SHARING BREAD

²⁰ Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.

Luke 20:20 (NIV)

Observing with evil intent, these feigned characters were hopeful of catching Jesus – grasping Him securely so to speak – in an effort to hand Him over to the power and the authority of the Gentiles.  Unable to put Jesus to death by process of their law, these Jewish leaders were desirous of the governor to do their dirty deed.  Nothing takes Jesus by surprise (Hallelujah!).  In fact, He prophesied this very thing to His clueless disciples in the book of Mark demonstrating that our Savior not only leads His people in triumph but also in suffering:

³² They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ³³ “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, ³⁴ who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”  Mark 10:32-34 (NIV)

Amazing!   These leaders were attempting to dupe the One who is not only aware of what we are thinking in our minds and hearts, but also the One who knows and understands the motives behind these thoughts and actions.  Hell-o, it does not take a rocket scientist to know that all of our striving towards scheming against or manipulating God is going nowhere!  A chasing after the wind as Solomon would say.  We play all these silly games with God.  While His power goes well beyond all we can even think or imagine, one of His greatest powers must certainly be in restraining His hand against ignorant flesh!  What restraint He daily shows!  What is it that constrains this all powerful hand of His?  The verse that flashes through my mind is familiar to all:

¹⁶ ”For 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. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.   John 3:16-17 (NIV)

God’s motivation towards people is love.  God in Christ came to reconcile the world to Himself – not counting men’s sins against them – He came not to condemn but to save those who would believe in Him.  This is the very good news of the gospel; this is the very good news for the broken, bleeding, guilty, powerless and ungodly heart – which would include, by the way, all of us at one time.  Paul tells us in Romans:

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.   Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)

Showing the full extent of His love, Jesus being in very nature God took on the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness, being found in appearance as a man, He humbles Himself becoming obedient to death for the sake of reconciling fallen man back to God.  Paul in Philippians tells us:

⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.   Phil 2:5-11 (NIV)

“O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee.  I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths its flow, may richer fuller be.  O light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to Thee.  My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day, may brighter fairer be.  O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee.  I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be.  O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from Thee.  I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red, life that shall endless be.”   George Matheson 

“While I regarded God as a tyrant I thought my sin a trifle; But when I knew Him to be my Father, then I mourned that I could ever have kicked against Him.  When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin; but when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against One who loved me so, and sought my good.”    C.H. Spurgeon

What I glean from this:

• It is foolish for me to ever strive to manipulate God by playing silly games – it simply not going to happen!
• God’s motivation towards people is love.
• Jesus’ attitude of being a humble servant should be my own.

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SHARING BREAD

¹⁹ The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

Luke 20:19 (NIV)

Ever notice that one cannot simply get rid of Jesus when confronted by the Truth of Him?  The teachers of the law in our verse for today were looking for a way to dispose of Him immediately.   This was not a new phenomenon – Luke states almost the exact same wording in Chapters 19 and 22:

⁴⁷ Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. ⁴⁸ Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.   Luke 19:47-48 (NIV)

 ¹ Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, ² and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.   Luke 22:1-2 (NIV)

No matter how hard one tries – through pretending He does not exist or ignoring Him with our fingers stopping up our ears or seeking any other way of trying to silence Jesus – it does not negate the fact that He is, that He is real, that He is Truth and that He presents us with a choice by His life which demands of us a decision as to whether or not we will follow Him.  Remember and beware dear reader, no decision is in fact a decision. The Bible leaves no room for neutral ground.

Several times in Scripture people were clearly confronted with choosing between following the world or following Jehovah.  God simply does not want us to do some limping dance between two opinions – a divided mind and heart will never stand.  We find in 1 Kings the confrontation between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.  This conflict, instrumented by God on behalf of the audience of the people of Israel, begs the following question presented by Elijah to God’s people:

²¹ Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. 1 Kings 18:21 (NIV)

Joshua presented the same scenario found in the book which bears his name:

¹⁴ ”Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. ¹⁵ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”   Josh 24:14-15 (NIV)

Lastly, Peter states the following, in the book of Acts, to the Sanhedrin and other religious leaders of the day regarding the miraculous healing that God had just performed through them:

¹³ When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ¹⁴ But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. ¹⁵ So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. ¹⁶ ”What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷ But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.” ¹⁸ Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. ²⁰ For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”   Acts 4:13-20 (NIV)

As Jesus came as the Light of the world, He has left us here to shine forth His light also through our words and our deeds.  We are to be Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to a hurting world. Like Peter and John, we must be bold in professing to others what we have seen and what we have heard without fear of the people.  Jesus tells us:

¹⁴ ”You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.    Matt 5:14-16 (NIV)

“We are holding a light…Though it may seem but a twinkling candle in a world of blackness, it is our business to let it shine.  We are blowing a trumpet…We must keep sounding the alarm to those who are in spiritual danger…We are kindling a fire.  In this cold world full of hatred and selfishness our little blaze may seem to be unavailing, but we must keep our fire burning.  A light, a trumpet, a fire…they seem so little…But ‘with God all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:26), and He will bless our efforts to bring the good news of Jesus to a weary and strife-torn world.”  Billy Graham

What I glean from this:

• People have always tried to silence Jesus.
• God sets before me a choice to follow Him or the world.
• I am to be a light for Jesus.

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SHARING BREAD

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Luke 20:18 (NIV)

When we fall on Jesus, as our only hope of salvation, with a broken and contrite heart – completely penitent over our sin and hopeless condition – “broken to pieces” if you will, it will never be despised by God.  It is when we approach His throne full of ourselves, full of our works, full of self-righteousness, full of our arrogance and pride thinking that we alone bring to the table our own ability to reconcile ourselves to a holy God, it is then that we are crushed.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.   Psalms 51:17 (NIV)

“Has that breaking of my independence come?  All the rest is religious fraud.  The one point to decide is – will I give up?  Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come?  I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place.  And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable – ‘I have been crucified with Christ…..’”   Oswald Chambers

It is a crushing blow to come face to face with the reality of our own depravity.  The more that we grow in Christlikeness the more aware of our sinful nature we come which should result in our humility, love and mercy towards others.  Even the “best” of us, apart from Jesus, bring nothing but our filthy rags:

⁶ All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.  Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)

“It’s the nature of God to make something out of nothing; therefore, when anyone is nothing, God may yet make something of him.”   Martin Luther

We are also told by the prophet Isaiah:

⁷ Their land is full of silver and gold; there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. ⁸ Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. ⁹ So man will be brought low and mankind humbled– do not forgive them. ¹⁰ Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty! ¹¹ The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. ¹² The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled).   Isaiah 2:7-12 (NIV)

When face to face with God’s pure holiness and glorious majesty, it will be supremely evident to those who have chosen not to follow our Savior.  It will be clear that neither their arrogance nor their wealth will be able to save.  We are told in Hebrews that at this time, everything will be shaken:

²⁵ See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? ²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” ²⁷ The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken–that is, created things–so that what cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our “God is a consuming fire.” Heb 12:25-29 (NIV)

I may also add that God always fulfills His promises – always, whether it is our desire for Him to or not! 

“God is the God of promise.  He keeps His word, even when that seems impossible.”  Colin Urquhart

This is why we are told – again through the prophet Isaiah:

¹ ”Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. ² Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. ³ Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. ⁴ See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. ⁵ Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.” ⁶ Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.   Isaiah 55:1-7 (NIV)

The New Testament puts it in this way:

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. ⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.  1 John 1:5-10 (NIV)

What I glean from this:

• My broken and contrite heart is never despised by God.
• I am a religious fraud if I depend upon by own sense of righteousness and abilities to reconcile myself to a holy God.
• It is only through the blood of Jesus that I am washed and made clean of my sins.

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SHARING BREAD

¹⁶ “He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

When the people heard this, they said, “May this never be!”

¹⁷ 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’?”

Luke 20:16-17 (NIV)

Speaking to those who would reject Him, the Capstone freely gives forth this prophecy.  Jesus – according to the book of Daniel – is the rock cut out of the mountain but not by human hands.  Part of the dream King Nebuchadnezzar had is described by Daniel as follows:

³⁴ While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.   Dan 2:34-35 (NIV)

Daniels’s interpretation of this dream speaks to our verses for today:

 ⁴⁴ ”In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands–a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. “The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.”   Dan 2:44-45 (NIV)

Peter attributes the capstone title to Jesus when speaking to the Jewish leaders in the book of Acts:

 ⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹ If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, ¹⁰ then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ He is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone’. ¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”   Acts 4:8-12 (NIV)

Scripture is clear – salvation is found in no one else but Jesus. Just as Paul and Silas answer the jailor’s question in Acts regarding salvation we may also apply their same answer to us:

²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴ The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God–he and his whole family.   Acts 16:29-34 (NIV)

Jesus Himself tells us:

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.   John 14:6 (NIV)

“By His words, No one comes to the Father except through Me, Jesus stressed that salvation, contrary to what many people think, is not obtainable through many ways. Only one Way exists. Jesus is the only access to the Father because He is the only One from the Father.” 

The Bible Knowledge Commentary

“Our nature struggles fiercely against being saved without our works and tries to deceive us with a grand illusion of our own righteousness. So we may find ourselves attracted to a life that merely appears to be righteous. Or because we know we aren’t righteous, we may be frightened by death or sin.  Therefore, we must learn that we should have nothing to do with any other way of becoming righteous, except through Christ alone.”  Martin Luther

“In Christ alone my hope is found; He is my light, my strength, my song; This cornerstone, this solid ground, Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!  My comforter, my all in all—Here in the love of Christ I stand.  In Christ alone, Who took on flesh, Fullness of God in helpless babe! This gift of love and righteousness, Scorned by the ones He came to save. Till on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied; For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—Here in the death of Christ I live. There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain; Then bursting forth in glorious day, Up from the grave He rose again!  And as He stands in victory, Sin’s curse as lost its grip on me; For I am His and He is mine—Bought with the precious blood of Christ. No guilt in life, no fear in death—This is the pow’r of Christ in me; From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand; Till He returns or calls me home—Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.”  “In Christ Alone” Keith Getty & Stuart Townsend

What I glean from this:

• Jesus is the Capstone.
• Abiding joy accompanies my salvation.
• Salvation comes through Christ alone.

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SHARING BREAD

¹³ ”Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴ ”But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?”

Luke 20:13-15 (NIV)

God, through the prophet Isaiah, puts it this way:

⁴ What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?  When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?  ⁵ Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard:  I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.  ⁶ I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there.  I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”   Isaiah 5:4-6 (NIV)

Destruction follows the path of continuous disobedience – every sin carries with it a death sentence – death to trust, death to family, death to peace, death to relationships – death.  This is man’s choosing it is not God’s desire.  Scripture confirms this in both the Old and the New Testaments:

 ¹⁵ The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.  2 Chron 36:15-16 (NIV)

⁵ This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. ⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ ⁷ I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.   Jer 2:5-7 (NIV)

  ³⁷ ”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate.    Matt 23:37-38 (NIV)

Mocking, despising God’s Word, scoffing, rebellion, following worthless idols all result in the inciting of  God’s ire – God brokenheartedly yet firmly and finally says “Enough!”; “No remedy!”; “Desolation!”  If it “cannot but grieve gracious souls to see what pains men take to go to hell” (C. H. Spurgeon) what of our gracious and loving heavenly Father?  Think for a moment what His hand has bestowed upon us.  Think for a moment of His constant love for us. Do we not owe Him our all? 

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² 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?   Romans 8:31-32 (NIV)

“How much owest thou unto my Lord?  Has He ever done anything for thee?  Has He forgiven thy sins?  Has He covered thee with a robe of righteousness?  Has He set thy feet upon a rock?  Has He established thy goings?  Has He prepared heaven for thee?  Has He prepared thee for heaven?  Has He written thy name in His book of life?  Has He given thee countless blessings?  Has He laid up for thee a store of mercies, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard?  Then do something for Jesus worthy of His love. Give not a mere wordy offering to a dying Redeemer.  How will you feel when your Master comes, if you have to confess that you did nothing for Him, but kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither flowing forth to His poor or to His work?  Out on such love as that!  What do men think of a love which never shows itself in action?  Who will accept a love so weak that it does not actuate you to a single deed of self-denial, of generosity, of heroism, or zeal?”   C. H. Spurgeon

“Thanksgiving is good, but thanks-living is better.”  Matthew Henry

⁵ May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.   2 Thess 3:5 (NIV)

What I glean from this:

• God has richly blessed me with every spiritual blessing.
• God longs to gather me under the shelter of His wings.  “⁴ He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”   Psalms 91:4 (NIV)
• My love for God should show itself in action bringing glory to Him.

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SHARING BREAD

⁹ He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. ¹⁰ At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. ¹² He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

Luke 20:9-12 (NIV)

Both Matthew and Mark add the following insight regarding our verses for today allowing us to gain deeper clarity into the Parable of the Tenants:

 ³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.  Matt 21:33 (NIV)

¹ He then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.   Mark 12:1 (NIV)

These verses of Scripture are reminiscent of the words the prophet Isaiah wrote:

¹ I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard:  My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. ² He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.  Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.   Isaiah 5:1-2 (NIV)

Scripture compares the kingdom of God on earth to a vineyard furnished with all the necessities necessary for its management, improvement and advancement.  We must note that the church is the planting of the Lord for the displaying of His splendor, falling under His watchful, protective eye.  It was He who planted the vineyard with the choicest of vines; it was He who cleared the soil of the stones, and it was He who built the watchtower and the winepress – all towards the goal of promoting its fruitfulness. 

“Sing about a fruitful vineyard: ³ I, the LORD, watch over it; I water it continually.   I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it.    Isaiah 27:2-3 (NIV)

Those of us who enjoy all the privileges of being a child of the King also have pleasant and profitable duties which accompany this position – we are to about bringing forth much fruit – of this we are held accountable.  Proverbs tells us:

³⁰ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.   Prov 11:30 (NIV)

Righteous, Christ-like behavior attracts and points others to the wisdom and the knowledge of the Truth while fools bring trouble even to their own families. 

⁷ ”But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. ⁸ He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”   Jer 17:7-8 (NIV)

“Grant, O Lord, that I may earnestly seek to bring forth fruits, and may grow in fruitfulness as I grow in years; and never cease from yielding fruit; hereby proving myself to be a tree of the Lord’s planting, whose leaf is green, and whose branches are flourishing and fruitful.  Yet bless me also with deep poverty of spirit, that I may see myself still nothing, have nothing of my own to glory in, or to justify me; and thus esteem Christ my all, and rest upon Him wholly.  K.H. Von Bogatzky

According to our parable for today (and many other places in Scripture as well), it has often been the lot of God’s faithful servants to be abused and treated wrongly by those who are resolved not to do their duty to God.  They not only refuse to acknowledge God’s rightful authority but also disdain those who do.      

“Christians shouldn’t be surprised when, in seeking to do God’s will, we find ourselves trapped in painful, frightening, difficult, or impossible situations.  Life is hard – especially for Christians.”  Robert J. Morgan

“Though assaults be many, and my enemies mighty, if God strengthen me, I have enough to comfort me; for the greater my enemy, the more glorious my victory; and the more glorious my victory, the more triumphant my glory.”  K.H. Von Bogatzky

What I glean from this:

• It is God who plants the vineyard and provides all the necessities necessary for its fruitfulness.
• As God’s child, I am to be faithful in producing fruit.
• As a faithful servant of God, I should not be surprised by opposition, struggles or difficult circumstances.

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SHARING BREAD

 ³ He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, ⁴ John’s baptism–was it from heaven, or from men?”

⁵ They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

⁷ So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”

⁸ Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Luke 20:3-8 (NIV)

Ever like Jesus to “season His words with salt” as He turns the question of the day by the religious leaders back at them.  Wanting to know from whence His authority came, His response was to ask them where John the Baptist obtained his power.  Not wanting to upset the crowds who venerated John, though the leaders strongly disapproved of his work because John had publically humiliated them and had begun to strip away allegiance from their religious system, they respond to Jesus’ question by stating they did not know where John’s power originated.    By this interchange, Jesus implies He was doing His work by the same Authority as John – the God in heaven.  We find in Scripture John the Baptist giving us his unedited opinion of these religious leaders to which he spoke:

 ⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.   Matt 3:4-10 (NIV)

We too should take heed to the Baptist’s words in our own lives as well.  Are we producing fruit in keeping with our repentance?  Jesus echoes these words in John:

⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵ ”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. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.   John 15:4-6 (NIV)

Jesus gives us a similar command in the Sermon on the Mount:

¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.   Matt 7:16-19 (NIV)

“Let us work as if success depended upon ourselves alone, but with heartfelt conviction that we are doing nothing, and God everything.”
~ St. Ignatius Loyola

“The true secret to all ministry is spiritual power. It is not man’s genius, or man’s intellect, or man’s energy; but simply the power of the Spirit of the God of the Gospel. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts (Zech.iv.6)   It is well for all ministers (and believers) to bear this ever in mind. It will sustain the heart and give constant freshness to their ministry (and lives).  A ministry which flows from abiding dependence upon the Holy Spirit can never become barren. If a man is drawing on his own resources, he will soon run dry. It matters not what his powers may be, or how extensive his reading, or how vast his stores of information; if the Holy Spirit be not the spring and power of his ministry, it must, sooner or later, lose its freshness and its effectiveness. How important then, that all who minister (and live) in the gospel…should lean continually and exclusively on the power of the Holy Spirit. He knows what souls need, and He can supply it. But he must be trusted and used. It will not do to lean partly on self and partly on the Spirit.”  C H Macintosh, Notes on the Book of Numbers, 1861

 “We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives.”  Charles Spurgeon

What I glean from this:

·       Jesus’ authority came from God.

·       I am to produce fruit in keeping with my repentance.

·       By abiding in Jesus I am able to produce fruit – leaning continually on the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within me.

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SHARING BREAD

¹ One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. ² ”Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”

Luke 20:1-2 (NIV)

The religious leaders of that day posed two questions for Jesus – by what authority was He acting upon and Who gave Him that authority.  Here we find people willing to dispute anything because they choose to shut their eyes to the light given them.  His miracles spoke for themselves without using any words.  Jesus also clearly states in Scripture His mission and from Whom it was received.  Matthew tells us:

²⁷ ”All things have been committed to me by my Father.  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.    Matt 11:27 (NIV)

We find also in the gospel of John:

³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.   John 3:35 (NIV)

³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.   John 6:37-39 (NIV)

¹⁷ The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life–only to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”   John 10:17-18 (NIV)

The Authority of Jesus was given to Him by God and for God.  Even one of the Jewish ruling council – Nicodemus – realized Jesus’ miraculous powers had to have been given to Him from above:

 ¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”   John 3:1-2 (NIV)

As believers in Jesus, we too are sealed with the Holy Spirit’s power and authority to be used to further God’s kingdom and bring glory and honor to Him. As “living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1-2), we too have the authority to lay down our lives to take them up again in abundant life.  He has work prepared for us to do and has equipped us with the achieving power to do these works.  Hence Jesus’ words in the great commission:

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matt 28:18-20 (NIV)

“God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.”  Hudson Taylor

Just as He told His first disciples of the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit which would equip them to do every good work, He tells us:

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Acts 1:8 (NIV)

Jesus never forces His authority upon us, He leaves us free to choose obedience – forced obedience is slavery not sonship.

“Once His life has been created in me through His redemption, I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me.  It is a complete and effective domination, in which I acknowledge that ‘You are worthy, O Lord…’ (Revelation 4:11).  It is simply the unworthiness within me that refuses to bow down or to submit to one that is worthy….If our Lord insisted on obedience, He would simply become a taskmaster and cease to have any real authority.  He never insists on obedience, but when we truly see Him we will instantly obey Him.”   Oswald Chambers

 ¹ After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.  ⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. ⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.   John 17:1-10 (NIV)

We bring glory to God through our obedience done in the power if the Holy Spirit.

“Thank God for the glorious and majestic truth that His Spirit can work the very nature of Jesus into us, if we will only obey Him.”   Oswald Chambers

What I glean from this:

• All authority belongs to Jesus.
• We are given this authority as believers in Christ so that we may go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit accomplishing the work God has prepared in advance for us to do.
• I bring glory to God through my obedience.

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SHARING BREAD

⁴⁷ Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. ⁴⁸ Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

Luke 19:47-48 (NIV)

Wanting to kill the Savior but were afraid of the people – what is wrong with this picture?  The chief priests, teachers of the law, and leaders of the day all wanted Jesus out of their hair but He was simply too popular with the crowds and that had sent them shaking fearfully.  We find a little later in Luke:

¹⁹ The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people. Luke 20:19 (NIV)

¹ Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, ² and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.   Luke 22:1-2 (NIV)

⁴² Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³ for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.   John 12:42-43 (NIV)

Is it not amazing how people can be so concerned over what man thinks but do not give a single whit about God’s approval.  I am assuming they think that just because they see no manifestation in a physical form He is not there.  Hell-o…whether one believes this or not – it remains true:  we all live coram Deo – before the face of God.  The writer of Hebrews tells us:

¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.   Heb 4:13 (NIV)

The Old Testament speaks to this point too.  We find King David’s words in 1 Chronicles:

⁹ ”And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.  1 Chron 28:9 (NIV)

Lastly, 2 Chronicles adds this truth:

 ⁹ For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.   2 Chron 16:9 (NIV)

“None of the creatures can be concealed from Christ; and there are none of the motions and workings of our heads and hearts but what are open and manifest to Him.  This omniscience of Christ should engage us to persevere in faith and obedience.”  Matthew Henry

Rather than encourage the Pharisees towards faith and obedience they sought to rid themselves of His presence.  Not going to happen.  This is no different from people of our generation.  Solomon, the wise one, tells us there is nothing new under the sun.  Wanting to rid themselves of Jesus, people in our day presume that He does not exist or they fabricate in their own minds their description of the Savior – what He embraces or what He chides or they simply and blindly do not consider Him at all – unless, of course, He starts messing with their space.  Jesus was certainly getting into the space of the religious leaders in our verses for today and they did not like it one bit – hence their desire to get rid of Him.  Yet because they were afraid of man and of the crowds following Him, they were stumped as to what to do.

Jesus, on the other hand, did not care what man thought – this should be a heads-up and red flag for His children as well.  If we are swayed by the opinions of man we will lack the peace God desires for us to experience.  It will keep us remaining in a ruffled state.  We find in Matthew:

¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.   Matt 22:16 (NIV)

Jesus states it wonderfully to us with His words found in the gospel of John:

⁴¹ ”I do not accept praise from men, ⁴² but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?    John 5:41-44 (NIV)

What I glean from this:

• I live before the face of God – every thought and motive of my mind and heart, every word and deed are ever before Him.
• I should care more for what God thinks than what man thinks.
• Pleasing God brings me peace.

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SHARING BREAD

⁴⁵ Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. ⁴⁶ “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ “

Luke 19:45-46 (NIV)

I am reminded of another passage when Jesus was also cleansing the Temple at the onset of His ministry found in the Gospel of John.  How appropriate and fitting for Him to both begin and end His ministry with the cleansing of the Temple – perhaps we should take heed:

¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  John 2:13-17 (NIV)

Believer, how zealous are we for the cleansing of God’s temples?  As you well know, our bodies are now the temple of the Lord.  We house the precious Holy Spirit therefore, I pose the question again – how zealous are we for its purity?  Do we profane and dishonor God with our temples – both in our thoughts and in our actions?  Are we striving to cleanse sin from within and without or do we glibly accept and make light of what God abhors?  It matters.

“Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love.”   John Bunyan

We should fiercely despise sin – every sin carries with it a death sentence.  Never embrace that which is wrong and condone that which our Lord dishonors.  Scripture testifies to this in the small two page book of Haggai.  Five times in this brief message God tells us to “Give careful thought to your ways” in regard to the building of our temples.  While written to the Jews building the literal temple this can certainly be taken figuratively for us today.  He begins by stating:

³ Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: ⁴ ”Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” ⁵ Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶ You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”   Hag 1:3-6 (NIV)

Selfish indifference, negligence and the lack of satisfaction had caused the Jews to focus on their own homes and activities over the building of God’s temple.  Let’s consider this for a moment in light of our day and time.  How much effort do we put forth in “growing up” in Christ compared to our blending with the world?  Christians are to be in a process of becoming conformed to the image of Christ:

²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.     Romans 8:29 (NIV)

Next, I believe, we find in Haggai God’s “How-To” for us:

⁷ This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁸ Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD.   Hag 1:7-8 (NIV)

Hopefully without taking too much liberty with the text, this points to our “going up” in the mountains of our quiet times in His Word and in prayer, of our “bringing down” the timbers of His truth and of our “building” our temples through the application of it – enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit.   God states that He takes pleasure in our doing this and is honored by our actions – I might also add glorified. It would do us well to remember a Christ-centered and focused, God glorifying life, manifests itself as a life of expectation, satisfaction, significance and hope.  We are the big losers if we do not follow hard after Jesus.  Just as He told His original disciples He tells us:  “Come, follow me”; “Seek first my kingdom”. 

⁶ ”This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. ⁸ ’The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ⁹ ’The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”   Hag 2:6-9 (NIV)

What I glean from this:

·       I am to be zealous for the cleansing of my body, the very temple of the Lord God.

·       I should never embrace what God abhors.

·       Through the power of the Holy Spirit I am able to “grow up” in Jesus.  ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.  2 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

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