Jesus Calls His Church with Inconceivable Grace. (Matthew 20:1-16)
Jesus Calls His Church with Inconceivable Grace. (Matthew 20:1-16
Readings for this week:
First Lesson, Jonah 4:5-11: Jonah wanted Ninevah destroyed; in his mind it would only be fair. Jonah had not wanted to prophesy to them because he was afraid that they might listen and repent. He knew God would then have compassion on them and forgive them. But God is far more gracious than Jonah could have imagined. They were his children and he wanted them to be his forever. So great is God’s grace!
Second Lesson: Romans 9:6-16: Is God fair? Is God just? Neither—he is inconceivably gracious, as our eternal election proves. Paul answers the question by pointing us back to God’s speech to Moses in Exodus 33. The Israelites had worshiped the golden calf, and Moses made intercession for them. Moses asked the Lord to show him his ways and his glory. God responded by declaring his inconceivable grace: he would show mercy and grace to those he chose, regardless of any merit or worth.
Gospel and Sermon Text: Matthew 20:1-16: What is our God like? Jesus teaches us with a story, but we struggle with the lesson. The parable offends our finely honed sense of what’s fair and what’s not. This parable carriers both warning and promise for us---a warning that all comparisons based on merit or work do not belong in God’s kingdom; a promise that our relationship with God is based solely on grace which he lavishes in abundance. He doesn’t give us what we deserve. He gives us what we don’t.
Sermon: Matthew 20:1-16: Jesus Calls His Church with Inconceivable Grace.
We need to look at things from God’s perspective---that instead of being jealous of God’s blessings to others or relying on our good lives to earn God’s love---we ought to marvel that God loved us first…and that he loved us at all!
This is a story that focuses not on us, but on our loving God. God’s requirement for justice was fulfilled when the perfect Jesus was sacrificed for a world of imperfect people. The price for sin was paid. And because of that, this incredible, inconceivable grace rules and guides his church now and it will for eternity.
This good news gives us great comfort and leads us to praise the God of grace. Amen.
Pastor Ron Koehler