Isaiah 55:69

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him

while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord,
that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he
will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

1
The LORD is my
h
light and my
i
salvation;
j
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold
1
of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2
When evildoers assail me
to
k
eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3

l
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet
2
I will be confident.
4

m
One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may
n
dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon
o
the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire
3
in his temple.
5
For he will
p
hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will
q
lift me high upon a rock.
6
And now my
r
head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of
s
joy;
t
I will sing and make melody to the LORD.
7

u
Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8
You have said,
v
Seek
4
my face.
My heart says to you,
Your face, LORD, do I seek.
5

9

w
Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
x
O God of my salvation!

The Advance of the Gospel
12 I want you to know, brothers,5 that what has happened to
me has really xserved to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has
become known throughout the whole imperial guard6 and
yto all the rest that zmy imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And
most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my
imprisonment, are much more bold ato speak the word7 without
fear.

19 for I know that fthrough your prayers and gthe help of hthe
Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it
is my eager expectation and hope ithat I will not be at all ashamed,
but that with full jcourage now as always Christ kwill be honored
in my body, lwhether by life or by death. 21 For to me mto live is
Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that
means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot
tell. 23 nI am hard pressed between the two. My desire is oto
depart and pbe with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to
remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25
qConvinced of this, rI know that I will remain and continue
with you all, for your sprogress and tjoy in the faith, 26 so
that in me uyou may have ample cause to glory in Christ
Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

27 Only vlet your manner of life be wworthy8 of the gospel of
Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I
may hear of you xthat you are standing firm in one spirit,
with yone mind zstriving side by side for the faith of the
gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents.
This is aa clear sign to them of their destruction, but bof your
salvation, and that from God. 29 For cit has been granted to you
that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but
also bsuffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same dconflict that
eyou saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who
went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2
After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius1 a day, he sent
them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he
saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said,
You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give
you. 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the
ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And gabout the eleventh hour he
went out and found others standing. And he said to them, Why do
you stand here idle all day? 7 They said to him, Because no one
has hired us. He said to them, You go into the vineyard too. 8
And hwhen evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his
iforeman, Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning
with the last, up to the first. 9 And when those hired about the
eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now
when those hired first came, they thought they would receive
more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on
receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying,
These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal
to us who have borne the burden of the day and jthe scorching
heat. 13 But he replied to one of them, kFriend, I am doing you
no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take
lwhat belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as
I give to you. 15 mAm I not allowed to do what I choose with
what belongs to me? Or ndo you begrudge my generosity?2 16 So
the last will be first, and the first last.


But thats not fair!
Lets say this line together, but this time I want you to emphasis it
with the loudest, deepest, and greatest utterance of whine you
have. Perhaps open up and let your inner child come forth Or
maybe here these words of unfairness!

Its not fair that my brother or sister gets to go out with their
friends while I have sit at home and do my homework.
Its not fair that I have worked years more than my coworker
and yet they get the promotion.
Its not fair that some churches grow while it seems our very
life in this congregation is at risk.
Its not fair that life was too short and my spouse is no longer
with me.
How could you Lord smile on my enemies and show them
grace?
These last worked only one hour, and you have made them
equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and jthe
scorching heat.


This kind of logic revealed in the Gospel today makes no sense to
our American ears. We cry out with the words Injustice has
spoken! How could the master of the house pay them equally?
The last shall be first and first shall be last? Hasnt the good Lord
ever heard of labor unions? How could grace be given to those
who showed up late and work only for such a short time? We
could cry out foul or thats unfair yet Jesus calls us into
a new life, a new way of thinking and being. This is Gods
new economy whereby all labors in the Gospel field are given
the same reward salvation in Christ alone.

Well, life, as you know, isnt fair! That little truism is perhaps no
more evidenced than when people who are devout and faithful to
Christ suffer, while those who worship false gods or not god at all,
prosper. In the ancient world, Christians were martyred while self-
indulgent Caesars rejoiced and delighted in their deaths. In the
modern world the situation is scarcely different. Christians in
Mosul are forced to flee their homeland or die, while crazed
fanatics pillage their land and property in the name of their god.

The unfairness of life is written in the annals of history time again.
The godly sometimes suffer, while the ungodly prosper. When
that happens, the temptation arises for Christians to wonder why
God lets such things happen. Or, to put it another way, the
temptation arises to question Gods will and ways.

This parable speaks to us when we face the temptation to question
the fairness of God. God is good! Which is to say, no matter how
unfair things in the world seem to be, God is generous and good
to us even though we dont deserve His generosity and goodness.
The contrast between God and us couldnt be clearer. Our eye is
bad. We arent always able to discern the things of God. We
arent always able to see good when evil seems to abound. But, we
can, by Gods grace, believe that God is, in all things, for us!

This beloved is life in Gods economy. The same Gospel is
applied to the debt of sin brought forth in the lives of all men.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The very
same good news is relevant and within the grasp of every
sinner whether that person is knee deep in a life contrary to
the will of God or be one who has lived a good upright life
fulfilling the demands of the Law. This upside down logic
pulls the rug out from under our prideful feet causing us to
rethink how we approach evangelism and what truly is fair.


APPLICATION
1. Face it, life is not fair and life lived in following Jesus
certainly will have its unfair moments!
a. 12 I want you to know, brothers,5 that what has
happened to me has really xserved to advance the
gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the
whole imperial guard6 and yto all the rest that zmy
imprisonment is for Christ
b. The decision to leave the ELCA
c. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go
against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I
stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.
d. The charges against Luther were unfair. Why would
discovering the riches of Gods grace bring such unfair
realities to Luther? He challenged the very being of the
church a revolt would certainly come. For he was not
ashamed of the Gospel!
2. The same Savior died for the one who barely lifts a
finger to the one who has broken their back for the
church.
a. The message here goes beyond just who works harder,
who does more, who gives more. But rather it sheds
light on the realities of Gods abundant grace.
b. We are all in this together, we need each other, we need to
rally the troops, call the labors together and proclaim the
harvest is great and the labors are few.
c. Together let us proclaim and live the words of Psalm
27 as a church: yet
2
I will be confident.
4

m
One thing
have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I
may
n
dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my
life, to gaze upon
o
the beauty of the LORD and to
inquire
3
in his temple.
3. Suffer together for the sake of the Gospel that is the good
news that Jesus died once and for ALL bringing salvation
from sin.
a. 29 For cit has been granted to you that for the sake of
Christ you should not only believe in him but also
bsuffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same dconflict
that eyou saw I had and now hear that I still have.
b. 6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon
him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let
him return to the Lord, that he may have
compassion on him, and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon.
c. but God shows his love for us in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
d. To the one who was here in 1965 and helped begin this
congregation to the ones yet to join this fellowship of
believers God declares that the harvest is great and
labors are few. As He said unto Peter, Come! Follow
me. I know you feel tired, I know you have worked
hard, but I need you. Jesus declares to you today the
message of salvation is necessary for the masses to hear
yet today. The world needs to hear the Word and
receive the promises of the sacraments.
e. We give thee but thine own,
Whate'er the gift may be:
All that we have is thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from thee
f. All that we have is a trust from God. This beloved is
Gods economy. God pays the same to us all For God
so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son
that who believe in Him would not die but have
everlasting life.
g. Jesus should cry FOUL. Jesus should cry UNFAIR.
But rather he looks with love on you and me and
declares, Verily you will be with me in PARADISE!