Grateful or Grudging

Sermon by Rev. Laurel Bobb

  Perhaps what we like best about the Gospel is what we also like the least.  We love the fact that God is gracious--that Jesus Christ died in our stead, that he was raised to show his victory, and now gives us power over sin and death in our lives.  But what we don't like is that God is so gracious that anyone can be accepted--even someone who would convert on their death bed.  That is one of the points of our parable about the laborers in the vineyard.  You see it doesn't matter how long we've been Christians, heaven is the reward of all who trust Christ for salvation.

 In our American society we believe you get what you pay for and what you deserve.  In God's economy we don't get what we pay for, we get what Jesus Christ paid for, nor do we get what we deserve, which is fortunate for us.  We deserve hell, but we get heaven.

The problem comes when we think we deserve something other than we have been promised in Scripture.  Some Christians, particularly those with successful television ministries are often spouting a prosperity gospel.  If you live right and send them money, you will be healthy, wealthy, and happy.  This is clearly not what Scripture teaches.  Sure, there are benefits to living right and to giving of ourselves--which is why we have a stewardship program--but doing those things doesn't necessarily mean that life will be a bed of roses.  In fact Jesus promises in John 16:33, "In the world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world."  He also says in that verse that we will have peace, however, and elsewhere in Scripture we are told that following God gives promised joy.

 These are not the visible things that we would hope for, however; we, like the workers in our Gospel text want to see tangible results.  The workers were like the man in the film that said, “Show me the money.”  They forgot that they didn't have to worry all day that their families would have food on the table that night.  They forgot that they had the pleasure of working in the fields instead of standing around bored all day.  They forgot that they needn't have been hired at all.

 When looked at like this we can understand how those who worked longer could have and should have been happy with what they received as wages given the other joys that working brought.  We also should wonder about their questioning their contract.  They got what they signed up to get.  Still it looks like unfair labor practices to us who live in a society with unions and government agencies that look out for individual rights.

 Sometimes we are tempted to feel the same way about life as the laborers who felt they didn't get their fair share, aren't we?  Don’t we often wonder what the point of being a disciple is?  Why should we live a life that follows the rules when others aren’t.  Why should we come to worship every Sunday when others are sleeping in and we could be too?  Why should we take on the task of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, ministering to the hurting?  Why should we spend our hard earned money to pay for a building program that has as its focus ministering to others?  What do we get out of it?

 After all we try to live the Christian life, only to have others take advantage of us.  We follow Christ hoping our families wont experience the pain of job loss, or death, drug abuse, divorce, or many of the other ills that accompany life in a sinful world.  Unfortunately it doesn’t always work that way.  As a matter of fact it often seems just the opposite--that there is more trouble within the church than outside it because we have such high expectations, and Satan works so hard at getting us not to meet them.  We want the kingdom rewards to be in the here & now.

 Peter did too; this parable is told as a response to Peter’s comment about what they had given up to follow Jesus.  Peter reminded Jesus that they had left homes, families, occupations, and security for the sake of the kingdom, so he wanted to know what would they get for their efforts.  Jesus answers that they would receive salvation, eternal life--a place in the kingdom, and so would everyone else who believes.  We have the privilege of being Christ’s coworkers.

 Our parable reminds us that God is not bound by American rules of fairness.  God is the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, and so doesn’t have to play by our rules.  God can even set up a different set of rules for each one of us, if he so chooses.  That’s what it means to be God.

 Our God chooses to act on the principle of grace.  Lucky for us this is so as Phyllis Faaborg Wolkenhauer wrote.  She suggests that when we read this parable we should not be putting ourselves in the place of those who have worked all day, but rather those who have gone to work later in the day.  It is not we who have born the heat of the day, but rather Christ who did all the work and we who reap the benefits.  The writer of Emphasis reminds us, “What it [this parable] is about is the importance of the harvest and God’s willingness to pay whatever is necessary to see that as much of the harvest as possible is gathered in.”  God was willing to pay the ultimate price--the sacrifice of his Son for us.  We should be grateful that we have been included at all.

 Wolkenhauer also suggests that from a Christian viewpoint the end of the parable should be this, ‘When the first workers discovered that the last were given the same amount that they were given, they leapt for joy because of God’s generosity.’  In America this may seem like fantasy, but in the Church it should be a no-brainer.  Everyone who is truly focused on Christ is thrilled when another soul is brought into the kingdom and given salvation.  We are even moved to pity the fact that the person had previously been wasting his or her life and not serving God in the way he or she should have been and will have to admit that to themselves and to God to their shame.

 That is why a certain pastor could tell the story about being, “pastor to a family involved only on the fringes of the church.  The children were sent to Sunday school and the parents attended worship services sporadically, usually on Easter and Christmas.  The [pastor] became better acquainted with them and talked to the father about increasing his involvement.  He confided in the pastor that he had a very sordid past that many in the community knew about.  The idea of becoming more active in the church was embarrassing to him.

He didn’t feel as if he were good enough.  [The pastor] told him that nothing in his past would be able to hinder him from becoming a part of God’s kingdom.  God has the ability to create new lives.  When that happens the church celebrates, for it demonstrates God’s power at work.  Those words were good news to the repentant man.  He took them to heart and subsequently became very active in the life of the church.  It is never too late to receive the Lord into your life.”  [Emphasis, Sept./Oct. 2002]

 So what does this mean for us?  Are we grateful for what God has done for us and do we willingly work by giving of our time, talents, and treasures for the sake of the kingdom, or are we grudging?  Do we get angry that we seem to be planning a building that will focus on ministries of which we won't benefit--at least we don’t think we will?  We need to realize that we are all a part of the whole; what benefits one part benefits all.  We also need to realize that we are not here for ourselves. We have been given the privilege of working in the Lord’s vineyards to attain his goal.  His goal is to bring in a great harvest, so we should work our hardest to see that we fulfill the goal set for us when we were called into the work in the vineyard at our Baptisms.