THE WHEAT AND THE TARES
"And when one of them that sat at meat with Him [Jesus] heard these things, he said unto Him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God. Then said He [Jesus] unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” (Luke 14:15-20).
One thing that all of Jesus' disciples had in common
was that they all left everything behind to follow Him. Jesus walked the shores of Galilee and called
to the fishermen who were casting their nets into the sea, and to those who
were helping their father mend nets.
Their response was to drop everything and follow Him. He walked by the table of a tax-collector by
the name of Matthew and said, "Follow
Me" and Matthew got up, left his table, and followed Jesus. None of these men questioned where they were
going, or how long they should expect to be gone; they just followed where
their Lord led. They did not make excuses
or complain that it wasn’t convenient for them to follow just now - they simply
followed.
Of course, there were those who did make excuses not to
follow. As in the parable above, there
were many reasons not to answer the call.
One had bought property and needed to go inspect it; another had
purchased a team of oxen and needed to go prove them; and still another had
just gotten married and wanted to spend time with his bride. The list of things that we place above God's
call is endless, and they all seem justifiable in our estimation. The simple truth is that when we put
conditions on how and when we will follow the Lord, we are no longer followers
but make ourselves the leaders. There is no end to the excuses; but only one real reason why we don't follow: we love our own lives more than we love the
Lord.
In Jesus' day, those who should have jumped at the
chance to follow and learn at the feet of the Master (the priests, Levites,
masters of the law, and others of the religious hierarchy) refused the
invitation; but the publicans and sinners were glad to accept the call. "And
the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel
them to come in, that my house may be filled.
For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste
of my supper." (Luke 14:23, 24).
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is a call to lose our lives to gain His life. Many are called to
this, but comparatively few are chosen.
The world truly is filled with "Christians," but there are far
too many whose Christianity is no more life-changing than a membership to a
lodge or fraternal order. They have no
idea what God's will is, or what the hope of His calling for their lives
is. Jesus' words in Matthew 7 are very
sobering, "Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and
in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity." (Matthew
7:21-23).
Jesus shared many parables in Matthew 13 about the
Kingdom of Heaven. Two of them speak of
elements within the Church that are destined for destruction, and two others
which, I believe, explain how we can ensure that we are on the right path.
The first parable tells of a man who sowed wheat in his
field; but while he slept, an enemy came and sowed tares in among the
wheat. Tares are a type of weed that
very closely resembles wheat but do not bear anything useful. In fact, the seeds from tares are toxic if
ground up like wheat and ingested. The
man's servants asked him if they should pull out the tares; but he told them
not to because, by so doing, some of the wheat would also be uprooted. He told them to wait till the harvest, and
then the tares could be separated from the wheat and destroyed. (Matthew
13:24-30, 34-40). This parable is a
clear warning that there are those within the Christian Church who look and
speak the part of a true believer, but who bear no good fruit for the Kingdom
of God. They are, in many respects, like
the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus' day that were full of religion but lacked
real faith and charity. They could quote
the scripture forward and backward but did not recognize the Son of God when He
was standing before them speaking God's words.
They did many good works, but only to be seen of men and to garner
praise for their own "goodness."
Instead of bearing the fruit of the Spirit, they spread a toxicity in
the Church that can adversely affect others.
The second Parable of the Kingdom is similar in its
message. It likens the Kingdom to a
fisherman's net that was cast into the sea and gathered every kind of fish -
both good and bad. This net was then dragged
onto land, and the fish were then sorted.
The good were saved, but the bad were cast away. Jesus' explanation is that the good fish
represent the just, and the bad fish represent the unrighteous. At the end of the world, the angels will
separate the wicked from the just and cast them into a furnace of fire.
(Matthew 13:47-50). The Gospel message
does indeed gather all kinds of "fish" into its net, but not every
fish is good or just. Many think that it
is enough to be "in the net," meaning they are church members. They may be very surprised on Judgment Day,
however, to find that they have been cast away!
This brings us to the final two parables, and also
answers the questions that I am sure are on your minds about now: "How can
I be sure that I am the good seed and not a tare?" and "How can I
know if I'm a good fish or a bad?"
Sandwiched in the middle of these first two parables
are two other parables that are very short - only one and two verses. They are also very powerful though. "The
Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hid in a field; which, when a man hath
found, he hideth, and for joy thereof
goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a
merchant seeking goodly pearls: who, when
he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and
bought it." (Matthew
13:44-46).
The lesson here is this: the Gospel of the Kingdom is
the treasure hid in the field and the pearl of great price. If we are to obtain that which is beyond
price, we must be willing to give all that we are, and all that we have. We cannot withhold anything from our Savior
Who has withheld nothing from us. How
can we keep back our lives when He has given His to purchase ours? The miracle, though, is that just as Jesus
was raised from the dead after giving up His life, we too will be filled with
new life, joy, and purpose when we are willing to lay down our lives for
Christ's sake.
“And there
went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto them, If any man
come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and
brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My
disciple." (Luke
14:25, 26). In this fourteenth chapter
of St. Luke, we find great multitudes following Jesus. This, it would seem, was a good thing. Today, we consider large congregations a sign
of spiritual blessing and successful ministry.
Jesus, on the other hand, knew better.
He turned on the multitude and spelled out the criteria necessary to be
a disciple in no uncertain terms. The
word "hate" used in this passage seems strong to our sensitive ears,
but every major translation uses this word to render the original Greek. You see, this takes us back to the original
sin. It was Adam's sin and disobedience
to God that brought sin and spiritual death upon all of mankind. As a result, everything that we are in Adam
(that is, in the flesh) is at enmity with God.
Our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts are not His thoughts. In Adam, our very best intentions are tainted
by the flesh, and at odds with God's eternal purpose. "For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians
15:22). Thank God that through the New Birth
we have passed from death into life and have become new creatures. Our minds are being renewed by the Spirit of
God living in us and transforming us into His image. We still must contend with the flesh, though. We cannot trust our flesh to lead us in the
right ways. We must hate its insidious
influences, and, instead, rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. Not only must we hate our own flesh, but we must hate the fleshly
influence of others who are close to us as well. Our wife, our children, our parents, etc.,
all can influence us to make choices that may be contrary to God's purpose for
our life. Of course, we must love our
families with the love of Christ and lay down our lives for them day-by-day;
but we must, at the same time, hate the ways in which our loved ones would urge
us to do things that would not please God or be contrary to His will for us, no
matter how well-intentioned those suggestions might be. Jesus expressed this same principle in
another way when He said, "He that
loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth
son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." (Matthew 10:37).
Every day we face choices to either be selfish at the
expense of others, or to deny ourselves, and exhibit the life of Jesus by our
actions. The one is the path of
hypocrisy (saying Jesus is Lord, but choosing our own ways), and the other the
path of discipleship (following our Lord's directions at the expense of our own
selfish desires). "And whoever doth not bear his cross,
and come after Me, cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:27).
Keep in mind that this is a progressive walk. Just as it takes a child some time to grow
into maturity and wisdom, likewise it takes time for us to grow into the
fullness of the stature of Christ. As
any good father, God instructs us, directs us, and, yes, even chastens us. We are learning day by day to choose His ways
over ours. This is what Paul meant when
he said, "I die daily." It is indeed a daily discipline. At
times, we may falter and fail; but we pick ourselves back up, acknowledge our
failure to our Father, and trust His grace to empower us to overcome. A child learning to walk may spend a lot of
time on the floor initially, but eventually he manages to stay on his
feet. As he progresses, he learns to
run, then skips, and even jumps. This is
God's promise to us: that we can run and not grow weary if we trust His
strength over ours.
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