GOD COMES TO US

March 13, 2016

Pastor Bernt P. Tweit

Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 43:16-21

Epistle Lesson; Philippians 3:8-14

Sermon Text; Luke 20:9-19

The Word of God we look at for today is taken from Luke, chapter 20. This is the parable of the tenants. Jesus spoke this parable on Tuesday of Holy Week. While He was teaching this, there were really two groups of people who were there in the big group. One of the groups were the regular, average people - the Children of Israel. The other in that group were the religious leaders - The Teachers of the Law, the Pharisees, and the Scribes. Hear today what it was Jesus was telling them, as we look at this portion of God's Word.

And He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.' And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But He looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone'? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on Him at that very hour, for they perceived that He had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.

This is God's Word.

How does God come to us?

(You have probably heard this story, before.) There once was a community in which it rained a lot. Because of that, the river started to swell, and the town was beginning to flood.

There was a man on his front porch, when a neighbor came by in his car, and said, “Get in the car. I have space for one more person, before the flood waters get too high.”

The man said, “Go ahead. I am praying to God, and He will save me.” The flood waters rose a little more.

Someone else came by in a canoe, and said, “I have room for you. Hop in my canoe, and I will bring you to safety.”

The man said, “That's OK. You go on ahead. I am praying to God, and He will save me.” The flood waters continued to rise.

A motor boat came by, and the man said, “Get in my boat, and I will bring you to safety.”

But, the man of that house said, “You go on ahead. I am praying to God, and He will bring me to safety.” And, the flood waters rose.

He got onto the roof of his house, and a helicopter came by, let down a ladder, and said to the man, “Get on the ladder, and I will bring you to safety.”

The man said, “Go on ahead. I am praying to God, and He will save me.”

The flood waters covered the home. The current swept him away. He drowned, and died.

He was standing at the pearly gates of Heaven, and he asked to visit with God. The man said to God, “I prayed for you to save me.”

God said, “I came to you in a car. I came to you in a canoe. I came to you in a motor boat. I came to you in a helicopter. What more were you expecting?”

Now, that is a joking way of looking at how God comes to us, but today we see in this parable Jesus is talking about how it is God comes to us. Let's look at what it is Jesus is teaching.

An owner had a vineyard. He rented it out to tenants, and went away for a long time. All that he did was to ask for some of the fruit of the vineyard.

It came time for the tenants to pay up their rent, you might say. So, the owner sent a messenger. The owner sent a servant.

What was it that those tenants did? They beat that servant, and sent him away empty handed.

If you owned an apartment complex, and it was time to collect the rent, when you sent a messenger to collect that rent, and the messenger you sent was beaten, and sent away empty-handed, what would you do? If it were me, I would call the cops. If someone owned me rent, beat my messenger, and sent him away empty-handed, I wouldn’t have any patience for that.

And yet, look at what the owner in this parable does. The owner sends a second messenger. This servant goes to the tenants, and it escalates a little bit. The tenants beat him, treat him shamefully, and send him away empty-handed.

Again, if you owned an apartment complex, and it was time to gather the rent, when you sent two messengers, and they were both beaten, and sent away empty-handed, what would you do? Well, my patience would be run out.

And yet, look at what the owner does. He sends a third servant. This messenger goes to collect the rent, and what do the tenants do? They wound him, and cast him out. The Greek word here for 'wound' is 'traumatisantes'. In that Greek word, you can hear the English word 'traumatize'. They traumatized him, and they cast him out.

Now, again, if it were me, and I owned an apartment complex, and it was time to gather the rent, and I sent not one, not two, but three people to collect that rent, and they were mistreated, beaten, and sent away empty-handed, my patience would be long past run out.

And yet, what is it the owner does? The owner says, “I am going to send my son, my beloved son to them.” And so, that is what the owner of the vineyard did. He sent his beloved son. And when those tenants saw the beloved son, they said, “This is the heir. Let's kill him. The owner is not coming back, and if we kill the son, this inheritance will be ours.”

So, that is what they did. The led him out, and they killed him.

If you were the owner of an apartment complex, and it was time to collect the rent, and you send three messengers to collect the rent, and they were beaten, and sent away empty-handed, what would you do? The last thing I would do is send my beloved son. I would not send my beloved boy to collect that rent.

And yet, that is what the owner of the vineyard did.

What did those tenants do? They brought him outside, and they put him to death.

After telling that parable, Jesus looked at the people present, and said, “What will the owner of the vineyard do?” He said,

“He will come

and destroy those tenants

and give the vineyards to others.”

That is when the people responded. This is the group of people, the Children of Israel, who said,

“Surely not!”

It is probably the strongest way, in the Greek language, to say, “No!” They said, “Me genoito!” “May this story never happen.” “May what you just said not happen, that the owner of the vineyard would destroy those tenants.”

Then, Jesus went on to quote a psalm that said,

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone”.

That cornerstone is going to fall on people. That cornerstone is going to crush people.

That is when the other group of people, the Chief Priests and the religious leaders, looked to get their hands on Jesus, because they wanted to put Him to death.

Now, a parable is an earthly story, with a heavenly meaning. God is the owner of this vineyard. The tenants are the religious leaders. The messengers are the Old Testament prophets. Throughout the history of The Old Testament, God would send His prophets as messengers to His people. And yet, oftentimes how was it that the people treated God's messengers? Oftentimes, they treated them shamefully. Oftentimes, they beat them, and cast them out. The prophet Jeremiah was thrown down into a cistern or a pit. History says the prophet Isaiah was sawn in two. Wicked King Ahab, and wicked Queen Jezebel put many of God's prophets to death. The last prophet of The Old Testament, John the Baptist, was beheaded. Oftentimes the religious leaders, God's people, put God's servants, God's prophets to death!

So, what did God do? He sent His beloved Son. God sent His beloved Son to the people, and He said, “Surely they will respect Him.”

And yet, what happened to Jesus? What He prophesied in our text for today happened just three days later, when they took Jesus outside of the city of Jerusalem, the walls of the city. They put Him to death by crucifixion.

Let's look at the two big questions of our text for today. Jesus is the fulfillment of this text. He is the beloved Son. He came to be the Chief Cornerstone. He is the fulfillment of the prophesy He made.

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone”.

Christ is our cornerstone. We see that up on the front wall of our sanctuary.

What reaction does Jesus want us to have to this parable? Well, first of all, He does not want us to react the way the religious leaders did. It was the religious leaders who rejected Jesus, as the Chief Cornerstone.

What is the result of that? He says what is going to happen to them. At the very end He says,

“Everyone who falls on that stone

will be broken to pieces,

and when it falls on anyone,

it will crush him.”

Actually, the Greek verb there says,

“it will crush them into powder”.

It is not the reaction Jesus wants us to have. Rather, the reaction He wants us to have is to produce fruit in keeping with faith. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. That is the reaction Jesus wants us to have in keeping with God sending His servants to us, and God sending His Son Jesus to us.

But, you know what? Today in our text we see a little bit of the tenants in all of us. You see, God has sent His servants to us. Sometimes, we mistreat God's servants. I am going to give you some examples.

-When I was in 7^th and 8^th grade, my teacher and principal was Mr. Depienbrock. Mr. D. was a wonderful teacher. We loved him, but sometimes we would push him to the limit. Sometimes, we would not listen to him as a messenger from God. This was his response. He would say, “Guys, I didn't just fall off of the turnip truck. I wasn't born yesterday.” But, sometimes we didn't want to listen to what it was he had to say to us.

-Or consider this. You all know this, but the older we get in life, the more we see how wise our parents actually are. When we are young, and our parents tell us what to do, we sometimes don't want to listen to what it is they tell us to do. Here they are messengers from God, servants from God, and we don't want to hear what they have to say to us.

And yet, you know what is more amazing than the sin of the tenants, or what is more amazing than our sin? As we are like these tenants, and sin against God's messengers, what is more amazing than that is to see God's patience in this parable. God's patience comes out loud and clear, as not only did He send one servant, two servants, three servants, but

He sent His Son.

The love of God comes out so clearly in our parable, as we see the owner of the vineyard, God the Father, sending His Son.

Jesus came in fulfillment of this prophesy, not only living the perfect life we couldn't, but being led outside of the city walls of Jerusalem, and being put to death by crucifixion.

We see the love Jesus has, as a messenger, or a servant from God, in laying down His life, so that we could have the forgiveness of sin, and eternal life in Heaven.

Jesus was telling the people who were listening to Him that day, throughout the history of The Old Testament, God sent His messengers. God sent His servants to win them for salvation, to bring them to faith, to sustain them in their faith so that they could have everlasting life with Him in Heaven.

Now, it is true, sometimes we do joke about the way God comes to us, but God doesn't joke about it. God came to us in the past through His Son, Jesus. God comes to us now, through Christian parents, Christian teachers, pastors, and Christian friends. But, the day will come in the future when God comes. On Judgment Day, when God comes, two things are going to happen. Either people are going to be built on Christ the Cornerstone, or they are going to be crushed, and ground into powder by Christ the Cornerstone.

Which brings us to today. Dear friends in Christ. God comes to you today, as our eighth graders said in their questioning. God comes to us today through The Means of Grace. Those are the tools the Holy Spirit uses, not only to bring us to faith, but to sustain us in our faith.

       -He comes through The Word.

       -He comes through Baptism.

       -And, He comes through The Lord's Supper to sustain us in our faith, and to prepare us for that day when He will come again in His final judgment.

May it not be the case that we are crushed by Christ the Cornerstone. But, may it be the case that we are build on Christ, as the Chief Cornerstone, as the book of Ephesians says.

“You are no longer foreigners and aliens,

but fellow citizens of God's people,

and members of God's household,

built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,

with Christ Jesus, Himself, as the Chief Cornerstone.

Amen