Friday, January 15,
2016, 7:50 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Not Be Silent.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Matthew 21:28-32 (NASB).
Two Responses
(vv. 28-31a)
“But
what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son,
go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he
regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and
he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of
his father?” They said, “The first.”
When a person is overconfident, he may be presumptuous,
arrogant, and self-confident to an excessive degree (beyond measure). This
second son seems to have exhibited some amount of this overconfidence. It would
appear that he certainly spoke before he considered what he was saying. He was
all talk but no action, though, like the people of God who gave him lip service
only, but their hearts were far from God, because they were operating in the
flesh and not in the Spirit. Yet, actions speak louder than words. God often
chided his people throughout history because their actions did not match their
profession.
God is not pleased with lip service only. He does not smile
on us and delight in us when we go our own way while ignoring his commands, and/or
while we forget about our commitments to follow him and to do what he says. He
doesn’t get excited over our praise and worship services where we lift our
hands and sing songs about him, and then walk away from there and do whatever
we desire, even following the ways of this sinful world, and then immersing
ourselves in the sinful practices of those who make no claims to Christ at all.
Don’t tell him you love him if you are not willing to do what he says and to
keep his word. If it is just words with no action, why bother? Better to remain
silent than to speak and then to not act.
The first son, nonetheless, was honest. He had no intentions
to do what his father said, and he voiced it plainly. Yet, he later repented of
his sin, and he obeyed his father and did what his father asked. Was he right
in what he did initially in refusing to do what his father asked? No! He was
not right in what he did any more than the second son was by voicing an
intention to obey and then not obeying. The difference between the two was that
the first son realized the error of his ways and he repented of his sin, and then
he obeyed his father.
The Way of
Righteousness (vv. 31b-32)
Jesus
said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will
get 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 did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse
afterward so as to believe him.”
Jesus told this parable and others like it to make a point.
The people of God at that time were the Jews. They were given the promise of a
Messiah to come, but when he came, they refused to listen to him, they rejected
him, and eventually they killed him. They hung him on a cross to die, although
he had done no wrong.
Yet, even before he came on the scene, they rejected the one
who came before him to prepare the way for him. They rejected the way of
righteousness, and instead chose to hold on to their hypocrisy and lip service
only while they continued to disobey God and refused to honor God’s Son, their
Messiah. They thought God should approve them because of all the rules they
religiously followed, but following a set of rules is not the same as
obedience. Obedience is surrender. It is submission. It is death to sin and
self, and it is living and walking now in the Spirit and no longer according to
the flesh. It is realizing that your life is not your own. You were bought with
a price, and now you are to honor God with your life.
Many who call themselves Christians have also rejected the
way of righteousness, and have chosen to follow their own paths while still
claiming that they have heaven guaranteed. They think God is pleased with them
because they, at one time, voiced a prayer inviting Jesus into their hearts or
because they acknowledged that he died to save them from their sins. Jesus is
not interested in lip service only, though. If we say that we love him, but we
do not do what he says as the practice of our lives, then we are liars, and we
don’t really love him. Words only are cheap. When they are not backed up with
action, they can be an insult to the one to whom they are spoken. If we claim
to have fellowship with him, but we continue to conduct our lives according to
our sinful flesh (walk in darkness), we are liars and the truth is not in us
(See: 1 John). If we walk according to the flesh, we will die, but if by the
Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, we will live (See: Ro.
8:1-14).
The way of righteousness is first of all to trust in Jesus
Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives by the Spirit via death to sin, being
transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit, and via now walking in the Spirit
and living to righteousness (See: Ac. 26:16-18; Ro. 6:1-23; 8:1-14; Gal. 2:20;
Eph. 4:17-24; & 1 Pet. 2:24-25). God’s grace is not a free license to live
however we want and to pick and choose what we will do for God and what we won’t.
God’s grace, which brings salvation, teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and
worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we
wait for Christ’s return (Tit. 2:11-14). Jesus died not so we could continue on
sinning while claiming we have peace with God and the hope of heaven. He died
that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up
for us (2 Co. 5:15). A saved life is a crucified life. A saved life is a life
that walks in obedience to God, not in absolute perfection, but consistently
and persistently walking in the Spirit and by the Spirit putting to death the
deeds of the flesh.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day looked their noses down
on the prostitutes and the tax collectors. They saw them as “sinners,” but did
not see their own selves as such. They were overconfident in their own self-righteousness
and thus were blinded to their own sinful condition. And, there are many people
just like that today, too. They see themselves as religious. They attend church
services at least once a week. They give to the church, serve on a board or a
committee, teach a small group, sing in a praise team, or do some other
community service of some kind, and they think that makes them good with God,
but they don’t give God their hearts and their obedience.
And, then there are those who think because they voiced a
belief of some kind in Jesus Christ that it guarantees them a relationship with
God and eternity with God in heaven. Yet, they believe God does not require
repentance or obedience, and so it doesn’t matter how they live between the
time they are “saved” and the time they die and go to heaven. They are,
perhaps, more like the first son who said he would not obey before he finally
repented of his sin and then did what the father told him to do. And, yet they
are like the second son, too, in giving lip service to God/Jesus but absent of
obedience, i.e. their walk does not match their profession. Although they
profess to have been delivered out of their sin, they still walk in it,
completely disregarding the teachings of Jesus and of his NT apostles.
True belief in Jesus Christ is not words only. True belief
is accompanied by true repentance and obedience to Christ and to his word. A
profession without action is meaningless.
Not Be Silent /
An Original Work / December 3, 2012
Based off Psalm 30
O Lord my God, I’ll exalt You.
I called for help,
And You healed me.
O Lord my God,
You brought me from the grave.
You spared me from hell.
Sing to the Lord, you saints of His;
Praise His holy name today.
Weeping may remain for a night;
Joy at break of day.
Our debt He did pay!
O Lord my God, I said, “I will
Ne’er be shaken.” Secure, I felt.
O Lord my God, You forgave me.
Confident I stand in You.
When I could not see
Your face I was dismayed.
I called to You. O Lord,
You are my help.
You were merciful to me;
By Your grace set free!
O Lord my God, I’m so thankful for
Salvation through my Jesus.
You turned wailing into dancing;
Clothed me with Your joy today,
That my heart may sing
To You and not be silent.
Praise Your name.
O Lord my God,
I will give you
thanks forevermore.
My Lord, I adore!
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