Warm up question in groups of 2-3: In one minute, tell everything you know about gardens, vegetable or flower. Include soil prep, planting, weeding, common mistakes and harvesting. After one minute, let the other person have one minute.
Matthew 13:24-30
- What is a parable? An earthly story to illustrate a spiritual or heavenly meaning.
- What did the man do? He sowed good seeds in his field.
- When and what did the enemy do? While the people were sleeping, he sowed weeds among the wheat.
- What did the landowner’s servants offer to do? To pull up the weeds.
- How did the landowner respond? He told them not to do that because they might uproot the wheat at the same time.
- Why might they uproot the wheat at the same time? In the early stages the wheat and the weeds were almost identical in appearance. It was only after time would the differences become visible. Have you ever heard the expression, “Time will tell”? That is true.
- What was his further advice? Let them grow together until the harvest.
- What were the harvesters to gather first and what were they to do with them? They were to gather the weeds first by bundling and then burning them.
- Why do churches and (Sunday School) groups need to be careful about purging their rolls? People who get removed may not need to be removed. A general rule of thumb is no one should be removed unless they move out of town, request removal or join another church. Being inactive is no reason to purge their name. If we remove them, we forget them.
Matthew 13:36-39
- In Jesus’ explanation of the parable, who did the following in the story represent? Man, who sowed good seed-Son of Man; the field-world; good seed-children of the kingdom; weeds-children of the evil one; the enemy-the devil; harvest-end of the age; harvesters-angels.
- What light does John 8:39-40 shed on the children of the evil one? Jesus referred to the Jews who claimed Abraham as their father as children of the devil. What other group claims Abraham as their father? Muslims
- What can a church do to be sure those who join the church are believers? There needs to be a conversation with them about their salvation experience before they join. Some churches require them to participate in a multi-session class that covers the basics of being a Christian before they can be presented for membership. Even when that is done, there will be those who join who are not saved.
Matthew 13:40-43
- Which kingdom was Jesus referring to in 13:41? Not the kingdom of God, but the world that Jesus rules over.
- Who will the angels gather? Those who cause sin and those guilty of lawlessness.
- Is the blazing furnace literal or not? Some think it is literal or others metaphorical for the divine wrath and some type of punishment.
- Did Jesus use this terminology in another parable? See Matthew 13:49-50
- Are there similarities between Malachai 4:1-2 and Matthew 13:42-43? Read and ask class members to point them out. Was Jesus familiar with this Old Testament passage? No doubt he was.
- What does judgment of a person come after his life on earth is over? Some who start badly may end well and vice versa. A person will not be judged on just one to two bad decisions in life.
- Why should we not be quick to judge? We only have limited information about people. We don’t know everything. Jesus alone is qualified to judge.
- Is fear of hell a legitimate reason for the lost to turn to Christ? Is the reality of hell a proper motivation to get the gospel to every single person as quickly as possible? How much time do they have left, and how much time do we have left? No one knows, but it is running out.