Month: March 2021

Just as Jesus had a traitor in His band of twelve, so virtually every minister  of the  Gospel has found some in their church who seem to work at cross-purposes to all they are doing. This is how it has always been. The most challenging opposition comes from within the church, not from without. That is because Satan has been in opposition to the people of God from the beginning. For at the fall of man, God cursed Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.”  Ever since then, those the devil owns (his seed) work counter to the purposes and people of God, who have been rescued from Satan’s dominion. 

To that point Warren Wiersbe wrote, “Wherever Christ “plants” true believers to bear fruit for His glory, Satan plants false Christians who oppose the work and hinder the harvest. Christians are seeds, and the kingdom of heaven is a mixture of the true seed (Christians) and the counterfeit (children of the devil).”  Warren’s point is proven in the example of the first family, where Adam and Eve’s eldest son murdered his younger brother. So the Scriptures warn us, “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.”  Cain ‘belonged to the evil one’ because he listened to the evil one and so came to belong to Satan through unrighteous thought and action. Abel and Cain and Seth were all sons of Adam, born after the fall. As such, they had a sinful bent, but also had the opportunity to repent and turn toward God. Abel did so, and Seth did so. But although God spoke to Cain and warned him about giving in to his unrighteous anger, the Word records, “Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”  So it came to pass that brother killed brother. 

This same principle is still at work today. The seeds of the evil one are the lies that he plants in your mind. Those who choose to believe those lies come to own the action that belief bears, just as those who choose to believe God come to own the action that their belief bears. Each bears its own fruit, and they grow together. But they will not grow together forever. As Jesus said in explaining the parable of the weeds, “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” 

The growing season may seem long, but the harvest is quick and permanent. The day will come when the full harvest is ready, and on that day those who have chosen to belong to the evil one will be rooted out and destroyed. 

From that point on, those who belong to the evil one will never again bother the people of God or hinder the purposes of God. Their destiny is one of pain and limitation. Ours, the complete opposite! 

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

John the Baptist (from Matthew 3:10)

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Every natural forest has within it trees that are good for all manner of quality craftsmanship, and also trees that are just using up the soil. Both enjoy the rain and sun God sends – until the harvester appears!

The disciples want to know what Jesus meant by the parable of the weeds. Wisely, they   flat out ask Him. Jesus’ response tells us this parable is much deeper than we might have thought. He begins by giving us the keys to its interpretation; “He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.”” 

The keys tell us how the parable works as metaphor. But they do not tell us what it means as a whole. Yet even the very difficult parts of Scripture are meant to be understood. The Scripture is not given to us that we might be confused or distressed or merely speculate on its full meaning. The Scripture is given to humankind so that we might apply it. God means for us to understand Him, and when we ask about His Word, He makes understanding possible. 

In this case, the enigma of the parable requires divine interpretation. To the disciples’ blessing (and to ours), Jesus continues with His explanation; “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

From His opening message about repentance, Jesus has had the coming kingdom of heaven and the end of the ages in mind (Matt 4:17, 5:3-12). He has spoken openly about the kingdom of heaven and how it is dawning on creation (Matt 5:19-20). He has told people to anticipate it (Matt 6:19-20). He has warned people to get ready for it (Matt 7:13-14). He has told them how to get ready for it (Matt 7:24-27). He has trained them to participate in it (Matt 10:7-42). He pronounced woes on cities that did not repent (Matt 11:21-24) so that they might be ready for it. He has appealed to people’s common sense about it (Matt 11:28-30). He has spoken openly about the demonic kingdom currently in place (Matt 12:26-32) and prophesied about the consequences of the heavenly kingdom’s appearing (Matt 12:41-42).

It is no surprise then, that when Jesus begins teaching in parables He continues to speak about the coming kingdom. To those who’d rather just get on with their lives and not be bothered with such, He speaks only riddles. But to those who truly want to know God and prepare for the coming kingdom, He gives understanding. 

That is because God is continuing to bring history to a conclusion. Every single day we draw another 24hours closer to that inevitable conclusion. For the willfully ignorant, that conclusion will be a terrifying and horrific beginning to untold suffering. For the obedient, that conclusion will be a wonderful and glorious beginning to untold blessing. 

Which it is for us is entirely our own choice.

We, as humanity, chose our fate when we went against God’s will that first time and every time since.

John D. Barry and Rebecca Van Noord

APPLICATION: Intentionality

To be Christlike is to likewise pursue the repentance of all around us.

Earlier, Jesus went out of the house He was staying at and sat by the lake.  There, Jesus  told the crowd a series of parables describing the kingdom of heaven: A parable about a sower, a parable about weeds, a parable about a mustard seed and a parable about leaven. “Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”” 

Parables have many forms. In the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven, Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to two common things that everyone knew about. Plants and leaven do what they do largely unnoticed, growing silently and steadily. As a straightforward metaphor, these parables can be understood by simply musing on the characteristics and action of the subject. There is a lot in that to learn, because these are not mere parables, but divine parables. They come from God Himself. So they can teach us much, even if they are relatively simple.

Other parables – like the parable of the sower and the parable of the weeds – are much more than straightforward metaphor. They involve a person, and a person is much more than a sum of characteristics or bundled capacity for action. A person always has intention, and motive is something you cannot impute. 

There are only two ways to truly know the intention of a person. They can tell you, or God can tell you. To do anything else is to assume their intention, which will likely result in some degree of misstep, if not full out error. Additionally, both the parable of the sower and the parable of the weeds involve much more than a single item. To that point the disciples must be given credit, because they ask Christ to explain the parables in both accounts. 

Jesus had explained the parable of the sower to the disciples during a natural pause in His teaching earlier. The disciples now ask to understand the parable of the weeds. That parable had a sower (or owner of the field), a field, good seed, weeds, an enemy, a harvest and harvesters. 

It is tempting to conclude that the one sowing the seed is a human missionary or evangelist. After all, that is how the parable of the sower was interpreted. Or to consider that weeds in the parable stand for the difficulties and cares of life – as in the previous parable. Or to think that the harvest is an individual salvation, or that the harvesters are pastors or others who lead people to Christ. But all these things are human conclusions – they are our own interpretation of the Word of God based on what we’ve read to date. To jump to our own conclusions is to defer to our frame of reference (past history), which colors how we see and understand all we take in.

But the best interpretation of Scripture does not come from our own frame of reference. It was God’s Word, not ours. So without exception, the best thing to do is ask God about it. 

The true wisdom for which we have to ask God does not consist in manifold and great knowledge, but in that which enables us to discern between good and bad, right and wrong, sin and duty, truth and falsehood, so as not to be misled in judging either of other’s actions or of our own

George Barlow

APPLICATION: Intentionality

It is common human behaviour to jump to conclusions. It is holy behaviour to pause and seek God’s input first. 

Throughout his Gospel, Matthew has explained how Jesus was fulfilling prophesy. In 1:22
Matthew wrote, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet,” and then referenced Isaiah 7:14. In 2:15 Matthew referenced Hosea. In 2:17 he referenced Jeremiah. In 2:23, unnamed prophets. In 4:14, 8:17, 12:17 and 13:14 he again references Jesus fulfilling things Isaiah had said. Now in chapter 13 verse 35, Matthew once again notes how Jesus is fulfilling prophesy, “So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”” This is a direct reference to Psalm 78:2, where David wrote, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old.”

Sometimes we forget that prophesy eventually comes to pass. It is true of course that all prophesy may see echoes of fulfillment. They can appear from the moment it is spoken, and they can reappear as waves of fulfillment over time. So when we read of Daniel writing about “a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then,” we can remember how the Jews were subsequently greatly distressed during the fall of Jerusalem in AD70. We can remember how the whole world was greatly distressed in both WWI and WWII. But such times are not the final fulfillment of Daniel’s prophesy. They are only echoes. The final and full fulfillment of that Word is yet to pass. We can know that because when God’s Word is fulfilled, God’s Himself notes that it is so.

We see this over and over in Scripture. When Isaiah wrote, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel,” he himself would’ve thought it was referring to his own son, who clearly fulfilled in part what Isaiah was writing about at the time (see Isaiah 7:14-16, 8:3-4). But it was not totally fulfilled till Matthew writes, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”” Likewise, Hosea wrote, “out of Egypt I called my son,” primarily (at the time) meaning the Jewish nation. But Matthew subsequently writes of Christ, “so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.””

The final and full fulfillment of prophesy is always both exacting to the literal meaning of the written words, and recorded as fulfilled by God Himself. That record might not be written immediately, just as Matthew’s Gospel was not written the moment Christ was born. But it will be recorded all the same, for God declares both the end and the beginning. As Isaiah 46 records, “I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning.”

So let it be. Amen.

It is not our responsibility to control our circumstances; it’s God’s.

Micca Campbell

APPLICATION: Worship

At a certain point the decision to act for God’s glory must be taken. The thinking about it, the praying about it and the planning in our minds must bear the fruit of action, or we willing waste all of it.

Having written how Jesus told the crowd the parable of the sower, the  parable of the  weeds, the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven, Matthew interjects, “Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.””  

Psalm 78 (a maskil of Asaph) opens with, “O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old— what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. They would not be like their forefathers— a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.” 

The parables Jesus is teaching the crowds are things hidden since the creation of the world, but all the same they were clearly revealed in the Word of God to Israel. Israel was not kept in the dark about the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power and the wonders He had done. They were not kept from knowing His statutes and law. Yet the people Christ encountered in His day lived as though they were. They seemed oblivious to all the Scripture testified about how the kingdom of heaven was spread, how it grew or the immense value of it. Subsequently, they did not live as though God was doing something miraculous through them. They lived as though they were regular people going about regular lives, even though the Word clearly taught that they were not!  They had been chosen of God to be a light to all nations (Isa 42:6, 49:6, 51:4, 60:3). They had been chosen of God to shine forth over all the earth as the sun shines to all peoples (Ps 50:2, Isa 62:1). Yet they went about their lives as though all that mattered was their own happiness, even though God had clearly expected them to produce growth and fruitfulness to His glory (Ps 80:8, Isa 5:2, 61:11, Jer 2:21, Ezk 16:7). 

Consequently, Jesus speaks to them in parables. On account of their deafness to His direct Word, it becomes as He had just told them, “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”  The direct teaching of God to them is reduced to allusion to ordinary life. No doubt it was His hope that they would be so intrigued by the parables that they would muse over them to the point of awareness, because they certainly had not thought through His explicit teaching. 

It is a sobering lesson to those who are reading Matthew’s Gospel, and as clear a call to obedience as any commandment. We are to be spreading the kingdom of heaven, not merely reading about it!

It’s never easy to transcend the gravity of culture. The church, made up of nothing but ordinary people, always reflects the values of Canaan about as much as the law of Israel.

Donald McCullough

APPLICATION: Intentionality

At a certain point the decision to act for God’s glory must be taken. The thinking about it, the praying about it and the planning in our minds must bear the fruit of action, or we willing waste all of it.