Latest / Reformed Thinking / From Empty Profession to Repentant Obedience (Matthew 21:28–32)

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From Empty Profession to Repentant Obedience (Matthew 21:28–32) · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine looking at a beautiful hurricane proof building.
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You know, you see this solid brick exterior, a gorgeous
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marble facade, steel beams framing the windows, and you
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just assume, well, this thing can withstand anything the
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climate throws at it. You trust the visual evidence
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you know right in front of your eyes.
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Yeah, that makes total sense. We all do that.
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But then say you step into the world of forensic engineering
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and suddenly that beautiful facade means nothing.
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You look at a structural landscape that is honestly it's
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terrifying. Oh wow.
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Yeah, the outside looks incredibly secure, but the
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interior guarantees A catastrophic collapse.
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Like the very second real pressure is applied because the
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load bearing walls are just completely hollow.
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That is a brilliant way to picture it.
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I mean, we naturally gravitate toward appearances, right?
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For sure, we want things looks dirty.
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We want them to have all the right aesthetics on the outside.
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But when the structural integrity is compromised at the
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core, well, the building is nothing more than a highly
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decorated trap. Welcome to reformed thinking.
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Today we are looking at the theological equivalent of that
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hollow building. Yes, we are.
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We're doing a deep dive into a stack of historical and
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theological commentaries, and we're unpacking the parable of
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the two sons. You can find that in the Gospel
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of Matthew, chapter 21, verses 28 through 32.
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Such a heavy text. It really is so.
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Our mission today is to strip away that veneer of religious
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respectability. We want to examine the severe
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collision between outward profession and actual obedience,
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and we need to understand how true repentance functions within
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a strict Reformed biblical framework.
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Absolutely. So I have a direct question for
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you, the listener. Does your profession match your
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practice? Are you simply saying the right
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things, or has sovereign grace actually compelled you to act?
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That is the big question. Yeah, and real quick, before we
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get going, just a note on our format today.
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We have some ground rules for our conversation.
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Both of us are going to let each other finish our thoughts
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completely. We want to ensure no
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interruptions throughout the entire discussion.
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We want to give these massive theological concepts the
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breathing room they deserve. I love that.
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And you know, to understand the sheer force of this parable, we
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first have to we have to set the stage where the trap was
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actually sprung. OK, set it up for us.
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Well, Jesus isn't telling a pleasant bedtime story in some
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quiet pastoral field in Galilee. You know he is standing in the
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very center of religious authority.
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The setting is the Jerusalem Temple courts, right?
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And the timeline places a squarely on Tuesday of Passion
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Week. So just days before the cross.
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Precisely. Just a short time prior, Jesus
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cleansed the temple. I mean, he physically drove out
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the money changers and he entered the city to massive
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messianic acclaim during the triumphal entry.
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So the atmosphere in Jerusalem is intensely charged.
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The towder cake. Yeah, every single step he takes
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is being scrutinized and he is confronted right there by the
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Sanhedrin, which comprises the chief priests and the elders of
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the people. Let's pause and unpack who the
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Sanhedrin actually are for a moment, because we often just
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read chief priests and we think of like regular local all.
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Right, guys in nice suits at a local church, Yeah.
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But this is the absolute highest judicial and ecclesiastical
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authority in all of Israel. This is the Supreme Court, the
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Senate, and the Supreme Theological Board all rolled
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into one massive institution. Oh.
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Absolutely. These are the men who hold the
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keys to the entire culture. Spot on.
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The Sanhedrin is the ruling elite and they March right up to
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him in the temple courts and directly challenge his authority
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to act and teach. Just totally brazen.
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Yeah, and we have to recognize that this is the very end of the
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Old Covenant administration. These leaders are the official
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custodians of the Mosaic institutions.
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They are the man entrusted with guarding the truth.
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But they didn't guard it, did they?
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No. Over generations they
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institutionalized Pharisaic legalism.
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They turned the covenant into this rigid system of outward
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performance, and they completely missed the substance of the
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moral law, right? They created a culture where
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looking righteous was far more highly valued than actually
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being righteous. OK, let's unpack this with an
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analogy that maybe hits a bit closer to home for you, the
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listener. This entire scene is kind of
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like a rogue CEO crashing the board meeting of corrupt
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corporate executives. I like where this is going.
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Yeah. So these executives, they have
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flawless resumes, perfectly tailored suits, and they control
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the entire on paper. They know all the corporate
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jargon. Oh yeah, all the buzzwords.
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But then the CEO bypasses them entirely.
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He starts hiring the disgraced, fired employees right off the
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street, the absolute outcasts. Wow.
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And he does this because those outcasts actually recognize the
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company's true mission. While the board members, they're
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just protecting their own salaries and their own status.
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That is the kind of shockwave Jesus is sending through the
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temple. He's looking at the people who
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look perfect on paper and he is entirely dismantling their our
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authority. That captures the dynamic
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perfectly. And what's really fascinating
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here is the redemptive historical context.
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I mean, this is not a friendly academic debate over a cup of
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tea in a seminary classroom, Not at all.
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No, it is a strategic, high stakes judicial challenge.
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When they asked Jesus by what authority he does these things,
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Jesus refuses to play their game.
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He counters by asking them about John the Baptist's authority.
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He. Flips it right back on them.
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He does, and the leaders are instantly trapped in a massive
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dilemma of their own making. If they say John's authority was
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from heaven, Jesus will just ask why they rejected his message.
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Right. And if they say it was from men,
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well, then they. Fear the crowds because the
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public views John as a genuine prophet, so they feigned
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ignorance. They claim they do not know, and
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Jesus then delivers this parable as a precise judicial strike.
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And to really feel the weight of that strike, we need to look at
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the socio political backdrop of the 1st century.
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Jesus brings up two very specific groups of people in
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this text, tax collectors and prostitutes.
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Yeah, the. Lowest of the low.
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No, when we hear tax collector today, we might just think of
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like an annoying auditor at the IRS.
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But in the 1st century, a tax collector or a publican was
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considered a Covenantal traitor, weren't they?
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Yes, the animosity toward them was absolute.
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They were Jewish men who had essentially bought the right to
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collect taxes for the oppressive Roman Empire.
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So they were working for the enemy.
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Exactly. I mean spot on.
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Rome would demand a specific amount, and the tax collector
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would extort whatever extra he could force out of his own
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countrymen just to line his own pockets.
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Unbelievable. Yeah, they were viewed as the
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lowest kind of traders, bleeding their own neighbors dry to fund
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a Pagan occupation. And then, of course, you have
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the prostitutes, who represent peak moral and ceremonial
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defilement in that society. These two groups are the
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absolute bottom of the barrel. They are the outcasts, the
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untouchables. Yet Jesus points out that these
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very outcasts are the ones who actually believed John the
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Baptist's message of repentance. While the polished elite
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rejected him entirely. Right.
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The historical warning here is staggering.
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Religious tradition, orthodox vocabulary, and high
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ecclesiastical office provide zero shield against divine
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judgement if they lack the way of righteousness.
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Wow. OK, so now that we've
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established the massive tension in that room, we need to look at
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the specific weapon Jesus uses to expose them.
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It's a deceptively simple story of two sons.
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It really is brilliant. It is.
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This parable sits as the first in a triad of judgement
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parables. It's followed immediately by the
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Parable of the Wicked Tenants and then the Parable of the
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Adding Feast. Right.
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They build on each other, Yeah. Together they form a sustained,
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escalating indictment against the leadership of Israel.
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So in this first parable, a father goes to his two sons and
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tells them to work in the vineyard.
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The first son bluntly says, I will not.
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But later he feels remorse and goes to work.
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Right. The second son politely says, I
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go Sir, but never actually steps foot in the vineyard.
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Jesus then forces the Pharisees to answer a simple question.
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Which of the two did the will of his Father?
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And they can't avoid answering it.
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No, they can't. The religious leaders answer
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correctly. They say the first son, and in
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doing so they pronounce their own condemnation.
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They are the second son. They said all the right things,
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but they did absolutely nothing. To really grasp what is
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happening internally with that first son, we have to look
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closely at the Greek text. The text uses the Greek word
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metamelami, which it describes a change of mind accompanied by
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agonizing remorse and a massive shift of affections.
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OK, so it's not just a casual. Whoops.
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Not at all. This is distinct from the word
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metanaway, which focuses more on a change of purpose or
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direction. Minimal might carries a heavy,
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emotional, gut wrenching weight. Like a real visceral reaction.
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Yes, think of the difference between someone who is just
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sorry they got caught and someone who suddenly realizes
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the horrific piton they have caused someone they love,
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leading to a total breakdown and a change of action.
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That is a huge difference. The first son felt this
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agonizing, soul crushing remorse over his rebellion.
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Jesus points out that the religious elite, even after
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physically witnessing the absolute lowest members of
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society, turning to God and brokenness, they didn't even
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feel that remorse afterwards. They felt nothing.
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Right. Their hearts were entirely
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calcified. They saw the outcasts weeping,
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changing their lives and submitting to the baptism of
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John, and the leaders stood there with their arms crossed,
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completely unmoved. But hang on, let me let me play
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devil's advocate here for a second.
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If the first son was so completely depraved, isn't it
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unfair to the second son who at least tried to maintain some
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social order? How do you mean?
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Well, in a culture of honor and shame, especially especially in
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the ancient Near East, wouldn't that initial brazen defiance
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from the first son be the ultimate insult?
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You would think the father would immediately disown the first son
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for that kind of public disrespect.
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That's a fairpoint. It is basically saying I wish
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you were dead and I reject your authority over my life.
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The second son at least offered the expected cultural
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politeness. So why does the parable
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seemingly reward the guy who threw a massive tantrum over the
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guy who was just trying to keep the peace?
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That is a phenomenal question and it gets to the very heart of
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the text. Jesus does not excuse the first
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sons rebellion at all. The initial no is fully sinful,
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holy, blameworthy, and objectively offensive to the
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Father. OK, so he's not praising the
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tantrum. No, definitely not.
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Jesus isn't saying that throwing a tantrum or living a life of
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blatant rebellion is acceptable, but the entire passage hinges on
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the word afterward. Afterward, he repented.
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Yes. It hinges on the agonizing
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internal shift that leads to actual, tangible submission.
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The second son's polite agreement was nothing more than
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a smokescreen. He was trying to keep the peace
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verbally, but his heart was just as rebellious as the first sons.
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He just masked it with manners. I see.
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The first son's initial rebellion was authentic in its
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depravity, but his subsequent remorse was equally authentic,
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leading to real labor in the vineyard.
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The text forces us to recognize that God is entirely unimpressed
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by verbal compliance if the hands remain idle, right?
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True obedience requires a broken will, not just a polished
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vocabulary. The second son never broke, he
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just lied. OK, that makes total sense.
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The manners were just a facade, but here is where it gets really
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interesting, because seeing the severe difference between these
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two sons forces us to ask how a rebellious outcast actually
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changes their mind in the first place.
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That's the $1,000,000 theological question.
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Right. I mean, a person who genuinely
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hates the authority of the Father doesn't just wake up one
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day and decide to love the vineyard.
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This leads us directly into the core doctrines of Reformed
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theology. We are talking about the concept
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of effectual calling. What's Mr. Confession chapter
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10? Yes, the tax collectors and
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prostitutes believed John the Baptist, but this was not some
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self determined free will choice.
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If you look at this through a reformed lens, you expressly
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reject the Armenian view that fallen humans have the innate
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moral ability to choose God on their own.
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But let's avoid just throwing textbook definitions around for
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you guys listening. What does that actually look
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like? What does it mean to say they
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lacked the moral ability? Let's use a medical analogy to
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clarify this. The Armenian view often treats
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sin like a severe illness. The patient is very sick, maybe
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even in a coma, but there's still a tiny spark of life
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inside them. Like they just need a little
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help. Yeah, God offers the medicine of
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salvation, but the patient still has to use their remaining
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strength to reach out and accept it.
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If they don't reach out, they die.
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The Reformed view, however, looks at the biblical text and
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says the patient isn't sick. The patient is a corpse at the
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bottom of the ocean. Dead in trespasses and sins.
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Absolutely. They are spiritually dead.
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They are completely hostile to God.
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A corpse cannot reach out and grab medicine, so effectual
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calling is like a doctor using a massive defibrillator on a
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flatlining patient. The patient does not cooperate
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with the electricity. The electricity does the
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sovereign work of bringing them back to life.
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God issues the outward call through the preaching of the
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Word, in this case John the Baptist preaching.
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And the Holy Spirit performs the inward irresistible work of
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quickening the dead heart. He replaces the heart of stone
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with a heart of flesh, and suddenly the person who hated
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the vineyard wakes up, feels the agonizing remorse of their
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rebellion, and willingly goes to work.
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That defibrillator analogy is perfect.
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It highlights that the life giving work comes entirely from
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the outside. The dead person brings nothing
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to the table except the deadness.
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Very well put. And that brings us to the
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doctrine of justification, which is Westminster Confession,
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Chapter 11. The first son did not earn his
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status as a son by working in the vineyard.
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He was already a son when the father approached him.
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His labor in the vineyard was the evidence of his sonship, not
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the cause of it. Yes, we have to be absolutely
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precise here. This directly refutes the Roman
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Catholic error of workspace justification.
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That error teaches that our cooperative works, fueled by
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grace, somehow merit a right standing before God.
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Which just ruins the gospel entirely.
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It does. The Reform position insists that
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Christ's perfect righteousness alone is the sole ground of our
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standing before the Father. The First Son's labor in the
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vineyard did not make him justified.
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It was the inevitable visible fruit of a sovereignly changed
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heart, proving that his repentance was genuine.
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Right. The work authenticates the
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faith, right? If he had felt remorse but
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stayed in bed, the remorse would have been a lie.
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And we also have to look at how the father's command functions.
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Here. The father says go work.
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Today in my vineyard in Reformed Theology, we talk about the
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different uses of the moral law. Yes, the three uses.
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The first use of the law is to act as a mirror.
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When you look in the mirror of that command, it exposes the
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outright brazen rebellion of the first son who says no.
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It also exposes the lying coded hypocrisy of the second son who
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says yes but does nothing. It leaves them without excuse.
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It condemns them both initially, it shows them what the father
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demands, and it shows how far short they fall.
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Right. And for the believer, that same
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command points to the third use of the law outlined in Chapter
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19 of the confession. Once the heart is changed by
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grace, the law is no longer a terrifying judge condemning you
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to death. That is such a crucial shift.
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It really is. Instead, it becomes a rule of
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life to be followed in immense gratitude.
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The first son doesn't go to the vineyard to avoid being thrown
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out of the family. He goes because his heart has
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been changed and he now desires to do the Father's will.
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That completely destroys any human pride.
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Oh, totally. Yeah, it strips away all
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religious pedigree. You cannot hold up your baptism
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certificate, your church attendance record, or your
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theological degrees as proof of your obedience.
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The only proof is the calluses on your hands from working in
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the vineyard out of love. But wait, let me ask you this If
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the first son just responded to the command, and if the outcast
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responded to the preaching of John the Baptist, what stops
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modern believers from claiming they heard a a voice telling
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them to act? I see what you're getting.
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At we see this all the time, right?
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People say God told me to do this, or I received a word from
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the Lord. How do we know the difference
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between the Father's true command and just our own
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internal monologue or an emotional whim?
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That is a critical issue. The Reformed confessions teach
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us the sufficiency of scripture. We hold to cessationism, which
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means that we're rely entirely on the closed Canon of scripture
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rather than seeking ongoing signs, wonders, or new personal
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revelations. Right.
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No new prophets today. Exactly, or rather spot on.
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The analogy of faith found in WCF Chapter 1, paragraph 9
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teaches that Scripture interprets Scripture.
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We do not need new extra biblical prophecies to tell us
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what to do. The Father's command is already
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explicitly given in his written word.
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So the outcasts weren't waiting for a feeling.
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No, the outcasts submitted to the prophetic word already
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delivered by John, which aligned perfectly with the Old Testament
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prophets. They did not wait for a
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supernatural sign in the sky. They heard the objective truth
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preached, felt the remorse and obeyed.
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Well, the Pharisees wanted a magic trick.
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Right. The religious leaders demanded
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signs and constantly questioned Jesus's authority, masking their
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unbelief behind a veil of theological inquiry.
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True faith submits to the revealed written word, demanding
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strict doctrinal purity over a dead mystical orthodoxy that
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seeks experiences while neglecting the actual labor of
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obedience. That leaves us with a glaring
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gap in the story though. If we look closely, both sons in
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this parable are severely flawed. 1 is a blatant rebel who
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throws A tantrum but of eventually repents.
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The other is a polite, chronic liar who does nothing.
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Neither of them represents perfect obedience.
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Neither of them honors the Father completely from start to
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finish. No human good.
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Right. And this points us toward a
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massive redemptive historical reality.
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We need a perfect son. The entire parable leaves us
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longing for someone who gets it right.
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Jesus is the unspoken third son in this narrative.
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That is a beautiful way to frame it.
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Where we said I will not in our total depravity, and where we
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offered cheap lip service in our legalistic hypocrisy, Christ
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actually entered the Vineyard to perfectly Florida State do the
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Father's will. That is the theological pinnacle
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of this text. To understand how Jesus fulfills
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this, we have to look at the distinction between Christ's
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active and passive obedience. Wait, passive makes it sound
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like Jesus just sat there and let things happen to him, like
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he was a helpless victim swept up in the current of Roman
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politics, But the cross was incredibly active.
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Right. Absolutely.
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He sweat drops of blood in the garden, preparing for it.
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He carried the wood. So what does passive actually
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mean in this theological context?
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I'm glad you brought that up, because the terminology can
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definitely be confusing for people in theology.
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Passive does not mean inactive. It comes from the Latin word
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passio, which means to suffer. Oh, like the Passion of the
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Christ. Precisely so.
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Passive obedience refers to Him willingly and during the penalty
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of the broken law. He absorbed the agonizing wrath
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of the Father, taking the full judicial punishment for our
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rebellious No. He suffered the consequence of
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our disobedience so that our debt would be paid.
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And the act of obedience is the other side of that coin, right?
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Because if Jesus only died for our sins, our debt would be 0,
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but we still wouldn't have any positive righteousness to
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present to the Father. We would just be blank slates.
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Correct. Christ's act of obedience refers
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to His perfect conformity to the moral law.
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During his entire earthly life, He never once said I will not,
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and He never once said I go, Sir, and then failed to act.
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Total perfection. Every single thought, word and
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deed was an absolute joyful submission to the Father.
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By doing this, He secured a perfect record of representative
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righteousness for His people. When we are united to Him by
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faith, His perfect yes is credited to our account.
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That is incredible. And we also see Christ operating
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in his threefold office here in the temple courts as a prophet.
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He doesn't just predict the future, He exposes the darkened
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heart of the elite with undeniable divine authority.
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He shines A harsh light on them. He speaks truth that cuts
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straight through their polished facades and exposes the rot
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inside. He is acting as the ultimate
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truth teller. Yes, and as a king, he
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pronounces a massive judicial displacement.
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He looks right at the men holding the reins of religious
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authority, the men sitting in the seats of power, and
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essentially tells them they are fired.
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Just completely strict of their roles.
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Yeah, the Kingdom is being violently taken from them and
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given to those who actually submit to his rule.
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He exercises absolute sovereign authority right in their own
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headquarters. Then, as a priest, he provides
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the exact righteousness that the outcasts so desperately lack.
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He doesn't just condemn the proud, He makes a way for the
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broken. He makes their entrance into the
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Kingdom possible through his own sacrifice.
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It's all of grace. If you are listening to this
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right now and you identify heavily with that first son.
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If you have a history of blatant rebellion, of saying a loud
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aggressive no to God with your lifestyle choices, your
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addictions, or your anger. Listen closely.
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Your entrance into the Kingdom isn't granted because your
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repentance was somehow good enough to earn it.
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It isn't because you worked hard enough in the vineyard afterward
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to pay off your debt. It is entirely because you are
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united by faith to the third Son, Jesus Christ, who already
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finished the work on your behalf.
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Your labor now is just the joyful, grateful response to
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what He has already accomplished for you.
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That is the essence of the Gospel.
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The judgement delivered in those temple courts was not an
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isolated event locked away in the 1st century.
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It functions as a direct, blazing indictment of the modern
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church landscape, specifically as we observe it today.
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Which is pretty bleak in a lot of places.
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Very true. We have to apply this to our own
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ecclesial context. The modern evangelical sphere is
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heavily saturated with pragmatism, the seeker,
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sensitive movement and decisionism.
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Let's let's break those turns down for the listener really
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quickly. Pragmatism is basically the idea
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that whatever gets people in the door is good.
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Right, focus on the numbers. Yeah, then the seeker sensitive
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movement tries to remove anything offensive from the
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service to make it as appealing as possible to the unbeliever.
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Watering down the message. And decisionism is the idea that
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salvation is secured the moment someone walks down an aisle and
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repeats a prayer, regardless of whether their life actually
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changes. Spot on.
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So many modern churches prioritize getting people to
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simply say yes to Jesus, mirroring the exact behavior of
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the second son. They want the verbal profession,
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the raised hand, the filled out connection card.
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It's all metrics. They measure success by how many
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people say the right words, but they demand absolutely no
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discipleship, no turning from sin, and no actual labor in the
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vineyard. They create a culture of second
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sons. It breeds a terrifying form of
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antinomianism. People want Jesus as a savior
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from hell, but they entirely reject him as Lord over their
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actual lives. They want the title of sun
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without ever getting their hands dirty.
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In the practical vineyard of life.
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That's tragic. They want the grace, but they
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actively despise the law as a rule of life.
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They think because they are under grace, how they live no
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longer matters. Which goes directly against the
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text. It does.
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And this makes me think about the severe danger of simply
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growing up in the church. What is the specific danger for
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someone who has been surrounded by sound theology and Reformed
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teaching their entire life? That brings a stark, terrifying
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warning. Exposure to sound doctrine.
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Growing up in a Christian home and learning the Orthodox
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vocabulary is an immense mercy from God.
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It is a massive privilege to know the truth.
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But there's a catch. A big one.
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If that exposure is met without true agonizing repentance, it
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guarantees a much more severe judgement.
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We can learn to speak with absolute theological precision.
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We can quote the confession, sing the theologically dense
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hymns, and debate the finer points of Calvinism with our
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friends, all while our hearts remain entirely unregenerate.
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Oh, that is a scary thought. The chief priests and elders
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knew the Scriptures better than anyone else alive.
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They had the temple, the covenants, the history.
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Yet that proximity to the truth only hardened them because they
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substituted their proximity for actual submission.
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They mistook knowing about God for actually knowing God.
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Right. If you know the right answers,
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but your will remains unsubdued, you're in the exact position of
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the second son. You're standing in the temple
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courts looking at the truth and remaining completely unmoved.
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That is a chilling reality check, but for those who are
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genuinely burdened by their sin, this text is a massive lifeline.
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For the person weighed down by public disgrace, secret sexual
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sin, crippling addiction or a string of broken promises, the
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text offers immense hope. It is a text of immense grace.
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Grace entirely triumphs over past rebellion.
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The tax collectors and prostitutes were not barred from
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the Kingdom because their sins were too ugly or too public.
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They were welcomed because their repentance was real.
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And that connects beautifully to the administration of the Lord's
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Supper in our churches. It does.
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The communion table is not a stage for the self-righteous
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second son who is resting in his empty profession in his clean
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moral record. The table is a hospital bed for
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the broken first son who is fleeing from his own rebellion,
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feeling the weight of his sin and clinging desperately to the
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Savior for mercy. Right, it's for the sick, not
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the healthy. Christ invites those who know
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they are sick, those who know they have nothing to offer but
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their need for His righteousness.
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And this reality carries a massive eschatological urgency.
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We are looking toward the imminent premillennial return of
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the Lord Jesus Christ. The King is returning to
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physically judge the nations. He is coming back.
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He is coming back to inspect his vineyard.
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When that day arrives, we must be found actively doing the
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things He commands, not just standing around saying Lord,
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Lord while producing 0 fruit. The return of Christ leaves
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absolutely no room for an empty profession.
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The timeline is finite and the demand for genuine obedience is
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absolute. The physical return of Christ is
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the ultimate conclusion to this parable.
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He will separate the wheat from the chaff.
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He will look at the internal reality, not just the external
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facade. The Hollow building.
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Yes, the hollow building will be exposed when the storm of
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judgement arrives. So what does this all mean for
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you, the listener? Let's bring all of this
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together. The Kingdom of God is not not
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impressed by your polished vocabulary, your perfect church
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attendance, or your social respectability.
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None of it matters. It requires a spirit wrought
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change of mind, that agonizing remorse we discussed that
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inevitably leads to obedient, grateful action.
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And all of that action is anchored entirely in the
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finished, perfect work of Christ, the true third Son who
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perfectly obeyed the Father on our behalf.
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I want to leave you with a final thought to ponder on your own.
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Think back to that hollow building we talked about at the
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beginning, the one with the perfect facade but a rotten
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interior. When the king returns to inspect
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the vineyard, will he find calluses on your hands from
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joyful, strenuous labor, or will he only find a perfectly typed
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resume of all the times you promised to go tomorrow?