These
people love to hear the gospel preached because they have family members and
friends that need to repent and come to Jesus for salvation. They have children
in bondage to sinful behaviors, and they want the pastor to preach deliverance messages
that will stir up these young people with faith that Jesus would help them and
set them free. They love the gospel message of repentance and faith, that is,
until they are the ones with the glaring problems to address.
One
reason the religious leaders of Jesus’ day were so angry against him, while
prostitutes, tax collectors and drunks came into the kingdom of heaven right
before their eyes, was that the “good” people did not want to admit that they
were in the same miserable spiritual condition as the “bad” people.
When
Jesus told the parable of the two sons,[1] he made a clear distinction between the sinners who were coming
into the kingdom, and the “righteous” who were disobedient to God in spite of
their claims to obedience. He described the first son as saying he would not go
and work in the vineyard, but afterward “changed
his mind and went”,[2] while the second son said he would go, “but did not go”.[3] Jesus then asked the pointed question, “Which
of the two did the will of his father?”[4]
The
stage was set. The scene was about people doing the will of the Father. Jesus modeled
for us what the sons of God should do when he said to his disciples, “My food is to do the will of
him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”[5] He taught his disciples to pray, “your
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”[6]
When
Jesus asked the religious leaders who actually did the will of the father,
rather than only talked about it, the religious leaders were stuck. They had to
show that they knew the right answer, since they were the religious leaders, but
the right answer incriminated them as the disobedient sons. Immediately they
had to choose whether they wanted to look good, or to be good. Did they need a
good reputation to cover their bad behavior, or did they want to acknowledge
their bad behavior so Jesus could make them good children of God?
While
the religious leaders gave the right answer, that it was the first son who “did”
the Father’s will, they hated Jesus’ response:
“Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and
the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For
John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the
tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you
did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”[7]
Remember
that the theme of the parable is doing the Father’s will, and includes the
central characteristic of those who “change
your minds and believe him.”[8] I say this because people often misunderstand what God’s word means
when it describes Jesus as “the friend of
sinners”.[9] They picture Jesus hanging around with people who were still living
in their sin, being their friend, and making them feel accepted just the way
they are. They use this mistaken interpretation to console themselves about the
sin in their own lives, or in the lives of their loved ones, by thinking that Jesus
is the friend of sinful people, so Jesus must be their friend when they are
sinful, and the church should be friends with sinful people.
The
real picture is that Jesus is talking about sinners who have “changed their minds and believed him”. This
is the “repentance and faith” that is central to the whole gospel message. The
prostitutes were not continuing to live as prostitutes who now felt good that Jesus
was their friend. These were prostitutes like Rahab of hundreds of years
earlier.[10] They had once said “no” to God’s call on their lives, but now had
changed their minds and carried out the Father’s will.
What
was the Father’s will in reference to Jesus? If the prostitutes and tax
collectors were going “into the kingdom
of God” right in front of the religious leaders, and they had believed the
teaching of John the Baptist even while the religious leaders did not, what
exactly did this look like? It looked like sinful people coming under
conviction of their sin, repenting, or changing their minds about their sinful
way of relating to God, and believing the message they heard.
What
was the summary of John’s message? “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand.”[11]
What was the summary of Jesus’ message? “From
that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ’Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.’”[12]
What were the prostitutes and tax collectors
doing to come into the kingdom of heaven? They were repenting and believing the
message of the gospel. What made Jesus their friend? That he was the Messiah who
called them out of their darkness and into his marvelous light.[13]
While
this parable very clearly exposed the religious leaders as frauds, and the
despised tax collectors and prostitutes as the true children of the heavenly
kingdom,[14] Jesus was not finished making his point. He continued with another
parable[15] in which he portrayed the religious leaders as tenants of a
vineyard who beat all the servants the owner sent to collect the rent on their
lease of the land. When the owner sent his own son, they killed him thinking
that would give them the land as their inheritance. The parable clearly exposed
the religious leaders as not only failing to do the Father’s will (as in the
previous parable), but being in deliberate rebellion and defiance against God.
What
stands out is how the religious leaders responded when they understood that Jesus
had turned the attention on to them in such a negative way. What would they do
when Jesus held up the divine mirror and showed them that they were in the
wrong? Jesus had shown that, when the “sinners” heard the call to repentance,
they acknowledged their sin, changed their minds about living in sin, believed Jesus,
and entered the kingdom of heaven through repentance and faith.
On
the other hand, this is what Scripture tells us about the religious leaders: “When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And
although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they
held him to be a prophet.”[16]
You
see, the religious leaders accurately perceived that Jesus was talking about
them, but they did not let their minds change so that they could agree with
him. Instead, they “were seeking to
arrest him”. They looked for a way to get rid of him because they did not
want anyone, even someone who presented as wonderfully as Jesus, even someone
who set prostitutes free from their immoralities, tax collectors free from
their thieveries, drunks free from their idolatries, and delivered their people
from sicknesses of every kind. They would throw it all away in order to rid
their land of someone who said that the “goodest of the good” were really as
bad, or worse, than the prostitutes, tax collectors and drunks.[17]
This
calls us to some serious introspection and examination of our hearts.[18] Are we those good church people who say “yes” while we do “no”? Or
are we those who understand that we have said “no” to God, but we now feel that
our minds have changed, we believe God’s word, and we want to be like Jesus in
doing the Father’s will? While we may first think of this as regarding
salvation, it also applies to our daily walk with God, whether we are reverting
to the flesh and its deceptive self-reasoning,[19] or keeping in step with the Spirit,[20] and enjoying the freedom for which Jesus Christ set us free.[21]
I
have been burned many times thinking that the people saying “yes” to God the
most loudly were the ones who were obeying God, only to discover that they were
speaking words they were not putting into practice. They are like the little
children in our daycare who march around the room singing, “Clean up! Clean up!
Everybody do your part!” while they aren’t picking up a solitary thing! They
are so enthusiastically saying the words, and they are moving around the room
at such an energetic pace, that we do not immediately notice that they are not
actually doing anything at all. And, they certainly aren’t doing what they are
saying.
Today,
either we fit the description of those wise people who hear Jesus’ words and
put them into practice, just like the prostitutes, tax collectors and drunks;
or we are those foolish people who hear Jesus’ words, but do not put them into
practice, just like the religious leaders.[22] For me, I take to heart the words our brother James wrote: “Show me your faith apart
from your works, and I will show
you my faith by my works.”[23]
From my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Matthew 21:28-32
[2]
Vs 29
[3]
Vs 30
[4]
Vs 31
[5]
John 4:34
[6]
Matthew 6:10
[7]
Matthew 21:31-32
[8]
Vss 29, 32
[9]
31 “To what then shall I compare the
people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children
sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, “‘We played the flute
for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33 For
John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say,
‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say,
‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and
sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” (Luke 7)
[10]
Joshua 2, 6; “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish
with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to
the spies.” (Hebrews 11:31); “And in
the same way was not also Rahab
the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent
them out by another way?” (James 2:25)
[11]
Matthew 3:2
[12]
Matthew 4:17
[13]
“12 Now when he heard that John had been
arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived
in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that
what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:15 “The land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great
light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a
light has dawned.” (Matthew 4)
[14]
Only referring to the ones who had genuinely repented and entered the kingdom
by faith.
[15]
33 “Hear another parable. There was a
master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a
winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into
another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants
to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat
one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more
than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to
them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son,
they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his
inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed
him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to
those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable
death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in
their seasons.”
42 Jesus said to
them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders
rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is
marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I
tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people
producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
45 When the
chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was
speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they
feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21)
[16]
Vss 45-46
[17]
The apostle Paul was once one of those arrogant religious leaders. Here is his
testimony of what God did to change his heart and mind: “12 I thank him who has given me
strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me
to his service, 13 though
formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received
mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord
overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 The saying is trustworthy
and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me,
as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example
to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal,
invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” (I Timothy 1)
[18]
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you
are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves,
that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (II
Corinthians 13:5)
[19]
“17 For the
desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are
against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing
the things you want to do.. 19 Now the works of the flesh are
evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity,
strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
21 envy, drunkenness,
orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who
do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5)
[20]
“16 But
I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh… 22 But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness,
self-control; against such things there is no law... 25 If
we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5)
[21]
“For freedom Christ has set us free;
stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
(Galatians 5:1)
[22]
24 “Everyone
then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who
built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the
floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall,
because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and
does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 And the rain fell, and
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell,
and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7)
[23]
James 2:18
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