Parables - Obedience - Land
Parables of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted
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Vineyard
Vineyard
This is one parable in a series that Jesus told to the chief priests and elders of Israel who confronted Him about His teaching.
“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.
This land owner plants a vineyard, with all the accessories, then leaves the country.
Leasing the vineyard out to others.
Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.
It’s time to pay the rent,
But what do the vinedressers do?
They beat, stoned, and killed the servants of the landlord.
Tough way to make a living, trying to collect rent.
Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
Now we should be getting a better idea of what Jesus is referring to.
The landowner is God.
He created the universe and leased it to us.
He even picked a special place, Canaan,
and a special people to tend to it.
When it was time, He sent His servants, the prophets, to collect the fruit from His garden.
But Israel treated them shamefully, beating, stoning and killing them.
Now, He has sent His Son.
Surely the vinedressers will respect the Son.
Surely Israel will respect GOD’S SON.
But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.
Did the vinedressers respect the son?
Nope,
Just as the vinedressers in this parable cast out the son of the landowner, and killed him.
The leaders in Israel would casting out the Son of the universe-owner and would kill Him.
Why?
If the vinedressers killed the son to get his inheritance, what do the leaders in Israel want?
Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”
The leaders in Israel wanted the Son’t inheritance as well.
Which leads to a very interesting question.
“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
What should the landowner do with these vinedressers?
What should God do with his children Israel?
What SHOULD God have done with us when we rejected His Son?
They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
We know what should happen to the vinedressers.
And we know what should happen to those in Israel whose job it was to keep his garden.
Even the chief priests and elders know what should be done to the vinedressers.
But do they recognize themselves in the parable yet?
Do we recognize ourselves?
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
Do you think they see it now?
The chief priests and elders have rejected the stone,
That has become the chief cornerstone.
The kingdom of God was taken away from them and given to those who would bear fruit.
Just as they said the vineyard should be taken away from the wicked vinedressers,
And given to someone who will be fruitful with the vineyard.
And not just any fruit, but good fruit.
Then we have the apparent paradox.
If we fall on Jesus, we will be broken,
But out nature doesn’t want to be broken,
We ant to be in charge.
But if He falls on us, we will be ground to powder.
Isn’t it better to tell confess our sins to Jesus, and fall on Him for mercy,
Then to have Him fall on us for our sins.
Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.
NOW the chief priests and Pharisees get the point.
Isn’t it amazing how blind we can be to our own shortcomings.
And now that they realize Jesus was talking about them, they want to get Him.
Which is another habit we have, killing the messenger.
But the Pharisees feared the crowds.
Why?
Because the crowds thought Jesus was a prophet.
One of the servants God has sent to those who tend His creation.
How often have we seen leaders in the church bow to the crowd?
Compromise with the world to get along?
Avoid certain topics because they were afraid of how their congregants would react?
How many people have been led astray by false doctrines because those whom God had placed in the vineyard were unwilling to do the work?
How many are more afraid of those they were sent to shepherd than the Great Shepherd they claim to work for?
On the other hand, how often have we seen church leaders who will not listen to criticism?
Who will blindly follow their own inclinations, oblivious to the damage they do to those around the.
Two Builders
Two Builders
Now we go from land owners to builders on the land.
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
Once again we see Jesus using a parable to describe two different types of people.
First we have those who not only hear what Jesus is saying, but doing them as well.
They are described as being like a man who built his house upon a rock.
Here in Tennessee, most people build on a slab,
A man-made rock.
Back where I grew up, people built basements,
Basically, man-made rocks with a big whole in the middle.
In both cases, they dig footings, to place this man-made rock on a good foundation,
And here in Middle Tennessee, that foundation is usually a big rock.
Why?
Because sturdy foundations make for stable buildings.
When you see a house with cracks in the wall, the most likely cause is an unstable foundation.
Then what does Jesus describe, rain, floods, and wind.
We’re familiar with those, aren’t we?
But if we’ve built our house upon a stable foundation, then it will stand during the onslaught.
But Jesus is describing someone who not only hears His sayings, but does them.
In other words, hearing and living the Words of Jesus are two different things.
And doing what Jesus says is like building on a strong foundation.
Because the storms of life are as sure to come in our spiritual life as they are in our earthly one.
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Life on earth will be full of tribulations,
Rain, floods, and wind.
Are you prepared to stand?
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
On the other hand, someone who hears Jesus’ saying but does not do them is likened to someone who builds their house upon sand.
Sand is a weak foundation.
It shifts and moves.
Have you ever stood on the shore while the waves lap at your feet?
You can feel the sand shifting beneath you.
Consequently, any house built upon sand cannot stand up to weather.
And anyone who does not do what Jesus says is building their life on an unstable foundation,
It cannot stand when the storms of life beat against it.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What can we learn from these two parables?
That we are given a choice.
We can be good tenants of God’s creation or wicked.
We can build our lives on the stable foundation of God, or on the sands of this world.
Since God gives us the choice, the responsibility is ours, not God’s.
When God sends His servants to gather the fruit of our lives, do we rejoice or do we fight?
Are we thankful for God’s correction?
When we ask why God let things happen, we are the foolish man who built his house upon the expectations of the world.
And when the storms come, they wash away the foundation.
And we ask God why?
But when the storms and difficulties of life beat upon the Christian who has built their life upon the Rock, that life can withstand the storm.
The house may be destroyed, but the Christian still stands.
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Some believe that the rock Jesus was talking about was Peter.
Peter means a rock or stone.
But I believe, in context, Jesus was talking about something else.
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I don’t believe Jesus would build His church upon a person,
But upon the foundation of the faith that Peter exhibited.
Not simply the words that Jesus is the Christ,
But the faith rooted and founded on that truth.
That is the faith that can survive storms.
That is the faith that not only hears what Jesus says, but does it.
And it is the faith we are called to have.