2/20/16-Matt. 13:24-30; 36-43-Wheat and Tares

Jesus tells a story here, and let us examine it to pull its meaning and understand. Plus, there is good news for us. Jesus gives us help in understanding it by giving us an explanation.

The story starts off simple enough Farmer goes out and sows seed

But then the plot thickens: while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came in and sowed weeds, or tares.

Just to clarify here: tares means weeds.

This sowing of tares would have been disastrous, it was an act of sabotage, and later in vs 38-39, we see who is responsible. It is the evil one, the devil, has done this.

And that ol’ snake in the grass is dastardly, because he has used tares that look like good wheat.

Looking at a young wheat sown by God and young tares so by the devil, they look the same.

It is only after they mature, can you really tell the difference between good and bad.

And yet, look at the reaction of the farmer…He doesn’t say, “All right boys, get your weed-whackers and go to work!”

Instead, He says, “wait”. The farmer knows this is a problem. He says wait not because He wants the weeds there, rather, it is because he loves the good wheat so much that He does not want the servants to damage them.

God does not want harm to come to the wheat until the final harvest. Until then, he is more concerned about preserving the good then destroying the evil. And not only is this about preserving the wheat, the farmer, God, can also give time for the tares.

Yes, time for God to turn the tares into wheat, for with God, all things are possible.

So, how does this parable related to us today? This pertains and instructs us on how to be a church in the world. God makes us more perfect, by working in our hearts and minds to make us more like Jesus.

That’s the good perfect.

The tares (unbelievers) and wheat (believers) must live side by side in the world.

Yet at the end, the one qualified to judge will judge, because He knows more than we do because He looks at the heart.

We do not have to judge, and that should be a burden off our shoulders. The wheat does not have to judge the tares.

The wheat just has to…be wheat.

We in the church do not have to judge someone’s salvation. Instead like the wheat, we are just called to be faithful. And the one attitude that helps me is to remember this: We were all tares once.

We were all lost until God’s grace got a hold of us.

And if he can make us new, and change us from tares to wheat, then instead of trying to rid the tares ourselves so we can be perfect on the outside, we should pray for the tares so that God can make them wheat and make us perfect on the inside.

God desires that all people no matter how broken, turn to Him and live.

One final metaphor to remember: The church is to be a hospital for sinners rather than a museum for saints.

If we ever start to think we should only want perfect people in our local body of Christ, then we must remember God’s heart for the broken.

As the Master strives to seek and save the lost, so should we the servants.

God can bring new life to dead places.

Allow God to be the final judge, for we were all tares once before He saved us.

And he can change the most broken tare to the most fruitful wheat…oh and let God do the weed-whacking.