Bad Seed

July 20, 2014

Genesis 28:10-19a Romans 8:12-25 Matte! 1":24-"0, "#-4"

I have a lot of friends and family that are gardeners. My Dads parents were farmers and my Moms parents had
a garden that pales in comparison to almost any I have seen. Pattis parents always had a big garden and for
years they had two, one at home and another in the community garden. Before we went into ministry, Patti and I
had a really nice garden and since then we (mostly Patti always try to at least have a small one. But in all the
years weve gardened, and with all the friends and family who garden, we occasionally hear complaints about
how things are going. !ometimes its bugs, or scale, or too much rain, or not enough rain, or grubs, or
something. But once in a while we hear warnings not to buy a particular seed from a particular store or catalog.
It doesnt happen often, but once in a while you get bad seed. It holds the promise of something wonderful,
sweet cucumbers, or succulent watermelon, or some other garden temptation, but once planted, it doesnt grow,
or grows poorly, or it produces fruit that is not anything li"e you e#pected. $nd as bad as that can be in your
garden, in life it can be even worse. !ometimes we refer to criminals and other undesirable elements as %bad
seed.& 'hese are fol" who may have had good parents and a decent upbringing but turned out poorly anyway.
But what does it loo" li"e when we encounter %bad seed& in our spiritual lives(
)e continue this morning with the story of *acob, flawed, but still good seed, a man that +od chose to honor and
to multiply because of his faith and because of +ods promise to his grandfather $braham. )e begin our reading
in Genesis 28:10-19a,
10
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.
11
When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night
because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
12
He had
a drea in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to hea!en, and the angels of "od
were ascending and descending on it.
1#
There abo!e it stood the $ord, and he said% &' a the $ord, the "od of
your father (braha and the "od of 'saac. ' will gi!e you and your descendants the land on which you are
lying.
1)
*our descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to
the north and to the south. (ll peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
1+
' a with you
and will watch o!er you where!er you go, and ' will bring you back to this land. ' will not lea!e you until ' ha!e
done what ' ha!e proised you.,
1-
When Jacob awoke fro his sleep, he thought, &.urely the $ord is in this place, and ' was not aware of it.,
1/
He was afraid and said, &How awesoe is this place0 This is none other than the house of "od1 this is the gate
of hea!en.,
12
3arly the ne4t orning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured
oil on top of it.
15
He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called $u6.
*acob, with all his faults (which a whole sermon in itself, still chooses to follow +od and as a result, +od meets
him and reinforces the promise that he had made to *acobs grandfather $braham. +od tells *acob that he is the
good seed and that, through +ods grace and blessing, his family will become a great nation that will cover a
huge area of land and will be used to bless all the people on earth. 'hat "ind of news is both humbling and
ama-ing but that is what +od can do with people who choose to follow him.
.
But /ust because you choose to follow +od does not mean that your life, or the life of the church, will be without
difficulty. In Matte! 1":24-"0, "#-4", *esus tell this story,
2)
Jesus told the another parable% &The kingdo of hea!en is like a an who sowed good seed in his field.
2+
But while e!eryone was sleeping, his eney cae and sowed weeds aong the wheat, and went away.
2-
When
the wheat sprouted and fored heads, then the weeds also appeared.
2/
&The owner7s ser!ants cae to hi and said, 8.ir, didn7t you sow good seed in your field9 Where then did the
weeds coe fro97
22
&8(n eney did this,7 he replied.
&The ser!ants asked hi, 8:o you want us to go and pull the up97
25
&8;o,7 he answered, 8because while you are pulling the weeds, you ay uproot the wheat with the.
#0
$et both
grow together until the har!est. (t that tie ' will tell the har!esters% <irst collect the weeds and tie the in
bundles to be burned1 then gather the wheat and bring it into y barn.7,
======
#-
Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples cae to hi and said, &34plain to us the parable
of the weeds in the field.,
#/
He answered, &The one who sowed the good seed is the .on of >an.
#2
The field is the world, and the good
seed stands for the people of the kingdo. The weeds are the people of the e!il one,
#5
and the eney who sows
the is the de!il. The har!est is the end of the age, and the har!esters are angels.
)0
&(s the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
)1
The .on of >an will
send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdo e!erything that causes sin and all who do e!il.
)2
They
will throw the into the bla6ing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
)#
Then the
righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdo of their <ather. Whoe!er has ears, let the hear.
*esus often used farming or agricultural parables because nearly everyone understood them. It is often difficult
to understand how heaven wor"s or how we are to see our roles as agents of +od, and agents of the "ingdom of
+od on earth, and so *esus would, using parables, compare things that were hard to understand, to every day
situations that everyone understood. *esus says that the 0ingdom of 1eaven is li"e a man who went out and
planted good seed. 1e e#pected that the seed would grow and that it would produce a good harvest. But during
the night, after what had to be a significant time of planning and preparation, the farmers enemy went through
that same field and planted weeds in hopes that the weeds, mi#ed in among the wheat would destroy what was
good or would cause the farmer to destroy his own crop.
*esus says that this is what is happening in our world. *esus came and planted good seed. 'he good seed are the
people who have chosen to follow him, but our enemy remains determined to destroy the 0ingdom of +od and
everything that is good. 1e comes in the dar"ness and plants bad seed in and among the good hoping that the
weeds will cho"e out the followers of *esus or in hope that *esus will destroy his own followers. Instead, *esus
allows the weeds to remain until the time of harvest when his angels will cut away the weeds and throw them
into the fire. *esus says that bad seed has been planted in and among the good and we find this to be true both in
the world and in the church. 'here are always those who stand opposed to doing the wor" that *esus has
commanded us to do, those who encourage us to waste our time and effort doing things that distract us, or find
ways to divide us so that the good seed will be weary, discouraged and overcome.
2
But Paul offers these words of encouragement in Romans 8:12-25,
12
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we ha!e an obligation?but it is not to the flesh, to li!e according to it.
1#
<or if
you li!e according to the flesh, you will die1 but if by the .pirit you put to death the isdeeds of the body, you
will li!e.
1)
<or those who are led by the .pirit of "od are the children of "od.
1+
The .pirit you recei!ed does not ake
you sla!es, so that you li!e in fear again1 rather, the .pirit you recei!ed brought about your adoption to sonship.
(nd by hi we cry, &(bba, <ather.,
1-
The .pirit hiself testifies with our spirit that we are "od7s children.
1/
;ow if we are children, then we are heirs?heirs of "od and co=heirs with @hrist, if indeed we share in his
sufferings in order that we ay also share in his glory.
12
' consider that our present sufferings are not worth coparing with the glory that will be re!ealed in us.
15
<or
the creation waits in eager e4pectation for the children of "od to be re!ealed.
20
<or the creation was subAected
to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subAected it, in hope
21
that the creation itself
will be liberated fro its bondage to decay and brought into the freedo and glory of the children of "od.
22
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present tie.
2#
;ot only so, but we oursel!es, who ha!e the firstfruits of the .pirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our
adoption to sonship, the redeption of our bodies.
2)
<or in this hope we were sa!ed. But hope that is seen is no
hope at all. Who hopes for what they already ha!e9
2+
But if we hope for what we do not yet ha!e, we wait for it
patiently.
Paul says that we are the children of +od who are led by the !pirit of +od. )e are not slaves, but adopted
children of the 0ing of the 3niverse. )e are children who are so loved by +od that we call him $bba, which in
+ree" is more li"e 4Daddy than 45ather. In fact, we are more than /ust children6 we are heirs of +od, co7heirs
with *esus, brothers and sisters of the Prince of Peace. Paul warns us that since we are co7heirs with *esus, we
not only share in his glory, but that we also share in his suffering. Paul "new that life in this world was difficult
and he "new that even in the church, there was conflict and people with whom it is hard to get along. In Pauls
world there were adversaries with power and authority and swords and prisons. In all these things Paul said that
%our present sufferings are not worth coparing with the glory that will be re!ealed in us., 8ote that Paul does
not say that glory will be revealed to us, but that +ods glory will be revealed in us. 'hose who are the good
seed, will live to see the weeds cut off and their own fruit revealed.
9ou need to "now that in our lives and in the life of the church we !ill, eventually, encounter bad seed. )e !ill
e#perience pain. 'he enemy will do all he can to "eep us from our mission and to "eep us from becoming
fruitful. Be vigilant. Be faithful. 0eep fighting. !tay on mission. $nd when you are tired and beaten down
from fighting the bad seed, remember to be patient. :emember that +od !ill win, that +od has al$eady won.
:emember that +ods glory in you will be revealed.
;

9ou have been reading a message presented at 'rinity 3nited Methodist <hurch on the date noted at the top of the first
page. :ev. *ohn Partridge is the pastor at 'rinity of Perry heights in Massillon, =hio. Duplication of this message is a part
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