Title: Why Doesn't God Do Something?
Bible Book: Matthew 13
Author: Frank Page
Subject: Judgment
Objective:
Introduction
I read an interesting article recently. Here it is.
Devils Spread Disease: Australian scientists recently discovered what's killing thousands of Tasmanian Devils on the island state of Tasmania. The scientists initially believed the deaths were caused by a virus; however, their research ultimately uncovered a rare, fatal cancer. They named it the Devil Facial Tumor Disease, or DFTD.
What is strange, according to cytogeneticist Anne-Marie Pearse, is that the abnormalities in the chromosomes of the cancer cells were the same in every tumor. That means the disease began in the mouth of a single, sick devil. That individual facilitated the spread of DFTD by biting its neighbors when squabbling for food, which according to Pearse, is a natural devil behavior: "Devils jaw-wrestle and bite each other a lot, usually in the face and around the mouth, and bits of tumor break off one devil and stick in the wounds of another."
Over the course of several years, infected devils continued to inflict deadly wounds with their mouth. Consequently, DFTD spread at an alarming rate, ultimately wiping out over 40 percent of the devil population. You may not find that to be an interesting article, but I did. Perhaps it is because I love to study animals and I love science. However, I think the reason I liked it is because it has a powerful, spiritual parallel. There is evil in this world. That evil begins in one place. Its impact and its effect have been felt in all our lives.
The question, which underlies it all is a question which all of us have asked...one which is as old as the ages. It is the question...Why doesn't God do something? Why is there so much pain? Why are churches torn apart...families in turmoil...nations at war? Why are people so intent on hurting others...even the innocent?
We want God to do something, don't we? We can relate to James and John who in Luke 9:54 asked Jesus to send down fire to destroy the "evil" Samaritans. There were others who felt so inclined.
Perhaps that is why Jesus wrote to them Matthew 13:24-30 and 36 -43.
Here in this parable, called the parables of the tares, we see Jesus answering the impatience of those who wanted God to act immediately in outward and final judgment of the wicked and reward of the righteous.
This parable is helpful and difficult. It is helpful in that it teaches us some lessons, which are very powerful and it is difficult in the sense that scholars give manyinterpretations to its content.
I. There Is Always A Hostile Power In The World, Seeking And Waiting To Destroy
A farmer sowed some good seed in a field. While he slept, an enemy sowed tares among the wheat. This gives us an insight into the course of history.
The parable teaches that within history God works. God has been dealing with mankind since the beginning of creation. He sought Adam who rebelled against Him. He chose Abraham to be a nation as a mission to the other nations. God worked in varied ways throughout the history of Israel.
God worked in a decisive way in history when He came to earth at Bethlehem. While He was in the flesh, He taught, preached, and performed miracles. He died on a cross and was triumphant over death. He ascended back to glory, but He did not cease to work in history. He sent the Holy Spirit. God is at work in the Spirit today.
During the course of history, the enemy works too. While God works, the enemy works to counter and to defeat the works of God. The presence of evil in the course of history is a reality. Jesus does not give us cut -and-dried solutions to the enigma of evil. He simply says, "an enemy has done this" (Matthew 13:28a).
Therefore we must be on guard. We cannot prevent Satan's work. He is active even when we sleep. In verse 25, there is no implication of neglect because the servants slept, but a reminder that the enemy was stealthy and malicious.
Our experience of life is that both kinds of influence act upon our lives. The influence which will help the seed to grow and flourish, and the influence which will seek to destroy the good seed. It is the lesson of life that we must be forever on our guard.
The battle lines are drawn. Let us not be so caught up in Satan's lies that we lose sight of those battle lines. We can, you know.
Sir John Wilson travels 50,000 miles a year on behalf of the international Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, an organization that last year brought sight to 141,000 people.
What is remarkable is that Wilson is blind. A few years ago he traveled to the village of Nakong in northern Ghana where almost everyone is blind. Farmers taught him to plant grain by following a straight piece of bamboo. Their wives went to the well by following a piece of rope. He discovered that these villagers were so accustomed to blindness that they found it difficult to believe that the rest of the world could see.
Something like that can happen to the spiritual vision. Some people become so accustomed to the dark that they no longer believe that light exists. They become so accustomed to spiritual blindness that they do not believe that anyone can see.
One of the gifts we need today is spiritual sight.
II. Parable Teaches Us How Hard It Is To Distinguish Between Those Who Are In The Kingdom
The pictures in this parable would be quite clear and familiar to a Palestinian audience. Tares were one of the curses against which the farmer had to labour. The tares were a weed called bearded darnel. In their early stages the tares so closely resembled the wheat that it was impossible to distinguish the one from the other. When both had headed out it was easy to distinguish them, but by that time the roots of the wheat and the tares were so intertwined that the tares could not be pulled up and weeded out without tearing the wheat out with them.
A man may appear to be a good man, and may in fact be a bad man. A man may appear to be a bad
man, and may yet be a good man. It may well be - in fact it certainly is - that we are much too quick to classify people and to label them good or bad without knowing all the facts, and without the necessary knowledge.
III. This Text Teaches Us Not To Be So Quick With Our Judgements
If the reapers had their way, they would have tried to tear out the darnel, and the only result would have been that they would have torn out the wheat as well. Judgment had to wait until the harvest came. A man in the end will be judged, not by any single act or stage in his life, but by his whole life. Judgment cannot come until the end.
A person may make a great mistake, and then redeem himself and, by the grace of God, atone for it by making the rest of life a lovely thing.
We want God to judge the evil now...but who knows what miracle might occur. We are so quick in our judgments. Aren't you glad that God hasn't judged you at certain times of your life? God is still working. Instead of judging, let us keep praying for that lost husband...wife...etc.
IV. This Parable Teaches Us That Judgement Does Come
Jesus used the harvest to describe the consummation of history.
Many serious people have proposed solutions to a philosophy of history. Some look at the end of history with pessimism thinking that the ecological crises will smother man from a polluted atmosphere. Others look on history with an unrealistic optimism, claiming that the world will get better and finally graduate to a world utopia. Then there are those historians who view history as cyclic, feeling that the events of mankind go in circles without meaning.
Jesus has a view of the consummation of history. It's a linear view. He believes that history is moving toward a great climax, which is a harvest day.
Jesus taught that good and evil would exist together until the harvest day. This final return of the Lord, commonly known as the second coming of Christ, will terminate history. Let us notice some features of this return.
It will be sudden. No person can predict the closing of history. Jesus will come as a thief in the night.
The return of Christ will be victorious. Jesus came the first time as a despised and rejected person. The next time He will come as a ruling, reigning prince. Good will triumph over evil.
The return of Christ will be a world-shaking event. It will not be an isolated event in one spot on the globe. It will involve every person. II Corinthians 5:10 says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."
Yes, He is coming...coming soon.
In the parable, the farmer allowed the wheat and tares to grow together until the harvest day. When the proper time arrived, he harvested the wheat and put them into the barns. He bundled the tares and destroyed them. Of course the difference in wheat and tares could be detected in the growth process, but at harvest day it was necessary for the separation. This gives us an insight into what happens as a result of a person's experience in history.
Jesus explained the meaning of the wheat, "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom" (Matthew 13:38a). The person who receives Jesus Christ during their days in history experience the abundant blessings of God. As a result of their faith in the Lord, they continue to experience the blessings of God forever. This is a happy consequence of history.
Jesus explained the meaning of the tares. See Matthew 13:38b, 40, 42. Because of a person's refusal to open his life to the Lord, the Lord grants this continued experience. No more awfulconsequence could be described than to reject Christ in history and to live apart form Him throughout eternity. You can change the course of your personal history.
At the Greater Greensboro (North Carolina) Open Golf Tournament in 1972, South African golfer Gary Player failed to sign his scorecard after the third round and was disqualified. At that point, with only one round left to play, he was but one stroke behind the leader in the chase for the $40,000.00 first prize. By failing to sign his scorecard he was disqualified from the competition and did not win anything. In commenting on it afterward Player said, "There are rules in life, and we must abide by them." Someone then asked if there were not someone in the scoring tent to make sure that the cards were signed. To this Player replied: "My friend, there are responsibilities in life. You cannot shove your responsibilities onto the shoulders of someone else. This was my responsibility. I failed to meet it, so I must suffer the consequences."
Judgment is not hasty, but judgment does come. The separation of the good and the bad ones come in the end. It may be that, humanly speaking, in this life the sinner seems to escape the consequences, but there is a life to come. It may be that, humanly speaking, goodness never seems to enter into its reward, but there is a new world to redress the balance of the old.
This parable is not an ordinary garden story. It teaches us some important lessons. It shows that there is an evil power hard at work...that it is often difficult to distinguish between those who are in the kingdom...that we shouldn't be impatient...He is still at work...but last that judgment will come.
This day, will you receive Christ...will you let him be the Lord in your life?
Will you continue growing? Remember, growth is one of our Life Principles. We expect all of God's people to be involved in a lifestyle of growth. Is this where you are? Have you allowed the evil of this world to destroy your growth pattern?
Life Checkpoints:
Do I spend daily personal time with God by reading His Word and in prayer with Him?
Have I committed at least one hour per week to be with other believers in studying God's Word and its application in my life?
