the indicators
Jesus told the parable of the vineyard tenants the week he was crucified. He spoke it about the people who were about to crucify him, right in front of both them and a huge crowd who wouldn’t let them touch him. As far as his enemies were concerned, this parable may have been the final straw for Jesus. But it was incredibly important that he publicly announce the transfer of the kingdom of God:
God was taking his kingdom out of the hands of the physical nation of Israel, and giving it to a people (nation) who would produce the kingdom’s fruit - the church.
As someone who is dead set on being a dynamic part of the church that God now gave charge of his kingdom to, this parable is both exhilarating and intensely sobering. I can’t think of a greater thrill of a purpose than to be put in charge of God’s kingdom! There is nothing more meaningful, more powerful, more vast, more lasting, more important. I also realize that now God is looking to me (as part of the church he bought with his own blood) to produce the kingdom’s fruit.
Obvious mistakes to make here would be:
1) to run off and try to produce the kingdom’s fruit out of human effort and ability (the Pharisees already tried that).
2) to be so intimidated that I adopted a do-nothing philosophy (the servant burying his master’s talent in the ground tried that).
3) to think that anything I did as one entrusted with God’s kingdom was going to be OK (again, the Pharisees tried that).
To save us all the grief of making those mistakes (and living cluelessly in them), the Holy Ghost made sure that the New Testament was chock full of indicators for what it looks like for the church to function as intended - producing the kingdom’s fruit.
If you drove from your house to the Grand Canyon, you’d be watching indicators all the way: your gas gauge, your heat gauge, lane markers, your odometer, road signs, etc. The indicators aren’t the trip, they’re not the destination; but paying attention to them can make all the difference in whether or not you make it to the Grand Canyon and how long it takes you.
So…the kingdom of God has been entrusted to all of us - how do the indicators say we’re doing? If Jesus physically walked in and inspected all of our churches objectively right now, would he see the kingdom’s fruit being produced?
I love the writing. Good stuff. The church. The Kingdom of God is righteousness Joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Our job as the church is to produce the relationship that grows righteousness, joy and Peace in the Holy Spirit. Paul says we are ambassadors of reconciliation. It was obvious to Jesus that the Pharisees were not producing fruit into the flock that was keeping with repentance and thus he took away from them (as you noted) their ambassadorial duties. Reconciliation with God is the most important thing a person can have in their lives. The confidence that God will give power, faith, wisdom, love and the path of overcoming the snares of the devil for the glory of his name. It is too cool.
thanks for your blog. Look forward to GEN 49 and any other random tracks.
thanks thomas. yeah, whether or not we’re reconciling people to God is a huge indicator of whether we’re really being the church.
what about the very closely related indicator of peace?
I got to ask John Arnott of Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship a question about how churches teach the Gospel. I framed it this way, “Many in the church are busy doing the work of evangelism in the church and are busy trying to get people saved, tell them about Jesus share the word of God, get their friends to come to church on Sunday and on and on. In the church, we are often ‘trained’ on doing things that would make us ‘effective Christians.’ Yet it seems we are not good evangelists as we could be. Your church is different then most because you have a strong emphasis on worship and being with God in His Prescence.”
He responded (a summary), “Well, the two greatest commandments are love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and 2) Love your neighbor as you would yourself. If we get the first right and we have the Kingdom of God within us and are confident of our relationship of worship with Jesus, then the second will not be that difficult. Many run around trying to do the second without allowing God to have the first. Without Righteousness, Joy and Peace it is hard to communicate it and have the revelatory Word of the King.
This is so true. It really is amazing that God wants our love beyond anything we could ever do for him. His eyes go back and forth across the entire earth looking for anyone who is contrite in heart and trembles at his word, anyone whose life is saturated with his love and bathed in his presence.
Passionate connection is everything: Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. If we abide in Jesus, stay plugged in to the vital love relationship where he first loved us - our lives can’t help but produce exactly what he promised they will produce.
There is something powerful God reveals to us in his love. We can look at our own lives without self-consciousness or self-condemnation. A simple childlike faith can see the literal, humanly impossible promises of God taking place in our lives without criticism or intimidation. Abiding in the vine means that when a branch sees that it is not producing fruit in the miraculous way Father promised, it simply leans into the vine and asks for whatever is missing.
I bring up peace because it is fruit Father has promised will be both in my life and in the church. So does the peace of God rule in my life? Does the peace of God now rule in the church?
The Prince of Peace rules. I like that wisdom, “Abiding in the vine means that when a branch sees that it is not producing fruit in the miraculous way Father promised, it simply leans into the vine and asks for whatever is missing.”
That is not intimidating. That is freedom! My wife and I were at a burrito joint and a local church gathering of twenty somethings was letting out. We knew they were Christian cuz they were praying over their burritos. Conversation ensued about church God and life. About 30 minutes into it, one of the guys asked my wife and I, “so do you just go to church or do you have a faith relationship?”
I was taken a back a bit. He could not recognize fruit. They are a part of a big 20 something group. So my wife asked, “do you guys do a coffeehouse or something like that?” The response was, “well we cannot because there are a lot of false teachers in the church. The leadership would have to run it to make sure wrong things weren’t said or done.”
I was pained. No peace. No confidence in the abiding love that covers a multitude of sin. No recognition that God can handle anyone saying things about Him and can correct them and liberate them from lies. It was an unfortunate experience and the more I thought about it, the more it gave me a righteous irk.
You can only be lead into righteousness joy and peace. They are gifts given to you from Father’s heart to yours. You cannot cultivate that which comes from obedience. The only thing you can cultivate is your hearing and seeing through the training of his loving voice, leaning back into Him like John.
One things’s for sure, & that’s that no matter where we see inadequacy - we see the Holy Spirit right there to provide everything needed.
Paul & Peter & John & Jude constantly warned the church about false teachers, but they never lost total confidence that together we have the mind of Christ - we have an anointing from the Holy One and know all things. The gates of hell can throw all they’ve got against the church, but it’s already been proven once and for all that the power of death and hell cannot prevail against Christ. He purchased the church with his own blood. He builds the church. He’s the head of the body. This is the conquering power that’s already conquered the world: even our faith.
When we mature to the point where we can take an honest look at ourselves without getting into criticism or discouragement; rather we just get plugged in deeper in The Faith - we’ll see the church rise to its rightful place of perfectly representing Christ.
What you describe is what He is building. Coming sooner than we would think. I “received in power” the 1959 and am digging it. Its building my spiritual discernment as we speak. What version of the Bible did you use for the project?
Love first. Everything follows. I’ve been getting this understanding. I’ve wanted to connect in kingdom ways with people who are not yet Citizens - even out of genuine concern for their life. But without being known by the loving Knower, my words and works have come across all too often empty.
Seems that brothers and sisters need to let Jesus know them first. Then the bats will connect.
yeah, so true. Paul says we are the aroma of Christ. then immediately he blurts out “who is sufficient for this?!”
Insufficiency is a powerful ally - it is meant to turn our full attention to our living connection to Jesus.
thomas the psalms CD 1959 was KJV. same idea as the book i’ve been posting (Pure) - i change the ‘thee’s & ‘thou’s…maybe every now & then change words like ‘leasing’ into ‘lying.’ but it’s true true true to the text - rockin it verbatim.
My wife and I replay #18 repeatedly. So joyfully done and punching the face of evil at the same time. Very victorious.