Matthew 21:33-41..Working

Matthew 21:33-41..Working

21:33 Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it (To press grapes into juice. (See below) and built a watchtower. Then he rented (Leased) the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.  34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants  to collect his fruit.  35″The tenants seized his servants;  they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them in the same way. 37 Last of all he sent his son (Jesus) to them. They will respect my son he said. 38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, (Displays premeditation, malice, aforethought) ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ (The Talmud actually says after three years if the owner hasn’t been around the tenants can claim the land.) 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.  (Lit.-In order not to defile the vines with blood, making the crop ceremonially unclean and unfit for market,) 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (Jesus flips the script on them, like Nathen did to David in getting him to condemn himself for Uriah’s death-(2-Sam. 12:1-10) 41 “He will bring those wretches  to a wretched end,” they replied, (They unknowingly pronounced condemnation on their own heads) and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time. (For Complete Expository See Book)

Extended Sermons

“Teaches how God expects us to be good Stewards in using our gifts and talents not for ourselves, but for His glory and service.” ⇒ Will you be good stewards with the blessings of God? Will you use your resources, your time, your freedom, your connections, etc. to advance God’s Kingdom. Will you use the opportunities that God has given you to impact others. Will you share the Gospel with those you come into contact with, from your spouses, to your children, to your friends, to your neighbor, to your co-workers, to the cashier at Home depot, or even to total strangers. Will you pray God use me for your purpose and glory in bringing more people to Your Son Jesus Christ.

“Emphasize God’s care and provision in setting us up to succeed, providing every resource and opportunity to flourish and grow.”→ Through God’s ongoing patience and generosity, He creates an environment where we can grow in faith, steward His blessings, and fulfill our calling in ways that honor Him.

“Displays the gracious patience and kindness of God the Father in giving us every opportunity to repent and bear fruit” ⇒ Like the owner of the Vineyard, instead of sending servants, God could have sent an army of angels to wipe them off the planet earth. He could have sent a global catastrophe. He could have sent an apocalyptic meteor from outer space. He could have introduced a deadly virus. But what does He do, He sends us His Son. God tries again and again to reach us. He pursues us even when we mistreat Him, even when we ignore Him, even when we rebel against Him. He stands there with open arms, ready and willing to forgive us and receive us. For some of us we’re just like the farmers. We misinterpret or mistake the patience and grace of God as indifference or even as affirmation of how we’re living. You can image the Tenants, after killing the servants who came to collect the rent. They were probably a little nervous, expected the landowner to come with an army and evict them and destroy them. But the landowner did nothing. They probably thought maybe the landowner isn’t as serious about this fruit thing. Maybe it was a suggestion and not an expectation? Maybe the landowners was okay with us holding back? Maybe He doesn’t care. And just like the Tenants we can sometimes distort God’s grace in not punishing us as indifference or that’s it’s okay. Thinking maybe we can get away with this. Maybe God isn’t that bothered by the way I’m living. After all we didn’t get struck down by lightening, the house didn’t cave down on top of us. In fact everything’s going fine. I got promoted at work, money’s coming in. I’m living the life I want to live. The wife is happy. But don’t let God’s lack of punishment fool you. God’s grace may be unconditional and unlimited in scope, but not in duration. There will be a day of reckoning coming when accounts become due. Where all will be laid bear before God, and will have to give an account for how we lived.

“Even today, were only Stewards, everything we have; Our homes, our cars, our jobs, our wealth, our time, our talents, is a gift from God that’s to be used for His glory and blessings others” ⇒ We, can be tempted at times to think we’re the owners of the Vineyard. We work hard, making our living and providing for ourselves and our family, and it’s easy to forget that everything that we have is not ours, but the Lord’s. As Christians we need to remember that everything we own and the blessing we enjoy really comes from God. We should be able to say this house isn’t really mine, this car really isn’t mine. Ya I may have bought with my own money. But the truth is if God didn’t bless me with a job in the first place, I would have never been able to afford it. We should be able to say with the Psalmist “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”-(Ps. 24:1) Or again the Apostle Paul “He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”. (Eph. 1:3)  When we start living as if God owes us this, it is mine, I deserve it. It all just starts to go downhill. Will start to lose out on God’s purpose and plan for our lives and what we were meant for.

Additional Notes & Applications

Teaches the need to listen to all of Christ’s words and all of Christ’s parables. Or are you going to allow your attention to be taken away by the voices around you, the news, social media,  your friends,-(V. 33)

Teaches how God’s law and rules are a hedge put there to protect us and keep us safe that we may know right from wrong.-(V. 33)

Displays the hard-hearts that come against biblical teachings and ministry.-(V. 34)

Calls for being respectful of the servants that God sends to remind us of our duties and responsibility.-(V. 34)

Teaches how God expects us to take care of the things He’s entrusted us with.

Teaches how God doesn’t give up on us immediately or easily, but tries all ways to reform us and call us back to Himself.

Teaches how God doesn’t ask for much, but only that we respond with gratitude and obedience for all He’s done.

Displays how even wicked people can have a sense of justice.-(V. 41)

Warns how we can become negative and critical in what we see in other people’s lives, and not the same sins in our lives. (V. 41)

If not careful we can start to rebel against the rightful rule and authority of God to seeking our own rule. We often think that if we can get rid of God we can live the way we want. Many try to silence God by doing all they can to silence His people and His preachers. What happens when God tells you how to live, and you don’t like what He says. You don’t do it because this is your life and no one’s going to tell you how to live it. As sinful fallen creatures we don’t like to surrender or submit to anyone, even to God. For many of us God is our counselor, but not one who owns of lives. We can either take His advice or we don’t.

Just as the owner entrusted the Vineyard to the care of the Tenants as He went on a long journey.-(V. 33b) So too we have been entrusted with the spiritual oversight of God’s people. This is not just limited to Pastors and Church leaders. It includes everyone. If your a husband you have been entrusted with the spiritual oversight of your family. If your a parent you have been entrusted with the spiritual oversight of your children. If not careful, as with the absence of the Vineyards owner, we can think that the Lord is not coming back anytime soon, and start to abuse, belittle, insult, and take advantage of the Lord’s people.

Emphasizes God’s loving grace in sending His best to the worst! God sends the best thing He has to the worst people He knows. He gives us Hs Son, His precious boy, so that we can become His sons and daughters

Teaches how God works all things for our good. Even the worst event to happen in the history of our world in the betrayal and murder of Jesus Christ by these wicked Tenants was planned and ordained by God’s sovereign decree for His glory and our good. That Jesus came into the world to die,

It wasn’t uncommon for wealthy landowners lease out their Vineyards to tenants who would work and cultivate the land, pick the crops, and then pay a percentage of the harvest to the land owner at harvest time. Similar today, where tenant farmers are usually paid by allowing them to keep a portion of the harvest, with a fixed percentage going to the owner.  In Jesus’ time, biblical scholars tell us that it would typically be five years before the landowner would expect to see a profit from His investment. In the owner’s absence, the Tenants would cultivate the vineyard, prune the branches, and raise grape crops between the vines during the first few years. For the first few years the owner would have to support them. After those years of toil were past, the vineyard would be lucrative source of income for the owner. There was an agreement that in due time, the Tenants would pay the owner a portion of the crop in the form of wine, fruit, or money.

Many who heard Jesus’ parable would have been immediately reminded of the Prophet Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard from the Old Testament.-(Is. 5:1-7)

“I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:                                                                 My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.                                                                            He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with                                                                the choicest vines.                                                                                                                                He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.                                                       Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.                                 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between                                       me and my vineyard.                                                                                                                       What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?                                 When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?                                                         Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard                                                                   I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed;                                                                            I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled                                                                                 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated,                                                             and briers and thorns will grow there.                                                                                                  I will command the clouds not to rain on it.                                                                                    The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel,                                                                and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in.                                                                      And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;                                                                                for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.     

We have a historical record of the persecution of God’s Prophets by Israel. Tradition has it that Isaiah was sawed in two with a wooden saw.-(Heb. 11:37-38) From scripture we know that Jeremiah was thrown into a pit of mud-(Jer. 38:6) and eventually stoned to death in Egypt. Ezekiel was rejected. Elijah and Amos ran for their lives. Micah was smashed in the face and starved to death in prison.-(1-Kings 22) The Prophet Zechariah was murdered right there in the Temple Court.-(2-Chron. 24:2)

In the parable you would think the landowner would send in the police or come with an army to take these Tenants out. But what’s even more crazy is knowing how evil and dangerous theses tenants are. The landowner sends His own son. We would think what landowner in their right mind would send their kid to talk to such evil and wicked people like this?  What kind of Father would send his Son to people who despise his authority and mistreat his servants, to people who’ve beaten and killed every single other person that he’s sent? So there must have been an incredibly good reason God the Father did so. And that reason is because God loves us and wants to reach us and Save us no matter what it costs. We need to remember this when we doubt or wonder whether God loves us.  He does. He sent Jesus His own Son.

We have to ask ourselves, how does it go from these hired farmers who were provided land, all the tools they needed to work it, houses to sleep in, etc. Who signed a totally fair contract saying yes I’m gonna pay the owner of the Vineyard the rent that is due at harvest time. To then killing any representatives of the landowners, even his own son. What changed or shifted in their minds in thinking this Vineyard should actually belong to them. What delusions motivated them to act with such wicked and violent behavior to kill people, and then to kill the owner of the Vineyards Son! Because Jesus does not paint in the details of this as part of His parable. Were left to fill in the blanks ourselves of what is happening here. So we have understand how do you get to a place of suddenly being part of the deal to rejecting that deal in wanting it all for ourselves. We do that when we get in the mindset of thinking everything is owed us, that we deserve it and earned it. The shift happens when we start to view things as mine. And were going to do everything we can to defend what is ours. Do you find yourself in the same mindset of the Farmers in seeing your life, your opportunities, your resources, your achievements, your relationships, as yours. When in reality everything is a gift from God. And that’s the delusion that Jesus is exposing in this parable. So we have to ask ourselves what are the things that are creating a delusion, causing us to rebel and pull away from the truth and from God?

Wine-Presses were pits that were either cut out of stone or dug out of the ground and then lined with stone. Wine-Presses consisted of two parts—the upper chamber that would hold the grapes while being stepped on. The juice would then flow down a channel into a lower chamber where the juice would be left to ferment for wine. Some very primitive wine-presses are spoken of as consisting of a single excavation in the rock, lower at one end than at the other, so that the wine when pressed out might find a place to settle. The place where the grapes are put may be of stone, or of wood. Near the bottom on one side, or else in the bottom, is a closely-grated hole, through which the wine flows into the vat beneath. Metaphorically wine-press were usually always associated as a symbol of God’ wrath, judgment & destruction of the wicked-(Is. 63:3, Rev. 14:19, 19:15) But in context here it is a picture of the abundance of God’ blessings given to Israel-(Deut. 15:14) Others understand as the pressing of God’ people to produce true righteousness.

HOW TO BE GOOD STEWARDS

• Learn what God values: Consider what matters to God and use your resources, skills, and time in ways that align with those values. 

• Donate money toward causes that are close to God’s heart: Donate to your church, a ministry, or a nonprofit organization. Support a missionary or practice generosity in your community. 

• Be spiritual leaders and examples to others

• Be trustworthy: Be honest and have integrity. 

• Be diligent: Avoid idle activities and be industrious. 

• Be prayerful: Turn to God for guidance and wisdom. 

• Be action-oriented: Be proactive in your responsibilities. 

• Share your time, talent, and treasure: Share with God and others. 

• Volunteer: Volunteer at church, events, or other places like retirement homes or homeless shelters. 

• Support other Christians: Offer to help and support your friends, relatives, and neighbors. 

• Set a budget: Make a budget and avoid impulse buying.