City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

³⁶ Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”

Matthew 13:36

¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Galatians 5:16-26

Reflection

Characters in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares:

• Sower – The Son of Man
• Field – The World
• Good Seeds – Sons of the Kingdom
• Weeds – Sons of the Evil One
• Enemy – The Devil
• Harvest – Ends of the Age
• Harvesters – Angels

There is something about this parable that caught the ear of the disciples, because once they were alone with Jesus, they asked about it.  Perhaps it was the fact that the weeds get burned up in the end.  And that should get our attention too.  It tells us that God is playing for keeps.  So, when the Bible tells us how to live, what to value, and what to believe, we need to take it seriously.  Do we really believe that God is real and that His ways are higher than our ways?

One of the big ideas of this parable is that we must live out our lives, and pursue righteousness, right next to those who are in opposition to us.  We are in a desperate struggle and our opponent likes to masquerade like what we intend to be.  The one who plants the seeds knows that he has planted something good.  But there is another actor who has planted something bad, and now the two must grow side by side.  God will shower blessings on the righteous and unrighteous alike (Matthew 5:45).  So, we should not be surprised when we see fruit from both good and evil people.  Both will come, but in the end, there will be judgement of the fruit.

My Pastor for many year, Mark McClimens, used to tell a story about his oldest daughter.  When she was a toddler, often they would have to tell her to not worry about what everyone else was doing.  She should worry about herself.  One day they heard her in the baby’s room and asked her what she was doing.  She responded, “don’t you never mind what I’m doing.”  You have got to love the attitude.  Wisdom out of the mouth of babes, but you should probably go check on the toddler.  Yes, the baby’s room was a mess.

Application

Don’t you never mind what the tare is doing.  Take care of your business and get your wheat growing.  Yes, you are going to have to compete with them if you want to continue to grow.  You do not have to compete alone, but you do have to compete with energy and effort.  “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12).

Prayer

Dear Lord, I pray for Your wisdom in living my life according to Your word.  Teach me patience in learning Your wisdom, forbearance in dealing with those things that seem wrong to me, and discernment in knowing fleshly deeds and godly deeds.  I seek not to simply be a hearer and a watcher, but rather to be a faithful doer of Your will.  With grace and hope I pray.  Amen.