Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, give us grace to hear Your Word and examine ourselves. Amen.
Text: Matthew 13:24-30
Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”
Devotion
Within the visible church here on earth tares and wheat grow together. We should never think that there can be a pure community of saints before the end of the world comes. Christ Himself says: Let the children of the kingdom and the children of the devil grow together. There are many important lessons for us in this.
- We should not judge; the Lord knows His own. He and no one else holds the winnowing fan in His hand (Mat 3:12). It is a different thing that the Church should keep from its Communion Table those who are openly ungodly (1Co 5).
- You should not be offended if you notice that there are hypocrites and wicked people in the visible church. You shouldn’t leave for that reason; otherwise you help the enemy to divide God’s Church. Overcome such temptations to be arrogant, by thinking of your own lowliness, and taking note of the Lord’s teaching in this text: that there are always tares where there is wheat. There is no such thing as a pure wheat field, even if the enemy would not sow tares in it.
- Do not depend on being a Christian in name or your fellowship with the faithful. Always examine yourself before God, and bear good fruit for the Lord.
- For the sake of the faithful, God spares the world. The great and proud people of the world in Christian lands are indebted to the saints of God for His longsuffering. The believers carry the world and the world’s culture on their shoulders.
- There is an eternal separation, and the angels shall not mistake them for the faithful. Then the present world order must end and every human society be dissolved, for all their roots shall then be torn apart.
- Then Christ’s Church shall be purified of all hypocrites and consist of pure saints.
Are you ready for the Day of Judgment? Do you have the guarantee of the Spirit that you are chosen (2Co 5:5)? Do you keep yourself pure from the mind and life of worldly “Christians”? All who work offense and injustice shall be cast into the fiery furnace. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous shall shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, guard us from the wicked foe, guard us from carnal security, from spiritual arrogance, from immorality and impurity when coming to Your Table, from sects, schisms, and unloving judgment. Keep us watchful and ready to be judged, and let us stand on that day. Amen.
Hymn
O Father, may Thy Word prevail
Against the gates of hell!
Behold the vineyard Thou hast tilled
With thorns and thistles filled.
‘Tis true, Thy plants are there;
But, ah, how weak and rare!
How slight the power in evidence
Of Word and Sacraments!
Come, Jesus, come and contemplate
Thy vineyard’s sad estate:
Baptized are millions in Thy name,
But where is faith’s pure flame?
Of what avail that we
Know of Thine agony
So long as we do not o’erthrow
In faith the wicked foe?
O Holy Ghost, to Thee, our light,
We cry by day, by night:
Come, grant us of the light and power
Our fathers had of yore;
When Thy dear Church did stand
A tree, deep-rooted, grand;
Full-crowned with blossoms white as snow,
With purple fruits aglow!
Brorson: L 230 ELH 215 tr. G. A. T. Rygh;
tune: Ak, Fader, lad dit Ord