Last week we saw Jesus coming into Jerusalem in the “Triumphal Entry.”
Remember the scene...Jesus on the back of a donkey. People lining the streets with palm branches. Hosanna, Hosanna!
This week the scene changes. It’s no longer an exciting street lined with people. Now it is a classroom. Not a classroom with desks and chalkboards. But a classroom with a teacher and students. Jesus the master teacher talking to his disciples, religious leaders, and crowds.
We have great teachers right here in our congregation, but sometimes the best lessons learned take place outside the classroom. Jesus in the latter chapters of Matthew is preparing for his arrest, trial, and execution.
Knowing that his death is imminent he takes some time to teach some important life lessons. I want us to take a look at a few of those.
Lesson #1: Character Counts
The Parable of the Two Sons
28"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ’Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29" ’I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30"Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ’I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
31"Which of the two did what his father wanted?"
"The first," they answered.
32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
Two sons here.
Son #1- said no to his father, then changed his mind and obeyed.
Son #2- said yes to his father, then lied and abandoned his father.
Son #1= tax collectors, sinners who repented and found God in their lives.
The thief on the cross.
Son #2- The religious leaders, the Pharisees. Living a lie to God.
If you say you are going to do something, you better do it. It is called follow through.
You and I must remember in life- it isn’t how we start that matters it is how we finish.
Moses started out as an abandoned baby, became a great leader.
David started out as little shepherd boy, became a great king.
Paul started out as Saul killing Christians, ended up a great man of God.
The list goes on and on.
Judas started out as a faithful follower of Jesus, ended up a traitor who killed himself.
The church is often guilty of getting people started and not helping them to finish.
We spend 90% of our effort to win them to the Lord, and 10% on teaching them how to grow as a Christian.
“Just get them into the baptistry, worry about the rest later.”
Jesus needs finishers.
Too often Christians burn out. They drop out, they fall away. But it isn’t how you start, it is how you finish.
I remember in high school track I ran the last leg of the 2 mile relay. At a huge invitational meet we were competing in the 2 mile relay. When I got the baton, we had dropped to 8th place and it wasn’t looking good. I ran the first of two laps around the track. I thought to myself, I cannot go on. I have to drop out. I had hit the proverbial "wall." Then something strange happened. I felt what is known in the running world as a "second wind." All of a sudden I felt refreshed and energetic. I had broken through the wall. My short legs carried my 85 lb. body as fast as I could go. When I crossed the finish line we were in 2nd place.
Christians need a second wind. When life gets tough, and it will, they need to not give up. Instead they need to allow God to help them break through that spiritual wall. God can and will give us a second wind, where we recapture that energy and excitement that we had when we first became Christians.
It is not how we start the race, but how we finish. Are you running the race of life in such a way that you will be able to finish? Or have you already dropped out?
Character counts. It counts with God and it counts with others.
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Lesson #2: Character cannot be faked.
Matthew 23
1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them Rabbi.
Last week I told you that we live for an audience of one. Not so with the Pharisees. They lived for the audience of men. Everything they did was for show. People who fake their Christian character:
Judge others with outward standards.
Say one thing and do another.
Place unfair expectations on others.
Are always performing.
Think more highly of themselves then they should.
They live for the praise of men.
It is not what is outside but what is inside that counts.
13"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
Those who try to fake Christian character, will go to hell and take many people with them.
15"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Those who fake their Christian character win people to “their” religion.
16"Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ’If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18You also say, ’If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
Those who fake their Christian Character trust the things of this world instead of trusting the one who created this world.
23"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Those who fake their Christian Character neglect their soul.
It is not the outside that counts, but the inside. The Word says that man looks on the outward appearances, but God looks at the heart.
All the show in the world will not save you.
Other man’s opinion of you will not save you.
The only thing that will save you is believing in Jesus Christ and allowing his blood to wash away your sins. That will only save you if you are a finisher and not just a starter.
Lesson #3- There is coming a day of reckoning.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, or all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool God any of the time.
Matthew 24
36"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ’My master is staying away a long time,’ 49and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
There is coming a day of reckoning, a day when every man will be judged guilty or innocent. We cannot know that day, not even Jesus knows. All we can do is be ready. Bible says- for it is appointed for man to die, then comes the judgment. We will all die and stand before the judgment seat of Christ, unless we are alive when Jesus comes back.
There is a day of reckoning for Christians.
Matthew 25
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37"Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40"The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41"Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44"They also will answer, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45"He will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Works do not save you. It was not just the feeding of the hungry, the clothing of the naked, the visiting of the sick. It is what motivated these people to these things.
Jesus says in Matthew 22:
34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " ’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ’Love your neighbor as yourself. 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
A heart for Jesus, a love for others motivated these people to action.
What does your heart for Jesus motivate you to do? Anything?
As we have seen in Jesus’ classroom today, it is all about what has taken place in your heart that will matter on that day of judgment. Not just what happened in the baptistry, but what happened when you came up out of the baptistry.
What happens in your life after the baptistry is as important as what happened in the baptistry.
There is a day of reckoning for the lost.
The Parable of the Tenants
33"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37Last of all, he sent his son to them. ’They will respect my son,’ he said.
38"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ’This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
41"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
42Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
" ’The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."[
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
God grants people chance after chance to accept his Son. Do you realize that if you are not a Christian, and you walk out these doors without Christ, you are rejecting God’s son. You are saying ehh no thanks God. Some day the chances to accept Jesus will run out. Someday there will be no more invitation songs.
