The Application of the Parable of the Weeds

Scripture: Matthew 13:40-43

"So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. 

Insights:  The conclusion of the parable on judgment is completed with today’s verses and last explanations.  For those who are weeds, children of Satan, they will be harvested and cast into the furnace of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  People think they're going to be in hell and everything is going to be fine. They're going to be with their friends and they'll love it down there and this verse tells us that not only is hell a fire, but it tells us what the reaction is going to be – grinding teeth and piercing shrieks.  In other words, hell is going to be painful, eternal, inevitable, and inescapable judgment.  It is not going to be a party at all and the love of God, along with His mercy and grace, will be removed from those who will reside there for all eternity.  There is, however, a different ending for the wheat of this parable.  Those who are children of the kingdom, those born again, those who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, will be harvested to shine forth with His righteousness as brilliant as the sun.  The last part of verse forty-three gives us the application point of this parable.  It simply means you had better listen up and ask yourself the question, “Am I wheat?”  Are you a child of the kingdom, or are you a child of the enemy? If you're a child of the enemy, then listen. This mysterious church age is a time of patience, this is a time of grace, but judgment is inevitable, eternal, and painful.  You better check yourself and you had better listen to the warning of the parable.  You may be saying, “But I'm not a weed, I'm wheat.”  Then you had also better listen to this parable. You're to coexist in this world and you're to influence the world for good, and not be influenced by it.  You are not to be the judge, but you are to personally share the gospel with the lost.

 

Questions:

1. Will you be one who is burned up at the harvest?
2. Will you shine like the sun with His righteousness?

Prayer: Father, give me an ear to hear what Your Spirit has to say to me.  Let my life truly shine forth like the sun and may many weeds be turned into wheat as a result of Your work in me.  Amen.

The Explanation of the Parable of the Weeds, Part 2

Scripture: Matthew 13:39

and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 

Insights:  There are only two camps in which a person can exist—Jesus’ camp or Satan’s camp.  The disciples never saw this comingled time in which both would exist.  Let me emphasize a few things about this comingling between the wheat and weeds.  Wheat and weeds breathe the same air, they eat the same food, they drive the same highways, they live in the same neighborhoods, they work at the same factories, they go to the same schools, they visit the same doctors, they entertain themselves with the same entertainment, their under the same sky, they enjoy the same warm sun, the just and the unjust are rained upon in this mysterious church age because it's all commingled until the end.  There is, however, a harvest and today’s verse tells us it will occur at the end of the age.  I think the primary reason the Lord told us not to pull the weeds out of the world was because in the process we might actually pull out some wheat.  Our church history, unfortunately, is full of examples of the church reaping (judging) believers and pulling them out of the world.  I believe, instead, the message Jesus was truly attempting to communicate to us was, be patient and share the gospel with the weeds.  This redemptive attitude was modeled for us by the Lord Jesus the night in which He was betrayed. He took the sopped bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot.  This giving of the sopped bread to an individual was a sign that this person was an honored guest, and who did He give it to? Judas.  Jesus was still wooing Judas with love. Judas and Jesus are an illustration of how it is in the commingling in the age of grace.  Jesus never stopped loving and ministering to him.  Judas was in desperate need of a Savior and so is the world around us.  We need to be diligent in our pursuit of sharing Jesus with the weeds of the world.  We must never forget that at one time we were those weeds.  So, Beloved, be patient and proclaim Jesus and wait for the Lord’s harvest at the end of the age. 

Questions:

1. Are you prepared for the reaping at the end of the age?
2. Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

Prayer: Father, don’t allow me to attempt to take on the role of a reaper (judge).  Rather, increase my burden for the lost and those who would perish if they died right now without Jesus.  Amen.

The Explanation of the Parable of the Weeds, Part 1

Scripture: Matthew 13:36-38

Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 

Insights:  Jesus has left the crowds that were not believers and was now speaking only to those who did believe.  Notice that it is the disciples that ask for the explanation and as we mentioned Monday, they really did need an explanation considering they did not see this mysterious church age ever occurring.  If they had their way, the Lord would burn those weeds right up, right now.  Jesus told them the field represented the world.  Many commentaries say the field represents the church, but it does not.  Jesus knew the word for church and if He wanted the field to represent the church, He would have used that word.  If the field did represent the church, then it would really cause problem with other doctrines taught by the apostles later.  Based on this parable, if the field is the church, then the church would have no right to expose a heretic or deal with sin amidst the Body.  That thought is in contradiction to the Word of God.  If, as it really does mean, the field is the world, then there is no doctrinal confusion.  Jesus explained that He was the sower of the seed and His seed was the children of the kingdom.  Jesus planted Believers into the world at the point in history that He knew they would be the most effective.  You are not here by accident.  You are here to change as many weeds into wheat as you can.  The parable also tells us who the weeds are and who the enemy of the landowner is.  The enemy of the land owner is the evil one, Satan, and his seeds of weeds are lost people.  Beloved, we are to share the gospel with those weeds.  It is important to remember that every human being was a weed before they came to be wheat by the grace of the Lord Jesus.  We must share His love to them! 

Questions:

1. Does it bring you comfort to know that the Lord has placed you in the world at this time in history for a purpose?
2. In what ways are you trying to reach out and share Jesus with the children of Satan?

Prayer: Father, there are times the overwhelming scale of evil in this world seems daunting, but then I am encouraged with Your sovereign hand of timing.  You have placed me in this world for such a time as this to share the love of Jesus with as many people as possible.  May my life bring You glory.  Amen.

The Parable of the Weeds, Part 2

Scripture: Matthew 13:26-30

"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."'" 

Insights:  Today we conclude the parable.  It continues on with verses twenty-six and twenty seven.  It became obvious at some point in the growth of the weeds that they are indeed not wheat. These workers are shocked. They would not have been shocked if there were just a few of these weeds because they were common to the area.  It’s a grassy kind of weed and it grows wherever it wants to grow.  They were, however, shocked because the whole field was full of them. Remember from yesterday, the Greek phrase used indicates that the ENTIRE field was planted with these weeds by the enemy.  This vast amount of weeds makes the workers wonder if the master had given them the wrong kind of seed when they planted.  Next we move to verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine.  In these verses we can recognize these weeds now because the heads have matured.  We can tell the difference between wheat and weeds.  The color was even different, they were a slate gray color by now, and so, these workers said, “We can tell them apart now, we'll go through the field and we'll tear those weeds out.” But the land owner said, “No, leave them in the field, because in pulling the weeds, you might pull up the roots of the wheat.”  Then Jesus concluded the parable with verse thirty.  In this verse the whole point of the parable hinges.  There is going to be a reaping.  There is going to be a burning.  It is just not going to happen right then as the workers had thought, but at the end of the harvest season.  Now, that's the narration. A very simple story and easy to understand, but what does it mean?  Well, that's what we will learn the rest of the week. 

Questions:

1. Are you shocked when you perceive the amount of evil that exist in the world?
2. Is your response to pull out that evil or to try and change it?

Prayer: Father, I desire to be a change agent for You.  Give me the boldness to be more proactive in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are lost and perishing.  Amen.

The Parable of the Weeds, Part 1

Scripture: Matthew 13:24-25

Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "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. 

Insights:  This second parable was an absolute must for the disciples after hearing the parable of the sower.  The reason is because the Old Testament prophets did not envision this mysterious church age and neither did the disciples.  They thought when the Messiah came He would devastatingly judge, punish, put out and destroy the evil individuals.  Jesus, however, just told them a parable that depicted three kinds of lost soil and one kind of good soil.  The disciples needed more understanding about this comingled kingdom.  It was from this foundation that Jesus spoke the second parable which is about judgment.  Jesus likens this mysterious kingdom age as to a man that sowed seed in HIS field.  He OWNED the field.  He was not renting it or borrowing it, he owned it.  This man also did not sow just mediocre or average seed, but good seed.  We also recognize this man’s wealth because he has a large crew of workers that helped him sow seed into the field.  These men were not lazy when the parable describes them a sleep.  Rather, they worked a hard day’s labor and deserved to rest for the night with sleep.  It is, however, while they are a sleep that the land owner’s enemy came in and sowed tares or weeds among the wheat.  The Greek expression used here is very strong in nature and implies that the enemy did not just sow a little bit of weeds, but literally sowed these weeds throughout the ENTIRE field.  There was not a single area of the field that had not been infected by this enemy’s evil activity of sowing weeds.  As I have stated before, I am no farmer and I most definitely do not understand agriculture, but what the commentaries tell me is that this particular weed is indistinguishable from the good seed until it has grown and the truth of its real condition is observed.  If one wanted to ruin his neighbor’s crop, this was definitely the way to do it.  It was also common enough that the Roman government had a law against it which prescribed a certain kind of punishment if one were caught sowing weeds in another man’s field.  We will finish the rest of the parable tomorrow and for the rest of the week unpack the explanation. 

Questions:

1. Are you encouraged to know the man in the parable OWNS the field?
2. Does your life bear the marks of good seed or tares?

Prayer: Father, the world is full of tares and we do have a vicious enemy.  In the midst of this great evil help me keep my eyes focused and centered on You.  You are my only hope.  Amen.

The Lessons of the Parable of the Sower

Scripture: Matthew 13:23

"And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." 

Insights:  There are three lessons we need to think about regarding this parable.  First, what kind of soil are you?  I pray you are good soil, but if you are that hard stuff that the birds just take the seed off, you better ask God to plow your heart.  If you're that rocky soil underneath a soft superficial exterior, you better ask God to plow deeper.  If you're that weedy soil, you better ask the Lord to clean you so you can receive with purity the gospel.  Second, you must realize your talent is NOT the issue.  For illustration, take a little five year old kid who wants to go out and sow a field with his daddy.  His father knows how to sow beautifully, but the boy throws that seed just mimicking his father.  The little kid's throwing seed all over the place and it may not be as much seed hitting the good soil when the little guy throws it as when his dad does, but when the seed hits the good soil, it doesn't matter who threw it. It's going to grow. It does not depend on the talent of the sower.  Some people say I'd like to witness for the Lord, but I don’t know what to say.  That excuse isn't the issue.  The issue is the condition of the soil, not the talent of the sower.  Just go out there and throw the seed.  Third, ask the Lord to plow the fields.  Sometimes the Lord plows up the stuff that doesn't receive the seed the first time, so don't give up.  Be faithful no matter if the soil is hard, shallow, or weedy.  Just keep sowing and ask God, by His grace, to do some more tilling in that soil.  So Beloved, keep throwing the seed in that same field over and over, over and over, over and over and see if the Lord won't break up the soil.  All you have to do is be obedient to the Father and do what He commands you to do, which is so the seed.  He does the rest of the work. 

Questions:

1. For whom are you praying the Lord to plow their soil?
2. Are you willing to sow seed and leave the results to the Lord?

Prayer: Father, stir my heart to have a bold passion for the lost in this world.  Grant me the courage to share the saving grace of Your Son, Jesus.  Amen.

The Reproducing Hearer

Scripture: Matthew 13:23

"And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." 

Insights:  Beloved, the ultimate mark of salvation is fruit bearing—fruitfulness.  So, this truth makes us have to ask the question, what is fruit?  It's evidence of the divine life.  Paul described three kinds of fruit.  The first is attitude fruit as in the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23.  The second is behavior fruit as found in Paul’s letters to the Colossians, Thessalonians and Philippians.  Behavioral fruit is the “don’t do this” and “do this” lists that most lost people think of in regards to religion.  The third is soul fruit as found in Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Soul fruit is the harvesting of new believers.  No matter what kind of fruit is being born out in a believer it is God producing those spiritual realities in us.  You show me somebody who has no manifestation of those attributes and I'll show you somebody, no matter what they may look like on the surface, who's going to die out.  Fruit is the issue.  In Ephesians 2:10, Paul says you are created unto good works, and God ordained that you walked in them.  It isn't that you're never going to do something wrong.  What is really going on is the one who is truly good ground has a consuming desire to be productive, to let God produce through his life.  And even when there's failure, there's great brokenness over the failure because the desire is to see God at work.  Notice another thought as well.  It says that there will be some who bring a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.  Not everybody is equally productive.  God uses people in different ways and there are some Christians who never really fully get their act together.  They go through life being a thirty-folder when they could be a sixty or a hundred.  Christians will always be fruitful, I’m not saying that all Christians will always be as fruitful as they ought to be or could be.  Because when we do become disobedient, then we restrict the productivity of God in our lives.  What I am saying is all Christians at this point in the parable start at thirtyfold and thirtyfold is three times what was even normal.  So, a true believer isn't somebody you've got to scrounge around looking behind the leaves to try to find a piece of fruit hanging somewhere.  A true believer is one whose fruit is multiplied and manifest. 

Questions:

1. Is your life characterized by the three types of fruit?
2. What percentage of results are you bearing?

Prayer: Father, I desire to bear much fruit for You.  Give me a heart for the lost that is like Your heart.  Help me to see them as You see them.  Amen.