Scripture/Sermon of the Day

33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way. 37 Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

43 “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruits. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

I. There’s a verse in the Gospel of John where Jesus says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

II. Even though I was raised in a family that was Greek Orthodox Christian — and signs of the that religion were around my house like icons, pictures of Jesus, gold cross necklaces — we were taught a different philosophy which is expressed in this quote from the American SELF-HELP author and and conman Napoleon Hill who said in his book “Think and Grow Rich”: “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” It’s the idea that we don’t need Jesus or God or anyone else to achieve our dreams— we can do it all with a positive attitude.

There’s a version of that THINK AND GROW RICH thinking in the Bible -- Satan’s version. He tried to convince Jesus that he could have it all if he'd just switch sides. “I’ll give you the world Jesus,” said Satan, “if you worship me, not God!”

III. All these think and grow rich ideas require that the first thing we have to do is become separate from God. Notice every time Jesus answered Satan, he referred to God. We don’t live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God. And, don’t test God, and finally, “worship the lord your God and serve only him.”

“The Lord your God brought you into —a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of slavery.”

V. But we do forget. It’s why we’re here now — to remember who made us and the work we were given. In Jesus’ parable today, the tenants “forget” the landlord. They plan to steal his vineyard and own it themselves.

But Jesus says it doesn’t work like that. We’re the tenants — we are renters — our lives, our souls, the clothes we put on today — it’s all loaned to us. And God put us here to work the vineyard of our lives and produce fruit. Fruits, Paul said, like: self-control, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, patience, peace, joy, especially love.