The Cornerstone

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Well, you open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12. If you're using your pew bibles, you'll find that on page 895. Matthew, Mark, second book of the New Testament. Mark chapter 12.

Again, remember the context. They've come up from Jericho, up the windy hill, over the Mount of Olives, down in the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Hosanna! Save us, O Lord! Jesus cleanses the temple. He withers the fig tree. And last week they asked, by what authority are you doing these things? Mark chapter 12.

Then He began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat, and built a tower. And he leased it to the vinedressers and went into a far country. Now at vintage time he sent a servant to the vinedressers that he might receive some of the fruit from the vineyard from the vinedressers.

And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. And again he sent another, and him they killed. And many others, beating some and killing some, therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, They will respect my son.

But those vinedressers said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. So they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine dressers and give the vineyard to others.

Have you not even read the Scripture? The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. and they sought to lay hands on him, but feared the multitude, for they knew he had spoken the parable against them. So they left him and went away. Thus ends this portion of the reading of God's word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but brothers and sisters, the word of our God endures forever.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for giving us our high priest And our prophet, Jesus Christ, who is also our King. Father, now we pray that as we have read your word, that your Holy Spirit, we plead with you, would teach us. God, we plead that you would let us understand it, and that you would apply it to our hearts and our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. I'd like to do just a little bit of hypothetical with you this morning. Imagine things had gone differently in this whole situation.

Sermon

Imagine Jesus had come up from Jericho and gone up that windy road up to Bethany and Bethsaida and as he went up there, he got on that donkey and as he came down the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, It was the high priests and the scribes who went out and they cried out, Hosanna, and put the palm branches down. And when Jesus came into the temple, They had realized that He was the priest who was to come and that they had done wrong. Imagine what it would have looked like if they had confessed their guilt before the King of Kings and said, we polluted the temple. We stole this place away from the Gentiles where they were supposed to be able to pray.

Jesus, you're right. Jesus, we have abused our authority. We've lined our own pockets and we shouldn't have done this. Please teach us. It could have gone that way, couldn't it? But why didn't it? I think that's twofold. One, because God is sovereign and has a plan. But secondly, they didn't want to give up their own authority. They didn't want to give up their own privileged positions. And showing in their heart is what I think happens to a lot of us when we're confronted with sin and the king of king comes into contact with our lives. defensive. We dig in our heels, we put up the walls, we self-justify. No one likes to be called out, especially those who are in power.

So the question this morning, are you willing to give up your own way? Are you willing to give up your pattern? Are we willing to give up our habits? Are we willing to lay down our authority? Are we willing to give up our own systems and live unto Christ? Or will we get defensive and want to still be kings and queens of our own destiny?

Well, they've asked Jesus in the previous passage, what makes you think you have this type of authority to do these things in the temple? Remember, these are the leaders. He's interacting with the chief priests. He's interacting with the scholars of the law, the scribes. He's interacting with the gray-haired leaders, the elders of the people.

And they've asked Him, by what authority? And He answered them with another question, tell me the authority of John? Was it of man or was it of God? They don't want to answer him, and so he says, I'm not going to answer you. But instead he tells them this parable. Then he began to speak to them. The them there, I'm convinced, is the leaders. And he gives them this parable of a man. The man is God. This is an allegorical type parable. Each thing stands for something. The chief priests understand part of this, not all of it. We'll get to the part they don't understand later. But the parts they do understand is this is God. God has made Israel His vineyard. If you look back in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 5, this is what it shows. And God went through painstaking, expensive endeavors to do this.

He had redeemed them up out of Egypt. He had planted them into a land flowing with milk and honey. He gave them homes. They were supposed to thrive. He gave them the tabernacle and later on the temple. He gave them so much with all the covenants and the promises and the law to teach them that they might be a wonderful vineyard.

God had an expansive endeavor. And notice what it says here, how Jesus says it, right? He planted a vineyard. He set a hedge around it. He dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. God had done everything for this vineyard. Costly, painstaking, sweat-enduring work to make sure that the vineyard would be productive and protected. And then what did God do? Jesus says in this parable, He entrusted it to tenant farmers, to vine dressers.

Now this isn't too different, right? When I used to live in Pittsburgh and Chicago, I didn't really understand that this much until we moved to Iowa and then I found out there's a whole bunch of farmers who farm a whole bunch of land, but they don't actually own a bunch of it. There's absentee farmers who might live in those places like Pittsburgh and California and Florida and stuff like that. And it's the resident farmers here who are working other people's ground. And from the profits they pay a rent. This is the same scenario that's going on here.

In the Roman world, this was extremely common. If you were wealthy, you could set up a whole manor. And during Chalk and Talk, I'll show one of these pictures of a giant manor where there's almost a hundred rooms and a huge vineyard and it's got walls around the vineyard. And there's a tower that goes up in the middle of the manor to make sure that when the owner comes, he has a place to stay. But when he's not there at night, people are able to be on the rooftop and watch out for any wild animals or intruders who would come in and steal.

And so they would have been used to this. And the absentee landlord is gone. He goes on a trip, is what Jesus says here. And while he's gone, the tenants, they have a blessing. They are stewards of this land. They get to tend the vines. They get to care for it. They get to cultivate it. They get to see this flourish. They get to do something good with what's been entrusted into their hands.

They get to sleep in the house. And they get to sit on the top of the tower at the time of harvest. They get to enjoy the grapes. And they get to go to the wine press. And they get to celebrate during the time of harvest. They get a portion of the wine themselves. They are blessed by being stewards of the vineyard. They get all these blessings.

They enjoy the vineyard themselves so much though, that something twists in their mind. They go from being stewards of the vineyard to thinking that they should have the vineyard. They go from enjoying the blessing to feeling entitled that they somehow should own it.

And it's not until the owner starts sending for his portion that the people start to twist and turn on the owner himself. When the owner sends the servants to get his portion of the wine, which is contractually obligated, he owns the land, he invested in the vineyard, he's the one who bought the land and did the hard work preparing it. Well, it's not until he sends his servants The people, instead of saying, thank you for letting us live on the land, they start to become entitled, thinking, I've worked this land, how dare you take some of the produce.

They don't say, thank you for having foresight and building a tower to keep us safe and walls to keep out the animals. Instead, they seem to have an entitled attitude once again of, we're the ones who watched over this vineyard. We're the ones who have done this. We're the ones who stayed up late at night.

Instead of thanking the landowner for planting the choice vines, instead they have an attitude that we're the ones who tended the vines and we're the ones who get all the harvest. And sure, they forgot who they were. and who the Lord of the manor was. They became infatuated with their enjoyments and their privileges and blessings, forgetting that all of it was given to them by someone else. The vinedressers had gone from blessed to entitled and defensive. No one would take what was theirs. They wouldn't give it up. It would have to be pried from their cold, dead hands.

And Jesus, make no doubt about it, is talking about the leaders of Israel here. God had left things into the hands of the priests and later the kings. And they were entrusted as stewards, right? They were given the temple, they were given the governance of the people, they were given this blessing of being able to care for and lead, shepherd and love God's people. But if that wasn't enough, they twisted it for their own benefit. But when it was time for God to receive His portion of the harvest, He sent His prophets.

Those are the servants in this story. And how did they treat the prophets? Well, remember the story of Elijah. Ahab and Jezebel tried to kill him multiple times. You think, I've just finished reading the book of Jeremiah and my personal devotions, and I mean, Jeremiah, man, I would not want to have Jeremiah's call.

The guy is beat, the guy has stuff thrown at his head, the guy is thrown in jail. At one point, he's lowered down into a cistern filled with silt that comes all the way up his torso, and he has to have an Egyptian eunuch plead for his life. Because he's going to starve down there. Imagine being stuck in mire up to your armpits. And that's how somebody wants you to die. They don't care about your crying. They don't care about your screaming. They don't care about the fact that this is going to be a long, slow, painful death. Uriah was killed by Jehoiakim. Zechariah killed by Joash. And the book of Hebrews tells us that Isaiah was sawn in two.

And that's how the leaders of Israel treated God's servants. Even though they had been trusted with the vineyard. Even though they had been given the good things that were meant to be good and even bless them. And finally the owner sends his beloved son. I hope it doesn't take much for you to understand who that is. because God had said it at Jesus' baptism and at His transfiguration, this is my beloved Son. This is Jesus. God finally sends Jesus into the world.

But you have to look at the logic or the illogic of the tenants here. I mean, God says, they will respect my son, but, verse 7, those vinedressers said amongst themselves, this is the heir, come let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours. In what world does that sound like good logic? What court in their right mind is going to say, oh yeah, you know, They killed the heirs, so the vineyard must actually be theirs. No, the judge is going to declare them guilty, punishable by death.

But this is what sin does. Sin will lead you in irrational directions. I remember just talking to a judge not long ago, and he was telling me how easy it is for people, just straight up criminals, to justify every bit of their criminal behavior. I'm telling you right now, you can rationalize yourself into all sorts of sin. And it's not until somebody else from the outside points it out and says, what were you thinking? I've got to tell you, when you're that knee deep in sin, typically you'll dig in your heels and the defensive walls will come up and you don't want to hear it because you're so far gone. How do they back walk killing the other servants? throwing rocks at some of their heads and beating others.

The owner will return. Vengeance will be repaid, justice will be served, but then notice Jesus takes the scribes to school. Jesus schools the scribes. I love Jesus. Sometimes, you know, he's got his tongue in his cheek, and it's really fun. Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? Verse 9. He will come and destroy the vine dressers and give the vineyard to others. And then this, right? He's speaking to the scribes again. They literally write out the law by hand all the time. And what does he say? Have you not even read the scriptures? Don't you know what's going on here, guys? You handle the very words of God, but your eyes are as blind as a bat. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Jesus is quoting Psalm 118 here. And one of the keys to a parable, I'm going to give you a tool here, a tool of interpretation or a hermeneutical tool. Hermeneutics, if you ever see that word, that's a big $5 theological word for interpretation. How are you supposed to read and understand something? Parables often have a twist to them. Something you're not expecting. Something that changes the story and gets you a little bit off balance, right?

You think of, like, the Good Samaritan. You expect the Levite to be the good guy. You expect the priest to be the good guy. But who ends up being the good guy? The Samaritan. All over the place, there's all these twists. Well, this parable, likewise, has a twist. The twist is, the stone which you reject is going to be the cornerstone. This is the part they don't understand.

Remember, we often think of parables and we think of Jesus as telling an illustration. It's a story that's to bring more light to the subject. But for those who do not believe, Jesus says, I speak to them only in parables. Not that they will believe, but that they will not see and turn.

And they don't understand this part. If they did understand this part, they wouldn't kill him. They certainly don't believe this part, even if they do seem to understand the general tone of it. But Jesus quotes Psalm 118, verse 22 and 23, speaking of himself as being the chief cornerstone rejected. What does this mean?

It's like when they went out to the quarry, And they had gone to the quarry and they were looking at these stones that were cut out. There was one that they looked at and they said, eh, not this one. And they tossed it aside. Instead they built up a whole other system. And the problem is, right? I greatly underestimate how much y'all know and I don't know. I was blessed this past week by Ben.

He came over to the house and we're getting ready to build this structure in the front yard or in the north yard, whatever you want to call it. And he's sitting there and like he's got like measuring tapes and strings and posts and getting all these things to make sure that the walls are Perfectly straight and then when he gets them perfectly straight then he measures this way and then he does like Pythagorean Theorem stuff to make sure it's all going to be square and and I'm just like dude just I'll hold the tape for you I have no clue what you're doing But the point is, if the corner's not square, the whole building's going to look like something I would make, a redneck box. It would be... Right?

But Jesus says, no, no, the one that you rejected, you're so used to cockeyed and crooked, that here I am before you and I'm going to be the weight bearer of this building. And the plumb line's going to come off me. I'm the standard for righteousness and truth and mercy and all that is good. And you're going to reject me just like you rejected the servants and cast them out, so you will also reject me.

But the people are still going to stand in awe of this. It's interesting that this whole section of Jesus' triumphal entry started in Psalm 118. Hosanna! Right? That cry of the Messiah entering into Jerusalem started in Psalm 118 and Jesus ends this section back in Psalm 118. Pointing to Himself. So what does this mean? Well, seven things that this passage means, that this parable is. I'm just going to lay it out for you here. One, God owns Israel. Israel is a vineyard and God owns them.

Two, the leaders have co-opted and corrupted God's people and the temple. The leaders have co-opted and corrupted God's people and the temple. Number three, God had corrected with the prophets. God had corrected with the prophets. Number four for what this means, God sent His beloved Son. That is Jesus Christ. God sent his beloved son. Number five, they would kill the son.

Some people have looked at this passage and they've seen this and thought, oh right, God leaves it and he doesn't really know the future. Maybe they'll respect my son. This is a parable. Give me a break. Jesus clearly knows what's going on because he says Psalm 118 about him and what they're about to do. It's not that God loses his omniscience here, that's a crass way to read this passage. Jesus knows what's about to happen and he knew that they would kill the son. Number six of what this means.

God will judge the leader's treachery. God will judge the leader's treachery. This would happen eventually. You know the temple actually didn't get finished being built until about ten years before it was destroyed. God would eventually overturn their system and end their rule. God would judge their treachery. And number seven, Jesus willed, or would, has been, is, exalted.

Jesus would be exalted, but the question still remains for us, how do we move out of a parable into our lives today? What does this mean? For me, today, Jesus is the chief cornerstone today. Jesus is the one who bears the weight of the church upon Him. If we try to build up the church and take out the cornerstone, it's going to be like a Jenga tower taking out the bottom two. I guarantee you it's going to fall. You cannot take out the chief cornerstone. He is the plumb line, and the vineyard is God's. I'm begging you, I know this is just common and people say it, but I'm begging you to work hard to think about this.

When you're talking about this congregation or another congregation, I plead with you, I beg you, never, ever, ever say, this is Pastor Blank's church. Do you go to Pastor Blackwood's church? Do you go to Pastor Stuyvesant's church? No, it is not any pastor's church. I cannot tell you how many leaders in the church have been corrupted because of this false sense of pride, thinking that it is their church.

You are not my church. Jesus Christ is your head. Jesus Christ is your King. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone. No pastor, I beg you, your faith will be ruined if you fix your faith on a pastor. Because the princes and principalities of this world and every pastor will eventually fail you somehow. Keep your eyes fixed on the cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Leaders of the church are nothing but tenant stewards. And they must also be corrected. They must listen to the prophets themselves. But in your own life, I also beg you to beware of defensiveness. Beware of defensiveness.

We might think of the chief priests and the scribes and the elders and just kind of like, oh man, what is wrong with these people? Why didn't they, they're so ignorant. If we have an ounce of humility, we're the same way. We're no better. Our hearts don't like it when people confront us about sin. Our desire, if you're honest with yourself, is more often for what you want to do, and the things you can get out of things, rather than the things that you ought to be doing to love others. We want it our way.

Right? I mean, it's so popular, so ingrained in our culture, that there's jingles about it. Right? Fast food restaurants. Jokes, whatever, I'll do whatever I want. It's a free country, I'll do whatever I want. Who are you to judge? You do you. You need a really high and philosophical that's just as arrogant, people who believe that they're sovereign individuals and no judge can tell them what they ought to do. Right?

This rampant individualism in our heart also comes with this pride in defensiveness. That when we're confronted with sin like Jesus confronts them with here, the walls go up. They don't want to hear it. That's who we naturally are. Unless the Spirit humbles us to listen. So I pray that you would be those that would be humble. That when God's Word is brought to you, and it is profitable for correction, but it's also when God's Word is brought to you for rebuke and correction. I pray that we're the type of people who would receive that.

And some of us need to receive it in different ways. Man, I get it all the time with the Lord been really hammering me down about selfishness in my life. About living for my desires rather than loving Olivia and the children first. Some of you are going to get a little bit defensive when somebody puts their finger on your pet's and I don't know if it's lust, I don't know if it's gluttony, I don't know if it's lack of self-control, I don't know if it's covetousness or a lewd mouth or whatever.

I don't know what it is, but when you're confronted with it from God's Word, I hope that the Holy Spirit has tenderized your heart in such a way that you recognize that you could be different than these Pharisees, different than these scribes, different than these high priests and elders. The story doesn't have to go this way.

Will you be like the self-righteous leaders of Israel? Or will you put away your defensiveness and self-righteousness? Sit at the feet of Jesus. Will you give up your way? Will you give up your patterns? Will you give up your sinful habits? Will you give up your own authority? Will we be people who give up our systems and live according to the dictates of our King Jesus Christ? I pray that we become humble people who will take correction, welcome the sun, marvel that the chief cornerstone which the builders rejected has been set apart, and it's marvelous in our eyes.

Closing Prayer

Marvel at Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for giving us our prophet, our priest, and our king. Lord, we need your Holy Spirit to convince us of our sin and of our misery. Lord, we pray that you would enlighten our minds to the knowledge of Christ. We pray that you would indeed allow us to embrace Jesus Christ as he is freely offered to us in the gospel. That you would fill our hearts with amazement. That you would show mercy to people like us. Thank you for making us part of your vineyard.

In Jesus' name. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.