The Lord's Vineyard

Assurance

1 John 1:9–2:2 NKJV

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Prayer

Infinite, almighty, the only wise God,

You are our God and our shepherd, and we are the sheep of your pasture

For you have gathered, preserved and defended us for another week, and brought us to this place. You have covered us by the blood of the lamb and promised that you would be a God to us and to our seed after us. And this morning, your people are gathered together in your presence.

We could spend all eternity learning more each day of your beauty and your love and your wisdom and we would still have eternity to go – for you are the endless fountain of life, the eternal well-spring.

And what a marvelous thing that the eternal infinite one became flesh to take away our sins.

Lord Jesus, you are our temple and our sacrifice. Our priest, our bread, our wine. You send your spirit to us that we might be forever your dwelling place, you who are eternal in the heavens.

And so we lift up our voices with confidence.

When your people cry out to you in your name, hear them, we pray.

When your sheep wander away and lose their way, when they come to their senses and cry out to you in your name, hear them. Find them. Bring them home.

When your people are sick and afraid, in pain and falling apart, when they cry out to you, hear and heal and forgive.

When we cry for wisdom and for patience, hear our prayer. Do not let us wander but teach us, Giver of Life, to learn to sit quietly and wait.

When we gather in your name, outcast, alone, afraid – wrap us in your everlasting arms and comfort us with the gospel, that you will never leave us nor forsake.

Faithful father, we cry out to your for mercy for our community. We pray that you would gather together your people wherever they are. We remember that you did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Send that call out and gather your harvest. The addicted, the outcast, the drunkard, the prostitute, the afflicted, the oppressed, the proud, the rich, the poor – gather them together and be merciful to them.

For our own congregation, we pray that you would give healing, peace and patience. Give wisdom, provide our needs, direct our steps.

Bless our governor and our president with wisdom and insight. Bring justice tempered with wisdom to our state. May the gospel of Jesus calm the restless heart so that we might live in peace.

Provide for Roger all that he needs. Give to us clothing and shelter and food each day.

And deliver us from evil

When we are struck with the attacks of the evil one, pour out your spirit. Strengthen us we pray. For you give us more than we can handle frequently, that we might learn to stay close to you and rely on you alone.

Forgive us of the sin of racism, the sin of hatred, the sins of partiality, indifference to suffering, nationalism. Fill us with your spirit so that we might be more and more like Jesus Christ.

Teach us that we are only human. Like flowers we fade and die. But you are eternal in the heavens. Cause us to lift our eyes up out of the trough of this world to where heavenly joys await us, so that we can run the race you have placed before us with patience, thanksgiving and joy.

Bless the reading and preaching of your word. Guide my lips and give us hearts to hear

And together

Psalm 19:14 NKJV

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Scripture

Isaiah 5:1–7 NKJV

1 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. 2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes. 3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. 4 What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes? 5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6 I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain on it.” 7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

Text

Luke 20:9–19 NKJV

9 Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time. 10 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out. 13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him.’ 14 But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others.” And when they heard it they said, “Certainly not!” 17 Then He looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone’? 18 Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” 19 And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people—for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.

Sermon

Only Christ is worthy to open the scroll. When John saw that in Revelation, he saw the scroll of God’s decree - his plan of salvation, the redemption of his people, the gathering together of the Bride. And there was no one worthy to reveal and implement that plan - until the Lion of Judah, who is also the lamb slain, finished his work. He alone is the Christ. He alone is the groom and the bride belongs only to him.

Christ is worthy for he was obedient unto death. He alone is true and righteous man and also true God.

God told the Son of David, the Anointed One:

“Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen as your inheritance.”

We must decrease and he must increase,

Going to the cross, suffering, dying, rising from the dead, are all part of God’s plan of salvation, overthrowing the kingdom of the devil.

But this parable looks at these events from the perspective of the wicked hands of men.

Acts 2:23 NKJV

23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

From the perspective of God’s decree, the scroll written inside and out, the cross was no accident, but part of God’s plan of redemption, his rescue of his bride.

Jesus exposes the motives of these religious leaders.

The story is pretty straightforward. Guy owns a vineyard. He puts some people in charge of it and goes away. He wants the produce from the vineyard.

So he sends servants to collect. The vintners beat them, kill them, and refuse to bring the fruit.

From the culture of the time, if the Son is coming to look at the vineyard, that assumption would be that the owner is dead. So they say, “Let’s kill the son and take the inheritance for ourselves.”

So that’s the story.

The vineyard

A vineyard is used throughout scripture to describe the nation of Israel.

God delivered them, redeemed them, called them his own. And he expected to find fruit

The fruit

What is that fruit? When we read through the prophets, we see what they say about the fruit that God expects:

Isaiah 5:7 NKJV

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

Everyone content, sitting under their vine and under their fig tree. Lifting one another up, strengthening one another.

Justice - where there isn’t one law for us and one law for them, but the poor, the outcasts, the widow, the orphans, can all find safety and justice.

And righteousness - summarized in the law of God, which God wrote with his finger on two tables of stone.

To joyfully submit to your mother and father, to live without hatred and thoughts of revenge and envy, to live joyfully with your wife, to be content with what you have, to speak and love the truth, and refuse to join in backbiting and slander. To love God with your whole heart and your neighbor as yourself.

The people in charge

And to teach the people and lead them in these paths, God raised up men and women and gave them extraordinary gifts.

There were teachers, and mothers and fathers, there were judges and kings and priests. There were prophets and Levites.

And God gave them the gifts to do the work that he called them to do.

The owner of the vineyard put them in charge of the vines and gave them the gifts to do the work.

But leadership is a tricky thing. It is an addictive drug for many people. I tell people what to do and they have to do it!

As we have seen over and over in the church, the positions of leadership are continually being filled by those with gifts of leadership, but also with abusive pride, domineering and a lust for power.

Power isn’t a bad thing - as long as we remember that there is no power apart from God and he gives it to us for the good of the church and the community.

But when the leaders forget that the vineyard isn’t theirs, and when they seek to use it to satisfy their own lusts and their own need for affirmation and adoration - they turn oppressive.

Samuel warned the vineyard of Israel.

1 Samuel 8:11–18 NKJV

11 And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. 12 He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14 And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. 16 And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. 18 And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”

The primary problem were the kings and the priests and the Levites, who were supposed to be caring for the vineyard, caring for the sheep.

They were supposed to be keeping them safe from the false gods of the heathen, and providing a safe place for them to worship Jehovah, teaching the instructions of God and shepherding the people.

But they drove the people away from the Temple. They enriched themselves. They multiplied wives. They abused the widows and the orphans. They stole and murdered and killed. They enslaved and robbed

And they used their positions to demand unquestioning obedience.

The servants

So God sends the prophets to warn them.

Ezekiel 34:1–5 NKJV

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.

Ezekiel ends that passage saying that God himself will come to shepherd his flock. He, who is also “my servant David” will be shepherd to Israel.

“I will send my Son. They will respect him”.

The purpose of the Son coming is to gather fruit from the vineyard.

Justice instead of oppression, love instead of hatred, joy instead of sorrow, life instead of death.

The mystery, hidden before Christ came, was this.

Jesus Christ would take the sword upon himself. He would take the sickness and the shame and the guilt of sin on himself, and would put it to death in his own body on the cross, so that we might know that he took the curse away from me and now I can approach God.

And then, when he ascended, he poured out his Holy Spirit - the promised “water” for the parched vineyard.

And this water would bring new life and the vines would grow and flourish, because they would be grafted into the Shepherd -

Do you see all the figures of speech??

All of this to show us the power of the Son - He gives us life from the dead, waters the parched and dried soul, pours out his spirit and gathers his sheep together.

That could have never been done by the law. And it never was.

Life flows only from one place - union with Christ. We hold to him, and confess that he alone is our life, and he pours out his spirit and we see a little bit clearer each day - a little hope, a little joy, a little peace - but most of all a tremendous longing to see the groom face to face, the wedding supper of the lamb when we will be his and he will be ours forever and ever.

Even though we are not home yet, we are still his, and He is ours. We have in our souls now the beginning of eternal joy which no one can take away from us.

The inheritance

The problem is that this plan of salvation interferes with those who love power.

Those who love to tell you how far you are allowed to walk on the Sabbath, how much and how often you need to spank your kids, whether you are allowed to work at home or not, and whether you wife is allowed to get a job or not, and how to home school and what the curriculum is, and what books one is allowed to read and which books should be boycotted,

Those ones who will explain in great detail how the magic in Harry Potter will cause demon possession but the magic in Tolkien is redemptive and why that is the case

And how the backbeat is the rhythm of the devil and will open the door to African voodoo which is why you can’t listen to the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac, but somehow U2 is OK

They’ll explain how much mint you have to tithe and how to wash your hands properly to rid yourself of demons...

And they’ll explain all of it to you in great detail...

It takes various disguises. Sometimes it is disguised as “Christian world-view” - but it is really just another attempt to usurp control and dominion over the Lord’s heritage.

They don’t want you to know the shepherd, the Son, the owner of the vineyard.

They want to use you to build their own empire, their own power, their own system.

God gave us ten commandments, and he added no more.

They want the inheritance for themselves.

They, just like the leaders of every age, have determined that the best way to have power over people is to stoke their fear, and then provide the solution.

It works in every age, and it worked in Christ’s day.

They made the people afraid - if we aren’t diligent and separate ourselves from sinners and keep the Sabbath the right way then God will punish us.

We will lose our place and our nation. Sinners are taking over. We have to put a stop to it. It is disguised as a zeal for righteousness, but it is really that they want the inheritance for themselves.

They wanted the Bride of Christ, they wanted power over the church, they wanted the greetings in the marketplaces and the fine robes and all the power and privilege and prestige that came with it.

They want to invitations to the best conferences and the best book deals and the seat on the platform.

And so when Christ came to get the fruit, they knew he needed to go.

Those who want the inheritance for themselves will never tolerate the proclamation of the gospel. They will never tolerate the kingship of Christ.

They don’t mind using his name to build their own kingdom, but they do not know what it means that they must decrease, and he must increase.

Conclusion

The church is the bride of Christ. Not the institution. Throughout history, the institutions come and go. The visible gathering of the saints is important, but institutions come and go. But each of you - by name. Each of you is greatly loved by Christ. He came to earth and he went to the cross, he suffered and died for you by name.

And because we are his and he is ours, we are vulnerable to charlatans.

Suppose you are engaged to be married. You love your husband, but aren’t sure if you are good enough for him, or pleasing enough, or proper enough.

You spend your money on books and experts and makeup and clothes and work hard to try to make yourself worthy of his love.

And all he wants of you is for you to know how much you are loved and to just rest and be at peace in his love - for he already has provided everything you need.

You just don’t know how much you are loved...

Ephesians 3:18–19 NKJV

18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

John the Baptist understood that. When his disciples started leaving him to follow Christ, he knew that he had done his job.

John 3:28–30 NKJV

28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

His joy was to see the Son come into his vineyard. To see the Groom fetch his bride.

But most of the leaders of the church, those who were appointed by God to protect and guard the bride wanted the inheritance for themselves.

So they sought to kill the Son and take the inheritance. They would not take a back seat to anyone, not even the Lord of life.

And thus, they fulfilled the prophecy about the cornerstone,

The stones for the temple were cut out far away from the site and then brought in. Apparently there was one stone that was too oddly shaped and it was rejected by the builders - until they realized that it was the cornerstone - the foundation and the measure of everything else.

The Son is rejected, but in that rejection, he becomes the foundation of the new temple of God, the new dwellingplace of the Holy Spirit - where the people of God bring forth the fruit that God is looking for.

The rejection and crucifixion of the Son will lead to the destruction of the nation and the former temple, and from the ruins will spring the Temple of the Living God, the New Jerusalem. The destruction of the institutions that fight against Christ is nothing new. But the Jerusalem in heaven is secure, and God’s people are forever safe, wherever God leads them.

But it is interesting to note one thing - they knew that Jesus accused them of trying to kill him to take the inheritance for themselves.

And that made them angry. So they plotted to kill him...

By the end of that week, they will have succeeded in putting him to death.

They thought that they had one. They thought that they saved their place in the nation. They thought that they had preserved the status quo and kept the sinners where they belonged.

They cast Jesus out of the city, just like Jesus said they would in the parable.

But when they cast him out and crucified him as a criminal, an unclean thing, a defiling object in the midst of the camp - they did only that which the determinate counsel of foreknowledge of God decreed that they would do.

The lamb of God, the lion of the tribe of Judah, purchased for himself his inheritance. His bride. His people.

And the leaders of the nation were utterly destroyed. In just a few years, the Roman armies would come and do what Christ declared would happen.

But the vineyard of Christ prospered. The spirit was poured out and the church grew in numbers, in grace, in the fruits of the spirit, and is even now spreading over the whole world.

And even though the church is still plagued with those who are puffed up with their own pride, who use the people of God to build their own platforms - and these pitchforks and torches often seem to win the victory - yet the gates of hell will never prevail against the church of Christ.

For we are his bride, and he is the groom. He is the cornerstone, and we are the building.

Abide in him. Trust in him and his spirit. Cling to him, and you will find rest for your souls.