A PEOPLE WHO
WILL PRODUCE ITS FRUIT
Matthew
21:33-46
Confidence in big business has take some hits over the past couple of years as first one then another corporation has been exposed for their greed and complete lack of trustworthiness. Enron destroyed the trust and the financial security of many who counted on those in charge to be faithful in fulfilling their responsibilities to their employees and stockholders. Martha Stewart’s woes have been paraded across the front pages as her improper, and illegal trade practices ruined her reputation and landed her in jail. Now the execs at Tyco are in the news having escaped a guilty verdict on their unscrupulous practices of skimming off multiplied millions of company assets for personal gain.
If you were
asked to place a valuable asset in the hands of folks like that, you would not
have to think twice before saying, “No way!”
And if you knew they had access to your assets, you would in all
likelihood do what you could to remove them and get them in the hands of
someone more likely to have your best interests at heart.
Jesus tells a
parable to the chief priests and elders that makes the point that His heavenly
Father no longer intends to allow usurpers and unscrupulous religious
institutions and leaders to handle the treasures of His kingdom.
THESIS: God wants to
place the treasures of the message and blessings of the kingdom in the hands of
those who will be faithful in doing His will and bringing Him glory.
Let’s walk
through the parable and see how Jesus makes this point to an unbelieving
audience who have rejected everyone sent by God to lead them to do His will.
I. THE
FOUNDING OF THE KINGDOM
--God Himself, like the landowner in the parable,
established His kingdom and made sure that it would be fruitful and profitable.
Psalms 24:1
The earth
is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and
those who dwell in it.
--Everything that needed to be done for His creation to be a
glorious success was done by His own hand…and then entrusted to those who were
responsible for managing it for Him and returning to Him the fruit of the
labor.
--God put
everything in place…and it was good!
Matthew 21:33
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and
put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented
it out to vine-growers, and went on a journey.
A. HE
PLANTED THE VINEYARD
--Isaiah gives a more complete account of what the Lord did
when he explained that He placed the vineyard on a fertile hill, plowed it
thoroughly, removed the rocks and then selected the highest quality vines.
Isaiah 5:1-2
…My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 2 And He dug it all around, removed its stones, And
planted it with the choicest vine.
--In other words, the very best was established to give this
vineyard every chance of phenomenal success.
B. HE PUT A
WALL AROUND IT
--After making the effort to create the most productive
vineyard, He surrounded it with a wall to keep out the weeds and briars, and to
keep it from being trampled down by those who carelessly would otherwise have
stepped all over the tender plantings.
(cf. Isaiah 5:5-6)
C. HE DUG A
WINE PRESS IN IT
--Expecting a successful crop, He dug a wine press in the
vineyard itself so that the grapes could be crushed right there and not require
any difficult transportation elsewhere.
D. HE BUILT
A TOWER IN IT
--He then built a tower in order to protect the vineyard,
placing a guard over it in case thieves or rogues would attempt to steal or
damage the crop.
--In essence, He did everything necessary to establish
and guarantee the successful and
efficient production of a profitable crop—just as God created all things so
that they would bring the highest possible glory to His name and good to all
the earth.
II. THE
FAILUREs OF THE TENANTS
--After this magnificent labor of love, the parable says
that the landowner turned over the vineyard to tenant farmers who were
responsible for working the vineyard and bringing the owner a profit from what
he had created.
A. A FAILURE
REGARDING THE CREATION
--The tenants failed to remember and honor the reality that
all things entrusted to their care belonged to the owner and were intended for
His profit as well as His glory.
B. A FAILURE
REGARDING THE CREATOR
--The tenants in another sense failed in preserving the
trust of their Creator, protecting the treasure of their inheritance,
proclaiming the truth of their blessing.
--Jesus in this parable makes it as clear as possible that
the vineyard is the hope of the kingdom, something God had entrusted to Israel
as a way of redemption and life for all nations.
Genesis 12:2-3 And I will make you a great nation, And I
will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who
bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed.”
C. A FAILURE
REGARDING THE CALLING
--In both their failure regarding the creation and the
Creator, the tenants failed in their calling, failed to fulfill their purpose
and the reason they were invited to engage in the work of the kingdom vineyard
of God.
1. Enticed
by the Bounty
--As they looked around, the tenants saw that there was
great bounty in the vineyard to be enjoyed and from which they might profit
greatly.
--Every indication is there that they worked hard and saw
great increase for their labor…but that is where the problem arose—their
motivation shifted somewhere along the way and they no longer invested for the
owner but for themselves.
The owner never stopped owning the vineyard, they
just stopped acting as if he did. In
our world today, there is no lack of hard work and fruitful labor, but people
no longer understand that God still owns it all! In fact, people think we own it, we deserve it, and get defensive
and often hostile to the notion that He still has the rights as owner.
The same has become true with the
message of hope entrusted to us. We
have almost fallen for the idea that we alone have the right to know and keep
the truth to ourselves and while embracing the riches of Christ we tend to
ignore the responsibility to share them with “the nations” who have yet to find
the blessings of Christ at all. While
they hunger for truth, we content ourselves with providing comfortable places
for feasting on the bounty.
2. Ensnared
by their Greed
--The tenants eventually gave in to their greed and made the
decision to take by force what they felt they had a right to keep.
--Not satisfied with their portion of the profits, they
chose to take everything for themselves.
--No matter what it took, the determined that they would
seize control of what had been graciously entrusted to their care.
3.
Emboldened by their Impunity
(Impunity means to get away with something and escape any
consequence or punishment for it.)
--When the time for harvest came, the owner sent servants to
receive the produce of the vineyard…
…Three went (one beaten, one killed, one stoned—v.35)
…Larger group (did the same violence to them)
…Afterward he sent his son, the heir (took him, threw him
out, then killed him)
--With each successive group, the tenants got a little
bolder since they had not suffered any consequences from their earlier
treatment of those sent by the owner.
4. Expelled
for their Wretchedness
Matthew 21:40-41
“Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those
vine-growers?” 41 They said
to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the
vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper
seasons.”
--It is fairly easy to reach a conclusion about wretched
behavior when you think it is someone else, and so even the chief priests and
elders gave an answer rooted in justice.
In the current climate of our culture, no one wants
to make any judgment on the behavior of others so that they can appeal to them
to let them get away with their behavior.
The attitude is, “I’ll close my eyes to your wrong-doing and sin, and
then I’ll count on you to close your eyes to mine.”
As hardened as the hearts of the
religious leaders were, they at least were willing to speak out against the
wretchedness of the actions of the wicked tenants.
III. THE
FULFILLMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY
--Those who were given a position of privilege and a place
of honor were also expected to fulfill their responsibilities and be ready to
give an account to the landowner.
--Let’s look at what was behind this parable Jesus told
these representatives of the religious establishment.
A. A Review
of Israel’s Response
1. Rebelled against the Law –Moses was given the Word of the Lord by way of direct
leadership responsibilities as God spoke to Him as friend to friend…He gave him
the commandments…but the people refused to listen, rebelled and suffered in the
wilderness for forty years.
Exodus 33:11
Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks
to his friend.
2. Rejected the Prophets –Through the efforts of many prophets, God had spoken time
and time again to His people, holding them accountable for the treasure He had
entrusted to them as the people of God…but they consistently abused, mistreated
and killed those prophets.
Nehemiah 9:26
“But they became disobedient and rebelled against Thee, and cast Thy law behind
their backs and killed Thy prophets who had admonished them so that they might
return to Thee, and they committed great blasphemies.
Hebrews 11:37-38 They were stoned, they were sawn in two,
they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in
sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38
(men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and
caves and holes in the ground.
3. Resisted God’s Calling --In this parable, Jesus spoke of the wicked treatment of
the servants of the landowner by the tenants as a way to point an accusing
finger at those who once again were guilty of the same crimes…this time with
John the Baptist…but in a short while with the Son of the Creator Himself!
Hebrews 1:1-2 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers
in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom
He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
--But now the Son has come, and Jesus declares that that
Son, the “Chief corner stone” (21:42), would now be
rejected as well, killed just like the son of the landowner in the parable.
B. A REMOVAL
OF ISRAEL’S RIGHT
Matthew 21:43
“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you…
--God was patient with Israel, sent His prophets with
messages of correction and rebuke to restore them, but eventually removed His
protection and left them on their own.
--Isaiah’s powerful prophecy foretold the coming of this
day:
Isaiah 5:5-6
“So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its
hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become
trampled ground. 6 “And I
will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will
come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”
Isaiah 5:24
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble,
And dry grass collapses into the flame, So their root will become like rot and
their blossom blow away as dust; For they have rejected the law of the LORD of
hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
--Because they tried to take over the vineyard of the Lord
for their own, refused to respond to His call to account for their stewardship,
God was grieved to do so but was firmly resolved to honor all that is just and
right by removing the vineyard from their control, casting them out and
rejecting their role in building His kingdom.
C. A
REPLACEMENT FOR ISRAEL’S ROLE
--So now He lifts up another to take their place:
Matthew 21:43
Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you,
and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.
--God will never be without a means of bearing fruit for the
kingdom, and in removing Israel He now gives their role to a nation to be
established as His covenant people—a new covenant sealed by the blood of
Christ!
--By making this statement, Christ is announcing that this
new nation will be a holy people who once had no identity at all, but who have
now been given the kingdom and are expected to bear its fruit as a worthy
return on God’s gracious gift to them.
--In Peter’s first epistle, he quotes the same verse Jesus
does here in 21:42 and then follows it with a reiteration of the point Jesus
makes here in this parable:
1 Peter 2:7, 9-10 … for those who disbelieve, “The stone which
the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone… 9 But you are a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you
may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light; 10 for
you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy .
--Jesus tells the religious folks that they have had their
chance, they have abused their privilege, and now they have to face the
consequences…God’s message of the kingdom now is given to the nations, to all
who will believe in the name of the Son of God.
D. A
RETALIATION BY ISRAEL’S LEADERS
Matthew 21:45-46 And when the chief priests and the
Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about
them. 46 And when they
sought to seize Him, they feared the multitudes, because they held Him to be a
prophet.
--Although the time for His arrest and crucifixion had not
yet come, those who had been in charge realize that they must kill the Son if
they intend to hold onto their place of privilege.
We now have been given the role of
keepers of the vineyard of the Lord.
How will we handle that responsibility differently than Israel did?
The problems we
face in the body of Christ point to the same essential human frailties that
resulted in the removal of the tenants from the vineyard. Just as Israel failed, many churches today
are failing and putting their calling in jeopardy as they follow the same
disastrous course Israel did:
·
Rebellious against the Word of God
·
Refusal to acknowledge His lordship over His
kingdom/vineyard
·
Resistant to pass on the bounty of His blessings
In many other
ways, we must admit that we have not discharged our responsibilities well as
keepers of the vineyard of the Lord.
Acting as if it were ours to do with as we wish and the fruit of it ours
to keep, we push the Lord aside, turn away from or strike out against those He
sends to call us to account for what we have done with the trust He has given
us.
Putting the word
“church” in the name of your organization does not qualify you for that
identity in His kingdom. Many who have
forsaken their calling and abandoned the will and word of the Master no longer
have a place in His vineyard and have been cast out and rejected from their
former position of trustworthiness in His kingdom.
The lampstand has
been removed and the glory has departed when the authority of the Father no
longer was honored in either His Word or His Son. Therefore, do not be surprised when you hear of churches and
denominations turning to the right or to the left…leaving the vineyard with
crumbled walls and emaciated hedges and no protection for the fruit-bearing
vine God once entrusted to their care.
If He took away the vineyard from Israel, will He not do the same in
churches who follow their wretched ways?
God wants us to
be faithful to His calling and to take our place as grateful laborers in His
vineyard. Our calling is to…
·
Honor and Respect the Lord of the Vineyard
·
Cultivate and Harvest an Abundance for His Glory
·
Preserve and Protect the Vineyard from All Harm
·
Welcome and Honor the Son of the Master
April
4, 2004
Providence
Baptist Church
© David Horner 2004
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