Transcript The Gospel According to St. John

(Luke 20: 9-19)
Okbe Zemede
St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church
5333 St. Bernard Ave. New Orleans, LA 70122
August 11, 2013
Luke 20 : 9 – 19
Luke 20 : 9 – 15
 The wicked behavior
of the vinedressers
(farmers)
The vice (deep corruption) of
human nature.
 God’s amazing
patience
God’s incredible
mercy.
Luke 20:9-19
First:
The vinedressers beat the servant and sent him away emptyhanded.
Second:
They beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him away
empty-handed.
Third:
They wounded him and cast him out.
Fourth:
"Then the owner of the vineyard send his beloved son but
they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him, too.
Now, How many of us resemble the vinedressers
(Jews) who beaten the messengers?
We may not own a vineyard & may not be Vinedressers
 We may not have beaten a servant/messenger
 We may not have mistreated anybody
 We may not have wounded somebody.
 We may not have killed anybody at all.
Now, How many of us resemble the vinedressers
(Jews) who mistreated others?
The Vinedressers acted
against the covenant
they have with the
owner (God)
 The vinedressers lived
according to their will &
without control!
They became role models
for their wickedness,
(Killing, mistreating,
casting out fellow humans)
 Christ wants us to be
role models to others in
good deeds and words
 Light & Salt to the
world (Matt 5:13-15)
 To love one another.
“This is My commandment,
that you love one another,
just as I have loved you
(John 15.12)
To have the fruits of the
Holy Spirit in our lives
(Galatians 5:22)
Sin by Omission
 But if anyone has the
world's goods and sees his
brother in need, yet closes
his heart against him, how
does God's love abide in
him? 18 Little children, let
us not love in word or talk
but in deed and in truth.(1
John 3:17-18).
 "Whoever knows the right
thing to do and fails to do
it, for him it is sin.“
(James 4:17).
Sin by Commission
 "‘This is the heir,’ they
said. ‘Let’s kill him, and
the inheritance will be
ours.’ 15 So they threw
him out of the vineyard
and killed him.
Luke 20: 14-15.
What do a shoplifter & a killer has in common?
 If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder,
you have become a lawbreaker (James 2:11).
 Whoever sins is guilty of breaking God's law, because sin
is a breaking of the law.(1 John 3:4)
 Not loving our neighbor is a sin because God Commanded
us to love in deed and in truth (1 John 3:16-17).
 Neglecting my responsibilities as a Christian
Luke 20:9-19
 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the
faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ
Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
(2 Corinthians 13:5)
Luke 20 : 16 – 19
 God's final
punishment on the
stubborn sinners.
The end (destruction)
of the wicked
 “16 He will come and destroy those vinedressers
and give the vineyard to others.“ Luke 20.16.
 God’s grace and compassion is infinite but it is also
written, that He is "a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:29.)
A tree in your backyard
Think of the grape/orange tree … that does NOT bears fruit.
Take it away (cut it)
A tree in your backyard
Think of the grape/orange tree … that does NOT bears fruit.
Take it away (cut it)
 1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2“Every
branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away;
 6“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a
branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them
into the fire and they are burned (Joh 15.2; 15. 6).
 "Behold then… If you continue not in God's goodness, you
also shall be cut off." (Rom. 11:22)
A tree in your backyard
Think of the grape/orange tree that BEARS fruit.
Takes care of it, prunes it so that it gives fruit.
A tree in your backyard
Think of the grape/orange tree that BEARS fruit.
Takes care of it, prunes it so that it gives fruit.
1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2“Every
branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and
every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear
more fruit. John 15.1-2.
Abide in Me
 4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine.
5“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me
and I in him, he bears much fruit.
7“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask
whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:1-4
(the gospel of the 3rd hour)
Abide in Me
If you live to satisfy your sinful self, the
harvest you will get from that will be eternal
death. But if you live to please the Spirit, your
harvest from the Spirit will be eternal life
(Galatians 6:8, ERV).
Conclusion
Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our faith & we are a
temple in which God lives by his Spirit .
you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow
citizens with God’s people and also
 members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the
chief cornerstone.
 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to
become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a
dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22).
May God help us be a holy temple in the Lord,
Glory Be To God Forever, Amen!