TITLE: Bad Tenants TEXT: Matthew 21:33-46, Luke 20:9-18 THEME: The believer should honor the rightful inheritance of Jesus.

Problem tenants fail to honor the terms of the agreement they made and act as if the property is their own.

Why should everyone take seriously the message of Jesus?

I. Because the world belongs to God. (33-34)

Matthew 21: “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 moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.”

I.Because the world belongs to God. (33-34) A. He created it, owns it and has full rights to everything in it.

I.Because the world belongs to God. (33-34) A. He created it, owns it and has full rights to everything in it. B. He prepared it to be productive and beneficial to us all.

I.Because the world belongs to God. (33-34) A. He created it, owns it and has full rights to everything in it. B. He prepared it to be productive and beneficial to us all. C. He allows us to participate in its benefits as caretakers.

Gandalf, “Lord of the Rings” "…proud and subtle, a man of far greater lineage and power [than Théoden of Rohan], though he is not called a king." (On Denethor II)

Gandalf, “Lord of the Rings” "…proud and subtle, a man of far greater lineage and power [than Théoden of Rohan], though he is not called a king." (On Denethor II) The role of the steward is to act in the king’s place in the absence of the king, or act as an advisor when the king was there.

I.Because the world belongs to God. (33-34) A. He created it, owns it and has full rights to everything in it. B. He prepared it to be productive and beneficial to us all. C. He allows us to participate in its benefits as caretakers. D. There are conditions on our role as caretakers.

Julia Sweeney, Actress “I'm living my life as a person who accepts the natural world. The whole idea that there's a God who cares whether people believe in him or not, like why would God care if people believed in him or not?

Julia Sweeney, Actress “That was one of the many things that I found so shocking reading the Bible. First of all, how insecure God is. I mean, God is so insecure he needs everyone to say, "You're the number one, you're the number one over all the other god's, you're the top god." And like, it's the most insecure character.”

C.S. Lewis "I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment … It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; “

C.S. Lewis "to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with …. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him."

Why should everyone take seriously the message of Jesus?

II. Because Jesus is God’s representative. (35-39)

Matthew 21: “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.

Matthew 21: 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.”

II. Because Jesus is God’s representative. (35-39) A. God has sent His messengers to remind us of His conditions- to get what is rightfully His.

II. Because Jesus is God’s representative. (35-39) A. God has sent His messengers to remind us of His conditions- to get what is rightfully His. B. Some messengers have been rejected or killed for their role.

Hosea 8:2-3 “Israel cries out to me, ‘O our God, we acknowledge you!’ But Israel has rejected what is good…”

II.Because Jesus is God’s representative. (35-39) A. God has sent His messengers to remind us of His conditions- to get what is rightfully His. B. Some messengers have been rejected or killed for their role. C. As God’s Son Jesus is due a respect well above the others.

Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering”

II.Because Jesus is God’s representative. (35-39) A. God has sent His messengers to remind us of His conditions- to get what is rightfully His. B. Some messengers have been rejected or killed for their role. C. As God’s Son Jesus is due a respect well above the others. D. This parable foreshadows the crucifixion of Jesus.

Matthew 21: , “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.” The Jewish leaders could saw the meaning of this parable without an explanation but they missed the warning it was giving them.

Nathaniel Rodgers It's not that God is never mentioned … There's a reason for this notable lack of the divine, and it isn't the absence of religious faith. It's just that to actors, the director is god." Or in the case of George Clooney, Rogers claims that he thanked no one directly, because "who needs to worship a [god] when the man in the mirror [Clooney that is] is a golden god?"

Why should everyone take seriously the message of Jesus?

III. There will be consequences for those who reject Jesus. (40-46)

Matthew 21: “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:

Matthew 21:40-44 “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Matthew 21: “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 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

III. There will be consequences for those who reject Jesus. (40-46) A. They will face an unfortunate end.

Luke 10:9-18: 9 “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Luke 10:9-18: 9 “13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. “

Luke 10:9-18: 9 “13 “15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. 16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

III. There will be consequences for those who reject Jesus. (40-46) A. They will face an unfortunate end. B. What they have will be given to others who honor the Son.

John 1:11-12 “He (Jesus) came unto his own but his own did not receive him but as many as do receive Him to them He gives the right to become children of God.”

III. There will be consequences for those who reject Jesus. (40-46) A. They will face an unfortunate end. B. What they have will be given to others who honor the Son. C. The Son that the rebellious tenants reject will be exalted.

III. There will be consequences for those who reject Jesus. (40-46) A. They will face an unfortunate end. B. What they have will be given to others who honor the Son. C. The Son that the rebellious tenants reject will be exalted. 1. Foreshadows the resurrection.

III. There will be consequences for those who reject Jesus. (40-46) A. They will face an unfortunate end. B. What they have will be given to others who honor the Son. C. The Son that the rebellious tenants reject will be exalted. 1. Foreshadows the resurrection. 2. The cornerstone determines the placement of all other stones in a building.

III. There will be consequences for those who reject Jesus. (40-46) A. They will face an unfortunate end. B. What they have will be given to others who honor the Son. C. The Son that the rebellious tenants reject will be exalted. 1. Foreshadows the resurrection. 2. The cornerstone determines the placement of all other stones in a building. 3. The Kingdom of God is given to those who honor the messenger.

III. There will be consequences for those who reject Jesus. (40-46) A. They will face an unfortunate end. B. What they have will be given to others who honor the Son. C. The Son that the rebellious tenants reject will be exalted. D. Rejecting Jesus is rejecting God’s will- accepting Jesus is accepting it.

APPLICATION 1. Everything we have on this earth has been provided for us by God. Therefore, when we give we are only giving what God has already given us. When we serve we are only doing what God created us for. When we worship Him we are only honoring the glory that is rightfully His.

APPLICATION 2. We need to be humble in our dealings with God. Humility is that “habitual quality whereby we live in the truth of things: the truth that we are creatures and not the Creator; the truth that our life is a composite of good and evil, light and darkness; the truth that in our littleness we have been given extravagant dignity…. Humility is saying a radical yes to the human condition.”

APPLICATION 3. We need to honor and respect the rightful role of Jesus as a messenger of God. He came to reveal to us something of God that no other approach could communicate. Jesus, as God, makes God known in a personal way and provides for us the means to know God at a level nothing else can provide. In in life we find the perfect picture of holiness and righteousness. In the death of Jesus we find the holiness of God fulfilled and satisfied. In His resurrection we see the power of God over sin and death.

A CHALLENGE Jesus is the precious rock God has given us to be the both the cornerstone and the capstone of our lives. Will you come to the rock today? Will you build your life upon Him? One day, you will discover Jesus will either be a stepping-stone that gives you access to God, or He will be a rock over which you stumble…so close and yet so far. The choice is yours.