BELIEVERS LABOR IN THE LORD’S VINEYARD (Outline)
October 14, 2007 -
PENTECOST 20 -
Matthew 21:33-43
INTRO: Our text intertwines Christian closeness with other teachings Jesus would like us to review. Believers are blessed with closeness to God through and by his holy word. Believers are blessed with closeness to other Christians by the bonds of faith tied together with God’s love. All of this is because of God’s free grace given that we believe. Now our lives are lived in loving God. Our lives are lived in loving others. More importantly, really most importantly our lives are lived because of the love of God. Without God, without his love there is no closeness. Take a look at chapter 15 of John. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing"(JOHN 15:5). As branches we are attached to the vine of Christ. In him we move, live, and flourish. This brings us to the parable we will examine. Not only are we branches attached to the divine vine but we are also laborers in the Lord’s vineyard.
BELIEVERS LABOR IN THE LORD’S VINEYARD.
I. We will return fruits of faith.
II. We remember Jesus’ return.
I. WE WILL RETURN FRUITS OF FAITH
A. Jesus teaches with a parable. This is an earthly story with an heavenly meaning.
1. We are given the setting and principle people in verse 33. The Lord is the landowner.
2. The vineyard represents Israel. This scene is taken from Isaiah 5:1ff.
a. The Lord provides protection
b. The Lord entrusts the vineyard to tenants.
B. It is time to collect the fruit, verse 34, as payment for the rent. The landowner sends servants.
1. The tenants mistreat the servants not once, but twice, verses 35, 36.
2. The landowner decides to send his son whom they would respect, verse 37.
a. This son is Jesus.
b. The tenants reject not respect him.
c. Soon Jesus will be crucified.
C. They did not return fruits that were due the landowner. They reject and are rejected, verse 41.
D. Rejection is still the strength of worldly thought today. People are quick to oppose and even faster to disagree with people who do not agree with their line of thinking. Many believe and others are taught that there are no absolutes. Therefore no one has the right to determine what is truly right and what is truly wrong by any one standard. This thinking leads individuals to put their trust and confidence in themselves, in their opinion. This will lead to bad fruit. It is an age-old problem. "But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors"(HOSEA 10:13). God cannot be deceived nor mocked.
E. How do overcome the negative rejection that the world throws up against Christianity and believers throughout the world? What are we to do? Our heavenly Father reminds us to stand firm. Stand firm on the word of God. God’s word is the source of all truth. God’s word is the source of comfort, encouragement, salvation, and our closeness to God. "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green"(PSALM 92:13,14).
F. We need to remind ourselves that on this great globe called planet we labor for the Lord. This world is nothing more than the Lord’s vineyard that he provides for believers to live in, work in, and re-turn fruits of faith to him who gave them to us. We often think of fruits of faith as money or treasure. It is. But there are also fruits of faith known as time and talents. God has richly supplied each and every one of us with talents. God does not necessarily need our talents returned to him. But we do and can return our fruits of faith, talents, to God as we give them to others. Here is only one list among many found in Scripture. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law"(GALATIANS 5:22,23). There is no law against showing or returning these fruits of faith to our fellow man. What a wonderful blessing for those around us to see in us these gifts of God, these talents, overflowing from us unto them!
BELIEVERS LABOR IN THE LORD’S VINEYARD.
We will return fruits of faith.
II. WE WILL REMEMBER JESUS’ RETURN
A. The tenants knew the servants of the landowner would come for the fruits of the harvest, the rent.
1. They did not remember that the landowner might also send his son.
2. The tenants put out the son from the vineyard and took his life, verses 38, 39.
B. When Jesus asked what should be done, verse 40, the people knew, verse 41.
1. This was the correct answer and Jesus agreed in verse 43.
2. Now, now the chief priests and Pharisees knew this parable was about them.
a. Check the last verses of chapter 21(45, 46).
b. They also sought ways to arrest Jesus.
C. The people answered correctly and pronounced judgment on themselves.
1. Jesus wants the crowd and religious leaders to understand this was not just a story.
2. In verse 42 Jesus quotes Psalm 118 so they would knew and believe his words as truth.
D. How ironic that the people who knew the correct answer still acted like those who deserved the Lord’s judgment. Like the tenants the religious leaders still wanted Jesus out of the temple. How ironic that still today so many want to get to heaven but live there is not eternity. When it comes to standing up for the rights of Christianity we often remain silent. Many feel they deserve heaven. Many feel they have a rightful claim to be at the Savior’s side forever in heaven. But, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels"(MARK 8:38). The Last Day will be a final rejection of rejecters.
E. We do not know when the Son will return. But we do know that he will return. The Judg-ment Day or Last Day is not a day of terror for believers. It will be a great day of joy and rejoicing for every believer. On the last day we will see the Son face-to-face and be called into eternal glory. All this is ours simply by the free grace of God. This is our closeness to God because of his great love for us. "In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him"(1 JOHN 4:17). The Last Day is our confident day of salvation.
F. At times the world does try to distract us. We battle with our own selfish thinking that every thing we do and work for is ours and ours alone. But we are always to remember that in this vineyard that we call earth we are not alone. God loves us so that we might love him. Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life. This is the foundation of our Christian faith. "Consequently, you are…God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone"(EPHESIANS 2:19b, 20). We belong to God on earth and for ever.
CONC.: Believers labor in the Lord’s vineyard. This is of great comfort and encouragement for us. Our plans may fail. We may even fail ourselves. God has greater plans. God is always faithful. As we live our lives close to God we are truly blessed to be laborers in the Lord’s vineyard. Our labors in the Lord are not in vain. We are storing up for ourselves heavenly treasure that cannot be destroyed. It is good to look beyond the shortsightedness of this earthly live. "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory"(COLOSS. 3:2-4). We will appear with the Lord in glory. Until then we have the blessed privilege of BELIEVERS WHO LABOR IN THE LORD’S VINEYARD. As we lovingly labor in the Lord’s vineyard we will return fruits of faith. We also look forward to the future as we remember Jesus’ return. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
WORSHIP SER.:
SAT – 1:00pm @ NCF Min., &
SUN – 9:30am @ Church & 12:00pm @ NCF Medium
Sunday radio broadcast @ 9:05am on KQNK 106.7FM or 1530AM + www.kqnk.com
PENTECOST 20 readings:
HABAKKUK 1:1-3; 2:2-4;
2 TIM. 1:3-14;
LUKE 17:1-10
(PSALM 27)
