Wheat and Tares
Over the years of ministry that the Lord has given me, I have witnessed to a lot of people. Some listen to what I am telling them and some don’t. It’s their choice and it is a serious one. I can’t save anyone, but I can be a tool for the Lord to use in winning a person to Himself. There are myriads of excuses that people use when they want to reject what God says about being saved. One excuse that is employed a lot is when a person will say: “I really don’t want to be a part of Christianity or a member of a church because I am not a hypocrite. I may be a lot of things but I am not a hypocrite.” They think that being free from hypocrisy is more valuable to them than anything else and that God places saving value on being free from hypocrisy.
When I was in Israel on one of my six trips to the Holy Land, I was shown what was wheat and what was a tare. On one occasion our guide pointed the difference out to me. We were walking by a field with both wheat and tares in it. The tare looks almost exactly like the wheat but it does not have grain in the head of the plant. Same color as wheat. Same height as the wheat. Same basic look as wheat. But the difference is that it has no value. It lives among the wheat and it basically looks exactly like the wheat but it is not and it has no value. It consumes water just like the wheat and takes nourishment from the soil that the wheat needs in order to produce a crop.
Jesus uses the example of the wheat and the tares beginning in Matthew 13:25 and only a few verses later, He explains the parable to his followers. The implications are very clear and everyone should read about the wheat and the tares. When applied to the church one finds out that no church is perfect. All of them have some tares among the wheat and the Lord says that the tares were put there by the enemy. Satan knows that he can never destroy the church (the body of Christ) with attacks from the outside. But, he also knows that the most profound and lasting damage can be done from the inside. That’s exactly where one will find the tares. Every pastor is aware of the presence of the tares. They may be some of his more faithful attenders. They may even contribute to the operation of the church. They know how to smile and look like they think Christians should look. They will be in their seat every Sunday and one of their most repeated statements is: “I’m praying for you, Preacher.” The sad fact is that they are not wheat. They are tares. Every church has them and it would be wise is the preacher and the church at large realize that they are present and will stymie the work of the church.
A tare will show up at a conference to oppose some good thing that the church wants to try to accomplish. They will drive fifty miles to attend the important meeting and vote “no” when they have not been in Sunday or Wednesday evening attendance in recent memory. Members will wonder about why they showed up at this particular meeting. I will tell you why. They are a tare and they didn’t attend the meeting because they wanted to. They came at the bidding of their boss; the evil one. What do tares do? They will look clean, classy, articulate and prosperous. They will relate to people in a way that makes them very likable. In general, they will do the things that people think Christians should do. Tares will carry a big Bible. They will make sure they know doctrine so those in the Sunday School class will have confidence in them. Just like the wheat, the tare in the Bible, looks like everyone else but they have been placed there for a purpose and it is not to be helpful to the Pastor or the church. Sorry, folks, but your church has them too. And, oh yes, a tare is the worst form of being a hypocrite.
It is sad to say but being a tare is not something that applies to church members only. There are many churches that have a “tare” as a pastor. They are in the ministry for their own benefit and they will produce others who will be a tare just like themselves. The problem is that they produce very little. Their goals will always reflect what THEY want to do with little consideration for what is actually good for the church and the people involved. Wherever they go over the years, the result is basically the same: they accomplish little and there is always some kind of controversy surrounding them. I believe that when God genuinely “calls” a man to be a preacher and pastor that He gives them the personal resources to accomplish that task. Everyone will not have the same levels of success in ministry but there will be an obvious influence which is positive that emanates from their ministry. They will have the amount of success that God desires for them to have. They will be dedicated men with an eye on the Lord and what He desires for them and the churches they will serve over the years. And, there will be an overwhelming respect for them among the people they have served. A true Pastor gets immersed in the lives of the people he serves. They, the church, are number one and everything else stands in line behind it. He will expend himself for the good of the church. “Tare” pastors use the church to actualize themselves while a “wheat” pastor will expend himself seeking to actualize the church God has given him.
So, suffice it to say that there are tares in the church. We may not know who they are but God does. There is coming a day when the tares who have fooled many Christians will be removed from the “field” by the Only One that they cannot
fool: Jesus Christ. His angels will come and take the tares out of the way, bundle them up and burn them forever. We might spot some of them but the Lord deals with them in a way we could not. Don’t think that your church doesn’t have tares. It does! It is a spiritual situation that the Lord Jesus warns us about in Matthew 13. Be aware. Be vigilant. And trust the Lord to deal with the tares.
Examine yourself and discern with God’s help if you are wheat or if you are a tare. It is obvious to God and it should be to you. Just remember, every pastor and every church are working in a field that has both Wheat and Tares.
