The Wheat And The Tares

[Starise]

Text- Matthew 14: 24-30

 

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

 

 

In one view, the angels are those who gather the crop in the end. As such we are not to meddle in with the tares presently. In fact, the angels are told to wait until the end and gather the tares then. This is because gathering the tares now would cause problems to the good wheat. 

Tares look very similar to the wheat. 

Question- Who are the tares? Possible answer- They are the lost in the church who appear to be saved. Tares don't produce any real crop. Tares are those who talk the talk but don't walk the walk.. There's also the scripture that says, " By their fruits you shall know them". 

Since there are some people who do good things yet are not saved, how could one be discerned "by their fruits".

There are also backslidden people who are not tares  that could be seen as tares by others when they really aren't.

Take away- It can be a dangerous thing to try to determine who the wheat and the tares are. This isn't really our job as I understand it. 

Could there be people who think they are wheat when in reality they are really tares? Or do they know they are tares? 

Could tares possibly be assisting the work of the church even though they are tares? Do we have any right  to distance ourselves from someone we think might be a tare? 

If we suspect a tare, should we keep that to ourselves?

Thoughts? 

[Ozarkbound]

Tares are unbelievers. They may be church goers or not. The importance of this parable is that it negates the false belief of a rapture. It shows that believers and unbelievers will be present until the end, then the tares/unbelievers are taken first.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Ozarkbound

[Adstar]

Tares and Wheat look like each other when they are young.. Only later does it become clear that the Tares are not Wheat.. 

 

So Tares represent False Christians and the Wheat represents True Christians..

[Starise]

5 hours ago, Ozarkbound said:

Tares are unbelievers. They may be church goers or not. The importance of this parable is that it negates the false belief of a rapture. It shows that believers and unbelievers will be present until the end, then the tares/unbelievers are taken first.

 

I had never seen this in this context before. Thanks for your insight.

58 minutes ago, Adstar said:

Tares and Wheat look like each other when they are young.. Only later does it become clear that the Tares are not Wheat.. 

 

So Tares represent False Christians and the Wheat represents True Christians..

 

This was my take on it. Since the tares and wheat are in very close proximity. I see them both in church together.

I have had a tendency to think I know a few of them. Is that judgmental? Probably is. In any case I am do do nothing. Take no active role in the knowledge if I have it. So what's the point of the parable?  Maybe to tell us that God is well aware of them and He has a plan to deal with them eventually.

[Adstar]

20 hours ago, Starise said:

 

 

This was my take on it. Since the tares and wheat are in very close proximity. I see them both in church together.

I have had a tendency to think I know a few of them. Is that judgmental? Probably is. In any case I am do do nothing. Take no active role in the knowledge if I have it. So what's the point of the parable?  Maybe to tell us that God is well aware of them and He has a plan to deal with them eventually.

Well we must try to identify false doctrines and tares will usually believe in and will share false doctrines.. So in our lives we should take note and defend ourselves from false doctrines that tares believe in.. In the long term we do not need to come to a black and white judgement upon people.. The LORD will judge on the day of judgement, He has the ultimate wisdom and knowledge never to make any mistakes in judging who is and who is not His Children..

I get the message from the Parable that there will be false Christian cults and false Christians around me. This causes me to be careful and listen closely to what ever a pastor / preacher or fellow ""Christian?"" to defend myself from deception..  Also the Parable tells me no matter how corrupt and false ""Christian?"" denominations become God in the end will not be fooled by anything and will judge all perfectly..  The Parable also motivates me to read the Gospel and pray for understanding so that i can know the truth so that when i hear some new doctrine i can quickly know if it is false or truth..

[Starise]

1 hour ago, Adstar said:

Well we must try to identify false doctrines and tares will usually believe in and will share false doctrines.. So in our lives we should take note and defend ourselves from false doctrines that tares believe in.. In the long term we do not need to come to a black and white judgement upon people.. The LORD will judge on the day of judgement, He has the ultimate wisdom and knowledge never to make any mistakes in judging who is and who is not His Children..

I get the message from the Parable that there will be false Christian cults and false Christians around me. This causes me to be careful and listen closely to what ever a pastor / preacher or fellow ""Christian?"" to defend myself from deception..  Also the Parable tells me no matter how corrupt and false ""Christian?"" denominations become God in the end will not be fooled by anything and will judge all perfectly..  The Parable also motivates me to read the Gospel and pray for understanding so that i can know the truth so that when i hear some new doctrine i can quickly know if it is false or truth..

The only caveat I see with this is that maybe some will think a brother who has a different view of what has been deemed a "non essential" doctrine is believing in a false doctrine , when maybe it is really just a matter of opinion over a less than clear scripture. In fact, maybe one of the parties is wrong and simply isn't aware they are looking at it the wrong way. It might be important to clarify what "non essentials" are. The definition might also change with the individual. 

Sometimes I see tares as maybe being in league with a church, agreeing to all of the church rules, yet not really a Christian. I have met some people who thought they were Christians, held high positions in the church but who realized years later they were not in fact Christians. I think some tares might not even realize they are tares. In contrast to someone who is a black and white difference, as in no doubts at all they are not Christian. These people "fit in" well. Might be sitting in the pew next to you. They might be involved in the church. Some of those types of people we may never know about until the very end. 

Some so called Christian belief systems set themselves in stark contrast to mainline Christian denominations and are mostly considered to be not Christian at the core due to what might seem like minor discrepancies in their beliefs, when in fact they are major departures from both Christian belief and scripture. They try to associate themselves with Christians when in fact, they are not. I believe these are to be exposed as much as we can as is mentioned in Peter. While there may be some sincere mislead Christians in these fake churches. The majority are simply tares.Might be a sprig or two of wheat in there.

To me, the more serious cases are the chameleons. The people who are nice people. Who help out, but at their core they aren't believers. 

It can be dangerous to go out and try to take out the tares. Ever read Cotton Mather? So how do we deal with situations like this? Maybe God is giving those tares some last minute time to make a real decision so mercy is one of His motives.

[douge]

On 10/21/2020 at 2:50 PM, Starise said:

Text- Matthew 14: 24-30

 

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

 

 

In one view, the angels are those who gather the crop in the end. As such we are not to meddle in with the tares presently. In fact, the angels are told to wait until the end and gather the tares then. This is because gathering the tares now would cause problems to the good wheat. 

Tares look very similar to the wheat. 

Question- Who are the tares? Possible answer- They are the lost in the church who appear to be saved. Tares don't produce any real crop. Tares are those who talk the talk but don't walk the walk.. There's also the scripture that says, " By their fruits you shall know them". 

Since there are some people who do good things yet are not saved, how could one be discerned "by their fruits".

There are also backslidden people who are not tares  that could be seen as tares by others when they really aren't.

Take away- It can be a dangerous thing to try to determine who the wheat and the tares are. This isn't really our job as I understand it. 

Could there be people who think they are wheat when in reality they are really tares? Or do they know they are tares? 

Could tares possibly be assisting the work of the church even though they are tares? Do we have any right  to distance ourselves from someone we think might be a tare? 

If we suspect a tare, should we keep that to ourselves?

Thoughts? 

The parable is to Israel about the kingdom of heaven, which is the prophetic kingdom on earth in which Christ reigns along with believing Israel.

The tares are unbelieving Israel, who will not serve in the kingdom on earth.

[Dennis1209]

On 10/21/2020 at 1:50 PM, Starise said:

Text- Matthew 14: 24-30

Here I was ready to talk about walking on water 

[TheBlade]

You know never really gave this any thought before. I am still wondering why I had this dream not to long ago. In the dream was this huge plant and He said "you have to let them grow together". That was it. I didn't ask anything in this dream nor was I praying about anything like this. In the dream I knew the plant was of God and the weed was not of God. But you have to let them grow together. Thinking now.. being God seeing this... and Him saying "you have to let them grow together".  Just wanted to share..

[Jedi4Yahweh]

On 10/21/2020 at 1:50 PM, Starise said:

Since there are some people who do good things yet are not saved, how could one be discerned "by their fruits".

There are also backslidden people who are not tares  that could be seen as tares by others when they really aren't.

Take away- It can be a dangerous thing to try to determine who the wheat and the tares are. This isn't really our job as I understand it. 

Could there be people who think they are wheat when in reality they are really tares? Or do they know they are tares? 

That seems to contradict scriptures...Jesus taught that we would know them by their fruit.

• "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor [can] a bad tree bear good fruit. "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. "Therefore by their fruits you will know them. [Mat 7:15-20 NKJV]
• Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but [they went out] that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. ... These things I have written to you concerning those who [try to] deceive you. ... If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. [1Jo 2:18-19, 26, 29 NKJV]
• Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor [is] he who does not love his brother. [1Jo 3:7-10 NKJV]

The tares are the false brethren that go to church, wear their sunday suits, and provide lip service (praise and worship) and talk the good talk but in their actions deny him. They reject God's commandments and teach against them and make excuses for sinful behavior and disobedience to Gods word.

•  'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with [their] lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.' " [Mat 15:3, 8-9 NKJV]
• They profess to know God, but in works they deny [Him], being abominable, disobedient, and reprobate of every good work. [Tit 1:16]
• Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. [1Jo 2:3-6 NKJV]