Sermon Notes on Matthew 20:1-16

The unfairness of God’s Grace.

One of the things I like to do with  my CDT class is to play games. Most of my class times with them will start out with some sort of game or challenge. There are two reasons for this. The first reason is that games are fun and I want CDT to be something which the kids enjoy. The second reason is that it is much easier for me to engage their brains when their bodies are busy doing something fun and active.

One thing that I really don’t care about is who wins. I don’t run these games to see who is fastest or smartest or best at something. I couldn’t care less really. I mostly want kids to learn and that drives them NUTS. They really have a hard time when we play a game in which there is no winner. There has to be a winner! “Why would you play a game if there is no winner?”

Let’s face it, most people like to win. We like to take on whatever it is that opposes us or challenges us and we like to defeat it. We like to walk away from an encounter with the enemy, whether it be another team, another nation, or just a pile of work that we need to get done, feeling like we have earned the victory and accomplished the goal for which we set out.

Not only do we like to win, but as we get older we also like to feel that our many blessings are actually the rewards for our hard work and our victory over the challenges we have faced along the way. Oh we may say that they are God’s blessings, but inside we believe that we have earned them and that they belong to us because of what we have done.

This is why today’s text is so troubling to us. It paints a picture of the kingdom of heaven that is really annoying.

You see, in the world we would like to believe in, the fact that I am a pastor, and used to tour with a Christian rock band, sharing the gospel with people, and have gone to church more times in my 53 years than some people will go in their whole lives, should mean something. In the battle for spiritual superiority it should give me an edge. I ought to be looking at some kind of upgrade in my heavenly mansion, right? Shouldn’t all of these things earn me some kind of greater reward in the kingdom?

We church people certainly act as if they should. Don’t we think of the Christmas & Easter church goers a little differently than we think of our faithful members who attend every week? Don’t we think of people who just fill the pews differently than those who volunteer for helping out whenever they can? Don’t we give these people more status in our hearts?

But in our text for today Jesus tells us that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. The people who entered the vineyard and worked all day get the same reward as the people who just hung out in the marketplace until almost quitting time. What is going on here?

This parable shakes us up because it reminds us of two things.

First –  it’s all grace. Nothing we do or accomplish could have been done without gifts from God over which we had no control. You are where you are today because of circumstances over which you had no control. You might say that you made good decisions and worked hard, but who gave you the mind that you have and the abilities that you have? You can’t really take credit for anything other than to thank God for what you have been given. Our forgiveness and place in God’s kingdom was won by Christ and given to us regardless of how much or how little we have worked in God’s vineyard.

Second – Working in God’s vineyard is reward enough all by itself.

Every week that I have been in church, since I was a kid, I have been given the opportunity to soak in the very light of Christ. I have been bathed in God’s truth. I have been connected with the eternal mystery.

Every good deed I have done in the name of Christ has been a great source of joy to me and has filled my own life with far more light than I could have possibly given to the one I was helping.

Every moment that I have walked through this life aware of the majesty and wonder and love of God that surrounds me, I have been blessed and life has been richer for it.

We all hear stories of the life-long non-believer who repents on his death bed and, because of what Christ has done, ends up in heaven just like you and I do, but I believe that one of the first things God will have to do for that person is wipe away the tears from their eyes as they realize all that they missed by only working in the harvest field at the last moment. I think the regret would be overwhelming if it were not for the love and grace of God’s own presence.

When you get right down to it, I guess I think working in the vineyard is the point in this life. It really is its own reward.

So, what about it? If the working in the vineyard is the point, what does that look like in our lives today?

Live in humble gratitude for every moment in which you have the joy of working in God’s harvest and have been given the blessing of living in God’s vineyard. Look for it. Enjoy it. Don’t miss a moment of it.

Recognize that everything we are and everything we have is a gift from God. Even the ability to work hard and make good decisions is a gift from God.

Thank God for the unfairly generous grace in which we live.

Keep looking for people in the marketplace who don’t yet know that there is a place waiting for them in God’s vineyard. We can humbly share the good news that it is never too late to receive God’s full blessing. Amen