2026.03.29 | The Stewardship of the "Vineyard"
This blog is based on the sermon from March 29, 2026.
If you’re a parent, you know that feeling of deep investment. We "plant the vineyard" for our kids... we pick the schools, we schedule the sports, we obsess over the meals, and we try to build a "fence" of protection around them. We work the ground hard because we want to see them flourish.
But this Sunday, as Pastor Jeff walked us through the Parable of the Tenants in Matthew 21, I caught a glimpse of myself in a way I didn't expect.
In the story, the tenants were entrusted with a beautiful vineyard. It was a "win-win" deal. They got to work a land they didn't have to buy, and the Master got to enjoy the fruit. But somewhere along the way, the tenants stopped seeing themselves as caretakers. They started seeing themselves as owners. They wanted the inheritance for themselves. They stopped respecting the Master and started resenting His "interference."
As a parent, I’ve realized how quickly my stewardship turns into ownership.
I start thinking of my children’s success as my success. I start treating my home as my kingdom where my rules and my comfort reign supreme. I find myself "rejecting the Master's servants", those nudges of conviction or words of Scripture, because they disrupt the way I want to run my life.
Jeff asked the ultimate question: Do you respect the Son or reject the Son?
Respecting Jesus as a parent means acknowledging that my kids belong to Him first. It means realizing that the "fruit" He’s looking for in my home isn't high grades or a clean house, it’s a heart that worships and trusts Him. When I try to be the "Master" of my own little vineyard, I end up stressed, entitled, and prone to "throwing the Son out" of my daily decisions.
But when I settle into being a tenant, someone entrusted by a good and generous God to love and lead His people, there is so much more freedom. I don't have to be the foundation of my family; Jesus is the Cornerstone. I don't have to produce the fruit on my own; I just have to stay connected to the Vine.
This Holy Week, as we prepare for the joy of Easter, I'm asking the Lord to help me drop the "owner" act. I want to live with open hands, respecting the Son and honoring the Master who entrusted me with so much beauty in the first place.
Reflect & Respond:
- In your home or your workplace, where have you started acting like the "Owner" instead of a "Tenant" entrusted with God’s gifts?
- How would your stress level change this week if you truly believed that Jesus was the Cornerstone holding everything together?
Want to see the full picture of the Cornerstone?
Watch the full message, "The Rejected Cornerstone," on our YouTube channel here:
Posted in Book of Matthew, Hope Community, Parenting, Jeff Potts, Faith and Family, Stewardship, Holy Week
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2025
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2025.01.26 | The Sower, the Seed, and the Soil2025.04.06 | When the Storm Feels Bigger Than Your Savior2025.03.30 | When What You Have Feels Like Not Enough2025.03.23 | What If Following Jesus Cost You Everything?2025.03.16 | Are We Missing What’s Right in Front of Us?2025.03.09 | Are You Living with Eternity in Mind?2025.03.02 | Finding My Worth in Christ2025.02.23 | Finding the Ultimate Treasure2025.02.16 | A Call to Faith and Hope2025.02.09 | When Small Things Become Something Big2025.02.02 | Growing in God’s Kingdom
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2025.05.04 | When Jesus Wants More Than Just Our Sundays2025.05.18 | Faith That Won’t Let Go: At Home and Around the World2025.05.11 | When Jesus Shows You Your Heart2025.04.27 | When Following Rules Isn't Enough2025.04.20 | Alive. Free. Loved. With Jesus.2025.04.13 | When the Wind Hit My Face2025.05.25 | Loaves, Fish, and a Full Calendar: Why I’m Still Saying Yes to Jesus2025.08.31 | Grace That Gathers Us2025.09.21 | Who Do You Say Jesus Is?2025.09.14 | When the Headlines Overwhelm, Remember God’s Track Record2025.08.17 | What Must I Do to Be Saved?2025.06.08 | When Obedience Makes Things Awkward... Not Easier2025.06.15 | Living Faith That Puts Others First2025.06.22 | The Church Is Full of People Who Don’t Belong — And That’s the Point2025.06.29 | Learning to Just Point to Jesus2025.07.06 | Not Flashy, But Faithful: A Tribute to the Barnabases at Hope2025.07.13 | I Thought I Wasn’t Ready… Until I Realized Jesus Already Called Me2025.07.20 | You Were Made for This2025.07.27 | When God Redirects You, Trust Him2025.08.03 | Faithfulness When It Hurts2025.08.10 | Finding Freedom in the Midnight Hour: A Journey Through Fear and Faith2025.08.24 | Hope in Hard Seasons2025.06.01 | When Bold Faith Feels Costly2025.08.24 | Childlike Faith, Public Love: Ryder and Brady’s Baptism at Hope2025.09.07 | The Sign That’s Already Enough
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