30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 20 9-18 THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE 09 Luke 20 13-14 Open our eyes, Lord, to see the pain that we cause
📖 Luke 20:9-18
25Feb2021 - *Open our eyes, Lord, to see the pain that we cause* _Luke 20:9-18_ - THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE 9_ - Bible reading: _Luke 4:5-8_
These Jewish leaders were anxious that the Romans would take away their place and the nation. They knew very well, their role as the vine-growers. They wanted the position and authority, without being subject to God. Without Jesus as their cornerstone.
This is man’s perineal dilemma, isn’t it? Man is always choosing independence from God.
Man choosing independence from God is in essence saying, "we do not want to be under the authority of God or we do not wish to be in the kingdom of God. We will govern our own lives. We will come to God on a need basis".
We have adopted the dictum of the world, “God helps those who help themselves”, which is entirely contrary to relating with God, where we come to Him in total surrender, to be under the canopy of God’s rule and authority over us.
This leads us to understand that from the very beginning of creation the relationship that God brought us into, was a relationship of Him being King and we being His subjects.
We were given free will but we were commanded to surrender willingly to the will of God. This is the substance of being in God’s kingdom.
_Genesis 2:16-17 And *the LORD God commanded the man*, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."_
Man was created with free will, but man was to take his free will and willingly choose to submit to the will of God. In doing so, man would be in the kingdom of God and enjoy the Shalom of God.
Surrendering and submitting to the will of God over our lives is the only way by which we express our love for God. In submitting to the will of God, God is giving us the way by which we express our love for Him. Without submitting to the will of God, there is no other way to express our love for Him. _John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments._
Man sinned. Sin is to choose to say, “I do not wish to be subject to the will of God anymore, I choose to do my own will”. God, who was enthroned in our life, was asked to vacate His place and in His place, our Self or Ego was enthroned within us. This is man’s sin. Sin also is telling God that we do not love Him.
This is what we see in the parable. They were rejecting the Lord and saying we will now take over the rule of the vineyard.
_Luke 20:13-14 "Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? *I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him*.' (14) But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, '*This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours*.'_
When the wine-growers decided to kill the heir and take the inheritance, they were rejecting the rule of God over them and sought independence from God.
Let us now understand the seriousness of man’s sin.
What man did not realise is that the serpent tempting Eve and Adam was a ploy of the devil. Satan was luring them to seize the throne of their hearts by rejecting God. In doing so, *man became the captive of satan*.
_I John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one._
This was what the devil wanted from the very beginning. He wanted the position and authority, but above all, he wanted worship.
_Isaiah 14:12-15 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! (13) For you have said in your heart: '*I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; (14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High*.' (15) Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit._
This is the seriousness of our unwillingness of not being the wine-growers that God has intended us to be. We are rejecting the will of God over us and in doing so, we come into the captivity of the devil, who is now dictating his rule over all of God’s creation, through us.
_Luke 4:5-8 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. (6) And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish*. (7) Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours." (8) And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HIM ONLY YOU SHALL SERVE.' "_
We were the ones who were to be governing and ruling over God’s vineyard but when we sinned, we became victims and vassals of the devil, to do his will.
We also handed over our legal status or creation rights to the devil. The devil was so confidant of his deceptively acquired position that he had the arrogance to tell the Owner that he had all the authority to do as he pleases and the Owner must bow before him in worship to regain His ownership over the vineyard.
Friends, are you able to see the extent of our sin and its ramifications?
*Thought to ponder*
```Praise the Lord that at the cross, Jesus turned a lost cause into a winning one.```