Understanding True Obedience Through the Parable of Two Sons

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Here we are, Chris,

good morning, good morning. We talked the whole night through. Oh

good morning. Do you thank you? Chris, You're welcome. I was

thinking it hasn't been a great week until you did that, like like like

maybe you Hey, if that could only be true, if I could change

your week by mary little tune, that would be great. I'd walk into

some of our meetings. I'd be like Jeff'skrabby lay like good you walk into

some of our meetings and Jeff'skrabby today, Well, don't you walk into the

meetings that I'm flustered or Krabby. No, I think, what a glorious

person this is. He's just like a reflection of the sun all the time,

reflection of So here we go today. You know, Chris, that

our commitment to our listeners is that we bring only the finest news, the

finest news from the finest sources on the planet. Yes, and people,

the most trustworthy people across the world. Now understand that news may not be

true really, but it's on the internet. Chris it's right here. Look,

it's on my phone on the internet. It has to be true.

The Babylon B. Babylon B is if you don't know. For English readers,

the Babylon B is a satire website, very funny. The headline on

this news is unbeliever converted to Christianity after seeing Christians bicker with each other online?

Which is so great? There it is Louisville, Kentucky, the Angels

having rejoiced today at the addition of another member of God's Kingdom as a local

unbeliever converted to Christianity after seeing Christians bickering with each other online. The man

who had spent his entire life attempting to resist the call of the Holy Spirit

finally succumbed to the all powerful drawing of God when he witnessed two professing believers

viciously attacking each other on social media. Oh my goodness, this is what

I want my life to be like, said Ethan Gregory after following the extended

argument online. The way they were insulting each other, the anger I could

sense radiating from their comments. It's really a compelling case to be a Christian.

I can't run away from God. I want to be just like these

guys count me in. I was blind, but now I see. The

Christians Gregory had seen online were mercilessly attacking each other over whether or not men

should be allowed to wear hats in church scriptures clear on this subject. You

clearly have never read a Bible in your life, commented one man. I

have freedom in Christ. That discussion of the Bible is for specific people in

a specific period. You're being super legalistic here, bro replied another man.

In all, the men posted three hundred and forty seven comments and replies to

each other over the course of three hours, ignoring their other life responsibilities and

sealing the deal for Ethan Gregory to surrender his heart to Jesus. It was

an awesome, awe inspiring display, Gregory said, tearfully. I've never seen

the principles of Christ's teachings exemplified any better. Oh. I gotta tell you

something. This is so good that I think this could be used in a

message. Oh. I think we should do it. I really we should

do it like news a news show. I'm actually copying and pasting this right

now, and I'm sending it to myself to archive because it is really truly

that good. We should do it like a video skit, like a newsroom.

Right, that's so good, breaking, that's just in it's so good.

I think that the Uh, it's it's one of these things where do

you remember saying on second, I'm coming sent to you. I know,

but but I'm but I'm copying and pasting it, uh for a different purpose.

I'm never going to remember this, so I'm going to send it to

myself and say file for archive. Okay, you like that one. Yeah,

that's a good one. That was a good one. You just changed

Chris life. Have you ever seen just like Christianity, it's it's it's not

effective either with politics, right, And I remember seeing a mean one time,

this massive empty warehouse just and it said, here's the number of people

that have been changed by your political posts, have changed their minds or whatever.

And so it's so funny because it's obviously zero. Right. Well,

I think debate has its place and that there are people who are reasonable people.

First. It's what they do is they think first. They don't go

with emotion first. That I think meaningful debate within the rules of and the

systems of you know, open dialogue and conversation and exchange of ideas. I

do think that that's a valid thing, because we know Paul in Athens,

he shows up with debaters, right right. He engages there at the Areopagus

and Athens with these Greek thinkers and philosophers, which is very different than the

way he dealt with, you know, some of the other contexts that he

was in. So I think there's value in it. We need apologists and

that kind of thing. But what happens on social media is people who aren't

skilled, or people just have opinions and are speaking from emotion, typing in

all caps. I don't think he's ever led anybody to Jesus, no for

sure. Yeah, okay, man, So we are going to talk about

Matthew twenty one. And by the way, this is only found in Matthew

and really it's only a few verses. And and wow, it's that Jesus

tells the parable of the two sons. Yeah, we should have gone longer

on that last segment. Hey, you want to sell me five verses?

Do you want to know something else about Paul? Let me tell you another

thing that makes me mad on the internet. We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna

go. We're gonna this is gonna be great. Yeah, I'm joking.

Okay, here we go. Matthew twenty one, Verse twenty eight says,

but what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the

older boy son, go out and work in the vineyard today. The same

answered no, I won't go, but later he changed his mind and went

anyway. Then the father told the other son, you go on, and

he said, yes, sir, I will, but he didn't go.

Which of the two obeyed his father? They replied the first. Then Jesus

explained this, meaning, I tell you the truth. Corrupt tax collectors and

prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. For John the

Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn't believe

him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this

happening, you refuse to believe him and repent of your sins. Okay,

this is this is so unbelievably heavy. Yeah yeah, and so thinking it's

only five verses, yeah right right, you know it's it is a I

can't even imagine being a pharisee or religious leader of a sadduacy, and eventually,

you know, Jesus is now at the end of his ministry and he's

able to boldly look at them and say, you know, for all those

things that you think I'm horrible. You know, they they thought he was

scandalous for even spending time or associating with tax collectors or prostitutes and notorious sinners,

right, that's what the Bible says, and notorious sinners. And and

then Jesus literally looks at them and says, not only not only do I

think they're value enough to spend time with, they're gonna get They're gonna get

to Heaven easier than you will, easier for them, Yeah yeah, which

is an unbelievable It's like the ultimate insult for somebody who has spent their entire

life, uh, saying, my life is devoted to God. Right.

And and they're the ones that say those people are unclean, uh, you

know, ceremonially. Uh it's it's it's customary for us not even to spend

time with them, because it would make me unclean. And he says,

not only are they valuable, They're gonna get to heaven before you do.

Yeah, it's it's pretty amazing. And by the way, which means this,

that God's chain of command doesn't go by title, it goes by faith,

right, God's chain of command. And by the way, that was

that was shown in the Old Testament. Do you remember uh, Eli and

Samuel in the temple where God shows up and says Samuel Samuel and and uh,

and he goes to Eli. And Eli has no clue. Who's been

a high priest for most of his life, right, and he's an old

man at this point. And and yet here he is in the temple,

or excuse me, in the tabernacle, right, and uh and uh.

And yet God's chain of command in that sense didn't go by title. It

went by faith. Because Eli was far from God that he was moving past

Eli. So He had spoken through Eli and worked in the past in the

past, yes, but then Eli refused to correct his sons who are living

in a wicked way and manipulating the religious system for their own lusts essentially,

and so God went, hey, I gave you a chance. He didn't,

so he moved past him, right. Yeah, So there is something

to be said about you know, God does have titles and for different roles,

and but what we don't want to do is get caught up in the

titles and the pageantry of some kind of position and instead understand it's a role

that God gives to people. And Jesus says that all the roles of leadership

in the in the in the Christ followers world are servant leadership. So yes,

the role is important, but it's the title and the pageantry and all

that kind of stuff that Jesus tends to reject. Or in this case,

the uh you know, so the the son the father? Right a man,

a man asked two sons, So the father, who would the father

be? In the story God God? He goes to the older son who

would be? In this case? Those religious leaders, right, they've been

following God the longest. R Right, in their minds they've been they've been

claiming to follow God the longest. In other words, they're saying one thing

and doing another right or no, no, no, this to be the

pagans the oldest wanted to be the pagans, the ones that weren't following God.

Oh yeah, because right, right, sinners, Oh, because they

said I won't go there. They went, that's right. And then the

second the second son would be those that are religious, and the same mistake

you did. I just well, so there's other translations that flip this too.

Oh really yeah, yeah, yep. So there's a little note at

the bottom down there. Other manuscripts have it flipped. It says right there

in the in the note. So, yeah, I think I've read it

because we you and I both began our ministry from King James, right,

correct, So I think that's our instinct is to remember it the other way.

But in this case anyways, the sinners would be the older son.

God comes and says, hey, I want you to go, you know,

serve me do my will, and they go, no, we're not

going to do it. But then eventually they realize they need Jesus right,

and so then they go and they follow Christ, whereas the other ones were

the religious ones. They were making a claim to follow God, they just

weren't actually doing it right. And so which one, he says, which

one really obeyed the Father? And they said, well, the one that

at first said no but then went and did what he said. Yeah.

And by the way, there's there's two great sermons in there. Each son

represents a great sermon. So so the religious leaders, for instance, the

idea that we would say one thing and then not do it is like the

Christian who talks the game, it doesn't live the life, right. And

it's also a person who you know, misrepresents themselves for really bad reasons,

right, like like a false prophet or somebody who starts a ministry for financial

gain or something like this, right, saying one thing misrepresenting God. And

then also it also reminds me of you know, the Book of James,

where it says, hey, let your yes be yes, and let your

nob no. You know, out of the same fountain come both bitter waters

and sweet that that doesn't happen, he says, So, so don't say

one thing and do another. And so they're saying on the outside, absolutely

I will, and they're saying it in front of everybody, and in this

case to God the Father, and it's just giving lip service, giving lip

service, but they don't do what they're saying. And so there's a lot

of sermons represented by that son. And then at the same time there's a

lot of son. There's a lot of sermons represented by the sinner who rejects

God on the surface, who's angry with God. Who who doesn't believe in

God, who's a skeptic, Who who decides to live Maybe they're open to

God, but they just to live their lives their own way. But eventually

they get to the point to where they recognize their need for the Savior.

Yeah. You know, one of my favorite phrases is verse twenty nine.

The son answered, no, I won't go, but later he changed his

mind and went anyway, right right. I love that because it's possible if

started off in the wrong direction and then later change your mind. Right,

that's repentance. That's literally the definition of repentance is to change your mind.

You were going your way and now going you change your mind and you go

God's way. And this is exactly the concept there. You know, Jesus

said, we read yesterday. I think where he was going around he was

preaching the good news, remember, and the Kingdom of God. And when

Jesus began preaching the good news, he said, the good news is this,

the Kingdom of God is here. Repent of your sins and turn to

God. That was it. So you want to know what the core message

of jesus ministry was, is repent of your sins and turn to God.

And so here that's exactly what happened. This guy was rebelling against God.

And you might have all kinds of baggage in your life where you know you're

man alive. The first half of my life was not the best half,

right, I was running buck Wilde and all those things, and I have

a lot of regrets, and now I've changed my mind. That is one

of the indications that God's really doing something special in life is that when you

look back there you go, Man, I've changed my mind on that and

I'm going God's way instead. Right, like the man in the Babylon Bee

who said I once was lost down found exactly, But it doesn't matter how

long you've gone, how long it's been, or how far you've gone.

Later on, that's what says. Later on he changed his mind, And

so as long as you still breathe in breath, there's an opportunity to repent

and turn to God. Hey, I want to bring up a topic that

has to do with earlier on we had said that God's command of faith doesn't

necessarily go by title. Right, Oh yeah, yeah, And so there's

two flip sides of the coin. On one flip side of the coin titles

of somebody who's who's a pastor or a priest, or a rabbi or who

whatever it is. You know, there's a there's an authority and responsibility that

comes with those kinds of things, right, and so let me let me

talk about that for a minute, because there there is another there's a there's

a negative flip side of that coin too, where where I believe that if

truly people listen around the world, this would be a new thought for them.

Right. So I one of the benefits that I learned from some mentors

in my life is that I believe that uh titles, inadvertently and and you

know, not not meaning to inadvertently, they cause a separation between let's just

I'm gonna use the word pastor because that's what our title is, Okay,

So the pastor's up here and the people are down here, right. And

so I think sometimes when we take that idea of a title and we constantly

refer to the minister in the room, and we can't even breathe their name

without saying the word, you know, pastor in front of it. You

know, pastor Jeff, pastor Chris, Uh, you know when we do

that. There's nothing on the surface wrong with that at all, because that's

our title, right, agreed, correct, But what it does is there's

a negative effect to that where you have to you have to be able to

communicate that we're not up here and everybody else is down here in that environment,

we're on the same level. And I think one of the ways that

we can do that is try our very best to make ourselves on the same

level. So in other words, when we're preaching, not to say,

like I just had a preaching coaching thing. Remember you walked into the office

and I was coaching somebody, one of our younger preachers. When he was

preaching, he goes, so you better align your hearts and you better listen

and make yourselves quiet and still. And I'm like, listen. I was

like, one of the things that I've learned over the years because he's new,

As I said, say, we we better God in our prayer,

God, I pray that we would quiet our hearts. Right that way,

it puts you on the same level, because otherwise it's you're up here and

everybody else is down here. And he said, man, I never thought

of that before, because here's the danger of it, and I believe this

is a massive offense. Huge is that when when when when we build our

church around a personality or a person, what it ended up happening, what

ends up happening is if that person leaves, then all of a sudden,

it's like the church crumbles because it was based on that pastor or that leader

and and so. But but if we do our best to to uh uh

to talk about the priesthood of every believer and how it's not the pastor who

holds the authority and does everything and he's the only one that could pray for

people or baptize people. But that is not true at all, because the

Bible says that we as Christians believe in the priesthood of every believer, and

every believer in the church has the gifts, you know, and and and

can exercise their gifts. And then what it does is it just goes a

little further into putting us on the same level and the same playing field.

That way, if that leader ever leaves, the church feels empowered and equipped.

And also it doesn't rise and fall on that and it also doesn't you

know, the other value is doesn't make him untouchable and and so uh.

Anyway, that's one of the reasons why I believe that there's a danger.

So let me say one more thing, and I'll let you chime in.

One our worship pastor, our main guy that works our church, told a

story and he said he went back to his hometown. Uh this this past

uh uh uh time and uh and he had a conversation about this and that

was a new that was a new concept for them, right and so and

so uh and I thought to myself, Wow, maybe maybe uh maybe not

everybody has had this conversation. So so it's pretty innocent enough for them to

say, wow, that's a new conversation. Ye me, absolutely. I

think we've been conditioned to think in a clergy laity kind of mentality. Right.

So, the Bible does say in defense. The Bible does say give

honor to whom honors due. The Bible says multiple times in Book of Hebrews,

oh, those who have spiritual authority over you. Yes, it's not

just an idea of you know, hey, Chris is a nice guy,

and I'll consider what he has to say. Right there is kind of there's

spiritual authority and the Bible says, you know, give double honor to those

who teach the word. Right, So there is the honor thing that as

a church person or as a Christian, it's on me to make sure that

I choose to extend honor to those who are are ministering to me in my

life. Where it's wrong is Jesus talking about how the world takes their power

and their authority. Leaders, the worldly leaders, pagan leaders take their authority

and power and lord it over the people. So it's wrong for you and

me to expect it sure right. And so what we try to do is

not totally reinforce it right, because if you reinforce it, it sounds like

that's what you expect. So when people say oftentimes people come say, hey,

what should I call you? I'm like, call me Jeff, and

call me on time for dinner. Make some joke like that. You know,

I don't expect the title. But there are times where on a Sunday

morning, the guest sitting in the room, I can't expect them to think

appropriately about how the kingdom is supposed to work. They're working from their position,

right, which is, you know, they might not even be Christians,

but they know there's pastors and there's us, right, and so they're

operating from that position. So when I step up before I speak and I

say Hi, I'm Jeff, I'm one of the pastors here, then they

go, oh, okay, I'll listen to this pastor, but I might

not listen to this yahoo next to me, right, but I'll listen to

this pastor because the title then kind of gives some hopefully establishes maybe there's a

little bit of expertise in the topic that's about ready to be spoken. But

you'll notice how it heritage church. I'll always say I'm one of the pastors

here. You know. I never set up and go I'm the pastor here.

I'm the senior pastor here, right, Because even then, what I

want to do is kind of step into the group of leaders rather than be

the leader. And I think that that's important. But if people extend that

courtesy, I don't think it's something we should reject in the same way.

You know, the other day we read Mary broke the Alabaster Box and gave

others thought, oh, that's terrible, I shouldn't do that, But for

her that was a that was a sign of respect for Jesus. I think

it's it's an okay thing to show respect. It's wrong to demand it.

Yeah, it's definitely right. It was demand respect. You should demand respect,

honor. We can't demand honor. Right. That's that then becomes we

we are choosing to create that wedge there. Yeah, but the kingdom here,

he's defining the kingdom as being those that are religious in the elites sometimes

have a harder time making it to God because they're so comfortable in what they

perceived was their initial obedience, the verbalization of obedience, right, And what

he's saying is these sinners actually when they finally repented and changed their minds,

they were the ones who actually went and obeyed God and did it. And

that's why he's looking for He's looking for obedience. So Pastor Abdahl, who

we know right, started Church Hope Church, and he started Arabic ministry and

inherited church. He said it was a big deal for him and his culture.

When remember when Bob Harvey went down and served, and so Bob Harvey

is our founding pastor who started Heritage Church, and he went down to help

Abdel one day and said, hey, he goes, where do you want

me to serve, and what do you serve? Like children's ministry or something.

It was something where he said, he said, just put me in

a put me in a classroom. I just want to serve. And a've

do all said. You know, in my culture, a pastor would not

have been okay with serving at such a like a lower position, he said,

so he goes. That really humbled me because it really truly truly aligned

me with the heart of Jesus. Right, And he said, because Jesus

would have done that, Jesus chose to ride in on a cult as opposed

to a majestic course. Right. Yeah, if you're going to have a

strong biblical worldview with regard to the church, you have to really truly embrace

the idea of the priest the believers. And so if we set ourselves up

as the priests above everybody, we should function that way. But we can't

demand that honor. Right Instead, Jesus said, the greatest among us are

those who come in and serve. And when we begin to if we want

to demonstrate anything for people, it's not our robes and our rings and our

fancy seats up on the stage and people, you know, opening the doors

for us and giving us all kinds of blessings. That's not what we should

be demanding. Instead, we should be looking for opportunities to be the first

ones to serve and to do and to demonstrate for everybody else. This is

what we all do as Christians. And by the way, that reminds me

that this passage of the parable of the two sons, that you know,

because because the older son in this passage was the one who had the rights

right so customarily biblically, the older son and the younger son. You believe,

you better believe he chose the older boy on purpose. So the older

boy in any family was scheduled to get what double the inheritance of a younger

son usually, and so he was the one that was favored. He was

the one that was next in line for title and authority and everything else.

And Jesus chose him to be the one who assumed something. Oh yes,

he had word service, but but but he didn't go and he's the one

that disobeyed. And so it's a it's really a great message about humility too,

because the older son, who always feels more entitled, was the one

that was humbled in the story and and the and the Pharisees, the religious

leaders were the one that were humbled. And so I would just say this

for those out listening on the podcast who aren't preachers or pastors, right,

but you're a CEO maybe of a company, right, You're you're the one

who has uh, you have interns working for you, right. And so

we must always be willing to humble ourselves and to serve others, and to

love others, and to demonstrate, you know, and not not be caught

up in wanting to feel important, because again God's kingdom works opposite, because

Jesus says it shall not be so with you, right with you, it

shall be different. M So all right, well that's a lot of lessons

in there. So uh, that's that's our time, and we'll see you

next time on the Bible guys. H m hmmmmm.