Stumbling blocks

Jesus explained the parable of the tares to His disciples, identifying the parts. He was the sower of the good seed; the seed that became the sons of the kingdom. The devil was the sower of the tares; the seed that became the sons of the evil one.

The harvest is the end of the age. Angels, spiritual beings, will gather up out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness. These things, like the tares, have been allowed to grow until this time. Only at this time are these things gather up and burned. Stumbling blocks and lawlessness have been growing in His kingdom until this time. Both wheat and tares have been sown in the soil; we have both seeds in us.

The sons of the evil one in us become stumbling blocks and lawlessness in our life. Again, this is not about others; this is not about the weak elements in Christianity or society. This is what is at work in us. The small lies that we received lead to well established patterns that get in the way of faith; these are well engineered ways of thinking that stumble us as we seek to follow Christ. The small lies lead to strongholds that reject the authority of God; lawlessness comes from something that has been able to repell the kingdom of God. The sons of the evil one within us have become saboteurs; they have been doing all they can to hold back the work of the kingdom in us.

What we are to be cannot be seen fully until the stumbling blocks and lawlessness has been removed from us.

"Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father..." Matthew 13:43

This harvest is what Paul describes using a different metaphor.

"Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire." I Corinthians 3:12-15

This is what is at work in the kingdom of God: men are choosing what they are working with. What we are building may be of no value in the end, not because we did not work hard, but because of what we were using. Things of great beauty can be made from wood, but if the test is be fire, then wood was a poor choice, even though it is easier to work with.

Paul is using a different allegory, but the picture is similar to the parable of the tares. We are building in ourselves, upon the one foundation Jesus Christ. But we can choose to use what will not stand the judgment of fire. During our life, we may think we have done well, because we have been busy. But what is in us will either be from good seed or a lie. What we receive into our heart, and allowed to grow, will grow. This is the choice of materials in the picture of building a house.

What the parable of the tares adds to the picture is the life that is growing within us, both the life of the sons of the kingdom and the life of the sons of the evil one. We tend to see ourselves as one person, just with lots of stuff going on. But what Jesus described is a person in whom something made by God is growing and something made by the evil one is growing. Our life will be influenced by both.

This works out to the seeming chaos of life. We want to do good things but find that it does not work out. What we don't recognize that this particular habit in one part of our life has been instrumental in preventing growth in another. We look at our life as separate pieces without realizing that everything has an impact. We do not see that some of our habits are saboteurs, intentionally stumbling our growth. We do not see the impact of our "little" sins.

We want our sins to be a consumer commodities, to be used, and then discarded. But these sins that we choose to use, thinking everything will be OK once we are done, are not lifeless objects that stay put. They are competitive weeds, taking every opportunity to grow; if fed they become larger. They are intentional saboteurs to the work of the kingdom in us; in every way they can, they become a stumbling block to growth.

This is who we are; we have at work in us things that we don't want to admit are even there. Tares have been sown in our heart.