Sermon Tone Analysis

On January 18th, 2009 Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual Episcopal priest was asked to open Barack Obama’s inauguration with a prayer.

He began his prayer: “O god of our many understandings.”

L.R. Mongeu, contributor for the Oregonian encapsulated the religious outlook of many americans when she wrote, “God, Allah, Yahweh, the Creator, the One the Energies, goes by as many names in this country as ever...I do believe that God is in everyone, though by what name he resides there seems to me to be up to the person in question.”

She defended them by saying that for her generation, believing such things is “simply considered good manners.”

What’s interesting to me about that statement is that she’s not so concerned about what is true, but rather she’s concerned about what she considers “good manners.”

Truth, to her, is not as important as tolerance.

But what is God really like?

Even an atheist, who doesn’t believe in any God, recognizes that the claims of Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, and Buddhism are fundamentally incompatible.

And there are many people who claim to love Jesus, and say that he simply taught us not to judge one another, and to show love to everyone.

The question, “What is God really like?” is the most important question you can ever ask.

So I ask you: “What do you think God is really like?”

And a second question, “How did you come to hold your ideas about God?”

Now we are gathered here this morning because we believe that the Scriptures reveal God to us, and that Jesus Christ taught the truth about the nature of God.

Turn to Mark 12. Let me give you the background real quick.

This is the last week of Jesus’ life.

On Sunday, he came into the triumphant praise of the crowds, hailing him as the Son of David.

Monday he cursed the fig tree and cleared the temple as an act of judgment on Israel’s hypocrisy.

On Tuesday, he taught about faith, prayer, and forgiveness, and then entered the temple to teach some more, before being confronted by the authorities: the chief priests, scribes, and elders.

They wanted to embarrass him, and he embarrassed them.

They wanted to trap him and discredit his ministry, he asked them a question that proved his own authority and discredited theirs.

And our section in Mark 12 is a continuation of that conversation, except now Verse 1 says “Jesus began to speak to them in parables.”

Speaking to them in parables is a powerful form of teaching.

The story is the bait, the increasing tension in the plot is the lure, and the question at the end is the hook they get caught on.

Now, just remember, Jesus is on the biggest stage in Israel.

He’s in Jerusalem.

It’s Passover Week.

He’s in the temple courtyards.

He’s having a showdown with the elites.

All eyes are on him.

No one wants to miss this.

And he will not disappoint.

Let’s Read Mark 12:1-12.

Here’s the big idea of what Jesus wants to say to them is this: The rejection of God’s Son results in the coming of God’s Judgment.

Not all religions are true.

God does not tolerate all lifestyles.

God has revealed that salvation is through his Son, Jesus, and those who reject God’s Son will face God’s judgment.

This is what Jesus taught.

Let’s divide the parable into three sections: God’s Vineyard, Israel’s Rejection, God’s Judgment.

First, God’s Vineyard.

Look back at verse 1: “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower.”

The story begins quaintly.

We meet a hardworking man who invests time, sweat, and finances toward building a fully-functioning vineyard.

To anyone who had traveled through Israel, they would have seen these things.

They were common.

But perhaps what would have grabbed the attention of the scribes and elders chief priests would be the familiarity of what he was saying.

The beginning of his parable is almost a direct quote of Isaiah 5:1-2.

Isaiah 5 reads, “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it.”

They’re nearly identical.

And in Isaiah, it goes on to say, “and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.”

In other words, the guy builds a vineyard but it only produces worthless fruit.

And in Isaiah 5, God is the vineyard builder, and Israel is the vineyard, and God is pronouncing judgment upon Israel because of its sin and disobedience.

Israel was often compared to a vineyard in the Old Testament.

Scribes knew this.

The creation and cultivation of the vineyard is a metaphor for God’s calling and establishment of his special people, Israel.

Remember, the Old Testament is about God revealing himself to Israel so that Israel would reveal God to the rest of the world.

God called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God rescued Israel out of Egypt.

God made Israel his own holy people.

God gave Israel laws that reflected his own holy character.

God made promises to Israel, protected Israel, and built up Israel.

Israel was God’s vineyard - he planted her, cultivated her, built her, protected her.

Now it says that the vineyard owner “leased it to tenants and went into another country.”

This too was a common practice in Israel.

You buy the land, you prepare it, you hire farmers to care for it, and their compensation is a share of your harvest.

What this means is that God decided to mediate his rule through human leaders.

God has always done this.

He rules the world, gives it to Adam and Eve to rule on his behalf.

He created Israel, but he appointed leaders to rule Israel on his behalf.

That’s who the tenants are.

They are Israel’s leaders.

They are charged to care for the vineyard on God’s behalf.

Verse 2: “When the season came he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.”

The time of harvest comes, and the owner expects a fruitful vineyard.

God expects fruitfulness from his people.

God has always called his people to be distinct.

He said in Leviticus 11:44 “Be holy, for I am holy.”

And the analogy often used is the analogy of fruitfulness.

Their holiness was to start inwardly (in the heart) and move outwardly in their lives.

They were to have holy words, holy attitudes, holy relationships, holy aspirations, holy worship, holy obedience.

And the outward expression of their holiness is fruit.

The idea is that God gives and gives and gives.

He sets his people apart from the world.

He calls them unto himself.

He gives them blessing upon blessing.

He plants and cultivates them.

And he does this so that they would bear good fruit.

This is what he did with Israel, and this is what he does for all his people.

He calls us unto himself.

He plants us into Christ.

He blesses us in innumerable ways.

He gives us so much.

And all that we have, and all that we are, we are stewards.

We, like Israel, are owners of nothing but stewards of everything.

It’s all God’s, entrusted to us, and we are to use all we have for him.

I wonder, do you acknowledge that everything you have is from God?

Your abilities?

Your wealth?

Your relationships?

Your home?