Jesus Has Made Us Heirs of the Kingdom

Tue. September 15 - Matthew 21:39-43

39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

If you owned and rented a field to someone to farm and you agreed on an annual fee of 25% of the sale of the produce you would expect to be paid. If the renter never paid up you would probably begin some type of legal action against them. Eventually, you would probably void the contract and rent to someone else who was trustworthy and faithful in payment. We are “wicked renters” when we claim what does not belong to us. We often demand that others play by our rules, think the way we want them to think, or live how we think they should live. But we don’t even do what God, the ultimate “owner” of all, wants us to do! Ever lie? Get jealous or angry? Lust? Have an affair? Live in animosity? All things that happen everyday which God condemns. Good thing Jesus forgives us! And everyone else! Even though we are wicked “renters” in a land that does not belong Jesus has forgiven us, set us free, and given us new life as heirs in God's kingdom! (Ephesians 1:11)