MK040 Sermons
Rejection (Audio)
last week was a big weekend for us as a church. A lot of transition and change for us. We had our biggest attendance ever in two services and then had a great party out in the back. Somehow that dunk tank didn't work when I was in it, but when Johnny and Tim got in it, man, that thing was working like a clock, you know, you should have seen them going down. But we all had a great time just celebrating together God's goodness and God's faithfulness for us. We also asked you last week to be in prayer for one of our little guys, Gabe Shirk, just turned a year old and he had some surgery up at Hershey. And as mom's prayer requested, he would be able to come home and his diaper would be full. Well, both of those things happen a lot. So we're very grateful for that. And a lot of challenges for them is they continue to navigate adjustments as a result from the surgery. But thank you for your prayers for Gabe and on his behalf. Well, before Christina and my moved into this area, we were living in the Morgantown area and we were working in a church there and we were going to rent a house in the Denver area. And before we moved in, we had plans to take a two week vacation and out in the West Coast. So we emptied our house that we were staying in, loaded everything in the basement of a friend's business and went on our vacation to visit family out West. And so the plan was for us to come back and we were supposed to, it was a Saturday morning. I remember very distinctly you're supposed to meet the rental secretary at this location. She would give us the keys to the house. We go in, make sure everything was okay. And we get a truck and move our stuff. Well, unbeknownst to us, the small group that we had helped to get launched at the church we were at, they had actually rented a truck, loaded all of our possessions into this truck and found out the address of where we were moving. I don't even know if I told any of them. And somehow they found it out. And they were, when we pulled in there to meet the rental secretary, this big huge moving van pulled in right behind it. It was quite an amazing thing. But as we got out of the car to meet the rental secretary, the owner of the rental agency came up and introduced myself. And I thought, that's a little odd. Why would the owner of the rental agency come and introduce himself to me when I'm going into this house? And what I quickly found out was that the place that we were supposed to move into was not empty. The previous renters had stopped paying their rent and the owner had no way to get them out. And so we spent several hours with the owner of the agency offering them a place free for a month. We offered to help them move out and move their possessions there just so we could move in. And they completely refused. And as you know, there's a legal process that you have to go through to get someone out of a place after they stop paying their rent. And so what ended up happening is we ended up storing our things in another rental location. And we're nomads for another six weeks. So I don't know if you've ever found yourself in a situation like that where someone felt entitled to something that really wasn't theirs. These people who had rented this house, they were acting like owners. We're in charge here. We're not going. We're not leaving it. But they were simply renters. They were not owners. They were just renters. But they were acting like they owned a place. No, I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere. You can't tell me to leave. I'm keeping all my stuff here. Have you ever loaned something to someone and they forgot that you loaned it to them? And then you went and asked them back, asked to get it back and they thought it was theirs? Anybody ever had that happen to you? You know? Maybe you've had this happen. Maybe you were in a relationship with a guy or girl and you were enjoying the relationship and you're kind of getting to know one another. And then kind of out of the blue, the other person refers to you as his girl or my guy. And you're like, when did I become theirs? I don't know that that had happened yet. But somehow they believed that I was connected to them in more significant ways than I realized that I was. Maybe you've had someone in a job who had a responsibility and it was their responsibility, but they passed that responsibility off to you and it wasn't theirs to pass it off but they just assumed you would do it and you would be responsible for making it happen. Maybe you've wondered that about God. Where you did your part and you expected God to come through on his part. That's what God does, right? And he's big enough and powerful enough and capable enough to do that for you. You know that if you raise your kid, right, they're gonna turn out right and they're gonna follow God and they're gonna have a great relationship with you. Or if you give back to God financially, if you tie that God's gonna bless you with a good job and help you meet your financial needs or if you spend time reading the Bible that maybe that's gonna keep you from getting a terminal illness. We don't say those things but I think our actions say that for us. And this morning we're gonna look at a group of individuals who felt entitled to something that wasn't their own and we're gonna look at their response because they felt entitled to it and then we're gonna watch the response of the owner towards the people who were simply renters and their response this morning. This story today, if you're a, someone who has been attending church whether it's our church or another church for a long time, this story is for you today. If you're checking out faith, maybe you come back to God, maybe you're exploring this, maybe someone convinced you to come this morning, I hope that you walk away with a better picture of the God that we love and serve and that we hope you get to know. We've been in a series just started last week entitled "The Parables of Jesus" and these parables are stories that Jesus told in all different kinds of settings, all different kinds of environments and they're not the kind of stories that have this warm and fuzzy feeling in the end. And you're like, oh, that was a nice story. These are kind of stories that leave you on the edge of your seat, these are stories that you're not sure how it's gonna end and even when you figure out how it ends, all the sudden you realize that you were a character in that story and you didn't even know it at the time. These stories often surprise you with your part in it and their stories are an invitation from Jesus to take and sit with and think about the way he views this world and the way he views life. And so I hope you'll join me this morning in doing that. If you have your Bibles, if you would turn to Luke 20, Luke 20 is where we're gonna be this morning. Luke 20, if you have a wireless device, you can connect to the internet and if you don't have this app on your phone or tablet, you version is where you wanna go, download that app and then you'll be able to track with us on that this morning. As you're turning there or getting a Bible that our guys are passing out to you this morning, let me read this story to you. So listen as I read and then we'll dive into it. A man planted a vineyard, rented into some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent the servant to the tenant so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty handed. He sent another servant but that one they also beat and treated shamelessly and sent away empty handed. He sent still a third and they wounded him and threw him out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my son whom I love, perhaps they will respect him. But when the tenants saw them they talked him out or over, this is the heir they said, let's kill him and the inheritance will be ours so they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. When the people heard this they said, God forbid. Jesus looked directly at them and asked, then what is the meaning of that which is written? The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Everyone who falls in that stone will be broken to pieces. Anyone whom whom it falls will be crushed. The setting that Jesus is in is a setting that we have some familiarity with. What is the Sunday that happens before Easter Sunday? What's the Sunday before Easter Sunday? Palm Sunday, right? Palm Sunday was the Sunday in which Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem. He was wrapping up his three years of ministry here on the earth. He rode in the city of Jerusalem and he went and said, find a cult that had never been written before. And it seems kind of an odd request that he would request that. But he said, bring a cult that had never been written before and he got on this cult and he rolled in the city. In that culture and in those days when an individual rode into the city on a cult or on a horse, it was often a conquering king who had defeated a foreign nation and come back with the spoils of war and they rode in and the people celebrated and then they cheered and they waved banners and they cheered and celebrated the king in his army that was coming into to feed them. That's the picture that Jesus created. It's a picture that was prophesied in the Old Testament in a number of different places. That he would ride in, if you will, as a conquering king. And so he rides in, and as he rides in, the first place that he goes is the place of worship, the temple. And in the temple, instead of finding the scriptures being read and prayers being said and people quietly reflecting about the truth of what the scriptures say, they were buying and selling sacrifices. They were jacking up the prices so they could get more money for these things and take advantage of other people. And there was a lot of manipulation that was taking place. Well, if you know the story, Jesus went in and he wasn't very thrilled and he literally turned the place upside down. He flipped over the tables, he tore the place apart and in the book of Mark, the account that Mark wrote says that he literally didn't let anyone in for several hours and had the place blocked off. And eventually, he and his disciples opened the doors and people came in. And so that's the background of what's happening at this time. And so as the people came in, the religious leaders in chapter 20, verse one, Jesus was teaching the people in the courts and proclaiming good news, the priests, the teachers of the law together with elders. So all the religious gurus showed up. And they said to Jesus, "By what authority are you doing these things? Who died and left you, boss? Who put you in charge that you could ride like the concrete king and they just turned the place upside down? Who gave you this power and authority?" Jesus proceeds to ask them a question. They couldn't answer it. And he said, "If you can't answer my question, I'm not going to answer your question." And then he proceeded to tell them a story. He told them a story about a vineyard. And stories about a vineyard were pretty common in those days. It's a fruit, it's something that they grew in those days. It was often used not only as something they would eat, but there would be dyes that would come from this. There was a lot of uses for the grapes in that day. It says that he planted a vineyard and he rented some farmers and he went away and likely what had happened is the fertile ground where the grapes were being grown was another piece of property away from where he lived. So there was a distance between those areas. And because of that distance, he hired some men to go and take care of that. It was pretty common for that to happen. And so now it's time for the grapes to be harvested. And in those days, you would not be paid on a weekly basis like we would today. What you would do is you would be given a place to stay. And once you had a place to stay, you would live off the land, if you will. And so of the harvest, a percentage of the harvest would go back to the owner of the property, a percentage of the harvest would go to the workers. And so the owner sent some individuals to get his part of the harvest. Very common practice in that day. He sent his first servant there. And the first servant, it says there in the story, it says they beat him up and sent him away empty handed. They beat the guy up and sent him away empty handed. So the owner sent the second guy back and look what happens to the second guy. Says they beat him up and look what it says there. They treated him shamefully and sent him away empty handed. Shaming someone was a horrible thing to do in that culture. It's a little bit like the Asian culture when someone is shamed. It's worse than death. We would say they were embarrassed, but it's even stronger than embarrassment. It's more like humiliation. So if you're a boss or you're a manager or you're owner, you just sent one of your employees to go do a task with some of your other employees and those other employees just humiliated one of your employees. Let's kind of let that settle. Would you be feeling at that moment in time? You say, how did they shame them, John? Well, they might have stripped part of their clothing. In those days, there were several layers of clothing, not only to protect them from the hot sun, but as a way to protect their body. And so stripping one of a person of their clothing would be a way to shame them. The men often wore beers and so they could, when they might cut half of their beard or shave part of their head, that would be a form of shaming them in that culture. We don't really know what happened. All we know is this individual was shamed and publicly humiliated and sent back the text says, "But nothing, nothing." So the owner sends a third person and the third person goes and look what happens to them. We would say they escalated because not only did they beat him up and shame him, but now they physically wounded him. And you would seem to imply that this was something that was long-term, not just some injury that would heal. This was something more longer-term. And they threw him out again at escalation, didn't just send him back with nothing. They literally threw the guy out. How much more mistreatment will the owner of the vineyard take? You could have assumed the first time or two, it would have been a misunderstanding. Maybe didn't realize who was sending the servants. Maybe they didn't announce themselves well enough. Maybe they thought they were an intruder. Maybe they came a night, we could run all kinds of speculation. But after three times, you're like, there's no mistake on this one. There's no mistake. And for the people listening in that day, they're thinking vineyards, a vineyard that's not doing what it's supposed to be doing. And people being mistreated, this has some familiarity. There's a parable in Isaiah chapter five about a vineyard. Let me read this parable to you. It says, I will sing for the one I love, a song about his vineyard. My loved one has a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with choices of vines. He built a watchtower and then cut a wine press as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes. But it yielded only bad fruit. Now you dwellers in Jerusalem, people of Judah judged between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done? When I looked for good grapes, what did it yield? Only bad. Now I will tell you what I'm gonna do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge. It will be destroyed. I will break down its walls and it will be trampled. What was that parable about? That parable was a story of what God had done for his chosen people, the people of Israel. God had selected them to be his own people. He had given them his name. He had said, I will be your God if you will be my people. He led them out of the land of Egypt. He took them through the Red Sea. He led them through the wilderness for 40 years, providing everything that they needed. He then led them into the land of Israel and they had fields that they didn't tell and houses that they didn't build. And it says that he went and fought for them and defeated all of their enemies. In spite of all of this, they turned their backs on God. And God said, I don't have anything more to do with you. But God loved them so much that God would send prophets. And he would say to these prophets, I want you to go and I want you to speak for me. And the prophets would say, this is what God said in the people like, who are you and we don't listen to you? And they would just dismiss them completely. They would physically mistreat them. They sometimes would kill the prophets. And so the Jewish people have all this history going on in the background. And so when they hear this parable, they're like, he's talking about our story. He's talking about us. So what's the owner of the vineyard gonna do? He was perfectly entitled to bring a lawsuit. He was perfectly entitled to bring an army. He was perfectly entitled to use physical force to go and remove these illegitimate people who thought they had more rights and privileges than they did. And to take back ownership of the vineyard that was his and bring public embarrassment and humiliation to them just like they had done to his servants. In Israelite history, they would often read stories like this. And then they would tell stories of their own to help the people understand it. Here's a story that comes around 1040 AD. It was a parable by an individual named Rabbi Naseem. He said there was a parable of a priest who had an orchard of figs in which there was an unclean field. When he wanted to eat some of his figs, he told one of his men to go and say to the renter, the owner of the orchard bid you bring him two figs. He went and told him and the tenant or the renter said, "Who is this owner of the orchard? "Go back to your work." The priest said, "I will go myself to the orchard." His men said, "Will you go to an unplaying place?" He replied, "Even if there be a hundred forms "of uncleanness, I will go so that my messenger "may not be put to shame." So what's the owner gonna do to get the people to realize that they need to give this up? It doesn't belong to them. The story goes on to tell us what he's gonna do. As he's sitting there thinking in verse 13, he says, "Maybe I'll send my son." Maybe that's what I'll do. I don't know about you, but I'm sitting here thinking if I was that owner, either that guy is really naive, he's kind beyond imagination, he's clueless or out of touch. Does he really even care about a son? Well, you know he cares about a son because look how he describes a son, "My son whom I love," or some translations say, "My beloved son." That phrase was used once before in the writers of the gospel. When Jesus was being baptized, the Bible says that the heavens opened up and there was a voice from heaven that said, "This is my beloved son who I'm thrilled with." "Maybe if he sends his son," look what he says, "perhaps they will respect him." "Maybe a last ditch effort for them to respect him." One night in the early 1980s, the king of Jordan, the late Hussein, the king of Jordan, the king of Jordan, the late Hussein, bin Talalah, was informed that there was about 75 Jordanian army officers who at that moment in nearby barracks preparing to attempt a military overthrow of the kingdom. His security officer's requested permission to surround the barracks and take the men and arrest the plotters. After some were paused, the king sat and reflected and he said, "Bring me a small helicopter." He got in the helicopter with the pilot, flew over, landed on top of the barracks, and he told the pilot, "If you hear gunshots, "fly away without me immediately." Unarmed, the king walked down two flights of stairs and suddenly appeared in the room where the plotters were meeting and quietly sent to them, "Gentlemen, "it's come to my attention that you're meeting here tonight "to finalize plans to overthrow our government. "Take over the country and install a military dictator." If you do this, the army will break apart. The country will be punched into civil war and tens of thousands of people will die. There is no need for this. Here I am, kill me and proceed. That way, only one man will die. After a moment of stunned silence, the rebels rush forward as one to kiss the king's hand and feet and pledge loyalty to him for life. He said, "What did that king do? "What did he do?" That king chose to vulnerably place himself at the mercy of those men and he opted to act in a noble way and by doing so attempt to fan one little flame of amber of honor they had in them for him. And so what would happen with this king as he would send the son that he loved dearly with one last ditch effort that the renters who thought they owned it all would out of respect for him. Listen to what the son had to say. You see, something much deeper was happening here because if you think about this story the owner was assuming all of the risk. The owner was the one who was not demanding what was rightfully his own. It was his vineyard. His actions demonstrate nobility and vulnerabilities. He hoped there was a sense of honor in their hearts. He had every right to retaliate under the law and in the eyes of public opinion no one would have questioned his actions. Instead, he sends his beloved son. They see him coming. They talk over the matter. They said, "This is the heir. Let's kill him and look at their reason. The inheritance will be ours." It will be ours. You see, that's what they wanted. They knew they were renters and they wanted to be owners. And they thought, "What do we have to do for this to become ours?" You know, there's a law in the books in Pennsylvania it's called Squatter's Rights. And it's a law that automatically allows someone to take legal possession of someone else's property after a certain amount of time. This can be a house, it can be a piece of real estate. And according to the land law, it's most used to deal with unused land that wasn't generating tax revenue. In the state of Pennsylvania, does anybody know how long that is? Some people said seven years. It's actually 21 years. Where if you're taking care of a piece of property that no one else is taking care of an owner, you can claim ownership to that piece of property. In the land of Israel, it was three. It's three. So they knew, all they had to do was make it through three rounds of it with this king or with this landowner and they could legally claim that property as their own. You see, the critical issue was inheritance to the people. But not to Jesus. You see, Jesus didn't really want to overthrow King Herod. He wasn't interested in being king of the land. Jesus wasn't interested in having his name on buildings and what Jesus was interested in this thing that was called the kingdom of God. And he was interested in the hearts of people. You see, the religious community believed that Jesus was there to take something away from them that they believed was theirs. But it wasn't. Note the uncertainty after they killed him in verse 15. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to the others. And when the people heard this, they said, "God forbid." They said, "He can't take it any longer. He's going to wipe them out." The only option left. The story kind of ends in a very odd way. You don't know if he does. You don't know if he doesn't. And what Jesus does is he goes back and he grabs two phrases from the Old Testament and he brings those in to close this story. And look at the one, he says, "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." You're like, "What is he talking about?" It's actually from Psalm 118. And in Psalm 118, it describes a king riding in triumphantly. And the people celebrating him. And then it says, "The stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone." Jesus connected that with what he said in Matthew 16 when he said, "Upon this rock, I will build my church. And the gates of hell cannot stop this thing." And then he says, "Judgments come in in verse 18. Everyone who falls in that stone will be broken to pieces. Anyone on whom it falls will be crushed." You know, I think about this story. The story really is a picture of God's grace. That's what it's a picture of. The religious leaders, they live by a set of rules. And you do these rules and then you don't get in trouble. You don't do the rules and you get in trouble. That's the way life works. But that's not Jesus's view of life. Jesus has a view of life that has this concept called grace. Not giving us what we are giving to us, what we do not deserve. Unmerited favor. What did the renters, what did they deserve after they mistreated the first servant? Throw those guys out. Who do they think they are? Do they think they own the place? After the second servant, after the third servant, after his own son is killed at their hands. And he still doesn't throw them out. This parable reflects the heart of Jesus to people. The heart of people, the heart of Jesus to people who do not deserve it. The message was clear to the religious leaders. They were holding on to something that they thought was there simply because they followed the rules. They did all the right things and they were entitled to this. And Jesus blew them out of the water because he said just because you keep the rules doesn't make this yours. There's a bigger message here for your faith journey. The question is what do you believe that because you've been in it long enough, you are entitled to, you deserve this. And you are acting like an owner instead of a renter. How much what you hope God will do in the future is tied on what you believe you have already done in the present and you deserve. You've lived your life morally pure. You haven't gotten involved sexually before you're married. And so God should come through and give you someone that will love you and care about you and give you a great marriage. And you're acting like an owner when you're only a renter. You've honored God with your finances, you've given back to God and you've tried to trust God with your finances and you live freely and God should give you a good job. You're living like an owner and not a renter. You bring your kids to church, you do family devotions with them and they shouldn't walk away and they shouldn't disrespect you and they shouldn't disregard God. They shouldn't hate you. You're acting like an owner and not a renter. You saw to honor God with your life. So he shouldn't bring on this debilitating disease in your life. You're acting like an owner and not a renter. I want to challenge you this morning to reflect on how much grace you have been granted for everything that you have in your life. Everything. Everything. In my role I find myself with people who have lost nearly everything at times. People who have lost a marriage that they pledged themselves to. People who have lost friendships that they thought would be there for a lifetime. People who have lost their whole business. People who have lost their health. And yet I find myself assuming those are all things that I just deserve. And not seeing every single one of those things as a gift from the gracious hand of God. When I do that and when you do that then we function just like the individuals in this story. Being renters and believing we are owners, believing God owes it to us. And we will fight and we will destroy and we will do everything we have to hold on to what we believe is ours. And we've lost sight of the fact that God has simply loaned it to us for a season of time. It often shows up for me when I hear conversations either in my own head or in conversations with people. They say I just don't understand why God did this to me. I've done everything I was supposed to do. Why did God do this to me? It's just not fair. It's not fair. I don't deserve this. What do you and I deserve? Do we deserve? We are overwhelmingly blessed people. And yet how much of our lives do we live with this sense of entitlement? Believing that I am an owner when I've simply been rented this from God for a season. Trust me. I'll be the first one to say I don't want any of you myself included to have to go through some of those losses that I just described. Some of you have done that recently. Some of you are in the middle of it right now. And it's a wake-up call when we read this parable. When we're sitting here reading and thinking oh that's for those religious people who they didn't realize they were just about to crucify Jesus and Jesus like do you guys realize what you're doing right now? And God gave everything for you and he gave you more and he gave you more and he gave you a second chance. And by the way I'm about to go die on the cross. If that's not enough he's still not going to wipe you out and give you another chance. And we lose sight of the fact that we do the same thing. It's a God. And I hope this morning if you are wrestling with God and you're wrestling with the relationship with him and you're trying to understand who he is and what following him is all about. That you will get just a little glimpse of the amazing compassion and mercy and grace that God extends in my life and in your life every single day, every single day. When I interact with people who live life as owners but they're only renters, they're demanding, they're angry, they're self-absorbed, when they don't get their way you know it. And when I interact with people who are living their lives as renters they are gracious, they are generous, they're humble, they're filled with joy, they're delighted to be around. I want to challenge you to ask yourself in what area of my life am I demanding of God as an owner instead of facing the reality that I'm a renter? In what area of my life am I demanding of God as if I was an owner instead of facing the reality that I am simply a renter? You know Tim had some of our students up here and their future is in front of them and maybe you're demanding of God that he do something in your future. Maybe you're demanding of God that he do something in a relationship you're in. Maybe you're demanding of God that he do something with your finances. Maybe you're demanding of God that he do something in your family with your hopes and dreams. Maybe you're demanding of God that he do something with this awful pain in your life that you're going to counseling and you're pouring your heart out and you're trying to get free from this and you just can't find relief. I want to challenge you to lay down your demands to God this morning, whatever those are, whatever they are. Lay those demands down. Say God I want to live my life as a renter that every single thing you bless me with. Whether good or bad, help me to find the capacity to accept this from the hand of a loving gracious Father. And that's number two, just accept everything as a gracious gift from this hand. Accept everything as a gracious gift from this hand. As we close I want to give you about two minutes just for you to quietly talk to God. Maybe God surfaced something in your heart this morning. Maybe someone come up to me between services and said thanks for the message John, I knew something was going on in their life and they said, and what they told me they said, I just decided I'm not an owner of that thing, I'm a renter and I handed it off. So maybe there's something God's stern in your heart. There's nothing specific, just bring your heart before God and say God what in my life am I acting like an owner and not recognizing you have rented this to me for a season. Let's go ahead and pray. [silence] [silence] [silence] God I feel that you have been incredibly gracious in my life and blessed me in ways beyond what I deserve. And even as we sit in this place Lord that you have blessed us with, I'm just feeling incredibly grateful God. And we're this idea of this sense of entitlement for the things that we think are ours, but they're simply things that you have loaned to us for a season. God it just creeps in so easily. Whether it's my resources or my kids or my marriage or my health or my job, all of these things God. I pray Father that we would walk away having seen very clearly into the mirror of your truth, not just point the finger at those religious leaders who just didn't get it. Let's see the mirror in the heart of each one of our own lives this morning. Lord in those things where we've expected something from you God make that clear and help us to confess that to you and choose to live as a renter. Thank you for your truth Lord and for the way it pierces our lives and guides our way and your name we pray.