Matthew 13:36-43
You never know what a day may bring in your life. You never know what kind of events or people that you will be dealing with. Jesus had to explain the parable of the wheat and weeds to his disciples in our scripture lesson. “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world and the good seed represents the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world and harvesters are the angels.”
We have had times when things were going well for us and then something or someone throws a ‘monkey-wrench’ into the day. Lucy is talking with Charlie Brown and she says to him, “Think about this day for a moment Charlie Brown. This could very well be the most important day of your life! When a day begins you never really know what is going to happen.” Charlie says, “You’re right, Lucy, this very ordinary day could turn out to be the most important day of my life.” Lucy says to Charlie, “But it probably won’t be!”
In the experiences of life, it is God’s amazing grace that helps us sort out that which is good and that which is evil. The amazing grace of God changes a day in our life from just an ordinary day to a day when we can sort out how to live under the power of God’s grace. This becomes the most important day because God’s grace frees us from the grip of evil living. The grace of God is the power that brings deliverance. It is the day that we should remember. It was that kind of day when John Newton was at the helm of the ship Greyhound on March 21, 1748. “On that day the Lord sent from on high and delivered me out of the deep waters.” Many years later as an old man Newton wrote in his diary on March 21, 1805, “Not well able to write, but I endeavor to observe the return to this day with humiliation, prayer and praise.” Only God’s amazing grace could and would take a rude, profane, slave trading sailor and transform him into a child of God. Newton never ceased to stand in awe of God’s work in his life and gave him a new life. In the third verse of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’, Newton wrote these words: “Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” God’s amazing grace is the only power that can give us deliverance from sin and death to eternal life.
God’s grace contains lifesaving power and God’s grace contains his power of judgment on sin. In this parable of wheat and weeds, he tells us what will happen to the wheat and what will happen to the weeds. “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will remove from his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels 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 their Father’s kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
God is saying to the unbeliever that in God’s grace you will face his judgment. God is saying that living in humanism (which tells us to believe what you want to believe for this is the only life you will have) you will face his day of judgment. God is saying to those who are teaching and preaching the concept of universalism that God is love and all will be taken into heaven, you will also face judgment. If you are not living in God’s amazing grace the day will come when there will be for you the weeping and gnashing of teeth. If you know and live in God’s amazing grace you will live in the joy of the Father’s kingdom.
