{"id":268,"date":"2023-08-09T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=268&2023"},"modified":"2023-08-07T18:00:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T00:00:01","slug":"stopping-god-matthew-21-28-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/stopping-god-matthew-21-28-32\/","title":{"rendered":"Stopping God: Matthew 21:28-32"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Matthew 21:28-32 (NCV)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\"><p><sup>28\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cTell me what you think about this: A man had two sons. He went to the first son and said, \u2018Son, go and work today in my vineyard.\u2019\u00a0<sup>29\u00a0<\/sup>The son answered, \u2018I will not go.\u2019 But later the son changed his mind and went.\u00a0<sup>30\u00a0<\/sup>Then the father went to the other son and said, \u2018Son, go and work today in my vineyard.\u2019 The son answered, \u2018Yes, sir, I will go and work,\u2019 but he did not go.\u00a0<sup>31\u00a0<\/sup>Which of the two sons obeyed his father?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>The priests and leaders answered, \u201cThe first son.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>Jesus said to them,\u00a0\u201cI tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before you do.\u00a0<sup>32\u00a0<\/sup>John came to show you the right way to live. You did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Even after seeing this, you still refused to change your ways and believe him.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew 21:28-32&amp;version=ncv\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Matthew 21:28-32<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>It is passages like this one that make me think Jesus enjoyed irritating the scribes and Pharisees. A simple reading in context tells me that Jesus had just finished responding to the challenge of where He got authority, and the discussion could have ended there. However, instead of changing the subject to something unrelated, it seems as though He turned and then began speaking directly to them.<\/p>\r\n<p>What really surprises me is Jesus\u2019 boldness. In the last verses of this passage, Jesus basically flips the spiritual tables on the religious hierarchy by telling them that tax collectors and prostitutes <em>(i.e. the worst in society)<\/em> will enter heaven before they do.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>What is the entrance test given here for God\u2019s kingdom?<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>Jesus tells us. It\u2019s the action of repentance \u2013 specifically belief in Jesus that leads to the action of repentance. Verse 32 directly says the reason for this: <strong>\u201cyou still refused to change your ways and believe him.\u201d<\/strong> The context is Jesus talking about the religious leaders discounting and ignoring John the Baptist\u2019s message of repentance while tax collector\u2019s and prostitutes would turn from their sinful ways.<\/p>\r\n<p>John\u2019s message was simple and clear \u2013 and John never made any while or crazy claims about being the messiah. The religious leaders were likely indifferent towards him, acknowledging that he was helping to point people to God, but not wanting to associate with his wildness in any way, shape, or form. We don\u2019t see the hostility or frequent challenges posed at John that we do see posed at Jesus.<\/p>\r\n<p>Perhaps they didn\u2019t really see John as a threat \u2013 even though he was drawing a crowd. So they discounted him and his message, which set them up even more for discounting Jesus and His message.<\/p>\r\n<p>This leads into the big thought for this passage: <strong>Believing that you don\u2019t need Jesus or that you don\u2019t need to change your ways stops God from being able to work in your life. It is only when we acknowledge our need and take steps to change our ways that God can step in and help us turn to Him.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--268\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '268');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is passages like this one that make me think Jesus enjoyed irritating the scribes and Pharisees. A simple reading in context tells me that Jesus had just finished responding to the challenge of where He got authority, and the discussion could have ended there. However, instead of changing the subject to something unrelated, it [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Stopping God: Matthew 21:28-32 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/stopping-god-matthew-21-28-32\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stopping God: Matthew 21:28-32 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is passages like this one that make me think Jesus enjoyed irritating the scribes and Pharisees. 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