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Sermon for Septuagesima
1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5 + Matthew 20:1-16
Why does the average person go to work, would you say? If you’re of working age, why do you spend all those hours usually away from home, away from your family, working at a job? I’d say that almost everyone does it to earn a living, to make some money, so that you have some money to spend on the things you need, or on the things you want. You expect your employer to pay you for your work, and, in a just world, you expect your wages to reflect how long and how hard you worked, and how well you performed at your job, and you would be rightfully upset if your employer decided, at the end of the day, to pay you the same amount he paid to another worker who didn’t work as long, or as hard, or as well at the same job. All of that makes perfect sense in the business world. Because the business world is all about working to earn your well-deserved wages.
But that all gets turned upside down in the kingdom of God. That isn’t how things work in God’s kingdom, and because things do work that way in our day-to-day lives, with our businesses and with our jobs, there’s a real danger that a person could begin to see his place in the kingdom of God just like his place in the workplace. Go to work, work hard, get paid for the amount of work you do or the amount of time you put in.
The apostles themselves began to think of their place in the kingdom of heaven that way. At the end of Matthew chapter 19, Matthew tells us about a rich young man who refused to part with his wealth in order to follow Jesus. He was unwilling to give it up, to pay that steep price. But the twelve apostles—they had given up everything to follow Jesus, which Peter went on to point out to Jesus, and then asked, “What will we have as a result?”
Oh, you’ll sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Jesus said! And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But, those rewards come with a warning.
Some will be called by God to give up much as they live in God’s kingdom. They will have to work hard and suffer much, and long. On the other hand, some will be called to suffer less, maybe much less. They will not have to work as hard or give up as much during their time in God’s kingdom, and yet they will still receive the same promised reward of eternal life and eternal joy in God’s presence as those who worked hard their whole lives. That’s not how it works in the business world, but it is exactly how it works in God’s kingdom.
And here’s the warning, the thing to watch out for: Many who suffered much, and gave up much, and worked their whole lives will begin to view the reward at the end of the day as the just compensation for their hard work, just as it is in the business world. And that will cause them to become jealous and resentful toward their brothers and sisters in Christ who weren’t called upon to work or suffer as much. At the same time, they’ll grow bitter toward God, who dares to give the same reward to those who didn’t work as hard, revealing that they weren’t really in it to serve God, but to earn a reward that matched how hard they worked. The ones who came into God’s kingdom last, and who worked the least, will end the day with God’s favor, while these who came in first and worked the hardest will end the day with God’s contempt.
That’s a summary of the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Now let’s walk through it piece by piece to see what it teaches us about work in the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a household who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. The vineyard is the kingdom of heaven, and God Himself is the master of the household or the “landowner,” as some translations say. And, understand, the kingdom of heaven isn’t only what awaits when a person’s soul is taken to heaven. No, the kingdom of heaven is already here on earth in the form of the Holy Christian Church. All believers in the Lord Jesus have entered the kingdom of heaven, whereas, to be outside the vineyard is to be outside the kingdom of God, to be among the lost who will not inherit eternal life, because they are still in their sins, responsible for their sins, separated from Christ. But, in His mercy, God comes to sinners, through His ministers, and calls them into His kingdom, into His Church, into the company of believers in Christ Jesus. Notice, there is no price of entry, no qualifications needed. Their works don’t get them into God’s kingdom or into God’s grace. Instead, they are called into God’s kingdom in order to be able to work. Repent and believe the good news! Live in faith and in God’s forgiveness each day!
After agreeing with the workers on a denarius for the day, he sent them out into his vineyard. God tells sinners what to expect when they come into His kingdom: His mercy, His love, His attention, eternal life in their souls now, eternal life in heaven at the end, for all who love Him, for all who believe in the Lord Jesus. Those who repent and believe in Him are welcomed into the kingdom of heaven, and begin their lives of sanctification, getting to work in God’s vineyard, with love for God and love for your neighbor, struggling against sin, praying earnestly, worshiping God, hearing His Word, receiving His Sacraments, taking up your cross, and suffering for Jesus’ sake, knowing that, at the end of the day, when your work on earth is done, you’ll remain in God’s presence forever. Living in the loving presence of God is the goal.
Now, the landowner went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said to them, ‘You also, go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ So they went. He did the same thing again at the sixth hour, and at the ninth hour, and even at the eleventh hour, when the sun was beginning to set and the day was almost done. Who are the ones who start at the beginning of the day, and who are the ones who are called into the vineyard later? Well, we can look at it, first of all, as a reference to people groups. A few centuries after the Great Flood, while the rest of the nations had already gone their own way, after their own false gods, God came to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then, eventually, to Moses and the children of Israel, and called them into a special covenant with Him, ratified at Mt. Sinai. The Israelites, the Jews, were the first to know the true God, to be called into His kingdom, and to be given work to do and toil to suffer within His kingdom. Then, at the time of Jesus, still within the people group of the Jews, He called tax collectors and sinners, who had abandoned God’s kingdom by their sins, called them back into His kingdom. Then He called the Gentiles, one group of them after another, into His Christian Church. The Jews, as a people, had borne the burden of the Law of Moses for 1500 years before the Gentiles, as a people, were invited in.
But we can also look it at with regard to individuals, some who are called to the faith early in life, others later, and still others toward the very end. We can look at it, not only as different lengths of time various people spend within the Church, but also as the different circumstances under which people are called. For example, some Christians are called to suffer more at the hands of persecutors, some less. Some are given more opportunities to serve, some fewer. Some are called to sacrifice much, others (seemingly) little. There are disparities in the kingdom of heaven when it comes to such things. If we were talking about the business world, the ones who work the longest and the hardest should get something better than the ones who work the least.
But we aren’t talking about the business world. We’re talking about God’s kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, which isn’t gained through our work, or through our suffering, but is gained for us, through the work and the suffering of the Lord Jesus. If we lose sight of that, then we’re in big trouble.
That’s what we see at the end of Jesus’ parable. Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ Now, when those who were hired about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. So when the first came, they thought they would receive more. But they, too, received, each one, a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled against the master of the household, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden and heat of the day.’
The hearts of the longest and hardest workers are revealed at the end. All their hard work, all their suffering, caused them to lose sight of God’s free gift in Christ, caused them to begin to believe that they deserved God’s favor, caused them no longer to desire God Himself, but only the good things He might hand out. Those who worked longer expected more, thought they deserved more, revealing that, for them, the work was not done in service to the owner, but was done entirely for the reward. For them, there was no concern at all for their fellow workers, or for the owner himself. For them, the generosity of the landowner was despised, not praised. When that happens, those hard workers who have become bitter toward God because they aren’t getting all the things they thought they deserved—it will not go well for them. They will be greeted by God with contempt. He answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. I want to give this last man the same as I give you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is mine? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.
As always, Jesus’ warnings aren’t given in vain. It doesn’t have to turn out this way for you. If you’ve worked long and hard in the kingdom of God, if you’ve pursued the Christian life with zeal and devotion, that’s good! But why have you done it? Was it to earn more blessings from God in the end? Was it to compare yourself with others, to compare your sacrifices with their sacrifices? Would you dare to think of God as unfair for giving you no more than He promised to give you in the beginning? He promised to give you Himself! Was that not enough?
Let it be enough. Let God’s favor be the only reward you seek. As Jesus promised His apostles, you will receive, at the end, a hundred times more than you ever gave up. But don’t serve God for those things. Serve Him, here in His kingdom, because He gave His Son into death for your sins. Serve Him, because Christ loved you and gave Himself for you. Serve Him, because it is an honor just to be counted among His children. And, whatever you do, never, ever, ever start to think of yourself first, to depend on yourself, or on your past obedience, or on all the time you’ve spent in the kingdom of God, as if that were a guarantee of your future. Depend on Christ, and on Him alone. Think of Him first, and of yourself last. Then you will be counted among the first, being both called into the kingdom of God and chosen to remain there, in God’s favor, for eternity. Amen.
