Snapshot34 Mark 12:1-12 6.24.12
Questions for Community
Groups
1. Are you practicing fruitless religion?
2. Are you expecting a blessing but not obeying
Jesus or are rejecting a way of life He has for you?
3. Are you in willful disobedience or rejection?
4. Is there a sin in your life that God keeps
nudging you to repent of?
Big Idea: We gain blessings from the Lord when we
accept Him and obey Him.
Parable: simple story to
illustrate a spiritual truth
The theology and explanation of the parable
Vrs 1 Ower of the vineyard = God
Tenants = Israel
Vrs 2 Servants
= Prophets Time and again God had sent prophets to Israel to gather fruits = repentance and righteousnessbut
His prophets were abused, wounded, and killed BKC
Looking at the OT prophets
God was continually calling the people to turn from sin and pursue righteous
living.
Vrs 3-5 The beat and killed
many prophets. Jeremiah was beaten 27:7
& 37:15, According to tradition
Isaiah may have been killed under the evil reign of Manasseh. The people did this because of their
rejection and disobedience. These are
illustrations of the ugliness of sin.
Vrs 6 The owner sent his Son = Jesus
Vrs 7 The son’s arrival may have caused the tenants
to assume that the owner had died and this son was his only heir. In Palestine
at the time, a piece of land could be possessed lawfully by whoever claimed it
first if it was “ownerless property,” unclaimed by an heir within a certain
time period. The tenant farmers assumed
that if they killed the son they could acquire the vineyard. BKC
Vrs 8 What they did to his
son, killed him
Vrs 9 What will the owner
do? Destroy the tenants and get new ones.
New Tenants = Gentiles
GOSPEL message
Vrs 10-11 The challenge to
the leaders to understand what was going on...they were rejection God and they
knew what God had to say but still chose to reject and disobey
Vrs 12 the leaders (builders)
understood that Jesus (The stone) was rebuking them.
The application of the parable
There are a few application
questions I would like to ask...
1. Are you
involved in fruitless religion?
Where was the fruit if the
vineyard? The text does not mention
it. Were they greedy and kept if for
themselves? Was there no fruit? Was the fruit bad? Vrs 7 talks about the inheritance but not the
fruit.
The prophets were looking for
fruit, repentance and righteousness and they did not find it. But the people were very religious.
Is that you? You go to church, pay your dues, no impact on
you, your heart is hard. you don't see
much happen in your life of spiritual significance because you don't care
much.
Something should be
happening, we should see the hand of God moving among His people. Often times what happens in churches is
something is happening but all that is, is a bunch of people complaining,
causing trouble and creating unnecessary work.
That should not be us.
How do we combat fruitless
religion?
Starts with the heart...
Do you really want to see
people come to know Jesus?
Do you really want to help
people grow in their faith in Jesus?
Do you really want to help
people by meeting their physical, emotional and spiritual needs?
If not your heart is in the
wrong place and you need to bear some fruit in repentance and
righteousness.
The biggest rut that we can
fall into as church is thinking the church exists to meet my own personal
needs. You know sometimes when people
leave churches some of their reasoning is "it does not meet my
needs" I can agree on some
different levels, through your church you should be fed the meat of the Word, you should be encouraged and have
opportunities to serve, you should have ministries where you can enjoy
fellowship with other believers, you should be empowered and have opportunities
to win your friends and family members to Christ and I realize that each person
or family will have seasons in which they can serve more, give more and help
more but to come to church and just be self centered, self serving, negative
and critical is fruitless religion.
2. Are you
expecting a blessing from God but living in disobedience or rejection of
Him?
Many times in life we expect
a blessing from the Lord and we are disobedient. Why would God bless us when we disobey? The religious leaders wanted the blessing of keeping
their high position but were disobedient and rejecting.
-God bless my relationship
but I am in sin
-God bless my finances but I
am bad steward
-God bless me with a good job
but I am lazy
-God bless me with a good
church but I don't want to serve in it.
I heard a pastor say that in his 15 years of ministry the people that
seem to complain the most do the least in the church.
-God bless my children but I
am uninterested in parenting
-God bless my school work but
I will not study and work hard
The list can go on and on but
do you see how foolish it sounds. It
would be like when my daughter is older and a young man asks for my blessing to
marry her but he treats her like garbage, not only would I not bless it I would
want to administer some wrath upon that young man.
Sometimes we get so messed up
in our thinking and get so focused on the blessing that we start to blame God
and say things like God you are unfair, why do bad things happen to me.
Rarely do we ask "Am I
in disobedience or rejection and that is why God is withholding a
blessing?"
3. Are you willfully
disobeying or rejecting? (based on vrs 10-12)
The Chief Priests, Scribes
and Elders knew the Scriptures and they knew what they should obey but they did
not obey. That is why Jesus reminded
them of the scripture in Psalm 118:22-23
What Scriptures do you know
that you are ignoring, I realize that this is a broad question but your heart
knows the one I am referring to, the Holy Spirit is tapping on your shoulder
and saying "why are you walking away from me on this point, you know what
is right and you know you are wrong" "Why do you keep doing
this?"
Can you see the connection in
which you are not being blessed in that area?
If continue on that path do
you know what you can expect?
Not a blessing
But if you accept and obey the Lord Jesus you will be
blessed
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