Missions Paul

We have been reading 3 parables from Jesus where he reveals to the Jewish leaders how they have failed. This is the second part of the third story.

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. ¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22 v 8-14)

Lesson: Leaders are not indispensable; they can be replaced.

God’s replacements are perhaps not who the religious will choose. And who gets to sit around the table of the Lord? The poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, the misfits, the homeless, the hurting and the lonely.

We are reading 3 parables from Jesus where he reveals to the Jewish leaders how they have failed.

If there is one leadership seminar that every leader should attend then it is to be found in these 3 stories.

This is the third story:

“Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. ⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ ⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. ¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. ¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22 v 1-14)

Lesson: Leaders are not above consequences for their actions, v3-7.

• If they busy themselves so much that they don’t have time for Him or worse if they use their power to abuse others in anyway then their position will warrant grave consequences.

We are reading 3 parables from Jesus where he reveals to the Jewish leaders how they have failed.

If there is one leadership seminar that every leader should attend then it is to be found in these 3 stories.

At the end of the second parable (the Tenants) Jesus says this, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? “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. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.” (Matthew 21 v 42-46)

40 years after the parable was taught, the Romans entered the city, flattened it and then led the religious leaders bound in chains into foreign nations. They came under God’s judgment. The stone had fallen on them just as Jesus had said.

But right now, at this moment, they still have an opportunity to respond, it is not too late. They can choose Jesus. But they won’t and he knows it. At the end of the parable when the son is rejected Jesus basically says this: ‘I may be rejected now but I will be seen as the Messiah very shortly.’

It is far better to make Jesus the cornerstone of your life. There is a key place in all our lives. Some say the capstone, the place above the door. Some say the cornerstone, the first stone in a building. Whatever it is, it is of huge importance.

What Jesus says poses such a challenging question to our churches and the people within them! Is Jesus occupying the place of huge importance? Is he in the decision making part? If he is not Lord then you may stumble over him and worst still you may be crushed by Him. Churches have closed because they rejected the Living Stone.

Lesson 3: You are not the CEO.

We are reading 3 parables from Jesus where he reveals to the Jewish leaders how they have failed.

If there is one leadership seminar that every leader should attend then it is to be found in these next 3 stories.

Here is the second one:

“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 moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. “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.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” “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.” (Matthew 21 v 33-41)

Lesson: If you keep rejecting accountability then judgment will come and when it does it will be more severe than the accountability you rejected.

We are about to read 3 parables from Jesus as he reveals to the Jewish leaders how they have failed.

If there is one leadership seminar that every leader should attend then it is to be found in these next 3 stories.

Here is the first one:

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.” (Matthew 21 v 28-32)

The first son: The ‘sinners’ originally disobeyed but then through John the Baptist they repented and obeyed.

The second son: The leaders originally obeyed (externally) but rejected the message of John the Baptist and there was no repentance.

Lesson: It matters not how you start but how you finish.

Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. (Matthew 21 v 23-27)

The response of Jesus was masterful. If John the Baptist’s ministry was from God then that would indicate where the authority of Jesus came from. But they had rejected John. If John the Baptist’s ministry was not from God then all the people who had accepted him as a prophet would turn on these religious leaders. They were caught. People who are caught usually say “I don’t know.”

The questions came as Jesus was walking through the Temple. The building work had begun under Herod the Great approximately 45 years ago at the time of Jesus walking through the courts that day. It would be approximately another 30yrs before it was finished and it would stand for 7 years before being flattened by Titus in AD70.

The questions came from the Chief Priests and the elders. They are the ones who interpret what Moses taught, they are the intermediaries between man and what God desires and demands. They are at the top of their careers. There are many who want to be in their position. They are the authority.

The questions come for a reason. Jesus had entered the Temple the previous day and caused havoc. They had lost money that day. Jesus had prevented people carrying their offerings and goods in and out of the Temple, he had effectively shut down the worship.

I am painting the picture of the battle of authority. Can you see it?

Matthew is obviously writing post-resurrection and he is clear. He knows who wins the battle. He knows where the authority of Jesus lies. There is still a battle of authority today.

We are faced with this question today, the same question. The authority of Jesus. What is it? Where does it come from?

What do you say?

It seems to me that many want to hold his hand but not bow their knee. Many want the benefits of Jesus but not the surrender. What do we say?

If Jesus is who people like Matthew says He is then it matters not how we feel, nor our circumstances that we go through, nothing absolutely nothing justifies us not surrendering our lives to Him. The only position is the bended knee.

Churches that fall-out over whose authority is higher, who is right and wrong, are churches that have not recognised the highest authority in the universe.

Christians that hurt others are people who are not kneeling before the throne but sitting on it.

I want to see the authority of Jesus brought back into the Church. We need a move of God throughout the nation. We need the outpouring of His glory. Our position regarding His authority will create the stage for that move.

“Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked. Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21 v 18-22)

First the fruit then the leaves, that is the order for the fig tree. So the fig tree has leaves so there must be fruit. Yet this isn’t the season for fruit but that doesn’t stop Jesus looking for it because he is hungry. When he looks at the tree he finds no figs so he curses the tree.

This isn’t only a lesson in lost potential it is more than that. This isn’t only a lesson in the wrongs of arrogance, it is again more than that.

It is the arrogance of displaying you have what you don’t have at a time when no one is expecting you to have it in the first place!

Confused?

The fig tree is the generation of Israel expecting the Messiah.

It is the Temple of worship built to honour the glory of God, which Jesus has just entered and found it as a den of robbers and on that day would turn the Temple into disarray.

The fig tree had no fruit because it was not the season, all that was left on the tree were the leaves.

God has punished and exiled Israel because of its waywardness and rejection of Him throughout its history, in the time when it was not the season for the Messiah. If Jesus curses the fig tree out of season what does that indicate would happen to Israel if it is in season but is not fruitful? When the Messiah is here and it is the season and there is no fruit how much more will the curse be?

This is the season now. Jesus is here. He has been in the Temple which is heralding the One to come and He is here. Now is the time for salvation. So what now if there is no response? If there is no fruit?

Will Jesus bring a bigger curse to Israel?

We know what happens.

Jesus becomes the curse.

“The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.” (Matthew 21 v 14-17)

Jesus had driven out those moneychangers from the temple who had been exploiting the poor and now remaining there heals people.

But see who he heals. The very people who could not go into the temple because of their sicknesses.

See who are shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ It is the children who are mimicking what they heard as Jesus rode into the city a few hours ago.

Jesus uses Psalm 8 where Yahweh is the focus of the praise and so in referring the Psalm to what the children are doing to him in bringing their shouts of praise he is identifying himself with God, the incarnate God.

Now see the response from those who have witnessed all this. The religious leaders have seen the judgment in the temple, the Messianic healings in the temple and the praise of the Messiah there in the temple. Their response is indignation.

Greed, robbery, abusive power, shunning the outcasts was more acceptable to them than letting Jesus loose in their temple. When a person is full of pride then they only want honour for themselves and cannot stand others receiving what they greedily desire for themselves. There is no sharing of praise. Jealousy is close by even for these annoying little children.

And he left them … and for some churches and temples he doesn’t return. For unless we build a community of worship that welcomes the weakest, the smallest and the most insignificant, unless we build safe places for all, unless religious leaders surrender their pride and ego positions then what we build isn’t a place Jesus is at home.

It had become what it was never meant to be.

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”(Matthew 21 v 12-13)

There were crowds continually arriving into Jerusalem from many parts of the world and as today they need their currency exchanging. The main money exchange seems to be at the Temple, it was convenient there as they would then go and buy animals in order to bring sacrificial worship. Jesus said they had turned the house of prayer for all nations into a den of robbers meaning that there was exploitation taking place, the Temple were benefiting hugely on the back of people’s needs. And who were they exploiting the most? Well, it was as it is today, the poor.

Jesus overturned the tables of those selling doves. Leviticus 5: 7 “Anyone who cannot afford a lamb is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the Lord as a penalty for their sin—one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.”

Jesus’ concern isn’t for the rich, for those who can afford say a lamb sacrifice, it is for those who cannot afford anything more than a dove. These exploited people are in his heart. It still is today.

Jesus caused a Black Wednesday or whatever day it was. It was an economic meltdown on Wall Street which affected nations.

Maybe He will do it again.

But pause again. You see, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We are called for prayer. Have we exchanged that? Do we pray? How long for? Does it occupy the main purpose of our life? What about how we treat others? Look behind, is anyone hurting because of the way you have treated them, unkind words, neglect of love or using and abusing them? Maybe our temples need cleansing today. Maybe we need to be hurt by Jesus coming and causing a meltdown, upsetting our whole life because we have become not what we were created for. Let Him have His way today.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21 v 10-11)

The crowd are already mixed in their understanding of Jesus’ identity. Some are shouting ‘Hosanna’ for he is their Messiah and others that he is a prophet from some backwater of Galilee. The whole city was stirred and we remember His birth when the Magi came into Jerusalem following a star from the east, “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him”. (Matthew 2 v 3) Herod, the self-imposed king of the Jews was afraid when he heard the gossip on the streets of Jerusalem. He was afraid of being usurped from anything from the east. He knew he was not the true King of the Jews, Rome had placed him there. His safety was in the west, his paranoia was in the east. He was stirred along with the city.

3 decades later the city is stirred again by the announcement and presence of Christ. But a prophet from Nazareth?

“Who is this?”

I believe what this generation needs to know during and coming out of this pandemic more than ever is not what the building plans of the Church are; primarily not how the Church has become digital; not even how delighted the Church are at being back in ‘fellowship’.

The world need to know who God is.

They need to know what He has done.

They need to know who they are as a result of that.

They need to know how to live.

For that to happen they need to know who Jesus is.

They need to know the centrality and supremacy of Christ in 2021.

They need to know that when you look at Jesus you look at God.

What the world needs today is to know the amazing truth that the invisible God has allowed himself to be seen and known in Jesus Christ.

Jesus enters Jerusalem, a city always known for its turmoil and even more so today. It is a reflection of our hearts, full of angst, fear and uncertainty for our tomorrow. Jesus entering the disturbance of our thoughts as we battle with our lives, jobs, families and the many sicknesses we face. As He enters He stirs up that turmoil for He comes to turn the world upside down. In His realignment of our lives we become even more disturbed as it is us who have to change not Him. We maybe want a Jesus who makes us happy and pats us on our back. But that is not Him. He has been stirring hearts and cities since He was born on earth and He is continuing to this day.