Manuscript for Epiphany 4

 P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C Amen.

 

COLLECT OF THE DAY

P O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people that we who justly suffer the consequence of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness to the glory of Your name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

KYRIE LSB 186

C Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

 

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS LSB 187

P Glory be to God on high:

C and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee,

we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee, for Thy great glory.

O Lord God, heav’nly King, God the Father Almighty.

O Lord, the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ;

O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,

that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.

Thou that takest away the sin of the world, receive our prayer.

Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.

For Thou only art holy; Thou only art the Lord.

Thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost,

art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

 

 

OLD TESTAMENT READING Exodus 17:1–7

¹All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ²Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” ³But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” ⁴So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” ⁵And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

 

A This is the Word of the Lord.

 

 

PSALM 95

¹Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
²Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
³For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
⁴In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
⁵The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
⁷For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
⁹when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

 

EPISTLE 1 Corinthians 9:24—10:5

²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ²⁵Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

¹I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

A This is the Word of the Lord.

 

HOLY GOSPEL

P The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the twentieth chapter.

¹[Jesus said:] “The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ²After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ⁸And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ ⁹And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, ¹²saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ ¹³But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ¹⁵Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ ¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first last.”

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

 

Apostles’ CREED

 

SERMON

 

The Reward of the Kingdom of Heaven

 

Matthew 20:10-13

10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 

 

When you first here this parable, it may seem as though these workers are being a little silly.  They are complaining about their wages.  But they just got exactly what they agreed to at the start of the day--a denarius, which was a good day's pay.  Really, they have nothing to complain about.

But if you think about it, wouldn't you react the same way in a similar situation?  Imagine going to work at 8:00 a.m. and signing in on the time sheet.  After you've worked several hours, a co-worker arrives.  The boss comes up to him.  Instead of chastising the employee for being late, he says go ahead and write yourself in at 8:00.  That would be upsetting, wouldn't it?  It really has no effect on you and your take-home pay.  You are still getting the same amount of pay as before.  But it is infuriating to know that this guy is going to get the same amount as you are and you've done all the work.  

The point of this parable is that the heavenly reward one gets is not based on your works, and you credits, even though it seems like it should be.  It would make more sense to us if the rewards would correspond to the work done.  This is just the way we think about things.  

Jesus is preaching the Gospel to us. We need him to preach this to us. We need him to teach us about this, because we on our own, think the wrong way about the things of heaven:  We lean on our own works and righteousness; we turn it into a contest or a competition; we resent our fellow human being. And when things don’t go our way, we grumble with a grumbling that matches the people of Israel in the wilderness.

First of all, we rely too much on ourselves and our self-percieved good works.  We think we know what has to be done.  Then we want to do it, so we get the reward we expect.  That's what the law says:  if you want this, you must do this.  There's no such thing as a free lunch.  If you want something you've got to work for it.  True enough. But there’s more to it when it comes to the kingdom of heaven that Jesus is talking about here. The Gospel tells you that God gives the Kingdom of Heaven as a gift. That’s surprising to the person who is trying to work and manipulate things. When a gift is given, with no strings attached, it does not compute. It is simply unprecedented for someone give out rewards so freely and so extravagantly.  It doesn’t make sense that God gives the reward, the Kingdom of Heaven, to someone who only did a tenth of the work that I've done.

Which brings us to my second point. There is this tendency to turn everything into a contest or a  competition. We think that the reward a person gets should be based on his merit, because we are by nature competitive.  We are constantly looking at what others are doing and comparing ourselves to them.  Competition has been in the human race since Cain.  He was upset that his offering was not accepted by God like Abel's was. And that led to sin on sin: contempt, then murder.

A competitive attitude made those workers in the vineyard despise their fellow workers. They don’t deserve it. In the workplace, that’s true. The slackers didn’t deserve a full day’s pay. Our Lord Jesus would remind us that from his heavenly perspective, none of us deserves it. None deserves his favor, his grace, his life.

In many of this life’s endeavors, competition is a good thing. At its best, healthy competition spurs us on to strive for excellence. It adds fun to games. It drives us to try harder next time, to learn, to grow. We all benefit from competition in fun and games and in the marketplace. I, for one, am glad that there is a friendly competition regarding pizza right here in Fredericksburg. If there were only one place offering pizza, well, I guess, we’d get what we got. But the competition of 3 or 4 places to get our pizza, makes each strive to serve us up excellent pizza each time.

But at it’s worse, competition can bring out the worst in us. If we’re not careful, you can make the competition out to be the despised enemy. You work for weeks on a project for a class or for a job and finally get it done. Your buddy has the same assignment, but just whipped it together the night before.  He gets the A+, you get the B. He gets the “attaboy”. You get the, “Fix the flaws, and turn it in again.” It shouldn’t be a big deal, but man, it burns!  After all it's much nicer to get an "A", to get some recognition, so you can say, "Hey, look at this. I am a little better than he is just like I always thought.”

Prideful and selfish human beings will be tempted to get angry in a competition and spite others who get their reward.  It may even make a person question God, get upset with God, even despise Him for His grace.  Was it silly for the workers in the vineyard to get upset with the owner of the vineyard, who paid them an honest wage, the agreed upon rate? It mirrors our grumbling when things don’t go our way, and somebody else wins, someone else is rewarded.

Who are we to question God!  We'd like God to play by our rules.  But he doesn't.  Recently, at the funeral of one of ours whose life here on earth ended way too soon, we were reminded of what God says in Isaiah 55,  ``For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.''

No, things aren't like it seems they should be.  Our rewards are not based on our merit.  Thank God they're not!  We wouldn't want the reward we deserve from our merits.  God is the one who defines what a merit is.  He defines for us what is a good work.  He has listed for us the 10 commandments.  That is the work that needs to be done before we can get our wages.  And when we look at his definition, we see that we fall short.  We are to love God, but we love ourselves.  We are to help and befriend our neighbor but we compete against him.  We are to rejoice when our brother receives a reward, but we envy them and spite them.  On every count we fall short.

We want to be first, but God calls us out on that. His law shows us our sin and unworthiness.  So He tells us the first will be last. This parable has a lot to tell us about who we are.

This parable tells us a lot about who God is. He pours out His blessings generously, lavishly. He loves you undeservedly and completely.

We are in the Kingdom of heaven.  It's not our ways. It's God's way.  It's not our merits.  It's Christ's merit.  

Sometimes it seems strange; we don't get what we deserve.  Thank God we don't!  Amen.

 

 

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

P O Almighty God, you are our Joy and our Salvation, our Light and our Life. You show plenty of mercy toward all who call upon you, so we ask you to accept our prayers and thanksgiving.

P We thank you that you have called us to be your people, that you have granted us faith. We thank you for calling us to our various vocations in life. As workers in the vineyard, help us to go about the tasks of our days, not with resentment and grumbling, but with peace and joy, remembering your promise that our work for you is not in vain. Help us to see the opportunities you lay before us to work for you, not only at our jobs and careers, but in our homes, in the congregation, in the community and with our friends and relatives. Lord in your mercy,

C Hear our prayer.

P O Holy Spirit, since the Church is the vineyard you have planted and you keep up, continue to send forth laborers for harvest and sustain those whom you have sent; keep all members of your church faithful, mindful of your gracious favor and will for all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Lord. Lord in your mercy,

C Hear our prayer.

P Continue to guide the civil authorities whom you have established on earth to be a blessing, not a burden. Enable them to serve with wisdom and integrity. Lord in your mercy,

C Hear our prayer.

P We pray for those who have great needs at this time, known or unknown to us. Give them contentment to take what must come. Give them confidence that whatever is right, you provide, since you work all things together for our good. And Graciously relieve them of their sorrows, Lord in your mercy,

C Hear our prayer.

P Be with us, Good Lord, in all that we do: in our daily toil, prosper us; in our leisure, protect us; in our homes, shelter us; in our studies, direct us; in our afflictions, shield us; in our sorrows, comfort us; in our prayers, hear us; and in our worship, renew us, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

LORD’S PRAYER

C Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

568 IF YOUR BELOVED SON, O GOD

1 If Your belovèd Son, O God,
    Had not to earth descended
And in our mortal flesh and blood
    Had not sin’s power ended,
Then this poor, wretched soul of mine
In hell eternally would pine
    Because of my transgression.

2 But now I find sweet peace and rest;
    Despair no more reigns o’er me.
No more am I by sin oppressed,
    For Christ has borne sin for me.
Upon the cross for me He died
That, reconciled, I might abide
    With You, my God, forever.

3 I trust in Him with all my heart;
    Now all my sorrow ceases.
His words abiding peace impart;
    His blood from guilt releases.
Free grace through Him I now obtain;
He washes me from ev’ry stain,
    And pure I stand before Him.

4 All righteousness by works is vain;
    The Law brings condemnation.
True righteousness by faith I gain;
    Christ’s work is my salvation.
His death, that perfect sacrifice,
Has paid the all-sufficient price;
    In Him my hope is anchored.

5 My guilt, O Father, You have laid
    On Christ, Your Son, my Savior.
Lord Jesus, You my debt have paid
    And gained for me God’s favor.
O Holy Spirit, Fount of grace,
The good in me to You I trace;
    In faith and hope preserve me.

Text: Public domain

 

BENEDICAMUS

A Bless we the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

 

BENEDICTION

P The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and T give you peace.

C Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Divine Service, Setting Three from Lutheran Service Book

Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2021 Concordia Publishing House.