Fulfilling Our Promises

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

October 02, 2023

in Spritual Growth

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October 1, 2023
18th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Readings: Ezekiel 18: 1-4, 25-32
Philippians 2:1-3
Matthew 21:1-13

The Words of Christ may be simple, and yet the impact could be very profound because it is a matter between life and death. In today’s setting, we see Christ teaching in the temple. People, mostly the religious leaders were questioning Him and giving Him a hard time. Then He asked them: “So what do you think of this. A man had two sons. He came to the first son and asked him to work in the vineyard. The son said, ‘yes, I will’ but did not go. The man came to his 2nd son and asked him the same question. The son answered, ‘no I will not go.’ He then later regretted, felt guilty and went to the vineyard. Which of these two did the will of the Father?” The religious leaders replied, “the latter.” Jesus turned to them and said, “Even the tax gatherers and harlots will go before you in the Kingdom of God.” The Father represents God and the two sons represent two different types of people: The 1st type includes the religious leaders, or even the church. The 2nd type may be those who do not profess immediately, but proceed to do the work anyway. Many Christians are good in professing or proclaiming we love God. But do we fulfill our promises? How often does this happen in our lives? We proclaim that we are following Him and yet what we do is our own thing.

Look at the big crusades of the past. Many people would come to Christ and say they surrender their lives to Him. But unfortunately the cries are just for the moment. When they go home, they go back to their own lives. When Jesus told the religious leaders that tax gatherers and harlots will go before them in the Kingdom of God, they were confronted, because they were good with words but do not practice what they preach. It is important that we fulfill our words, our promises, putting them to practice. We love people to look at us and praise us when the glory should belong to God.

God fulfills His Word. He fulfills His commitment. He created man, gave us His image and likeness. Even when man failed, He did not pull back on His commitment. He still sent His Only Son to redeem us. God does not go back on His words. He fulfills them. When He tells us we have been forgiven, why do we still doubt ourselves? We listen to the world and we doubt God’s promises. But God does not lie. 2nd Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” Do we follow this scripture? He has given us the wisdom and potential. While it may be true that we are human, we need to trust Him. He will not fail us. What He said He would do, He will do it. If we claim we are Christians, then this should be our lifestyle. We are to live out the life He gave us. Which son are we? The 1st one or the 2nd one? In the past, the church was very influential. The church had orphanages, homes for the aged, hospitals. But now this is being done by governments and organizations. Our challenge therefore, is to do what God wants us to do.