Following through on Faith

In tomorrow's Gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable,

A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, `Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, `I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, `I go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first."

In preaching on this before I have said that neither really did the will of their father, who probably wanted them to both promise and keep the promise. But at least the one who did go out and work, did better than the one who said yes and did nothing. I concluded the sermon saying,

Jesus teaches again and again that the way we reach out to others shows what we believe about God. As we see how Jesus reached out to the outcast, the poor, the lost; then we learn from that that we too should reach out in love to others in need. With his parable of the two sons, Jesus reminds us that faith is to be active. It’s as if he tells us, “Don’t just believe there. Do Something!”

Belief matters. In fact it comes first. But saying “I believe Jesus is God’s Son,” comes with the implied promise that you will do something about it. In giving your life to God, you promised to go work in the vineyard, just as surely as the son who said he would go work. The question is, “In what ways do you live your life differently because of your faith?”

Think back over yesterday. Was there anything you did differently because you are a Christian? What about this past week? What were the moments in which you were living into your faith? Now look ahead to today and to this coming week. How will you live it differently because of your faith in Jesus Christ?

Don’t just sit there believing. Do Something!