“All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”

Matthew 21:23-46 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” ²⁴ But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you one question, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” ²⁷ And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

³³ “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to vine-growers and went on a journey. ³⁴ And when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. ³⁵ And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. ³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

‘A stone which the builders rejected, This has become the chief cornerstone;
This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴ And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they sought to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a prophet.

It is important that we believe in Jesus. John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” It is also important that we confess that Jesus is our Lord. Romans 10:9 says: If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Everything that we say is important. In Matthew 12:36 Jesus says: “I tell you that for every careless word that people speak, they will give an account of it on the day of judgment.”  It is more though than just saying the right things and believing with our minds. We must believe with our hearts. What is in our heart will be revealed in what we do. In today’s text Jesus says: “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get 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 prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.” So of course, what we do is also important. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus says: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”  Like the first son, it does us no good to say the right thing if we don’t also do it. It does us no good to say Jesus is Lord, if we don’t do what He says we should.   

In Revelation 22:12-13 the Lord says: “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” There are three basic aspects of our deeds or actions for which we will be rewarded or judged. The first and foremost is that we must believe in Jesus and the redeeming work of the cross. That is the only way for us not to be judged by our own works which will fall short of God’s glory. Romans 3:23 says: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Ephesians 2:8-10 says: By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.  Because we have been saved by God’s grace, we should walk in the works He prepared for us, not continuing in sin and unrighteousness. As Jesus said in Matthew 7:23, lawlessness will be judged. In Revelation 21:5-8 the Lord says: “Behold, I am making all things new. Write, for these words are faithful and true. It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life, without cost.  The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

The final aspect of our actions is again seen in the first son’s response. James 4:17 says: For one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin.  We are rewarded first for believing, then also for doing the good works that God has prepared for us and prepared us for. Sin is not only the wrong things that we do, practicing lawlessness, it is also not doing what we know we should.   It has been said that: “All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” We see the evidence of that in the downward spiral of the morality and unrighteousness in our culture and society today. In John 14:15 Jesus says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  It is not one particular commandment that we are to keep. It is all of His commandments, from loving God with our whole heart, soul and mind, to loving our neighbors and even our enemies. It is our response to His commission to: “Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) or to: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)   

What thing or things has Jesus called or commanded you to do that you are not doing? Over and over, in the messages to the church in Revelation, the Lord says: “The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Ask the Spirit what the Lord is saying you should do, then do it.

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.