Rejection

“There was once a man who planted a vineyard, let it out to tenants, and then left home for a long time. When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. But the tenants beat the slave and sent him back without a thing. So he sent another slave; but the tenants beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him back without a thing. Then he sent a third slave; the tenants wounded him, too, and threw him out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my own dear son; surely they will respect him!’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, ‘This is the owner’s son. Let’s kill him, and his property will be ours!’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Luke 20:9-15



Why do people reject Jesus? Why do believers hold back, and refuse to commit themselves to Him as Lord? Whatever the motive an individual may have, the decision to reject Jesus is a terrible tragedy. What happens so many times is that people reject God's authority and command over their lives, they continue to question God's authority and venture on the attempt to st up our own authorities which is the root of rejection. When we own Christ as Lord, when we willingly subject ourselves to His will, we have found the only possible antidote to rejection. We can admit no other authority than God, and must respond to rather than question His Word.

But why should people try to set up their own authorities rather than submit to God? In the Parable of the Tenant Farmers this story explains. They killed the heir to the vineyard, thinking, “Then it will be ours.” The motive for rejecting Christ is the desire to play, and be our own, God when we look at it. Sin in us constantly throbs out the same message: I, not God, must control. Yet how empty such authority is. We may claim it by rejecting God’s authority over us, but when we try to reach any of our life goals, we will be forced to admit, I can’t do it in my own. How empty it is to insist on our own way, and then discover that apart from Jesus Christ’s we can do nothing! And how dangerous it is to challenge God’s authority.

It is fully human to believe that somehow we are still able to make it on our own. You see, as humans we are not really strong in anything. Only as we submit totally to God’s authority, only as we surrender as disciples to His control, can we become the new people we should be. Rejection is at heart questioning God’s authority, motivated by a desire to have what should be His control of our own lives and this rejection, this claim of our right to control, would prove from life experiences that we can do nothing without the Lord. Now, Jesus Christ must have control over our lives. We must give Him control or, in that area in which we demand the right to run our own lives, we will not be disciples and we will not be transformed. Don't reject His authority over your life!