From Matthew 21:28-32 / It’s how we finish that counts

The conversation between Jesus and those challenging Him in the Temple is not done. Jesus is going to go on and deliver 2 parables directly addressing what we’ve already seen – the problem of the obstinance of the unregenerate heart (28-32); the problem of men wanting to keep authority for themselves that belongs only to God and His Christ (33-41); and then a summary of the outcome of remaining this way. It is a powerful rebuke. And at the same time, there is wonderful grace on display.

Note first: Professions of faith and service to God mean nothing, if they are absent obedience to His clear command. And in this case, the command of the Gospel, to repent and believe.

James will build on this vital point in his short epistle. Faith, without works, is dead. And the point isn’t faith simply does good or nice things, but that our works coincide with our profession. Those confronting Jesus here were Israel’s spiritual leadership. But they were deaf to the voice of God speaking to them. Christ had come. The Kingdom had dawned. But they imagined a kingdom that let them rule in place of The King. This will be teased our much more in the 2nd parable.

The bottom line is – If one tells God “I’ll serve you as you desire”, but serves self instead, such a declaration is a damning lie – irrespective of what other “good works” one may wish to attach to it. God gets to dictate how he will be served. We do not get to tell Him.

Parallel to this is God’s indictment in Ezekiel 18. There, God articulates a paradigm which Israel accuses Him of being unjust. “When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. ²⁷ Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. ²⁸ Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ²⁹ Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?

This strike at the heart of the many public failures in ministry we’ve seen in the past few years. Many have defended those who’ve shown to be secretly living out sinful patterns by saying “but look at all the good they’ve done!” In the end, that is no defense at all. Did they finish in unrepentant sin? Then all their “righteousness” will count for nothing. It is not how we begin, but how we end.

Note second: What good news this principle is for those who hear the Gospel and flock to Christ.

It is not how many years you may have already wasted that truly matters. It is not how long it took you to truly come to Christ. It is not how deeply entrenched in your sin you once were, or how vile and wicked that sin was lived out in the past. That question is – have you heard the Gospel and fled to Him today? Have you owned your sin, come to despise it, sought out Christ for mercy and trusted in His satisfaction for sin now?

The Tax Collectors and Prostitutes did not obey God at first and lived for themselves. But now are hearing the Gospel and obeying – seeking God. The Jews said they would obey, but have refused the Gospel in John, have followed their own way rather than following God. It is not how we begin, but how we finish.

Whatever may be behind you, if you call out to Him for forgiveness and cleansing today – He will hear you. He did not come to save the “righteous”, but sinners. And if that is you, if you know yourself to be the sinner – He says, and Spirit and the Bride (the Church) say – “COME!