Lutheran Brethren Church of Nampa

Next up in our parables of Jesus from the book of Matthew is the parable of the dragnet. And it’s pretty easy to understand, isn’t it? When you throw a net into the sea, that net doesn’t care what kind of fish it traps. It just catches everything if comes in contact with. So, when the net is pulled up out of the water, you’ve got to sort through and keep the good fish and throw away the bad fish. And Jesus uses this illustration to show how it is in the end: that in the end, those who are wicked will be separated from the righteous. Again, pretty easy to understand. But the implications of what’s going to happen are huge. So we’re going to look at today this idea of the wicked and the righteous, and how wickedness will come to an end.

A World Full of Wicked

And that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? And end to wickedness? Oh yeah. Try to go just one day without witnessing some kind of wickedness. And I’m not talking about burying your head in the sand, ignoring everything around you, or locking yourself in the closet. Go about your normal day and you’ll personally encounter countless examples of wickedness. We live in a world that is just full of wicked. But a word of warning: don’t let this be a regular thing for you. Don’t set your mind on identifying wickedness all day every day. That’s a sure way to get yourself depressed at best; more likely angry, hateful, vengeful. Instead, remember how you’re encouraged in Philippians 4 to dwell on whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute.

Nevertheless, it’s unavoidable that you’re going to see wickedness in the world around you, day in and day out. And it can be exhausting. To see the hurt and pain and damage evil does to others is heartbreaking. The damage and devastation wickedness causes can be too much to bear sometimes. Especially for those of us who love God; who love His justice and His love. Wars are fought over patches of dirt to feed the pride and power of wicked leaders. Human beings are killed before they have the chance to draw their first breath. Pleasure is held up as the greatest good, destroying marriages and families. Leaders seem to be in a competition to see who can be the most vile and offensive. On and on it goes. And the damage these things do to real people in real life cannot be ignored. Oh sure, we may have already convinced ourselves that time and distance lessens the impact wickedness has on us, but it doesn’t change the impact wickedness has on every human being – every human, who has been intentionally created by God and who is loved by Him.

And what’s worse, wickedness has a habit of becoming people’s focus. By that I mean wickedness either becomes a god to someone or it becomes a way to disparage God. Wickedness has a way of becoming an all-consuming desire in a person. We see it in scripture, where God will hand people over to their wickedness to let it come to full fruit in them. You see it in a person who has just defined themselves by the bad that they do. They want to be known as the person who offends, they want to have a reputation as the toughest, meanest guy in the room, they want to try as many depravities as they possibly can before their short life is over. On the other hand, witnessing wickedness can convince a person that there is no such thing as an all-loving, all-powerful God. How can there be when there is so much evil out there? Already blinded to the fact that God works all things for good for those who love Him, the whole idea of God becomes irrational; foolish.

And yet, Jesus Christ himself tells us to expect that the focus of the world’s wickedness will be on His own followers. He tells us to remain in this wicked, evil world, specifically asking God the Father to not take us out of the world. Why is that? Well, part of that is because we have this glorious calling to alleviate some of the suffering that comes from all this wickedness. To love our neighbors and our enemies and seek their well-being. What does that mean, then? Are we called to go out there and turn wicked people into good people? No, we’re not. And we’re not, because that’s impossible. We don’t have anything close to the ability to turn wicked people into good people. It’s impossible. And that’s because a wicked person is born into that wickedness. Every ounce of their flesh is bent towards sinning and can do nothing but sin. As Romans 8:7 so clearly teaches, the carnal mind is hostile toward God; it does not subject itself to the God’s law, and it is not even able to subject itself to God’s law. You can’t fix that. It’s impossible.

But you know what you also know? That what is impossible for people is possible for God. In addition to help alleviate the effect of sin on this world, the more important job we have been tasked with is bringing the gospel into the world. And it is the power of that gospel alone that has the ability to turn wicked people into good people. I mean sure, we can vote for just laws and for people who will enact just laws, but at the end of the day all we’re doing is helping to alleviate suffering. You can go out there with a sign condemning your least-favorite sin, but you’re still preaching to a world full of people who do not subject themselves to God’s law and who aren’t even able to subject themselves to God’s law. The only thing you can do to change wicked people into good people is to give them the gospel, stand back, and see what God does with that. That’s a poor way to word that: the only thing you can do. It’s the best thing you can do! And don’t get me wrong: we don’t proclaim the gospel just so that there’s a few less wicked people and so the world becomes a little more palatable. No, we proclaim the gospel out of genuine love for our neighbors and enemies. A love that God first showed us.

A Self Full of Wickedness

Which brings me to the next thing that needs to be made clear. All this wickedness we’re talking about: it’s not just them. It’s not just, “those people.” It’s us. You and I are no different from the rest of the world in that we too were born with every ounce of our flesh being bent towards sinning and wholly unable to submit to God’s law. You and I have been active and willing participants in the wickedness of this world, and because you too have this sinful flesh, you will again contribute to the wickedness of this world. The only reason you are able to do good instead of evil is because the Holy Spirit of God now indwells you, causing good in you and suppressing the evil.

And I hope you understand just how important it is to not forget this. As the Holy Spirit continues to work in you, it becomes, in some ways, much easier to resist sin and to do what is good. That same Holy Spirit continues to teach you and remind you of what sin is, how to identify it, and what the good is instead. As this happens to us, it is so very easy to become prideful and boastful. To look at yourself in the mirror and say, as the old Mac Davis song goes, “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.” How easy it is to forget that the goodness you do doesn’t come from you, but from the Holy Spirit in you. How easy it is to forget that you are cut from the same cloth as the most wicked person you can imagine.

And this is important. It’s important because its an essential component in loving your neighbor and your enemy. See, we want to put up these barriers between ourselves and the wicked people out there because, well, they’re wicked. More wicked than me, surely. Baloney! Their wickedness might be different from yours, but it’s no worse. Not in God’s eyes. Or you might fear the wickedness of the world and desire to keep yourself from it. And I get it, believe me. It’s understandable. But don’t forget what you have learned: If God is for us, who can be against us? Don’t fear those who can destroy the body and after that have no more they can do. Or you might think that someone is simply too wicked; too far gone. But let’s just go right back to you – you, the chief of sinners – and you turned out alright, didn’t you?

Point being, the power of God in the heart of a sinner is a wondrous thing to behold. You know this. You’ve seen it in yourself. Don’t deny that wonder to anyone else. Go out and love all of those wicked folks out there. Care for them. Share your faith with them. If for no other reason than somebody in your live cared for you and loved you enough to do the same thing with you.

The End of Wickedness

And that brings us to the entire point of this parable, and that’s that wickedness will eventually end. When does it end? At Christ’s return. When Christ comes again, He will be coming in judgment, and this parable tells us the truth of what is going to happen in that day: The good fish will be sorted into containers and the bad fish will be thrown away. In reality, this means that everyone who is righteous will be preserved and everyone who is wicked will be thrown into the fires of hell. The reality of this has some really important implications for us.

First off, there’s the implication of the urgency of our mission. Part of having the Holy Spirit indwelling us means that we share in the heart and the will of God. And what is the will of God? That everyone would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. See, this final judgment will come, and because God is just, He will send those who are wicked to eternal punishment. But He doesn’t want to. He would much rather that the wicked be turned to good through hearing and believing the gospel. That’s where we come in. God, in His infinite wisdom, determined that the best way to spread this gospel is to have one sinner tell it to another. There, again, is the importance of knowing yourself to be a sinner like everyone else. You can see eye-to-eye with all those sinners out there because you are one.

The next implication is that when the wickedness of this world does weigh on you, you have the sure hope of knowing that there will be a time when this wickedness ends. It gives you something to look forward to, which helps you to endure what’s going on right now. And that’s valuable isn’t it? You ever have one of those weeks? You know, those weeks. Where everything is going wrong, the work is piling up, and the boss is grumpy. It really helps to know the weekend is coming, doesn’t it? This is going to be so much better than a couple days off of work. Think about it. The words Jesus uses here are very intentional: He says, “the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous.” This is everyone who causes wickedness being removed from you. Forever. No one and nothing to cause wickedness in the world ever again. Knowing that day will come, doesn’t that just make getting through today a little easier?

And the last implication this has for us has to do with how you can know that you’ll be in the righteous group. And this is important given what we’ve already talked about: the fact that you have been wicked and the fact that you still possess your sinful flesh means that you will be wicked again. How do you know you won’t wind up in the pile of bad fish? Well, this is where the power of the gospel really shines. Again, if were up to you, being righteous would be impossible. You never had what it takes. Righteousness was never yours to claim. But what’s impossible for you is possible for God. When Christ died on that cross, he took all of your wickedness into himself. All of it. Everything you’ve ever done to contribute to the wickedness in this world and everything you will do became His sin and was paid for in His death. And in His eternal, unlimited power, he gave to you His perfect righteousness. A righteousness that isn’t achieved, or worked for, or developed. Full and complete righteousness applied to you as a free gift, received through faith. You will be in the righteous group not because you avoided wickedness, but because God said so and you believed it.

So, as long as God decides is right, you remain in this wicked evil world. But you don’t despair. You don’t fear. You don’t hide. You boldly go out there, unafraid and hopeful, loving your neighbor and loving your enemy, sharing in God’s desire that all those wicked people be saved and come to know the truth of this gospel you love so much. Praise be to God for this blessed hope. Let’s pray…