Are You Wheat or Weeds? - Pastor Diedrich Harms

Matthew 13 puts another parable before the hearer: the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. The good seed goes into the ground, but while the men are sleeping, the enemy comes and sows weeds among the wheat and goes away. The weeds do not show themselves right away, because they look very similar to the wheat until the fruit starts to come. The fruit makes it clear what was growing there all along.

The servants see the weeds and ask if the master sowed good seed. The master says, “An enemy has done this.” The servants are ready to pull the weeds out, but the master says no, because the roots are intertwined, and pulling the weeds would root up the wheat also. The only solution is to let both grow together until harvest, when the weeds will be bundled for the fire and the wheat gathered into the barn.

Jesus gives the meaning plainly. The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed is the sons of the kingdom, and the weeds are the sons of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

The life of Jesus shows the same hard thing, because Judas walked with the twelve, heard the instructions, helped with the work, carried the money, and yet was a weed among them. The question, “Are you wheat?” presses into families, into church life, and into each person’s fruit. The concern is not appearances at the beginning, but the fruit that finally shows what root has been feeding the life.

The picture of new wine and old wineskins also says that religion cannot simply be patched up. The old brittle skin cannot hold the new wine. A person has to be born again, led by the Spirit, and made new, not just cleaned up on the outside.

The Holy Spirit convicts where weeds are still growing. The blood of Jesus cleanses guilt, but the believer still must listen when the Spirit knocks in the heart. Clean thoughts matter, because fleshly desires tangle the roots with the weeds. The righteous will shine like the sun in the Father’s kingdom, but “he who has ears, let him hear” means more than sound entering the ear. The word of God must be perceived, received, and obeyed.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Fruit finally tells the truth The wheat and weeds looked alike for a while, and that is what makes the parable so searching. A life can look right from the outside until fruit begins to show what root has been feeding it. The question “Are you wheat?” is not answered by early appearance, but by what grows when the heart is tested. [13:40]
• 2. Tangled roots make sin dangerous The master’s warning shows that weeds are not just surface problems. Roots intertwine, and what is allowed to grow close to the heart starts taking strength that belongs to God. Fleshly thoughts and desires are not small things when they begin feeding from the same soil as obedience. [17:13]
• 3. New life needs new skins The wineskin picture says that old religion cannot simply be renewed on the outside. New wine needs a new form, and that means a person must be born again and led by the Spirit. The church cannot carry the old life into the new kingdom and expect it not to leak out. [09:04]
• 4. Prayer begins as honest talking Fear of praying can make a person silent, but prayer is not first about sounding proper. The simple counsel was, “You can talk, can’t you? Talk to God.” Honest speech before God can become the doorway where fear breaks and communion begins. [14:22]
• 5. The Spirit’s knock must be obeyed The Holy Spirit does not convict just to make a person feel bad. The Spirit knocks so that a real change can be made before disobedience hardens into habit. Delayed obedience keeps the heart stuck where God is already calling it to move.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:09] - The Good Seed And Hidden Weeds
• [02:26] - Fruit Reveals What Is Growing
• [05:00] - Why The Master Says Wait
• [06:35] - Judas Among The Twelve
• [08:42] - New Wine And New Wineskins
• [10:44] - Jesus Explains The Field
• [13:19] - Are You Wheat?
• [14:22] - Learning To Pray Honestly
• [16:10] - Asking God About Hidden Weeds
• [17:13] - Tangled Roots And Clean Thoughts
• [20:02] - Fire, Harvest, And Shining Righteous
• [21:46] - Hearing Means Perceiving
• [23:20] - Obeying The Holy Spirit’s Conviction
• [25:06] - Help For Those Who Need Change

Bible Reading

Matthew 13:24-30
"He presented another parable to them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, 'First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.'’'" [01:09]

Matthew 13:36-43
"Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, 'Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.' And He said, 'The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.'" [10:44]

Matthew 9:17
"Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." [09:04]

Observation questions

1. In the parable of the wheat and weeds, at what point did the difference between the two become visible, and what made it clear? [02:26]
2. What reason did the master give for not letting the servants pull out the weeds right away?
3. When Jesus explained the parable, who did He say the sower, the field, the good seed, the weeds, the enemy, the harvest, and the reapers are? [11:16]
4. What picture does Jesus use in Matthew 9:17 to show that old forms cannot hold new life, and what happens if new wine is put into old wineskins? [09:04]

Interpretation questions

1. If fruit is what finally reveals whether something is wheat or weeds, what does that suggest about the limits of outward appearances in a person’s life? [13:40]
2. Jesus says the field is the world, yet the parable still presses into church and family life. How can both be true without changing the meaning of the passage? [11:29]
3. The master refuses immediate action because the roots are intertwined. What does that picture help a person understand about why sin is often deeper than surface behavior? [17:13]
4. Jesus says new wine must go into fresh wineskins. Why is being “cleaned up” on the outside not enough if a person has not been born again and led by the Spirit? [10:00]

Application questions

1. The question “Are you wheat?” is searching because fruit tells the truth. What kind of fruit has been showing up in daily life lately—in attitudes, speech, habits, and private choices? [13:40]
2. Tangled roots make hidden sin dangerous. Are there thoughts, desires, entertainments, or patterns that seem small but may be feeding from the same soil as obedience? [18:07]
3. New life needs new skins. Where has there been a temptation to keep old patterns while still wanting the life of Christ? What might real repentance and newness look like there? [10:11]
4. Prayer begins with honest talking to God. If praying out loud or praying with others feels hard, what fear or hesitation may be underneath that, and what would a simple first step look like? [14:22]
5. “He who has ears, let him hear” means more than just hearing words. When has the Word of God been heard but not really received, remembered, or obeyed? [22:54]
6. The Holy Spirit convicts in order to bring change. Is there something already being pressed on the heart that has been delayed or postponed? What would obedience look like this week? [23:20]
7. The blood of Jesus truly cleanses guilt, yet some still live as if they are stuck in old shame. Is there an area where forgiveness has been asked for, but freedom has still not been received? What may be keeping that struggle alive? [16:43]