So I am hung up on the word Eternity... About a year ago at Outdoor Outreach our keynote speaker, Bobby Sheets, told a story of a man in Australia who literally wrote "eternity" all over the city with chalk. He knew the importance of word and wrote it everywhere to remind people of the importance of Eternity and their mortality. His name was Arthur Stace, he was a homeless alcoholic who found Christ and began his ministry. His story is powerful... It actually made me want to get a tattoo of the word "eternity" probably on my wrist to remind me that anything I put my hands to should be focused on eternal things. But, I am chicken so I wonder if I ever actually will.
Jesus felt strongly about eternity too. He talks about it a whole lot. And in Luke chapter 20 we find him pointing people to it again. When questioned by the chief priests and the teachers of the law he begins to tell a parable; A man plants a vineyard and rents it to some farmers then goes away for a long time. Then the owner of the vineyard begins to send servants to the farm but the tenants would beat them and send them away. This happened on multiple occasions until finally the owner decided to send his son. The tenants when they saw the son decided, "this is the heir, Let's kill him and the inheritance will be ours." So, they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Then Jesus pointed out, "what will the owner do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others."
What Jesus is showing in this parable is that God is the owner of His Kingdom. He has entrusted the Jews and now the Christians to tend to his vineyard... He then proceeds to send prophets but no one wants to hear their message. It is too offensive. Too radical. So, we dismiss or worse yet ridicule or in the time of old we would kill them. But, God is patient and enduring so He sends more... eventually He even sends His Son, Jesus Christ. When Jesus came our sin and our wickedness lead us to believe that we could kill Him and be done. But when that owner shows up what will He do? He will give the vineyard to others and they will spend forever with the Owner.
We are the wicked tenants. We disregard God's messengers. We trample Jesus blood under our feet as we dance in our sin. But friend, please think of eternity! We might be masters of our vineyard today. We might have control over our lives and our plans and we might dismiss what God the Owner is saying to us now. But, what will it feel like to answer to Him? The real authority! The appropriate way to live our lives is found in verses 17 and 18. We are supposed to revere Christ as a capstone! Live our lives at his feet. Crushed by his Glory and Majesty broken over our sinfulness and in awe at His authority.
""The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone."
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." -Luke 20:17-18
Jesus is that stone. One day we will see his authority forever. We will worship Him forever. Don't be the wicked prideful tenant. Humble yourself now to worship him forever. We want to be a people that are "considered worthy of taking part in that age (verse 35)."
ETERNITY
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