The Cornerstone

You may be seated.

Good morning.

My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.

A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us.

We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced there's no one so good,

they don't need God's grace, and no one so bad that they can't have it,

which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in His Word.

We're continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark,

and you'll remember that the Gospels tell the story of Jesus and His life and His death and His resurrection.

And we are continuing the story we began a few weeks ago, which is the story of Holy Week.

You'll remember day one of Holy Week, Sunday.

Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, and then He finishes out the day by inspecting the temple.

And then Monday, He shows right back up.

He saw all the things that were going on in the temple, and so He curses the fig tree,

then cleanses the temple.

And then day three, Tuesday, in the morning, they're heading out,

and they see that the fig tree's been withered all the way to the root,

and He talks about the mountains being cast into the sea by great faith.

And so that takes us to today's passage.

Now, His cleansing of the temple in chapter 11, verse 18,

actually sets the stage for what's about to happen in this passage,

and the passages to follow because He has finally sort of thrown down the gauntlet

and let the religious leaders know He is here for a conflict.

He's come in as the king without apology in His triumphal entry.

He's come in as the one to cleanse the temple.

And so He has truly taken the baseball bat to the bee's nest.

And so that's why we see the religious leaders coming after Him now.

The focus of the Gospels, of course, is on Jesus' second coming, or His first coming.

But as we look at this passage, we're also going to see Him hint at,

look forward to talk about His second coming as well.

And so as we jump into this passage, we're at Mark chapter 11, starting verse 27.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

This is the map. This is where we're headed.

I'm going to tell you the story.

And after we talk about the story, I'm going to tell you three things.

Okay? Story, three things.

With that, I invite you to turn with me in God's Word.

You can turn in your worship guide.

You can turn on your phone.

You can turn in your Bible.

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's Word.

And God tells us that His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path,

which means that He has not left us to stumble alone in the dark,

but instead He's given us His Word to show us the way to go.

And so that's why we read now Mark chapter 11, starting at verse 27.

Mark 11 · chapter mention

And they came again to Jerusalem.

And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him.

And they said to Him,

By what authority are you doing these things?

Or who gave you this authority to do them?

Jesus said to them,

I will ask you one question.

Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?

Answer me.

And they discussed it with one another, saying,

If we say from heaven, He will say,

Why then did you not believe Him?

But shall we say from man?

They were afraid of the people,

for they all heard that John really was a prophet.

So they answered Jesus,

We do not know.

And Jesus said to them,

Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Chapter 12.

And He began to speak to them in parables.

A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it

and dug a pit for the winepress

and built a tower

and leased it to tenants and went into another country.

When the season came,

He sent a servant to the tenants to get from them

some of the fruit of the vineyard.

And they took him and beat him

and sent him away empty-handed.

Again He sent to them another servant

and they struck him on the head

and treated him shamefully.

And He sent another and him they killed.

And so with many others.

Some they beat and some they killed.

Verse 6.

He had still one other, a beloved son.

Finally, He sent him to them saying,

They will respect my son.

But those tenants said to one another,

This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him

and the inheritance will be ours.

And they took him and killed him

and threw him out of the vineyard.

What will the owner of the vineyard do?

He will come and destroy the tenants

and give the vineyard to others.

Have you not read this scripture?

The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

This was the Lord's doing

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

And they were seeking to arrest Him

but feared the people

for they perceived that He had told the parable

against them.

So they left Him and went away.

I invite you to pray with me

as we come to this passage of God's Word.

Our Father in Heaven,

the psalmist asks you in Psalm 119

to open His eyes

that He would behold wondrous things

out of your law.

And we ask the same thing this morning.

We know that without your help,

we can't understand your Word.

And so we ask that you would send

your Holy Spirit now,

that you would give us clarity in our minds,

you'd give us tenderness in our hearts,

that we would be able to hear and receive

everything that you've written in your Word,

that you would cast a spotlight on Jesus for us

so we would see His beauty and His glory

and His holiness and His love,

and that we'd follow after Him

with faith and joy and obedience.

We ask these things

in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

As we begin this story,

I mentioned we're doing it

against the backdrop of Jesus' confrontation

that He's already had

with the religious leaders.

First of all, He ticks them off

by having His triumphal entry

and being willing to say,

yes, He is in fact the King.

And then to add insult to injury,

He goes and cleanses the temple

of those who are selling things

and exchanging money there.

And so that helps us understand

as we begin this confrontation,

the scribes and the elders

and the chief priests ask Him,

verse 28,

by what authority are you doing these things?

These things here is a reference

to everything that's come before.

By what authority are you rolling into the temple,

turning over tables,

driving out money changers?

I mean, you're acting like you own the place.

And so what gives you the nerve?

What gives you the right to come in

and behave this way?

Jesus turns it back on them

and He says, look,

I'm gonna ask you a question.

And the question Jesus asks them

is not random here.

He is saying, essentially,

the answer to my question

is the answer to your question.

Now, this might sound foreign,

but we actually do the same thing today.

So if you were to ask me,

Matthew, are we having church on Sunday?

I might say, is the sky blue?

Do bears poop in the woods?

Yes, of course we're having church on Sunday.

The answer to my question

is the answer to your question.

This is what Jesus is pushing them with.

In other words,

John's authority is my authority.

If you understand John,

you will understand me.

If you know what authority he acted under,

you will know what authority I acted under.

verse 28 or verse 29,

verse 30,

was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?

And so Jesus might have well asked them,

is my authority,

do you think it's from heaven or from man?

Of course, we have this revelation

of where their hearts truly are.

Verse 33, we do not know.

And so Jesus says,

basically, I'm wasting my time here.

You didn't understand John,

you're not gonna understand me.

You didn't recognize John,

you're not gonna recognize me.

You didn't repent when John told you to repent,

you're not going to repent when I tell you to repent.

You are not asking sincere questions.

You're not seeking understanding.

You're here just to trick me and trap me.

And so this is a waste of my time.

There's no time on my calendar

for this sort of conflict.

In fact, they've already played their hands.

They've revealed where their hearts truly are.

They are not interested in truth.

They're interested in power and reputation,

what serves them best.

Truth is irrelevant

since their concern is self-protection.

They're trying to trap Jesus,

not to learn from Jesus.

And really what Jesus is about to do here,

he's about to return to the lesson of the fig tree.

We talked about a few weeks ago from chapter 11,

that this is all leaf, no fig.

The religious leaders are all show, no substance.

And while Jesus has told them

he's not going to answer their question,

he then turns around and proceeds

to answer their question,

except he does it in the form of a story, of a parable.

Remember the question is by what authority?

That word authority repeats over and over again

between verses 27 and 33.

And so Jesus now decides to tell them a story

about authority, the story of the vineyard.

Now you may be familiar,

you may remember from chapter four,

when Jesus spoke in parables,

often he would need to provide this explanation

afterwards to the disciples.

He would pull them aside into his private gathering

to help them understand what it was

he was actually talking about.

In this incidence though,

there is no need for such a thing.

Jesus has burning clarity.

In fact, his clarity is so burning,

verse 12, we're told,

instead of being confused immediately,

these religious leaders understood

exactly what Jesus was saying.

They knew,

they perceived that he had told the parable against them.

easy for the religious leaders to understand,

also easy for us to understand.

It's not an accident that we read

from Isaiah chapter five this morning,

which presents this image of Israel as a vineyard.

And this image shows up not just in Isaiah chapter five,

but in other portions throughout the Old Testament.

And so it was easily recognizable

that when we're talking about a vineyard,

we're talking about Israel.

Then we have these tenants.

These tenants are supposed to watch the vineyard

for its owner.

And we have to understand the logic of this,

how a tenant in that time

when they were given a vineyard

would sort of share in a portion of the crop

in return for watching after the vineyard.

It was common for owners to leave

and to have someone

that that would be essentially a renter from them.

And they would split the profits

or share the profits.

So the tenants would get some of the grapes,

some of the wine.

And then the owner would get some of the grapes,

some of the wine.

They would share the proceeds.

There would be the one

who has the capital investment,

who's able to set up this vineyard.

And then there's the one

who doesn't have the resources,

who's just there to watch over it.

The tenants here are the Jewish religious leaders.

They are not the ones

who set up the sacrificial system.

They're not the ones

who came up with the idea of the temple.

No, God was the one who did all of that work.

He was the one, chapter 12, verse one,

who put a fence around the vidyard,

dug a pit for a wine press,

built a tower.

God here is the great investor.

And so these priests and tribes

are ones who are simply there

to watch over what God has set up.

And there's an expectation

that they're going to have fruit,

that they're going to accomplish

God's mission for Israel,

that Israel would be a light to the nations,

a show people that the nations

could look around and say,

oh, that's what it actually looks like

when God's people walk in God's ways.

That's what a society actually looks like

when it's filled with justice

and mercy and love and goodness.

That's what it looks like

when people treat each other

as created in the image of God.

And instead of doing that,

the religious leaders chose instead

to serve themselves.

They chose instead to look

for their own profit.

They didn't care about the owner.

They didn't care about God

and his purposes and his ways

and his mission.

And so then we find out,

okay, this owner sends his servants

to check in.

Verse six on what's happening.

Actually, verses two through six,

he sends these servants in

over and over to go check

and see how is the vineyard doing?

What's happening there?

Am I getting the profit that I want?

Is the fruit that's supposed

to come from these plants

actually materializing?

And instead of being treated

with honor as the servants

and representatives

of the owner of the vineyard,

of God himself,

they're beaten and killed.

This is supposed to represent

God sending his prophets

throughout the Old Testament

to his people,

sending them to warn them

about their lack of spiritual fruit,

to rebuke the spiritual leaders

for feeding themselves

rather than feeding the people.

And so we can think of

just a few examples out of many.

Elisha, one of the Old Testament prophets,

was persecuted by Jezebel,

who was the queen of Israel.

She wanted to kill him.

If you want to read about that,

you can read about it

in 1 Kings chapter 19.

1 Kings 19 · chapter mention

Then we hear about Manasseh,

the king of Judah.

Tradition holds that Manasseh,

this king of God's people,

decided he was going to saw Isaiah in half.

Which is a great way to end as a prophet.

And then in case we haven't forgotten,

remember we see the last prophet

before Jesus here in the Gospel of Mark.

Mark chapter 6,

Mark 6 · chapter mention

what happens to John the Baptist?

He's beheaded.

And so these religious leaders

know all too well

what Jesus is telling them.

Look, God has sent his representatives

over and over again

to warn you.

And all you did was reject them.

It was a bad deal

to be an Old Testament prophet.

It was a thankless job.

In fact, this is not in the Bible,

but church tradition holds

that at one point,

the prophet Isaiah

applied for term life insurance.

And he was denied

just based on his vocation.

He was unable to qualify.

He was laughed out of the building.

That's how bad it was

to be one of the servants.

And so Jesus is taking this long route,

this long story

to get to the answer

of their question.

Remember, they want to know

by what authority.

And after laying out

the history of Israel,

after reminding them

of the way they've treated the prophets,

he finally gets to the point.

I am the son

of the vineyard owner.

I am the one

who's supposed to receive

the inheritance.

I am the one

to whom all of this belongs.

By what authority

do I cleanse the temple?

I cleanse it as the son

of the owner of the temple.

I cleanse it as one

to whom it belongs.

There is no

higher authority.

I do it

in the authority

by the authority

of God himself,

an authority

that you

don't

care about.

Jesus here

could

not

be

clearer.

Again,

verse 12,

they perceived

he told the parable

against them.

The meaning

is not hidden.

Jesus has not

been subtle here.

He's told this

obvious story

and the religious leaders

understand it all

too well.

He is telling them this,

you rejected

John the Baptist,

you have rejected

me,

and you will

kill me.

that's not all

though.

Verse 9,

because of all

that,

judgment

is

coming.

What will the

owner of the

vineyard do?

He will come

and destroy

the tenants

and give

the vineyard

to others.

your time

here

has an

expiration date.

Your authority

over the temple

is coming

to an end.

Your era

of power

and control

will not

last

much

longer.

Now,

this raises

a question

for us.

Remember,

I told you

I'm going

to tell you

the story

and then

I'm going

to tell

you three

things.

You all,

believe it or

not,

are not

chief priests,

scribes,

or rulers

of the temple.

And this

passage is

meant to

explain the

overthrow of

the temple

leadership.

And so,

what is it

that we're

supposed to

draw out

of this

as people

in 2022

reading this

story about

Jesus explaining

his cleansing

of the temple?

Well,

I'm going

to give you

three things

for us to

hold on to

from this

story as

people who

look forward

to Jesus'

second coming,

people who

follow after

Jesus,

things that

give us

hope and

challenge

from what

Jesus tells

us.

First of

all,

we find

out in

this story

the end

of the

story.

How is

everything

going to

turn out?

At the

very end,

we know

the owner

of the

vineyard

is coming

back.

Verse

nine,

what will

the owner

of the

vineyard

do?

He will

come and

destroy the

tenants and

give the

vineyard to

others.

Now,

yes,

when we're

hearing about

the owner

of the

vineyard,

it's talking

about the

Jewish

leadership.

And so,

in a sense,

what Jesus

says here has

already been

done, and

it foreshadows

and follows

after what we

also know is

going to happen

at the end of

the age.

We may see

injustice and

oppression and

selfishness happening

now from the

tenants of the

vineyard, from

those who are in

charge in the

religious world or

the secular world

who are looking to

use rather than

to love.

and we know it

will not last

forever.

The owner is

coming back.

He is going

to clean

house.

Now, there's a

flip side to

that that's also

in this passage

because when we

talk about the

fact that Jesus

is coming back,

there's this

question that

arises that was

also true for

the early church,

which is this,

why hasn't he

come back yet?

If Jesus is

coming back to

make all things

right, why is

he waiting?

It seems like

things are getting

pretty bad.

It seems like

now would be a

great time.

If you remember

when we went

through 2 Peter,

we looked in

2 Peter 3,

and Peter actually

addresses this

question.

He says,

the Lord is not

slow to fulfill

his promise as

some count slowness,

but is patient

toward you,

not wishing that

any should perish,

but that all should

reach repentance.

What do we see

here from the

vineyard owner?

He is incredibly

patient.

Verses 2 through 6

is him sending

his servants

over and over

again and

watching them get

beaten or killed.

It's almost

nonsensical.

You would think

if you owned a

vineyard and you

sent one servant

and that servant

was beaten or

killed, what would

you do?

You'd probably be

posting on next

door.

You guys would

not believe I

sent my servant

in and he got

beaten.

Never hire these

people as your

tenants at your

vineyard.

Yet God just

keeps sending them

again and again.

He's sending the

prophets over and

over showing his

forbearance, his

patience, his

long-suffering with

his people.

Often you'll hear

folks talk about how

God in the Old

Testament is a God

of wrath.

Then we have God of

the New Testament,

this God of love.

Yet that's not the

picture the Bible

gives us.

The picture the

Bible gives us of

this God who is

just patient decade

after decade,

century after

century, millennia

after millennia.

God is more patient

than you.

God is more long

suffering than you.

God has more

forbearance than you

do even if you are

the nicest person I

have ever met.

And God does it for

the sake of repentance.

He gives his people

time and time again

opportunities to turn

back and return to

him.

And so the vineyard

owner is coming

back.

God is coming back

to this world to set

all things right.

And his delay

shows his patience.

It shows his love.

It shows his

wisdom.

And he is not

patient forever.

He's not patient

forever.

So I told you I was

going to tell you two

things.

The second is this.

Well the first was we

know the end of the

story.

God's patience does not

mean he's not coming

back.

The second one is that

ultimately his patience

ends with him

returning and there are

two and only two

options.

There are only two

ways to live.

Either we worship

Jesus or we reject

Jesus.

Remember I've told you

over and over as we've

been going through the

gospel of Mark that as

the story moves forward

as we get near the end

we're no longer going to

have three categories of

people.

At the beginning we had

those who were on

Jesus' team.

They were pro-Jesus.

We had those who were

against Jesus.

They hated him.

And then we just had

these crowds in the

middle that didn't quite

know what to do.

They were intrigued.

They were curious.

Now we're getting to the

point where that middle

category disappears.

which is the narrator's

way of telling us.

Mark's way of

underscoring that in

the end as you get to

know Jesus, as you

understand him and

study him, you have to

make a choice.

There are only two

options.

Those who love Jesus

and those who hate

him.

That's part of what

Jesus is getting at

here when he cites

Psalm 118 in verse

10.

The stone that the

builders rejected has

become the cornerstone.

A cornerstone is the

stone of a building

that's laid first.

It's the stone that has

to be laid perfectly

because everything else

matches it and aligns

with it.

Every other stone exists

in reference to the

cornerstone.

Everything is submitted to

it, aligned with it,

in agreement with it.

This quotation then from

Psalm 118 is reminding

us either we align with

Jesus or we don't.

Either we love the

cornerstone or we reject

it, either we build on

it or we trip on it.

Either you harden your

heart or you repent.

Either you decide you're

going to try to be God

or you submit to God.

Either your heart is hard

or it is tender and

responsive.

Either you serve yourself

or you serve the owner of

the vineyard.

Either God's word confirms

judgment or it confirms

salvation.

There are no other options.

Either you reject God's

messengers or you receive

them.

When it comes to Jesus, as

we get closer and closer to

the end of the story, you

must make a choice.

Are you going to build your

life on the cornerstone or are

you going to reject it and

fight it?

I warned you at the

beginning as we began, Mark,

it is not an intellectual

exercise that we're taking

part in, but instead the

author here, Mark, is

pointing the finger at us

more and more.

He's asking the question of

us over and over again.

What are you going to do

with this information?

How are you going to

respond to it?

Remember Jesus' questions

in chapter 10.

He asked twice, what is it

that you want from me?

A question of the heart.

Here the same question of

the heart is coming up.

How are you going to

respond to me?

Are you going to receive

my servants or are you

going to beat them?

Are you going to build your

life on my cornerstone or are

you going to reject it?

Are you going to run towards

me or run away from me?

There are no other

options.

So first, we know how the

story ends.

We know the vineyard owner is

coming back.

Second, we know there's two

and only two ways to live.

Either we receive the king

or reject the king.

And the third and final thing

is this.

When we come to a passage of

scripture and it's showing us

things that are incredibly

negative, when it's rebuking

people for sins that

potentially we don't share in,

it's likely that you're not a

religious leader who is using

the temple for your own

purposes.

What do we do with that?

Well, as I've mentioned to you

before, one of the ways we read

the Bible, when we see a

negative, we turn it positive.

So you look at the Ten

Commandments and you see,

thou shalt not commit adultery.

And you think, I'm doing great.

I haven't committed adultery.

Well, no, there's a positive

there for you.

And the positive is build up

your marriage.

Make it as strong as you can.

Do not murder.

You think, well, I haven't

murdered recently.

I'm doing great.

What can you do to promote

and protect life?

That's the positive.

And so when we look at this

negative, when we see the

religious leaders beating

God's servants, killing them,

and throwing them away,

what is our response?

Our response is to look for

the positive.

The way that we act on God's

word is we recognize his

authority and his messengers.

We receive God's word not with

hardness or bitterness or

indifference.

We receive it with joy and

eagerness.

We have this anticipation and

this excitement about what God

is going to tell us in his

word, what we're going to learn,

the ways that we're going to

grow and be shaped as people

who look more and more like

him.

As Israel failed in their

mission to be a light to the

nations, as they failed for

people to be able to look at

them and say, that's what it

looks like when God's people

walk in God's ways.

We have a passion to say, what

would it look like for this

people to be God's people who

walk in God's ways?

What would happen, the light we

would be to our community if we

were excited and zealous, filled

with anticipation about what

God's going to do in our

midst?

Filled with the desires we

talked about with the fig tree

to grow in that fruit, to be

filled with the fruit of the

spirit.

What would it be like for us

not to try to kill the son of

the vineyard owner, but instead

to look forward to his

appearing, to look forward to

his coming and prepare for it?

Many of you, if you have

someone who's coming over to

your house, they're not a

regular guest, you probably

feel some obligation to try to

clean up and tidy up, right?

You want it to be the most

hospitable environment it can

be.

You want to give them a good

and warm welcome.

Sometimes you can recognize

this when you go over to

someone's house because you

look at the carpet and what do

you see?

The fresh vacuum stripes.

And so you know, okay, this

person has done the prep.

They've gotten ready.

They cared about this event.

They want to honor the guest

who's coming over.

And so what I'm saying is

this.

As we look forward to Jesus

and his return, our hearts and

our lives have the stripes of

the vacuum cleaner on them.

Not out of guilt or shame or

fear, but because we're so

excited and joyful about the

coming of the king.

We want him to find everything

set in order.

We want him to be honored and

exalted and glorified.

We're doing the opposite of

these tenets.

We're preparing for his return.

Of course, this parable is also

a type of prediction.

Jesus tells about the past, but

he also tells about the future.

In verses 2 through 5, we hear

about the prophets who have been

beaten and killed.

And when Jesus says this, all the

prophets have been either beaten

or killed.

Jesus then tells them about

something that hasn't happened.

Verses 7 through 8.

But those tenants said to one

another, this is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and the

inheritance will be ours.

And they took him and killed him

and threw him out of the vineyard.

Jesus is telling them, not only did

you kill the prophets in the past,

you will kill me, the son, in the

future.

That's how twisted and broken and

curved inward your hearts are.

And of course, that is the

sacrifice that makes it possible

for us to look forward with joy to

Jesus' return.

To be the ones who long to have the

marks of the vacuum cleaner on our

carpet.

That we know that what Jesus has

done for us when he came to this

earth, he lived the perfect life that

we could not live and he died the

death that we should have died.

And so none of what Jesus is saying

matters unless we know how this

particular story in the gospels end.

And it ends with Jesus going to his

death and then rising again from the

dead.

He comes to die for hard-hearted

people who beat and kill the

prophets.

But who turn and follow him in

repentance.

He comes for hard-hearted people and

changes their hearts to hearts of

flesh.

He comes for people like you and me.

The house that I grew up on in, the

front door had window panes, not in

the door, but on both sides of the

door.

In fact, those windows are still there.

They're called apparently double

side lights.

I just thought of them as windows

along the side of the door.

And every Christmas, every December

really is before Christmas.

And then at one point we shifted it to

New Year's.

All of my dad's family would come to

our house from different parts of the

country.

And so we would spend several days,

maybe a week, getting ready because

there's lots of things that need to be

cleaned and cooked and prepared.

And then the day would come when we

knew our family was actually going to

arrive.

And so what would we do?

Well, I for one would look out those

side lights because I was so excited.

And even though I knew they weren't

going to get there until 2 p.m., I would

check it earlier than that.

Because who knows, right?

We didn't have, people didn't have

cell phones back then.

This was in a different age.

So no one was texting you or sending

you their PIN, you know.

You might get a call from a rest station

like, oh, we're two hours away.

So you never know the exact moment that

they might arrive.

But you knew that they were and that

when that time happened, you know, your

cousins would be there.

Both the awkward cousin and the fun

cousin.

And things would be more exciting than

they had been at that moment before.

And so it was worth it to look out, to

try to deal with the impatience, to

look and see when it was you would see

the car coming down the street.

Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is

coming back to make all things right.

And so we prepare our hearts and our homes and our

churches and our lives for him.

Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you

again for your word.

We ask that you would not let it return to you void,

but instead it would accomplish all the purposes you have

for it.

That it would be at work, growing our longing and

desire for you to come back and that we would live in

light of your return.

We ask all of these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I invite you to stand for our closing hymn.