Date: September 24, 2023
Festival: 17th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20)
Text: Matthew 20:1-16
Preaching Occasion: Zion Lutheran Church, Mt. Pleasant, MI, and CTKLC
Appointed Scriptures: Isaiah 55:6-9; Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30; Matthew 20:1-16
Sermon Hymn: LSB #535 How Wide the Love of Christ
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
If you recall, a while ago we had the congregation fill out surveys to do a SMART analysis of the congregation to assess where our strengths and weaknesses lie, and what opportunities and threats are facing the congregation. The analysis you all identified for us revealed a lot of strengths to capitalise on, a lot of weaknesses to address, and a decent number of opportunities and threats to look into. Some noteworthy strengths you’ve identified are the variety of Bible studies we offer, having two confessional pastors, our early childhood centre, the campus and international student ministries, being debt free, and many other good things.
Some weaknesses you’ve helped identify are reduced attendance, no workshops or guest speakers, a lack of young leaders, low youth participation, and other things. There even seems to be some confusion because listed as a strength is the multiple organists we have, which is true, yet listed as weaknesses is a lack of music programmes and education, and we’re struggling to fund our music director campaign to fulfil the various musical opportunities listed on the analysis. The congregation also identified outreach to students as a strength, but listed under weaknesses is little or no outreach, and more outreach to students was identified as an opportunity. So, it seems we haven’t quite figured out which things are actual strengths, and which are weaknesses. Nevertheless, the weaknesses and opportunities identified are gradually being worked on, and it will take some time.
Many of you have been labouring in the congregation for many years, even decades, which is why you’ve been able to help identify these things. You’ve served on various boards and positions—more than a couple of times for some of you—of which your labours and experience are invaluable to the congregation. We have good Sunday School teachers who are passionate about teaching the Scriptures to our youth. We have great student leaders for LCMSU. We have an excellent preschool run by prestigious teachers and aides. And yes, we have valuable organists who’ve been volunteering their time and skills to lead us in worship every Sunday for many years.
However you serve one another in the congregation, your service and skills are gifts from the Lord, whether you’re an organist, an usher, an acolyte, a teacher, a board member, a greeter, or serve in some unofficial capacity. These are all good things, and yet our Lord issues us a warning in light of these things in the parable we heard today. Jesus says, “the kingdom of Heaven is like a master of a house who sent out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard.” He finds some workers at 9am, then he hires some more at noon, then 3pm, and then 5pm near the close of day. The master and the labourers all agree they’ll be paid a denarius—a full day’s wage—for their work.
But the 9 to 5 workers were unhappy. They expected to be paid more than the others who started working later. And who can blame them? That seems fair, doesn’t it? They worked for a full day whereas the others did not. How many of us would expect to be paid the same amount as someone who came into work at 3pm and got off at 5 when we’ve been working a full 9 to 5 shift, or even longer? It hardly seems fair that someone receives a full day’s wage when they’ve only worked for two hours. Yet the master of the vineyard pays the labourers who’ve worked from 9 to 5 the same wage as those who started working at noon, three, and five: a full day’s wage.
The 9 to 5 workers think they’ve been cheated. That’s simply not how the world works, but the kingdom of Heaven doesn’t work like the world. With their worldly minds, they tell the master what they think he should do with his property. But as the master reveals to them, they don’t have that right. If the master decides to give everyone the same reward for their labour, he has the right to do so. No one gets to tell him how to run his vineyard. The master tells them their reward depended not on how long and how hard they laboured, but merely on the master’s generosity. It’s not that the work they did doesn’t matter, but that their reward depends entirely on the master’s generosity rather than the works and efforts of their labour. That is what the kingdom of Heaven is like. The kingdom of Heaven is not fair; it is generous—more generous than we think it should be.
Some of you entered the kingdom as babies when you were baptised and have been labouring in the kingdom ever since. Others come in much later in life, whether as an adult, in their old age, or even on their deathbed. Yet no matter how long you’ve laboured in the kingdom, the person who was baptised as an infant and served the Church for many decades at the same congregation receives the same reward as the labourer who is baptised on his deathbed, which is eternal life.
Now, think about the labour you’ve put into Zion, the campus ministry, LCMSU, or another congregation you’ve served at. Recall the things you’ve learnt, the mistakes you’ve made, the joys, the struggles, the gratitude for your service, and so forth. Have you ever compared yourself to others? Do you compare what you’ve done to what somebody else on the board is doing? Have you ever thought, “Oh, I wouldn’t do it that way. I’d do a much better job.” Or “I’m not very good at this. So-and-so has done this for so long. I’m new to this. How could I possibly fill their shoes?” We might even compare ourselves to other congregations, “I wish we had a music programme like they do. Why can’t we have a more active youth programme like they do?” We start putting our fear, love, and trust in programmes, or the years and fruits of our labour, rather than Christ.
This parable tells us that making comparisons is repugnant, and if you’ve made such comparisons, then repent. Don’t compare yourself to others because it’s not your business but the Lord’s business. Notice the labourers’ contention in the parable is not with their fellow servants but with the lord of the vineyard himself. That’s a very dangerous attitude to have. It’s not really your fellow servants or yourself you’re unhappy with, but the Lord. They’re looking at their fellow servants and thinking, “I’m better than they are.” And like the labourers in the field, you and I don’t get to tell the Lord what He should do with His Church; and it’s not that your work in the Church doesn’t matter, but that your reward depends entirely on our Lord’s generosity rather than the longevity and efforts of your labour.
In the parable, the master of the vineyard has no legal or social obligation to give all the workers the same exact wage. He wasn’t even obligated to hire the 9 to 5 workers in the first place. No, it all depended on his generosity. They lost sight of their master’s generosity and looked to their labours. Let us not lose sight of our Master, Jesus Christ. As important as your work is in the Church, never lose sight of the Master who put you there.
The labourers not only compared themselves to their fellow servants but they also looked at their own work in the field, saying, “Look at all I’ve done for you.” But it wasn’t what they did for the master that counted for anything, but the master’s generosity. So, the second thing the parable teaches us is that it’s not our labours that get us into the kingdom of Heaven but the generosity of the Master—our Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t get to say to Jesus, “Look at what I’ve done for You.” Rather, it all depends on His generosity. You didn’t make a decision for Jesus, but you were brought into His kingdom by His choosing you. He brought you into His kingdom by Baptism, just as He says, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” [John 3:5]. No one chooses to be born. Whether you’ve laboured in the Church since your infancy, or much later into your life, let us not look to one another and compare our labours, or to our own works for comfort, but always to the generosity of our Lord who gives us the same reward: eternal life in His kingdom that is to come.
The parable teaches us another vital lesson: the survivability of the Church does not depend on the labourers but on the Master. There’s a Synod-wide effort you might’ve heard of by now called Set Apart to Serve to recruit more church workers, whether that be pastors, deaconesses, music directors, or Lutheran school teachers. We need more church workers, so it’s a good emphasis, but we all must not forget that that the kingdom of Heaven does not depend on how many labourers we have in the field. Rather, we who labour in the kingdom of Heaven depend on the Master—we depend on His generosity. Not just His generosity to provide the daily bread we need to labour in the field, but also His generosity to deliver to us eternal life no matter how long we’ve been labouring in the field where He has placed us.
Some of you have been here long enough to see several pastors come through. Although the faithfulness of these pastors is important, the fruit of their labours ultimately depend on our Master, Jesus Christ. The same is true for anyone who’s served on any of the boards, the Altar Guild, the quilters, and so on. Your labours at Zion and Christ the King Chapel depend on the Master of the vineyard He has given us in this place.
Remember that just a few chapters earlier in Matthew’s Gospel account, Jesus told the disciples He would build His Church on the rock of Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” [16:16-18]. So, what is the Church built on? Not on our labours, but on Christ, the Son of the living God, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Again, this does not mean our work in the Church doesn’t matter, but that both the calling and the reward of our labours have the same source: the generosity of Christ our Lord. Therefore, we do not let our strengths puff us up, or our weaknesses wear us down, the opportunities overwhelm us, or the threats in our culture frighten us from labouring in the field. Rather, we continue to look to the generosity of our Lord who, in the words of the psalmist, plants us “by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season” [Psalm 1:3].
Whether you’ve laboured for decades or only a few months or years or however long in the Church, all of you will hear the same words from our Lord when He raises you from the dead, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” [Matt. 25:23].
To Christ belongs all the glory, now and forever. Amen.
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