Talk is Cheap, Matthew 21,28-32

Okay, Matthew chapter 21 starting verse 28, hear the word of the Lord. What do you think a man had two sons and he went to the first and said son

Go and work in the vineyard today And he answered I will not But afterward he changed his mind and went

And he went to the other son and said the same and he answered I go sir But did not go

Which of the two did the will of his father They said the first Jesus said to them truly

I say to you the tax collectors and 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 prostitutes believed him and even when you saw it you did not afterward change your minds and believe him

May the lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word Well ever had someone promise you something

Maybe at a critical time Maybe when you're in need or when they're in special need and then fail to deliver

You know i've seen people say with with I think a genuine emotion That so and so Is my my best friend ever?

And then not too much later simply betray that best friend break a commitment because it's just more convenient

And then be loyal to their so -called best friend you might become cynical and then say well, you know talk is cheap

A friend of mary's was recruited for a job with a flattering assurance You're worth a million dollars

But when he took the job he discovered he was actually getting paid less than the conventional rate I once had a performance review for a job.

I had at fuller seminary My boss was very flattering to me and after he was done telling me how a great job I did He kind of asked me do

I have any questions? I said, yeah, if i'm if you like me so much Why don't you give me a raise? He did

I got one and it was then that he was willing to pay me more money that I realized that my boss Really valued me and that's really one of the few good examples

I can come up with I could probably we could probably fill the rest of the morning with bad examples people making promises saying great emotional things and then

Not fulfilling them. You know, it's now the height of the political season And political talk can sometimes be very cheap in it

Candidates were promised to lower taxes And raise jobs raise government programs all while lowering the debt

In 1988 george h .w. bush famously promised that if he's elected he will oppose new taxes

That even if congress pushes him to raise new taxes made a special promise read he'll say to back to congress read my lips no new taxes

But when congress pushed him to raise taxes He raised taxes And so in 1992 he lost the election after all he had left the impression rightly or wrongly

That his talk was cheap Talk is cheap when people think that they can get an advantage just by saying something

Maybe you know get your vote. Maybe they think they can keep a good employee, but just by flattering him without having to give him a raise

Um or win an election but you know making promises that he doesn't he can't keep at the heart of you know

At the heart of the advice on how to win friends and influence people is that we ought to talk

In a way that makes others feel valuable Right use their name frequently say good things about them and that's good advice

It is uh, but when they detect That you're just doing that Saying good things and uh saying their name all that kind of stuff just to manipulate them that the reason

That they're being praised all the time um Is because you know told that you're worth a million dollars is precisely because The boss doesn't want to pay them more um to show them they are really worthy or that Maybe we're just saying these things to get them to buy our product

Not that we really care about them that someone is being Flattered so that we're flattering them so that we can get them to Do the favor for us that we want when they detect that Well, then they get cynical

Shrug their shoulders who cares what people say talk is cheap Talk is cheap. And so we have ways of elevating

Some talk above the rest of the cheap talk, don't we? That is supposed to be you know There's some talk that we say is supposed to be really valuable for real this time.

We take it seriously We call that talk maybe oaths vows Uh, we're supposedly solemnly swear raise your right hand put your left hand on the bible

After what after you do that then your talk's not supposed to be cheap anymore Give a testimony um or You know, maybe come before a congregation we are gathered here dearly beloved

We are gathered here today before god in this congregation to unite in holy matrimony this man and this woman Then what you say is supposed to be valuable those words we think then are not cheap and if they later turn out to be cheap

If someone who pledged to be you know, i'll be behind you 100 And later they turn out to be so far behind you.

You can't see them anymore The vows are later broken the promises are forgotten when it's convenient

Then we realize Talk is cheap Some think that that talk is particularly cheap in church for some the whole concept of The church is where there's a lot of cheap words

Now they may sound good and the pastor is supposed to be someone who's a master at knitting together nice sounding

But basically empty words words that might make you feel better But if we're honest some think

You know, they're really very cheap How many christians today even in churches that have a church covenant like ours like many of the older ones would um

Maybe where they even have a huge copy of it on the wall on display Probably left over from past generations

But how many of them think of those words as something that they should actually keep? Oh, they may sound great

But if they don't result in us doing them If we don't they don't they don't result in us doing what they say walking together in christian love then they're

They're very cheap Even some people who might agree with us about the words of our doctrines might strain and even agonize over Precisely the right words to use in a statement of faith

Sometimes the same people just kind of shrug their shoulders is actually doing The things that we say we're supposed to do believing the right words.

They say is essential Doing the right things That's not so important and so a faith that is all words but no action easily becomes one

Where talk is cheap? The idea That religion is just about an arrangement of cheap words that idea the lord jesus assaults

In this parable it's very simple parable, but it just Explodes that common idea and in it.

We see that talk might be cheap But the kingdom of god is not We see that in four parts first.

There's the invitation then the rejection Then the profession and then the procession and actually

I guess there's five parts. Finally the manifestation First jesus says there is an invitation

He asked them continuing continuing Continuing to speak to the chief priests and elders who had come to remember last week he had come to question him as about his authority and he

He asked them a question back and then they won't answer and he says i'm gonna answer you either And then he asked them another question.

What do you think? What does god want out of people cheap words or change lives

A man had two sons and he asked both of them to go work in the vineyard The invitation is given to both in verse 34 1 jesus says that the two sons represent two kinds of people

One kind of people the tax collectors who are collaborators with rome. They're they're traitors

They're really profiteers who betrayed their own people to make money From the enemy and the prostitutes the immoral that's one group of people considered together

The sexually immoral who lived for pleasure, uh, or or made money off of those who did in our day, these could be

The pornographers the strippers the partiers who hooked up with any someone different every weekend the swingers in the bar scene

The man or woman drifting from one live -in relationship to another uh, maybe even the homosexuals

And The money grubbers who cared for nothing but profit they wanted a nicer house a nicer car

Um nicer clothes more things to buy That was that's all of life for them and those two kinds of people

Both sexually immoral and materialistic are here One kind of person symbolized both together in that first son and to them

There is an invitation the father comes and asks them Would you please go work in the vineyard? The point is that they are invited as are the religious people the

Excuse me The other group the one jesus is he's actually speaking to here asking them this question two kinds the religious on the one hand

And the immoral and the greedy on the other both get the invitation To enter the kingdom of god

That's the invitation And god's invitation goes out to all kinds of people

You know, that's what jesus is telling us here goes both to the immoral and to the religious All are called to come into god's kingdom to live under his rule now some have thought that the invitation only goes to those who are showing some kind of signs of of Of religion of being of morality of faith

That's called uh, that's part of what it's called hyper calvinism that we only offer the gospel to those who are showing some kind of Signs of faith that are kind of expressing interest in it.

You want to hear? The problem with that is that first we don't always recognize

What are real signs of faith? Is it being religious? Is it going to church?

Second that's just not what god does broadcast His invitation here to both the religious and the immoral and materialistic

To exactly the kinds excuse me again to exactly the kinds of people we might look at You know and say check our heads, man.

They don't show any signs of any faith in god you know, they're just They're too far gone but the invitation

Is to all and to the invitation Response to that The first response is rejection

Pretty rude, too. Now. The rude response is a blunt. I will not There's no excuse given.

It's not i'm busy. Sorry dad got a date no courteous title or affectionate Term not no term of respect.

It's just a cold Rejection I will not this is the initial response of the materialistic and the immoral

To the invitation to enter the kingdom of god to live under the rule of jesus some say no

And then go go do their thing They chase the dollar or chase the women or both

They don't care about church because you know, they need to make money even on sunday morning They think it's what they think to attain the lifestyle that they dream about They don't have time for this religious stuff.

Maybe later They make their they just say no or maybe they don't go to church because they're sleeping late from partying hard the night before Or perhaps even sleeping with someone.

I hardly know they met the night before Such people have responded to god's invitation to come into his kingdom to seek first the kingdom of god with I will not i'm gonna make my money or i'm gonna have my thrills.

They rejected the invitation and for a while they may be Happy with it They like the new car they can buy with their extra money that they are making they like not being tied down or restrained you know

If it feels good do it is their motto and it for now, it feels good They like their life

But after a while Something happens here the first son after sowing so so rudely saying

I will not Eventually he changes his mind The invitation to work in the vineyard begins to look more rewarding

You know than whatever else it was That he had on his mind the materialist and the immoral

Sometimes get tired of their sin the invitation that they had rejected begins to Begins to look good

Begins to draw them back the thrills or the toys the houses the cars the gadgets

Get a little boring The invitation begins to sound appealing Coming to my kingdom jesus says and so they change their mind when they change their mind

They change their actions notice at the end of verse 29. He changed his mind and Apologized to his dad said sorry dad

No, I said and went His mind changed his actions first comes the change in what they think following jesus isn't so bad

It begins to look good it begins to look better than having more money or more sex They want to live his way.

And so it says and went He goes into the vineyard

He goes to work for the formerly greedy and immoral It's invitation to come into the kingdom of god to live god's way they hear it they change

They not only change what they think they change their lives change of mind brings change of life

Here's a picture of someone being truly Converted and notice it's not just about talk

Okay today some have made some christians have made salvation to be all about what you say That if you say the right prayer

And say you believe in the right doctrine then you are saved In fact, they will assure them that they are saved just on the basis of what they say

Even if you haven't changed your mind about sin they'll say Believe in sometimes say you could have the same sin

You can still be greedy or materialistic or immoral or selfish or unloving and yet somehow still if you

Say the right talk be converted But talk is cheap This parable shows us that cheap talk

Is not conversion to be converted to enter the kingdom of god

You have changed your mind about sin about your rejection of the invitation to live under jesus's rule

That's not just talk That's changed life True conversion is not just talk

It's about having changed a change in your mind It results in a change in your life now the invitation comes to the immoral and the materialistic

But it doesn't leave them like that. It changes their mind and then their behavior god's invitation meets with rejection initially from many people

He invites them to come into his kingdom. They say with their lives. I will not but some of those rejecters

Change their mind And then they change their life And it's not just a matter of talk

Now saying I will when before they said I won't now your life says

I will they he The son here he went he worked you enter into a life in which god is your king

That's the kingdom of god the rejecters become acceptors

Well, then there's that other group of people The people who hear jesus calls you he's talking to them directly here verse 31 speaking to the priests and elders

Now they are the religious people. They're respectable. They're moral. They're the pillars of society We'd say they're the establishment and they are the second son in this little story and they give the profession

And it's a respectful sounding verbal acquiescence Notice in verse 30 when they hear the invitation they sound good

They give the right answer. They say I go sir They profess that they will obey

They even do it with the utmost courtesy calling their father. Sir a profession of faith

You know the word there in greek translated sir. The sv is the same word for lord Okay, and so today many would say, you know, they would congratulate them for making a profession of faith for calling on the lord and Told by many that you know, that's all you need to do just profess

Here they say all the right words But talk is cheap

They are the picture of hypocritical Unconverted religion all about an initial profession calling on the lord

Claiming that they will go into the kingdom religious religious and moral but ultimately disobedient

And it's and it's not that they never, you know, it's not they're disobedient because they never become religious.

They're already religious These are the priests the preachers the establishment. They offered sacrifices.

They listened to the bible. They went to their meetings. They kept the rules by every religious measure they looked

Like they were accepting god's invitation to live his way But they weren't

They are invited to work in the vineyard or you know Enter god's rule, but they don't even though they said they would even said it with courtesy a proper sir

Sure, their talk sounds good even their religion. It looks impressive but in their hearts

They never submit To god's rule. They've they have never they haven't changed their mind

And started to seek First the kingdom of god and his righteousness being right with god his way.

They sounded like acceptors With their yes, sir, their courtesy, but they were rejecters

Religion religion can be full of cheap talk Even double talk

Talk that is it's about saying one thing Um, but there's really a cover for the opposite You know, we we find this it's not particularly have to do with religion, but we find this in the abortion debate

It's it's you know, it's we don't call it pro abortion It's supposed to be called pro -choice, but the one who is aborted doesn't allow any choice in it at all.

How is that pro -choice? But let's not scoff at others before we check ourselves, you know in centuries past slave owners would piously profess that they were in favor of freedom in christ

For their slaves, but of course it was a freedom that was all talk And not reality others claim that they believe in the lord's command to love your neighbor as yourself

While making some of their neighbors go to inferior schools and drink from inferior water fountains and ride in the back of the bus

You know talk about loving your neighbor. It's double talk They may have talked about being bold and standing up for truth and justice

But it always seemed that they were really more concerned with just us

That's double talk from people who say yes lord To the lord and then ignore what the lord tells them to do the scoffers then

Look at our religious double talk shake their heads say

Talk is cheap I've known people who when you invite them maybe to be maybe to be involved in ministry or in the church somehow

Uh will respond with apparent enthusiasm eagerly Brimming over that's a great idea

They'll be looking forward to it Maybe they'll even up the ante, you know, they'll volunteer for more than you suggest

I'll remind them that just because you have a family now doesn't mean you can't be involved in Ministry and they'll exclaim back.

That's right. I'm willing to leave my family in order to serve god first But when it comes to actually doing it

They're running some ministry or going out witnessing or it's representing the church in some outreach or just staying faithful in membership and giving there will always be an excuse

They won't carry it through It'll be family or work or leisure or just ego

Bills maybe to be paid something something will get in the way Oh when they first hear the invitation they appear to jump at it but um

Talk is cheap There are professed christians like that and the sad thing is we've developed a system

In our day christians have that actually encourages that that only cares about a profession not about doing

That naively tells people that as long as your talk is right Then so also must be your relationship with the lord

But this parable tells us That the talk is cheap people who profess that profess

But don't carry it through Who sound great in their talk?

Oh, they'll say they've given their lives to jesus That they'll live by that.

Maybe they'll say if they're here live by the church covenant They'll talk about evangelism. They'll talk about ministry. They can spout all the right pious

Things even challenging others to love the lord. Jesus better They'll post scripture verses.

They'll their talk can be as smooth as butter But there's no carry through no perseverance and In what they in what they profess, uh, then they may be just like these these religious people

Having never really have changed their minds people whose talk isn't carried through in their life

May not really be converted at all They may be like these priests and elders just religious moral people who know the talk the cheap talk

We make a grave mistake when we think the goal of our evangelism is just getting people to say

The right talk say they believe this or repeat this prayer

And sure right doctrine is important it's important to believe the right things about jesus who he is

But it's not just a matter of talk. They they say they believe Jesus is lord, but they don't live like they believe that they they live in outright disobedience

I'm refusing to be part of a church or refusing to be baptized refusing to give generously the work of the ministry refusing to Restrain their tongue.

Maybe they like to spout insults and vitriol toward anyone They don't like refusing to keep their commitments refusing to be different from the world and to stand up for justice

All they repeat what they think are the few kind of christian talking points

You know, they talk about that in politics. There's talking points Some people think that's what it means to be a christian you repeat the right church talking points

That's not the goal of our evangelism as jesus says at the end of this book The goal is the end of this end of matthew

Is to make disciples And the grand mark of section That the sign that you really follow jesus

Not just talking Is perseverance It's carry through You won't do it perfectly.

None of us will do it perfectly But are you pressing forward? Every day

Are you saying yes? With your life friends the church in america over the last century

Has been distorted by kind of easy believism Message that's all about talk

But the saying is true Talk is cheap and this parable is true

Saying yes, sir With your talk but not changing your mind and your life will not get you into the kingdom of god

Well the invitation Has gone out to all people the rejection

Has been turned into acceptance by those who change their minds and lives the profession

Though has turned out to be only cheap talk so in the procession

Into god's kingdom The most unlikely people will come first In verse 31 jesus makes one of his truly statements, you know, he begins with truly and literally greek is amen.

Amen The conclusion of that simple little story is truly

Pay attention. He's saying this is the truth that there is a procession

Into god's kingdom in order and in which people go into living under god's rule

He says right in the right at those priests and elders That he's he tells them, you know, the greedy profiteers the swindlers

The pornographers the swingers Those people will enter the rule and blessings of god before you do

They will be first in line now why Because god doesn't care about sin.

No because they're in an odd way. They're explicit that even their Outrageous sinfulness.

They're total running away From from god maybe to get rich They're defrauding of people like the corrupt corporate executive who mismanages the company drives it into bankruptcy

And then gives himself a multi -million dollar bonus the or the immoral person who goes from one hookup to another

You know that kind of life can actually make them more aware of their need

More humble so that if they ever start to really care about god If they change their mind then then they know

That they can't rest on their morality or their religion They know they look back at their life and they say there's nothing about me that gives me an advantage with god

And so they just they'll have to cast themselves on the lord for mercy

They know they are in total need of grace So they go in first But the religious people the moral people by the world standards here the priests the elders maybe for us the lifelong churchgoer who's proud of his character is proud of his religion is proud that he's

Done he's kept his duty He imagined he doesn't need grace Like the lady that mary had in a bible study once mary was talking about Being made conscious of our of our sins and depravity even if you know

We haven't done these outrageous things to become more aware of how sinful we are even if you you know, you stay away from these

Outrageous sins, but you just become more aware of your of your depravity Well, she said back.

She wasn't like that No, she was a nice sweet lady.

She said of herself In Reality and knew her family. She terrorized her own family with her with her viciousness with her prosecutorial

Gracelessness once she even she wagged a letter at me like that Accusing me of a crime because I put a letter in her mailbox without a stamp on it

Okay, I know you're not supposed to do that But you know Why mail it when

I was going right by her her mailbox? I know wayne's gonna protest but that's you know That she was so self -righteous that and then so condemnatory of me because I did such a thing

Well such people are last in the procession into the kingdom of god If they make it at all

It's so hard to break through to self -righteous people often. They only accept their need for grace after god mercifully let some

Tragedy befall them. I once heard the testimony of a man Um who said he

That he was sure In his past that he was right before god that that god was on his side

Uh, he was absolutely certain right up until he was actually convicted in court

The judge pronounces him guilty and bangs the gavel It took that And often it takes that kind of trauma

To wake self -assured religious people out of the delusion And to get them to see their need for grace finally, then

They get to join the procession into the kingdom of god Well, jesus says that the greedy and immoral will make it into the kingdom before the self -righteous and the religious religious people

And well that you know that way of saying it it leaves open the door for some Of these self -righteous religious people to make it

Something will happen god can break through to them. It'll make it'll probably take longer because they'll try to You know base their relationship with god on their religion, but once it'll take a while But then maybe they'll make it if they'll change their mind

Like the immoral and the greedy people change their mind and then change their lives

It also leaves open the door the way jesus put it The immoral the greedy they'll make it before you it also leaves open to the door to the possibility that some of them won't make it at all the greedy and the immoral

May make it into the kingdom of god first Because some of the religious won't enter ever

Now there is a procession into god's kingdom Only those make it in who give up their pride and say

Nothing in my hands. I bring Only to the cross I cling

Finally, we see the manifestation now a manifestation Is a display It's an exhibition of something evidence of something and so far you could say that this little parable, uh is is nothing more than a way of saying

Talk is cheap Show me, you know like liza doodledle in my fair lady demanding show me

Don't just talk about love show me in your actions. Don't just tell your spouse. I love you don't you know, don't just say you value something or someone that That you've committed or that you're committed to something or someone that you have a goal you want to achieve or Someone you want to live for don't just say it

Show me Give a manifestation Don't just say you support the church give serve to put your money and your time where your mouth is

Don't just say it do it and and yes This parable does say that in that but in that last verse the lord jesus gives us the reason

What our actions manifest What they display But what our life is evidence of?

In other words, what's the wind in your sails? Why do we not just talk the talk? But walk the walk

What is our changing our minds and then our lives? manifest About us

Jesus tells us in verse 32. He says the greedy and immoral go into the kingdom of god first because they had faith

Notice they believed him And it's talking about their john the baptist who he says came in the way of righteousness

In other words in the way of god's plan of salvation John the baptist came to prepare the way for the lord.

And so these those outwardly Uh sinful people who had initially rejected god's invitation

Had chosen rather to chase dollars or chase girls or both. Well, they believed

They had faith And that faith changed their minds which changed their lives

So they got baptized they stopped cheating in people. They stopped sleeping around What they did change lives

The baptism was a manifestation Of their faith they believed

It was their faith on display Well, john the baptist had told him and the pharisees who came to him, uh bear fruit in keeping with repentance

In other words, let's see it Salvation has never been just about talk

If it's just talk Talk is cheap your talk must be a manifestation of your faith and if it is if you say

Jesus is lord And and say a true prayer of repentance because you have faith

That faith will will show there'll be manifestations of it. It will manifest itself in a changed mind

Which we call repentance and a changed life Yes, we are saved through faith alone

But faith that saves is never alone it manifests

And lack of faith manifests too the praise of the elders. They did not have faith Even though they were religious and moral and respectable you could you could see the manifestations

Of their unbelief and and they're not getting baptized even even when many of the greedy and the immoral, uh were saved through john's ministry, even though They saw with their own eyes.

Jesus says here you saw the fruit And still didn't you didn't change your minds they saw with their own eyes people transformed to who used to extort money

Used to use their power from rome to extort money out of them or maybe used to solicit for sex They knew how greedy and immoral that these people had been and they had seen their lives transformed right before their eyes

But they remain proud and graceless It's not as though seeing is believing

It's usually the other way around because they saw They saw the power of god changed the lives of sinful people, but they still wouldn't change

Because they didn't believe They didn't have faith Their proud obstinate self -righteous religion was just as much a manifestation of unbelief

As was the prostitution or the extortion of the other people we have been

Suffering in this country from about a century of sometimes well -meaning but badly taught christians

Telling us that faith is just a matter of cheap talk As long as you say you have it you you say you believe in jesus you say the right prayer then it doesn't matter

What your life manifests? Well, that is not the gospel. Jesus taught

That's not the gospel. The apostle paul taught that he brought to the nations He wrote in first corinthians chapter 4 verse 20 for the kingdom of god does not consist in talk but in power

Entering the kingdom of god is a powerful thing. It changes your first your mind then your whole life

It leads you to the cross It drives you to your knees. It transforms you

In ways that manifest sure maybe not perfectly yet You'll still have those manifestations of sinful nature we all have

But there'll be manifestations Of of the kingdom of god the rule of jesus in your life

If you're truly converted, so if someone doesn't have that Either they are still in their materialism

You know, they're still living for money and for things or maybe they're still enslaved to sexual sin or are they?

Maybe they're like the priests and elders here. They're just too proud to admit their needs To confess that they are wrong and and so they're so arrogant that like these men that they think they

They think they own the place remember the context These men literally think they own This place the temple maybe today.

They think they own god's temple You know today which is the church that they think they are the the authority in it that it exists to make them look good

Maybe their talk is cheap if any of that Is the manifestation of their lives

Then their problem Isn't that they aren't talking, right? It's that they aren't really in the kingdom of god

Talk is cheap But the kingdom of god is not It's powerful

There are in the end two types of people Those who who may be courteous courteously sounding

Look good make the right initial responses Everything sounds fine

But they do not enter god's kingdom. They think it's just a matter of talk of Sweet sounding pious phrases.

Yes, I will sir I'm behind you 100 You're my best friend ever

To have and to hold until death do us part We covenant to walk together in christian love

Oh, we may love the the soul stirring sweet talk

But if that's all that it is just talk cheap talk the problem isn't that we need to Try harder or talk better the problem

Is that we need faith Talk is cheap Talk won't save you

Not cheap talk What will save you is a faith so strong so Powerful that it changes your mind and your life and your talk

It gets you to seek first the kingdom of god and finally entering it

Because that faith drives you to the rock of ages and you know

You can't fool him with cheap talk And so you cry out Let me hide

Myself and thee let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure save from wrath