Sharing Bread Matthew 13:36-43

SHARING BREAD

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.”

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ 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. ⁴² They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

Matt 13:36-43 (NIV)

Surely, it will not fare well for everything which causes sin and for all who persist in doing evil.  The angels will one day come and separate the righteous from the unrighteous – the clean from the unclean.  All hidden things will one day be brought to light.  The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of God yet the unrighteous thrown into the fiery furnace where there will be horrific weeping and gnashing of teeth.  We are to consider ourselves warned by the Lord Jesus. 

But who is righteous - for “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” says Isaiah.  And “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” says Paul who also adds “the wages of sin is death”.  Surely, there is no one righteous – not even one.  Apart from Christ, we are all helpless and hopeless.  Every soul is in need of the Savior – every soul. The fallen human race needs God. Therefore God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Man’s plight was dire and God’s intervention potent.

“It is the highest benevolence to warn men of their danger, and to exhort them to escape from the wrath which will surely come upon them, for ‘It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’ We feel that it must be a fearful thing to be punished for sin when you remember the atonement. It is our full belief as Christians, that, in order to pardon human sin, it was necessary that God himself should become incarnate, and that the Son of God should suffer excruciating pains, to which the dignity of his person added infinite weight. Brethren, if the wrath of God be a mere trifle, there was no need of a Saviour to deliver us; it were as well to have let so small a matter take its course; or, if the Saviour came merely to save us from a pinch or two, why is so much said in his praise? What need for heaven and earth to ring with the glories of him who would save us from a small mischief? But mark the word. As the sufferings of the Saviour were intense beyond all conception, and as no less a person than God himself must endure these sufferings for us, that must have been an awful, not to say infinite evil, from which there was no other way for us to escape except by the bleeding and dying of God’s dear Son. Think lightly of hell, and you will think lightly of the cross. Think little of the sufferings of lost souls, and you will soon think little of the Saviour who delivers you from them. God grant we may not live to see such a Christ-dishonouring theology dominant in our times.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” Paul tells us in Romans adding:

¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,^[   Romans 8:1 (NIV)

 

In His great mercy, God sent His Son to die in my place and yours so that we might wear His righteousness – all good seed, all graces; all souls sanctified are owing to Christ.  The glorious salvation – our righteousness – we have in Christ by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.    

 

²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.   2 Cor 5:21 (NIV)

Sadly, in this parable we discover that presently the righteous and unrighteous are sown together in this world and can be found in our churches, in our relationships and in our daily activities.  There is a great deal of secret wickedness in the hearts of men hidden under the cloak of plausible profession or feigned righteousness.  It is thankfully not up to us to know the condition of another person’s heart albeit God does tell us fruit consistently produced will give us a good clue.  Only God possess the true knowledge of what is in a man’s heart – yet we are to endeavor to examine our own hearts.  I am reminded of Job’s terse response to his pious “friends” regarding his predicament and their examination of his life:

⁹ Would it turn out well if he examined you?  Could you deceive him as you might deceive men? Job 13:9 (NIV)

The Prophet Jeremiah tells us it is God who searches the heart and examines the mind:

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ¹⁰ “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”   Jer 17:9-10 (NIV)

 

Also, nothing is ever hidden from God’s sight.  The motives of our hearts are weighed by the Lord as well.  God judges people on the basis of why they act. The writer of Hebrews tells us:

 

¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Heb 4:13 (NIV)

 

Scripture also states in Proverbs:

 

² All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.   Prov 16:2 (NIV)

 

What I glean from this:

 

·       The righteous will one day shine like the sun in the kingdom of God.  Sadly, everything that causes sin and all who do evil will be thrown into the fiery furnace.

·       Christ died to save me.

·       I am to examine my own heart.