Sunday Inspiration: Walk By Faith
(I did not preach on Sunday. I am sharing a sermon I preached in 2022)
Walk By Faith
“Now listen to this story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country” (Matthew 21: 33 NLT).
This is how Jesus begins in the telling of a parable just five days before he is put to death on the cross. It is Tuesday of Holy Week. The Temple Rulers, Pharisees, and Sadducees are still reeling from his actions on Palm Sunday. He drives out and overturns the tables of money changers in the Temple. The religious elite questioned his authority. He refuses to give them a direct answer. They are angry and getting angrier as each day passes.
“When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce,” Jesus continues (21: 34).
And one after the other, the tenants killed the servants. The landowner sends more, and each time, they are killed.
“Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son’” (Matthew 21: 38). They don’t respect the son. They kill the son.
What were they thinking? Did they really think they would inherit the vineyard by killing the landowner’s son?
The Pharisees and other religious leaders immediately made the connection. They knew this was a story about the relationship of God—the landowner—and his chosen people—the vineyard. They knew they were the tenants. They were the stewards of the land, of the people. The servants sent by the landowner were the Old Testament prophets, for whom the people refused to listen and instead had them killed.
They heard the end of the story with its harsh judgment, and they would still have the son killed in less than five days.
The Pharisees are having difficulty seeing what God is doing in front of them in the person of Jesus. We said last week that if we let it, religion can blind us from the truth of the gospel. Religion can blind us of our needs and the needs of others to the hope of the gospel.
Last week, we were introduced to another Pharisee, Saul. Saul had a transformative experience with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. He went from Saul to Paul, but more than that, he had his eyes opened to God’s gift of salvation in the person of Jesus.
Paul planted a church in Galatia, and over time, the church began to be influenced by believers with Jewish backgrounds who taught that to be a Jesus follower, one must first follow the Jewish laws and regulations.
The apostle Paul makes it clear to the Galatians and to us that you are only made right through faith in Jesus. Nothing you can add to this message will make it any more true.
I read a story about a woman who recalled her childhood during the Depression. She overheard her parents talking one night about how only a dollar and some change were left between them. As a child, I worried all night about what would happen. How would we survive the winter?
The next morning, her mother called her and her brother, saying, “I want you to take this money and walk to the store and buy as much peach ice cream as you can, then hurry home before it melts.” Her mother handed her all the money that they had.
When they returned from the store, the house was full of neighbors, and her mother played piano music. The afternoon was one of laughter, singing, and peach ice cream.
Many years later, this woman asked her mother about that day. Her mother replied, “Honey when all you have is a dollar and change, you know it isn’t money that will save you. Only God will save you. I just thought we needed a party so we could all remember.”
Paul tells the Galatians, “The former laws, the rituals, the festivals, none of that will save you. It is only pocket change. We are set right before God by trusting Jesus as the answer to our brokenness.”
Yet, if we are not careful, we will become the tenants in Jesus’ story and think that we are responsible for controlling and possessing the gift of God’s salvation. Then, we will become no different from tenants and will suffer the same fate.
In chapter three of Galatians, Paul tells us the law served its purpose. It held a custodial function with the authority to restrain sin but lacked the power to liberate us from sin. Paul says, “If a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law” (Galatians 3: 21).
But being made right before God, the law could not do. So Paul explains, “Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith” (Galatians 3: 24 - 26).
This is true for everyone. We are all children of God through faith in Jesus. This is where Paul brings out the peach ice cream and celebrates. He says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promises” (Galatians 3: 28 - 29).
There is no longer this dividing line between Jews and Gentiles. If you trust Jesus, you are gifted God’s gift of salvation, which is the gift of being an heir of all of God’s promises.
There is no shortage of things today that we think we can do to make God accept us: be good people, go through religious motions, and do good deeds. We discuss the place for religion, being good, and doing good. Before Paul gets there, he wants the ground to be laid so that salvation comes through faith in Jesus and not through any other way.
In the scripture we read today, the Apostle Paul reinforces his argument from chapter three by saying that heirs under the law are nothing more than slaves with a promise that can never be reached. However, at the appropriate time, God sent Jesus, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.
Receiving the gift of God’s grace found in Jesus, we are adopted as children of God. Adopted! Adoption is an act of grace. Adoption happens as a gift of love. When adopted, the person takes on a new identity. An adopted person is part of a new family. The adopted child has all the rights and privileges of his or her new family.
The act of adoption is intimate and invites us into a personal relationship with God. As Paul says, “Because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father” (Galatians 4: 6)!
Jesus’ father becomes our father, and we can approach God with the confidence of a child approaching a loving father.
As religious and law-abiding citizens nailed Jesus to the cross, he performed an amazing last act of adoption. He turned to the remorseful, thieving, law-breaking thief on his side and said, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
In one of his final acts, Jesus adopts this thief and invites him into his family. Only a savior like Jesus would parade into Paradise arm-in-arm with a criminal. Only a savior like Jesus would look out at each of us and offer us a seat at his family table. Only a savior like Jesus would adopt a sinner like me.
I read a woman's story explaining that her favorite spot at the local zoo was the “House of Night.” Here, nocturnal creatures crawled and flew about. She said, “One very bright day, I entered the exhibit and was plunged into total darkness. Almost immediately, a small hand grabbed mine.”
“And who do you belong to?” the woman asked. In the darkness, a little boy spoke, “I am yours until the lights come on.”
It is easy to think that we are the adults in this story. We are the little boy. We are the little hand that latches on to God, who says, “I am yours till the lights come on.”
And friends, this is what salvation looks like when we trust Jesus. Amen.
Pastor Jamey
Discussion Questions
How does the contrast between faith in Jesus and adherence to religious laws, as described in the sermon, challenge our own understanding and practice of faith?
How does the concept of salvation by grace through faith, as emphasized by Paul in Galatians, change our approach to living out our faith compared to a works-based righteousness?
What does it mean to be adopted as children of God, and how should this identity impact our daily lives and relationships with others?
Prayer
Gracious God, In moments of doubt and darkness, may we reach out to You and hold on with the assurance that we are Yours. Let Your Spirit fill our hearts, crying out “Abba, Father,” as we draw near to You with the confidence of beloved children. Amen.
Benediction
Let us break down barriers and extend the same grace and love to others that Christ has shown to us. Amen.
Enjoyed your sermon!