Two Sons

Hello:

Today, we are nearing the conclusion of the 21^st chapter of Matthew.  This chapter closes with two parables.  This is the first one.  

Matthew 21: 28 ”What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 ”‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 ”Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 ”Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Let us review our context.   We are dealing with the last week of Jesus’ earthly life.   The first part of the week he has ridden into Jerusalem on the colt of an ass which we know is coined as his “triumphant entry.”    He goes to the temple and overthrows the moneychangers and those that are selling and he then curses the fig tree.  Again, we are in the last week of the life of Jesus. 

On the third day of his last week, is where we are now.  Jesus goes back to the temple and starts teaching.  We know that the religious leaders come to him and basically ask him for his credentials.  They want to know by whose authority is he able to do and say what he does.     Jesus poses them a question about where did the baptism of John the Baptist come from.  In other words, who authorized John?  The religious leaders were nervous about answering for fear of how it could have possibly got them in a trap so they declined to answer and Jesus also declined to answer them.

The next response from Jesus is our text today.   Jesus tells them a parable about a father and two sons and asks them what they thought.  In our story above, the first son is the prostitutes and taxcollectors and the second son is the elders and religious leaders.  The religious leaders were the son that said they would obey God (the Father) yet they did not.  The prostitutes and tax collectors were the ones that defied God first and then ended up obeying him.

Jesus said that John the Baptist came to show them the way of righteousness and they did not believe him but the taxcollectors and prostitutes did.  Jesus went on to say that even after the religious leaders saw the taxcollectors and prostitutes repent and follow him, they still refused therefore Jesus told them that for there refusal to repent and believe that taxcollectors and prostitutes would enter the kingdom ahead of them.

Well, this is one of those scriptures that the old folks used to use to say; “you gonna be surprised who you do and don’t see up in heaven.”

I have been doing a lot of counseling lately with Christians and some of the startling comments that are made to me are such as “I don’t think I can ever find it in my heart to forgive.”  I actually hear that comment a lot.  I realize that hurt and pain can cause us to say things that we don’t really mean but I just want you to think about something.   According to the scriptures, one of the signs of the spirit and the fact that Jesus is in our lives is our willingness to forgive.  Jesus changes the heart.  To hear people who have been saved for many, many, many years refused to forgive causes me to be concerned about their initial salvation experience.   A sign of redemption is our ability and willingness to forgive.  Remember in our earlier studies that if we refuse to forgive then the bible says that God will not forgive us.  Please know that no unforgivin sins will enter into the kingdom.  

I said the above to emphasize that the religious leaders of Jesus day heard the truth, they saw people’s lives converted and changed and they still refused to obey God’s word.  Who is worth you allowing them to stop you from obeying God’s word?   Not only that, forgiving brings healing and it allows you to grow into the things that God has planned for you.

Yes, there will be many that have some interesting pasts and life experiences that will enter into the kingdom before some of us that think we have it all together or think we’re find as we are and will not yield to truth or submit to God’s word.

This season in the church reminds us of the amazing sacrifice that Jesus did for us and if He can go to the cross, stuff like forgiving and living holy, and being kind, and taking care of one another, and treating each other right is really “small stuff” compared to HIS sacrifice.

Let’s stop sweating the little stuff and move on so we can enjoy the abundant life that God has in store for us.

Have a great weekend.   I think I am going to go see “Madea goes to Jail” again.   I just wanna laugh.    Laugh……………

Stay encouraged!!!!!!!!

Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

This entry was posted on 13. March 2009 at 11:21 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.