SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/10/2023 9:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Characterization”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
21:28-31a)
Message of the verses: “28 "But what
do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go
work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “And he answered and said, ‘I will, sir’; and
he did not go. 30 “And he came to the second and said the same thing. But he
answered and said, ‘I will not’; yet he afterward regretted it
and went. 31“Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said,
"The latter.’”
I want to begin by saying that even though we have
four plus verses here this will be a very short SD. This is really a short parable that Jesus is
using to teach those who were talking to him, who were the religious people of
Jerusalem trying to find out by whose authority He had cleansed the Temple the
day before. This short parable that
Jesus is using here characterizes two contrasting responses to the gospel. And once again He gives His opponents the
opportunity to condemn themselves out of their own mouths.
We
can see that in the first instance, that the son who was asked to work…in the
vineyard actually told his father, “I will, sir,” but he did not go. The implication is that he had never intended
to go and so what he was doing was lying to his father in order to give the
false impression of obedience. Next we
see that the second son at first refused to go, saying, “I will not,” but he afterward
regretted it and went.
Now when Jesus asked the chief priests and elders, “Which
of the two did the will of his father?" they gave the obvious answer, “The
latter.”
John
MacArthur concludes by writing “Jesus’ point in this story is that doing is
more important than mere saying. It is,
of course, best for a person to say he will do God’s will and then do it. But
it is immeasurably better to at first refuse His will and then repent and do it
than to hypocritically agree to do it by not.
In this context the doing of God’s will relates to acceptance of the
gospel, of receiving Jesus as the Messiah and as Savior and Lord.”
Lord
willing we will look at the conclusion of this paragraph in which MacArthur
entitles “The Connection” in our next SD.
I have to admit that this section of Scripture has been somewhat of a
mystery to me and so that makes me excited to study it so that it will not have
such a mystery to me.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I am thankful that the Author of Scripture,
the Holy Spirit is my teacher so that He can cause mysterious sections of
Scripture to not be so mysterious and use them in my life.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust that
the Lord will continue to cause me to understand more from the book of
Zechariah as I continue to teach through this book in our Sunday school class. 7/10/2023 10:24 AM
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