Morning message to my Youth group

Good morning fambam,

“But what do you think?
A man had two sons.
He went to the FIRST and said,

‘My son, go, work in the vineyard today.’
“He answered, ‘I don’t want to!’

Yet later he changed his mind and went.

Then the man went to the OTHER and said the same thing.“
‘I will, sir,’ he answered.

But he didn’t go.

"Which of the two did his father’s will?”
“The first,” they said.

Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you!
For John came to you in the way of righteousness,
and you didn’t believe him.
Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him,
but you, when you saw it,
didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭21:28-32‬ ‭

What is your mind made up about?

And by His wounds we are healed.  (Is. 53:5)

Not by our goodness or our deeds, but we will know that He is God because we do His will.

Like the FIRST son, we may not appear good or perfect, we may kick and scream "nooooooo" but having calmed down we then remember the gospel and put our own preferences aside and do what God says because we have made Him our Authority, our King.
We are no longer the King of our lives.  We are such a person that HAS A KING rather than one who thinks himself the king.

Those who do the will of the Father--which is to love one another in the same way that Christ had laid his life down to love you (John 15:17)--will be known in the Kingdom as the true sons and daughters of God.

Paul wrote that if we do something willingly then we are doing it to get a reward, (good deed = good reward), but when we do something we hear from God that we don't want to do then we are doing it out of stewardship.  Stewardship means we have been entrusted with a command, and our feelings may be there, but it is our actions that will reveal whether you are the first or other son.

“For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I am entrusted with a stewardship.

Although I am a free man and not anyone’s slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone, in order to win more people.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭9:17, 19‬ ‭

Paul is not saying to have an appearance of "do-gooders" here, but he's saying that when we do something unwillingly yet obediently to God we are carrying out God's desires before our own (freely) as recognition of Him being our King, even if it means becoming like a servant to others...losing our sense of dignity.

If we are to be like the first son it means no matter how we feel or what others think of us we act according to God's will, but if like the other son we say with our thoughts/mouths that we will do what God wants, yet we don't then let us be aware that we have not chosen to do God's will.  We are just talking talk.

To do God's will means to lay down our own will ...our very own freedom to choose, so that we would take up God's will and make that our lives.
To freely choose not to be the king of our lives, but to choose to make God the King of our lives.
Not everyone will want God to be their King, only the broken-spirited, needy, and hurting will want Him, and each day we are drawing closer to God by carrying out His will through our understanding of the gospel.
It is painful at times, but recognizing our deeper pain of who we really are will humble us toward His great love.

That we are sinners, broken, and messy.  That He is perfect, good, and full of life and love to give us freely.  The gospel is hope for those who, like the prostitutes and tax collectors, have been in deep need of something more in this life.

Be like the first son or the other son.
Only one does the will of the Father.
Come to Him all who are weary and burdened, and He will give you rest.  (Matt. 11:28)

Rest is on the other side of obedience.

2 miles

It's been too long. 

“And if anyone forces you to go one mile, 

go with him two.”

Matthew 5:41 

How funny that I've never really considered the application and implication of this "saying of Jesus."

First of all, I don't like being forced into anything.  I can't do those workout group classes very well or even work with a personal trainer (aka my boyfriend) because I just don't like being told what to do.  It feels like a form of being forced, and if I'm being forced then it leaves me feeling uncomfortably powerless.  

It's funny how Jesus alludes to the activity of being forced to "go one mile."  

That sounds downright miserable.  

Working out is hard enough, but having to workout when you don't want to is draining.  You feel:  powerless.  We might even phrase the saying as "if someone takes some power from you, let him have more leaving you even more powerless than at first."

Being forced to go one mile is bad enough, but I think what Jesus is saying when He says to add one more is that in doing more for the other we no longer make it something forced but an active choice.  That choice, if made in accordance to what Christ says, gives glory to God.  We have to remain free by choosing to do more than that which was asked of us otherwise we are just doing what we have to.  In giving more we are no longer being forced but exercising our freedom as God's children. 

“And if anyone forces you to go one mile, 

go with him two.”

Matthew 5:41 

The next time we find ourselves in a demand let us double our efforts to move from being forced to freely giving so that all men would see our actions and glorify God.  Jesus takes things to the supreme level by saying that everything we do can be directed to giving God the glory and here's how:  exercise your freedom in a way that glorifies Your Father. 

Don't let the feeling of power fool you, power belongs to God alone.  Good riddance if people take away the power you have if it leads to the reliance on the power God has. 

Jmegrey.