Don't Bother Me!

Matthew 21:23-32:
"And when He had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came
to Him as He was teaching, and said, By what authority do you do these things?
And who gave you this authority?

"And Jesus answered and said to them, I will also ask you one thing; which if you tell Me,
I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

The baptism of John, where was it from? From Heaven or from men?
And they reasoned within themselves, saying, If we shall say, From Heaven, he will say to us,
Why then did you not believe him?
But if we shall say From men, we fear the people; for all consider John as a prophet.

And they answered Jesus and said, We cannot tell.
And He said to them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

But what do you think?
A man had two sons; and he came to the first and said, Son, go work in my vineyard today.
He answered and said, I will not. But afterwards he repented and went.

And he came to the second and said likewise.
And he answered and said, I go, sir; and did not go.

Which of the two did the will of his father? They said to Him, The first.
Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that the tax-collectors and the harlots go into
the kingdom of God before you.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him.
But the tax-collectors and the harlots believed him.
And when you had seen it, you did not repent afterwards so that you might believe him."

When Jesus says, "What do you think?", He is talking to the chief priests and the elders.
Jesus is teaching in the temple and the temple leaders have questioned His authority.
And when these chief priests and elders ask Jesus by what authority he was doing this teaching, Jesus puts it back on them by asking them a question.
He asks whether the baptism of John came from heaven or whether it was of human origin.

This put the temple leaders in a dilemma.
They know that if they say that John's baptism was from above, then they would be seen
as believers.
But if they say John's baptism is not from above, they were fearful of the public backlash
because they knew that many believed the teaching of John the Baptist.
So they try to avoid the conflict by saying, "We don't know."

Then Jesus asked them, "What do you think," and then, He tells them the parable
of the two sons.
But they didn't get His point.
They don't understand that he is testing their previous response to his question about
the baptism of John and testing their faith and their belief.

So when Jesus asked them which of the two sons has done the will of the father,
they respond without hesitation that it is the son said, "No," but later went to work as his
father had asked.

The story reminds us that many Christians say, "No," to God.
One son promised he would go work, but did nothing.
This son represented the Jews who claimed to believe in God.

The second son said, "No," but latter changed his mind, and did what his father had asked.
The first son in this story said, "Yes", but he didn't do what he had promised.
Jesus had some stern warnings to those who claim to know God, but refused to live for Him.

Now that we have looked the context of these verses, I want us to look at the
simple story that Jesus tells of the two sons.

The second son had told his father that he would not work for him, but afterwards
changed his mind, and did what he father commanded him.
It could be that this son started thinking about telling his father that that he wouldn't go
to work for his father.

He probably said to himself, "I am reconsidering my answer to my father.
My father has been so good to me, and he deserves my service.
I saw the disappointment on his face.
I am so sorry that I grieved him.
The thought of grieving him makes me change my mind".

He could have started to think: "I need to remember that I will also be working
for my own good for all that my father owns will belong to me.
I know that my father was thinking that I needed the discipline of working for my own good."
So, he gets his tools, and goes to work.
He said, "I will not," but he repented and went to work for his father.

This father had provided his sons with food, lodging, and everything they needed.
Everything the father had belonged to them.
And for all that he had done for them, he expected them to be grateful,
and do their share of the work to be done.

Now let us look at ourselves.

I have always thought that whenever someone is born again, that person will automatically
desire to serve God.
Often, I would hear my pastor say: "We are saved to serve!"
I believe that a Christian will want to express his gratitude for his salvation and for having
all his sins forgiven and for God giving him eternal life and a home in heaven.
A Christian should be so grateful to God that he would want to serve God
and please Him for the rest of his life.

We know from God's Word that there is only one way of salvation, and that Jesus is
the only way.
It is either Jesus or Satan.
It is either Christ or the world.
It is either lost or saved.
It is either life or death.
It is either heaven or hell.
Jesus said that we are for Him or against Him.

There is a saying that close doesn't count, except in horseshoes and grenades.
Half-way and half-hearted doesn't mean anything in the service of God.
We either work in the vineyard, or we don't. .
So, we are obedient to God or we are not.

And there are also two truths about serving God.
We either are serving Him or we are serving ourselves.
It seems that many have received God's gracious salvation, and they truly want to go
to heaven when they die, but they don't want to be bothered.

And they come up with many excuses not to be bothered about serving Christ and His Church.

These Christians can be described as the indulgers.
These people are not really bad, but when the alarm goes off on Sunday morning
they shut it off and roll over and and go back to sleep.
They have convinced themselves that it won't hurt them to miss Sunday school
and morning worship.
Their attitude is that I can get along without the church, and they can get along without me.
They will tell you that they are Christians, but they are Christians who have received God's great
salvation, but at the same time they are going to be in charge of their own lives.

There are also Christians who are excuse-makers.
One major excuse of theirs is: " I work six days a week, and Sunday is the only day
I have to rest."
Another excuse is: " I used to work hard at the church when the children were little,
but now it's time for the younger people to take over. I deserve a rest."
Then there is the excuse: " I don't get anything out of the church -- so why go?"
All the excuses add up to the same thing, and that is they are saying, "No" to God.
They don't want to be bothered.

Also, there are Christians who are complainers.
One complaint is, " All they want down at that church is my money. I'm sick and tired of it."
Another is, " They keep changing things, and it's not like it used to be in the good old days."
Another is, " As long as so and so is in charge, you can count me out."
They are saying, " I am going to do what I please,"and they are telling God to
"Get someone else for I don't want to be bothered."

Another group are the withdrawers.
" Nobody speaks to me at church. Nobody pays any attention to me."
" I like to sneak in after the service has started and slip out during the benediction."
" The church is OK, but I don't want to get involved."
These people are saying, "No, God, I don't want to be bothered."

Some years ago I read an article that asked: " Are you one of these people?"
This is a story about four people.
It is about Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

Everybody was sure Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.

Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody.
So, of course, it wasn't done.

It is usually true in organizations that no more than 20% of the members do at least 80%
of the work and give 80% of the money.
The rest would rather not be bothered.

There is a law called Olmstead's Law.
This law says, " After all is said and done… a lot more is said than done."
Jesus makes his point clear -- good intentions are not enough.
And promises mean nothing if they are not kept.

Many would say that they want to do meaningful things, but often they promise more than
they willing to do.
I believe that most of us would want to think that what we do matters.
This was the conclusion of a study conducted some years ago for a manufacturing firm.
A few of the questions that the participators were asked:
" Why do you work?"

Surprisingly, the most frequent answer had nothing to do with money.
Some said they worked, " To feel useful."
Some said, " To have a sense of accomplishment."
Some answered, " To lead a productive life."
This indicated that people wanted to feel they counted for something to somebody.

Everybody would like to count for something, but then, not everybody would like to do
what it takes to achieve this goal.
The irresponsible or lazy person never get to their goal.
Many Christians have grown tired or stale, and get stuck in their routines.
Many have dedicated themselves to the schedule of sameness.
They would rather not be bothered.

While many hours are spent on committee meetings and frequent fellowships,
not many are willing to do the work of evangelism and do the service and the work
that God has called all of us to do.
Too many are not willing to do the work that is not visible to a lot of people.
The problem is seen in the illustration the farmer in the old south

After the decisive battle of Appomattox, an old farmer who was loyal to the Confederate cause
decided to hire many of General Robert E. Lee's vets who needed a few days work
to make a enough money to get home.

The farmer was uneducated, but he wasn't ignorant.
He placed the ex-soldiers in working squads according to their service rank.
A visiting neighbor asked him about the first group he saw.

He said: " Them is privates, sir, of Lee's army, and they are first-rate workers."
Then he was asked about the second group.
He answered: " Them is lieutenants and captains, and they works fairly well,
but not as good as the privates."

When he was asked about the third group who were the colonels, and what kind of workers
they were, the wily old farmer answered, " Now, neighbor, you'll never hear me say one word
ag'in any man who fit in the Southern army, but I ain't a-gwine to hire no generals."

It is also true in the work of the church that there isn't much room for generals.
Certainly, not if the generals have given up working in favor of ordering.
Jesus said that we must not allow ourselves to become like the Gentiles who enjoy
lording it over others.
Our leading is through serving and doing whatever God would have us do.
(Matthew 20:25-28)

Jesus hasn't called any of us to be the head of the church.
He is the head of the church.
If you've ever seen a many-headed church, then you have seen a monster.
A church has only one head, but it can use many hands and feet.

There is a story of a little French Village who had a lovely marble statue of Christ.
However, during the war the statue was badly damaged.
When peace came to the village, the villagers lovingly collected the fragments
that they could find and glued them back together.
But to their dismay, they couldn't find the hands.

Some of the villagers thought that the whole statue was ruined, since they couldn't
imagine a Christ without hands.
But one of the villagers had the imagination to transform the defect into a virtue.
The villager attached a plaque to the pedestal which said:
" I have no hands, but your hands."

Later, someone inspired by those words wrote this:
" I have no hands but your hands to do my work today.
I have no feet but your feet to lead men on the way.
I have no tongue but your tongue to tell men how I died.
I have no help but your help to bring men to God's side."

A man named Bob Wieland addressed a church from his wheelchair.
The 37 year-old veteran of Vietnam had no legs to stand on for they were blown away
during the war.
He spoke about hunger and his determination to do something to relieve
the world's starving population.

The pastor said: " We sat there in our well-fed comfort while he forced us to focus
on the terrible toll hunger takes."
He related that 28 people starved to death every minute of every day.
There are 40,000 starving to death every day, and 14,000,000 starving to death every year.

Bob couldn't stand it.
He had to do something about it.
But what could a legless man do?
He decided that he could use his arms.

So, on September 8: 1982 he left Knott's Berry Farm in California to begin his march
for hunger across the United States.
It took him six million steps on his hands to Washington, D.C.

He could have said, " I can't do that for I have no legs.
I am handicapped.
Surely no one would expect me to do something like that."
He could have said this, but he didn't.
He used what he had to serve the Lord.

Our heavenly Father says to each one of us,
" My child, give me everything you have.
I'll help you become a person I intended you to be when I made you -- and when I remade you."

William Wilberforce was one of England's giants, but you would have never known that
to look at him.
He was small, sickly, and so unsightly that when he first stood before the British House
of Commons the members broke into embarrassed smiles.

Then he began to speak, and their smirks turned to respectful attention.
This insignificant, appearing little man, more than any other person in England,
overturned his country's slavery institution.
Giving everything he had to the cause of freedom for the slaves, he transformed himself
into a giant along the way.
Someone said of him, " The little minnow became a whale."
He could have said, " Let somebody else do it."

The scripture is clear and we cannot escape the responsibilities and privileges
that we have as Christians.
Each one of us will give an account to God for our own service.

When you trusted Jsus as your Saviour and Lord, you were saying to God that you would
love Him and serve Him.
When your gave you life to God, it was a promise that you would go work in the vineyard,
just as surely as the son who said he would go work.
The question is, "In what ways do you live your life differently because of your faith?"

Think back over yesterday.
Was there anything you did differently because you are a Christian?
What about this past week?
What were the moments in which you were living your faith?
Now look ahead to today and to this coming week.
How will you live it differently because of your faith in Jesus Christ.

God wants to change our hearts so that we will show by our speech and by our actions
that we have been born again, and we are new creatures in Christ.
We need to pray: "Lord Jesus, change my heart so that I my only desire will be
to please you."

I do believe that most Christians have good intentions, but good intentions
are not enough.
And promises mean nothing if they are not kept!

Are you keeping your promises to God?
He is always there for you!
Are you telling God not to bother you or are you saying to God that you are ready to do
whatever God gives you to do?

Sermon adapted from many resources by Dr. Harold L. White