Fear God or man?

Prayer: Almighty God, allow this Word today to plant and/or water the seed that you have created for each of us.  And as it is only by Your power, watch over it to make it grow within us.  As believers together we are Your temple.  Your Spirit dwells in and among us.  I pray that we strive to keep Your temple holy.  For Your Word declares that You will destroy anyone who destroys this temple.  Deal directly with the blatant and hidden sin.  Do not allow us to ignore it or gossip about it.  Destroy the yeast determined to grow and demolish Your people.  May we each take off the robes that have collected the defilement of this world and receive the new clothing of righteousness, peace, joy and faith through our LORD Jesus Christ.  And may we journey with You into the Glory of Your Kingdom.  You have given us a trust, may we prove ourselves faithful and contenders for the faith; that we may always bring forth Your Truth and Your Light.  I rebuke the deception of compromise; may we endure what is difficult and uncomfortable as long as it honors Your Name.  You are a Holy God, compassionate and a Good Master.  The title master has been tainted by humans; but it is a Holy position that You carry.  Thank You for being our Father, the only God, from whom all things came and for whom we live.  Thank You for the one LORD, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.  O God, You are our God and may we earnestly search, thirst and long for you each and every moment of our lives.  In Your holy Name, Jesus we pray.  Amen.

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JESUS' MINISTRY IN JERUSALEM

Mark 12:1-12 (NIV)

The Parable of the Tenants

¹(Jesus) then began to speak to (the religious leaders who had just questioned His authority) in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. ²At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
⁶"He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
⁷"But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' ⁸So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
⁹"What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Haven't you read this scripture:
" 'The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
¹¹the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
¹²Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

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It has been a while since we've read a parable, so to refresh our memories let's revisit what they are and why Jesus spoke in parables.  These stories were illustrations that used something familiar (remember the context of the time and you'll also noticed that the images and words used are all throughout the Old Testament) to help the people understand something new.  This method of teaching compels listeners to discover Truth for themselves.  The message gets through only to those who are willing to listen, receive and be moved to righteousness.

In the Parable of the Tenants, Israel, pictured as a vineyard, was the nation that God had cultivated to bring salvation to the world.  The religious leaders not only frustrated their nation's purpose but also killed those who were trying to fulfill it.  Among many evil motives, a self-serving nature caused the religious leaders to ignore the welfare of the very people they were supposed to be bringing to God.

The man who planted the vineyard is God; the vineyard is the nation Israel; the tenant farmers are Israel's religious leaders; the servants are the prophets, priest and leaders who remained faithful to God; the son is Jesus; and the others are the Gentiles (non-Jews).  By telling this story, Jesus exposed the religious leaders' plot to kill Him and warned that their sins would be punished.

Now here's the killer!  The religious leaders got the message, but instead of fearing the visible image of the invisible God standing before them; they continued to plot against Jesus.  And to add to this, they instead feared the crowd (man) and waited until another time to arrest Him.  What kind of sense does this make?
But, let me ask a more important question of all of us:  Are we hearing the message clearly and choosing to ignore God too?  Are we instead living a life where we fear man?  Are we choosing to live a life that is all about SELF?  In any situation?  Has God clearly told you that you're heading down the wrong road, making the wrong decision, hanging with the wrong people, remaining in the wrong situations, that you're not living righteously... and you are not moving towards correction?

Let us not ignore God, because trust me - HE IS SPEAKING!

Are you listening, receiving and being moved to righteousness?

Take some time to pray...