PARABLES OF CHRIST
THE TWO SONS’
DR. JIM DIXON
MATTHEW 21:23-32
JANUARY 17, 1999
Elijah redivivus is the Latin and theological term for the ancient Jewish belief that Elijah would rise from the dead. The Jews believed that Elijah would return before the day of the Lord. The Jews believed that Elijah would return to prepare the way of the Lord. The Jews believed that Elijah would return to prepare the people for the Lord, for the Messiah, and to point the people to the Messiah. Elijah redivivus. We find this concept throughout the Jewish Talmud and through the oral traditions of the Mishnah. We find this concept at the end of the Old Testament in the book of Malachi, in the fourth chapter, the 5th and 6th verses.
When we turn to the New Testament and we Look in Luke’s gospel at the very first chapter, we see the angel Gabriel announcing the birth of John the Baptist. The angel Gabriel prophesied that “John the Baptist will prepare the way of the Lord.” The angel Gabriel prophesied that “John the Baptist will come in the spirit and the power of Elijah redivivus.” There’s no denying when you look at Matthew’s gospel in the 1lth chapter and also Matthew 17 and also if you look at Mark, chapter 9, in these three chapters, Jesus clearly identifies John the Baptist as Elijah, not literally and physically but figuratively and spiritually.
It was John the Baptist who came in the spirit and the power of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord, to prepare the way for the Messiah. Therefore, it was John the Baptist who pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” It was John the Baptist who said of Jesus, “After me comes one who ranks before me for He was before me. The thongs of whose sandals I’m unworthy to untie.” It was John the Baptist who said of Jesus, “I must decrease but He must increase.” You see, he pointed the people to the Messiah, to Jesus the Christ.
To reject the testimony of John the Baptist was to reject Christ, and to accept the testimony of John the Baptist was to accept Christ because John testified of Christ. This is the context of this little parable of The Two Sons. Do you accept the testimony of John the Baptist to Jesus Christ or not? Now, in this little parable of The Two Sons, we have two teachings, and the first teaching is this. If we really believe, we will obey. In this parable, there’s a father and two sons, and the father represents God. The first son represents believers. The first son represents those who believed John’s testimony to Jesus Christ. The first son represented those who believed even the tax collectors and prostitutes who repented and believed, at John’s message and who followed Christ. The second son represents those who do not believe. The second son represents non-believers, including the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests and the elders of the people, those who rejected John’s testimony to Christ. They are represented in the second son.
The first son was obedient, ultimately obedient and the second son feigned obedience but was not. Jesus gives this little parable to describe the obedience of the believing. There’s really an exhortation to us who call ourselves believers today to ask ourselves whether we are following Christ and whether we take His commandments seriously. Christ would ask us today, “Are you like the first son or are you like the second son?”
We live in a world where there are many religions that actually enforce obedience. That is true of Islam. Certainly, certain segments of Islam seek to enforce obedience. You may have noticed that the Associated Press just recently reported that Afghanistan’s religious police swept into Pakistan, destroying liquor bottles, shattering all containers that held any form of alcohol, destroying VCRs, piling up stacks of VCRs in the streets and burning them and beating up men who shaved, men who removed their facial hair. According to the Associated Press, the Taliban, the group which has authority over much of Afghanistan and Pakistan, is imposing a strict brand of Islamic laws and, through their religious police, are trying to enforce those moral laws.
They have banned music. They have banned videos. They have banned all alcohol, even alcohol in moderation and they have banned shaving the removal of any facial hair by men and they have mandated that women be clothed and covered from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet. According to the Associated Press, in an eastern province of Afghanistan, a whole bunch of people were just arrested recently because they were playing music in conjunction with a wedding celebration. Religious police. Aren’t you glad that you don’t live in Afghanistan and Pakistan? Aren’t you glad you live in a country where religious morality is not enforced by religious police?
Is true that we live in a country where some people call evangelical and conservative Christians religious police because evangelical and conservative Christians sometimes make public statements regarding their moral beliefs. Some people do this in self-righteousness, but others do it out of a genuine concern for people and for our country and for the world. But the truth is, we don’t have religious police in America. If you’re going to obey Jesus Christ, if you’re going to follow Christ, you’re going to have to do it freely. No one is going to force you to do it. No one is going to force you to obey the commandments of Jesus Christ. You must choose it freely. This isn’t only true in the United States of America but throughout the Christian world People must choose obedience freely.
It is a dangerous thing for a Christian or someone who takes the name of Christ to willfully disobey the Lord and to do this chronically and habitually and without repentance and without turning, a dangerous thing.
I read recently where, down in Jacksonville, Florida, a youth minister, a young man named Melvin Nurse was giving a talk to 250 young people. He was giving a talk on the subject of sin and disobedience. He was warning the young people about the dangers of sin. He took a .357 handgun, and he opened the cylinder and he put a blank inside. Then he spun the cylinder, and he held the gun to his head. He told these 250 young people that when they said they were Christians and they took the name of Christ and they continued to practice sin, they were playing Russian roulette with God. He began to pull the trigger, moving the cylinder. Somehow the blank that he had put in the gun exploded and just shattered his skull. He died a week later in University Hospital in Jacksonville. Not a very smart way to illustrate his point and yet there was some validity to his point. I mean we are playing Russian roulette with God when we disregard His commandments.
Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Jesus also tells us that His commandments are not burdensome. They are not like the moral laws of fundamentalistic Islam. I grew up in a measure of fundamentalistic Christianity. I was told, you know, that I could not go to movies. I couldn’t go to any movies. Just to enter a theater was considered wrong. I was told that I could not drink, even in moderation, that all alcohol was evil. I was told that I could not dance, and of course, that was true in more ways than one, but I had to take a note to school. Even for square dancing, I could not do that. All of these things were said to be wrong.
As I grew up in my faith, and I did not rebel because even though my parents believed those things, they loved Christ so much that I could see the love of Christ in them. Even though my church taught me those things, I didn’t rebel because I could see they genuinely loved Christ. But as I grew in my Christian faith, and I began to see what God said in His word, I realized that a lot of those dos and don’ts’s that I was given as a young person were really not based on the Bible, but they were based sub-culturally. They were simply part of that sub-culture’s morality, but they really weren’t based on scripture.
I mean the Bible certainly condemns drunkenness. The Bible, however, does not condemn drinking per se. Certainly anyone who tends to abuse alcohol should not drink. The Bible obviously does not condemn dancing. The Bible says wonderful things about dancing. The Bible doesn’t condemn music. The Bible says wonderful things about music. The Bible has a very high view of sexuality and God tells us very clearly in His word that sex is a beautiful gift, meant to be opened only in the context of marriage.
We live in a culture that is living in defiance of God’s sexual mores. No question of that. But, you see, His commandments are meant to bless us. They are meant to bless us, and they are not meant to be burdensome. He’s not trying to straitjacket us. God wants us to understand that His morality and His commandments are not simply negative but positive. It’s not simply the things we are not to do, but it’s the things we are to do.
If we would really obey His commandments, He has told us that we are to reach out in compassion to the poor and to all the hurting. This is part of Christian morality too. If we would really obey His commandments, He has told us that we are to seek to help the oppressed, and we are to seek to make this world a fair place and a place of justice. If we would really obey His commandments, then we are to learn to love all people with the compassion of Christ. We are to take His commandments seriously.
Just two weeks ago, Kurtie gave a wonderful sermon on obedience, and he quoted the final words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount taken from Matthew, chapter 7, where Christ says, “He who hears My words and does them I will tell you what he is like. He’s like a wise man who founded his house upon the rock and the rain fell and the wind blew, and the floods came, but the house stood firm because it was founded on the rock. He who hears My words and does not do them, I’ll tell you what he is like. He is like the fool who built his house upon the sand. The rains fell and the winds blew, and the floods came, and the house fell down and great was the destruction of it.” And so, Christ would ask us this morning, “Which son are you? Which child are you? Do you believe and obey, or do you just feign obedience? Are you really seeking to know and follow the commandments of Christ?
Well, there’s a second teaching in this little parable and it concerns ministry. If we really believe, we not only obey but we enter into ministry. The father said to both sons in the parable, “Go and work in the vineyard today. Go and work in my vineyard today.” Of course, in the Old Testament and in the New, the vineyard, and really throughout the parables of Christ, the vineyard is oftentimes a representative of Israel. The vineyard represents Israel or represents the church. It represents the work of the kingdom of God in this world. “Enter into ministry today.” That’s what God says to His people. That’s what Christ says to His people. Enter into ministry today. Serve My kingdom today. Serve My church today. Serve Me today. Go and work in my vineyard today.
The believing son went and entered into service. The unbelieving son, the disobedient son, feigned obedience but did not go. Which son are you? Again, the call of this little parable is not only to obedience but to service, to service in the vineyard of God.
I love the story of Lillian Dickson. She is not related to me. She spelled her name differently than I do. She’s related to all of us who believe in Jesus Christ, and she was our sister in Christ. She actually died a number of years ago, but Lillian Dickson was one of the greatest missionaries the world has ever seen. She went to the island of Fom1osa with her husband to take Christ there. Formosa is today called Taiwan. When she entered the island of Formosa, when she went there, there were no Christians in Formosa. She went into the Department of Social Services, and she talked to a government employee. She told him that she was a missionary and she wanted to bring Christian hospitals, Christian schools and Christian churches to the island of Formosa.
This government employee just laughed. He said, “You’re wasting your time. There are no Christians here. That’s an impossible task.” He walked over to the window, and he pointed out to the ocean and said, “You might as well try to empty the ocean one bucket at a time.” She immediately turned around, opened the door and walked out of his office. He called to her. He said, “Where are you going?” She said, “I’m going to get my bucket.”
Forty-five years later, 45 years later Lillian Dickson had established on the island of Formosa more than one thousand Christian hospitals, schools and churches. Isn’t that incredible? More than one thousand hospitals, schools and churches. Even today in Taiwan, over 10% of the population believe in Christ and largely because of the work of Lillian Dickson.
Certainly most of us cannot do what Lillian Dickson did but we can all get a bucket. We can all enter the vineyard. We can all enter the vineyard. We can all enter the service of Christ, and we’re all called to do this. We’re all called to bear fruit. Some of you can teach Sunday School. Some of you can serve. As a parking lot attendant. Some of you can sing in the choir. Some of us can be small group leaders. Some of us can go into the inner city and help inner city kids through our Whiz Kids Program or through Save our Youth. There are so many ways to enter the vineyard, so many ways to take a bucket, so many ways to serve the kingdom of heaven on earth, and this is the call of Christ upon His people. Which son are you? Are you the son that obeys and enters the vineyard and serves the Father? That’s the question that is posed today.
I told the men on Tuesday morning in our men’s Bible Study that Pope John Paul II has just recently issued a papal bull called “Incarnationis Mysterium.” In that papal bull, Pope John II has declared the great jubilee of the year 2000. In conjunction with the great jubilee of the year 2000, the Pope has decreed that, beginning in the jubilee year of 2000, indulgences will be offered once again. Indulgences. The Roman Catholic Church believes that it has the power to grant remission of temporal punishment for sin. The Roman Catholic Church believes that people are punished for their sins in this life or beyond this life in purgatory. Of course, Protestants generally do not believe in purgatory, and they do not believe that the church has power to grant remissions of temporal penalties for sin. Only Christ, through His grace and mercy and forgiveness, can do that.
But, you see, the Roman Catholic Church believes that they can grant remission of temporal penalties for sin, and these are called indulgences. In the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church sold indulgences. Pope Julius II began the selling of indulgences. He wanted to gather the money to build St. Peter’s Basilica. This led to Martin Luther’s rebellion, and Martin Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg, and this led to the Protestant Reformation.
Pope John Paul II today is not wanting to sell indulgences, and we can be grateful for that. He’s just wanting to offer indulgences to people. He’s telling Catholics that they can receive indulgences, the remission of temporal penalties for sin, if they will do one of a number of things. If they will take a pilgrimage to Rome, if they will take a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Jerusalem, or any one of a number of designated cathedrals. If they will give to the Roman Catholic Church or if they’ll give to the poor in some way approved by the authorities of the church. Or if they will enter into service or ministry. If they will enter into some act of service in the church or in the community in the name of Christ, if they will minister for Christ, they will be granted indulgences.
Well, you can understand why the Roman Catholic Church is doing this. You can understand because they are seeking to motivate their people to enter the vineyard. They’re seeking to motivate their people to enter into ministry, seeking to motivate their people to enter into service of Christ and His church. It’s not just Catholics who are seeking to motivate people. Protestant churches seek to do this too. It really doesn’t matter whether you’re Catholic or Protestant, you are called to work in the Master’s vineyard, and you’re called to the service of Jesus Christ. Indulgences are not the proper motivation. I mean God wants us to be motivated by our love of Him. God wants us to understand how we find fulfillment through serving Him.
Perhaps a few of you have heard of Miriam Preminger, and with this story, we’ll close. Miriam Preminger was born in Hungary in 1913. She was born in a castle. Miriam was reared in that castle, and she was reared as aristocracy. She was surrounded throughout her young years, as she was growing up, by butlers and chauffeurs, and she was surrounded by governesses, by maids and by tutors. She had everything the world could possibly offer, and she was treated as royalty. When her family traveled, they always took plenty of sheets because Miriam was told that she should never sleep in sheets that have been used by common people, no matter how clean those sheets are, even if they’ve just been washed. Never use sheets used by common people.
She was sent to school in Vienna, Austria. She went to the university there, and that’s where she met a Viennese doctor and they fell in love and eloped and were married. She was 18 years old. The marriage didn’t last. After one year, the marriage ended in divorce, and she was 19 years old. That’s when Miriam began her acting career. She became an actress. She was very talented, and she became quite famous.
In conjunction with that career in acting, she met Otto Preminger and they fell in love. He, of course, was a skilled movie director. They fell in love, and they were married. Miriam and Otto Preminger then moved to the United States, and they moved to Hollywood. Otto Preminger became one of the most famous movie directors in the world. Miriam became famous in her own right. She began to be influenced by Hollywood lifestyles, and she began to live a sordid life. She had one affair and then another, just becoming more and more sexually promiscuous.
Otto Preminger found out, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He divorced her. Miriam Preminger moved back to Europe, and she lived in Paris where she was a socialite and celebrity, but her life was empty. She later would say that her life had always been empty. As she was growing up in the castle, her life was empty. When she was in school in Vienna, her life was empty. When she lived in Hollywood, her life was empty. She tried everything to fill the void. She tried money, sex and power. She tried materialism and hedonism, ascensionism, and everything the world says is going to bring you fulfillment. She tried it all and she still felt empty, empty at the core.
Then in the year 1948, when she was 35 years old, she surprised everybody. She shocked Europe. She decided that she was going to go to Africa, and she was going to work in hospitals with Christian missionaries. And so, she went. Her life changed as she began to feed the poor and she began to care for lepers. She began to give hospital care to people who were ill and dying. It changed her life. She stayed in Africa most of the remaining years of her life, working with Christian missionaries. Miriam Preminger wrote a book, “All I Ever Wanted Was Everything.” In that book, she describes that everything is simply Christian service. She died in 1973 at the age of 60, and the New York Times carries her obituary. At the end of that obituary, it said that there were two types of people in the world, helpers and non-helpers. Miriam Preminger was a helper.
I don’t mean to imply that we can be saved through good works. I don’t mean that. Certainly, we cannot be saved through good works. We are saved by grace through faith. We are saved when we receive Christ as our Lord and as our Savior and we believe in Him truly. But if we believe in Him truly, we long to serve Him. If we believe in Him truly, we want to minister for Him and for His kingdom. And it’s only in ministry that we begin to find fulfillment and meaning and purpose and joy in life. So here is an invitation through this little parable of The Two Sons. Which son are you? Which child are you? Do you believe and is your belief reflected in a longing to follow Him and obey Him, and a desire to serve Him and enter into ministry? This is the call of Christ for His people today. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.