Parable Of The Wheat And The Tares Series

Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

Matthew 13:24-30

http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/WheatAndTares.html

Will everyone who goes to church go to heaven? Will every member of GBC make it? I would like to think that if the rapture occurred on a Sunday morning during our main service, that the room would be completely emptied, but acc’d to this parable that would be highly unlikely.

It’s a simple parable, but carries with it a profound truth.

It goes like this: A farmer sowed good seed on good ground, but while he slept an enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. A tare is a poisonous weed which looks a lot like wheat in the early stages. If eaten by a person or an animal, nausea would occur, convulsions, and in certain circumstances, even death! This was a spiteful act of malice. The enemy had nothing to gain, except to ruin the wheat crop of the farmer.

When his workers realized what had been done they asked the farmer if they should begin removing the tares, and he said no, it’s easier to tell the difference at harvest time. We’ll bring the wheat into the barn, but we’ll separate the tares into bundles and burn them.

The interpretation then is found in vv. 36-42 [read]

It’s not hard to understand what the Lord Jesus is saying by way of this parable. But let’s go a little deeper into the applications and the ramifications of these things…

3 elements: The sowing, the growing, and the mowing [reaping]

I. The Sowing

A. The sowing of the wheat.

v. 37 Jesus is the farmer, and the next verse points out that the wheat are the believers.

Wheat and Christians have some things in common:

• Wheat doesn’t have a deep root system. Wheat doesn’t go very deep compared to how high it gets. It’s easily pulled up and uprooted. I could say it like this: wheat is not firmly attached to this world. The same ought to be true of us when it comes to this earth.

Ill.—a woman lived in the same house for 82 years / war broke out / authorities said she had to leave in 15 minutes / she said, every bit of who I am in in this house…how can I pack up and leave that quickly?

But one day soon, and it may be today, a summons will sound in the sky and we’ll leave a lot quicker than that…in the twinkling of an eye! If you have a nice house / car that’s fine, but don’t get too attached, because you can’t take it with you, you won’t need it where you’re going, and you’ll never miss it, and only what we’ve done for Christ will matter!

• Wheat doesn’t last very long. Wheat grows and ripens, bears its fruit, and quickly passes off the scene. And when we get saved we grow in grace, bear what fruit God wants us to bear, and quickly fade away. I don’t know how long you and I will live, but until God is through w/ us, not a hair of our heads can be touched, and after God is done w/ us, no anchor in the world can hold us here.

Ill.—in Revelation, even the antichrist cannot bring harm to God’s 2 witnesses until they ‘had finished their testimony.’

One day I’ll preach my last sermon, and I don’t know when, but then I’ll be out of here…not off to another church, but off to another world!

One day you’ll get up and do the things you usually do for the last time. Make the bed, take a bath, brush your teeth…you won’t realize it until you’re flying thru the air, but you just did those things for the last time! [some may say, I don’t remember the last time I did any of those things…we’ll pray for you!]

God didn’t leave us here to take up space, but to accomplish specific things for Him, and to bear fruit!

• Wheat grows upward and dies downward. And we ought to become more and more alive to things above, and dead to that which is below. The Apostle Paul said, “set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.”

• Wheat has a head which when mature begins to bow. What a beautiful picture! The head of wheat becomes full of grain and slumps over. Bearing more fruit for the Christian should not lead to pride, but to humility. But for many, success doesn’t cause the head to bow, but the nose to rise!

B. The sowing of the weeds.

v. 25 The enemy came by night and sowed these tares right among the wheat.

v. 39 Look at the end of v. 38: “children of the wicked one.” Remember that the next time you hear someone trying to reconcile Islam with Christianity, making the common statement—“remember, we’re all God’s children!” This is a common belief, that all humans on the earth are God’s children.