The Desires of your Heart

Sermon on Matthew 21:28-32

Parable of the two sons
In the past weeks, we have walked through quite a few parables. This Sunday, we will be looking at yet another parable, The Parable of the Two Sons.
Though today message focuses on Matthew 21: 28-32, in order to have a better picture why Jesus shared this parable, let’s read from verse 23-32 (Scripture reading).

Behaviour of the Brothers
Don’t you think the behaviours of the two brothers sounded very familiar? Our parents may “nag” at us to do something and we usually answer “ya, I know” or “ok”, but in the end we didn’t do what was expected of us. I believe many of us would have heard our mother screaming at us “I told you to pack up your room last week but till today you have not done it?!” On the other hand, when our parents tell us to do something, our defiant nature will make us say “nope”. We said “No” because we want to show them that we have grown up and are “in control”. But deep inside, we know it’s the right thing to do and we just do it secretly to save face.
Now, let’s go back in time.

What made Jesus share this parable and what was He saying?

As Jesus was teaching at the temple courts, the Jewish leaders came to him and asked him “By what authority are you doing these things?” “And who gave you this authority?” In modern language: “Hey! Who are you to be teaching in church?!” What do you think they are trying to do? They were trying to trap Jesus and gather evidence to put him on trial. Jesus knew what they were up to and diligently challenged them with a difficult question. Then, He went on to tell them the story of the two sons. Though Jesus loves to tell story, He wasn’t doing it to entertain them. He was actually telling them that as religious leaders, they have failed to recognise the prophetic ministry of John the Baptist, and his teachings.

In the parable, one son originally refuses to go to work in the vineyard but complied in the end. The other son agreed to go but in actual fact refuses. The son whom refused initially but then obeyed is like those in Israel who were disobedient to the law, such as the tax collectors and prostitutes. But when John the Baptist arrived with the message of true righteousness, they obeyed God’s call and were repentant.

In contrast, the religious leaders are like the son who agreed but did nothing. They were extremely obedient to the law but when God sent his messenger, John the Baptist, they did not obey God’s message. The Jewish leaders are hypocritical, they teach the law, talk about obeying the law, but do not live up to their talk. That’s what Jesus is reprimanding them. Their hearts are not right with God.

The Hearts of the Jewish Leaders
Going back to the Jewish leaders, what do you think manifested in their hearts when they challenged Jesus with those question? Pride, Personal desires and the unwillingness to obey God’s calling. They might be thinking, who is this guy? Appearing from nowhere and started teaching in the Holy Temple, and worst, reprimanding us and pointing out our wrong doings. We are suppose to be the appointed and anointed ones to be teaching the people. We have been teaching for years and Jesus appeared from nowhere and is telling us what to do?! On top of that, Jesus is taking away all the limelight just because he performed many miracles and attracted many people through his teachings. Do you see what is happening? Pride deep in the core of their hearts has blinded the Jewish leaders from the truth and the light. Instead of guiding the people to the right path, they themselves have gone astray.

Incongruence of Jewish Leaders
I believe many of us are very familiar with the “Passion of Christ”, i.e. the last days of Christ leading to His crucifixion. We have watched the show “Jesus” many times. Did you notice the scene that Jesus was brought to Pilate and all the Jewish leaders stood outside? It was not out of respect that they stood outside the door, they were afraid of being ceremonially unclean as they wanted to eat the Passover feast (please refer to John 18:28). To them, entering a gentile home will make them unclean.

Do you see the big contrast? In Counselling we call it incongruence. On one hand they plot to harm Jesus, giving false testimony; on the other hand, they were afraid of entering a gentile home as it will make them ceremonial unclean. Do you think their hearts are right with God?
Let’s take a look at Jesus.

The Heart of Jesus
In Matthew 4: 1-11, Jesus was tempted in the desert by the evil one, right after forty days of fasting. Just imagine ourselves walking in the desert for just four hours, what will happen to us? We will probably be thirsty and hungry, and maybe cursing and swearing. Take a look at the desert (see picture), in Mandarin we say鸟不生蛋的地方.

Jesus was hungry, and possibly tired and weak. The evil one started by challenging Him to “tell the stones to become bread”. Then the evil one challenged Jesus to jump down from the top of the temple as “God will send His angels to lift Him up and not let Him land his foot on stone”. The evil one then followed by promising Jesus “the kingdoms of the world and their glory, if Jesus will kneel down and worship him.”
What was Jesus answer? “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” On jumping down? “You must not test the Lord your God.” And on gaining the possession of the world, he answered “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”

Can Jesus tell the stone, “stone, you are now bread” and turn the stone to bread? Of course He can. He doesn’t need to tell the stones as requested by the evil one, He just need to look and turn them to bread as He wishes. Can He jump down and not get hurt? The answer is a definite Yes! But Jesus heart is only concern about the will of God that all these “Proving Himself” are not necessary and not the Father’s will.
Just before Jesus was captured, He was praying in the garden. We read that (Matt 26: 39, 42,44 – the prayer of Jesus) he was asking God for the possibility to take away the cup, which are the coming suffering and crucifixion. For three times, He prayed that “Yet not as I will, but as your will” “may your will be done” From His prayer, we can see where was His heart pointing to?

Performance, Popularity and Possession
Recently, a pastor shared with me an interesting perspective about this episode of Jesus temptation. Let me share with you the 3 Ps.

Well, many of you do not take breakfast before coming to church. If I can “turn this paper into a piece of roti prata, and at the same time fill this cup with your favourite cuppocino”; won’t all of you exclaim with a big “WAH” and maybe name me刘谦the second? You would applaud and say what a great PERFORMANCE. This is the first P. Jesus would be able to showcase a better Performance than 刘谦.

If I were to jump off from this stage and didn’t land on the carpet. Instead, I float just a foot above the ground, won’t you clap louder and longer? You will say, WOW, this guy is better than刘谦. I will become POPULAR in no time. This is the 2nd P. If Jesus were to jump from the top of the temple and stopped just one foot before touching the ground, he would truly be super popular. All the people watching will sure to acknowledge him as the Messiah.

The 3rd P needs no illustration as we all can see; it’s the POSSESSION of the world.
Aren’t these three Ps what most people desire and sought after? Deep in our hearts, we are concern about Performance, we want to be Popular, and we sought after the Possession of the world.
There are also the 3Gs that are often cited as the motivating factors that brought the Spanish to conquest the New World. What do you think are the 3Gs? The first G mentioned is Gold. Gold represent the wealth of the world and this co-inside with the Possession we touched on earlier. The second motivation is Glory. This again is in line with the Performance and Popularity. The third G that motivates man is God.

So, which G is the motivation of your life? Gold? Glory or God?

Let me illustrate a little with this cup.
Assuming this cup represents our heart, and we fill it each day with the desires of our heart. Whatever we fill in we will need to spend our precious time on it. Do you fill it up with time spent on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Gaming or just surfing the internet? We have the i-Pod, i-Pad, i-Phone, i-Mac and other “I” look alike technology (See pictures). Do you realise that these “i-machines” focus on self and “i” only? You don’t talk to anyone when you are on these i-tech equipment. I heard of youth chatting on facebook with one another while they are sitting just opposite each other.

Sometime I peeped at what people are doing with their “I-tech” stuff. What do you think I saw them doing? Playing game is very common, then come facebook, or surf the internet. I know many in this congregation own one of the i-machines, hope you are actually reading the scripture and not accessing facebook or email or sms while our pastors are preaching.

Do we fill our heart up with our favourite sports or hobby? (action of filling) Many people can wake up in the middle of the night to watch football but they can’t get up early in the morning to attend church. And people complain about waking up early for church on Sunday. Many of our students just finished their term test. Do you notice that church attendance drop by 20-30% during exam period? Is the test or exam so important that God has to move aside during exam period? I still can’t understand why Christian parents condone their children to stay home to study that extra two hours while they should be worshipping God in church. Would those two hours give you a jump from B to A? I wonder.

Parents, are your weekends packed with extra classes of Arts, Sports, Music, Kumon, Mind Champ, etc. for your children that both you and your children no longer have time and space for God? (You have to be the driver to drive them around).

Do we fill our hearts with the desires of career and success? We work so hard and stretching our hours; to upgrade from four rooms to five rooms to Executive apartment? Or is it condo and landed property the trend now? Or is it the dream car? One young man once told me, when he completed his university he will be back in church serving. He graduated, and started working. Then he told me he needs to build his career thus he works long hours, plus entertainment on weekends. Thus, he was not able to come to church. Years have passed, this young man no longer come to church, not to mention serving. I wonder what happened to his career after so many years.

The Wisdom of Chinese Word - Busy
Let me share with you the wisdom in Chinese character忙, meaning busy. We always hear people say “we are busy like a bee” or “我很忙，我很忙”. I have not heard of one person in Singapore whom says “我不忙”. The word 忙is make up of the Chinese word Heart 心and the word Death 亡. It literally means that when you are so busy, your heart is dead. Are we so busy that our heart is DEAD? Are our hearts so DEAD that we can no longer response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit? Is your heart DEAD? Only the Holy Spirit can revive your hearts. Will you invite Him to fill your heart today?

Maybe some people are thinking right now, I am not like that. I do my QT, read the scriptures and pray often. Plus, I serve in one or more of church ministries. I don’t fill my heart with those desires mentioned. Watch our heart! What motivate us to serve? Do we give our prime time to God or only the leftover? Do we tell God that we can only serve in a certain way, only on a specific day and time, as the rest of our time are fully booked? Those time slots are already filled and reserved for the “desires of our heart”. God, you cannot touch them.

We always ask God to bless our homes, our career, our children, our studies. We pray that God will lead and guide us in all that we do. But as you can see, we have already packed our hearts so FULL that there is hardly any space for God. How do we expect the Holy Spirit to fill our heart and be our guide? There is so little space left for the water to fill this cup, i.e. our heart, only the tiny space in between. How can He be our guide when are are already the leader of our life?

Are we like the 2nd son who knows the teachings and say yes, but yet refuse to obey? Are we pursuing the 3Ps of Gold and Glory? Or do we long for the Holy Spirit to fill our heart?

When I first receive these verses, I asked God, what is it that you want me to share with your people? The Holy Spirit pointed me to the hearts. For the bible tells us “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. God wants to be the treasure of our hearts. He wants our hearts to be right with Him. Our God is a gentle God, full of love and compassion. Today’s sharing is not to instil guilt, but a gentle reminder for our hearts. (I know the Holy Spirit is speaking to many of you right now).

Pastor Wilson and Rev Xiao Hui spoke about the renovation of our hearts some weeks back. Have we started the renovation? Or were we so busy doing cleaning and renovation of our homes to be in time for CNY that we did not have time to renovate our hearts? Or maybe we did, but it was done in accordance to how we want our heart to be and not what God desire.

I know one thing, that God wants us to empty our hearts of our personal desires (action of pouring), remove the 3Ps of Gold and Glory, and allow the Holy Spirit to fill it with the desires for God and His will. God already assured us of His providence in Matthew 6: 33.

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

May our hearts respond to His teaching, may we empty the desires of our hearts and welcome the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray.