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It's Not Too Late
It Is Not Too Late
“Just Do It.” ~Nike
In our local adult bible study, we have been studying the Old Testament minor prophets. It has been a fascinating study for me. The interesting thing seems to be that they keep coming to the same conclusions. Even through the sins of man, God still loves us. He gives us opportunity after opportunity to repent and return to God’s grace, even when we do not deserve it. One way Jesus tells us this in in Matthew 21:28-30 when he posed a question:
“What do you think? A man has two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of the father?”
The question is pointed and seems to have an obvious answer. The chief priests and the elders answer correctly when they respond in the next verse, “The first.” Why, though, is this the correct answer? If we look at it in the short term, the second would be the correct answer. The first son was disobedient, doing what he wished. He was defiant, telling his father that he would not do this thing he was asked to do. It was the second son who called his father, “sir,” and telling his father he would be obedient. Why is the first the obedient son? Because he ended up doing what his father asked, despite being rebellious against him at first. The brothers flip positions in the course of time.
Jesus expands this example in His explanation in the following verses:
“Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”
These supposed “men of God,” Jesus puts lower than the supposed worst sinners in terms of their ability to enter the Kingdom of God. Again, let us ask, “Why?” The second half of Jesus’ original parable tells us about the repentance of the first brother. He did the will of the father, even if it took him a while. The second brother only lived a life of deception, much the way the priests were. They lived a self-serving life while believing they were following God’s will. They did not seek to find the understanding of God’s word as it was applied to their life, but instead kept on with tradition, and ritual without understanding. Jesus had just illustrated their lack of understanding and unwillingness to follow the will of God in the verses prior.
So long as we have to draw breath, we have opportunity to change our path to the righteous paths given to us by God to follow, just as the disobedient first son. Paul describes Christians in the first century just like this disobedient son in I Corinthians 6:9-11:
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
As you, reader, think about this concept, it is not too late to, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” You still have the opportunity to be an obedient son or daughter.
Lance Byers
12/7/2024
- Its_Not_Too_Late_12-7-24.pdf (53.38 kB)
