Father, we ask that you would lead us and guide us into all truth.
Father, lead us and guide us into all truth.
Father, you know, some of us this morning, Father, we might be very sleepy.
It's going to be hard to seek all truth, Father, because we're really tired.
Some of us may be, Father, very deeply distracted with some worries or some concerns,
or just maybe with some excitement about something that will happen very soon.
And it's hard for us, Father, in these states.
You know how hard it is for us to seek the truth and to know the truth.
So, Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us so that we might long and yearn to know the truth.
Father, we confess that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life,
that you are the true and living God, that you are true.
So, Father, pour out your Holy Spirit. Pour out your Holy Spirit.
This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please be seated.
Last week, my phone died as I was doing the sermon.
And so when I can't see the time, that either means I'm going to be shorter than usual or way longer.
So we'll see if my phone doesn't die.
I'm not being blasphemous about this, but I'm going to do something in a few minutes that Jesus can't do.
And I don't mean I'm going to sin, but I'm going to do something in a few minutes that technically Jesus can't do.
I'm going to preside at the Lord's Supper.
And you might say, well, why couldn't Jesus do that?
And I can tell you, in Anglican polity, an unordained man cannot preside at the Lord's Supper.
However, in fact, Jesus couldn't be the rector of this parish.
He was homeschooled.
No offense to homeschoolers, but he was homeschooled.
He never went to a proper institution to be trained to be a pastor.
He doesn't have a university degree.
He didn't go to college.
And by Anglican rules, actually, he wouldn't be allowed to be the pastor of this church.
Now, granted, hopefully, Bishop Charlie, if I called him up and said, Charlie, I have a bit of a conundrum for you.
Jesus is showing up this morning, and he wants to preach and lead communion, but he's not ordained.
What should I do?
And I think Bishop Charlie would say, well, if Jesus actually showed up, George, you should let him do those things.
And if other people are really mad at you, I'll take the – I mean, I think he would actually say that.
But technically, by Anglican rules, Jesus couldn't, you know, homeschooled, not university educated, et cetera.
He couldn't preside at the Lord's Supper, and he couldn't be the rector of this parish.
And in fact, I'm also trying to – we're starting a theological college.
Jesus wouldn't be able to teach at the college, by the way, because he doesn't have a PhD.
So, you see, actually, on one hand, the issue that provokes this discussion that ends up going into judgment is actually sort of an interesting question,
and it's not a completely irrelevant question.
I mean, the man who invented numbers wouldn't be allowed to be a chartered accountant.
I could go on and on.
You know, the man who – the person who designed the universe wouldn't be allowed to be an engineer.
Like, it's sort of actually an interesting type of question.
And it's sort of – it's funny, like a lot of conversations, that it begins with something which is sort of curious
and ends up going in very surprising places.
So, let's look again at what it is that Jesus said.
What is it that the community leaders, the advice leaders, and sort of the spiritual leaders, as they all come together,
what is it that they were asking Jesus, and why is it that the conversation went south so badly?
So, if you have your Bibles, turn to Luke 20, verse 1, and we'll look at this text and sort of see,
on one hand, they ask a very, very legitimate and valid question of Jesus, but then it starts to go south.
And here's how the text goes.
Luke, chapter 20, verse 1.
And just – it begins by saying one day.
Just so you sort of understand the flow of the book, right, because the book of Luke is a book,
and Luke is telling a story, a true story of Jesus.
And Jesus has been predicting since chapter 9 that he's going to Jerusalem to die.
Last week in chapter 19, Jesus entered Jerusalem, and now Jesus is in Jerusalem.
And so we don't know if this is the Monday of that week or the Tuesday or the Wednesday,
but what we do know is that as this is going on, within less than a week, within four or five days,
maybe even just two or three days, Jesus will have died upon the cross.
And Jesus knows this.
Others don't, but Jesus knows as this conversation is going on.
And so verse 1,
one day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel,
the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him –
and just sort of pause, put your finger there –
this is sort of a group of three people who don't necessarily like each other.
And so what – you know what's that saying?
The enemy of my enemy is – no, sorry.
The enemy of my enemy – yeah, something like that.
Yeah, you all know the quote better than me.
I should have written it down, right?
I only have sort of notes.
And so this is a – what unites these three groups is that they don't like Jesus,
and they find him a threat, okay?
Because normally sort of the elders would be like the political –
because in older days, the categories that we had to divide people up doesn't –
they don't quite work the same way.
So think of elders as, in a sense, you know, Mayor Jim Watson –
I'm not picking on him –
and, you know, the local billionaires
and the local power brokers in the community,
the backroom boys and girls.
And think of the – what they call scribes
as the people who are both the guys and gals who have PhDs
and are lawyers and give advice.
Like, so they write the advice column.
And then the chief priests, think of the people who are exemplary people
in terms of spiritual and religious matters.
And however you understand spiritual or understand religious,
whoever you understand as being sort of the pinnacle of representing
whatever it means to be religious or however you understand spiritual,
these are the people who are your guides, who help you with the path.
And these three different groups come together
and have come to ask Jesus a question.
And so verse 2, and the question is, they said to him,
tell us by what authority you do these things
or who it is that gave you this authority.
And, you know, because Jesus is just – just before this,
he's kicked the money changers out of the court of the Gentiles.
He's part of the temple.
He's been doing all sorts of teaching.
So they say, Jesus, we don't think you're a rabbi.
We understand you come from a questionable background,
maybe an illegitimate birth, probably an illegitimate birth.
You've just been homeschooled.
No offense to homeschoolers, by the way.
I'm just giving how they're sort of thinking about it.
You haven't been properly trained.
Like, what gives you any authority to do this?
And then in verse 3, Jesus answered them,
I will ask you a question.
Now tell me, was the baptism of John the Baptist from heaven or from man?
Now just so you understand here, Jesus is not blowing smoke at them.
Okay, so this isn't like in question period.
I'm not insulting politicians, just making an observation.
If there's any MPs here.
You know how often in question period, you know,
why did the government do this?
And then they get up and they – I don't know.
They talk about their laundry list or how much they love their mom
or how the Leafs are doing.
And then they say, and you guys are doing all this, you know.
And you don't really have a conversation.
You just have people trying to show how good they are and clever they are
and how sort of bad the other guy is.
And I know I'm really stereotyping, but that's often a little bit how –
and not only in politics, that's often how conversations work in bars and homes,
in universities, et cetera, as well.
You just try to score points.
And Jesus here isn't just trying to score points.
You see, the fact of the matter is that John the Baptist was homeschooled.
And he also wasn't a rabbi.
And so in a sense, Jesus is saying, okay, well, just before I answer your question,
just answer this.
Was John the Baptist – like, what about John the Baptist?
Where did his authority come from?
Now, just so you know, John the Baptist is known in historical circles
outside of the New Testament record.
Jewish and other historians refer to John the Baptist,
and the people did think he was a prophet.
Okay?
So Jesus asks a very sort of appropriate question.
In fact, what you see here is that Jesus, once again, goes to the heart.
Okay?
He goes to the heart of the questioners.
He's trying to find out what's going on in their heart.
Are they asking an honest question, or is something else going on here?
What's going on in their heart?
You see, we often just talk about superficial things.
Jesus regularly goes at what's actually at the very center of who you are.
Jesus wants you to understand who you are at the very center of who you are,
and to understand who you are at the center of who you are in the context of the living God.
And that's where he goes with this question.
And you might think, well, why is that going to be a question that gets at the heart,
the center of who I am in the context of the living God?
Well, you see it by how they react.
Verse 4, sorry, verse 5.
And they discussed it with one another.
Imagine the little, like, not a group hug, but a huddle.
And they discussed it with one another, saying,
if we say from heaven, hmm, he will say, why did he not believe him?
And that's because John the Baptist told everybody that Jesus was the Messiah.
And, like, being the Messiah, like the person who fulfills all the promises of God,
that means you actually have some authority because God gave you the authority, right?
But if we say, verse 6, from human beings,
all the people will stone us to death,
for they are convinced that John was a prophet.
So they answered that they, so what did they say to Jesus?
They answered that they did not know where the authority of John the Baptist came from.
Now, right, they're lying.
They're not being honest.
They're dissembling and cloaking.
And so Jesus says to them,
neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
In fact, actually, there's no place in their head to hear Jesus' answer.
There's no place in their head to hear Jesus' answer.
Now, here's, let's sort of unpack this
and try to understand why this is relevant to us.
If you could put up the first point, Andrew, that would be great.
It might be a surprising point,
but God gave me a mind to seek, know, love, and live the truth.
Our minds were not made to avoid truth and exalt the self.
Say it again.
God gave me a mind to seek the truth,
know the truth, love the truth, live the truth.
Our minds were not made to avoid truth
and instead to exalt the self or serve the self and its projects.
That's sort of, I have to understand, that's why God gave us minds.
And in a sense, it tells us that not only is that in God's original intention and creation,
that's how he created it,
that's why he put a mind in us to do these things.
And it's also very comforting to know that in redemption,
when we come to Jesus,
that one of the ways that the Holy Spirit will try to convict us of sin
will also be to try to get us back to this original creational intention.
That the Holy Spirit and the Bible won't work in our lives to say,
oh, okay, now that the Holy Spirit's in my life,
you're going to love fantasies,
you're going to love delusions,
you're going to turn away from the truth,
you're going to only believe things,
or only twist things in such a way that they serve your...
No, no, that's not what the Holy Spirit will do in your life.
That's not what Jesus will do in your life.
He'll bring you back,
try to start to unbend,
straighten you out,
and bring you back to what God created you originally to do and to know.
There's a certain whole realm of epistemology,
it's sort of how people know,
and it's some type of postmodern thinkers
will tend to talk as if all knowledge
is actually just masking pursuit of power.
That, in fact, all claims to know
are really actually claims manipulating language
so that one group or I will have power over other people,
and that that's the claim.
And, in fact, of course, it's ultimately one of those...
It's like a lot of ideas that sound actually very compelling,
but actually it sort of doesn't make any sense.
It's because, you know, on one hand,
if what they're saying is true,
then you shouldn't believe what they say
because they're just trying to have power.
But if they actually are saying this because it's true,
then they've contradicted themselves, right?
So it's like a lot of ideas that...
And it actually sort of doesn't really line up.
But they are on to something,
is that, in fact, much of what goes on in my head
and in your head and most people's head
is actually just using our mind for utilitarian purposes,
for purposes to satisfy ourselves.
We get the bad news, we think of a fantasy.
We get a bad...
You know, we get some bad news that we don't like.
We sort of just pretend that it's not there,
that we get into an argument
and we're more concerned about winning the argument
rather than actually saying,
wow, that's a really good idea.
I never thought about that.
Many, many years ago,
there was a woman that myself and another fellow
that we'd witnessed to her quite a few times.
We had quite a few discussions around things about apologetics.
And then she stopped coming to the fellowship.
And about a year later, I go to a church
or another Christian event, and she was there.
And she told me that she'd actually become a Christian
about a year ago,
but she didn't want to acknowledge to us
that we were right.
So on one hand, that's not good.
On the other hand, the good thing was
that she became a Christian and went to another church.
I mean, it's sort of funny,
but, you know, God redeemed it, right?
So the fact is that many of our thinking
is just like the scribes and the Pharisees.
You see, what they were consumed with
was they just wanted to get some information from Jesus,
and whatever the information was,
they were going to use it to further their own agenda,
to serve their self, to exalt themselves.
That's how their minds worked.
And Jesus is teaching us something here
very, very wise and profound.
It's not the case that all thinking,
inevitably, is always about utility for ourselves
or serving ourselves.
that we understand,
or at least at times we understand,
that some things are just true,
and sometimes we realize
that we're turning away from it.
I'll just show you one thing from my own life.
Some of you have heard this story before.
A long time ago,
I got paid to do sociological research.
I've taken all these courses in statistics
and methodology a long, long time ago.
Anyway, I had a job to do that,
and so part of my job was I was working for a professor,
and we were doing this project
analyzing the effect of,
I think we were looking at 20 different OECD nations,
and we were looking at the impact
of different government policies
on income distribution,
and whether the government policies
sort of made income distribution worse,
or sort of ended up making it a bit more equal,
or level.
And as I was doing this,
I was the primary one running the numbers
in the project,
and as I was doing the different tests
and the different statistical analysis,
I'd get the results,
and I'd think to myself,
that just doesn't look right.
That just doesn't look right.
And so, you know,
I was reasonably clever,
and I thought,
well, maybe if I control for this
or try doing this
or use this variable,
and then I'd run it,
and then I'd think to myself,
no, you know what?
The results just don't look right.
And then one day,
it was as if the Holy Spirit spoke to me
and said,
George,
your problem is
you want the United States of America
to show up the worst.
And they keep showing up
in about the middle.
And you keep looking for new ways
to move the data
so the U.S. will be the worst.
I was very left-wing.
I disliked,
in fact,
I hadn't even been aware
until that moment,
I had not been aware
of the fact
of how much my hatred,
how much of a hatred
there was of Americans
and Americans
as the preeminent capitalist country,
that's how I would have put it,
in the world at the time,
how much that drove me
in terms of how I thought.
It was one of those,
in fact,
if somebody the day before
had said,
George,
you know what your problem is?
That you are driven
by a hatred of the Americans
and a hatred of capitalism.
I would have denied it.
I would have been insulted
that they said that about me.
I was a fearless seeker
of the truth.
Not.
And it was as if
God just spoke to me
and said,
George,
that's what you're doing.
You just have to acknowledge
they're above the middle.
They're not the worst.
Not the best either.
Just around the middle
at that time.
I don't know
what it would be like now.
So, you see,
here's the thing,
is that it's, in fact,
a common human problem.
And Jesus, in this,
is trying to,
is pushing us
to remember
and understand
the context
to understand this story
is what did God desire
in creation
for our minds?
What are our minds,
can our minds possibly do?
And what is it
that God wants to do
when he redeems us?
Well,
God's intention
is that we would
seek the truth,
know the truth,
love the truth,
live the truth,
that we would know
what is real.
Now,
some of you might say,
hey, George,
that's actually sort of a,
I hadn't thought of it
in those terms.
I was thinking of the text
in more narrow,
confrontational,
religious terminology.
But you said,
I mean,
George,
isn't,
doesn't,
don't you think,
George,
that this idea
at the end
of the text
that you read
of God
being like a big stone
that crushes people,
like,
George,
that surely can't be true.
Like,
surely,
George,
that is something
that Christians
are doing
to try to create fear
and it can't possibly,
that can't possibly
be true.
Well,
let's look.
Let's keep reading
verse 9.
And Jesus began
to tell the people
this parable.
A man planted a vineyard
and let it out
to tenants
and went into another country
for a long while.
When the time came,
the owner
took a servant
and sent a servant
to the tenants
so that the tenants
would give the servant,
the owner,
ultimately,
some of the fruit
of the vineyard.
But the tenants
beat the servant
and sent him away
empty-handed.
So the owner
sent another servant.
But the tenants
also beat that servant
and treated him shamefully
and sent the servant
away empty-handed.
So the owner
sent a third servant
and this third servant,
the tenants,
also,
they wounded
and cast out.
And just sort of
pause here.
It's not as obvious
in English,
but in the original language,
there's escalating violence.
And in fact,
this third case,
if you sort of try
to unpack
the original language,
this third case
of violence
is so severe
that it's,
he needs a trauma word,
that it's traumatizing violence.
It's not only violence
that is traumatic
to the body,
but traumatic
to the soul.
And if it happened here,
we would,
you know,
the first one might be,
you know,
you come back
and you got a black eye,
a couple of black eyes,
maybe a bruised rib.
The second guy,
maybe they broke their leg.
The third care,
the third fellow,
he's been so badly beat up,
the person would be rushed
in the ambulance
and go right through
the waiting line
and go right into
the trauma unit
for the severity
of the injuries.
And in the original language,
there's escalating violence.
Verse 13.
Then the owner of the vineyard said,
in a sense,
said to himself,
what shall I do?
I will send my beloved son.
Perhaps the tenants
will respect him.
But when the tenants
saw the beloved son,
the tenants said to themselves,
this is the heir.
Let us kill him
so that the inheritance
may be ours.
And so the tenants
threw the beloved son
out of the vineyard
and killed him.
So this is the end
of the parable.
So now Jesus
turns to the people
and says,
what then will the owner
of the vineyard
do to them?
And he says,
the owner will come
and destroy
these tenants,
those tenants,
and give the vineyard
to others.
When the people heard this,
they said,
surely not.
You could also translate
that as,
no way.
No way.
But Jesus looked
directly at them
and said,
what then is this
that is written?
The stone that the builders
rejected has become
the cornerstone.
This is very interesting.
Just a little bit earlier,
maybe the day before
when Jesus had come
into Jerusalem,
the crowd quoted
Psalm 118,
verse 25,
about the king
coming in.
And now Jesus
quotes to them
Psalm 118,
verse 22.
And he says,
the stone that the builders
rejected
has become
the cornerstone.
Everyone who falls
on that stone
will be broken
to pieces,
and when it falls
on anyone,
it will crush him.
The scribes
and the chief priests
sought to lay hands
on Jesus
at that very hour
for they perceived
that Jesus had told
this parable against them,
but they feared
the people.
So,
is this wise,
or is it just unjust?
Is it just needlessly
bloodthirsty?
Well,
we need to actually
ponder this text
a little bit more
before we make
a hasty decision.
And the first thing
is this.
If you could put
the next point
to understand this text,
is that God made me
to be morally sane.
God made me
and you
to be morally sane.
In fact,
I would say
that at the end of the day,
the Bible
is an outline
of sanity.
The Bible
is an outline
of intellectual,
moral,
spiritual sanity.
And you say,
George,
that's an odd thing
to say
about a text like this.
Well,
here's the thing,
and I actually
struggled a fair bit
to try to figure out
how to put this down
and I don't know
if this has helped.
But,
you know,
just as I said
for the mind,
remember how I described
that with the mind
that God gave me
a mind to seek,
know,
love,
and live the truth
and our minds
were not made
to avoid truth
and exalt the self?
In the same way,
God gave me a will
to seek the good,
know the good,
love the good,
and live the good.
And not just good
because goodness
and justice
are at one with God.
That they're not at all,
they never contradict
each other.
That you could also say
that God gave me
a mind to seek the just,
to know the just,
to love the just,
and to live by justice.
And since goodness
and justice
are at one with God,
that that's how God
made me.
He made me
to will
the good
and the just.
And
he made me
not to have
my will
when it's confronted
by what's just
or what's confronted
by what's good
to turn away
from it.
And in fact,
believe things
that only serve myself
and the projects
of myself.
And you see,
that's another way
to describe
actually seeking
the good
and the just
and loving it
and living it,
knowing it,
and not avoiding it.
What you've just described
is moral sanity.
Wouldn't you agree?
That's what morally sane is.
Lots of things.
Now you might say,
George,
that's really good.
Are you saying
that only Christians
are morally sane
and that non-Christians
are morally sane?
No, I'm not saying
that at all.
This is a human problem.
A human problem.
I've shared with you
before that one of the things
I'm not very good at
is telling people off.
I'm not very good
at rebuking people.
And one of the things
I've discovered in life,
I've shared with you
before,
I can share it again,
is that when I come,
and I finally have it,
you know,
Louise will tell you,
I've had a sleepless night
the night before,
maybe two sleepless nights.
I'm really bad at this.
And so finally,
I come to try to say
to a person
that what they've been doing
is wrong.
And I can tell
within two seconds
whether this conversation
is going to go well
or badly.
Is the person
going to have
a tender heart
where they say,
oh, you know,
I'm really sorry.
Will you forgive me?
Or will they
come right back
and say,
how dare you say that?
You're completely out of line.
You're completely wrong.
I'm completely blameless.
How dare you accuse me?
I can tell within two seconds
by their body language
and the feel whether
this is going to go well
or whether it's going to go bad.
I mean,
how many of us,
maybe even earlier on
in the service
when I'm praying
about the fact
that some of us
are too distracted
to know and hear the truth,
how many of us
are maybe too distracted
to know and hear the truth
because we're thinking,
how dare my mother
say that to me
on the way in?
How dare my husband
say that about me?
How dare my wife
say that about me?
How dare my boss
say that about me
last Wednesday?
Wednesday.
It's still beating me up
that my boss
said that about me.
How dare my brother
say that about me
or my sister?
How dare my friends
say that?
And we're still
anxious and beat up
and rebelling
against it.
That never happened
to anybody here,
I'm sure.
Nobody ever
has had that experience.
If you say that,
the confession time
is for later on
in the service
is just for you
and for me
because, of course,
we do say that.
Of course we say that.
You see,
we might not say
that we've ever
actually been a tenant
where God
has sent people,
but you see,
in a sense,
if we understand
that how many times
has conscience
awoken within us
to convict us
of something
that we've done
that's wrong?
How many has
an external conscience
like a wife
or a boss
said that we've
done something wrong?
How often
has it been
that the Bible
has said
that we're doing
something wrong
and rather than
us having
a tender heart
to live in a way
that is good
and just,
have we raged
against it?
And all we can do
usually in raging
against it
is just it's all
inside of us,
but sometimes
it can be that
we get right
in that boss's face,
we get right
in the mom's face,
we get right
in the dad's face,
we get up close
and personal
and we rage
at them.
How many of us
in fact
maybe in the work world
know that there's
a person
in the cubicle
next door
that nobody likes
to ever say
anything bad
about them
because they don't
want to have to
deal with the fallout?
How many of you
are that person?
This is a human
problem
that Jesus
is addressing
in this story.
So you see
the first thing
is all of a sudden
that we realize
that at first
this story
looks like
it's just maybe
a very judgmental
story,
but actually
Jesus is putting
his finger
on something
in the human
heart,
not just for
the hearers
back then,
those nasty
chief priests
and scribes,
oh, they're so
nasty,
they're so bad.
Jesus is putting
his finger,
this text is
speaking to my
heart.
How often
do I choose
moral insanity?
I mean,
the great comfort
is what I can
just tell you
is that as we
get closer to
Jesus,
as the Holy
Spirit has a
deeper role
in our lives,
as the Bible
forms our minds,
it will form us
to moral sanity.
Here are just
two sort of
brief takeaway
points.
By the way,
if you can't get
them written down,
they'll all be on
the webpage later
on tomorrow,
they'll be on
the webpage,
but here's sort
of very two
quick takeaways.
To say to
ourselves,
to make a
commitment before
God,
I will humbly
seek the
truth and
humbly change
my mind to
know the
truth.
I didn't word
that very well,
but basically it's
a willingness to
change your mind,
to acknowledge
that I'm wrong.
Dang it all,
the United States
wasn't the worst
at affecting
income distribution.
That's the truth.
I got to change
my mind.
And boy,
I didn't realize,
God,
that my mind
was motivated
in those days
so much by
hatred of
capitalism and
a hatred of
the United States
of America.
I didn't realize
that's what
drove me.
So make a
commitment.
See,
this is why
it matters.
It matters
when we go
back to our
work and
if we're a
lawyer,
if we're an
economist,
if we're a
mom with the
kids or a
dad with the
kids,
if we're a
social worker,
the truth
matters.
Make a
commitment
before God
to develop
a habit of
seeking the
truth and
being willing
to say,
you know
what,
I used to
think that
and I was
wrong.
This is
actually
more true.
And a
corresponding
thing in
terms of
moral sanity.
Make a
commitment
before God
to say,
I will
humbly
seek the
good and
humbly
repent and
seek to
choose to
change my
life according
to the
good.
That's the
next,
the second
walk,
takeaway point.
I will
humbly seek
the good and
humbly repent
and seek to
change my
life according
to the good.
Repentance and
amendment of
life.
It's a thing
that we can
take away
from it.
Some of
you might
be saying,
George,
I don't
know if I
entirely believe
you.
Maybe somebody's
here or they're
listening to it
online and
they're saying,
I know what you
think about
abortion and a few
other issues.
I don't know,
George, if you're
really morally
sane.
I don't know if the
Bible's morally
sane.
But it's at least
comforting to
know that that's
what you think
that God wants
to do in your
life.
Because it's hard
to argue
against moral
sanity.
It's hard to
argue against
that as being
a worthy
goal.
But surely,
George, this
whole thing
about the
stone and
everything like
that, surely
that's a
problem text,
isn't it?
Isn't that going
beyond this?
I sort of
understand this
idea of moral
sanity and I'm
going to make
that commitment.
But surely
this text goes
beyond.
Well, let's
look again at
verse 16 and
17.
Let's look at
them and sort of
have it fresh in
our minds as we
think about it
again.
And remember
earlier on in
verse 15,
you know,
earlier on it's
the owner sends
the beloved son,
his beloved son,
and the beloved
son is killed by
the tenants.
And then Jesus
says, you know,
what will the
owner do?
And he says,
verse 16,
he will come and
destroy those
tenants and give
the vineyard to
others.
And when the
crowd hears this,
they say,
no way.
But Jesus
looks at them
directly and
said, what
then is this
that is written?
The stone that
the builders
rejected has
become the
cornerstone.
And you'll
notice in
some of your
texts that
there's a
little note
with cornerstone
and it says
head of the
corner.
And some of
your versions
might say
capstone.
And actually,
in the original
language,
this one word
can sort of
mean two
different types
of stones.
stones.
And you
have to sort
of tell from
the context
which one
it might be
more likely
to be.
But the
fact of the
matter is,
I wonder if
Jesus chose
a word that
intentionally had
two different
meanings,
but they're
very similar.
And if some
of your
versions say
capstone,
it's back in
the days when
they made
natural arches
without mortar.
And I guess
they'd have,
I don't know,
a wooden
structure or
whatever as
the stones
are placed.
And then at
the final top
of the arch,
they'd put a
stone that
fits perfectly
with all the
others.
And then they'd
remove the
wooden scaffolding
and that
capstone at
the top
meant that
now the
shapes of
the stone
and the
arch,
that gravity
holds the
whole arch
together.
The capstone
holds the
whole arch
together.
And the
other image
of this
text is a
foundation stone,
sort of a
bit different
than a
cornerstone,
and it
would be in
building large
stone buildings,
a very,
very,
very large
and substantial
stone that
would be
where two
walls meet.
And so this
large stone
would have to
be so strong
that it could
support the
weight of two
different walls
with gravity
wanting to move
those walls in
different directions.
And so it was
absolutely essential
to have a large,
solid foundation
stone to keep
the building
together.
And so that's
what Jesus is
saying.
Jesus is saying
the stone that
the builders
rejected has
become this
central piece
to the entire
integrity of
the building.
So here's what
Jesus is saying.
We'll just unpack
it very briefly.
The person and
work of Jesus
of Nazareth
is central to
salvation and
to life in the
kingdom of God.
The person and
work of Jesus
of Nazareth is
central to
salvation and
to life in the
kingdom of God.
The Bible
describes Jesus
as the power
of God for
salvation.
In other words,
God sends a
power for
salvation and
this power for
salvation is
that Jesus and
his death upon
the cross.
In fact,
this sense of
the stone being
rejected, there's
two different
senses that work
here.
It's a very,
very cleverly
written piece of
literature because
on one hand,
what Jesus is
saying is that
the actual
rejection of
the stone is
actually part of
what makes the
stone essential.
There's a story
at the end of
Genesis where
Joseph, his
brothers had
sold him into
slavery and
eventually Joseph,
God used that,
Joseph being sold
into slavery by
his brothers, God
used that terrible
evil thing to
actually keep the
nation of Israel
safe.
And in Genesis
50, Joseph says
to his brothers,
you meant it for
ill, but God
used it for
good.
And in a sense
here, the people
who are going to
kill the beloved
son, they meant
it for evil, but
God used it for
good.
It became the
means by which
humanity, those
very same
tenants, could
possibly be
redeemed and
reconciled to
God.
And that's on
one hand what
it's saying here
about the text.
Christ.
But some of
you might say,
okay, George,
that's very,
very interesting.
If it's true
that in fact
God, that we,
that these human
beings meant the
killing of the
beloved son for
evil, but God
used it for good,
that it would be
the power of God
for salvation.
And this power of
God for salvation
means that the
death of Jesus
upon the cross and
his resurrection,
his death for you
and me, that it's
the means by which
we become God's
adopted child or
we become born
again or we
become justified.
It's also the
means by which
we become more
Christ-like.
It's also the
means by which
we are glorified
so that we can
be in the new
heaven and the
new earth, which
one day, Lord,
may it be soon,
God will bring
into effect when
Jesus returns.
So you might
say, okay,
George, I sort of
still understand
that, but what
about this crushing
aspect?
That's actually a
really interesting
turn that Jesus
is saying on one
hand.
You see, this is
all part of knowing
the truth, by the
way, right?
I mean, one of the
things we can leave
today is to say,
God, please create
within me a hunger
and longing to know
the true, the good,
and the beautiful.
Father, create within
me a passion, a
desire, the habits of
knowing and seeking the
true, the good, and the
beautiful.
And that doesn't mean
that we look at the
world through rose-colored
glasses.
It means that we'll also
seek and know what is
real.
but we'll see and
understand the real in
terms of the bigger
picture of truth.
We'll understand the
reality of evil in the
context of good and the
defeat ultimately of
evil.
We'll understand the
things which are just
ugly and completely and
utterly disgusting and
revolting.
And we'll see that, but
we'll see it and
understand it within the
context of the
beautiful and the
triumph of God who is
the true, the good, and
the beautiful.
And Jesus who came from
the true and the good
and the beautiful to
die upon the cross to
redeem those of us who
are addicted to lies and
evil and that which is
completely and utterly
disgusting and
despicable.
And those of us who on
one hand have an
addiction to those things
and cannot turn from it
yet at the same time know
in some sense that there
is a true, there is a
good, there is a
beautiful that we should
long for, but we do not
have the power to do that
in and of ourselves all of
the time because we
slip back to our choice
of using our mind for
our own utility and
using our will to choose
the bad rather than the
good or the just or the
loving or the fine.
That's, that's, God, God
uses this evil thing for a
good thing and when we
seek the true and the
good and the beautiful it
means we'll see the world
as it really is but not on
the world's terms.
Isn't that a thing to
long for?
To seek, to give your
lives to?
But some of you are
going to say, George,
okay, so what about
this crushing?
It just seems so extreme.
Let's look at that
verse again, verse 18,
just very briefly.
Everyone who, verse 18,
everyone who falls on
that stone.
Remember?
So I remember I said
there's sort of two very
interesting senses.
It's a very subtly
written text that part of
it is this Genesis 50
sense.
It's rejected but the
actual rejection God
uses for good, he uses it
for salvation.
But look at it,
everyone who falls on
that stone will be
broken to pieces and
when it falls on anyone
it will crush him.
Like how can this
actually possibly make
sense?
Well, it's, we sort of,
the way we understand
that this text can
possibly make sense is
by thinking about love
actually.
It's about thinking
about love and just
to think about love.
The church fathers,
and actually thinking
about reality.
Lost my place in the
notes.
Think about reality and
think about love and if
we think about that we'll
see how this text makes
sense.
The church fathers, I
can't remember which one,
they use a very, very
interesting analogy.
Let's say you have a
crystal vase, you know,
very fine, or China,
very fine China vase.
You have a very, very
large, solid, hard rock.
If you throw the China
vase against the rock,
ends up badly for the
China vase.
You throw the rock against
the China vase, it ends
up badly for the China
vase, right?
Doesn't matter in a sense
if you throw the rock,
the rock against the vase,
or the vase is thrown
against the rock.
In both cases, doesn't
change the rock, bad for
the vase.
Here's the thing which is
behind this analogy for
Jesus, from Jesus.
We have one more point to
go to help us to
understand the truth of
this text.
Here it is.
If you put it up,
Andrew, one day the true
and living God will be
unfailingly,
unavoidably,
unchangeably,
unstoppingly,
and undeniably present
and real.
I'm not saying that God
isn't real now, I'm not
saying he's not present
now, but what I would say
is that God is always
veiled to us right now.
We have some sense of
him and some of us, we
have a very deep sense of
his reality, but it's
nothing compared to what
it will be like in the new
heaven and the new earth
when we see God face to
face and he sees us face
to face.
One day,
the true and living God
will be unfailingly,
unavoidably,
unchangeably,
unstoppingly,
and undeniably present
and real.
And so what we see here
is a dual image of
judgment.
Because surely we also
understand how it is
that a complete and utter
denial of reality,
a complete and utter
denial of reality,
even on this side of the
grave, ends badly for us.
Like, isn't that one of the
things which is so
tragic about drug addicts
or alcoholics,
is that until they hit
bottom, and hitting
bottom means they
finally realize that
they've hit a rock that
shatters them.
But as reality, you know,
reality makes them want to
do drugs more.
Reality makes them do all
sorts of horrible things
because reality just keeps
driving them to this.
And we look at them from
the outside and we just
see that the reality is
that reality is leading
them to drink, and the
other hand, that response
to reality is ruining
them.
It's breaking them up.
It's killing them.
How many of us have
looked at people who are
having some type of debt
problem, and that rather
than humbling themselves
like a little child and
acknowledging that they
have a problem and maybe
have to tear up all of
their credit cards or do
other types of things,
but the fact of the matter
is, is that somehow as they
face, as they get the bill
in, the way they respond
to the bill is by wanting
to spend money because
spending money is just, it
gives them a rush, it
helps them to feel better
in the face of reality, but
all it's doing is they are
just banging against reality
and reality wins and they're
getting crushed.
And so what if it is that
one day, one day, for every
single person who's ever been
born, the veil will be
lifted, and God who's always
been present and always be
real, he is in a sense right
completely and utterly before
us, unfailingly, unavoidably,
unchangeably, unstoppingly, and
undeniably.
And on one level, if that
happens, and I just want him
gone, I just can't, I don't
want him here, get away, but
he's real, and I attack him.
I'm only going to add badly
for me.
It falls on me, bad for me.
See, in fact, what this is
describing is just what happens
when us and our refusal to know
the truth, the good, and the
beautiful actually meets the
real.
And in a sense, you see, it
also actually describes a dual
action of God and something
about how real things and
valuable things work.
Because if you think about it
for a second, isn't partly our
experience of knowing truth?
Like when we actually remember
those times, maybe as a child,
maybe just last week, maybe just
yesterday or this morning, and
we learned some new truth, and
it's so exciting.
And isn't it in some way like
this dual action?
Don't we somehow almost feel as
if truth is entered into our
heads?
Doesn't it at the same time
almost feel as if we've
entered into truth?
Like, isn't that how it works
when we fall in love?
Don't we have a sense, excuse
me, somehow, another, as if
somehow, another, that we
actually have fallen in love,
and that other person loves
us?
And don't we have some type of
sense that this person has let
me into their life?
And don't we have some other
sense that this person, that I
have let them into my life?
And can't that be scary to
have a sense of another person
who loves you coming into our
lives, and into your life, and
viewing it?
Don't you see that that's
actually how human beings work?
That the true, the good, and the
beautiful is something that we
both enter into, and enters into
us?
And so it is, that if it is, that
we finally see the real, because
God is completely and utterly
real, that we will not only, if we
do not, if we actually have a rage
and a hatred against God, that on
one hand, what will be described
as we attack that God and
shatters, and that God comes into
us and shatters us.
And the Bible is just described
in what we accept with truth and
love, and don't you have the
sense with beauty that somehow we
enter into it?
That, you know, if you listen to
something, if you like Baroque
music, and you hear it well played,
and you have this sense that somehow
it enters into you, and then you
think of all the movies, like
Shawshank Redemption, and they play
those beautiful parts by Mozart, and
the guy says it was worth being in
solitary because the music is in
here.
It's in here.
Jesus is outlining sanity.
Some of you might say, George, I'm not
special like you.
I don't know what to say.
I didn't know that you have this
ability that you can actually stand
before God, and you're looking
forward to having God be present and
real, and I'm not like you.
I've done some really bad things.
You know what?
I start to think that way, and then I
get caught up with vengeful thoughts.
I'm not like you, George.
I can't possibly do that.
I'm not like you.
I'm not special like you.
All I can say to you is this.
I am not special.
See, what this text tells us is
something even more remarkable.
Remember I said that the way to
understand this text is ultimately
to understand in the context of love.
Andrew, if you could put up this
final slide, it would be this.
Jesus knew me to my depths, and
still in love, he died for me.
What does this text reveal?
Jesus says, you know what, Sinclair?
You know everyone who's here?
I know the fact that you don't always
choose what's true.
You know what?
I know that you use your mind to
avoid reality, to avoid the truth.
You know what, George?
I know that you can be bent out of
shape for a long time because your
conscience has attacked you, or your
wife, or your boss, or a parishioner
has said something that's true, and you
don't like it.
And I know that's what you're like,
George.
I know you don't always choose moral and
intellectual sanity.
I know that that's what's going on in
you.
I know that there's times that you
just rage against that and reject that.
And I know that you cannot stop that.
And I knew all of that about you, and I
died on the cross for you.
I am the power that's come from God for
your salvation that you are to accept by
faith.
And when you accept in a weak, haltering,
faltering way that this is what the
gospel is, that this is what Jesus has
done for you, then you know that there's
nothing in your past, nothing in your
present, and nothing in your future that
will surprise Jesus and make him turn his
face from you, because when he grips you,
it is from the moment of your conception to
the moment of your death.
That is why, I'll say it very quickly, but
if you want to turn to Romans 5, I'm just
going to end with these two things just
from the Bible.
That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 5,
verses 6 through 11, he says this,
For while we were still weak, at the
right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous
person, though perhaps for a good person one
would dare even to die.
But God shows his love for us in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.
Since therefore we have now been justified
by his blood, much more shall we be saved
by him from the wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his
son, much more now that we are reconciled
shall we be saved by his life.
More than that, we also rejoice in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom
we have now received reconciliation.
It's because Jesus knows us deeply and still
he dies for us that Paul, at the end of
chapter 8 of Romans, Romans chapter 8, verses
31 to 39.
This is what Paul says.
The final word goes to the Bible.
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own son, but gave
him up for us all, how will he not also
with him graciously give us all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God's
elect?
It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died.
More than that, who was raised.
Who is at the right hand of God.
Who is interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, for your sake we are being
killed all the day long.
We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors.
Through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That is not a Martin Luther King moment.
That's the Bible.
Let's stand.
Andrew, the final point.
This is why we have to pray to begin the Christian life and to walk the Christian life.
Dear God, please make me a disciple of Jesus, gripped by the gospel, living for your glory.
That's what motivates us to live the Christian life.
To face reality.
To try to learn what the true and the good and the beautiful is.
Because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father, we thank you that you do not look for special people, but for ordinary people.
You do not look, Father, for people who have some special gifts or special genes that allow
them to always pursue the true and the good and the beautiful.
But you look for ordinary people who've sometimes done just ordinary sins and sometimes have
extraordinary bad things that they've done or that they desire.
Father, we give you thanks and praise that you knew at times how dark our mind can be,
how dark our heart can be, how dark our will can be, how dark our life can be.
And knowing all that about us, still knowing clearly that you died upon the cross, Jesus,
for us.
And that in your death upon the cross, you are that power of God for salvation.
We thank you, Father, that when we turn to you and receive what only you can give through
Jesus, that you take us as your own and that nothing will surprise you.
We give you thanks and praise that that salvation is something that comes from you as a gift that
we receive.
Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.
Make us disciples of Jesus, gripped by the gospel, who live for your glory.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.