{"id":277,"date":"2023-09-20T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=277&2023"},"modified":"2023-09-18T18:00:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T00:00:11","slug":"action-over-intention-matthew-21-28-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/action-over-intention-matthew-21-28-32\/","title":{"rendered":"Action over Intention: 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>One thing I find amazing about passages like this one is how Jesus is able to use very simple illustrations to make His point. In this passage\u2019s case, the illustration is so simple that the Pharisees and religious leaders easily answer Jesus\u2019 question at the end. This is one of the few places where the Pharisees and Jesus agree.<\/p>\r\n<p>Following this short parable of two sons, Jesus asks them the question: <strong>\u201cWhich of the two sons obeyed his father?\u201d<\/strong> (v. 31a) The father asked both sons to help in the field. The first son said he would\/could not help, but then later changes his mind and shows up. The second son said he would help, but for whatever reason, chose not to show up. Jesus\u2019 simple question is which son <em>obeyed<\/em> his father.<\/p>\r\n<p>It is such a simple question that each of us could easily answer it as well \u2013 and I could guess that if we were all being honest with ourselves and with the question, we\u2019d all answer that the first son \u2013 the one who showed up to help in the field \u2013 is the obedient one.<\/p>\r\n<p>But here is something interesting: <strong>Both sons lied.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>We can easily point our finger at the second son and call him a liar because he did not do what he said he would, but the same is true for the first son: He did what he said he would not do.<\/p>\r\n<p>If both sons lied, then what is the difference?<\/p>\r\n<p>The difference is action \u2013 actually doing the things we have been asked to do. It is easy to speak our intentions, but what matters in the end is what is actually said and done.<\/p>\r\n<p>As I began to write this, my mind was distracted. I have another project in the works that is more \u201cinteresting\u201d than pushing through producing another post. But, here is the truth: while the other project will help a number of people, the big truth I want to bring out in this passage is a more solid, foundational truth that is true for virtually everyone.<\/p>\r\n<p>The big concept for this post is this: <strong>What we <em>say<\/em> is not nearly as important as what we <em>do<\/em>. Action is more important than intention 100% of the time.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>Jesus believed this, and surprisingly, the Pharisees and religious leaders agreed with Him on this one point. If we are being honest with the question itself, you and I believe this too.<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--277\" 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, '277');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One thing I find amazing about passages like this one is how Jesus is able to use very simple illustrations to make His point. In this passage\u2019s case, the illustration is so simple that the Pharisees and religious leaders easily answer Jesus\u2019 question at the end. This is one of the few places where the [&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-277","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 v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Action over Intention: 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\/action-over-intention-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=\"Action over Intention: Matthew 21:28-32 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One thing I find amazing about passages like this one is how Jesus is able to use very simple illustrations to make His point. 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