What do you call a vegan who eats steak? Happy, yes, but what’s the name for them? Confused? I know a website called “vegan when sober,” so I guess that offers another option.
We don’t have a word for that because vegans don’t eat meat. A person who calls himself a vegan but eats steak isn’t really a vegan any more than a person who calls himself a Democrat but votes for candidates promising a minimalist government is really a Democrat.
So what do you call a Christian who doesn’t love his neighbor, seeks revenge, and prioritizes money over everything? That’s not a Christian. What do you call a follower of Christ who doesn’t follow Christ? That’s right up there with a square circle.
But people can call themselves Christians no matter what they believe or how they behave.
Jesus warned us about these people:
Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 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 harvest, and at the 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”’” (Matt 13:24-30 NKJV).
These “tares” apparently look like wheat as they grow. You can’t pull out the weeds because you’re not sure which is which. The farmer is stuck with them until harvest time when the difference becomes obvious.
Jesus told another parable with a similar point:
A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown (Matt 13:3-5).
There are three different types of people who appear to respond to the gospel. Only one proves genuine.
We sometimes make a distinction between the visible church and the invisible church. The visible church is those people who say they are followers of Jesus today. The invisible church is those past and present who belong to Jesus. The overlap between the two is the living true followers today.
The problem is we don’t know how many tares there are. Did the enemy sow a handful of bad seed, hoping the farmer would pull up half his wheat looking for it? Or did he dump a truckload, hoping to fill the field with useless seed that would steal nutrients and take time and labor away from the wheat?
We don’t truly know, but several parables and other teachings seem to suggest there will be an awful lot of tares.
This parable has an important warning for those in the church but also comfort for those perplexed by it.
Am I a tare? That question should be taken just as seriously as “could this lump be cancer?”
Jesus said, ”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matt 7:21-23).
We must evaluate ourselves. We must search our hearts and lives and be certain that we really are followers of Christ.
To those who are perplexed by the church, though, this should give some comfort. The church is like it is because it’s full of sinners — some of them saved sinners, but many of them lost sinners. It always has been and will be until Jesus returns.
There are many lost people who have been hurt by “Christians” who don’t live like Jesus. What do we do about them? All we can do is tell them about Jesus and assure them that “Christians” who don’t live like Jesus are like vegans who eat steak.
Tares in the church don’t prove Christianity false; Jesus predicted them. The question, as one preacher put it, is whether we want to go to heaven with the real Christians or to hell with the fake ones.
* Don’t worry, they’ll tell you.
Image via Pixabay
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