Lent 5C-- Fruitful Lives

Text: “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” (Luke 20:15b-16)

Be careful that you don’t wind up on the ‘hook’ from this text.

It’s natural to hear this parable and immediately make the connection: the vineyard— the Kingdom of God— was taken from those who rejected Jesus and given to you. The problem is: that puts you on the ‘hook’ for the rent. Before you take that on, make sure you can pay it.

It’s not unusual for young men and young women to get an apartment when they’re first starting out and getting out on their own. Depending upon the circumstances, they may require a roommate to help share the rent so that they can afford the apartment. But what’s the problem with that? What is the big concern? The problem is that, if you’re not both on the lease and your roommate changes his mind, then you’re stuck having to pay the rent entirely yourself. You’re on the ‘hook’ for the whole amount.

What we’re faced with here is similar. The vineyard has been taken back because the tenants wouldn’t pay the ‘rent’ that was owed— they wouldn’t give God the ‘fruit’ that He was rightly owed— and given to others. Again, you and I naturally hear that to be saying that it was taken from those who lived under the Old Covenant and given to you. The problem is: that puts you on the ‘hook’ for the rent. Before you take that on this morning, let’s make sure you can pay it.

In fact, there are two sides to that question. There’s the willingness to pay the rent and there’s the ability.

Now, I’m speaking to fellow believers this morning. So there’s no question that you’re willing. But are you able? Is the fruit of your life sufficient to pay God what He’s owed? Keep in mind that the ‘fruit’ of our lives may or may not be acceptable. Unbelievers aren’t just unwilling to offer to God the ‘fruit’ of their lives that He is owed, they also have another problem: the ‘fruit’ of their lives is rotten. They can not pay God the ‘fruit’ that He’s owed, even if they wanted to.

Perhaps you can remember back to a time when you weren’t a believer— either a time before you came to faith or a time when you drifted away from God. What fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?” (Romans 6:21). What ‘fruit’ was your life producing at that point? The fruit of your life was “19 ...sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21). At that point in your life, what could you have possibly offered to God?

And let’s be realistic. Some of you are still at that point. You are still slaves to sin. You continue to present yourself as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness (Rom. 6:19). If that’s you, then today’s text is a grave warning rather than an offer. Repent. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11a). The end of those things is death (Rom. 6:21). Repent or God the Father will cast you out and give your place to others. The wages of your sin is death (Rom. 6:23a).

But, even to you who are repentant believers, don’t be too quick to sign on to the “lease,” so to speak. Yes, the kingdom that you’re offered here is absolutely worth it. The ‘vineyard’ in the parable is the very Garden of Eden, itself. It is paradise. It is a new creation, untroubled by death, mourning, crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away and He who is seated on the throne has made all things new (Rev. 21:1-5). It is absolutely worth what God is asking for it. Absolutely worth what He is owed.

But are the fruits of your life sufficient to give God what He is owed for it? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Can you offer to God the love that He’s owed— a love for God that is total and complete, not divided with a love for this world or the things of this world; a love for your neighbor that truly matches your love for yourself— can you offer Him that fruit? Can you offer to Him true kindness, true goodness? Can you offer Him the faithfulness and self-control that you owe Him? Or will He come and cast you out in the end and destroy you?

Be careful that your understanding of this text doesn’t leave you on the ‘hook’. That’s not what this Word of God intends to do.

The Kingdom of God is not given over to you— at least not directly. It was given to Christ.

You know the Gospels. You know the accounts of His life, how He lived every moment with perfect love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When He lashed out in rage, it was without sin because it was perfectly justified by a truly righteous love for His Father and His Father’s house. A bruised reed He did not break and a smoldering wick He did not snuff out, so gentle was He with the faith of everyone that He encountered. He was perfectly faithful to everything that the Father gave Him to do and to teach. He not only loved those who were considered unlovable, He loved His enemies. Even now, as He tells this parable of the vineyard, it isn’t to save Himself from being rejected and killed. It’s so that, when He dies and rises again, the very people He’s speaking to— the very people who would soon lay their hands on Him to kill Him— would believe that it was to give them a place in His Kingdom. From the moment He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary to the moment when He gave up His spirit, He was the literal embodiment of those words. The fruit of His life was perfect.

And there is, of course, no greater example of His perfect love than the fact that He, the heir, came and allowed Himself to be seized by the tenants of His vineyard so that the inheritance would be theirs! They were both unwilling and unable to offer God what He was owed. And so, on the cross, He paid it for them. He took upon Himself the wages of their sin; He did the death that they deserved; He paid the debt that they owed and purchased for them an inheritance in His Kingdom.

Repent and believe that the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15).

Repent and believe that, although you were slaves to sin— which leads to death— but you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God so that the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:22-23).

You, who belong to Christ Jesus, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24) and are filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1:11).

If you’ll allow me to switch metaphors for a moment, He continues to plant the seed of His Word into your ears and into your hearts and into your minds and that seed grows and yields a hundredfold (Luke 8:8). And, again, a third metaphor: “Whoever abides in Christ (like branches attached to a vine)… bears much fruit” (John 15:5). And you have been joined to Him in baptism.

Your place in the Kingdom has been paid for in full by Christ and the Holy Spirit that was given to you in baptism is a guarantee of that inheritance until you acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:14).

That same Holy Spirit is constantly at work in you, producing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And even

“[causing y]our souls to change the ridicule, persecution, praise, and whatever else befalls [you] in this world into the wine of faith, hope, and love and into the fruit of patience and humility. ” (Gerhard, Johann. “Prayer for the Preservation of the Word and the Increase of the Church,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

Because, in Christ, your suffering is no longer punishment— it is no longer the wages of your sin— but the discipline of a loving Father. And “11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [in you]” (Hebrews 12:11 ).

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, there’s no need to put yourself on the hook here. Christ put Himself on the hook for you and has given you His Kingdom (Luke 12:32). One day soon you will be gathered by the angels. And the fruits that the Father is owed will come due. On that day, give no thought to the fruit that you were getting when you were slaves to sin.

“For the disobedience of [your] youth, ...offer to [your Heavenly] Father, the obedience of [His] Son. [Offer Him] the perfect innocence of the one who became obedient to [His Father], even to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8).” (Gerhard, Johann. “Remembering the Sins of Youth,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

“For [the] sins that [you] commit every day of [your] life, ...offer to [your Heavenly] Father, the precious blood of [His] Son, which was poured out on the altar of the cross.” (Gerhard, Johann. “The Daily Lapse Into Sin,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

“For [every failure to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,] offer to ...God, the faultless and perfect obedience of [His] Son, who, in the days of His flesh, loved [God] perfectly with His whole heart and depended completely on [Him]. No taint of sin was found in His deeds, words, and thoughts (Isaiah 53:9), not even the slightest stain of guilt.” (Gerhard, Johann. “Life Contemplated According to the First Table of the Law,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

“For [every failure to love your neighbor as yourself,] offer to your [Heavenly] Father, the perfect obedience of [His] Son, who loved all people with perfect love. In [whose] mouth was found no deceit (Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22). [Who] did not deviate from [God’s] Law in His words or deeds. ...Through faith, ...draw from His wounds everything that is necessary for righteousness and salvation.” (Gerhard, Johann. “Life Contemplated According to the Second Table of the Law,” Meditations on Divine Mercy.)

There is nothing greater— and nothing more— that you can offer on that day than the fruit of Christ’s life— His perfect righteousness— which is now yours.