Putting Feet to Faith: Signing Up and Showing Up

Jesus’ call to discipleship meets people in the very real place of being tired, busy, lonely, and overwhelmed. The desire to follow Jesus can be sincere, while the actual work of mercy, peacemaking, and justice keeps getting pushed to another day, after life settles down. The temptation is to hold tightly to the gentle Jesus who blesses children and speaks of easy burdens, while asking for a break from the Jesus who calls people to take up the cross.

Matthew’s religious leaders stand in that same uncomfortable place. Jesus has disrupted the temple, challenged the traditions they are charged to protect, and forced them to ask where his authority comes from. Jesus refuses their attempt to trap him in a verbal sparring match, and his question about John the Baptist reveals their fear of losing either theological credibility or public approval. Their plea of ignorance becomes a way of avoiding the claim God is making on them.

Jesus’ parable of the two sons makes the matter plain. The first son says no but later changes what he cares about and goes to work in the vineyard. The second son says, “I go, sir,” but never gets around to it. The first son’s initial refusal is not the final word, because repentance puts feet to faith. The second son’s polished words become a big no when obedience never follows.

Jesus then turns the religious leaders’ own answer back on them. Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of them, not instead of them, because those once-dismissed people have changed and shown up. Religious belief can become a substitute for obedience when people talk the talk for so long that they no longer notice they have stopped walking the walk. Sin is that discrepancy between what people say they believe and what their lives actually do, that missing of the mark.

Discipleship calls for more than admiration of Jesus. Faith must show up in checkbooks, calendars, parish budgets, pledges, priorities, and the ordinary choices that reveal what people truly care about. God does not demand this work so that people can earn love, worth, or a place in heaven. Gratitude for God’s claim on a life changes what a person can settle for.

God keeps calling tired and clumsy people back from brokenness into that claim. The dance of discipleship means turning again and again, helping one another resist the comfort of signing up without showing up, and trusting that God transforms both the church and the world through feet that increasingly move in sync with faithful words.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Put feet to faith Faith cannot remain a set of right beliefs, carefully spoken convictions, or admired ideals. Jesus presses beyond verbal agreement to ask whether disciples actually enter the vineyard and do the work before them. Obedience does not make God love people, but God’s love gradually makes an obedience-free faith feel empty. [37:40]
• 2. Repentance changes what people care about The first son’s turn matters because he does more than regret his answer. He changes what he cares about, and that changed heart carries him into the vineyard. Repentance is not merely feeling bad about a former no; it is allowing God to redirect the life toward concrete faithfulness. [33:13]
• 3. Right words can hide a real no The second son says everything a father would want to hear, yet never shows up. Religious language, theological knowledge, and public commitment can quietly become cover for a life that remains unchanged. Jesus exposes this danger not to shame people into performance, but to wake them up to the gap between their mouths and their feet. [34:23]
• 4. God calls tired people to return Weariness is real, and busy lives can make discipleship feel like one more demand. Yet God’s claim does not disappear when people feel overwhelmed, and neither does grace. The call is to keep turning from brokenness back toward God, even when faithful action is clumsy and incomplete. [40:17]
• 5. Gratitude, not fear, fuels obedience Christian service is not an attempt to earn worth or avoid rejection. God’s grace comes first, and discipleship becomes the grateful response of people who have tasted God’s transforming life. Giving, serving, peacemaking, and justice seeking become ways of joining what God is already doing in the world.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [27:20] - Tired, Busy, and Delaying Discipleship
• [29:35] - Religious Leaders Challenge Jesus
• [31:18] - Jesus Questions Their Authority
• [32:33] - The Parable of the Two Sons
• [34:23] - Signing Up but Not Showing Up
• [35:23] - Belief Substituted for Obedience
• [37:18] - Sin and Putting Feet to Faith
• [38:22] - Budgets, Pledges, and Parish Priorities
• [39:31] - Obedience Rooted in Gratitude
• [40:17] - The Ongoing Dance of Discipleship
• [41:42] - Transformed Into God’s New Creation

Bible Reading

Matthew 21:28-32
“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the second and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but 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, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go 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 the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” [32:53]

Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” [29:12]

Matthew 16:24
“Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” [28:21]

Observation questions

1. What question do the religious leaders ask Jesus, and how does Jesus respond to their attempt to question his authority? [31:18]
2. In the parable of the two sons, what does each son say, and what does each one actually do?
3. What change takes place in the first son before he goes to work in the vineyard? [33:03]
4. Who does Jesus say is entering God’s kingdom ahead of the religious leaders, and what distinction is made by the word “ahead”? [34:41]

Interpretation questions

1. Why might Jesus’ question about John the Baptist leave the religious leaders unable or unwilling to answer honestly? What does their response reveal about the pressures they were facing? [31:39]
2. The first son initially refuses but later goes to work. How does this parable show that repentance involves more than feeling sorry or changing one’s words? [33:06]
3. The second son speaks respectfully but does not act. What are some ways religious language, correct beliefs, or public commitments can become a substitute for obedience? [35:05]
4. Jesus speaks of tax collectors and prostitutes entering the kingdom ahead of religious leaders. How does this challenge assumptions about who is close to God, and how does it leave room for the religious leaders to repent too? [34:52]

Application questions

1. Where has tiredness, busyness, loneliness, or feeling overwhelmed made it easy to delay an act of mercy, peacemaking, justice, or service? What is one faithful step that could be taken this week, even if it feels small? [28:29]
2. Is there an area of life where the words “I go, sir” come easily, but follow-through has been delayed—perhaps in prayer, relationships, generosity, serving, or seeking justice? What has kept that commitment from becoming action? [33:21]
3. Repentance changes what a person cares about. What is one “no” to God that may need to become a changed direction rather than merely a source of guilt? [33:06]
4. What might a checkbook, calendar, or weekly routines reveal about the things that receive the greatest attention and energy? Where do those patterns seem in sync with faith, and where might they reveal a gap? [36:43]
5. How can gratitude for God’s love, rather than fear of rejection or a need to earn worth, reshape the way a person gives, serves, or responds to needs in the community? [39:28]
6. When the group notices that someone is struggling to “show up” in faithfulness, what are gentle and practical ways to encourage one another without shame or judgment? [41:42]