The Parable of the Two Sons

Introduction

Good morning. We’re glad that you are here to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. And we are glad that you are here with us with your Bibles, with your presence, and with your ability to reason and study from the scriptures. If you are visiting with us this morning, you are our guests of honor, and we are just so glad that you have chosen to be worshiping with us. We’re glad you’ve taken time out of your day to be here. And if you are with us and you’re from the Central Florida area, make sure you pick up a bulletin before you uh leave, uh, a bulletin that’s in the foyer so you can know of some of our area Bible studies that you’re welcome to join us with throughout the week.

Also, it’s good to note that uh we have uh contacts in there as well if you need to get with me or one of the other uh leaders of the church or servants of the church, and we will communicate with you uh various things about the Bible. If you’re visiting with us from out of town and you’re just stopping by travel-wise, we’re glad you’re here as well. Whoever you are visiting with us, we want to tell you you are our guests of honor, and we ask that you stick around a while and don’t just rush off right away, but linger and come to get to know us here at the Church of Christ of South Bumby. If you have your pew Bibles with you and you’re visiting with us, page number 871 is where we’re going to be this morning.

Page number 871. Uh, the pew Bibles there will be the New King James Version. And the context is that which was read in Matthew 21, 28 through 32 by Brother Frank so wonderfully. And Frank made some other good comments about that, and we will mention some of those comments in Matthew 21 in just a moment. But if you look at Matthew 21, 28 through 32, you’ll see this passage of Scripture is a parable that Jesus teaches that really is talking to the chief priests and the leaders of the people when he confronts them and requires them to think about their life in comparison to people who respond to the gospel, who uh initially don’t think they’re gonna follow after the ways of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but then they do, versus those who say, Oh, yeah, we’re doing what the King of Kings and Lord of Lords would want us to do when really they’re not.

He says, What do you think a man had two sons and came to the first and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard? I want to emphasize with that verse that he’s talking about God there. God talking to his children. And the vineyard is, of course, the kingdom of the Lord. And so God is talking, and he’s saying that he is the vineyard owner. What do you think a man had two sons, God with his people that are of his uh king of his lands? And he answered and said, I will not. But afterwards he regretted it and went. That first son, that very first son, he said, I’m not gonna do this. I’m not gonna go work in your vineyard. I know you have a vineyard, Father.

I know, Father God, that you have something you want me to do, but I’m not gonna do it. He regretted saying that. He so much regretted it, and then he decided, you know what? I am gonna work in my father’s vineyard. Then he came to the second son, and he said the very same thing. He said, Go work in my vineyard. And he answered, said, I go, sir. Yeah, yeah. Aye aye, Captain, I go. And he didn’t go. Which of the two did the will of the father? And they all say son one. I have an older brother, Martin. Many of you know Martin. Great guy. I am the younger brother, son two. And my mom, joking with us, calls us son one and son two.

And I hear this parable and I think to myself, I better be like son one. My brother Martin is the firstborn, so he’s son one. When we think about ourselves in these parables, there’s no way we can take our life and not take something out of it for us. We have to look at the parable and we have to look at it and say, where would I fit into this parable? And one of the key elements to this parable, something that hits at the heart of all of us, is when we say we’re going to do something, and then we don’t follow through. We don’t do what we said we would do. There’s reluctance there. There’s this sense of longing. There’s this sense. Have you ever?

Have you ever said, I’ll do something, but then didn’t fully follow through with what you said. If you’ve ever done that, this hits to that. This presses to that. John is baptizing lost people. The Pharisees, they don’t value Jesus. They despise Jesus’ professed authority. And Jesus says, the Pharisees, he says, they say all the right answers, yet don’t actually do anything that they should do. It’s like providing lip service without life service. I liked how Frank worded it. They say a lot, but they don’t do. For that scripture that he mentioned, how many of us say unto me, Lord, Lord, have we not said this or that? When we look at the passages of scripture that touch on this, that talk about this idea, we must realize first and foremost that many will make lofty promises to God, yet never follow through with their lofty promises.

1. The Command: Go Work in My Vineyard

The parable meets this reality that is a struggle for many. In fact, it addresses what happens when one says to the Father God, they’ll do something, and then they don’t do it. Many make lofty promises. When we look at the scriptures, though, we see that there is a command given, a literal command given. He says, go work in my vineyard. And what’s that? That’s the idea of us as Christians recognizing there is a kingdom, there is a field, there is a world out there of lost souls that need to be part of the kingdom. We talk about John, and while he uses the illustration of the vine where he says, I am the vine and ye are the branches. Jesus being the vine and us being the branches connected to Jesus, we talk a lot about individual responsibility there, and we use that verse doctrinally a lot, but that basically means you and me.

I’m a branch, you’re a branch, you’re a branch, you’re a branch, and we’re supposed to bear fruit for the Lord. And this is a command in verse 28 that is given that tells us that we in the kingdom must bear fruit for the Lord. In Matthew chapter 5, 16, it says, Let your light, listen, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify our God and Father. Or Galatians 6 9, where he says, as we do this, in this work that we’re together engaged in of striving to build more souls in the kingdom, striving to grow the vineyard and help more fruit uh grow in the kingdom. He says, in a uh Pew Bible page 1037, 1037 in your pew Bibles, Galatians 6.9, he says, let us not grow weary in well doing, for we will gain a harvest if we don’t give up.

Let us not be weary in well-doing, for we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Matthew 5.16, Hugh Bible page 852 says, Our light is to shine, so others will see the good deeds and glorify our Father. This command given helps us. If you’ll turn to page 1038, page number 100, 1038, just one page over, it says, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. That’s what we’re here to do, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God prepared in advance for us to do good works. The question then has to be asked of ourselves, are we going to do anything? Are we going to actively work in the vineyard? What am I to do in the vineyard?

What is the vineyard? How do I work in the vineyard? Q Bible page 1073, that’s 1073 in James 2.17. Says, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. It is without action. Every fruit is important to a vineyard owner. Every single fruit. There is no piece of fruit that is not important to the vineyard owner. My grandpa used to harvest cotton as a kid. And I can remember going on road trips. And we’d see various types of crops. And if he ever saw cotton, you’d go, machinery. When we were kids, they wouldn’t leave those little pieces of cotton out there. We’d have to pick them all. Every little one. We go back and we pick it again. And there’d be no pieces of cotton out there on that field.

There is no machinery that is to replace people in the vineyard owner kingdom. We don’t say, well, we have this system whereby this entity over here will do the responsibility of we the workers in the vineyard. A lot of people you’ll meet, they’ll basically say, Well, my church does that. And they’ll basically say, We say, Well, are you going to do this responsible thing that you’re supposed to do? They say, Well, there’s a program at the church I go to that takes care of that. We have a need to evangelize. They’ll say, Well, the evangelism committee goes out and does that. You say, Are you part of that? No, I’m not on that committee. And people in the religious world will say things like this. You’ll meet people, they’ll say, uh, do you believe in um in the idea of uh of something of a of a nature where you need to teach other people?

2. Regret Our Reluctance

And they’ll say, Well, the teaching committee does that. Say, are you on that teaching committee? No. Do you want to be? No. Well, what do you do? I give money. You say, Well, what’s the point of the money? The church will take care of that. I won’t do that. And the reality is what’s happening is people are forgetting the command is given to all of us. And here, when we look at this first part, this is really incredibly interesting, is he says that there are people who they know what God says, they know what God wants them to do, but they’re reluctant. Reluctance is defined as being unwilling or disinclined to do a thing. Regret is defined as a desire to change a past course of action.

Regret is essentially a repentance style mind over one’s past. And so a lot of people that do start serving in the Lord’s vineyard, they have regretted their reluctance. They have desired to change their past course of action and are now inclined to do something. There is a real challenge when someone wishes, oh, I wish that I had done more in times past. There is a real challenge of reluctance, of really wishing I hadn’t been so long and staying out of God’s kingdom. Yes, many are religious, but they’re not actually in the vineyard. And there’s a sense in which we must recognize, just as was recognized by the author who wrote this, recognized by God, that there are some people that know what to do, and they don’t do it.

They think about it, they mull it over in their minds, and they say, I know what I need to do. There’s a story of a man, he’s already passed away. And his wife told me this story, and she’s already passed away. But she said they were living in an area, they’re worshiping God. They were members of the church, just like us, members of the church of Christ. Had lived in one area for a very long time, had lived there, he had a job, she had a job, but they were just going through the motions. Coming to church services, sitting down, writing a check, putting it in the contribution plate. They used to pass those, you know. Putting in there. And she said they moved to a new location, and he said, There’s one thing I’m going to change.

And she said, Honey, what’s that? I’m going to evangelize.

And he did that. The new place they moved to, the place where they worshiped, the place where he was active at was a thriving place. One person. That’s what he wanted to do. And he talked about the gospel to people he met. It doesn’t have to be a big fanfare. It doesn’t have to be uh you sitting down and having a long Bible study with someone. It can be as simple as taking one of those cards out in the foyer and handing them to someone and say somebody else will have a study with you. It could be as simple as saying, hey, I’m worshiping the Church of Christ at South Bombey. I’d like for you to worship with me.

I didn’t know he’d be over at the house. What’s he doing? He walked around the neighborhood selling stuff like everybody does. Soliciting, I guess you could say, selling his company, something like I said to him, I said, Do you go to church anywhere? He said, No, I’d really like to go to church somewhere. I said, Well, here’s your business card. You’re welcome to come worship with. Just talking to someone about the gospel. And sometimes you can have an open door opportunity where the conversation gets a little more in-depth. And depending on the person, you may be able to have a more in-depth conversation. Or you may be able to lead them to someone like Sean or myself or uh Steve or someone who’s teaching the gospel in various places.

When we talk about reluctance, a lot of us have to spread the gospel. But what we really need is we need to regret our reluctance. We need to regret that reluctance and change and be actively working in the kingdom. Look at verse 29 in the context. In verse 29, it says.

Sometimes it’s something as simple as providing an open home or an open place for Bible study. Maybe your husband’s leading the class, and you have opened up your home to let people come in and study the Word of God. And you can be hospitable and make your place of dwelling a place wherein teaching occurs. I know of a lady. She’s still alive. Her husband’s still alive. She’s had many, many, many, many Bible studies in her home. I will admit, more than me, because they’re much older than me. But he does the teaching. He does the studies. He goes around about the community and, if you will, as they sometimes say, drums up studies. He does that. But she’s willingly getting her home already so that people can come in and make it a nice welcoming place for that.

3. Words Without Deeds

And that’s good too. There’s not one set thing that you have to do that will help the vineyard and say it’s only one thing. Different ones do different things. Even in a vineyard, when you’re harvesting grapes, some people are pulling the grapes, some people are watering, people are culling, actually, literally trimming the branches so that new growth will happen. And all of that is happening in a vineyard. And it’s important. Let’s talk about this other part, though. Words without deeds. That’s the part that we don’t want to talk about. We don’t like to talk about and say, well, that’s me. I I talk a big game, but I don’t actually do what I’m supposed to do, and I feel guilty for it. I feel like I say this, I say I should do this, but I’m not really doing all that I can do.

Words without deeds, the self-righteous ones were highly devalued by God, being self-righteous.

One is not greater than the other, but they need to be parallel. In other words, our words need to match up with our deeds. We need to do things and say things that are right. In other words, if we if we do good deeds, but our mouth isn’t appropriate, that’s not good. But if our mouth is saying the right things and the deeds are good, that’s good. For example, you could be teaching or saying false doctrine. That’s not good. You want to teach and say good doctrine and do the deeds of good doctrine. You want your words and your deeds to match up. I don’t know about you, but I am hesitant to use emojis when I talk to people over the text messages. I have a bitmoji, and some of you have seen it.

They go, man, it looks like JR. He’s got a gray sweater, a tie, a goatee, and he’s a Hispanic fellow, and it’s this little bit emoji. It looks just like JR. How do you design that? There’s a way you can go online and you can like design something to look like you. If it was Steve, it’d have a fishing shirt. If it was Andrew, it’d have a bolo. If it was John, it would have the Florida Gators. I mean, it’s just like you can design it however you want, and it kind of looks like you, right? So we figure that out and we do that type of thing. But here’s the thing, I’m always a little hesitant to use emojis in the first place. Because to me, emojis, the actual little original emojis with like a smiley face or the frown or the prayer symbol or the thumbs up, they look like a hieroglyphic to me.

And here’s the thing with them I don’t deny that they’re helpful. They are. But however, the emoji word without follow through is dangerous. If I tell someone I will pray for you, my action is to be done. Not just a perfunctory text emoji. If I say I’m gonna pray for you, listen, I will pray for you. And it’s not just gonna be with just the little prayer hands in the emoji. That’s not my prayer. I have a serious prayer for you if I say I’ll pray for you. Do you know what perfunctory means? It is an action gesture or the like carried out with a minimum amount of reflection and effort. It’s a word. And sometimes the emoji without follow through, it’s a word, and it may be a hieroglyphical pictograph word, but it’s not a deed.

Putting that emoji in your cell phone with a little symbol like this for prayer, that’s not a deed. That’s a word. It’s a pictograph, hieroglyphical word. It’s a picture of that. But if we do that and we put that symbol on there and we tell people, I am really praying for you internally, I’m praying for you. If you’re weeping, I’m mourning. If you’re rejoicing, I’m rejoicing. If we seriously make our words and our deeds match, it will help so much in the kingdom. Words without deeds, nothing. But words with deeds are important. And honestly, some of those things like emojis and pictographs and bit emojis and all that stuff that we have in our society, it’s nothing new. People drew pictures before. I mean, if you really want to draw a picture better than the emojis, you’d go to like a Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo Bonarotti or I don’t know, uh Raphael, and I’m not talking about the ninja turtles, talking about those painters of old who could make something look amazing.

I mean, you could you could do that if you wanted to, and they could years ago. The point I’m trying to make is this, though. Our words need to match our deeds. And we need to be deeds driven people. For faith without works is dead. We need to be the type of people that seriously mean what we say and do what we say. And if we don’t, we’ve got to regret it. And if we regret it, we’ve got to be the type of people that quickly strive to fix that and remedy that. Here’s two sons in this parallel. This parable that we’re talking about. Two sons. One, we would say, was the bad guy turned good guy. And the other is the good guy who’s not really a good guy, but he looks like a good guy, but really is a bad guy in his heart.

Now that’s like boiling it down, really boiling it down. Because that’s the point. He’s basically saying, which is it? Is it a shell where our deeds and our words and what we do is just a shell? Or are we really transforming our heart? At the end of this year, at the tail end of the year, this is my last sermon for the year, because it’s already December. I’m thinking, what sermon can I preach? Sean was asking me this earlier. What sermon are you going to preach about transformation? What sermon are you going to preach? Maybe about evangelism. Which one is it going to be? And it’s this one. It’s this particular lesson that shows the transition from us becoming son two to becoming son one. This idea where we basically say, I’m not going to just have lip service in the kingdom, but I’m going to have life service in the kingdom.

I’m not just going to have words only, but deeds also. Not words only and deeds only, but words and deeds that meet together. And when you look at this first part, someone would say, Well, I’m not sure I’m not a tax collector, I’m not a harlot. Wait a minute. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans teaches us. There is no greater or lesser sin to God. All sin is repugnant in the eyes of the Lord, but we have a Savior who loves us and who has a way of equalizing us and putting us all on the same level playing field and saying that when you repent of your sin, you can serve the Lord no matter what your past sin was.

No matter what you did before, you can enter the Lord’s vineyard. And when you enter the Lord’s vineyard, please hear it. There’s work to be done, and it’s valuable work to be done, and it’s all important work to be done. There’s no menial task and greater task in the Lord’s kingdom. All the work that’s done in the vineyard is important. You don’t water the plant, it dies. If you don’t pull off the fruit from the plant, it rots, and you have no produce. If you don’t cull the branches from time to time, there’s not extended growth. If you don’t have a vineyard owner, then you’re not even in the vineyard. And so the whole point is every single one of those roles is important. God has his role, Jesus has his role, we have our role.

4. Get In, Speak Up, and Work in the Vineyard

And if we’re going to use John as an illustration in the Gospel of John, where he says, I am the vine and ye are the branches, we are the branches to bear the precious fruit for the Lord. And so that is so important. Exploring the hope of God. Exploring the hope of God. First thing he wants you to do is get in the vineyard. Enter the kingdom. In Acts chapter 2, he talks about the idea of the kingdom. Talks about the idea of the church, which is the kingdom. Get in it. If you’re not in the kingdom, then it’s hypocrisy to talk about the kingdom. I tell this to teenagers when they’re in high school. I say, you know, if you’re in high school or college and you’re talking about Jesus, but you’re not a Christian, that’s pretty hypocritical.

Someone says, Well, when did you become a Christian? You go, I didn’t. I’m not baptized yet. Why are you talking to me about the gospel when you haven’t done what you said I should do? See what I mean? It’s hypocrisy. So if you’re not a Christian and you know what to do, get in the vineyard. Do what you’re supposed to do. Be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, for baptism doth now save us. 1 Peter 3 21 and Acts 2 38. But then what you need to do is speak up in the vineyard. You need to speak up and be bold to speak up. Matthew 21. Then you need to work in the vineyard. From time to time this upcoming year, just expect a tap on the shoulder.

That’s that’s your nudge. I’m preparing you for it. I’ll probably tap you on the shoulder sometime this upcoming year and say, hey, I’ve noticed you’re really good at this. Could you do this? And you can say yes or no. But notice when I do that, it’s because I’ve seen something in you that I think you’d be good at in a certain area. And you might say, Well, that seems menial. It’s not menial. There’s so much to do in the vineyard, so many nuances of evangelism, that you have a skill. You have an ability. You have something you can offer for the Lord. And so not only speak up in the vineyard, but do some work in the vineyard. Doesn’t have to be an enormous amount of uh mind-numbing talk, but there is a lot that can be done in various ways.

5. Rejoice in the Harvest

Matthew 21, 31 through 32, rejoice in the harvest. That’s another thing. You remember that passage of scripture with the prodigal son that returns home? What happens?

You didn’t give me a goat. You kill the fatty calf for that guy, he wasted his life with riotous living. Yeah, that’s right, but he was dead and is alive again, was lost, is found, and he’s come back to his senses, and we need to welcome him home. That’s the context of that parable. And we, as the older brother, in that parable, and it would be like needing to recognize that we need to rejoice in the harvest. If there are people that have transformed their life by the renewing of the scriptures, and their mind is transformed, we need to recognize that and honor their work in the kingdom. And then recognize ability. You have an ability. And if you have that ability, do that work. I use this phrase often.

I keep using it because it works. Ability plus opportunity equals responsibility. That’s so important when studying this. And uplift all people. Value the workers who transform. We’re going to have a lot of different people in the world in which we meet a lot of different uh levels of uh intellect, levels of wisdom, levels of maturity, and levels of ability. And when we look at that, we need to uplift those that we seek. We need to uplift those that we meet. And we are God’s kingdom. We are God’s field. We are God’s building spiritually. We are his kingdom. As we explore the hope of God and look at, oh, time has gone by already. I’m gonna switch to this slide. I didn’t know it’s already 1150. When we look at the uh the lesson that we have this morning before us, we’re looking at one of these lessons that is amazing.

Conclusion

We want to talk about just the boiling down transformation. When it comes to evangelism, it’s the idea of first having the willing mind and then the readiness to do. You have to prepare your mind to be able to do this, and then you do what you’ve prepared your mind to do. It’s the idea of being willing to say what you need to say, but then following through, having the follow through to do what you need to do. I’m very grateful and thankful that you’ve all given me your kind attention for this time. Very grateful and thankful for all those up in the booth who are dealing with the uh greens behind us. Sometimes technology gets behind us, but it’s good to see them all working together to get that resolved.

We also need to recognize why we’re here this morning. That’s to honor God’s word. If you’re not a Christian, you can be one. It’s not a complicated system whereby one may be saved. It’s a simple system. You hear the word of God and you hear what he says. You have faith in what he says. You say, okay, what he says is right. It’s true. All change. I’ll work in the vineyard. I’ll believe Jesus is the vine, and I can be one of his branches. I’ll be baptized for the forgiveness of sins so that I can be within the vine within the vineyard. I’ll be immersed, and then I’ll serve the Lord working for him. So hear the word of God, Romans 10.17. Believe it, John 3.16, repent, Acts 2 37, confess, Acts 8 37, be immersed, 1 Peter 3 21, and serve the Lord as we’ve studied this morning.

If we can help you become a child of God, won’t you come while we stand and while we sing?