Mt. 13:24-30
Introduction
The New Testament gives us several images for thinking of the Church: a bride, a building (temple/house), a body with different parts, but also soils, as well as this picture of the kingdom as this field full of wheat and tares. Today we are talking about ecumenicalism – or getting along with other Christians, especially other Christians that are hard to get along with, which incidentally includes you and me.
Chesterton was once asked by a newspaper to answer the question what is wrong with the world, and he wrote the words: “Dear Sir, I am, sincerely G.K. Chesterton” and turned it into the newspaper. The point is that when we begin talking about getting along with other people, we should always begin with a cheerful acknowledgment that we are all (all of us) pieces of work. Lewis says somewhere that while we may lament that we have to put up with many difficult people, we should remember only God has to put up with all of us.
Summary of the Text
The striking thing about this parable is that Jesus cheerfully insists that the plan is to leave many tares mixed in with good wheat until the harvest. Our instinct and the instincts of the servants in the parable is to get rid of all the tares, but the householder says that’s not a good idea because it will tend to uproot a bunch of the wheat with the tares (Mt. 13:28-29). It won’t be safe, the Master says, until the time of the harvest (Mt. 13:30). Now a few verses down, Jesus explains the parable: the householder who sowed the good seed is Jesus, the field is the world, the wheat is the children of the kingdom, and the tares are the children of the evil one, the enemy is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels (Mt. 13:36-40). Jesus says that at the end of the world, the Son of man will send his angels to gather out of his kingdom all the things that offend and do evil and cast them into Hell, and then the righteous shall shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Mt. 13:41-43).
Some like to point out that the field is the world, and therefore, they do not believe that this parable applies to tares in the church or in the kingdom, but at the end, Jesus specifically says that he will send his angels to gather all the offensive things “out of his kingdom.” So I take “the world” to be referring to this age, or the time before the final judgment, but also the same place where God’s kingdom is coming and growing (like a mustard seed, like leaven in a loaf – Mt. 13:31-33).
Faith Holds Them Together
One of our problems is that we often want things to be simplistic. There is a sense in which everything really is simple: Heaven and hell, God and the devil, righteousness and wickedness. But this simplicity is not the same thing as being simplistic. We are to be childlike but not childish.
So childlike faith holds these different images together (bride, building, body, field). Theologians have also given us the categories of visible and invisible church, or what we might call the historical and eschatological church. The visible/historical church is the church in history; the invisible/eschatological church is the church as she really is in heaven now and at the end of history. The visible/historical church is still full of blemishes and tares, but the eschatological church will be pure, holy wheat. Now in history, Christ is washing His bride with the water of the word, scrubbing out every spot and wrinkle and blemish until she is completely holy and glorious and spotless (Eph. 5:25-27). God is building a temple, and the temple is a body. And this body Scripture says has more honorable parts and less honorable parts, and some parts need to be covered up to make them modest (1 Cor. 12:23ff).
The work of unity with other Christians – ecumenicalism – means recognizing that we are dealing with this process. And apparently God is a lot more patient than we are. Our instinct is to rip out the tares, but God says that would be more harmful to the wheat. Our instinct is to do radical surgery on the blemishes, but Jesus is taking His time. This doesn’t mean we pretend everything is fine, but it does mean patience and gospel street smarts.
Applications
Love Covers a Multitude of Sins: “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins” (Prov. 10:12). “A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame” (Prov. 12:16). “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends” (Prov. 17:9). “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8).
This applies to your marriage. This applies in your church. This applies to extended family. This applies to other churches. This applies to social media. When you cover sin in love, it means you drop it into the volcano of the Cross. Which means you may not haul it back out again the next time it happens.
Remember: God has covered many of your sins in love. “Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin.” (Ps. 85:2).
Love Confronts Some Sins: This does not mean we never address sin or lies or slander, but it does mean that we accept that the general plan is to leave a lot of tares and blemishes and weaknesses. Nevertheless, there are certain high-handed, scandalous sins and accusations that must be dealt with. Paul addressed the man who was sleeping with his step-mom in 1 Corinthians 5. And Paul was also very clear about preaching on what tares are: sexual immorality, extortioners, revilers, the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom.
Jesus said that you should confront some sins one on one to try to win your brother (Mt. 18). But you should only do this after you have removed the log from your own eye – “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” If you have sought to restore a brother and you do not succeed, often you should just drop the matter. Matthew 18 is not a conveyer belt. Sometimes you just let it go.
And sometimes you try again and bring a brother or two along as witnesses – but these are witnesses not merely to try to prove that guy wrong, but honest witnesses to hold you accountable. And sometimes, if he’s still raging, maybe you tell it to the church for formal discipline and excommunication.
But we live in a world that generally doesn’t practice church discipline at all, and then when a church rediscovers this, it often over corrects and starts excommunicating people for wearing the wrong shirt to church or disagreeing with the leadership about something. Generally, you should reserve formal excommunication for 10 Commandment sins that everyone sees. And lots of other stuff may just end up meaning you need some space.
Jesus is Lord of His Church: The story of David is a really remarkable demonstration of ecumenical love. For lots of David’s life he was on the run from his father in-law King Saul, but he refused to return evil for evil, and when Saul died, David wrote a song about him full of lament and honor.
Our job is not to make sure the field of the world is pure. Our job is not to make sure the bride has no wrinkles. Our job is to love the people right in front of us. Deal with personal sin and purify your wife and kids and then be encouraging one another in your local body.
Generally speaking, when men lead their families and churches, our orientation is toward a mission or goal and we work shoulder to shoulder. Women tend to relate face to face (nurturing), but men tend to relate shoulder to shoulder (mission).
Most ecumenical work is best done with this masculine bent: with some kind of particular mission or goal. Let’s end abortion in our city or county. Let’s get evangelical Christians elected to office. Let’s teach men how to lead their families. But lots of modern ecumenical work is effeminate. It’s trying to get along rather than trying to accomplish a mission. Jesus gave us a mission. We must not throw elbows and sometimes we need to get out of range of other elbows. And sometimes the elbows are blemishes and weaknesses, and sometimes they are tares. But Jesus is Lord of His field.
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