Sermon Outline for Sunday, 20 July 2014 by Gary Lee Parker
Title: Inclusion?
Scripture: Matthew 13: 24-26 He told another story. “God’s
kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while
his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and
slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain
began to form, the thistles showed up, too.
27 “The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was
clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’
28 “He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’
“The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’
29-30 “He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up
the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct
the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire,
then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’”
The Curtain of History
36 Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His
disciples came in and said, “Explain to us that story of the thistles in the
field.”
37-39 So he explained. “The farmer who sows the pure seed is the
Son of Man. The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom,
the thistles are subjects of the Devil, and the enemy who sows them is the
Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest
hands are angels.
40-43 “The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene
from the final act. The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles
from his kingdom, pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are
going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. At the same
time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father.
“Are you listening to this? Really listening?
Theme: The idea of including all people into the church.
Purpose: Jesus’ reference to leaving the wheat and the tares to
grow together until judgment day.
Introduction: How do we really understand this parable of Jesus
even after He explained it to His disciples? We have a history of bouncing
people out of the church because they disagreed with us on little issues, yet
if this parable refers to the church, who should we respond? We can easily look
at the past and wonder how our ancestors acted the way they did, but let us
look closely at our own lives and attitudes. First, we look at the many
different churches and denominations from the East Orthodox to the Roman
Catholic to Lutheran to Anglican to Methodist to Baptist to Moravians to
Assembly of God to Nazarenes to Church of God in Christ to the other
independent churches. Then, we come to the issues of today when we cannot even
find common ground when it has to do with abortion and human sexuality to
people who are differently abled to human trafficking to the poor to the
immigrants, etc. Are we unable to really listen and see what Jesus was teaching
his disciples and us about the sowing of the good seed while good and bad seed
come together? We are not to judge any other people who ae just may be judged
by God the same way or we are not to condemn other people or we will be
condemned the same way by God, but we are called to forgive as freely and
openly as God forgives us. Too often we ask questions like if you died tonight
do you know where you will be going. My our fruits people will know who we pay
allegiance to, God or the world or even ourselves. Maybe the question John
Wesley asked that should be the only question we should ask other people is
from his catholic spirit sermon which is “if your heart is right with God as my
heart is right we God, take my hand brother or sister and journey with me in
this life that we may be Christ’s witnesses to the world in how we live and
speak with love and mercy as well as forgiveness. How are you willing to live
in such a way to be able to love other people whether they are the same as you
or not? The freedom that we are given in this country is nothing compared to
the freedom that God gives us to love God with our whole heart, soul, body, and
spirit and to love all other people as God loves us unconditionally? As we
begin to realize the question that God asked Cain in looking for His Brother,
Abel, we cannot give the same answer Cain gave, but give the answer yes, we are
our brothers and sisters keeper as we journey along in our life of faith in
preparation for all eternity with God because of what Jesus did for us in
reconciling us to God and to all other people. Come, is your heart right with
God as my heart is right with God?
I.
Jesus’ parable of the Good Seed
A. A farmer sowed the seed in good soil.
B. Overnight, both good and bad plants grew up.
C. The farmhand wanted to pick up the bad plants
and burn them.
II.
Jesus’ call to let them grow together.
A. The good plant might get picked with the bad
plant and burned.
B. The judgment day of the Father is coming when
the true justice with be done.
C. Jesus calls the good and bad to function
together because no one knows which is which but the father.
III.
Lessons for the church.
A. Do not throw people out or judge them because
you do not know their true heart with God.
B. The church is made up of followers of Jesus
and non-followers.
C. The love of Christ should be expressed because
we do not know how love could transform people.
Conclusion: We come to the conclusion of our lesson to allow God
to search our hearts and see how we have treated people who are different than
us in word, thought, and deed. Where we have shown hatred instead of love, we
confess and repent of our sins to live as God lives in holy love towards all
people.
Invitation: Upon our repentance, we come to receive God’s grace
to live in Holy Love as He calls us and strengthens us to live in this world as
we take and eat the body of Jesus and drink His blood through the Holy
Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We come to receive from God singing the Hymn
in prayer mode “Come, labor on” by Jane Borthwick (1859, 1863):
1. Come, labor
on.
Who dares
stand idle on the harvest plain
while all
around us waves the golden grain?
And to each
servant does the Master say,
"Go work
today."
2. Come, labor
on.
Claim the high
calling angels cannot share;
to young and
old the gospel gladness bear.
Redeem the
time; its hours too swiftly fly.
The night
draws nigh.
3. Come, labor
on.
Cast off all
gloomy doubt and faithless fear!
No arm so weak
but may do service here.
Though feeble
agents, may we all fulfill
God's
righteous will.
4. Come, labor
on.
No time for
rest, till glows the western sky,
till the long
shadows o'er our pathway lie,
and a glad
sound comes with the setting sun,
"Well
done, well done!"
And “The Bond of Love” by Otis Skilling
VERSE 1:
We are one in
the bond of love
We are one in
the bond of love
We have joined our spirit with the
Spirit of God
We are one in the bond of love
VERSE 2:
Let us sing
now, ev'ry one,
Let us feel
His love begun;
Let us join
our hand that the world will know
We are one in
the bond of love
Benediction: May each of
us go with a sense of unity with all our brothers and sisters no matter who
they are that we love them as Jesus loves us-unconditionally.
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