The Last Week: The Gracious Vineyard Owner

The scripture reading today comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 20.

Luke 20 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletin.

On one of the days while he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel,

the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted him,

and they spoke, saying to him,

Tell us by what authority you're doing these things,

and who is the one who gave you this authority?

Jesus answered and said to them,

I will also ask you a question, and you tell me.

Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?

They reasoned among themselves, saying,

If we say from heaven, he will say,

Why did you not believe him?

But if we say from men, all the people will stone us to death,

for they are convinced that John was a prophet.

So they answered that they did not know where it came from.

And Jesus said to them,

Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

And he began to tell the people a parable.

A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine growers,

and went on a journey for a long time.

At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine growers,

so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard.

But the vine growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

And he proceeded to send another slave.

And they beat him also and treated him shamefully,

and sent him away empty-handed.

And he proceeded to send a third.

And this one also they wounded and cast out.

The owner of the vineyard said,

What shall I do?

I will send my beloved son.

Perhaps they will respect him.

But when the vine growers saw him,

they reasoned with one another, saying,

This is the heir.

Let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.

So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

He will come and destroy these vine growers,

and will give out the vineyard to others.

When they heard it, they said,

May it never be.

But Jesus looked at them and said,

What then is this that is written?

The stone which the builders rejected,

this became the chief cornerstone.

Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces,

but on whomever it falls,

it will scatter him like dust.

This is the word of the Lord.

Think about that song.

I keep thinking about it.

The word, you're the one who saves us.

You're the one who saves us.

I wonder how often we sing that in our lives.

I wonder how often we need to sing that in our lives,

and we don't sing that in our lives.

I've shared before that,

okay, so we have four kids,

and I would say that the place that I ask God to save me the most

is in parenting,

in being a dad,

in being a husband,

because I feel like I have very little good modeling in that area in my life.

So I'm continually trying to figure out what to do and how to do that.

I'm so thankful that we have a perfect Savior.

That way my kids don't need a perfect dad, right?

They can look to Christ.

But today, even just kids getting dressed,

and I had three of my daughters come in,

and they asked me,

does this outfit look nice?

Well, how do you answer that with your daughters, right?

I know how to answer that with my wife.

Honey, does this make me look fat?

No, you don't look fat at all.

The dress looks really good.

But how do you answer that with your daughters, right?

And so I would look at it,

and I said, okay, so what kind of style are you trying to get there?

Okay, that's great.

Okay, yeah, that looks good.

And so we got dressed,

and it's always a challenge to me to think about

what does it mean to trust the Lord

and to walk with Him and to be a parent.

We needed, you're going to die,

we needed some eggs and some bread in our house.

And so we needed to go get it,

and I was busy doing, I can't remember what I was doing.

So I gave some money to one of my kids,

who will remain nameless.

And I sent them to go get the eggs and the bread.

And right as they were walking out of the door,

they asked me the question,

if I have anything left,

can I buy something for myself?

I thought, that seemed like a reasonable request, right?

And so I said, yeah, that's great.

Go ahead and do that.

And so they went.

And they come back about 20 minutes later,

chewing on a drumstick ice cream cone,

and they have a whole box of drumstick ice cream cones

in their bag.

But they have no eggs or no bread.

And I'm like, what happened?

He goes, well, I didn't have enough money for eggs and bread.

So as a parent there,

you have some choices to make in your mind, right?

So you're figuring out, okay,

how do I respond to this?

Part of me, I'm really angry, right?

I'm really, because it's an authority issue, right?

I'm like, I ask, well,

why did you think that you could buy the ice cream

instead of the eggs?

And well, I just felt like it was a thing to do.

And so there's an authority thing there, right?

So the authority part of me is like, I'm furious.

And then the other part of me is like,

I'm just kind of laughing,

because I don't,

I never read that in a book,

what to do when that happens, right?

And so I'm trying to use this as a teachable moment.

And so I'm asking myself, what do I do?

Do I give the kid more money

and have them go out and buy some bread and eggs?

What if they come back with

six-pack of Diet Coke or something else?

And they say, well,

I just didn't have enough money

to buy the eggs and the bread.

And I wondered about that in my life.

And I kind of laughed,

because I think that is sometimes me.

God gives me resources.

He gives me things that he wants me to use

for his kingdom to make his name great.

And I listen, I say, yeah, that's great.

That's good, that's good.

But then I end up buying him other things

that I really need,

like ice cream cones or other things like that.

And I make the excuse,

well, I didn't have enough money

to make your kingdom great.

If you give me more money, I can make it great,

but I need to live.

I need to get these things done.

Luke 19,

Jesus is finishing the last week of his life.

He's up on Bethany,

which is on the southeast corner of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem sits on a hill.

The only way you can attack Jerusalem

was from the north,

because it's the only place where it's flat.

Everywhere else there's a valley.

And in Bethany is where Lazarus came from.

So he's going,

and he's leading this group,

and sometimes they were told

it might be like 10,000 or 15,000 people joining him.

And they're heading to Jerusalem for the Passover.

And at that time in Jerusalem,

Jerusalem would swell to like 2 million people.

Normally there's about 350,000 people,

but on the Passover,

2 million people, pilgrims,

would come to take part in this.

And so Jesus is on this hill,

and he's looking down through the Kidron Valley,

and he's looking up at Jerusalem,

and he realizes what's going to happen

this last week of his life.

All the prophecy that he's going to fulfill,

and so he sends his disciples in,

and they go to a little house,

and they grab a colt, a donkey.

It's out of Zechariah.

Instead of traveling into Jerusalem on a stallion,

which would be the symbol of a king and a conqueror,

Scripture, the prophets,

hundreds of years before he was even born,

said he would come in on a colt.

The symbol of mildness,

and gentleness, and meekness.

And so he goes down this valley,

and as he goes,

people are yelling,

and they're screaming,

Hosanna!

Hosanna!

Everyone thinks this is it.

The Messiah's come.

We're going to be free.

We're going to be free of the Romans.

Everything's going to be perfect.

They're taking off their coats.

They're laying them on the ground.

They're waving palm branches.

Everybody,

and this is really significant,

because on this day in the Old Testament,

Exodus 12,

it tells us for the Passover,

that this is the day that you buy your lamb

without blemish,

spotless and clean,

and you bring that lamb into your home

to take care of it,

so that seven days later,

you sacrifice it to cover your sins.

And so this is the day that Jesus is entering in,

the Lamb of God,

into the temple,

and people are going crazy,

and it's a party,

it's a rock festival,

and the rabbis and the leaders come to him

and say,

tell your disciples to stop.

Tell them to be quiet.

This is unacceptable.

Remember what Jesus said?

He said,

even if they stopped,

the rocks would shout and sing

because God has come.

We're told that he gets there.

He walks into the temple.

He would have entered into the southern gate.

It's the gate of the Gentiles,

the court of the Gentiles.

Now historians tell us,

I've tried to verify this,

and I've looked over,

but what I've been told

is that this is the first year this has happened,

and what happened was

that the leadership of the temple

moved all the livestock,

all the money changing,

into the temple

to be in that place this year.

It's the court of the Gentiles,

so if you were not a Jew,

it's the only place that you could go into.

But the Jews,

the Gentiles couldn't go in there

because it was stocked full of animals

and money changers.

And there's this racket going on

that the church leadership had,

and it was something like this.

When you came into the temple,

you had to pay a tax,

but you had to pay a special tax.

And this coin could only be seen

in Godden at the temple.

You couldn't buy it with you.

So when you came in,

let's say it was $1,

you needed to buy a $1 tax,

but you ended up having to pay $1.40

to get that tax.

And so you took that coin,

and they just pocketed the $0.40,

and they stuck it in the treasury

as you walked in the church.

There's a big racket.

And Jesus says in the scripture,

when he saw that,

he became furious.

It was an anger with righteousness

kind of wound up in it.

It says he makes his rope,

and he starts to whip

all of the money changers.

He turns over the tables.

He throws out the animals.

There's this total chaos,

and everybody's just in awe

because in their mind,

they're thinking this is it.

The Messiah's coming.

This is it.

We're going to be free.

This is it.

This is all going to happen.

Hallelujah.

We've been waiting for this.

Oppression's off.

We're going to be free.

And he walks in there,

and he throws out

all of these things,

and then scripture tells us

at Luke chapter 9,

Luke 9 · chapter mention

right at the very end,

his disciples and him

go into the temple,

and they begin to teach.

And basically,

they stage a sit-in.

And so they're teaching

in the temple

where the priest

and the rabbi

should be preaching,

but Jesus has it under control,

and they can't even get in

because there's all these people

listening to him.

Remember what they said about Jesus?

They said he preached

in a way

unlike any other man before.

He preached with authority.

With the leadership,

they just can't handle this,

and so in chapter 20,

which you have in your bulletin,

they come to him.

And it's a very interesting passage,

and in this passage,

I just want to look at

three things really quickly

or briefly

and talk about them

and ask ourselves questions

like what is going on

in our life

and what can we learn

from these things.

And in these passages,

I just want to talk about

three things.

I want to talk about authority,

the idea of authority,

because Jesus was told

to be teaching with authority

that no one else

had ever had before.

I want to talk about

the vineyard.

There's this parable

that's told.

It's actually out of Isaiah,

and Jesus retells this parable,

and it's very powerful.

I want to talk about the vineyard,

and last,

I want to talk really,

it's kind of the core

of everything.

I want to talk about

the vineyard owner.

So the first thing

that comes out

in verses 1 through 8

is you see they come to him,

and they come at night,

I mean, not at night,

but all the chief priests,

the scribes,

and the elders,

verse 1,

that means everybody

within the leadership.

That's all three sections

of the Jewish leadership

at that time.

So whenever they came together

with something very,

very serious,

and so they come

to confront him,

and they ask him

two questions in verse 2.

They ask him,

tell us by what authority

you're doing these things,

or basically ask him,

are you coming as a prophet,

are you coming as a priest,

or are you coming as a king?

Because they want to know.

Are you coming as a king

to set us free?

Are you coming as a prophet

to set us straight?

Or are you coming as a priest

to minister to us?

Which way are you coming?

What authority

are you coming by?

And then the second question

they ask him is,

who gave you this authority?

authority,

where did it come from?

Now in Jesus' day,

you always taught,

like I taught last week,

I gave this quote,

and I said,

hey, don't,

it's not from me,

it's from Jonathan Edwards,

and Jonathan Edwards

stole it from John Owen,

and John Owen stole it

from Tertullian,

and Tertullian stole it

from Paul,

and Paul stole it

from Jesus,

and Jesus wrote it,

and that's how you would

teach in Jesus' day.

That's where your authority

came from.

So I would be up here

teaching,

and I would say,

well, Rabbi so-and-so

says this,

and then Rabbi so-and-so

said this plus this,

and then a long time ago,

Rabbi so-and-so

said this also,

and as I taught that way,

what I would be doing

is establishing

my authority,

and so everybody

would listen to me

and go,

wow,

he's very well educated,

he knows what he's

talking about,

we should listen to him,

because he's not

bringing anything new,

he's bringing something

the same.

Now remember,

in Jesus' day,

if you were there

and if you were a Christian,

let's say we're all

Christians here,

we would be the rabbis,

we would be the Pharisees,

we would be the holders

of the truth,

and all these people

coming in with Jesus,

they would be the radicals,

they would be the liberals,

they would be the people

who just came to faith,

they would be the people

who aren't mature,

they don't know

what's going on,

and so when we saw

Jesus coming in,

the first question

we would ask is,

why are you doing this?

Because all the authority

is from us.

You read the passage

and you realize

that the leaders

did not think

that they were breaking

God's rules.

You read the passage

and you understand

that the leaders

did not think

that they were rejecting God,

they actually assumed

that they had the right

to govern their lives,

they assumed

that they had the right

to govern these people,

and so they want to know

why Jesus thinks

he has the right

to do that,

and so they asked

him this question

and as a good rabbi

does in teaching,

they always ask questions

after questions

and Jesus answered them

and said,

I'll ask you a question

and you tell me,

was the baptism of John

from heaven or from men

and they reasoned

with themselves,

if we say from heaven,

then why don't you believe me

because that's where

my authority is coming from

or if we say from men,

they're going to storm me

because the penalty

for a false prophet

was stoning,

and if John was

a false prophet

and the rabbis

allowed him to teach,

then they were guilty

of his sin

and so they would

have been stoned too

and so they realized

that they're in this

untenable position

when it talks about authority

and they basically said,

well, we don't know.

We don't know.

And Jesus said,

well, I'm not going

to tell you either

and what I see

from this passage

and what I keep asking myself

these last couple weeks

is this,

where does our authority

come from?

where does your authority

come from?

Why do you live the life

that you live right now?

Why do you make the choices

that you make right now?

The passage says

that our authority

only comes from one

of two places.

Verses three and four.

Either our authority

comes from God,

the word there in Hebrew

would be they said heaven,

which means God,

or our authority

comes from men.

And so the question

we have to ask ourselves

as we think about this

is where,

where does our authority

really come from?

I don't know if you've ever

heard this

or said this,

but I've said this

sometimes in my life.

You know,

I'm a Christian.

I don't know what I think

about this part of the Bible.

This part of the Bible

is really hard.

It's very difficult.

It's very confusing.

I don't know if I can

live my life

the way Scripture

tells me

to live it

right here.

You know,

I follow God

and the Bible is good

for some things,

but you know,

there are other things

in the Bible,

you know,

like the sexuality

and relationships

and how we handle our money

and things like that.

You know,

I think maybe it's kind of

outdated for that

because God,

God wants me to be happy,

right?

Right?

Where,

where,

where does our authority

come from?

Do we live our life

in our own authority

as these Pharisees did

and not realizing

that they were doing that?

Because they didn't realize

that they were doing that.

They thought they were living

under God's authority,

but the Scripture

is really clear

that they weren't.

They were living

under their own authority.

They didn't handle God's Word.

They didn't know God's Word.

They didn't allow God's Word

to seep into them.

They changed God's Word.

They didn't like the Scriptures

that quoted the things

that were happening.

I mean,

all they had to do

is look into the Old Testament

and all the things

that were happening

to that point,

it was really clearly

told of.

But they didn't like that.

And I think sometimes

we don't either.

And I realize,

if we're honest,

sometimes in our life,

we just want to be

our own authority.

We say we love God.

We say we came to Christ

at this time.

But if you look at our life

day by day by day,

how we live it,

the question is,

are we living it

according to God's Word

or are we living it

to our Word?

One of the early church fathers

said it this way.

He said,

sin is largely

a matter of authority.

We sin because

we refuse God's authority.

Well,

when we sin,

we reject God,

we reject His Word,

we reject His authority,

and we replace it

with something else.

Us.

The Bible says

that we have a problem

with authority

that deep down

in our heart

there's this darkness

that prevents us

from wanting to obey.

The Scripture actually says

that we are angry

towards God

that we don't like

His authority.

And the Jewish leaders

in this passage

really, really show that.

They would rather live life

and run their lives

the way they want to.

But Jesus is presenting

to them something else,

something different.

And the question

we have to ask ourselves today

is what authority

do we live by?

What do we do

with that deep,

dark struggle

in our heart

when we know

we should buy

the eggs

in the bread

but we want

to buy something else?

What we know

in the deep,

dark struggle

in our heart

when we know

we should do

certain things

or we're called

to bring comfort

in healing

but we're too busy.

The Scripture says

that we have

a heart problem

and there's this darkness

there

that even after

we've come to Christ

we still struggle

with it,

we still deal with it,

we still have to face it.

And the problem

is that most of us,

a lot of us

don't even realize

that we struggle.

the problem

is that most of us

don't like

having somebody

in authority

above us.

Think about that.

Do you really like

to know

that you're under

somebody else's authority?

I mean,

how do you do

in the speed limits?

How do you do

with the signs?

I mean,

Kip and I

love to play baseball

and we throw baseball

on a podium.

We were so fortunate

there's this big podium

right around the house

and so we go out

maybe once every week

throw pitch

and last week

we went out

and there was a sign there

that said

no throwing balls.

It had never been there

before.

Ever.

But this time

the sign was right

in front of my face

no throwing balls.

Kip looked at me

and said,

what are we going to do?

Wow,

I wish I could say

I was just the person

perfect dad

and like,

yeah,

you know,

we got to obey

our authority

and they're putting

it above us

and I kind of

took the sign

and I kind of

turned it around

backwards.

I said,

just one time.

But the scripture

says that our whole life

is about turning

signs around

backwards

because we don't

like to be

in authority.

We don't like

people to have

authority over us.

And so the question

this passage brings up

which is the question

for you and me

is where does

our authority

come from?

How do we live

our lives?

How do we know

that we're living

for God

and how do we know

that we're living

for ourselves?

How do we know

that we're not

under God's authority?

How do you know

when you're not living

the way God

wants you to?

Who tells you?

I mean if you're

fortunate you have

a friend or a spouse

or somebody in your

community group

that says,

dude, that's just wrong.

But sometimes we don't.

And what happens

when we don't?

The leaders were

blinded

to their blindness.

They thought they

were doing the right

thing.

They thought that they

were living under

God's rules.

They thought that

they were obeying

the Lord.

They thought that

they were checking

off all the boxes.

They thought that

they were under

the right authority

and they were the

authority and they

were helping everybody

else be under their

authority.

But Jesus says that

they were under

man's authority.

We either live today

under our authority

or under God's

authority.

Can I give you a hint

that I'm learning

in myself?

I realize

that if I'm living

under God's authority

I will always be

challenged in my

selfishness.

Because there's

this selfishness

inside of me

that I struggle with.

And if I'm not

struggling with that

selfishness,

for me,

it's a very good

indicator that I'm

living under my

authority.

Because all rules are

off and I can do

whatever makes me feel

good and I can turn

the signs and all

those things.

But if I'm

struggling with that

selfishness,

if I realize the

depth of how

depraved and how

selfish I am,

it's a sign for me

that God's authority

is being lived out

in my life.

And the amazing

thing about that is

as that happens,

he gives me grace

to continue on.

He gives me grace

to continue on

under his authority.

So authority,

whose authority are

you under?

Yourself's or God's?

Really?

And how do you know

when you're not?

The next thing this

passage screams out

to me is just this

idea of the vineyard.

You know,

sometimes I've used

these ten verses

when someone comes

to me and they say,

hey, can you give me

a CliffsNotes,

a short version

of the Bible,

what the Bible's all

about,

what the story

of the Bible's all

about?

Can you just give me

like a brief synopsis

of what the Bible's

all about?

Sometimes I take them

to this parable.

Because I think

within this parable,

within these ten

sentences,

is God's whole story

lived out.

God's whole creation

plan lived out.

And what do we learn

about this vineyard?

Well, what we learn

is a couple things.

We learn that the

vineyard was made

by God or the owner.

In Matthew 21

and Mark 11,

it tells the story again

and it even gives you

a better picture

of the vineyard.

This vineyard was massive.

He dug this deep trench

around it,

these high walls

to protect it.

It was interwoven

with vines and stickers

so no animals could get in.

There was a big tower

in the center of it

so that you could look

out for your enemies

but you also can go

underneath it for the shade

and be protected.

There's a big wine press

in the middle of it

so you could do all your work

and live within that community

and everything you needed,

everything that you needed

was there.

In the passage,

it says that the vineyard owner

produced it,

he made it

and he just opened it up

for us to use

and to be a part of it.

So that everything

in the vineyard

was made by the vineyard owner

or God,

we also see that everything

in the vineyard

was expected to produce fruit.

I mean,

you wouldn't make a vineyard

if he didn't expect produce,

right?

So everything in the vineyard

was made to produce produce.

We see that the vineyard owner

isn't greedy.

He's not a mean owner.

I mean,

basically,

he lets the people

go into the vineyard

and do whatever they want.

He basically says,

hey,

here's the vineyard.

You take care of it.

You use the resources in it.

You produce whatever kind

of grapes you want to make,

whatever kind of wine

you want to make.

You can do whatever

you want in it.

This is my vineyard

but I'm giving it to you

to use.

You do this.

Hands off.

I'm going away

on a long trip

but there's one thing

that I expect.

I expect fruit.

I expect produce.

So the vineyard

is this amazing place

that the creator made

and gave to us.

He's given us

all this freedom.

He's allowed us

to do all these things.

He's allowed us

to have our hand

in creating

and changing

and fixing creation

but the problem is

that sometimes

when we live in a vineyard

for a long time

and the owner

hasn't come back,

we start to think

that we're the owner.

Right?

I mean,

sometimes

if we've lived in a vineyard

for a long time

and we've done

some amazing things

with the vineyard,

we start to think,

wow,

wow,

I did this.

I mean,

the world around us

is going to encourage us

to think that way,

right?

I mean,

you made it in Oxford.

You passed the test.

You presented that thing

so well.

You brought yourself

to this place.

You're the authority.

You made it.

The struggle is sometimes,

I think,

deep down inside of us

we want to believe that

but we know

that it's not true

and the fact

that it's not true

kind of makes

me angry

because I want to be able

to say I did it all

by myself.

I want to say

I'm the one who did it.

I want to say

I made it.

I manifest destiny.

I came across

and I cleared the land

and I did it.

I did it.

It's all mine.

But the rules

of the vineyard

say something

totally different.

The rules of the vineyard

say that it's not ours

that was given to us

and everything within it

is somebody else's.

Maybe the question

we should ask ourselves

is

who are we working for?

I mean really?

Who

who are we working for?

Are we working for ourselves?

Or are we working

for the true owner?

I mean I think

the problem sometimes

is we don't even recognize

that we're acting

like owners.

How do you realize

when you're acting

like an owner?

Jesus talked about it

really clearly

in the passage

and the problem is

as we look at it

as we think about it

as we look at our finances

as we look at our gifts

as we look at our talents

as we look at all these things

that we've been able

to accomplish

and do

within the vineyard

because the owner

has been away

for so long

we start to doubt

whether he's ever

going to come back.

you start to think

that the things

are ours.

The leaders

in this passage

didn't understand this.

They thought

that Jerusalem

the Jewish people

the temple

was all theirs

until 70 AD

when Titus

led the Roman army in

and destroyed everything

and the Jewish nation

ceased to exist

from that point on.

You're never going to find

in history again

the idea of priest.

You're never going to find

in history again

the idea of scribes.

You're never going to find

in history again

the idea of elders

within the Jewish nation.

If you go to the day

they're just teachers

and there's rabbis

because those guys

thought that the vineyard

was theirs

they clung to it

they said

this is what we've done

we've made

all these things

and it was taken away.

Finally

and I think this is

the main point

of this passage

this is the point

that sticks out

to me over and over

and it's what

I've been challenged to.

At the time

of the harvest

he sent a slave

to the vine growers

and so they would

give him some of the

produce of the vineyard

but the vine growers

beat him

and sent him away

empty handed.

And he proceeded

to send another slave

and they beat him

also

and they treated

him shamefully

and they sent

him away

empty handed

and he proceeded

to send a third

slave

and they treated

him

and they wounded

him

the word trauma

and they cast

him out

and the vineyard

looks around

and he tells

this story

as Jesus

is talking

and this would

be a very

powerful story

guys

because Jesus

is in the temple

we're told

that the temple

is decorated

by this huge

carving

of a vine

it was a symbol

of Israel

and Herod

started it

it was over

130 feet tall

and it was inlaid

with gold

and whenever

a wealthy person

came into the temple

they would donate

jewels

to be the grapes

of this vineyard

and so Jesus

is teaching this story

with this vine

as the backdropping

so everybody

is looking at him

they're looking at him

looking at that

looking at that

looking at that

so they understand

what he's saying

and the owner

sends all of these

people in

and patiently

he comes

to them

and he sends

messengers to them

trying to remind them

that they're not

the owners

and the tenants

continually beat them

and in verse 13

there's this pause

in the original language

and the owner

pauses

and he says

what should I do

I will send

my beloved son

it's the same wording

that is used

when Jesus was baptized

remember John

sends Jesus down

and the dove lands on it

and God speaks

and says

behold my beloved son

in whom I'm well

please listen to him

it's the same word

and so the owner

takes this pause

and he goes

what should I do

what should I do

in Hebrew culture

what it says

that he's doing

is he's taking

his anger

and he's turning it

into grace

you think about that

for a second

what if you're living

the ideal

Hong Kong life

you have your

three apartments

you're living in one

you're renting out two

it's time for rent

people go to collect

your rent

and the people living

in the apartments

beat them up

this is our apartment

this is not your apartment

what do you do

would you send

a second person

would you send

a third person

everybody listening

to this story

in Jesus day

would have been amazed

because all the rules

would have said

after the first break

you send the army

and the army

gets rid of everybody

you send your hired thugs

and they do business

on those people

when they break

their arms and legs

and they're out of there

but Jesus tells

this story

of this landowner

who continually

continually

continually

sends people

to wake us up

to remind us

that we're not

the owners

the word there

is a very special word

and I don't like

talking all these

Greek words

but this word

is only used

this one time

and there's not a word

in English

that means it

in Arabic

there's a word

kind of

that means it

halim

and it basically

is this idea

that he puts aside

his anger

he turns his anger

into grace

he's patient

he's long suffering

he's risk taking

he's compassionate

he's self sacrificing

he's gentle

all these things

are rolled up

into this word

and Jesus says

this is what

the character

of the landowner is

Jesus says

this is what

the character

of God

is

so everybody

listening to this

would have been

freaked out

they would have

understood

that this is wrong

because he's been

dishonored

you should go in

and you should

kill these people

get rid of them

but Jesus

continually reminds us

and continually shows us

of how gracious

God is

think about it

in your life

maybe you've come

to Christ

how many messengers

did God send to you

before you realized

that you weren't

the owner

statistically

there's an average

of 23 people

that enter

into a person's life

and share the gospel

and share their testimony

and before someone says

wow this

something's here

I need to pray about this

or I need to think about this

how many messengers

did God send

into your life

what would have happened

if God stopped

at the first messenger

the first time

Johnny told me

of why I needed

to go to church

and I laughed at him

I said

you gotta be kidding me

what would have happened

if the landowner

had stopped

and so he says

he's gonna do

one more thing

this incredible act

of mercy

this incredible act

of grace

this incredible act

of compassion

this incredible act

of long suffering

this incredible act

of gentleness

he says

I'm going to send

my son

my beloved son

I've never heard

anything like this

before have you

one of the things

I grew up

my dad was in the military

and one of the neat things

about being in the military

is my dad became a teacher

for other military officers

and we had a lot of

Middle Eastern officers

in our home

we would talk

and things like that

and we had these big parties

and I remember hearing

this story one time

and it stuck in my head

I never forgot it

because it was just so weird

that I couldn't believe it

and he told this story

one day in the 1980s

when King Hussein

who was King of Jordan

at that time

was at a party

and one of his

achetes came in

and said

hey I got to tell you this

in the building

over there

there's 75

senior officers

who are playing a coup

right now

they're playing a coup

to overthrow the government

to kill you

and take over Jordan

what are you going to do

you want me to send

the soldiers in

to arrest everybody

and my friend said

this is what

King Hussein said

he said no

call a helicopter

so he got on a helicopter

all by himself

he flew over to the top

of the building

left his gun

in the helicopter

turned to the pilot

and said

if you hear shooting

leave without me

he walks down the building

into this big room

where there's 75 officers

planning a coup

and he looks at him

and he says

gentlemen

it's come to my attention

that everyone in here

is playing a coup

to take over the government

don't do that

because if you do that

the government

will be fractured

the military

will be fractured

and thousands of people

will lose their lives

if all it takes

is me dying

here I am

you can kill me now

and the story goes

that when the officers

heard that

and they saw that

and they saw the love

and compassion

that King Hussein

put forth towards them

they all ran to him

and embraced him

and pledged allegiance

for the rest of their lives

but here we have a story

that's so much greater

than the King of Jordan

we have a story

that we are farmers

on this vineyard

that the good vine owner

gave us

that we're living our lives

we're producing these things

we're living under our authority

and continually and continually

he sends messengers to us

he says

it's not yours

if you live under your authority

you're in trouble

if you live according to your rules

ultimately you're going to fail

I have a better plan for you

I have something so much greater for you

if you can just trust me

and over and over and over

God sends messengers to us

to show us his mercy

and his grace

I have one last question

how do you feel

when you hear that

does that story of the vineyard

does this story of what goes on

in your life right now

does that move you

when you think of God's grace

in God's mercy

in God's gentleness

in your life

how do you respond

Jesus goes on

and he shares the ending

of the story

which is incredibly

harsh

harsh

and real

it's a story of judgment

often we don't talk about it

in churches

because people don't like

to hear the idea of this

in churches

that we're going to be

held accountable

and something's going to happen

one day

if we don't

listen to the messengers

if we don't understand

grace

if we don't understand

what Christ has done for us

to move us

and to change us

and to mold

our way of thinking

and doing

and being

the passage

probably says

that if it doesn't move you

then you have a lot of

heart questions

to ask

and you need to figure out

today

whose authority

you're living

under

everyone who falls

on that stone

will be broken

to pieces

but on whomever

it falls

it will scatter them

like dust

authority

who's your authority

in your life

the garden

who are you working

for today

the father

how do you respond

to his love

and his message

is there

over and over

and over again

in the gospels

the parable

of the dinner

the parable

of the sun

running away

the parable

of the vine growers

the story says

that we have a God

who's so gracious

and so amazing

and continually

continually

continually

pursues us

and the question

is

what do we do

with that

how do we

respond

father we just

thank you for

this day

we thank you

for your words

that are

overwhelming

I confess

that when I

hear this story

and I think

about these

things

sometimes

I

am disturbed

and I'm angry

because there's

just sometimes

I want to be

my own authority

and I want to

live my life

my own way

and what I

realize

that there's

some of us

in here

who are like

that right

now

there's some

of us here

when we hear

this story

we say

well so what

what a stupid

owner

why would he

waste his

son

but your

word

your story

your authority

centers around

your son

whom you

send

to free

us

from the

darkness

of our

hearts

and our

own

authority

Lord I

pray for

those of

us in

here

who

right

now

are

just

realizing

for the

first

time

that

they're

living

by

their

authority

and not

yours

I

pray

Lord

that

they

would

just

feel

your

mercy

and

grace

upon

them

they

would

realize

that

this

is

something

that

is

going

to

happen

throughout

their

whole

life

as

they

struggle

with

whose

authority

they're

in

but

they

realize

how

merciful

and

gracious

you

are

and

they

come

to

you

for

forgiveness

for

healing

Lord

I

pray

for

those

of

us

who

are

in

here

and

we've

been

digging

for

a

while

and

it's

been

so

long

since

we've

heard

from

you

or

we

wonder

just

like

Theophilus

wrote

when

Luke

wrote

this

gospel

is

Jesus

really

real

and

is

he

really

powerful

and

is

he

really

in

authority

because

I

haven't

seen

him

in

a

while

would

I

pray

for

those

of

us

in

here

like

that

that

you

would

heal

our

hearts

that

we

would

see

the

mercy

and

grace

of

the

cross

that

we

would

see

your

gentleness

and your

goodness

and your

long

suffering

that

we

would

realize

over

and

over

the

messengers

that

you

continue

to

send

to

us

to

you

that

we

understand

that

judgment

the

stone

the

rock

is

the

last

thing

that

you

want

to

do

it's

the

unusual

thing

as

the