INJ

St Matthew 20:1-16
'Wages and Gifts'
Divine Service
Septuagesima, The First Sunday in Pre-Lent | January 20, 2008

Dear Saints,

Jesus is teaching us about the kingdom of heaven, that is, the church. The gathering of believers to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. This is His kingdom, His house, His Word, and He is telling us what it it like.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.”And what follows seems to be a normal day in the vineyard. Workers are found in the morning and hired. They agree to work all day for a denarius, a day's wages. More are found before lunch, and hired. More are found in the afternoon, and hired. Then at dinner time, and then and hour before sundown. So far, so good.

Now the work is finished and the laborers line up for their paycheck, and suddenly things take an unexpected turn, a “kingdom-of-heaven turn.” The man who works one hour is the first one in line, and he gets paid a denarius, a fulls day's wage. Now if he's excited, think how the other guys are, working in their mind what they'll be paid, “A denarius for an hour means three denari for three hours...” Six for six, eight for eight, twelve for twelve... That's whats fair. That's whats right. That's what would happen if this master of the vineyard was doing what is fair.

But look, dear saints, the kingdom of heaven is not about fairness, and Jesus is going to make this crystal clear to us. The second group of workers come, the ones that worked three hours, and they receive a denarius, the same as the first group. Then those who had worked six hours, and those who had worked nine hours, all these are paid a denarius. Then, at last, those who were called first to the vineyard, who had worked a hard 12 hour day, they come to get their money and they are also paid one denarius.

If we understand the story, our reaction is automatic, “That's not fair.” And if we say that, we get the point. It isn't fair. The kingdom of heaven is not about fairness. It's not about equity. It's not about wages. It's not about works.

Our sinful nature wants things to be fair. Our sinful flesh wants things to be run on works. This is the essential false doctrine of our sinful nature, and this false doctrine clings to us, even we who were baptized into the name of Jesus as the tiniest infants. There is a false theologian is us, our flesh we call it, that has to have things by works. And there is a sinful presumption with this, the presumption that I'm in church and I'm a Christians because I must have done something right.

Now, when you go out and ask your average unbeliever (what the old preachers used to call worldlings) if they are going to heaven they say, “I hope so,” and when you ask why they answer, “Because I'm a good person. Because I've tried to live a good life. Because I've never killed anyone.” This is the kind of haughty and presumptuous answer that you would expect from the fleshly theologian. It's a pagan theology, and would that such things would never be spoken among us.

I see all kinds of surveys of Christian churches, and they all say that most Christians think that they're going to go to heaven because they are good people or because we've done good. Even Lutherans. So that we are clear on this and there's no questions, you and I are not good people. We never were and we never, on this earth, will be. We are completely incapable of doing some good work that will please God and earn our way to heaven. And let us never make the claim, if someone calls us to survey us about our religious convictions, or if we are standing before the judgment throne of God. Let all thoughts of our goodness and our works and our efforts be gone.

Heaven is not earned or deserved, it is not what you have coming to you, it is not what's fair and just and right. The kingdom of God is not like that. If you what what is fair and just and right then what you want is death and hell and eternal condemnation. That's what you have earned and deserved. “The wages of sin is death.”

So all boasting of good works and good tries and good efforts are silenced. But Jesus is cutting even deeper today. I know that if I asked all of you how you will make it to heaven, that you would not say that it's because you are a good person or because you have done good works. You know better than to say that. But you think it.

“I'm a Christian because I'm a better person. All those people out there, living like that, doing that stuff, I would never do that. I must make God very happy.” I know you think it because I think it. Our sinful flesh insists on works and is nothing but proud. We are like the vineyard workers who stand there in front of the master with the promised denarius in hand and complain, “These last worked only an hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

Over and over we hear from this pulpit that we are saved by grace through faith, and not of works lest any man would boast. Over and over it is pounded into our ears that Jesus has done it all, start to finish, and that we have added nothing to it. And yet there is that small voice that will not go away, that says, “Well, I must have done something right.” Repent. Your salvation is a complete gift. You and I have done nothing to deserve it. Our insistence on clinging to ourselves and our false beliefs about our own works is like trying to pry Jesus off of the cross, saying, “I don't need you because I've done it myself.” I've labored through the day, I've worked hard, I've endured much. Repent. Throw down your wages, the presumption of your being and earning and working and deserving.

Jesus died for you. Not because you are good but even though you are wicked. Not because you've done well but in spite of your sin. All that you have is because of His generosity, His goodness, His grace.

Now this isn't supposed to make you feel good about yourself, but it is intended to make you rejoice in the love of Jesus. The kingdom of heaven is not about fairness, it's about forgiveness. It's not about equity, it's about Jesus dying in our place to give win for us and deliver to us eternal life. It's not about wages, it's about gifts. It's not about works, but about the grace and generosity of the Master.

Dear saints, the Master, in His generosity, has His gifts for us this morning. He lines us all up to give us what we have not deserved or earned, what we could never earn, His body and blood and the promise of forgiveness. He gives the same gift to all His people, the same life, the same Lord. And in this, His gift, He forgives even our presumption and our pride, and He calls us unworthy servants, “Friend.”

Dear friends of Jesus, may the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO

This is an archive from Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller

Please visit Hope's website at hopeaurora.org