Diggin Deeper ~ Pastor Brian's Blog

In the parable below, which of the son's actions do you think is preferable to God? Why? Do you think either of the son's actions pleases God? Is there a better way than these two examples? How does the son's actions typify their spiritual condition?

 

 

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 is mind and went. Then the father wen to teh 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, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entereing 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.

 

 

In the parable below (The wise servants) Jesus draws a picture of the wise and the unwise steward. In the time of Jesus, a steward had almost unlimited power. He was himself a slave, yet he had control of all the other slaves. A trusted steward ran his master's house for him and administered his estate. This unwise steward made the mistake of forgetting that the day of reckoning must come. He forgot that he was accountable to his master. As Christians today, it is very easy to divide life into compartments and forget that we are accountable to our Lord. There are parts of our life in which we remember that God is present and there is a part in which we never think of him at all. But if we really know what Christianity means, we know that there is no part of life when the master is away. In what areas of your life is it easy to forget about God? What steps can you make to help you remember God in those areas?

 

 

 ⁴²The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? ⁴³It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. ⁴⁴I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. ⁴⁶The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

 ⁴⁷"That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. ⁴⁸But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

 

The Parable of the Tenants (see below) teaches us about the privilege of being one of God's children. God has given us enormous freedom with this privilege, but there is also a responsibility to serve the world and teach others about the love of God. What freedoms do we possess as children of God? What are our responsibilities as children of God? Do you feel a sense of responsibility as a Chrsitian? In what ways?

The Parable of the Tenants

 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. ³⁴When 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. ³⁶Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷Last 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.' ³⁹So 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." ⁴²Jesus 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. ⁴⁴He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." ⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.