Monday Night @ First B June19th
First B Jackson
2023-06-20

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Sure. Hey, friends. Like our little small group tonight, and glad you're here. And a big thank you to... That'd be Hans and Matt and Jim and Cole and Ben, their small group.

Thank you guys for those fajitas. They were awesome. You guys did a great job. And, also, Chris, his first time, but we were wearing matching shoes and he said, well, if you you... Then you have to play.

And then this is my son, Aiden. So so just to let you know, we're making our way through the gospel of Mark right now. We're up to chapter 11 tonight. It's conversation style at the end. You don't have to talk, but Sharon at the end just brings out even more.

So, but before we get there, can we just stand and worship in a few songs together? And, God, thank you for meeting meeting us right where we're at this evening and for each person here. And, God, for the gift of community, this one another in here. Grateful. In Jesus' name.

Amen. God, thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness to us. I pray that we would see it tonight in the scripture. And, God, also that your presence would just fill us and fill this pray... Place.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Leave the trainers. I have a mountain that I could not complain. In desperation, the king of kings calls me his own beautiful savior I'm yours forever Then came the Lord that sealed the promise, and everybody began to breathe. Jesus Christ, my living whole.

Amen. Amen. What do you say we get into the word a little bit?

Thanks, man.

Yeah. That was awesome. Haven't been led by the drums in a long time. Yeah. We got a closer too, Chris.

Hey. How are we doing on a Monday? How about on a scale of one to five? One was awful and five was great. Okay.

Alright. Alright. Gospel according to Mark. And, Lord, I pray that this would speak to us tonight in some way. Would you grab a hold of us in Jesus' name?

We're in chapter 12 verses one through 17. This is where Jesus tells the parable of evil farmers and religious leaders question Jesus about paying taxes. And let me just share this. This is on... Let me try this again.

There it is. This is on a Tuesday of passion week. Jesus' passionate commitment to go to the cross. And and just... I want us to consider this just for a second.

By Friday... So you look at the timeline here. That week was packed. There was so much that happened here. What happens here on the Tuesday is Jesus makes religious, leaders extremely angry, murderous, angry, which is how we can get to by Friday, Jesus would be betrayed, arrested, mocked, beaten, put on trial, crucified.

Sunday morning, raised from the dead. But just amazing how fast that week went. It's just... It kinda blew my mind, and I wanted to share that with you. The events of this week were crazy fast.

But on this Tuesday, after the religious leaders challenged Jesus' authority and they try to trap him multiple times, he tells them a story. Do you remember, in the Old Testament when Nathan told David a story in second Samuel? Do you remember that? And, Nathan tells David this story about a rich man who steals this poor man poor man's beloved sheep. The rich man has all the sheep he could possibly have and want, but he steals this poor man's beloved sheep, and and he serves it to his his, his guests, his company.

And David, he's hearing the story, he goes, that guy should pay. That guy should pay for what he did. And Nathan goes, David, you're that dude in the story. You're that man in that story. But in that story, David repents and he turns back to the Lord.

And this story where we're reading tonight, it just makes the religious leaders more angry and murderous, and it does not go well for them. Repentance is always the way. It's always been the way. That's God's design. And his kindness is what leads us to repentance, and I I really hope we can hear that as well.

It's God's kindness that leads us to repentance to turn back to him. So before I read it, can I just pray and then comment as we go? God, I'm thankful for, another Monday night. I'm thankful for an opportunity to just go through your word and study it. And as we examine it, God, would it examine us?

Would you examine us, our hearts, our motives, our intentions, and turn our hearts toward you in Jesus' name. Amen. So here's the story that Jesus tells, and please take note of what stands out to you too so we can bounce this around a little bit more at the end. So starting with verse one, Jesus began to teach them with stories. And and Mark says back in chapter four, stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand.

And the closer that they pay they pay attention, the more understanding would be given. But when they didn't listen, the little understanding they had would be taken away, Jesus said. And I feel like that's what's happening right here with the religious leaders is the little that that the... They were not paying attention, so what little understanding they had would be taken away. But here's the story.

A man planted a vineyard, and he built a wall around it. And he dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and he built a lookout tower. Now what's interesting about this is... Check out this. This is a whole lot like the beginning in the story of Isaiah, and this is a love song.

And it's... And it says this, I'm gonna sing for the one I love, a song about his vineyard. This is God's love song to his people, his vineyard, Israel. He plowed the land, and he cleared the stones. He planted the best vines, and he built a watchtower, and he carved a winepress.

It's just like the story Jesus is telling. But can't you just hear God's love and care for his people? Can I just mention that for a second? In this story, do you see God's love and his care for the people? Clear the stones.

He's he's he's making the way forward for him. It says, then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but instead they were bitter. That's sad. Then I just wanna fast forward here to, verse seven. He expected a crop of justice and righteousness, but instead he found oppression and violence.

So it's a lot like when Jesus goes into Jerusalem and he's clearing the temple because he's going, there's oppression here. There's extortion here. There's injustice here. Out. This is not the way that God intended it.

So this was from Isaiah. But in Jesus' story, the man who planted the vineyard, he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers, and then he moved to another country. So let me just keep going on here. Verse two. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent out his servants to collect the share...

His share of the crop. But the farmers grabbed the servant, and they beat him up, and they sent him back empty handed. Four. So what does he do? He sends another servant, but they insulted him and they beat him over the head.

And then the next servant he sent was killed, and others he sent were beaten or killed. Like, this just gets worse and worse and worse until six. There was only one left, his son whom he dearly loved. The owner finally sent him thinking, surely, they're gonna respect my son. And what...

By the way, what a brilliant allegory here that's that's told. Let... Let's just look at these. The one who planted is who? It's God.

The vineyard? The nation of Israel, God's people. The tenant farmers, they're the religious leaders. The servants, they're those prophets who continue to get killed or beaten up, and the son is Jesus. And and by now, these guys have had to understand what was going on here going, okay.

I get it. Because check this out. Jesus is about to call them out for their plot to kill him in verse seven. But the tenant farmers said to one another, well, here comes the heir to the estate. Jesus.

Let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves. And so they grabbed him, and they murdered him, and they threw his body out of the vineyard. Verse nine. What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do, Jesus asked? And he answers in the same breath.

He doesn't even give him time to answer. He goes, I'll tell you. He'll come and kill those farmers, and he'll lease the vineyard to others. So although the true heir is rejected and killed, the inheritance still belongs to him and his community. And then verse 10, Jesus says, didn't you ever read this in the scriptures?

The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and it's wonderful to see. By the way, I love I love love love Peter's reference to this in Acts. So this is after Jesus had died, resurrected, ascended, the Holy Spirit is sent. This is the beginning of the church here.

And Peter said, he's full of the Holy Spirit. He says, let me clearly state to all of you and all the people of Israel, a man that was crippled, that's that's who he's talking about here, was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ, Nazarene, that man you crucified. You crucified on Friday. We saw the timeline. You said the guy that you crucified, but God raised from the dead.

For Jesus is the one referred to in the scriptures where it says, the stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. There's salvation, and no one else, God's given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. Like, isn't that so powerful? Such a powerful reference to Jesus as the cornerstone of our faith. And just to say, like, Jesus' ministry, it really stuck because, like I said, died, rose again, ascended to heaven, sends the Holy Spirit.

Peter's full of the Holy Spirit and says this right here. Like, church works. I I just wanna say that. Church still works. K.

Back to verse 12. The religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them. They were the wicked farmers, but they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and they went away. So that's the parable of the evil farmers. Next, I wanna share the religious leaders questioning Jesus about paying taxes.

These things go together. So verse 13. Later, the leaders sent some pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. Teacher, they said, we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don't play favorites.

You teach the way of God truthfully. Like, can you just hear the the disingenuous tone of voice? I mean, they they were trying to trap him. They wanted to kill him. Breathing murderous threats to, like, all the time.

And they're giving him this. I can kinda see Jesus come. Mhmm. Yeah, guys. Now tell us, is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

Should we pay them or shouldn't we? And, of course, Jesus sees through their hypocrisy, and he goes, guys, why are you trying to trap me? The trap being, if he said yes, he'd be, supporting Rome and and turn his own people against him. If he said no, he could bring accusations of treason for rebelling against Rome. So it was like it was like a sneaky lose lose question to trap Jesus, to get him arrested or killed or worse.

Here's how Jesus responds to it. Show me a Roman coin, and I'll tell you. And most likely, they showed him one of these Roman denarius. By the way, I looked online. I was like, you can buy these.

They still exist today on Etsy for $80 apiece. It's about the size of a dime. Interesting. Right? We're still making money off of of that.

But that's what would have been used to to pay the tax, the currency. And Jesus uses this little coin here as an object lesson. 16. When they handed it to him, he asked, so whose picture and title are stamped on it? Caesar's, they replied.

Well, then Jesus said, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God. And if I could just paraphrase here, that coin with Caesar's image, Jesus is saying, this is... That's his image. This is what you guys do. This is your kingdom.

This is your world. Give it to him. But your life... What he's saying here is your life as an image bearer of God, that belongs to God. Give to God what belongs to God.

You're made in his image, so worship him that way. And his reply completely amazed him. So I wanna stop there at verse 17, But just... I just wanna share this. Right now in Mark, there is a lot of back and forth with the religious leaders.

We're gonna see a lot of back and forth. And so as we read this, naturally, we should be asking ourselves as well. How how does this apply to me? Like, how does this apply to me today? And I really like the life application commentary on this because it says, if one asks what fruit God requires from us today, The answer comes immediately before and after this parable.

So I wish I could share all of it in one lump sum, but we would be here all night. And so just before and after it, what comes before and after it is really important. What comes before it is, God requires that our place of worship be a house of prayer for all nations, for everybody. You remember Jesus clearing the temple. It was right before this because it was just the opposite

of

that. Like, it was a barrier between God and people, and people were being extorted and taken advantage of. So what is God? What is the fruit that God, requires of us that that would be a house of prayer, a place for all nations, the tribe, nation, and tongue? God also requires that our community be a forgiving one.

And that came from last week's text too where Jesus says, listen. When you're praying, first, forgive anyone that you're holding a grudge against so that your father in heaven will forgive you. So we're to give to God what belongs to God, loving him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving one another. In other words, and I just... I'll I'll end with this right here.

Kind of the takeaway, alright, is that God expects the vineyard, God's people, us, to be an accepting, prayerful, forgiving, devoted, and loving fellowship built around his son. Jesus is key in this. Jesus has to be at the center of this. In our small groups, in our communities, Jesus has to be the center of this. The stone that binds everything together.

And I think that right there is just a a perfect summary of where we're at in in Mark right right now. So before I open it up to... For conversation on what we read, can I just pray one more time? And I'd... Specifically, I wanna pray, for for these things.

So would you pray with me? God, in in first Peter, you call us living stones, royal priests, a holy nation, your your very own possession. And as a result, we are to show others your goodness because you've called us out of darkness and into wonderful light. God, with that in mind with that in mind, would you lead us to be a church, a people that are accepting and prayerful and forgiving and devoted and a loving fellowship built around you, Jesus, the stone that binds us altogether. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. So that being said, of the two sections of scripture, Jesus telling the parable of the tenant farmers and then the comment about taxes, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give to God what belongs to God. Did anything in those verses stand out to you that you'd like to comment on that we could encourage each other with? Could you think of anything? Nick, you got a comment?

We don't have to do the microphone. Yeah. Yeah. And you can see... I'm not looking at that timeline again.

You go, how in the world from the time he he gets to Jerusalem on Sunday by Friday, they they put him... Nail him to a cross. And you go, oh, I get it now. I just read about it. These guys did not wanna be called out.

Something that stood out to me is by this time in Mark, Jesus had predicted his his own death three times, like... And then told the disciples about it. So it wasn't like, oh, wow. Woah. What happened?

He he knew exactly what was going to happen when he enters when he enters Jerusalem. It's crazy. And he still did it in love. He still did it. Any other comments from from the scripture?

Ray brought up a good, a really meaningful verse because we were talking about, well, to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. And I was kind of like, yeah, yeah, pay your taxes. But I didn't really consider like, what does it mean to give God what belongs to God? And Ray pointed out Romans 12 today. Can I just read the first two verses?

It's, dear brothers and sisters, That's a really good point, what you're bringing up, because sometimes it just feels like it's a lose lose. Like, I I no matter what I say, I'm I'm I'm gonna say something wrong kind of a thing. You never had that afterwards as well. A few times. Right?

But there is a wisdom from God Aidan had to go to work. He wasn't mad. I promise.

They're not known. You came along. Then me back together. Nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you.

And here's what he does. You turn moaning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one you're there.

You turn grace into goddess. You turn bones into armies. You turn seas into vibrations. You're the only one you can. You're the only one you can.

Nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing.

Amen. Then I wanna leave us with this verse before we go from first Peter that we're called a chosen people, a royal priest, holy nation, God's very own possession. And as a result, we can show others the goodness of God for he called us out of darkness and into his wonderful light. And, Lord, I pray that that could be us as a community of believers. Lord, would you knit us together close with you, the chief cornerstone of our faith?

You're at the center. And, God, that we could show others your goodness because you have called us out of out of darkness and into your marvelous light. God, would we shine bright for you

this

week? In Jesus' name, amen.