Church Sermon - September 25, 2005

A CHANGE OF MIND!

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Epistle Lesson; Philippians 2:1-5
Old Testament Lesson; Ezekiel 18:1-32
Sermon Text; Matthew 21:28-32

About two and a half years ago, I had a craving that I have not had in a long time. It was at about 10:30 at night, and for some reason I had this profound craving for a big, juicy hamburger that had been cooked deep in grease, on a bar grill, that had two weeks worth of flavor sizzling in the grease! Finally, the urge overcame me. I got in my car and did something that I had not done since college. I drove to a bar, to get myself one of those big, greasy hamburgers!

As I walked up to the neighborhood bar, the lights were shining out. I could hear the music blaring. I could hear people talking. I could hear pool balls cracking.

Now, I am exaggerating slightly, but as soon as I opened that door, it was like the music stopped! Everybody turned their heads! The people playing pool froze and looked at me! And, everybody stopped talking! There was dead silence. You could hear me, as I crept across the floorboards.

I walked up to the bar tender and said, "I would like a hamburger."

He reached over the grill, flipped off a hamburger onto a bun, and told me how much it cost. I gave him the money and crept back across the floor, as everybody watched.

As soon as the screen door slammed shut, the music went back on; the pool balls started cracking, and the people started talking, again!

I got in my car and thought, "Boy! I sure did not fit in there."

Jesus tells a parable today to people who treated the church that way. They treated the church, as if there were people who definitely did not belong and were not welcome, particularly people who had lived in sin all of their lives. And when they tried to come into church, they felt like I felt, when I walked into that bar.

In our scripture reading for today, Jesus says,

"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.’

"‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

"Which of the two did what his father wanted?"

"The first," they answered.

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you. 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."

These are your words, Heavenly Father, lead us in the way of truth, Your Word is truth, Amen.

As Jesus tells any parable, it is very important for us to look at ourselves and ask, "Who am I in that parable?" And, I would dare say that everyone here today, is the second son in that parable – every one of us. Remember, the second son was the one who, when his father said, "Son, go and work today in the vineyard," said to his dad, "I will, sir"

That is us. Here we sit in church today. God has said, "You come to my House. You worship me. You honor me, with your praise. You sit at my feet and listen to my Word."

And, we all have said, "I will. I will!"

But then, we are going to go home today, and I can guarantee you, many of us will walk into our homes, and we will act as if we had not been in church and not heard the Word of God for even a brief moment, today. Oh, we will say, "I will," but, will we really?

We come to church and bring our little infants up to baptism. And, Mom and Dad answer in their behalf, when asked, "Will you renounce the devil, and all his works, and all his ways?"

Mom and Dad will say, "I do."

There, we say to our God, "I will. I will go. I will renounce the devil, and all his works, and all his ways." But then, we go home and we don’t act like we have renounced the devil, and all his works, and all his ways. Oh, we say, "I will," but do we?

We have young people who come up here, dressed in white robes on Confirmation Sunday. We ask them, "Will you be faithful to Jesus, believe in Him, trust in Him, live for Him, and be faithful to Him, even to the point of death?"

And they say, "I will. I will!"

But, then they go to high school and do things that clearly go against the will of the Savior. Oh, we say, "I will," like that second son, but do we?

God tells us to pray. And so, we stand up and say our prayers, today. We say our prayers in the morning, and we say our prayers in the evening. We say, "I will. I will pray."

But, do we think about what we are praying? Or, is our mind some place else? Do we honor Him with our lips, while our hearts are far from Him? Oh, we say, "I will. I will pray," but do we?

As we look at today’s scripture reading, we are all convicted. We say we will. We say we will hear the Word, we will follow the Word, we will love our Savior, we will live for our Savior, we will renounce the devil, but when we go home, we don’t do those things. Does that make us a part of the Kingdom of God?

And so today, Jesus shows us in this parable what really makes us a part of the Kingdom. And that takes us to the first son. Here, He gives us an example of whom it is that belongs, truly belongs to the Kingdom of God.

This first son starts out as a terrible example. The father goes to him and says, "Son, go and work today in the vineyard."

The son blatantly, boldly says to his father, "I will not."

Here, Jesus pictures people who for maybe 30, 40, or 50 years of their lives have blatantly said to God, "I will not." God says, "Come to my church and hear my Word."

They say, "I will not. I do not want to go to church."

He says, "Read the Bible."

And they say, "I will not. I don’t want to read the Bible. I don’t like what it says."

He says, "Listen to my teachings and my doctrines."

They say, "I don’t want to listen to your doctrines. They are too tight and too restrictive for me. I will not."

He says, "Pray."

They say, "I won’t. I will not pray. I don’t believe it works. I don’t believe it helps. I will not."

He says, "Honor me with your wealth."

They say, "I won’t honor you with my wealth. I won’t give a dime to church. I will not."

He says, "Don’t sin."

They say, "I will not listen to you. I want to sin. I want to stay in my sins. I will not."

And so, for 20, 30, 40, or 50 years, some people have blatantly said, "I will not." Do they belong to the Kingdom of God? Not at that point, they don’t.

But then, Jesus says this first son changed his mind.

"Later,

later he changed his mind."

He changed his mind! Something happened. The Word of God took root in the heart! The Word of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, takes root in the heart of a person. That person begins to look into eternity and says, "What is going to happen to me someday, when I die, and my soul leaves my body, and my soul floats from this body? Where is it going to go? Is it going to go to Heaven to be with Jesus for all eternity, in eternal blessedness? For years and years I have said, ‘I will not. I will not honor you. I will not serve you. I will not love you. I will not follow you.’"

But then, the LORD calls them to see the seriousness of their sin. And so, in sorrow, they repent of their sin, wish they had never committed it, wish they had never gone that route, wish that they had never said, for 30, 40, or 50 years to God, "I will not," because they see the end result. And then the change of mind comes that says, "By the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe the Gospel!"

And even though someone like that may feel "I am too far away from Jesus for His arm to ever reach out to save me," they believe the Gospel promise. Their heart is changed. They believe the Gospel promise where God says, "My arm is not too short to save."

God can reach out and save me,

no matter how far I have strayed,

no matter how deeply I have sinned.

He reaches out to save

me!

There the Gospel convinces them that no matter how great a sinner they are, Jesus came to save great sinners. That is what scripture teaches. Who did Jesus tell His disciples to go preach to? He said, "Go and preach to all creation."

And then He said,

"Beginning in Jerusalem."

Beginning in Jerusalem! Those are the people who had spit on Jesus, mocked Him, nailed Him to a tree and crucified Him.

But He said, "Go and preach to them." Jesus has come for the greatest of sinners. He wants all to be saved.

This first son, (who Jesus talks about), who, seeing his sin and seeing that God has come to save him, also knows that there is a third Son who takes part in this parable. The third Son is God’s Son, the one who is telling the parable. And the third Son, God’s Son, is the one who, when the Father says, "Go,"

He says, "I will, sir." And then He does.

When the Father said to His Son, "Go. Leave your home in Heaven and go to the earth. Take on human flesh,"

Jesus said, "I will, sir." And He did.

And when the Father said, "You go to that world and you preach to them. And even though they will be offended at you, you preach my Word to them,"

And the Son said, "I will, sir." And He did.

And the Father said, "You go to the Garden of Gethsemane. They will come up with staves and torches to arrest you. And, though you could blow them over in a moment, you let them tie you up and lead you away."

And the Son said, "I will, sir." And He did.

And the Father said, "When they put you on trial, and they falsely accuse you of all kinds of things, answer not a word."

Jesus said, "I will, sir." And He did.

And when the Father said to His Son, "When they spit on you, mock you, beat you, and flog your back until it is like raw hamburger, you will endure that for me."

And the Son said to His Father, "I will, sir." And He did.

And then the Father said to His Son, "You will let me take every single sin that has ever been committed, and you will let me heap them upon you, no matter what it is, no matter whether it is lust, greed, adultery, murder, or thievery, (and no matter how it makes your holy skin crawl knowing that all these sins of the whole world are piled upon you), you will let me pile those sins upon you, as your very own."

And Jesus said to the Father, "I will, sir." And He did.

He let those sins be piled on Him.

When the Father said to the Son, "Now, you let me pour out my fierce anger against all those sins, on you. You let me pour out all that wrath on you."

Jesus, the Son, said to His Father, "I will, sir." And He did.

And on the cross, that wrath was poured out.

And when the Father said to the Son, "You let me forsake you. You let me forsake you, so that you suffer the eternity of Hell, on the cross, (which is more than we can ever imagine)."

The Son said to His Father, "I will, sir." And He did.

And when the Father said to His Son, "And, you lay down your life. Die. You die for them."

The Son said to His Father, "I will, sir." And then He put down His head and said,

And then,

The first son in today’s parable is the one who has had a change of mind. He has seen the seriousness of his sin, repented of his sin, and he clings in faith to Jesus as His Savior.

Thirty years worth, forty years worth, or fifty years worth of sin is undone.

Those are the people Jesus was talking about - the prostitutes, and the tax collectors, who had repented of their sins, clung to Jesus, as their Savior, and went out living new lives. They went out and lived changed lives. They gave up the old past, because they wanted to live for their Savior. That is what Jesus calls all of us to, today.

But, there is one thing and one thing only that makes us members of God’s Kingdom. That is a change of mind. It is a heart, a penitent heart, a heart that understands that I do not deserve to be a member of God’s Kingdom in any way, whatsoever. I deserve eternal condemnation, but I am sorry for my sins, and I believe Jesus. I believe in Jesus. I believe that He has forgiven my sins. And now, I want to go forward. And even though, before I said, "Father I won’t work in your kingdom," now I want to, because of what my Savior has done for me. I want to live for Him. I want to live strong in the Lord. I want to serve Him with all my might.

May God grant that to all of us, for Jesus’ sake, a repentant heart that believes in Jesus, as our Savior, so that we, too, are members of God’s Kingdom.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

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