“Give Until It Blesses”

Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16; 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

In Bishop Robert Schnase’s “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations”, he writes that regardless of who you are or when you have lived, a “life in Christ, and fruitfulness in that life, are inextricably bound tougher.” He wants us to know that true faith will always bring a desire to serve the Lord and his people in new and exciting ways. Spiritual fruitfulness is described in Galatians 5:22-25 as “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. And how does Godly fruitfulness come into our lives? By living a life in faithfulness, which consists of many attributes – all of which are reflected in the life that Christ lived.

But what does that mean? Does it mean that we have to do all of those incredible things that Jesus did – like healing people, driving out demons, being able to know what other people are thinking, sacrificing ourselves to the world’s evil hatred, and on and on? Of course not, although by the power that faith and the Spirit can bring to our life, we might actually be able to do some of these things.
But the truth is, it isn’t about doing anything – it’s about the attitude we have as we live out our life in faith, and it’s our love of the Lord that leads us to do those things of faith. Jesus trusted the plan that the Father had created for him, and he knew that the plan had to be carried out in a Godly way. He couldn’t become arrogant when he came up against the perverse thoughts that others threw up in his face, he couldn’t strike back when others hurt him, and he couldn’t take credit for the lives that did come to the truth he lifted up. He lived humbly, faithfully, lovingly, truthfully, and exceptionally in all that he did.

Today, we consider the ideals that the Bishop presents in chapter five of his book – “The Practice of Extravagant Generosity”.

Read Matthew 20:1-7

Jesus begins his teaching with the thought that this parable tells us about the kingdom of heaven, and I have no doubt that we all would like to gain a better understanding of God’s kingdom! The problem is that the ways and ideals of heaven have, unfortunately, no basis in those ways that we currently live with. This story is about the difference between what earth understands fairness as, versus what true fairness is all about.

Jesus tells about a landowner who hires five groups of day workers to care for his vineyard. They begin their labors at different times of the day, from the earliest time in the morning, until the last hour or two of daylight. But each group is hired under different conditions.
The first are hired for the entire day, and are told that they will be paid a denarius for their labor. The offer was accepted, as this would have been the normal pay for a day’s work.
The second, third and fourth groups, hired three hours apart, at mid-morning, noon, and mid-afternoon, and are told to go directly to the vineyard and get to work, and that at the end of the day, they will be paid “whatever is right”. Their assumption is that it will be something less than the standard day’s wage, but there is no objection to the offer, and they go to work.
The fifth group, hired with only an hour or so left in the work day, is approached with the question “Why aren’t you working?”, and they all respond that no one has hired them. The master then simply orders them to go and work in his vineyard, with no promise of any payment whatsoever for the short time they will be there. But they go, just the same.

The first group of workers is offered employment for a standard wage, but the next 3 groups are hired with a rather nebulous payment offer of “whatever is right”, whatever that may mean. Did it mean whatever was right in the minds of the workers, or would it all depend on whether the one who was doing the hiring was honest or not?
The last group is challenged as to why they are still hanging around at the hiring stand while everyone else is out being productive. The master promptly orders them to get to work, without any offer of even minimal compensation.

The only workers who received a “fair” offer was the first, and the rest went to their labor, trusting that they would receive something for their efforts, but understanding that it was all dependent on the heart and mind of the landowner. Fairness was up for grabs!

Read Matthew 20:8-16

The workers in each of the groups were about to discover what “fairness” in the kingdom of heaven was all about. It wasn’t the “fairness” of earth, which can change in different ways with every offer that is made. It wasn’t even the “fairness” that the workers had hoped to be treated to. The problem with the ways of earth is that compensation and reward is based on a graduated schedule – the more you give, the more you receive. The harder you work, or the more you know, or the more you are able to contribute to the “bottom line” of a company, the more you should get.

But apparently, “fairness” in the kingdom of God is based on a totally different standard – everyone will be receiving the same consideration, the same glory, the same salvation, the same forgiveness, the same joyful reception, regardless of when they come to faith in Jesus Christ. Of course, the call to “work in the Lord’s harvest field” is still there – no one is excused from service in the name of Jesus. But in the end, God plays no favorites – judgment is based on the same criteria for all.

The owner of the vineyard, and the King of heaven, intend to be generous in the extreme on that day when the work that the King calls everyone to participate in is complete. And the question that will be answered by all is this: “Did you respond faithfully, in my way, to all that I asked of you?” I expect that we all will begin to choke just a little when we realize that we haven’t been as faithful, in the Lord’s way, as we should have been. But there is hope – the Lord already has the answer to each and every question!

In Zechariah 3, we read of the way that the Judgment will proceed. We will be standing before the Judgment Seat as the accused, along with Satan who is prepared to present every sin that we have ever committed, every moment when we failed to glorify the King, every moment that we stumbled and fell on our spiritual face, every time when we let the Lord our Savior down by refusing to follow his call. But the Judge, who knows all things, will prevent the Accuser from even speaking a single word of accusation.
The Judge knows our hearts, our challenges, our desires, our efforts, and our love of Him, and that will be the “answer” to our question. As the passage continues, we read that the accused was dressed in filthy clothes, symbolizing his sin, but the Judge proclaims him worthy of cleansing, and orders that the filthy rags be stripped away, and then proclaims “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.” And as we read about the clothing, we discover that they are royal in nature.

Our sin deserves condemnation, just as Satan hopes, but God’s plan has the authority of eternity behind it, and not only is his decision is the only one that matters - his way will win! Our Lord’s gifts are exceptional, they are extraordinary, and they are extravagant!

Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

Paul is telling the church in Corinth that they had better mend their ways, and be more like the church in Macedonia. Their “giving” can never be by the standard set forth by the world’s order – they need to be “extravagant”, they need to go beyond what they think is adequate, beyond what they think is their limitation! He writes that the Macedonians not only were joyful in the extreme, but their poverty was also extreme. They had very little to give to help the beleaguered churches in Jerusalem and elsewhere, and they would have been forgiven if they had decided that they just couldn’t contribute much to the relief effort, but their joy in Christ overcame the limitations of their physical humanity. Their generosity would know no bounds – not out of obligation, but out of the joy that filled their hearts.

And Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians is that even though they have a lot going for them – there is human knowledge gained through education and experience, there is the ability to speak clearly and convincingly in business as well as in the church, they have respect and love for the apostle and his followers and have helped them in many ways, and that there is even faith in their lives and hearts. But the one thing they apparently are lacking is their joyful demonstration of how much the Lord’s presence in their lives truly means.

Excel in the grace of giving.
I would offer two quotations from John Wesley:
1. “Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

And 2. “Not, how much of my money will I give to God, but, how much of God’s money will I keep for myself?”
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/151350.John_Wesley

We can never out give God, but shouldn’t we at least give our lives the opportunity to try?