The scripture reading today comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 20.
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!
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,
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,
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
prophets
would
say
but
your
usual
operation
is
mercy
and
grace
and
compassion
so
Lord
I
pray
that
we
would
embrace
that
as
a
church
help
us
to
be
a
people
of
mercy
help
us
to
be
a
people
of
grace
help
us
to
be
changed
as
we
reflect
on
all
these
things
that
you've
done
for
us
and
in
us
and
we
don't
deserve
them
and
we
know
that
deep
in
our
heart
we
might
say
that
we
yeah
we
worked
really
hard
we
kind
of
deserve
this
but
we
know
that
that's
not
true
because
you've
given
us
everything
Lord
help us
to be
a
church
that
changes
people
that
we
touch
as
they
see
the
lives
of
community
being
lived
out
as
they
see
people
who
are
radically
generous
with
the
resources
that
they're
given
as
they
see
mercy
and
grace
changing
people
that
they
never
thought
would
be
changed
Lord
help us
to be
your
hands
and
your
feet
and
to
trust
you
to
be
good
and
Lord
amidst
all
this
we
just
realize
continually
the
attitude
and
actions
of
our
hearts
we
realize
that
the
darkness
is
there
and
we
continually
struggle
with
it
that
we
unthrone
you
and we
put
you
back
and we
put
ourselves
in
there
over
and
over
and
over
and
we
put
us
amongst
the
people
a
community
that
speaks
the
gospel
to
us
regularly
that
encourages
us
when
we've
lost
vision
that
inspires
us
with
obedience
even
when
it's
not
convenient
that
shows
us
everything
that
we've
been
given
is
yours
and
we
go
on
a
journey
to
use
those
together
for
your
kingdom
Father
we
love
you
and
we
need
you
and
we
pray
these
things
in
your
son
amen