Lessons From The Vineyard

LESSONS FROM THE VINEYARD

Matthew 21:33-46

What we are going to do this morning is we are going to study the passage and then at the end I am going to give you 4 practical lessons that hopefully we will all learn.

To begin, I want you to notice the end. Notice verse 45.

Now normally when Jesus told a parable, those whom Jesus was talking about didn’t understand the parable.
In fact, that was one of the reasons that Jesus taught in parables was to hide the message from those who chose not to understand it.

But this time is different. Verse 45 tells us here that these religious leaders “understood that He spoke the parables against them.”

And look at their response in vs. 46: And when they sought to seize Him, they feared the multitudes, because they held Him to be a prophet.”

What Jesus had to say here made them mad! So mad that they wanted to “seize Him.”
They couldn’t stand the truth! He didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear and they didn’t like it.

A lot of people are that way today…they don’t like what Jesus has to say…they don’t want to hear the truth…but the fact of the matter is…the truth is what really matters…and so, as much as we might not like to hear it…lets listen to what Jesus has to say…and for salvation sake, and to be better disciples, let’s learn from it.

Now, Jesus begins by quoting from Isaiah chapter 5.

And these religious leaders, being familiar with the scriptures knew that in that passage Isaiah was speaking about the Jews and their leaders.
So when Jesus starts here, they immediately apply this to themselves.
And they know who the “landowner or builder of the vineyard is.”
They know this is talking about them and God.

And notice what Jesus says. He starts out telling about a “landowner who planted a vineyard, and put a wall around the vineyard…”

And then the landowner dug a wine press, and built a tower…
And then he rented it out to vine growers…and he went away on a journey.

Now you need to understand what is being said here.

You see, the description here is of what we would call, “a first class operation.”
Most vineyards were not this way.
This man plants this vineyard…then he puts a wall around it to protect it.
Not only did it have a wall, it had a tower…
And towers not only meant more protection…but a place of safety and refuge for those who worked the vineyard.
It was a place where they could sleep.

But what really made this a “first class operation” was the winepress.

Notice the landowner “dug” a winepress…that means it had a vat under it.
To have a vat dug out under the winepress was very impressive.
Under the top soil in that region was a limestone bed.
And it took a lot of extra work to dig a vat out of the limestone.
So this was really a unique feature.

This “man” had built a “top notch” vineyard that everyone would be envious of.

Everyone would love to have something like this.
This man has really “set these people up.”
It is like God says in Isa. 5: 4: “What more could He do?”

Now, what would happen is the “landowner” would build this vineyard and then he would rent it out to some men to operate the vineyard.

And what they would do is they would pay their rent from that which they produced.

So, here they were, set up in this “top of the line” situation and all they had to do was pay the rent from what they produced.

And everything else they produced was theirs.

Well, it comes time for the owner to collect his portion of the produce and so he decides to send some of his slaves to collect it.

But when the slaves get to the vineyard, the vine growers beat one, they kill another, and the stone the third.

And so in verse 36 the landowner sends another group of slaves, larger than the first, and the vine growers do the same thing to them.

And this time they “wound him in the head, and treat him shamefully.”

Now, you need to understand that back then, if you wanted to send a message to someone that “we don’t respect you and we want you to leave us alone, or don’t mess with us”, you would send it through the way you treated their slave.

You couldn’t get on the phone and call or send an email.
It had to come via the messenger.
And so the way you treated the messenger or their slave sent a very real message to the owner or the master.

So when these vine growers treat this man’s slaves this way, they are actually expressing how they feel about the owner! (How they feel about God.)

They are rejecting Him…and His authority…and His claim to the vineyard and any proceeds that come from it.
So, by their actions they are showing how they feel about the owner.

And yet, the landowner continues to send his slaves until finally, last of all, he sends his son.

And when he does, the vine growers say, “This is the heir. Let us kill him, and seize the inheritance.”
So, according to verse 39 they “took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

Now, at this point Jesus asks these chief priests and Pharisees…these religious leaders, what they think the landowner will do to the vine growers?

And look at their response in vs. 41: They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

And look at Jesus’ reply starting in vs. 42. He quotes from Psalm 118:22-23 about “the stone which the builders rejected becomes the chief cornerstone.”

And then in vs. 43-44, He tells these Jewish leaders that the “kingdom will be taken away from them, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it…and those who “fall on the stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter like dust.”

And this whole parable angers these men because they understand it and they know Jesus is talking about them.

But they are afraid to seize him because his popularity with the people has continued to increase.

In this passage, Jesus condemns these religious hypocrites as well as the Jewish nation.

In this parable He tells them, “You had it all set up for you. God blessed you and cared for you, and watched out for you.
He handed you this beautiful nation flowing with milk and honey, and all you had to do was honor Him as God…and respect Him and be faithful to Him.
But instead, all you have done all through these years is reject His message and reject His messengers.
You have beaten them, and killed them.
And now, as they come seeking to destroy Jesus…just like the parable they have rejected the Son.
And in just a couple of days they will kill Him too.

Now, what does all this mean to you and me?

Let me give you 4 lessons that I hope that we will learn from this parable.

The hardening of your heart can and often does reach a point of no return.

Notice, when the first slaves come, what do they do?
They beat one…then they kill another…and then they stone the third.

It is as though at first they still had conscience enough that they could only go so far.

But then the next one…their conscience lets them go a little farther.
Then the next time they go even farther.
To the point that their conscience doesn’t seem to bother them at all.
In fact, they get to the point where they seem to be able to justify to themselves in what they are doing.

Gradually they harden their hearts to the point that they are completely hardened against any sense of right or wrong.

And what we need to realize is each one of us can do the same.

We can gradually harden our hearts to the point that we are calloused and seared over where nothing bothers us…to the point where we can justify what we are doing.

In 1 Timothy 4:2 Paul spoke of people who were this way.

He says that they were “seared in their conscience as with a branding iron.”
In the context of that passage they lied to themselves about matters of sound doctrine.
They knew the truth…they knew what the apostles taught…and what Christ had taught…but what they taught didn’t fit with what they wanted to believe…so they believed something else.
But to do that they had to convince themselves that what they were doing wasn’t wrong.
And that made it easier for them to reject something else…and then something else…and something else…to the point that they had completely seared over their conscience.
And not only did they believe a lie…they were apparently teaching those lies.

And it works the same for us…we reject one part of the teachings of Christ and the apostles because it doesn’t agree with what we want….

Then we reject another part…and then another….
And each time you do that it requires you to “harden” your heart just a little bit more.
And if you keep going you have completely seared over your conscience to the point that what you are doing doesn’t bother you.

And when you reach that point, then you are just like these guys that Jesus is talking too…you have gone too far.

We see this in our society.

Every one of us has a TV in our homes…some 2 or 3.
And every night you get these comedy shows and some drama shows on.

Now all of these shows are in competition for their audience.

They have got to do what it takes to keep people watching.
So they resort to vulgarity…and slander…and sexual innuendoes…and character assassinations.
I mean those comedians have so hardened themselves to the point that they don’t care one bit about what they say…or who they hurt.
And the real tragedy is the people in the audience think it is all funny and entertaining…and they are all laughing.
Nothing seems to bother them….the more vulgar…the more insulting it all is, the more they seem to like it.

And what you are seeing is the gradual hardening of our society.

And this hardening has crept over into some of us.
Because things we used to not even listen to no longer shames us or embarrasses us or affects us in any way.
This ought to scare us to death.

In the book of Revelation 16 verses 10-11 in the context of the 5^th bowl of wrath it says this….

“And the fifth {angel} poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.”

They were gnawing their tongues in agony and yet they would not repent!
Why? Because their hearts are too hard.

We need to recognize how easy it is to harden our hearts to God and how dangerous it is.

We simply must not allow this to happen.
And the way to do that is by not ever letting it get started.

A second lesson we need to learn out of this parable is this: We had better appreciate the gift that God has given to us.

God had “set these people up.”
They were special. They were His people…His vine growers.
But here in verse 9 they are “destroyed and the vineyard is given to someone else.”
And we look at these people and we say, “That can’t happen to us.”

Well, let me remind you of what Paul says in Romans 11 starting in verse 17.

In that passage Paul is talking about how the Gentiles have been brought into the kingdom because the Jews had rejected Christ.
And using the analogy of an olive tree Paul says, “….do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, {remember that} it is not you who supports the root, but the root {supports} you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

I do not think the warning could be any clearer.

Yes, we share the blessings that God has promised to His people.
But those blessings are received on the basis of our trust and faith in Him.
If we turn our back on Him…if we walk away from that faith…then we will find ourselves cut off from Him too.

Two last points…God is incredibly patient.

Look how He sends messenger after messenger.
He doesn’t send one and say, “Alright, that’s it. I am sending in the army.”
He sends one, and then another….

Go back and look at the OT and see how century after century, not year after year, that God continued to send His messengers to His people imploring them and warning them to come back to Him.

We cannot accuse God of being impatient.
One cannot accuse God of not giving man time to turn to Him.
As Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:9… The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
God has shown patience again and again.

But remember this too.

Just like in this parable, there will come a point when God says, “NO more.”

One other point. Jesus is our last chance.

It is made clear when it says “last of all he sent His son.”
There is no resort after Jesus.
No hope after Jesus.
He is it.
You either accept Him or reject Him, but there are no more messengers after Jesus.
He is Gods ultimate appeal to man. He is Gods last arrow. There are no more arrows in the quiver.
If you refuse Christ, the only thing that remains then is the judgment.

These people didn’t like what Jesus had to say here in this parable. It upset them to the point that they wanted to “seize Him to destroy Him.”

I hope you are not that way.
I hope your heart is still such that you will let these lessons sink deeply within…and that you will realize your need to be faithful to Christ.

God has sent the messenger. He sent his Son and He is it. There are only two choices, accept Him or reject Him.

With one choice comes blessings; the other consequences.

What will your choice be? If you choose to accept Him, won’t you come?