Weeds or Wheat—Can you tell the real from the fake?

The CIA couldn’t. The agency whose purpose is to collect secrets of foreign countries to protect the country couldn’t weed out one of their agents with a briefcase full of double-dealing secrets, the stuff of which a James Bond movies are made. A former senior government officer lied about his credentials as a graduate of a prestigious engineering school; lied he was a navy pilot; and lied that he needed funds to do his job and received 300 gold bars worth $40 million that he hid in his home. He was fake, fake, fake.

Weeding out the counterfeit is nothing new. False agents of the real Church can infiltrate, confiscate and misrepresent the faith with secret lives and fake identities. Not all Christians are the same. In church, it’s difficult to pick out the real Christians, sons of the Kingdom from false Christians who are really sons of Satan. How do I know? The great storyteller Jesus says so? That’s why he told the parable of the Wheat and the Tares; because everybody who is claiming to be a child of God is not. Just like in a garden, not everything that grows is good.  Some are wheat. Some are weeds.  Look around you, at your neighbor. Ask yourself, to yourself: Wheat or weed? You need to know, not so much who they are, but who you are.  Because in the end, who you are, wheat or weed, will determine whether you are honored at a banquet or burned at a barbeque. Who are the real believers? The answer is found in Matthew 13: 24-30, the parable of the wheat and the weeds. It is the next installment in our series: What Had Happen Was—the parables of Jesus to change lives. Jesus tells this story to challenge you to assess your legitimacy as a Christian while you have time.

You don’t have to be a gardener to figure out what’s growing in your garden.  Wheat or Weeds? You just need to have an ear to hear. The text reads this way:

²⁴ Another parable he put forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:²⁵ But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.²⁶ But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.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?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?"²⁹ But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.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. Matthew 13:24-30

He could have told the story this way: “What had happened was” this preacher started this church plant. It grew and was the talk of the town.  But all of a sudden along with the “for real” Christians in the church, there were “fake” members.  They looked just alike.  Soon, there was trouble in the church. So, the deacons said came to the preacher and asked who did this.  He said, “Another undercover minister came when y’all were more worried about the carpet color rather than the condition of the souls of the poor family across the street.”  So, they said, “Let’s get a rope and get rid of him and his members.  But the preacher said, "No, we can’t do that." You might get the wrong members. Just keep having church. There is going to be a great church banquet sooner than you think. And a special deacon board will pick out the troublemakers, gather them up, tie them up and have a barbeque where they are the main course.  Then we can really have some church.

Here are some key points of the parable:

The wheat are the real Christians who make a difference (24, 25, 37-38, 12:50). The wheat are sons of Christ who are sent by Him in the world to influence the world.

• The good Sower is Christ. (37a)

• The field is the world. (37b)

³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom.

The good seeds are the sons of the Kingdom:

• Who do the will of the Father (12:50)

• Who bears fruit which is the will of the Father (23)

• Who obeys the word and goes into the world making disciples (28:19,20)

Go and make a difference in the world by making disciples—be wheat.

The weeds are fake Christians who make a mess in the church (24-26,41). They are the sons of the devil who influence the world toward evil.

• The weed Sower is Satan. (39)

The weeds are the people of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil.

• The field is a sometimes sleepy, careless church and deceptive world. (25)

• The weeds are the sons of the evil one who are an evil influence. They influence the world to stumble (41a). They influence the world with their lawlessness (41b).

Don’t camouflage weeds in wheat clothing.

Lastly, the Harvester can tell the difference from the weeds in the end. (29-30, 40-42)

The judgment of God rather than man is the best distinguisher of wheat/weeds.

³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds, tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

• Purging is done by God, not man, so that the innocent is not judged with the guilty. (29-30)

• God has agents (angels), better suited as agents of judgment. (30a)

God has a plan and time for judgment: to bundle, bind and burn. (30b, 40)

• God has a blessed place for His sons. (30c)

If the CIA can have the wool pulled over their eyes, the church can be fooled.

But, as Galatians 6:7 warns:

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A person reaps what they sow.