There is story about a brownie receipt that adds a little bit of poop to the mix; and asks the question, “Would you want to eat the brownies with just a little poop in them?” The intent is to get a person to agree that we need the pure brownie receipt, without the little poop. The resulting conclusion is we need the pure word of God without false doctrine. “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.”’” (Matthew 13:27-30). The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness (Matthew 13:41). Those that offend and practice lawlessness grow up in the same field until the angels of the Lord come and remove them.

There are two different parables Jesus told about the wheat and sowing seed. Jesus told the meaning of one parable, and then spoke the other parable. In one the wheat is the word sown in our heart and those that receive false teachings are those by the wayside; and in the other parable the wheat is the believer and the tares are false teachers, and unbelievers within the church. They both are strategies of how the enemy is working. God’s strategy is to let the wheat and the tares grow up together. Why? Jesus speaking of salvation said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26b). God can change tares to wheat; with God, if it is part of all things, it is possible. As believers our part is to love and pray believing that with God it is possible. The Lord will send His angels to do the reaping. It isn’t our job to pull up the tares.

Explaining the parable of the sower Jesus started by saying, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom.” The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares starts with, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed.” Both parables are about the kingdom of heaven. A kingdom is more than the things that are in agreement with the design of the kingdom; it is also those things that come against the kingdom. That is why the parables contain statements like, “the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart,” and “while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat.” The word is telling us, “The enemy is going to come and try to steal the words of the kingdom from your heart, and he will plant unfruitful doctrines among the fruit bearing truths. Paul wrote about it in this manner, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify” (1 Corinthians 10:23). Not everything bears fruit.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Our weapons are in God, because with men it is impossible but with God all things are possible. Our thoughts are brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Because Jesus Christ has already been obedient our thoughts are being brought into captivity. It is in God that strongholds are pulled down. It is in God that those things that exalt themselves above the knowledge of God are cast down. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you (1 Peter 5:5b-7).

The issue with the story of the brownies and the poop is the original receipt did not have the poop as an ingredient. Adam and Eve fell and took mankind into a state where the enemy of God could and does plant unfruitful ideas; and those ideas grow and are taught as truths of God. The poop was added to the brownie mix by the enemy of God. We all already have a little poop in us. God is working us and sending His angels to get it out. Jesus came to be the original receipt for us, free of the extra ingredient added by the enemy. God has asked us to love one another, with the extra ingredient, while He works with us. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it (2 John 1:5-6). This is love that God loves us and gives us love to share with one another, and this is His commandment that we love one another.

© 2009, Tim D. Coulter Sr.