Confronting Our Entitlement

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0:00You don't have to know me very long to know that I really love music. It's a huge passion of mine. I always have. In fact, I remember, I was probably 8th grade, 7th grade or something, and a relative of my stepdad's was staying with us, and he was asking me, like, you know, what are you interested in? What are your hobbies? And I said, I really love music. And he was like, oh, well, everybody loves music. And I remember thinking, but no, no, it's different.

0:31It's different for me. Like, he meant well. But given my age and my love of music, it's no wonder that in high school I signed up for Columbia House. Now, raise your hand if you know what Columbia House is. Okay. So this was a music club that advertised in the back of magazines eight CDs or sometimes 12 CDs for a penny. One penny. You would mail in a card with the CDs you picked out. You'd tape a penny to it. I mean, what a deal, right? Imagine a kid like me in high school.

1:09Sure, I want more CDs for my collection. I love music. A penny? I didn't have much money. Okay. Sign me up. Now, the fine print told you that this was a subscription service. But who reads the fine print when you were in high school, right? You were agreeing to buy a certain number of CDs at full price plus shipping. And this full price was higher than Tower Records. It was expensive. I mean, it was like $18 even back then for, you know, plus shipping on top of that.

1:42But huge prices, a certain number of CDs you were signing up that you would buy at full price after you got the free CDs. And they would even choose the CD for you and ship it to you. And you'd have to pay for it unless you sent in a card saying, I don't want that CD. Send me this other one instead. So you'd have to remember every month to send in a card saying, no, don't send me that. I don't want Ace of Base. Send me something good. But I remember excitedly thumbing through the catalog.

2:17The rest of the obligations, I was like, that's details. I'll figure that out later. That's for next month Joel to worry about. This month Joel is getting some free CDs. And I'm thumbing through the catalog and excitedly picking out all the ones I want, ranking them, which ones do I want, which eight do I want, filling out the card, mailing it off, waiting six weeks for them to arrive. Yeah, kids, you heard that right. Six weeks after you order something.

2:45That was standard. Waiting for it to arrive. And they would arrive and it would be a box. It would be a glorious box with Columbia House written on over it. I would open them up, take off that really hard-to-get-off wrapping they used to put on CDs one at a time, opening it up, thumbing through them, putting it in my five-disc changer because I was super cool, and putting it in there and listening to it and reading at the liner notes and everything when I'm listening to it.

3:19It was great. Basking in the glory of my eight CDs for one penny. And then came the obligations. The cards would come in the mail reminding me, like a knock at the door, a CD's coming, we've picked one out for you. Remember, you're supposed to buy the full-price CDs. I, of course, was like, ah, who needs this? I would forget the card or throw it away or just disregard it. And then came the CDs. They had the nerve to actually start sending me the CDs.

3:54Then came the CDs that I hadn't chosen. A box would show up in the mail, a CD-sized box, cardboard box, and I would open it up. And I was supposed to pay for this. I'd open it up and be like, right said Fred. I did not order. I don't want this. Michael Bolton's greatest hits. What is this? I am not paying $23 for this trash. My friends told me, oh, it's fine. Just put it back in the box, tape it up, write delivery refused, and put it back in the mailbox.

4:25And I said, okay. And so I did. Over and over and over and over. I did not want to buy their overpriced CDs. Even if it was ones that I picked out, frankly, I didn't want to pay that much for a CD. I was over it. I was like, I got my free stuff. Stop knocking on my door with these obligations. The eight free CDs was great, but I did everything I could to avoid what I had signed up for. Now, this is exactly like the situation that Jesus is confronting the religious leaders with today.

5:03They want the stuff from God, but they don't want God himself. They don't want the part that comes with being in a relationship with God. They just want the stuff. They want the free CDs for a penny. They don't like God knocking at the door and asking for what belongs to him. We're in week two of a five-week series in Luke 20 called Merciful Confrontations. Jesus is confronting them about their hard-heartedness. It's an act of mercy for Jesus to confront them.

5:41And rather than just read it and be like, man, it stinks to be them. Jesus is really calling them out. We need to do the work to say, how is he calling us out? What is it in our hearts that he's calling out? Because it's a mercy for him to call out what needs to be called out in our hearts. It's a mercy for him to stand in the middle of the road and say, stop. You're going the wrong way. Go this way instead. It's an act of love for him. Today, he confronts the posture that takes blessings from God without giving him back what he's owed.

6:18The attitude that God owes us something, but we owe him nothing. Now, this is a hard passage. This is a hard parable. But remember, it's an act of mercy for Jesus to point out these things in them and in us. So turn with me to God's holy word in Luke chapter 20, starting in verse 9. And let's see what Jesus has to say to us today. He speaks out of love, friends. God speaks out of love. So let's listen to him. This is the word of the Lord. And he began to tell the people this parable.

6:59A man planted a vineyard and led it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him, sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant, and he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.

7:33Then the owner of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him. But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours. And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. When they heard this, they said, Surely not.

8:14But he looked directly at them and said, What then is this that is written? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him that very hour. For they perceived that he had told this parable against them. But they feared the people. Pray with me.

8:51Lord God, in your mercy, confront us through your word today. And point our eyes to your grace, your steadfast love, your mercy. Even today, Lord, even now, you can be a hiding place for us. I pray, Lord, that we would see you for who you are. And we would see ourselves for who we are. And we would run to you. The one full of grace and mercy. The one full of steadfast love. The one who wants to treat our wounds. The one who wants to heal our diseases.

9:25To correct our misguided thinking. The one who wants to give us an everlasting and living hope. In Jesus' holy name we pray. In this passage, Jesus is confronting our entitlement. Because the fruit of our life belongs to the Lord who owns it.

9:50Now, remember, the religious leaders, they're like photo negatives of discipleship. They are everything that we shouldn't be as far as following Jesus. But they teach us about the hard places in our hearts. And this passage teaches us about the character of God. And how he goes after hard-hearted people like you and me. And that's good news, right? We need someone to go after us.

10:17Last week, the religious authorities came to Jesus asking an accusing question about where his authority came from. And now this week, it's Jesus' turn to come with an accusing parable. Now, Jesus has told a lot of parables in Luke. This is the very last one. The last parable in Luke. He saved the most provocative one for last. But he never does anything for shock value. Never. That's not Jesus' MO. He doesn't just go around shocking people for the sake of shocking them.

10:50It's Tuesday. Today, three days before his crucifixion, and he's giving these religious leaders another wake-up call. This parable is a whole lot of things all at once. It's an analysis of the past. Centuries past. It's a prediction of the future. What's going to happen next? It's a description of God's character. And it's an exhortation to change course. It's all four of those. It's amazing. Our wise Savior, in one parable, does all of these things.

11:30He analyzes the past, predicts the future, describes God, and calls us and calls them to change course. A man planted a vineyard and led it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. This was really common along the Jordan Valley and along the Sea of Galilee. There were all kinds of fertile lands there. Landowners that lived far away would find local people to come in and run the vineyard or the olive grove or whatever that they had planted, they had cultivated.

12:06They got it started and they turned it over to locals to run. For those locals, it was a pretty great gig, especially if you didn't have very much land. You got to live in this great land. You had work to do that was meaningful, productive. You had a place to live. You had food to eat. All without paying anything. You just had to tend the estate and give the owner fruit from his land. And that's where the trouble starts. The tenants here have forgotten or disregarded the arrangement.

12:44The owner sends someone to collect wine and grapes and olive oil and other produce and they say, Nah, we're not really feeling that. It's all spoken for. It's all mine. Go away with your requirements. It's like me with Columbia House.

13:09But worse than folding arms and refusing, they get violent. They beat the servant and send him away empty-handed. These tenants are acting like they own the place, right? That all the produce of this vineyard belongs to them. They've turned into squatters.

13:31That's not fun. Squatters are hard to deal with. If I was the owner, I would immediately, I don't know about you, but I would immediately call in some reinforcements, some enforcers, men with swords maybe, to come in and make sure justice is done. Look, they beat my servant. They're squatting on my land. Get them out of here. Immediately. But the owner in this parable is patient. So patient. He sends another servant. Gets the same treatment. So the owner sends a third servant.

14:10Same thing. This is not the main point, but there's a warning here that I think we should pay attention to. When you do the same wrong thing repeatedly, something happens in your heart. Something happens to your conscience. It hardens. The first, the sin that you first do reluctantly eventually becomes something that you do indifferently. And the next thing you know, it becomes something that you do gleefully.

14:45Beware that trajectory in your life. Beware the hardening effects of sin when you do the same thing over and over. Cry out to God. Even now. But this owner does not give up. He decides to send his beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him. But the squatters see the son coming and they say, this is the heir. Let us kill him so the inheritance may be ours. And they're saying, if there's no one to claim this land, we can keep living here like it's ours.

15:21Maybe it will actually become ours. To them, the son coming is not an opportunity for change, but an opportunity for gain. So they kill him. Now Jesus says, at this point, the owner will step in with justice. Do away with those wicked tenants and give the vineyard to someone else. And verse 19 says, the scribes and the chief priests perceived that he had told this parable against them.

15:54The owner represents God. The tenants represent leadership in Israel. Leadership among God's people. The people listening are shocked when they hear what Jesus says.

16:10How can you say that our leaders are opposed to God? That God would do that to us? To our people? How could you say, Jesus, that our leaders would do such a despicable thing? But that has been the pattern throughout history. The nation, God's people, rebelled time after time after time. God sent servants. The servants represent the prophets. The prophets had gone to his people. But the prophets were repeatedly opposed, mistreated, even physically assaulted.

16:47This parable is really not that much of a stretch of what actually happened. And it was far more than three. God sent prophet after prophet after prophet. Jesus had said this not long before in Luke. He said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets.

17:08So what is the vineyard and what's the fruit? Well, the vineyard is the place where God's blessings are. The covenant community. The external bounds of this is God's people. Here we are. The fruit that should be produced there and should go to God is devotion to him. Faithfulness, worship, obedience.

17:35Remember the great commandments. Love your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. That's what the servants are coming and looking for and asking for. And that's what the tenants say, forget it. Anything that gets produced here is ours. Just like the tenants, the religious leaders are entitled. They believe they have a right to the blessings of God. That because of their heritage, their ethnicity, their ritual purity, their law-keeping, that God owes them.

18:11Owes them good things. Even owes them salvation. They've forgotten what God said. This is Deuteronomy 9. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness. For you are a stubborn people. I actually had to pick from several because there's several points in the Old Testament where God's like, Remember, I didn't do this for you because you're special. I did it by my own choice.

18:47Relationship with God is always by grace. It's not something that we deserve, that we can demand. This is what the religious leaders had forgotten. The covenant community was established by God, a place of blessing, a place of fertility, spiritual fertility. But each Israelite born into it had to decide who they would love and serve. This is what Joshua had told them. Choose this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods of your fathers served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.

19:27But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Each household, each person had to make that choice. Who will you serve? Don't take it for granted just because you were born here.

19:45Don't take it for granted. But these religious leaders are an example of those who took it for granted. Who said, God, I don't understand God. We don't owe you anything.

20:00Many people heard what Joshua said and decided to serve the Lord. Many people in the covenant community said, yes, I want to serve him. He is my God. I will follow in his ways. But many did not. Including many leaders. When God comes asking for the fruit of faithfulness, of devotion, and love, they say, we don't owe you anything. I don't know what you're talking about.

20:30Now, that's what the parable, that's how the parable lands on them. You can get a sense of why people listening were so frustrated to hear this. They thought they had this heritage. They thought they had a safeguard.

20:50But let's go a little further and talk about our spirit of entitlement. Because Jesus is speaking to us, too. The default posture in every person's heart is to take and enjoy the blessings that God gives, but not God himself. You see that all around us. Our society is filled, and it's built on principles that come from biblical truth. But we, not only do we disregard God, but we act like we invented them. Here's an example. Even the principle of human rights, the Declaration of Independence famously says, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

21:35But are they self-evident? History would indicate, no, they're not. The only way that we know that all men are created equal in value and dignity is that God revealed it to us. He told it to us. We didn't deduce it. We didn't devise it. All the enlightenment thinkers, they believed that they came up with it. But they didn't. It was told to us. God spoke it to us, literally. Human rights is right and true because each person is made in the image of God, and we know that because it was revealed to us in God's word.

22:21That's how we get human rights. A fundamental and a good principle that this country and many others were built on. It comes from God. But now we want that, but we don't want God. And there's many other examples. The separation of powers, the separation of powers, reciprocal justice. These are biblical principles. Institutions like hospitals and orphanages were created because of Christian values and literal Christians creating them. All these things are all around us in a very secular world.

23:02Even when people see that these things come from Christianity, they still don't worship God. Outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins recently called himself a cultural Christian. This made a lot of waves. He called himself a cultural Christian because, according to him, he'd like to live in a Christian country because of the positive impact that Christianity has, but he doesn't believe the Christian faith. He is a modern-day version of the tenant in this parable, enjoying the fruits of the vineyard, the fruits of this vineyard, without acknowledging the owner.

23:43And he is far from the only one. We're not here to throw stones at people outside these walls. We're here to receive the correction of the Holy Spirit for us, too, right? We live in a world that has been filled to the brim with good things, music, and landscapes, and animals, and sports, and art, and pizza, and dancing, and sourdough bread. And our default state is to enjoy all these things and to demand more, but without giving one iota of praise and worship to the one that gave it all to us.

24:19Lord, help us indeed. And it happens to Christians, too. Why do you think we envy? Why do you think we covet? Because we have this entitlement mentality that we deserve more. That's why we get angry with God when we don't get what we want. That's why when life gets hard, we mutter, After all I've done for him, how could he do this to me?

24:50Entitlement looks at all the blessings of life, and it says, Mine. Like the seagulls in Finding Nemo. Mine. When gifts and blessings multiply, we are tempted to keep it for ourselves, to be devoted to us. It's like a game of hungry, hungry hippos. And the marbles are just coming out like crazy, and we're just grabbing them and stashing them.

25:18In the spring, Bree starts a garden. And every year we joke with her that all the best stuff in her garden goes right upstairs to her guinea pigs. Not to the dining room, not to the kitchen, to get prepared for all of us. It goes to her and to her room. Friends, when your life bears fruit, where does that fruit go? So, that's the big question for you today. When your life bears fruit, where does that fruit go? Who does it go to?

25:53Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest composers who ever lived. His talent was off the charts. He often signed his compositions with three letters. S-D-G, which stands for Soli Deo Gloria, a Latin phrase that means for God's glory alone. It was one of many ways that he was trying to give the fruit back to God for the huge blessings that God had given him with.

26:29Church, we are tenants working in a vineyard that God planted and put us in. The gifts come from him. The blessings come from him. The sun and the rain comes from him. The knowledge, the resources come from him. And they all ultimately belong to him. So, they should be offered to him. Right? They should be offered to him. Saying, what a kind and strong and faithful father you are. Look at where you have planted us. What a privilege it is to get to work this vineyard that you own.

27:11That I get to till and produce fruit from. And then give it back to you, the owner of it. What a joy, what a privilege that is. They're given to us to increase our worship. To give us opportunities for obedience to him. To get creative with how we bring that fruit to him. Whether it's direct worship to him. Or whether it's serving our neighbors. Loving our neighbors as ourselves.

27:46But fortunately for entitled people like you and me. God provides the cornerstone of salvation. Listen, God does battle with our entitlement. And he does it in a variety of ways. But two of the primary ways that he does battle with it are in this parable. His patience and his generosity. That's how he does battle with entitled people like us. Wages war with the sin within us. To beat it down and root it out. The owner of the vineyard reacts like no ordinary human.

28:25He is incredibly patient. Sending messenger after messenger to ask for a different response. Our God is slow to anger. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. As Peter says, he is not wishing any to perish. But that all should reach repentance.

28:48And the owner generously sends his son. I wouldn't do that. I bet you wouldn't either. To ungrateful entitled tenants that you barely know. That's what God does for us. We know that he has. He sent his beloved son to plead with his people. Such is the generosity of God. The great love of God that he would send his only son. To speak to us. To give us wisdom. And ultimately to lay down his life. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all.

29:27How will he not also with him graciously give us all things. All things that we then turn around and offer back to him. Now the parable does speak of judgment. For all those who ultimately reject the son. We can't miss that part. Everyone who falls on that stone. Who tries to resist that stone. Will be broken to pieces. Their life will have no coherence. And it will ultimately be broken up. And when it falls on anyone. It will crush him. There is judgment for final and ultimate rejection.

30:05Of God's salvation through his son. But even this final outcome has been delayed. It's been delayed by God. By our patient God. Who in his generosity is giving us even now time to come to Christ in repentance and faith. It's by this patience and generous mercy that we can hide under him. Instead of being crushed by him. He can be a hiding place for us. A shelter for us.

30:38He is the stone that the builders rejected. In just three days from when Jesus spoke this. That's going to culminate in his death on the cross. This parable is a prediction. But not only of his death. But of his redeeming work. It's through his rejection and his death that he becomes the cornerstone for salvation for everyone who believes. The cornerstone, it's usually not the most beautiful stone in a building. But it is the most important.

31:11It sits at the foundation. It supports the building's weight. Walls are built on it. Builders use it to calculate angles and keep walls straight. It functions as everything that building needs to be sound, secure, good looking, beautiful, and ultimately stable.

31:38When he is our cornerstone, our life is solid and firm. We are like living stones who are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. To offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That's who we are when we are joined up with the cornerstone. And those spiritual sacrifices that Peter mentions, that's the fruit of the vineyard of your life.

32:12When he's your cornerstone, you can freely offer those up. You don't want to be a hungry, hungry hippo anymore. I'm built on you, God. Look at these things that I can offer back to you. The fruit of my life. The life that you gave me, God. The life that you redeemed in Jesus Christ, my Savior.

32:35Friends, your life can have meaning and cohesion and peace only when it's not your own. But you see it as belonging to God and redeemed in Christ. By laying down your entitlement and acknowledging he is the owner and we are the tenants, we're going to be built up, and we already are, into a structure that stands forever.