This past Sunday, the associate pastor at my church, preached on six short parables found in Matthew 13. Two of these parables, the first and last in the gospel lesson, talk about the end of the age. The first appears in verses 24-30, and tells the parable of the weeds among the wheat. In this parable, a farmer sows grain in his fields, but an enemy sneaks in one night and sows weeds among the wheat. As the plants grow, the dastardly deed is discovered, and the servants want to rip out all of the weeds, but the farmers tells them no. Ripping out the weeds would uproot the wheat, so the farmer allows them to grow together, and instructs his reapers to separate them out at harvest time. The second is found in verses 47-48, and compares the kingdom of heaven with a net that was thrown into the sea and caught many varied kinds of fish, It was then drawn in, and the fish were separated into good fish to keep and bad fish to throw back. Both the separation of the wheat in the first parable and the separation of fish in the second are metaphors for how at the end of time people will be separated into those that go to heaven and those that go to hell.
In his sermon, Pastor Eshelman discussed the "they'll get theirs" mentality evoked by these two parables, as well as others like them. Many Christians see the meaning of these parables as a cause for celebration because all the horrible, evil people are going to eventually burn for all eternity. We rejoice in their eventual misery, thanking God that we are not like those sinners doomed to "the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:50). However, this is not how we should respond to this.
In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter tells us that God is "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." God loves everyone, and I mean everyone. We hear that all the time, but do we really stop to consider what that means? It's easy for us to understand that God loves us, but we sometimes act as if there are people that God doesn't love. We think, "He can't actually love all those serial killers, rapists and argumentative atheists, can he? Those are people who prey on others, so they certainly aren't worthy of His love." No they're not, but neither are you, but God loves us all anyway. The "they'll get theirs" mentality includes an inherent hatred for "them," and according to Jesus, hatred is equivalent to murder, and does not reflect well on the hater.
A point made in the sermon was about the similarity of wheat and tares. These two plants are almost identical until the wheat comes to a head. This, Pastor Eshelman said, is probably one of the main reasons the farmer didn't want the weeds pulled: the servants could very easily grab the wheat instead. People can be the same way. Someone seen as a tare by others could really be a glorious stalk of wheat that's just not ripe yet. We could also be this way, even though we may not see it in ourselves. My brothers and sisters, the harvest hasn't come yet! As a result, we shouldn't spend our time judging others because in trying to uproot what we see as weeds, we might accidentally uproot wheat that just isn't mature yet. In addition, we could spend so much time evaluating others that we forget to keep growing ourselves. I would encourage all of you to focus on making sure you are mature yourself, and help others who are seeking the hope that you have. There are those who may never believe, but don't let your prejudice against someone be the reason why.
In his sermon, Pastor Eshelman discussed the "they'll get theirs" mentality evoked by these two parables, as well as others like them. Many Christians see the meaning of these parables as a cause for celebration because all the horrible, evil people are going to eventually burn for all eternity. We rejoice in their eventual misery, thanking God that we are not like those sinners doomed to "the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:50). However, this is not how we should respond to this.
In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter tells us that God is "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." God loves everyone, and I mean everyone. We hear that all the time, but do we really stop to consider what that means? It's easy for us to understand that God loves us, but we sometimes act as if there are people that God doesn't love. We think, "He can't actually love all those serial killers, rapists and argumentative atheists, can he? Those are people who prey on others, so they certainly aren't worthy of His love." No they're not, but neither are you, but God loves us all anyway. The "they'll get theirs" mentality includes an inherent hatred for "them," and according to Jesus, hatred is equivalent to murder, and does not reflect well on the hater.
A point made in the sermon was about the similarity of wheat and tares. These two plants are almost identical until the wheat comes to a head. This, Pastor Eshelman said, is probably one of the main reasons the farmer didn't want the weeds pulled: the servants could very easily grab the wheat instead. People can be the same way. Someone seen as a tare by others could really be a glorious stalk of wheat that's just not ripe yet. We could also be this way, even though we may not see it in ourselves. My brothers and sisters, the harvest hasn't come yet! As a result, we shouldn't spend our time judging others because in trying to uproot what we see as weeds, we might accidentally uproot wheat that just isn't mature yet. In addition, we could spend so much time evaluating others that we forget to keep growing ourselves. I would encourage all of you to focus on making sure you are mature yourself, and help others who are seeking the hope that you have. There are those who may never believe, but don't let your prejudice against someone be the reason why.
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