Fire On Your Head

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44)

I may seem like I’m going off on a weird rabbit trail and it might not be obvious at first why I reference the other passages that I do in this entry to talk about just this one verse, but bear with me. Remember as I mentioned previously that the kingdom of heaven being LIKE a mustard seed. “It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” (Matt 13:31b-32) Right after that we’re told “the kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened” (v.33).

In both of these examples of seed and leaven, we’re given the image of something that starts off small, and grows and spreads and eventually fills all that contains it. When Jesus Christ set foot into this physical realm of ours nearly 2000 years ago, He planted the seed of the kingdom of God and it has been growing ever since. The tares have also been planted, and have been growing ever since in the same field (this world) both in linear history, and horizontally in our lives or relationships, and ministries.

Many believers understand the Gospel of salvation, but don’t often realize that the Gospel is about the KINGDOM of God manifested in all of creation, including the earth. The return of Christ draws nearer and nearer, and at that time He will begin to rule for 1000 years in a ‘tangible’ way—the full ‘manifestation’ of what we’ve been growing towards. He already rules now, and is seated at the right hand of God, but His literal kingdom doesn’t ‘exist’ yet. This kingdom of God keeps spreading like leaven, until it fills all creation—at His kingdom “finally” being set up—it’s part of the overlapping “not yet” and “already” ages we’re currently in.

The kingdom of God HAS come, through Christ, but is still “not yet here” at the same time. “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God (Romans 8:19)—because it will be made manifest in that Day of Judgment—the wheat we discussed last entry will be separated from the tares and it will finally be obvious—the grey-headed tares will stick out from the rest of the true crop. We’re in a sort of overlap of two different ages—the ending of the old one that has been defeated and concluded by the work of Christ on the cross, and the beginning of the new one—simultaneously, that was ushered in BY the work of Christ on the cross.

While the kingdom of God–the wheat–grows and spreads in the field (the world)–likewise the kingdom of darkness keeps spreading until the tares are separated from the wheat at the end of the age and burned up. The verses following describe this, as Jesus gives the explanation of the parable of the wheat and tares that he had just previously shared.

There are not very many parables of Jesus’ that He explains in the Gospels, but in Matthew 13 there are two that He does as I’ve already devoted attention to in my last few entries—these parables are of utmost importance. Jesus says that at the end of the age “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then, the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (v.41-43) This speaks of separation and distinction; the righteous separated from wicked, true from false, wheat from tare.

In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he told them:
“According to the grace of God, given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (emphasis mine).

Wood, hay and straw are stuff that grows or is found above the ground. Gold, silver, and precious stones are beneath the surface, and aren’t visible–they are buried and hidden and require seeking.
If you went to Home Depot with several thousands of dollars, and you decided to buy piles of 2×4s, I’m sure you could get a good start on building a house. But if you were to take that same money and invest it in gold or silver, you would get a significantly smaller quantity amount with your investment. Wood on the one hand burns in fire. And when it burns, it’s gone, and all you have left are ashes.

Gold withstands fire and is purified. In order to get them from the ground, one needs to bow down and seek. When you put gold through the fire, you don’t diminish it or lose any of it. It changes form at a certain point from solid to liquid, but you don’t lose any of it when you put it through the fire, and the impurities are dissolved and the gold is given a purer quality by the fire.

I think gold is symbolic of your private and “unseen” devotional life; 1 Peter 1:6-9 says: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (Emphasis mine)

When I read this passage, I think of the Persecuted Church in parts of the world where the kingdom of God is growing exponentially, and we don’t know about it because it’s leaders are not well-known and flying in private jets with flashy ministries. They live in constant persecution and even to the point of losing their lives in some cases. They live in a realm we have no understanding of, yet have a more pure and genuine faith.

Of silver, Proverbs 10:20 says “The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.” What are you saying? What do you spend your time speaking of? If you go back to Exodus and study the garments the priests were to wear before entering into the holy of holies, you’ll find it was embroidered with precious stones.

All of these items, gold, silver and precious stones are symbolic in one way or another of personal private devotional life in the believer’s life under the new covenant, while wood, hay and straw may be tall, large and mighty—looking great and standing erect above everything else,ultimately they don’t withstand the fire at the end time harvest.

**What materials are you building the kingdom of God with?**

In order to get them from the ground, one needs to bow down low, and seek for them, which is itself a posture symbolic of prayer and private devotion. This man described in the verse I began with (yes, I had a point in bringing up all that stuff about building to get to this), not only discovered this hidden treasure in this field, but feared lest someone else discover it also, and went and sold ALL he owned at once to purchase it. This seems to imply the treasure was not out in the open in plain site, but something that needed to be sought after in order for it to be discovered. And one that was purchased at no small cost.

When you put the fire to THIS gold, you don’t diminish it or lose any of it—but it costs you everything you’ve got to purchase it. It doesn’t look like a lot, but it will withstand the fire on that day of judgment. There’s not only going to be a lot of tares uprooted and thrown in the fire on that day of judgment, but there’s going to be a lot of public wood, hay and straw ministries going up in flames in that day also.

Why do you think 1 John 2:28 warns us not to shrink back in shame at His return? We wouldn’t be told this unless there was a possibility some of us would be, when we find out we have nothing left that has withstood the fire of His coming. If you’ve been building a self-glorifying exalted ministry in this lifetime, or doing anything that you may be seen for how spiritual you are, then don’t worry, that will be reduced to ashes at His appearing. You’d feel like a pauper and ashamed, shrinking back at His coming.

We are told not to be building with materials that won’t last—so what are you building with? The merchant in the next parable did the same thing when he discovered the pearl of great value and went and sold all he had to obtain it. Sacrifice is required of us in order to do works that withstand the fire on that Day of separation.

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’“
(Matt 13:24-30)

All that I said in my previous entry regarding the parable of the Sower was in order to prepare for what I believe the Lord is saying in this passage, and for a message from the Lord that’s going to specifically be its most relevant for the Church living right before the return of Christ.

Before we get to that, I want to draw your attention to the fact that in the verses immediately following the this teaching on the tares, Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven is LIKE a mustard seed: it starts off small, and then grows and fills the whole garden. Keep that in mind while we look at this parable, even though contextually it’s written after the parable we’re currently in.

Jesus teaches in this parable that the seed is sown in the man’s field, but that during the night while they slept, his enemy came and sowed the weeds among the wheat. There are a few things worth noting here: the soil was good in this parable. The farmer had nothing to worry about. But it was his enemy who came and sowed the tares in the soil after the good wheat had been planted there. We assume the farmer knew what he was doing and that knew how to grow a crop, or else he would not have planted here if the soil was no good. It is the same with any truth of the Gospel message: only after truth is established and built on a proper foundation–proper “soil” if you will–can deception come in and attempt to choke it out. You don’t have a tare without wheat, and wouldn’t have a counterfeit unless there was something genuine to imitate. It’s how the devil has always operated. Even as far back as the garden of Eden, that serpent satan took the truth and twisted it—what was the truth then? That man would surely die when he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan’s tare he sowed into that soil was the statement he made to Eve “you will not surely die.”

Many deceptions in the church today are usually a twisting of actual eternal truth–they are only a perversion of God’s original intent in something, whether it be sexuality, money, or Gospel doctrines twisted, and whatever else have you.

What is a tare?
It’s a wheat-like weed—it looks like the wheat, but is in fact of different quality and source, and only resembles the actual wheat. The enemy came in while the master was sleeping—he only comes in and plants his deceptions in areas where the Body of Christ has let its guard down or not stood alert. The Church must never be found asleep, but always vigilant and alert. It was only over time that both the wheat and the weeds were discovered (v.26) when the plants had come up, so did the weeds. Implicit in the word “discovered” is the fact the tares weren’t obvious at first until a later point—harvest time. As one grew, so did the other, both resembling the other initially for a time. In verse 28, one of the servants came to the master and asked how there could be weeds along with the wheat, because they planted good seed and expected to yield a good crop. The enemy only looks for good seed to corrupt, that he might confuse and twist the GOOD word from bearing proper fruit. This is how he’s gotten some ministries off track in distraction with other fruitless pursuits (like we mentioned, with extremes in the realm of financial prosperity for one example); the weeds grow in the context of the good—in the SAME field as the good wheat.

Look at Jesus’ explanation of this parable in verses 37-43: He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” (ESV)

As a side note, notice it’s the wicked ones that are gathered first, so how do you fit this into popular rapture teachings, if as this passage says, is at the close of the age? I digress.

What do the false look like, and how will we recognize them?
Unlike the parable of the sower where the seed was the word of God and the soil was the person’s heart, this time the seeds are people– sons of the kingdom and sons of the wicked one, and the field is the world. The false look very much like the true wheat for a season even though it has a different source. Source is the main difference between the true and the false.

Wheat and tares come from different seed and they look very different by harvest time. During harvest season, the wheat matures and gets a full, golden head on its stalk. The weight of the mature head causes it to bow or bend (symbolic in this posture of bowing down, humility). Tares are not so. In the early stages, the tares look very similar to the wheat, but at harvest they are seen for what they really are.

Translations that render this word tare as simply ‘weed’ miss a point that will be lost in the translation from the original text. The head of the tare, instead of golden is somewhat grey and it doesn’t bow (symbolic of stubbornness, and pride). It stands erect above the bowed over wheat heads and is easy to identify—but again, only by harvest time. False phenomena will look very similar to the true for a season and will show up within the same field of holy phenomena as well as in worldly, occult and new age environments. This will be a great opportunity for the church to grow in discernment.

When will the false phenomena appear?
Verse 26 offers us the answer to this question. “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.” (emphasis mine). When you see true supernatural phenomena begin to manifest, you will also find the false. Again note: in the same field! Do not be surprised when this happens. Jesus said it would happen. The emerging of both will actually serve to identify the true for the Body. You can’t have counterfeits without genuine.

In our parable, the servant asked the landowner if they should uproot the tares when they became evident. The answer was “No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.” (V.29). We must be very careful not to “throw the baby out with the bathwater”, so-to-speak. The Lord will teach us how to respond to this WHEN it happens (note: not “if” it happens).

In the movie Batman Forever, Tommy Lee-Jones played the villain character Two-Face, and for every decision he’d make, he’d flip a coin and the side that it landed on determined for him which of two options he’d take. During the climax scene, while standing on a cliff-like edge, he tosses his coin in the air, and at the same moment, the hero Batman pulls out several similar looking coins and throws them at Two-Face at the same moment, confusing him. Tommy Lee-Jones’ character attempts to catch all of them not knowing which is the genuine, and doing so loses his balance and falls from the edge to his death—distracted by counterfeit coins while attempting to catch the the real one—which was lost in the mix. The devil is like this—throwing a lot of false and counterfeits at us, so as to distract us from the genuine article.

Living Waters Ministry, based out of California, USA, has an evangelistic ministry and reputation for producing quality Gospel tracts. One of them is of a million dollar bill, resembling American currency, and has the Salvation message written succinctly around the edges of it. On June 2, 2006, the United States Secret Service seized 8,300 copies of the “million dollar bill” tract printed by Living Waters Publications from the Great News Network (GNN) headquarters because a woman in North Carolina attempted to deposit the tracts as legal tender (despite the fake bills clearly stating “This is not legal tender.”) Apparently what got them off the hook, was the fact that there is NO such thing as a one million dollar bill, therefore they were not ‘counterfeiting’ it because there isn’t a genuine version of it in the first place. Friends, the devil also does not create anything, he merely counterfeits something already designed beforehand.

Back to our parable: the servants in this parable shouldn’t be faulted with desiring to remove the weeds. In some gardens and with some plants, this is a logical solution. Every summer as a teenager I’d pull weeds out of my parents’ garden for cosmetic reasons, and if I had waited too long before yanking some of those weeds out of the ground, they were more established in that soil than one would have liked, and you’d uproot more than you wanted. The master in this parable states something interesting; he says “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” (v. 30) All causes of sin, and all law-breakers are removed—notice now—from the kingdom, not from the world–even though Jesus teaches that the field in this parable is the world, it’s the *kingdom* all these things will be uprooted from. Preaching or talking about what God will remove from His kingdom is not really as popular as preaching about “your best life now”.

What happens to these tares? “They are thrown into the fiery furnace, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, but the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”(v.43). On that note, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater over every claim of alleged signs, and wonders and miracles. There ARE genuine manifestations of God, and those will increase, but there will be an increase of false ones also—they grow in close proximity and let the church grown in discernment instead of suspicion.

In closing, remember that Paul warned Timothy “the sins of some men are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.” (1 Tim 5:24) God will do the uprooting, He doesn’t need your help. Preach, teach and live out the pure Gospel, so that your genuine ministry may withstand the testing on that day, which will be the subject of our next study as we continue with some of the parables in this chapter of Matthew.

The whole Bible is the inspired Word of God (1 Tim 3:16). The Holy Spirit saw to it that this Book was written and the content was selected the way it was, and in the order things were put in there, for whatever reason He saw fit. I’m not a big fan of lifting things out of context and I try not to do it, but we all do it by accident or sometimes by faulty memory when recollecting nuggets or quotes from Scripture. That’s why I read and meditate the Word of God in chapters at a time, if not whole books, and when I stumble across individual verses, I back up and move forward and give careful thought to stuff surrounding it.

So I’m going to camp right here in Matthew 13 for a little while, because there’s a lot to unpack in it. There are a LOT of commonalities in the parables and stories here, and not only that, but they are all placed in this same chapter and many of us might not have ever realize they tie together or off the top of our head realized they were all in succession in the same chapter in both Matthew, and some of them in Mark 4. And not only that, but Jesus explains very few of His parables in the New Testament, but gives explanations to two of them in this chapter, so I think it’s worthy of our careful study.

Parable of the Sower

“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Matthew 18:3-9,18-23 English Standard Version

We begin with the parable of the sower. In Mark’s account of this, it’s implied that understanding this parable is the key to understanding any parable (Mark 4:14). Here Jesus tells them “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” (Matt 13:11) My paraphrase: knowledge is reserved for those who want it. That being said, it’s necessary to have at least some preliminary familiarity with this parable.

Jesus shares this parable in the first portion of the chapter, and in verse 10 His disciples come up to Him asking about this teaching, and want to know why He speaks in parables. Friend, Jesus doesn’t do it because He wants to be mystical, and keep knowledge away from people all the while looking like some spook-spiritual guru. The opposite is true, He does things in such a way where we need to take initiative and seek. Knowledge is reserve for those who want it, not for people who want to be spoon-fed the mysteries of the kingdom. God doesn’t reveal the mysteries of His deep to any passerby circumventing intimacy with Him.

In this parable, no matter what the result of each dispensing of seed (the Word of God), it becomes apparent that it’s always necessary for the soil (the heart) to be properly cultivated, for the best desired results and fruitfulness. The first instance mentioned actually has the seed above the ground or on the surface in this parable, and the birds of the air come and snatch it away easily (v.4). In Jesus’ explanation, He says the birds of the air are snatching away what was sown in the person’s heart (v.19). This throws a wrench in some “once-saved, always-saved” teachings I’ve read and heard that explain the only person to get saved in this parable is the fourth one in the end that bears fruit. Not so—at least, at the very most I will concede this is not the best portion of Scripture for proponents of that doctrine to base their teaching on. Each of the four ‘soils of heart’ in this parable RECEIVED the word in their heart.

The second person hears it but has no root or depth in that soil, because the soil is rocky (v.5-6). In our spiritual growth we need both depth and the ability to branch out & grow upward and outward, and can’t have one without the other. We need both the opportunity to deepen and mature in the things of God, as well as the occasions to put into practice what we learn, and have fruitfulness—depth AND application. As one of my team leaders in Holland says “you can’t give what you don’t have.” The natural result of shallowness of soil, is that this seed doesn’t spring forth or grow beyond its initial ‘sprout’. In Jesus’ explanation He states that this person immediately receives it and looks like they’re a solid enthusiastic Christian per se, but that it’s trials and tribulations because of the Word that choke out and hinder this person from enduring for very long (v.20-21). It’s interesting to note that 1 Peter 1:6-9 indicates that trials and tests purify a person’s genuine faith.

The third person–and the main one I want to show you something you might not have noticed before–is representative of soil that itself was fine, but that the seed was growing next to other things that drained the resources in the soil and prevented the good seed from obtaining life and vitality (v.7). Jesus says that the weeds that choked out the life of this seed were the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches.

Interesting that Jesus specifies riches (money) as a ‘choker’ of the good Word. This would probably explain how some ministers of the Gospel throughout the ages wind up becoming heavily engrossed with prosperity ‘name it and claim it’ Gospels—because of the cares of this life choking out the good Word.
Notice, it DOES NOT say in this account that this seed dies—it says the weeds (cares of this life and distraction of riches), choke the Word—which I always used to assume meant it was killed—but from just reading, we see that that’s not necessarily true. This ‘Word” stays alive, but is unfruitful because the nutrients and minerals in the soil that would’ve given life to it is not getting up through the stem or branches, because it’s being sucked out of the ground by these other cares, and giving “fruitfulness” to the weeds instead. I dare say, the nutrients are being wasted on other pursuits in this believer’s life.

Ever thought of that before—that you can’t serve God AND money? “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matt 6:24) Put that in your Bible and read it! If you think I’m reading into the text, then follow along next time when we examine the next parable Jesus shares in this chapter—on the wheat and the tares. Consider how the seeds that fell on good soil in this passage bear fruit—the individuals who hear the good word and do it and are fruitful, and it’s typically understood then that they didn’t have these same “soil issues” as the seeds in the previous three examples.

Not so with the wheat and tares. More on that in the next chance I have to post an entry, which will go in a completely different direction than this one. But I find it interesting that some teachers out there can teach very well, and money doesn’t snare them become their focus. Gary Carpenter is a minister I believe this to be true of, and I highly recommend his series on “Stewarding the Pound”, and other such teachings found on his website (he totally corrects a lot of the false teaching on what we know as “the prosperity gospel”, but if you don’t stick around and listen to enough of his messages, you’ll accidentally assume he is one of them)
But without mentioning names, some of you reading immediately had thoughts of certain preachers where they teach and preach more on money and such–with what seems like an anointing–but hardly talk about the cross of Jesus Christ, or repentance from dead works or other essentials of the faith. It’s because the nutrients in the soil cannot support both the good word AND the cares of this life, including riches.

Jesus taught in other portions of the Gospels that the cares of this life can distract us from true faith and trust in God. To close off this entry, why not keep in mind what He taught in the sermon on the mount concerning the cares of this life and anxiety over them:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.“ Matthew 6:25-33, ESV, emphasis mine.

In the parable of the sower, notice that the cares choke the good word. But if we seek FIRST after the kingdom of God, then there is room for both the kingdom of God manifested and bearing fruit in th believer’s life, AND the needs of the believer being taken care of and provided for.

And THAT kind of prosperity message is Biblical.