A journey can sometimes be an arduous thing. The voyage from point A to point B is not
always painless. But that pain is nearly
a guarantee when an enemy works to insure it.
I always find it remarkable that folks who ascribe to atheism do so
while blaming God for everything bad that happens in the world (if there was
one); but fail to ever attribute any of the pain and suffering to the devil,
His enemy. It is as if there is only one
responsible party for anything bad, but the other guy just continues to not
exist. Even in atheism, the devil
continues to pull off the great deception of just never being there for anything
bad. But in Christianity, this deception
takes the form of “forgetfulness”?
Somehow Christians think there are bad people in the world, but seem to
forget they face the chief of all evil in their journey away from self. On occasion we remember there is a devil, but
in general seem to think he couldn’t possibly affect “our” lives (perhaps with
disease, temptation that leads to failure, or even death itself). But he does, and he remains very active as
Jesus reminds us so long ago.
Imagine planning a vacation to Disney World (home of the 6ft
rat 😊). But then everything that could go wrong, does
go wrong. Some call that Murphy’s Law
(perhaps the devil’s middle name is Murphy?).
Bad coincidence is survivable, though not enjoyable. It would however not make for a great
vacation to say the least. We think of
our vacations as an escape from stress, not a deepening of it. But now imagine that same vacation plan you
create and begin to set in motion. This
time, the circumstances beyond your control are cooperating fully, but your
wife is not. This time, your wife not
only resents going, she is determined to make your vacation as miserable as
possible. You do not just lose your
wallet, she steals and hides it. You did
not just forget your reservations number at the hotel, she not only stole your
paperwork, she secretly cancelled the reservations without anyone knowing. This behavior is not designed to keep you
from going, perhaps she is unable to do that, but it is designed to make every
inch of going as hard as possible, and as miserable as possible. That, is the role the devil plays in your
spiritual journey. He is unable to stop
you from movement, but he is unwilling to concede a single inch without inflicting
as much distraction, failure, pain, and misery as it is possible to inflict
upon you along the way. And it is not
the will of God, it is the will of His enemy.
So the argument emerges, why not just prevent him (Satan) from
doing it – perhaps kill him to keep him from this? But then, without any kind of test, would you
ever know what you “truly” believed, and how much you truly believed it? Without test, would you really know how much
you trust God to save you, or would you believe you did it all yourself? And when the devil uses human agents to
accomplish his goal of making your journey miserable, can you possibly consider
killing the messenger who needs redemption and reconciliation as much as you
do? Bad children are still
children. You do not execute your
two-year-old because she intentionally throws milk at you. You do not kill her because she hits her
sister. These behaviors are what need to
go. But your daughter remains your
daughter even when her actions cause pain to others, and ultimately to you, and
God. In the eye of God, “bad” people,
are children He is still trying hard to redeem.
And sometimes your spiritual journey is made more difficult by people
who act as agents of the enemy whether they know it or not. Something that again, is not new.
Matthew documented a parable of Jesus in a continuing line
of parables that addressed this in chapter thirteen of his gospel. He picks up with the words of Christ
beginning in verse 24 saying … “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
[verse 25] But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat,
and went his way.” Before we decipher
the meaning of this parable which Jesus explains in further texts we will read
before proceeding, there are a few other items of notice. First, this is the second parable in a line
of them that uses farming as the analogy.
As stated before farming is not an instant process, it is a growth
process. It takes a farmer’s care if a
harvest is to be gained. The seeds
respond to the work of the farmer, they do not work for themselves. They will need planting, fertilizing, water,
sunshine, and earth before what God intended them to become happens. This is in a perfect world. This story begins with introducing
intentional means of destruction. Here
we learn, that the farmer has an enemy, and the enemy has done something to
intentionally hurt the farmer, the seeds are only a mechanism to hurt the
farmer, that was the enemy’s only goal, the seeds mean nothing to him.
Jesus decodes this parable beginning in verse 36 saying … “Then
Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came
unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. [verse
37] He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of
man; [verse 38] The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the
kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;” Duh!
The explanation of this is kind of exactly what you might expect, but
the disciples asked for one anyway. It
is good being stupid. Think about it,
you could have made assumptions about this story, and hardened those
assumptions until no other truth gets in.
That is what we do all the time, and we call those assumptions and
interpretations – doctrine. Once
hardened in tradition we call it core beliefs and we would rather die than open
our minds to some other interpretation of the same set of facts. The disciples were smart enough, or rather
stupid enough, not to make assumptions of their own, but instead TO ASK TO BE
LED by Jesus before putting “anything” in their minds. And this approach works, even today.
As it turns out, the farmer is Jesus the Son of Man. The field is the world. That sentence is sometimes one Christians
like to forget. We associate “the world”
as being the mission fields, someplace primitive and far away. But the world includes Hollywood, and New
York City. It includes gay bars, and for
that matter, bars of every kind. It
includes places like Kansas, Alabama, and Arkansas. It includes the families within our own
churches, and the people within our own families. The world is not exclusive, it is inclusive
of everyone, everywhere – in places that are primitive, and in places where
sins are committed on purpose by people who should know better, like us. The good seed are the children of the
kingdom. We like to think that is
us. But we forget that word “children”. We gloss over it like a phrase so often
repeated it loses meaning. There are
only “children” in this explanation. No
adults identified and everyone in the world is included in the meaning. That means you are either following God, or
His enemy, and you are not old enough to even think there is a third
option. Folks convinced they are adults,
are actually children following the enemy who tells them they are adults and in
control, they are deceived and they do not know it, because they do not want to
admit the truth, told by The Truth.
These weeds however are not wicked supernatural agents, they
are just humans, doing the bidding of who they follow. And your spiritual journey can be impeded by
them. It is like having your husband
hide your purse everyday before you leave the house, or your wife hide your
wallet. People clinging to false ideas,
they are certain are correct, and wanting to share them with you whether you
want to hear them or not. Better to both
come in surrender and humility before Jesus and ask Him, what does The Truth
say in this matter or that one. That act
of following, combined with that acknowledge in humility that we need His
wisdom, is becoming children of the kingdom.
It is attempting to become perpetual students at the feet of Jesus to
learn, ignoring all other distractions and purported “wisdom” of men.
So let’s go back to the parable in verse 26 as Jesus continues
saying … “But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then
appeared the tares also. [verse 27] So the servants of the householder came and
said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then
hath it tares? [verse 28] He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The
servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?” Before we get the explanation a couple things
to notice here. Notice that question of
the “servants” to the farmer – didn’t you sow good seed, why does it have
weeds? Nearly everyone blames the
farmer, or God, for the weeds. We do
something bad, we blame God for it. We
suffer from the bad actions of someone else, we blame God for it. But God says … “an enemy has done this”. There is more than one supernatural actor in
this story, and in our world. Satan
tempted Adam and Eve, God did not. God
warned them how to avoid temptation (stay together, and stay away from
it). But we treat the warnings of God
lightly believing in strength we do not have, and stumble right into failure
without even a second thought, until the guilt of our failure sets in again, or
the consequences have immediate effect.
Jesus deciphers more in verse 39 saying … “The enemy that
sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers
are the angels.” In case there was any
debate about how weeds get there, they get there because the devil sows
them. The devil tempts people into
failure after failure until they no longer believe anything but failure is
possible. In truth it is less the sin he
wins them over by, but instead the notion that “they” could control the sin if
they just wanted to try hard enough.
Instead of looking to Christ where victory over sin is guaranteed (we do
nothing, and Jesus beats it for us). The
devil gets people to try to fight him one-on-one, over and over again. He tells Christians you must do your best
first before God can help you, or will help you. Christians believe the lie, and so are doomed
to a life of failure after failure. If
the world would look to Jesus to save them, truly let Jesus do the work for
them, salvation would be assured. The
kind of salvation that changes what you do, because it changes how you think
and how you love. The only thing you “do”,
is keep surrendering to Jesus and stay out of the fight.
We return to the parable with Jesus answering the servant’s
question about getting rid of the weeds early, picking up in verse 29 saying …
“But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat
with them. [verse 30] Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time
of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and
bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” More here than first meets the eye. The argument about “soon” should have faded a
bit. The servants ask the farmer if He
wants to move early to get rid of the weeds, and the farmer does not. The farmer wants to wait, give it time. He wants to save everyone, and everyone has
that chance. Only this farmer could turn
weeds into wheat, and that is what He longs to do. God would prefer to return to a world
entirely occupied by wheat, where every weed gave themselves to Him to be
transformed. But alas, too many weeds,
choose to be weeds, and do NOT want transformation of any kind, even Christians
sitting in pews, singing hymns since they were children. A hardened heart, is a hardened heart – where
it is sitting, and what it is singing – are not important.
Jesus interprets picking up in verse 40 saying … “As
therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the
end of this world. [verse 41] The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and
they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do
iniquity; [verse 42] And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth. [verse 43] Then shall the righteous shine forth
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Here is where the rubber meets the road. The criteria for the angels as they sort weed
from wheat is perfection. Things that
offend, and they that do iniquity – are the weeds that are cast out and burned
at the end of all things. Notice it does
not read, well Christians that only do iniquity or sin on occasion should be
spared. This is not a partial-pass
method here. Those that still sin, that
still offend, will be cast out. It means
that our journey does reach an end, a maturity in Jesus where we will stop
sinning, and stop offending. Stop
sinning that is our actions and motives coming in harmony with God and the
Law. Stop offending, that is we stop
teaching others incorrect methods of salvation, stop teaching them to rely upon
self, and rely ONLY upon Jesus, to TRUST Jesus to save them, for only He can.
This is the end of our journey, and there is an end to
it. Those who remain alive at the second
coming of Christ will have already reached the end of our spiritual
journey’s. Those who died in that quest,
will have the remainder fixed in the twinkling of an eye at the resurrection of
the righteous. But the wheat will be
perfect at the end of all things, sinning and offending no more. He who has ears, let him hear, are the words
of Jesus, The Truth. The criteria of
perfection is not a threat, or a death sentence. It is a promise. It is hope.
It is a description of what the end of your journey looks like within
who you are. It is the gift of Jesus
Christ to you, and will happen within you individually. The church does not bring it. Your wife or husband does not bring it. It happens because you submit and surrender
to Jesus one-on-one, and only Jesus brings it about within you. Your failures do not prevent it, they are but
guiderails to point you back to Jesus, to surrender more, and trust more, to
let Jesus bring it about in you. Do not
focus on failure, focus on Jesus. Stay
your eyes upon Jesus and He will do everything that must be done to save you.
What these stories teach us, is that there is no quick fix,
no instant, no one-and-done. But what
they also teach us, is that the Farmer will see the harvest complete within
each of us His seeds, if we but let Him.
The farmer does the work, we become the benefit, and perhaps feed the
world, or at least our corner of it, turning every eye back to the farmer Jesus
Christ. The seed is not the hero of this
story, the farmer is. The harvest itself
is not the event of this story, the transformation of the seed is, that
transformation happens before the harvest can begin. We must be transformed by Jesus, before our
actions matter. We must love before
showing kindness has the full effect it could have. Our motives behind what we do matter. And the perfecting of our souls, minds, and
hearts IS possible through Jesus Christ as we submit ourselves to Him, and
trust Him to do the work.
And there would be more parables in this line before it was
over yet …
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