A Good Tenant - Edition #3

Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 and Wednesday, December 7th, 2005

A Good Tenant – Edition #3

Marquee Marc’s Challenge:
Here is an interesting little exercise you can do regarding this. Pretend that you are an Angel of the Lord that reports directly to Jesus regarding matters of your heart. What kind of things would you report to Jesus to write to you to encourage you and also to warn you?

Warn:

• Johnny tends to trust in messages without searching the scriptures.
• Johnny can at times place more attention in worldly things and not on God.
• Johnny doesn’t challenge non-Christians as Christ once did.
• Johnny knows he should be having family devotionals but still does not.
• Johnny’s attendance to church and church functions is scattered of late.

Encourage:

• Johnny has studied everyday in the word for more than 5 months straight now.
• Johnny looks for ways to encourage others in ways he has never done before.
• Johnny has had a number of temptations recently and has stayed strong in his faith.
• Johnny is growing.
• Johnny is praying more now than he has done before.

Thanks Marquee Marc (I use the definition of “being an athlete of exceptional skill and popularity”), and when I think of the word athlete, I think of one who runs the race. And the word Marc is a French version of Mark which means “Warlike.” And that makes sense to me, because you are a strong warrior, a strong athlete doing what you can as you run your race.

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.

I think it should be noted that Jesus never said “look you horrible sinners, you repent NOW!” He spoke of something and the people personalized it so much, their guilty heart gave them two options: 1) change or 2) get rid of the guy. And as we all know the story, they chose the latter. So for me, I come to “forks in the road” quite a bit, and it is pretty much the same way: Change Drive or Flee Parkway.

Proverbs 28:1
1 The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

So, going down Flee Parkway instead of Change Drive can be a bit of a pickle. No one really tells you to go down it but the heart. And really even then, it would be our sinful desires (see Romans 7). Also, it’s like when I flee, I spiritually park myself, stay in place and go nowhere whereas if I where to go down the Change Drive, I would be growing. Why is it that I sometimes flee when no one is even pursuing me? My heart was being spoken to, and I did not want to accept what was being said, much like the Pharisees knowing the parable was against them. So then the only choice when I come to the fork in the road is Change Drive.

Matthew 18:1-9
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5 "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

7 "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Going down Change Drive, to make a change is going to take effort. It has to be a driving force. To have the heart of pleasing God, that of a child wanting to please their parent, takes radical thought (verses 7-9). It takes the mindset of doing “whatever it takes” and any thought less than that concept may not be good enough. How far am I willing to humble myself? Do I have a driving force to change or am I fleeing to a place where I can park myself in self pity? This has been an enlightening study for me, so Johnny Out.

God > Me