Who Will Enter?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning the 27th of September, 2020, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This was an abbreviated service, also streamed live, due to constraints put in place from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our YouTube streaming channel is:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Questioning authority seems to be the norm nowadays.  So many people appear to have little or no respect for those placed in a position of authority over us.  The result is usually hatred and distrust on all sides.  And this questioning of authority is not just between law enforcement and elements of the general public, but increasingly in all aspects of our daily lives, even within the church.

Much of it seems kind of ironic to me.  Consider the person who wants to attend an event at a private club, so they go and wait in line with everyone else.  When they finally get to the head of the line, just short of the door, there’s this big burly bouncer checking names off a list.  “Nope, sorry, you’re not on the list, you can’t come in.”  Do you think that person makes a fuss right there, perhaps picks a fight with the bouncer, or just walks away muttering and cursing under their breath?

Yes, we humans can be inconsistent in how we react to things, and especially we independent minded Americans, for whom questioning authority almost seems to be a God-given right.  But it’s not just us, and it is certainly not a new thing.  Jesus had His authority questioned often in His day.

Let me read to you one exchange between Jesus and the chief priests and elders of the people.  This discussion occurred the next day after Jesus had driven out all those who bought and sold in the temple, where He had overturned the tables of the money changers, proclaiming, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”.  Listen and follow along to what the Apostle Matthew recorded for us in the 21st chapter of his Gospel account, in verses 23 through 32, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

23 Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

24 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25 The baptism of John — where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.”

And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to Him, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him."

--Matthew 21:23-32 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for all the examples You saved for us in our Bible of how we should react in almost any situation.  The religious leaders of Jesus’ day very often did not react in a manner pleasing to You, and Jesus rebuked them for it.  Yet through Your great mercy, He gave them every chance to do the right thing.  Thank You, Father, for giving us second chances to do right in Your eyes.  Please help us to learn from our mistakes and the mistakes we see others make.  Help us be more righteous and more pleasing in Your sight.  And Father, please protect us from all the effects of the coronavirus and all the troubles of the world around us.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind in our love and worship, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us for this day.  We acknowledge Your authority as our Creator and Sovereign King.  Please help us take guidance, strength, and encouragement from Your Holy Spirit within us.  This we pray under the blood and in the name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

English minister Alexander Maclaren once noted that...

The caricature of heaven as an eternity of idleness has no basis in Scripture.  Instead, the New Testament conception unites the two thoughts of being with Christ and of service for Christ.  This blending is definitely set forth in the last chapter of Revelation where we read of “those who serve Him, and see His face.”  Here the life of contemplation and the life of active service are welded together as being not only compatible, but absolutely necessary for completeness.  But remember that if there is to be service there, the exercising ground is here.  I do not know what we are in this world for unless it is to apprentice us for heaven.  Life on earth is a bewilderment unless we are being trained here for a nobler work which lies beyond the grave. 

And C. S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, wrote:

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

We were made for another world.  We were created with something else in mind.  This place is not our home.  But it is our training ground, where we must prepare for that other world, that better place.  We will not be idle there, nor should we be idle now.  Instead, let us increase our service to our Lord here and now in preparation for an eternity of service and worship to come when we enter heaven.

In our scripture reading, the religious leaders confronted Jesus, asking by what authority He acted.  Rather than answering outright, He offered them a trade: “You answer my question, I’ll answer yours.”  Of course, being the cowards they were, they refused to answer Him, so He refused to address their question.  Instead, He launched into a lesson about who will be allowed entry into the kingdom of God.

He started out making it sound quite simple, asking which son had actually done the will of their father: the one that said he would not go to work, but eventually did, or the one who said he would go, but didn’t.  They answered correctly by saying the first son, and then Jesus had then.

They were the “second son”, who said they would do the will of our Father God, but really didn’t.  John the Baptist came preaching repentance and preparing the way for Jesus, just as their own prophecy foretold, yet they refused to listen, refused to believe.  But the very ones the priests and elders called sinners, they did believe.  They repented and accepted Jesus as Lord and were saved.  And still the religious leaders refused to believe.

Family, this is all about who will enter the kingdom of God, and who will be forever barred.  This was not the first nor the only time Jesus made this point, trying to get those to understand who most needed to.  In fact, Jesus kept trying to push home this truth in the same discussion with these leaders.

Picking up immediately following our message scripture, still in Matthew chapter 21 and continuing with verses 33 through 44, Jesus tells the chief priests and elders…

33 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”

41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord’s doing,

And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

--Matthew 21:33-44 (NKJV)

Again Jesus poses a question to the religious leaders, this time asking how the vineyard owner will react to those who rented his land and then killed his own son.  He will destroy them, they answered, and turn the land over to others who will be more responsible for it.

They – these leaders - were the evil vinedressers.  They kept killing the servants sent by the owner of the vineyard, the true servants of God.  They were supposed to be the ones leading the people in the ways of righteousness, supposed to be good servants of God themselves, yet they refused His Son, and were indeed about to kill Him.  Therefore the kingdom of God will be forever taken from them and given to those more responsible, those who acknowledge and accept God’s Son as Lord.

These people who turned religion and service to God to their own advantage and gain will be forever barred from heaven.  This is a stark warning to all who would use the name of our Lord for their own gain in this life.

Family, we are in dark times right now, made even murkier still by the height of the political season.  All around us, the truth is being stretched thin, evil intentions are being hidden.  And in some cases, true believers are being misled.  Some folks say they’ll do something, but never really intend to, while others promise they won’t do something, but then turn around and do it anyway.  Some do their best to silence the messenger, no matter what it takes.

We must stay strong in our faith.  We must understand what this wonderful book, our Bible, tells us and do what it says, following the examples of righteousness it holds for us.  This book, the words of God and our blessed Savior Jesus, this is the only thing we can put our full trust in.

Let’s do what Jesus tells us so we can enter heaven when our time comes, and not be forever barred.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, our Savior, the one true Son of God.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for our Bible.  Thank You for the words of encouragement and instruction it contains.  Help us, please Father, to trust in Your word.  Help us to act and react in righteous ways to all situations that confront us.  Help us to take courage in these troubling times, and not let all the turmoil overwhelm us and weaken our faith.  And Father, help us be more loving, more trusting, more merciful, and more kindhearted toward others in our daily walk.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You straight from our hearts, promising to repent of our sinful ways, seeking Your forgiveness and Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You rebuked the religious leaders of Your day for not truly doing the will of God.  Time after time You used little stories to show them where they were going wrong.  But it never sunk in, they never listened.  Forgive us, Jesus, when we act too much like those leaders.  Forgive us when we try to bend our service to God to our own benefit.  Help us, please, to see ourselves in Your parables and fix the broken areas of our lives before we find ourselves barred from heaven.  Strengthen us, Jesus, through these times of great uncertainty.  And Lord, please heal the divisions between us, that creep in and separate us, even within Your church family.  Give us Your heart for loving others.  Help us to love one another as You love us, to see one another as You see us.  Help us remain faithful and obedient through the storms raging around us, concerned more with the needs of others than with our own wants and desires.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.