Sermon Text: Isaiah 44:6-11
Date: July 19, 2026
Event: Proper 11, Year A

Isaiah 44:6-11 (EHV)

This is what the LORD, the King of Israel,
Israel’s Redeemer, the LORD of Armies, says.
I am the first, and I am the last.
Except for me, there is no god.
7For who is like me? Let him declare it.
Let him recite in order for me the things that took place
since the time I established an ancient people.
Or let them declare what is yet to come,
and what is going to take place.
8Do not tremble, and do not be frightened.
Did I not announce this to you,
and declare it already long ago?
You are my witnesses.
Is there any god except me?
There is no other Rock. I am not aware of any other.
9All those who form an idol are good for nothing.
All the things which delight them provide no benefit.
As for their witnesses—they do not see.
They know nothing, so they will be ashamed.

10Who is this who forms a god or casts a metal image that can provide no profit? 11Look at him! All his associates will be ashamed. The craftsmen are merely men. Let them all gather themselves and take a stand. They will be terrified and ashamed together.

Do You Look Like Wheat or Weeds?

In our Gospel this morning, we heard Jesus’ familiar parable of the wheat and the weeds. We don’t necessarily need to live in an agrarian society to understand the point of the parable. If you’ve ever planted a garden from seeds or reseeded a lawn, you know what Jesus is talking about. When you’re planting seeds, the first little sprouts that come up almost universally look the same. Is it the start of beautiful grass or invasive weeds? Is it the tomato or cucumber plants just starting, or are those dandelions? At first, it can be hard to tell. And then, depending on how densely things are growing, once you can tell which are the plants you wanted and which are undesirable weeds, it can be dangerous to rip up the weeds because the roots might be intertwined with the good plants, and you’d damage them or even rip them up completely while trying to get rid of the weeds. So, sometimes, you have to let the wheat and the weeds grow together for a time—perhaps until the desired plants reach full maturity—before you can make a complete separation.

Jesus uses that picture to describe what it’s like in this life. Wheat and weeds—believers and unbelievers—live together in the field of this life. Yes, God knows those who are his, and yes, believers have been elected from the beginning of time, but from our perspective, we don’t necessarily know which is which. And as we talked about last weekend, someone who is supposedly a weed may be just one gospel-share away from God creating faith in their Savior within their heart. So all the more, as in Jesus’ parable, “both grow together until the harvest” (Matthew 13:30). The final division will take place on Judgment Day.

But while it can be hard to tell the difference between the wheat and the weeds at times, there are signs, and sometimes we have to reevaluate our initial take on those signs. Back in South Dakota, we had this vine that would grow in some yards and in our gravel driveway. When it first sprang up, it would have these adorable little yellow flowers. We didn’t have anything that looked quite like that where I grew up in the Midwest, so initially, I was fond of them. But then I learned the truth. This vine had a nickname—puncture vine. Its seed pods had spikes that were unbelievably sharp and strong. They would puncture bicycle tires right through the tube. If you were wearing shoes with a thinner sole, it could poke you there, and heaven help you if you stepped on one of these things barefoot!

So what happened to my initial take on those adorable little yellow flowers? Pretty soon, they were markers of really bad things. I could identify the weeds and then, ideally, get to removing them before they caused more problems.

God isn’t going to just upend all people everywhere; he is going to let the world play out until the time he has chosen. But until then, you and I can look around and begin to identify some likely weeds and some presumable wheat. But really, that work is much more effective and beneficial when it’s inwardly focused rather than outwardly. From people’s words and actions, you can begin to get a sense of where things are at, but not completely because you and I cannot see into the heart. But when I look at myself, and you look at yourself, you can see those plants clearly. So, when you look inward, what do you see? Wheat or weed?

In our First Reading, God made a clear distinction between wheat and the weeds: All those who form an idol are good for nothing. All the things which delight them provide no benefit. As for their witnesses—they do not see. They know nothing, so they will be ashamed. Who is this who forms a god or casts a metal image that can provide no profit? Look at him! All his associates will be ashamed. The craftsmen are merely men. Let them all gather themselves and take a stand. They will be terrified and ashamed together. Those who make false gods and those who serve them are weeds. They ignore the true God and devote themselves to things that are good for nothing. The prophet Jeremiah noted just how worthless idols made of earthly materials are: They cut down a tree in the forest. Then the hands of a craftsman work it with an ax. They decorate it with silver and gold, but they have to nail it down with hammers, so that it will not tip over. Their idols are like a scarecrow in a melon patch. They cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk” (Jeremiah 10:3-5).

But before we get ahead of ourselves and think, “Well, I must look like pure wheat because I don’t have a single idol in my life!” we do well to take a second look. Sure, you might not have an altar in your home devoted to Baal, Asherah, Zeus, or Ra, but we all have idols. You have things that often become more important to you than God. At this moment, our concern is not about the weeds out there. What are the idols for you? What are the things in your life that try to steal that number-one position in your heart that should only belong to God? What causes you to look like a weed? I’m going to give us all a minute to mull that over.

…

How’s your list? Mine is a whole lot longer than I would like to admit—and it’s to my shame that it exists at all. Perhaps you identified money as a false god in your life—either because you’re too focused on amassing more to add to an already substantial amount or because worry over not having enough consumes you and crowds the God out of your life, the one who promised you daily bread. Perhaps it’s entertainment that often sucks the time out of your life that otherwise might be devoted to the study of God’s Word and setting priorities on his promises, on those things that are truly important and not fleeting. Maybe it’s lust or other sexually related sins: a desire for someone who is not your spouse, for someone performing in a video on the internet, or for someone you interact with much closer to home, desires that shove God out of the heart. Maybe it’s worry not about one specific thing but in general—worry that things are going to go badly and disastrously and you have no way to fix them, worry that kicks God to the curb despite his promises to be your continual help, your very rock, to never leave you or forsake you.

Maybe one from that list I just mentioned was prominent on your list; maybe none of them were. But whether we specifically hit yours here this morning, the reality is that we have a whole host of things that make us look like weeds, that make us look like we don’t follow our God but follow the whims of our desires and trip in the ruts of our weaknesses. And we often look like that because it is often true. So, if someone needed to evaluate you and decide whether you were a stalk of wheat or an invasive weed, what would their evaluation be?

Thankfully, other people’s evaluations are not really important; others are just as limited in looking at us as we are in looking at them. What is important is God’s take, God’s view, and I think we do well to remember how God describes himself, the titles that he gives himself even before he says a word in our brief reading: This is what the LORD, the King of Israel, Israel’s Redeemer, the LORD of Armies, says. These titles focus on mercy and power. Perhaps let’s just zero in on one of them, Redeemer. A redeemer is someone who buys someone or something back so that it belongs to them again. If we can take a step out of the natural and into the supernatural, given the imagery we’ve been working with today, we might say that a Redeemer is one who takes a plant and declares it as wheat rather than a weed. And not just calling it something it’s not, but actually making that change happen.

Yes, you and I look like weeds. Our sin is the most invasive pest vine to ever exist. But that’s not who we are; that’s not who God has made us to be. Because in his redemption, in his salvation, he’s changed us from weed to wheat. That doesn’t mean we don’t struggle with weed-like behavior; it doesn’t mean that we don’t sin. But it does mean that sin is forgiven. It does mean we are redeemed. It does mean that at the final harvest, we will not be destined for the fire but for God’s eternal barn (see Matthew 13:30, 43).

This is the work that Jesus, our Redeemer, accomplished. His life and death—both of them for us—have made us what we weren’t. His complete, flawless dedication to God’s will replaces our very flawed existence. We are what we should be because that’s what Jesus was and what he’s remade us to be.

My fellow stalks of grain, your God is the one who created all things and redeemed you from your sin. Devote yourselves not to the temptations and worries of this life, but to the God who loves you, forgives you, and will bring you to himself eternally. I am the first, and I am the last. Except for me, there is no god. For who is like me? Let him declare it. Let him recite in order for me the things that took place since the time I established an ancient people. Or let them declare what is yet to come, and what is going to take place. Do not tremble, and do not be frightened. Did I not announce this to you, and declare it already long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any god except me? There is no other Rock. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria