6 - The Wheat & the Tares | Faith Walk & Life Journey

#6 - The Wheat and the Tares

Jesus gave His disciples a parable that is both reassuring and frightening, and I believe that we are seeing a version of it playing out before our eyes in our time.

Mat 13:24 [Then] He(Jesus) presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

Mat 13:25 "But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away.

Mat 13:26 "But when the wheat sprang up and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

Mat 13:27 "And the servants of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'

Mat 13:28 "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' And the slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?'

Mat 13:29 "But he said, 'No; lest while you are gathering up the tares, you may root up the wheat with them.

Mat 13:30 '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."

We are seeing a large fraction of those who profess to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, but whose lives exhibit attributes that don’t appear to align with the “fruit of the Spirit.”

The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Galatia:

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law,

And yet, there are multitudes of people in our country who spout lies, hate, rage, bitterness, resentment, contempt, vengeance, retribution, threats of violence, and actual violence on a daily basis while professing to follow Jesus Christ.

They carry signs saying, “God, guns, and Trump,” yet their lives show nothing of the character that God wants all of His children to exhibit.

They spew these godless attitudes toward anyone and everyone who doesn’t show proper deference to their “dear leader.”

In short, there is no evidence of “the fruit of the Spirit” in their lives. Where is the “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” that is supposed to be evident in the lives of these people who say they follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

To be sure, no one is perfect in this respect, but if we continue to follow our Lord out of a heart full of sincere desire to follow Him, then His Spirit will work in our lives to change us into a person who is more like Him and displays the attributes of Christ that the apostle Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit.

How can we recognize these attributes being displayed today?

Mat 25:33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

Mat 25:34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Mat 25:35 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;

Mat 25:36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'

Mat 25:37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?

Mat 25:38 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

Mat 25:39 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

Mat 25:40 "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

It’s plain to see that our Lord clearly states that those who truly follow Him will be found in these last day to be those who have fed the hungry, invited the stranger in, clothed the naked, helped to heal the sick, and showed compassion to the prisoners. In other words, they loved their neighbor as themselves.

To be sure, not everyone who displays these attributes follows the Lord Jesus Christ, but everyone who truly follows the Lord Jesus Christ should display these attributes, or at least seek to have these attributes in their lives.

In these parables, those people who are of genuine faith are called the “wheat” and the “sheep.”

Those people who are of counterfeit faith are called the “tares” and the “goats.”

At the end, in the parable of the wheat and the tares, the wheat is gathered into the Master’s barn, but the tares are bundled up and burned.

Continuing on in the parable of the sheep and the goats, he said:

Mat 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

Mat 25:42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;

Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'

Mat 25:44 "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'

Mat 25:45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

Mat 25:46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

In the parable of the sheep and the goats, those people who are of genuine faith are called the sheep, and those people who are of counterfeit faith are called the goats.

The sheep are those people who gave food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, invited the strangers in, clothed the naked, healed the sick, and comforted the imprisoned.

The goats are those people who did none of those things.

In this parable, our Lord said to the sheep on His right, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Also, in this parable, our Lord said to the goats on His left, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”

These two parables are the same.

Those who bear fruit, the wheat, are those who are gathered in God’s barn. These people are also the sheep who act as servants helping to alleviate the suffering of other people.

The wheat and the sheep are the same people who inherit the kingdom of God.

The tares and the goats are the same people who are burned up or cast into eternal fire.

As I said, these parables are both comforting and frightening.

The difference isn’t what they profess to be.

Apparently, both groups profess to follow God. The tares are growing up with the wheat. The goats appeared before God in the same way as the sheep.

It was the fruit that their lives produced that revealed their eternal destination.

On the one hand, the wheat produces seed which is used in the making of the bread that feeds the hungry. The tares look like wheat but produce nothing useful.

On the other hand, the sheep act as servants to their fellow man and minister to their needs. The goats can’t be bothered with helping those in need.

As in Jesus’ parables, there comes a time of reckoning for everyone.

As in these parables, in the end, the lack of fruit becomes apparent.

The tares have no seed, and the goats don’t care about their fellow man’s needs.

I believe that we are seeing the separation of the wheat from the tares and the sheep from the goats taking place today.

On the one hand, we are seeing millions of people taking a stand for the needs of other people. These people are trying to make sure that poor children have enough to eat, and that their parents can afford health insurance, and that the strangers in our land are treated humanely and justly.

On the other hand, we are seeing millions of people who are refusing to help the poor feed their children or provide them with affordable medical care. These same people cheer at the images of the violence being perpetrated against strangers in our land instead of helping them to pursue a better life.

Personally, I believe that plainly seeing these things play out before our eyes in these days is evidence that the tares are being separated from the wheat and the goats are being separated from the sheep.

If that is the case, then we are truly in the last days.

To be sure, I don’t know whether we are seeing the last days for our nation, or the last days for mankind, or maybe the last days for…something else.

But, one thing I know, whoever we are, whatever we may profess, there will come a time when we will all be held accountable for the fruit, good or bad, that is evident in our lives.

Mat 7:12 "Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Mat 7:16 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?

Mat 7:17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

Mat 7:18 "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.

Mat 7:19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Mat 7:20 "So then, you will know them by their fruits.

Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.

Mat 7:22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'

Mat 7:23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

As I said, this is both reassuring and frightening. Our Lord said:

Luk 21:28 …when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws nigh.

Mat 24:44 Therefore be ready: for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of man (Jesus) cometh (again).

For the those whose lives betray a lack of the fruit of God’s Spirit, the ones that our Lord calls the tares or the goats, God’s judgment awaits.

For those whose lives exhibit God’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, God invites them into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

What a beautiful promise for those who follow our Lord with a pure heart full of love for God and love for our “neighbors.”

Luk 10:27 And he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Concerning the visible separation of differing factions in our land today, God speaks to all people of all nations about what He requires of us in the Old Testament.

2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

God is saying here that if His own people will humble themselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, that He will hear their prayers, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Notice that He is not saying that the unbelievers or sinners need to turn from their wicked ways.

He is saying that His own people, which are called by His name, need to humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways.

That raises the question, in our day, who are God’s people who are called by His name?

What is His name today?

Lord Jesus Christ.

In our day, the people who are called by His name are the Christ-ians, or Christians.

In this passage, God is saying that it is not the unbeliever or the sinner that needs to repent and return to God. It is us, those who say that we put our trust in God, that need to humble ourselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.

Then, if we do that, He will hear from heaven, forgive our sins, and heal our land.

God have mercy on us. Pluck the veils from our minds, the scales from our eyes, and the wax from our ears that we may see, and hear, and understand, and humbly return to You so that the grace of Your presence may lead us in the paths of righteousness for Your name's sake.

Amen.