Septuagesima – February 16, 2025Psalm 18; Exodus 17:1-7; 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:4St. Matthew 20:1-16
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ calls you into the vineyard of His Church purely by
grace. Notice that in the parable, none of the workers presents a resume or
shows he is physically prepared to work in the vineyard. Likewise, the landowner
does not evaluate the workers based on their skill or ability to work in the
vineyard. He goes out early in the morning and calls workers into His vineyard.
This is a call by grace; grace that is undeserved and unmerited. The call is
the activity of the Lord alone. Even the acceptance of the workers is by grace.
He does not invite them or open the door so that the workers can choose to pass
through. He calls them and tells them to go into the vineyard. This is most
apparent in the calling of the final group of workers. The landowner literally
commands them to work in the vineyard rather than offering a job contract.
The calling of the workers is the calling of people into the
Church. It is how Christians are made. They hear the Word of the Lord and are
called, gathered, enlightened, sanctified, and kept in the Holy Christian
Church by that Word. The Holy Spirit works on the heart of man to turn it from
a stony heart, set against God, to a heart of flesh, warmed by the love of God.
This call is not deserved by anyone. The greatest philanthropist in the world
is not called into the vineyard by his works of love toward his fellow man. He
isn’t even prepared to receive the love of God by his acts of charity toward
man. The heart of man is set against God by his conception. It is the
miraculous call of God alone that brings man into the Church.
This call comes at different times and in different
circumstances to different men. The landowner goes out five times to call
workers into His vineyard. Each time, He finds different workers who, for one
reason or another, did not receive the earlier calls. Perhaps they were
standing there from the wee hours of the morning, heard the earlier calls and
rejected them. Perhaps they slept in.
From this, we see that Christians receive the call of faith
at different stages in life. Some are born into Christian families and raised
in the faith. Their entire life is one spent working in the vineyard. Others
come at midday, perhaps being converted to the faith as teenagers or young
adults. Then there are those who are called near life’s end. They have spent
the days of their lives idly standing in the marketplace, consumed by the cares
of this life. But in the eleventh hour, the Lord called them by His Word to
join the workers in the vineyard.
We can also see these different stages of life
simultaneously. There are those of you who have labored in the vineyard
seventy, eighty, ninety or more years. You are among the first called to work
the vineyard and have born the burden and the heat of the day. There are those
of you in middle age, who were called at the third, sixth, or ninth hour. And
then there are the little ones, the children, who by comparison were called
late in the day. You, little ones, have been called at the eleventh hour and
are the newest workers called into the vineyard. No matter the time spent in
the vineyard or the circumstances, the call was by grace and received through
faith.
Those called into the vineyard are called to work in the
vineyard. They are laborers. What then, is the work that you have been called
to do as one called into the vineyard of Christ’s Church? The first work is to hear
and receive the Word of God. This is not a work given only to the
“professional” theologians but to every Christian. Every Christian is called to
give a defense for the hope that resides in him.[1]
As such, it is necessary that Christians not only force their eyes to glide
over words on a page of the bible but to ponder those words in your heart. As
you read or hear the words of Scripture, you need to consider their meaning.
Think about what the words mean in their immediate context and how they
interact with the rest of the Scriptures.[2]
Don’t just sit and passively listen to sermons. Hear the
words and consider them in your heart. Perhaps you didn’t understand something.
Ask your pastor for clarification later on. Perhaps your pastor misspoke.
Gently show him where he was wrong from the Scriptures or give him the chance
to correct a poor choice of words. Maybe he needs to repent.[3]
Perhaps he has given an example within the sermon that doesn’t exactly fit your
circumstance. Think about how what he said might apply to you and if you are
struggling to see how it fits, talk to him. Ask him.
Attend bible study and do not focus on the warmth of your
coffee or the taste of the sugary treat. Consider the words, the topic at hand.
What do these words mean? What do they mean for you? How do they impact your
faith and life? This type of active listening is, in fact, an encounter and
interaction with God through His Word. It takes practice and it takes effort.
But in this effort, you will be greatly rewarded. You will be rewarded with the
wage promised at the beginning of the day, the day of your call to faith
wherein eternal life was promised to you.
The second work in the vineyard is to attend to your
vocations. Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, employer, or employee? A
neighbor, citizen, or leader? Attend to those vocations according to the Word
of God. Being a Christian certainly means you have duties to your congregation.
These duties begin with regularly attending the Divine Service and devoting
yourself to the Word of God and prayer but also include supporting the work of
the congregation through your time, talents, and treasure. This Wednesday,
weather permitting, is an excellent opportunity to serve the congregation as we
gather to clean the interior of the building. Serving the congregation might
mean volunteering for leadership positions or being ready to take a meal to a
brother or sister in need. It might also mean simply talking to them, showing
interest in them as people.
Such work in the congregation might mean submitting to those already in leadership positions or even just those who have more experience in whatever need you are helping to meet. Sometimes it means venturing into something in which no one has experience. In any situation, setting about the work of the congregation requires communication and humility. Asserting your own way by right is not love, nor is assuming everyone thinks the same way as you. Communication is key. Humility is key.
Sometimes this humility means raising up and preparing
others for the works that you once did. Each time workers were added to the
vineyard, the amount of work for each worker was divided among a larger labor
force. One worker took what he was doing and gave a portion of it to another.
On the one hand, that meant less work for each individual. On the other hand, in
giving some of that work to another, it means giving up a portion of control.
The former cannot control every work of the latter. The foundation laid by the
first is important and essential, but the efforts of the last are just as
important. There comes a time when the work must be divided among the laborers
and this requires communication and humility. It requires the first to be
prepared to give authority to others and the last to humbly learn from his
forebearers.
The third work of the vineyard is evangelism. In the
parable, it is the landowner directly calling the workers into the vineyard.
However, we also see that the landowner employs stewards, that is, He works
through means. The Word of God is delivered to the world through the lips of
Christians. It is the work of every Christian to be the light of the world, shining
the love of God in the dark world, both in deed and in word.[4]
Experience shows that while pastors have been given to the
public proclamation of the word, it is the lips of the laity that most often reaches
the ears of the unbelieving world and draws men to the Church. How do you best
accomplish this? Most important is to build relationships with people. Listen
to them. Ask questions. When someone makes a comment like, “I have a
relationship with God, I just don’t go to church,” ask them, “What do you mean
by that?” or “Tell me more about that.” Give them the opportunity to clarify
what they mean. Most often, they are simply repeating words or phrases they’ve
heard without giving it much thought. Giving them the chance to really consider
what they mean will often give you the opportunity to say, “This is what I
believe about God and the Church.”
However you go about establishing such a relationship, it
should always lead to a conversation about faith and where Christ has promised
to be (in His Word and Sacraments). Someone might enjoy walking through those
doors because you are a nice bunch of people but that should never be why they
are here. If it is, then they are set up to be hypocrites – those who act like
the faithful but will find themselves locked out of the wedding feast when
Christ returns.[5]
The reason to be here is because Christ has promised to be here, giving you His
word of forgiveness and especially giving you Himself in the Holy Supper. To
hear the Word of God and receive His Sacraments is and always will be the
primary purpose of the Church because it is the definition of the Church.
When it comes time to distribute the wages, they are given out from last to first. If we understand the last to be those called into the church late in life, they truly have spent the least time working in the vineyard and likely have suffered the least for the name of Christ. Yet these are rewarded the same as the rest of the workers – eternal life with Christ. If we understand the last to be the children, who have also spent the least time working in the Church and likely suffered the least for the name of Christ, they too are rewarded with eternal life in Christ.
In fact, there are many things we can learn from the faith
of those called at the eleventh hour, whoever they may be. Christ commends
the faith of little children, saying, “Unless you are converted and become as
little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore
whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.”[6]
Children trust that what you say is true. They are also curious, always asking,
“Why?” This is to be commended. How shall they learn without someone to teach
them?[7]
With age and experience, we tend to keep the questions but
lose the trust. We assume that we always know better or even that every source
of knowledge is questionable. We question the motives of everyone around us.
Are there charlatans? Of course. We shouldn’t be naive. But we should put the
best construction on everything, especially when dealing with brothers and
sisters in the faith. If something sounds off, ask questions. “What do you mean
by that?” “Tell me more about that.” Loves suffers long and is kind, not
insisting on its own way but rejoicing in truth.[8]
This is doubly true when confronted with God’s Word. A child
wants to know why something happens in Scripture because they are not as
familiar with the whole bible. An adult often doesn’t like what they hear and
wants to find a loophole. An adult asks ‘why’ hoping to find a way that it
doesn’t apply to him.
And this is why those called first are indignant with the
landowner. They are offended that those called late in the day would be paid
the same wage when they haven’t put in the same work. They resent the
landowner’s call and the landowner Himself. They are not concerned with the
Word of God but their own interpretation of it. If God acts contrary to what
they think is right, it is God’s fault, not theirs. He is unfair for not
conforming to their idea of fairness.
By man’s standards, God isn’t fair. And thank God He isn’t.
If God was fair, then we would all be doomed. If God was fair, He would give us
what we deserve – His wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal
damnation.[9]
Yet God is merciful by not giving us what we deserve. He is gracious to give us
something we don’t deserve. His call into the Church is by grace. We don’t
deserve it, but He gives it to us. From those called in the early morning to
those called at the last hour, we are saved by God’s grace, completely
undeserved and unmerited.
For those who insist on being recognized for their long
hours, days, weeks, or years of service to the Church, the Landowner gives them
their denarius and sends them out of the vineyard. He gives them their earthly
due – the praises and respect of man. But He casts them into the outer
darkness. They have no home with Him now or in eternity. Their great works
toward man are but filthy rags before God because they were done without faith,
without thanks for the gracious call into the vineyard.[10]
Despising the Church is despising God.
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
