Pastor Dan Eddy

Matthew 21:28-32

I changed my mind

9-25-11

There is nothing more frustrating than when people promise to do something and then don’t. It doesn’t matter if it’s a parent asking a child to do his or her chores. The child says “Yes” and then doesn’t do them, even after repeated requests, with repeated promises to comply and still nothing. Or the coworker you ask to do something that you need them to do in order for you to do your job properly and they say “No, problem” and then don’t do it. Or if you are part of this congregation or another and someone says they will attend a meeting, finish a project, plan an event…and nothing happens.

And I realize there may be legitimate excuses for why things don’t get done…but doesn’t matter if they forgot or intentionally didn’t do…the result is still the same.

When words don’t match actions it hurts…shows deception, a lack of respect, and/or a passive-aggressive unwillingness to work with you. “Yup I’ll do it.” “Yup I’ll do it.” And then nothing. The words don’t match the actions.

This was a problem for Christ in our Gospel reading for this morning. Here it is just three days before His crucifixion. Jesus has been engaged in His earthly ministry now for three years…taught God’s Word as the Word made flesh, performed miraculous signs that no one had ever done, and had said over and over He was the Messiah. John the Baptizer laid the ground work, prophesying and proclaiming Jesus as such.

These Chief Priest and Elders, the religious leaders, were paying lip service to the God and His Word with it came to serving Him. Literally their confession was “I go, Lord.” but it their actions didn’t match their words. They showed a lack of respect toward serving Christ; They questioned, challenged, and rejected Jesus as the Messiah. They rejected God’s only Son; the same God they claimed to believe in. They changed their mind about God.

So Jesus puts their unbelief into perspective by telling a Kingdom of God parable, pointing out who’s who and what’s what when it comes to His faith community, His church. And just to be clear: The father and owner of the vineyard here is God the Father. The vineyard is His Church. The 2nd son are the religious leaders plotting Jesus’ death, and the 1st group are the tax collectors and prostitutes.

You see the 1st group has initially rejected the Lord God by their lack of confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior. And this showed by their actions of cheating people out of their wealth or living a life of fornication.

But when John the Baptizer pointed out their sins and who Jesus was…many of these despised tax collectors and prostitutes repented, changed their mind, which then led to them changing their actions.

And that showed they had faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The change had to start with their heart and mind first. It was changed by hearing the Word of God. True repentance matches the mind of God as our Epistle reading from Philippians 2:2-4 explained.

The religious leaders, knew their Scriptures, had learned all the prophecies, but despite the evidence, they still rejected Christ as the Messiah who came as the perfect human, Jesus.

So our Lord and Savior said to these religious leaders basically “You heard the testimony of John. You saw me teach and do miracles and yet you did not change your mind. And, as a result, you did not trust John. And if you didn’t trust John…by implication…you don’t believe in Me.” So even though these religious leaders were chosen by God to be saved… in essence, they have removed themselves from the Kingdom of God.

Pretty strong words from Jesus. But let’s admit a person’s actions speak louder than their words. And when a person’s righteous words match their righteous actions…well that’s a testimony to behold, for the glory of God.

We act like the Chief Priests and Elders when…we come to church, confess our faith in the Apostles’ Creed, partake in the Holy Sacrament, but don’t go out and live God’s will when it comes our actions. We are in one way rejecting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It’s as thought the “Sunday morning” you can be almost completely different “Monday through Saturday” you.

We act like the tax collectors and prostitutes when…God asks us to spend more time praying and studying His Word, spend more time in service to His church, act more like Jesus with our family, friends and coworkers and then say “Naaa, not going to.” Then as we reflect on our words and look at our actions….a lump begins to develop in our throat, sorrow in our heart, guilt hits our consciousness and the Word of God shows us our sin and changes our mind.

So which are you? The ones that say you will do something and then don't do it? Or are you the ones who say “I don't want to do it” but change your mind and then end up doing it? Are you the ones who say “I will” and then do it? Or are you the ones who don't even say you're going to do it and then make sure you don't.

One way to apply this text is when somebody asks for help to willingly say “I will, and here's how I will assist you.” Then let your words and actions match the Word of God and the righteous deeds that flow from your faith.

This was shown past week in this congregation with Francis family, the Billings, and others who needed our help in one form or another….there’s a lot of things that were asked of people and praise the Lord many Christ Lutheran people that were asked said “yes here's how I will help out” and then followed up with their loving actions. Joe Francis sitting here this morning is a testimony of that. (He is in hospice care.)

Can you imagine if Jesus said He was going to die on the cross and then decided on Maundy Thursday night not to go through with it? His words through the Old Testament prophecies and His predictions during His earthly ministry would have been worthless in that they did not match His actions and the result would be that we would be eternally doomed. Thank God Christ’s words matched His suffering, His death, His resurrection that He prophesied. He fulfilled all His promises for you.

Faith in Christ changes our hearts and minds by the power of His forgiveness. The mind and the heart have to change first. From the changed heart and minds come changed actions…and all that flows from God’s grace.

Let me illustrate. Back about 20 years ago, I was late for a lunch with one of my clients. As I was traveling along Elwood Street in Beloit, WI, my advertising proposal slipped off the passenger sit onto the dirty floor. As I was driving I reached over to pick it up and crossed the center line of a two-lane road right in front of a police officer. He pulled me over and gave me a $103 fine with three points taken off my license. Then, in Wisconsin, you got 9 points on your driver’s license. As you were convicted the points were taken off. and when they were gone so was your license.

Well I needed to have this ticket taken off my record to avoid higher insurance premiums since I was already paying a lot due to a prior ticket, and points taken off, and the number of miles I traveled in a day because of my job.

Then, in Wisconsin…you couldn’t appeal your case like you can in Massachusetts nor ask for Court Supervision like in Illinois. If you were found guilty there were no appeals. So I went to the assistant city attorney’s office before my court date to, in essence, plea bargain. I told him I would pay the fine but didn’t want it showing up on my driving record. I caught the prosecutor in a particularly good mood. He just found out his insurance company was going to pay for a major medical procedure. So he gave me three choices: inattentive driving and a $65 fine; left-of-center violation and a $55 fine, or (he flipped through the law book) parking on the left side of the highway, a non-moving violation, and a $65 fine. I took last option.

And then he said something to me I will never forget. He said, “You know most people are against plea bargaining until they have to do it, themselves.” I said, “Yeah, isn’t that something?”

How could this prosecutor read my mind?...because that is what I was thinking. He didn’t have to offer me a deal. He could have thrown the book at me, like the God the Father could have. But this prosecutor’s act of grace caused me to change my mind, which then changed my driving habits. He reflected in a small way what Christ did when He plea bargained for you and me before God the Father at the cross. He paid the penalties for our sins. After that I was a better driver, and I changed the way I viewed those charged with crime, not being so judgmental, having a lot more sympathy for those seeking to plea bargain.

The heart and mind have to change first before the actions can flow from that. And that change can not come from us…it has to happen by God’s Word through Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we don’t reject that change then our sinful actions will change to reflect better our Heavenly Father’s will.

God’s blessings to you as you mean what you say and say what you mean…so that your words and actions reflect true faith in God, and match the will of our Lord and Savior. Amen.