JESUS ON TURNING AWAY FROM THE TRUTH

Father, we ask that you would lead us and guide us into all truth.

Father, lead us and guide us into all truth.

Father, you know, some of us this morning, Father, we might be very sleepy.

It's going to be hard to seek all truth, Father, because we're really tired.

Some of us may be, Father, very deeply distracted with some worries or some concerns,

or just maybe with some excitement about something that will happen very soon.

And it's hard for us, Father, in these states.

You know how hard it is for us to seek the truth and to know the truth.

So, Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us so that we might long and yearn to know the truth.

Father, we confess that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life,

that you are the true and living God, that you are true.

So, Father, pour out your Holy Spirit. Pour out your Holy Spirit.

This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

Last week, my phone died as I was doing the sermon.

And so when I can't see the time, that either means I'm going to be shorter than usual or way longer.

So we'll see if my phone doesn't die.

I'm not being blasphemous about this, but I'm going to do something in a few minutes that Jesus can't do.

And I don't mean I'm going to sin, but I'm going to do something in a few minutes that technically Jesus can't do.

I'm going to preside at the Lord's Supper.

And you might say, well, why couldn't Jesus do that?

And I can tell you, in Anglican polity, an unordained man cannot preside at the Lord's Supper.

However, in fact, Jesus couldn't be the rector of this parish.

He was homeschooled.

No offense to homeschoolers, but he was homeschooled.

He never went to a proper institution to be trained to be a pastor.

He doesn't have a university degree.

He didn't go to college.

And by Anglican rules, actually, he wouldn't be allowed to be the pastor of this church.

Now, granted, hopefully, Bishop Charlie, if I called him up and said, Charlie, I have a bit of a conundrum for you.

Jesus is showing up this morning, and he wants to preach and lead communion, but he's not ordained.

What should I do?

And I think Bishop Charlie would say, well, if Jesus actually showed up, George, you should let him do those things.

And if other people are really mad at you, I'll take the – I mean, I think he would actually say that.

But technically, by Anglican rules, Jesus couldn't, you know, homeschooled, not university educated, et cetera.

He couldn't preside at the Lord's Supper, and he couldn't be the rector of this parish.

And in fact, I'm also trying to – we're starting a theological college.

Jesus wouldn't be able to teach at the college, by the way, because he doesn't have a PhD.

So, you see, actually, on one hand, the issue that provokes this discussion that ends up going into judgment is actually sort of an interesting question,

and it's not a completely irrelevant question.

I mean, the man who invented numbers wouldn't be allowed to be a chartered accountant.

I could go on and on.

You know, the man who – the person who designed the universe wouldn't be allowed to be an engineer.

Like, it's sort of actually an interesting type of question.

And it's sort of – it's funny, like a lot of conversations, that it begins with something which is sort of curious

and ends up going in very surprising places.

So, let's look again at what it is that Jesus said.

What is it that the community leaders, the advice leaders, and sort of the spiritual leaders, as they all come together,

what is it that they were asking Jesus, and why is it that the conversation went south so badly?

So, if you have your Bibles, turn to Luke 20, verse 1, and we'll look at this text and sort of see,

Luke 20:1

on one hand, they ask a very, very legitimate and valid question of Jesus, but then it starts to go south.

And here's how the text goes.

Luke, chapter 20, verse 1.

Luke 20:1

And just – it begins by saying one day.

Just so you sort of understand the flow of the book, right, because the book of Luke is a book,

and Luke is telling a story, a true story of Jesus.

And Jesus has been predicting since chapter 9 that he's going to Jerusalem to die.

Last week in chapter 19, Jesus entered Jerusalem, and now Jesus is in Jerusalem.

And so we don't know if this is the Monday of that week or the Tuesday or the Wednesday,

but what we do know is that as this is going on, within less than a week, within four or five days,

maybe even just two or three days, Jesus will have died upon the cross.

And Jesus knows this.

Others don't, but Jesus knows as this conversation is going on.

And so verse 1,

one day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel,

the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him –

and just sort of pause, put your finger there –

this is sort of a group of three people who don't necessarily like each other.

And so what – you know what's that saying?

The enemy of my enemy is – no, sorry.

The enemy of my enemy – yeah, something like that.

Yeah, you all know the quote better than me.

I should have written it down, right?

I only have sort of notes.

And so this is a – what unites these three groups is that they don't like Jesus,

and they find him a threat, okay?

Because normally sort of the elders would be like the political –

because in older days, the categories that we had to divide people up doesn't –

they don't quite work the same way.

So think of elders as, in a sense, you know, Mayor Jim Watson –

I'm not picking on him –

and, you know, the local billionaires

and the local power brokers in the community,

the backroom boys and girls.

And think of the – what they call scribes

as the people who are both the guys and gals who have PhDs

and are lawyers and give advice.

Like, so they write the advice column.

And then the chief priests, think of the people who are exemplary people

in terms of spiritual and religious matters.

And however you understand spiritual or understand religious,

whoever you understand as being sort of the pinnacle of representing

whatever it means to be religious or however you understand spiritual,

these are the people who are your guides, who help you with the path.

And these three different groups come together

and have come to ask Jesus a question.

And so verse 2, and the question is, they said to him,

tell us by what authority you do these things

or who it is that gave you this authority.

And, you know, because Jesus is just – just before this,

he's kicked the money changers out of the court of the Gentiles.

He's part of the temple.

He's been doing all sorts of teaching.

So they say, Jesus, we don't think you're a rabbi.

We understand you come from a questionable background,

maybe an illegitimate birth, probably an illegitimate birth.

You've just been homeschooled.

No offense to homeschoolers, by the way.

I'm just giving how they're sort of thinking about it.

You haven't been properly trained.

Like, what gives you any authority to do this?

And then in verse 3, Jesus answered them,

I will ask you a question.

Now tell me, was the baptism of John the Baptist from heaven or from man?

Now just so you understand here, Jesus is not blowing smoke at them.

Okay, so this isn't like in question period.

I'm not insulting politicians, just making an observation.

If there's any MPs here.

You know how often in question period, you know,

why did the government do this?

And then they get up and they – I don't know.

They talk about their laundry list or how much they love their mom

or how the Leafs are doing.

And then they say, and you guys are doing all this, you know.

And you don't really have a conversation.

You just have people trying to show how good they are and clever they are

and how sort of bad the other guy is.

And I know I'm really stereotyping, but that's often a little bit how –

and not only in politics, that's often how conversations work in bars and homes,

in universities, et cetera, as well.

You just try to score points.

And Jesus here isn't just trying to score points.

You see, the fact of the matter is that John the Baptist was homeschooled.

And he also wasn't a rabbi.

And so in a sense, Jesus is saying, okay, well, just before I answer your question,

just answer this.

Was John the Baptist – like, what about John the Baptist?

Where did his authority come from?

Now, just so you know, John the Baptist is known in historical circles

outside of the New Testament record.

Jewish and other historians refer to John the Baptist,

and the people did think he was a prophet.

Okay?

So Jesus asks a very sort of appropriate question.

In fact, what you see here is that Jesus, once again, goes to the heart.

Okay?

He goes to the heart of the questioners.

He's trying to find out what's going on in their heart.

Are they asking an honest question, or is something else going on here?

What's going on in their heart?

You see, we often just talk about superficial things.

Jesus regularly goes at what's actually at the very center of who you are.

Jesus wants you to understand who you are at the very center of who you are,

and to understand who you are at the center of who you are in the context of the living God.

And that's where he goes with this question.

And you might think, well, why is that going to be a question that gets at the heart,

the center of who I am in the context of the living God?

Well, you see it by how they react.

Verse 4, sorry, verse 5.

And they discussed it with one another.

Imagine the little, like, not a group hug, but a huddle.

And they discussed it with one another, saying,

if we say from heaven, hmm, he will say, why did he not believe him?

And that's because John the Baptist told everybody that Jesus was the Messiah.

And, like, being the Messiah, like the person who fulfills all the promises of God,

that means you actually have some authority because God gave you the authority, right?

But if we say, verse 6, from human beings,

all the people will stone us to death,

for they are convinced that John was a prophet.

So they answered that they, so what did they say to Jesus?

They answered that they did not know where the authority of John the Baptist came from.

Now, right, they're lying.

They're not being honest.

They're dissembling and cloaking.

And so Jesus says to them,

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

In fact, actually, there's no place in their head to hear Jesus' answer.

There's no place in their head to hear Jesus' answer.

Now, here's, let's sort of unpack this

and try to understand why this is relevant to us.

If you could put up the first point, Andrew, that would be great.

It might be a surprising point,

but God gave me a mind to seek, know, love, and live the truth.

Our minds were not made to avoid truth and exalt the self.

Say it again.

God gave me a mind to seek the truth,

know the truth, love the truth, live the truth.

Our minds were not made to avoid truth

and instead to exalt the self or serve the self and its projects.

That's sort of, I have to understand, that's why God gave us minds.

And in a sense, it tells us that not only is that in God's original intention and creation,

that's how he created it,

that's why he put a mind in us to do these things.

And it's also very comforting to know that in redemption,

when we come to Jesus,

that one of the ways that the Holy Spirit will try to convict us of sin

will also be to try to get us back to this original creational intention.

That the Holy Spirit and the Bible won't work in our lives to say,

oh, okay, now that the Holy Spirit's in my life,

you're going to love fantasies,

you're going to love delusions,

you're going to turn away from the truth,

you're going to only believe things,

or only twist things in such a way that they serve your...

No, no, that's not what the Holy Spirit will do in your life.

That's not what Jesus will do in your life.

He'll bring you back,

try to start to unbend,

straighten you out,

and bring you back to what God created you originally to do and to know.

There's a certain whole realm of epistemology,

it's sort of how people know,

and it's some type of postmodern thinkers

will tend to talk as if all knowledge

is actually just masking pursuit of power.

That, in fact, all claims to know

are really actually claims manipulating language

so that one group or I will have power over other people,

and that that's the claim.

And, in fact, of course, it's ultimately one of those...

It's like a lot of ideas that sound actually very compelling,

but actually it sort of doesn't make any sense.

It's because, you know, on one hand,

if what they're saying is true,

then you shouldn't believe what they say

because they're just trying to have power.

But if they actually are saying this because it's true,

then they've contradicted themselves, right?

So it's like a lot of ideas that...

And it actually sort of doesn't really line up.

But they are on to something,

is that, in fact, much of what goes on in my head

and in your head and most people's head

is actually just using our mind for utilitarian purposes,

for purposes to satisfy ourselves.

We get the bad news, we think of a fantasy.

We get a bad...

You know, we get some bad news that we don't like.

We sort of just pretend that it's not there,

that we get into an argument

and we're more concerned about winning the argument

rather than actually saying,

wow, that's a really good idea.

I never thought about that.

Many, many years ago,

there was a woman that myself and another fellow

that we'd witnessed to her quite a few times.

We had quite a few discussions around things about apologetics.

And then she stopped coming to the fellowship.

And about a year later, I go to a church

or another Christian event, and she was there.

And she told me that she'd actually become a Christian

about a year ago,

but she didn't want to acknowledge to us

that we were right.

So on one hand, that's not good.

On the other hand, the good thing was

that she became a Christian and went to another church.

I mean, it's sort of funny,

but, you know, God redeemed it, right?

So the fact is that many of our thinking

is just like the scribes and the Pharisees.

You see, what they were consumed with

was they just wanted to get some information from Jesus,

and whatever the information was,

they were going to use it to further their own agenda,

to serve their self, to exalt themselves.

That's how their minds worked.

And Jesus is teaching us something here

very, very wise and profound.

It's not the case that all thinking,

inevitably, is always about utility for ourselves

or serving ourselves.

that we understand,

or at least at times we understand,

that some things are just true,

and sometimes we realize

that we're turning away from it.

I'll just show you one thing from my own life.

Some of you have heard this story before.

A long time ago,

I got paid to do sociological research.

I've taken all these courses in statistics

and methodology a long, long time ago.

Anyway, I had a job to do that,

and so part of my job was I was working for a professor,

and we were doing this project

analyzing the effect of,

I think we were looking at 20 different OECD nations,

and we were looking at the impact

of different government policies

on income distribution,

and whether the government policies

sort of made income distribution worse,

or sort of ended up making it a bit more equal,

or level.

And as I was doing this,

I was the primary one running the numbers

in the project,

and as I was doing the different tests

and the different statistical analysis,

I'd get the results,

and I'd think to myself,

that just doesn't look right.

That just doesn't look right.

And so, you know,

I was reasonably clever,

and I thought,

well, maybe if I control for this

or try doing this

or use this variable,

and then I'd run it,

and then I'd think to myself,

no, you know what?

The results just don't look right.

And then one day,

it was as if the Holy Spirit spoke to me

and said,

George,

your problem is

you want the United States of America

to show up the worst.

And they keep showing up

in about the middle.

And you keep looking for new ways

to move the data

so the U.S. will be the worst.

I was very left-wing.

I disliked,

in fact,

I hadn't even been aware

until that moment,

I had not been aware

of the fact

of how much my hatred,

how much of a hatred

there was of Americans

and Americans

as the preeminent capitalist country,

that's how I would have put it,

in the world at the time,

how much that drove me

in terms of how I thought.

It was one of those,

in fact,

if somebody the day before

had said,

George,

you know what your problem is?

That you are driven

by a hatred of the Americans

and a hatred of capitalism.

I would have denied it.

I would have been insulted

that they said that about me.

I was a fearless seeker

of the truth.

Not.

Not.

And it was as if

God just spoke to me

and said,

George,

that's what you're doing.

You just have to acknowledge

they're above the middle.

They're not the worst.

Not the best either.

Just around the middle

at that time.

I don't know

what it would be like now.

So, you see,

here's the thing,

is that it's, in fact,

a common human problem.

And Jesus, in this,

is trying to,

is pushing us

to remember

and understand

the context

to understand this story

is what did God desire

in creation

for our minds?

What are our minds,

can our minds possibly do?

And what is it

that God wants to do

when he redeems us?

Well,

God's intention

is that we would

seek the truth,

know the truth,

love the truth,

live the truth,

that we would know

what is real.

Now,

some of you might say,

hey, George,

that's actually sort of a,

I hadn't thought of it

in those terms.

I was thinking of the text

in more narrow,

confrontational,

religious terminology.

But you said,

I mean,

George,

isn't,

doesn't,

don't you think,

don't you think,

George,

that this idea

at the end

of the text

that you read

of God

being like a big stone

that crushes people,

like,

George,

that surely can't be true.

Like,

surely,

George,

that is something

that Christians

are doing

to try to create fear

and it can't possibly,

that can't possibly

be true.

Well,

let's look.

Let's keep reading

verse 9.

And Jesus began

to tell the people

this parable.

A man planted a vineyard

and let it out

to tenants

and went into another country

for a long while.

When the time came,

the owner

took a servant

and sent a servant

to the tenants

so that the tenants

would give the servant,

the owner,

ultimately,

some of the fruit

of the vineyard.

But the tenants

beat the servant

and sent him away

empty-handed.

So the owner

sent another servant.

But the tenants

also beat that servant

and treated him shamefully

and sent the servant

away empty-handed.

So the owner

sent a third servant

and this third servant,

the tenants,

also,

they wounded

and cast out.

And just sort of

pause here.

It's not as obvious

in English,

but in the original language,

there's escalating violence.

And in fact,

this third case,

if you sort of try

to unpack

the original language,

this third case

of violence

is so severe

that it's,

he needs a trauma word,

that it's traumatizing violence.

It's not only violence

that is traumatic

to the body,

but traumatic

to the soul.

And if it happened here,

we would,

you know,

the first one might be,

you know,

you come back

and you got a black eye,

a couple of black eyes,

maybe a bruised rib.

The second guy,

maybe they broke their leg.

The third care,

the third fellow,

he's been so badly beat up,

the person would be rushed

in the ambulance

and go right through

the waiting line

and go right into

the trauma unit

for the severity

of the injuries.

And in the original language,

there's escalating violence.

Verse 13.

Then the owner of the vineyard said,

in a sense,

said to himself,

what shall I do?

I will send my beloved son.

Perhaps the tenants

will respect him.

But when the tenants

saw the beloved son,

the tenants said to themselves,

this is the heir.

Let us kill him

so that the inheritance

may be ours.

And so the tenants

threw the beloved son

out of the vineyard

and killed him.

So this is the end

of the parable.

So now Jesus

turns to the people

and says,

what then will the owner

of the vineyard

do to them?

And he says,

the owner will come

and destroy

these tenants,

those tenants,

and give the vineyard

to others.

When the people heard this,

they said,

surely not.

You could also translate

that as,

no way.

No way.

But Jesus looked

directly at them

and said,

what then is this

that is written?

The stone that the builders

rejected has become

the cornerstone.

This is very interesting.

Just a little bit earlier,

maybe the day before

when Jesus had come

into Jerusalem,

the crowd quoted

Psalm 118,

Psalms 118:25

verse 25,

about the king

coming in.

And now Jesus

quotes to them

Psalm 118,

Psalms 118:22

verse 22.

And he says,

the stone that the builders

rejected

has become

the cornerstone.

Everyone who falls

on that stone

will be broken

to pieces,

and when it falls

on anyone,

it will crush him.

The scribes

and the chief priests

sought to lay hands

on Jesus

at that very hour

for they perceived

that Jesus had told

this parable against them,

but they feared

the people.

So,

is this wise,

or is it just unjust?

Is it just needlessly

bloodthirsty?

Well,

we need to actually

ponder this text

a little bit more

before we make

a hasty decision.

And the first thing

is this.

If you could put

the next point

to understand this text,

is that God made me

to be morally sane.

God made me

and you

to be morally sane.

In fact,

I would say

that at the end of the day,

the Bible

is an outline

of sanity.

The Bible

is an outline

of intellectual,

moral,

spiritual sanity.

And you say,

George,

that's an odd thing

to say

about a text like this.

Well,

here's the thing,

and I actually

struggled a fair bit

to try to figure out

how to put this down

and I don't know

if this has helped.

But,

you know,

just as I said

for the mind,

remember how I described

that with the mind

that God gave me

a mind to seek,

know,

love,

and live the truth

and our minds

were not made

to avoid truth

and exalt the self?

In the same way,

God gave me a will

to seek the good,

know the good,

love the good,

and live the good.

And not just good

because goodness

and justice

are at one with God.

That they're not at all,

they never contradict

each other.

That you could also say

that God gave me

a mind to seek the just,

to know the just,

to love the just,

and to live by justice.

And since goodness

and justice

are at one with God,

that that's how God

made me.

He made me

to will

the good

and the just.

And

he made me

not to have

my will

when it's confronted

by what's just

or what's confronted

by what's good

to turn away

from it.

And in fact,

believe things

that only serve myself

and the projects

of myself.

And you see,

that's another way

to describe

actually seeking

the good

and the just

and loving it

and living it,

knowing it,

and not avoiding it.

What you've just described

is moral sanity.

Wouldn't you agree?

That's what morally sane is.

Lots of things.

Now you might say,

George,

that's really good.

Are you saying

that only Christians

are morally sane

and that non-Christians

are morally sane?

No, I'm not saying

that at all.

This is a human problem.

A human problem.

I've shared with you

before that one of the things

I'm not very good at

is telling people off.

I'm not very good

at rebuking people.

And one of the things

I've discovered in life,

I've shared with you

before,

I can share it again,

is that when I come,

and I finally have it,

you know,

Louise will tell you,

I've had a sleepless night

the night before,

maybe two sleepless nights.

I'm really bad at this.

And so finally,

I come to try to say

to a person

that what they've been doing

is wrong.

And I can tell

within two seconds

whether this conversation

is going to go well

or badly.

Is the person

going to have

a tender heart

where they say,

oh, you know,

I'm really sorry.

Will you forgive me?

Or will they

come right back

and say,

how dare you say that?

You're completely out of line.

You're completely wrong.

I'm completely blameless.

How dare you accuse me?

I can tell within two seconds

by their body language

and the feel whether

this is going to go well

or whether it's going to go bad.

I mean,

how many of us,

maybe even earlier on

in the service

when I'm praying

about the fact

that some of us

are too distracted

to know and hear the truth,

how many of us

are maybe too distracted

to know and hear the truth

because we're thinking,

how dare my mother

say that to me

on the way in?

How dare my husband

say that about me?

How dare my wife

say that about me?

How dare my boss

say that about me

last Wednesday?

Wednesday.

It's still beating me up

that my boss

said that about me.

How dare my brother

say that about me

or my sister?

How dare my friends

say that?

And we're still

anxious and beat up

and rebelling

against it.

That never happened

to anybody here,

I'm sure.

Nobody ever

has had that experience.

If you say that,

the confession time

is for later on

in the service

is just for you

and for me

because, of course,

we do say that.

Of course we say that.

You see,

we might not say

that we've ever

actually been a tenant

where God

has sent people,

but you see,

in a sense,

if we understand

that how many times

has conscience

awoken within us

to convict us

of something

that we've done

that's wrong?

How many has

an external conscience

like a wife

or a boss

said that we've

done something wrong?

How often

has it been

that the Bible

has said

that we're doing

something wrong

and rather than

us having

a tender heart

to live in a way

that is good

and just,

have we raged

against it?

And all we can do

usually in raging

against it

is just it's all

inside of us,

but sometimes

it can be that

we get right

in that boss's face,

we get right

in the mom's face,

we get right

in the dad's face,

we get up close

and personal

and we rage

at them.

How many of us

in fact

maybe in the work world

know that there's

a person

in the cubicle

next door

that nobody likes

to ever say

anything bad

about them

because they don't

want to have to

deal with the fallout?

How many of you

are that person?

This is a human

problem

that Jesus

is addressing

in this story.

So you see

the first thing

is all of a sudden

that we realize

that at first

this story

looks like

it's just maybe

a very judgmental

story,

but actually

Jesus is putting

his finger

on something

in the human

heart,

not just for

the hearers

back then,

those nasty

chief priests

and scribes,

oh, they're so

nasty,

they're so bad.

Jesus is putting

his finger,

this text is

speaking to my

heart.

How often

do I choose

moral insanity?

I mean,

the great comfort

is what I can

just tell you

is that as we

get closer to

Jesus,

as the Holy

Spirit has a

deeper role

in our lives,

as the Bible

forms our minds,

it will form us

to moral sanity.

Here are just

two sort of

brief takeaway

points.

By the way,

if you can't get

them written down,

they'll all be on

the webpage later

on tomorrow,

they'll be on

the webpage,

but here's sort

of very two

quick takeaways.

To say to

ourselves,

to make a

commitment before

God,

I will humbly

seek the

truth and

humbly change

my mind to

know the

truth.

I didn't word

that very well,

but basically it's

a willingness to

change your mind,

to acknowledge

that I'm wrong.

Dang it all,

the United States

wasn't the worst

at affecting

income distribution.

That's the truth.

I got to change

my mind.

And boy,

I didn't realize,

God,

that my mind

was motivated

in those days

so much by

hatred of

capitalism and

a hatred of

the United States

of America.

I didn't realize

that's what

drove me.

So make a

commitment.

See,

this is why

it matters.

It matters

when we go

back to our

work and

if we're a

lawyer,

if we're an

economist,

if we're a

mom with the

kids or a

dad with the

kids,

if we're a

social worker,

the truth

matters.

Make a

commitment

before God

to develop

a habit of

seeking the

truth and

being willing

to say,

you know

what,

I used to

think that

and I was

wrong.

This is

actually

more true.

And a

corresponding

thing in

terms of

moral sanity.

Make a

commitment

before God

to say,

I will

humbly

seek the

good and

humbly

repent and

seek to

choose to

change my

life according

to the

good.

That's the

next,

the second

walk,

takeaway point.

I will

humbly seek

the good and

humbly repent

and seek to

change my

life according

to the good.

Repentance and

amendment of

life.

It's a thing

that we can

take away

from it.

Some of

you might

be saying,

George,

I don't

know if I

entirely believe

you.

Maybe somebody's

here or they're

listening to it

online and

they're saying,

I know what you

think about

abortion and a few

other issues.

I don't know,

George, if you're

really morally

sane.

I don't know if the

Bible's morally

sane.

But it's at least

comforting to

know that that's

what you think

that God wants

to do in your

life.

Because it's hard

to argue

against moral

sanity.

It's hard to

argue against

that as being

a worthy

goal.

But surely,

George, this

whole thing

about the

stone and

everything like

that, surely

that's a

problem text,

isn't it?

Isn't that going

beyond this?

I sort of

understand this

idea of moral

sanity and I'm

going to make

that commitment.

But surely

this text goes

beyond.

Well, let's

look again at

verse 16 and

17.

Let's look at

them and sort of

have it fresh in

our minds as we

think about it

again.

And remember

earlier on in

verse 15,

you know,

earlier on it's

the owner sends

the beloved son,

his beloved son,

and the beloved

son is killed by

the tenants.

And then Jesus

says, you know,

what will the

owner do?

And he says,

verse 16,

he will come and

destroy those

tenants and give

the vineyard to

others.

And when the

crowd hears this,

they say,

no way.

But Jesus

looks at them

directly and

said, what

then is this

that is written?

The stone that

the builders

rejected has

become the

cornerstone.

And you'll

notice in

some of your

texts that

there's a

little note

with cornerstone

and it says

head of the

corner.

And some of

your versions

might say

capstone.

And actually,

in the original

language,

this one word

can sort of

mean two

different types

of stones.

stones.

And you

have to sort

of tell from

the context

which one

it might be

more likely

to be.

But the

fact of the

matter is,

I wonder if

Jesus chose

a word that

intentionally had

two different

meanings,

but they're

very similar.

And if some

of your

versions say

capstone,

it's back in

the days when

they made

natural arches

without mortar.

And I guess

they'd have,

I don't know,

a wooden

structure or

whatever as

the stones

are placed.

And then at

the final top

of the arch,

they'd put a

stone that

fits perfectly

with all the

others.

And then they'd

remove the

wooden scaffolding

and that

capstone at

the top

meant that

now the

shapes of

the stone

and the

arch,

that gravity

holds the

whole arch

together.

The capstone

holds the

whole arch

together.

And the

other image

of this

text is a

foundation stone,

sort of a

bit different

than a

cornerstone,

and it

would be in

building large

stone buildings,

a very,

very,

very large

and substantial

stone that

would be

where two

walls meet.

And so this

large stone

would have to

be so strong

that it could

support the

weight of two

different walls

with gravity

wanting to move

those walls in

different directions.

And so it was

absolutely essential

to have a large,

solid foundation

stone to keep

the building

together.

And so that's

what Jesus is

saying.

Jesus is saying

the stone that

the builders

rejected has

become this

central piece

to the entire

integrity of

the building.

So here's what

Jesus is saying.

We'll just unpack

it very briefly.

The person and

work of Jesus

of Nazareth

is central to

salvation and

to life in the

kingdom of God.

The person and

work of Jesus

of Nazareth is

central to

salvation and

to life in the

kingdom of God.

The Bible

describes Jesus

as the power

of God for

salvation.

In other words,

God sends a

power for

salvation and

this power for

salvation is

that Jesus and

his death upon

the cross.

In fact,

this sense of

the stone being

rejected, there's

two different

senses that work

here.

It's a very,

very cleverly

written piece of

literature because

on one hand,

what Jesus is

saying is that

the actual

rejection of

the stone is

actually part of

what makes the

stone essential.

There's a story

at the end of

Genesis where

Joseph, his

brothers had

sold him into

slavery and

eventually Joseph,

God used that,

Joseph being sold

into slavery by

his brothers, God

used that terrible

evil thing to

actually keep the

nation of Israel

safe.

And in Genesis

50, Joseph says

to his brothers,

you meant it for

ill, but God

used it for

good.

And in a sense

here, the people

who are going to

kill the beloved

son, they meant

it for evil, but

God used it for

good.

It became the

means by which

humanity, those

very same

tenants, could

possibly be

redeemed and

reconciled to

God.

And that's on

one hand what

it's saying here

about the text.

Christ.

But some of

you might say,

okay, George,

that's very,

very interesting.

If it's true

that in fact

God, that we,

that these human

beings meant the

killing of the

beloved son for

evil, but God

used it for good,

that it would be

the power of God

for salvation.

And this power of

God for salvation

means that the

death of Jesus

upon the cross and

his resurrection,

his death for you

and me, that it's

the means by which

we become God's

adopted child or

we become born

again or we

become justified.

It's also the

means by which

we become more

Christ-like.

It's also the

means by which

we are glorified

so that we can

be in the new

heaven and the

new earth, which

one day, Lord,

may it be soon,

God will bring

into effect when

Jesus returns.

So you might

say, okay,

George, I sort of

still understand

that, but what

about this crushing

aspect?

That's actually a

really interesting

turn that Jesus

is saying on one

hand.

You see, this is

all part of knowing

the truth, by the

way, right?

I mean, one of the

things we can leave

today is to say,

God, please create

within me a hunger

and longing to know

the true, the good,

and the beautiful.

Father, create within

me a passion, a

desire, the habits of

knowing and seeking the

true, the good, and the

beautiful.

And that doesn't mean

that we look at the

world through rose-colored

glasses.

It means that we'll also

seek and know what is

real.

but we'll see and

understand the real in

terms of the bigger

picture of truth.

We'll understand the

reality of evil in the

context of good and the

defeat ultimately of

evil.

We'll understand the

things which are just

ugly and completely and

utterly disgusting and

revolting.

And we'll see that, but

we'll see it and

understand it within the

context of the

beautiful and the

triumph of God who is

the true, the good, and

the beautiful.

And Jesus who came from

the true and the good

and the beautiful to

die upon the cross to

redeem those of us who

are addicted to lies and

evil and that which is

completely and utterly

disgusting and

despicable.

And those of us who on

one hand have an

addiction to those things

and cannot turn from it

yet at the same time know

in some sense that there

is a true, there is a

good, there is a

beautiful that we should

long for, but we do not

have the power to do that

in and of ourselves all of

the time because we

slip back to our choice

of using our mind for

our own utility and

using our will to choose

the bad rather than the

good or the just or the

loving or the fine.

That's, that's, God, God

uses this evil thing for a

good thing and when we

seek the true and the

good and the beautiful it

means we'll see the world

as it really is but not on

the world's terms.

Isn't that a thing to

long for?

To seek, to give your

lives to?

But some of you are

going to say, George,

okay, so what about

this crushing?

It just seems so extreme.

Let's look at that

verse again, verse 18,

just very briefly.

Everyone who, verse 18,

everyone who falls on

that stone.

Remember?

So I remember I said

there's sort of two very

interesting senses.

It's a very subtly

written text that part of

it is this Genesis 50

sense.

It's rejected but the

actual rejection God

uses for good, he uses it

for salvation.

But look at it,

everyone who falls on

that stone will be

broken to pieces and

when it falls on anyone

it will crush him.

Like how can this

actually possibly make

sense?

Well, it's, we sort of,

the way we understand

that this text can

possibly make sense is

by thinking about love

actually.

It's about thinking

about love and just

to think about love.

The church fathers,

and actually thinking

about reality.

Lost my place in the

notes.

Think about reality and

think about love and if

we think about that we'll

see how this text makes

sense.

The church fathers, I

can't remember which one,

they use a very, very

interesting analogy.

Let's say you have a

crystal vase, you know,

very fine, or China,

very fine China vase.

You have a very, very

large, solid, hard rock.

If you throw the China

vase against the rock,

ends up badly for the

China vase.

You throw the rock against

the China vase, it ends

up badly for the China

vase, right?

Doesn't matter in a sense

if you throw the rock,

the rock against the vase,

or the vase is thrown

against the rock.

In both cases, doesn't

change the rock, bad for

the vase.

Here's the thing which is

behind this analogy for

Jesus, from Jesus.

We have one more point to

go to help us to

understand the truth of

this text.

Here it is.

If you put it up,

Andrew, one day the true

and living God will be

unfailingly,

unavoidably,

unchangeably,

unstoppingly,

and undeniably present

and real.

I'm not saying that God

isn't real now, I'm not

saying he's not present

now, but what I would say

is that God is always

veiled to us right now.

We have some sense of

him and some of us, we

have a very deep sense of

his reality, but it's

nothing compared to what

it will be like in the new

heaven and the new earth

when we see God face to

face and he sees us face

to face.

One day,

the true and living God

will be unfailingly,

unavoidably,

unchangeably,

unstoppingly,

and undeniably present

and real.

And so what we see here

is a dual image of

judgment.

Because surely we also

understand how it is

that a complete and utter

denial of reality,

a complete and utter

denial of reality,

even on this side of the

grave, ends badly for us.

Like, isn't that one of the

things which is so

tragic about drug addicts

or alcoholics,

is that until they hit

bottom, and hitting

bottom means they

finally realize that

they've hit a rock that

shatters them.

But as reality, you know,

reality makes them want to

do drugs more.

Reality makes them do all

sorts of horrible things

because reality just keeps

driving them to this.

And we look at them from

the outside and we just

see that the reality is

that reality is leading

them to drink, and the

other hand, that response

to reality is ruining

them.

It's breaking them up.

It's killing them.

How many of us have

looked at people who are

having some type of debt

problem, and that rather

than humbling themselves

like a little child and

acknowledging that they

have a problem and maybe

have to tear up all of

their credit cards or do

other types of things,

but the fact of the matter

is, is that somehow as they

face, as they get the bill

in, the way they respond

to the bill is by wanting

to spend money because

spending money is just, it

gives them a rush, it

helps them to feel better

in the face of reality, but

all it's doing is they are

just banging against reality

and reality wins and they're

getting crushed.

And so what if it is that

one day, one day, for every

single person who's ever been

born, the veil will be

lifted, and God who's always

been present and always be

real, he is in a sense right

completely and utterly before

us, unfailingly, unavoidably,

unchangeably, unstoppingly, and

undeniably.

And on one level, if that

happens, and I just want him

gone, I just can't, I don't

want him here, get away, but

he's real, and I attack him.

I'm only going to add badly

for me.

It falls on me, bad for me.

See, in fact, what this is

describing is just what happens

when us and our refusal to know

the truth, the good, and the

beautiful actually meets the

real.

And in a sense, you see, it

also actually describes a dual

action of God and something

about how real things and

valuable things work.

Because if you think about it

for a second, isn't partly our

experience of knowing truth?

Like when we actually remember

those times, maybe as a child,

maybe just last week, maybe just

yesterday or this morning, and

we learned some new truth, and

it's so exciting.

And isn't it in some way like

this dual action?

Don't we somehow almost feel as

if truth is entered into our

heads?

Doesn't it at the same time

almost feel as if we've

entered into truth?

Like, isn't that how it works

when we fall in love?

Don't we have a sense, excuse

me, somehow, another, as if

somehow, another, that we

actually have fallen in love,

and that other person loves

us?

And don't we have some type of

sense that this person has let

me into their life?

And don't we have some other

sense that this person, that I

have let them into my life?

And can't that be scary to

have a sense of another person

who loves you coming into our

lives, and into your life, and

viewing it?

Don't you see that that's

actually how human beings work?

That the true, the good, and the

beautiful is something that we

both enter into, and enters into

us?

And so it is, that if it is, that

we finally see the real, because

God is completely and utterly

real, that we will not only, if we

do not, if we actually have a rage

and a hatred against God, that on

one hand, what will be described

as we attack that God and

shatters, and that God comes into

us and shatters us.

And the Bible is just described

in what we accept with truth and

love, and don't you have the

sense with beauty that somehow we

enter into it?

That, you know, if you listen to

something, if you like Baroque

music, and you hear it well played,

and you have this sense that somehow

it enters into you, and then you

think of all the movies, like

Shawshank Redemption, and they play

those beautiful parts by Mozart, and

the guy says it was worth being in

solitary because the music is in

here.

It's in here.

Jesus is outlining sanity.

Some of you might say, George, I'm not

special like you.

I don't know what to say.

I didn't know that you have this

ability that you can actually stand

before God, and you're looking

forward to having God be present and

real, and I'm not like you.

I've done some really bad things.

You know what?

I start to think that way, and then I

get caught up with vengeful thoughts.

I'm not like you, George.

I can't possibly do that.

I'm not like you.

I'm not special like you.

All I can say to you is this.

I am not special.

See, what this text tells us is

something even more remarkable.

Remember I said that the way to

understand this text is ultimately

to understand in the context of love.

Andrew, if you could put up this

final slide, it would be this.

Jesus knew me to my depths, and

still in love, he died for me.

What does this text reveal?

Jesus says, you know what, Sinclair?

You know everyone who's here?

I know the fact that you don't always

choose what's true.

You know what?

I know that you use your mind to

avoid reality, to avoid the truth.

You know what, George?

I know that you can be bent out of

shape for a long time because your

conscience has attacked you, or your

wife, or your boss, or a parishioner

has said something that's true, and you

don't like it.

And I know that's what you're like,

George.

I know you don't always choose moral and

intellectual sanity.

I know that that's what's going on in

you.

I know that there's times that you

just rage against that and reject that.

And I know that you cannot stop that.

And I knew all of that about you, and I

died on the cross for you.

I am the power that's come from God for

your salvation that you are to accept by

faith.

And when you accept in a weak, haltering,

faltering way that this is what the

gospel is, that this is what Jesus has

done for you, then you know that there's

nothing in your past, nothing in your

present, and nothing in your future that

will surprise Jesus and make him turn his

face from you, because when he grips you,

it is from the moment of your conception to

the moment of your death.

That is why, I'll say it very quickly, but

if you want to turn to Romans 5, I'm just

going to end with these two things just

from the Bible.

That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 5,

Romans 5:6–11

verses 6 through 11, he says this,

For while we were still weak, at the

right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous

person, though perhaps for a good person one

would dare even to die.

But God shows his love for us in that

while we were still sinners, Christ died

for us.

Since therefore we have now been justified

by his blood, much more shall we be saved

by him from the wrath of God.

For if while we were enemies, we were

reconciled to God by the death of his

son, much more now that we are reconciled

shall we be saved by his life.

More than that, we also rejoice in God

through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom

we have now received reconciliation.

It's because Jesus knows us deeply and still

he dies for us that Paul, at the end of

chapter 8 of Romans, Romans chapter 8, verses

Romans 8:31–39

31 to 39.

This is what Paul says.

The final word goes to the Bible.

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son, but gave

him up for us all, how will he not also

with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's

elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died.

More than that, who was raised.

Who is at the right hand of God.

Who is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,

or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As it is written, for your sake we are being

killed all the day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors.