Recently, my brother in law, who had been a missionary for 37 years passed away from an illness. And of course, he left my sister as a widow who is going to have to figure out a way to support herself now without a husband. His death made my wife and I think about the fact that I should get some life insurance in case something should happen to me. And so last week I contacted a man in this church who sells insurance and he helped show me some of my options.

From what I gathered I could lock in a rate over 10 or 20 years by paying a certain amount of money each month. But the more I thought about it, I couldn’t help but think how ironic it is that the insurance company is betting that I would not die before the end of my term, and I am betting that I will die. If I had the faith of my insurance company in my long term health, then I wouldn’t buy insurance.

But the insurance company isn’t stupid. They are going to go over my health with a fine tooth comb. They are going to narrow the odds down as much as possible. And for my part, I am seriously considering all the options as well. This is a big financial commitment for me. There are a lot of things that are going to factor into my decision, and of course, it has potentially significant long term effects and benefits.

All of that prompted me to think, as I was preparing for this message, that a lot of people are more likely to spend more time, more money and more consideration on something like buying life insurance than on their eternal security. Blood tests, Doctor visits, urine samples, you name it, it all comes under scrutiny before I get the insurance, and then I commit to paying month by month for 10 to 20 years. And the really funny thing is, if I die, I win the bet, but I don’t get the money. My wife does. It makes you wonder who she is betting on.

But I’m afraid the average Joe is not nearly as concerned about his eternal security. From my experience, I think the average guy treats religion a little bit like buying life insurance, but with a whole lot less diligence. Someone suggested to me that I should look at some of those life insurance companies you see advertised on late night television and see if I could find something cheaper. And my response was, “No way. The last thing I want to do is spend all that money for 10 or 20 years and then find out that the insurance company was some flim flam outfit and have it not pay off.” And yet that is exactly the way a lot of people treat religion. They don’t really examine their doctrine. They blindly think that sincerity or good intentions is some measure of security. They are really just hoping that in the end it will all pay off somehow, but they really don’t know for sure.

Well, today’s passage addresses that very issue. The issue of mindlessly following a religion and hoping that somehow your sincerity will be of some merit in the hereafter. Hoping that God doesn’t care all that much about the details. Thinking He won’t look that closely. The average person doesn’t really know what he believes, and he certainly can’t say why he believes what he claims. He is just hoping for the best. He has no authority to back up what he is hoping for.

Well Jesus taught about the kingdom of God as one having authority. He spoke with authority because He was the Word of God made flesh, speaking the word of God to flesh. His message was the gospel of the kingdom of God. He was the way to the kingdom; no one can come to the Father except through Him, only by His sacrifice can we be saved. Jesus was teaching the gospel in the temple every day in the last hours before His crucifixion.

And as you will recall, a delegation made up of the religious leaders had been asking Him a series of trick questions, hoping to entrap Him in something they could use to arrest Him. So when the religious leaders had exhausted their trick questions and weren’t able to trap Him, Jesus turns the tables upon them and asks them a question. “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?” It isn’t a trick question, it is a theological question. It is a doctrinal question. Listen, doctrine is not a dirty word, ladies and gentlemen. On the contrary, you need to know doctrine. You need to rightly divide the word of truth so that you will not be ashamed at His coming. There are many false doctrines out there. There are many deviant theologies out there. There are many false prophets and false teachers in the world. They cannot all be true. The Bible says, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” You better know sound Biblical doctrine. You need to know what you believe and why.

I saw a bumper sticker on a car the other day in Rehoboth, and it said, “God is too big for just one religion.” Wow. What theology. What utter nonsense. First of all, you admit that there is a God. Then by that very reason, is it not reasonable to assume that if there is a God then He should have a say in how we are to approach Him? If God is really as big as you say, then does it not behoove us to find out how He desires to be worshipped? Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” You better know the truth, because only the truth will set you free.

So Jesus asks a question focused on that very point. You see, these religious leaders had a religion. They had a belief system. And what is really significant is that their religion believed in the one, true Jehovah God, and furthermore, they accepted the teaching that there would come one who was the Messiah who would be the deliverer of Israel. And yet, it’s obvious from our study of Luke, that these religious leaders were not saved, they were lost. In fact, they were so blinded by their religion that they were plotting to kill the Messiah who was Jesus Christ because they did not think that He fit into their religious doctrine of the Messiah. So they were very religious and yet very lost.

I would imagine that in a crowd this size that there must be someone here today that are lost. If you died today you would end up in Hell. You are lost even though you believe in the existence of God. You believe that we should worship God. That is presumably why you are here today. And yet you are lost and on your way to Hell. You may even believe in Jesus. You believe that He lived on this earth 2000 years ago. You might even believe that somehow or another He was divine. And yet you can still be lost.

These scribes and Pharisees that Jesus is addressing are proof that it is possible to have a sort of mindless, thoughtless religion that has a modicum of truth in it and yet be lost. You can go through the motions without knowing why you are doing it. Many people are worshipping somewhere today, today being Sunday, and they don’t know why they are worshipping on Sunday rather than Saturday. And they really don’t care. They are just going through the motions. Some of them are mumbling catechisms and Latin phrases and opening their mouths to receive a tiny wafer and they don’t know why they are doing it. And yet they hope that it will somehow suffice on judgment day. Someone told them that they can achieve righteousness by going through certain rituals.

And on the other end of the spectrum it’s just as bad if not worse. People in some evangelical churches are being told that if they hold their palms up a certain way they are receiving something spiritual. And if they clap their hands together they are worshipping. And if they speak in some unintelligible gibberish they are praying to God. These poor folks are being taught that they don’t need to focus on doctrine, they need to focus on feeling. They just need to feel the love. That is all that matters. They have forgotten the exhortation of Jesus that if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.   No, they want to experience something, even if it is mindless.

These poor people are being exploited in the name of religion. They are being told that feeling spiritual is equal to being spiritual. So anything that makes you feel a certain way, or act a certain way must be of the Holy Spirit. And so in some churches today people are falling down on the ground and going into convulsions and they are told that is being slain in the Spirit. Others are falling down drunk, laughing and reeling around unable to act or speak coherently and they are being told that they are drunk in the Spirit. Others are laughing, howling at the moon, shrieking in laughter to the point that it drowns out everything else, and they are told that is holy laughter. Listen, don’t be deceived; Christianity is not a mindless religion. God is not the author of confusion but of order and discipline and truth. The Holy Spirit is not a feeling, He’s not a force, He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ living among us. If Jesus didn’t do it, then the Holy Spirit will not do it. They are not different entities, they are One God. As God is, so was Jesus in the flesh, (if you have seen Me you have seen the Father) and as Jesus is, so is the Holy Spirit. (John 16:13, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me…”) God is One. You need to know your theology and doctrine. Because many deceivers have gone out into the world and are leading many people astray. And these false prophets that are blaspheming the name of the Holy Spirit by teaching people to go after strange spirits have forgotten what Jesus said in Matt. 12:31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”

It is not possible to have a sort of mindless, thoughtless form of Christianity that is void of sound doctrine and Biblical theology. But it isn’t possible to have an experiential type of Christianity that is divorced from sound doctrine. You are either worshipping God in Spirit and in truth or you will be found outside of the door of the kingdom of God, saying, “Lord, Lord, did we not do great things in your name? Lord, Lord, did we not even do miracles in your name?” And they will hear Jesus say as He promised in Matthew 7:23, “I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.”

Listen, you want to guard against a superficial, mindless religion? Then you need to go to the Word of God and get serious about studying it. Not reading books loosely based on the word of God, not watching movies with a mildly religious, positive theme. “But studying to show yourselves approved unto God a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15) You need to understand the primacy, the authority, and the sufficiency of scripture. You need to understand that Jesus is described in John 1 as the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And then you need to understand that the Holy Spirit breathed upon certain appointed men, inspiring them to write down His words, bringing to their minds remembrance of the things which He had told them so that we may have confidence in the scriptures. 2Tim. 3:16-17 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect(complete), thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” You want to be a complete Christian? It’s not found in some mystical spiritual experience. Immerse yourself in the Word of God and obey it.

So the religious leaders confronting Jesus that day are mindless. They are thoughtlessly, blindly following a phony religion, in spite of having everything that they needed for salvation right in front of them. They have seen the truth and yet rejected it. They have stopped short of becoming a disciple. Folks, I am afraid that is exactly our problem here today. There are some people that come out here on the beach to hear what that crazy surfer preacher might say this week. There are some that might come because it’s a beautiful day, and maybe they might see a dolphin while I’m preaching and they can work on their tan at the same time. They have heard all they need to know in order to be saved and yet they are not saved. One of the saddest verses of scripture that comes to mind about this time of year is Jeremiah 8:20 “Harvest is past, summer is ended, And we are not saved.” And so we wonder why we don’t grow. We wonder why every year when we go back indoors we no longer see some people anymore. The fact is that we don’t grow by getting more and more people to come out on the beach for a service on a sunny day. The church grows by making disciples. We grow by making disciples, not by adding spectators to the church. Making disciples is being obedient to the word.

So true to form, when Jesus teaches He relies upon the scriptures. He confronts their mindless religion by asking them to consider the scriptures and make a rational decision on the basis of what it says. He asks the question, ““How is it that they say the Christ is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, ‘SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.’ Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ and how is He his son?”

Now the answer to His question is one that they either cannot or will not allow themselves to see. And there is an element to this question that may be hard for us to see, because we aren’t reading it in the Hebrew. Luke is writing in Greek obviously. But Jesus is quoting from Psalm 110 which was written in Hebrew.   And in the Hebrew there is a distinction in the word Lord. The Jews considered the proper name of God as sacred to the point that they did not say it aloud. And so they had a tradition of writing the name of God, the name Jehovah, with just the consonants. And then when reading the name of Jehovah, they would insert the word Lord in it’s place. This was an ultra conservative approach to avoiding using the name of the Lord in vain. Now in your Old Testament, you will sometimes notice that the word Lord is in all capital letters. That is done to show you that the word LORD is substituted for the name Jehovah. So when the Psalmist David says, “The LORD said to my Lord,” he is saying, Jehovah said to my Lord.

The word Lord with a capital L and small letters is from the Hebrew word, Adonai. Adonai means Lord, either used of God or sometimes used in reference to men. It means the supreme ruler. He to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master. The possessor and disposer of a thing or person. The owner; one who has control of the person, the master. In matters of state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the emperor. It is a title of honor expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master. This title is given to: God, the Messiah.

So the question is how can the Messiah be David’s son, when David writes in Ps. 110 that Jehovah says to my Lord? The scribes and Pharisees can’t answer that. They haven’t thought about it. They have a template for the Messiah that He will be a descendent of David and sit on his throne, and so therefore they are looking for a human descendent of David who will literally sit on the throne of Israel, and defeat their enemies. And so they refuse to consider any scriptures that don’t align with that doctrine.

What Jesus is trying to teach them, is that the Messiah is God in human flesh. Revelation 22:16 says that He is the root and the offspring of David. In other words, by his human nature he was the offspring of David, a branch of his family; by his divine nature he was the root of David, from whom David had his being and life, salvation by grace. What Jesus is teaching is that Christ, as God, was David’s Lord, but Christ, as man, was David’s Son.

Listen, the reason that the scribes and Pharisees were not saved, was that they would not recognize Jesus as Lord, as God. I think that we have almost the opposite problem today in the church. We recognize Jesus as God, but not as Lord. The doctrine of the lordship of Jesus Christ is not a popular doctrine today. At the very best modern theologians and preachers want to regulate it to some sort of advanced stage of sanctification that really isn’t necessary for salvation. But for the most part it is not taught at all. The whole emphasis today is upon justification by grace. But Hebrews 12:14 says that without sanctification, no one will see the Lord.

Rom 10:9 says, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” To understand what it means to confess Jesus as Lord you just need to turn back a few verses to Luke 19 where Jesus gives a parable about the land owner who planted a vineyard and sent his servants to receive his yearly allowance. And the vinegrowers kept beating up his servants and sending them back empty handed. And it says in vs. 14, “But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’” See, lordship is recognizing that Jesus Christ is the Master of the vineyard. He is the supreme ruler of the earth. Everything that we have is given to us by God. Our very lives are upheld by His power. Our heart keeps beating by the power of God. Our next breath is taken because God gives it to us. And so lordship is recognizing, confessing, that Jesus is Lord of your life. Confessing that we belong to Him. He is our Master, He decides our purpose. We live according to His will, not manipulate Him to serve our will.

These Pharisees were indicative of the citizens that said, “We do not want this man to rule over us.” They rejected Jesus as Lord. And Jesus said in the parable that when the Master returns to take His vineyard, He said “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”

Jesus then gives a scathing indictment of these scribes and Pharisees, while at the same time warning His disciples. See, even disciples can fall prey to this kind of self righteous posturing, this religious fervor, that is actually a damning phony religion. He is highlighting hypocritical religion. He says in vs. 46, ““Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

What Jesus is warning about is religion for show. About seeking publicity, seeking honor, seeking earthly prominence in the religious realm. Matthews gospel records some more of what Jesus said in this regard. He says in Matt. 23:13, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” See, that is the danger of phony religion. They not only are not saved themselves, they make sure that no one else is saved either. And then in vs. 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” That is another scathing indictment. Their false doctrine spreads like gangrene and corrupts everyone who hears it. And that is why Jesus says that these false teachers will receive a greater condemnation.

Jesus is not only describing the scribes and Pharisees, but He is painting a picture that should serve as a warning for us today as well. Beware of religious leaders who put on a show, who parade around in long, flowing robes, Christian costumes, hoping that they will look pious by the clothes and funny hats they are wearing. They love to be called “the right Reverend Dr. so and so, and they have all these degrees that are attached to their titles that are designed to convince you they know what they are talking about. They love the places of honor, and they love to make long public prayers so that people can be sure to see how holy they are. And yet the fact is it is all a hypocritical mask. Jesus says they do it to devour widow’s houses. What He means is they take from vulnerable widows, defrauding old ladies who are maybe easily deceived by their fake piety and they take their money by promising them some eternal benefit due to their holiness. One of the very people that the temple was to be concerned about and seek to help were widows. It is still a priority for the church though we do not have the same social structure that they had which left these women without much recourse. But the fact is that they take advantage of the most vulnerable among us for monetary gain.

I must tell you that a lot of the modern Christian television preachers capitalize on the sympathies of vulnerable, elderly women. They are flying around the country in multimillion dollar jets living in $10,000 a night hotel suites while making money off of old ladies who are hoping that their gift will be multiplied by God according to the false teaching of these shysters. Beware of these false prophets.

Finally, Luke presents an illustration to ram this principle home. I will not belabor it, since you are all familiar with it, I’m sure. But as Jesus was teaching He was sitting in the Court of the Women in the Temple where the people would come and present their offerings. The temple priests had made these trumpet type of horns that were mounted on the walls so that people could drop in their offerings. And Luke says that as Jesus is teaching He looks up and sees the rich putting their offerings in the treasury. And He sees an opportunity for an illustration. The illustration has a two fold application as we will see in a moment. But let’s look at it first.

Luke 21:2-4 “And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, ‘Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.’”

So here is the picture; Jesus has just finished condemning the religious leaders for their rejection of His Lordship, and He has characterized them as showboating self righteous hypocrites who take advantage of old ladies. Now He looks up and all these rich people come in to the treasury and make their offerings. They had engineered it in such a way that it was a very public thing. People could watch the worshippers come in and present their offerings. They could hear the sound of the coins clinking in the horns and tell how much or how little a person was giving. The Pharisees were known for actually blowing a horn before they gave in order to make sure that everyone knew that they were giving. But then Jesus juxtaposes this grandiose religious expression with a little old widow who comes in and probably would have escaped all notice in the activity of the temple. She wasn’t dressed in finery, she didn’t blow a trumpet, and the sound of her two cents I’m sure didn’t make a dint in the din of the temple court. No one noticed her. No one nodded approvingly or applauded. But God saw her. God knew that she gave all that she had to live on. She gave everything she had to the Lord.

Listen, I go out of my way to not talk about giving here at the Beach Fellowship. I may occasionally talk about money, as the word talks about it, then I talk about it. But I don’t talk about giving if I don’t have to. I believe that God loves a cheerful giver. So I am not going to try to compel people to give. All that I will say about this illustration is that it shows that God sees the gift, but more importantly God sees the sacrifice involved in the gift. David said in 2 Samuel 24:24 that he would not give God that which cost him nothing. God sees not the monetary size of the gift, but the sacrificial proportion of the gift. Jesus noted this widow because while others gave out of their surplus, she gave out of her poverty.

But the greater illustration that I think is here is that of the lordship principle. This widow had a proper view of the lordship of God. She rightly recognized that everything she had was the Lord’s. She didn’t have a ten percent view, but a 100% view. You know, that’s why I don’t preach about tithing. Tithing is an OT law that required Israelites to give a tenth of all they had to the Lord. And in the new covenant, we are no longer under the law. We are under grace. But listen, grace does not do away with the law, grace fulfills the law and then more. If the law was 10%, then grace is 100%. It’s recognizing that Jesus deserves everything I have because of the gratitude I have for His immeasurable gift to me. Salvation is about giving all that I have to the Lord to be used for His glory. I give Him all of me, everything I renounce, everything I turn over to Him. And so the lordship of Christ requires that I surrender all.

And there is, as I said another application of this incident. And that is that this sincere, God loving woman gave her offering to the treasury of the very men that were devouring widow’s houses. Though this woman was a great illustration of surrendering everything to God, there is no indication that she was saved. If she did not recognize Jesus as God then she could not be saved. Luke just records that she went in, gave her offering, and presumably left. God saw her gift. But unfortunately she was still victimized by a false system of religion that promised her some sort of righteousness as a result of her offering. And so she probably didn’t leave feeling all that great about her offering. The rabbis taught that the giving alms was a means of pardoning sin. It was a false doctrine. It was designed to fill their coffers, but it could not atone for sin. It serves as a classic example of how these false religious leaders were devouring widow’s houses.

And as we look at the next section in this chapter next week, we will see Jesus pronouncement of judgment upon this temple, and this system which victimized the very ones that they were supposed to be helping by teaching them a false religion and ignoring the truth of God’s word. Within 35 years from that day, the temple would be destroyed and all the priests killed or scattered. God’s judgment would be poured out on them for their false religion.

Folks, I wonder how many of you here this morning would rather continue in your comfortable, established false religion than find freedom in the truth of God’ word? I wonder how many prefer a form of religion, without the power of it, the power of the truth which brings about conversion and produces sanctification? I wonder how many will reject the lordship of Jesus Christ, and say “we will not let Christ rule over us, He will not decide for us, He will not tell us what to do.” I wonder how many will continue to think that they can be saved and not sanctified. I hope no one.   Jesus said in Luke 6:46 “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

I hope no one leaves here today without submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Giving of themselves first and foremost, 100% to the Lord, realizing that He is Lord, and all their life and being belong to Him.

Today’s passage is one that is probably familiar to many of you here today. It’s been used in a variety of contexts, not the least of which is to augment the idea of the separation of church and state. However, it does not teach that. Neither Jesus or the apostles ever taught separation of church and state. That is not a Christian doctrine, but it is decidedly an anti-Christian doctrine that has been foisted upon us by an anti-Christian government, and fortified by a misinterpretation of this passage. God is sovereign over all the world, and as such is sovereign over all governments of the world. Man only thinks that he can separate government from God.

But we will look at the correct interpretation of this passage in just a moment. First of all though let’s look at the context of this event. This event comes as part of a trilogy of trick questions, concocted by a delegation made up of representatives of every religious faction in Israel; notably the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Herodians and the Sadducees. I will not bore you with the differences between these various factions. Just know that this was the equivalent of getting the Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians and the Tea Party to all come together and agree on something. All of these parties were traditionally political enemies or at least adversaries for religious control in Israel. So getting them together and in agreement meant only one thing, Jesus was a considered a greater enemy, a greater threat to all of them than they were to each other. So these former enemies were united by a common enemy.

The only problem was that Jesus was anything but common. And so they constantly were undone by Jesus’ wisdom which surpassed all their combined cunning and scheming. But that doesn’t seem to stop them from trying. These guys kind of remind me of Wile E. Fox on the old Roadrunner cartoons. They keep coming up with these elaborate, clever schemes, and Jesus turns them right around on them time after time. We saw that last week with the question they had concerning from where He got His authority. Jesus answered their question with a question of His own which they could not answer without revealing their duplicitous nature, so they had to plead the fifth. His wisdom is beyond their capacity to refute.

But like Wile E. Coyote, these guys don’t know when to quit. They become even more angry, more spiteful and even more cunning in their attempt to catch Him in something they can use to destroy Him. Look at vs. 19-20; “The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and they feared the people; for they understood that He spoke this parable against them. So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could deliver Him to the rule and the authority of the governor.”

It’s interesting that Luke characterizes these spies as having to pretend that they were righteous. Even though they were the religious elite, they had to pretend to be righteous. So these spies who are pretending to be righteous come to Jesus, try to blend in with the crowd and then try to trick Jesus by asking Him a predetermined question that had been concocted by their superiors, the highest ranking officials in the religious orders of Israel. It was a question designed to trap Jesus no matter which way He answered it. As far as they were concerned, it had no right answer. They thought that there were only two ways of answering it, and one way would seriously hurt Jesus’ standing with the people, and answering it the other way would put Him in trouble with the Roman government. And they really thought He would answer it in such a way as to enable them to charge Him with sedition against the Roman government. That was really their plan. That way He would be executed by the Romans and they would seem to be innocent of the whole affair. But of course they would reap the benefits by regaining and maintaining the status quo of their religious standing.

So here is their question, vs. 21,22; They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

Now we have already noted their craftiness, but notice also their flattery. Be wary of people that come to you with flattering speech, ladies and gentlemen. Righteous pretenders love to use flattery to get an advantage. Some of the greatest injury to our church has come through people who were adept at flattery. They love to butter you up by lavishing compliments on you before they stick the butter knife in your back. Beware of flattery. Note also that their own speech condemns them. They say we know you speak the truth. I love that one. Those same flatterers that I have had the pleasure of encountering can’t help but say something to the effect like “Roy is a great teacher, no one is preaching the word of God like Roy is.” And yet in the next breath they condemn you for preaching too much of it. They criticize your doctrine. One day they will be judged by their own words.

So herein lies the craftiness of their question. They really think that Jesus is just a rabble rouser. He has a rough band of disciples traveling with Him that are made up of fishermen and tax collectors and at least one or two of them are considered Zealots. The Zealots were radical insurrectionists who wanted to overthrow the rule of the Romans. So that is more than likely the association that they made with Jesus. They supposed that He would oppose paying taxes to Caesar. Now if they could get Him to say that, then they would have a hangable offense with which to charge Jesus and bring Him before a Roman court.

In fact, even though Jesus does not say that you should not pay taxes, actually quite the opposite, it does not stop them from lying and claiming that He said that when they brought Him before Pilate a few days later. Luke 23:2 says, “And they began to accuse Him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.’”

But the other possible answer that they supposed Jesus would say was just as condemning. Because Caesar claimed to be divine and was considered a god in the pantheon of Roman Gods. So if Jesus supported taxation they could not only use that to hurt His standing among the common people who were handicapped by the severe Roman tax on just about everything, but they could also claim He was guilty of breaking Jewish law. Furthermore, in the law it says that you shall make no graven image and the currency of the Roman government, particularly the denarius, was engraved with the image of the Emperor. So they figured they would get Him either way He answered, and they really expected Him to side with the insurrectionists.

Look at how Jesus answers them though. His wisdom exceeds their trickery. Vs. 23-25 “But He detected their trickery and said to them, ‘Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?’ They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ And He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Now this is a brilliant answer, not only because He eludes their trap, but because He establishes truth in such a way that it becomes an enduring principle for the ages. He doesn’t just answer their question in such a way as to escape immediate judgment, or get out of the question, but He fully answers them in a way in which they cannot refute, and at the same time establishes an enduring principle for how we are to live our lives today no matter what the culture or the time period we find ourselves in. Such is the nature of the truth of the Word of God. It is timeless. It is enduring. Even 2000 years later it is still relevant, still pertinent and still true. That is why we preach the word of God, ladies and gentlemen. It is truth, it is eternal truth, and only the truth will set you free. Man’s attempts at rationalization cannot even begin to address life’s great questions, but God’s truth is able to discern between truth and error and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Jesus gives a two part answer and so I want to examine each part in turn. Each part is a principle that we can employ as we make decisions on a day to day basis as to how we are to live in a godless world. The first part of Jesus’ answer is, “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” Now this is brilliant. First of all, Jesus asks them for a denarius. Matthew adds some additional information in his gospel which helps us to understand the significance of this a little better. In Matt. 22:19 Jesus says “Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a denarius.” A poll tax was the tax levied at the census, when everyone had to register. If you remember, that was the reason Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem to register for the census and pay a poll tax. So this was the particular tax that the religious leaders were addressing. And that poll tax was paid with Roman currency, which was a denarius. So Jesus asks to see the coin that was required by the Romans.

And He asks them to tell Him what image and inscription is on the coin. The answer is that it was Caesar, probably Tiberius Caesar, and the inscription even alluded to his divinity. The point Jesus is making is that this is Caesar’s money, his image is engraved on it and his inscription is engraved on it. So Jesus says, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”

Now it’s helpful I think to understand the word translated “render.” It is “ä-po-dē’-dō-mē” in the original Greek. It means to pay back a debt, to give back something that belongs to someone else, to repay. Now that helps us to understand what Jesus is saying. Not only does the money belong to Caesar’s government, but the idea is that Caesar has provided certain things as the head of the government, and that has incurred a debt on their part. They must repay that debt to the government.

Now that is a godly principle, is it not? We are to pay our debts. If we owe something to someone, Jesus said in Matt. 5, then before you go to the temple to present yourself to worship God, go make amends with the one whom you owe. In other words, you cannot worship God when you owe a debt to someone that you haven’t paid. We saw that principle when we looked at Zaccheus a few weeks ago. When he got right with God he immediately wanted to get right with those he had defrauded.

So in effect what Jesus is saying is that since you owe the government for it’s services, it’s protection, it’s roads, it’s enforcement of laws, give them what is due them. Pay your taxes because it’s a debt that you owe to the government for providing certain services to it’s citizens. See, rather than teaching the separation of church and state, the Biblical principle is that God has established government to be His ministers of justice and order and the rule of law. Paul says in Romans 13:1-2 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.” He goes on to say in Rom. 13:5-8 “Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” And then Paul states the overriding principle in vs. 8 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” That’s the royal law of God. Love your neighbor as yourself. Even to the point of loving your enemy.

Let me tell you something to help put this in perspective. When Paul wrote these words he was most likely in prison awaiting trial by none other than the Caesar of that period, who was the evil Emperor Nero. This man would one day have Paul’s head cut off. This was an emperor who castrated a young man and then married him in a public, royal, homosexual marriage ceremony. This was the same guy that used to light up his palace gardens for parties at night with Christians burning on stakes. And yet Paul says give honor to whom honor is due. As citizens we have a debt to our government that must be honored, even when it is not a God honoring government.

Now you may say well maybe Paul didn’t realize how bad Nero was. Well, Jesus certainly knew how bad Tiberius Caesar was. When Jesus looked at that denarius and said render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, He knew full well that in just 3 days by Caesar’s government He himself would be led like a sheep to the slaughter to hang from a cross by Roman soldiers. And yet Jesus said, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesars.” Listen, it’s not for you to rebel against those whom God has given a measure of authority to. God established government for the benefit of His kingdom. And God will hold Caesar accountable for things that belong to Caesar. But He will also hold you accountable for your subjection to authority.

Peter says in 1 Peter 2:13-14, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.” By such faithful acts, Christians “may silence the ignorance of foolish men” and be found as good citizens. We give no cause for offense to the government by disobeying the government. We owe them good citizenship. And when we do so we can silence the critics.

And that is exactly what happened here in the passage in Luke. The religious leaders were silenced by the answer of Jesus. They were unable to find fault with the wisdom of God. Luke 20:26 “And they were unable to catch Him in a saying in the presence of the people; and being amazed at His answer, they became silent.” Listen, if you want to silence your critics then rely upon the wisdom of God’s word and be obedient to God’s principles. Are you having wife problems? “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” Fulfill the royal law, love one another. Even love your enemy. Are you having husband problems? “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” Fulfill the royal law, love one another. Even love your enemy. Are you having business problems? “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” Fulfill the royal law, love one another. Even love your enemy. No matter what the problem in this world of relationships, the answer is the same. Owe no one nothing, instead love them. Give them what is due them. Honor them. Respect them. And you will silence your critics.

Now let’s look at the other side of the equation. “Render unto God the things that are God’s.” Now how are we to understand this principle? Well, first of all, use the same formula that Jesus used in the first principle. What did God make in His image? Man. Man was made in the image of God. Gen. 1:27 says, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Folks, I don’t know if you have contemplated the full implications of that verse or not. But I have as far as my limited intellectual capacity allows. We looked at it extensively in our study of Genesis that we have been doing on Wednesday night.

To be made in the image of God indicates a number of things. But one thing is fundamental. We were not made to be autonomous. We were not made to be independent, free agents. We were made for God’s purposes. We were made to be the bride of Christ. We were made to be the objects of God’s love, to be like God, conformed to the image of Christ. To be one Spirit with God. To be one in fellowship and communion with God. That is why God made man. Ephesians 5 makes it clear that marriage between a man and a woman is a picture of the church’s relationship with Christ. Just as a husband and his wife are to be one flesh, so Christ and His church are to be one spirit. That is why Christ gave His life for the church, because He loved her with an even greater love than a man loves his bride. God made man for His glory, for His pleasure, to satisfy His purposes. We are not some cosmic accident. We belong to God because He made us specifically for Himself.

Now once you start to comprehend that concept, then the principle, “render unto God the things that are Gods” starts to become a little more clear, doesn’t it? At the very least, we must respond in love to God’s love towards us. We must give our lives to God, commit our lives to God. We must give back our lives for His glory. We must give ourselves totally and completely to Him, forsaking all others, being faithful only to your Him so long as you shall live… so help you God. That’s where you start. That’s what it means to render to God the things that are God’s.

That’s what it means to be a Christian, by the way. It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship. But don’t you dare take that word relationship lightly or flippantly. It’s not a flirtatious relationship, it’s not a relationship marked by infidelity. It’s not a relationship based on a casual friendship. It’s not a modern day kind of relationship where you take all you can get without commitment, without sacrifice.   But “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” Fulfill the royal law, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your might.”

Listen, this passage isn’t so much a treatise on the importance of paying your taxes. It’s the message of the gospel. You were made and stamped in the image of God. You were made for communion and a relationship with God. You were made to be one with God. But sin broke that communion and relationship. Man rebelled against his Maker, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator. Man obeyed Satan’s word, and rebelled against God’s word and as such rightly brought upon himself the sentence of death. But God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes on Him, should not perish but have eternal life.  The eternal Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. But the world did not know Him. They rejected Him. These religious leaders, Peter said later in Acts 2, “delivered [Jesus] over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, and nailed Him to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.”

This same Jesus is now seated in heaven at the right hand of the Father, having paid the penalty for sin to those that will believe in Him. Peter said, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” This is the plan of God to reconcile man, to make him holy by the blood of Jesus, and to put His Spirit within them so that they might be one with Him.

Ladies and gentlemen, the question of the hour is simply this. Have you rendered unto God the things that are God’s? Have you given Him your life? Are you withholding from God what you rightfully owe Him? One day every knee will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Caesars will bow, kings will bow, presidents will bow, all the governments will bow before the throne of Christ. But those who gave their lives in faith to Christ in this life will be seated on the throne beside Him in the next life. And those who refused to bow to Him in this life, those who refused to give Him honor in this life, those who rebelled against Him in this life, even though they may bow then, will not be part of His kingdom. But they will be cast out of the marriage feast into a place prepared for the devil and his angels, the Lake of Fire.

I trust that if you have committed your life to a marriage relationship with Christ you will be found to be a good steward today. Not only of your obligations to the government, to your marriage, to your employer, to every governing authority established by God, but also I hope you are found to be a good steward of your obligation to God. 1Cor. 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” Render to God the things that are God’s. God requires nothing less than your very life, your will, your purpose. God rightly demands it all. Give back unto God the things that are God’s.

As I’m sure you realize by now, it is imperative that as we study each passage in Luke’s gospel, we must always consider the context in which it is found in first of all. And so today we must remember that this parable comes as a result of the religious leaders of Jerusalem indignantly demanding to know what authority Jesus was coming into the temple and throwing out the vendors and money changers, and teaching and preaching to the people. They wanted to know who or what was His authority.

But instead of answering them directly, Jesus asked them a question. He said, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell Me: Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” And of course, the religious leaders decided that they couldn’t publicly answer that question because the people rightly believed that John was a prophet, in fact he was the prophet foretold of in Malachi that would prepare the way for the Messiah. So if they said that John was a prophet of God, then the obvious rebuttal would be “then why didn’t you believe him?” And if they said he wasn’t a prophet, the people might rise up and stone them. So they said, “we cannot say”, or “we don’t know.” They pled the fifth. And so Jesus says, “neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Now that is the context in which Jesus gives this parable. It is an indirect way of answering them. He won’t answer them directly, but in the course of the parable, the answer will become clear where He gets His authority. But there is another context to this passage that is not quite so apparent, yet just as important.

The greater context of this parable is found in the Old Testament. The prophet Isaiah and Jeremiah as well as the Psalmist David spoke of Israel as a vineyard. It was a well known allegory that especially the religious leaders would be familiar with. And Isaiah in particular seems to be the one that Jesus is drawing inspiration from in this parable. Let’s look at it for a moment.

Isaiah 5: 1 “Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 2 He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. … 4 “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? 5 “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. 6 “I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.” 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant.”

So in Isaiah 5 you have a song about the land of Judah in Israel. And God speaks allegorically how he protected and provided for and nurtured Israel. How He did everything He could do to provide for her and protect her. And that as a result of His providence He expected to see Judah produce good fruit. But instead, the song says that Judah produced nothing but worthless sour berries. So God pronounces a curse upon them and says that He will remove His protection from them and let the animals and the thieves and whatever else may come in and ravage the land.

Israel’s defining characteristic was that it did not worship a pantheon of idols, but worshipped the only true God, Jehovah. God had revealed Himself to them, through Abraham and then Moses and the prophets. God had given them His word, His promises and His law. God’s word told them that they were to be different from all the other nations of the world not only in customs and diet and ceremonies, but in every facet of society, they were to be a holy people, set apart by God to be His people exclusively, to be a testimony and a witness to the world.

But though God kept His promise and providentially drove out all their enemies and blessed them with every conceivable blessing, the people took advantage of His providence to indulge their own greediness and corruption. Furthermore, they lusted after the things that the rest of the world had. The prophets often used the analogy of a wife that turned to whoredom and prostitution, going after every gross desire of the flesh to describe how Israel repeatedly went after the false gods of other nations and worshipped them. They constantly wanted to be like the other pagan countries that surrounded them.

So God reminds them through this song in Isaiah that He had done everything for them that He could possibly do, taken away their enemies, protected them, provided for them in every way, but they had failed to produce fruit. And God warns them that because of their rebellion the day will come when He will turn away from them and His protective presence will be withdrawn. One day they will wake up and find themselves like Samson, who the Bible says did not realize that God’s strength had left him and shook himself and went out to face his attackers and was captured and tortured. So it will be with Israel.

Isaiah’s song goes on to say that even God’s favor is removed His anger is not yet spent. It says that He will call “a distant nation, and will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and behold, it will come with speed swiftly.” This nation of warriors will be relentless, untiring, and bring devastation and destruction like a ravaging lion.

Now that is the historical, prophetic context to this parable that the hearers would have immediately recognized as pertaining to Israel. But now let’s look at the parable as Jesus tells it. And by the way, there is a parallel version of this parable in Matthew 21. Matthew adds some interesting factors to the story that Luke does not, such as He dug around the vineyard and put a tower in it which makes it almost identical to Isaiah 5.

But what Jesus does in this parable is He uses the analogy of Israel being a vineyard but then brings the focus upon those men that were put in place as vine growers, or caretakers. This is where the story is focused, on the caretakers, those given the responsibility for the stewardship of the vineyard. These were the ones who were responsible for the spiritual well being of Israel, for the good fruit of Israel. They were the ones given responsibility for the stewardship of God’s word, for the administration of God’s kingdom.

Jesus says that eventually the owner of the vineyard sent a slave to receive some of the fruit that was supposed to be returned to the owner. But the vine growers beat him up and sent him away empty handed. So the owner sends a second slave and then a third, and these they beat up as well. They refuse to give the owner his due. He invested all the resources, he provided all the things necessary to expect good fruit, but they refuse to acknowledge their debt to him, and instead beat up his servants.

So finally, the owner of the vineyard decides to send his beloved son, in hope that they will certainly honor him. But the vine growers seeing the son say amongst themselves, this is the heir, let us kill him and the vineyard will be ours. And so they kill the son.

You can bet the religious leaders by now had figured out that this was a story about them. They were the ones in charge of the administration of the vineyard. They knew that Israel had mistreated or killed all the prophets that God had sent them in the past. In fact, history tells us that Isaiah, who as I pointed out was one of the originators of the vineyard analogy, was in fact sawn in two with a wooden saw.

But there were two groups of people there listening that day. There were the disciples of Jesus that were in the temple that Jesus was preaching to, and there was the religious delegation made up of high priests and Pharisees and so forth.

So when Jesus asks the question, “What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them?” I believe the disciples are the ones that answer ““He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” But the shocked religious leaders say “may it never be!” They know that what the disciples and Jesus are saying is that God will remove them from their stewardship and give it to others who will administer their stewardship in such a way as to bring forth fruit. But they say “may it never be! We will never allow it.” See, the whole point of their delegation was to say that Jesus had no authority. They considered themselves the authority in Israel, and Jesus threatened them. He threatened their power, their position, and so they wanted to kill Him. And they would in just 3 days time.

Vs. 17, “But Jesus looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written:‘THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” I love how Jesus constantly quotes scripture. He who was the Word made flesh, and speaks the word of God with authority. He sets an example for us that endures today. Especially in light of the way in which the word of God today is being discarded in favor of relativism in an attempt to not be offensive.

Jesus is quoting from Psalm 118 by the way, which most of the Pharisees would have known by heart. Psalm 118 is what the people were quoting from when they called out “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” just a couple of days prior when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. And now Jesus uses that very same Psalm to say “I am the stone which you the builders rejected. I am the cornerstone spoken of in Psalm 118. Isaiah added in Isaiah chapter 8 that He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

Listen, why do people stumble over Jesus Christ? Why is Jesus offensive? The religious leaders stumbled over Him because first of all He told them they were sinners just like everyone else. Maybe even worse sinners than everyone else. They were worse because they refused to recognize that they were sinners. The only sin that God cannot forgive is the sin of unrepentance. Please understand something folks. The gospel, if it is being handled accurately, is not supposed to seduce people into the kingdom by singing songs of love, love, love. The gospel breaks people over the rock of offense; the rock of Jesus Christ who alone is righteous and holy. The gospel seeks to first of all convict you of your sin, to break your will to self rule, to autonomy, to doing what is right in your own eyes, and recognizing and submitting to the word of God that declares what constitutes righteousness and sinfulness. That is what it means to confess Jesus as both Lord and Savior.

That is what Jesus meant when He said, “Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” Either you fall on the rock that is Jesus Christ in brokenness, bowing to His Lordship over your life, breaking your pride, breaking your selfishness, or the rock that is Christ will fall on you, scattering you like dust. You will be destroyed. God’s judgment will fall on you if you reject the Cornerstone.

But if you accept Christ as the cornerstone, then Eph 2:19-22 says “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” A cornerstone was laid at the foundation of a building, by which the building is made true and all it’s lines are drawn from.   Christ as the cornerstone symbolizes that His truth is laid as the foundation for the church, upon which was laid the scriptures of the apostles. The word of God then is the foundation that the church is built upon, which it must stay true to. And as Christians, we are being built up into a holy temple, as we live our lives according to it’s blueprint. When the Holy Spirit is living in our temple, then we will bear the fruit of the Spirit, having been conformed to the image of Jesus Christ laid down for us in His word.

Now that’s the interpretation of the parable. Let’s look at the application. If you remember we started with Isaiah 5. That parable was a nationalistic allegory. It was speaking of the nation of Israel that had rejected the reign of God over their lives, and though there were certainly a few individuals that had not bowed their knee to Baal, as a whole, the nation of Israel became apostate. They became idolatrous. And so God brought a nation of warriors from Assyria who destroyed their cities, the temple and their palaces, destroying thousands of them and taking others into captivity. By the time Jesus quotes Isaiah 5, almost 700 years have passed, and Israel has gone from 12 tribes to just three; Benjamin, Judah and Levi. But their apostasy has resurfaced to the extent that they actually will crucify the Messiah, God’s only beloved Son. So the warning of impending judgment is still appropriate. Within the lifetime of many of those very leaders who call for Christ’s death, the Roman army under the General Titus would sack the city of Jerusalem and kill hundreds of thousands of Jews, and destroy the temple so that one stone wasn’t left upon another. The stone that the builders rejected scattered them like dust.

I cannot help but see the parallels of Judah to the United States today. We too were a nation that benefited from the presence of God in a very special way. No other nation on earth had the blessings that America has had. No other nation in the world was founded on Christian principles found in God’s actual word other than America. God used religious persecution to bring a great nation of people together from many foreign countries, many of which had persecuted them for their religious views and for trying to be true to God’s word. We have become the greatest nation on the face of the earth. In the beginning it was established on the word of God. God’s word is written on our government buildings, its verses were inscribed on our monuments, even our currency stated our faith in God, and for almost 200 years our schools used the Holy Bible as it’s textbook. Our country went on to export Christianity to the world through missionaries to every continent on the globe. There were churches on every street corner. Some of the greatest revivals known to man swept across this country, turning men’s hearts to God with great fervor.

Yet as time went on, we like Israel grew complacent, and we grew more and more materialistic. We became consumed with possessions and the lusts of the flesh. Today America has become a nation that is not defined by their Christian values anymore, but rather defined by our decadence and rampant consumerism. And I am afraid that the time is coming soon, when God will whistle to a foreign army who will come against this nation with the same zeal that Babylon did against Israel. And God will give our stewardship to a nation that will render to Him good fruit in due season.

But Jesus’ version of this parable is not just a nationalistic allegory, but also an ecclesiastical allegory. Here in this version Christ added the element of the caretakers. This was a veiled reference to the religious leaders. The priesthood of Israel particularly had been entrusted with the oracles of God. They had been entrusted with the worship, with the administration of the temple. They were to teach and to lead the people in righteousness and holiness. But the fact that Jesus continually pointed out was that the religious leaders were actually hypocrites. They had perverted the truth for their own purposes. They had their positions by means of political appointment rather than divine appointment. They had sold out to the Roman government for a measure of power. They were in it for the money, they were in it for the acclaim of people, they were in it because they loved to appear righteous. They were in it for the social standing. And they were willing to kill the Messiah in order to keep their position and power.

Jesus is saying that their stewardship will be taken away. Within their lifetime, the temple would be destroyed. The ancestral records would be destroyed. From what I understand today no Jew is able to know for certain if they are from a particular tribe. So there can’t be priests anymore, because they had to be from the tribe of Levi. There can’t be sacrifices anymore, because they had to be done in the temple in Jerusalem. All that they relied upon, their power, their prestige, their position of reverence, was destroyed.   The cornerstone that they rejected fell on them and scattered them into pieces that could never be put back together.

Folks, once again I’m afraid that there is a direct analogy here to the church leadership in America today. We have a greater privilege than Israel ever had. We have the complete scriptures, Old and New Testaments, inspired by God, written down for our instruction. Christ took away the stewardship from the priests and gave it to the lowly disciples. The apostles who were unlearned, uncredentialed, didn’t graduate from an approved rabbinical school were given the stewardship of the gospel. And these faithful men proclaimed it, protected it, and preserved it in the New Testament scriptures and then passed it on to preachers and evangelists. Eph 4:11-13 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

I wish I could unequivocally say that our generation of pastors and teachers had proved reliable in the stewardship of the gospel handed down from the apostles and prophets. But I am afraid that even a cursory look at the state of the church today in America reveals that we have neglected our primary purpose – the protection, proclamation and presentation of the Word of God – because we have been too concerned about our position, our social status, and our little bit of power to really preach the full counsel of the word of God. Even a cursory look at the majority of churches out there reveals that the clergy does not consider the preaching of God’s word a priority. Today ministers are more like managers, overseeing programs and employees and property administration. And the word of God is neglected. People are starving for the truth and not getting it. Instead we are building bigger buildings, adding bigger salaries, running coffee shops and bookstores and putting on concerts, but we have relinquished our number one priority; the preaching of the word of God. I am afraid that in the very near future, this enterprise in America that we call the church will be done away with. I heard Al Mohler and John McArthur speak on this subject last spring at a pastor’s conference. Already legislation is in the works to take away tax exemption from churches, not only in contributions, but in property taxes. If church contributions lost their tax exemption it would be harmful but not necessarily disastrous. But if property taxes are one day levied against the church then most churches and church based institutions would be forced to close. And when that day comes I think we will see who was in it for the money. When preaching the gospel may land you in jail then I wonder how many will want to preach at all. I am afraid that day is coming soon in America, and it will be our own fault. Church leadership has left it’s purpose which is proclaiming the whole gospel of Jesus Christ to the church.

One final application, this parable also has an individual analogy. As the Jewish people were given a stewardship and that stewardship was taken away, so as Christians we are given a stewardship. We are given the greatest gift of all, the gift of salvation. God’s beloved Son willingly gave His life as a sacrifice for the sins of those who would confess Him as Lord. We are given the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ Himself to live within us to guide us, and strengthen us and teach us. And we have been given the gift of God’s word, God’s very breath of life written down, easily available to everyone to carry with them. Today the word of God has never been more accessible, more portable. And yet what are we doing with our stewardship? Oh, we may not literally beat up the pastor, but we can despise the preaching of the Word. We may not literally crucify Christ, but we can insult the Spirit of grace by sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth. Hebrews 10:29 says,            “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, ‘THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

God grafted us Gentiles, people who were outside of the covenant, outside of the nation of Israel, without hope, God grafted us into His vineyard. He made us part of His chosen people, the church. He has freed us from the enslavement of sin and the fear of death. He has given us an inheritance in heaven, given us a promise to reign on thrones with Christ for eternity. Such things cannot be comprehended. And yet I’m afraid that many Christians today are totally enslaved to this world. They are totally enamored by the lusts of this world. Like the Israelites, we lust after the leeks and garlic of Egypt. We lust after the very things that God has delivered us from. Rather than seeking righteousness and holiness by suffering with Christ, we seek friendship with the world, we seek social status and prestige and bigger and better material things, rather than laying up our treasures in heaven.

Listen, I will close by referring to what Matthew includes in his gospel’s account of this parable. In Matthew 21:43 it records Jesus as saying, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.” I don’t think that this verse is teaching that you can lose your salvation, but I do think it teaches that God expects a return on your stewardship. Grace is not the result of works, but grace should produce works. Eph. 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

I don’t know your heart today. God knows your heart. But if your heart is right, then your fruit should be evident. If God is on the throne of your heart, then God has a right to expect fruit from His vine. Jesus said in John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain.”

How do we bring forth good fruit? By being found true to the cornerstone. By establishing our lives upon the cornerstone of Christ’s word, being built up into a holy temple in which the Spirit of Christ dwells. By crucifying the desires of the flesh daily so that Christ may live in our mortal bodies. By submitting joyfully to the rule of Christ over our hearts. When Christ is our cornerstone, then we will build our lives on His foundation and according to His plan. That produces a building that brings glory to God. That produces a fruit that will remain. I pray that today you come to the cornerstone in brokenness, that you may be built up according to the truth of God’s word.