Deo Gloria
Sermon for April 7, 2019
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Luke 20:9-19
Theme: Warning: Do Not Reject the Son!
- God patiently sends his servants to call us to repentance.
- God’s judgment will ultimately fall on those who reject his Son.
Every now and then I get an email message, warning me about some new computer virus. The message usually goes something like this:
“If you receive a message entitled ‘Win a Holiday’ or ‘Christmas’ or ‘Microsoft Security Patch’ do not open it. Likewise, do not download any file attachments named ‘kitty.exe,’ or ‘cutepuppy.exe’ to your hard drive. They contain a virus, a virus for which there is no cure. It will erase your hard drive and render your computer completely unusable. Repeat, do not open such messages. Delete them immediately!”
In general I tend to pay attention to such messages, because I know a few people who have had their computers infected with a virus. They did lose everything. And it took a lot of time and effort on their part to get their computer up and running again.
This morning we find a warning message flashing on the pages of the Bible, not an email message, warning about some new computer virus, but a warning message embedded in a story told by our Savior Jesus. The message goes like this: Warning: Do Not Reject the Son!
It was Holy Week. The Passover was now only a few days away. And Jesus was in the temple courts, teaching people the Word of God. One day as he was teaching, the chief priests and teachers of the law came up and questioned his authority. “Tell us,” they demanded. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things. Who gave you this authority?”(20:2) Jesus responded with a question of his own: “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?”(20:3+4) The chief priests and teachers of the law did not want to answer Jesus’ question. If they answered, “From heaven,” Jesus would have said, “Then why didn’t you believe him?” If they answered, “From men,” they were afraid the people might stone them, because the people considered John the Baptist to be a great prophet. So they replied, “We don’t know.”
It was then that Jesus told this parable.
A man planted a vineyard, which he rented out to some farmers, and then went away on a long trip. At harvest time he sent one of his servants to collect some of the fruit from the vineyard. But the farmers wouldn’t give him any. Not only that, they beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed.
So the owner sent another servant. And they treated him the same way. So he sent a third one. And they wounded him and threw him out.
“All right, now what?” the owner thought. “I know. I’ll send my son. Surely they’ll have respect for my son.”
But when the son showed up, the tenants said, “Come on. This is the heir. Let’s kill him and then the vineyard will be ours.” And they took the son and threw him outside and killed him.
There are two things that strike me about his parable. The first is this: What a bunch of jerks! What a bunch of wicked, greedy, ungrateful, rotten jerks! Here the guy had rented out his vineyard to these farmers, allowing them to tend it and take care of it and enjoy most of its fruit. And when he sends his servant to collect some of the fruit and bring it back to him, they refuse to give him any. “Sorry, Charlie, tell your master to take a hike. We’re keeping all the grapes to ourselves.” Are you kidding me? Could they really be that ungrateful?
And then I look in the mirror. I look in the mirror of God’s Word and it reminds me of something: God has given me everything I have. The car I drive, the home I live in, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, the money I have in my checking account and savings account—it all is a gift from him. And when it comes to giving some of it back to him, I tell him, “No”? Sorry, God, you can’t have any. It’s mine. I worked hard for what I have and I’m keeping it. When I get paid, I’m spending the money on me and my family. I’m gonna pay my bills and stock up on food, especially steak, because I like steak. And I’m gonna buy myself a new cell phone and set aside some money for that new motorcycle I’ve been looking at. Who knows? I might even drive up to Shakopee and do a little gambling at the casino. And then, if there’s anything left, then maybe, just maybe I’ll give a little something back to you.” Are we really that ungrateful? Sometimes, I have to confess, I’m not much better than these farmers.
The other thing that strikes me about his parable is this: What a patient and loving Lord! What a patient and loving Lord! He sends one servant, but the tenants beat him and send him away empty-handed. So he sends another servant, and they do the same to him. They rough him up and treat him shamefully and send him away empty-handed. So he sends a third servant, who ends up getting wounded and thrown out of the vineyard. And then he says, “You know, maybe I should send my son.” Are you kidding me? After what they did to his servants, now he’s going to send his own son? I don’t think I would have been that patient. I think I would have lasted till about the second servant, and then I would have sent in my soldiers and gotten rid of those wicked tenants once and for all.
But then, the owner of this story does not represent me, does he? He represents God, our patient and loving God. In his patience and love and mercy God sent his servants, the prophets, to his people time and time and time again to call them to repentance. And how had the leaders of his people, those represented by the tenants in this story—how had they treated his prophets? Some they ignored. Others they had beaten. And still others they actually killed. I mean, look at what happened to the most recent prophet God had sent, the one he sent to prepare the way for the promised Savior. Had the chief priests and teachers of the law listened to John the Baptist’s message? Had they repented of their sins and put their trust in Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? No, they had ignored John’s message and dismissed what he said. And what about Herod, the ruler of God’s people in the provinces of Galilee and Perea? He had John beheaded.
And now in an amazing display of his kindness and patience God had even sent his Son, his one and only Son, his beloved Son. Surely they would respect his Son, right? Surely, they would listen to him, right? Sorry! They didn’t listen to him either. In fact, as Jesus indicated in the parable he had told, they would soon throw him of the vineyard and kill him. What a bunch of wicked tenants! And what an amazingly patient and loving Lord, that he would be willing to send his Son to such people, knowing that he would be rejected by them and beaten by them and killed by them! What a patient and loving Lord, that he would be willing to send his Son to suffer and die for such wicked and ungrateful people like you and me!
That’s the real reason God sent his Son, isn’t it? To suffer and die for sinful people, to suffer and die for you and me; for people who can be so ungrateful at times, so stinking selfish, so shockingly cruel and hurtful to others; for people who have ignored the prophets he has sent them to teach them the Word of God and to lead them to repentance, people who at times have despised his prophets and treated them with shame and contempt. Do such people deserve God’s mercy and love? Do such people deserve to have God be patient with them, to give them even more time to repent? Absolutely not! They deserve God’s anger and punishment. They deserve to perish in the fires of hell. But what does the Bible say? “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”(John 3:16).
In light of such mercy and love and patience from God, could we now reject his Son? Could we now reject the very one God has sent to rescue us from our sins, to rescue us from death? May it never be! May we humbly repent of our sins and trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin, that God’s judgment may not fall upon us!
I’ve never been in a courtroom and witnessed the actual sentencing of a person convicted of murder. They tell me it’s a rather sobering experience. The judge reads off the crime the defendant has been convicted of: murder in the first degree. He then reads off the sentence: life in prison, without parole. With that he lowers his gavel and says, “Case closed.” And the defendant is led away to prison. Nothing he can do at that point can change the outcome. No amount of pleading, no amount of crying, no amount of begging for mercy can change the judge’s sentence: to spend the rest of his life behind bars. I can hardly imagine how terrible that must be.
I don’t even want to imagine how terrible it will be to fall under the judgment of the Judge of heaven and earth. Jesus actually gives us a little glimpse in verses 17+18: “Jesus looked directly at them and asked, ‘Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone”? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.’”
There is an old Jewish proverb that goes like this: “If a stone falls on a pot, woe to the pot. If a pot falls on a stone, woe to the pot. Either way, woe to the pot!” Jesus is the stone the builders rejected that has become the capstone. Even though he was rejected by the Jewish leaders, even though he was crucified by them outside the city, even though he died and was buried, the third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. There he rules over all things as Lord and King of the universe. There he rules over his people as Lord and Head of the Church. And from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
And woe to those who rejected him! Woe to the chief priests and teachers of the law who rejected Jesus and had him put to death! Woe to those today who reject Jesus, who refuse to listen to his Word, who refuse to repent of their sins, who refuse to believe! Woe to those who reject the Son! Instead of being welcomed by him into the eternal mansions of glory, they will be condemned by him. The almighty Judge of heaven and earth will pronounce his sentence against them. And they will be crushed.
Did you get the message, the warning message contained in the verses of our text? I certainly hope you did. True, it is a rather stern and sobering message, but one that’s intended for our good, not to spare our computers from a potentially damaging virus, but to spare our souls from eternal death and destruction. Do not reject the Son! Amen.