Will you work in the vineyard? ©

Matthew 21:23-32. The reading can be found at the link below,

(read it first!)

Q. Have you ever been the wrong son or daughter?

Sadly, I have to say that I have; there have definitely been times in my life when I’ve been the wrong son—times when I’ve said yes to God with my lips. When I’ve sung the hymns, when I’ve raised my hands, nodded in agreement during sermons. And times when I’ve promised to change.

But then, I’ve walked out the door and lived as if God had never spoken.
Maybe you know that feeling too.

Perhaps, if you’re truly honest with yourself, you’ll also recognise that you’ve been the wrong son or daughter?

But there’s good news for all of us here in our text: Because God isn’t looking for people who say the right thing. But he’s looking for people who do the right thing! And what’s even more surprising is that he’s not surprised by our no’s. However, He is waiting for us to turn around.

Let’s look at our text and explore Jesus’ Question Behind the Question

We read that when Jesus enters the temple, the chief priests and the elders confront him.

"By what authority are you doing these things?"

they demand, and “who gave you this authority?” they ask

Now, at face value, these almost sound like fair questions.

But they’re not. It’s part of a power play on their part Because they’re not asking because they want to know. They’re asking because they want to maintain control! In their mind, the high priest held all authority! And the Temple guards determined what took place on the temple mount. But thankfully Jesus, in his infinite wisdom, answers their question with a question. He asks them about John the Baptist.

Answer me this, v25. John’s baptism, where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

So, in response to his question, they huddle together, talking in whispers.

But they’re not asking each other, "What’s the true answer?"

Instead they’re asking, "What’s the safe answer?"
And as they huddle, they say to themselves,

"If we say from heaven, he’ll ask why we didn’t believe him. But if we say from men, the crowd will turn on us."
For the people believed that John was a prophet, which, as we know, is someone who speaks the very words of God!

Boxed into a corner, they jump for the cop out answer,

"We don’t know."
By saying this, they reveal their deviousness and the state of their hearts. So Jesus replies,

"Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

And the first truth that we see is that:

We can’t recognise the truth either, if we’re more committed to our reputation than to reality.

The religious leaders weren’t truth-seekers.

They were image-managers; they represented who was in control, the High Priests, and Elders.

And their refusal to answer Jesus’ question revealed the condition of their hearts. ‘as Hard as stone’!

So, to shed light on things; to explain and expose their error, Jesus told them a parable.

A father has two sons. He goes to the first and says,

"Go work in the vineyard today. The first son says, "I will not."

Then the father goes to the second and says the same thing.

The second son says, "I will, sir."

And we know what happens. The first son, the one who said no,

well, later on, he changes his mind and goes to work.

Then the second son, the one who said yes, likewise, he changes his mind completely; he never shows up! Never shows up!

Then Jesus asks them, "Which one did the will of his father?"

The answer is obvious, and the Chief Priest and Elders reply, ‘The first son’.

At this, Jesus delivers a body blow sentence to them:

"Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you."

That’s the Offence of Grace

Now, we need to feel the weight behind Jesus’ statement.

Tax collectors were collaborators with Rome; they were quislings, traitors to their own people. And the Ladies of the night, well, they were considered the lowest of the low.

If the religious leaders came across these people in the street, they would cross to the other side to avoid them, just in case they got tarnished, or their image got tainted if they paused to talk to them!
And here Jesus says,

"These folk, the ones you look down on, well they’re ahead of you."

‘They’re ahead of you!’
Why?  Because they were like the first son who started with a no, but ended with a yes.

They heard John the Baptist message of ‘repent and be baptised for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand’, and they did, flocking to the river Jordan to be baptised!

They turned their lives around, and they changed direction completely.

The Greek word we read as ‘repent’ in the gospels is metanoia. It gets translated into 'repent ', which means to feel deep remorse.

But metanoia goes deeper, much deeper, for it means a deeply profound, fundamental change of mind, heart and self-perspective that transforms a person’s whole way of life. It transforms a person!

That’s what it truly means to repent, to turn your life completely around.

And with this Jesus revealed that the religious leaders had heard John preach the same message as everyone else had heard,

they had nodded politely.

They said yes with their lips.

But their hearts remained unmoved, unchanged.

‘Was John's baptism from heaven or from men?’

With hearts unmoved, they answered, ‘we don’t know’;  we don’t know!
They remained unrepentant, and because of it, they remained lost!

 Now, here’s the second truth to be found in our text:

God isn’t impressed by our promises, but he is impressed by our follow-through.
So, let me show you the gospel in this story.
The first son said no. He rebelled. He dishonoured his father.

And yet, when he had a change of heart, when he turned around,

he wasn’t rejected. He wasn’t put on probation. He wasn’t reminded of his failures. He just went to work. And that was enough.
Now, let me ask, have you fully grasped what this means for us?
It means our past no’s don’t disqualify us.

It means our failures don’t define us.

It means our past mistakes don’t slam the door shut in our faces!

The Bible says in Ezekiel 18:21-23,

"If a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them."

Did that sink in? None of our offences will be remembered.

Paul tells us something similar in Romans 8:1; he writes,

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

And in
2 Corinthians 5:17 he says,

"If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
‘the new is here!’

The good news of the gospel isn’t a message that we have to get ourselves clean before we can come to God; we can never achieve that. The good news of the gospel is that God receives us in our mess; He forgives our no, and He empowers our yes through grace.

You know,

Grace isn’t a cover for inaction. It’s the fuel for transformation!

Then we see a Warning
For there’s a warning for us in this text, and it would be remiss of me not to talk about it.
The second son, when asked to work, said yes. He gave the right answer. He had the appearance of a reliable worker. He said all the right words.

But then, he never showed up,,,,,, never showed up!

 And right here Jesus is warning us that it’s possible to be religious and lost.

It’s possible to say all the right things, sing the hymns, raise our arms in praise, and yet never do the will of the Father.
James warns us also about this in 1:22, of his letter writes

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

Do what it says! Will you go to work in the vineyard?

Matthew also warns us in chapter 7, verse 21 where he tells us that 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."
The second son, ‘the yes but no show’, that guy, is a warning to all of us who has confused agreement with obedience. Who has said Yes but failed to act!

A no-show, no matter how polite,  is still a no-show! A damp squib.

So how do we apply Jesus’ teaching to our lives today?

To begin, we need to look at our lives and ask ourselves the question:

‘Which son or daughter am I’?

Maybe you’re the second son. You’ve said yes to God. You believe the right things. You attend church. You know the hymns. But there’s an area of your life where your actions tell a different story. Maybe it’s an unforgiveness you’ve been nursing. Maybe it’s a habit you’ve been hiding.
Maybe it’s a step of obedience that you have been avoiding. Maybe it’s a broken relationship that you know God is asking you to reconcile.

If so, here’s the word from God in this parable for you:

Stop telling God your plans! Start showing him your steps, your actions.
Don’t wait until you feel ready. The first son didn’t feel ready. But he changed his mind, and then he went. So just be obedient and follow through in action.

 
The Invitation

Then perhaps you’re like the first son. You’ve said no to God. You’ve walked away. You’ve rebelled. You’ve made choices in life that you’re ashamed of.

And all the while, when you've been saying no, the enemy has been whispering in your ear,

"It is too late for you. You have gone too far. God doesn’t want you back."

But from the great deceiver, that’s a lie!

The first son wasn’t disqualified. He wasn’t written off. He wasn’t beyond redemption. And neither are you.
It’s never too late to become the person you told God you would be. It’s never too late to turn our no into a yes and we become like the first son who does God’s will.

So to wrap this up,,
The kingdom of God isn’t built on good intentions, but the road to hell is, The road to the Kingdom of God is narrow, and it’s built on faithful action.

God isn’t looking for perfect people. He’s looking for honest people. People who are willing to admit their no is wrong and turn it into a yes.

The first son was honest about his no, and that honesty became the doorway to his yes. Whatever you’ve said no to in the past, well, today is your chance to turn it around.

The Father is still standing at the edge of the vineyard; He’s calling your name. "Son, daughter, go and work today."
Will you go? Will you turn around and turn your no into a yes?

He’s waiting for you with open arms. If that’s you, come to the vineyard. Be like the first son or daughter, the one who turns around. Be the one whose actions match their words. Your turnaround starts today.
May God bless you .

Trev.