Göttinger Predigten
Göttinger Predigten im Internet hg. von U. Nembach
Pentecost 18, 10/08/2017
Sermon on Matthäus 21:33-46, by Samuel D. Zumwalt
Matthew 21:33-46 © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers]
33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 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.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read 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’?
43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
MAKER AND OWNER (A title taken from Harry Wendt’s Crossways Bible Study)
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Once upon a time there was a congregation that thought altogether too highly of itself. Now it wasn’t that this was not a congregation with many people and many resources and lovely facilities. All of that was true. But the congregation was a bit like a fading movie actress who once had achieved near greatness. The people thought of the great things they had done in the past and thought of the days when their facilities had been overflowing and imagined that once they had had a national reputation for excellence. But they could not admit that, little by little, they were shrinking and dying.
Oh, they had their moments when again it was like the glory days – Christmas Eve and Easter morning. It was so much like a former Oscar winner showing up decade after decade for one great night of Academy Award splendor and then back home to watch old movies the rest of the year, repeating the lines that once had made her near great. And so it was that the congregation shrunk year after year as it thought so highly of itself like the mythical Narcissus wasting away while admiring his own reflection.
The congregation had become like a story that someone once told about a volunteer group of rescuers that met at a lighthouse. At first the rescuers were totally devoted to saving those that had shipwrecked and those that were drowning. But in-between those high adrenaline moments they sat around having potluck meals and enjoying each other’s company. And, in time, despite the fact that they had all of the equipment necessary to save lives, they were no longer interested in rescuing the shipwrecked and the drowning. In short, they had become a social club that occasionally did a nice thing or two but no longer could be counted on to be there for those that needed rescuing. [This lighthouse story once appeared in adult catechetical materials from Morse Press circa 1974.]
Yes, the congregation that thought so highly of itself had become a wonderful place to sing and listen to music and a wonderful place to learn Bible trivia for Jeopardy and a delightful place to get a meal and even a reliable place to get a donation for the downtrodden. But, alas, the congregation continued to shrink and die because it no longer remembered that God was the sole Maker and Owner of everything they had and everything they were. And they didn’t get it that God was not interested in how fruitful they had been once upon a time. And they didn’t get it that God was allowing them to shrink and die, because they had forgotten whose they were and what God expected them to be and do as a congregation.
Indeed this once upon a time congregation is not one of a kind. Throughout the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, there are congregations in which there are rarely any lifesaving events – we call them baptisms and adult confirmations. There are over 9,000 congregations in which they have all the tools necessary – a place to meet, Bibles and books, preachers and teachers, amazing resources and gifts, and yet the congregations are aging, shrinking, and dying. And we know what the problem is: the congregations have forgotten whose they are and what God expects them to be and do.
Because God is the Maker and Owner, those congregations that refuse to be about their heavenly Father’s business will indeed shrink and die, and eventually the property and the building will either be sold to some business or to another congregation (but probably not to another Lutheran congregation] that will use it to the glory of God!
Lest it sound as if some congregations have stubbornly and corporately insisted that God has no real place in their midst, let’s be clear that the problem lies in each individual heart and mind. A congregation cannot forget whose it is and what God expects where each individual Christian practices living in the full awareness that God is Maker and Owner. When your heart and mind and my heart and mind truly declares, “Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne (text by Frances Havergal)” – when each of us says it and means it, then it is impossible for a congregation to forget whose it is and what it is that God expects! It is impossible for such a congregation to shrink and die!
The Lord Jesus’ parable was a new twist on a very familiar and very old parable told in today’s first lesson. Isaiah had spoken God’s Word of judgment on disobedient Israel, and that prophet’s Word had come true. Now the Lord Jesus tells His hearers that even King Herod’s magnificent temple and even the busy religious practice of God’s people could and would be destroyed. The obvious threat to Judea may well have seemed to have been the Roman Empire. But the Lord Jesus was declaring that rejecting God’s Son would indeed ultimately result in failure. God is Maker and Owner. Those that refuse to see that the Maker and Owner has come calling in the person and work of His Son will finally wither away and die. They will be crushed by their failure to repent and believe that the Maker and Owner is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.
What then should we glean from this text? First, our heavenly Father doesn’t command us to gather for worship each week for His sake. Second, the Lord Jesus doesn’t command us to observe all that He teaches us in Scripture for His sake. Third, the Holy Spirit doesn’t call people to faith through the Gospel for His sake. These things are necessary for our sake. We need to worship, to learn, to trust, and to respond with gratitude. We need to repent and believe the Good News that Jesus Christ died for our sins. We need to stop pretending that we are in charge and that we are the owners of all that we have and all that we are.
God is the Maker and Owner. If we fail to be His own through our baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection, if we fail daily to repent and seek His mercy, and if we fail to be faithful stewards of all God’s things, then we will die in our sins and our little kingdoms on earth will finally be crushed by the Stone that the builders rejected. In short, we have no hope apart from God’s amazing grace in Jesus Christ!
What does faithfulness look like? That’s no trick question. The answer is simple: faithfulness looks like God’s Son who was obedient to His heavenly Father unto death, even death on a cross. The call to discipleship is the call to give your life away in obedience to the Father, following His Son, and living in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Just because a congregation has numeric growth does not mean it is faithful. That story is repeated time and again when a congregation has begun to assemble around some other organizing principle than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Again, like that proverbial lighthouse rescue squad, it is easy to become a club with Christian background music and all the other trappings of Christianity. It is easy to forget the cross of the Crucified God while pretending that God the Maker delights in giving us more and more things to own for our own personal satisfaction. It is easy to build kingdoms on earth that the Stone must finally crush, because kings and kingdoms must all pass away!
Each week, just before the benediction, we encourage each other with these words: I will strive to pray daily, worship weekly, read the Bible, serve at and beyond St. Matthew’s, be in relationship to encourage spiritual growth in others, and give of my time, talents, and resources (contextualized from Michael Foss’ Power Surge). They are printed in our bulletins each week. They are on posters in our McCombs Fellowship Hall.
Now perhaps reading such words or even repeating these words seems like some kind of spiritual fad. Maybe you are one of those who dislike religious bumper stickers or items of clothing imprinted with religious imagery. God knows that in North Carolina those things are not nearly as popular as Atlantic Coast Conference sports or, for that matter, designer labels. Despite the fact that 95% of Americans say they believe in God, I suspect that any number of brew pubs and breweries are much more successful at positive brand recognition than even the most faithful of churches.
The issue isn’t whether you can recite these marks of discipleship printed on a bulletin, or have a chrome fish on your car, or wear clothing and jewelry with Christian symbols. The key is whether others can see those marks of discipleship in your life – whether your neighbors see you going to worship weekly, whether your friends and loved ones see you studying the Bible, whether those closest to you see you pray daily, whether others benefit from your service, whether others experience you as a spiritual companion, and whether others witness your generosity of time, talent, and resources.
We don’t have to do these things to try to earn our way into God’s heart. The Lord Jesus has already done it all for us on the cross by dying for our sins and making peace for us with His heavenly Father. Because we grateful Christians believe, confess, and teach that God is the Maker and Owner of all things, we follow the Lord Jesus in giving away our lives in humble service to God and neighbor. This is who we are by our Baptism into Jesus. This is what our Father expects. Indeed this is what we are here for!
Sister or brother, many years ago a missionary by the name of Daniel T. Niles said: “evangelism is one beggar showing another beggar where to get food.” Shrinking and dying churches have forgotten entirely that this is what their Maker and Owner expects of them. They have stopped following Jesus in order to follow something else!
Don’t let our congregation become a shrinking and dying church. Do your part this week by showing your neighbors that God is indeed your Maker and Owner! Pray daily. Worship weekly. Study the Bible. Serve at or beyond St. Matthew’s. Invite someone to be your spiritual companion. Give generously of time, talent, and resources. In short, act as if your life belongs to God! Indeed act as if it is a matter of life and death!
To the extent that you follow Jesus in a life of limitless, humble service you are successfully telling other beggars where to get the Bread of Life. And isn’t that why you are here in worship today? Haven’t you come because you are aching to get your empty hands on the only One who can forgive you, strengthen you in your weakness, and give you real life that goes on forever?