Matthew 21:28-32. Joyful submission to king Jesus

Matthew 21:28-32

James 2:14-26

Joyful submission to king Jesus

Well, I wish I could tell you that I planned this talk on this parable which is all about a father and two sons, because it is father’s day……but I didn’t………..It just so happened to fall upon this Sunday.

And of course as Jesus talked about these two sons, each son represents two different types of people.

Those who trust that Jesus is the Messiah, the saviour, the king of the universe and those who don’t.

Those who joyfully live under the authority of Jesus, and humbly bow to Jesus their king, and those who oppose, reject or rebel against his authority.

In fact at the heart of this parable of these two sons, is the issue of whether people live joyfully, under the authority of Jesus, or not.

And why do I think the authority of Jesus is at the heart of this matter?

Well, look at verse 23 with me:

And when he (Jesus) entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

Jesus, who called himself the real temple of God (remember from John 2 when Jesus said “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it back to life”), Jesus, the real temple, was in the man-made temple of God in Jerusalem and he was exercising his authority.

And, as Jesus, the true temple, was exercising his authority in the man-made temple, those who thought they had all the authority in the man-made temple: the chief priests and elders didn’t like it when he showed he showed them who was boss.

As you can read from earlier on in the same chapter of Matthew, Jesus had stormed into the temple: he had flipped all the trading tables upside down, he had thrown money and animals out of the temple, and he had even accused those who thought they had authority in that man-made temple, that they had made God’s house into a market stall instead of a house of prayer.

Instead of humbly bowing the knee to God in prayer in the temple, these self-proclaimed gate keepers, were making the temple into a place of wheeling and dealing……a place to make money.

Jesus then had the audacity to heal people of their sickness in the temple, he even opened the eyes of the blind, in “their” temple.

Jesus even had the audacity to teach in “their” temple.

And so as Jesus, the true temple, the place where God and man meet, the place where man’s sins are atoned for, as He exercised his godly authority in the man-made temple, those who thought had the authority…….didn’t like it one bit, they didn’t like the true temple- Jesus.

They didn’t want to joyfully sit under the authority of Jesus and so what did they do?

They questioned his authority.

They questioned his authority.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is a time and a place to question authority, especially when that authority forces you to do things which go against God’s written word………

But……However……..I do think, as was the case here with these chief priests and elders and Jesus, is that authority is often questioned because people just don’t want to sit under that authority, they just don’t want to accept that authority, they don’t want to live under that authority. They would rather live under their own sovereignty.

Now we know, because we have all of the scriptures that testify to this, we know that all of Jesus’ authority comes from God- His Father.

But again, Jesus didn’t give that answer to these chief priests and elders, instead he hit them with a question of his own. He answered a question with a question.

Instead, Jesus asked them about his cousin- John, John the Baptist- and specifically where they thought his authority came from.

Remember, John was the strange guy who lived in the desert, ate bugs and wore camels hair, he baptised people in the Jordan river, he baptised Jesus in the Jordan river, he preached repentance of sins, but also, John told people that Jesus was the one who was greater than him, John told people that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the one everyone had been waiting for.

Now, the chief priests and elders didn’t answer this question about John, because they knew the crowd at the temple loved John the baptist- the crowd thought John was a prophet, and so they didn’t want to say his authority didn’t come from God, since they would be claiming he wasn’t a prophet, and that wouldn’t sit well with the crowd. The chief priests and elders wanted to keep the crowd happy!

On the other hand, they didn’t want to say John’s authority came from God, because then they would’ve had to accept that what John said about Jesus was true, i.e, that he too was from God.

And so in the end, the priests and elders, said nothing- they were weak.

And it was at this point that Jesus told them this parable about a father who had two sons.

A short parable that went like this:

A father went to his first son and asked him to work the vineyard.

At first the son said “no”, but later changed his mind and went to work the vineyard.

The father then went to his other son and also asked him to work the vineyard.

This son said he would do the work, but he never actually did it.

Two sons, one said “no” the work, but then did it.

The other said “yes” to the work, but then didn’t do it.

The first son did his father’s will, the second son, didn’t.

Look at what Jesus said about the lesson of this parable

Look at verses 31-32 with me:

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 the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. ³² 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 afterward change your minds and believe him.

First and foremost Jesus, in this parable of the two sons, was comparing the chief priests and elders, with the tax collectors and prostitutes.

The chief priests and elders were a representation of the second son, the one who said they would work the field, but didn’t: ……and the tax collectors and prostitutes were a representation of the first son, who said he wouldn’t work the vineyard but later changed his mind and did.

This must have cut the chief priests and elders to the heart.

Here were these well respected men in the community, the gate keepers “so they thought” of God’s temple and they were being compared to the most dis-respected people in the community, tax collectors who openly stole people’s money and prostitutes who openly engaged in sexual sin.

Jesus then tells them, that the tax collectors and prostitutes will go into God’s kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, before them, because they believed his cousin John, when John told them that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

These tax collectors and prostitutes who believed John and were baptised, repented and humbly sat under the authority of Jesus were already part of God’s kingdom.

And yet for the chief priests and elders who rejected the authority of Jesus, they were not part of God’s kingdom. They were trying to force their own way in by their own authority, rather than humbling themselves to the authority of Jesus.

They didn’t recognise that Jesus was the only gate they had to enter to be in God’s kingdom….their man-made gates were useless.

The chief priests and elders not only rejected John’s message, but they rejected Jesus’ authority too.

But amazingly, even amongst the stubbornness of their hearts, we see the grace of Jesus pouring through to these chief priests and elders, as he let them know, that there was still a chance for them, he still hoped they would enter into God’s kingdom.

He told them, that those tax collectors and prostitutes who had already bowed the knee and entered before them, and so there was still a chance that they too could have changed their mind and sat under the authority of Jesus, they too could have been in God’s kingdom.

And so these two sons in this parable, represent two types of people- those who sit  joyfully under the authority of Jesus and those who don’t…… but ultimately what Jesus is teaching us in this parable is this:

If you truly believe that all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Jesus,(which it does) then that belief will be genuinely shown in how you live.

If you truly believe that all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Jesus,(which it does) then that belief will be genuinely shown in how you live.

You see, we may believe that Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth but then if our lives are not centred around him as our king, or orientated towards him in humble and joyful submission, then that belief is useless.

You see, you can believe that all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Jesus, but then you can choose to rebel against that authority, you can question it, and when that happens, it means you are still on the outside of God’s kingdom.

Look at James 2:19 with me:

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 

James, the brother of Jesus, tells us that even the demons believe that God is one, I believe that God is one, I believe that there is one God in three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit…… go me…….I believe what the demons believe, but what is the difference?

What is the difference between a child of God and a demon?

The difference is how you live according to that that belief.

Demons do not joyfully accept the authority of Jesus, they rebel against his authority and so Jesus forcefully imposes his will upon them, and still does.

I, we, I hope we joyfully submit to the authority of Jesus- knowing that submission to HIM, brings us freedom, brings us life.

Being a slave of Jesus is freedom.

If we truly, joyfully, humbly submit to the authority of Jesus, that will be reflected in how we live our lives. In fact – James, tells us that if our lives are not lived under the joyful submission of Jesus, then our faith is dead. Faith without works is dead.

In other words if you don’t practice what you say you believe: you really don’t believe it.

Yes, you are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, period, full stop.

And then James, challenges us here……in James chapter 2, he essentially hits us with this challenge.

What is the evidence in your life that you have been saved by grace through faith in Christ?

If people were to testify against you, that in fact you are a follower of Christ: what evidence would they bring against you?

What evidence can they point to in your life that you believe in Jesus as your Lord and saviour?

How are you living under the authority of King Jesus?

Are you showing love for your enemies?

Are you praying for those who persecute you?

Are you showing that meeting together each week, as God’s people is a priority in your life?

Are you telling your non-Christian friends that you are praying to king Jesus for them?

Are you living according to the word of Jesus, even when society may encourage you to live differently?

Are you speaking the truth of God’s word, no matter what?

Or are we like the chief priests and the elders, do we collapse under the weight of public opinion?

If you, like me, struggle at times to live joyfully under the authority of Jesus, ask God to give you a delight for his word, ask God, as David did, that you may delight in his commands- ask God to show you afresh that his burden is light, His law is good, His law is life giving, His authority is freedom.

And friends, when we fail to live joyfully under the authority of Jesus, remember Jesus is kind, he’s patient, he is the God of the many chances, He is the God whom wants us to change our minds for him, change our ways for him, no matter how far away we think we have walked, we know that His mercies are new every morning.

How awesome it is, to live under the authority of Jesus.

Let us pray.