ALL TALK, NO ACTION!
Matthew 21:28-32
Every
parent has had the experience, and if you have more than one child you have
experienced it in different ways. I am
speaking of the experience of the father in this parable. You give the instruction and expect obedience,
but one child will stare you down, argue, cry, tell you he won’t do it, and
create quite a scene. Another child
will passively say “OK” but by his body language and lack of attention you know
that it will never happen.
That is the way people respond to the
commands of His Father, Jesus tells us.
What He is looking for is not so much the initial response as the final
outcome. Will we do the will of His
Father, or just talk about religion, debate about the Bible, discuss
controversial points of doctrine?
One of the largest problems facing the
church in our day is credibility. We
have millions of members who profess belief in Christ but who allow minimal
influence of those beliefs in their daily lives—leading to the justifiable
charge against us: “What a bunch of
hypocrites!”
Over the years here at Providence, we
have recognized the extent of this problem and have committed ourselves to
authenticity—and in so doing have declared war on hypocrisy!
In this parable, Jesus leads the charge
to overcome this enemy of credibility, genuineness and authenticity.
THESIS: In all that we say and do, we either
confirm that Jesus is Lord of our lives or deny it.
I. THE DIFFERENT LOOKS OF UNBELIEF
Matt 21:28-30 “But what do you think? A man had two sons,
and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “And he answered and said, ‘I
will, sir’; and he did not go. 30
“And he came to the second and said the same thing. But he answered and said,
‘I will not’; yet he afterward regretted it and went.
A. A DEFIANT HEART—BLATANT AND REBELLIOUS UNBELIEF
Matt 21:30 30 “And
he came to the second and said the same thing. But he answered and said, ‘I will not’…
--Some who do not
believe in Christ have no ambivalence about their unbelief but consciously and
intentionally reject Him, His salvation and His lordship.
--With defiance, they
shake their fist at God as if to dare Him to do anything about their blatant
insult to His role as Creator, Savior and King.
1. Enemies of Truth
--Calculating and
manipulating people take great pains to protest against facts, argue against
the existence of truth, and reject what stands in the way of the way they want
the world to be.
On the heels of the wave of interest in the movie about Christ’s passion comes a counterpoint to challenge the validity of the Gospels upon which Gibson’s movie is based. A book called The DaVinci Code is the latest effort to try to shape public thinking so that the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible is attacked. Even some Christians have fallen into the trap of being gullible enough to wonder whether the blatant attacks on God’s Word could possibly be true. In an effort to deny and suppress what is true, there are those who are so defiant that they dare not only to refuse to believe but to put as many barriers as possible in the way of the belief of others…they relish the privilege of “suppressing the truth in unrighteousness” as Paul puts it in Romans 1:18.
--The command of God
is to believe…and with a defiant heart there are many who stand as the son of
vineyard owner did and with rebellious spirits insist, “I will not!”
2. Friends of Worldliness
--Other defiant ones
refuse to believe for reasons not nearly so noble as the advocacy of a substitute
for truth—they have no interest in such things but only in accumulating as much
worldly pleasure as possible.
--As honest pursuers
of temporal treasures and pleasures, they admit to themselves and acknowledge
to everyone else that they do not intend to allow belief in God to get in the
way of all that they want.
1 John
2:15 Do not love the world,
nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father
is not in him
--Obey the commands
of God and give up all that appeals to my base and godless appetites? “I will not!” is the defiant answer.
3. Advocates of Sin
--A third group has
learned that to love the things of the world requires that they become adept in
their practices of sin, cultivating more creative ways reject God’s ways in
downward spirals into unspeakable acts and thoughts that even in a fallen world
seek the cover of darkness.
--All around are
those who make no effort to hide their disdain for God, their hatred for
anything holy, and their anger at those who dare to stand up against their sin.
--In our nation, in
certain segments of the culture, if sin is identified as such, those who make
that pronouncement become guilty of what has now been deemed a “hate crime.”
--Meanwhile the
advocates for sin and those who coldly permit and promote actions and attitudes
that destroy people are protected and supported by those who have rejected and
rebelled against God at every possible point and responded to His instruction
and commands by demanding, “I will not!
I will not go! I will not
do! I will not believe and defy God or
anyone else to try and make me!”
--Unfortunately, we
hear those harsh voices and see the consequences of those defiant lives and
harbor quiet feelings in our hearts that say, “I am so glad I am not like
them! I am so glad I have been on God’s
side all along!” Perhaps we should
be careful not to reach our conclusions just yet because Jesus continues this
parable.
B. A DECEIVING HEART—SUBTLE AND INDIFFERENT UNBELIEF
Matthew
21:28-29 … A man had two sons, and
he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “And he answered and said, ‘I
will, sir’; and he did not go.
--This son gave no
indication whatsoever of a defiant heart, but he was just as full of disregard
for the will of his father as the other one.
--If you witnessed
the exchange between father and son, you would have seen a response that
appeared to be positive, gave the impression of being willing and ready to obey
and please his father.
--That is the
intention of the deceiving heart, to give the outward appearance of
right-doing, but whether the desire is to deceive the father, or if the heart
itself is deceived into believing that the willing and doing would actually
follow the words, the truth is that in a subtle manner and with careless
indifference, this son had no interest in or intention toward obeying and
pleasing the father.
It
is important at this point to note that Jesus was speaking to the chief priests
and elders who had just challenged His authority in the previous verses. Now Jesus offers the first of three parables
designed to expose the unbelief of those who professed to believe in God and
live for Him.
They were notorious for their
outward show of “right-doing” but absence of any indication that they had a
heart for or trust in God.
Lots of religious people in every
generation since have proven Jesus’ point, that saying is not always backed up
by doing, profession not matched by practice—all talk, but no action!
--Perhaps the
greatest and most common charge against professing Christians is that they are
hypocrites, saying one thing yet living another.
Mahatma Ghandi made the now-famous statement,
“If it weren’t for Christians, I’d be a Christian,” as he expressed what so
many have observed. There is a great
divide between the Sunday morning confessions and the Monday-Saturday conduct
of many who participate in worship and respond with the words “Here am I…I will
go.”
Depending upon the worship
traditions, those words may be passionately declared or ritualistically
recited, but they amount to “all talk, no action” and bring dishonor to Christ.
--How can you tell if
you personally may be deceiving yourself (since none of us needs to place
ourselves in a position of determining that for someone else)?
1. Divided Hearts and Compartmentalized Lives
--In a culture which
demands the right to separate what we believe from what we do, how can we
expect people to leave that practice behind in their spiritual lives?
Presidential candidates
declare proudly that although they have religious beliefs, they would never
allow them to color their public policy decisions.
Professors of religion
stand in classrooms and declare that they will sometimes make confessional
statements that must be kept separate from what they teach as true.
Parents declare
that theirs is a Christian home and then infrequently attend church, seldom
give more than a token dollar, fill their homes with ungodly entertainment, and
never pray or read the Bible at home.
--In a postmodern
culture, those things are perfectly consistent with the inconsistency of
compartmentalized thinking.
2. Dry Eyes and Indifferent Prayers
--In prayer and in
worship, there are many who say “I will obey” and confess Jesus as Lord who
keep all things spiritual at a distance so that they never allow their hearts
to be touched, their eyes to cry over the offense of their sin or the beauty of
God’s glory.
--While others are
moved and allow their emotions to respond, they pride themselves on being
unemotional people and build walls around their hearts to keep it that way.
--They are not sure
what to say when people ask about answered prayer because they seldom have
actually expected much and have no experience in the realm of praying by faith
and actually believing God. (see 21:22)
3. Dutiful Rituals and Joyless Attitudes
--This kind of folks
seldom miss their prayer time, seldom miss going to church, seldom are lacking
an opinion about the structure and content of prayer and worship, but who never
care very much about the heart of either…going through the motions is enough
for them.
--The concern in mind
for them is what the requirements are, not what the privileges are.
--Muddling through
the motions week after week in such a way that their religious duty does not
creep over its borders and affect the “real world” in which they really live
makes them prime targets for Jesus words in this parable.
--We could all give
plenty of other illustrations of this kind of deceived heart but the question
Jesus asks forces the issue to a conclusive question of what God wants…and what
we are ready to give!
One Son: “Here am I…I will obey.” …but he did not!
One Son: “I don’t want to, and will not obey.” …but he did!
--So Jesus asks,
“Which of the two did the will of his father?”
--The answer is
obvious…the one who did the will of his father by obeying…not by talking a good
talk.
--So unbelief can
show up in these two ways: either a blatant, defiant rebellion against God,
or in a subtle, deceptive unwillingness
to follow God.
II. THE DISTINCTIVE LOOK OF OBEDIENCE
--But now here we
are…Jesus is not just telling a story for the entertainment of the crowd, but
making a distinction between those who don’t believe and know it, and those who
think they believe and don’t know it.
--Jesus says that the
difference will be apparent in whether the words match their walk, the
confessions match their conduct.
A. A CHANGE OF DIRECTION
--The defiant son
sinned boldly and blatantly against his father, but then “regretted, or changed
his mind” and set out to obey.
--The other son, the
verbally compliant one, never gave it a second thought because he did not
believe it was important, or that it mattered enough to be concerned.
Matt
21:31b Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers
and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you.
--Those who regret
their ways, who repent, who change their direction, will get into the kingdom
ahead of the religious folks who have never understood their need for God’s
grace in Christ.
The old story of the frog in the kettle helps
us understand this. Toss him into a pot
of boiling water and he leaps right back out because he knows immediately the
drastic change in his condition. Put
him in cool water and gradually turn up the heat and he gets cooked because he
does not recognize the increasing danger.
Jesus calls for each of us to jump out of the dangerous hot water of our sin and follow Him to forgiveness and freedom. For many who have long been in the religious pot, they are comfortable and sense no danger because they believe that their religious habits will be sufficient on the day they are called to give an account for their sin.
Romans
10:2-3 For I bear them witness
that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. 3 For not knowing about God’s
righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject
themselves to the righteousness of God.
--When God commands
us to go and calls us to follow, no other way but a change of direction will
do—no negotiation, no alternatives, no walking away.
B. A COMMITMENT WITH AUTHENTICITY
--God wants
commitment that is genuine, authentic, a commitment that consistently and
faithfully obeys Him in reality, not in rituals and traditions kept at some distance,
separated from the way we really live.
·
Words
and actions agree
·
Will
and attitude affirm
--In this parable,
Jesus confronts the kind of religion that invites the charge of hypocrisy and
challenges the religious and the reprobate to stop talking a belief system and
start walking a life of faith.
C. A CONFIDENCE OF POSITION
--Converted folks,
regardless of their past, will get into the kingdom of God ahead of those who
felt no need to change.
--The tough part to
swallow is that Jesus tells everyone that those who genuinely change direction
with a changed heart will move ahead of those who have set themselves up as
religious leaders in their own system.
Matthew
21:32 “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not
believe him; but the tax-gatherers and harlots did believe him; and you, seeing
this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.
--Those who do
believe—even harlots and tax-gatherers who see their error and repent—will step
in front of those who have only been the pretenders and have the confidence
that their position in the kingdom of God has been secured by God’s grace in
Christ, not by how well they have learned to plan the games of the system.
How hard is that to handle…that drug abusers
and alcoholics, that the sexually promiscuous and the former oppressors of
truth, that the unscrupulous scoundrels and murderers, will “get into the
kingdom of God before you?”
If they have spent a lifetime
shaking a fist at God and then see their foolishness, recognize His sacrifice
at the cross for their sin, and turn to follow and obey Him, Jesus says they
can be confident to enter the kingdom before those who spent a lifetime working
hard to appear to be righteous.
III. THE DETERMINED LOOK OF REBELLION
--In spite of what
you have seen of the life-change in others, of the unexplainable in the message
of Christ, of the emptiness in those honest inventories of your soul, if you
can hear the call of Christ to come or go and determine that you will do
neither, you are locked into an unbelief and rebellion that will result in your
immediate desperation and your eternal ruin.
--In the parable,
Jesus holds out hope—even to the hard-hearted religious hypocrites.
--You can still
change your direction—no matter how long you have made it your habit to hear
God speak and then walk away, you can actually do something about that this
very day.
--The sad thing is,
Jesus was addressing a group of folks determined not to believe Him, determined
to persist in rebellion against Him, and determined to keep pursuing a “form of
godliness” instead of believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
--So many people want
to prove they are right all the time!
Why not be made righteous instead and allow Christ to overcome your
right to be right?
--Many church
attenders and religious people will find that they wasted their lives in
unbelief because they refused to admit that they could be wrong.
They are the joyless crowd enduring the meetings of the church, expressing their disapproval of the practices and people in the church, engaging only superficially in the ministries of the church…and who just do not get it!!
If
you have been like the defiant son, Christ offers you a way home…you may have
shouted “I will not believe or obey!” But
God has finally reached your heart with His message of love for you through
Christ and you can no longer resist.
You regret where you have been, what you have said and now are ready to
do the will of your heavenly Father.
Dear friend, what a glorious welcome awaits you!
On the other extreme,
maybe you have played your cards right all these years, done all the right
things, learned all the right verses, attended all the right meetings and
services, but you are still trapped in a dark room of unbelief and your life is
full of inconsistency and hypocrisy. No
one else may know but you. But you do
not have to remain in that condition!
You too can turn away from all that and readily embrace the will of your
Father who loves you and waits patiently for you to wake up and come home to
Him!
A
third group here today truly does believe, and trusts in Christ, but finds it
difficult to be consistent, to be faithful, to be obedient in word and
deed. You too can find in Him all that
your heart longs for if you will turn to Him, keep your eyes on Him, give your
heart to Him, and walk by faith in Him.
In Christ alone, there is new life that
is filled with a joy and satisfaction that nothing in this world can
imitate. Today, when we hear His voice
in His Word and through His Spirit, and combine the responses of the two sons
as we say “I will, sir…” and then go and do the will of our Father with great
gladness!