ARE YOU TARES OR WHEAT? 

MATTHEW 13:24-30 

          Jesus often used parables to speak to the people, attempting to teach them heavenly principles using earthly examples.  Even the disciples often did not understand the parable and would come to Jesus requesting further explanation.  This parable is spoken right after Jesus explains the parable of the sower (vss. 18 – 23).   Now when Jesus had finished speaking this and other parables to the masses His disciples came to Him requesting that He explain the parable of the wheat and tares. 

MATTHEW 13:36-43 

          This is the portion of scripture that we will concentrate on today and as a subject we wi11 use “ARE YOU WHEAT OR TARES”? 

          Jesus in speaking this parable is explaining the present state of the Kingdom of Heaven. Oftentimes you will hear Christians talking of Heaven and entering that kingdom as if we already physically have possessions their. We talk of putting on our robe and crown, or checking out our mansion. But some who talk of Heaven may never see it. Some confess that they know God but yet they have not experienced personal relationship with Jesus Christ. These confessors are like the tares in this parable.       Harvest time is coming and at that time the true possessors will be separated from the mere confessors.  Are you wheat or tares? 

          In this parable there is no question as to who the sower is. He is the Son of Man. This is a name by which Jesus often referred to Himself.   In Matt. 12:40 Jesus says that the Son of Man will be three days and nights in the heart of the Earth, referring to his being in the grave.  In Matt. 26:45 Jesus speaks of the Son of Man being betrayed.  In John 6:62 Jesus speaks of the Son of Man ascending up on high.  Again in Mark 14:62 He speaks of the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Father.  Also, in Luke 21:27 He speaks of the Son of Man coming in the Clouds. All of these things have or will occur in the life of Jesus. So then Jesus Himself is the sower in this parable. 

The field is the world. There is controversy over whether or not this is the world as we know it or if this is to symbolize the church. It is easy to understand why some see this as the earthly church. Today’s church has become the largest social club in existence. Anyone can join and participate in the earthly church and more often than not, membership in a church is not a result of relationship with Jesus Christ. But the church that Jesus will return to receive is without spot or wrinkle and includes only those who have been washed in the blood of Jesus and have been sealed by the Spirit of God. This is the true church of Jesus Christ. If you have membership in an earthly church and have not accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are not the wheat of this parable and may possibly be the tares. 

But Jesus said the field is the world. 

The good seeds are the Children of the Kingdom.  These seeds are the fruit of the seeds planted in Matt.13: 23.   The Word of God, planted in the heart containing good soil yields the fruit of salvation. 

I PETER 1:23  

          Man is born again by the incorruptible Word of God. When the Word is planted in a fertile heart it gives birth to a new God-like nature in man. We who have received that nature are then sown into this world to produce fruit after the same kind. However, before even the good seed can produce fruit it must go through metamorphosis.  It must  

1.  die - John 12:24-26 – A seed must be willing to give up his own life in order to produce new life.  Col. 3:3 says, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”  As Christians we are to consider ourselves as dead to self desires but alive to bear fruit unto God.   

2.  be nourished - John 15:4-6. Nourishing comes through constant abiding in Christ; through obedience and fellowship. Good fellowship in­cludes reading the Word, prayer, praise and worship, and fasting. 

3.  rely on God - I Cor. 3:5-7. 

So the good seeds are those who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ as evidenced by a change in their natures resulting in a change in their lifestyles. 

MATTHEW 13:25  

          While men slept the enemy can and sowed tares in the garden. This is not to imply negligence on the part of servants, church officials or Christians. The servants are not accused of wrong doing. The fact that it was done while men slept is only to imply that it was done secretly or under the cover of night. The enemy seized his opportunity when all eyes were closed in sleep, wrought his secret mischief undetected and then slipped away. But that which is done in the dark will one day come to the light. 

Who is this enemy?  Verse 39 says that he is the devil; the wicked one, the author of all that is wicked.  According to John 10:10, he is a thief who seeks only to steal, to kill and to destroy.  He is the master deceiver and all who follow him are deceived. 

Tares -- In verse 38 Jesus said tares are children of the wicked one. 

JOHN 8:41-42 

          Those who do not hear and obey God’s word do not belong to Him. They are not His children but are children of the Devil. 

          Tares are plants called the bearded darnel. It is a destructive weed almost indistinguishable from wheat in its early growth. It grows as tall as wheat and barley. It is poisonous to many plant eating animals, producing sleepiness, nausea, convulsions and finally death. They can be distinguished from wheat only in seed form (seed in smaller than wheat) and when fully mature. When fully grown, unlike wheat, tares have ears which are long and contain black grain. 

Because it is so hard to distinguish tares from wheat in plant form they are left to grow together until the plants mature. To try to remove the tare early might result in destroying the wheat also. The tares however do not affect the wheat. 

          In today’s terms tares would be hypocrites, false prophets, church members who do not know Christ or in general those who confess to know Christ without actually possessing Him. These people are normally members of the earthly church but not members of the family of God. We are to allow them to continue because they so closely resemble baby Christians and those who are in error but sincere. In trying to remove them we run the risk of destroying some who are really Christians and who will later mature and produce good fruit. These tares may cause some confusion in the earthly church but they are no threat to the salvation of those who are sold out to God.  They are however used by the enemy to discourage and confuse the unsaved. Yet to allow Christians to remove them might also mean the loss of some wheat, and the loss of any wheat is unacceptable. So we are encouraged to leave them alone until the harvest time when the true color can be seen. 

At harvest, time Christ will send forth the reapers, His angels (vs. 39), to separate the tares from the wheat; the tares being gathered for destruction, the wheat gathered into the masters eternal storehouse. 

          When is the harvest time?  The End of this Age which occurs when Christ returns to set up His kingdom. 

vs. 41-42 - at this time the angels shall gather all who offend or do iniquity and cast them in the furnace of fire. This furnace is in other scriptures called the “lake of fire (Rev. 19:20, 21:10), the fire not quenched (Mark 9:44), and the everlasting fire (Matt. 25:41).  Fire is the worse death known to man. This is a doom so intolerable that God in His love for man sent His only son to suffer for man’s sins that He might deliver us from ever knowing this anguish. 

          The tares are described in the furnace as weeping and gnashing their teeth. This is to symbolize grief and rage brought on by intolerable pain and unutterable loss. The grief of repentance will then be without fruit, and empty crying over punishment and a vain cry for relief. 

vs.43 -- When the tares have been removed from among the wheat the righteous will be as bright in the kingdom of God as the sun.

The final warning is “He who has an ear let him hear. 

HARVEST TIME IS COMING.  ARE YOU TARES OR YOU WHEAT?