Nancy's Page

While looking around in the movie racks at one of our local stores the other day, I noticed that there were contradictory messages for movies that were supposedly about our faith. I saw titles that implied you were getting a movie that was about our Christian faith. Once you read the description of the movie; however, you find it has nothing to do with our faith or Christianity at all. Maybe even in a worst case situation, you bought the thing under false pretenses, got it home, and found as you watched that it had nothing to do with what you interpreted the title to mean. I can take this same thought one step further - have you ever been wronged by someone whom you thought was a Christian? When you started observing their actions, you began to wonder and, watching them at places other than church, you find that they bear no resemblance to the faith profession they make. Well I have, and I am sure many of you have. These people look good, sound good, act good, and put up a front that is hard to see through. The Word of God says we aren’t to judge another’s heart so what do we do?

I went to a passage in Matt. 13: 24-30 lets look at what it says: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while the men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? He said to them, an enemy has done this, the servants said to him, do you want us to go out and gather them up? But he said no, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, first gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.

I read this and wondered what was so hard about weeding your field; did the workers not know the difference between weeds and wheat? Upon doing some investigating, I came to understand the owner of the fields concern with the workers, or servants, pulling up the weeds. The weeds or tares as mentioned has another name which is darnel or cockle. This darnel looks just like wheat in its early stages of growth and, in its definition, is referred to as false wheat. The workers/servants had great experience in field work and yet they found it hard to tell the difference between the two and would run the risk of pulling up the wheat right along with the weeds. The farmer knew that as the wheat and tares grew over time the true identity would surface and the reapers would have no problem telling the difference between the two. You see, as the wheat grows it produces its fruit which makes it heavy and causes its head to droop or bow and its color becomes golden. The tare’s fruit contains no weight so it remains up straight and its color becomes black.

Have you ever found it hard to tell if someone is a Christian or not. We see them some times and they look and sound like Christians; yet, at other times you just aren’t sure. I have even found myself saying that I am a Christian, then what I hear myself say or see myself do makes even me stop and think. We are not perfect. There are some days that the fruit we bear just plain stinks. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t saved, it means we are still growing. We are not fully matured. That can make it hard to tell if what a person sometimes says and does is in conjunction with what they profess. This is why we are instructed not to be a judge, because we would base our judgment upon what we see and hear.

Just like the workers in the field, we would at times get it wrong, because it is sometimes just too close to call. The Bible says in 1 Sam.16:7 that man judges on the outward appearance, but God judges the heart. I can’t see a person’s heart and; therefore, may judge wrongly and damage the wheat. Rom.14:13 says, “let us not judge one another any more but judge this, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way.”

We are the workers not the reapers. We are to sow the Word of God and the character of Jesus Christ in the world. We live in a world that is full of good and evil; sometimes it’s easy to see the difference and sometimes it’s not. The Bible says in Matt.7:18-20, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not grow good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.” This verse has been used by Christians to judge one another, but it’s not to be used in that way. Again, we are workers not the reapers. This verse was to help us, as Christians, to steer away from those who might be sowing something other than the true Word of God. There are many false religions in this world and, if we aren’t careful, we can get fooled by what they’re preaching. Sounds good, looks good, but over time it matures into something that just plain stinks when it’s laid against the Holy Word of God. We as wheat can sometimes be mistaken for tares just as tares can be mistaken for wheat. We are all in the same field growing and maturing and, in our young stages, we look alike; yet as we grow, differences should begin to appear.

Christians are to bear the fruit of the vine. Since we abide in the vine of Jesus Christ, we are to mature and bear much fruit, apart from the vine we bear nothing (John15: 4-5). The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Over time, the vine should grow and mature and produce good healthy fruit. Those who are outside of the vine may grow fruit, but it will eventually be revealed as dead fruit and plants.

Now, let’s go back to what we learned about the wheat and the tares. When the wheat matures, it produces a large heavy head of fruit that turns golden and bows. The tares produce a small head of fruit that has no weight, it stays straight up, and it turns black. The difference is major and not hard to distinguish. This is what we, as the workers of God, are to do. We are to work the fields and that means sowing the Word of God and the fruit of the Spirit. We are to leave the reaping to the reapers who are the angels of God. We are to always be growing in the Word of God and in the Vine of Christ so that, as we mature, our fruit will become heavy and our appearance will be golden and we will be found on the day of harvest bowing before the glory of God. The tares, on the other hand, will be found black with sin, standing up straight with pride, bearing nothing. We don’t have to fret over who is wheat and who is a tare; we just have to live in right standing with God and know: They Live Among Us.