One Last Chance

Good morning, church. My name is Ed. If I haven't gotten a chance to meet you, I'm one of the pastors at Trinity Cambridge. It's my joy to preach God's word this morning. Let's open up our Bibles. We're going to continue on in our series of Matthew.

Matthew, we're in chapter 21, starting in verse 33, all the way to the end of the chapter. If you are in need of a Bible, feel free to raise your hand. We'd be happy to hand you a physical copy of a Bible that you could use for now, and then hold on.

Anyone? Again, we are starting in verse 33 to the end of the chapter. Let's bow our heads as we approach God in prayer.

Heavenly Father,

this world can discourage us, beat us up.

Our flesh, we have to wrestle with it.

Satan, as we heard in the prophecy, attacks us incessantly with lies.

Lord, we come to your word,

pleading,

begging for you to illuminate it to our souls,

that we'd understand it,

not just in our heads,

but with our hearts,

and that in our hearts, that would transform, that would manifest

into our hands.

That we would grow as holistic disciples,

that in our heads, hearts, hands,

every aspect of us,

that we would be transformed.

Father, I believe in your Holy Spirit.

I believe that you can preach through

people like me,

weak mouths,

weak servants.

So please multiply

the five loaves, two fish,

that I can offer to feed the masses.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please rise to honor the reading of God's word.

Starting in verse 33.

Hear another parable.

There was a master of a house

who planted a vineyard

and put a fence around it

and dug a wine press in it

and built a tower

and leased it to tenants

and went into another country.

When the season for fruit draw near,

he sent his servants to the tenants

to get his fruit.

And the tenants took his servants

and beat one,

killed another,

and stoned another.

Again, he sent other servants,

more than the first,

and they did the same to them.

Finally,

he sent his son to them,

saying,

They will respect my son.

But when the tenants saw the son,

they said to themselves,

This is the heir.

Come,

let us kill him

and have his inheritance.

And they took him

and threw him out of the vineyard

and killed him.

When therefore the owner

of the vineyard comes,

what will he do to those tenants?

They said to him,

He will put those wretches

to a miserable death

and let out the vineyard

to other tenants

who were given the fruits

in their seasons.

Jesus said to them,

Have you never read

in the scriptures

the stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone?

This was the Lord's doing

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Therefore I tell you,

the kingdom of God

will be taken away from you

and given to a people

producing its fruits.

And the one who falls on this stone

will be broken to pieces

and when it falls on anyone,

it will crush him.

When the chief priests

and the Pharisees

heard his parables,

they perceived

that he was speaking

about them.

And although

they were seeking

to arrest him,

they feared the crowds

because they held him

to be a prophet.

This is God's holy

and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

In my 30 years of life,

I never once wanted

to become a vegetarian.

Sorry to all the vegetarians

out there.

But I just liked

eating meat too much.

Even when I heard

about all the terrible things

about the meat industry,

the abhorrent living conditions

that the animals

have to endure,

I embarrassingly

still never wanted

to change my ways.

That is,

until I watched

the film called

Okja.

If you've never seen

the film,

it's about a young girl

who tries to rescue

her genetically engineered

pig-dog thing

from a company

that raised it

for meat.

And along the way,

she exposes

the inhumane conditions

in which these

super pigs are raised.

And she does it

by leaking

a video to the public.

So in one scene

facing major scandal

and risk

of their stock

plummeting,

the executives

of that company,

they have this

following discussion.

One says,

what about spending

some money

on media damage control?

The other says,

no point.

They'll hate us

for a bit

and then they'll forget.

Yes,

but I'm not sure

if the customers,

how they're going

to respond after today.

If it's cheap,

they'll eat it.

Oof.

Right,

that's me.

Thinking about

Okja the pig,

my wife and I

were very convicted

and ashamed

of our eating habits.

And so,

that's the story

about how we became

vegetarians.

For one week.

Now,

Okja works

because you are

immersed in the story,

you are cheering

for the good guys,

you think that you're

on their side,

but before you even

know it,

you're hit with the truth

that actually,

you're one of the bad guys.

You're part of the problem.

Now,

this sermon's not about

vegetarianism,

and nor do I think

that all Christians

need to become vegetarians,

but there's a truth

that we do need

to all accept

that Jesus addresses

today.

There are times

where we must deliver

the truth

straight up,

undiluted,

neat.

But there are also times

where we must deliver

the truth

indirectly,

on a slant.

By sharing this parable

of the wicked tenants,

Jesus does just that.

He engages

the Jewish leader's

imagination.

He bypasses

their defensiveness.

They clearly

rebuke the wicked tenants

for their arrogant pride

in rebelling

against the master.

But then,

the shoe drops.

They get it.

Jesus is talking

about them.

They are the

freeloading tenants

on borrowed land

who have rejected

all of God's messengers,

thinking that they can rule

without the master.

The word of God

has exposed

their hearts.

And written

2,000 years ago,

the word of God

exposes our own hearts

this morning.

In more ways

than one,

have we not all

declared to them,

master of the vineyard,

I want to be owner.

I want my autonomy.

I want you dead.

We,

like these wicked tenants,

should be cast

out of the vineyard

for our arrogance,

for our subversiveness,

but instead,

instead of immediately

casting us out,

the master makes

one final appeal.

The master

sends his son

as a final call

to repent

and to bear fruit.

That's the main point

of my sermon

this morning.

And so to understand

the logic of this parable,

we need to see

two things.

First,

that the master

will,

or the master

demands his fruit,

and secondly,

the master

will get

his fruit.

So here,

another parable

Jesus exhorts.

We meet

the master

of a house

who invests

his time

and money

in a very common

business venture

in the day.

It's a vineyard.

Placing a fence

around the land,

he guards

from intruders.

Digging a wine press

right there

on the property,

he sets up

the winemaking process

from start

to finish

right on site.

He builds

a watchtower,

allowing for

shelter,

storage,

visibility

over the land.

All in all,

he meticulously

sets up the vineyard,

deliberately thinking

about what these

tenants might need,

and he covers

all the bases.

In every sense,

any tenant

would be so lucky

to work this land.

And after

establishing the vineyard,

the master

entrusts it

to tenants

on a contractual

lease

common in that day.

They cultivate

and care for the land,

they invest

their time,

effort,

sweat,

blood,

and tears

to get rich

off the fruit,

and in return,

they give the owner

just a cut,

a cut of the proceeds,

a cut of the fruit.

Under this clear

lease agreement,

there is no possibility

of feigning ignorance

or citing

miscommunication.

Oh,

I didn't know

I had to pay

for the utilities.

You never said

I owe the broker's fee.

Buddy,

it's all right here,

and you signed

your name

on the dotted line.

You owe

the master

his fruit.

To those who

knew the scriptures,

like the chief

priests listening,

these details

must have

sounded familiar,

because this is

not a random story

with random details,

but this is

rather a direct

echo of Isaiah

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5.

From the opening

words of the

parable alone,

Jesus is

predisposing

his listeners

to hear this

parable as a

commentary

about the

relationship

between God

and the nation

of Israel.

There, too,

a careful master

plants a vineyard,

which is Israel.

He digs a winepress

and sets up

a tower,

echoing all the

same details

of this parable.

just like here,

he expects

good fruit,

the good fruit

of repentance,

of righteousness,

justice,

mercy,

loving kindness

from them,

but despite

supplying them

with all that

they might need,

God only gets

sour,

wild grapes

from the vineyard.

The Lord

laments,

what more was

there to do

for my vineyard

that I have not

done for it?

When I looked

for it to yield

grapes,

why did it yield

wild grapes?

But after

referencing Isaiah,

Jesus introduces

a brand new

element to this

parable,

and it's

the tenants.

In Isaiah,

the problem

is with the land.

In Matthew,

the problem

is with the tenants,

the ones

to whom the

master has

entrusted

this land.

So if the

vineyard is Israel,

then the tenants

must be the

leaders of

the nation,

the chief

priests,

the scribes,

the elders.

So make no

mistake about

this parable.

The story is not

merely a general

moral lesson

about good

stewardship.

This parable

is a specific

pointed rebuke

against the

leaders,

and they will

come to know

it.

He goes on,

when the season

for fruit came,

seeing that the

vineyard is well

supplied,

and the

agreement was

clear,

the owner

rightfully sends

his servant

to the vineyard

to get what

belongs to

him,

his fruit.

You see that

possessive pronoun

repeated throughout

the parable?

It's his land,

his fruit,

his servants.

These servants

are sent as

ambassadors for

the master,

right?

While the

master is away,

they embody and

they carry all

of his authority,

and they should

be treated as

such.

They should be

treated with

respect.

But showing

their true

colors,

the tenants

reveal what

they think

about the

master and

the way that

they treat

the servants.

One after

another after

another,

these tenants

show great

contempt for

the master by

beating,

killing,

and stoning

them.

Don't just

gloss over

those details

either.

They take

one man,

someone's

son,

someone's

precious son,

and they

beat him

to a

bloody pulp.

They take

another,

someone's

precious

brother,

and they

kill him.

They take

another,

someone's

best friend,

and they

stone him

to death.

Can you

just imagine

the amount

of malice

and evil

that needs

to reside

in your

heart to

be able

to do

this?

It

doesn't

stop

there,

seeing what

happens to

his first

batch of

servants.

The master

sends even

more the

second time,

believing,

surely,

surely they

will now

surrender.

Yet,

even with

the greater

number and

presumably

greater time,

more time to

self-reflect,

these tenants

show absolutely

no shame,

no desire to

change,

no ability

to repent.

Without

batting an

eye,

they do

the same,

the same

to these

servants too.

This was

a Netflix

documentary

level of

evil,

maliciousness,

and wickedness.

A story

that when we

watch,

when we

read,

it should

make our

blood boil,

boil with

righteous

indignation,

because in

their proud

arrogance,

they think

that they

are the

master of

the land.

Again,

this is not

a fictional

tale,

this is not

just a

made-up

legend,

this was

true history.

Throughout

her history,

like in

the parable,

God sends

not armies

of angels,

but humble

servants,

bold prophets

who loved

their nation

enough to

tell the

truth,

despite what

it cost

them,

to win the

leaders of

Israel back

to obedience.

But her

rulers have

rejected God's

messengers time,

time,

and time

again.

He sent

prophet Jeremiah,

who pleaded,

reform your ways

and your actions.

But the

officials of

King Zedekiah

beat him

and cast him

to rot in a

muddy cistern.

He sent

prophet Isaiah,

who cried out,

turn to the

Lord and be

saved.

But ancient

tradition says

that King

Manasseh

ordered that

Isaiah be

killed,

being sawn

into two.

He sent

prophet Zechariah,

who rebuked,

you have

forsaken the

Lord,

a desperate

plea for them

to come back

into a right

relationship with

God.

And King

Joash ordered

that he be

stoned to

death on

holy ground.

One they

beat,

another they

killed,

another they

stoned.

This just

scratches the

surface too.

God sends

prophet after

prophet to

win them

over,

but each

time they

choose blood

over repentance.

Each time

they choose

blood over

righteousness.

It's no

wonder that

Stephen rebukes

the chief

priests and

the scribes

in Acts 7

saying,

you stiff-necked

people,

uncircumcised

in heart

and ears,

you always

resist the

Holy Spirit.

As your

fathers did,

so do you.

Which of the

prophets did

your fathers

not persecute?

So when you

read the

opening word

of verse 37,

right,

finally,

what do you

think that the

rest of the

verse might

say?

finally,

finally,

his patience

ran thin.

Finally,

the hammer

just dropped.

Finally,

God will

get his

vengeance.

It doesn't

say any of

that.

Finally,

he sent

his son.

He sends

not just a

son,

right,

but in

Mark's record

of this

parable,

he writes

still,

still he

had one

other,

a beloved

son,

a cherished

son,

a son in

whom was

all of his

delight.

This is a

picture of a

man yearning

desperately,

desperately for

these tenants

to come to

their senses

and to return

to a right

relationship

with him.

Now,

is it cruel

of a father

to send

his son

into a

bloodbath,

into the

hands of

serial killers

who have

attacked every

single messenger

before him?

Is this

wicked child

abuse?

Only if

the son

didn't want

to go too.

Only if

the father

forced him

to go

against his

will.

But we

know who

this son

really is.

This

beloved son

is Jesus

Christ,

who came

not against

his own

volition,

but willingly,

joyfully

came to

a rebellious

people like

us.

Isn't this

amazing?

As he said

in John 4,

my food

is to do

the will

of my

father who

sent me.

My food,

the thing

that gives

me life,

is to do

his will.

The only

thing crazier

than the

master sending

his son

is that

the son

willingly

goes.

Then don't

you just

marvel at

the patience

of these

two.

They

could have

come guns

blazing,

physically

imposing

their will

at any

legitimate

breach of

the contract.

That was

their legal

right to

do so.

And

compared to

us,

our

patience,

wouldn't

our patience

for illegal

freeloading

squatters,

it would

have tapped

out a long,

long time

ago.

sinful anger

is not

in the past

I've found

it easy

to believe

that anger

is only

something that

a small

subset of

people struggle

with.

Sinful anger

is only

something that

the people

who need

to go to

anger

management

classes

struggle

with.

And of

course there

are levels

to this,

but sinful

anger is

not something

that only a

few people

struggle with.

In the

best book

on anger

out there,

Good and

Angry,

in the

shortest

chapter that

I've ever

read in a

book,

David Powelson

titles a

chapter,

Do You

Have a

Serious

Problem

with Anger?

And the

chapter is

one word.

Yes.

That's it.

And why is

it such a

ubiquitous

problem?

When we

think that

something that

is our

right is

ripped away

from us,

when we

think that

something that

doesn't go

according to

our plan,

doesn't that

immediately

cause anger

to bubble

over?

You see that

anger in our

hearts when

our children

disobey us,

when a rude

driver cuts

us off,

when a

coker seeks

to upstage

you,

and out

comes the

frustration

that reveals

what we

actually believe

at the heart

of hearts,

the belief

that we

should be

in control,

that we

should be

respected,

that we

should be

God.

We are

gods over

our little

kingdoms,

and others

should know

that too.

But what

kinds of

gods would

we be?

Some struggle

with the idea

that God,

he gets

angry at

all,

that justice

and wrath

are options

for God

at all.

For some,

they believe

him to be

so vindictive

and nasty.

They think

if I were

God,

if I were

God,

I wouldn't

do it

that way.

You're

right.

If you

were God,

if you

knew all

of the

world's

sinful

thoughts,

you saw

all the

world's

sinful

actions,

would your

wrath not

furiously

been poured

out a long,

long time

ago?

Our own

wrath rises

at even

smaller

offenses.

Do not

mistake the

character of

our God,

the Lord,

the Lord,

a God

merciful and

gracious,

slow to

anger,

and abounding

in steadfast

love and

faithfulness.

Our God

is not

to trigger

happy in

the same

way we

are.

For him,

justice and

wrath are

not the

first,

but the

very last

options.

He exhausts

every other

option first,

even at

great personal

cost to

him,

losing servant

after servant

and ultimately

his own

son.

But now

with all

the other

options

exhausted,

everything has

come to a

head in

the sending

of his

son.

There will

be no

more chances

after this.

The author

of Hebrew

writes what

we read

earlier,

long ago

at many

times and

in many

ways God

spoke to

our fathers

by the

prophets,

but in

these days

he has

spoken to

us by

his

son.

Jesus

is the

final

revelation,

the final

messenger.

There will

be no

more

servants,

no more

prophets

who come

after the

son.

And so

everything

hinges upon

what you

think about

Jesus,

about who

Jesus is

to you.

If you're

here today

and you

have not

put your

faith in

Jesus

Christ,

I urge

you,

I urge

you,

do not

mistake the

long patience

of our

God with

indifference.

Perhaps

many of

God's own

servants have

come to

you in

the past,

sharing the

gospel,

loving on

you,

wanting you

to come

to faith.

This

church,

this body

of believers

also stands

as witness,

as one of

the sent

messengers

to you,

testifying

that you

are on

borrowed land

and you

are on

borrowed

time.

Every

day you

live is

another

opportunity

for you

to repent.

For the

Lord has

given you

time not

to continue

on in

sin,

not to

continue

to grow

your

career or

to build

your

family.

Every

day that

he's

given you

is so

that you

can come

to repentance.

We

don't

know what

tomorrow,

what

tonight

might

even

hold

for

us.

So

today

could

be

the

last

chance,

the last

chance

that you

might have

to come

to full

faith.

Surrender

ownership

to God

before it's

too late.

Our

church

yearns

for this.

But when

the tenants,

they recognize

the son,

they take

the great

kindness

of the

father and

they repay

it with

greater

evil,

people.

They

scheme

amongst

themselves,

if we

kill

his

son,

we

will

receive

his

inheritance.

And so,

like a

dog,

they cast

the son

out of

the

master

out of

the land

and they

kill him.

It's not

hard to see

the connection

with Jesus

as he was

cast out of

the city

of Jerusalem

and he

was crucified

on the

cross.

After

reading this

over and

over,

I,

for the

life of

me,

could not

understand their

logic here.

Why in

the world

would they

gain the

inheritance

if the

son were

suddenly

dead?

It makes

no sense.

That is,

unless they

assumed that

the master

was dead.

Hence,

they used

the word

inheritance

for the

first time

in this

passage.

It seems

like they

knew that

the legal

principle,

they knew

this legal

principle of

possession is

nine-tenths

of the

law.

That

ownership is

easier to

maintain

legally if

one has

possession of

something

already.

Even today

in our

law,

typically in

property

disputes,

the person

in possession

is presumed to

be the

rightful owner

until proven

otherwise.

So if they

kill the

son,

and if the

master is

dead,

there is no

one left to

claim the

land.

So they

can claim,

as we did

on the

playground,

finders,

keepers.

But before

we judge

them,

does not

every one

of our

own sins

functionally

play out

because we

believe too

that the

master is

dead?

Every sin

that we

commit truly

is a tiny

expression

of atheism.

Take a

moment to

reflect on

the sin

that you

confessed

privately

during the

confession

of the

sin.

In that

sin,

what did

you believe

about God?

Was he

real to

you?

Or did

you operate

as if he

were dead?

Would you

really slander

and gossip

about that

coworker if

you actively

remembered that

God was

listening?

Would you

watch that

video if

you actively

believed that

God was in

the room

with you?

Would you

lie on

your taxes

if you

actively knew

that God

sees it

all?

We do

this only

because in

that split

second,

we too

believe that

the master

is dead.

Even

stress and

anxiety can

be a tiny

expression of

atheism.

If you

forget that

the Lord

is alive

and well,

if you

feel like

you're on

your own,

stress and

anxiety,

it creeps

up in our

hearts.

And maybe

it's deeper

than just a

slight expression

of atheism.

Maybe there

are areas

of your

life where

you refuse

to recognize

God as

master,

as the

owner of

our lives.

Any place

truly that we

say,

Lord,

you can have

this much,

but this

relationship,

this money,

this job,

this is

mine.

You see,

what we

believe about

God,

not just

with our

heads,

but in

our hearts,

it has a

profound

impact on

how we

live our

lives.

Every

decision of

our hands,

every emotion

in our

hearts,

every thought

in our

heads is

a reflection

of what

we think

about God,

what we

believe

God

be.

So where

in your

life are

you still

living as

if the

master were

dead?

As the

tenants will

quickly find

out, the

master is

in fact not

dead, but

very much

alive.

Pulling the

chief priests

and the

scribes now

into the

conversation,

Jesus asks

them one

simple

question.

When the

owner of

the vineyard

comes,

what will

he do to

those tenants?

For all

the times

that these

leaders of

the Jewish

nation try

to trap

Jesus with

their questions,

Jesus turns

the table

on them.

With their

blood boiling

at the

thought of

these tenants,

by their

own words

they indict

themselves.

And I

actually like

the NIV

better here

because in

verse 41

it captures

the repetition

in the

Greek.

He will

bring those

wretches

to a

wretched

end.

The

master will

repay you

exactly the

punishment

that you

deserve

because you

did not

render to

the master

the fruit

that he

deserves

and you've

scorned his

servants and

his son.

Just how

will the

master judge

them though?

How will

then the

master get

his fruit?

Jesus gives

us the answer

in verses

42 to

44.

And what

initially feels

like a

sudden

detour,

Jesus questions,

have you

never read

in the

scriptures?

And he

quotes

Psalm

118

which we

read again

earlier.

A psalm

that the

Israelites

already knew

very,

very well

because they

sang it

at every

single great

festival

like Passover.

And this

psalm was

already quoted

in the chapter

of Matthew

22

during the

triumphal

entry.

So it

should have

been fresh

on the

listeners'

minds.

But Jesus'

interpretation

of this

psalm

is unlike

anyone

that Jews

have ever

heard before.

Verse 42

reads,

The stone

that the

builders

rejected

has become

the

cornerstone.

This was

the Lord's

doing and

it is

marvelous

in our

eyes.

The

cornerstone

of course

back then

was the

most important

stone in

a building

construction

project.

More

literally

translated as

head of

the corner,

the cornerstone

was the

indispensable

stone

that was

propped up

in the

corner of

the wall.

It held

the two

sides of

the walls

together.

All the

other stones

in the

building structure

they need

to shift

and adjust

according to

the shape

and the

size of

the corner

stone.

It's the

thing that

makes or

breaks a

building.

So wise

prudent

builders,

they would

carefully

search for

the highest

quality stone

for their

cornerstone.

But these

builders,

they lack

discernment.

Here

another

parable.

A woman

goes to

a market

to find

the perfect

watermelon.

In a

pile of

melons,

she picks

up each

one,

taps it,

puts her

ear to it

to see

what it

sounds like.

She

inspects

its weight,

its rind

color,

the field

spot,

the shape,

and she

is rewarded

for all

that hard

work to

find the

perfect

immaculate

watermelon.

But then

she tosses

it to

the ground.

She takes

home the

rotted

blight

one.

It's a

picture of

how the

Jewish leaders,

they searched

for the

Messiah.

The Messiah

is foretold

to be born

in Bethlehem

in the

lineage of

David.

Jesus

is born

in Bethlehem

in the

lineage of

David.

The Messiah

is to be

born a

virgin.

Jesus

is born

of a

virgin.

The Messiah

is to give

sight to

the blind

and unstop

the ears

of the

deaf.

Jesus

does all

that.

The Messiah

is to ride

into Jerusalem

on a

donkey.

Jesus

rides

into Jerusalem

on a

donkey.

The Messiah

is to be

betrayed

for 30

pieces of

silver.

Jesus

is betrayed

for 30

pieces of

silver.

The Messiah

is to have

his hands

and feet

pierced

and to die

among

transgressors.

Jesus

is nailed

to the

cross

between

two

thieves.

And the

Messiah

is to rise