REMOVING THE TARES
Matthew 13:27-30
“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 then to go 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 time of harvest, and at that time of harvest I will say to the reapers , "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." ' ”
There is coming a time of separation of the good from the bad. Until then, Jesus said to let the weeds grow in the field along with the wheat. In any church there are weeds, that is, those who attend but are not truly born again. There are passive tares and do not cause problems. To root them out would cause harm to other believers. This does not mitigate removing weeds that are causing damage to the rest of the field. Jesus gave instructions regarding church discipline, and it sometimes demands excluding bad seed from the fellowship (Matthew 18:15-17). Paul gives examples in his epistles of banning people from the church who were a bad influence and would not repent (I Corinthians 5:1-13; I Timothy 1:20). But only God really knows the hearts of people, and if the weeds do not hinder the growth of the rest of the wheat, they should allowed to remain among the congregation. God will make the final separation at the end of the age as He will do with the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:32-33).
TODAY’S PRINCIPLE: Great care should be taken the removal of tares from the field, lets the wheat be damaged in the process.
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Have a careful day. Love you.
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