Many have expressed their concern over an acquaintance/friend or family member’s salvation. I have to confess that sometimes I get confused when meeting people who claim to be Christians but there is no evidence in their life. They walk like everyone else, talk like everyone else and they sure seem to have a mess of problems in their life. Some don’t even go to church, and they spend time in bars, and party like a lot of people in this world.
How about those who attend church yet you wonder if they even understand? Church doesn’t seem to change them. They might sing along with the rest, will sit and listen to the message or take part in a Sunday School class BUT when they walk out of church nothing is different in their life. Their life is filled with junk, they mess up a lot, they cuss and brag and act like a fool around other people sometimes. Are Christians supposed to be like everyone else?
Is the only hope in Christianity in some belief that when we get to the end of our life we get to go to some eternal paradise called heaven? Between now and then we just go on living our life any way we see fit? I want to look at “the between now and then”-the now in the Kingdom of God.
Walking With Hope in the Kingdom of God. Wouldn’t it be great to understand the kingdom of God parables that Jesus teaches? Sometimes I don’t understand just what it is that Jesus is teaching. The Parables are short stories that Jesus uses to teach us about spiritual life. So often you read in the Gospels that people liked the story but did not understand it. Even the disciples who were Jesus’ closest followers needed an explanation on occasions as the morals of the stories were mysterious as if Jesus was trying to hide the true meaning.
The Parable Of The Wheat And The Weeds
FIRST – Bear in mind that this parable in Matthew describes the kingdom of heaven, while the same parable in Luke uses the words the kingdom of “God”. In the New Testament the phase “kingdom of God” and “the kingdom of Heaven” describes the same thing; the kingdom that will exist eternally that Christ established and will be complete at His second coming.
Matthew 13:24-30 – “Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, the weeds also appeared. The owners’ servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ He replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go out and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”‘
The crowd who heard this parable probably wondered just what Jesus was trying to say. They could relate to this story because many probably witnessed these events happening all the time to the farmers in their community. They may have not understood who the enemy was at the time, they probably just thought that the fact that weeds grew among wheat as a natural occurrence that had no reason. Now when Jesus relates this story to the thought of what the kingdom of heaven was like they did not understand, in fact even the disciples didn’t understand it at first because they too asked for an explanation.
Jesus does explain this parable to the disciples in Matthew 13:37-43. He tells us that the man who “sowed the good seeds is the Son of Man” (Jesus). The field represents “the world” and “the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom” (believers). “The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.”
I BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE 2 SIMPLE POINTS IN THIS PARABLE—
First – The Kingdom of Heaven Will Not Be Pure
If Israel had accepted Jesus as the Messiah, the Kingdom of Heaven from that point forward would have been established on earth as a pure and Holy kingdom. But because Jesus was rejected by Israel (the Jews) the kingdom would exist without the king.
THAT KINGDOM, IN HIS ABSENCE, WILL BE CHARACTERIZED BY A DUPLICITY – Side by side good and evil in this world. The two may be difficult to distinguish. The weeds are growing up side by side with those planted by Christ. God will take care of separating it when he returns. BOTH CAN BE VIRTUALLY INDISTINGUISHABLE.
I have learned that one of the most common weeds that grows among wheat is “Darnell weed”. I have heard people refer to Darnell weed as “false wheat”. It is indistinguishable from wheat; it bears a close resemblance of wheat until the fruit appears. Darnell weed is unique also in that its root will intertwine with the wheat so that if you try to pull it up you end up pulling up the wheat as well.
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN WILL BE LIKE THE WHEAT AND THE WEED UNTIL JESUS RETURNS. Until Jesus returns the kingdom will exist in the world and will be made up of two kinds of people—Those who truly serve God (believers) and those who don’t (unbelievers). They exist and grow up together, and God has a plan to take care of this in the end. The kingdom of God is going to made up of true believers and false believers!
The Final end (the harvest) will come when Jesus returns at the harvest—As the weeds will burn up in the fire so will the false believers in the end – a final and ultimate reckoning for unbelievers.
The Truth that Jesus is trying to teach us in this parable is that the Kingdom of heaven [mingling of the true and false believers] will exist together till the end.
And there is nothing we can do about it NOR is there something we should do to fix it. It will exist that way until God makes it right.
Second – The Kingdom of Heaven Will Grow
There will be continuous growth, both weeds (unbelievers) and wheat (believers) – Just as the wheat and weeds will grow until the harvest so also will the kingdom of heaven grow until the time that Jesus returns and completes the kingdom of heaven on earth as it should be.
In between this parable and the explanation that Jesus gives are two more parables that further emphasize this continuous growth.
The Parable of the Mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32) – The mustard seed starts off tiny and insignificant and grows into a tree that provides a resting place for the birds. Birds in the bible always represent evil. So also the kingdom of heaven, which started off tiny and insignificant, will grow to maturity eventually providing a resting place for evil!
There will be a phenomenal growth in the kingdom of God till the end. Like the parable of the mustard seed the kingdom continues to grow until it becomes great and the BIRDS (representing the evil that exists) will rest in the kingdom.
Bad stuff keeps getting in the kingdom in the world. All growth in the kingdom is not good growth. As the true believers (the children of God) are added so also the false believers or (fake believers) will be added by the Devil who seeks to destroy and weaken the kingdom.
The Parable of the Leaven (Yeast) – Matthew 13:33-35. The Kingdom of Heaven is also like yeast or leaven which is added 
to dough. Yeast represents sin and corruption. Jesus tells us “Watch out for the yeast of the Sadducee and the Pharisees”. The yeast changes the dough, giving it fluff and height it does not add to the nourishment that the dough provides, it changes it to a more pleasing consistency.
In this parable yeast represents the evil that will try to change the kingdom of God in the world completely. As yeast changes the dough, false believers added by the evil one will try to change the character of the kingdom in this world, corrupting it.
In 2000 years, the yeast of the devil has risen in the church to corrupt the kingdom of God, just as weeds try to destroy the wheat.
Jesus is just trying to teach us what the kingdom of God will look like in his absence. GOOD AND EVIL WILL GROW TOGETHER IN THE KINGDOM. Often, they will be indistinguishable; the kingdom will contain conflicting (corrupting) ideas for those both in the kingdom and out of the kingdom.
BUT JESUS WILL SEPARATE AND EXPOSE THE TRUTH FROM THE FALSE IN THE END.
What Can We Learn From These Parables
How do we deal with this today, with so much corrupt teaching, opposing ideas, sewn from the devil corrupting the kingdom?
How are we going to share the gospel message today with so many opposing views?
FIRST – Never forget – JESUS GAVE US HIS HOLY SPIRIT TO HELP US STAY ON TRACK UNTIL THE END.
John 16:13 – “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you in all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come”.
• Without the holy spirit who would ever come to Christ?
• Who can work their way through all the garbage, all the varying views-The holy spirit will direct us if we lean on the holy spirit in our walk. The Holy spirit still works in the world convicting the hearts of the people to come out of doctrinal weirdness like Jehovah’s witness or Mormons or any other weird and false teaching. IT IS THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO CAN REACH THOSE WHO QUESTION WRONG TEACHING.
Until the end there will be false teachers trying to pull believers away from the truth. The Holy spirit will be here also to correct believer’s, teaching and empowering true believers to share the truth. The holy spirit teaches us, corrects us, encourages us and helps us stay away from the total weirdness.
The characteristic of the kingdom of God in the world today is such that it is filled with junk (corruption) Some people will think there is no way I am going to go with that. But there will always be some who seek the truth simply and genuinely wanting to know God. There is nothing we can do but pray for others asking God to open the heart of those who are not following or are falling into false teachings.
We need to remember that GOD HAS A PLAN – that until Christ returns the kingdom of God in the world will continue to grow.
• It will contain both good and bad teaching.
• There will be true believers and false believers – sometimes gathered together under the same roof.
• Not all growth is good. To focus on growth in numbers alone is missing the point.
• That the Devil will seek to corrupt the kingdom and corrupt believers until the end.
Our efforts need to focus on drawing close to God, leaning on the Holy Spirit will teach and correct us, He will help us understand and comfort us when we get down or go off on the wrong path.
Till the end – We must learn to trust God – Lean on the teaching of Jesus.
Praying every day for guidance, help and understanding.
There is an old Gospel song that amply describes what our attitude and reaction should be as we grow and mature as Christians. “Leaning On The Everlasting Arms”. Until the end comes, and God straightens everything out, our attitude should be one of trust; trusting that God will work it all out in the end. In the meantime we need to just lean on Jesus. As the songs chorus goes. “Leaning, leaning, Safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.”
I know what it is to be confused at what appears to be a hopeless situation in the world and even some churches. Yet I can trust Jesus and walk with hope in the kingdom of God today because I know that Jesus has a plan and he will work it out.
I hope that something written here has helped you in your desire to walk with hope today. I appreciate any comments you might want to leave here; it is always refreshing to hear that I have helped you in some way. If you have any questions or additional thoughts please feel free to leave there here as well.
Thank You and God bless
Raymond
Thank you for a really inspiring post. I am one of those who rarely go to church, not because I don’t believe, but because they confuse me with all their conflicting sermons and different rituals, as well as the double standards. I try to live a good life and work on being kind and helpful to others, as well as try to pray and keep a relationship with the Lord, but sometimes I too neglect my spiritual growth.
I loved the parables you used and have forgotten some of them, but as you read them they do make a lot of sense. I am sure this blog of yours will inspire many as it is so enlightening to read.
Thank you for your kind comments Michel. I do understand your confusion about the various churches, it does seem that there is much confusion. I encourage you to find a small Bible study group where you can learn and have fellowship with other believers. Sometimes all you can do is walk in faith. Hope all the best for you in the future.
Interesting thoughts on the wheat and the tares. I can say I’ve had similar thoughts and feelings myself and at times have been troubled and concerned about those close to me. It’s one thing to know that there are people who are wheat and others who are tares, but it’s completely another to try and distinguish one from another sometimes. Just like your example of the most common weed: they can look the same.
I’ve never heard that we shouldn’t do anything about it though. Where do you get that instruction from the parable?
Very valid points here. Christianity shouldn’t be about going through the motions and not practicing what you preach. I can’t imagine that God finds favor in that. And that goes for everyone. What makes the Bible unique to me is that simple stories can have such complex underlying meanings, such as the wheat and the weeds, and thus people may not understand fully. It takes a lot of time and commitment to really get it. I appreciate the positive message that you are conveying with this post and hope that it will help those who have drifted into darkness find a lighter path. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments Pentrental. Glad that my post helped in your understanding.
Interesting thoughts on the wheat and the tares. I can say I’ve had similar thoughts and feelings myself and at times have been troubled and concerned about those close to me. It’s one thing to know that there are people who are wheat and others who are tares, but it’s completely another to try and distinguish one from another sometimes. Just like your example of the most common weed: they can look the same.
I’ve never heard that we shouldn’t do anything about it though. Where do you get that instruction from the parable?
Hi Trevor, thanks for stopping by and commenting. In answer to your question in the parable the workers ask the owner if they should pull up the weeds. The owner replies that they should leave them be until the harvest. In application those who we might see as weeds among the wheat, there is nothing left to do until the end.
However that does not mean we should do nothing about those we are concerned with, it means that the only hope is found in prayer for their souls. Sometimes we cannot tell the difference and so we can pray encourage and hope for those we are not sure about. God knows what will happen in the end; who will be pulled up and cast into the fire, and those who will be welcomed into heaven.
Oh thank you for the inspiring post and parables. I rarely go to the churches because there are many hypocrite people. I remember a pastor condemn the teaching of other religion or suggest certain political view to the mass. I believe not all Christian leader and people like this, but sometimes it hurt to see some religious people act like that. What will you do if you find a friend or acquaintance like that?
I understand what you are saying Alblue. I am glad this post inspired you. As you say there are many misguided people among Christianity and there are hypocrites in the church. It hurts the church and it hurts those who are truly seeking help and guidance. In defense of Christianity I would also say that there are many hypocrites in in this world in every kind of group or social setting.
Don’t let people deter you from learning more, there are many sources to help one learn. Seek out others, perhaps there is a small group study somewhere that you could join. There are many websites as well that provide hope and encouragement. Last but not least, pray about it, ask God to help you.
Thanks again for stopping by and commenting. I hope you help and hope to grow and mature in your faith.