The Church today is challenged. This is understandably so because it has the same likeness with the hospital. The hospital is only patronized by the sick, plagued and those who are terminally ill and desiring to be in good and perfect health. There is no one who is perfectly whole that would visit a hospital unless to visit the sick. The Church is also like that.
While the church of God is filled by those who profess to be children of God, Jesus’ comment in Matthew 15:24, “…I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” speak volume of those He expected more to fill the church. The church is meant for the unholy who acknowledge this fact and strive to be perfect in the Lord. The likes of the Pharisees that stand in public to pray for the whole world to see and know them are ‘too holy’ for the church that Christ wants.
However, because the church has no door and its open-door policy with the blank invitation is for all, Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” the wheat and the tares are allowed to grow together (Matthew 13:24-43).
Wheat and Tares, being of the same kingdom, phylum and class, are biologically alike in several aspects so much so that they appear and grow in the same place, and as well, crave and consume the same nutrients. Despite these similarities, one is not like the other, for they serve not the same purpose. While one is of vast use to man, rich in nutrients and is a blessing to be desired, the other is good for nothing, a poison, fruitless and a curse worthy of only destruction.
In the church today, the wheat are those who serve God in spirit and in truth. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth,” John 4:24. They are led by the Spirit of God, as Apostle Paul rightly told the Romans, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” The wheat planted, watered and nourished by God who is the fountain of everything good and pleasant, must resemble His nature and manifest His blessing of fruitfulness.
The tares on the other hand are planted by the enemy as Jesus predicted in His parable, and as its planter, so is the plant: reflecting and exhibiting all manner of vile traits and worst of all, threaten the survival of the wheat.
The tares in the church today represent the harbingers of heresies, fake prophets, ‘commercial’ men of God and other agents of darkness that have infiltrated the church of God majorly to cause confusion, kill the fire of revival and zap up the oil of gladness from the Christian fold. Ungodly men as Jude describes them, who turn the grace of God into a license to commit all manner of atrocities, corruptions and greed. They do with all vileness the work of their father, the devil, “…the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy…” John 10:10a.
Like the tares, they sneak in unnoticed. If found on the pulpits, they are false teachers, and on the pew, they insult anything they do not understand. They despise authority and deny the only Lord God by their works although professing to know him. They lack the fruits of true Christian character and are reprobate to every good work tending only to corrupt, defile and quench the consecration, zeal and sincerity of God’s wheat.
The reaction of the labourer in this parable is noteworthy for he enraged by the awful nature of the tares quickly suggests its immediate removal. But surprisingly, the Lord directed otherwise saying, “let it grow with the wheat”.
In his defence, an attempt to forcefully remove the tares may hurt his tender wheat. Thus, not that he loved the tares, but it was in consideration of the welfare of the wheat. This great wisdom must be employed in dealing with tares in the church. These tares have friends, spouses and allies among the wheat in the church; therefore, an attempt to deal decisively with them or put them under strict discipline may engender bitterness, bickering and strife which is detrimental to the spiritual well-being of the flock.
You wonder why false prophets flourish all over the place and yet, God appears unconcerned as they adopt all media available to spread their falsehood and confusion about the kingdom of God, while the true ones struggle to reach out to the world. God is watching. He has His plan and right time to deal with all of them. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9.
The Lord will have us mark and avoid folks of these sort (tares). We must not follow after their pernicious ways nor compromise our faith at their allurements. The time of harvest is at hand and swiftly comes their destruction except they repent.
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