Theme: Producing Fruits of the Kingdom
Text: Is. 5:1-7; Phil. 3:4b-14; Matt. 21:33-46
In recent years it has become evident that the focus of many people in the world is no longer on Christ. Even in so called Christian nations Christ is being denied again and again in spite of constant reminders of His Lordship. Sometimes we even claim to accept His Lordship yet are not ready to listen to Him or see the need to focus our minds on Him. In today’s parable, Jesus Christ reminds us of the need to have the right focus. It is about a landowner who rented his vineyard to tenants after he had done all the necessary work to ensure a harvest. He built a hedge around it and a watchtower to protect and guard against thieves. He built a winepress to extract juice from the harvested grapes. Everything was in place when he gave the vineyard out to a group of tenant farmers and went on a journey.
The farmers were to take care of the land and the crops. The land was able to yield an abundant harvest to meet their needs and all that the owner required from them was his share of the harvest. This parable actually narrates the history of Israel. God created a beautiful place and gave it to them to manage. They were made tenants of what God had made and were to produce fruits in keeping with the Kingdom. God chose the nation Israel to reveal what He expected from man and Israel is often referred to as the vineyard of the Lord. Israel was blessed and given the best and was to bear fruit that would enable it to carry out God’s work. They were to bear a bountiful harvest and remember to give God His share of the harvest. They were to please God by bearing the fruit of obedience, holiness, justice and righteousness. The nation, however, proved unfaithful. Instead of producing large delicious grapes as the vine of God, they produced sour grapes. They produced the fruit of injustice, oppression and idolatry. They could not produce what God wanted because they went about it their own way and not God’s way. They did this in spite of God’s abundant love and care.
The landowner in this parable is a reference to God, the vineyard to Israel, the tenants to the Jewish religious leaders, the landowner’s servants to the prophets, the son to Jesus Christ and the other tenants to the Gentiles. The Jewish religious leaders were unfaithful to God and refused to listen to the prophets who remained faithful to God and proclaimed the Word of God to Israel. They reminded the Israelites that the vineyard belonged to God and that all the harvest belonged to Him yet He requested only a part of it. Their obedience was to be a great source of blessing to them. However, instead of yielding juicy grapes the vineyard only yielded sour grapes because they refused to give God, the owner, His part of the harvest. The history of what happened to Israel is being repeated in the Church today and it appears we have learnt nothing from history. God is our provider and He has provided everything that we have. We are to be His stewards and give Him His share of the harvest. The whole harvest actually belongs to Him but He only requires our tithes and offerings from us and like the Israelites many believers today are not prepared to give Him anything and would rather keep everything for themselves. Withholding from God what is rightfully His is to deny ourselves His blessings. Just as Israel was to point others to God by demonstrating the nature and character of God and producing fruits in keeping with the Kingdom so the Church should be pointing others to God today by demonstrating Christ’s nature and character and bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
This parable reveals the nature of man and his concern about pleasing himself rather than pleasing God. It manifested in greed. Instead of demonstrating the nature of Christ in our lives we often allow greed to dictate our behaviour and character. The tenants in the parable became greedy and no longer wanted to be tenants. They wanted ownership of what belonged to another. They no longer wanted to give any of the harvest to someone else. They wanted everything for themselves. They were ready to destroy anything and anyone that would oppose them. So when the landowner sent his servants to collect his rightful share of the fruit, the farmers mistreated some, beat up others and even killed some of them. Finally the landowner sent His Son expecting that they would at least respect Him and give Him what they owed. God in trying to reach the Israelites with His love finally sent His Son Jesus Christ. But they took him outside the vineyard and killed him. The Jewish leaders themselves testified to what would happen to the farmers when the landowner returned. He would destroy them and lease the vineyard to others.
The Israelites had through the years heard about God and experienced His judgements but did not really know how much He loved them. They began to think it was better for them to be in control of their lives rather than God. Instead of being thankful and grateful to God and showing their appreciation by obeying Him they wanted to take control of what was rightfully His. We always want to do things our own way. Some of us here will remember one of Frank Sinatra’s best sellers ‘I did it my way.’ One reason it was such a hit was that it said what many wanted or believed. Is it not the same with us today? Instead of being thankful and grateful to God for all His provisions are we not trying to take control over our own lives and do what we want rather than what God wants. Instead of the Creator coming first in our lives have we not allowed many other things first place in our lives? Do we give God His rightful share of the provisions He has made available to us? Have we not simply assumed that the vineyard of God now belongs to us?
Although God is love He had to deal with the rebellion to avoid chaos. The farmers after first rebelling against the landowner would then begin to fight among themselves. A broken relationship with God always leads to broken relationships with others. There would have been war among the tenants over who owned the land, and as a result the vineyard would have been completely destroyed. Even worse there would have been great loss of life and suffering because of the resulting chaos. There would be no victor because everything would be destroyed and all that would be left would be ashes. Rebellion always leads to chaos and loss of life and God had to deal with the problem to prevent loss of life.
God had to deal with the problem because of His great love for man. How can we ever doubt the love of God for us when He gave everything for us? Everything God does is for our own good even when we do not realise it. Our rebellion lead to separation from God and to chaos and death. God dealt with the problem by shedding the blood of His beloved Son to pay the price for our redemption. By His shed blood we have been redeemed out of the hand of the enemy and have been reconciled to God. He has restored our righteousness and empowers us produce the fruits of the Kingdom. God has demonstrated His love for us in the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. The least we can do is to demonstrate our love for Christ by acknowledging what He has done for us by accepting Him as our Saviour and Lord.
One of the interesting things about this parable is that the landowner does not demand everything. He only asks for His share but the tenants wanted everything for themselves. They rejected God and killed His Son and as a result were thrown out. But the real end of the story is that it does not end in defeat, but victory. The very stone, the One who had been rejected and killed outside the city, will return and become the foundation of a new kingdom. The end of the story is found in the book of Revelation 11:15, “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever’” There are only two ways to approach the Rock of Ages, to fall on it, or to have it fall on you. Jesus said, “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed” (Matthew 21:44). Fall on it and you will be broken to pieces. Have it fall on you and you will be crushed. Fall on it and your pride, your stubbornness; your self-will shall be broken to pieces. You will have to come in humility and submission, recognizing that the world and everything in it, including your personal life, are the property of God. You will have to acknowledge his ownership and give him what is His due. That is one approach. The only other approach is to resist and ultimately have the rock fall on you and crush you. If all the good things that God has given you are not enough; if you cannot find enough gratitude in your heart; if you cannot love God and surrender to him; if you cannot stop rebelling against God and continue to demand your own way, you will find out what it means to be crushed, because life will fall in on you and crush you. You will live under the crushing load of an ungrateful person who has never loved God. You will find life cruel and oppressive. But love the Landowner and give Him what belongs to Him, and “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Amen!
