Matthew 21:28-32 More than Words

You're listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filsack takes us through his series on the book of Matthew called

Not Your Average Savior. Let's listen in. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Recast Church.

As Dave said, I'm Don Filsack, I'm the lead pastor here. And a special welcome to everybody that's tuning in on the live stream.

I'm glad that you're able to join in with us, and glad that you're here. We really miss being together with you guys, and look forward to the day we can all be back together again.

But glad that you're able to take this in through technology right now. We've been meeting together as a church, you guys, since 2009 here in Mattawan, and it really has been an awesome journey.

It's been so cool to see the way that God has led us from the storefront to meeting the elementary schools to now having this building.

And most of you know that our name is an acronym for our core values. We value replication, community, authenticity, simplicity, and truth, and those are now on a sign back there.

So you can see those there. It's kind of cool that the decorating committee put those up on the wall. And then you also see that what we mean by simplicity is that there's three primary areas we'd love to see everybody growing in.

We want to see everybody growing in faith, growing in community, and growing in service. And you see those represented on the gears that are out in the wall and the lobby now, too.

So just grateful for people who are kind of trying to make our building look cool and better and all that stuff. And so during this season, we've had and experienced a lot of social division.

And so let me encourage all of you to lean on one of those core values that we hold to Authenticity.

We need to continue to communicate with one another in truth and love. We need to be honest as we work through all of the things swirling around us.

We're working through physical distancing, masks, politics, racial tensions, and low -level, what

I think is probably true for all of us, low -level emotional exhaustion. Anybody would raise your hand and say, yes,

I'm experiencing low -level emotional exhaustion. I think that's a lot of us. And those of you that didn't raise your hand, you are just so plum -tuckered out, you couldn't even raise your hand, right?

I think that's probably the reason you didn't raise your hand was you're just so tired. And I think that's a lot of us. So let me encourage you during this season to show more grace to one another, encourage you to love one another, to pray for one another, to share needs with each other, and to communicate in truth with one another.

As a church, part of what it kind of means to be a gathering of people here on this fallen planet is to not agree with everybody on everything.

And that's true for our church as well. But we will always remain committed to one another through care and through authentic communication, and that's what it means to be a church.

We work through those things, we talk through those things. And I am thankful for the way that we, Recast, have navigated this time, this difficult time.

And I don't say anything that I say in this introduction to critique or to try to correct. As a matter of fact,

I'm just encouraging you to keep doing what we're doing right now. I have experienced this church as amazing over the last 11 years, and that goes beyond me being a bit biased, that I love this church.

But I'm thankful for the way that we've stayed together, we've stayed in it, in the worship of God, on mission and on focus, even in this difficult time.

So let's turn our attention to the scriptures this morning. We see Jesus here driving for a difficult lesson, a tough lesson, a shocking lesson.

And Jesus is once again challenging the religious leaders, and we get a chance to listen in to his challenge to the religious leaders.

But as we listen to what he says here in this text, we're going to see that he also intends to challenge all of us as well.

It's not recorded just for religious leaders, this is not a text for pastors or priests or people who lead religious organizations, this is a text for all of us.

And what we're going to see in this text is a short parable. A parable is a story with a point. It's really, the word parable means thrown alongside, thrown along beside.

It's the idea that you're walking on the pathway of life, and here's a story alongside to kind of walk with you and show you the way.

A story with a point, and Jesus is going to drive that point home in what is an unmistakably intentionally shocking way this morning.

He is intending to shock. He's intending to grab and arrest our attention.

He's intentionally scandalous in the things that he says here in this text, to really get under the skin of the religious leaders, but also to get under our skin, to really work out of us some of the feelings and thoughts that his statements will bring to our mind.

And part of the question that he's answering here in this story is who leads the way into the kingdom of God?

Who's the model? Who shows us the way to come in? Who's leading us?

Will it be the priests, the pastors, the religious elite, the scribes, the Pharisees? Who is it that shows us best the way to God?

And speaking to those who prided themselves as being the leaders, they thought themselves the leaders of the nation, showing everybody the way to God, he's going to say, no, there's somebody that you should follow.

There's somebody that you should be paying attention to, because they're going to go in before you.

They're going to get into the kingdom of God before you ever will. And so let's open our Bibles. If you're not already there, we're going to find our answer in scripture.

Who is it that's going to lead us in? Who's going to show the way to the religious types? Who's going to demonstrate to us how to get in?

Matthew 21, verses 28 through 32, God's great and glorious word.

Look for the answer here, and who is it that will enter the kingdom in the lead, showing everyone behind them the way?

So again, find your way there so you can follow along as I read this, and then we're going to pick up on some announcements after I read.

Matthew 21, verses 28 through 32. The very words of Jesus Christ, our

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? And they said, the first. Jesus said to them, 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 afterwards change your minds and believe him.

May God add his blessing to the reading of his word, and we're going to take in some announcements now. Spencer's going to come and pray, and then

I'll finish the message. Announcements.

Hey, Recast. I'm Hope. I'm the Communications Director here. And I'm Jason, and I'm the Assistant Communications Director.

Assistant to the Communications Director. We've got a couple of announcements for you this morning. First off, this is our worship folder.

In it, you can find upcoming events. Also, inside there. Oh, it's falling. I got it. I got it.

We're going to get it. There we go. I got the connection card. If you fill this out, and if you're new to Recast, and you fill this out and give this to a volunteer, you get a free t -shirt.

Yeah. The last thing we have in here is the offering envelope. We don't pass an offering plate here at Recast, but if you feel led to give, you can drop this right in the welcome table.

There's a giving slot. Yeah. You were my best friend.

Smart. If you've been attending

Recast for a while, it may be time to DTR. Define the relationship. If you'd like to be a member at Recast, you can pick up an application at the welcome table in the lobby, or find it on our website, recastchurch .com.

Another thing we've got going on at Recast is Operation Christmas Child. That'll start at the end of October, and we'll collect boxes until November 15th.

If you've got questions, you can contact Sierra Attila. This sounds like Don's blog.

He posts it every Thursday, and you can find it on the Recast website, as well as Facebook.

Well, that's not all going on at Recast. If you're interested in what else is going on, go to recastchurch .com for more information.

You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel, Recast Church, and click the bell for notifications. Thanks for watching.

Take it away, Spencer. We pray as we get started this morning.

Father God, we are so thankful to be able to gather together and to worship you and to open your word and to hear from you through it.

Lord, I pray for Pastor Don this morning. We're thankful for all the diligent work that he does to bring us your holy and inspired and authoritative word each and every week.

We pray that you use the words of his mouth and the meditation of his heart to help us grow more into your image.

Lord, we're thankful for the opportunity to hear from you each and every week. Lord, we're encouraged by the fact that we do not rely on ourselves.

We rely on your Holy Spirit to accomplish your work in our hearts. Lord, I'm thankful for this text this morning that gives us encouragement that we don't get into your kingdom by saying the right thing.

We don't even get into your kingdom by doing the right things. But rather, Lord, we enter into your presence by trusting in Jesus' sacrifice, by repenting of our sins, and then turning to follow you.

And Lord, I'm also thankful that we do not follow you through our own strength, but through the

Holy Spirit that works in and through us. So, Lord, this morning, we pray that that Spirit works in our hearts to convict us to be more like you and to serve you wholeheartedly.

We're thankful for Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thanks, Spencer. All right.

I encourage you to get comfortable and make sure your Bible is open to Matthew 21, verses 28 through 32.

So, if you lost your place there in just that brief time, reopen there. And if at any time during the message, if you want to get more coffee or juice, there's some donuts in some individually wrapped bags there.

So, you can take advantage of that at any time during the message. But the context of this passage continues on right where we left off last week.

So, some of you, I recognize you weren't here last week. You haven't been here for the series in Matthew. A lot of those are available on the podcast.

You could go on our website under the teaching tab and find past messages there. And now that we're starting to live stream, you're going to be able to find the actual video of the messages.

So, if you're gone for a week and you want to just kind of take it in, you can go to YouTube and type in Recast Church there and you'll find us.

But Jesus came into the temple area and he began to teach. We saw that last week. And the religious leaders of Jerusalem interrupted his teaching to ask a fundamental question, what gives you the right or who gives you the right to be teaching?

Who gives you the right to be doing all of these things, cleansing the temple and acting like you're in charge, in other words?

Who gives you the right? And you can check that out last week to see where we went with that. But now in that very same context, in front of the who's who of Jerusalem, it says the elders of the people, which would have been like the

Sanhedrin, the ruling people over the Jews during this time, religiously ruling,

I should say. They're the religious leaders of the time and the era. And they are challenging him.

And Jesus goes on to intentionally provoke those religious leaders with what he teaches us here in this text.

He tells them right off the bat, so there's a crowd gathered around and then there's these religious leaders that are challenging him.

And he tells them, he says, I want you to think about this. What do you think? And have any of you ever had anybody start off, maybe a co -worker or a neighbor who's like, what do you think about this?

How many of you know that that gets your attention? Like you're going to listen to the story they're about to tell and weigh in on it.

How many of you like giving your opinions? Am I the only one in here who likes that? Because I love giving opinions.

I love to give my thoughts about things. I've got plenty of opinions. You've got a subject, I've got an opinion about it.

So that's kind of the way that I'm put together. But yeah, somebody says, hey, what do you think about this? I'm in. I'm all in on that.

And he's encouraging these religious leaders to kind of lean in a bit and listen because I have the feeling that they're like me.

I have a feeling that they love giving their opinions. They love giving their thoughts about stuff. And so he's got them.

He's got their attention. What do you think about this? Oh, okay. And then he starts to tell a story. And he's basically saying, there's going to be a quiz at the end.

Or there's at least going to be a question at the end. So what do you think about this? And he sets the stage and he begins to tell a story of a man who has two sons.

Now, the father approached the one son and told him to go out into the vineyard and work for the day. He goes, hey, hey,

I got extra work. The laborers out there are not able to get everything done today. We've got harvest coming in or whatever it might be or we've got to prepare the vines.

And so I need you to get out to work today, son. And that's not an uncommon request during this time.

Again, pretty common for a father to ask his son in a subsistence farming kind of community to go work for the day.

Get out there and shut your phone off. Put the video games away. I need you to go out and work in the yard or something like that.

So that's what's going on here in this context. And he issues that command to the son.

That's a common thing. But what's uncommon, you need to understand it right off the bat, that what's uncommon and probably not to our ears as uncommon as it should be and even somewhat scandalous here in the text is the son's reply.

How does the son reply? He replies with three simple words. I will not.

I will not. Right up in his father's face.

I will not go work for you today. What? How many of you that are fathers, you already have your hackles up.

Like this is a little call out kind of moment, right? Like your son says, no dad, I'm not mowing today.

What? I said go mow. Like what are you talking about? The lawn needs mowed? Go mow it.

No, I will not. And we miss the scandal because we don't live in a culture steeped in the fifth commandment.

But put yourself in the shoes of these religious leaders who were steeped in the Old Testament law. They were saturated in the law.

They marinated in it. It was their everything. The law. They prided themselves in being keepers of the law.

They prided themselves in being teachers of the law. They even prided themselves in being officers of that very religious law.

So imagine I'm somewhat shocked at this young man in this story who would outright deny a command of his father.

And I think maybe there's a softness in our heart because how many of you that are fathers in the room, I'm talking to you fathers, how many of you have ever had one of your kids say no to you?

Right? So I think all of us, that's pretty much all of us. So if you're a father, you've had your child say no to you.

And that loses, this loses its religious flavor a bit because we've all experienced it.

So we think it's common. We think it's simple. But to the religious ears of these leaders, they're thinking, ding, ding, ding.

They've just broken the fifth commandment. This young man is not good.

As a matter of fact, this young man in their eyes, in their religious eyes, in their purely law -filled eyes, this young man is a lawless one.

He is lawless. He has disregard for God by showing his disregard for his earthly father.

This is no small part of this story here. This is significant in the telling of this story.

This is a significant point that Jesus is intentionally drawing out. This guy's not a good guy. And as a matter of fact, they would have been against this young man from the very beginning as Jesus presents him.

The scribes and the Pharisees and the religious leaders in this text, right from this point in the story, know who the villain is.

They have every expectation of who the bad guy's going to be. This guy said no to his father.

But then Jesus adds, oh, and it gets confusing, the young man changed his mind and went.

And by the word went, Jesus obviously in the story means more than that he just went to the field and sat and watched the people work.

He went to work. He went and did what his father had asked him to do, and he went and worked for the day in the vineyard.

Despite the fact that his mouth had said no to his father, he went and did the good thing anyways.

Had a change of mind, a change of heart. The phrase, by the way, changed his mind is a

Greek word that comes from the word group that includes the word we translate repent. It's a repentant word.

And most scholars identify this as a very important connection for us to make in this text. This young man had a change of heart.

He who formerly had spoken disobediently and dishonoringly to his father in the story had a change of mind, turned from that dishonor, turned from that disrespect and said,

I will obey. The reason for the change, the reason for the cause of the change is not of interest to Jesus in the story.

He doesn't explain it. He doesn't say, what in the world changed this young man's mind? We know in the gospel what it is that must change our mind.

It's the very cross of Christ. It's the hope that we have there. We know that we need a repentance, a turn from sin to God, but that's not given.

All that detail isn't given here and it's something that the rest of the scripture fills in for us. But this young man goes and does what his father wants of him, even though at the start he didn't live for his father.

At the start, as a matter of fact, he disrespected his father, but he turned from that disrespect, went to the field to do his father's will.

But the same father went to his other son. There's another son in this story. And he gave the same instructions, go into the vineyard and work for me for the day.

And the young man, with respect, and even what in the language that's given here gives a sense of urgency, says,

I go, sir. I'm going. I'm on my way. It's as if he's saying, I'm on it, or even, as you wish.

Do exactly what you want of me. But look with me at the four little words at the very end of verse 30.

The very end of verse 30, these four critical words. He said, I go, sir. I'm on it.

You can count on me, dad. But did not go.

I'm on my way, but did not go. That's pretty significant.

The father's command included the imperative. The imperative, the instruction, the command is go.

That's the fundamental command in the sentence structure of what the father wants of his son. Go and work.

The first son said, no, I won't go, had a change of heart, and past tense of go went.

The second son said, I go, but he never went. He did not go.

And that's the end of the story. There you go. There's the whole story. That's the parable, but it's not the end of the teaching that Jesus gives, because we knew there was going to be a quiz at the end.

He indicated that by, what do you think of this? What do you guys think of this? Well, we'll see what the religious leaders thought of this.

Because Jesus asked, which of these two did the will of his father? How would you have answered? Which of these two did the will of his father?

It's a pretty narrow question, to be quite honest. There's a lot of things that Jesus could have asked here. Who's the good guy?

Who's the bad guy? Which one is more like you? Or all different kinds of things. But he asks a question that's trying to pull out of us our understanding of what is good and what is right here.

But he does it by asking, which one of these did the will of his father? And in verse 31, the religious leaders answer it correctly.

They get it right. They say, the first did it. His will was go and work, and the first one's the only one that actually went and worked.

So it's the first one. But I seriously believe it was hard for them to speak that. I think it was hard for the religious leaders to say the first, because religious people who love laws would certainly still have in their mind some fundamental truth that Jesus has provided about this young man.

Namely, that he was disobedient and disrespectful to his father. Religious people who love laws would have in mind that this young man had broken the

Ten Commandments, despite the fact that he changed his mind. He has disrespected his father, which is super, you know, more than we have in our minds.

This is a super serious offense in Judaism, according to the Mosaic law. To these religious leaders, this was tantamount to a front straight to God.

So the fact that he went ahead and did the work is good. That's a good thing. He did indeed do the will of his father, but only after he's dishonored him and disrespected him.

So Jesus asked a pretty narrow question. They answer it straightforwardly. The first did the father's will. And then, according to the text,

Jesus pounces. They have rightly declared that this lawless man, having repented, has now been brought into obedience, the obedience of his father.

And this is a glorious, beautiful, and hope -filled story about the very kingdom of God. A kingdom of God that they propose that they're the best qualified to lead people into.

But what we see here in the text is a reflection of the gospel itself. Good news that disrespectful sinners against their father can repent and come back to him, brought into obedience to their father once again.

I want to point out that this was not a tame story. Using a young man who would stand face -to -face, nose -to -nose with his father, says, go out and work, and he says, no,

I will not do what you say. I won't do it. That would be so shocking to these guys.

And yet, here, just in case they missed how serious he is about the power and value of repentance, and the centrality of repentance in our lives,

Jesus adds more shock to the story. He doesn't diminish it. He adds significantly to the shock.

He has to tell them in the middle, by the way, I think that part of the reason in verse 31, why he actually says, truly

I tell you, is because they're not going to believe it. They're not going to believe what comes next. They're not going to like what comes next.

It's not going to be easy for them. As a matter of fact, I don't even think they're going to take on what he says next. And so he says, this is the truth of it.

Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

And before you is not the kind of like, they're going to go in first, you've got to wait in line, you'll be behind some of these unsavory individuals, but you're going to get in too.

That's not what before you means. It's before you in Greek, like this bottle is before me.

It's just in my presence. It's in front of me. It's in my face. It's here. That's what that word before you means.

It's not before you in preeminence or in position or in any kind of importance or chronology.

Like, well they're going to go in first and then you. No, it's before you as in your presence. And there's an irony in this.

It's kind of a delicious text in terms of who's writing it. Who wrote this gospel that we're looking at?

Matthew. There's something that's significant about Matthew in this text.

Do you know what Matthew was doing when Jesus found him? Anybody? He was a tax collector.

He has the privilege of sharing with everybody and the whole world and even us here in Matawan in 2020.

He has the privilege of sharing what he once was. I was like that. Can you imagine him writing this sentence down going,

Jesus likened tax collectors and prostitutes in the same. And he actually said they get to show and demonstrate and model the way into the kingdom.

I'd imagine that he didn't take that as a low blow. He took that as an elevation. People like me.

People like me who have turned and repented to God. Turned from my sinful and wicked ways to God.

And we get to show others the way into the kingdom. I think he took that on as a privilege.

He understood by the way. I think as he wrote this, he understood very firmly. I think probably memories had gone through his mind as he writes this.

About the stigma of tax collectors in society. And here he records it as an extremely derogatory station in parallel with prostitutes.

We have really nothing similar to it in our culture. I tried to liken tax collector to something to try to bring it into our culture in a way that you might understand it.

I was thinking drug dealer or something. But that doesn't even quite do justice to the extortion.

The elements, the components, the recipe of tax collector was extortion. Sell out to the

Romans. A traitor to the people. All of that kind of wrapped up in one individual. You see the

Jewish tax collector worked for the Romans collecting taxes against his own people. He made his own living by extorting money from people already struggling in poverty under the heavy handed oppression of the

Romans. And he's there trying to milk money out of them as they're in poverty. And they're his next door neighbors.

People he should be loving and caring for. Fellow Israelites, fellow Jews. And he ought to be commiserating with them.

And instead he is extorting money and becoming wealthy on their backs. So it's a little bit hard for us to understand tax collector.

But with a blush it's not as hard to understand the second word that Jesus uses here. He uses those who work in the world's oldest profession.

To further heap up the shock to the system of these religious leaders. How many of you find shock in these terms?

Tax collector and prostitute. Anybody scandalized by those words? I hope there's a little bit of scandal in those words for you.

These are the ones who will go into the kingdom before you.

In front of you, in your face. You're going to watch these go in. And they are going to serve as a model or as an example to you.

Of how to get into the kingdom. How many of you, that's a little bit scandalous. Like that's shocking to our systems.

Who is it that you picture leading you to closer relationship with God? People like that?

Huh. These wicked people. People like the disobedient son in the story.

Or the real flesh and blood tax collectors and prostitutes that Jesus is saying. Like the first son, they will repent.

Have a change of mind. And be placed in the father's work. No longer working.

I think it's interesting that he identifies two occupations. And what was it that they were being asked to do?

To get to work. No longer in their former trade. Repenting and turning from the former ways that they worked.

Into the work of the father. And the phrase before you.

As I mentioned before, I think it's worth reiterating. It's more than chronology. It's a leadership position. It's a demonstration position.

They will show the way in. How in the world is it possible that tax collectors and prostitutes.

Will show anyone the way into a relationship with God. They will show the way in.

Because the way in is repentance. And they have so very much to repent of.

And in case you're confused about the word repent. Repent means to turn from your current life. And to turn over to our

God. Turn away from your sin. And turn to a life of following God through Jesus Christ.

That's really at the end of the day what repentance is. So can you imagine the scandal. That this set off in the minds of people.

In the minds of these proud religious leaders. They were leading the people. They were showing everybody the way.

They were the law keepers. They were the ones who were close to God. I mean, of course

God endorsed them. Because they were so awesome. They were so amazing. They were so obedient. They were so squeaky clean.

They were the leaders. This Jesus, he has to be off his rocker to think. That such unclean, filthy, disobedient, lawless ones.

Would enter God's kingdom at all. Let alone show them the way in. Does Jesus know?

How in the world could he be saying. That people like that will show the way in. But in verse 32 we see that Jesus means.

More than the offense of that. He means to liken the religious leaders. He's talking to.

To the second son. The second son. Where his father said. Go into the field and work for me for the day.

And the second son who said. I will go. Gladly. And made a big show. I go now father.

I'm on it. Can't you see me? I'm already on my way. But did not go.

Never really got to his father's work. You see these religious leaders. Have not repented at all.

They don't believe they really have anything. To turn away from. Instead they didn't even recognize the call to repent.

When it was shouted at them from the river. By a literal human voice. He didn't answer like he did last week.

John the baptizer was a preacher of righteousness. He came in righteousness. Proclaiming righteousness from God. To believe in him was to believe.

That a person needed to repent. And be cleansed. That's what John came. That's the message that John came giving.

The Messiah is here. He is nigh. He is right on the threshold. He's about to come in.

So repent. Turn from your sins. As imaged by and symbolized by.

The washing of water and baptism. To believe in John. Was to believe. That you needed to repent and be cleansed.

It was to believe that you. Were not good enough. Do you believe that?

You were not good enough. And you needed a cleansing. It was symbolized by the.

Jordan River. The baptisms that happened there. The everyday people went to John. And were baptized by him.

Literally down in the Jordan River. And they were admitting their sins. Confessing their sins and being washed. And cleansed.

It says that Jerusalem went out to him. And all the area of the Jordan. And he was a pretty popular guy. And I imagine that there very well may have.

Even in Jesus' mind here. He could think of some literal tax collectors. And some literal prostitutes.

That received John's baptism. Admitting that they were unclean. And in need of a fresh start with God. Those are the kinds of people.

That were baptized. People who knew that they needed it. Knew that they were not okay with God. Knew. Knew. Knew in their hearts that they were not good enough.

Nor were they worthy of God. Nor were they worthy of seeing with their own eyes the Messiah. And therefore they said

I need to get right with God. I need to repent. And I need to turn. These are the kinds of people.

Real tax collectors and prostitutes. And they needed. They needed the work of God in their lives.

But the religious leaders. Where were they when John was baptizing? We have records of them in the gospels. Standing on the shores.

Shouting challenges to John. Who do you think you are? Who's giving you the authority to baptize?

On what basis is this baptism? Things like that. That they're saying to him. And he had it out with them right there.

Called them a brood of vipers. You guys aren't getting this right. And he even said the axe is laid to the root.

Of the establishment. It's coming down right now. It's coming down. It's not the way that you think it is.

It's not this authoritative religious leadership. And clergy and all of this. Kind of established pomp and circumstance.

That you've shrouded your religion with. That's all coming down. And John said I'm just the start.

The Messiah is on the way. I'm just baptizing with water. And when he comes.

He's going to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. You see these religious leaders.

Couldn't think of a single thing. That they needed to apologize for. To God. They couldn't imagine that they needed to be cleansed.

They were the ones who were holy. They were the ones who were righteous. They were the ones who were the law keepers. John baptized me?

What? How would I do that? He'd probably make me dirty. And even though they were eyewitnesses.

According to our text here. They were eyewitnesses to all sorts of wicked people. According to God under John's ministry.

They did not afterwards. Look at the text. They did not afterwards likewise repent and believe.

They didn't believe him. They didn't believe that they needed a savior. They didn't believe that they needed to be cleansed.

They didn't believe that they needed to be washed. That they even had a sin problem. But I want to point this out.

Because this is really significant. Jesus holds out hope for both sons. I love this parable.

And the subsequent teaching. It covers all of us. Whether you're a self -righteous tool.

Or you're. Somebody laughed. Or not as funny.

You're a filthy, dirty, pornified junkie. There's hope for you.

We of course have the whole Bible to fill in the blanks. We know that the hope is more fully expressed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Than even what we get here in this parable. Jesus doesn't give them the whole enchilada here.

He talks about the centrality of repentance. And that's what he's driving home. But repentance in what terms? In what way is repentance provided for us?

It's expressed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's hope for all. And that hope for all is the same.

Regardless of which side you find yourself on. Which way you were raised. Or what your natural born tendency is.

For the one raised in high -handed sin. And religionless rebellion against God. The answer for you is to repent.

Change your mind. Regarding your offense to God. Ask Jesus to wash you of your sins.

Based on his forgiveness offered through the cross. And he will save you. The solution for the religious leaders here in the text is the same.

It's to repent. To change your mind regarding your offense of arrogance. And religious pride.

Ask Jesus to wash you of your sins. Based on his forgiveness offered. Through his cross.

The same answer for both sides. And he will put you to work. In his vineyard. If you would just humble yourself and say.

I need washing. I need cleansing. I need repentance today. And only having been cleansed in that way.

Will you be able to enter the kingdom of God. You see. Those who are high -handed in their sin.

Tax collectors and prostitutes. They show the rest of us. We all need that. We all need to enter the same way that they did.

Regardless of whether we were raised in a really uptight. Strict. Religious. Some of you weren't even raised that way.

And you still have kind of like a religious. A veneer. And a really strong sense of moral compass.

And you pretty much have thought you're better than everybody else. The rest. You know. Your whole life. You've been pretty confident that if anybody's getting in.

It's you. Because you're pretty awesome. And God's got a bargain with you. Like I mean at the end of the day.

Like wow. Did he get a deal? He got the good end of the stick on that one. That's just not true.

That's not true for any of us. We all need to come in through the same pathway. And it's the cross.

And it's repentance. And a turning from sin. And saying God I need your forgiveness. There's something worth noting about the way.

That those who are more clearly sullied. And more clearly stained lead us. Jesus is quite literally here using a story.

To hold up repentant people. Who were clearly wicked. As a model to teach us something.

You see. Without the first son showing any contempt. Or disrespect to his father. We only have an obedient son.

Versus a disobedient son. All we have is a guy who. Dad came to him and said go work for me.

And he said sure I will. And he went. And the other son who said sure I will. It didn't go.

But that's not the model that Jesus wants to show us. How many of you know that the world. And our hearts. And our lives are more complicated than that.

What we have in the text. Is a wicked young man. Who comes to realize his wickedness.

Toward his father. And repents of it. And then goes into the service of his father. This disrespect.

Teaches us the centrality of repentance. It's not a parable about getting your life in order.

No one is born righteous. So all of us. Need to turn. From our lives of either.

Religious pride. Or high handed rebellion. It isn't a parable about obeying laws and rules.

The first young man is already a lawless person. According to the ten commandments. He is unclean. And only through repentance can he be made clean.

There is no one who gets into his father's good graces. In here through obedience. It is through repentance.

And a change of heart. And I suggest that the best way. Into application this week.

Is to find yourself in this story. Where are you? Look at the story. Who are you in the story?

You're in here somewhere. And I would humbly suggest to you. That you're not the father.

So you can rule that one out. And the father is God. We're going to let him be God there. So now your choices are limited.

But I would suggest to you that by implication. There's a couple of other options that are here. That are not explicitly declared by Jesus.

But which of these sons reflects you? You can think about your history. You've gone through faith.

And you've repented. And you've turned. But it's still a healthy exercise to say. Where was I? And what has

God done for me? How has he brought me in? Which son best reflects you? Are you like the first one who said.

No way to God for a portion of your life. But then had a God given change of heart. And have now been placed into his work.

Through the cross of Jesus Christ. If that's you. Then you have tasted salvation. If that's your

God. And he brought me into his family. And so I would encourage a humility. And a grace toward others.

That flows out of the understanding of how you were brought in. You know that you were a person. Who disrespected your heavenly father.

But you have repented. And been brought to his work. And so rejoice in that. That's a good application this week.

Rejoice in the way that he's brought you. Be glad for this turn that he gave you in your heart. Some of us will honestly need to admit.

That we relate more to the second son. We never really thought of ourselves. Like all of those other sinners.

We've been pretty good. We always at least tell our daddy yes. We always say the right things.

We look really good to others around us. We've stayed away from all of the dirty influences of the world.

Including the dirty people. But beware. Because this parable is exclusive.

A religious person who never repents. Of their religious pride. Who has never turned from trust in themselves.

And trust in their own good works. Will not enter the kingdom of God. Repentant prostitutes.

And repentant tax collectors. Will enter before you. As in they will enter.

While you look on with your arms folded. Going who do these people think they are. You believe the gall of these people.

Thinking that they're okay with God. As they filter into the kingdom. And you stand by.

In stubborn pride to your own condemnation. It's a scary place.

There are two other possibilities. I see in the text. That I think again flow out of a logical understanding.

Of the two categories that he gives. Maybe you're a son that's still in rebellion. And I think that's a possibility for us.

In our current state of where we live. Maybe you're like the prostitutes. Or the tax collectors.

But you've never yet repented. And let me encourage you today. To come into salvation.

Through Jesus Christ. Pray to God and ask him to forgive you of your sins. That's the repentant and turning away from sin.

And then vocally turn from it. Say I don't want to be a rebel against you any longer.

And ask Jesus to wash you of your sins. And to cleanse you. And ask him to be your Lord and your King. And he will save.

He's faithful to save. Then there may be some. Again the category isn't given by Jesus.

But it's implied. And there are some of you that have come in. From a religious background. You have repented of your religious pride.

And your arrogance. And I rejoice and encourage you to rejoice over any and all. Who have realized their need for a

Savior. Whether being saved out of a frat party life. Or saved out of a Mother Teresa serve everyone kind of life.

The key is turning away from our sin. Which all of us have. And turning to God for mercy and forgiveness.

And so I'm going to mention the word communion. And then you're going to want to go to those bags. And you're going to start ripping them open. So I want you to just listen for a second.

We've got an entire song to get into that bag. I want you to just settle down for a second here.

I'm glad you laughed about that. As we come to communion. I mean it.

I really want you to reflect. If you can. Take some time of personal reflection. Don't take that cracker without asking

God. To identify which of the four possibilities best defines you. And I'll go over them here again.

But these first two. I invite you. If these categories are true of you.

I invite you to join in communion. Gladly with joy this morning. To take the cracker and juice.

As a remembrance of his body broken for you. And his blood shed for you. But do so only if.

You are either. A. A religious person. Who has repented of your pride and arrogance.

And you have in humility asked Jesus Christ to save you. You've recognized that you. Are not worthy of salvation.

And you see the sin of your own pride. And the sin of your own upbringing. And the sin of your own arrogance.

And you have said I'm sorry. Save me. Wash me. Cleanse me. And secondly.

Feel free to join in communion. If you're a rebellious person. Who has repented and been brought into the faith.

Through trust in Jesus Christ. A rebellious person in terms of a high handed. You have walked away from him.

You have stood nose to nose with God. And said no I will not. And I think probably most of us. Have experienced that.

You've stood nose to nose with the almighty. And said I will not. But God.

Has changed you. A change of heart. A change of allegiance.

A change of desire. A change of occupation. To bring you in. If that's you. Then let's celebrate together this morning.

But there's other opportunities. There's other things that maybe are an application. Real quick. If you're still.

If you're in one of these two categories. Maybe you are a religious person. Who has never really thought about your need.

For a savior. Or you're overtly rebellious. And you're kind of in that position right now.

Like if you were to say. Where are you in relationship to God? It would not be far cry for you in your life. To say I'm standing nose to nose with God.

Saying no to him. If that's you. Please skip communion. Take in the song.

Know that there's hope for you. I would love to talk with you. I know Dave who leads the worship up here.

Would love to talk with you. There's an elder on duty. Who's the elder on duty today? Rob Canold. He's raising his hand. He would love to talk with you.

Any one of us would love to talk with you. About how you can start a relationship with Jesus Christ. That leads you into that humility. Into the kingdom of God today.

But recast. Let's go out from this place rejoicing. Let's return from our wickedness.

And brought in to the family of God. Where we can serve. Let's pray. Father I thank you so much.

For the hope that we have in Christ. I thank you. Just the way that he tells this story.

Ropes us all in. And indicts all of our hearts. Be it our religious and arrogant heart.

Or be it an overtly and openly rebellious heart. Father we all need repentance. And we need repentance day by day.

Not just that one time. But we need to keep weighing. And figuring out our motives.

And bringing those to you. In a day by day repentance. A day by day turning. A day by day responding with.

Yes I will go. And doing your work. So Father I pray that you would make that a reality for your people. And I thank you for the cross.

I thank you for the sacrifice that we have the opportunity. Week in and week out. And although it can become routine. I pray that it's so much more than routine.

That you would meet your people here in this place. In this body broken in our place.

And we remember by taking the cup of juice. To remember his blood that was shed for us. And for the forgiveness of our sins.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for Jesus Christ. We love you. And it's in his name that we pray.