Title: TO BEAR FRUIT
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Blog Entry: Rev. Steven S. Billings Pentecost 21 Sermon 10-5-2008 St. Matthew 21:33-44 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. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." 42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? 43 Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." Luther believed that in every passage of Scripture you could find both Law and Gospel. But he also recognized the difficulty of distinguishing Law and Gospel when said that whoever has mastered that art deserves to be called a Doctor of Theology. This is especially challenging when confronted with a text like the one before us today. It's not hard to spot the Law in this text; it's full of Law. You can see it right away in verse 34: "When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit." Without a doubt, God has expectations of the members of His kingdom. This is, after all, His vineyard, and He's called us not just to live here and enjoy all the benefits, but to work, to produce fruit. How do you feel about that? There's a number of reactions people can have when confronted by God's expectations. First of all, there's fear: we're afraid our efforts won't be good enough; we're afraid we won't be strong enough, or talented enough, or wise enough to accomplish what He expects. Then there's anger. We get angry, just like the tenants in our text, because our sinful nature doesn't want to work for anyone else. We want to spend our time and energy on things that satisfy our desire for pleasure and financial gain. So that's one aspect of the Law in our text. And then we hear it screaming at us from the next verse, where Jesus says: "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him" (vs. 35-39). Now, to what lengths are we willing to go to avoid dealing with God's expectations? We know what those tenants were willing to do. But what are we willing to do? Are we willing to brow-beat God's messengers to shut 'em up? Are we willing to stop coming to church or to avoid our Christian friends and loved ones? Or how 'bout we just kill God off in our minds altogether and pretend He doesn't even exist anymore? Or, hey, this might be even better: Let's invent our own god - one who has no expectations, one who just gives and gives and never asks for anything in return? Are you willing to go that far to escape the expectations God has for your life? The Law gets even stronger in verse 40, when Jesus asks: "When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time. Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom ft falls will be crushed" (vs. 40-44). The capstone was like the center brick in a stone arch-way. It was the most important stone because if it were missing the whole arch would cave in. It was the biggest stone. In some of the great arch-ways of the ancient world these stones were enormous, large enough to crush a man's body if it fell on him. So, on the one hand, Jesus is saying here that if we do not bear the fruit He calls us to bear, if we do not labor in the vineyard as He has called us to do, the kingdom, our spiritual home, our house of faith, will be taken away from us and given to someone else. But there's more to it than that: our Lord also pledges to crush anyone and everyone who rejects Him and His call on their life. Now, if that's not Law, I don't know what is. And it is very crushing Law indeed! Oh, Pastor, where is the Gospel? I'm so glad you asked! It's there alright. All we need to do is look just below the surface to find it. Lest anyone accuse God of being too demanding, please notice that He is the one who prepared the vineyard; all He asks is that His servants work it. He didn't ask the tenants to clear the land; He did that. He didn't ask them to prepare the soil; He did that. He didn't even ask them to build the necessary buildings; He did that. He made everything ready. All the hard work was done. All the tenants had to do was bring in the harvest and turn over a percentage of the profits to Him. He gave them a job, He gave them a place to live, He gave them everything they needed and more. He is indeed a giving God! And how He has given to us! Life, health, security. And even when those things seem to fail, He's given us the assurance that they really have not. For He always finds a way to provide, doesn't He. We know that whatever happens in our life is by His design and is planned for our benefit. If our health seems to fail us, we know that whatever our condition is, it's what He needs it to be to accomplish His plan for our lives. And if His plan is that our life here should end, we know that a far better one awaits us. Oh yes, He is indeed a giving God. And lest anyone accuse Him of being reactionary, He exercises unbelievable restraint in dealing with His tenants. How long would you or I allow these conditions to continue? How many times would we permit our messengers to be beaten and killed by those who owe us, - just so they can avoid paying what they owe? How many times? And yet God, the giver of the vineyard, permitted this over and over again. How many of His prophets of old were rejected? How many beaten? How many killed? And yet God always exercised patience with His people. He continued to love them and treated them as His own children, despite their rejection of Him. What a patient and loving God! How many times have we rejected Him? How many times have we heard His Word and said, "No! I want to do what I want to do! I don't care what God wants; I don't care what He demands. I will live as I choose and do what I will with what is mine." And yet He continues to love us. He continues to call us His own. Oh, what a patient and loving God! And why? You have to wonder: "Why?" Why such kindness to people who for the most part don't want to have anything to do with Him? Friends, you and I, because of Adam's sin, are by nature no different than the tenants in our text. Without Christ we are just as evil - just as overpowered by Satan, just as blinded to the truth, our hearts just as infected with sin, just as stripped of any capacity to deliver ourselves from bondage. But God's love for us called for something to be done to release us, something to be done to rescue us from the power of Satan. And so "in the fullness of time . . . God sent forth His Son," the Son spoken of in this parable, "made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law" (Gal. 4:4,5). And Jesus redeemed us by taking our guilt and giving us His righteousness, suffering the punishment of sin on our behalf. No wonder the Bible says: "God is Love" (1 John 4:8). His love knows no bounds. Think about it: God knew what we would do with His Son! He knew we would crucify Him. And the Son Himself knew! He knew He would be beaten, spat on, whipped nearly to death. He knew that He would be nailed to a cross and die there. But He also knew He didn't really have a choice. If He wanted to save us, if He wanted to rescue us from the death and damnation our sins deserve, His death was necessary. It was the only way. Now, because He suffered, because He died and rose again, because He allowed the wrath of God the Father to be poured out on Him, God's justice was satisfied. He could now say to the world: "Your sin is gone." Gone! Can there be any greater love than this? There will come a day when time will stop and God's patience will come to an end, when the Son will return, not as a sacrificial lamb, but as the Lion of Judah, to judge the living and the dead. But until then, His patience continues, His love still reigns. And when you're ready to repent He's ready to forgive, to wash you clean and restore you as a child of God. Now, if that isn't Gospel, I don't know what is. And what soothing Gospel it is! Beloved, there's something I need to say. I don't know why. Somebody here needs to hear this: God is offering you again today His kingdom in Christ. It was yours once, but you've walked away. He wants to give it back, to bring you back. He wants to make you new again through His Word and Spirit. He wants to forgive you, to love you, He wants to bring you back into His fold and put your hand back on the plow where it belongs. You've been living a joyless life and He wants you to know that He has been patient with you. He loves you. He wants to give you back your joy. Won't you let Him? Let us pray: Father, help us all, by the power of Your Spirit, to hear Your voice calling us through Your Word, calling us to be loved in Your kingdom, calling us to bear the fruit of Your love in our world. Help us to answer that call, Father, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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