Kingdom Parables: Wheat & Tares Intro We are studying the kingdom parables of Jesus. o Specifically, we are looking at passages that say The kingdom of heaven is like We have already established that the kingdom of heaven, o or the kingdom of God, comes in stages. First heaven came to earth in the incarnation. o Jesus was the initiation of God s kingdom on this earth. o He came to take back what the enemy thought he possessed. o His was a rebellion that was designed to overthrow the prince of this world and bring his kingdom down. However, he accomplished this in a different manner than was expected. He did not lead a violent, physical rebellion, o as many expected. Instead of raising an army o he put together a corporate body of believers. He invested himself in 12 men. He did, indeed, overthrow the prince of this world, o but he did in weakness rather than strength. Instead of leading an army to victory, o he allowed himself to be led to a hill called Golgotha. They nailed him to an old rugged cross o And he died. But that was not the end of the story. o On the day of Pentecost, In an upper room The kingdom came in power o As the Holy Ghost was poured out on 120 believers. This Holy Ghost is the spirit of Jesus Christ. o He literally poured himself into his church. The church became the kingdom of God in this world. These parables are about this kingdom. o The present kingdom of God in this world. They all relate to the church, in various ways.
There is however, still a coming kingdom. o The day will come when the Lord will return in all of his glory and, finally, once and for all, he will overthrow the prince of this world banishing him to a place called hell. The scope of this morning s parable o Extends to that point. It gives us some realities about the kingdom as it exists on this world right now. But it also looks forward to that final day, the day of the Lord, o when God s kingdom o will finally invade the whole earth. It is the parable of the wheat and the tares. o Jesus gives the parable in Matthew 13:24-30 And gives an interpretation of the parable In Matthew 13:36-43 Matthew 13:24-30 24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. Matthew 13:36-43 36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. The Field There seems to be some controversy o over the scope of this parable How do you define the field? The reason for the controversy rests in the fact that o Jesus identifies the field as being the world. o However, when the time for harvest comes the Lord says of his angels that they shall gather out of his kingdom o all things that offend, o and them which do iniquity. This leads some to say that the field o is the whole world in general and that the parable is a picture of the righteous living o in the midst of the wicked. However, since the kingdom is the church, o others have posited that this is a picture of true believers and false believers living side by side in the church. o Personally, I don t see why both perspectives wouldn t be true. o The point of the parable is not the field, it is not the scope of the parable that is critical. The point is the fruit. o That s what Jesus was trying to convey. The Fruit Wheat and tares o The Bible sometimes talks about certain things With the assumption that the audience knows certain details because they were common knowledge 2,000 years ago. o However, since we are 2,000 years removed
from the culture of the Bible, o we have to take a minute and orient ourselves in the world of Jesus and his disciples o to fully understand things that were readily apparent to the original listeners. When we start talking about wheat and tares, o We have to investigate a little bit to learn the significance of these two plants being sown together in the same field. o Jesus is talking about an illegal practice. There was Roman law against sowing tares o in someone else s field of wheat. o The very fact that the Romans passed a law to address the practice helps us to understand that this was a fairly common way for an antagonist to injure his opponent. We all know what wheat is so lets discuss the tares. o What the scripture calls a tare is a weed that is commonly called wild wheat. o The real name is the bearded darnel. It is a poisonous form of rye grass. o It resembles wheat, but the head that it produces is filled with little black seeds. o Its fruit is bitter, and causes dizziness, and lethargy. o It is classified as a strong, sleep inducing, poison. o If they are mistakenly harvested together, the wheat and the tares, the tiny black seeds o must be picked out of the wheat, grain by grain, o before grinding, or the flour will be no good. However, to complicate matters, in the early stages of growth, the wheat and the tares are indistinguishable. o Once they are sown together, the only way to tell the difference between the two
o was their fruit. o Initially, all plants looked the same. The farmer might look over his field And think, man what a blessing o The wheat has come in strong and plentiful. o This is going to be a good year! However, as the plants began to grow to maturity o and produce fruit, the difference between the tares and the wheat o becomes obvious to the alert observer. o Their fruit distinguishes them. The wheat produces a head that contains grain. The grain is heavy o and causes the head of the wheat to droop towards the ground. The wheat bows its head. o Unlike the grains of wheat, the seeds of the tare are not heavy and, while the wheat bows its head o under the weight of its fruit, the tares stand bold and tall, o without any semblance of bowing. This is an apt description of the distinction o between the righteous and the unrighteous. Those who belong to Jesus o bear fruit in their lives that is readily apparent to those around them. They are humble. They are people of prayer. o Their head is bowed. And they are people who let the Lord fight their battles. The unrighteous, however, are arrogant and proud. o They bow their head and bend their knees to none. They are prayer less people. o A people who are not under submission to the Lord! The righteous and the unrighteous o Like the wheat and the tares Are distinguished by their fruit.
And this, I believe, is the real point of the parable. o Good seed produces good fruit. Evil seed produces bad fruit. And the fruit is the only way o to tell them apart As the grain begins to grow o and the head begins to form, the spiteful act of the enemy becomes apparent. What looked like a bountiful harvest, o is now recognized as a sabotaged field. As some of the plants bow their heads While others stand arrogant and proud. Jesus was, indeed, showing us a picture of the world, o the wicked and the righteous living side by side. o In fact that same picture may very well extend to the church house, where some are submitted and prayerful, producing the good fruit o that springs forth from good seed while others are rebellious and prayer less, producing the fruit o that springs forth from carnality and flesh. I heard a story once about a little boy o Who went over to a pastor's house, where the pastor was doing some carpentry in his garage. o The boy simply stood there and watched him for quite a long time. Not saying word. o No asking al the questions that one would expect. o The preacher began to wonder why the boy was watching him so intently and finally he became so curious o that he asked a question, Son, are you trying to pick up some pointers on how to build something? o Is there a project that I can help you with? o The little boy replied, "No. I am just waiting to hear
what a preacher says o when he hits his thumb with a hammer." o The young man didn t come to learn about carpentry. He came to learn about fruit! Our fruit defines us. o We are what you produce. Jesus expanded on this thought in Matthew 7:15-20: Matthew 7:15-20 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. There is no doubt, here, o that Jesus is talking about his kingdom, the church. There will be some wolves in sheep s clothing o that will find their way into the kingdom. A wolf in sheep s clothing is a lot like the tares in the field full of wheat. o They look the same on the outside but they are dramatically different on the inside. o One is truly a sheep, the other is a predator that eats sheep! o How can you tell them apart? Jesus says that you can identify them by their fruits. Thorn bushes don t produce grapes and thistles don t produce figs. This is an important point: o The good tree produces good fruit and the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. o Just like the good seed produces wheat while the bad seed produces tares. It is impossible for them to do otherwise. o You can t sow tares and reap wheat. Here s the thing,
o the plants produced by the good seed and the bad seed may be indistinguishable in their infancy. o However, there is one immutable law, every seed produces after its own kind. o Peach trees don t grow pears. Apple trees don t produce oranges. And bad seed doesn t produce good fruit. One of the main points of the parable o is that what you are spiritually is determined, not by what you profess o but by what you do. Because what you do, the fruit that you produce, o reveals what s on the inside. o Actions speak louder than words. In a world where wolves wear sheep s clothing, o you cannot afford to judge a book by its cover. o A follower of Jesus is identified By the fruit that their life produces. The fruit you produce identifies the condition of your heart. o Those who produce good fruit are, according to Jesus, the children of the kingdom. o But those who produce tares are the children of the wicked one, Satan. Think about that for a minute. o We live in a culture that does its best to erase the lines between the holy and the profane. o We are constantly reminded that we are ALL God s children. But that s not exactly true. o Here we find that some are the children of God but others are the children of the devil. We are all God s creation, o but not all people are his children. The primary difference between those who are his children
o and those who are not is the fruit that they produce. This would be a good time to ask yourself, o what kind of fruit does my life produce? That determines whether I am a child of God o or a child of Satan. One World, Two Kingdoms Another truth that parable bears out is this: o the master of the field allows both the wheat and the tares to exist side by side in his field. Why would he do that? o Why not just remove the tares? Why not purge the field? The reason is pretty simple. o Wheat doesn t have a deep root system. Compared to how high it grows, wheat does not put down o a very deep root. o You might stretch the analogy to the church And say that wheat is not very attached to this world. It reaches to the heavens without rooting itself in the world. Really the enemy was quite ingenious. o Because he understood that, by the time that the difference between the wheat and the tares o became obvious, their root systems would be hopelessly intertwined. o The tares roots run deeper than the wheat So they are under the wheat roots. o If the farmer were to try to remove the tares, when their roots were pulled up, the shallow roots of the wheat o would be irreparably damaged. So the master tolerates both. o He allows them to grow side by side in his field. Why does he do this? Does this mean that the enemy has won?
o No, not at all. The master understands what the enemy has failed to grasp. Harvest time is coming. And, on that final day, o the fruit will be the defining characteristic. That which is good will be preserved That which is bad will be destroyed Many people think that this image o of wheat and tares growing side by side in the same field is the central theme of the parable. Indeed, it is an important reminder o that we are living in an era where the kingdom of God has come but the whole earth has not, yet, o come under its dominion. o The kingdom is here, in the church, but it exists side by side with the kingdom of the enemy. This is not what the Jews were expecting. o They thought that the Messiah would be a conquering political king. o They thought he would overthrow the kingdom of evil from the very beginning. o They thought their messiah would walk into the field and rip the tares up by their roots o and throw them into the fire. But that s not what he did. He came in meekness. He came in humility. o He humbled himself. He was Isaiah s suffering servant. o He did come to overthrow Satan s kingdom and rescue his own people from it. However, he did not do that o in the manner that they expected. o Instead of riding a white horse and carrying a blazing sword, he rode in on the foal of a donkey. o He humbly submitted himself to the cross.
He lifted not his voice to defend himself. He did not call down the incredible wrath of God o upon those cruel men who beat him and nailed him to the cross. o Instead he laid down his life in order to inaugurate his kingdom. The kingdom that he established, o the church that was born in the upper room, would exist in the midst of a broken world. o The church, however, would be in this world but it would not be of this world. o It would be all together different than the world. This is his kingdom, and he is our king. But this kingdom exists, for the time being, o right along side the kingdom of Satan. o The wheat is growing in the same field as the tares. And it will exist that way, until the fullness of God s time has come. But, mark my words, there is a day coming o when the wheat and the tares will be separated. In the parable, the wheat and the tares o could not be prematurely separated because it would have damaged the wheat before it was finished growing. o In the world, today, the children of God and the children of Satan, o occupy the same field because it would be premature for the Lord to rapture his church. o The fullness of the bride has not yet been reached. To separate them now would damage the wheat, o because it would diminish the bride. There are still souls that must be saved.
The church isn t leaving this world o until the last soul has been reached. As long as the church is here, growing side by side with evil, o the wheat in the midst of the tares, there is still hope for a lost world. Because God is still adding to his church, daily, such as should be saved. The Harvest But, the day is coming o when there will be a harvest. Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. The tares will be gathered and burned. o This is a clear reference to eternal judgment, a place called hell. o Those who have rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ, have become the children of Satan and they will receive the same judgment o that Satan will receive, they will be thrown into a lake which burns with fire, o into a place of everlasting torment. This parable reminds us of this all-important truth. o Judgment is coming. It is the day of the Lord, the end of the age, o that final day when the wrath of God will finally be poured out upon the children of wickedness. o That day is surely coming and, perhaps the most important truth that this parable conveys o is that no man knows the day, nor the hour, when the Lord is returning o for his church. o He may come at any time.
On that day, you want to be numbered o among the wheat, not the tares. o The distinguishing difference is the fruit that is produced by your life. o If the fruit of your life is the bitter, poisonous, fruit of this world I came to this pulpit to remind you, this morning, o that its not too late, indeed, it is never too late until it is finally too late. Closing Noah was a preacher of righteousness. o The entire time that he was building his ark, he preached salvation to a lost world. o He warned them, over and over again, that judgment day was coming; God was determined to wipe out the earth o and start again. o But, though the multitudes came to behold the spectacle of Noah building his ark on dry land, o in a world that had never seen rain, they ignored his message and failed to respond to his preaching. Finally, the day came o when The Lord closed the door to the ark. Once that happened, everything changed. o The rain began to fall and panic began to set in. Men and women came o and the beat upon the door to the ark, let us in, they cried. o But, though Noah may have been compassionate enough to open the door, he was powerless to do so. o When the day of the Lord finally came, and the door to salvation slammed shut, and it was the Lord who shut the door o there was no way to reopen it. There was no way for the lost to become saved.
That day has not yet come. o We are living in that era where wheat and tares share the same field, but make no mistake about it, o that day is coming. o The wheat and the tares will be separated. It is not my point this morning to scare anyone, only to sound a clear warning. In the spirit of Noah, I want to warn you that the Lord will not always strive with man. Right now the wheat and the tares grow side by side, o but that s not the key point of the parable. That s just the faithful description of the age we live in. The point of the parable o is that the thing that distinguishes the wheat from the tares is the good fruit o that the wheat produces. I ve said it once this morning, o but I will say it again, in closing: It is time to measure yourself. It is time to consider the fruit o that your life is producing. I join my voice with that of the wisest man who ever lived: Lamentations 3:40-41 40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. 41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. The kingdom of heaven is like a field o where wheat and tares grow together. But a day of separation is coming. Before it is too late, o lift up you heart unto God and let his mercy and grace produce the good fruit o of righteousness in your life!