“Another parable He set forth before
them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his
field. But while he was sleeping, his
enemy came and sowed also darnel (weeds resembling wheat) among the wheat, and
went on his way. So when the plants
sprouted and formed grain, the darnel (weeds) appeared also. And the servants of the owner came to him and
said, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how does it have
darnel shoots in it?’ He replied to
them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us
to go and weed them out?’ But he said, ‘No,
lest in gathering the wild wheat (weeds resembling wheat), you root up the
[true] wheat along with it. Let them
grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers,
Gather the darnel first and bind it in bundles to be burned, but gather the
wheat into my granary.’” (Matthew 13:24-30 AMP)
When
I was in my early 20’s I moved from California
to Northern Oregon to a rural area where the
largest industry was wheat ranching. My
step-brother Dan and I worked for a couple ranches that spring pulling
rye. This involved a great deal of walking through
wheat fields while the wheat was still green and only about a foot high. As we walked through the fields we watched
for wild rye grass, which at that stage of growth would stand taller than the
wheat. When we spied some rye we would
walk over to it and pull it up by the root where it would die and dry out
before the seed would develop enough to germinate. If we were sent into the wheat fields before
the wheat had grown to a certain height then we would not have been able to
tell the difference between the rye and the wheat. If we went too late in the season both the
wheat and rye would be close to the same height and hard to distinguish
apart. It had to be pulled at a certain
time.
“Then He left the throngs and went
into the house. And His disciples came to Him saying, ‘Explain to us the
parable of the darnel in the field.’ He
answered, ‘He Who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The
field is the world, and the good seed means the children of the kingdom; the
darnel is the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed it is the
devil. The harvest is the close and consummation of the age, and the reapers
are angels. Just as the darnel (weeds
resembling wheat) is gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the close
of the age.’” (Matthew 13:31-40 AMP)
As
I read Matthew 13 I remembered my springs in the wheat fields and realized that
just as I had to pull those rye grass stalks at a certain time Jesus is not
going to cull unbelievers or deceivers out of the Church until just the right
time. My church (and probably yours too)
has people in it that have not accepted Jesus as their Savior. They think they are good enough because they
go to church, sing the songs, listen to the sermon and tell the Pastor how good
it was but then go out and spend the rest of the week doing what pleases them
(Prov. 16:25). They are potential good
seed, if they choose to commit to Christ.
There are people in my church (and probably yours too) that have no
desire to become Christians. I have seen
them stir up strife between members, all in the façade of Christianity. I sure would like to see these people weeded
out of the Church. How about you? When I look at what is happening in the Body
of Christ (and in the world) today I tend to be like the servants in verse 28,
“Shall we pull up and destroy the weeds?”
God
in His great wisdom knows the correct time and season for the separating of the
“wheat” and the “rye”. If the bad seed
is pulled out of the church too soon then they may take the potential good seed
with them. Besides, why am I
judging? (Matthew 7:1-3) It is not my job to do the culling. God will send His angels to do that.
“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;” (Matthew
13:41-42a NAS)
My
job is to weed the old man and old ways out of MY OWN life so that I will be
the good seed at harvest (Romans 6:6; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:22).
