Children’s Sermon

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Living Amongst the Weeds

By Dr. Dan Wuori

My garden is a mess. Last week we talked about how important it is to plant seeds in good soil – and I’ve done that – but even though my seeds are growing, they are not alone.

Other plants are growing in my garden and I didn’t even plant them! There’s a name for those plants. Do you know what we call them?

Weeds.

A weed isn’t really a kind of plant – it’s just a plant that’s growing where you don’t want it to. Some of them can be very pretty. But if you have a garden or a flower bed where you’ve planted things you want to grow, then weeds can be a big problem. Not only do they make things look messy, but they use up the same water and food that your good plants do. So letting too many weeds hang around can actually make it harder for the things you planted to grow.

In last week’s gospel Jesus told us a parable about seeds to teach us a lesson about keeping our hearts and our minds focused on God. He told us that we need to make ourselves “good soil” by really listening to God’s word and leading good lives.

But that can be hard – and this week he tells us about weeds.

In the same way that Jesus was talking about seeds – but really talking about us, this week’s story isn’t about real weeds in a garden. Jesus is telling us that sometimes being a Christian is hard.

It would be easy to do all the right things in life if everyone around us was doing them too. But they’re not. People lie and steal and fight. They can be greedy and mean and selfish.

People can be weeds. Sometimes they can be doing the wrong things in our lives – our “gardens.” They set bad examples and make it just that much harder to for us to do the right things.

That’s why being a Christian can be so hard. It’s something we have to do even when so many people around us seems to be setting the wrong examples – and pulling us in the wrong direction.

Are you a seed or a weed? (A seed) Good – keep it up!

Let’s pray.

Dear God,

Doing your work can be hard when we live in a world full of weeds. Give us the strength and the courage to bloom and flower in you.

Amen.

Copyright 2008, Dan Wuori. Used by permission.