By Staff
Jesus Christ Is the Greatest Gift!
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . ." (John 3:16). The depth and extent of the love of God is incomprehensible. The apostle Paul prayed for us in Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 19, that we would comprehend and know the love of God and the love of Christ.
Jesus Christ is the greatest gift and He gave the greatest gift. God gave Jesus; Jesus gave His life for us.
A parable in the gospel of Luke, chapter 20, verses 9-15, reveals the situation from God's perspective. The parable is about a landowner who planted a vineyard (Luke 20:9). The owner rented out the vineyard to tenants and left the area. When harvest came, the owner sent a servant to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard (Luke 20:10). The tenants resented any intrusion or claim by the landowner on their lives. They beat the servant up and sent him away empty handed (Luke 20:10).
The owner would have been justified to evict the ungrateful tenants, but he kept sending more servants so that he could enjoy the fruit of his own land. Every time the servants came, they were beaten and sent away.
Had we been the owner, we would have had the tenants arrested, judged, and sent to prison, but this owner persisted in having a good relationship with his tenants. His final gesture was to send his son. Surely, he thought, they will honor him (Luke 20:13).
The tenants recognized the son, plotted to kill him, and cast him out of the garden (Luke 20:14-15).
This parable is about God and His love and patience with us, and those who were before us. God is the creator and owner. He not only owns everything we occupy, but He also planted or established everything we subsist on. He does have every right to control the outcome and to enjoy the benefits of His investment.
The vineyard owner, God, has incomprehensible love and patience for His tenants. When God sent Jesus, He knew that Jesus would die on the cross.
When Jesus came, He knew the cross loomed ever before Him. Reconciliation with the tenants was always the goal, and the vineyard owner would hold nothing back to attain that reconciliation (Romans 8:32).
We were still unruly tenants (sinners) when God sent His Son (Romans 5:8).
God sent Jesus to us without fanfare. He was born in the small town of Bethlehem during the hustle and bustle of a government-mandated census. The only announcement of the arrival of the Son of God was by Judean sheepherders, who were likely looked upon as unreliable or unworthy witnesses.
Jesus was visited and worshipped by Eastern wise men, but hunted by the death squads of King Herod.
Jesus lived in exile in Egypt and slipped back into the country to reside in Nazareth until it was time for Him to begin the work He was sent to do.
The establishment, the Jewish leaders, rejected Jesus and any claim He made on them. They were the tenants of all the things of God, but refused to pay homage to God's Son.
We are repulsed by the story of the vineyard owner and the unruly tenants. We believe we would behave differently. We would never refuse or reject our true owner. Yet, every day, we live with little regard as to our responsibility to acknowledge and honor our Creator God.
We live in a world created by God, sustained by God, and with every need supplied by God. We are tenants. The only rent required is to recognize and worship our Landlord.
We have been given an incredible gift of life and provision. Add to all that the fact that the Landlord also wants us in His family. Therefore, He sent Jesus Christ to provide the way for every tenant to be adopted into the family of God through belief in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Who could reject the greatest giver? Who could reject the greatest gift?