From Church to Hell

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the tares among the wheat (Matt 13:24-30). You remember the story. A man sows a field of wheat. An enemy sneaks in and sows weeds (tares -- seeds that look like wheat). When the wheat comes in, so does the tares. The servants ask if he wants them to pull the tares out and he tells them to leave them for harvest to avoid damaging the wheat. "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt 13:41-42)

Okay, we got it. In among the genuine people of God there will be fakes. More than that, these fakes will be hard to distinguish from the real. And if you work to hard to weed them out (little joke there) you can do damage to the real ones. John speaks of false teachers -- actually "antichrists" -- who "went out from us" because they were actually in the church (1 John 2:18-19). They will be among us.

The whole concept calls first and foremost for each of us to be aware of that fact. Primarily, it calls for us to "take the log out of your own eye", so to speak. Like the disciples at the Last Supper, we really need to ask, "Surely not I, Lord?" (Matt 26:22) Or, as Paul puts it, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith." (2 Cor 13:5) It's wise, and it's important.

That's first, but there is another thought from this whole "tares among wheat" concept. Jesus indicates that some remain until judgment. That means that there are people in our churches who are 1) not actual believers, but 2) hard to recognize, and 3) bound for Hell. That's what Jesus indicated, wasn't it? "They will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." These "weeds" are bound for eternal torment along with the rest of those who reject Christ. These, however, reject Christ within the confines of church.

Now, I recognize that there is nothing we can do to weed them out, per Jesus's instructions. And I recognize that there is nothing we can do to make them change their minds. This is true of everyone. But I find the thought of people there in church with me who will end up in "the furnace of fire" even more unpleasant than those who go there shaking their angry fists at God. I find it unpleasant to think that people inside the church are outside the Church. And I, for one, don't want to let that go without any effort. I want to know where we're being unclear, uncaring, wishy-washy, evasive, or blind and move away from it. I want to be sure that the Gospel, with its prerequisite Bad News, is fully preached in the church as well as out. I want to make sure that people are not merely attending, but connected in churches so that believers can support believers and mistaken unbelievers with love and the truth. Scripture is clear that there will be people going from church to Hell. I want to minimize those numbers. I think God does, too.

Postscript
There is something about entries like this one that upsets people. They think I'm being too "high and mighty", too judgmental, too ... something. Please note what it is I have offered here. I didn't make up the story of the tares among the wheat; Jesus told that one. I didn't suggest that I know who the saved ones are better than anyone else. I didn't suggest we need to test ourselves to see if we're in the faith; Paul did. Nor did I offer any means to do that. There are things written in God's Word that offer suggestions. Jesus said we'd know by fruit (Matt 7:17-20). James said, "I will show you my faith by my works." (James 2:18) Nearly the entire first epistle from John is written "that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:13) There are lots of biblical means. I didn't write this to gloat. I wrote it to weep, to weep for those who are in the church but not of it, to weep for those who Jesus said were worse off because they have the truth and ignore it. I wrote it to ask you to consider. If that is offensive, I apologize ... but I don't retract the request. Because I care.