Can The Kingdom Be Taken Away?

Trinity XIX --- October 2, 2005

Matthew 21:33-43

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

About a year ago, there was an article in the Clintonville paper’s op-ed page that was entitled, God Comforts, not Punishes. In that letter, there were a number of falsehoods put forth that are commonly held in the world. Some of these have a kernel of truth, but the conclusions to which they were taken are patently false.

I will only address one of them, the one which stated that God is a forgiving and loving God. Of course, this is indeed true! In fact, God’s love and forgiveness is the only hope for sinners. However, the error is, that the article stated that God loves everybody, and therefore everybody will be in heaven - no matter what they believe. This is a bold lie which breeds false belief, in fact, false belief that can have eternally damning consequences.

Now, I ask you, is what the article says, what our text says. In fact, according to our text, will even all those who state a belief in Christ be with Christ eternally in His kingdom? According to our text, Jesus concludes His parable, and then give this exhortation, “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.” Believers in Christ must produce the fruits of faith.

Now, before we get to depressed about this, we need to pay attention to the whole parable. There is a reason Jesus tells it, for He not only wants to give warning, but also hope. In this parable and His comments following, Jesus preaches both the Law and comforts with the Gospel. Let’s delve into this message for us from God Himself in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A landowner built a vineyard, put a wall around it, dug a winepress and built a watchtower. Here is a recipe for great things. The landowner did all the work. He rented it to some farmers and went away. All they had to do was gather the harvest and give a portion of it to the landowner. Doesn’t sound like to bad a deal. Any renter has to pay their rent, or be evicted. They didn’t! In fact, they beat and killed the servants sent to collect, killing even the son of the landowner when he was sent to collect.

If you were the landowner, how would you respond? The people gathered there that day suggested, the landowner would “bring those wretches to a wretched end.

Of course, the landowner is God. The vineyard is nothing more than the Gospel, given to the Jewish leaders and the whole nation. God has blessed them abundantly in order that they might be a blessing to all nations. This is what we learned in Genesis when the blessing was given to Abraham and His descendants, stating that through him, “all the nations of the earth might be blessed.” They were to be missionaries.

What is more, we see in this text, that the Gospel has been entrusted to religious leaders - that they might nurture and guide the people into obedience. This is nothing more than what God instructed in the Old Testament, as we find in the book of Numbers “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd." Numbers 27:16_17 (ESV)

Unfortunately, in Old Testament times, many were the prophets who arose and spoke falsehoods in the name of the Lord. We have evidence of this from the life of Elijah and from the other prophets. There were always false prophets giving false hope in the Old Testament. They even persecuted and killed the true prophets that God sent. Finally, in Jesus day, we have the chief priests, elders, and teacher of the law who led the people to crucify Christ Himself.

These leaders, failed to bring God a return on His investment. They brought forth fruit that was not fitting to God. Their demands were on strict obedience to the laws, but they had added laws God did not command. At the same time, obedience of the heart, exemplified in love and charity, were forgotten.

What is more, the leaders led the people in such a way that they too failed to bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance. They lacked sorrow over sin and they failed to trust God for His faithfulness in granting forgiveness.

In today’s parable, the people of Christ’s day were given a glimpse of what was about to happen. God has given them His Son. Listen to the words of Jesus in our text: “Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. ‘‘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.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

This is the greatest investment that God gives to the vineyard, His only begotten Son. With this precious investment, surely there should come forth fruits of the harvest - works in keeping with repentance. We well know how this investment is soundly rejected by the very leaders of the church who should have been preparing the people for the advent of God’s Christ. Instead, the people too were led to reject Him. In fact, they kill Him. They trust their own works to earn the inheritance that God would give them in Christ Jesus.

Now, comes the greater question to us today. What will happen with you? God has blessed you with the incredible investment of His Gospel, given to you in His Son Jesus Christ. He is your righteousness - the vineyard planted and given to you. The blessings of His kingdom are ripe for the harvest - the Gospel of salvation to be preached to the ends of the earth. It has been given to you, that you might proclaim it to others.

Here in this place, He has given you the blessings of His kingdom. You are safe in the protection of His church. With the message of the Gospel, forgiveness and eternal life purchased by the blood of His own Son, His kingdom is ripe to be extended and expanded. He gives you the strength of His own Son to proclaim that message to others in a meal of epic proportions - Christ’s own body and blood for you to eat and to drink.

What will you do? Can the kingdom be taken away from you? Yes! Indeed it can. When you fail to produce the fruits of the harvest, you too can lose the kingdom - taken away from you, by the very one who so graciously gives it to you.

When we fail to proclaim that message in its truth and purity, we are doing nothing more than claiming the harvest as our own. When we try to stifle the Gospel by reducing the Law to nothing more than suggestions simply to love our neighbor without the need for repentance, we are not producing the fruit of the Gospel.

The fruit which God desires from you is your repentance and faith. This is nothing more than what He Himself desires to give you. The vineyard has already been planted, He gives to you His Holy Spirit. He Himself equips you with all that you need to be profitable in His kingdom. “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’?”

Yes, Christ Himself is the inheritance you receive. Christ is the gracious gift from God, the very inheritance that is yours. The fruits of your faith are worked by the Holy Spirit in you, you repentance, including your trusting in Christ for your forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Can the kingdom be taken away? It is God’s gift to you! He graciously desires to give it to you in a Word of forgiveness, and a meal of heavenly produce.

God has invested in you. He has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, sanctified and keeps you in the true faith. This is the fruit that He produces in you, and the inheritance is yours. As you are in Christ, the kingdom can never to be taken away from you. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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