Let us continue to worship God through His Word. Open your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke Chapter 20… We noted last week from Luke 19, God showed righteous anger through Jesus Christ as He kicked out the moneychangers and animal sellers in God’s Temple. In the parallel passage of the Gospel of John, Jesus stated “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
And so, in the beginning of Luke Chapter 20, we will read the Religious Leaders questioning Jesus. Why did Jesus do those things? Were the religious leaders really curious about who Jesus Christ was?
Let us together pray our commitment to God’s Word before reading our passage…..
Read along with me now Luke 20:1-19…….
Why did the religious leaders question Jesus?
Look back briefly with me to Luke 11:16-17….
And look again at v19 of Luke 20….
The religious leaders were trying to trap Jesus Christ.
This is one of the biblical principles we are to note: After being warned over and over again, there will be people, like these religious leaders, who will not believe in Jesus Christ and actually try to kill Him. We’ll come back to this later but let us briefly note that people today will do this to us as well as we follow Jesus Christ. What can we learn from Jesus?
Jesus responded to the questioning in two ways:
1. Jesus spiritually challenged those religious leaders to think.
2. Jesus told a parable, a story with a lesson.
Let’s take a closer look at the parable.
v9……..
And so, someone owned a valuable property which he allowed others to work it.
v10a….
And so, at the right time, the owner sent a servant for results of work that was supposed to be done.
v10b….
And so, the servant sent was beat up and not given anything by the stewards called by the owner.
And in v11-12: a second and third servant were treated like the first.
v13: The owner sent His beloved son which he expected to be treated with respect.
Based on v14, why did the owner thought that his son would be respected??
The stewards called by the owner knew the son!
Even though they knew who the son was, we read in v14: The stewards killed the owner’s son for selfish gain!
And what is the result of the stewards’ selfishness?
v16: The owner came back and killed the stewards because of their selfishness. The owner gave to others what was meant for the stewards.
What did the parable mean?
Verse 19 gives us a clue doesn’t it?
v19: The Jewish religious leaders were the tenants, stewards, caretakers of God’s property and the son is Jesus Christ.
And so from this truth, we can understand the parable a bit more:
If the Son is Jesus Christ, who is the Owner of the Vineyard?? – God the Father!
Who were the servants sent by the Vineyard Owner ?? – God’s Prophets!
And so in summary, the parable is about God who called a people and provided for them, but the people decided to do things their way. Because God loves them, He sent messengers to guide them but the people refused to listen. God’s ultimate Messenger is His Son Jesus Christ and rejection of Christ is rejection of God which is complete separation from God.
What Biblical principles should we note?
a. God owns everything! – Do you and I live our lives with this truth?
Wherever we go, whatever we’re doing, God is watching!
b. God provides for people but gives them responsibilities. – Do you know your responsibilities for your Creator God?
Everyday, instead of asking God to do something for you, ask “What can I do for God today?”
c. God loves people and so, He instructs them but gives them free will to choose. – but how can one choose the right way when they don’t listen to God? Read God’s Word daily, so you can choose rightly!
d. God will reject those who rejects Jesus Christ.
Let us summarize the major applications for our lives today.
First of all, do I fully understand how much God loves me? If someone asks you “How do you know God loves you?” what would say??
God created us! God provides for us! God instructs us! God allows us to choose freely! God will forgive us if agree with Him! God gave us Himself through Jesus Christ! God empowers us through the Holy Spirit! God gives us every blessing from heaven! God longs for our fellowship with Him everyday and forever and ever!!
Know God’s love more and more and experience it daily!
And so,
1. Daily and as often as you can, finish the statement “God loves me because…...…!”
And as I noted earlier, even after being warned over and over again, there will be people who will not believe in Jesus Christ and actually try to destroy the truth about Him.
There will be people who will continue to reject Jesus Christ and hate those who will follow Christ. We will be confronted and questioned about our faith in Jesus Christ. How are we to respond to them?
2. Follow Jesus’ example in dealing with those who will go against us:
a. Love them as Jesus loved them. In other words, do as much as you can to be of help.
b. Challenge them to think spiritually.
How can we do this? You see, we cannot challenge anyone spiritually if we ourselves are not spiritual! And so,
- Be in constant prayer as you deal with people who question Christ!
- Be confident in God, Jesus Christ and the Bible! Or do we ourselves question God, Jesus, and the Bible?
And remember that Jesus also responded with a parable, a story with a real lesson. If we are not confident with God’s Word, how can we tell them stories with truths?
And so, along with loving them and challenging them spiritually, let us
c. Tell them stories from the Bible with confidence!
As we prepare for obeying Jesus Christ in remembering Him in Communion, pray quietly for a moment and ask God to help you with what you need.
Follow Jesus’ example:
- Do as much as you can for people
(but don’t forget the 7 P’s of deciding what to do)
- Be in constant prayer
- Know God’s Word and stories!
