Christ Lutheran Church: Welcome

Win-Win - September 21, 2008

Win-Win

Matthew 18:21-35

September 21, 2008

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

I'm sorry, people. but that is just plain unfair. Now way around it. This is what I would have said if I had been one of those workers who had been there the whole day. I would have said, "Yeah, we did agree on the wage for a day's work. But if we had known that we could have gotten the same pay for working just one hour, we never would have agreed to that wage in the first place. If we had known that you operated that way, well then, maybe we would have just slept in, gotten up around noon, had a nice leisurely lunch and then let you find us doing nothing like you did with those other goldbricks. Or, if we had known that you were wiling to pay that same wage for just one hour of work, then we would have demanded seven times more if you wanted us to work the whole day. You tricked us. We're going to join the Teamsters and file a class action unfair labor practices suit against you. How you like them apples, huh?"

No, seriously, I think this was just plain unfair to these first workers. Yes, they did agree to the wages, but they were prevented from making a voluntary INFORMED choice. How can some be said to have made a choice when they have been denied the options?

And that is why I want you to hear this sermon - so that YOU CAN make a voluntary INFORMED choice. If you misunderstand what the landlord is all about, then you will be resentful of the landlord and the other workers.

Here's the scoop, folks. The Son of God came down from heaven to tell this parable to explain what the Kingdom of God is like. That's how He started out this story: "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner." This landowner stands for God.

The first thing to notice is who chose whom. It was the land owner who chose the laborers, not the other way around. They didn't go apply for this job. He came to them. Like Jesus once said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. John 15:16 Like in Baptism.

The second thing about this landowner is that what He gives you is not a reward for something you have earned. It is a gift that HE chooses to give at the same time that He asks or commands us to do something for Him.

THAT is something that is going to be really hard for most of us to wrap our heads around. In the kingdom of earth, the workers get money because of the work they do. They earn it. It is according to the ways of the kingdom of earth that the landowner was unfair. If what they got was supposed to be for what they did, the landowner was unfair.

But Jesus said that this story was to show how things were, not in the kingdom of earth, but in the kingdom of heaven. Just as in the kingdom or earth, there IS work we are called to do and there ARE benefits to workers in the kingdom of heaven. But one is not a reward for the other: the benefits do not come as rewards for the work done. The benefits are not earned, they are given as gifts.

Those who live according to the kingdom of earth think they receive only what they think they earn...which usually translates to whatever you can lay your hands on in any way you can do it, which, when you think about it, may be at the base of our nation's financial crises this week.

In the kingdom of heaven, however, whatever you have is not what you deserve, but what God has given you as a gift. "Fairness" is a word used in the kingdom of earth. "Grace" is the word used in the kingdom of heaven. That is why it has been said that "Grace" could just as well be an acronym for "God's Riches At Christ's Expense."

In the kingdom of earth, I get to thinking that I am the center of my universe, so that when I complain about fairness, it's rarely about fairness for anybody else but me. Something is good or bad only in terms of whether it benefits ME.

But in the kingdom of heaven, I am not the center of anything: not the center of this church, not the center of my family, especially not the center of my life. GOD is the center of everything. THAT is how the apostle Paul could say what is on the front of the bulletin: "To live is Christ and to die is gain." To someone living according to the kingdom of earth, that kind of statement is just plain nuts. To DIE is GAIN?

But you have to hear that in its context: "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." It was not about whether PAUL would be exalted but whether CHRIST would be exalted.

THAT is when Paul says, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body." Phil 1:20-24

When the landowner chose us at the moment of Baptism, He offered us citizenship in the Kingdom of HEAVEN. If we accept THAT passport, then we are like Paul: so that no matter what happens, God has given us a WIN-WIN situation. If we live according to the Kingdom of Heaven even while we are visiting this kingdom of earth, then we are guaranteed of getting Home safely, whether we live or die at this point in the trip, whether or not we run out of funds at this point in the trip. The landowner has already given us the gift: that part's a done deal.

The only question is what Paul said: "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body." Will Christ be exalted in our struggles, in our fears, in our disasters and in our blessings, even when the stock market crashes? Let those in the kingdom of earth see how those in the kingdom of heaven have the assurance of a Win-Win because of the grace that we have received through God's Riches At Christ's Expense. May we have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in our lives.