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Matthew 20:1-16 "Justice or Grace?"
by Clancy Nixon
September 18, 2005
Church of the Holy Spirit
Ashburn, Virginia
Jesus tells the story about workers in the vineyard who were paid equally for
unequal work, in order to teach us about Grace. The world can do many things as well as,
or better than, the church can. The world can build homes for the poor; it can feed the
hungry; the world can heal the sick. Not the same way the church can, but they can do it!
The only thing that the world cannot do is offer grace. Grace is not the way of the world.
The world tries to live by justice. Now justice is good; but grace is infinitely better.
Ernest Hemingway told a story about a Spanish father who decided to reconcile
with his son who had run away to Madrid. Now full of remorse, the father takes out a
prominent ad in the newspaper: The ad said this: "Paco, meet me at the hotel Montana
noon Tuesday. All is forgiven (signed) Papa." Paco is a common name in Spain, and
when the father goes to the Hotel, he finds eight hundred men all named Paco waiting for
their fathers.... The world is hungry for grace, but the world can't give it.
When Jesus tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard, He reveals to us that
we think what we really want is justice - equal pay for equal work. The workers who
worked all day in the sun got the wage they agreed on; the problem was that the ones who
worked only one hour got paid the same as those who worked all day. That does not
seem fair, does it? U.S. law prohibits that; the EEOC would not stand for that. Jesus
tells us that God has a different goal than we do not justice, but grace. Grace means
unmerited favor. The workers who came late got more than they deserved. We all like
grace when we are among the ones who come late, when WE get the grace. The problem
comes when we are the ones who come early, work hard in the hot sun and get what we
deserve, while others get the grace. There is something in us that does not rejoice with
the one who won the lottery; that does not rejoice with the one who got the promotion.
Where there is jealousy; where there is envy; grace has fled. Grace rejoices in the good
fortune of others, even when they are undeserving. It's one thing to say the better team
won; it's another to say, isn't it great the worse team won! Yet that's exactly what we
did with the l980 US Olympic hockey team! We like grace for ourselves; we don't like it
when the Croatians beat the US Olympic basketball team. Jonah thought that the
Ninevites who actually repented of their sins and responded to God were undeserving of
salvation, and he was steamed about it. It's hard for us to rejoice at grace shown to others,
but that is how the gospel works. Jesus says, when God rules, the first shall be last and
the last shall be first.
Lots of teenagers reject their churches because they don't experience them as
places of grace. Later in life, many of them return to Church, because they have found
that there is far more grace in the Church than in the world. Amen? Mark my words I
thought there was more grace in the world than the Church so I wandered from God in
college. I was wrong. I learned the hard way. The way of the world is perform, perform,
and perform. If you drop the ball, whether on the athletic field or at your office, you
might hear about it for the rest of your life. That happened to the Captain of the
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University of California football team at the Rose Bowl in 1920, who is forever known as
"Wrong Way Reigel."
In college, I played competitive NCAA squash for 3 years. Squash is a racquet
sport played in a cubical room. It's like racquetball, only even more obscure. My
sophomore and junior year, I lettered on the nine-man Varsity Squash team. (Don't
worry, I didn't play in vestments.) 2/3 of the way through my junior year, I left
University altogether, and went on a spiritual journey. Alone and with a backpack, I
traveled overland from England to Turkey to India in 1978 to find God and see the world.
When I returned to school in September, my priorities had changed, and I decided not to
play on the squash team my senior year. Without me, my school went on to win the
National Championship that year anyway. Two years later, I met a young player on the
squash team, and he said to me, "Oh, I've heard of you. You're the guy who quit the
team!" That's the way the world thinks. Often, people remember you more for the ways
you haven't lived up to their expectations, than for all the hard work and contributions
you have made. The way of the world is, "What have you done for me lately?"
Thank God, that is not His way. CHS is well on its way to being a church known
for grace. Grace is another word for gift, and yesterday we gave the gift of a free Family
Fun Festival to over one thousand of our neighbors. It was so great to see the
incomprehension on our guests' faces, and the delight, when we told them that it was all
free. One family asked why it was free, and I explained that the festival was free because
God's love is free. Your hard work in the sun yesterday was a powerful demonstration of
your love of neighbor, and I'm so proud of all of you who helped. Let's give God the
glory for all the good that happened yesterday.
Loving our neighbors outside the church is one way to be known as a grace-filled
church. That's the example of the Good Samaritan who helps the stranger in distress.
Even more important, we need to treat one another with grace. Jesus said, "People will
know that you are my disciples when you love one another." That is where the grace is
sometimes missing. When one of us is hurting, then grace impels the body to come
alongside and help. We "rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who
mourn." All the outpouring of love and service for Katrina victims is great, but we must
never forget to be attentive to those ones right in our midst who are hurting. Some
people in our congregation are unemployed; some are single moms; some are lonely;
some are poor; some have special needs. All these ones are loved by God, and we need to
love them, too. If you do not know anyone in these situations, then it would do you some
good to hang out longer at the coffee hour; to join a home group; or to get involved with
the Church somehow. Being a grace-filled church means not just preaching or singing
about grace, but being graceful to each other. Amen?
Sometimes people want to talk to me because they feel guilt over old sins. A
woman who had an abortion 10 years ago; a businessman who had a one-night affair on a
business trip; a student who was kicked out of school for cheating. These people come
seeking forgiveness and grace. Is there any good news this morning for people like that?
Praise the Lord, the gospel is for sinners, not for perfected ones. The good news is that
you cannot fall so low that God can't reach down and pick you up. That news is so good,
let's say that aloud together. The good news is that you cannot fall so low that God can't
reach down and pick you up. Grace means that there is nothing you can do to make God
love you less. That's even if you quit the team; even if you have not always been a good
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husband or wife; even if you've not always been a good son or daughter or father or
mother; even if you've not always been a good friend. There is nothing you can do to
make God love you less. If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, and you have made
him the Lord of your life, then God loves you as his child. God is crazy about you. If God
had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.
Grace also means that there is nothing that you can do to make God love you
more. His love for you is not based on your actions, or even your character. His love for
you is based on His character. Your salvation is based on what Christ has already done
on the cross, not on anything that we do. It's all a gift. You can't earn it, no matter how
many hours you toil in the hot sun, how long you stay with the team, or how many games
you win. All you do is receive the gift.
Look at two concepts with me: Justice and Grace. Justice means getting what you
deserve: rewards for good work, punishment for bad, both in this life, and in the life to
come. This idea has great appeal, so most of the religions of the world incorporate it in
their system. Hindus believe that your social station in this life is the just result of how
you lived your past lives. Christians believe that God places you in a particular family as
a gift, not based on what you have done you haven't done anything yet! Neither is
getting into Heaven based on what we do, but on our faith in what Christ has already
done.
Religion is spelled D-O. Christianity is spelled D-O-N-E. Christianity is not
primarily about following rules, but about accepting what God has already done, and then
applying that to your life. Remember, justice means getting what you deserve. Grace
means getting what you don't deserve: receiving favor when you don't deserve it. All of
us have been born in families that brought us to Loudoun, and none of us deserve the
blessings of living in this beautiful, prosperous place. Christians saved by grace know
that we don't deserve to be friends of the Most High God; our sins are too great for that.
Thank God, we get what we don't deserve. Amen?
Here is a true story that appeared in the Boston Globe. Accompanied by her
fiancé, a woman went to the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston and ordered a wedding
banquet. The bill came to twenty thousand dollars. They wrote a check for half the
amount as a down payment. The day before the invitations were supposed to be mailed,
the groom got cold feet. He said, "It's a big commitment. Let's think about this a little
longer."
His angry fiancée returned to the Hyatt to cancel the banquet. The Events
Manager told her the bad news. "Your contract is binding. You're due only one thousand
dollars back. You have two options: either forfeit the rest of the down payment (nine
thousand dollars), or go ahead with your banquet. I'm sorry."
Ten years before, the jilted bride had been living in a homeless shelter. She got
back on her feet, found a good job, and set aside a sizable nest egg. Now she had the
wild notion of using her savings to treat the down-and-out of Boston to a night on the
town.
So it was in June 1990, the Hyatt in Boston hosted a party like it had never seen
before. The hostess changed the menu to boneless chicken she said it was "in honor of
the groom." She sent invitations to rescue missions and homeless shelters. People who
were used to peeling half-eaten pizza off cardboard in the trash, dined instead on chicken
cordon bleu. Bag ladies, vagrants, and addicts took a night off the hard life on the mean
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streets and instead sipped champagne, ate chocolate wedding cake, and danced to big
band melodies late into the night. That is a picture of grace, undeserved favor. Justice is
good, but grace is infinitely better. The last shall be first, and the first shall be last.
Like the landowner, God is out searching for people to come to his vineyard.
Even if it seems very late if it seems to you that you don't deserve it - say yes to Jesus.
Say yes to grace. Come to the banquet; receive the whole reward. It's not about what you
do it's about what God has already done for you, by sending Jesus to die for your sins,
so you can live as his child, and feast at his table, forever. Father God is waiting for you.
No matter what bad thing you have done, just confess it as sin, and all is forgiven. Make
him your savior, and come to His table.
If you've never done that before, you do it by talking to God, what we call prayer.
Or you might have done it before, but you don't feel forgiven, you don't feel like a child
of God. If that describes you, I encourage you to pray with me. You can pray along
silently as I pray aloud. Let's pray: Thank you Jesus, for your great forgiveness, your
loving kindness, your unmerited favor toward me. I confess that I have sinned, and that I
don't deserve your grace. I have been jealous of those ones who seem to have it together.
Thank you God, that you love me anyway. Thank you that you came to save sinners like
me. I believe that Jesus is your Son, and that He died for me. I want to follow Him. Oh
God, please send your Holy Spirit to fill me, to direct me, to assure me that you love me.
In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
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