The Wheat and the Tares - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

Gracetoyou.org ^ | 2008 | John MacArthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

“‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” And he said to them, “An enemy has done this!” The slaves said to him, “Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?” But he said, “No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn’”’” (Matthew 13:24–30; see vv. 36–43).

Throughout redemptive history, our Lord has planted believers (“good seed”) in the world as His witnesses, to be faithful to Him, become fruitful plants of righteousness, and reflect His will before a corrupt world. The tares, by contrast, are the children of Satan—unbelievers spread throughout the world until they thoroughly outnumber the wheat by a large margin.

“The harvest” represents the Father’s judgment at the end of the age, when His angels will execute sentence on the many unbelievers, just as the human reapers separated the tares from the wheat and burned them.

The apostles likely were ready and eager to separate out the tares immediately, as seen by James’ and John’s attitudes toward the unbelieving Samaritans (Luke 9:54). But that was and is not God’s plan, lest some of the good plants (believers) get inadvertently uprooted with the tares.

During His incarnation Jesus did nothing to destroy His enemies. He even appealed to Judas right to the end that he believe (John 13:26). On the cross He asked forgiveness for those who orchestrated His execution (Luke 23:34). Therefore we also should be instruments of truth and grace toward unbelievers.

Ask Yourself

This is not the age of God’s judgment—certainly not by the church—but rather the age for evangelism. What does this mean concerning the way we are called to perform ministry in this generation?

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TOPICS: Evangelical Christian; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: gty

[metmom]

Studying God’s Word ping

[Telepathic Intruder]

“No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.”

People always have the question “Why does God allow evil in the world, if he’s all powerful?”, to which my only answer is “Maybe destroying it now would do more harm than good”. Just because his timeframe doesn’t match our preferred one doesn’t mean he’s not on the job.

[alexander_busek]

There are selective, narrow-spectrum herbicides (like benzoylprop-ethyl) that can be used to target specific weeds (tares).

Just sayin'.

Regards,

[MikelTackNailer]

True, yet using herbicides can end up hurting US more than the weeds (Monsanto’s “Round-Up”).

It’s like those who’d abort fetuses because their genetics appear to be faulty. You can’t know if they had a unique contribution or talent until they had a chance to get there.

We can’t know if a sinner is beyond redemption because we’re not God. I see this as an “in general” parable because, with weeds, you can find a strain damaging and killing healthy plants and they must be eradicated. With people when we have strains that damage and kill others despite countermeasures they must be sent to God.

Preferably without living off us (continuing to be an isolated weed) for twenty or more years before pulling.

[Adder]

Ok...you made me look:

“In this story, tare is a kind of weed. It resembles wheat in its early stages. Some scholars identify the tare as Lolium temulentum or known as bearded darnel or grains of the L. temulentum.

This weed mimics wheat in appearance. That is, it has tall green stalks. Tare also has similar leaves to wheat. Plus, it has an identical growth pattern. However, tare is poisonous and harmful.”

Dang, its too early to be learning new things...

[alexander_busek]

True, yet using herbicides can end up hurting US more than the weeds (Monsanto’s “Round-Up”).

I know - That's why I specifically referenced narrow-spectrum herbicides. "Round-Up" is a broad-spectrum herbicide.

We can’t know if a sinner is beyond redemption because we’re not God.

I know - But the parable here is specifically about God and His limitations - not about human limitations (though it employs the metaphor of human agricultural workers to illustrate His limitations). It is about why God doesn't yank out the tares. The parable as much as states that God is unable to remove the Wicked from the midst of the Righteous without somehow harming the righteous.

In other words: The parable illustrates that even God has limitations.

Humans apparently have great difficulty in developing herbicides that target weeds, only - and God likewise is unable to eliminate "evil" (and by extension "evil-doers") without causing "unintended consequences."

Jesus here is very clearly advancing a theodicean argument - though why he felt it necessary to do so at that particular point in the Biblical narrative eludes me.

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

People always have the question “Why does God allow evil in the world, if he’s all powerful?”, to which my only answer is “Maybe destroying it now would do more harm than good”. Just because his timeframe doesn’t match our preferred one doesn’t mean he’s not on the job.

False Dilemma!

He doesn't have to destroy all of the evil in the world.

Rather, He could simply selectively "disappear" the worst evil-doers.

Some unknown / unidentified serial killer who has been covertly kidnapping, raping, torturing, and killing young girls over a period of decades, for example. God could give them a massive cardiac arrest at the first opportunity - rather than allowing them to continue committing depraved acts for decades.

Jeffrey Dahmer... John Wayne Gacey... They all could have simply dropped dead just moments before (or after) their first killing. No one else would have been any the wiser.

Regards,

[Karl Spooner]

It seems quite clear who the bad seeds are and still are, but obviously hard for us to distinguish from the good seeds. There is a lot more to it from there. I don't know why they try to hide it, well maybe I do.

John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

[tired&retired]

Matthew 13
The Parable of the Weeds Explained

36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

It’s really quite simple.

“38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom.”

If the earth is the field and mankind are the good seeds, what are they seeds of?

Mankind are the seeds of Divine Consciousness (souls) that are planted here on the earth to grow. Jesus, as the Alpha and the Omega is the “Farmer of the Crop of Souls on Earth.”

We are nearing the Harvest.

[Elsie]

This is not the age of God’s judgment—certainly not by the church—but rather the age for evangelism.

So true.

We must decide whether we want to make a point - or a difference.

[Elsie]

People always have the question “Why does God allow evil in the world, if he’s all powerful?”

Yes - we have an 'agnostic' asking this very question on FR these days.

[Elsie]

So: there must be such a thing as a GMO Christian.

[Elsie]

 It is about why God doesn't yank out the tares.

Here's why:

2 Peter 3:9 NIV

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,
as some understand slowness.
Instead he is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.

[oldtech]

It will all be made right in God’s good time. Remember that His time schedule is not like ours.

[Elsie]

We are nearing the Harvest.

True, but there are some that ask,

 

   2 Peter 3:1-7 Berean Standard Bible 

1 Beloved, this is now my second letter to you. Both of them are reminders to stir you to wholesome thinking 2 by recalling what was foretold by the holy prophets and commanded by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

3 Most importantly, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 “Where is the promise of His coming?” they will ask. “Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.”

5 But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world of that time perished in the flood. 7 And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

 

[Srednik]

Theologians have a term “theodicy,” to address how a good God can permit evil to exist.

This parable, along with the book of Job and the Genesis account of the entry of spiritual death with sin entering the world (as described in Romans 5), is a good way to understand how a good God (the land owner) deals with sin (the tares sown by the evil one) and does not root it up now (as the steward offers) but waits until the day of judgment. In this parable we see God’s character to be good, and patient, and just.

[Elsie]

Just as the bush caught on fire when God appeared to Moses...

Actually, the text does not reveal just WHEN it started, only that in caught Moses' attention.

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Exodus 3:1–15

New International Version (2011)

1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethrol his father-in-law, the priest of Midian,m and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb,n the mountaino of God. 2 There the angel of the Lordp appeared to him in flames of fireq from within a bush.r Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

 

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God calleds to him from within the bush,t “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”u

[Elsie]

This is why Jesus stated several times, “I have not come to judge, but to save.”

HE also stated:

Matthew 10:34-36 English Standard Version

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.