The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

A study of the parable of the wheat and the tares.

[Watch the Video]

Scriptures:

• Matthew 13:24-30
• Matthew 13:36-43
• Revelation 14:12-20
• John 12:24-26

Intro

How do you summarize Jesus’ teaching in one sentence?

• Love your neighbor as yourself
• Love God
• Love your enemy and forgive those who have wronged you
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
• Heal the sick, Cast out demons, and perform miracles
• All of my followers will be prosperous
• I am the Savior bringing you eternal life in Heaven
• All of your sins have been forgiven if you follow me
• God is the Father
• Come have a personal relationship with me

Some think of Jesus as a moral teacher

Some think of Him as the example of a perfect human

Some think of Him as a prophet

If He was a prophet what was He announcing?

“Repent for the kingdom of God is here”

• All other teachings and signs only makes sense as part of the whole narrative that the kingdom of God is here.

What We've Learned About the Kingdom

• The Word “Kingdom” is better interpreted as “reign”
• Kingdom of God is synonymous with the Kingdom of Heaven
• The Jews were expecting an earthly Kingdom that would be taken by force
• It’s not a physical kingdom or political system on earth

1. The Kingdom is Spiritual

• Jesus said the Kingdom has arrived

1. The Kingdom is here but not yet completely realized

• Satan’s kingdom is in opposition of God’s kingdom
• The future Kingdom involves man ruling with God over all created beings

What We Learn from the Parable of the Sower/Soils (Matthew 13: 1-23)

• The Kingdom can be missed
• The enemy can prevent the seed of the Kingdom from staying in someone’s heart
• The Kingdom can be obtained and then lost
• Worrying about your earthly situation can cause you to lose the Kingdom
• Chasing after worldly success can cause you to lose the Kingdom
• Someone can have the Kingdom in their heart but not produce fruit
• The fruit of the Kingdom grows at different rates in different people

I claimed that inheriting the Kingdom of God means to live a life in complete obedience to the Holy Spirit

Understanding Jesus’ Parables

A parable is a short story that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. A parable is a type of analogy.

• A parable has a surface story and a deeper meaning

Many of the parables explain how the enemy interacts with the Kingdom

Why Jesus Spoke in Parables

Jesus spoke in parables to:

1. Reveal secrets unknown since the beginning of time
2. To hide the truth from some

Don't Mix Parables

You can't use an analogy from one parable to understand analogies of another

Example: 

• The “Seed” is the Word of God in one parable but it doesn’t necessarily relate to a seed in a different parable

We can carry forward truths about the Kingdom

• You can use lessons from one parable in another
• You can use the interpretation
• You can carry forward attributes of the Kingdom but not analogies

Example:

• The devil can steal the Kingdom from your heart if you don't understand the word

We can use other scriptures or understanding of the culture to understand the truths, but not the analogy

Example: the Kingdom was sown in our hearts

• Heart equals mind

Parable of the Tares

Jesus is talking to the same crowd as the parable of the soils.

Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.
26 "But when the  wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.
27 "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?'
28 "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?'
29 "But he said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.
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."'"

• People would actually sow tares into their enemy’s field
• They passed laws against this

Wheat and Tares

• They grow with their roots intertwined
• At harvest time wheat stalk are full of kernels and bow down

Wheat

Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain which is a worldwide staple food.   Wheat is grown on more land area than any other food crop, and it’s the second most produced cereal after corn.

Globally, it is the leading source of vegetal protein in human food.  In a small part of the general population, gluten – the major part of wheat protein – can trigger coeliac disease, noncoeliac gluten sensitivity, gluten ataxia, and dermatitis herpetiformis.

• Some people have a bad reactions to the truth.

Darnel (zizania)

Darnel usually grows in the same production zones as wheat and was a serious weed of cultivation until modern sorting machinery enabled darnel seeds to be separated efficiently from seed wheat.  The similarity between these two plants is so great that in some regions, darnel is referred to as "false wheat". It bears a close resemblance to wheat until the ear appears. The wheat will also appear brown when ripe, whereas the darnel is black.

Darnel can be infected by an endophytic fungus.  Eating an infected plant could cause a drunken nausea, which can be fatal.  

• Getting drunk off of the fake wheat
• Holy Spirit vs Kundalini Spirit

Once you isolate the wheat from the tares you then need to separate the chaff from the grain

• Are you grain or chaff?

What the Parable States

The Kingdom

“The Kingdom of God is like…”

• The entire parable describes attributes of the Kingdom.
• Not just the sower.  

The Farmer

The farmer sowed the seeds

The farmer owns the field

The Servants / Slaves

It only mentions that his servants are sleeping

• Foreshadowing to when His disciples were sleeping when He went to pray?

The parable implies that the servants have a responsibility to maintain the health of the wheat

The servants correctly recognized the tares were growing with the wheat  after the wheat sprouted

The servants aren’t the reapers

The servants aren’t the wheat

Don't Uproot the Tares

Why did Jesus say don't uproot the tares?

The sower warns them not to try to uproot the tares because it will also damage the wheat.

• The roots are intertwined
• It doesn't imply that the servants could not distinguish wheat from tares

The wheat and tares were already distinct prior to the harvest

Jesus said don't remove them because they may uproot the wheat

• Not because they couldn't distinguish them

There is no indication that the wheat can become tares

There is no indication that the tares can become wheat

The Harvest Time

The tares will be removed from the field and destroyed

• The tares are gathered before the wheat

The reapers can uproot the tares without harming the wheat

• Unlike the servants

The Explanation of the Parable

Matthew 13:36-43
36  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."
37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
38 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;
39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
41 "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,
42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

The Son of Man

Jesus is both the sower and the owner of the field

The term son of man:

• Was first used in Daniel
• Refers to the messiah

Jesus has planted something new in the world.

The Enemy

Opposition has been put into place opposing Jesus.

Why does evil exists in the world?

• Because of Satan

Satan is not bound

Jesus explains that the evil in the world is not just a result of people making evil choices.

• There is an unseen forces at work.
• The Bible does not clearly explain where evil comes from nor why it is here.

The enemy didn't alter the wheat in this example

• The enemy planted something new

What Satan introduced looks like what Jesus planted

We learn:

• Satan has introduced evil into the world
• Satan is not bound waiting for Michael to release him
• Satan is at work on the earth
• Satan is a counterfeiter

Who Are the Servants?

The servants were very disturbed when they recognized the presence of the tares and wanted to do something.  

• The servants correctly recognized the tares were growing with the wheat.
• The servants have a responsibility to ensure the proper growth of the wheat

The servants aren't Christians

The servants aren't the angels

I think they are angels

• These have a different role than the reapers
• These are the ministering spirits

The End of the Age

• The second coming of Jesus

There is a day of separation that is going to come

• The angels will do the harvesting (not Jesus)

Revelation 14:12-20

12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them."
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe."
16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17  And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.
18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe."
19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God.
20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.

• It is important to know whether you are wheat or tare

Fairness

When reading this many peoples mind goes directly to the question "is this fair quote”?

• We have to believe that God will be fair when he is executing his final judgment.

The Rapture

The Tares get harvested first

In the doctrine of the (pre-tribulation) rapture Christians are taken away first

Here, non-Christians are taken away first

The World

In parable of the sower, the seed is the word and the soil is human hearts

•  Here the field is  “the whole world”.

The field is the whole world

• Psalms 24:1 states: “The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”

It's not just the church

Christ is sowing seeds in this world.  

• He’s sowing good seeds which represent the children of the Kingdom.

Wheat vs Tares

We will study who is wheat vs tare in the next lesson

Can you be a wheat one day and a tare the next?

• Or are you always one or the other

Are the wheat all Christians?

• What about those who will get saved next week?

• Are they wheat or tares right now?

• What about backsliders?

Are the tares Christians?

• Common sermon message: Are you a wheat or a tare?
• There are only two types of seeds in this field

Remember Kingdom of God means reign of God

• Jesus is not talking about the local church
• He’s talking about Christendom

The only distinction we get between wheat and tares is based on who planted them

• There is no indication that they behave differently
• It doesn’t imply that tares sin more than wheat
• It is mentioned that they will be differentiable at harvest time

Summary:

• Jesus is planting seeds to progress the reign of God on the earth
• Satan is planting seeds to prevent it

Question

Citizens of the Kingdom are children of God.

Did Jesus (or God) refer to any people as “children of Satan” elsewhere in scripture?

Conclusion

The parable deals with one truth: Jesus plants true children of the Kingdom and the devil plants a counterfeit

How can you distinguish the wheat from the tares?

• Wait until  they bare grain
• When they bare fruit

We  aren’t the reapers and we aren't  the servants

• We don’t need to figure out who is a wheat and who is a tare
• We just need to make sure that we are wheat

You are a child of the Kingdom

• You are the wheat
• Your job is to grow
• Your  responsibility is to bear fruit.
• Make sure you don’t get mistaken for a tare

A plant doesn't produce fruit to consume it  for itself

• Wheat plants don't eat there own grain
• Trees don't consume their fruit
• Fruit attracts people to the plant
• The design is that when consuming the fruit the seeds will get planted.

The purpose of the fruit is to attract others to aid in your purpose

• The purpose of the fruit is to produce more plants
• The purpose of the fruit is to produce more fruit
• You don’t bear fruit only for your own edification
• You are supposed to spread your seeds

You need to put aside your selfish goals and ask what the Father what will He have you do for the Kingdom

• You need to die to yourself

John 12:24-26

24“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. 26“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

… Let’s Serve Jesus


Instructor: Michael Leadon

References

Wheat and Tares Pt 1

Chaplain Bob Walker - The Light of the World Ministry

Parable of the wheat and tears by Bible talk.tv

The Wheat and Tares Parable 1- Warren Wiersbe

2. Already, Not Yet [Parables of the Kingdom] Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/gdYMEl_h-lE

Extra

Don’t get distracted with removing the weeds

We’ve got to be concerned about the whole world

• God blesses people I disagree with

There are more people being saved every hour in the third world than were save at Pentacost when Peter preached

“Be still and know that I am God” means “take your hands off”

Get the long view

• The harvest is not the end of the meeting when the doors of the church are opened
• The harvest is not the end of the year when you hand in your report

Matthew 13:51-52

51“Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes.” 52And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

• The scribe is one who is a student of the word
• The disciple is a doer of the word

• Practice the word

• The head of the household shares the word

You marked your bible, but did your bible mark you?

He said to share both what is old and what is new

Understanding Parables

Jesus’ parables explain the nature of the spiritual kingdom

• They are not necessarily describing the physical world.
• Things are going on in the kingdom that you don't necessarily see