Sermon on the Mount : Seek Kingdom of God and His righteousness—tares and wheat
THE HOLY BIBLE
Matt 6:24, 25, 33 [KJV]
No man can serve two masters . . .Therefore, I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, . . . But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness . . . .
Matt. 13:24-30, 36-38, 39, 40, 41, 43 – [NLT]
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted [tares] weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’
His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.” Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. . . .. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so . . . the Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin . . . . Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom.
Ps 5:8 [KJV]
Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.
Ps. 17:5, 15 [KJV]
Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. … As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
Ps 4:5 [KJV]
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.
I Kings 15:9, 11-14 [NLT]
Asa began to rule over Judah . . .. Asa did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, as his ancestor David had done. He banished the male and female shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made. He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made an obscene Asherah pole. He cut down her obscene pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Although the pagan shrines were not removed, Asa’s heart remained completely faithful to the Lord throughout his life.
II Chron. 16:1,2, 3, 4, 7-8 9, 10, 12, 13 [NLT]
In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent anyone from entering or leaving King Asa’s territory in Judah. Asa responded by removing the silver and gold from the treasuries of the Temple of the Lord and the royal palace. He sent it to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus, along with this message: “See, I am sending you silver and gold. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel so that he will leave me alone.” Ben-hadad agreed to King Asa’s request and sent the commanders of his army to attack the towns of Israel.
At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him, “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the Lord your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram. Don’t you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and charioteers? At that time you relied on the Lord, and he handed them over to you. From now on you will be at war.” Asa became so angry with Hanani for saying this that he threw him into prison and put him in stocks. At that time Asa also began to oppress some of his people. In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a serious foot disease. Yet even with the severity of his disease, he did not seek the Lord’s help but turned only to his physicians. So he died in the forty-first year of his reign.
Prov. 3:5-8 [NLT]
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.
Matt. 5:19-20 [NLT]
If you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!
Matt. 7:21 [NLT]
Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.
John 5:1-5, 8-9, 14 [NLT]
Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem . . . . Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda,. . . . One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. . .. Jesus told him, Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk! Instantly, the man was healed! . . . afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.
Matt. 5:6 [KJV]
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Matt. 12:22, 24-26, 28 [NLT ], 29 [ KJV]
Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. The crowd was amazed and asked, “Could it be that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah?” But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart. And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive. But if I am casting out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. [KJV] – How can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
James 5:16 [NLT]
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
Gen. 15:18 [NLT]
The Lord made a covenant with Abram . . . , “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River . . . .
Deut. 11:22, 25 [NLT]
“Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him. Then . . . No one will be able to stand against you. . . .
SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES by Mary Baker Eddy
SH 291:13
Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of “the mind of the Lord,” as the Scripture says.
SH 585:16-17, 19-21
Euphrates (river). Divine Science encompassing the universe and man; . . . the reign of righteousness. The atmosphere of human belief before it accepts sin, sickness, or death. . . .
SH 265:16-20
The senses represent birth as untimely and death as irresistible, as if man were a weed growing apace or a flower withered by the sun and nipped by untimely frosts; but this is true only of a mortal, not of a man in God’s image and likeness.
SH 595:5
Tares. Mortality; error; sin; sickness; disease; death.
SH 179:26-4
The sedulous matron — studying her Jahr with homeopathic pellet and powder in hand, ready to put you into a sweat, to move the bowels, or to produce sleep — is unwittingly sowing the seeds of reliance on matter, and her household may erelong reap the effect of this mistake. Descriptions of disease given by physicians and advertisements of quackery are both prolific sources of sickness. As mortal mind is the husbandman of error, it should be taught to do the body no harm and to uproot its false sowing.
SH 399:29
Our Master asked: “How can one enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?” In other words: How can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When disease is once destroyed in this so-called mind, the fear of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thoroughly cured. Mortal mind is “the strong man,” which must be held in subjection before its influence upon health and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we can despoil “the strong man” of his goods, — namely, of sin and disease.
SH 392:24-27
Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously.
SH 390:20-23, 27-2; 391: 4
Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. “Agree to disagree” with approaching symptoms of chronic or acute disease, whether it is cancer, consumption, or smallpox. Meet the incipient stages of disease with as powerful mental opposition as a legislator would employ to defeat the passage of an inhuman law. Rise in the conscious strength of the spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind, alias matter, arrayed against the supremacy of Spirit. . . . Then, when thou art delivered to the judgment of Truth, Christ, the judge will say, “Thou art whole!”
SH 622:20-8 [FRUITAGE]
About nine years ago I was drawn to Christian Science by a relative whose many afflictions had given place to health and harmony, and whose loving gratitude was reflected in every word and deed. The thought came to me, God indeed healeth all our diseases. My first reading of Science and Health was without understanding. I was full of darkness and gloom, and it was laid aside for a time. The good seed had been sown, however, and erelong the reading was resumed, and with such interest that my afflictions disappeared “like mist before the morning sun.” Asthma (thought to be hereditary), neuralgia in an aggravated form, and besides these, the tobacco and liquor habit of many years’ standing left me. Bless the Lord, “He sent his word” and healed me, — for the reading of Science and Health brought to my consciousness the truth that makes free. — S., Shellman, Ga.
SH 300:13-22
The temporal and unreal never touch the eternal and real. The mutable and imperfect never touch the immutable and perfect. The inharmonious and self-destructive never touch the harmonious and self-existent. These opposite qualities are the tares and wheat, which never really mingle, though (to mortal sight) they grow side by side until the harvest; then, Science separates the wheat from the tares, through the realization of God as ever present and of man as reflecting the divine likeness.
SH 79:9-11
Science must go over the whole ground, and dig up every seed of error’s sowing.
SH 392:4-5
To cure a bodily ailment, every broken moral law should be taken into account and the error be rebuked.
SH 400:30-1; 401:4
The Scriptures plainly declare the baneful influence of sinful thought on the body. Even our Master felt this. It is recorded that in certain localities he did not many mighty works “because of their unbelief” in Truth. If so-called mind is cherishing evil passions and malicious purposes, it is not a healer, but it engenders disease and death.
SH 188:23
What causes disease cannot cure it. The soil of disease is mortal mind, and you have an abundant or scanty crop of disease, according to the seedlings of fear. Sin and the fear of disease must be uprooted and cast out.
SH 254:16-19
During the sensual ages, absolute Christian Science may not be achieved prior to the change called death, for we have not the power to demonstrate what we do not understand.
SH 183:21-24
Divine Mind rightly demands man’s entire obedience, affection, and strength. No reservation is made for any lesser loyalty. Obedience to Truth gives man power and strength.
SH 270:31-1
The life of Christ Jesus was not miraculous, but it was indigenous to his spirituality, — the good soil wherein the seed of Truth springs up and bears much fruit.
SH 200:16-19
The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike.
SH 535:1
The seed of Truth and the seed of error, of belief and of understanding, — yea, the seed of Spirit and the seed of matter, — are the wheat and tares which time will separate, the one to be burned, the other to be garnered into heavenly places.
SH 578:5, 8-9, 17-18
[Divine love] is my shepherd. . . .[love] leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.. . .and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [love] for ever.