THE PARABLE OF THE TARES OF THE FIELD (Part 2)
“But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” (Matthew 13:25 NKJV)
God only reveals the secrets or mysteries of His Kingdom to those who are passionately seeking and hungering for the truths and who are willing to obey the truths (Jer. 29:13, John 7:17).
While the Lord Jesus would speak in parables publicly and generally to the multitude who have no interest or passion for intimacy with Him; however, He would explain all His parables in the private to His disciples who cherished intimacy with Him and were passionate to know, understand and obey the deep things of His Kingdom.
While the Lord Jesus sat by the sea of Tiberias, He put forth many parables before the multitude. After the Lord had sent the multitude away and went into the house,His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” (Matt. 13:36 NKJV).
Many believers today lack true understanding of the deep things of God because unlike the early disciples of Jesus they have no passion and time for intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Like the multitude that always thronged Jesus in the public but had no desire for a personal, private, or intimate communion with the Lord Jesus, many believers today who attend church services dutifully have no desire or time for a personal and intimate fellowship or communion with the Lord Jesus.
Their devotion, communion or fellowship with the Lord is only limited to the public. This is why they are easily deceived, defrauded, exploited and manipulated by spiritual con men on the pulpits.
From the first part of this piece we began to examine and thresh the Parable of the tares of the field that Jesus gave in Matt. 13:24-30with a view to understanding and imbibing the vital truths, lessons, and principles of God’s Kingdom embedded in this parable.
First, we discovered that it is the word of the Kingdom (the seed) that produces the sons of the Kingdom (the good seeds).
The believers are born again, “not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” (1 Pet. 1:23 NKJV).
It is the Word of the Kingdom (the Word of truth and life) that purifies, renews or sanctifies the minds of the believers so that they bear good fruits or manifest the nature, character, or the life of the Kingdom of God (Eph. 5:26, John 15:3, 17:17).
Whenever the word of the Kingdom grows in a nation, the number of the disciples or sons of the Kingdom will also grow and multiply (Acts 6:7).
Let us now further thresh the parable of the tares of the field.
Second, the parable of the tares reveals that the sons of the Kingdom are specifically and strategically placed in the world by God.
The parable starts thus: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.” (Matt. 13:24 NKJV).
From Jesus’ explanation of the parable we understand that“He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. “The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
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” (Matt. 13:37-38 NKJV).
The believers are in the world to bear fruits to God’s glory, to proclaim God’s praises, and to show forth God’s love, wisdom, and power.
The Scripture amply and clearly states this truth.
1 Peter 2:
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (NKJV).
Isaiah 43:
7 Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.
21 This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise. (NKJV).
As a son of God’s Kingdom, you have been strategically placed or planted by God in your school, community, career field, workplace or marketplace as an ambassador of God’s Kingdom to protect, pursue and promote the interests of God’s Kingdom and to manifest, demonstrate or show forth the life, nature, wisdom, power, values and principles of God’s Kingdom.
Matthew 5:
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (NKJV).
Third, the parable of the tares also reveals that the devil’s desire is to choke and corrupt the good seeds in the hearts of the believers, thereby making them unfruitful.
The parable continues thus: “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. “But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.” (Matt. 13:25-26 NKJV).
After you have gladly received the Word of truth (the wheat), the devil will always draw near to sow destructive heresies (tares) in your heart so as to choke the Word and thus make you become unfruitful in the field where God has strategically planted you (Matt. 13:22).
Vine’s Expository Dictionary defines “tares” (“zizanion”in Greek) as a kind of darnel, the commonest of the four species, being the bearded, growing in the grain fields, as tall as wheat and barley, and resembling wheat in appearance. It was credited among the Jews with being degenerate wheat. The rabbis called it “bastard.”
Although tares closely resemble wheat in appearance; however, it is not safe for consumption because it is poisonous to man and herbivorous animals, producing sleepiness, nausea, convulsions and even death.
In a spiritual sense, “tares” implies false teachings or heretic doctrines that may superficially appear to be truths, attractive, sweet, or harmless, but are harmful to your spiritual well-being and may result in spiritual sleepiness, slumbering or blindness, epileptic spiritual growth or lifestyle, and eventually into spiritual death.
The Scripture refers to tares as “destructive heresies” (2 Pet. 2:1);“deceptive words” (2 Pet. 2:3); “devised fables” (2 Pet. 1:16); “doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1); or “enticing words of man’s wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:4).
Sadly, most of the teachings or doctrines that are being propagated and broadcasted to us today are not the true seeds (sound doctrines) but tares (doctrines of demons). No wonder the sons of the wicked one (the fruits of tares) are multiplying in our churches and communities.
Lastly, the parable of the tares unveils to us that the devil can only succeed in sowing his tares among our wheat only when we are fast asleep.
Jesus said, “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” (Matt. 13:25 NKJV).
It was while the first man, Adam, was fast asleep as a spiritual watchman over his home or territory that the devil was able to beguile his wife and feed them with tares resulting in the moral and spiritual corruption and death of the entire mankind.
2 Corinthians 11:
3But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (NKJV).
When did destructive heresies (tares) enter into the Church and become multiplied?
When our spiritual watchmen or leaders fell asleep in the spirit!
When they became distracted from their primary calling and purpose!
When they became completely, engrossed, entangled and immersed in mundane affairs!
Ferocious “wolves in sheep clothing” have invaded the Church today bringing in and spreading damnable and destructive heresies, devised fables, deceptive words and doctrines of demons, thereby choking and corrupting the true seeds and sons of the Kingdom because men and women whom God has strategically placed over us as watchmen are fast asleep in the spirit and distracted by their entanglements with the mundane affairs.
Isaiah 56:
9 All you beasts of the field, come to devour, All you beasts in the forest.
10 His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yes, they are greedy dogs Which never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory. (NKJV).
Beloved, it is time to wake up from your spiritual slumber and free yourself from every worldly entanglement so that you may diligently watch over your soul, home, and God’s flock under your care.
Romans 13:
11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
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13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
(NKJV).
Paul admonished the spiritual leaders or watchmen over the Church of Ephesus.
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Acts 20:
28 “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
29 “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 “Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
31 “Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. (NKJV).
This admonition is for all Christian leaders today!
Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for waking me up from my deep spiritual slumber today. Dear Holy Spirit, teach and help me to identify, uproot and flush out every tare that the devil has planted in my field while I was asleep in the spirit, and help me to remain sober, vigilant, prayerful and watchful till the end, in Jesus’ name. Amen.