[Machine transcription]
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text primarily comes from the parable of Jesus’ words, but application drawn from both Ezekiel and from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. You may be seated.
They are the first four words of Jesus’ parable, and it was said in the midst of the temple. And it was said to the high priests and the elders of the people, as well as the disciples who gathered around. But the parable was spoken after the sparring of words between Jesus and the high priests and elders. And they lied, in essence, not wanting to give a truthful answer to Jesus’ question. So Jesus says, “What do you think?” And that’s my question that I ask you. What do you think? Who does the will of the Father in that parable? The first child or son or the second child or son?
Now the first one, he’s a saucy one, isn’t he? “I will not go.” And then, like you and me, the Spirit works on his heart. He repents and he goes to work in the Lord’s vineyard. The second one, he’s the one who always looks good. Says the right things, acts the right way, is always dressed to impress, always has his stuff together, and doesn’t do what the Father asks, even though he says he will.
When it comes to obeying the authority of God in your life, we probably do a little bit of both, don’t we? At times we say no by our actions and our words. But then God works upon our heart by His Holy Spirit, and we repent and yield our authority to His authority. But it’s the second son that we’ve got to continually expunge from your and my life. It’s the second son that we have to repent of. Because he’s the one who says the right things, does the right actions without doing what the Father desires.
So when you look at God’s authority in your life, there are many arenas that you’re willing and I’m willing to say, “God’s authority is all over this part of my life.” But there are certain areas of which we don’t want to yield. Right? Because to yield to God’s authority in that area of our life, from our reason, we think, “Lord, that’s asking a lot of me. That’s costing me too much.” Or we think, “Lord, you’re making me way too vulnerable to submit to you in this area of my life.” Or, “I don’t want to be humbled that much to submit to this area of my life, to you and your authority, O Lord.” Right?
So we would much rather say to ourselves, “Well, I may not submit to God in all things, but at least I submit to Him in most things.” I don’t think that’s what God had in mind. Do you? What do you think? Did He say it was okay to submit to His authority only on things that made sense to you? Did He desire for your heart to have an allegiance to Him only on the things that you agreed with?
What do you think? Submission in complete to His loving authority above all things is all about this: loving God above all things. Especially yourself. Let me say that again. Submission to His loving authority in all things in your life is all about this: loving God above all things, more than yourself.
Now this has been prevalent in man since Adam and Eve. Isaiah described this problem in the second son in the parable, and in your and my life this way: “This people draw near with their mouth, and they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” God is a relational God, and He’s in a relationship with you because He shed the blood of His only begotten Son on the cross. Someone submitted to someone else’s authority for your sake, that you might be beloved of the Father. He desires this relationship, and this relationship with what He has struck with you is based upon your heart, not upon the words of your mouth or the words of your lips.
You tell me how wonderful a relationship is with someone when they honor you with their lips and with their words, but their heart is far from you. It looks good, doesn’t it? Be honest. That kind of a relationship always looks good because it’s all about appearance. But the heart is far from you.
It doesn’t work in marriages, does it? It doesn’t work in parenting, does it? It doesn’t work with parents as a child, does it? But it looks good. Wow, it looks good. In fact, the outwardly righteous will always look better than the inwardly righteous. Let me say that again, and you contemplate. What do you think? The outwardly righteous will always look better than the inwardly righteous.
Who are the inwardly righteous that Jesus says comes into the kingdom of God before the outwardly righteous? Tax collectors, prostitutes. Strong word. The inwardly righteous who believe, who know that they do not obey God in all things, who repent of that and turn to God and submit to His forgiving authority in their life, that they may have forgiveness and that His authority may have its way in their life.
Think about what Paul wrote to the Philippians when he said this: “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but consider others more significant than yourselves.” If you are doing that, you’re going to struggle. If you are sincerely doing that, you will struggle. If you’re not, you will always look like you got it together, but you don’t.
He goes on: “Do all things without grumbling or questioning.” If you’re doing all things without grumbling or questioning God’s authority in your life, it looks like the first son. You struggle with it. You are brought to repentance, but you struggle with it.
Ezekiel called it this way: “When the wicked turns from his wickedness and does the righteous thing, he shall live.” That’s the same thing Jesus said about the first son, who said he’s not going to do it but turned from it and did it. “He shall live.” It’s the righteous who turns from his righteous ways and does the wicked thing that shall not live. That’s what Jesus meant by the second son who says, “I will go do it,” but then doesn’t.
Doesn’t repent. Is willing to live with a status quo and static relationship with their God. How well does your marriage work if you live that kind of a marriage out where everything stays status and God’s way is not having its way in your marriage? And how does that work for you as a parent when you’re parenting, you think you have arrived at being a parent, and you’re not willing to be humble enough to say, “Mom and I got it wrong.” Or “Dad and I got it wrong.”
And how loving of a son or daughter to honor your mother or father are you if you’re not willing to say, “Mom and Dad, I am so sorry. I sure did give you grief and rebellion when I ought not to have.” When the inwardly righteous do not turn, they become outwardly righteous. When the outwardly righteous do turn, they become inwardly righteous. They’re going to lose something.
If the outwardly righteous turn and become inwardly righteous, they lose the appearance of piety, but they sure gain the appearance of forgiveness. If the inwardly righteous stop repenting and turn to be outwardly righteous, they deny forgiveness and look at outward appearance more than the heart.
Ezekiel said that he did not desire the death of anyone, but that you would turn and live. And even in that parable, Jesus told that parable not to damn the high priests and the elders. What was the last statement? “What? Anyone who does not turn and anyone who does turn shall live.” That’s the point to the high priest and the elders. He’s giving them still an opportunity to repent.
But if we’re working out our salvation with fear and trembling, which is what Paul exhorts us to do, it’s not outwardly righteous. It’s inwardly righteous. It doesn’t look like our stuff’s together. We have frayed edges. We are fallible people. We are sinners in need of repentance and sinners who do not deserve forgiveness, but God gushes it over us. That’s working out our salvation with fear and trembling.
The second son doesn’t bother because he doesn’t need to. He’s convinced that he’s arrived. The first son knows he does because the will of the Father is always loving, always gracious, always merciful, always forgiving.
Why? Because did you hear what Paul said to the Philippians and to you about the Son of God, who is God in the flesh, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing for you? Just like Jesus said in the upper room to His disciples, “I did not come to be served, but I came to serve.”
It says that His name may mark you, the name above every name, the name at which all in heaven and in hell shall bow and confess as Lord. You bear the name as one of the tax collectors and prostitutes of God’s kingdom, unless you and I think ourselves better than a tax collector or a prostitute.
Repent, turn, and believe, and live. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
