IBCD Sermon Weekly

God's love is unconditional - he loved us even while we were still sinners. But there are 3 areas where are told that we get only as much as we give - judgment, mercy and forgiveness. However, we sometimes act as if these conditions do not apply to us, giving one thing while expecting another in return. Today we examine what the Bible has to say about judgment, both in view of God's judgment toward us and our judgment of others.

Matthew 7:1 

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

In all the Gospels, John the Baptist plays a significant role. He is called “the Baptist” because he came with the message that the kingdom of God was coming, and that people needed to get ready by repenting of their sins and receiving a ritual washing which symbolized a cleansing from sin and an immersion into the plan of God. In spite of the high regard Jesus has for him, John the Baptist goes through some very difficult times, eventually dying at the hand of some very unrighteous people. So what do we make of a man who was said to be “more than a prophet.”?

Matthew 11:12-13John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.

I’ve mentioned over the last couple of weeks that the parables about the kingdom of heaven are really about the age of the church. We are living in these times described. A time when the community of faith, centered around Jesus, is established and grows, eventually influencing the entire world. Despite human sin, the church has survived and is constantly going through reformations which bring it back to its Biblical center when it drifts too far off course. Now, these times of “reform” are never easy, but essential, and there have been far more periods of reformation than the one we tend to focus on which took place in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds. One of the remarkable aspects of the church, one might say a miraculous aspect, is that the church  has survived, and continues to survive, the sin humans bring into it.

Matthew 13:51-52 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied.  He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

When Jesus tells his parables about the kingdom, many see a kind of pattern. There are parables of judgement, parables of kingdom growth, parables of kingdom presence, and parables of secret treasure. These weave together a holistic understanding of, what Jesus calls, the kingdom of heaven, sometimes also the kingdom of God.

Matthew 13: 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

The Parable of the wheat and the weeds (or tares for the KJV folks) is a deceptively simple one. At first glance, it is a parable of judgment – but there is more to this parable than meets the eye…

Matthew 13:41-43  The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Last week we looked at the three soil conditions which were not good for a fruitful crop of faith to grow. In the verse 23 Jesus says that the good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. This seems simple, but how does a person understand the word? Is understanding simply a matter of intellect? No. So, how do we read and understand parables?

Matthew 13:10-11 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”  He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

Today we are looking at the very familiar parable of the Sower and the Seed. but it is a deep one. Like anyone’s spiritual journey, there were many parts to my story, but a lack of opportunity to respond to Christ was not my issue. As a result, when I did become a believer, this passage from the gospels, which is recounted in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is one I always found intriguing. Today we will explore the parable itself, which is found in verses 1-9, then pick up again at 18-23. Next week we will look at the other teaching which is mixed into the parable, which is found in verses 10-17.

Matthew 13:23  But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Where do you feel the most “known”? Who knows you best? Is it your friends? If you are married, is it your spouse?  Maybe it’s at work that you are really known best. I think a lot of people might say it is their family where they are known best.

Jesus said some challenging things about the family. What did he really mean?

Matthew 12:49-50 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.  50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel that the sign of his authority would be the sign of Jonah. Besides the obvious comparison of Jonah being three days in the belly of a fish, or whale, and Jesus being three days in the tomb, Jesus is the opposite of Jonah! Not only is Jesus the opposite of Jonah, but the other main characters, which are the sailors and the people of Nineveh, respond to Jonah in a way opposite of how humanity, in general, responded to Jesus!

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday. This is a celebration of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem (sometimes called “The Triumphant Entry”) the week before he was crucified. One would hope that by this time his followers would understand the importance of the upcoming week and the trials Jesus would face, but they did not. Instead they were more focused on themselves. Sound familiar?

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!“– Matthew 21:9