Matthew 21: Introduction

Transcription

1 Matthew 21:28-32 Introduction It s Tuesday; only two days after Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, and only three days before His crucifixion. Jesus is in the temple, having just been challenged by the chief priests and the elders of the people as to the source of His authority. After answering the religious leaders (though not in the way they wanted) so that it s actually their authority that s in question, Jesus takes the opening He s created and goes on the offensive. Jesus had asked the religious leaders about the source of John the Baptist s authority was John s baptism from heaven or from men? After deliberating, the chief priests and the elders responded that they didn t know. So now, in the first of three condemning parables, Jesus will condemn the religious leaders specifically for their failure to believe John. If they had believed John, they would have believed Jesus, and they wouldn t have any need to be asking Jesus about the source of His authority. Mark and Luke record only one parable at this point (the parable of the tenants), but Matthew adds two more to bring the total to three. One commentator (France) points out that in chapters we have three sets of three: Three symbolic actions (entering Jerusalem on a donkey; driving out of the temple those who were buying and selling, and cursing a fig tree), three condemning parables (the parable of the two sons; the parable of the tenants; the parable of the wedding feast), and three attempts to trap Jesus (the question about paying taxes to Caesar; the question about the resurrection; the question about the greatest commandment). This morning we ll look at the first of the three parables the parable of the two sons. I. Matthew 21:28 29 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. This first son was initially very stubborn and rebellious. He just came right out and informed his father that he refused to go work in the vineyard ( I will not ). The sin of the first son is very blatant and in your face. He s belligerent. He deserves to be punished severely. Especially in a culture where honoring one s parents, and one s elders in general, was considered a chief virtue, this son would be viewed by society as a hopeless and lost cause. He actually said to his father s face, I will not! But the problem is that afterward this same son changed his mind and decided to go work in the vineyard after all. The Greek word for changed his mind is related to the word for repentance, and especially in this context it implies a feeling of regret or remorse (Louw- Nida). The NASB says, But afterward he regretted it, and the NET Bible says, But later he had a change of heart. The reason this first son changed his mind was because he saw that what he had done was wrong and he felt remorse. After saying, I will not, he did. After saying he wouldn t go, he went. After looking at first like the very poster child of rebellion, he had a change of heart! This is the first son.

2 II. Matthew 21:30 And he went to the other son and said the same [go and work in the vineyard today]. And he answered, I go, sir, but did not go. This second son is very different from the first. He gives the right answer, and he even addresses his father as sir ; and so he comes across at first as a very dutiful, and obedient, and respectful son. Based on this response alone, he would be applauded as the ideal role model and example for children everywhere. The trouble is that he didn t actually do what he said he would do. He answered his father, I go, sir, but then he didn t go! And unlike the first son, Jesus never says anything here about a change of mind. In other words, the point here is not that this second son regretted ever saying he would go, but rather that he never really intended to go in the first place. Maybe he thought he did, but he didn t really. So after looking at first like the very poster child for obedience and respectfulness, we may now have a very different opinion of this second son. So Jesus concludes the parable by asking this question: III. Matthew 21:31a Which of the two did the will of his father? The chief priests and elders of the people already knew this question was coming because Jesus had begun the parable with another question: What do you think? What do you think which of the two did the will of his father? Now, of course, this question was originally for the religious leaders. But in order for us to truly submit ourselves to God s Word, then we need to hear Jesus asking the same question of us. We must be willing to see how much of the chief priests and elders of the people there is in us. So, What do you think which of the two did the will of his father? And the answer is obvious, isn t it? In this case, we would have to agree with the religious leaders: IV. Matthew 21:31b They said, The first [the son who initially said, I will not, but then had a change of heart and went]. Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. If we were to take this statement on its own, and without the context of the parable (or the rest of Jesus teaching), wouldn t we all agree that it sounds completely ludicrous? How can tax collectors (cheaters and traitors) and prostitutes (the sexually depraved) get into the kingdom before the religious leaders? (The idea here is really instead of the religious leaders.) How can tax collectors and prostitutes get into the kingdom at all? As France puts it, These are the people [who] had no place in respectable, religious Jewish society how much less in the kingdom of God. If we are not somehow shocked by this truth, then we ve become indifferent and insensitive to the very heart of the Gospel that sinners can be made full citizens of God s kingdom. How can this be? Well, we have to go back to the parable. The parable explains it all, even if it doesn t leave us any less amazed. Jesus goes on to fill in the blanks:

3 V. Matthew 21:32a For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him The NLT translates like this: For John came and showed you the right way to live What was this right way to live? Matthew 3:1 3, 5-8 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. John called people to have a change of mind. John called people to confess their sins and turn from them. John called people to a true sorrow for sin. John called people to bring forth fruit in keeping with a true change of mind and change of heart. John called people to repentance. This was John s message about the right way to live the way of righteousness (cf. NIV). So what does Jesus mean when He says that the chief priests and elders of the people did not believe John? He means this they refused to repent. They refused to have a change of mind, and a change of heart, and to confess their sins and bear the fruits of repentance. And the reason why is that they couldn t see the need to repent. After all, these are the chief priests. These are the esteemed elders of the people. And so they were blind to the sins they needed to confess. Therefore, they could have no true regret, and no true remorse. They could have no true sorrow for their sin, because they could not see their sin. John s message of repentance, they thought, did not apply to them. And so they rejected John s message, and they rejected John. John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him VI. Matthew 21:32b but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When Jesus says that the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed John, what does this mean? It means that they saw their need for repentance. They felt remorse and regret for their sin for their lying and cheating, and their moral depravity. They had a change of mind and of heart about the way they had been living. And so they confessed their sin, and they accepted John s baptism, and they sought by God s grace to bring forth the fruit of a changed lifestyle in keeping with repentance. It s much easier for tax collectors and prostitutes to see their sin. And that is why Jesus can say that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before the chief priests and the elders of the people. The chief priests and elders of the people are blinded to their sin because they are so good and so religious, and so they are unable to feel any true regret or remorse they are unable to change their minds because they can t see that they need any changing. Jesus concludes:

4 VII. Matthew 21:32c The tax collectors and the prostitutes believed [John]. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. The tax collectors and the prostitutes changed their minds and repented. And so it is the tax collectors and the prostitutes who have actually done the will of God just like it was the first son who did the will of his father. But when the chief priests and the elders of the people saw the example of the tax collectors and the prostitutes, they still refused to do the same. They refused to repent, because they refused to see themselves in the same category with tax collectors and prostitutes. They had all the right words and all the outward show of religion, just like the second son, but just like the second son they weren t actually doing the will of God. They weren t actually bringing forth the fruit of a changed life in keeping with repentance. Conclusion There are some Christians who may at times wish for a more dramatic testimony. Some of these Christians were raised in Christian homes where legalism was always competing with the Gospel. In other words, from a young age they were taught mainly two things: live a good and obedient life and pray the prayer. But for many children, this message simply plays right into their own sinful depravity. Pray the prayer ends up being nothing more than cheap grace, and live a good and obedient life ends up being nothing more than works salvation. And so these children grow up supposing they re good, and supposing they re pleasing to God, and supposing they re saved (they prayed the prayer and lived in external conformity to God s law). And whenever they re confronted with a call to the regret, and the remorse, and the sorrow of true repentance, they are simply oblivious to how this could possibly apply to them, or how they could possibly manufacture and conjure up such regret and sorrow. (Can any of us identify?) They cannot see themselves in the same category with drunkards, and homosexuals, and prostitutes, and gamblers, and murderers, and adulterers, and thieves. They just can t. And so they are simply unable to repent. They just can t. And so now it should be obvious that the salvation of this good and moral Christian is actually far MORE dramatic than the salvation of any professional swindler or prostitute. For many of us, the true drama of our salvation is not so much the outward changes in lifestyle, but rather the ability to see our true depravity especially our pride, and our idolatrous worship of self and so our need for true repentance, and so also the wonderful, dazzling beauty of the promise of forgiveness. This is actually the most dramatic kind of salvation, especially when we understand that as a general rule it is the tax collectors and the prostitutes who will go into the kingdom of God before people like us. It will be the tax collectors and the prostitutes before the good and moral Christians. Indeed, the good and moral Christians will never go in at all. By definition, the good and moral cannot be saved. By definition, the tax collectors and the prostitutes may be saved. Praise God for His unspeakable grace! Paul exhorts us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to examine [ourselves], to see whether [we] are in the faith. And one of the most basic and essential tests of true Christianity is the presence of true repentance for sin a sorrow and remorse that leads to a true change of mind and heart. So let s ask ourselves: Does our life evidence this repentance? Or are we blinded to our sins because we are so good and so moral? Are we unable to change our minds, because we just can t see

5 that they need any changing? Often times, the reason we re this way is because we re so unconscious of ourselves. We are so unaware" of our thoughts, and motives, and reasonings; and even of our words, and attitudes, and actions! But if once we became more biblically selfaware and more spiritually self-conscious and introspective, by God s grace it would not be such a stretch for us to shed genuine tears of repentance over the stench and the repugnance of our sin. So what impact does all of this have on the kind of Gospel that we are teaching and proclaiming to our children? Is it a distorted Gospel that ends up playing into their own innate illusions of goodness and morality? Or is it the Gospel that tells them the whole truth about who they are, and their desperate need for true repentance, and the wondrous promise of forgiveness? Are we raising our children to be the self-righteous chief priests and elders of the people, or are we raising our children to be the tax collectors and prostitutes who are saved and enraptured by grace? And, of course, the answer to a question like this will very accurately tell us the truth about ourselves. We need to pray earnestly for the gift of true repentance both for ourselves and for our children! And this presupposes the ability to see our sin as being in the same category with the sin of tax collectors and prostitutes, and drunkards and homosexuals, and gamblers and murderers, and adulterers and thieves! We need to pray that we might wholeheartedly follow in the example of the tax collectors and the prostitutes who actually did the will of God. May we learn to shed real tears over our own sin. May we learn to have a genuinely painful sense of regret and remorse over our own sin. And when these realities are experienced by moral and self-righteous Christians, we actually end up with the most dramatic testimony that a person could ever have. Finally, brothers and sisters, may we not see in this passage the burden of repentance, (or any such thing!), but rather the free and gracious promise of forgiveness. J.C. Ryle puts it this way: Let it be a settled principle in our Christianity, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely willing to receive penitent sinners. It matters nothing what a man has been in time past. Does he repent, and come to Christ? Then old things are passed away, and all things are become new. It matters nothing how high and self-confident a man s profession of religion may be. Does he really [repent of] his sins? If not, his profession is abominable in God s sight, and he himself is still under the curse. Let us take courage ourselves, [though] we have been great sinners hitherto. Only let us repent and believe in Christ, and there is hope. Let us encourage others to repent. Let us hold the door wide open to [all the chiefs] of sinners. Never will that word fail, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.