Picked Last

Matthew 21:33-4633"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. 38"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" 41"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." 42Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'This week we will be returning to the Vineyard. This time the land owner is not there because he had leased the land to some tenants. He has left someone else in charge to take care of the property. This parable has the overtones of being rejected. Let's face it, we have all felt rejected or left out. I can think back to grade school when we choose up sides for different teams. I remember that this one boy who loved to play but was rather pathetic was always picked last. I do not mean sometimes, I mean every time sides were chosen he was dead last. I remember feeling so bad watching him sit there with that excited look on his face. But he was always picked last. How did he feel when the realization set in that there was no one else to pick, as he stood there alone? I think that God represents the last one picked. This must be how God feels when we reject his son? He sent his son not because he had too but because he loves us. he wanted to have a love re;ationship with us. But so often we reject not only the love that was offered but also the sacrifice that was made. I think that we also pick Jesus last in a lot situation. We have tons of options and if Jesus fits into our schedule or dreams, then we will pick him but it is usually the last pick. God stands there offering all that we need and we pick over him almost every time. You see we have the wrong concept of the way he should pick God. Actually we should not pick God at all. But we should allow God to pick us. This week in our reading for "Experiencing God", we read a quote from Henry Blackaby that said, "we do not dream our dreams and then asked God to bless them. No we live out the dream that God has called us to." See when we pick Jesus first we allow God to work in us and through us. Did Jesus pick the best and most qualified as his disciples? No, he picked the ones that had been picked over. That is really good news because that it means when we line up and God chooses sides he is going to choose us first. I love it the way one theologian described how much we mean to God. He said, "if God had a refrigerator then your picture would be on it" Do not reject the corner stone because he has picked you.

That's not fair

The other day Jackson and I were having a conversation about why he could not take one of his toys to school with him. He looked up to me and said, "that's not fair". Now I was wondering to myself what does a three year old know about something not being fair. I mean through out our life we really learn how unfair life can sometimes be. Sometimes it is not only unfair but is really unjust. We work hard only to get looked over for the promotion because the CEO' s son-in-law needs a job. We know we are a better player but the other guys family is more of a community figure and bigger booster. We do for others and give all we have only to recieve nothing in return. We love and love only to find that we have been replaced. What does a two year old know about things being unfair. Maybe not a whole lot right now but they are going to learn along the way that life "really is not fair". They will also learn that it only gets worse with time and experience. This week, we will look at a parable that has unfair written all over it. But Christ was not about being fair he was about being gracious. Nothing in Christ life was fair. He was a King that served rather than have others serve him. He had to leave his kingdom and throne to come and dwell among us. He died for our sins and yet he never committed a sin. His life was unfair and yet he made salvation a level playing field for all who believed. He did not consider himself as equal, he emptied himself in order to save the world.
What was my response to Jackson? The same response that we have heard over and over. You are right life is not fair. But maybe that is a good thing. Because if grace was fair then we would not be worthy. If grace was just we could not receive it. If we had a certain amount of good deeds that we needed to do then we would come out on the short end. If we had to earn our own salvation then we would fail miserable. Yes, I am glad that life is not fair. Because in the end, I am going to get what I do not deserve and what I do deserve I am not going to get. You are right Jack. "life is not fair". Thank You Jesus!

High Impact Christanity

Have you ever thought about if you are really making and impact on the world? So often, we love to make an impact but how are people responding to our impact? The question is also how and who are we impacting? This week we will look at how the world is responding to the word of God and to Christians. Paul was letting the people in the Church know that they needed to be High Impact Christians. He is telling the people that Jesus became high impact not based on stature or clout but based on the fact that he was willing to die for a cause. He was willing to die for us. There is no higher impact person than one that gives his all for others.
We live in a time when people are judged and uplifted based on whether they are high impact people. We look to government officials and we have asked what kind of impact will they make on the world. The athletic world is filled with organizations/schools trying to find the most High Impact/High Proflie person that will make there program noticable. In this we never ask about what kind of character are they creating. What are they doing for the community and how are they in terms of impacting there own family?

Philipians 2:5-11
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

If we are to be high impact Christians we should have this same mind but this is so against the way the world views being high impact. When we hear high impact, we do not think about dropping to our knees and confessing Jesus as Lord. We think that selling tickets and mega marketing campaigns are confessions that we like to see. Listen in this week, as we look at how viewing Christ as our high impact coach will change the way that we respond to the world and to those that we let led. Become a High Impact Christian.