“A Thankful Giving”
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ Matthew 20:1-15 NIV
Intro: Today’s scripture reading is a parable about belonging and membership in the Kingdom of Heaven.
It teaches us three important precepts or rules. Write these down.
1. God is the landowner and believes are the workers.
2. Entry into the Kingdom of Heaven is not about rewards but about salvation.
3. Getting into Heaven is by Grace alone.
These three things are very often difficult for us to understand.
God’s Grace is countercultural. (in other words)
God’s character is substantially different from that of mainstream society.
God’s norms of behavior are in opposition to the worlds ideas of normal behavior.
Grace is about mercy and God’s mercy is about divine fairness.
What would have been fair, based on work and reward, would be to
pay the later workers who started at the last hour less
pay the early workers who started at the beginning more.
But God does not operate that way with either believers or unbelievers.
That is why grace is so difficult for us to understand.
Grace is amazing because it is so surprising.
Grace teaches us that God does for others what we would never do for them.
We would never give those who came in at the last minute the same pay (We would say you did not earn it.)
As those who worked from early morning all throughout the heat of the day.
We would be just like the workers in this story who began to grumble and complain about how unfair it is.
Why should the thief and prostitute and the criminal who repent get the same membership
into the Kingdom of Heaven as the Mother Teresa and the Billy Graham and the John Wesley.
God answered them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for one denarius?
Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.
Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
This means we have to give up the need to be flawless for the opportunity to be AUTHENTIC.
The truth is life in this world is often a mess.
The tyranny of the moment will sometimes cause you to make the wrong choice.
The impulse to act overpowers what people have learned.
It is sometimes called a “mind gap, when you act before you think about outcome.”
This is why there is “candy and chocolate” at every checkout line at stores—it is an impulse buy.
Everyone has came out of a store with something you did not go in the store to buy.
It is the same way with sin.
We don’t set out to sin.
But there the psychic drive over, the indulging force of the flesh, induces a way that throws everything you know and have learned out the window.
You start using words
You start doing things that would cause a “sailor to blush.”
When someone goes off on you, here is an opportunity for you to be authentic.
1 Corinthians 10:13 “Temptations in your life are no different from what others experience, but God is faithful.”
That’s not being hypocritical that’s being authentic.
God is faithful.
Jesus Christ came to transform the world.
Jesus is the one who can fix the chaos and disorder.
That means he is the one who can make things better.
He helps me move from the broken house of hurt and hate and bitterness
Into the home of healing, and love, and thanksgiving.
Learn this Lesson:
The things you take for granted today may be the things that are taken away from you tomorrow.
Be grateful for all that you have,
But accept that there are things you may never have
Just actively trust God to create and provide all that you will ever need.
So many people have nothing but still turn things around to be successful.
One Thanksgiving weekend a woman was shopping at the mall
She bought herself a bag of cookies and then got into line for a cup of coffee.
She looked for a place to sit down in the busy food court.
All the tables and chairs were full…, except for one
A man sat by himself reading…, he nodded for her to accept the empty chair
And so she did.
She began to check her receipts and shopping list.
When she noticed out of the corner of her eye
The man reaching into the bag of cookies on the table.
She thought to herself…
Oh, well he was kind enough to offer me a seat
The least I can do…, is share the chocolate chip cookies…
So she reached in and also took a cookie…,
She noticed the man looked a little odd but went back to reading his book.
She continued to go over her shopping list
When the man reached over and took another cookie from the bag.
She was a little upset for now there were only two left.
But again she thought it was a small price to pay to have a seat in such a busy mall.
And so, She reached in and began to nibble on another cookie
When she noticed the man reached down and took the last cookie…
She was a little taken aback by his boldness
He could have at least asked…, but she was tired and there was still no other place to sit.
The man soon closed his book, picked up the empty bag..., smiled…, and left.
The woman…, finally rested…, gathered her pen and papers…,
and put everything back into her purse.
When she reached in and saw her own bag of chocolate chip cookies still inside her purse.
I like that story because it makes me think about how well God treats me
It makes me think about how, sometimes, I do not really appreciate what I have
or act like I know where the blessings come from.
How many times have I eaten God’s cookies while all the time thinking they were my cookies instead?
Thanksgiving for the believer is more than a holiday.
When we give thanks to God it is a celebration of faith.
When we thank God for our blessings it is a celebration of our redemption and our salvation!
A family was out for drive one afternoon.
It was a beautiful day and they were all just relaxing on this pleasant drive.
When suddenly the two children in the back seat began to beat on the back of the seat
and yell Daddy, Daddy stop the car. There is kitten back there on the side of the road.
The father said, “We are having a drive. We can’t stop the car and pick up a kitten.”
But the two little girls began to plead, “If we don’t pick up the kitten it will die.”
Finally the father relented. (If any of you are in the Sunday School Class in the Sky Lighters room you will know that I have prayed all week trying to find a place in the sermon to use that word “relented.”)
The word “relented” is used four times in the NIV version of the bible.
All four times it is talking about God being so moved by compassion
that he decides on a new course of action.
Here is a human example of a father relenting because of compassion.
He turns the car around and pulls over to side of the road.
He goes out and picks up this little kitten who is just skin and bones.
As he puts the sore-eyed little creature in his arms,
the cat bristles and hisses and bares its teeth and claws the back of the father’s hand.
The father takes a box out of the trunk of the car and pokes some holes in it for air
and places the box in the back seat between the two little girls.
He says, don’t touch the box the cat probably has fleas and some kind of disease.
When they get home the father takes the kitten into the bathroom and gives it a bath.
He gives it some warm milk to eat.
That night he fixes it a comfortable bed to sleep on.
Several days later the father walks in and feels something rub against his leg.
He looks down and there is the cat purring like a kitten.
He reaches down toward the cat slowly and carefully--to see if there is any warning sign to watch out for.
But when the cat sees his hand he does not bristle and hiss.
Instead the cat arches its back to receive a caress and a warm touch.
How could this be the same cat that was hurt and frightened and clawing on the side of the road?
Of course not.
You know as well as I do that this is NOT the same cat. But what has made the difference.
Not too long ago God reached out a hand to bless you.
When God did you looked at that hand, you saw the torn skin of where you had be clawing and fighting back at God. It was covered with scratches from you.
Yet God relented and moved by compassion
stretches out his hands of love to those who are bitter and angry and vengeful and scarred
and offers forgiveness and grace and mercy and blessings.
If the nature of God is to relent.
Then if we are to be Christians there will be times in our life when we too
will be so moved by compassion because of our own experiences and also decide on a new course of action
or to change our mind instead of being harsh and excising punishment or revenge
we choose a less sever consequence for someone’s offense to us.
Because we know what it is like to strike at the hand that feeds us, the hand that has saved us.
We are more likely to turn the other cheek to those who scratch and strike at us.
What have you been forgiven of?
Hasn’t God forgiven you of a lot ugly things?
What debt or sin has Jesus paid for you?
What do you still need to be forgiven of and let go of?
Who do you need to forgive?
Is there someone who has hurt you that you need to let go of?
For the Christian Thanksgiving is not just about saying I am thankful.
Thanksgiving is about “A Thankful Giving” of mercy “A Thankful Giving” of kindness and “A Thankful Giving” of forgiveness. Because we know what it is like to be forgiven.
Then we will be more forgiving ourselves to others. “A Thankful Giving”
None of us are perfect.
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
That falling short creates a sin debt so big that we can’t possibly pay for it.
So we all have a problem.
It is a sin problem.
But God has done for us what we can’t do for our self.
God gave his blood through his Son Jesus to make it possible for us to be forgiven.
Now that is something to be thankful for.
What will you be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day?
What will you give thankfully to others?
In 2001 Martina McBride first sang the song title “Blessed.”
Country Music Association Single of the Year and remains a popular song 14 years later.
I have been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones
That love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed
“Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you.
I am truly sorry and repent of my sin and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life and toward you.
Please forgive me, and help me overcome temptations ahead of me. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You,
and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.”
