Pastor's Sermon - July 19th, 2026 - The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 13:24-30 , 36-43
Evil is real.
That’s not a pleasant statement to dwell on, but it needs to be understood. If one doesn’t believe the enemy is real, then the enemy is at a distinct advantage.
According to a survey by the Barna Group, 59% of self-identified American Christians believe that Satan isn’t real. He is merely a constructed symbol of evil used to help dissuade us from behaving badly. 35% of American Christians surveyed believed that Satan is a real being who is at work. About 8% of those polled were so unsure they wouldn’t commit to either side.
Understanding that this is a poll of “self-identified” Christians, which is a nicer way of saying people that say they’re Christians but don’t often participate in Christian practices, such as going to church, regularly.
Amongst those who are regularly attending church, the stats are different. 79% of Protestants believe the Devil is real. 70% of Roman Catholics believe the Devil is real.
Either poll that you look at, what is the problem?
Large swaths of people don’t believe in the Devil! And this isn’t even factoring in the non-Christians who obviously don’t believe in him.
And yet, despite the polls and where the minds of man are, Jesus speaks of the Devil as being very real. His parable is a made-up scenario, but it is teaching real truths. And part of that truth, even His explanation, is that the Devil is real.
What does this matter?
Let’s look at the parable. In the parable we have a sower (That’s Jesus) and He sows good seed (that’s the Church) in the field (that’s the world). Then, the enemy (that’s Satan) sows weeds (that’s the unbelievers and evil people) into the field. The slaves of the sower wanted the sower to pull the weeds immediately and get rid of them, but he won’t. It’s too dangerous. The weed that is likely being spoken of is darnel, and in its infancy, it looks very much like wheat and has roots that are difficult to pull without harming the plants surrounding it. Therefore, the sower says to wait. At the time of the harvest (that’s the end of the age), then the reapers (that’s the angels) will be able to harvest and the distinction will be made. The weeds shall be burned. The wheat shall be saved.
Jesus teaches us about our time on this earth and the time of Judgement.
First, He teaches us this truth. Who is the giver of faith? Or, another way of asking it, who is the One who creates and builds faith and the Church? It’s the Sower—Jesus. That means that God is actively at work in the fields of this world. He is actively at work building His Church. Therefore, we can know, that at the end of the age, there will be wheat to harvest—there will be Children of God who will be saved.
Unfortunately, and this is also important, Jesus acknowledges plainly that the Devil does exist. And he doesn’t just exist idly. He is at work sowing seeds too! However, his seeds are those of wickedness. He’s sowing seeds. And take note of where and when he is sowing these evil seeds. He is sowing them immediately after the good seeds were sowed! He’s practically at work at the same time as the sower! And where did he sow the wicked seeds? In the same field as the good seeds, practically, right upon them.
This teaches us what? Evil is REAL! Do not allow ourselves or others to explain away evil as something much like an illusion. Don’t explain evil away as simple ignorance, social conditions, or just bad circumstances. Call out evil just as Jesus calls it out. There is a personal enemy at work and he is actively working against good and against God.
So, brothers and sisters, don’t be surprised when you encounter these evil ones. Satan did not go and sow his seeds in a faraway place where they wouldn’t bother the good wheat. He sowed them in the same place. Be ready, then, to encounter these evils. Be ready and expectant that the sons of the Devil will come about bothering you.
So mixed are they that the harvesters notice and want to immediately remove them! This means that evil exists out there! In the world! And we’ll see it. But it also means that we can encounter it right here. Even within the walls of God’s House we can find this evil. First of all, we all recognize our own sinner-saint existence. Even we can participate in the evil of sin. But more than that, in the case of this parable, Satan has sowed sons of wickedness that would actively strive to infiltrate and destroy. The weeds will seek to deceive and find perch within the life of the Church. Not so that it may become wheat and flourish amongst the rest of the good crop. But that it would gain opportunity to choke out what is growing.
Jesus warns us of this. False prophets and antichrists. Every sort of liar and deceiver. Every sort of vile and evil one.
This can disturb us, can it not?
Many of us expect the visible Church to be pure. We expect to walk into the Christian churches across the world and to find only goodness and purity, and praise God that these virtues are so often found within His House.
But Jesus warns otherwise.
Where Christ plants wheat, the Devil attempts to sow weeds.
Therefore, even within the walls of our sanctuaries, we will find hypocrisy, false teaching, scandals, and even unbelief. We’ll find evil. And it has been so since the Fall.
We cannot allow ourselves to be misled or shaken simply because we find weeds in God’s garden of wheat. Jesus has told us so. God knows of them. And yet, the Harvest is coming, and at the time, there is no doubt. The wheat and the weeds shall be separated.
But can’t we be like the servants? God, take it all away now! Remove the evil ones right now! Don’t wait until the harvest because the weeds among us are choking us out! They’re molesting us and troubling us greatly! Pull the weeds now! With these weeds in the Church, sometimes it seems like things have gotten out of God’s control.
But they haven’t.
Christ has not lost control, nor is He apathetic toward the plight of His people. He knows full well what needs to happen—He knows that in the coming harvest the wheat and the weeds must be separated and managed accordingly.
Notice in the parable how the servants panic and are shocked over the weeds.
The sower is not.
False teachers don’t surprise Christ. Persecution and evil do not surprise Christ. Satan and his unrelenting efforts do not surprise Christ.
So, if He’s not surprised. If He’s wise to know the weeds from the wheat, why not pluck up the weeds now, cast them into the furnace, and create a perfect field right now?
Because God is patient. He is merciful. He is love.
The delay of judgment is mercy.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish.”
God’s patience allows time for repentance. The world and even our fallen flesh views delayed judgment as indifference or weakness. God’s Word reveals it as love and mercy.
Had God allowed the harvest to be immediate, then not one of us would stand. God would have swooped down like the Angel of Death, scythe in hand, and struck down Adam, Eve, Satan and his fallen angels in that one most accursed moment. The Fall would have been the end. God would have harvested and found the fields to be entirely empty of wheat. And all would have been burned in the fire.
God is patient. He is love. He is mercy.
And so He delayed the harvest. Sowing His good seeds into the fields, knowing full-well that Satan would be doing the same with his bad seeds. God waits patiently, watching as the wheat grows and the weeds alongside, groping, choking, and deceiving. God waits and He waits for just the right time.
Here’s the great news.
While the harvest may be delayed on account of God’s great love and mercy.
While the weeds will grow alongside us and we will be called upon to bear our crosses and endure the strangling hold of this fallen world. While Satan will lurk about, seeking to ruin us.
The harvest is coming.
The harvest is certain.
Judgment is mercifully delayed, not carelessly cancelled.
This is a comfort to you and me.
We may be enduring great evil right now. The weeds may be choking and suffocating you everyday and in every way. It may even seem unbearable! Satan hurls one bomb at you after another! Lord, it is all too much!
Yet, evil does not win. The enemy does not get the last word.
We acknowledge that evil is real, and we also confess that evil has been defeated.
Because we also praise and acknowledge the Triune God. Our victor and our Savior.
Our God.
Christ Himself promises a final reckoning. Harvest day is coming!
The parable ends with extraordinary hope! It isn’t just that the wheat survives or barely escapes the fires!
“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
The wheat shall be saved. You and me, the Church, we shall have endured, and we will be saved. As the angels of the Lord gather up the field, we shall be brought into the House of the Lord. We are the good fruit of faith.
This is what Christ died for.
He came to destroy sin, death, and the Devil on the cross. And He has accomplished this. Satan can keep striving, but he has already lost. Judgment Day is coming and it is his doom. For us, we who are in the Lord, it is our very salvation and life.
We will be brought out of these weedy fields, out of the visible church and brought to the Invisible Church—the Eternal Church—where there are no weeds or devils.
To get us there, our sower will continue to sow and sustain—Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He fills us with all that we need to grow and remain faithful. His Word revitalizes us and roots us in the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It grows us in righteousness and redeems us by forgiveness.
We do not fear the Harvest.
We eagerly await it!
In Christ’s Name, Amen!