Seeds, Weeds And Treasure

We were away from home the weekend before last. We had the privilege of listening to testimony after testimony of lives that had been transformed by Jesus through the work of Teen Challenge - from hopelessness and lost in addiction, to being set free to be a ‘new creation’ by the power of His Spirit. No wonder the songs of praise to God were awe-inspiring in the truest sense, powerfully sung with huge enthusiasm, and the applause before and after every testimony equally genuine, prolonged, and loud. We sensed the whole church was filled with the powerful presence of God as soon as we stepped in... and that was way before we even got started!

SEEDS

We all know the parable of the Sower. Some say it should be called the parable of the soils. In the bible I am using to prepare this, it says both! As I sat in that venue on Saturday night, I was only too conscious that some of those present were not believers, families of those giving testimony to God’s grace. In the face of such powerful testimony and a clear gospel message of love and grace, it seemed incredible that anyone could resist the touch of Jesus on their lives, yet they did, and do, sadly.

We live in a world that is sold lies constantly – we descended from apes; there is more than one way to God; all religions (and none) are of equal worth; there are no absolute rights and wrongs – you decide! No wonder we are in a mess!

The spiritual ground can seem very hard or tangled or shallow. Commitments can seem genuine, but heads are then turned by the world, materialism and the pursuit of comfort and wealth; all are huge distractions from the truth. Yet Jesus’ Kingdom grows, often unseen by the many. People are coming to know Jesus every day and in every corner of the world. True believers are bearing fruit for Jesus. Yet He was the one who warned us that many would still resist or turn back.

So let us make sure we are still walking with Jesus closely in our own lives and bearing fruit by His grace and power, and haven’t become tangled up in the web of lies and cares of the world. Let us deepen and feed our faith through prayer and His Word constantly and let us be ready to share the seed of the gospel wherever and whenever we are given opportunity, and never give up.

WEEDS

The parable of the weeds might trouble us. If you are a gardener, you know how much better the weeds seem to grow! Yet following the parable (Matthew 13:36), Jesus explains it saying that the good seed and the weeds grow together. Only at harvest time (the end of the age) will we see ‘who is who’ clearly.

We all know there are those who spread false ideas or have their own motivations for seeking influence in the church, but they are not always easy to spot. In London, I often pass stands with well dressed Jehovah’s Witnesses seeking to peddle what seems genuine to many. I always pray they will have an unsuccessful day, as they do not offer the gospel of Jesus, yet they look so respectable and well-meaning, even sounding like believers. Even within the church we find strange ideas and preoccupations and teachings that can distract from the Truth.

I take the parable as both a warning and a comfort. The warning is that we should all weigh what we hear and see, and make sure we are walking in Truth. The comfort is that Jesus knows who are His and will keep us walking in the Truth as we put our trust in Him daily.

TREASURE

Finally, the treasure (Matthew 13:44). Those former addicts I saw tried everything and never found the answer, only addiction. Story after story gave testimony to the simple fact that only Jesus gives life in all its fullness. Only Jesus can break the power of addiction, heal the deep-rooted causes and set people free to live as he intended them to.

These parables are about the Kingdom of heaven on earth. Jesus is the treasure, the pearl of great value. We are part of that Kingdom, we belong to Jesus. The challenge of this short parable, for me, lies in the last phrase. Once found, the treasure is so valuable and precious, it causes a response. Everything else must be surrendered in order to ‘own’ the treasure. In other words, once we know Jesus and His love for us on the cross, complete surrender to Him of every area of our lives is the only response, or we have not appreciated what it means to be saved and redeemed by the power of the cross and resurrection.

We left that meeting on Saturday night and another on Sunday morning, knowing we had been in a special place with a very mixed bunch of people from all directions and backgrounds who had one thing in common – a daily powerful living testimony of Jesus.

It is all about Him. Let us live lives that reflect him to a needy world. If I was reminded of anything over the weekend it was this: No-one is beyond God’s grace and transforming power.

Never give up on anyone.

Let us serve Him with all our hearts and lives - He is The King!