Accept the Realities of the Church in the World!

9th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/14/11


Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Accept the Realities of the Church in the World!
I. It’s a church under attack.
II. It’s a church victorious.


I don’t read books to small children anymore, so I don’t know if they still end with the sentence, “And they all lived happily ever after.” I suppose that, even if they don’t end with those words exactly, similar words are used or at least that’s the strong impression given. That’s because every one of us—adults included—want to live happy lives here on earth. We realize that we will encounter problems along the way, but, like a good children’s story, we want those problems solved rather quickly with all loose ends tied up neatly before too many pages pass in our lives.

And why shouldn’t it be that way? After all, our God wants us to live happy lives, doesn’t he? Surely he does!

So, you would figure that the one place we would find that to be true would be in the Church. By Church I don’t mean this building. I mean Church in the sense of God’s kingdom here on earth. His believers. Christians. If God’s greatest blessings reside in his Church (and they certainly do), then we should be happiest in the Church, shouldn’t we?

In a way, yes. Indeed here in the Church we enjoy the blessings of forgiveness and eternal life, among so many others. These blessings fill our hearts with joy. But don’t think that being in the Church means the end of all troubles. In fact, being in the Church brings on trouble.

Jesus speaks about that very thing today in the Parable of the Weeds. Perhaps you grew up calling this the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. In it, Jesus paints a picture of the realities of the Church in the world. May the Holy Spirit cause us to accept those realities as we ponder the truths of this parable.

Part I.

If you browse through a Christian bookstore, you’re likely to find any number of books on how to be happy in a certain aspect of your life. Let me state clearly that I fully support your happiness in your marriage or family life, in your social or business life. And I suppose that these books may have plenty of worthwhile advice for you. But realize that underneath many of these books, there is what’s called the Theology of Glory. It’s the false teaching that, if you live your life in a Christian way you will be happy and successful in this life. You will attain glory here and now. If you could, try telling that to Job in the Old Testament. The Bible states that he was one of the most godly men on the face of the earth and yet he suffered far more than all of us put together.

What’s more, such a teaching finds no basis in the parable before us this morning. Listen to the details. “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.” By “kingdom of heaven” Jesus is referring not to heaven itself, but to the Church on earth. The parable involves a farmer who plants good seed in his field. Later Jesus identified himself as the farmer and the seeds as the son of the kingdom, in other words, Christians. These are people living on earth who belong to the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus as their Savior.

But notice what takes place. “But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.” The enemy is none other than the devil himself. The Bible makes it clear that Satan works night and day every day of history to bring down the kingdom of God. He does so by bringing temptations large and small into our lives in an attempt to weaken and destroy our faith.

But he doesn’t do this work alone. He also uses the people who belong to his kingdom. Those are the weeds that live among us. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that all too many Christians have committed and are committing great and terrible sins that bring trouble into our world. But in general, it’s not Christians who are fighting against the Church on earth. It’s non-Christians. They don’t want us to spread God’s word. They don’t want to adhere to our moral values. Some will stop at nothing, not even suicide, to kill American Christians. And the thought occurs to us, “Life should be easier than that for Christians. Why do we have to put up with all that? Why doesn’t God just rid the earth of unbelievers? Then life would be so much more enjoyable for us.”

That’s exactly what the workers wanted to do. They wanted to pull up the weeds. But the farmer responded, “‘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.’” Both believers and unbelievers must remain together. Jesus states one reason here. The wheat might get pulled up with them. In other words, we Christians may suffer if God would put to death every unbeliever. Perhaps you would lose your doctor or mechanic, your friend or your neighbor. These people bring many of God’s blessings into your life.

And the other reason is that God has given every person this lifetime as the time to come to faith in Jesus as their Savior. Putting every unbeliever to death right now would end that opportunity. It would also end one of the reasons we exist—to share our faith with others. In order to do that, we must live among them. We share our world with those who don’t trust in Jesus as their Savior from sin. And they attack the Church.

Accept the realities of the Church in the world. One of them is that it’s a Church under attack.

It’s a false, misleading dream to think that the life of the Christian should be smooth sailing. The same woes and ills that befall non-Christians befall us as well. What’s more, we suffer for what we believe. We should expect the world to push back every time we stand up for the truth of God’s word. It’s going to be tough. In fact, someone once said if your Christian life is easy, then you’re probably not one. Jesus never said it would be easy. In fact, he advised us to count the cost of following him. He told us that life with him brings crosses to bear, not croissants. Shame on us for complaining about them! Shame on us for despairing over our difficult Christian lives in this unbelieving world! May the Lord lead us to see that the same Savior who died for us also died for every other person. He loved them that much! May his love for us not only comfort us and strengthen us as we face attacks from our world, but also lead us to deal in love with those who make those attacks.

Part II.

I’m sure you’ve heard the statement, “Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes.” It makes us chuckle, but it also begs us to think a little bit. What else is certain in life?

Well, from our previous discussion this morning, we can be certain of attacks on the Church. But is that all? Certainly not. Listen to the words of your Savior, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The righteous are those who trust in Jesus as their Savior. The greatest truth of Christianity is that God has justified us, he declares us not guilty of our sins because of the work that Jesus did. God placed the righteousness of Jesus on you and me all and other Christians. And rather than suffering, we will shine in glory.

When? Certainly not now with all the problems we face. Jesus tells us when. It will come on the day when he eternally separates believers from unbelievers. That will be the day of eternal and certain victory for the Church.

But how can we be so sure? Because of Christ’s victory over death and hell by his resurrection. When Jesus rose from the dead, he sealed Satan’s fate forever. Satan can’t win and his kingdom can’t prevail. It’s doomed to destruction along with Satan. Jesus wins that final victory, and the Church—all believers—wins along with him.

Until that day of final victory the Lord Jesus sustains his Church. He does so with his gospel—the good news of Jesus’ holy life and his death as the payment for the sins of the world. That gospel comes to us in his word and the sacraments. Those are the means—the only means—Jesus uses to sustain his Church until the final day of victory.

And then comes the harvest. As he explains here, Jesus will use his holy angels to gather up all those who trust in him and bring them into heaven with him. What a glorious day that will be! Jesus will declare before all people that we are his children by faith in him and thus are heirs of eternal life with him.

Can you imagine the glory that will be yours and mine on that day? No wonder Jesus describes it as shining like the sun. We’ll live forever in glory with him. Gone will be all the troubles, sorrows, aches and pains that hound us daily and make this life miserable at times.

In fact, we’re so accustomed to dealing with those difficulties, that living a life of eternal glory is hard to imagine. We often wonder whether the Church will even survive with the way things are today. But make no mistake about it! It not only survives, it wins! Accept the realities of the Church in the world. It’s a Church victorious!

Things will happen later today that will make you shake your head and wonder how much worse they can get. Wait a day or two and you will hear of some new attack upon Christianity. Go out and live your Christian life and you will take heat for it. Those are the realities. But so is the victory. Contrary to what our world would have you think, Jesus is not a fraud or a loser. He’s the eternal Son of God and the eternal victor. His death and resurrection assure us of it. As one of his followers, you share in his eternal victory. The Church may get battered, but it will never be defeated. As life gets difficult and even down-right miserable at times, find your comfort and strength in that great truth. Accept that reality of the Church by faith in Jesus. May that truth make you bold as you live for your Savior. Amen.