The Things that God Hates 8: One Who Sows Discord among Brothers

Proverbs 6:16-19; 1 Corinthians 3:1-4; Matthew 5:9-12.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 3, 2021.

This morning, we will look at the last thing on the list of things that God hates in Proverbs 6.  It ends with describing a person who sows discord, or strife, among brothers.

God hates the sowing of discord among brothers

This image of sowing begs the question, “How does one sow discord, strife, and conflict among brothers?”  Or, we could also ask it this way.  “Just what does a discord seed look like?”

Perhaps it is simply a question about another person in their absence, perhaps about their motives, or a remark about them.  We might tell a story about them that we have heard, maybe even completely slandering them.  It might be less aggressive by stirring up the irritations that others already have against the absent person.  We really are only limited in this hated sin by our imagination, and people have honed this craft to an art.

Today, I want to look at the passage in 1 Corinthians 3 to bring out some things involved in this issue.  Paul is speaking to the conflicts and strife that were going on in the church at Corinth.  He puts his finger on their main problem: spiritual immaturity.  Though a person cannot become any more saved than they are, we may or may not become spiritually mature.

Paul pictures spiritual maturity as receiving nourishment from God’s Word.  Just like a newborn baby cannot digest complex foods and must drink milk, so a new Christian cannot immediately digest much of God’s Word.  They need to feed on the simple milk of the Gospel until they have grown enough to take in the deeper things of God.  The proper effect of God’s Word will be spiritual growth, as opposed to remaining carnal, or focused upon the flesh and its desires.  Thus, spiritual maturity involves putting off carnal motivations, carnal thinking, and the actions that come with them, and putting on the mind of Christ taught within God’s Word.  A spiritually mature person has motivations and thinking that come from God and His Word.  They do the actions that have good spiritual impact upon themselves and others.  Many in the Corinthian church were sowing seeds of conflict among the body of Christ, and Paul knew that this was breaking God’s heart, something that He hated.

Though spiritual immaturity is the main problem for the Corinthian church, there are other possible reasons why a person might sow discord.  A person may simply not be saved.  Jesus speaks in a parable (Matthew 13:24-40) about his enemy sowing “tares” in among the wheat.  These would be people who are carnal because they are not born again by God’s Spirit.  They have not been regenerated spiritually.

Of course, this is often the first accusation against others when you are carnal.  It is easy to always believe the other person must not be saved when there is conflict.  The spiritually mature person recognizes that even godly people can disagree on issues.  However, we would be asleep at the wheel if we didn’t recognize that the external Church has many tares that have been sown into it by the enemy, and some of them are leaders.

Sometimes the sowing originates within the group as we have described, and sometimes it comes from outside of the group.  Paul spoke of this in his farewell message to the elders of the Ephesian church.

“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.  Also, from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.  Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.”  -Acts 20:29-31 (NKJV)

The savage wolves can come in among you, but they can also be government leaders giving decrees that cause problems in the group.  It is easy to miss the true source of conflict and only see the surface reasons.  It is important for us to step into spiritual maturity by checking our own motives first.  Line them up against God’s Word so that they can be purified.  Then, look for any deeper causes for the conflict that are not readily obvious.  Conflict always pushes us to rush our judgments, but this is not the will of God, nor the character of Christ.

In the end, we must learn to see through the schemes of the devil.  Our true enemy is him and his evil spiritual forces.  They are arrayed against the Church, and they use all manner of people: power hungry secular leaders, spiritually immature believers, con-artists, false prophets, etc.  The devil has schemes and a mode of operating that become more evident as we spiritually mature.  Whether whispering into the ear of Cain about his brother Abel, or catching Ahab’s eye with Jezebel, his strategies are generally the same, but his tactics are manifold.

So, what does God love?  Let’s go to Matthew 5:9-12 for that.

God loves those who promote peace between others

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God.  Jesus, the Unique Son of God, came to earth on a peace mission, and so we are sent forth as his ambassadors also offering peace.  We are to speak peace from God to those we meet.  It is when we have peace with God that peace with one another is possible.  Do not fool yourself.  True peace is not possible among those who reject God and His Anointed One, Jesus.

There is a kind of anti-peace that is promoted by the antichrist system of this world.  The anti-peace is not a peace at all, but it can result in a cessation of some strife.  The Pax Romana (peace of Rome) protected many nations from invasion by others.  However, they were always under the strife of Roman rule, and were conquered by them in the first place.  If this is your definition of peace, then you can keep it.

True peace is built upon the foundation of a healthy fear of God and His judgment.  It is not a fear that God will be capricious, but that God will not be mocked or fooled.  He is not swayed by our words to Him.  He judges in truth, reality.  Anti-peace is built upon the foundation of the fear of man, and the powers of this earth.

Jesus said that if you stand for true peace with Him, then the world will hate you.  The world offers a false gospel that delivers a false peace.  Look around you.  You see groups trying to build Utopia without God, without truth.  Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, “When they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.  And they shall not escape.  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief!”

When Jesus says that we shall be called “sons of God,” he leaves off just who will call us sons of God.  In fact, the next two verses talk about persecution.  Who is the “they” who will revile and persecute the peacemakers?  It is the world and all those who are one spirit with the false peace.  Christians are makers of true peace, and thus God is not ashamed to call them His sons, but the world that loves false peace uses worse epithets for us.  This persecution will come from outside of the Church and from within it.  It has always been so.  The early Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah were persecuted by other Jews who claimed to love God.  In the Middle Ages of Europe, Christians were often persecuted by other Christians who had power and authority, both religious and secular.

Don’t kid yourself.  A new morality is being raised up even today that is not of God.  Slowly, but surely, many denominations and Christians are moving from God’s Truth, to the anti-truth.  May God help us not to be caught up in our conflicts with one another and lose sight of the true enemy and his tricks.  The enemy is even now coming after believers that cling to the old ways of Jesus.  The heat is being turned up.

Ultimately, Jesus promises a reward for those who promote true peace and pay the price for it in persecution.  Not only will they be called the sons of God by him, but a day of manifesting just who are the sons of God is coming.  We will share in the glory of Christ as he returns to earth in order to set up the kingdom that God has given him. 

Now, your reward comes from the one you are serving.  If we serve ourselves, and thus the world, we will receive the world’s rewards.  The world will call us peacemakers and sons of God, but it will all be a lie.  For those who fear God and work for true peace, God has a reward that outweighs any difficulties, tears, and trials on this earth.

Yes, in some ways, we are already sons of God who are participating in his kingdom.  However, the terminology is “reward.”  Rewards are handed out after a contest, or project.  Jesus is pointing us to a point after the Resurrection in which we will stand beside him in his kingdom, a true utopia that will last for 1,000 years.  The world that has rejected God’s peace offer sees His peace emissaries as those who are obstructing the peace that they envision.  Christian, you must get used to being labeled by this world the opposite of what you truly are.  No, it is not fair, but it is part of the path ahead of us.  We can ignore their aspersions against us not in a sinful obstinacy, but in a steadfast, faithful determination to please our Lord Jesus!

Sowing Discord audio

The Things that God Hates 7: A False Witness who Speaks Lies

Proverbs 6:16-19; 1 Kings 21:4-16; John 3:35-36; Revelation 3:14.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 26, 2021.

This morning we will look at the 6^th thing on the list of things that God hates, and we find it in verse 19 of Proverbs 6.  God hates a false witness who speaks lies.

God hates a false witness who speaks lies

The word for “speaks” is literally breathing out, or exhaling, lies, which is a metaphor for speech.  It should remind us of the fact that breath, wind, and spirit are linked conceptually in the Bible.  Thus, it pictures a man who is breathing out lies.  His spirit is not a good spirit and is in league with the work of evil spirits, irrespective of the idea of possession.

Another grammatical thing that we should look at is the phrase “false witness.”  The word false can refer to the testimony itself, but it also speaks to the intent and character of the person who is witnessing.  This is a witness who is not committed to the truth and God.  They are a deceiver.  If a false witness says anything that is true, it is twisted and part of a deception, even if just to throw you off the scent of their deception.

In order to highlight this abominable issue, we are going to look at an event that is recorded in 1 Kings 21.

Ahab is king of the northern tribes of Israel.  About sixty years earlier 931 B.C., Israel had split into two kingdoms with the southern portion taking the name Judea, and the northern portion taking the name Israel.  The Bible tells us in 1 Kings 16:31 that Ahab was more wicked than any other northern king before him.

What did he do to deserve such a description?  He continued the worship of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel to keep his citizens from going to Jerusalem and its temple.  He also married Jezebel who was the daughter of a Sidonian King, a Baal worshipper.  This leads to Ahab building a temple to Baal in his capital city Samaria, and promoting Baal worship.  In fact, he begins to persecute the true prophets of Yahweh by imprisoning them and putting some to death.

Our problem in this chapter has to do with a vineyard next to Ahab’s summer palace in Jezreel.  He offers its owner, Naboth, either money or another field in trade, but Naboth refuses.  We will talk more about why later. 

Now, Ahab is a wicked man, but through his wife, we see that there are different levels of wickedness.  Ahab is more apt to pout and throw fits when people don’t go along with his plans.  Whereas, Jezebel has no boundaries and no qualms with using lies and murder to get what she wants.  When Jezebel finds out what Ahab is pouting over, she upbraids him and promises to get the vineyard for him.

A couple of week ago we talked about people who devise wicked plans in their hearts.  Well, this is exactly what Jezebel does.  Of course, Ahab knows what kind of woman he has married, and later God holds him accountable for her actions.  Jezebel is a leader who sees her position (and Ahab’s) as a means for her own benefit, and not for the people’s.  The people are just sheep, food, and assets to leaders like this.  Everyone is expendable for the sake of the great ego of such a leader.  Jezebel’s plan involves two scoundrels, worthless individuals, who will lie and say that they heard Naboth blaspheme God and the king.  This is a capital crime in Israel, and notice how she uses a cloak of morality to keep the populace going along with the ruse.

Wicked plans often need others in power to go along with it.  These others didn’t hatch the plan, but they knowingly carry it out.  Some do this out of fear because they don’t want to lose their life, power, and authority.  Others may simply do it out of their own lusts.  Perhaps they see themselves getting ahead or getting in the favor of the king, which could come in handy down the road.  Jezebel uses the kings seal to send a message to the elders of Jezreel.  This message tells them to have a fast and seat Naboth in a very public place where to scoundrels can accuse him of blaspheming God.  They are then to take Naboth out and execute him.  Regardless of what they were thinking, the elders of Naboth’s town sell him out in order to please the king.  They know it is all a lie, and yet they go along with it. 

Such wickedness is bad enough between nations, but for a leader to do such a thing to their own citizen is unconscionable.  God deliver us from such leaders, but it is not only kings that can abuse their power.  Every level of power over others down to our job and families can be abused in wickedness.  The wrath of God is coming for such things, and woe to the person who is found by him doing it.

Wicked plans always crush innocent people in order to satisfy the lusts of the wicked.  However, Naboth is not just innocent of the lies against him.  The story pictures him as a godly man.  In general, it would be his right not to sell to Ahab, but in Israel land was a birthright that was passed down from your ancestors, and ultimately it was a portion given by God.  To sell it would be seen as the same as Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of beans.  Naboth knows that the land has been given to his family by God, and he will not sell it for any price.  A gift from God meant more to him than mountains of money.

Ahab and Jezebel have nothing on Naboth because he has lived a godly life.  They then concoct bald face lies to pin on him.  Did anybody from Jezreel protest that day?  Who were these scoundrels accusing their friend Naboth of something they knew could never be?  In fact, although it is not mentioned in this story, 2 King 9:26 makes it clear that Naboth’s sons were killed with him, so there would be no heirs.  All of this because Ahab thought it would be nice to have a vineyard that was close to his palace.

Ahab didn’t enact the plan, but he knew it was going on, and was all too happy to rise up and take possession of the land after the heinous deed.  This was an abomination to God on Jezebel’s part, Ahab’s part, on the part of the leaders of Jezreel, and on the part of everyone who remained silent in the face of obvious wickedness. 

God then sends Elijah who just happens to catch Ahab as he is in Naboth’s field.  What is God’s message?  In short, Ahab will die in the same place that the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth and his sons, outside the city like an outcast.

Of course, the Pharisees tried this ploy on our Lord Jesus.  In their midnight phony trial, several witnesses were put forward as false witnesses against Jesus, but their testimony didn’t match and would stand the light of day.  However, the Lord knew what would give them the charge they sought.  When he declares that they will see him sitting at the right hand of the God, and coming on the clouds of heaven (a direct reference to Daniel 7:14), they believe that he has blasphemed, and that is what he was tried for, blaspheming God and the king (Caesar). 

Yes, in this world, wicked men seem to get away with wicked plans.  However, do not go along with them, no matter how afraid you are, or how much you will get ahead in this life by it.  This is an abomination to God and a righteous man will do his best to expose them.

So, what does God love?  I want to look at John 3:35-36 and then Revelation 3:14

God loves one who witnesses to the truth

If we are to carry out the imagery in Proverbs, we see that Jesus is animated by a pure spirit, wind, breath.  It is a holy spirit that is truth itself, and gives witness to the truth without fault.  This is the one who is loved of God.

Yes, it seems obvious that the Father loves the Son, but He loves us too because we have put our faith in the Son.  Jesus is the perfect image of God.  For all of the lies that Satan has spread against God, Jesus hanging on the cross shuts the mouth of all accusations for all eternity.  How can you question God’s love and motives after that?  Jesus became our template, but he also is our leader.  We will never get to being like him without his direction and help.  He is also the one who empowers us by his Holy Spirit.

The main purpose of this life is for us to learn to become more like God the Father through Jesus.  Of course, there are many who are trying to be gods in this world, and it will only get worse until the One True God ends it.  You cannot separate God’s power from His character.  You can’t try to obtain that power and reject His character.  It will never work.  There are two paths presented to us in this world.  The first is from the spirit of this world and it encourages humanity to follow its lusts, and pool its gifts in order to make ourselves gods.  God’s path requires us to turn away from our lusts and to embrace Jesus.  Of course, we won’t become God, but we will be like Him; we will be the Sons of God.  No matter how god-like humans become, we will one day have to give an account to the One who truly is God.  No one who is unprepared can survive that moment. 

Christians must not become tempted by that path, no matter how successful it may look.  Keep your eyes upon Christ and become more like him, not this world.  If we believe in the Son, we will see eternal life, and the wrath of God will not remain upon us, but His love will rest upon us.

In Revelation 3:14, I want to focus on two of the Titles that Jesus uses for himself.  The first one is The Amen.  It may seem to be a strange title, but it really isn’t.  “Amen” basically means that something is true and trustworthy.  Jesus used this to emphasize his statements to his disciples.  It is translated as “verily” in the KJV, and “most assuredly” in the NKJV.  Twice, Jesus doubles up the word, “Verily, verily I say unto you.”  This is a way of doubly intensifying the meaning.

Jesus is a metaphorical Amen to the Father’s will.  He not only assents that the Father’s plan is true and trustworthy, but he gives his strength to carrying it out.  He is not just declaring true and trustworthy things.  He himself is the Truth and Trustworthiness!  When we stand in Christ, we stand alongside the greatest one of all creation declaring a cosmic “Amen!” to the Father.  When we follow Christ and obey his commands, we are shouting “Amen!” to the Father in heaven with our lives.  Father, we praise you for you are True and Trustworthy regardless of what we see and experience down here!

He is also called The Faithful and True Witness.  I mentioned this earlier, but think of all the slander that the enemy whispered about God the Father throughout history.  Jesus came down to set the record straight.  His death on the cross makes it clear that the Father does not want people to die in their sins and go into the Lake of Fire.  Jesus did not just give a faithful and true witness about God.  He was Faithful and True in all that He said and did, faithful and true to his Father in heaven.

Yes, you and I have a lot of work to do to become like Jesus, and there are many in this world who are witnessing of Jesus, using his moral credentials, but they are not being faithful and true to God’s Word.  With the help of Jesus, this work will be finished in us, if we will just believe him and his word.  Let us be faithful and give a true witness of Jesus, and in so doing, become more like our Father in heaven!

The Things That God Hates 1: Introduction

Proverbs 6:16; 1 John 4:7-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 8, 2021.

We are starting a series on the things that God hates using the seven things listed in Proverbs 6.  In order to do justice to the gravity of the subject, we will take a week on each item, with this week introducing the concept of God hating something. 

Some use this idea of God hating to charge the Bible with inconsistency, and error.  In short, they use it to defame the character of God.  However, if we think more deeply on these things, we will find that this is not so.

Let’s look at our first passage. 

How can God hate?

Proverbs 6:16 clearly states that there are things that God hates.  The knee-jerk reaction of some is to ask, “How can God hate?”  Now the word that is translated “hate” here is the same word we have talked about in prior sermons.  This Hebrew word has a much larger range of meaning than our English word “hate.”  You have to look at the context in order to determine whether it speaks of something that is merely loved less than another thing. 

We saw this in Genesis 29:31. Many translations will say that God saw Leah was unloved, but it is actually the Hebrew word that in some cases can mean a disdainful hatred towards someone.  It is clear from that passage that Jacob does not “hate” Leah in the English sense.  Rather, when it comes to choosing between Leah and Rachel, he would reject her and choose Rachel.  Rachel was loved by Jacob, but Leah was not.

In Proverbs 6:16, the verse has another word that is clearly meant to be synonymous, or parallel with the earlier word “hate,” and it is the word “abomination.”  In Hebrew, this word has an extremely thin range of meaning.  It pretty much means something that is loathed and detested.  Although it can be used of humans, it is mostly used of God.  Some of these abominations that God hates are perversions of the Mosaic sacrificial system, but most of them are immoral activities that God has gone on record as stating that he detests them.

So, we can be assured that contextually the word “hate” here is on the other end of the spectrum from Genesis 29:31.  It means to hate, as we English speakers would think.  These are things that God has a strong aversion to, and detests.

Now, let’s look at the passage in 1 John.  This passage categorically defines love as an essential part of God.  “God is love.”  In other words, God can’t quit being love any more than we can quit being human.  Yet, we should note that, even though the Bible speaks of God hating things, it never states that God is hate.

It is here that we should understand that, for us, hating something is generally rooted in something that is wrong in my heart.  With God this is different.  Just as we find it impossible to be angry and righteous at the same time, so we find it impossible to hate and be loving at the same time.  In the Bible, we see that because God loves His creation so much, especially humans whom He made in His image, that He hates anything that threatens to destroy it, us.  He can do this perfect, not in spite of His love, but directly flowing out of His love.  If God is perfect love, then he must hate that which threatens to destroy the object of His love.  Like I said, it is impossible for humans to do this perfectly, which is why Scripture tells us, “The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”  James 1:20.

This brings us to two important understandings.  One, sin, as defined by God, is that which destroys us, others, and the world around us.  Second, God’s wrath, His active hatred for sinful things that destroy what He loves, is for the purpose of setting things right, producing righteousness.

There is a common statement that has surfaced over the years.  “God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.”  Is this true though?  My answer would be, yes, and no.  If this statement is used to remind people that God always desires the salvation of the sinner, even in the midst of their judgment, then it is true.  God is not willing that anyone should go into eternity lost.  However, He will not force anyone to put their faith and love in Him.

How is this statement wrong?  If we use this statement to justify not repenting of our sin, not repenting of destroying ourselves and others around us, if we use it to coddle and excuse rebellion, then we are treading on thin ice.  The sinner who refuses to hear God’s call for them to turn from sin, and to embrace His righteousness, will find out that God’s love for them will not cancel out their choice.

In John 3:17-19, we are told that the condemnation of God, His hatred for sin, is even now looming over the sinner.  That person is a destroyer of God’s good things, both within himself, and others around him.  Yet, God’s love constrains Him to make a way for that sinner to be saved from his fate.

With the cross, God wants us to see at least two things.  First, it shows how greatly He hates sin, and how serious He is about destroying it completely.  Second, it shows how greatly He loves us and is willing to move heaven and earth in order to save us from this fate.  He takes our sin upon Himself in order to make room for repentance, but the room is finite.  Yes, He loves you and has made a way for you to see the error of your way and believe on Him, but He can’t wait forever for your decision because He loves everyone else too.

Do not be deceived.  The person who goes into eternity refusing to repent of their sinful destruction of God’s things will not find the love of God.  Why?  They will not find it because they have rejected it at every turn, over and over again on earth.  To repent is to embrace the love of God.  That person will find God’s love on the other side of mortal death.

Thus, we see the picture at the end of Revelation 21.  The creation is melted down, and recreated as a new heaven and new earth.  An eternal city, built by God, comes down out of the heavens.  It is symbolic of the righteous, but it is also real.  We hear these words about it.

Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).  And, they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.  But, there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

At the cross, Jesus dealt with my sin, your sin, and took the judgment of our wickedness, our sinful destructions, upon himself.  However, I must choose to turn from my sin, quit loving wickedness, and start loving Jesus, the One who died for me.  The day will come when there will be no more room to choose for me, and for you, for your neighbor, your friend, even your enemy.  The day will come when there will be no more choice for this world because God’s plan is to bring us to a place where there will be no more wickedness forever, amen!

It is not His plan to bring us to a place where there is only wickedness.  However, for those who reject His plan, and embrace wickedness, He allows them to enter into the fruit of their choice, a place of only wickedness, and none of the goodness of God.  This is a repulsive thought, but it is even more so to the God who loves us and does not want this for us.  Why will you choose death?  Choose life and live!

Things God Hates 1 audio

Empty Promises

Mark 12:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 21, 2019.

Today is Easter Sunday and therefore we are going to look at another passage further ahead in Mark than we currently are in our exposition of this Gospel.  Next Sunday we will be back on course.

Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, celebrates the day that our Lord Jesus conquered sin and death.  It is easy to scoff at such things.  However, the amount of evidence regarding both his death (he did not merely swoon) and his resurrection is overwhelming (over 500 people testified to multiple accounts with many people at the same event).

We can hide behind the sophistication of modern man.  Yet, we still find ourselves in the same place as those in the first century or even two millennia before that.  We are still fallen people who are extremely broken inside and who need a savior.

Today we celebrate the reality that God has a plan to save us, and Jesus Christ is the man He has given to us to lead us to salvation.

The parable that we are going to look at this morning is one that Jesus told in the temple compound during the last week of his life.  This parable gives us a metaphor to help us understand just what was going on when Jesus was crucified and yet later raised from the dead.

Understanding the Parable

In verses 1-8, Jesus tells a parable that presses the issue of his coming execution.  The public is not aware that the leaders have decided to execute Jesus when they can, but Jesus does.  In this parable the metaphor has a biblical precedent from Isaiah 5.  There Isaiah tells a parable in which he states that Israel is the vineyard of God.  He even speaks of a tower for defense and a winepress.  This sets up an easy identification for the hearers, but also for us.

Let’s walk through the parable and identify each element.  First, we see that the man who owns the vineyard clearly represents God and, as we stated earlier, the vineyard represents Israel.  It would be better to use the phrase, the people of God, because this puts a better image in our mind.  It is not about a nation, but about a people who belong to God and are in relationship with Him.   The next element is the vinedressers, which are also translated as farmers or tenant farmers.  The Greek word that is used literally means worker of the earth and is where we get the name George.  The are the leaders of Israel who are supposed to ensure that the people of God are fruitful in their lives.  Technically, this means both the political and religious leaders, but it is told during his last week while he is in the temple.  So, it seems that the religious leaders are taking the brunt of the teaching- this is most likely due to the fact that the political leadership had long been separated from Israel with Herod (not from the tribe of Judah) receiving his position as king from Caesar.  I would quibble with the word tenant farmer, not because it ruins the parable, but because the emphasis is not on the fact that they are getting paid.  It is on the fact that their job is to oversee the vineyard and make sure it is fruitful for God.  They had taken their offices under the guise of performing the purposes of the Lord, and yet, too often these became empty promises that were not fulfilled.  They superficially performed the purposes of the Lord while all along serving their own interests.

Next, in our parable we see that the man sends servants at the appropriate time to get evidence of how fruitful the vineyard is.  These servants have been with the man and are the special or extra-ordinary teachers that God sent from time to time known as the prophets.  The leaders of Israel were also servants of God, but they represent those who spend their time in the vineyard all the time.  They are the day to day servants of God.  The prophets would come at special times with a special mission.  They would give direction and corrective instructions from the Lord so that Israel could be fruitful.  In light of the spiritual nature of the parable, the fruit that God is looking for is evidence that the people are growing in their trust of God and living according to His Word.  The very Scripture that the religious leaders took care to copy and memorize testified that the prophets were generally abused and often put to death by the political and religious leaders of Israel.  Thus, as God sent his prophets to help make Israel fruitful, they would abuse them and kill them.  Yet, later they would give lip-service to them.

This leads to the man deciding to send his beloved son.  Of course, this represents Jesus.  The parable presents it as a hopeful attempt to turn things around.  However, in many other places we are told that Jesus was sent knowing that he would be abused, executed, and excommunicated (i.e. thrown out of the vineyard).  Thus, the leaders would kill the Son and leave their promise to tend to the people of God for God’s purposes unfulfilled.

As the parable ends, we are left asking if it was really as bad as the parable shows.  Somewhere along the line, the leaders had lost sight that this nation belonged to God literally.  They existed for His purposes, not theirs.  They had edged God out by pushing Him high into the heavens, but using the system for their own ends.  When Jesus arrived on the scene, they could only see that Jesus would inflame the hopes of the people that He was Messiah.  Rome would then come in and quash it, while holding the religious leaders responsible for letting it happen.  They would lose their authority and that couldn’t happen in their minds.

Lest we seem too hard on the Israelite people, let’s use the parable as a set of glasses for our times.  If we look at our times religiously, we must confess that the leaders of the Church of Jesus have often fallen into the same mentality as those of Israel did.  We give lip service to God and His purposes, but we abuse and kill those prophetic voices that He sends from time to time.  O sure, there are real heretics that must be faced and rejected, but not everyone labeled a heretic throughout the Church’s history were so.  Our leaders have too often hijacked the people of God and their devotion to Him for their own ends and purposes. 

What if we look at our times nationally (the United States of America, or insert your nation here)?  Are not our leaders leading us in a way that serves their own purposes and do they not lack any care for what the God of heaven thinks?  Sure, there are anomalies, but the majority give God lip service at the best.  Was it not God who supernaturally enabled us to break free from the political tyranny of King George III.  Side note, it is interesting that George’s name has the root used in our parable.  He was King Vinedresser, but had come to think the vines were all for him and his pleasure.  The testimony of our forefathers is that we succeeded by God’s help, period.  Has not the Lord of America come looking, from time to time, for godly fruit by sending special, prophetic voices, only to be cast aside and ignored?  Are we not, as a society, killing the Word of God as we cast it aside and live for our own purposes?  Also, this begs the question.  Do you not know that your own life is itself a vineyard of which God has put you in charge in order that it be fruitful for His purposes?  His ways lead to life, but ours continually lead to ever more creative expressions of death.

God still has a plan that cannot be thwarted

The parable does get rather dark and foreboding.  Jesus in verse 9 asks the question.  What will the owner of the vineyard do?  They are going to be removed and destroyed.  Ultimately, they will not succeed in their attempt to use God’s people for their own ends.  They will be removed and God’s purposes will continue unthwarted. 

The religious and political leaders would do exactly what this parable says.  They would reject Jesus, abuse him, execute him, and then excommunicate him.  This is why the book of Hebrews makes such a big deal about Jesus being crucified outside of the city gates.  This ancient sign of extreme banishment (extreme in that they also killed the person) was the ultimate rejection.  Hebrews 13:12-14 says, “Therefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.  Therefore, let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.  For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.”  We are in danger of losing the eternal for the sake of holding on to the temporary at all times.  Is it not better to surrender that which you cannot keep in order to receive that which you cannot lose?  You can and should trust God.  His plan is not thwarted, and cannot be thwarted, whether by man or spiritual powers in the heavenlies.

Jesus would be rejected and killed, but this would not extinguish the fact that He is the key component to God’s plan.  In verses 10-11, Jesus reminds the leaders of Psalm 118:22-23.  There the psalmist uses the imagery of building the temple of God.  In such building projects, the stones would be fashioned at a remote quarry and then arrive at the building site with some mark explaining its place in the structure.  The builders are the leaders of God’s people who are supposed to have the skill and knowledge to take the stone and put it in the proper place.  The psalmist speaks of a stone that arrives, but the builders reject it and cast it aside.  However, the God of heaven overrules them and uses it as the most important stone of all, the key foundation stone.  These leaders were rejecting the most important part of God’s plan, and He would intervene so that Christ would indeed be what He was sent to be.

Though our parable is challenging the earthly human leaders, there is another layer to this whole thing.  We forget that Jesus is very aware of the evil, spiritual forces around him.  Just as many of his sayings slighted the religious leaders who overheard them, so too they also slight the spiritual powers in rebellion to God.  This parable is no different.  There were spiritual powers who had been put in charge of the nations after the Tower of Babel incident.  These powers had abused their delegated authority and twisted the peoples’ hearts with false religion that lifted the rebellious spiritual powers up as gods.  They too were complicit in the execution of the Son of God and therefore fall under the same judgment given here.  In fact, the spiritual component makes even more sense than the human.  The religious leaders never looked at Jesus as the Son of God who must be killed so that they can inherit those who belong to God.  However, this makes perfect sense of the spiritual powers.  They knew exactly who Jesus was and apparently believed that they could kill Jesus and seize mankind for themselves.

Nearly 40 years after the death of Jesus, after a time of his disciples warning the nation of Israel of the coming destruction and God’s plan of escape, the Roman legions destroyed the city and dismantled the temple stone by stone.  The people of God, who clung to Christ, went to the world with this rejected stone that had now become the chief stone, not just of Israel, but of the whole world.  If you wonder what in the world God is doing then I would put it this way.  He is offering anyone who will an opportunity to be a part of His people, and to participate in a kingdom that will come into existence at the Second Coming of Jesus.  He is not as enamored with our buildings, institutions, and plans, as much as we are.  He is more interested in you, that you are bearing the fruit of faith, the fruit of trusting His Word and living for Jesus in this dark world.

This brings us to the reality that the promises of God are counterbalanced with the promises of the world and those spiritual powers behind it.  This world promises us better things if we will cast Jesus aside and pursue pleasure, or wealth, or fame and accomplishment.  All of these things still leave you feeling empty in the end.  Why?  They do so because we were not created to be satisfied with temporary and material things.  We are trying to stuff small temporary things into an enormous eternal space that is as vast as the universe.  You cannot fill it with the temporary.  Only God can fill that space.  Only a relationship with Him can fulfill the promise of peace and joy.

Over time the philosophies of the world have turned away from God and religion, and towards man.  We must do it.  No God will do it for us.  These are the mantras of humanistic materialism.  Sadly, too many Christians practically do the same thing by pushing God as far up into the heavens as they can.  He doesn’t intervene.  He expects us to do it for ourselves.  Such philosophies have no real basis for upholding good values.  We can pretend that love is a good value, but if we have a philosophy that states humanity is an accident and there is no absolute truth, then why is love good?  Is life precious?  Without God, we only find the precious nature of life ground out of us on every side.  Hopelessness and despair continue to reign from shore to shore and we have no peace because we have rejected the Prince of Peace.

You may feel like God has not kept His promises to humanity, but remember.  He is the God of the resurrection.  Jesus did not back away from the last step to the cross out of fear and lack of faith in His Father.  He showed us that if we would live for God all the way through our death, without turning back, then He will exalt us in due time.  There is a day when the people of God from every generation will be resurrected in the same way that Jesus was, almost 2,000 years ago.  I hope that you have made the choice to be apart of that day because the promises of God will never fail!

God will keep His promises to us.  If you have waffled on trusting Christ then do it today.  If you have been partially trusting Christ, yet basically floating aimlessly, then choose to fully trust Him today.  If you have been trusting Jesus, then don’t let this world rob you of your victory.  Jesus overcame this world by His faith in the Father, and therefore, He is given a place above every other name.  Through Him, you too can overcome and take your place at His side as the Father brings a fulfillment to every word that He ever gave us.  Jesus rose up from the g rave because He is greater than death.  Those who trust Him cannot be destroyed by death, but only made stronger!

Empty Promises Audio