“What do you want from God?” If you could ask God for anything right now what would you ask him for? What is the one thing that you’ve been asking for lately that you believe would radically change or alter the course of your life if God answered your prayer?

Now let me propose something else… Could it be possible that the thing that you’re asking the Lord for that he hasn’t done for you yet… Could it be possible that that thing that you want so much has overshadowed the many things God has given you already?

Look at Luke 20:9 – 18…

9 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:“‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

It’s easy to miss the things God has given us already when we are focused on wanting the things he hasn’t yet given us. That’s why this passage is so important because in this passage Luke reminds us that God has given us many gifts and it should provoke us to ask ourselves… “What are you so caught up with having that you fail to recognize what you have in Christ?”

God has given us the gift of stewardship… (9)

Luke tells us in the previous verses that Jesus was preaching daily in the temple and as he was preaching the religious leaders began to oppose his authority. So “he began to tell the people this parable” which is really an allegorical story meant to teach us about God’s heart of generosity towards sinners who oppose his authority.

Think about this for a minute. When Jesus tells us that “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while” he’s explaining the Father’s work of planting & establishing a fruitful community of believers who’ve been left in the care of spiritual leaders. Kent Hughes says that, “Jesus’ story employed an image that everyone readily understood – a vineyard representing Israel. Israel thought of itself as the vineyard of God, and a number of scriptures make that allusion, including Psalm 80:8-16, Isaiah 27:2-5, Jeremiah 2:21, Ezekiel 19:10-14, and Hosea 10:1. But the most famous is the Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7. There, Isaiah describes God’s loving care for his vineyard (“The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting”), Isaiah also describes God’s disappointment with the vineyard because it yielded only bad fruit, and finally his judgment of it – and his mourning over it.” So what Jesus is doing here is he’s explaining the Father’s work of planting and establishing a fruitful community of believers who’ve been left in the care of spiritual leaders who’ve been given the gift & responsibility of stewarding or managing fruitful & God-honoring growth throughout the community.

If the man who planted the vineyard in our text is representative of God then the tenants in our text are representative of spiritual leaders who are given the awesome responsibility of stewarding growth in God’s family. 2 Peter 4:7 – 11 says that, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” In other words, God has given us the awesome gift of the responsibility of stewarding or managing the spiritual care & growth of the community of believers that we are a part of.

Are you faithfully managing or stewarding what God has given you?

The religious leaders who opposed Jesus in our text were guilty of not only opposing his authority and trashing the gifts that God had given them but they were also guilty of not stewarding or managing the spiritual growth of the community that they claimed to be a part of. These so-called spiritual leaders, these so-called Christians, saw God’s people as a means of gain rather than an awesome gift & privilege to be stewarded for the glory of God. They saw the community of God’s people as a means of consumerism rather than a kingdom to be contributed to. God has given us an awesome gift of the responsibility of stewardship. How are you doing at faithfully managing or stewarding what God has given to you? Are you more of a consumer than you are a contributor? What do you want from God? What are you so caught up with having that you fail to recognize what you have in Christ?

God has also given us the gift of his messengers… (10-12)

After explaining that his Father planted a vineyard, which is the community of God’s people, Jesus tells us that, “When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat him and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.” So God plants a vineyard, which is the community of God’s people, and then he gives it generously to spiritual leaders who are given the opportunity to steward the fruitfulness of the community and then he sends his servants back to share in the harvest of the vineyard and the so-called stewards of that vineyard want nothing to do with them. Doesn’t this remind you of what Israel’s leaders did to the prophets?

Again, Kent Hughes says that, “This triad of beatings summarizes Israel’s wretched and uniform treatment of its prophets. Stephen, before his stoning, referenced this when he shouted to the Sanhedrin, ‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which f the prophets did your fathers not persecute?’ (Acts 7:51,52a). Elijah was driven into the wilderness by the monarchy (1 Kings 19:1-5). Isaiah, according to tradition, was sawn asunder. Zechariah was stoned to death near the altar (2 Chronicles 24:21). John the Baptist was beheaded (Mark 6:14-29). The writer of Hebrews summarizes: ‘They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering about in desserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth’ (Hebrews 11:37,38).” Is it really any different today? God has given us the gift of his messengers and we often resist and reject them.

Are you joyfully receiving & acting upon the message of the gospel?

Israel’s leaders beat God’s messengers. They treated them shamefully, they wounded them, they cast them out and they sent them away empty handed. They closed their ears to the message of the gospel & they not only abused the community of God around them but they also abused the messengers that God gave to them. God has given us the gift of his messengers of the gospel. Are you joyfully receiving & acting upon the truth of the message of the gospel as God’s messengers are bringing it to you? What do you want from God? What are you so caught up with having that you fail to recognize what you have in Christ?

God has also given us the gift of his beloved son… (13-15)

The religious leaders were not happy with Jesus. They weren’t delighting themselves in Jesus. Jesus was not the desire of their heart’s affections. This was not only proven by their continued abuse of God’s people and God’s messengers but it was also proven by their continued abuse of Jesus himself. This is why Jesus continued his parable by saying “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” Talk about the prophecy of all prophesies right? Jesus, the perfect temple is standing in the temple, prophesying about how the religious leaders would soon commit the highest level of all abuse when they take the gift of God’s beloved son and murder him shamefully.

Kent Hughes quoting Martin Luther said, “’If I were God, and the world had treated me as it treated him, I would kick the wretched thing to pieces.’ But instead of turning his back on the world, God continued sending servant after servant. Rebuffs, insults and beatings did not stop him. And finally he sent his Son. (And) Spurgeon said, ‘If you reject him, he answers you with tears; if you wound him, he bleeds out cleansing; if you kill him, he dies to redeem; if you bury him, he rises again to bring resurrection. Jesus is love made manifest.’” In other words, God has given us the gift of his beloved Son so that we might know for sure that God loves us.

Are you delighting yourself in Jesus & is he becoming the desire of your heart’s affections?

Our natural inclination is to delight ourselves in sin. Our natural bent is to feed the sinful desires of our hearts. Our natural trajectory is aimed towards sinfulness & hatred towards God. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ… For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4-5; 8-9)” What more could God do to prove his love for us? What more could God do to win the affections of our hearts? God has given us the gift of his beloved son. Are you delighting yourself in Jesus & is he becoming the desire of your heart’s affection? What do you want from God? What are you so caught up with having that you fail to recognize what you have in Christ?

God has also given us the gift of his warnings… (15-18)

After Jesus describes how his Father has planted & established a community for his own possession that he left in the care of spiritual leaders who opposed every servant he sent to them and put his own Son to death, he ends his parable by painting a stern warning for all who reject & oppose God. Jesus says, “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” In other words, Jesus is warning us that if we reject Him we also reject God, which means that God will destroy us and give what he has offered us to others who will receive what he is freely giving away. And when the people “heard this, they said, ‘Surely not!’ But he (Jesus) looked directly at them and said, ‘What then is this that is written: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.’” This is a sobering warning but it’s a gift from God that should not be taken lightly. God’s warnings and instructions are costly gifts that should never be taken lightly.

Are you listening to and responding to the warnings & the instructions of the Lord?

Jesus is literally quoting the same Psalm that the people sang as he rode into Jerusalem a few days earlier. Yet this time he is quoting the part that prophesies about himself being rejected and then becoming the cornerstone that locks the spiritual building of God’s people together. When people reject Jesus they essentially stumble and fall over their disbelief in him and their lives shatter into a million pieces or his judgment falls on them like a heavy rock that shatters fine china. God has given us the gift of his warnings and instructions. Are you listening to and responding to the warnings and instructions of the Lord? What do you want from God? What are you so caught up with having that you fail to recognize what you have in Christ?

Final Thoughts…

God has given us many gifts. He’s given us the responsibility of stewardship. He’s given us his messengers of truth & grace to remind us to follow him faithfully. He’s given us his beloved Son so that by our faith & our trust & our surrender to him we can share in the inheritance of eternal life & relationship with God. He’s given us warnings to remind us of the destruction that comes into our lives as a result of rejecting him.

The only question left for us to ask is this… What do you want from God? What are you so caught up with having that you fail to recognize what you have in Christ?