Podcast Summary: "This Is Why There Is Evil in the World"

Podcast: Fresh Life Church
Host: Pastor Levi Lusko
Date: November 17, 2025
Series: This is the Kingdom
Main Passage: Matthew 13

Episode Overview

In this episode, Pastor Levi Lusko takes on one of the toughest and most important theological questions: If God is good and all-powerful, why does He allow evil and suffering in the world? Through a deep dive into Jesus’ parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13), Levi explores the origins of evil, why God permits it, His patience in dealing with it, and ultimately what our role should be while we live among it. The message is delivered in a relatable, honest, and at times humorous way, mixing personal stories, practical analogies, and scriptural insights. Levi emphasizes the already-but-not-yet nature of God's kingdom, the reality of spiritual warfare, and the invitation for all to be part of God's redemption story.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Problem of Evil: Framing the Question

• Opening Question:
  "If God is good, why does He allow awful things to happen?" (00:00)
• Levi shares a poignant moment from a communion service, where a young woman asked:
  "Pastor Levi, I was raped as a teenager. Did God allow that to happen?"
• The episode’s title and theme stem directly from grappling with this question.

2. Already/Not Yet: Citizenship in a Coming Kingdom

• Becoming a Christian is a “citizenship-altering event”: when you trust Christ, you die to sin and become a citizen of God’s kingdom.
• "It's hard to live with an invisible kingdom that's not here yet... our citizenship is as a part of God's household, his kingdom, which the Lord's Prayer says we're to celebrate: Yours is the kingdom." (04:47)
• Analogy: Living in the tension of something “already and not yet”; engaged but not yet married.

3. Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13)

• Jesus’ story of a farmer who sows good seed, but an enemy (the devil) sows weeds (tares) among them.
• The wheat (good) and tares (evil) grow together until the harvest (the end of the age).
• "He told the parables to tease out faith... what he wanted them to do was to dig deeper." (13:48)

4. The Invitation of Jesus

• Emphasis on literally inviting Jesus into your home, marriage, workplace, and parenting.
• “Great things happen when you invite Jesus into your house. Have you invited Jesus into your house?” (17:18)
• Simple but profound: "God waits to be wanted and to be welcomed. Could it be that we have not because we ask not?" (18:05)

5. The Origin of Evil

• Evil didn’t come from God; God created a good world (see Genesis 1–2).
• Evil (the tares) was sown by the enemy, the devil.
  "The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I, on the other hand, am a good God. I came that they may have life." (John 10:10, paraphrased at 23:58)
• Sin entered the world through humanity’s choice to listen to the devil, not God.
• There’s a space between sowing and reaping: “sin can seem fun—in the short run—but there's always suffering in its aftermath.”
• Levi shares C.S. Lewis’ reflection:
  "A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?" (C.S. Lewis, 28:24)

6. God's Patience with Evil

• We often wonder why God doesn’t deal with evil right away.
• Levi’s humorous take:
  "Whenever we say that, it's never about us... I want God to deal with all the awful things in other people. And God would say, what about yours?" (32:07)
• 2 Peter 3:9: God is patient, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
• Levi recounts witnessing powerful worship from a survivor choosing to praise God—beauty and pain growing side by side.
• "If He took all the bad out right now, there wouldn't be the chance for us to go God, I'm side by side with evil, I'm keeping my eyes on you, I'm gonna worship you anyway." (36:17)

7. The End of Evil: Harvest and Judgment

• In the parable, harvest time is coming—God will ultimately separate good and evil.
• "The tares are bundled and put in the fire, and the wheat gets to go in the barn. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." (43:55)
• Everyone who enters the kingdom does so by grace.
• "The only reason we're going into the mansions, the only reason we're going into the barn—hello?—is because Jesus went into the fire." (45:02)

8. Our Role While Evil Remains

• Our job isn’t to be “weed whackers” but to be “world reachers.”
• We were all weeds once—now by Christ we can participate in seeing others transformed.
• "By nature, children of wrath... we were weeds once too. The only reason we're going into the barn is because Jesus went into the fire." (46:01)
• Levi encourages a posture of humility and urgency in sharing Christ, describing the heavier-laden a stalk of wheat, the more it bows.
• "The heavier laden a stalk of wheat gets, the lower it bows, because where there's actually fruit, there's humility." (48:01)

9. Global Vision

• Levi highlights Fresh Life Church's global digital reach.
• "Our job is not to be weed whackers but world reachers... The field is the world. God wants the whole world to come to know Him, and we get to be a part of it." (50:24)
• Final analogy: a deep-sea fishing captain’s infectious passion for the catch—may we be as passionate for souls as he is for fish. (52:45)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Kingdom Citizenship:
  "You're no longer a child of the devil. Can we celebrate that for a second? ... When the old nature comes calling, you can be like, 'Levi can't come to the phone right now because the old Levi is dead.'" (02:40)

• On the Mystery of God's Kingdom:
  "It's hard to live with an invisible kingdom that's not here yet. We're like, I promise it's there though..." (04:55)

• On Sin and Suffering:
  "Whenever we choose to sin, we always choose to suffer. But there's a space between sowing and reaping." (25:47)

• On the Reality of Judgment:
  "I have told you the bad news of where you're headed. Do nothing, the escalator will take you to flames. Do nothing, the last stop is wrath. But that's not what God wants for you." (53:45)

• On Our Role:
  "Our obsession now should be: the field is the world. If you're not thinking this is too good to keep to myself... you're not thinking like Jesus." (50:45)

• On Humility:
  "The heavier laden a stalk of wheat gets, the lower it bows, because where there's actually fruit, there's humility." (48:01)

Timestamps Guide for Key Sections

| Timestamp | Segment/Theme | | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | | 00:00–04:45| Framing the problem: If God is good, why does He allow evil? | | 04:46–12:15| Citizenship in God’s Kingdom: living in the already/not yet | | 12:16–17:15| The Parable of the Wheat and Tares | | 17:16–19:40| Inviting Jesus in: the power of invitation | | 19:41–28:38| The Origin of Evil and the devil’s role | | 28:39–31:01| [Break for announcements, skip] | | 31:02–37:55| God’s patience with evil; why doesn’t God act immediately? | | 37:56–44:00| Worship in suffering; how God redeems what He allows | | 44:01–50:15| The End of Evil: Final judgment and Jesus' sacrifice | | 50:16–53:20| Our role now: not “weed whackers” but “world reachers” | | 53:21–end | Salvation invitation and call to respond |

Final Reflections

Levi Lusko’s message is hopeful, honest, and theologically rich, offering not easy answers, but biblical comfort, clarity, and a call to action. He does not sugarcoat the reality of evil or suffering—instead, he compassionately addresses the hardest questions, always returning to the gospel. Rather than callous indifference, followers of Jesus are called to a posture of humility, worship, and passionate outreach, remembering that every son or daughter in the kingdom started out as a weed, but by grace was transformed for a glorious purpose.

“Our job is not to be weed whackers, but world reachers.”
— Pastor Levi Lusko (50:24)