“Submission and Obedience”

(Matthew 21:23-32)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

June 28, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 21:23-32

23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did John’s baptism come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we’re afraid of the crowd, because everyone considers John to be a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘My son, go work in the vineyard today.’ 29 “He answered, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30 Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he answered, but he didn’t go. 31 Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.”Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.

Introductory Comments:

When I was in college three of my buddies and I talked ourselves into driving about four and half hours from Louisville, Kentucky to Wooster, Ohio to go camping, in the middle of the winter, in a tent. It was quite foolish, to be honest with you. However, my buddy was from Wooster and he had a “great spot!” We got there in the middle of the night and tried to find a flat spot amongst all the snow to pitch our tent. We finally found a spot on a sheet of ice and put our tent there. As we walked around to find firewood my buddy whispered to me, “Shh, we don’t want the farmer to hear us.” It was at that moment that I realized we were on someone’s private land. We had no authority to be there. To make a long story short, when we woke up the sheet of ice was now a puddle, my car had a flat tire, and we had to sneak out of the woods in the daylight because we had no authority to be there. 

You see, authority matters. In today’s passage, Jesus was questioned by the religious leaders as to what authority He had to do the things that He was doing and to teach the things that He was teaching. Today’s sermon is entitled, “Submission and Obedience.” Submission and obedience have everything to do with authority. 

Before we get into this passage, let’s pray together and ask God to speak to us.

(prayer)

Remember what’s going on in Matthew 21. Jesus has entered into Jerusalem triumphantly, He’s shaken things up in the temple, and He has cursed a fig tree because it didn’t have any fruit on it, which served as a picture of why we need fruit in our lives. Jesus will press into this idea in today’s passage as we discover two pathways needed for the faithful follower of God.Here they are: first, . . . 

I. Submission to the Son’s authority (vv. 23-27) [on screen]

The first pathway we will discover today to help us in following after God is submission to the Son’s authority. 

There was an authority issue in Matthew 21:23-27. You see, there was no denying that Jesus was doing great works and teaching like no one else had taught. The religious leaders didn’t dispute that, but they wanted to know who He thought He was to do these things in the first place. Let’s check out the passage. Look at verses 23-27.

23 When he entered the temple, the chief pries