Praise the Lord
for this new day. Praise the Lord for His fresh grace which is sufficient for
every need we have and every circumstance we might face. He is our ever present
and our eternal contemporary.
I took a two mile
walk late yesterday evening. The breeze was gentle. The surroundings were
serene. I saw four deer freely and fearlessly frolicking with jubilant feet. My
heart was infused with gratitude and joy. Praise the Lord for the refreshing
rest that He offers us in the night. Praise the Lord for the world that our Lord
fills with His beauty and grace.
We will meet
for our Wednesday Evening Fellowship at 6 PM. There will be a very special meal
prepared by a new chef who is new to our church family. Today is also "See You
at the Pole" day around our nation, when high school students gather around the
flagpole for prayer.
I am reading
one of Lord's parables that is recorded in Mathew 20. The point of the parable
is not the hard work of the laborers, but the generosity of the landowner. In
the parable, God is the Landowner, for he owns the earth and everything in it.
He hires laborers throughout the day, giving each the same pay at the end of the
day. This is totally unfair according to human standards, but God does not work
according to the world’s standards. God operates on the principles of grace and
generosity. The parable reveals a surprising and disconcerting turn of events
which may be disturbing to even us, but Jesus wants to introduce to them a man
unlike any man they have known. Jesus was saying that the kingdom of God
operates differently from the kingdom of this world and the way things normally
work here. Jesus was also saying that we should serve
the Landowner from the heart. There is always the danger of becoming angry at
God because we think he is not treating us right. We think we should be rewarded
for being a Christian and working for him. We think we should not have life so
hard, and that he should be giving us more blessings. We may not understand why
things always seem to be going wrong for us and why life is so hard. We complain
to the Landowner that others have it so much easier than we do. Life does not
seem fair, and we grumble and become bitter. We feel as if we have had to bear
so many difficult things and others seem to have it so easy — even those who do
not live for God. (See Psalm 73)
In our worldly mind set we are stunned that our Lord said that His Father “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). He sends his blessings on all, no matter how they treat him, which seems to us ultimately unfair. But God is a God of grace. He acts with generosity, even when it seems to us unfair. Sometimes those who live away from God seem to have life so much better than us, but that is the point — God operates from grace and is generous to all. We serve God from the heart, no matter what life brings us. It is not a matter of quid pro quo. We must not demand to be paid what we think is fair. He has promised to give us “whatever is right.” And in the day we stand before him, all things will be made right.
It is interesting in the parable that the workers hired at the beginning of the day have a contract. They agree with the landowner on a definite wage for a day’s work. The second group of workers work under an informal agreement, and are only told that their pay will be “what is right”. With the last group who only work one hour, and there is no mention of any kind of wage. They are only told that they can work in the vineyard. The only group that complains is the group who had agreed on a certain wage. When they agreed to the wage they thought it was good. By the end of it all they felt cheated and wanted to renegotiate. They grumbled and accused the landowner of unfair treatment. The point seems to be that these men carried a grudge as the other workers came alone with equal pay. They did not love the landowner; they only wanted what was due them, and then leave. In the end, they charged him with wrong. Still the landowner called them “friend” and gave them their wage, but he said to them, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go.”
The heart if the Gospel is that our God revealed in the Person of Jesus Christ, does not give wages, he gives gifts, according to his grace and generosity. We cannot work our way into heaven. We do not deserve anything, but by his grace we have all received more than we deserve. And in the end we will receive eternal life in his everlasting kingdom of joy. So we should live and work with joy, knowing that our heavenly Father loves us and will do what he knows is best.
In Christ,
In our worldly mind set we are stunned that our Lord said that His Father “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). He sends his blessings on all, no matter how they treat him, which seems to us ultimately unfair. But God is a God of grace. He acts with generosity, even when it seems to us unfair. Sometimes those who live away from God seem to have life so much better than us, but that is the point — God operates from grace and is generous to all. We serve God from the heart, no matter what life brings us. It is not a matter of quid pro quo. We must not demand to be paid what we think is fair. He has promised to give us “whatever is right.” And in the day we stand before him, all things will be made right.
It is interesting in the parable that the workers hired at the beginning of the day have a contract. They agree with the landowner on a definite wage for a day’s work. The second group of workers work under an informal agreement, and are only told that their pay will be “what is right”. With the last group who only work one hour, and there is no mention of any kind of wage. They are only told that they can work in the vineyard. The only group that complains is the group who had agreed on a certain wage. When they agreed to the wage they thought it was good. By the end of it all they felt cheated and wanted to renegotiate. They grumbled and accused the landowner of unfair treatment. The point seems to be that these men carried a grudge as the other workers came alone with equal pay. They did not love the landowner; they only wanted what was due them, and then leave. In the end, they charged him with wrong. Still the landowner called them “friend” and gave them their wage, but he said to them, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go.”
The heart if the Gospel is that our God revealed in the Person of Jesus Christ, does not give wages, he gives gifts, according to his grace and generosity. We cannot work our way into heaven. We do not deserve anything, but by his grace we have all received more than we deserve. And in the end we will receive eternal life in his everlasting kingdom of joy. So we should live and work with joy, knowing that our heavenly Father loves us and will do what he knows is best.
In Christ,
Brown
" Lord God, almighty
and everlasting Father, you have
brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your
mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome
by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of
your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. "
brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your
mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome
by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of
your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. "
Book of Common Prayer
A Special Saturday Evening of Praise and
Worship
Location: First
United Methodist Church,
53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, NY
53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott, NY
Sponsored by Union
Center United Methodist Church.
5:30 PM Community
Dinner
6:30 PM Praise and
Worship
Special Music by:
"Treasure" Praise and worship band
Soloist: Emma
Brunson
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