Sermon9
2-23-14 the parable of the two sons Mt 21:28-32
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, “Truly I tell you, 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.
Intro……families
are fun….!!
Ha ha
I could tell some stories on my kids but this is a
painful topic
So I will tell one on myself
Dad is building a brick patio when I was 13. Left
me an 8 foot section to do
I hated it.
Guilt
laden nature of the way the church has used this story
Go do it.
This is Backwards.
We hear this story and apply it to us. Fine
But this is another story of Jesus vs. the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were the ones that put the guilt on people
Guilt is a bad motivator.
Jesus never did it
Who do you know that was truly converted by you arguing
with them?
Jesus is pointing out that the guilt laden ones don’t get
it
They talk a big talk, but they are not doing it
What is it?
Acting religious?
Not allowing others to see your brokenness?
Going door to door
Scaring people
Is that what we are expected to do?
No what Jesus wants us to do is to love. Love God,
love each other.
He wants us to live a life of love
Some talk a good religious talk but don’t live a life of
love
Others don’t talk the religious talk, even say no to god,
but when they think about it
Some
great things here
How about the about the amazingly
patient nature of God.
Even
though the son says no, God knows his heart and waits for the good to come out.
How
many times have you tried to teach a child or someone something?
You
just stay with it. You may get exasperated, but you stay with it.
This
is the nature of influence
The
gift of using your sphere of influence for good
This
is leadership
Leadership
in the church
o
Not
in charge of a thing
o
It
is the voice that has plunged in and learned about a thing
o
And
now is behind it
o
And
uses their voice, their effort to help others understand
We
need to keep working on that in which we believe
God
keeps working on us
Even
though the son says no, God knows his heart and waits for the good to come out.
Train
up a child in the way he should go……… someday, it will come around. They
may say no for a long time, but eventually, they come around.
Here is something else that I find to
be amazing
when we were young we were told to be good
when we were young we were told to be good
God is watching. Santa is watching
Children are to be seen and not heard
You won’t get to heaven if you are not good
My mom’s favorite book to read to us was “bad mousy”
In this parable Jesus is indicating that the one that say
no are the ones who get it
The ones who are not perfect are the ones who get it
We
are those who say no. We fuss & argue w God. We r
selfish. Broken
God
doesn’t care. He just keeps at it. keeps after us. He stays
with us, he believes in us. He pursues us. And finally we come
thru.
Predisposed in the mind of god, is not a “you better be
perfect”
Predisposed in the mind of God is a “I know you’re not
perfect, and it’s ok”
One more thing that I love about this
parable
There
is also an interesting comparison here between two kinds of people.
One
is a good hearted person who fights thru selfishness to rise to the occasion
and do the right thing.
The
other is a poser. A brown noser. Someone who tells you what you
want to hear and then goes to do whatever they want.
This
is a great illustration here of the nature of spirituality.
You
can believe in God but not be spiritual.
You
can have the Christian doctrine down, but not be spiritual
·
The
Pharisee and the publican
·
The
priest and Levite vs the good Samaritan
Someone once said that spirituality is
waking up
It’s
more than to believe in a thing [need more here]
It
is to wake up and see the glory of life. The glory and joy and wonder
And
when we see the joy and wonder we see that it is the glory and wonder of god
He
is no longer a big mean old guy who is mad about things
He
is wonderful and I see the greatness of him and my need for him
The
father is inviting the sons to help with the work
It’s
not bad work. It’s a good thing
One
can’t see it. He can only see himself
The
other finally sees the good that the father wants him to be about
The
nature of a good story
Has a start a middle and an end
We hate bad endings and we love good endings
What is the story of your life? How is it going?
How did it start. How is the middle? How will it
end?
God knows that you are broken.
No secrets with God. And its ok.
Maybe you have said no in the past.
But
the father is simply inviting you into living the life that Jesus taught
He
is inviting you to live a life of love
Don’t
let your past keep you from your future
Its
never too late to say yes to God
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