When God Looks at You

If you have your Bibles, please take them and find Luke 20:1.  I want to share a message with you entitled, “When God Looks At You.” 

 

We return to Luke’s Gospel this morning, and it is Passion Week, the final week of Jesus’ life on earth before His death.

 

On Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey’s colt.  On Monday, Jesus cleansed the temple.  In today’s text, it is Tuesday, and Jesus is still in Jerusalem.

 

Remember that Jesus and His disciples came to Jerusalem for the Passover.  However, also remember that Jesus came to Jerusalem to die.

 

 

1. Some Inquiring Minds, Luke 20:1-2

1 Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him 2 and spoke to Him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?” 

 

Jesus was teaching in the temple daily.  See Luke 19:47.  This is one of those days.

 

47 And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him.

 

What was He teaching and preaching?  Verse 1 says the gospel.

 

What is the gospel?  God created us to be in relationship with Him, but we sinned.  Because we sinned, we needed a Savior.  That is Jesus.  We know it was Jesus because of His resurrection.  Now, He invites anyone and everyone to believe in Him and be saved.

 

This time, He was met by the chief priests and scribes and elders. Notice this group “ confronted Him,” which ought to give us a clue about their intentions. 

 

Collectively, this group was known as the Sanhedrin, and they were in charge of Jewish Religious Life, and that included the temple.  Furthermore, the chief priests would be similar to our executive branch.  The scribes would be similar to our legislative branch, experts in the Law, and the elders would be similar to our judicial branch. 

 

They then asked Jesus two questions.  The first was “By what authority are You doing these things?”  “These things” surely referred to cleansing the temple on Monday.  After all, the Sanhedrin saw themselves as the highest authority in matters regarding the temple. 

 

The second question was similar to the first.  It was “Who gave You this authority to do these things?” 

 

Jesus had done something different from anyone else. He acted without asking the Sanhedrin for their permission.  He didn’t consult them.  He didn’t clear it with them. 

 

They wanted to know by whose authority was He acting or in other words, they wanted to know Jesus’ credentials.  Jesus hadn’t any formal training.  He didn’t sit under a rabbi, and after all, He was from Galilee.  

 

 

1. An Implied Message, Luke 19:3-4

3 But He answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me: 4 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?”

 

Instead of answering their questions with a statement, Jesus asked a question of His own.  He answered their two questions with one question.  His answer to them was dependent on their answer to Him.

 

Verses 3-4 contains His one question.  He asked about John’s baptism, and this also included his ministry and authority.  Was it from heaven, meaning divine origin or God, or from men, meaning of human origin.  Notice how direct He was with “Answer Me.”

 

Now, what was His implied message?  The implied message was that wherever John’s baptism was from was the same place that He received His authority, and that was from God. 

 

John the Baptist was God’s Messenger, and Jesus was and is God’s Son.  Another way to put it is that Jesus was saying that He and John were on the same team.  They were working for the same boss and working for the same goal.

 

 

 

• Some Ignorant Men, Luke 20:5-8

5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from.  8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

 

Now, the ball was in the Sanhedrin’s court.  They had to answer Jesus’ question, and the answer to Jesus’ question would be the answer to their questions so they began to talk through their options.

 

Their first option was to say that John’s baptism was from heaven and God.  However, if they said that, then Jesus would ask them why they didn’t believe him and follow him because in effect, they were not following God. 

 

If they said heaven, they would stand condemned for rejecting God’s messenger. They would also be saying that Jesus’ authority came from heaven and God and therefore acknowledging Him as the Messiah. 

 

Their other option was to say that John was simply human, and therefore had no divine authority what so ever.  However, if they said that, they were afraid of how the people would respond because John was considered to be a true prophet, a prophet of God. 

 

As with the first option, to say that John was from human origin was to say that Jesus was from human origin.  Needless to say, they were in a quandary.

 

By the way, here is a great illustration of the truth that peer pressure is a real issue for adults as well teenagers.  Don’t be fooled into thinking it just happens in junior high or high school.  These adults feared their reputation over telling the truth, and it is always right to do the right thing even if it costs your reputation.

 

There answer recorded in verse 7 simply says, “We do not know.”  They pled ignorance.  As a result, Jesus then refused to answer the questions.

 

 

The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers

 

Then in verse 9, Jesus told them a parable.  A parable was an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

 

Jesus taught in parables to reveal mysteries about God’s kingdom to those who wanted to understand.  He spoke in parables to conceal realities to those who already decided to not believe him, and He used parables to fulfill prophecies.

 

9 Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.

 

It was not uncommon for wealthy landlords to own large land estates which they leased to tenant farmers or vinedressers.  The tenant farmers would agree to cultivate the land and care for the crops while the landlord was away. 

 

In return for their care, the landlord would give a portion of the crop to the tenant farmers while keeping a portion for themselves.  When harvest time came, the landlord would send their servants on their behalf to collect their portions. 

 

In telling this parable, these chief priests and scribes and elders certainly thought of Isaiah 5:1-7.

 

1 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved

A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard:

My Well-beloved has a vineyard

On a very fruitful hill.

2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones,

And planted it with the choicest vine.

He built a tower in its midst,

And also made a winepress in it;

So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,

But it brought forth wild grapes.

3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.

4 What more could have been done to My vineyard

That I have not done in it?

Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,

Did it bring forth wild grapes?

5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:

I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;

And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

6 I will lay it waste;

It shall not be pruned or dug,

But there shall come up briers and thorns.

I will also command the clouds

That they rain no rain on it.”

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,

And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.

He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;

For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

 

Back in Luke 20:9, the certain man was God, and His vineyard was His kingdom.  The vinedressers were the Jewish Religious Leaders or the chief priests, scribes, and elders.

 

10 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.

 

In verse 10, it was harvest time, and so the owner sent one of his servants as his agent to get his portion of the vineyard’s produce.  However, the vinedressers took the slave and beat him and sent him home with nothing. 

 

In verse 11, the owner sent another slave, and the outcome was the same.  He sent another, and the outcome was the same.

 

These servants represent the prophets and messengers of God that God sent throughout history as His ambassadors to the nation of Israel.  Who comes to your mind? 

 

In the Old Testament, even before Israel, I think of Noah whose message fell on deaf ears.  I think of Elijah who was driven into the wilderness by Ahab and Jezebel and ready to commit suicide.  I think of Zechariah was stoned to death near the temple.

 

In the New Testament, I think of John the Baptist who was beheaded.  In Acts 7, Stephan who was stoned to death.

 

God has sent countless messengers to His people, and they have rejected them.  Our landlord had a final option.

 

 

13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him.’ 14 But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

 

In verse 13, he decided not to send any more slaves or servants.  He decided to send his son, his beloved son.  He thought the vinedressers  would respect his son and send back his portion of the vineyard crops. 

 

However, they saw the son coming, and took their opportunity to remove the heir of the property.  They took him, and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

 

We see in these verses that God did not send another prophet.  He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, and what was true of the landlord’s son turned out to be true with Jesus.  They took God’s Son and crucified Him. 

 

At the end of verse 15, Jesus asked a rhetorical question, “What will the owner of the vineyard do to them?”  He went on to answer it for them.  He will come and destroy the vine-dressers and give the vineyard to others.

 

Again, the owner is God.  The vineyard is His kingdom.  The vinedressers were the chief priests, scribes, and elders. 

 

Who are the others?  The others are the Gentiles.  Because Israel rejected Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah, God temporarily set them aside and has turned His attention to the Gentile world. 

 

That doesn’t mean that He is done with Israel.  It does mean that He will wait to resume that relationship with Israel until all the Gentiles who are going to be saved are saved.

 

Jesus further indicted the leaders of Israel by quoting Psalm 118:22-23.  The stone is Christ.  The builders are Israel and her leaders.  They rejected Christ, but Christ became the chief corner stone or the foundation stone of His kingdom.

 

How do we know this?  See Acts 4:8-12 and 1 Peter 2:4-8.

 

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

 

4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

 

“Behold, I lay in Zion

A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,

And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

 

7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,

 

“The stone which the builders rejected

Has become the chief cornerstone,”

 

8 and

 

“A stone of stumbling

And a rock of offense.”

 

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

 

As verse 19 says, obviously the Jewish Religious Leaders understood fully what the spiritual meaning was for this earthly story.  The parable spoke against them and further fueled their fire against Jesus.

 

 

Conclusions

From this parable, we learn at least three truths about God and His character.

 

First, He is patient.  In this parable, the landowner didn’t just send one servant to collect the harvest.  He sent one and another and another. 

 

God didn’t just send one prophet to Israel.  He sent one and two and three and many others.  God hasn’t tried just once to get your attention.  He has tried once and twice and three times and many others because God is patient. 

 

Second, not only is God patient, God is also love.  The landowner didn’t just send his servants and multiple ones at that.  He sent his one and only beloved Son. 

 

John 3:16, 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 

Finally, not only is God patient, and not only is God love, but God is also just.  Eventually in the parable, Jesus said of the vinedressers that the landowner would come and destroy the vinedressers.

 

Yes, he was patient, and yes, he was love, but in the end, he was just, and he held the vinedressers responsible for their actions.

 

Here me this morning.  Yes, God is patient, and yes, God is love, but you need to also know that God will hold you responsible and accountable for your actions, specifically how you respond to His Son, Jesus Christ. 

 

Is Jesus your Savior this morning?  Remember, God is patient, and He is love.  However, don’t presume too long on His patience and disregard His Son.

 

If you receive His Son, you will receive an eternity in heaven with God.  However, if you reject His Son, you will be eternally destroyed in hell without God.