St Matthew, Chapter 13, verse: 31 - 32, The Kingdom of Heaven: Like a Mustard Seed.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the mustard seed) Part 1. 

Christ continues to reveal information about the kingdom of heaven.  He has spoken about the kingdom of heaven as a field that is planted with the good seed.  Now he speaks in another parable about the kingdom of heaven being like a mustard seed.  A mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds.  Yet the plant the comes forth from this seed becomes a giant tree.  Other produce fruit.  The mustard seed produces a giant tree that birds make their nest in. 

Christ tells the crowd and his disciples,  "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.   This indeed is the smallest of all the seeds; but when it grows up it is larger than any herb and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in its branches." 

The kingdom of heaven is likened to a seed.  It is like the good seed that a man plants in his field.  It is like a mustard seed that a man plants in his field.  The kingdom of heaven is a seed that is planted within us.  It grows just as a seed grows.  It produces fruit just as the seeds of a fruit tree  or the seed of grain grows to produce fruit.  The kingdom of heaven like an herb that is planted in a garden.  The herb seed grows to produce an herb.  Some are small.  Some are medium sized, but the mustard seed is the the largest herb in the garden.  For when it grows up, it produces a tree that is greater than any other herb in the garden.

Christ speaks to us in a language of planting.  He tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like a seed.  It is planted within us.  And we are the soil that brings forth the life of the seed.  We can bring forth the life of the kingdom.  We can produce the fruit of the kingdom.  In some cases we can produce 30% of the time, or 60% of the time or 100% of the time if the seed is planted in good soil that will nurture the seed and bring forth growth. 

Christ tells us further that the kingdom of heaven is like the seed of a mustard plant.  When planted and grows up it brings forth a tree that is greater than any other herb in the garden.  So now we have two choices of what is in the kingdom of heaven.  We have fruit or grain and we have an herb that produces a giant tree.  Which type of seed are you today?  Are you the result of a fruit seed or are you the result of a mustard seed?  One grows tall and strong where the birds of the air come to rest.  The other produces fruit of the kingdom.  Both are in the kingdom of heaven.  Come, let us prepare our soil for the planting of the seeds from the kingdom of heaven!

St Matthew, Chapter 13, verse: 30, The Kingdom of Heaven: The Harvest.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the weeds) Part 5.  

An enemy has done this.  An enemy has spread weeds in the kingdom of heaven and contaminated the good seed.  The servants ask if they should go and gather the weeds out of the field and the master says no.  The master says wait.  The master says do not gather the weeds lest you root up the wheat also.  Do not gather the weeds lest the crop is damaged.  Do not gather the weeds lest the good seed is destroyed.

So, we live today weed and seed growing side by side in the fields of the kingdom of heaven.  But we have a weed killer that protects us from being taken over by the weeds.  We have a weed killer that destroys those weeds that have taken hold of us.  We have a weed killer that will shield us from the tricks of the weeds wherever we go.  All we have to do is take him with us.  All we have to do is keep him close.  All we have to do is allow him to work for us, to protect us, to guide us along the way, to guide us where there are no weeds.  The choice is up to us.

Christ has told his disciples and the people about the parable of the weeds.  He gives them an understanding of the the kingdom of heaven and what has transpired that allowed the weeds to come into the fields of the kingdom.  The servants of the field wanted to know what the master was going to do.  He told them not to root up the weeds but to let them grow along with the good seeds.  Christ tells us what the master said,  "Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather up the weeds first and bind them in bundles to burn; but gather the wheat into my barn.' "


The weeds will be gathered at harvest time.  The weeds will be put in bundles.  The weeds will be set aside to be burned and discarded.  The wheat will be gathered into the house of the Lord for eternity.  Are you a weed or a seed?  Do you come to destroy or to be gathered into the house of the Lord? 

Do not be deceived by the tricks of the world.  Do not be tricked by the lies of the enemy.  The weeds will be burned.  The weeds will be separated from the fruit of the good seed and the weeds will be burned.  The weeds want to change you.  The weeds want to wrap their tendrils around you and change you into a weed.  That is their goal, to change all into weeds.  Then all will suffer the fate of being gathered together in bundles and burned.  Do not allow weeds to overtake you.  Do not allow weeds to change you.  They are everywhere.  You cannot escape.  But you can protect yourself with the weed killer, the Holy Spirit.  Come, get your weed blocker, your weed killer.  Seek the Holy Spirit and he will protect you. 

St Matthew, Chapter 13, verse: 28 - 29, The Kingdom of Heaven: An Enemy has done this.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the weeds) Part 4. 

How does the kingdom of heaven have weeds?  This is the question that was asked by the servants that worked the fields of the kingdom.  Christ is telling the people about the kingdom.  God's kingdom is vast.  He owns the universe and in this universe are untold riches and wealth.  Wealth in this kingdom is so vast that the mind of man cannot conceive of its magnitude.  And in this vast universe Christ has given life to mankind that we may enjoy the wealth of the universe for all eternity.  Yet within the kingdom there are weeds.  This is unnatural.  It is unheard of, since God did not sow weeds in his fields.  He sowed good seed and the servants want to know how this has happened.  Christ tell us through this parable,  He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' 

An enemy of the kingdom has come and planted weeds in the field.  An enemy of the kingdom has come and corrupted the field with this planting.  So, the deed is done.  The weeds are planted.  And what needs to happen next.  Are the weeds to be rooted out?  Are the servants to go one by one and pull up the weeds?  Are they to rake the soil that they may comb out the weeds, pulling them out by the roots so that the seeds are protected.  The servants ask the question, 'Wilt thou have us go and  gather them up?'

The response to the question presents a problem.  If the weeds are pulled, will the seeds and the resulting plants be injured?  Will the rooting out of the weeds leave the plants damaged preventing them from bringing forth fruit?  If the weeds remain will they have a dramatic impact upon the plants, thereby damaging the fruit?  Weeds are destructive.  They often grow faster than the plants they surround.  They attach themselves to the plants and encircles them with their tendrils, using their tendrils as steps of a ladder to grow upon the plants they encircle.  Soon the plants are overwhelmed by the weeds and the fruit of the tree is destroyed.  What does one do?  Christ tells us that the Lord told his servants,  No,' he said, 'lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.

So we live among the weeds, as it is in the kingdom, it is today.  We grow and the weeds grow with us.  How do we protect ourselves against the growth of the weeds?  How do we stop the weeds from taking over the plant and damaging the fruit.  The precious fruit of the kingdom may be attacked if not watched.  The precious fruit of the kingdom may be damaged if the weeds are not kept away.  The precious fruit of the kingdom could be choked and prevented from coming forth if we do not beat back the weeds.  It is a daily battle.  It is an hourly challenge.  It requires constant vigilance.  But we are not alone for we have the servants who watch over us.  We have the servants who will protect us.  We have the servants who will fight back the weeds to allow the seeds to bring forth fruit.  And then we have the almighty weed killer, the Holy Spirit that is within us, keeping the weeds from taking hold of us.  Do you have your weed killer with you?  Does he reside in you?  Do you remind yourself daily that he is with you?  Come, Holy Spirit, bring your light into my life!