CMLC 2025-04-06 Sermon

I wanted to talk a little bit today about the

cornerstone and what it is that we think about

when we hear that the cornerstone has been rejected.

Now for me when I was growing up was that one

of the cornerstones in my life was the idea of

superheroes and that there was one that I collected

more comics of than any other character that

there was, Superman. I know it's cheesy, it's

corny, he's got superpowers, blah, blah, blah,

but I thought he was great, all right? And no,

I never took on the whole wear red underwear

outside of your pants idea, but plenty of other

things to do. Now, one of the things is that

in 1992, though, at the age of 55, what ended

up happening is that Superman died in DC Comics.

He had a massive battle, a big fight, and Superman...

And this was of course a big deal among young

people and it was up on the news and everything

else. But what was interesting is that they kept

hinting that something else may be coming along

the way. Now, whenever I was going through hospital

treatments, this was during the cancer days,

I would keep my sanity by reading comic books.

I couldn't play Super Nintendo that long. The

comic books... kept my mind focused on things

otherwise. And so for me, Superman was this place

of hope. And there I was sitting there with Action

Comics and Adventures of Superman, and I'm looking

at issue 500, and it hints at the idea of what

may be happening next. See, it turns out that

when Superman died, there were four characters

that sort of took the place. They were the heroes

of Metropolis. And each of these four had different

characteristics, different abilities, but also

they just were very different from each other,

but also not the same as Superman. See, the guy

who was all in armor, he was very human. So he

was just basically a guy in a metal suit with

a giant hammer. But he also really cared about

people. and he really did want to make a difference.

The one who looked younger, he was very cocky,

very sure of himself all the time, and trying

to prove something. Well, he didn't have the

maturity that you would hope for. He was definitely

trying to help people, but only in the way that

it might make him look good. Or, then there was

the fact that there was one guy with glasses,

and he seemed to look a lot like Superman, but

he was cruel, mean. vindictive, vengeful with

people, which was not what Superman had been

like before. And then there was a fourth one.

And he had some pieces that were made of metal.

But he acted like Superman. He talked like Superman.

He seemed in many ways like Superman. But there

always seemed to be some secret that you couldn't

quite put your finger on with him. And each of

these four, as you're watching them, you're asking

the question, would Superman... have wanted their

methods to continue. Would they be doing what

it was that Superman would have done if he were

still there? But there was also this kind of

question in the back of your mind the whole time

because in the comics it showed that Superman's

body was gone. And so there was this question

of were any of these actually the real Superman

in disguise? And so as we think about the idea

of what it is when this main character leaves

and there are others to take their place, this

image is in my head as we're talking a bit about

the tenants that we have on the land that the

master has left for a long time and now there

are farmers who are making sure to take care

of the land. But the difficulty is that these

tenants were not exactly having the same heart

and same desire as what the Master had in mind.

See, these tenets were offering no fruits of

repentance. What do I mean by that? The people

back then, whenever they would hear scripture,

there were certain things that would stand out

to them quite a bit. One of them was the prophet

Isaiah. Isaiah... had this story that was there

about how this man had created this whole vineyard,

this whole place that was supposed to be cared

for and that it was supposed to be beautiful

and produce all of these good grapes. But for

reasons he couldn't explain, some of them turned

into wild grapes, the ones that you couldn't

make any wine out of. And so when we think of

the farmer, when we think of those who are taking

care of the land, people would... connect it

with Isaiah 5. And the idea that not all of it

was the way it should have been. But as people

are listening to Jesus, they're also realizing

that now Jesus is creating a story, a parable,

about their own religious leaders. See, whereas

in Isaiah, the people were supposed to repent

and turn back to God. What we see in this parable

is that these tenants do not want any of their

fruit going back to the master. It's theirs.

This is our fruit. This is our work. We're going

to keep it. It's not for him. Now, when looking

at this, we end up understanding that whatever

they have created now in their minds is only

for themselves, not for God. But what would be

some fruits? That someone could have in their

life and what they're teaching especially from

the religious leaders that God would not be happy

with Well, I'm pretty sure that in today's world.

We know that not every religious leader Produces

fruits that would always be pleasing to God See

there were times whenever they might be more

focused on their pride There might be times whenever

they just wanted to feel that they were powerful

or think that they were making the world a little

more stable for themselves or even there were

some that made a pretty decent living. Those

who were able to feel that they had a position

and even just making sure that everything around

them made them feel comfortable and good. The

problem is is that not everything that these

religious leaders were doing were actually pointing

people back to God. And that's what we end up

seeing with these characters that in the parable

There were these workers these servants that

were coming back to the tenants and saying over

and over again We need the fruits to come to

God But every time that they would do that the

tenants the farmers would be beating up these

servants See the thing is is that Jesus has been

talking about a lot of these things for a long

time So with so many of the stories in the sermons

he's given before They already know he's talking

about the prophets. Every time that the prophets

needed to come to the people and get their attention,

they would beat them up, throw them out, and

sometimes even kill them. But why? Why was it

that they didn't want? Because they didn't want

to be told that what they were doing had to stop.

They didn't want to be redirected. They didn't

want to have to change. But now in seeing this,

what would be the types of fruits that God would

want to see? God would want to see repentance.

To trust Him by faith and not on our own beliefs

or knowledge. God would want to see His Spirit

being the thing that leads and guides people.

That people would have forgiveness and compassion

in their hearts for other people. Was that what

we saw among those religious leaders at the time?

Is that what we see among our own religious leaders

today? How often is it that we truly believe

that what we see among those who claim the name

of God, those who speak to goodness, are actually

showing fruits that are supposed to come from

God's Spirit? Or are we just posturing and making

sure everybody knows that we're here? How often

is it that we get so upset that the world is

abusing us as the church? Satan must be somehow

in control. But how often is it that maybe the

reason we're being rejected is because we're

not actually doing what God would want? Is it

possible that sometimes the church is rejected

because we should be? And that's the difficulty,

is that when we're supposed to listen, where

is it that we're truly supposed to put our attention?

Because let's be honest, maybe, maybe the difficulty

was that they just didn't know if the prophets

were actually speaking from God. So what does

he say in the parable? I will send my son. You

can't deny that this is the son of the master,

so surely they will listen to him. Because wouldn't

they listen to the one that they know has authority?

Wouldn't they listen to the one that they know

for sure is speaking on behalf of the Master?

But what do we see the people actually doing

with Jesus? When they see Him, how are they actually

reacting to Him? Because the problem is, is that

the things that they want to see don't always

align with what God is doing through Jesus. Forgiveness?

Mercy? Freedom? Hope? No, it's supposed to be

about making sure you act good enough and make

sure that everybody around you listens and that

someday we will overthrow the government and

get our own place again. But the difficulty is

that when Jesus comes on the scene, he always

has a habit of showing where your heart really

is. If you see that it is difficult to be clear

about whether or not you are or are not following

God, when was the last time you asked what Jesus

has actually called you to? See, that's one of

the things that we see is that what God desires

and what we create sometimes can be so subtly

similar, but it makes all the difference. It's

said in Isaiah, it's said that when God wanted

justice, instead He saw blood shed. And you may

be wondering, that's an interesting thing to

put next to each other. God wants justice, but

all of a sudden people are shedding their blood.

What's the connection? The connection is the

Hebrew. In the Hebrew, justice is mishpat. In

Hebrew, bloodshed is mishpak. Mishpat. Miss Pa,

go ahead and wipe your eyes. I'm sorry for the

spit. Anyway, but what we end up seeing though

is it's meant to verbally show just such a subtle

difference. How many times it is that we claim

something to be on behalf of God. But there's

something just a little different about it that

somehow makes it more about us. And he does the

same thing again. He wants righteousness. Sedaka.

But instead, there's an outcry. Instead, the

people are crying out because they are being

harmed and hurt. Sedaka. Sedaka. Sedaka. Whenever

Christ comes on the scene, He ends up showing

that you may look similar to what people were

expecting, but are you genuinely following my

spirit. How do we react when God expects us to

respond with fruits of forgiveness, freedom,

love, compassion? Is that what we are actually

moving toward in our lives and in the world around

us? Now I have to admit, as a kid I was really

excited when I saw the Superman issue coming

out. I think it was 82. And when it was coming

out and you realize that the main character had

died, but he had never truly been replaced. See,

that's the thing is that Superman actually did

come back. And when it happened, all four characters

actually revealed their true colors. The guy

with armor on who has no special powers, he was

courageous and was still willing to fight even

whenever he was losing his armor. The young kid,

yeah, he was cocky, but when he saw the real

Superman come along, he respected him and started

following after him. The guy with the glasses

turned out he was supposed to actually protect

Superman. But the guy with the metal pieces,

as much as he acted good on the surface, it turned

out he was actually the villain all along. As

much as he spoke, sounded like, tried to act

like Superman, is that in reality, under the

surface, he had his own plans happening the whole

time. And so then, finally, when he tries to

kill Superman again, the guy with glasses protects

him, and then Superman is finally able to come

out and save the day. The thing is that whenever

the main character comes back, people reveal

who they truly are. That's the thing about the

Sun coming back to the field. The people were

not actually just waiting for the right authority.

They weren't like, oh, well, these servants don't

really speak for the master. We'll wait until

someone with real authority comes. That was never

the point. And in fact, because the Sun had more

authority, that was the reason they had to get

rid of them. But what ends up happening in the

parable? The master kills the tenants and takes

away what they had. But notice the people are

saying, surely not. Why are they so scared? What

is it that bothers them about this story? Is

it bothersome that the son is killed? Well, sure,

absolutely. But it's more than that. It's more

than the fact that they are sitting there, they

know that Jesus is referring to Himself in this

parable. How could you possibly imagine that

the leaders would kill you? How could you possibly

make this kind of a claim? Clearly, this would

never happen. How often is it that people want

to assume that it would never happen until it

does? But even more than that is the fact that

the tenants would be taken away. Are you really

telling us that the leaders we've looked to are

the ones that need to be taken away? And more

than that, are we really going to lose everything

we've had? Because within the century, they would

lose their country, and within a few decades,

they would have lost their temple. But as much

as the son's death was shocking, it was the rest

of it that hit them so hard. Because when the

son comes, he reveals where people truly are.

And that's the thing about a cornerstone. A cornerstone

has two big functions in what we're looking at

here. You know, a cornerstone, that's where it

was that buildings would be started at. This

is the stone. This is the corner. Everything

else comes from there. This is our starting point.

But here's the difficulty is that the cornerstone

is either something you stumble on or something

that can crush you in this story. Why is that?

Don't those both sound pretty bad? Who really

wants to stumble on a cornerstone? I stumble

enough in real life as it is, don't you? But

when we're looking at this, is that the idea

of stumbling is actually supposed to be a good

thing. You see, if you are the one that you are

wanting to go up against the cornerstone, instead

that thing is so heavy and so powerful that it

would crush you. But the thing about stumbling

on it is that it shows you when you're going

the wrong way. Whenever you stumble on the cornerstone,

it tells you when you're going the wrong way.

That's the thing about this is that Jesus has

come to reveal Himself and that He's the one

who's actually trying to show us, are you going

in the right direction? Is this really what it

is that God wants for you? Are the fruits that

are coming from your life genuinely what God

would want from you? Are these the fruits that

God sent His Son to create by His Spirit in you?

Because every fruit that we work to keep for

ourselves, instead of offering back to God, condemns

us. That's the thing about this stone. When Jesus

came he's either showing you this is the direction

you should go and he knocks you on your face

when you go the wrong way Or he ends up condemning

you because you don't want to follow him And

that's the hard part about what we see here,

but it's also the reality that we need to face

as Much as we have these goals and ideas in our

mind If they're not the ones from God, then what

future do we truly have with them? When we look

at Jesus, that He is the one who is the standard.

He is the one around whom the rest of the church

is built. We keep trying to build the church

around what we think matters. We keep trying

to build our legacy around the things that we

care about, the things that we think are important,

and then we don't stop and pause and say, is

this genuinely the fruit that God set us on this

earth to create? Have we made a world of forgiveness

and hope and mercy? Or did we just make a world

in which people think that we don't like them

very much? In this world, The land that's theirs

doesn't truly belong to us. The fruits that come

from us are not for us. They're meant to be for

God. Because otherwise, what kind of wine are

you going to create when you're making the wrong

fruit? When we look at our lives this season,

during this time of Lent, it is the time to realize

that we may be stumbling. But it's only because

God is trying to get our attention and put us

back on the path we're supposed to go down. So

where you may be today, where you may be wondering,

why is it that I am stumbling at this moment?

And it may be because God is trying to get your

attention. Not because he wants to leave you

on the ground. Because he wants you to be growing

the fruit that actually matters. So whatever

that may be, May we as God's people continue

to seek him so that we would grow in the ways

he desires and that our life and legacy would

be the fruit that truly blesses the kingdom of

God. Thanks be to God.