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[493.08 --> 499.84] hooks, where the wolf will live the lamb and the calf and the lion and the yearling together,
[499.84 --> 502.10] and a little child will lead them.
[502.10 --> 506.86] He wants a kingdom where there is no more death or mourning or crying or tears or pain
[506.86 --> 511.20] anymore because the old order of things has passed away.
[511.20 --> 513.90] That's what he wants.
[513.90 --> 517.28] God has a dream.
[517.28 --> 525.96] Or better yet, he has a plan for a whole new heaven and a whole new earth.
[525.96 --> 533.42] And if you listen closely to the Gospels and to the teachings of, say, the Apostle Paul,
[533.42 --> 538.22] you find out that this kingdom has already started.
[538.22 --> 540.58] That seed has already been planted.
[540.58 --> 547.16] It was planted in the life of the extraordinary person who tells this story.
[547.16 --> 551.72] It started in the life and the work of Jesus.
[551.72 --> 553.42] The way he lived.
[553.42 --> 555.14] The way he loved.
[555.14 --> 557.28] The lessons he taught.
[557.28 --> 559.02] His sacrificial death.
[559.02 --> 561.42] His resurrection on Easter Sunday.
[561.42 --> 566.14] That is the beginning of a whole new creation.
[566.14 --> 570.00] It's on the way.
[570.00 --> 576.44] And yet here too there are weeds in the field.
[576.44 --> 582.34] You know, at the very beginning Jesus chose 12 disciples.
[582.34 --> 583.76] How did that turn out?
[583.76 --> 590.10] Well, one of them betrayed his master for 30 pieces of silver.
[590.10 --> 596.96] The rest of them ran into the night when he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.
[596.96 --> 602.04] And one of them, the big mouth, he lied through his teeth.
[602.04 --> 609.94] Telling people that he did not know Jesus, had never met Jesus to save his children.
[609.94 --> 619.78] These 12 disciples were kind of the symbolic regathering of the 12 tribes of Israel.
[619.78 --> 628.52] They would be the beginning, the core group in a new kingdom.
[628.52 --> 633.84] And yet there were weeds in this field.
[633.84 --> 636.72] And there are still weeds in the field today.
[636.72 --> 638.40] Some of them are growing in me.
[638.40 --> 640.64] Some of them are growing in you.
[640.64 --> 649.38] You know, at our best we can become the hands and the voice of Jesus and bring hope and healing to the world.
[649.38 --> 655.24] But at our worst we embarrass Jesus.
[655.24 --> 671.02] If we could be pure, honest, unselfish, you know, no shallow feeling, no shallow thinking, no shallow commitments, then we could make a world of difference.
[671.02 --> 677.30] The world would see Jesus in us and the world would come to know him and to love him.
[677.30 --> 681.28] And yet that doesn't happen very much.
[681.28 --> 682.58] Not as much as it should.
[682.58 --> 687.08] And it won't until the end when Jesus comes again.
[687.08 --> 694.10] There are weeds in this field.
[694.10 --> 697.86] So what can be done about it?
[697.86 --> 703.26] Well let's go back to that meeting between the farmer and the farm hands.
[703.26 --> 704.56] The farm hands have a plan.
[704.56 --> 709.48] They said, do you want us to go and pull them up, pull all the weeds out?
[709.48 --> 719.94] And if we kind of translate that story into, you know, what they really were after, it's, he's saying, shall we pull out of the kingdom all the bad people?
[719.94 --> 727.42] Shall we get rid of all the doubters and the drifters and those people who hang with the wrong people?
[727.62 --> 729.54] Why don't we just tell them to leave?
[730.28 --> 734.90] Why don't we do some good old fashioned excommunicating?
[734.90 --> 742.40] Let's go into that field and rip and tear until there's nothing left of them and only us.
[743.52 --> 749.42] And then the church will be pure and the kingdom will thrive.
[752.30 --> 756.00] That's the kind of thing the servants were thinking of doing.
[756.00 --> 766.24] And yet the master, he says, no, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.
[766.24 --> 769.82] Let both grow together until the harvest.
[771.94 --> 775.94] The master knows that there is wheat in this field.
[776.48 --> 783.56] And it is good wheat made from the best seed, the kind that can reproduce 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold.
[783.56 --> 787.26] And then it becomes a blessing.
[788.58 --> 792.80] So no, we are not going to tear this field apart.
[793.46 --> 795.52] We're going to let the wheat grow.
[797.00 --> 800.86] And no, unfortunately, at the same time, the weeds will grow too.
[800.96 --> 803.94] But we want this wheat to grow.
[803.94 --> 814.20] And by the way, those weeds that you want to rip out, there's some of them growing in your own heart too.
[815.66 --> 824.82] And the wheat that you, you know, love so much, there's some of that growing in those people you want to run out of this place.
[825.20 --> 826.46] It's a messy field.
[826.46 --> 832.02] And so we're going to leave it alone and let it grow.
[832.02 --> 840.02] You know, many years ago, I fell in love with a preacher from an earlier time.
[840.08 --> 841.18] His name was Helmut Tulecki.
[841.90 --> 843.14] He was a theologian.
[843.22 --> 844.02] He was a pastor.
[844.54 --> 846.68] And he was a master preacher.
[846.90 --> 854.72] And as I was trying to grow into the role of preaching sermons, I read everything I could get from Helmut Tulecki.
[854.72 --> 862.38] And there are longer sermons than we have nowadays, but he just had this wonderful way of giving life to the Scriptures.
[863.36 --> 865.86] And one of the sermons, it was in a book on the parables.
[866.30 --> 869.10] It was on this parable, the parable of the weeds and the wheat.
[869.90 --> 879.00] And in that sermon, Tulecki said that we would spoil God's plan of salvation if we organize an operation, throw them out.
[879.00 --> 898.66] And if we got rid of all those people who don't belong here, those hangers-on, those hypocrites, those wobblers, we would be closing the door to them.
[898.66 --> 907.22] We would be taking away the chance for them to hear the gospel and take it to heart.
[909.60 --> 916.62] We would be building a little elite of the saints, and we would become a sect.
[916.62 --> 926.22] So, no, there's weeds in the field, and there's wheat in the field, and God says, let it grow.
[927.44 --> 935.72] Be patient and cultivate that which is good, because there is goodness in there.
[935.72 --> 952.92] So, all this means that our calling here is in a way not to focus on the trouble, but to focus on what is good and true and beautiful.
[953.74 --> 959.84] Let it grow, and in the end, God will bless it.
[959.84 --> 965.56] Now, at this point, I do want to add a footnote, or maybe a clarification.
[966.20 --> 977.04] We should not take this parable as an instruction to tolerate anything and everything until Jesus comes back again, because then he'll sort it all out.
[979.48 --> 986.06] We could take that to be the lesson of the story, but we should be careful.
[986.06 --> 993.24] The Bible doesn't want us to be Mr. Throw-them-out.
[993.86 --> 1001.70] It doesn't want to be one of those rigid, hostile, angry peoples always finding fault everywhere with everything.
[1003.90 --> 1010.94] But the Bible does say some good things and some important things about the practice of discipline.
[1012.28 --> 1013.54] It should be done.
[1013.54 --> 1016.58] It should be done gently.
[1017.10 --> 1019.78] It should be done with the goal of restoration.
[1021.36 --> 1027.78] It should be done with deep humility, because we have weeds growing in our own hearts.
[1028.26 --> 1031.76] We are, all of us, on the edge of serious trouble.
[1031.76 --> 1039.80] But where there is hate, you must call it out.
[1041.72 --> 1047.00] Where there is abuse, you must do everything you can to stop it.
[1048.28 --> 1055.10] Where there is greed, we have to cultivate a spirit of contentment and generosity.
[1055.10 --> 1059.88] Where there are lies, we must speak the truth in love.
[1059.88 --> 1068.28] So God is not telling us to be apathetic here and to just let the world go by in any way.
[1068.40 --> 1068.90] It does.
[1070.16 --> 1072.80] No, we must be vigilant.
[1073.18 --> 1074.56] We must be careful.