The Tenants and the Vineyard

Today on Summit life with Jeannie Greer the number one source for true surrender his religious activity sometimes, but we surrender people know God always for the most busy and religion would be a very effective way of avoiding the authority of God in your life if you don't want to surrender to God. Everything you come up with a scheme to be busy that you think will keep God they after as always, I'm your host Molly benefits easy to look at history and assume that we won't repeat the same mistakes we feel like we've learned from the past and look down on the actions of previous generations. Now on enlightened thinkers barbaric practices were better than that right. But in reality what's so different about our hearts today don't we still have that capacity for evil, and ungodliness.

If left unchecked tape pastor Katie Greer encourages us to continue start teaching series called listen pastor JD is teaching from Matthew chapter 21 the parable of the tenant on the parables of Jesus called so I think it is very rip met one verse 33 that this last parable, we are going to look at opens with Jesus same.

Listen listen to another parable. What we've learned in this series of Jesus sometimes spoke in parables so that those who were not really listening, at least from their heart would miss the meaning of his words listening.

We've learned about the series is a critical life skill. My wife sometimes complains to me that I don't listen to her the other day we were riding around the car and all of a sudden I felt her touch my arm and she said are you paying attention. I just don't look like you're listening and I thought well that's a weird way to start a conversation. So yes, sometimes husbands and wives listen to each other. Early on in my ministry here I was asked what someone in our congregation if I would do their wedding and I knew them and I said about would let be happy to do it so they told me it was going to be in Mooresville well Mooresville about morsels is writer here. You know, so about that afternoon about 5 o'clock afternoon I got my car punched in the wedding your place coordinates to go to the rehearsal and it said morsels three hours and 40 minutes because it's Mooresville not Forestville, which Mooresville about 10 minutes Mooresville about 3+ hours from here. So I called grandma but I'm like I'm going to be a little bit late for the rehearsal. He said how lasted about three hours and 15 minutes later I'll be there at 1130 I listening is a very critical life skill that you got a learn and if you don't glisten with the right years you want ears to hear that you missed a lot of what is is happening and that's what's going on in these parables Jesus would often open his parables like he does this one with an admonition for us to listen because only those who were really listening.

Only those with the right posture, right disposition of heart we have said could perceive what he was saying. The parable that were going to look at today, however, is an exception because Matthew tells us that everybody including Jesus's enemies, who obviously didn't have the right disposition of our everybody understood exactly what he meant by this parable.

In this parable, he offers an uncomfortably accurate analysis of the hearts of the Pharisees and the religious leaders and a prediction about what they were about to do to him personally. By the way, I love these little beneath the surface looks into the human heart that Jesus will sometimes give because it helps me understand what is going on in my own heart when I wrestle with the claims of Jesus and also helps me understand what's going on. The spiritual battle it's happening in the hearts of people were listening to me is as I preached this is a beneath the surface look at at the human heart. Here's the context.

Jesus tells us parable Matthew 21, shortly after he had cleared the temple square with the web. Presumably, now he's standing in that same temple square. Everybody, particularly the religious leaders is a little on edge because they see Jesus as a clear threat. A clear threat to the establishment. Jesus begins this parable in that context.

Verse 33, there was a landowner who planted a vineyard, but if put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower he leased it to tenant farmers anyone away.

The prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 5 had famously compared God's creation of Israel to a landowner who planted a vineyard and left it under the stewardship of some workers to harvest, but according to Isaiah, when the time came for the harvest the fruit was sour so the landowner destroyed the vineyard everybody that was listening to Jesus on this day would have been familiar with that story got quite well and they understood that story as a condemnation of Israel, listen. At the time of Isaiah and an explanation for why God had sent Israel into exile.

But when Jesus tells this very familiar story is going to add a little twist me walk you through it. Verse 34, when the time came to harvest fruit is in the service of the Dennis took to collect his fruit. The Dennis of instruments they beat one killed another in stone. The third again he sent other servants more than the first group and they did the same to them. They did the same to him. Finally, finally, he said he sent his son to them. They will respect my son. He said he reset not limit is at here. If you're thinking through this if you were listening to the parable, you have to ask, what if they killed the first servants. Why would the owner. While the owner, then choose to send an aside, if I were a principal high school and I was having lunch with my wife in the office and I got word that one of the classrooms. I got an unruly and beat up the substitute teacher that was there toss in a vice principal down to check it out, they beat her up and down some security guard down to check out the situation. They beat the security guard up. I might look at my wife and say hey sweetheart, would you mind walking down check out what's going on in the classroom. Of course, not having the life you probably can look at. She's strong and she's pretty feisty, but you still wouldn't do that. Why would the owner after they killed three beat up three of the people that he sent to them. Why would he send in the most precious person in the world to him into a situation that he knows is extremely dangerous. That's a great question with a very important answer that will come back to tour the end. Verse 38, when the tenant farmers. Saul, the son, they said to each other. This is the air come on now it's killing and then will take the inheritance for ourselves which by the way is just to show you the insanity of sin.

This guy is clearly wealthy enough to own multiple properties in higher servants to attend him so you figure if he's wealthy enough to own multiple properties in higher servants. That is probably wealthy enough to also hire a security force to deal with with with with with one if it had been stolen, but such is the insanity of salmon. That's with these tenant farmers think verse 39 so they seized him, the sun, and it threw him out of the vineyard and they killed him. Therefore, when the owner of that vineyard comes what will he do to those tenants answers this question he will completely destroy those terrible men. They told him the people listening told him they will lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him his fruit at the harvest. Jesus said to them, within them you never read the Scriptures, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is what the Lord has done and it is wonderful marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. Whoever falls in the stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls it will shatter him. This is a quote by the way, from Psalm 118, which was one of the five Psalms of the Halal that was sung throughout Passover by pilgrims to come to Jerusalem, which meant that that was going on all around Jesus and people were singing the song. It was familiar. People may been singing it while he was out there teaching what Jesus takes one of the key themes.

The key phrases of that song, and he says this is about me. I'm the one that everybody singing about on the stone that is about to be rejected by you builders to be rejected by your religious leaders, but I'm going to become the primary cornerstone of a new building or if you don't understand the building metaphor know what a cornerstone is think of is like him saying on the player who got cut from the team that becomes the star of a brand-new team that ultimately wins the championship. Verse 45 when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard this parable. This parable a couple before they knew they knew that he was speaking about them. It was common knowledge that Israel had a long legacy of abusing the prophets, Israel's own history tells that story every Jewish boy at the time I grew up learning. For example, that the prophet Jeremiah had been beaten up on multiple occasions thrown into a pit and instead had the prophets Elijah and Amos were banished and forced to hide in caves.

Ezekiel was murdered after a sermon that he preached `Zachariah were both stone but the Jews living in Jerusalem and I Zechariah got chased into the temple and stone right near the altar. Isaiah Isaiah the prophet was put into a long and cut in half by one of Israel's king size so they knew the stories of these prophets that had been been beaten and murdered and killed but here was that he was the twist.

It was the bank they thought about something in the past. They will thought that was something that would never occur in their day. They were too righteous. They were too advanced. They were to morally upright for that to ever occur by them in their generation.

The irony, of course, was that they were about to do something even worse than any of their fathers had ever done. And there's an important lesson to me at here in there for us. Probably should look so quickly with disdain on the sins of people in past history and assume that the reason that they did those hideous things was that they were so backwards and simple. And we, by contrast, are so advanced and enlightened to the Bible teaches that were made out of the same simple stuff that they are we at the same fallen heart which means given the same circumstances and pressures. We would likely have acted the same way that they did when we hear about past generations of Christians.

For example, enslaving or exploiting or abusing others. Don't shake your head and self-righteous discuss and say what was wrong with them. Instead, you want to say what is wrong with the human heart. What's wrong with my heart. Stories of human depravity should not make us feel proud and smog stories of human depravity.

Automakers feel humble and repentant because it's the same hard and also was in them.

We are a race that has routinely scorned and ignore the prophets, and routinely uses whatever positions of power it obtains to privilege itself, even if it means exploiting others.

This all comes to a head in the crucifixion where we see in the crucifixion clearly displayed man's heart toward God. When God was fully revealed in Jesus we hated him and we killed it and I wouldn't just a problem for people in that generation of you several weeks ago we were going through that the stories leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. I showed you that Jesus looks like he's on trial but it's actually the whole human race that's on trial, God is giving us a picture of of our attitude to the authority and the glory of God was. That's what the did the religious leaders of Jesus's day didn't get. They assume that all their advances in religion. Somehow indicated that they had a different kind of heart that they would us better people. She that's one of the dangers of religion. Religion can keep you blind to the depravity of your heart.

You see a lot of times people grow up outside the church apart from the constraints of religion. They see the full simple capabilities of their hearts put on display and so when they win the women when they get saved they really repent Mesa God have seen how bad I can get. I've seen how messed up I am. I need you to save me when those people stand in church and we start singing amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me my missing that with enthusiasm and sincerity because they've experienced firsthand how much of a wretch they actually can be. See, we who grew up in the church we learn to curb our behavior to a point that we can stay blind to the simple potential of our hearts, a wickedness that is every bit as president people who grew up outside the church. Listen your and my heart is essentially the same as that which was in generations of the past.

That's true regardless of what color you are.

It's true regardless what religion you practice how good the home. You grew up in was what political affiliation you line up with your heart outside of Christ is fundamentally the same as that of those who exploited and abused others who killed the prophets and who crucified Jesus.

The only difference between us and them are forces and graces outside of our car control that have curved or container simple tendencies to the point is, don't look back. Self righteously at them and say what was wrong with those people. Instead, they did the abuses of the past to make you look inward and say what's wrong with me' humility about your own heart and ask God to reveal in you.

Whatever rebellious are exploitive tendencies that there are so when are you will rebel against. We've all gotten most of the time we either excuse them or ignore them being bathed in God's word not only exposes the things that gives us to removing something to consider as we break from her teaching for just a moment here on Summit life. One way to be sure we continually see God's word saturating our life is to participate in our daily email devotional from Pastor JD can all use encouragement first thing in the morning to remind us of God's love. I know the busyness of life can quickly check out any joy that we feel in our walk with God.

So let's remind ourselves moment by moment desires for our lives. Sign up for this free resource@tdclear.com/resources that JD GRT are.com/resources now. Let's return for the conclusion of today's message. Once again, what I want to do then is focus for the next few minutes, in light of that, on the analysis of the human heart that Jesus provides in this parable because it is true for us in this generation as it was for first hearers there and in Jesus's generation before points your number one what we see in this analysis of the human heart is that some unbelief is willful, the tenants in this parable didn't murder the sun because they were confused about who he was finicky was an imposter coming in they they hated in verse 38 because he challenge their ownership of the field by this point in Jesus's life. The religious leaders had convinced himself that Jesus was dangerous and that he needed to be killed, but in telling the story. Jesus pulls back the veil in their hearts and shows us that theirs was a willful rejection. It was that if you could say willful confusion that they thought Jesus was a fake. But what he saying is deep down, there's actually something willful and intentional going on in the book of Romans, Paul describes this guy says that a great deal of our behavior can only be explained in terms of a deep dynamic of emotional and spiritual repression, and that underneath everything else. The thing that we really were press is a hatred of God himself. Romans 87 says their simple heart has an inward hostility toward God.

Romans 87 the mind governed by the flesh and all that means is the natural harbor human heart without Christ is hostile to God right nearby touch adjust fermented.net heart that's in that spiritual heart is naturally hostile, not ambivalent, not a lover of God, not a good person is confused it hostile.

Your natural heart is hostile toward God.

It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so, even if it decided that it wanted to think for a minute about what that means our natural heart cannot submit the God your natural heart possesses a deep hostility to the authority and the glory of God.

Your heart, your heart possesses that repentance begins by recognizing that I'm looking to God to change it.

By the way, this is how you know that the Holy Spirit is beginning to open your eyes because it takes the Holy Spirit to see that sin is not just a violation of the rules seen as an entire attitude of resentment that you have toward Christ authority in his claim over your life be signed at the Holy Spirit is working in you is that your Sam listen to this source to fill personal between you and God is not just a feeling of shame that you have a couple rules good enough for that. You're a worse person than everybody else.

You know the Holy Spirit is working in you when it starts to fill personal like I have resisted Jesus and his authority and his claim for deserve the glory my life. What all this means is that for many people there. Unbelief is not because of a lack of evidence of the head there. Unbelief comes from a heart problem or this in the day. I think exemplified in a Richard Dawkins is the famous atheist British atheist wrote about God delusion, he was asked this question arises anything the doctor do now to get you to believe in him right. He's prides himself on me open-minded right his answer to this question was no even if God showed up in the room I would want to know what sort of psychological or naturalistic explanation was going on here is what happened. This is atheism has now gone to anti-theism, which is a refusal to consider the evidence that ultimately sprang from a hatred of God.

He doesn't want to be sure algae was Huxley was of the philosopher who coined the term agnostic about 75 years ago onward a very famous book, a brave new world. He said this in one of his journals. He said I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning for myself is no doubt.

For most of my contemporaries, other atheists and agnostics. The philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality of Christianity to sexual morality of Christianity because it interfered with our sexual freedom. There was only one admirably simple method of justifying ourselves to be able to do what we wanted and that was agnosticism. What I'm trying to get you to see is that sometimes there are heart things that are behind unbelief partings remember hearing a story went on, but I schoolgirl the classwork class was given the assignment to take on some historical figure that it occurred in unusual period of history into explore that in and tell that story. So this girl chose Jonah and did a great presentation on the history of Nineveh on the social dynamics that were were were between men of the people of Israel and got up and presented it well.

After all the presentations redundant cynical teacher because of their commands all the different presentations but then begin to launch a tirade about medial separate truth from fantasy and being able tell you not choose mythical figures to write historical papers on this goes on. Upon this girl comes up and says where you talk about me there just given her a C- on what was an excellent presentation he so absolutely I was. I said everybody knows of the stories in the Old Testament are dismissed with no basis in reality there is no such persons as Moses or King David or certainly no Jonah the girl civil but but all these figures have the same historical documentation as other figures did you solicit any educated person dismisses any super natural explanations for any historical event. Just prima facing dismissed from the beginning to get rid of that many cities of the stories only to make sense to me. How could Moses possibly have led the children of Israel to the Red Sea. How could Jonah have survived in the belly of the fish for three days, but also what I don't know when I get to heaven I'll Jonah and the teacher said what what if Jonah is not in heaven but also well then you can ask him if he's not in heaven. There's a willfulness sometimes to 222 things that we say or objective. There's a sense in which I does not even a consider that little like the implications of if it works or all throughout his ministry, Jesus explains that if you got the right posture of heart.

If you really want to know if you got ears to hear, if you desire to know God truly than the truth about him will be evident to see by the way, before I move on your second point here, you got a note that this rejection of Jesus can also take a religious form, not just an atheistic form and after all that, that the tenants that were were learning about. First, represent the chief priests, not atheist. This might be one the most important things to learn, especially if you're a churchgoing person number one substitute the number one substitute for true surrender his religious activity that sometimes the lease surrender people who know God, the least of the most busy and religion because religion can be a very effective way of avoiding the authority of God in your life if you don't want to surrender to God. Everything you come up with a scheme to be busy that you think will keep God at bay in novel wise blood that the southern novelist Flannery O'Connor talks about one of the characters she describes as being someone who avoided sinlessness, avoided sin, so that he could avoid Jesus. In other words, as long as his life never got desperate as long as his life never got messed up by really bad simple choices.

As always, he never felt ashamed. We never had to reckon with who Jesus was, how much he needed his grace and the claims of Jesus made on his life.

You see, sometimes religious activity as a way of of keeping God at bay because you want to do with real surrender. If you don't feel desperate for God and his grace in your life.

A lot of people it's like the goal of their religion is to keep Jesus and in time out you parents know how you and your kid gets naughtier, noisier, just annoying.

You want to put them in timeout.

They go stand in the corner over there in time out and also people want to keep Jesus is like he's there were many of them would want to mull away want to in our lives, but our goal is to keep them out of our lives and not interfering with what were doing so you know when you sin, use of the wrong but all of a sudden Jesus get the freedom to come out of timeout Jesus of their injuries are in the corner and all of a sudden there's there's up, you know, the sanity comes out is I got you now. I got somebody gets to you really messed up and so you do whatever religious thing you gotta do you you say your Hail Marys across yourself or go to church Doddridge Bible, I don't not back in timeout. Just like back in timeout because of their back and I'm out which of you to come get them. That's not that's a solid relationship with God is an attempt to avoid God I'm doing just enough to keep God in his claims away from alive. I don't really want to surrender. I just want to do enough to make sure that I stay I stay away from the judgment of God. That's of these religious leaders, Jesus was showing them is that you use religion to avoid God's rightful claim on your life that he is the one with all authority and he's the one that deserves just hearing this program right now or are you able to truly listen to what God is saying through his word.

This is the MetLife teaching ministry of Pastor JD Greer if you enjoyed today's program and want to hear more encouragement just like you can find us online@jdgreer.com or in your favorite this month we had a look at 10 devotional want to send your way.

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