Mat 13:24-30, 36-43; You Have a Role to Play in God’s Historical Drama.Sunday March 23, 2025 Intro: Mat 13:11 “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.”
You see and hear by faith.
Jesus left the crowd and goes into the house with the disciples. The disciples ask Him. We ask, seek, knock - again and again because the word of the kingdom has endless roots (they go all the way to our infinite Lord).
Parable of the Wheat and Tares. Mat 13:24-30 and the explanation Mat 13:36-43.
The explanation (vv. 36-43) gives us an historical drama.
Cast: Son of Man (Dan 7:13-14). Sons of the kingdom (humanity) Sons of the evil one (humanity) Devil (“His enemy”) Angels (workers)
Stage: kosmos - “His field”
Climax and resolution (plot): judgment and glorification. Furnace of fire and His barn (His fruit). Drama hinges on a few key components that drive its emotional and narrative punch. Conflict: The heart of drama.
Characters: The players in the conflict.
Plot: The sequence of events sparked by the conflict.
Theme: The underlying idea or question the drama wrestles with.
Dialogue: The words characters use to reveal themselves, advance the plot, or heighten tension.
Setting: The world where it all happens—time, place, atmosphere.
Emotional Impact: Drama thrives on evoking feelings—catharsis, as the Greeks put it.
When you put history into the biblical framework, what results is the most amazing drama and you find yourself right in it.
The Bible a sweeping story of the reality of mankind from his creation, man and woman in the image of God, in perfection through his fall.
Assignment: Spend some time to fill in the above components of drama from the Parable of the Wheat and Tares.
Looking into the details (more to follow):
1. His enemy - the devil [main character]. (“His” enemy, not yours. He only hates you because of your affiliation with Christ.)
1Sa 8:7 they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.
He plants in the midst. Cannot have or make his own field.
Mat 13:25 his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.
He plants lies and deceit. He cannot create.
Volition! Not double predestination.
Went away: deceit. Evil hates the light. Joh 3:19-21 "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."
Assignment: Develop a personality profile for the enemy and so those whom he has planted (Joh 8:44)
You resist while wearing Christ’s armor. You do not bind, nor cast out.
2. You will know them by their fruit.
Takes time: Darnel facts. Toxic (drunken bread; Eph 5:18).
Part of the drama, the characters of the enemy are often disguised or unknown until they produce fruit. We must not judge too early on.
3. The Son of Man is always Master of the house and owner of the field.
Mat 10:24-25 (servants will be slandered as He was)
Mat 21:33-44 (Israel My vineyard: Isa 5:1-2, cf. Isa 6:9-10; and Psa 118:22 rejected stone became the chief cornerstone (Isa 28:16)).
4. Difficult to understand the tares. You will always do some head scratching as you learn about God’s drama for the redemption of mankind.
Both the slaves in the parable and the disciples (Mat 13:36).
5. End of the age: climax and resolution to the plot – second coming of Christ.
“End” or consummation: a point of time marking the completion of a duration: close, end.
6. Judgment and glorification; Dan 12:3 (more on this next week).
Application: Mat 5:14-16, let your light shine.
You play a role, a part, in God’s historical drama. That part is made for you by God. He has made a part just for you. You do not make the part. You do not determine when you enter history, nor when you depart (all decisions are known by God; healthy and unhealthy) and you are not to fear death at all (Eph 1-3). But to actually play your part you have to trust and obey (Eph 4-6). You have to seek the kingdom of heaven first. Put anything or anyone before or equal with the Lord and His way, truth, and life, and you will not play the role He has made (third soil). The fear that we all should have, is not playing our God given roles, for if we do not, what life are we living? Christ said,
Luk 6:32-36 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you (literally: what you)? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 "If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 "If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. 36 "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
You are not going to fix the world. History plays out as God wills. We are responsible but we do not control (Mat 6:25-34).
Satan and his plants are always going to be here until the end of the age. They are toxic. Their lies will intoxicate you if you let them plant. You will know them by their fruit, which will take time to see. Do not be fooled.
Do not get discouraged. A lot do not believe and allow Satan to plant within them. Let your light shine, knowing (Dan 12:3) that at the end, you will shine like the sun.
Do not fear. Christ has conquered life and death. Live your role. You do not have to know what it is, you simply have to follow Christ, fixing your eyes on Him, trusting Him, and as a result, obeying Him. The Word and the Spirit will lead you along the path of your role and your life will glorify God for all of eternity.
Stay humble: you will shine because of righteousness, which was given you as a gift by the Lord and it took His cross, death, burial, and resurrection to give it to you.
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