…]

First of all Jesus taught us to pray. [slide # 2 man praying] In Matthew 6, we learned to pray “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.” Now in this morning’s chapter 13 of Matthew and verse 24 Jesus describes God’s kingdom. He says “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; so God’s kingdom is activity- someone sowing good seed, [slide # 3 sowing seed]²⁵but while everybody was asleep, (and we know that sleep is a spiritual metaphor for prayerlessness –  [slide # 4 Perils of Prayerlessness] an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. [slide # 5 hooded enemy] ²⁶So when the plants came up, the weeds appeared as well. [slide # 6 weed]

This scripture reminds me to pray about everything because the devil is always on top of his game, and when we pray, God helps us to find our way, even in the dark. [slide # 7 lightbulb on floor] As we pray, the bible tells us, God reveals the secrets things, the hidden things that we need to know about. God sheds light on the things that can easily trip us up. [slide # 8 lit bulb among dark bulbs]

You’ve heard my story of one day working in a community college. In my morning prayers I understood that one of my co-workers would confront me that day. I understood that when it happened God had my back and I should be silent and need not defend myself. Sure enough, while in the ladies’ room a co-worker started to ream me out from head to toe. I just stood there in shock. A few moments later, her boss emerged from another stall with a frown and directed her to meet her in the office. Somedays forewarned is forearmed. My greatest weapon was remaining confident and peaceful instead of angry and argumentative. [slide # 9 yoga pose]

Just as we know God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives, we also know that Satan hates us and has a terrible plan for our lives. While we are sleeping, that is while we are distracted and forgetting to pray and ask God’s direction and help for our lives - the devil and his imps are busy stealing, killing, and destroying everything they can. The devil will enter every door we open. And, if you have anything that belongs to Satan, he will come and get it and destroy you in the process. If you have anything in your mind, your body, your house, your mouth, your hands that belongs to Satan, you can expect evil. [slide # 10   six monstrous wolves]

Down to verse 37 Jesus explains that the master sower sowing the GOOD seed is the son of man which is another name for Jesus. He explains in verse 38 that the field is the world. What a terrible world we live in. The church is a wonderful place to be a part of in the midst of this rude and murderous world we live in. [slide # 11 jumping for joy]  Jesus tells us that the good seed are the children of the kingdom. We are the good seed! The weeds are the children of the evil one, ³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil;  

We are good seeds that God sows and develops us into something heavenly. We might as well surrender our lives to the God who truly loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives. If our lives are not surrendered to God let us not fool ourselves into thinking that we are in charge of our lives. If God is not the head of your household, do not think for one minute that you are in charge. If we do not surrender to God we are in the hands of Satan. That may start out like peaches and cream, but it ends up with a mouth full of sand.

Just as scripture tells us that Satan appears so beautiful and innocent and full of light, it is just a mirage. You have heard the saying that all that glitters is not gold. All that looks and acts like a Christian may not be Christian, but may instead be committed to the things of this world. The weeds in Jesus’ parable are said to have looked just like the wheat. Yet they had none of the qualities and nutritional value that real wheat have. 

Each of us has the job of surrendering ourselves to be sown wherever God wants to sow us. We are called to offer ourselves deeply into the rich presence of our creator, receiving the showers of God’s blessings, [slide # 12 showers of blessings ] so God can grow something wonderful out of our lives, something that brings God’s kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. We all have a job to do to make this world a little bit like Heaven. Whatever we do will not be perfectly perfect, nor will it make life’s situations perfectly perfect. Worldly weeds will always grow.

Nevertheless, we must work patiently and confidently. We must wait for God to deal with all the causes of sin and all evil doers. For, God is not mocked. Whatever is sown will be reaped.

I mentioned to you that around Father’s Day, I experienced an overwhelming sense of God’s peace. Peace was knocking at my door, [slide # 13 peace ] waiting for me to let go of my worries and instead embrace God’s peace.

Last week, I had a similar, experience with joy. [slide # 14 joy] It seemed everywhere I turned, I was reminded of God’s joy in the midst of daily routines. I was reminded of God’s joy even when routines were being disrupted. Being surrounded by God’s spirit of joy was especially encouraging when Vacation Bible School was about to start. Vacation Bible school has been a great joy and blessing for many years at Bethel.

As I reflected on God’s wonderful joy and peace filling our lives, I remembered the scripture that says those who sow in peace, will reap in righteousness. And we all know that God’s kingdom is righteousness, and joy and peace in the Holy Spirit.

As always, we each have a choice every day to let go of anything that belongs to Satan [slide # 15 let go of sin…] and enter into God’s presence and embrace the peace and joy that God offers. It is a joy and peace that overcomes the evil of this world. We cannot do anything good without God’s help. Pray for God’s guidance. Amen. [slide # 16 freedom in Christ]