The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1912-07-26
LESSON FOR JULY %
THE WHEAT AND THE TAREs.


LESSON TEXT-Matthew 13:24-SO a6-43
GOLDEN TEXT-"Gather up first tht
tares, and bind them In bundles to burr
them; but gather the wheat into my
barn" Matt. 1890.
The thirteenth chapter OF Mat
thew's gospel Is the great kingdom
chapter Of the Bible. Seven parable
in this chapter give us each Of sever
aspects or applications of the princi
pies of the kingdom In this lessor
we are taught the mixed character o.
the kingdom and also Of the ultimate
separation Of two classes Of which II
is composed. "A man." v. "a, goes
out to SOW good seed in his field. Thi'
man we are told In v. 81, Is the Sol
of Man, and elsewhere that the field
is the world, the hearts Of men. Thel
followed the propagating stage, tina
period over which man has no cor
troll During this period while mel
ate and slept awaiting the time foi
cultivation and OF harvest, the enem'
II mems souls came and sowed tares
The common darnel which so closet,
resembles wheat in it's earliest stages
After this propagating period hat
PASSED the man and his servants Wen
out one day to find in their field eVi
dence that another had also sow
seed The test Of every life Is tn
fruit produced. During these earle
stages the tares had looked so neerl.
like the wheat as not to be readil,
distinguished, but now that the hal
vest time approaches the difference l.
all too evident, 1t is significant fror
this parable that no blame Is lai
upon the servants that they shout
have allowed the two to grow up dun
ing this first stage. Surprise, ange
and disappointment stirred the heart
of the servants when they discovere
the mixed character Of the approach
ing harvest. The master, however
clears them of all blame, for, said hi
"Our enemy hath done this" Not
enemy, as the King James version ha
it. Satan is ubiquitous, but the SO
of God is greater than he, see |. Pete
1922.
Parallels He Taught.
If the servants had sought to III
root the tares they would in all likel!
hood have done more damage thai
good, though this does not imply an
conflict with Jesus words as found Il
500, &c. The seed had tn
same environment and In Gods goo
time the separation should take place
30 "let both grow together" until bot
be fully developed. Then he will ga
10 the reapers, gather first the tare
and burn them, but gather the whea
INTO my barn. Notice the tares di,
not evolve into wheat. Like beget.
ike. Gather into bundles is the
If we sin together, we mus
expect to suffer together. The whea
was ripe for full salvation, blessln!
md a further usefulness, while thu
ares were ripe only for destruction.
After teaching these parallels, o
which this Is but one, Jesus sent thu
away and more fully ant
completely taught his disciples the
nner meaning OF this parable. The
leld is the world, and II we ask We
hall have the heather for our inherit
lnce and the uttermost part Of the
world as possession FPS 2:8). The
rood seed are the sons of the king
.om, but the tares are the sons (chll
rem OF the evil one. Both the sons
# the good and the sons Of the bad
row from, and develop out of seed
he sons of the kingdom from the
good seed
We must remember the three les.
ons we have been studying. The
rst concerned the nature of the seed
nd the soil; the second deals with
he mystery of the growth and deVel-
pment Of the kingdom, whereas this
essen has to do with the mixed.
World the Field.
IL. n -