To God Be True

Mark(ed) for Action  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  42:59
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Intro

“This above all, to thine own self be true”
This and many other ideas lead us to seek to understand who we really are. We live the children's story of the Ugly Duckling. It speaks of our nature in terms of what we must become rather than the awkward intermediary state.
Sometimes we misapply it. “I might look like a hot mess but I’m just an ugly duckling!” No, your making decisions that have negative consequences in your life and it’s affecting other people.
Don’t worry, I’m talking about the person sitting next to you! OK, I’m talking about me too, and probably you. Sometimes we all make choices, hold attitudes, cover the truth in ways that make the grace of God into an ugly duck in our lives.
But what will we do when that’s brought to our attention? Will we be humble, repent, and refocus on Jesus? Or become so planted in our pride it leads to destruction in our lives?
Pray
Mark 12:1–12 ESV
1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” 12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
Jesus often spoke in parables. Often these illustrating stories were not plane enough for everyone to understand tier meaning. On more than one occasion Jesus had to explain the meaning to His own disciples privately.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Accountable To Our Calling.

God provides the ground rules.

God established the tenants
God declared the rent
God had right to the tithe

God Provides the Provisions.

God planted the vineyard
God provided protection (fence)
God built the wine press and the tower

God Provides the expectations.

God came for His portion in the right season
God came with patience (multiple messengers)
God came with persistence (the requirement didn’t change because the tenants didn’t follow through)

Will we respond with obedience?

The tenants in the parable chose rebelion and treachery
Jesus was pointing out the rebelion and treachery of the Jewish leaders
They rightly perceived the parable was about them
But they still would not listen to the message
How do we respond when God seeks from us what He has planted in our lives?
Will we see His blessing as ours to control?
Or will we respond in gratitude for that God has given us?

Peril of Rebellion. Privilege of Partnership.

God has done a mighty work in each of our lives. And He desires to do more. we are each able to be used to the extent we seek partnership with God. Our use and growth are stunted when we rebel from God’s purpose and plan for us.

Seeking self rather than God’s glory casts a net of destruction that drags others with us.

Peril of rebellion is that we become an enemy of God. That’s the state we are predisposed to at birth. The state the sin binds us to - rebellion from the kingdom and authority of God.
Salvation through Jesus restores our place inside the Kingdom of God. But that doesn’t give free reign to do whatever we want.
There are few things so disturbing as a privileged son of a rich ruler who acts foolishly with no consequences. But God is good and righteous, so there are consequences to our poor behavior. But those consequences spread farther than our own lives. They affect those around us too.
How sad to have recieved salvation but find yourself in the bondage of Godly correction.
It’s been said there is no more unhappy place than that of a child of God in rebellion to God.
But there is no more perilous place than one who has not accepted Jesus as their Lord, and be in active rebellion from the Lord.
The peril of rebellion is the judgement of God. But there is a privilege to partnering with God too!
Privilege of Partnership
When I say partnering, what I do not mean is a symbiotic partnership. God doesn’t do good for us because we provide some service that He NEEDS. We partner with God by joining Him in His purpose, plans, and pleasures. And the privileges we receive when we do that are many.
When Jesus told the parable of the tenants, He quoted a passage of scripture.
Mark 12:10 ESV
10 Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
That passage is from Psalm 118. To see what good God intends for those who partner with Him, let’s look at a few passages from that Psalm. I encourage you to read this in full and spend a little time praying and meditating on it. Let the Spirit reveal His goodness for you in your life.
It’s written from the perspective of someone who is reflecting on trouble and difficulty. On being surrounded by opposition, enemies, hardship, and trouble. But what is the first thing he says?
Psalm 118:1 ESV
1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
In the middle of whatever hardship we encounter, partnering with God gives us the privilege of gratitude. In all situations, we will benefit from gratitude toward the Lord.
Psalm 118:5–6 ESV
5 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. 6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
There are situation that will cause distress. (More than I’d like to admit are self-inflicted situations!) The Psalmist is affirming that God delivers him from the internal turmoil of distress, even when the external situation hasn’t changed yet. When I’m on God’s side - cooperating and partnering with Him - I have nothing to fear from anything the world around us can throw at us, because GOD is on my side!
Psalm 118:8 ESV
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
The Psalmist continues with some perspective on his troubles. How he is surrounded by troubles and hardship. But...
Psalm 118:13 ESV
13 I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.
Being in partnership with the Lord provides the privilege of help in hard places. How?
Psalm 118:14 ESV
14 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
What does this salvation look like?
Psalm 118:19–24 ESV
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. 21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the passage the Jesus quotes from. The stone that was rejected was the cornerstone of the gate of righteousness. The day of salvation is for those who marvel at the wondrous works for the Lord, who acknowledge His goodness.
Being in partnership with the Lord provides the privilege of entering the gate of His righteousness.
By whom was this salvation to come?
Psalm 118:26–29 ESV
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. 27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! 28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. 29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Just days before this encounter Jesus had with the Chef Priests and scribes, the people proclaimed these words. It was not by accident.
This Psalm is about the messiah - and they all knew it. But there was one element they misread.
Blessed is He who comes… yes, yes.
He has made His light to shine… amen!
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords… wait, what’s this sacrifice?
They had assumed the sacrifice was FOR the messiah. But this sacrifice WAS the Messiah! Even as Jesus initiated the final confrontation that lead to His arrest and crucifixion, He was pointing to His own death.
Being in partnership with the Lord provides the privilege of escaping death by having our guilt transferred to Jesus.
May we, like the Psalmist, always remember the goodness of God for those who seek Him!
Psalm 118:28–29 ESV
28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. 29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
Pray
From the Mount of Transfiguration to His last week, Jesus confronted the rebels and wicked. He picked the fight, forced the confrontation, and created the impasse.
Jesus spent His ministry in one final call or request to the ‘tenants’ to offer their rightful offering to the Lord rather than maintaining their unrighteous claim of owning what they were only leased. Jesus doesn’t put them in the wrong, but after a final call they still refuse to offer God what is due Him, He closes the door in the prison they refused to leave.

Notes

V. 1
… come back to this.
V. 2
“When the season came” the season of harvest, to gather what was prepared. cf v.1 and the preparations for pressing and storing the harvest.
The task of the tenants is assumed to be complete, the result of that which they were intrusted should have already been ready.
“get… some of the fruit” The tenants were to provide an offering to the landlord, not the entirety of the harvest. It was the agreement from the beginning that they now refused to abide by.
V. 3
The landlord and the servant acted in good faith/good will. The tenants acted treacherously.
V. 4-5
See v. 3
But the patience of the landlord increased just as the treachery of the tenants compounded.
The pattern repeated and intensified until the landlord had sent all his servants, except...
V. 6
the son of the landlord was all that was left, so the master sent him too
The son was the one for whom the most respect was due.
V. 7
Instead of respect, they gave the most treachery.
It was not anger, or incidental. It was planned, colluded, premeditated, collective.
It was self-serving, envious, and delusional.
V. 8
They executed their plan.
They executed the son.
V. 9
Rhetorical question. Rhetorical answer.
Reminiscent of the prophet Nathan confronting King David about Uriah and Bathsheba.
There is judgement not on the land, nor the produce, but on the current tenants.
There is a promise to ‘others’ who will receive what the first tenants had been entrusted to.
V. 10-11
Points to Ps. 118.
Close up: The corner stone is the stone of the gate of righteousness. And the Lord makes foundational what was rejected by those who were assigned to build
Larger view: The presence of the Lord is the blessing, redemption, and salvation. He disciplines but so that we might enter through the gate and enjoy His presence.
Full View:
Distress, enemies, opposition, temptations, pressures, and chastisement from God are all to be expected.
BUT our response to God should be to
give thanks to God
enjoy God’s love
take refuge in God
lean/depend on God
trust in God
learn from God
marvel at God
BECAUSE
The Lord will send One to save us who
Comes in the name of the Lord
Is a light of the Lord to shine on us
Is a sacrifice to the Lord (associated with a festival)
Who’s submitted to the horn or strength of the alter
… and is the means of God’s mercies and goodness, and the pillar (cornerstone) of the expressed goodness of God.
V. 12 (OK, getting more into commentary than exegesis…)
Jesus not only tells the Jewish leaders their place of rebellion to God, but His place of being the redemptive festal sacrifice.
Their desire was to arrest Jesus, but they feared the people.
They apparently had a two pronged approach to sway the people away from Jesus, and to subvert Jesus with false witnesses and fake trials.
They thereby fulfill the role of the opposition to God in Ps. 118 in their efforts to maintain their own authority.
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