A Good Tenant - Edition #2

Monday, December 5th, 2005

A Good Tenant – Edition #2

Before I dig back into this study of the tenants and what God expects of me, I wanted to share about my weekend and what I learned over the previous two days. Honestly, I can’t place everything within here, for I learned quite a lot. Great Sunday service and visited with a number of friends outside of my “normal circle” and throughout it all, everyday life can reveal so much about me as a person. I am now reading a new book by William Law, who wrote “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.” It is so amazing how much he describes the “Christians” of the day and what he sees is what I see among society now. Almost 300 years have passed since he wrote his book and nothing has changed on the grand scheme of things. And it really ties into the Sunday message. The purpose of a disciple is to get to heaven, and how do we fulfill that purpose? Live the life that God calls us to. Am I a devout Christian? Do I share my faith? Am I fruitful? I do share my faith, but not near as much as I used to. I feel there is more to being fruitful than baptizing someone, but as far as baptizing I have not brought anyone to Christ since I was baptized in 2001. It has been on my New Years Resolutions list for the past 3 years (I make a list of 7 things I want to accomplish each year and then check them throughout the year to see how I am doing).

Consider Julius from Law’s book: “Julius is very fearful of missing [church]; all the parish supposes Julius to be sick if he is not at church. But if you were to ask him why he spends the rest of his time by humor or chance, why he is a companion of the silliest people in the most silly pleasures, why he is ready for every impertinent entertainment and diversion, if you were to ask him why there is no amusement too trifling to please him, why he is busy at all balls and assemblies, why he gives himself up to an idle, gossiping conversation, why he lives in foolish friendships and fondness for particular persons that neither want nor deserve any particular kindness, why he allows himself in foolish hatreds and resentments against particular persons without considering that he is to love everybody as himself; if you ask him why he puts his conversation, his time, and fortune, under the rules of religion – Julius has no more to say for himself that the most disorderly person. For the whole tenor of Scripture lies as directly against such a life, as against debauchery and intemperance: he that lives such a course of idleness and folly, lives no more according to the religion of Jesus Christ than he that lives in gluttony and intemperance.”

So in other words, do I carry my cross on when the churches meet and then put it in the closet when I get home, only to pick it up when I know I am going to be seen either by other Christians that I know or church again, or do I carry my cross daily. Am I a “24/7 Christian” or just a “Sunday Warrior”? If I am a Sunday Warrior, then my life would show that I have no regard for the bible in my every day life. If I am a 24/7 Christian, my life would show by the decisions I make. Do I speed, do I pray with others, do I share my faith, do I tolerate sin in my and others lives? How do I spend the 24 hours a day that God has given me? Serious questions to ask myself. Am I like Julius or Jesus? WWJD: what would Julius do or what would Jesus do? It really boils down to “what would I do”? Again, a great weekend and a great reflection.

1. Respect: Edition #1
2. Marvelous: Edition #2
3. Change or Flee: Edition #3

Matthew 21:33-46
33 "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.

38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"

41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."

42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Mark 12:1-12
1 He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

6 "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

7 "But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

9 "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven't you read this scripture: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

Luke 20:9-19
9 He went on to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

13 "Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.'

14 "But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. 'This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

"What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never be!"

17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, "Then what is the meaning of that which is written: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone'? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

Marvelous (adj.):

1. Causing wonder or astonishment.
2. Miraculous; supernatural.
3. Of the highest or best kind or quality; first-rate.

Is Christ marvelous in my eyes? Does he cause astonishment within me? Do I see him as first-rate? Every time the word “marvelous” is used in the NIV, it is in reference to God. Only used a mere 14 times, every time it is used it is in admiration of God. David uses it in Psalms and Job uses it as well. Would this be a word I would use to describe my God? Do I marvel at my God or do I take him for granted? I think as time goes on, it is common for people, myself included, to minimize my Lord. When first baptized, we are king of the world in our faith, but as pain moves in, disappointment sets in, things don’t go the way we want, and soon God lowers in status. In comparison to other things, the love of my God to others doesn’t look like hatred to others. I love my family X% and God Y%, but the X is rising and the Y is falling (sorry for the math reference, but that is the only way I can explain it to myself). I had thought that this would be the opposite when I was first baptized, but that wasn’t the case. Really, the formula should be more like this: as X increases, Y increases two fold, because without Y, X cannot increase. It makes sense to me and if I need to explain further, let me know.

1 John 4:7-21
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

I love because God has given me the ability to. I cannot love if I have nothing to give. Can you pay for a candy bar if you have no money? But if someone gives you a couple of dollars, you can then pay for the snack. In the same way, you cannot love someone if you have never known love. It has to be given to you first before you can give it. It is like re-gifting; you get a gift and then give a gift. I have this friend whom I have known for a long, long time, and each year he blows me out of the water. His heart is amazing and he gives unselfishly. When I think of him, I think of this scripture:

Luke 7:41-47
41 "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."

"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

So he who has been forgiven much, loves much, and he who has been forgiven little, loves little. I think that if I feel I have been forgiven much, I would tend to view God as marvelous. I would be out of myself and look for ways to “wow” people, as my friend has done to me. And wowing can occur in many different forms. A phone call, a visit, a gift, a helping hand, so many ways I can “wow” others. Do I have a life that “wows” others? Do I have the faith to amaze God? Does my life show I have been forgiven much or does it reflect a forgiven little mindset? How big do I see that debt that God canceled? Things I have to think about as my day goes on…

GOD > ME