It Never Fails :: Matthew 21:28-32
But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said, Child, go today and work in the vineyard. And in answering, he said, I will not, but afterward, he regretted it and went. Then going to the second son, the man said the same thing. But in answering, he said, I, Lord, but he did not go.
Which of the two did the will of the father?
They said, The first one.
Jesus said to them, Amen, I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter before you into the kingdom of God. For John went to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believe him. But you, seeing it, you did not regret it afterward and believe him.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it never fails.
There are too many people in our world who say that the Word of God doesn't really do anything, that it’s just ink on a page. When they talk about the Word of God, they say it’s effective only when people become good men with good words about good living, like Jesus. They think the Word of God is ineffective when people reject the Christian faith and leave the church.
But let me be clear ...
THE WORD OF FATHER NEVER FAILS
1. Today, in the parable before us, God says so.
The Word of God has more than one purpose. It is spoken to the joy and salvation of those who have faith ... and those who come to believe. It is also spoken by God to the shame and guilt of those who refuse to believe ... those who reject the Word ... those who despise the Word and its messenger, those who say faith is nothing but folly.
God’s Word is preached, in those cases, for the judgment of the unbeliever.
So we see now at least two purposes for the word of the Father that never fails: It saves and it condemns.
The saving purpose of the Word of God is called its proper work. God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
We’ve been learning a lot about this in Sunday Bible class. If you haven’t been coming ... please come. For more than a year, we have been continually reminded that God’s Word is written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God, and that in faith, you will have life in his name.
The condemning purpose of the Word of God is often called its alien work. That alien work is what we see illustrated today, notably from Matthew chapter 21 and Ezekiel 18.
When God does what He does NOT want to do ... that is, eternally condemn the sinner... his word is called an alien work.
2. Either way, the Word of the Father never fails
Today, Jesus delivers to us a simple and short parable that illustrates this.
When one son is instructed by his Father to work in the vineyard, he says, Sir, yes, sir, but is actually a no go. The other son says, Nope ... not gonna do it! But later, he regrets his disobedience and goes to work.
Then Jesus asks, Which out of the two did the will of the father?
The answer, of course, is the one who actually went to produce the fruit of the Father in the vineyard. I wonder if Luther had this parable in mind when he reminded us that the Father’s will is done when he breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let his kingdom come; and when he strengthens and keeps us firm in his word and faith until we die.
In the parable, God is the father, and they ... the Jewish leaders, who have been questioning the authority of Jesus, who have been challenging his every move, who have been ignoring what the Word says ... they are the first son who paid lip service to their father, but refused to follow the law. ... They ended up grumbling and complaining about what God wanted them to do.
They are just like the Israelites in the wilderness who declared in Exodus 19 that All that the Lord has spoken, we will do, yet they ended up dying in the desert because they refused. It never fails, someone always does.
Meanwhile, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes who initially rejected the Word of God, who didn’t want to follow the word of God, who were despised by the churchgoers ... well, they are the ones who nevertheless finally listened to the Father ... who returned to their baptisms, regretting their sin and seeing their need for a savior.
Then Jesus said, Amen, I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s kingdom before you.
Because the word of Father never fails: it condemns and it saves.
3. Repentance often sounds like law to us.
But repentance is actually good news.
Repentance ... as you should remember ... has two parts: Faith and contrition. Both of these are good news.
First, faith apprehends the Word of the Father that declares to us that he has had mercy upon us and has given his only Son to die for us and for his sake he forgives us all our sins. In the same way, contrition is that fear and sorrow of your sin that drives you to return to your savior.
The faithfulness of the sinner who repents is therefore far greater than the half-hearted, uncommitted, so-called believer who says all the right things and yet does bear the fruit of the Father.
So, what does this have to do with any of us?
Each one of you here this morning is in the place of the brother who said, Yes, Father, I'll go to work. Our confession of faith is just such an answer to God.
4. The question is, will you make it into the vineyard? Or are you about to say one thing and do another, just like the first child in the parable?
What the Jews did that earned the condemning word from Jesus is that they “said they had faith” ... but they refused to bear fruit from the vineyard in keeping with repentance.
In other words, they tried to do the outwardly religious things we do ... like being in church every Sunday ... but they did it for their own glory. They didn’t want to speak God’s word back to him. They didn’t want to trust Him. They didn’t believe the forgiveness of sins actually belonged to them. They didn’t think that the word actually did anything. They didn’t think they really needed it. They just wanted to keep their way of life comfortable. They just wanted religion their way ... because that’s the way we’ve always done it, they said.
When Jesus challenged them on their ideas, they in turn looked for ways to silence him.
5. Is this what you are doing today? How is the Word of the Father working on you?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t look around the room, mentally or physically. Don’t try to guess whether this applies to the person next to you, or across the aisle and a few pews in front or behind you.
God’s Law is never preached so that you can judge another.
God’s law is preached so that you can see your own sin, repent and see your need for your savior. The Law is a mirror designed to show you your spiritual condition. It is a curb meant to keep you on the narrow road. It is a guide through which God works in you, enabling you to bear fruit, as Paul laid out for us in our reading from Philippians.
You see, some of us don’t really want to change, and we refuse to believe we really need to. We are just like the first son. We think “church” works just the way we want it to.
But we are also like the second son who says to his father, I don’t wanna work for you today, but later we come to regret it, and go anyway, singing Chief of sinners though I be Jesus shed his blood for me.
No matter where you are in your walk with Christ, there is good news for you today: God has done the unthinkable, sending His Son to do the work for you ...
6. Because the Word Made Flesh has overcome all of our failures.
Jesus ... the only begotten son of God ... has paid the price of your sin on the cross. He joyfully obeyed the Father’s call to work, and he joyfully produced enough fruit for everyone. As Saint Paul tells us in Philippians ...
Jesus emptied himself, by taking on the form of a servant. ... And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. God’s only son took your sin upon himself and made sure he received the condemnation of the Father for our sins.
Jesus was beaten for you. He was bloodied for you. He was crucified for you.
Jesus died for you and was buried for you. And now he who knew no sin but became sin for you has given you the assurance that your sin will never be heard from again. Your sin is dead and buried.
More than that. the Word of the Father didn’t fail in raising our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead ... so that we could declare ... He is risen!
Jesus has defeated sin, death, and the devil. And he did it for you ... because the word of the Father never fails. God so loved the world that he sent his only son into our world to do all the work in the vineyard for you, so that you will be found blameless and innocent.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this morning we pray that God’s Word continues working among us, strengthening us in faith toward salvation, bringing us to repentance, and calling into faith those who do not believe. We pray that we may never stumble, knowing that