The sermon for February 8 was based on Matthew 20:1-16.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Through Christ's appointed means of grace, the Gospel in Word and Sacraments, you experience the kingdom of heaven. You are given God's unmerited mercy as you are gathered around these means of grace in the services of God's house. Although Bethany is involved in activities throughout the week, the most important part of a church member's life is being gathered around the means of grace in the services of God's house. This Divine Service is the clearest expression of the kingdom of heaven, and this truth drives the purposes and activities of the Church. Everything this congregation does and confesses, both in the Divine Service and in her various activities, reflects this truth: the Church is the kingdom of heaven.

All too often the devil tempts a member of the Church to think of Her in different terms. All the worries about a congregation, all the differences in personal goals for her, and all the troubles in a church begin when members forget that the Church is the kingdom of heaven. "Ruffled feathers," panic over the budget, and a sinful attitude about church attendance all begin when you disbelieve that the Church is the kingdom of heaven. In each and every case, the devil has succeeded in causing you to look at the Church as your kingdom rather than God's kingdom.

Every evil in a church is a denial of what Christ says about the kingdom of heaven. Every faithless flitter of worry about a congregation is a denial that the kingdom is unmerited mercy. Every selfish attitude concerning a church's priorities, every delinquent member, and every judgmental look cast toward fellow members is nothing else than a denial that the kingdom, Christ's Church, is unmerited mercy.

This denial of unmerited mercy in the thoughts, words, and actions of a church's members is universal. It plagues every member, from the oldest to the youngest, because all are sinners. Ultimately, the denial that Christ's Church is His kingdom of unmerited mercy is the work of Satan, who wages war against Christ most viciously in the Church. By your strength, you cannot stop the devil's advances. But neither should you contribute to them.

All are alike before the judgment seat of Christ. All are guilty. All deserve to be condemned. When you stand before Him recognizing your unworthiness, knowing what you have deserved on account of your sins, you will not look for Him to be fair and just, you will desire Him to be gracious and merciful. This Gospel, then, is good news to your ears. The kingdom of heaven is not a kingdom of works, of fairness, and of wages. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of unmerited mercy.

Christ tells His many "kingdom parables" precisely so that you might rightly understand the Church and your place in it. This Parable of the Generous Landowner is no exception. Its message to you concerns your life in Christ's Church, namely, the kingdom of heaven is unmerited mercy. However, because this parable speaks of working in the kingdom, it is easily misunderstood by your old Adam. It is NOT a text about getting people to do work for the Church. It is a text about the Landowner. It is a parable about His unmerited mercy, which is the basis for the kingdom of heaven.

When you hear the Parable of the Generous Landowner, it's easy to become focused on the workers and the amount of time that each worked during the day. However, each man, regardless of how long he worked in the Landowner's vineyard, is given the same standard wage for a full-day's work. Those who put in the full day on the job grumble, thinking, "If the others get a full day's pay for a partial day's work, then we should get more!" They think just like your old Adam, that the kingdom of heaven is based on works. It is not based on works, as Christ demonstrates, "I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? 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 chosen." Clearly, the kingdom of heaven is not a kingdom of works, but a kingdom of unmerited mercy, the mercy which the heavenly Father so richly gives to you in His Son, your Savior Jesus Christ.

The Landowner gives the full-day's wage to those who were hired in the eleventh hour. That is not justice; that is mercy. That is grace! They have been rewarded after the whole day's work has been done by someone else. That is what the kingdom of heaven is like. God's unmerited mercy is given to you after Someone else has borne the burden and the heat of the day. Whenever Satan tempts you to see the kingdom in any other way, look not to the work you have done, but to the work of Christ that He has done for you so that you may receive the reward.

When you were idle in your sins, unwilling and unable to obey the law, Christ was in the vineyard working for you. At the third hour He was nailed to the cross where He endured the fire of God's wrath as the world was shrouded in darkness. At the sixth hour He cried out, "It is finished!" and died for the sins of the world. By the eleventh hour, He was placed into the grave. All the work was done by the eleventh hour. There is no work left to do for your salvation. You simply receive the kingdom of heaven in the unmerited mercy of Christ.

And the reward is given to you. You are given the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. It matters not what you have done. You receive these gifts, not because you have earned them. Not because you deserve them, but because with God, there is mercy. With God there is forgiveness. With God there is salvation. It doesn't have anything to do with how much you have sweat; it has everything to do with how much He has bled and died and given to you.

Christ's Church is a place of unmerited mercy. You come into membership in Christ's Church by unmerited mercy. In the waters of Holy Baptism Christ works by giving you the Holy Spirit, by giving you the gift of faith, and by washing you in the forgiveness of sins. None of these gifts are deserved. No one has a right to them; no one does a thing to obligate God to pay up and give them.

Moreover, having received these gifts in your Baptism by pure grace, by unmerited mercy, the maintenance and growth of these gifts in your life is also a matter of God's unmerited mercy. Just as you have no ability to reform, modify, or tame the sinful nature, even so you have no ability to maintain, nurture, and grow the gift of faith. What the Holy Spirit begins in you, He alone continues to maintain, nurture, and grow in you through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament. St. Paul puts it this way: "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." [Philippians 1:6]

Thus, from start to finish, your life in Christ's kingdom is a matter of His unmerited mercy toward you. By this unmerited mercy you were chosen to be born anew into the kingdom of heaven. By this unmerited mercy you were called into the kingdom by the work of the Holy Spirit; you were enlightened by the gift of faith and received the forgiveness of sins. By this unmerited mercy you were sanctified, set apart and declared holy. By this unmerited mercy you are kept to this very day in the kingdom of heaven. No one deserves this; no one earns this. It is a pure gift of unmerited mercy to unworthy sinners, chosen by God's grace to receive it. Salvation belongs to God alone. Clearly, the kingdom of heaven is unmerited mercy!

In the day to day struggle to make a clear confession of Christ, there is but one solution for you and for Bethany: Cling to God's unmerited mercy. Because you are the chosen recipient of His unmerited mercy, you are a member of Christ's Church, the kingdom of heaven. He remains faithful to you throughout your earthly struggle against the sinful, pervasive influences of the devil, the world, and your flesh. His unmerited mercy covers your sins and fills your life completely.

This unmerited mercy is given to you here, in the gifts of this Divine Service, in the gifts of Holy Word and Sacrament. Here, today, right now, the generous, divine Landowner sends His steward, the steward of the mysteries of God, to bestow on you the blessed wages of God's goodness. His Holy Word of Absolution is placed into your ears. His Holy Body and Blood are placed into your mouth. You receive the reward of Christ's labor in the vineyard. You receive the kingdom of heaven.

You see, then, the center of Bethany's life as a congregation is the central moment of your life as a member of the kingdom of heaven. You are called here, now, to receive God's unmerited mercy in the Gospel preached, in Absolution given, in Baptism, and in the Body and Blood of God. And although some despise or neglect these gifts, they remain for you the most prized of treasures: Pledges of God's gracious goodness and unmerited mercy, and the means for His forgiveness and salvation. They never become stale, or overdone, or tiresome. They are the center of your life in Christ. They continue to refresh you. They continue to strengthen and preserve you, unto life everlasting. Amen.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008