Why do the wicked prosper? Christ explains that this is a balancing principle in life for the time being. God is at work and His work is prospering too in ways we may not see. Jesus assures that both good and evil will co-exist till one day evil is removed forever.
Overview
Bible passages:
Matt 13.24-30; 36-43
Objectives
The Good
The Evil
Based Together
Balanced with each other
Bred Together
Bound Together
Final Separation
Discussion
Objectives
To understand that:
- Good and evil are closely intermingled with each other
- Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between the two
- There will be a final separation and destruction of evil
- Good will eventually win hands down
Bible Passage
Matt 13:24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
Bible Passage
Matt 13:26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
Bible Passage (Cont'd)
Matthew 13:
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 people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people 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.
Bible Passage (Cont'd)
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 blazing 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. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
Objectives
To understand that:
- Good and evil are closely intermingled with each other
- Sometimes it is hard to differentiate between the two
- There will be a final separation and destruction of evil
- Good will eventually win hands down
The Good
Based together– Jesus places us in the best place for growth
Balanced with each other- growing at the same rate as Satan’s people
Bred together – We enjoy same nourishment as satan’s people
Bound together – Eliminating them will hurt or even destroy us
The Evil
Based together– Satan places his people where Jesus’s people are
Balanced with each other – To emerge along with them unrecognizable,
Bred together -To suck the same nourishment
Bound together – To leech on to them seeking to destroy their growth
Based Together
Jesus plants his people in the best place for their growth.
Satan also plants his people in the best place for damage
No one is here by accident
Satan can harm the body but in true believers the soul is thriving amidst external injury/ death
Balanced with each other
It is when the wheat sprouted the weeds appeared. As God’s work starts, so does Satan’s.
Satan can also work through God’s people (eg. Jesus tells Peter – “get behind me Satan)
More Satanic activity means more potential to God’s work
Evil brings out the good
Watchman Nee tells of a story of a poor Chinese farmer spending hours pumping water into his rice plot on the hill.
An unbelieving neighbour who lived lower down the hill, opened the dikes and drained the water into his own fieids.
After much prayer, the believing farmer found a solution. He watered both plots.
Bred Together
Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest.
Jesus in ensuring maximum nourishment and protection for His people
Keeping Satan’s people where they are is part of it
Growth is not hindered
Two Brothers
Viktor Frankl in his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” describes the reactions of two brothers with the same heredity, the same environment, in the same concentration camp under the Nazis. “One became a saint and the other a swine”.
Individual Responsibility
God gives Ezekiel the responsibility of preaching, as He has given us as well.
However beyond the it is the individual’s responsibility to repent.
Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
Bound together
There are inseparable connections between God’s people and Satan’s people…like Siamese twins drawing from the same vitals.
Both continue to grow in this environment and eventually their true colours show.
Those who belong to God, in spite of sin, will turn and return to Him. They are fundamentally His, all along
Those who don’t belong to God, while they may demonstrate actions very similar to believers, fundamentally belong to Satan all along.
Final Separation
Evil will finally be plucked out from the roots and destroyed once the good people are safely gathered into God’s House.
Both will be judged on their fruit.
The “righteous will shine like stars forever”.
Soak it in: “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Hard truths, that very few can understand and even fewer can digest.
These truths are meant only for God’s people, those with ears.
Discussion
1.How does expelling evildoer, immoral in church differ from weed which should not be pulled out?
2.What are some occasions we “sleep” allowing Satan to sow his people
3.What should be the attitude of “wheat” – God’s people towards evil surrounding them?
4.What encouragement keeps us going?