Sermon - Septuagesima 2020 - Matthew 20:1-16

Many of us have been Christians for a very long time. Probably most of us in this room were Christians from birth and perhaps even members at this particular congregation for years or even decades, a lifetime maybe! So many of us have put in years of work and volunteering, we’ve put in a great deal of effort and time, maybe even a lot of money. So it can feel as though we deserve something, a payment or reward, for all that we’ve done. 

You’re not alone in that temptation, afterall St. Peter and the other apostles felt similarly. The context for our Gospel today is Peter asking Jesus on behalf of the twelve, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” In response to that question, Jesus says that “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” He also goes on to say that “many who are first will be last, and the last first,” and then He goes on to tell the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. 

So today Jesus teaches us that God rewards us with the gift of eternal life, but not because of our works, instead solely by grace.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” In the parable two places are mentioned: the marketplace, where workers stand idle; and the vineyard, where workers are hired to labor. Thus the marketplace is this world apart from the church, where unbelievers stand idly by. The vineyard therefore isn’t the victorious kingdom of heaven above, but the vineyard is the church here on earth where Christians are called to labor in works of love toward their neighbors.

This vineyard is a glorious place to be! Because in the vineyard of the Christian church, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” We, we are branches who must abide in Him. Jesus says, “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” If you’ve ever been in a vineyard, or taken care of a grape vine, you know that it takes a lot of constant care for the vines to bear good fruit. So God continually cares for us in His vineyard with His Word so that He might obtain the treasured fruit of the vine.

In cultivating the vineyard, the branches need to be pruned. In just one season a small vine can grow into a tangled up mess, and if it’s not pruned it will only produce small sour grapes. So in this vineyard, God has called you to labor beside Him, in which you must prune the wild growth from your heart. The evil lusts that dwell within us must be cut away. But at the same time we need to be careful only to cut away the wild sinful growth, because if we cut ourselves off entirely from the vine of Christ, we will dry up and wither away, producing no fruit.

Just as the branches need to be pruned, so does the vine need a support, a trellis, that keeps the vine from blowing this way and that by every wind of doctrine. So also in this vineyard we are tied to the Word of God, to a staff, a rod, the cross. This Word of God is the sole comfort and support for our souls, keeping us from blowing about in the winds and the mud.

Because of all of the work that needs to be done in this vineyard, God calls laborers to work within the vineyard. Our heavenly Father has gone out into the marketplace of this world and called you to labor in His vineyard of the church. Now God is perfect and surely He could do all things on His own, but instead out of His great love calls you to work with Him. He can’t do without you and something would be missing if you were not with Him in His vineyard. Not only does God graft you to the vine of the church, but He also calls you to work among the vines and care for the branches, for one another. He calls you so that you might also receive the inheritance of eternal life.

When the day of working is ended, when the foreman calls us to tell us it’s time to quit for the day and give us our wages, when this earthly life comes to its end: all of those in the vineyard, the church, receive their reward. “And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.” So at the end of the day, all the workers received the same gift, the same reward, all received the gift of eternal life. They all received the same thing because it wasn’t about their labors, it wasn’t about them, but about the fact that they had been called to the vineyard.

So likewise all of us shall receive the gift of eternal life not because we’ve earned it and we deserve it, but all of us receive it by grace. Jesus says, “When you have done all that you were commanded, say “we are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.” The fact is that none of us workers in the vineyard, none of us Chrstians, will receive what we deserve. We’re unworthy servants, and on the occasion when we’ve actually done something right, it’s not worthy of praise, it’s just what God expected from us to begin with. We’re unworthy servants and the wages of sin is death, not life.

Thus it is all by grace that God gives us that which we do not deserve. Though we’ve been unworthy servants and have made a mess of things, Christ goes before us and after us, He’s the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Christ picks up the slack, He cleans up the mess of our sins, He does it all by grace! All of our mess, all of our slack, was washed away in Christ's blood. Only the cross from which Christ suffered was enough to take away your sin.

Instead of grumbling like those hired first, complaining that those who haven’t put in the same work we have don’t deserve the same reward as us; instead of claiming to be so perfect about bearing the burden of the day and the scorching heat; let us learn to humble ourselves like Christ. Let us look to Him who made Himself a servant by serving us on Calvary.

Everything we receive from God is a gift! If the only reason you work and volunteer and participate is because you want a reward, then you’re doing it for the wrong reason. We are all unworthy servants, laboring in the vineyard not because of a reward, but because by God’s grace He lets us work alongside Him, He grafts us to the vine of Christ, so that we might receive the gift of life and be with Him forever.

Think of it like working with your little children. My sons David and Gideon like to help me in the garden, and I like it when they do. As very little boys, they aren’t very good at gardening. They spill things and drop things, they pull out the good plants and leave the weeds, they stomp on things, and make lots of accidents. I usually have to clean up after them and fix things. 

But at the end of the day, I hug them and hold them, I bring them inside of the house and give them a treat. I give them the fruit from the garden. I tell them “good job, thank you so much.” Not because they deserved it, but because I love them and I love having them with me. 

Likewise, our heavenly Father, He does the same thing for us. He calls us to work in His garden, His vineyard, alongside Him. We, like little children, occasionally get things right, but make a lot of mistakes. He cleans up our sins by dying. At the end of the long day, He brings us into the courts of heaven, inside of the house, and gives us the gift of eternal life. He tells us He loves us, and says “well done, good and faithful servant.” Not because we deserve it, but because by grace He loves us and loves being with us. So we shall be with Him eternally by the grace of God.