Marshallans | Noble Order

Theme: GOD’S MERCY and JUSTICE.
Our God is a God of mercy who offers repentance to the sinner. The Holy Spirit himself makes intercessions for us. But on the day of final judgment, there will be a separation between the just and the sinners – the wheat and the weeds – based on God’s absolute justice.

There is no final justice in this world. In spite of some spectacular examples of sin bringing about immediate punishment, such as the deposing or death of dictators in recent history, the general pattern seems to conform with Christ’s parable of the wheat and the weeds – except that frequently the weeds seems to be doing much better than the wheat.

Introduction: Human intelligence implies a deep-set instinct for justice. We know and feel within us that things must be “right,” that the final outset of all human endeavors must conform to a rule of logic, that good must be rewarded and evil punished.

Point 1: Our sense of right and wrong is a God-given gift. It is because man is made in the image and likeness of God, with intelligence and free will leading to self-determination and responsibility, that we always hope with such deep longing for a life on earth that is fair and just to all. Unfortunately, we soon realize that in spite o our most strenuous efforts, life on earth is too often unfair and unjust. Blinded by social injustice, criminality, the success of dishonest people, and the immorality so prevalent in our day, we come to doubt the value of our God-given sense of right and wrong. We tend to become hard and cynical and to go along with the pattern of evil instead of resisting it.

Point 2: Our sense of right and wrong is based on final justice. We should realize that even though so many things around us seem to disprove the existence of an all-powerful God of justice, what we see is not the total picture, but only one very small phase of the “evolution” of the world. The world of “now” is quite incomplete, groaning under the burden of daily living. If our present lives were all there was to it, we would have good reason to despair, because there is very little justice in the world. The point is, however, that God has time. What counts is not the apparent moral chaos of the world of now, but the complete fulfillment of God’s plan in the end. It is only at the end, on the level of eternity, that all sorrows will be healed and all hopes fulfilled.

Point 3: Our sense of right and wrong should be tempered with mercy. It is only in the Old Testament that ancient peoples, who were “hard of heart,” could get away with “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” Since the days of Christ, all our judgments must be tempered with mercy, that divine quality which is a combination of understanding, pity and good will towards men. If we work for God’s kingdom instead of despising the sinner, if we consider with the eyes of God the many excuses, attenuating circumstances and almost unbearable temptations that assail those we have a tendency to condemn, we will hasten the coming of the kingdom.

Conclusion: Justice and mercy are divine attributes. Belief in God’s final justice is an absolute condition of sanity in this “crazy” world. Either there will be justice in the end – or nothing makes sense. Even if we tend to despair of the world and of ourselves (at times), let us always remember that God’s mercy endures forever. It is always offered, always ready to support us along the pilgrimage of life. The only way we can lose it is to willfully close our hearts to God – and that is a good definition of hell.

It may well be said that in its lessons this is one of the most practical parables Jesus ever told.

It teaches us how hard it is to distinguish between those who are in the Kingdom and those who are not. A man may appear to be good and may in fact be bad; and a man may appear to be bad and may yet be good. We are much too quick to classify people and label them good or bad without knowing all the facts.

It teaches us not to be so quick with our judgments. If the reapers had had their way, they would have tried to tear out the darnel and they would have torn out the wheat as well. Judgment had to wait until the harvest came. A man in the end will be judged, not by any single act or stage in his life, but by his whole life. Judgment cannot come until the end. A man may make a great mistake, and then redeem himself and, by the grace of God, atone for it by making the rest of life a lovely thing. A man may live an honourable life and then in the end wreck it all by a sudden collapse into sin. No one who sees only part of a thing can judge the whole; and no one who knows only part of a man's life can judge the whole man.

It teaches us that judgment does come in the end. Judgment is not hasty, but judgment comes. It may be that, humanly speaking, in this life the sinner seems to escape the consequences, but there is a life to come. It may be that, humanly speaking, goodness never seems to enter into its reward, but there is a new world to redress the balance of the old.

It teaches us that the only person with the right to judge is God. It is God alone who can discern the good and the bad; it is God alone who sees all of a man and all of his life. It is God alone who can judge.

So, then, ultimately this parable is two things--it is a warning not to judge people at all, and it is a warning that in the end there comes the judgment of God.

As believers we soon realize that in spite of our most strenuous efforts, life on earth is too often unfair and unjust. Blinded by social injustice, criminality, the success of dishonest people, and the immorality so prevalent in our, we are tempted strongly to doubt the value of our God-given sense of right and wrong. We might become cynical about what is right and wrong and go along with the pattern of evil instead of resisting it. We can be tempted to give up trying to do what is right and good.

Remember – God has time. The parable makes that point. What counts is not the apparent moral chaos and evil in the world of now, but the complete fulfillment of God’s plan in the end. According to God’s own word to us this morning, it is only at the end, on the level of eternity, that all sorrows will be healed and all hopes fulfilled and final justice rendered.