Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Matthew
20:1-16)
And when
those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
Prayer: May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O
Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In the
church today, there is a lack of missionary zeal, compared with times gone
past. I saw a documentary just recently about the history of the Birdsville
Track, and was particularly struck by what was said about ruined churches in
the middle of the desert that were founded by early Australian Lutherans for
the purpose of bringing the gospel to the Aborigines. There was a time gone by
in the history of our church when many people went to contribute to the mission
efforts in Papua New Guinea. Where is that zeal today? Where is that fervour
for mission?
Many
Christians today, of course, don’t believe that there is such thing as sin,
eternal death, the devil, hell. Many Christians don’t believe that there is
anything which can truly endanger our souls, and from which people need to be
saved.
However,
there are many people in Australia who want to rouse us Christians from our sleep
and encourage us to reach out to our neighbours. But often this is done for the
wrong reasons. Instead of seeking to save souls, today’s missionaries simply
want to get “bottoms on seats” in the church. A successful missionary today is
judged on the basis of whether he or she encourages people to come to church or
not. But what about heaven? What about helping people enter into eternal life
and pointing people to Jesus?
Coming to
church is not a good work which earns you salvation. Coming to church is not
something that gives you brownie-points. Once we’re part of the church, we are
called to grow in our faith, and hear God’s word again and again. Coming to
church is simply an external thing—it can be done for show. But repentance and
salvation is not an external thing—it is worked by the Holy Spirit through
God’s Word.
There’s
nothing wrong with inviting people to church, of course—it’s a good thing. But
the church’s work is not finished simply when they are seated on a pew. Each
person needs to continually grow and be fed by the word of God.
In fact,
there is some missionary work that is so important, but that never happens in a
church building, which is preparing people for death on their deathbeds.
Sometimes it happens that people go their whole life never taking their
salvation very seriously, until death is just around the corner. They may have
had a successful life or not, from a human point of view, but then they realise
that it is time to attend to their soul and make their peace with God.
Sometimes
these people have put themselves down on the Australian census as belonging to
a particular church, such as our own, but have never entered a church building.
And sometimes these people then call a pastor, or a Christian friend, to come
and talk with them as they are preparing to die. As a pastor, I have been to
many deathbeds, and have had the privilege of being with people when they have
died, or the day or two before they died.
I once spoke
to another minister from another church when I was in Gippsland about this kind
of work. He said: “I never visit deathbeds. Because you’re spending your time
with people who have made no contribution to the church. If the church were a
business, you’d be spending all your time with people who never give any pay.”
Our Gospel
reading today condemns outright this kind of a missionary who wants to build
churches and empires in their own image, but do not attend to the salvation of
souls. Listen to that expression: “the salvation of souls”. Somehow it seems
like words from a long time ago, but now people don’t talk like that anymore. A
church that does not care about the salvation of souls, is no church at all,
and has no business on this earth.
In our
Gospel reading today, Jesus describes this picture: The kingdom of heaven is
like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers
for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius a day, he
sent them into his vineyard. We read how he goes out all throughout the
day, at the third hour (9am), at the sixth hour (12pm), at the ninth hour (3pm)
and at the eleventh hour (5pm), and calls them all to come and work in his
vineyard. And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them
received a denarius.
We can see
from this reading that the person who converts to the faith at their last
opportunity, having made no contribution to the church or its finances, is
welcomed into eternal life as an equal partner of all the apostles and martyrs
and Christians throughout the centuries. And this is precisely why we are here
as a church—to bring the gospel to people at whatever stage of life they come
to hear it, whether it is at the first hour, third hour, sixth hour, ninth hour
or eleventh hour. A person who is raised in the faith from a small child, and a
person who converted later in life, and a person who converts in their last
dying hours, receives the same eternal life. No-one is better than the other.
Sure—there
are some in the church who have laboured hard in the vineyard and have spilled
their blood for the sake of the gospel. Think of all the martyrs throughout
history who have died for the faith. There will be some kind of special glory
that will be showed to them on account of the great suffering that they endured
for the sake of Christ. But those of us who have only suffered a little bit
won’t hold that against them. Surely, we will be happy simply to be there in
heaven together with them.
But this is
not the issue that is being talked about in our Gospel reading. The great
martyrs and faithful witnesses throughout Christian history will not be able to
look down on other Christians who didn’t shed as much blood as they did. Some
people are simply not placed by God in that kind of situation. Christians
aren’t saved by their contributions to the church or its history, but by Jesus’
contribution to the church and its history. We are saved simply through his
blood and his sacrifice and his death. And whatever hour we come to him, he
welcomes us with open arms.
However,
Jesus paints the church as a very strange business. In fact, there is no
business on each that could run like this. Jesus is not giving us a formula of
how to run a government or a business. Normally, if a person has worked for one
hour, they get one hour’s pay. If they have worked for two hours, they get two
hour’s pay. If we take our car in to get serviced, or repaired, we are charged
for labour according to the time it would take to fix the problem. If it is a
big job, we would be charged more; if it a small job, we would be charged less.
If someone works part-time, they would receive less pay than the person who
works full-time, because they would be paid by the hour.
But the
church is a completely different type of business. In fact, it’s not a business
at all in the way we think of it. Each person is paid for a full day’s work no
matter how many hours they have worked. This is because salvation comes purely
by God’s grace, and because God wants to give eternal life as a gift, and not
because of our works. If you want a reward, if you want equal wages from God,
then you’ll get it. You’ll get death just like everyone else. The wages of
sin is death. But salvation is not wages. It’s not your pay. It’s a free
gift. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
So there is
absolutely no place in the church whatsoever for treating our mission the same
way we would run a worldly business. The church simply does not run that way.
Sure—the church needs money to pay its pastors and all that sort of thing. And
God commands you to give joyfully towards the work of the church. But the
problem with the finances of the church is not getting guilt into people’s
pocket, but by getting the gospel into people’s hearts. St Paul says: God
loves a cheerful giver.
And also,
there is social inequality in the world. There are employees and employers.
Employees need to show respect to their bosses—citizens need to show respect to
their leaders—children need to show respect for their parents, etc. But
everyone who is baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit has the
same baptism, the same Lord, the same faith, the same God who is the Father
of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Everyone in the church
is equal. But that doesn’t mean that Christian young people don’t treat old
people with respect, and Christian citizens disrespect their politicians, and
all that sort of thing. We are each called to work and to do the things that
God has called us to do in our own place in life. But this is not what saves us.
Through baptism, we are all equally children of God together with Christ, the
Son of God, praying “Our Father in heaven” to our heavenly Father as equals
together with him.
But because
of this business model there’s a little problem. Jesus says: When those who
were hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them
received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the
house, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal
to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” But he
replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree
with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to
this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with
what belongs to me? Or is your eye evil because I am good?” So the last will be
first, and the first last.
Here Jesus gives
a warning to us all. St Paul gives the same warning in 1 Corinthians 10: Let
anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. Remember that King
Solomon lived his whole life blessed with such wonderful divine wisdom, writing
the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. People all around the world, like the
Queen of Sheba, came to listen to his words. And nevertheless, he died as an
idolater. He was led away from the faith by his many wives.
We can be
Christians for our whole life, and we can make many fine contributions to the
church. We can give large sums of money, we can do wonderful missionary work,
we can even serve as a pastor, and run committees, and do all sorts of
wonderful things, labouring in God’s vineyard hard and through the heat of the
day. And then, like Solomon, we can fall away from the faith and grumble to God
for the free gift that he wants to give us.
And
sometimes we do this all in the name of grace. We say: “I’m a Christian, I’ve
done my piece, I’ve made my contribution, I’m well-respected, I’ve been to
church, I’ve said my prayers, I’ve fasted twice a week, I’ve made my
confession, I’ve sat through all those sermons…” and nevertheless, at the same
time, we throw everything back at God in his face, making our faith into our
work. We think: it doesn’t matter what I do anymore, how I live, how I think,
because I’ve done my piece. I don’t need to repent anymore. And we look at other
Christians, and we say: These last worked only one hour, and you have made
them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. I
deserve more than this. I deserve to be paid more because I have “done my bit”.
Jesus says: The
last will be first and first last.
So what’s
the point of being Christian, if what we do, if how much we cry, if how much we
work, if our blood, sweat and tears are worth nothing?
Because
Jesus calls you to eternal life. And he wants to save your soul. He wants to
save it from sin, death, hell, misery, and from Satan himself. And Jesus will
not save you from these things with your work, and your contributions, and even
from the quality of your prayers and your repentance. He will save you by
grace, and he will save you by grace alone.
Friend, I am
doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs
to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
I choose to
give—listen to those precious words. Take what belongs to you,
you poor sinner, take what belongs to you. Reject everything that
doesn’t belong to you. Flee to Christ and hide in his wounds—he alone you will
protect you from sin, the world and the devil.
What a
wonderful, generous Saviour we have! What a wonderful gift it is that the Holy
Spirit should call us by the gospel! What a wonderful gift it is to be given
the most wonderful gift of God, the salvation of our souls!
Amen.
Lord Jesus
Christ, have mercy on us grumblers, and save us by your grace. We always want
something better than what you give us, but we pray that you would give us
gracious and thankful hearts. Teach us to love and praise you in all things,
and send us your generous Holy Spirit. Amen.
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