Matthew Archives - Page 17 of 19

Wheat and Darnel

Joe Harby on October 21, 2012

Introduction

The problem of good and evil inhabiting the same place is a perennial problem. It has been a problem within the church from the very beginning, and Jesus taught in such a way as to prepare us for it. Another parable, that of the dragnet (Matt. 13:47-48), makes the same basic point. Cast a net, and you bring in bicycle tires and beer bottles along with the fish. Why should we be surprised? Unfortunately, one of the evils we must deal with is the fact that we tend to reject His preparatory help.

The Text

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way . . .” (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43).

Summary of the Text

Jesus told His disciples another parable. The kingdom of heaven was like a man sowing good seed in his field (v. 24). But during the night, an enemy of his came and sowed tares (likely darnel) and left (v. 25). When the wheat began to grow, it became apparent that the darnel was growing also (v. 26). The servants saw the problem and came and asked about it (v. 27). He saw right away that it was the work of an enemy (v. 28), and the servants asked if they should go deal with it right away (v. 28). He said no, because of the damage that might be done to the wheat (v. 29). Wait until the harvest, and instructions will be given to the reapers to gather the darnel into bundles first for burning, and then to gather the wheat into the barn (v. 30). After hearing a few other parables, the disciples ask the Lord privately to explain this one (v. 36). He, the Lord, the Son of Man, is the sower of good seed (v. 37). The field is the world (v. 38) and the kingdom (v. 41). The good seed are children of the kingdom, and the darnel seed are the children of the wicked one (v. 38). The enemy is the devil (the father of that seed), the harvest is the end of the age (aeon), and the reapers are angels (v. 39). The burning of the darnel occurs at the end of the age/world (v. 40). The Son of Man will send out angels, who will remove all scandals (v. 41), and all those who work iniquity (v. 41). Those people will be cast into a furnace of fire, where there will be great lamentation (v. 42). Then the righteous will shine out like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (v. 43). If you have ears, listen up (v. 43).

Christ’s Explanation

The first thing to address is what is meant by age or world here. In v. 38, the word is kosmos, and in v. 39 the word is aeon, which can mean age as well as world. Is this talking about the end of the Judaic aeon (70 A.D), or the end of the world? Given what Jesus describes as happening here (angels as reapers, everlasting judgment), I think we would have to say the primary focus is on the end of the world—although that means it would apply fully to the unbelievers of the first century. The basic set-up is that Jesus sows a field full of wheat, and the devil comes along after that and sows the bad seed. So this is not Jesus coming to sow good seed in a field already gone bad, which is what it would have to be if we limited it to the first century.

Notice that we have a description of the boundaries of Christ’s kingdom (it is the world). The world is His field, and the devil is an intruder.

A Key Principle

It is far better to let the guilty go free than to condemn or hurt the innocent. But the farmer in this parable does not spare the darnel for the sake of the darnel, but rather spares the darnel for the sake of the wheat. Now some have taken this parable as excluding church discipline, which is nonsensical, but it is relevant to the question of church discipline. It is clear that church discipline is called for in certain manifest situations (1 C or. 5:4-5), but it is equally clear (here) that not every clear situation of an utterly false profession calls for church discipline.

Different Kinds of Children

In the parable of the sower, the different kinds of people are different soils, and the seed is constant. The seed is the gospel. In this one, the different kinds of people are described as being different kinds of seed. Here the seed is different.

There are two mistakes to make. One is the follow the farmer’s instructions and leave the darnel alone, but to do so in the pernicious misunderstanding that it must all be wheat. The other is to understand (with Him) that darnel and wheat are on opposite sides of the antithesis—as unlike as God and the devil, children of righteousness and children of wickedness, and on that basis to proceed with an ecclesiastical version of ethnic cleansing. And at the end of a long series of purges, there is only “thee and me,” and I “have my doubts about thee.”

Taking a Hard Line

Notice that in the argument between the farmer and the laborers, the laborers were the hard liners. They were more interested in nailing the guilty than in sparing the innocent. It is an understandable mistake, and we are not led to believe that these laborers were wicked. But they did need to be taught and restrained by their master. Never forget that the devil is the accuser—he loves to point the finger.

The devil loves to plant the work in such a way as to get the saints to do all his heavy lifting for him. He plants the seed and slips away. We do the rest. The best response to many evils is therefore to do nothing. Leave them be. Let it go. Let it ride. The word in v. 30 is frequently translated in the New Testament as forgive. Let it be. Drop it. In one sense, if they are firmly planted in the kingdom, and are plainly going to Hell . . . Jesus says to let them. In another sense, if you are called to chase it, then chase it with gospel. Speaking of that . . .

At the Same Time . . .

The Son of Man sows the good seed. The good seed are described as children of the kingdom (v. 38), as righteous (v. 43), as having God as “their Father” (v. 43). On the opposite side, the darnel are children of the wicked one (v. 38), as having been placed in the kingdom of God by the devil (v. 39), as creators of scandal (v. 41), as workers of iniquity (v. 41), and as destined for destruction (v. 42). With these two fundamental realities, there is only one appropriate response—the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Sower, Soils, Seed

Joe Harby on October 14, 2012

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Introduction

The central method that Jesus employed in His teaching is the method of setting forth parables. That means that if we want to be serious Christians, we should give ourselves to the understanding of His parables. We should want to learn what they mean, but more than this, we should want to learn how they mean.

The Text

“The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow . . .” (Matt. 13:1-23; cf. Mark 4:3-9, 14- 26; Luke 8:14-15).

Summary of the Text

One day things were so crowded that Jesus had to teach the multitudes from a boat (vv. 1-2). He taught them many things in parables, and the first recorded parable was that of the sower (v. 3). Some seed fell by the wayside, and birds ate it (v. 4). Some fell on stony places, where the soil was thin (v. 5). They started up quickly, but the sun scorched them (v. 6). A third category fell on ground that also had thorns (v. 7). The last cast seed fell on good ground, and was fruitful to the tune of 30, 60, and 100 fold (v. 8). Let those who get it get it (v. 9). The disciples then came and asked why He taught in parables (v. 10). Jesus answered that His purpose was to both reveal and conceal (v. 11). Not only so, but the parables are used to give more to the one who has, and to take away from those who have just a little (v. 12). Jesus spoke in parables as a judicial judgment on the Pharisees, and to fulfill the words of Isaiah (vv. 13-15). But the eyes of the disciples are blessed (v. 16). They are more blessed than the prophets and righteous men of old because they see more (v. 17). Jesus then explains the parable (v. 18). The one who hears about the kingdom without understanding it is the beaten path guy (v. 19). The one who hears “shallowly” is an eager believer, but who falls away in times of trouble (vv. 20-21). The third kind of person grows the crop, but also thorns—the cares of this world and the lies of wealth choke it out (v. 22). The good ground hears, understands, and then bears a harvest of 30, 60, or 100 fold (v. 23).

The Answer Key

We should pay particular attention to this parable. It is the first parable in Matthew, and comes at the head of a series of seven. It is a parable that has the remarkable gift of an “answer key.” Jesus breaks it down for us, which means that we can learn (by analogy) how to handle the other parables. He walks through it with us. Third, in the account given in Mark, Jesus explicitly says that it is the key to all the parables (Mark 4:13). He says, “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?” Do not study the parables, therefore, without mastering this one.

Sower, Seed, Soils

Since we are learning how to handle these things, let us write it out in big, block letters. In the next parable, Jesus identifies Himself as the sower (Matt. 13:37), and there is no reason to not take it the same way here. Christ sows the seed. What is the seed? In this place, it is described as “the word of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:19). Luke says that it is the “word of God” (Luke 8:11). As we serve as the agents of the Lord Jesus (who is the sower), we have to be careful to empty the whole bag of seed. In the book of Acts, preaching the message of the kingdom was the same as “testifying of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24-25), as well as teaching the things that were “concerning the

Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31). The word of the kingdom is as wide as the kingdom. It encompasses everything. It is not enough to say “word of God” as a placeholder—we have to pay attention to what He is saying.
Then there are the soils. The first thing to note is that the soils are four different kinds of human hearts. Jesus says this explicitly in v. 19, when He describes the birds taking away from the foot path man the word which had been “sown in his heart.”The crop does not succeed with the shallow man because he has no root “in himself.” So we are dealing with individual hearts, and Jesus says there are four basic types. There is the hard heart, the shallow heart, the divided heart, and the good heart. This is the Lord’s taxonomy, and we need to learn how to classify ourselves. More about his shortly.

First Century Soils

Never forget that this parable was not told for the first time at First Memorial Church in 1957. In addition to what it plainly means for every man, it also meant something particular and distinctive for the Lord’s first century hearers (Mark 12:1-12). If I were to tell you a story about a man who tried to tread on a rattlesnake and who got attacked by a bald eagle, you would pick up on things that Chinese man wouldn’t.

So think of four kinds of eras in Israel’s history—there are the hard-hearted rebellious periods (think about Israel’s idolatrous apostasies), there are the brief spurts of enthusiastic faithfulness (here’s looking at you, Joash), and the times of formal allegiance to YHWH compromised by a double allegiance to status and money (think Pharisees). And then we see that Jesus is announcing the kingdom, right? He is preaching the advent of the good soil era that the prophets foretold, which means that He is not only the sower, but also the seed. If we think ahead, He is every form of good soil—the only way any of us might become good soil. What kind of soil were the Jewish leaders of the first century? They were clearly choked out by the thorns—they loved money (Luke 16:14), and they were ambitious in all the wrong ways (John 5:44).

100 Fold

But kingdoms are established one subject at a time. Jesus told His disciples to preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). We are to make this omelet one egg at a time.

Nothing said here is critical of 30-fold farming. For Jesus, it was all good. But there is good, and there is postmillennial stupendous. We are to pay attention to kingdom agriculture—which means we work it from both ends. We do not till our plots in the hope of growing a king. But neither do we affirm that the king is established, and therefore we do not need to worry about tilling our plots. We want an educated and fruitful citizenry, and we may labor evangelistically because we are in the era of good soil. We therefore plead with the lost to receive the word of the kingdom (2 Cor. 5: 18, 20).

Conservative and Progressive

Joe Harby on May 20, 2012

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Introduction

This is Ascension Sunday, which means that we are going to be reminded of the absolute authority of the Lord Jesus Christ in every realm. Because we are currently in a political season, and we are in this season in a time that is politically swollen, we need to come to the Scriptures as the only foundation upon which we may build our political identities. This is the task, and it is harder than it looks.

The Texts

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).

“If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12; cf. Matt. 22:40).

Summary of the Texts

Because of Christ’s great obedience, even to the point of death on a cross, God has highly exalted Him. He has a name above every name (Phil. 2:9). The point of having such an exalted name is that every knee should bow (in obedience), and this includes creatures in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (v. 10). It certainly does not exempt anyone. The universal confession follows—every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord. Again, the lordship of Christ entails obedience. As a result of this, God the Father is glorified. We do not oppose love for Christ and obedience to Christ, as though piety and law were at odds. If we love Jesus, then we will do what He says (John 14:15). But it is not enough to affirm the need for this in the abstract. What does He say? In His Sermon on the Mount, He gives us His authoritative summary of the entire Old Testament. Do unto others (Matt. 7:12). In another place, He says that love for God and neighbor sum up the whole Old Testament as well (Matt. 22:40). If we look at this carefully, we see that the Golden Rule is another way of expressing the duties of love. Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but rather to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17). This is how.

Definitions: Conservative and Progressive

Remember that no virtue can be found in a transitive verb. Everything hinges on the direct object. Did you know that loving (agape loving) was a great sin (1 John 2:15)? Did you know that we are called to a life of hatred (Prov. 8:13)? Stop loving and start hating. That’s what the Bible says . . . Everything hinges on what you love and what you hate, and why. Right? The same thing is true of the verbs related to our common political terms conservative and progressive.

What are you conserving? Joseph Smith’s polygamist directives in the mountains of Utah? The old prerogatives of the Politburo? The work of the Holy Spirit in human culture over the last two thousand years? What? And what are you progressing toward? The Marxist vision of the final state? An Islamic vision of sharia law? Isaiah’s vision of the feast on the mountain (Is. 25:6)? What? You have to decide where you are going before exulting in the fact that you are making really good time.

Where We Are Right Now

This means that as Christians we should want to conserve those elements of our culture that are the goods of common grace, or which developed as a result of the progress of the gospel in the world. That is what we are conservative about. Knowing what these are requires the pursuit of wisdom, and all that entails. As Christians, we should want to progress toward the scriptural vision of the good life, every man under his own fig tree—not somebody else’s fig tree that you bought at auction because his property taxes were in arrears. We progress toward the time when human society is shaped by the fact that every knee is bent, and every tongue has confessed who Jesus actually is. What we conserve, and what we progress toward, are both defined, entirely and completely by the Bible.

But what would “they” call it? You are on national television, and are given a chance to spell out what you would keep and what you would work for. When you are done, what do they call you? How do they define you? An ultramontane fundamentalist theocratic conservative redneck tinfoil-hatter would be at the kind end of their descriptions. There is no way they would call you any kind of their kind of progressive. So how do we self- identify?

Cashing This Out

The apostle Paul calls us to not be babies in our understanding. He says we are to be like little children when it comes to malice, but that we should be mature and adult in our understanding of the world (1 Cor. 14:20). So then . . . we are not allowed to rubber stamp whatever political program appeals to us with the name of Jesus. We must do what we do politically in His name, and that which we do must be entirely in line with what He says.

But don’t be a child. Would you like to get free money from the government? Then why not vote for free money from the government for everybody else? The brief answer is that it isn’t free. Do unto others, but complete the sentence. If I would like to get free money, then I should support the giving of free money to others. But I emphatically would not want to get money that was stolen in order to give it to me. Why don’t I want that? Because I am a Christian. Therefore I may not support it in other cases. What many point to as an application of the Golden Rule in politics is actually the most egregious violation of it. We are disobeying Jesus in the name of Jesus.

Limited Government, Great Glory

In Scripture, there is an inverse relationship between the amount of coercion a government uses and the glory that government has.

“The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; As the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain” (2 Sam. 23:3-4).

Fatherhood and Pleasure (Father Hunger 1)

Joe Harby on March 18, 2012

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Introduction

Our world is filled with fathers because it is a world created by God the Father. Fatherhood lies at the center of all things, and because the Father created the world, the world has to reflect that reality. But because it is a world that has—because of the disobedience of our first father—fallen into sin and rebellion, it is also a world that is filled with false information about fatherhood. We have a Father of all good things, but there is also a father of lies out there (John 8:44). This means that we must start our study of what fathers should be with a corrective. What is sinless fatherhood like?

The Text

“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased . . .” (Matt. 3:16-17).

Summary of the Text

The facts in this episode are well known. Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized by him—a baptism of repentance. John protests, but Jesus insists, identifying with the sins of His people from the very beginning of His ministry. As He was coming out of the water, the heavens opened up to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God in the form of a dove, descending until it rested upon Him. Then a voice from Heaven spoke concerning His Son. In these two brief verses, we are given a glorious vision of what fatherhood in its essence is actually like, and so let us begin there. In the first place, when Jesus was baptized, beginning His earthly ministry, His Father was there. His Father was present, not absent. The second point to make is that the Father made His presence felt by sending His Spirit. He was not present and detached, but rather present and engaged. In the third place, He made His presence known by speaking. The Father revealed His mind with propositional content. The rest of what we might glean is taken from what He said. Fourth, He identified with His Son. He said, “This is my Son.”This is a verbal affirmation that goes alongside the giving of the Spirit. He identifies with His Son, and claims the relationship. Fifth, He expressed His love for His Son. “This is my beloved Son.” And then the last thing we learn is that God the Father was well-pleased with His Son. He praised His Son.

Archetypical Fatherhood

In all of human history, there is no other event we might consider that will teach us more about what fatherhood ought to be like than this one. This is the heart of fatherhood. This describes it. This is therefore the pattern, this is the template. A human father is more like what a true father ought to be the more he lines up with this. The more he veers from it, the less so.

The divine Father speaks here for the first time in the New Testament. First words are important.

Consider the Opposite

Suppose a father (for some reason) wanted to act out the role of an anti-father? How would that look? · He would be absent, not present. He would be gone.

· If he had to be present, he would be emotionally absent. His presence would not be engaged.
· If he had to be present, he would remain silent. He wouldn’t say anything.
· If silent, he would therefore not then identify himself as being “with” his son or daughter. · If silent, he would therefore not express love for his son or daughter.
· If silent, he would therefore not praise or honor his son or daughter.

Anti-Fathers?

But a man acting this way would be a lying father, not an anti-father. This is because he still holds the office of father, but his discharge of that office is contrary to the job description for it that God provided for us in His Word. And it is this kind of disparity that provokes children to anger (Eph. 6:4). All fathers are talking about God the Father all the time. They do not have the option of remaining silent. God the Father has told the truth about Himself—He does this throughout all creation in natural revelation, and throughout all the Scriptures in special revelation, but particularly here, in the baptism of Jesus. Here is fatherhood.

As His Children

The Ephesians (together with us) are told to be imitators of God, as dearly loved children (Eph. 5:1). Notice that He is doing the same sort of thing with us that He did with the Lord Jesus. The Father was there; He was present (Eph. 1:3). The Spirit had been given to them (Eph. 1:2; 2:18). The mystery of God’s will in the gospel was now made known (Eph. 1:9). The fact of our adoption was declared; we are His children (Eph. 1:5). We are called His beloved children (Eph. 5:1). And He tells us that we can walk in a way that is worthy of our calling; He can be pleased with it (Eph. 4:1).

So Then, Fathers . . .

So then, fathers, you have a Father who has told you to imitate Him (Eph. 5:1). On the way home from church today, you all may be driving along in silence. Suddenly a voice comes from the back seat,
“Dad, don’t apply the sermon in any ways that make us all feel awkward.” And you know what you should say? “I’m gonna.” If you have drifted away from this biblical pattern, there is no way to recover your footing without some kind of ice-breaking weirdness. So go for it.

Let’s keep this simple.

· Be there. Unless providentially hindered, make your physical presence with your kids a high
priority. Be there for dinner; be there for school plays; be there for recitals.
· Be engaged while there. Pay emotional attention. Don’t go to the kindergarten graduation so you
can check your email on the phone.
· Say something about it. Talk about it. Register your presence verbally.
· Identify with your son or daughter every chance you get. “This is my son. “This is my daughter.” Everybody in your life should know who goes with you.
· Express your love for them to them. Do not assume that such things go without saying. If ever they could have gone without saying, it would have been at the baptism of the Son of God. And His Father still expressed His love.
· Praise them. Have the praise come from your pleasure in this, and not because somebody guilted
you with a sermon.

Politics of Christmas

Christ Church on December 25, 2011

Introduction

The carnal, unbelieving mind always understands political rule in a particular way. The names may change—Pharaoh, Caesar, pope, or president-for-life—but the underlying realities are always the same. These realities have to do with tyranny and coercion, and the imposition of a right-handed power, the kind of power that is necessarily suspicious of biblical liberty. This is a carnal political power that breaks the two greatest commandments—it does not love God, and it refuses to love its neighbor. This is what denial of human rights amounts to—a refusal to love.

The Texts

“When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matt. 2:3).

“Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared” (Matt. 2:7).

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men” (Matt. 2:16).

Summary of the Texts

Jesus taught us that the children of this age are often more shrewd than the children of light are. They are often more aware of the ramification of what we say we believe than we are. When Herod heard of a king of the Jews, and of a star in the east, and of the wise men’s intent to worship Him, he was troubled (v. 3). And given his position and disposition, this was an entirely predictable and natural response. He was not imagining things. Second, Herod took the news that the magi brought seriously. He investigated their time line (v. 7), and he did so diligently. The birth of Jesus was a threat to him, and to his kind of rule, and he knew it very well. The seriousness with which he took these omens can be measured by what he was willing to do about it—which was to have the young boys in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas slain (v. 16).

From the Very Start

From the very beginning, the life of Jesus presented a potent threat to the status quo. This threat was not the result of Herod’s paranoia—Herod knew what many Christians do not. The birth of this child was intended to mean that the old way of ruling mankind was doomed. The transition from the old way of rule to the new way of rule was not going to be simple or easy, but it was going to happen. Of the increase of the Lord’s government there would be no end. But whatever it meant, Herod knew that he was against it.

Our Political Sins

But there are all kinds of workarounds that we have come up with, workarounds that enable timid Christians to rush in to assuage Herod’s fears. “There is no need to panic, no need to kill anybody, no need to do that.” But when we try to allay Herod’s fears by telling him, in effect, that Christ’s kingdom is an ethereal, spiritual, floaty-kind-of-thing, the problem is that we are bearing false witness.

Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins, and our political sins are not exempted from this salvation. Why would our political sins (which frequently have been among our foulest sins) be excluded? Jesus came as a Savior of our race. If that race was beset with seventeen different terminal diseases, why would Jesus come down only to heal two of them? And why would he leave the very worst of them untouched?

Too many Christians need to be reminded not to rob Christ of the greatness of His offered salvation.

A Bookended Life

When Jesus was born into this world, the attention of the existing rulers was drawn to that fact. The political leaders were told about it. A star appeared in the sky, and respected wise men cam on a long journey and they brought their news straight to the court. And when Jesus was condemned to die, He was condemned by the Roman governor, at the insistence of a mob stirred up by the national parliament of the Jews. The life of Jesus, from beginning to end, was a public life. He was born in poverty, but not in obscurity. Given the physical circumstances, it would have been obscure if the God of heaven had not made a point of leaving the rulers without excuse.

A New Way of Being Human

We have said many times before that Jesus came to show us a new way of being human. But this is not a lesson that we must learn “down in our hearts,” and nowhere else. No, humanity is what it is in the recesses of our hearts, and it is what it is in the public square. Mankind is what it is both within and without. It is what it is inside and outside.

If it is true that Jesus was born into this world to show us a new way of being human, this must necessarily include what we do in every place in which we find ourselves. This includes when we are alone, when we are in bed, when we are at the dinner table with our families, when we are out around town, and so forth. Of course it includes every aspect of our lives.

But it also includes every aspect of everyone’s life—from the lowest hired hand up to the CEO of the corporation, from the most obscure citizen up to the greatest political dignitaries. God wants all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth, from the king on down. The transformation that Jesus has inaugurated is no partial thing.

A Political Act

And so your celebrations are all to be conducted in the name of Jesus, of course. He is the reason for the season. But more than this, He is the Lord of the season. He is the Lord of the season because He is the Lord of the earth. He did not come down here, He was not born on this earth, in order to work out a power-sharing arrangement with Caesar.

Let your Christmas celebrations be joyful therefore. But in order for it to be the right kind of joy, those celebrations should be one of the most political things that you do. It should be the sort of thing that carnal kings worry about.