“Son, go work today in my vineyard” (Matthew 21:28).

Sonship requires service: “Son, go work.” Service requires urgency-“today.” Service means doing the Lord’s will in the Lord’s place, which is stated in the text as “my vineyard.” “The field is the world” (Matthew 13:38). God’s servants are to ascertain God’s will and serve as He specifies. “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

Yet many evade service or refuse to go altogether. “And he came to the second [son], and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not” (Matthew 21:30). We know not how many have at one time or another dedicated their lives for full-time service, yet never fulfilled their vows to God.

Then there is a son whom we might characterize as a lazy servant. “He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame” (Proverbs 10:5). Judas, who should have faithfully served the Lord, “sought opportunity to betray” Him (Matthew 26:16). How many Christians truly seek opportunities to serve Him? Often all-out servants are hard to find. The sad commentary on Ezekiel’s day was: “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none” (Ezekiel 22:30).

A wonderful example of a selfless servant is found in Luke 14:16–24, who, when his lord sent him to bid the guests to come to the great supper, he did it! He didn’t make excuses as to why he couldn’t go; he didn’t quit when he was unsuccessful the first time; he wasn’t ashamed of the message, and he never considered himself or his own needs. He was totally yielded to his master. May it be so with us. “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few” (Matthew 9:37). NPS