By Faith We Preach The Gospel

The Gospel of the Vineyard Workers and Grace for Latecomers

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger 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 Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 20th chapter. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And to them he said, You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.

So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour, he went out and found the others standing. And he said to them, Why do you stand here idle all day?

They said to him, Because no one has hired us. He said to them, You go into the vineyard too. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first.

And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius.

And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and of the scorching heat.

But he replied to one of them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I gave to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?

Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first, and the first last. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. So a little bit of a note here. Our gospel text is an interesting one, although I'm not preaching on it.

It's important to note that people who have been Christians their entire lives are with equal status in the kingdom of Christ with those who confess Jesus on their deathbeds. There's no such thing as super salvation.

We are all equally saved by grace through faith, whether we come to Christ early or late in life. And you'll note the expectation is that God is out there hiring workers, right? You'll note that Christians are saved unto good works.

Paul in Prison and the Advance of the Gospel

And here's where we're going to spend our time today. We're going to spend our time on our epistle text, and I'm going to add the missing verses. Again, I'm lamenting making the move back to the three-year lectionary.

We're going one year baby next year and probably not coming back. Just saying because if I have to work this hard to fix the holes in the lectionary, I'm just too lazy for that. Just too lazy. So all of that being said, in our epistle text, you'll note that the Apostle Paul is in prison.

In prison for what? Preaching the gospel. We as Christians are admonished by Christ himself to expect persecution and suffering for preaching Christ. Now I would note, Paul was legitimately in prison and if you are put in Facebook jail for speaking the word of truth, that's not quite the same.

However, it is a form of persecution. Keep that in mind. Now if you are put in Facebook prison or Facebook jail for being an ornery person, that's on you, right? But if you are put in Facebook prison or Facebook jail for actually speaking biblical truth, like saying things like, well, God creating a male and female, there are only two genders, well, you're being put in Facebook jail for the right reason.

But you shouldn't sit there and go, oh, woe is me, poor me, right? Because you'll note the Apostle Paul seems to have all kinds of joy and satisfaction and a positive outlook regarding his own ministry despite the fact that he is in prison.

You can almost say he's looking on the bright side of life. And you can whistle along if you know the lyrics. But all of that being said, consider the trajectory here. The Apostle Paul is a fellow who, well, we'll say had a bad start.

The first time he appears in Scripture, he is Saul of Tarsus, and he is a mean, ornery, hater of Christians and denier of Jesus Christ. And this is a man who is then humbled. And you'll note that he also murdered Christians.

That's what that's called. That's called murder. He murdered Christians for their confession of Christ. And now near the end of his life, he's imprisoned for the very gospel that he moved against. And so I would note, there's a clear invitation at the end of our epistle text, and the invitation is for us to join in the same fight that Paul is in.

And here's where we're going to note that there is some angst within Christian circles today. And I hear it as I listen to evangelical sermons, as I listen to interviews of major evangelical leaders, but I experience this angst myself, and maybe you have too.

And the angst goes something like this. I have sinned so badly, or I have messed up my life so much, there's no way that Christ can use me. Right? Now, this is a lie that we tell ourselves. This is just absolutely not true.

In fact, we are all invited to tell our friends and family members and neighbors of the good news of the forgiveness of our sins. This is something that we're all invited into. And we do it by faith, knowing that Christ has forgiven us, not of some of our sins, the ones that are not so seedy, but he's forgiven us of all of our sins.

In fact, the ones that you would be embarrassed if somebody found out about. He's forgiven us of all of them. And so here, we can see this trajectory of the Apostle Paul, the murderer of Christians, who now is in prison for his confession of faith.

Hebrews 11, Jacob, and the Gospel Preached by Faith

And this is a consistent theme throughout Scripture. As I was preparing for this particular sermon, I was doing some research and doing some reading. I've been reading Chad Bird's book, Limping with God.

It's a great story, if you think about it. That book, Limping with God, is a wonderful exegetical look. And he made a point that kind of caught my attention. And I thought, you know, it fits well here.

And the point that he was making is that in the book of Hebrews, the great Hall of Faith passage, right? There are some amazing people from the patriarchs of the Old Testament mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, the great Hall of Faith passage.

And so you can take, in fact, let me read to you some of the highlights from this particular chapter. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.

Sarah received power to conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. And so those are some good highlights. By faith, Moses, when he was born, he was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and that they were not afraid of the king's edict.

By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Man, good highlights here.

By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land. But the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, they were drowned. And by faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

And by faith, Rahab, the prostitute, did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given friendly welcome to the spies. That's a good dossier, right? So, I know you don't know this off the top of your head.

What does it say about Jacob? If Jacob is mentioned in this text, he absolutely is mentioned in this text. And this is where we can kind of muse for a second here. What should the author of Hebrews say about Jacob?

Because Jacob, when you look at the Old Testament, is a guy who is, at best, could be described as sketchy, right? Sketchy. This is a fellow when he's born. He's a twin. His brother Esau is born first, and he's born grabbing onto the heel of his brother, which is where he gets the Hebrew word named Yaakov for.

He's the heel grabber, which has the implication that he's the deceiver. So, should the author of Hebrews say, by faith, Jacob convinced his brother to sell his birthright for a bowl of soup? That wouldn't right fit, would it?

No. I know, I know. By faith, Jacob, he dressed as his brother and deceived his father and stole his brother's blessing. Would that fit? No. Okay. By faith, he fathered children with a wife who was hard to look at and he didn't even want to marry?

And from her came Judah? No, that doesn't fit either. Okay, so you're going to note here, what the author of Hebrews is doing is pointing us to the very end of Jacob's life, when the arc is kind of complete.

The deceiver has now gone through all the suffering and it says this about him in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 21. By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.

Now, at first reading, that doesn't sound very impressive. By faith, he blessed each of the sons of Joseph? By faith, he blessed the sons of Joseph? But then, when you turn back and you look at the text that this is referencing, it's in Genesis chapter 48.

Genesis 48, starting at verse 15. And a little bit of Hebrew helps us here, but I'm going to note, here's what it says. Jacob blessed Joseph and he said, the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, may he bless the boys and in them let my name be carried on in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

Now, that doesn't sound very impressive, but there's some details here we need to pay attention to. Number one, note that the blessing begins with the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd.

So here, Jacob is invoking God. But then he goes on and says, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil. That's two, right? And he's referring to the angel of the Lord who has appeared to him. This is the one whom he wrestled with, right?

Is that two characters or is it one? Well, Martin Luther notes that the person, the theologian who errs in grammar is going to necessarily err in theology and it's very interesting because here, Jacob says, may he bless the boys.

Not they. He. He doesn't say God and the angel, may they bless the boys. He says, may God, the angel, may he bless the boys. And he's referencing the fact that it was the angel of the Lord who had redeemed him from all evil.

That being said, what we can say definitively when we do a little bit of digging is that the author of Hebrews here is saying, by faith Jacob, when he blessed each of the sons of Joseph, he preached the gospel to them.

And what an amazing thing. And it's there in the words, may he bless the one who has redeemed me from all evil. And here's where we must just pause for a second. The same God, the same angel of the Lord who redeemed Jacob, forgave him all of his sins and blessed him, is the same one, Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, who has redeemed each and every one of us, purchased us from slavery with his own blood, and redeemed us from all evil, including the evil that we have participated in.

All of it. That being the case, we then should have confidence, confidence of our forgiveness, confidence of our grace. And you're going to note then, we're also humbled. Humbled because we recognize that not a single one of us can stand before God in our own good works because we are all part of that motley crew known as the ungodly whom Christ has bled and died for.

And if Jacob can preach the gospel by faith, which is the whole point of his mention in Hebrews 11, we also can preach the gospel by faith. And no one is disqualified as a Christian from doing so. Right?

So if you have been called into Christ's vineyard, you are redeemed in Christ. What does it say in Scripture, in Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and 10? That we are saved by grace through faith. This is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God so that no one may boast. For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. And so in our parable today, Jesus is calling all kinds of people, regardless of how late in life it is, calling them all into his vineyard to the good works that he has called them to.

Some to bear the brunt of the heat of the day and to labor for hour upon hour. Others to labor for just a short time before they see Christ in glory. But all of us are called in Christ to good works and it is ultimately the best good work.

To share the good news of the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ so that others can come and join us in the vineyard in sharing the gospel. And so that's really kind of the point of where Paul is going.

Joy in Suffering, the Imperial Guard, and Christ Proclaimed

And so he says in our epistle text today, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Look at that. Paul's in prison for the gospel and he's not able to do any more missionary journeys.

He's not even going to get out of prison before he has his head taken off his shoulders. But he says what's happened to me has served to advance the gospel. And he goes on to explain how. So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

You kind of think of it this way. If he were in prison today it would be like saying I was in prison and now all of the secret service that protects the president, they all now have heard the gospel. Because guess who Paul is talking about while he's in prison, right?

And most of the brothers having been confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Where there was only one preacher, now there are many. They are emboldened by Paul's arrest.

And then he goes on to talk, and this is the part that's left out in the lectionary, he goes on to talk about how some people are actually preaching Christ with bad motives. That happens by the way. Listen to what he says.

Some indeed they preach Christ from envy and rivalry. But others they do so from goodwill. So you've got some people out there who are envious of Paul, trying to stir up trouble against Paul and make his life miserable.

So how are they doing it? They're going out and saying, Jesus died for your sins! And that's supposed to get Paul into more trouble, right? But you're going to note here, Paul doesn't care what their motive is.

And so he goes on to say, the latter they do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former they proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

So what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Right on. You'll note that in our day there are some folks who are very selfishly ambitious.

And the reason why they preach Christ is so that they can build a big platform for themselves and have all kinds of people pay them all kinds of money and stuff like this. They exploit people. And yet at the end of the day, some of these folks actually preach the gospel from time to time.

And for that, we can rejoice. The rest, we can't. But you get the idea here. And I would note that Christ doesn't sit there in heaven and go, well, I know that you heard the gospel from that really low-down scumbag TBN preacher, so I'm not going to give you faith.

He doesn't do that. Even if the low-down scumbag TBN preacher preaches the gospel, guess what? That gospel has the power of God to bring some to salvation. And so I will note that some of the people that we serve have gotten their start in Christianity with some pretty sketchy false teachers, but yet they heard the gospel.

And after hearing the gospel and growing in their understanding of scripture, they couldn't remain under the false teacher, but yet they got their start hearing the gospel from somebody who was false.

Right? Paul goes on to say this, yes, I will rejoice. I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that this will all turn out for my deliverance. Now, we know that this doesn't turn out for his physical deliverance.

Paul is going to end up dead before he gets out of prison. But here's the thing. He's not lying. He's not lying because for each and every one of us as Christians, whether we, if we were put in prison, whether we get out of prison or we die a martyr's death like Paul did, we eventually are delivered.

We're delivered from this veil of tears. We're delivered from this world of sin. We're delivered from our own sinful flesh and finally are able to be with Christ. And so that's what Paul is getting at here.

He's going to be delivered no matter what. He says, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not at all be ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body whether by life or by death.

And he recognizes that even if he is required to lay down his life for his confession of faith in Christ, that that is an honor for Christ. Christ is honored in his death. Whether he gets out or is martyred, Christ is honored.

For to me to live is Christ. To die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet, which shall I choose? I cannot tell. I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and to be with Christ, but that is far better.

Indeed it is. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again.

Worthy Conduct, Fearless Witness, and Suffering for Christ

And then he gets to an exhortation, an admonishment for us Christians that applies not only to the Christians in the church at Philippi, but apply to each and every one of us. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Notice here, Paul doesn't say, let your manner of life be worthy of the Ten Commandments. That's the law. That's the thing that condemns us. And you'll note, the law serves its function perfectly when we are convicted of our sin and recognize that we have fallen way short of the glory of God and we cry out to God in mercy.

And so Paul doesn't say, let your life be worthy of the law. He says, let your life be worthy of the gospel, of the forgiveness of sins, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, that Holy Spirit, that Spirit that teaches us to forgive each other, to love one another, to honor each other, to consider others as better than ourselves, that when we come together we are here for the same reason, to receive from Christ the forgiveness of our sins, to hear His word, to feast on His body and blood, and to offer up our prayers to God in one spirit, calling out to Him to meet our needs.

You see, living a life that's worthy of the gospel is one that is not worthy of judgment, but worthy of grace. You see the difference between the two? So standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

And there it is again. Where does he put the emphasis? Not on the law, but on the gospel and the forgiveness of sins. And then not frightened in anything by your opponents. Now I understand that the world we're living in, it's going crazy.

It's bonkers out there and getting bonkersers. Is that a word? Right? It's getting more bonkers. There we go. It's absolutely, the world's losing its mind. I mean, we're headed for a collision somewhere along the line.

And I don't know if outright physical persecution of Christians is just around the corner, or if it's a generation away, but the one thing I can say, it's coming. It's coming down the track. You can hear it.

It's on the tracks already, heading our way, but the whistle sounds like it's a little far off, but it's still barreling down the tracks. All of that being said, when it shows up, what are we as Christians to do?

Paul says, don't be frightened in anything by your opponents. So when your opponent screams in your face, how dare you tell me I'm a sinner? If you keep this up, we're going to remove you from being able to participate in the economy, and you and your whole family are going to die of starvation.

Your response is, uh-huh, really? Having no fear of their threats. And note what Paul says, that when we respond without fear to any of the threats of our opponents, that this then is a clear sign to them of their destruction.

They're going to threaten us, and we're going to go, okay, whatever. And they're inside going to go, uh-oh, this isn't going the way I thought it would. Why? Because we know who our God is. We know that we are forgiven in Christ.

We know that we have been given the kingdom by grace through faith. We know that when Jesus returns, He's going to return in glory to judge the living and the dead, and all of these people who are persecuting us, refusing to hear the word of Christ, refusing to repent, and threatening us with all kinds of harm of body, soul, and spirit, they are going to be the ones who are going to face Christ and explain all of that to Him.

We are going to be in a different situation altogether. So you're going to note then, Paul says this, it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in Him, but also suffer for His sake.

What an interesting word. That's an interesting verb, granted. When we think of the word granted, we've applied for something important. We've applied for a mortgage. We've applied for a new job. We've applied for a different position in our company.

We're hoping that things are going to go in our favor. We're going to get the things that we've applied for and when we do, or if we do, we will see that as being a benefit, a bonus, a plus. I got that mortgage, we were able to buy the house.

I got the raise at work, they promoted me. I got that new job, and now we're able to do this, that, and the thing, and we all know that when those things happen, we've been granted those things. Do we say the same thing when we are made to suffer for Christ?

Woo-hoo! I have been granted to suffer! Yes! Woo-hoo! Yeah! Nobody talks this way, right? But I would point to you this very important historical fact recorded for us in the book of Acts, that when Christ's apostles were first beaten, and when they first shed their blood, or had it shed on account of their confession of Christ, they didn't come out whimpering and going, oh, woe is me!

I'm in so much pain. Does anybody have any penicillin? Oh darn, it's not going to be invented for 1900 more years. No, they didn't. They didn't say, does anybody have any pain relievers? No! When they had their blood shed for the first time and were beaten and scourged, they left rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame and dishonor for the name of Christ.

Huh. So you're going to note here, Paul, writing from prison, is inviting you to join him. And should you join him, then we should see it for what it is, the ultimate honor for Christ. And that when and if we ever suffer in this way, it has been something that we have been granted to do by the grace of God.

And so we should suffer well. It has been granted to you for the sake of Christ that not only should you believe in him, not only should you be forgiven, but it has also been granted to you that you also will suffer for his sake.

Because you and I are engaged in the same conflict that the Apostle Paul was engaged in. In fact, that's the point that he makes. Engaged in the same conflict you saw that I had and now hear that I still have.

Jacob, Peter, Isaiah, and the Scandal of Grace

In fact, a good way to think of it is this way, is that the world's longest war, the longest war in all of human history began when? The Garden of Eden, probably before that. It began up in the heavenly realm when Satan convinced a third of the angels to rebel against God.

And they were ultimately cast out of heaven. And you'll note that that rebellion, that war continues to wage for this day. We are only the latest generation of people who have been raised up in this conflict by Christ.

We who were born rebel sinners, we who are unworthy of anything good from Christ, have been made worthy, forgiven of all of our sins, and get put into the vineyard to do good works. And we are also soldiers who engage in the same conflict.

So brothers and sisters, note this then. I understand that it's easy to think that you're not worthy at all to be used by Christ for anything. But if Christ couldn't use sinners, then he wouldn't be able to use anybody.

And so, since that's all he has to work with, note this, that you are forgiven. And hear again the words of the Apostle Peter from 1 Peter chapter 2. He says of us, You are a chosen race. You are a royal priesthood.

You are a holy nation, and you are a people for Christ's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. You see, Peter even agrees with the Apostle Paul. We have been granted to participate in this conflict, and by faith, like Jacob, we too can preach the gospel.

Is it any wonder then that Isaiah gives us very words that we can preach? Words I've heard preached in the context of evangelism. Take it to heart. Consider it. Hear again the words of our Old Testament text.

Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Today is the day of salvation. When Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, it will no longer be the day of grace. It will no longer be the day of salvation.

It will be the day of judgment. All the grace comes to an end. The grace that has been extended by God the Father through Christ's shed blood on the cross to each of us rebel sinners comes to an end, either upon your death or the return of Jesus.

So if you are hearing my voice today, today is the day that Yahweh may be found, and today is the day that he is promised to be near to us. In fact, Christ says, where two or more are gathered, he is present among us.

So Christ is here today. He is as near as near gets. In fact, so near today we will have the Lord's Supper, and he will be in your mouth and in your stomach and on your lips, there to forgive you of all of your sins.

Call upon Christ while he is near. So let the wicked forsake his ways. Let the unrighteous man his unrighteous thoughts, and let him return to Yahweh so that he may have compassion on him. And that's the point.

God does. It's always an anxiety-causing thing to recognize that we have messed up, that we have transgressed God's law. It is a horribly difficult thing to say, I am guilty, I have sinned, because we fear that God's going to say, yep, that's right, it's about time you figured it out, and then off to hell with you.

Right? But no, the Scriptures are clear that God makes us sinners through his law so that he can give us grace through Christ. So let him return to Yahweh so that Yahweh might have compassion on him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For God's thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. In fact, that's the point, that's the scandal of Christianity. Real sinners, not hypothetical sinners. Real sinners are really forgiven of all of their sins.

It's an absolute scandal. It's a scandal that you've been forgiven and pardoned. It's a scandal that I have been forgiven and pardoned by Christ. I will continue to say it, that when I arrive in the heavenly kingdom, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and all the lowlifes that have been forgiven by Christ are going to be up in arms going, oh my goodness, they're even letting Rose bro in.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel. And that's the point. You see, God has done this because his thoughts are not our thoughts. In our thoughts, we would say, condemn that sinner to hell and how dare you God forgive him.

But when we do that, we condemn ourselves to hell. Because God's thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. As far as the heavens are higher than the earth are so are God's thoughts higher than our ways and his thoughts than our thoughts.

And we thank God for these high thoughts of God, where God has deigned to bring salvation even to the most ungodly of sinners. Sinners like you and like me. And so by grace and through faith then, we also share this gospel message with others.

How could we not? In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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