Sunday, January 27, 2008
Matthew 13:47-52: “Seeking After An Ideal Church”
In the 13th chapter of his gospel, Matthew brings together eight parables of Jesus through which he teaches us about how the gospel message impacts the lives of those who hear it and how the Kingdom of Heaven grows and/or spreads as lives are touched. This morning we are going to examine the final two of these eight. These two parables are not well known, but they offer us two important insights as we seek to focus our efforts on reaching out to our surrounding neighborhood, and especially the children, in 2008.
Matthew 13 begins: “Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables” (13:1-2). In speaking to the crowds, Jesus’ parables reflect the agrarian nature of his audience. Notice, He speaks of seeds, sowing and planting, and making bread. But in verse 36, Jesus “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." By the time we get to the sections of Scripture we are looking at this morning, Jesus was pressing His disciples hoping they will finally understand His teaching. This is reflected in verse 51, where He asks them directly, “Have you understood all these things?” Their simple and direct “yes” answer is important because it is without qualification.
The first parable we will examine immediately precedes their “yes” and, in the second, Jesus makes a short parabolic application of the content of this entire chapter. It should not surprise us that Jesus needed to shift from agriculturally based parables to one based on fishing to secure this “yes” response.
Read with me: "Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (13:47-50).
The type of net to which Jesus is referring in this parable was long, had floats tied to the top of the net and weights to the bottom, and was used in one of two ways. If a fisherman had only one boat, he would anchor one end of the net on the shore and secure the other end to his boat. If two boats could be used, one end of the net would be anchored to each of the boats. Either way, when the net was full, it would be drug onto the shore where the separating of the fish would begin.
Jesus’ point in this parable is that the net did not discriminate; the net would “catch” every fish in its path. As a church or as individuals, Jesus does not want us to discriminate as we cast our net. He wants us to offer the same gospel to everyone He brings our way. He wants us to anchor one end of our evangelistic net here in our newly refinished sanctuary and then get in our boat and make a sweep that is big enough to catch the fish that live in this neighborhood and go to school at Voris. Can you imagine this image painted across the facing of the foyer wall? Then the first thing anyone would see when they walked in our church would be this graphic illustration stating: “We minster to everyone. We make no judgments whatsoever about who you are or where you are at in your life. Our “net,” our hearts are big enough for you. We do not “sort you out” or classify you as either a “good catch” or a “throw away.” Any “sorting out” will be not be done by us. We will live with you and serve God with you and wait and let the angels determine who or what you are, and that judgment will not come until “the end of the age.” Until then, we are all in this net together!”
Matthew illustrates this point with another parable of Jesus, found in chapter 21: "What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.'" 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. "Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go. "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered (Matthew 21:28-31).
God will not “sort us out” until our lives are over. He gives everyone of us every chance to come to know Him as our Savior and Lord. At the same time, He gives those of us who already know Him every opportunity to find every lost brother or sister and help them find their way home. Wouldn’t it be great if someday there would be this brightly lit little section on heaven’s map from which the brightness of First Church had spread to encompass all our net could catch?
If we really understand this truth or if we can catch this vision, then Jesus wants us hear His final word: "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old" (13:52).
First Church has a storeroom of memories of battles won and battles lost, of lives saved and lives lost, or opportunities seized and opportunities wasted. Jesus was about to usher in the period of time we call the New Covenant, but He did not want us to throw away the Old Covenant. Jesus never wants us to forget our history, but He doesn’t want us to live only there either. Conversely, He doesn’t want us to get so caught up in a vision of the future that we forget those who are already a part of our history or our present. Every individual and every church has a storeroom of new and old treasures, of people who have already touched our lives and of people we have yet to meet.
Our vision, our net, has to catch new fish, but we cannot give up on those who are already on our hearts. I have encouraged you over the years to pray for those you know and love who do not know Jesus as their Savior and Lord. Please do not stop praying for them. But I believe God is also now asking all of us to open up our nets and our hearts enough to allow for someone else to be added to our lives and our worship family. We must never remove our old treasures from our storeroom, but we must also be wise enough to recognize new treasures when we meet them. And this morning, Jesus is saying we may not recognize who our new treasures are for quite awhile.