THIS THREAD IS BASED ON MARK 12:1-12 "THE PARABLE OF THE VINE-DRESSERS"

There is a wealthy man in Lagos who wants to do something about the many who can’t find a job in today’s economy. Quite a few are even homeless. Suppose he paid millions of naira to build a large, supermarket. He stocks it fully. Then he goes out and looks for homeless people & others who need a job. The more qualified areplaced in management, and others are assigned the other jobs. He informed them that they can work for him, not just as employees, but in a partnership, where all the workers would get a share of the profits. All they had to do was work at the store, manage it well, & give him half of the profits. After picking his workers and signing the contract with them, he goes off to Abuja, a long way off.A few months after the store opened, he expected to receive his first cheque from the profits, but nothing came. So he sent one of his employees to remind them of their obligation. They just laughed at him, and ran him out of the store. They wanted all the profits for themselves. Well the owner heard about this, but from the goodness of his heart he decided to give them another chance. When no cheque arrived the next month, he sent a business associate to them, requesting the owner’s share of the profits. This time they beat him up, giving warning of what would happen to anyonethe owner sends to them. By now the owner is quite concerned, but he thought that surely with enough encouragement, they would do the right thing. So he sent another business associate to them, but this time, they take him into a back room of the store & murder him. They continue to hold on to all of the profits. We might expect that the owner would have had enough by now, but the next month he sent his only son to collect what they owe. When his son arrived, they said to themselves, “This is the owner’s heir. Let’s kill him, too, & the store will be ours to keep.” So several guys forced him into a truck. They took him outside the city & murdered him.

Now what should be done to those who are running & working in the store? Is there any person here today who would condemn the owner for pressing charges against those people, & holding them fully accountable for what they had done? Surely he would get others to run his store!

You know that God has given you life, and a beautiful world in which to live. Most of us have been given opportunities to develop skills, get an education, and do something productive with our lives. You have grown up in a country where the Gospel is preached, & the Word of God is available, & frequently taught. Now let me ask you a question. What have you given back to God? Are you serving Him by being a blessing to others? Are you thanking Him, & giving Him glory? Are you leading others to Him? Are you giving Him a worthy portion of the material wealth
that He has blessed you with?

God expects us to be fruitful, and yet in the story Jesus told here in Mark chapter 12, we see that many in Israel were not, especially the leaders. At the end of Mark chapter 11 they demanded by what authority He drove out the businessmen from the temple. He had already shown His authority numerous times by His miracles & powerful teaching. Yet they refused to believe. The very people who were supposed to know God the best, rejected the very Son of God whom God had sent. So by means of this parable Jesus warned them what would happen if they did not repent, & become fruitful to God.


We know that God Is Good to Israel – Psa. 73:1 says, “Truly, God is good to Israel.” He chose them from among the nations to be His people. He saved them from Egyptian bondage by mighty miracles. He gave them His perfect Law for their own good. He gave them a good and fruitful land. He raised up great leaders and sent them prophets. God furnished Israel with all that was needed for fruitful, happy service. No nation under heaven ever received so many notable and distinguishing privileges as Israel.

We also know that God has been good to us “the gentiles” by grafting us in to inherit the promises of Abraham. The Lord also communicates to us. Thru his WORD.  We have a God who is very patient with us whereby most of the time we take him for granted. Hmmm.


WARNING

Romans 11:22
“Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe towards those who disobeyed, but kind to you IF you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you will also be cut off.

Too many want to believe in the goodness and love of God. But they don’t want to hear about the judgment. and severity of God. They refuse to believe that God can be both good & severe in judgment. But the severity of God is just as real as the love of God.

Jesus said in Mark 12:.9, “He will come and destroy the vinedressers….”

This is exactly what happened to the nation of Israel. We can see the fulfilment  of this just 40 years later when General Titus & his Roman army destroyed that city and killed about a million Jews. He took the survivors into captivity. Part of their beautiful land was turned over to others, and the rest was left desolate.

God’s judgment also included the fact that:the spiritual blessing will be passed to Others.  Jesus warned that the Owner would “give the vineyard to others.” In Matthew 21:43, Jesus specifically warned,
“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it”. Why? Because they had not lived up to their obligations. So, in the place of the old covenant people, there would arise “a nation producing its fruit,” a church international, gathered from both Jews and Gentiles (Amen) The parable, accordingly,is not an abstraction. It pictures reality. If anything could have enraged the rulers more than the parable itself, the distinct declaration of the transference of Israel’s prerogatives to more worthy tenants would do so.

LESSON

There is a lesson here. Blessing implies responsibility. The only way to keep God’s gifts is to use them for His glory.

What about you? Could I appeal to you and your own sense of fairness? What more could God do for you? He has given you His Bible, His Son, and a preacher to give you His message.He has been good to you in many ways. What more could God do to get you to believe in His Son,and follow Him? When man rejects God’s offer of pardon, there is nothing else for God to do but to bring judgment upon such a person. In light of the severity of God’s judgment, you should do what John the Baptist suggested, and “flee from the wrath to come” (Luke 3:7). So we have seen that God is severe in judgment, especially after a person or nation has exhausted His patience.

But one thing we have to remember, in spite of Israel’s rebellion, God never lost control of the situation. Even though God is often opposed and rebelled against, He is still on the throne. His purposes will not be defeated. Notice what Jesus says in Mark 12:10-11:

‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone”. This was the LORD’S doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
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With confidence Jesus bears witness that their rejection & murder of Him would not bring defeat but ultimate victory. So Jesus suddenly switches the figure of speech here. He says, “the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” Just as the vine-dressers rejected the Son, even so the builders rejected what would become the chief cornerstone!

So even though Jesus foretells His death, He also foretells His triumph after death. Because He conquered death, He became the Head of the Church, which has grown through the ages to some one billion people, from just about every nation.
We even see that God was sovereign in permitting the death of Jesus, for there was a saving purpose for His death. But He loved you so much that He went to die on a cruel cross for your sins.

CONCLUSION

God has borne witness to you by His Word. We have seen that God is good & patient, but also severe in judgment. How will you respond to His goodness?
Will you give Him your heart? Will you live a fruitful life?

Think about this. The Bible pictures Jesus as a lamb. He died on the cross as a sacrificial lamb, to save you from your sin. But it also pictures Jesus as a lion. Now how do you want to meet Jesus? Do you want to meet Jesus as a lamb, or as a lion?

A man is a fool who will know that God has been good to him, and reject the witness of God, and take his chances and go out into eternity without believing in Christ. Will you trust Him today, and live a fruitful life for Him? Or will you walk out of this EARTH clinging to your own life, and claiming all that God has given you for yourself?

The choices is yours

Psalm 37:37
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.


God Bless