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Objective of this lesson: To stress Jesus came to this world to save, not destroy (see John 3:16-21), therefore as Jesus disciples and God's servants, we seek to help, not destroy.
Typically, on the journey to spiritual maturity, individual Christians as well as congregations need frequent concept adjustments. The issue: Who is to be relied on to make such adjustments? There are many sources of adjustment. (1) Sometimes it may be an enemy who is not spiritual and who seeks to hurt you. (2) Sometimes it may be a crisis. (3) Sometimes it may be a triumph. (4) Sometimes it may be a brother/sister who attacks you. (5) Sometimes it may be a brother/sister who shares a different conclusion with you. (6) Sometimes it may be a spiritual person who challenges you to think. Surely, these are not the only six.
There is no such thing as not making adjustments. Learning demands adjustments. Read 1 Peter 2:1-3. The more we grasp the Lord's kindness, the more we recognize our evil, and the more we adjust. Read Romans 12:1, 2. The more we are transformed, the more we adjust. The more we become the person God wants us to be, the more we move from being the person evil made us. Maturing is an adjustment process. He/she who does not adjust condemns himself/herself to relive the worst part of his/her past.
The critical issue is whom do we allow to be our guide as we make adjustments?
However, none of these are as significant as the ultimate source of challenge for concept adjustments--JESUS. If you begin with an understanding of first century Jewish concepts toward self (there are more than one), Jesus' teachings will challenge and shake you.
No guide is so helpful and insightful as are Jesus' teachings and values. He is our great high priest who not only intercedes for us to God, but who also shows us God. Read John's emphasis in passages such as John 3:34; 5:19, 30; 6:38; 8:28; 12:49,50; and 14:10. The teachings and values of our Lord while he was on earth are a most helpful guide.
For example, consider this parable and Jesus' explanation of his parable. The story is simple. A land owner sows good seed in his field. At night, an enemy secretly sowed weeds in the same field. When it became obvious that there were weeds among the wheat, the land owner's slaves wanted to pull up the weeds. The land owner would not let the slaves destroy the weeds. Why? Destroying the weeds would destroy some of the wheat. Both were allowed to grow together. At the harvest the weeds were gathered and burned as the wheat was gathered and stored.
Focus the students on the simple story. Focus and emphasize the fact that the landowner did not wish to destroy the wheat. Anyone with agricultural experience knows how easy it is to destroy the planted crop as the weeds are destroyed. That is especially true of a "broadcast" crop as compared to a "row" crop.
Jesus' explanation of the parable: The landowner who sowed the good seed is Jesus. The field is the world (not the nation of Israel or the church). The good seed is sons of the kingdom (disciples who follow Jesus). The weeds (tares) are sons of Satan. The enemy who sowed the weeds is Satan (the devil). The harvest is the judgment. The reapers are God's angels (Christ's angels).
Jesus explained the parable as an allegory. In an allegory, figures or happenings are symbols of realities. Not all of Jesus' parables are allegories. Make sure the students make Jesus' connections and comparisons. Note in this allegory the field is the world.
The Christ shall send his angels to gather and destroy those who are stumbling blocks and who lived by lawlessness. The destroyed are confined to a place of suffering where they will suffer intensely. The righteous will shine as the sun in God's kingdom (be God's lights as God rules).
Note God had reapers to gather the wicked, and they were angels--not converted humans. God will judge and punish. The task of the converted in this parable is to nurture the "good seed." Judgment (or harvest) is the occasion for judging and separation. Until judgment, the righteous represent the God who sent Jesus.
This parable is part of a series of parables reflecting God's world concern--the parable of the sower, the parable of the mustard seed, the parable of the leaven, the parable of the hidden treasure, the parable of the pearl merchant, and the parable of the dragnet. The wicked and the righteous will exist in the same physical world at the same time. Those who seek God will recognize Him at work and act. God will effect a separation at judgment.
God's world concern receives too little emphasis. Such concern was expressed by God as early as Genesis 12:3, and repeatedly emphasized in Genesis. God's primary concern now in this world is saving humanity, not destroying humanity. The overriding picture of God now is NOT an angry God who wishes to crush the wicked, but IS a loving God who wants to forgive the wicked if they will respond to His concern for them.
The discussion in Jesus' audience and our discussion would be quite different. Though God's world interest existed before Israel was a nation (see Genesis 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Galatians 3:8; 3:16), Israel concluded they, as a nation, were the focus of God's interest. Associating God's interest with the world would sound strange to them (unless they thought Jesus was speaking of the Jewish people scattered throughout the world). To them, the discussion likely would focus on Israel and the world. We tend to think of God's interest being focused on the church. We do not think of the church being the result of God's interest in saving the world, but as the object of God's interest in this physical world. (Have you read John 3:16 lately?) To us, the discussion would likely focus on the church and the world.
With a Jewish audience in the first century, those people wanted to discuss God's concern for the nation of Israel. Today, many Christians want to discuss God's concern for the church. In the parable, Jesus focused on God's concern for the world.
To both audiences, Jesus' emphasis on letting the weeds (tares) and wheat grow in the same field until harvest is a strange idea. Their tendency to "get the wicked out of our nation" and our tendency to "get the wicked out of the church" would evoke this response: "What is he talking about? What does he want us to do?"
God and Jesus are committed to expressing mercy and grace through forgiveness. Too often, converted people want to evaluate. The challenge is for those who received God's forgiveness to extend God's forgiveness to those who have never known God's love.
To us, two basic ideas stand in contrast. Idea one: we should isolate the church from the world--build a moat around it, enclose it behind high walls, and be very careful about who we let have access to it. Idea two: we as the church should infiltrate the world. We should be the influence on it rather than it being the influence on us. Give people a real option of responding to Jesus Christ. Let them see the blessings of letting him teach us how to be God's people. Those two concepts stand in sharp contrast. They commonly determine how Christians in a locale behave.
Too often there is a fierce battle among Christians over which basic concept to accept. We rarely realize that such battles play directly into Satan's hands by discrediting the church and Christianity. Those who most need mercy and grace are offended by ungodly conflict among Christians. In Christian unkindness to each other we discredit or damage God's enormous desire to forgive.
It is not a simple matter! The implications are profound! Either concept profoundly influences the way congregations approach the unspiritual! Both concepts profoundly influence our individual character, our thrust as congregations, and our presentation of Jesus Christ to people who are not Christians.
What are earnestly needed are attempts to understand rather than reactions to discredit. We need to listen with minds that seek understanding rather than emotions that seek only to defend "me" and react to "you."
Consider the obvious. In this parable, the field is the world (verse 38). Evil will exist as a part of the world until judgment. God so values those who are His (regardless of spiritual age and understanding), He is not willing to risk the destruction of one of them to eliminate evil (consider 2 Peter 3:9). The fact that evil continues in our world does not mean God does not care about what happens now in the physical world. It means God refuses to destroy those who belong to Him in order to uproot evil.
The objective of those in Jesus is (1) to bring the lost to Jesus and (2) to nourish those who come to Jesus. The objective of those in Jesus IS NOT to eliminate evil in our world. Evil always will be present in this physical world. Those who love God and seek to order/transform their lives by God's values seek to give those who do not know God a real choice between good from God and evil from Satan. Evil is destroyed by existence in Jesus Christ. It is doing good that destroys evil (Romans 12:21), not justifying evil in attacks on evil.
God does not quickly reject those who belong to Him. He encourages His people who are troubled to redirect! If I understand Hebrews correctly, some Christians of Jewish background seriously considered (1) abandoning Jesus Christ (not God), (2) reverting to their preChristian existence, and (3) eliminating the hostility they endured. They were so serious about this possibility that they ceased contact with the Christian community (10:25). Rather than giving them the "how dare you" treatment, the writer said, "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised" (Hebrews 10:35, 36). He encouraged them! It was not too late!
God does not easily give up on those who are His (consider David after Bathsheba and Uriah [2 Samuel 12:13, 14]; Elijah fleeing from Jezebel [1 Kings 19]; Peter [Matthew 26:69-75]; and Paul [1 Timothy 1:12-17]). Instead of having a fragile relationship with God through Jesus Christ, the relationship with God is a strong relationship (consider Romans 8:26-39].
If I understand Ephesians 4:25-30 correctly, Christians were doing those enumerated evil things. Paul said, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:31, 32). Instead of saying "how dare you," Paul encouraged them. They could not continue doing evil, but Paul encouraged them to do good.
God did not give up on the Ephesian Christians because they had an incorrect view of spiritual existence.
Perhaps we lose sight of the fact that all of Himself God invested from Abraham to the plagues to Israel to Jesus' cross and resurrection to those who are in Christ today becomes meaningless if God abandons His people in their times of trouble and disillusionment. We too easily forget that God planned and sent Jesus to save instead of destroy.
The point is NOT that the saved lose their power of choice when they enter salvation (2 Peter 2:20-22), but IS that the relationship between the forgiven and their God is not fragile; it is not easily abandoned by God.
For Thought and Discussion
Whom will we allow to be our guide as we make adjustments?
The ultimate source who challenges us to make spiritual adjustments is Jesus.
A landowner sowed good seed in his field. An enemy sowed weeds in the field secretly. The landowner refused to allow his slaves to remove the weeds because that action risked destruction of the wheat. At harvest the weeds were gathered and destroyed. The ripened wheat was stored.
All those who were stumbling blocks or lived by lawlessness were gathered for destruction.
They reflect God's world concern.
The two discussions would differ. The Jewish concern would focus on the nation of Israel. The Christian concern would focus on the church.
The strange idea to both would be allowing the weeds (tares) and wheat to grow together in the same field until harvest. Wheat can develop in the presence of weeds.
A weedless environment is not necessary for wheat to bear a good crop. Evil always will be a part of this physical existence.
The illustration of Hebrews as a book and the illustration of Ephesians 4:25-30 are given.
We too easily lose sight of God's great investment in our salvation.
We too easily forget that God sent Jesus to save rather than destroy.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 13
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