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Series A – Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost – Sunday, September 24, 2017 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:22	The holy Gospel
0:29	According to Saint Matthew chapter 20 verses 1 through 16.
0:35	Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master of a house who went out early
0:40	in the morning to hire laborers for his Vineyard after agreeing with the laborers for a Denarius a day he sent
0:46	them into his Vineyard and going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace and
0:52	said to them you go into the vineyard too and whatever is right I will give you so they went going out again about
0:58	the sixth hour in the ninth hour he did the same and about the 11th hour he went out and found others standing and he
1:05	said to them why do you stand here idle all day and they said to him well because no one’s hired us he said to
1:12	them you go into the vineyard too and when evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his Foreman call the
1:18	laborers pay them their wages beginning with the last up to the first and when
1:24	those hired about the 11th Hour came each of them received a Denarius now
1:29	when those hired first came they thought they would receive more but each of them
1:35	also received a Denarius and on receiving it they grumbled at the Master of the House saying well these last
1:42	worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat
1:48	but he replied to one of them friend I am doing you no wrong did you not
1:54	agree with me for a Denarius take what belongs to you and go I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you am
2:03	I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me or do you begrudge my
2:09	generosity so that the last so the last will be first and the first last this is
2:15	the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus amen what an interesting Parable what’s
2:22	the problem here why are these guys grumbling against this generous
2:28	well house Master hmm let’s kind of spell the problem out very
2:34	clearly very quickly over and again we recognize that scripture rightly divided
2:40	must be divided properly along the lines of law gospels sin Grace repentance and
2:47	the Forgiveness of sins so what’s the sin here that’s being
2:52	addressed by Jesus in this Parable well the sin that is being addressed is none
2:57	other than self-righteousness have you ever stopped to think for a second that
3:03	self-righteousness is a sin now to kind of helped bear this out think with me
3:08	for a second if you have ever had a conversation with an atheist or an unbeliever somebody who isn’t a
3:13	Christian and you’ve told them the good news that Jesus has bled and died for their sins and you say that he is
3:20	willing for them to repent and to be forgiven and rather than responding and
3:25	saying this is really good news you’re right I can now be reconciled to God they instead say whoa whoa whoa whoa
3:32	whoa whoa wait a second here are you saying that Jesus died for the
3:38	sins of the whole world and you go yeah well yeah he did are you saying that anybody can be forgiven
3:46	well yeah including you and they’ll sit there and go well let me do the math on
3:51	this you’re saying that if Hitler Hitler repented of his sins and believed
3:58	in Jesus on his deathbed that he’s in heaven right now well yes God’s Mercy is
4:05	that great and then they lose it have you ever had this conversation I’ve had
4:11	a few of them along these lines and the reason why they lose it it goes something like this is that how is that
4:18	fair you’re telling me I need to repent of my sins and be forgiven yet I have been a
4:24	good person my entire life I have paid my taxes when my kids were young I
4:29	helped out with the Boy Scouts I even give money to the rotary and one time I put a total 20 bill in that kettle that
4:37	the the for the Salvation Army Before Christmas and you’re going
4:42	um there’s a problem here what’s the problem the problem is self-righteousness
4:51	are there any who are good not according to scripture all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
4:58	God including your pastor including you all have fallen short but see
5:03	self-righteousness basically wants everything to be fair
5:09	and they want to be judged according to their righteousness I want you to think
5:15	with me for a second okay I don’t want you to think I am promoting this but I want you to kind of get the idea
5:21	everything runs in this country by law everything in your work experience if
5:27	you work out in the corporate world works by law have you ever been a part
5:33	of a company where it comes annual employee evaluation time
5:38	what’s the expectation those who’ve worked hard they get a better raise than
5:45	those who’ve been slacking and if you’ve ever managed employees there is nothing worse than dealing with
5:53	the employee who comes storming into your office closes the door with a slam and says why did I only get a 50 cent
6:01	raise and he got a 75 cent raise I bust my beehide and that guy takes 10 minute
6:09	long five-minute coffee breaks don’t you see I’ve been doing a harder job than he
6:14	has ah this is not fair have ever had that conversation maybe you’ve been the one who slammed
6:20	the door I will neither confirm nor deny any such things regarding myself you see this is the reason why we hate
6:28	the concept of scoreless Little League think about it scoreless Little League
6:33	what a complete waste of time because what are the parents doing in scoreless Little League
6:39	John one two oh we beat them because we want everything to work
6:44	according to the law we want what’s fair so that’s at the heart of this Parable
6:50	today this self-righteousness this desire to be
6:56	recognized by the law and the gospel doesn’t work that way at
7:02	all and we need to be very happy about this but let’s walk back through our Parable today and I’m going to work from
7:09	my translation now the reason I’m going to do this today is because I on purpose
7:14	want what I say to not quite line up with what’s in your scripture because
7:19	it’s going to force you to pay attention to a few things and there’s a particular thing at the end of this Parable that I
7:27	think is better the way if you just translate it straight from the Greek it’s an interesting it’s an interesting
7:32	statement here’s what Jesus says the kingdom of the heavens yes it’s plural is like a man who is a house master and
7:40	this is actually kind of a beautiful phrase in the Greek who went out together with the early morning what a great phrase this man went out
7:48	together with the early morning this is at the crack of dawn to hire workers into his Vineyard now I don’t know if
7:54	they have this practice here but back in the in the ancient world and still in
7:59	the modern world day laborers would go to a particular place in the marketplace or the Agora in order to hire themselves
8:07	out for the day when we lived in Southern California we knew some of these places where they existed and what
8:14	would happen is is that somebody would come who owned a construction company or
8:19	was a farmer and they would hire day laborers and these were all the illegal aliens these were the illegal immigrants
8:25	those who had no documented papers and so what would end up happening is some fellow would drive up to a to a place
8:31	and you could see this from time to time he’d drive up to a place where there was a group of fellows and the car would
8:37	stop at the truck would stop and say I pick you you you quick get in the car we got to go because this is illegal and
8:42	David off they go and these guys would work for a day and they were were hired for one day at a time well in the ancient world they didn’t have to work
8:48	with the illegal aliens this is just a common practice Blue Collar day laborers worked in this way and the fee for doing
8:57	a day’s wage was a Denarius one day’s wage a Daenerys
9:03	it’s really simple so that’s kind of how this works out now it’s important to note that in this Parable the Denarius
9:11	is going to symbolize salvation and so you can’t say that they’re
9:16	earning this because you have to kind of look for the idea that here’s this house Master going and looking for these
9:22	people and it is by grace that they are coming into his Vineyard and he’s willing to give them these things does
9:28	that make sense there we are he’s early morning hiring the workers by the way have you ever heard of laziness does any
9:35	of you do any of you ever suffer from this or you know somebody who works along these lines are those who are lazy
9:41	are they there at the crack of dawn saying please please pick me so I can work today no what are they doing
9:48	leaping so keep this in mind it’s the day progresses the quality of the day laborer is
9:56	dramatically diving and so you can kind of think of it this way as he hires these people you’ve got the ambitious
10:02	Folks At the beginning the guys who are working off a hangover you know about nine in the morning and then the people
10:09	who slept in past lunch who clearly have way too much time on their hands they’re
10:16	not really ambitious and so the rabble level continues to rise with each
10:21	passing cycle through keep that in mind he went out together with the early
10:27	morning to hire workers into his Vineyard having made an agreement with the workers for a Denarius for the day
10:32	which is the standard rate he sent them out into his Vineyard and having gone
10:37	out around the third hour isn’t this interesting watch the hours in the early
10:43	part of this Parable they kind of punctuate the same hours of Jesus’s labor on the cross
10:50	six in the morning his kangaroo trial nine in the morning him being nailed to
10:55	the cross noon three in the afternoon it’s fascinating how that that lines up so made an agreement with him so having
11:02	gone out around the third hour so this is nine in the morning he saw others standing idle in the marketplace and to
11:08	those he said you also you go into the vineyard and I will give you whatever may be right and the ones and the ones
11:16	went and again having gone out around the sixth hour and the ninth hour he did
11:21	similarly and then having gone out around the 11th Hour this is five at night
11:29	is this any time to start a day shift when everything is dependent on the Sun
11:36	not at all at the 11th hour he found others standing there and he said to
11:41	them why are you standing here idle the whole day because we’re worthless
11:47	we’re not we’re not very ambitious our wives made us stand out here but we’re trying to not make eye contact with
11:53	anybody so they said well because no one hired us so he says to them you also go
11:59	into the vineyard so having become evening the master of
12:04	the vineyard says to the manager call the workers pay them the wages beginning from the last ones up to the first ones
12:12	and having come to the ones hired around the 11th Hour they received a Daenerys
12:18	of peace one hour’s work equals a full day’s wage
12:27	huh imagine you’re worth you’re with the group of guys who started at six in the
12:32	morning you’re seeing that going whoa wait a second here they got a whole Denarius
12:38	for one hour the guy’s paying a whole day’s wage an hour so they’re thinking
12:44	that’s 12 days wages for one day’s work this is what they’re thinking how do we
12:50	know the text goes on so having come the first ones thought that they would receive more and they
12:57	also received a Daenerys apiece and then having received it they were
13:03	grumbling against the house Master saying those last ones did one hour and
13:10	you made them and here’s the rub you made them equal to us
13:16	oh boy there’s the problem you see the law doesn’t make us equal
13:21	the law actually makes us all kind of different but the gospel
13:27	makes us all equal you made them equal to us they said the ones having borne
13:33	the burden of the day and the burning heat keep that picture in your mind
13:39	we’ll come back to it but the one having responded said to one of them friend and the Greek here is
13:44	actually kind of funny it’s not friend like hey friend it’s more like hey buddy it’s a little more terse than that it’s
13:52	yeah we’re not really friends but I’ll call you a friend hey buddy I’m not
13:57	wronging you did you not make an agreement with me for a Denarius take what is yours but I
14:04	want to give this last one as I also gave to you or is it not lawful for me
14:11	to do what I want with my own things and then here’s the best phrase I’m
14:16	going to just translate it straight or is your eye evil because I am good
14:23	wow that is quite the charge so they’re
14:28	charging him with evil for being generous while they themselves are actually the
14:35	ones who have the problems thus the last ones will be first and the first ones last and again what’s
14:42	the problem here self-righteousness total self-righteousness and this idea
14:50	that it is scandalous that God Pardons and forgives not sinners in the abstract
14:58	but actual for real sinners remember the story of Jonah we all know
15:04	the story of Jonah Jonah and the big fish or Jonah and the whale it wasn’t a whale it was a fish but it was a big one
15:10	and Jonah God comes to Jonah he’s a prophet and tells him to go to Nineveh
15:16	part of the Assyrian Empire and the Assyrians made the Nazis look like schoolgirls these are the fellows who
15:24	had the very first prototype of crucifixion when they would conquer a town or a city they would take the
15:30	fighting men who fought against them that had been defeated and they surrendered and they would take them and
15:36	stick them up on a pike and kill him in that way and leave their dead carcasses for everybody to see they were the
15:43	Perfection perfectors of psychological warfare against Those whom they defeated
15:48	and it was the Israelites who suffered defeat at the hands of these exact same
15:55	cruel people so the word of the Lord comes to Jonah to go and preach against
16:01	the sins of Nineveh and what does Jonah do we all know how the story goes none
16:06	of us this way Jonah says I’m going that way he gets on a boat heads to tarshish we’re not exactly sure where that is we
16:13	think Spain it’s a long way away and there are no beaches in Nineveh
16:18	and God decides to engage in some how should we put it subtle motivation to
16:25	kind of work out this little rebellious streak in Jonah causes a storm to come up he ends up being sacrificed and sent
16:33	to the deep and a fish swallows him and he spends three days in the belly of a
16:38	fish and he probably had claustrophobia the rest of his life and never ate sushi again
16:46	I always loved when I was in Sunday school they would talk about how the stomach acids of the fish probably
16:52	bleached his skin and his hair and then when he was finally belched out onto the
16:57	beach he probably looked like an albino with seaweed wrapped around his head
17:02	it’s always a wonderful picture but usually when somebody tells the story that’s where it ends
17:09	see and so the moral of the story is when God tells you to do something get right to it
17:15	no no I’m not saying you should disobey God that’s not the idea here the
17:22	question is why did Jonah go the other way
17:27	and this is the part of the story that nobody gets to so Jonah chapter 3 says
17:32	these words beginning in verse one the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time hopefully God gave him a little bit
17:38	of time for his hair to grow out to the and it’s no longer looked like a bleached headed you know surfer dude
17:45	he said arise go to Nineveh the great City call out against it the message
17:50	that I tell you so Jonah thinking well I better do it this time so Jonah Rose and went to
17:56	Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh Nineveh was an exceedingly great City three days journey in breath Jonah began
18:04	to go into the city going a Day’s Journey he called out yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown
18:13	and listen to these words and the people of Nineveh believed God
18:19	huh Revival broke out in Nineveh and you would think Jonah would be going
18:26	praise the Lord there’s Revival here knit of all these evil war criminals
18:32	they’re repenting and being forgiven it’s the best thing ever they’re confessing the Lord as their as their
18:38	savior no this does not make Jonah happy he does not praise God because these people
18:46	believe God and repented listen to how the story unfolds so the Nineveh believe God they called
18:53	for a fast they put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them the word reached the king of
18:58	Nineveh he arose from his throne removed his Royal robes covered himself with sackcloth sat in ashutes ashes and then
19:06	he issued a proclamation and published it throughout all of Nineveh by the decree of the king and his Nobles let
19:12	neither man nor Beast heard nor flock taste anything we’re fasting let them
19:19	not feed or drink water but let man and beasts be covered with sackcloth let them call out mightily to God let
19:26	everyone turn from his evil way from the violence that is in his hands who knows God may turn and relent and turn from
19:33	his Fierce anger so that we may not perish and when God saw what they did how they
19:40	turned from their evil way God relented of the disaster that he had said that he
19:45	would do to them and he did not do it but this displeased Jonah exceedingly
19:54	he’s angry because by forgiving them what has God done he’s made them equal with Israel
20:03	he’s pardoned their sins given them eternal life are you kidding me
20:09	I’m gonna have to share eternity new heavens and new earth with those guys
20:14	didn’t you see what they did to my brother that’s the idea so he was displeased
20:23	exceedingly he was very angry and so he prayed to the Lord and he said Yahweh is
20:29	this not what I said when it was yet when I was yet in my country this is why I made haste of flee to tarshas for I
20:36	knew you are a gracious God and you are merciful slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and relenting from
20:42	disaster notice in Jonah’s way of thinking God’s mercy in Grace is not a strong point
20:50	when it comes to God it’s an utter disgrace therefore Lord
20:56	please kill me now it is better for me to die than to live
21:03	well ho yeah that Grace stuff can get really
21:08	scandalous we don’t mind if our work every day nine to five neighbor
21:16	comes to Jesus but what about the town hooker
21:21	what about the local drunk what about the person who is known for
21:29	being sexually promiscuous with not just females but also males what about him
21:35	do we do we really want to share heaven with that guy do we really want to be equal with him
21:42	what about that politician you hate I don’t know name one there are lots to
21:48	choose from in that group do you really want to share Heaven do you want him forgiven you want to be
21:54	equal with him you see kind of how this all works then see this is why Jonah is upset and his
22:00	solution is kill me now kill me now so the Lord said to him well do you do
22:07	well to be angry you could just see Jonah fuming so Jonah not to be dissuaded by God’s
22:13	mercy went out of the city sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself like a temporary shelter he sat
22:20	under it in the shade until he should see what would become of the city he’s praying hoping please Nineveh let this
22:28	repentance of yours be just like a sham go back to your evil ways so that God
22:33	will destroy you I’m going to watch the fireworks does anyone have any popcorn that’s what’s going on
22:40	and God in his Mercy appoints a plant made it come up over Jonah that it might
22:45	be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort so Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant
22:51	but when the dawn came up the next day God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so it withered when the sun rose
22:56	God appointed a scorching East Wind and the Sun Beat Down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint so then God and
23:03	then he asked that he might die he said it is better for me to die than to live so God said to Jonah do you do
23:10	well to be angry for the plant he said yes I do well to be angry angry enough to die
23:16	and Lord said you pity the plant for which you did not labor nor did you make it grow which came into being in a night
23:23	and then perished in the night and should not I pity Nineveh
23:28	that great City in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand
23:34	from their left and also much cattle you know Jesus speaking against those
23:42	who in his day refuse to repent of their wickedness refused to repent and trust
23:48	in him for the Forgiveness of their sins he said to them that Nineveh would rise
23:54	up and condemn them on the last day affirming that these
24:00	ninevites truly had received God’s mercy and a full pardon
24:05	and it’s scandalous you think of the scandal of the Nazi war criminals a
24:12	while back I told the story of Pastor Gerke who was an lcms Pastor right after
24:18	World War II who was asked to stay on after the war in Germany and to be the
24:25	pastor and chaplain for the Nazi war criminals who are on trial in Nuremberg
24:32	and at first none of these guys really wanted to have anything to do with this fellow
24:38	but through the preaching of the word and the proclamation of Christ
24:43	six of these Nazi war criminals all of them who hung on the Gallows for their crimes repented of their sins and were
24:50	forgiven one of them as he was ascending The Gallows Pastor Gerke was there to watch
24:55	him leave this earth one of them said to Pastor Gerke
25:01	I will see you later and he rightly died for his crimes
25:06	against humanity the government is not given the power to forgive sins only to punish them
25:13	but we are given the authority to forgive
25:19	and a Nazi war criminal who has the blood of Millions on his hands
25:25	can be forgiven by Christ and he chooses in the 11th
25:31	Hour to give them full salvation the same salvation he’s given to you you
25:38	who’ve been baptized when you were infants at this font and have lived your
25:43	lives Believers in Christ he gives you the same salvation that he gives to them
25:49	and it’s scandalous but see that’s how it works now if you
25:54	remember bore the heat of the day the parable says and I noted the fact that the hours
26:01	mentioned in the parable line up with the events of Jesus’s crucifixion and I
26:06	would like you to think of it this way Jesus on a Friday afternoon
26:12	began his work early in the morning
26:19	crack of dawn he was put on trial and he was found guilty of crimes that
26:26	he did not commit but crimes the Jew had committed that I had committed at nine in the morning
26:32	he was marched out to Golgotha and nailed to a cross and spent the rest of the day laboring
26:39	and suffering under the heat of God’s Wrath for your sins and for mine
26:46	the text tells us this from Luke two others who were criminals were LED
26:52	away to be put to death with Jesus and when they came to the place that is
26:57	called the skull There They Crucified him the criminals one on his right and one
27:02	on his left and Jesus said father forgive them they do not know what they are doing
27:07	and then they cast lots divided as garments and the people stood by watching but the rulers scoffed at him
27:14	saying he saved others let him save himself if he is the Christ God’s chosen
27:19	one the soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering him sour wine and saying if you’re the king of the Jews save
27:25	yourself but see he wasn’t saving himself he was saving you
27:30	there was also an inscription over him and it read this is the king of the Jews now one of the criminals who were hanged
27:37	railed at him saying are you not the Christ save yourself and save us
27:43	but the other rebuked him saying do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation and we
27:49	indeed justly for we are receiving the due reward of our Deeds but this man has
27:55	done nothing wrong now consider the occasion these two
28:01	criminals are rightly being punished for their crimes
28:08	and their crimes had risen to the level that they had earned for themselves the
28:14	death penalty one even in his death pangs
28:20	and the suffering he is going through for his own sins mocks Christ the other rightly confesses that he is getting
28:27	what he deserves but Jesus is not that is what we call a confession of
28:32	sins now note he is not very far from dying
28:38	not very far at all hours at this point he’s already beginning to experience
28:45	death he is on his deathbed and his deathbed is raised straight up
28:51	and here’s what he says to Jesus a wonderful prayer Jesus please remember me when you come
28:56	into your kingdom hmm he confessed his sins and didn’t even
29:02	have the audacity to ask Jesus to forgive him he just said please remember me
29:08	to be remembered by God is to be saved for God to remember you is a good thing
29:14	for God to remember your sins is a terrible thing please remember me when you come into
29:19	your kingdom and then these scandalous words this man
29:24	who is not even capable of working an entire hour in God’s Vineyard is
29:32	literally at the verge of his own death Jesus said to him truly I say to you
29:37	today you will be with me in Paradise and we sit there and go what
29:45	if he were a smoker he didn’t even have time to put his cigarettes in the trash if he were a drunk he hadn’t even
29:52	sobered up he’s a criminal who’s being punished for his crimes and rightly so and in the
29:59	midst of all of that just hours before he dies Jesus gives him a full and complete pardon
30:05	you see it you see in the reason for it it’s quite simple is because there Jesus was putting in
30:13	his Long Day’s Work so that he can earn a Denarius
30:19	and the text goes on it was about the sixth hour there was Darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour when the
30:26	Sun’s light failed the curtain of the temple was torn in two then Jesus calling out with a loud voice said
30:32	father into your hands I commit my spirit and having said this he breathed his last
30:38	and now when the Centurion saw what had taken place he praised God’s saying certainly this man was innocent
30:46	I would beg to differ because Isaiah is so clear on this that on Jesus God had
30:52	laid the iniquity of us all and on the cross Christ
30:57	bleeds and dies for all of your sins he’s punished in your place he put He
31:03	endures the heat of God’s Wrath in the middle of the day and he earns that Denarius
31:10	and now the Scandal is this he comes and he slips it in your pocket and he says I
31:17	don’t need this you do take it free
31:22	and it’s scandalous and it’s so amazing
31:28	you see our Old Testament text today said these words my thoughts are not
31:34	your thoughts neither are my ways your ways how many times have we heard those words
31:40	a bazillion times usually we say them in the context of things that don’t make any sense well God’s thoughts are not
31:47	our thoughts I don’t get it I don’t understand it but notice the context in which these words are spoken
31:54	seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked
32:00	forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to Yahweh so
32:07	that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon
32:15	for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are my ways your ways
32:22	as far as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts
32:29	we never think of forgiving scandalous
32:36	you can just let that person slide get off scot-free yeah
32:43	is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my own property
32:49	and self-righteous hate it they want to be judged by what they do
32:55	they think it’s not fair and I agree according to the law it is
33:02	not fair instead it is merciful
33:09	I don’t want what’s fair from God because I need Mercy
33:15	so do you and this is why it’s good news that anyone repents whether they are a child
33:23	or an old man on his Deathbed the Angels rejoiced equally because the
33:30	king of the universe pays everyone the same equally
33:37	as a gift because he’s the one who earned the Denarius that one Friday
33:44	on Golgotha in the name of Jesus Amen [Music]

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