The Parable of the Enemy who sowed Tares

  • If we are in the Kingdom then we have an Enemy!
  1. What power does the enemy have?
  2. What are his tactics?
  3. How does he attack Kingdom work?
  4. How do we recognize him?
  5. How do we respond?

 

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Two Problematic Questions:

  1. Why did God not instantly destroy all evil
  2. Why is the church so imperfect when we are supposed to be God’s New Creation
  • Jesus taught us to pray:

Matthew 6

  1. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
  2. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
  • There IS an evil one, an enemy
  • Today we are going to look at what Jesus himself said about this subject, in parables and other occasions
  • Before we look at our parable, even from Jesus’ birth there was a conflict:

Matthew 2

  1. When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged.
    He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under,
    according to the time he had learned from the wise men.”
  • This is one of only three parables where there is an explanation given, and there is a gap before the explanation.

Matthew 13:24–43

  1. He presented them with another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field.
  2. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away.
  3. When the plants sprouted and bore grain, then the tares also appeared.
  4. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the tares come from?’
  5. He said, ‘An enemy has done this.‘so the servants replied, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’
  6. But he said, ‘No, since in gathering the tares you may uproot the wheat with them.
  7. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First collect the tares and tie them in bundles to be burned, but then gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
  1. He gave them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
  2. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, so that the wild birds come and nest in its branches.”
  3. He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the dough had risen.”
  4. Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the crowds; he did not speak to them without a parable.
  5. This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet:
    “I will open my mouth in parables,
    I will announce what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”
  1. Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field.”
  2. He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
  3. The field is the world and the good seed are the people of the kingdom. The tares are the people of the evil one,
  4. and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
  5. As the tares are collected and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
  6. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers.
  7. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
  8. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears had better listen!
  • The Romans passed laws against people doing this kind of thing, so we know it must have been a problem (Snodgrass p.201)

“Darnel”

Darnel
  • Darnel can carry a poisonous fungus that would make the flour inedible
    • Leaf blades are around 2–3mm wide, wheat slightly wider 4–5mm

“Satan Sowing”

Satan Sowing
  • What is the point?
    • Jesus, you are bringing the kingdom, but there is still evil happening?
    • Today: Why is there evil in the world if there is a God of love?
    • Evil will not ultimately be destroyed until the day of judgement
    • Until then, Satan will try and spoil everything that God is doing
    • Do not be surprised, but be prepared!

Questions:

  1. What power does the enemy have?
  2. What are his tactics?
  3. How does he attack Kingdom work?
  4. How do we recognize him?
  5. How do we respond?
  • His main power comes from telling us lies:

1. What power does the enemy have?

  • “You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
  • “These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: Whenever they hear, immediately Satan comes and snatches the word that was sown in them. (Mark 4:15)
  • Then shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be released from this imprisonment on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 13:16)

2. What are his tactics?

  • preys on our weak points, Mark 8:
  1. But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”
  • Luke 22:
  1. “Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat,
  2. but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
  • Especially tries to attack leaders
  • What are your weak points?
  • Precious Remedies against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks

3. How does he attack the work of the Kingdom?

  • Causes division and disunity
    • often by causing misunderstanding
    • John Hosier elders story

4. How do we recognize him?

  • How does he often work today in our lives?

He is a defeated enemy

  1. Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”
  2. So he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (Luke 10)
  • Do not fear! God will keep us safe:
  • And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (Mat 6:13)
  • I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. (John 17:15)

James 4 – Recognize your Authority in Christ

  1. So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you.
  2. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Ephesians 1 – our Authority

  1. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him,
  2. — since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened — so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
  3. and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength.
  4. This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms
  5. far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
  6. And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things.
  7. Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
  8. and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

5. How do we respond?

  1. Take courage, he is defeated!
  2. Recognize his lies
  3. Recognize his attempt to cause disunity
  4. Pray!
  5. Don’t fight him alone

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