The Question of Fruitfulness
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
As I was preparing the message this morning and thinking about how I wanted to begin, I thought about asking the question: “How many of you have ever gone wine tasting?”
However, I thought that might not be the best way to start out considering that we are Baptists here.
If you were to go, and I only know this from my limited research through movies and GPB, you would pull up into a vineyard and see rolling hills of grape vines. There would be all sorts of types of grapes, like what is in the Napa Valley of California or some Italian Vineyard.
You would probably come up to some sort of manor house or main operations building and you would find down in the wine cellar the finished product. There would be barrels of wine that were down their aging and the manager of the vineyard would take you to a place where you could not only see the wine come out from the barrels, but he would pour the wine into a glass and you would do all the fancy swishes in the glass and sniffing as you tasted the wine.
There is of course more to the operation that you don’t see, like the processing plant, but you get the idea. In the ancient world the vineyard would have some similar things, but there would be some differences as well. The overall process is basically the same though.
Grow the grapes. Harvest them. Squish them. Bottle the juice. Let it age and ferment into wine.
But imagine if you pulled up to that nice vineyard and their were grapes on the vine, but they were all starting to rot and go bad. Imagine that the manor house has no wine in its cellar and their is no barrel full to taste.
What is the purpose of this whole operation? It is a colossal waste of time, energy, land, and resources.
That must have been how God felt about the priesthood and the nation of Israel.
This morning, we are going to look at the Question of Fruitfulness as we continue to study Jesus’s interaction with the religious leaders during His final week on earth before going to the cross.
33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.
34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.
35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’
39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.
46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Pray
1. The Master’s Provision (v.33)
1. The Master’s Provision (v.33)
33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.
Land
Protection
Leaders to Watch Over the Law and the People (Vineyard Watchtower)
Resources to Reap the Harvest (Winepress)
God’s Word is the ultimate resource we need to reap a harvest
Sacrifices were a way of visually reminding the people of the need for a Savior
Festivals also reminded the people
2. The Master’s Expectation (v.34)
2. The Master’s Expectation (v.34)
34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.
The Purpose of the Vineyard was to produce a harvest
Remember that the harvest is there, but there are no harvesters
The owner of the vineyard hired tenant farmers and went to another country leaving it in their hands
There was a season for the vintage and an expectation of fruit
Had the owner come when it was not the season for fruit, it would have been foolish to expect it
This was not the case for this owner. He came in the season of fruit
God had given leadership to the religious leaders
The priesthood was a blessing of God to the people to remind them of the coming Savior
These leaders had turned it into something for their own personal gain (currency exchange, sacrifices, other giving expectations that they benefited from)
Today in Israel, there is a class of Orthodox Rabbis that are basically supported by the State
God sent Jesus in the fullness of time
Keep in mind the backdrop of this discussion is the question of the Pharisees about Jesus’s authority and His counter question about John the Baptist
John preached that the fullness of time (the long wait for Messiah) had come
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
The fruit God was seeking is repentance, but instead there was nothing (Lesson of the Fig Tree)
3. The Master’s Servants (vv.34-37)
3. The Master’s Servants (vv.34-37)
34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.
35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
Servants = the Prophets
God sent multiple servants to warn and remind that the Master expected fruitfulness from the tenants
They treated the servants with contempt
Some were beaten and abused
Some were stoned and killed
Hebrews says that some, like Isaiah, were even sawn in half
The brutality to these servants knew no bounds
Saints during the Reformation who were treated brutally by the Roman Catholic Church for simply trying to get the Bible into the hands of the common people
These Roman Catholic leaders did not want to be exposed for the frauds they were and for the fact that they were violating Scriptures with extra commands (teaching as Scripture the doctrine of man)
Notice the grace and mercy of God to send the servants and warn
They should have known from the beginning of their hire the expectation of sharing the harvest
They got to keep some for themselves - blessings of the ministry
They should have been removed after the first time they abused one of the Master’s servants
Finally God sends the Son
the Son shares the authority of the owner
When they abuse the Son, they are attacking the owner
Sending the Son is the equivalent to the master himself coming and revealing his expectations for a harvest
Application
God has given us His Word
God has given us prophets and pastors and teachers
God has given us His Son
God expects a harvest from His people of righteousness
Are we bearing any fruit of godliness in our lives?
Are any people being won to the kingdom? How often do you even attempt to invite someone to church, much less share your faith?
4. The Master’s Judgment (vv. 38-41)
4. The Master’s Judgment (vv. 38-41)
38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’
39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
The tenants thought if they eliminated the son they would have the vineyard to themselves
How many of us see the futility of this line of thinking?
Even the leaders Jesus is addressing fully expected that the wicked tenants would receive judgment and condemnation from the owner
Look at the brutality with which they treat the son
Seized Him - Jesus was arrested
Threw Him Out of the Vineyard - Jesus was rejected and beaten and illegally sentenced and handed over to the Romans to be crucified
They Killed Him - Jesus was crucified outside the city gates - He was taken out of the vineyard and killed
The leaders are asked a question by Jesus of what should be done
Notice the leaders have been sucked up into the story and care more for the fictional characters than they do for the people they were supposed to be shepherding
They quickly and without hesitation cast violent judgment on these fictional tenants but consider themselves innocent
They pronounce their own judgment and doom
They are correct in their pronouncement
The Judgment They Pronounce
The tenants will be sentenced to death
The vineyard will be given to others who will be faithful
The Picture of the Destruction of the Temple and the Church
Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed in AD 70
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!
God would move to a new phase of His plan of Salvation by Commissioning the Church to go bear fruit
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Remember the Question of Authority and the Question of Obedience?
Christ has the Authority
Christ expects Obedience from Us
Application
Will God find you and I and the Church anymore faithful than He found the House of Israel?
5. The Master’s Plan (vv.42-46)
5. The Master’s Plan (vv.42-46)
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.
44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.
46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Once again, Jesus asks the leaders, “Have you not read?”
They should have known all of the promises about the Messiah
They should have been able to see the signs that pointed to Jesus as being that promised Son
They rejected Him
The Cornerstone and Keystone
Two options
One is a stone that builders would select for the cornerstone
Pile of stones
Best chosen
Helped straighten and hold the building together
All the others would be rejected but the one chosen
They chose the wrong one
Keystone held the Roman arches together
Wrong stone could cause it to collapse on those underneath
Rejecting Christ will cause one to trip or be crushed
God took what was rejected by men and made Him the thing that holds it all together
Conclusion
What about us?
First, have you rejected or accepted the Son?
Second, are you bearing fruit for the Master?
