The Kingdom of God will be given to a people who will produce its fruit

Scripture: Matthew 21:33-46 (NIV)

Introduction

• Continuing this week with the end of Matthew chapter 21.
• Jesus has a lot to say about who will inherit the Kingdom of God.
• We see Jesus using an agricultural reference as He often does.
• Let’s go back for a moment to Matthew 7:15-20

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

• Can an apple tree produce a pear? Or a peach? NO
• Fruit is what a tree produces. What are you producing?
• When people look at you and see what you are doing with your life, what do they see as your fruit?
• Would people see the fruits of your labors and see that you are a Christian?
• As we look at these verses, what do you see? Look for the fruits of God’s kingdom in our midst.

Message

• V 33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.
• First thing I need to do is remind you of the context: Jesus is talking to the chief priests and the elders.
• Who is the landowner here in Jesus’ story? It is God
• V34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
• Who are the servants that the landowner (God) has sent? The prophets
• V35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
• Tradition says that Isaiah was sawed in half, and that Jeremiah was stoned.
• V36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.
• There were many more Old Testament prophets that were martyred.
• V37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
• Again, who is the son Jesus is talking about? It is Him of course.
• V38 “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.’
• And again, the evil tenants plotted to kill Him.
• V39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
• This is Jesus telling the story about the conspiracy brewing against him.
• He knows what will happen to Him in a very short time.
• V40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
• Here we see Jesus asking the very conspirators what will happen in His story
• V41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
• They draw the logical conclusion even though the story is about them and they are the villains of the story.
• V42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

• And here is their wake-up call from today’s responsive reading from Isaiah.
• V43 “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.
• And here is where He makes it about them and convicts them.
• V44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
• This sounds a little bit like a threat – what do you think?
• V45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.
• It looks like He made His point do you agree?
• Conviction is an interesting thing. Especially when it is our turn.
• V46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
• Again, we see the religious leaders backing down for now.
• Jesus has made a triumphant entrance into Jerusalem and has great support from the crowds at this point.
• We know that is all about to change soon, and Jesus will fall victim to them.
• But He was able to reach them and convict them with His parable.
• Now they have a choice to make:

1. 1. Repent and change their ways or
   2. Continue in their denial of Jesus as the Messiah.

• It’s the same choice that everyone has today.
• Repent from our sins and turn to Christ or reject Christ and our hope for the future.
• It seems like a pretty easy choice to me, but as you can see from this Scripture, the religious experts chose to reject Jesus.
• God is waiting to give the inheritance of His kingdom to those who produce fruit.
• We need to make sure that as individuals and as a church that we are producing the kind of fruit that shows us worthy to God.
• What kind of fruit are you producing?
• Is there anything that you need to change?