📨 THEKNGDOM | August 9th, 2025

Title: Stewards, Not Owners

Subtitle: Using What’s Been Given for the One Who Gave It

Passage 📖: Matthew 21:33–22:14

📺 Want to watch the full teaching? Click here to view the August 9th, 2025 Lesson.

📢 KNGDOM Announcements:

Help Us Grow the Mission

Our mission is simple: make the teachings of Jesus accessible, practical, and free for everyone. We want this message to go further, but we can’t do it without you.

Here’s how you can help:

• Share your referral link. Invite friends, family, co-workers—anyone who could benefit from clear, hope-filled teaching. Every new subscriber you bring helps expand the reach of THEKNGDOM. You’ll find your personal referral link at the bottom of this email.

• Engage with the lessons. The more you watch, read, and share, the more the algorithm helps others discover this community.

• Pray for the mission. More than anything, we want these lessons to bear fruit in real lives. Pray that God would open hearts and create opportunities for His Word to take root.

Your support—whether through referrals, engagement, or prayer—helps keep this resource free for everyone, forever.

👋 Introduction to Today’s Lesson

Hey Friends,

Have you ever been entrusted with something precious — something that wasn’t yours, but was placed in your hands with the expectation you’d care for it well?

It’s an honor.

It’s a responsibility.

And it carries a quiet weight.

Because when you’re a steward, not an owner, there’s an accountability built into the trust. At some point, the one who gave it to you will return and ask: What did you do with what I placed in your care?

That moment can be revealing.

Sometimes it shows faithfulness.

Other times… it exposes neglect.

And sometimes, it reveals outright rejection of the one who gave the trust in the first place.

In today’s passage, Jesus tells not one — but two — parables in the Temple courts. Together, they paint a sobering picture: what happens when those entrusted with God’s Kingdom reject His messengers, His Son, and His invitation.

These aren’t abstract stories. They’re a mirror — for the religious leaders who first heard them, and for us today.

Let’s dive in.

⏪ Recap of Last Week’s Lesson (Matthew 21:28–32)

Last week, we studied the parable of the two sons.

One son said “no” to his father’s request, but later changed his mind and obeyed.

The other son said “yes” immediately—but never followed through.

Jesus used this to expose the gap between the religious leaders’ words and their actions. They looked obedient, but their hearts were unmoved. Meanwhile, tax collectors and prostitutes—those considered spiritual outsiders—were repenting and entering the Kingdom ahead of them.

The point? In the Kingdom, your “yes” is proven by your obedience, not your polish. God isn’t impressed with appearances—He’s moved by repentance and fruit.

Missed it? Click here to watch or read it.

📖 Matthew 21:33–22:14

Jesus said:

“There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away.

When harvest time came, he sent his servants to collect his fruit. But the tenants beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. He sent more servants, but they were treated the same.

Finally, he sent his son. ‘They will respect my son,’ he thought. But the tenants said, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

When the owner comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

The crowd answered, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him the fruit.”

Jesus said, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone… Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people producing its fruit.”

Then Jesus spoke to them again in parables:

“The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. He sent his servants to call those invited — but they refused to come.

He sent more servants: ‘Tell those invited: I have prepared my dinner; everything is ready. Come to the feast.’ But they paid no attention and went off — one to his farm, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

The king was enraged. He sent his army, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go into the roads and invite everyone you find.’ The servants gathered all they could find — both bad and good — and the wedding hall was filled.

But when the king came in, he noticed a man without wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ The man was speechless.

Then the king told the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness.’

For many are called, but few are chosen.”

🧭 Context & Background

The Vineyard as Israel

When Jesus begins with the story of a vineyard, He’s not using random imagery. His audience — steeped in the Hebrew Scriptures — would immediately think of Isaiah 5, where God poetically describes Israel as His carefully planted vineyard.

He’s the one who cleared the stones, planted the choicest vines, built a watchtower, and dug a winepress. Everything was set up for the vineyard to thrive and produce fruit for His glory.

But in Isaiah’s vision, the vineyard yielded only wild, bitter grapes — a symbol of Israel’s failure to produce the justice, righteousness, and covenant faithfulness God had cultivated them for.

By starting with this imagery, Jesus is sending an unmistakable message: This is about God’s covenant people and their response to Him.

The Tenants as Israel’s Leaders

In the parable, the tenants are not the vineyard itself — they are the caretakers. They represent Israel’s spiritual leaders — the priests, elders, scribes, and Pharisees — who had been entrusted with the responsibility of leading God’s people in His ways.

Their calling was clear: guard the vineyard, tend it, and make sure it bore fruit worthy of the Master. This fruit wasn’t about ritual or ceremony alone — it was about cultivating lives marked by justice, mercy, humility, and obedience to God (Micah 6:8).

But instead of serving God’s purposes, they began to see the vineyard as theirs. They treated God’s people as a means to secure their own power, wealth, and influence.

The Servants as the Prophets

In the story, the master sends his servants to collect the fruit. The tenants beat, kill, and stone them.

This is a sobering summary of Israel’s treatment of the prophets throughout its history:

• Jeremiah was beaten and imprisoned (Jer. 20:1–2).
  

• Zechariah son of Jehoiada was stoned to death in the Temple courts (2 Chron. 24:20–21).
  

• Isaiah was, according to Jewish tradition, sawn in two.
  

• And countless others were mocked, mistreated, and killed (Heb. 11:36–38).
  

God sent these prophets again and again — not to condemn His people, but to call them back to covenant faithfulness. But like the tenants in the story, Israel’s leaders rejected them, silenced them, and continued in rebellion.

The Son as Jesus

Finally, the master sends his son, thinking surely they will respect him.

Instead, the tenants recognize the heir and plot to kill him — believing that if the son is gone, they can claim the vineyard as their own.

This is not just a story — it’s prophecy in real time. Within days of telling this parable, the religious leaders would arrest Jesus, hand Him over to the Romans, and have Him crucified outside the city walls — just like the son thrown out of the vineyard.

Their motive was the same as the tenants’: preserve their control, even if it meant rejecting the rightful heir.

The Vineyard Given to Others

The most shocking twist to Jesus’ audience wasn’t just the destruction of the tenants — it was that the vineyard would be given to others who would produce its fruit.

This is a prophetic turning point in salvation history. The stewardship of God’s Kingdom would no longer be held exclusively by Israel’s religious elite. Instead, it would be entrusted to a new people — those who receive the Son and bear the fruit of His reign.

In the immediate sense, this “new people” included Jesus’ disciples and the early church — a community that began with Jewish believers but quickly included Gentiles from every nation (Acts 10–11).

In the larger sense, this was the unfolding of God’s ancient promise to Abraham: “Through you, all nations will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). The Kingdom of God would now be open to the world — not defined by ethnicity, temple proximity, or religious pedigree, but by faith in Christ and the fruit of the Spirit.

The Wedding Banquet

Jesus drives the point home with a second parable.

If the vineyard shows what happens when God’s stewards reject Him, the wedding feast shows the nature of His invitation. The King (God) prepares a celebration for His Son (Jesus) and sends invitations — first to the same people entrusted with the vineyard. But they refuse to come, offering excuses and even killing the messengers.

In response, the King opens the invitation wide — to anyone and everyone found in the streets, “both bad and good.” This is the gospel flinging open the doors of the Kingdom to the Gentiles, the marginalized, and the least expected.

The Wedding Garment

But there’s a sobering detail: one guest is found without a wedding garment and is cast out. In the ancient world, garments were provided by the host — wearing one was not optional. It was part of honoring the occasion and the giver.

Spiritually, the garment represents the righteousness of Christ. The invitation is free, but to remain in the feast, you must be clothed in what He provides. Coming on your own terms — without transformation — is still rejection of the King.

The Warning

Jesus’ conclusion is unflinching:

Rejecting the Son is rejecting the Owner Himself. And when that happens, stewardship of the Kingdom is removed and given to others who will honor the Son and bear fruit.

The invitation of God’s Kingdom is lavish, free, and extended to all — but it demands a response. It’s not enough to be near the vineyard or inside the wedding hall. What matters is that we are submitted to the Son, clothed in His righteousness, and producing the fruit of His reign.

✨ Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Stewardship in the Kingdom Is a Sacred Trust — Not a Personal Possession

The vineyard belongs to God, not the tenants. Israel’s leaders forgot they were caretakers and began acting like owners — using God’s people and His mission for their own benefit.

In the Kingdom, nothing we have is truly ours — not our resources, our influence, our relationships, or our ministry. All of it is entrusted to us for a season, and the Master will return to see what we’ve done with it.

Practical Action:

This week, take inventory of three areas — your time, your relationships, and your resources. Ask yourself: Am I using these to serve God’s purposes or my own comfort and control? Then make one intentional shift to align them with Kingdom fruitfulness.

2️⃣ Rejecting God’s Messengers Hardens the Heart and Closes the Door

The tenants didn’t just ignore the servants — they attacked and killed them. In the same way, Israel’s leaders repeatedly silenced the prophets God sent to call them back to covenant faithfulness.

Today, God still sends “messengers” into our lives — a convicting passage of Scripture, a word of challenge from a friend, a sermon that unsettles us. Our response to these moments reveals whether our hearts are soft to correction or hardened in self-protection.

Practical Action:

Think about the last time you felt confronted by truth. Did you receive it or resist it? This week, invite one trusted person to speak honestly into your life — and commit to prayerfully act on what they say.

3️⃣ The Kingdom Invitation Is Open to All — But Not on Our Terms

The wedding feast parable reveals the generosity of God’s invitation. When the first invitees refused, the King opened the doors to everyone — “both bad and good.” This is the gospel breaking past all boundaries, welcoming the least expected.

But the guest without a wedding garment reminds us: while the invitation is free, we must still come clothed in Christ’s righteousness. We don’t enter the Kingdom on our own merit, and we can’t remain there without being transformed by Him.

Practical Action:

Ask yourself: Am I trying to follow Jesus on my own terms, or am I clothed in His righteousness? Spend time in prayer this week confessing where you’ve resisted His transformation, and take one step of obedience that reflects your new identity in Him.

Final Word

Jesus’ parables in this passage are not polite stories — they are direct confrontations.

They expose a dangerous truth: it is possible to work in God’s vineyard, speak God’s words, and occupy God’s spaces… while living as if they belong to us.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day didn’t lose the Kingdom because they lacked knowledge or heritage. They lost it because they refused to honor the Son and bear the fruit the Owner desired. And in doing so, they closed themselves off from the joy of the wedding feast.

But the warning isn’t just for them. It’s for us.

We are stewards, not owners. Everything in our care is a trust — and one day the Master will ask for an account.

We are guests, not hosts. The invitation to the banquet is pure grace — and to enter, we must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, not the garments of our own making.

The good news? The invitation still stands. The vineyard is still open for work. The banquet table is still being set.

The question is whether we will accept His terms, honor His Son, and live in such a way that the evidence of His Kingdom — justice, mercy, humility, and faithfulness — is unmistakable in our lives.

May we be found faithful stewards who welcome the Son with joy…

and guests whose lives are clothed in the beauty of His righteousness.

Blessings,

Michael