The Cornerstone (Matthew 21:33-22:14)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Well good morning my name is chet i am one of the pastors here i'm excited to be here with y'all this morning if you have a Bible grab it and go to Matthew chapter 21. we're working our way through the Gospel of Matthew we're picking up this week where we left off last week if you don't have a Bible that's okay we used to hand them out to people before covet at some point we will hand them back out but right.
Now we'll have all the Scriptures on the screen to help you follow along um recently i think it was a a year or two ago there was somebody who posted on twitter um if you're not familiar with twitter it's kind of like facebook posting something on twitter similar to posting something on facebook if you're not familiar with facebook you're blessed person but posting something on facebook is like shouting something in public but more people can hear you so they posted this on twitter and they said some some offensive kind of foul language.
And then they said i got accepted for a nasa internship so it's just a very aggressive intro to i got accepted for a nasa internship well on twitter people can respond to you and some gentlemen responded this young lady and just said language just correcting her you probably shouldn't you know shout expletives just to tell us you got an internship and she responded to him more aggressively more obscenely in a very crass manner uh to translate it from the pulpit you would just say you can't tell me anything i'm working at nasa that's what she responded.
So i don't have to listen to you i'm working at nasa to which he responded and i am on the national space council that oversees nasa not too long later she tweeted i lost my internship they followed up with this guy he didn't go out of his way to try to make her lose the internship but people thought this was very funny and shared it a lot and then nasa decided she didn't need the internship she had entered into a situation she did not understand what was at stake she did not know who she was talking to she did not understand the ramifications of her decision she had entered into a situation that she mistook.
For something else and it cost her i'm willing to bet she nailed the actual nasa interviews the reason i'm willing to bet that is that she originally had gotten a nasa internship if she had understood who she was speaking to i think she would have responded a little bit differently as we look at the parables that Jesus is going to teach this morning my task today is to help us heed the warning that he's going to give to understand the situation that every single one of us finds ourself in responding to.
God in a way that has eternal consequences every single one of us is going to respond to the lord and it has eternal significance and my hope for us this morning is that as we study this together we would consider the eternal nature and the eternal weightiness of what we stand here today even today having to make decisions on so that we would not approach this lightly or without the appropriate earnestness that it deserves so in a second i'm going to pray i'm going to invite you to pray that the.
Lord through his spirit would help you to hear his voice this morning to help you evaluate your own heart this morning and that by his grace he would help you to respond well this morning as we read a passage where he gives not only warning to the pharisees who reject it but also warning to the Church and as we gather as his Church this morning we ought to listen well so if you will take a moment to pray for your soul.
For those here this morning and then i'll lead us in prayer lord we ask you to help us we ask you to help us to hear and to see and to know the reality of the eternity that is to come that we might respond to you appropriately and by your grace to enjoy your salvation it's in Jesus name and for his sake we pray amen Matthew chapter 21 verse 33 Jesus is in the middle of an altercation with the pharisees he just finished last week telling them that the tax collectors and prostitutes would make it into the kingdom before them.
So they're already probably not responding super well but he just keeps going and he says here another parable this is verse 33. here another parable there was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country that is very reminiscent of isaiah 5 isaiah says that that God planted a vineyard that he put a fence around it that he dug a wine press that he put a tower.
And then he harvested sour grapes so he knocked down the wall and it's his picture of Israel that he had planned for Israel to be something that it ended up not being and therefore he allowed the other nations to come in that's what isaiah 5 is and so Jesus sets this up in a very similar way but he says the master hands it off to tenants that's how he sets this up so they would have probably had in mind he's talking to the chief priest they would have had in mind isaiah 5.
And so they're already drawing on this a little bit and he's saying but he hands it off to attendance and goes into another country verse 34 when the season for fruit drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit so he's renting the land they're supposed to tend the land grow the fruit he's and then they're going to share the crop he's going to get some of the fruit they're going to get some of the fruit it's a good deal.
For everybody so he sends some of his servants to go to the tenants who do not own the land to give some of the fruit to him and the tenants took his servants and beat one killed another and stoned another that's threw rocks at him until they killed him again he sent other servants wouldn't you like to be the round two servants the guy who got beaten comes hobbling back in and he's like all right i need some more volunteers again he sent other servants more than the.
First and they did the same to them finally he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son now the the chief priests at this moment may not see what's going on but as believers we see what's going on that God is the one who planted this vineyard and that he handed it over to the religious leaders to the jewish people to respond to him appropriately to tend to this well to care for his people well and he begins to send his prophets and they don't want to hear it they beat them and kill them and hate them.
God in his grace sends more prophets even though after the first one you would think the master the owner of the land doesn't have to do that but he sends more and they respond in the same way and finally he says i'm going to send my son they will respect my son but when the tenants saw the sun they said to themselves this is the heir come let us kill him and have his inheritance these tenants have lost their minds they think that.
If they can kill the son then they'll be in charge the owner won't be able to do anything about it eventually he'll die and this will be ours if we can just kill the air it'll all belong to us but Jesus is pointing out that this is what the religious leaders have been doing that they've forgotten that they're tenants that they're not responding to God appropriately and that they've decided this is about them and how they want things to work and about their position of power.
Verse 39 and they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him when therefore the owner of the vineyard comes what will he do to those tenants verse 41 we're going to hear the chief priests answers they said to him he will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons so they answer aggressively but correctly oh when the master comes it's going to go really poorly.
For the tenants Jesus said to them have you never read the in the Scriptures the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone this was the lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes therefore i tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits so he says the stone that the builders rejected from psalm 118 he says this parable that i just told you and y'all's correct response to it haven't you read the Scriptures this is exactly what's going to happen the stone that's going to be rejected the sun that's going to be rejected is ultimately going to be the cornerstone this.
Stone that the builders didn't want is ultimately going to be the one that the whole building is built off of that's what a cornerstone is you set it first it's your best stone and every other stone has to line up with it or that stone doesn't get to be a part of the building cornerstones are very important so he says the stone that the builders rejected is going to be the cornerstone meaning that Christ who was rejected by those who should have accepted him is ultimately going to be the one that everything is built off of.
And then he says it very clearly therefore i tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to people producing its fruits that judaism ultimately is not going to be the way to salvation that Christ is that christianity which is christianity which is us based off and surrounded uh surrendering to Christ is going to be the way to salvation and it is not to the exclusion of the jewish people because jewish people who place their faith in Christ will be saved.
But it is to the exclusion of the old system of the the law and the sacrifices that Jesus is going to fulfill them and bring them to an end and he's ultimately going to set judaism aside and these chief priests are going to lose their place and he's going to bring salvation through his work and the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone it will crush him there's a play called the man of la mancha and in that play there's a character named sancho ponza and one of his songs he sings it doesn't matter whether the stone hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the.
Stone it's going to be bad for the pitcher talking about like a clay pot so if a clay pot and a stone fight stone wins doesn't matter who throws the first punch what Jesus says is it doesn't matter if you try to assault Jesus or he decides to assault you he wins that all those who would rise up against Jesus to destroy Jesus to get rid of Jesus to crush Jesus will be crushed and when he decides that it is judgment time and brings judgment to them he will crush them this is very good news.
If you belong to Jesus and very bad news if you do not we believe that Jesus is better than everything else that he is the cornerstone we sing to Jesus we worship Jesus we surrender to Jesus we place our faith in Jesus the first question when it comes to your response to God is have you placed your faith in Jesus he is the cornerstone and if we have a faith that is not built off of Christ in surrender to Christ we ultimately will be crushed that.
If your faith is in your good works or your good behavior or your track record or the fact that your uncle was a deacon that you grew up in the Church that you're a good person if your faith is that well we all ultimately just believe the same things and we're going to be okay but it is not in Christ in the work of Christ it ultimately leads to destruction verse 45 when the chief priests and the pharisees heard this he heard his parables they perceived that he was speaking about them yeah they said i figured this out you know those times.
When he would turn at the end and say you he met us 46 and although they were seeking to arrest him they feared to the crowns because they held him to be a prophet y'all they figured it out he's correcting us and then they don't take the correction they say he's talking about us let's kill him we're the tenants who killed the sun there's the sun let's kill him we know our role now what what's terrifying about this is that it is.
So clear to see when we're looking at it and so often when we're playing the role of pharisees we can't see it that he's correcting us he's bringing his spirit to bear on us and we work to defend ourselves to hold up ourselves to we don't want to have to go the route that he's calling us to go because that way it leads to humility leads to to sacrifice leads to surrender and so we talk ourselves out of it and you may say.
Well it's not as blatant as this but it's the functionally the same thing we don't want to hear it are we basing our lives off of Christ if we surrendered to him have we placed our faith in him and are we or are we like the pharisees seeking to reject where he works on us to lead us towards grace because the reality is if they had turned if they had repented he would have accepted it if there was a pharisee right.
Then who said lord help me he'd help them but they don't respond that way they huddle up and they go i figured it out he's talking about us yeah i figured it out too let's kill him let's arrest him let's wait till an opportune time chapter 22 it says and again Jesus spoke to them in parables saying he gives us these pictures and it helps us understand how things are going to work he says the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast.
For his son and he sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast but they would not come so we have a king he's holding a wedding feast for his son so this is going to be a big affair this is a lavish ordeal the king is celebrating his son and those who love the king and those who love the son would come and celebrate and there would be a feast and it would be a glorious occasion and it would matter.
So the king goes and invites those who were invited he goes to those who are invited and says come now who gets invited to the king's son's wedding not us fancy people and if you just found out you weren't fancy i'm sorry powerful people other kings people have political power or social power people who are looked up to i mean we could guess the they have we've seen royal weddings they're they're a big deal a big gaudy ordeal and if you're just.
Now finding out you weren't invited to those either but it i mean if you if you were going to write down who gets invited we can start figuring it out i mean like there's some people that you would know these people are invited that's who they go to they say these are the people who are supposed to come and they go around to invite them and it says but they would not come and again he sent other servants saying tell those who are invited.
See i have prepared my dinner my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready come to the wedding feast he gives them a sales pitch this time go tell them it's gonna be good go tell them how fat the calves were these are some poorly forty calves go tell them we've already got it cooked we've already got the feast go tell them they must not have heard right the first time go tell them these are the people who are supposed to come these are the people who are supposed to celebrate these are the people who are supposed to respond correctly go tell them it's a feast come celebrate come.
But they paid no attention and went off went to his farm another to his business while the rest seized his servants treated them shamefully and killed them how much disdain for the king and for his son would you have to have to do that how much hatred and disrespect and dishonor would you want to give to the king in order to do that how much of a declaration of war would that be verse 7 Jesus says the king was angry and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
Then verse eight goes back to the wedding feast but he just clearly says those who tried to dishonor the kingdom that way that hurt his he he killed him and burned their city then he said to his servants the wedding feast is ready but those invited were not worthy so this is back to back with the other one we just read so have we picked up on what this story is it's the nation of Israel this is God's plan of salvation through them that the leaders in Israel began to elevate themselves this is why.
Jesus has interacted with the pharisees over and over again argued with the pharisees over and over again because they had made it about them and their work and not about him if they had loved him they would have responded to him when they saw him but they didn't know him and they hated him now some he says went to his farm or do his business there were some that just i don't care i just would i care more about this care more about my farm i care more about my business i care more about what's coming up i just i just don't care about the king and his son and there were some who were.
Actively in opposition to the king and they will face judgment for it verse 9 go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find and those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found both bad and good so the wedding hall was filled with guests we just got invited to the wedding feast both bad and good that's us that's as many as they could find they went out into the roads they gathered all whom they found i love that he just says.
Look we're gonna have a party and the people who were supposed to come aren't coming but go find people we're gonna celebrate my son go go start announcing it go get everybody y'all can get we're gonna have a feast i've already got it ready we're gonna celebrate and they go out and they just start calling everybody they go into the market and say y'all quit buying and selling pack it up for the day we're going to the feast the king's inviting you to his wedding everybody in this town is invited they invite both the bad and the good they're out in the highways and they're like hey bandits about to rob that guy yes you.
With the eye patch come come to the feast even you sir who almost got stabbed today come on all of you come to the feast it says so the wedding hall was filled with guests and this is Christ and his call of salvation to the nations when the people of Israel rejected him Jesus died and in his death he displays grace and mercy and love beyond compare but he also displays judgment on those who would rise up against him and kill him that the son's death displays judgment to those who would want to get rid of him who would want to elevate themselves.
And then salvation is proclaimed and if you follow through the book of acts it's proclaimed to the jews first those who would believe in Christ those who would repent it's proclaimed right here in Jerusalem where Jesus's death is going to take place then it's proclaimed in samaria then it's proclaimed to the gentiles and then we see Paul traveling around and all the nations are welcomed if they will submit to Christ the cornerstone if they will place faith in him and God will have a wedding feast where there is a celebration of his son.
If Jesus's parable ended here we would just talk about the grace that has offered us through Christ we just spend this more in talking about how the the nation of Israel rejected him and then God decided to still offer salvation and through their rejection to open up so that there might be salvation for us and that he's also still got a plan for them that he's going to bring salvation that there's hope for all who will place faith in Christ.
Jesus doesn't stop his parable there he keeps going verse 11. but when the king came when the king came in to look at the guests he saw there a man who had no wedding garment and he said to him friend how did you get in here without a wedding garment and he was speechless he had no response had no way to defend himself then the king said to the attendants bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called but few were chosen if we followed the story correctly the people who were originally supposed to be invited were practicing jewish leaders those in judaism and then God calls all who will accept the call so that the wedding hall is filled then the king comes in the wedding hall and looks at someone and says what are you doing here and the story jumps from just being a story because the king casts this person out into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth this is not just a parable anymore the.
Jesus has jumped to the eschatological end which is the end of history God's big fulfillment plan he's jumped all the way to the end and said this is what happens to those who would come into the feast but don't belong for those of us who have gathered this morning who have shown up on the second round of invitation that we're here because we've responded to the call that went out into the highways and the streets to the to the good and bad people out there who might would respond and place faith in Christ the idea that we could be gathered with those who belong in the wedding feast.
But we don't belong should cause us to pause and to consider so what is a wedding garment and what does it represent i think it's a very important question when looking at this text the reality is Jesus does not explain this to us and i think we can't put too much weight specifically on wedding garment represents this or that there are some people who would say that there's some evidence historically that the king provides the wedding garment so you would show up the king would send you to go change put on a wedding garment.
And then you would be wearing it so for this person to not have a wedding garment on would be to have rejected the king's offer to dress appropriately there's some evidence for that there's not a lot of evidence for that there's more historical evidence that a wedding garment is a nice outfit often white it's what you wear at a wedding which not our weddings if you wear white to a wedding now it's frowned upon but their wedding and so to say that this person showed up.
But had not put on a wedding garment had not dressed appropriately and had correctly responded to this invitation and so the people who want to push one way or the other some of them have said it's provided by the king and therefore it represents Christ's righteousness this person had not put on the righteousness of Christ provided by the king and the others who would say no no it's something you put on yourself and it represents the works that follow with genuine belief that this person does not actually respond the way they're supposed to the reality is whether or not it was something this person should have put on on their own or something the king.
Had offered they are not appropriately they have not appropriately responded to the king's invitation and the wedding garment the lack of a wedding garment indicates that they do not belong because they have not appropriately responded to the king's invitation meaning this person thought he was in thought he had responded thought he had done what it took to be there was excited about the feast and the king says you don't belong here what we need to see from this is not everyone who thinks they are in is actually in not everyone who would say they belong and they've answered this call has actually answered this call he says many are called many have been told you're.
Welcome you can come but not everyone is chosen not everyone belongs to the elect that's what that word is chosen not everyone is elect not everyone's actually in this is not something new for Jesus he's been saying this he says this in Matthew chapter 7 he says not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven on that day many will say to me.
Lord lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name and then i then will i declare to them i never knew you depart from me you workers of lawlessness they say lord lord Jesus says they're talking specifically to him he says not everyone who says to me lord lord will enter the kingdom of heaven and they say did we not do this in your name so this is people who call.
Jesus lord and he says he'll look at him and say i never knew you this is the king showing up to the feast and saying what are you doing here that they would stand before Jesus that we might stand before Jesus and him say i don't know you and i say but lord Jesus and it must be bound hand and foot and cast in outer darkness you see Jesus says here that but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven you.
See i think that the wedding garment accurately represents both of those ideas that we would be covered by the righteousness of Christ because those who have placed faith in Jesus genuinely have been covered by the righteousness of Christ and if you have placed faith in Jesus and his Holy Spirit is at work in you you do respond with good works you do respond in obedience now we live in the south we have no shortage of people who call Jesus lord but knowing his name is different from knowing him and calling him.
Lord is different from submitting to him as lord knowing his name is different from knowing him and calling him lord is different from submitting to him as lord they're going to be pastors who stood and opened the Scriptures and taught them to people who are going to be cast into darkness they're going to say didn't didn't we prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name they're going to be professors from seminaries they're going to be people who led community groups and taught awanas and taught sunday school they're going to be people who had a high attendance sunday school badge they're going to be people who've been members of Church.
For 50 years and they were a member of a local Church but they didn't belong to Jesus that's terrifying so i want us to consider this morning i want you to consider this morning i want you to investigate your heart this morning do you love Jesus or do you just want what he offers do you know Jesus or do you just know about him have you surrendered to him is he at work in your life are you changing are you growing that's what Peter says that we would work out our calling and our election he said you would be sure of your calling in election and he says that you would take faith genuine belief.
Trust in Jesus and you would supplement it with virtue you'd begin to grow that you take virtue and you'd supplement it with knowledge do you have a desire to know Christ that you would take knowledge and supplement it with self-control that you would take self-control and supplement it with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love do you love the things that Christ loves do you care if we looked at how we spent our money.
If how we spent our time if how we approached our Church family in our community group how we approach this are we just checking off boxes so that you can be religious good person so that you can be well behaved the pharisees had that and they were better at it than we are are you just here because your family believed in Jesus or you really it kind of helps you out in the south to believe in Jesus or of course i mean everybody believes in.
Jesus and why wouldn't we but is he at work in your soul are you beginning to hate sin are you beginning to grow in love and compassion for others do we care about the poor do we care that people don't believe in Christ are we more worried about politics in our next big purchase the reality is right now the Holy Spirit may be at work and pressing in on you do not do what the pharisees did now the purpose of this the purpose of this warning that.
Jesus gives is not that we would end up in despair but that we might respond in repentance this is not to cause you to have anxiety for the rest of your days trying to sweat out and wring your hands as to whether or not you might be saved salvation is through Christ and Christ alone but the reality is if you aren't in Christ you are not saved and if you are in Christ he is in you and you will begin to change and you will love him and you will love the things that he loves and it will take some time and it'll be a hot mess.
But you'll see it the response this morning is not to leave here disheartened the response this morning is to leave here with a new heart and i don't care i don't care if you grew up in the Church i don't care if if this if you became a believer now and got baptized to be the fourth time you got baptized i don't care if you're sitting here right now going but i've been a part of this Church for 55 years and it'll be embarrassing it'll be shame on me.
If i announced everybody i've never really believed no that'll be a great joyous occasion the shame will come the day that we hold this in and we stand before the king and he says i don't know you lord help us that does not happen that we might take with dead earnest seriousness the reality of an eternity to come and that the rest of our lives would look like we believe this that Jesus would be at work in our souls to lead us to change that we would be clothed in his righteousness.
Because we've placed faith in him your salvation is not worked out on your own but salvation is worked out in you matt's going to come up here and he's going to play some music on the piano and i want you to take a moment to ask the lord to help you see your heart i want you to take a moment to ask for mercy would you take a moment to ask that you might be clothed in his righteousness that he might begin to work in you i want you to ask him where he hasn't shown up where where he's where you've been fighting off his advances where he's been trying to claim portions of your.
Soul and you've been rejecting him i want you to take a moment and ask do i belong to you and then respond in repentance respond in faith respond in hope in Christ in Christ alone let's pray God we ask that by the power of your Holy Spirit you would change us we would not leave here disheartened we would not leave here discouraged but we would leave here with new hearts and lord i pray for those who have genuinely placed their faith in you that they would be able to.
See were here at work that they would surrender in those places they would continue to grow that they would feel the joy of those who did not deserve to be invited in who had not merited an invitation but were brought in by the generosity of the king lord may we praise your name that you would send your son to sacrifice for us to save us and lord may we be saved clothe us in your righteousness work out your salvation in us that we might grow in virtue and repentance and grace and love help us to love the things you love and to not be caught up and chasing after riches to not be caught up.
In chasing after sensuality and temporal pleasures do not be caught up in sin that would ensnare us and drag us to the grave may the day we see you face to face be a glorious day where we are not bound handed foot and cast into darkness but maybe a day that we celebrate the sun that we glorify the king that we feast with you because you have paid for our sin and redeemed us and set us free and lord for anybody who's fighting you right.
Now may they surrender and for those who are worried about what it'll look like or what it'll be like or what you'll do may they know that you're good and may they surrender lord so that one day we are all built into you and not crushed by you we praise the glorious name of Jesus and we ask you to do this lord that as you have called we pray that you would choose that you would claim that you would capture that you would own our souls to the glory of your good name amen.