Matthew 13:24-30,36-43

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Lord of the Field

I. Jesus is the Lord of the field and the harvest; so we must trust faithfully in His harvest in order to have peace in the field

a. Jesus presents a new parable that details how the Kingdom is like the sower who sowed good wheat seeds in His field, only to find that overnight, His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. His servants didn’t discover the tares until after the plants grew, sprouted, and bore fruit, because the plants look identical, but wheat produces fruit good for food and tares produce only black seeds that make one sick if ingested. When the servants understand what’s happened, they desire to gather the tares up out of the field. But the wise Sower says no, they’ll surely damage the wheat while removing the tares. Instead, He’ll allow them to grow side by side until harvest time, when His reapers will gather the tares up and burn them, and harvest the wheat safely in His barn. Tense and confused, the disciples ask for clarification. So Jesus explains that He’s the sower, the field is the world, the good seed are those who belong to Him and produce Kingdom fruit, and the tares are those who reject Him and don’t produce Kingdom fruit. Satan is the evil sower, the harvest is at Jesus’ return, and the reapers are angels. The parable describes the reality of the existence of evil in the world which is both detectable and undetectable by us. However, at the end of the age, angels will separate those who don’t belong to Christ to eternity in hell, and those who truly belong to Christ to eternity in heaven with Him. (Vv. 24-30, 36-43)

b. Jesus’ intention isn’t to leave us scared and restless, but help us understand what we obviously see, and warn us about that which we can’t see. Evil around us comes from the covert enemy who’s been opposing Him since the beginning of this world, and who won’t relent until the end. But ultimately, He’s telling us that we can rest peacefully in the field, in the presence of evil we can and can’t see, because He’s the Lord of the field and the harvest, and if we trust faithfully in His harvest, we’ll have peace in the field. (Gen. 3:1-13; Ps. 23; Matt. 7:21-23; John 10:10; Rom. 8:28-39; 2 Cor. 2:11; 11:13-15; Eph. 6:10-12; 1 Pet. 5:8-11)

II. Jesus is the Lord of the field and the harvest; so we must be light and salt in the field while we faithfully await the harvest

a. The wheat and tares were only distinguishable because the weight of the fruit of the wheat pulls the head of the plant over so that it’s bowing towards the ground; the seeds of the tare are light and leave the head of the tare standing tall and proud. Ultimately, we’re all tares, only miraculously converted to fruitful wheat by the grace of Christ; so our first concern must be to make certain we’re fruitful. We must humbly submit to Christ in repentant faith as Lord and Savior, and we must constantly surrender our hearts over to Him, working out our salvation with fear and trembling, testing ourselves to see if we’re in the faith, and when we think we stand, taking heed lest we fall. (Gen. 3:14-19; John 3:16; Rom. 1:16-32; 3:21-26; 4:4-5; 5:6-11; 6:21-23; 8:1-9; 1 Cor. 10:12; 2 Cor. 13:5; Eph. 2:1-9; Phil. 2:12-13)

b. This isn’t a call to walk in constant fear, but to grow in faith, trust, and complete dependence on the Sower. We must not to become overzealous like the servants in the field, it wasn’t their job to judge the tares from the wheat. They would accidently harvest some of the plants that were good and fruitful as they collected the tares because they couldn’t fully see as Jesus sees. He knows that some of the most fruitless of the tares will ultimately become the most fruitful of wheat, by the power of His grace! Our work in the field is to obediently carry on the work which He began. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” That’s the message which Jesus left with us and commanded us to live out and speak out in the field until His appointed harvest. We must name evil as evil and good as good, but we must avoid becoming a stumbling block by any means, whether overzealous legalistic self-righteousness or universalist easy-believism. Ultimately, humanity will judge itself through rebellious disobedience. We must diligently pursue righteous and holy lives in Christ, and live out His mercy, grace, and love into the field around us. We must trust in the Lord of the field and the Lord of the harvest to give us patience to confidently wait on Him and rest in His judgement. We’re powerless to remove evil from the field, but the Sower can miraculously change the seeds of unrighteousness into the fruit of righteousness, give us the grace to see our time in the field and the others through His eyes, and give us peace to live confidently in Him, exalting the excellencies of His Name, so that others see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven! (Isa. 55:6-13; Matt. 5:13-16; 7:1-5; 25:21a, 31-46; 28:18-20; Luke 9:51-56; John 3:16-21, 36; Acts 1:6-8; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 5:14-21; 1 Pet. 2:9-12; 1 John 2:15-19)