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October 18, 2026 - Matthew 22:15-22
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Do you know who said that? FDR “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” JFK “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall.” Ronald Reagan. For those of you who were around when those statements were said, even for those of you who weren’t, most of us, if not all of us, have heard those quotes. Most of us know the context behind those quotes. Why? because, no doubt, they are powerful statements that continue to resonate in our lives today. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” That too resonates in hearers even today, why? It is because it speaks to something that is not only true, but it is also something common to everyone living in society. When Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s,” his audience was astounded. They thought they had trapped him, but really, He had outwitted them again. Of course, Matthew did not record this story to show us that Jesus was smarter than his adversaries. Rather he wrote it and we read it today to remind us of something that is true both for them and for everyday citizens like us. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” Now, did you notice the make-up of the crowd? It was the Pharisees and the Herodians. Understand why this is important. The Pharisees were the largest and by far the most conservative religious group in Israel. By and large the Pharisees were good people. However, no doubt there were some hypocrites among them… just like there are some hypocrites in any group. But the point is this, the Pharisees were devout people who strived to live their life according to God’s Word. They studied Scripture. They taught them, debated them, and most importantly, they tried to understand and live according to God’s purpose. By and large the Pharisees objected to the Roman’s occupation of Israel. They felt that Roman unfairly and inappropriately inhabited the Jewish Promise Land. As you can imagine, they, therefore, objected to the paying of taxes to the Roman government. But notice it was not just the Pharisees in that group on that occasion. There was also a group of people called the Herodians. The Herodians were Herod’s posy, and most importantly, they supported Roman occupation and Roman taxes. Understand, I tell you this to point out that Jesus had been set up. No matter what answer Jesus had given on that occasion, Jesus was going to answer incorrectly for one of those two groups. Either way crowd was going to be mad. The text says “they meant to entangle him in his words.” But “Jesus was aware of their malice.” That word malice in Greek is the same word for the evil one used in the Lord’s Prayer. When Jesus said in Verse 18 “why do you put me to the test.” In the Greek it literally says why do you tempt me. Notice the implication. In this question from the crowd, the implication is that Jesus heard not the voice of a faithful follower trying to seek and do the right thing. Rather, He heard the very voice of Satan trying to entrap him. Recall Satan’s temptation in Chapter 4 of Matthew. You will notice there too the questions were religiously phrased yet politically charged. This is not to suggest politics is a bad thing. But even when it is, Romans 13 maintains, “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God.” Yet like in all politics, if Jesus had simply said “Yes, you should be paying taxes to Rome.” You can imagine all the Pharisees condemning him and arguing why it was wrong to support an evil secular government. So too, if Jesus said “no, you should not pay taxes”… you can imagine what would happen. The Herodians would be up in arms ready to turn him over to the authorities. In Verse 18 it says “Jesus perceived their evil and he said, why do you test me.” Does that surprise You, that he knew their wickedness? We too know that Jesus knows our wickedness. He knows our intentions. And he knows all the wrong we have ever done. No doubt this should lead us to confession. Lord, I was wrong. My motive was wrong. My action was wrong. My thought was wrong. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can fool everyone around you, but the Lord already knows. So confess it to God. I’m so glad we don’t have to hold it all in. We don’t have to pretend we are something we are not. We don’t have to live as hypocrites. Jesus said, “you come to me pretending to be nice.” “Pretending to have a question.” But that is not your intention at all. Have you ever encountered that? Someone comes up to you asks a question but all they really want is to quarrel with you. A lot of time the Church gets accused of being a bunch of hypocrites. But in all fairness, I think all people at times are hypocrites. We all fall short and perhaps trying to be something we are not is actually is a sign of a positive thing. That being said, we as the Christians, should strive to avoid hypocrisy. What does that mean? It simply means, be open and honest about who you are. Don’t pretend. Don’t wear a mask. Be you. Admit your weaknesses and your error. It is only when you walk around like a super saint that you are playing the hypocrite. The antidote to hypocrisy is being open and honest… it is confession and repentance. And isn’t that exactly what Jesus calls us to do… he calls for us to acknowledge our sin and to turn from it. In Verse 18 “Jesus, aware of their evil, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.” One other thing I noticed in this text is that it never seems like Jesus ever has any money. Remember that time when the disciples needed to pay a temple tax so Jesus commanded the disciples to cast out their nets and the first fish they caught had money in its mouth? Of course, we know they had some money and Judas held on to it, my point is that Jesus never concerns himself with money. How do you feel when you have no money in your pocket? I don’t know about you but I feel embarrassed when I get to the store and realize I have nothing in my wallet. What about those times when you buy something under a dollar and you have to pay for it with a card…. Do any of you find that embarrassing? I grant that Jesus does tell us entire parables about being good stewards of money, but none the less, understand Jesus models for us time nd time again don’t be worry about money, nor be overly concerned about it, and certainly, don’t live for it. In verse 19 Jesus held up a Denarius and Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Well then give it to Caesar, but give to God the things of God.” The coin had Caesar’s picture on it, so give it to him. In other words, give to the world what belongs to the world… Pay your taxes. I’m sure you’ve heard it said, “there is nothing more-sure in all the world than death and taxes.” I saw a recent debate over the death tax. You better believe it, you’ll even pay taxes even after you die? Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s… Here is the important part… render to God the things that are God’s.” This is a beautiful teaching because the image on the coin is Caesar. But what has the image of God on it? In all of creation mankind is the only thing that has been inscribed with the image of God. God is saying he is not concerned about your money, but He is concerned about you. He wants a relationship with you. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are nearing the end of the Church year. Given that in just a couple of weeks Advent will usher in for us a new year, with new hopes, new dreams, make it your new year’s resolution this Advent to give yourself to the Lord. Colossians 4:1 says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and FOR him.” I cannot help but wonder whether or not the Jewish people would have ever had to pay taxes to the Romans if they had just given themselves to the Lord in the first place. Interesting question to speculate upon, but either way, what I want you to know is that the Lord loves you, he has made you, and redeemed you… and more than that, you bear his image. So that beings said, don’t get overly concerned about the things of this world, rather, turn it over to God. I guarantee that when you do, when you pray to him, confess to him, when you look to him for comfort and strength, that is what he will provide, and more than that, he will give you wonder and amazement. Let me just leave you with this, Jesus left people who were looking to entrap him with wonder and amazement. How much more will he give to those that believe? In the Grace of God which surpasses all understanding, trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Amen.
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October 11, 2026 - Matthew 22:1-14
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father and Lord and savior Jesus Christ. This morning our Gospel text is from Matthew Chapter 22. We are told in Verse 1 “And again Jesus spoke to them in parables.” Recall for the past several weeks that we have been reflecting on some parables told by Jesus. To be honest, they are all similar in theme, especially given the context. Jesus has made is way from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are told after his Triumphant entry on Palm Sunday, after He turned over tables in the temple, and after the leaders of the Jews once again interrupted and interrogated him. Last week we took note of the fact that Jesus is nearing the time of his crucifixion, and that the parable of the evil tenants was a cold-blooded story in which he foretold his own death to his own killers. This week’s parable was delivered to the same audience, and unsurprisingly, it has a similar theme... the theme is that the messiah is coming and the religious leaders have rejected Him. In this parable Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a certain king. In the parable the king stands as God the Father. And He arranged a marriage feast for this Son. Jesus is the groom and his Church is the bride. I suppose for the purpose of application it might depend on how you see yourself. Technically the Church is the bride but are we not also those who have been invited to the feast, and could we not also be the servants doing the inviting. This parable quickly becomes a loaded metaphor. Revelation 19:7-9 talks about this marriage feast that awaits us. It says Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this down: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” All things considered this Parable from Matthew 22 is a picture of the marriage supper that is recorded in Revelation 19… for there is a king who arranged to have a marriage feast for his Son. In verse 3 he sent out his servants to invite guests and the guests were not willing to come. Unfortunately, that is the way it is with God. God has been sending invitations to his feast for thousands of years. It goes back to the time of Moses, and Isaiah, and Jerimiah, and Prophets. God has been inviting, and unfortunately, the guests have been declining for as long as time itself. Even today, look around, we invite people to come to the feast and so few actually do. As you can imagine this would have been particularly offensive to the king doing the inviting. It would really have been down right shocking. Considering the fact that a wedding is the biggest social event that most people ever have in their life, considering a wedding is a community celebration, and not only that, it is the King’s son; and you would have to be crazy to pass up the invitation to dine at Prince Harry’s wedding feast at Buckingham Palace or Taylor Swifts wedding at Madison Square Garden. Understand, this is a picture of turning down what God intends for us. God has provided an invitation for all people to have eternal life. He says, come receive life in abundance… come to this wedding feast and be full. I have so much for you. But what do they do? They rejected the invitation. No doubt the same thing happens today. We, as God’s servants, go out and invite. Come. Come to Jesus. Come be part of the celebration. Come dine on the fattened calf. But for whatever reason they don’t come. I cannot help but think those who reject are kind of like a person hanging off a cliff holding on to a dead limb. As they are holding on for dear life, while the Lord is trying to talk to them. Hear what he is saying. God is telling you, let go. Let go and I’ll catch you. Besides what kind of existence is it anyhow to always feel like your falling. Hear God saying to you “Come. Come to me. For I’ve prepared for you a wedding feast.” In verse 3 they reject the invitation and in verse 4 the king sends out even more servants. Tell them “I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. All you have to do is come.” Can you imagine making light of an invitation to the king’s wedding feast? His oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered. I understand if you wanted steak tonight you could head to Ruth Chris’ Road House and have it prepared exactly how you like it. But back then eating meat was something very special, and more than that, this was the “fattened calf” the best of the best. But again, they made light of it. They treated it as if it were no big deal, and they went their way. Can you imagine telling a queen or even a celebrity “thanks for the invite but I’ve got better things to do”? Oh yeah like what? To their credit, they were busy. Notice they did not go home. They went back to their farms and businesses. They were busy working people. No doubt we are all busy working people, but too busy for the things of the Lord? Let that not be so. For a Christian to say they are too busy for the things of the Lord would be like someone who owns a restaurant saying I’m too busy to cook. It would be like a teacher who said they are too busy to create a lesson plan or a plumber too busy to fix pipes…. How is it any different being a Christian that says I’m too busy to come to church… too busy to spend time in fellowship with one another. Too busy to do the church’s house-keeping. Brothers and sisters in Christ, be careful with being too busy… be careful with making excuses. I find it interesting that in Luke Chapter 14 Jesus tells a very similar parable to the one we have in Matthew Chapter 22. It is a different parable but the similarities are no doubt striking. In the parable in Luke 14 there is a man that puts on a great banquet. As he sends out servants inviting guests, all his guests decline the invitation with an excuse. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ Consider the excuses. I bought a piece of land and I must go and see it. When is the last time you bought a piece of land without seeing it? How about this one, I bought five yoke of oxen I must go examine them. You may not be a farmer, but would you buy a house sight unseen. Would you buy a car without test driving it? Surely, you would not, and I hope you can sense, therefore, there is something not quite right with these excuses… I mean, consider the final excuse. ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ You mean to tell me, you cannot come to a wedding feast because you have a wife. What woman doesn’t love wedding cake? These are terrible excuses… and allow me to suggest they are not true. That being said, I’m happy that I’m not the judge of excuses. But understand Jesus will “call it for what it is”, a bunch of lame excuses. God offers us a banquet feast and many will not come. Jesus offers us eternal life and many will say they are too busy with their current life to care. If it is not bad enough already, some people are spiteful and openly oppose the Gospel. The parable suggests, some of those invited beat up and killed the servants. It is hard to say as to whether they hated the message or its author, but either way there is certainly something wrong with that and the king was right to seek justice. In Verse 8 the wedding feast went on as planned and lo and behold there were no guests. Why? Was the wedding not lavish enough? Was the food not good enough for them? If anything, those who were invited were obviously not worthy. Just understand, it had nothing to do with what they did or who they were, but everything to do with the fact that they rejected the invitation. Worthiness is not based upon what you do or what you don’t do. It has nothing to do with who you are… or if you are a good person or if you’re not. Rather, our worthiness is based on the invitation… and we have all been invited. In verse 9 the king told his servants, hit the road and invite the good, bad, the indifferent… invite everyone because God desires all people to be saved… that means people like you and people like me. That means people that look like you and people that don’t. That means people you like and people you don’t. That means the invitation includes your archenemies and your best friend. In verse 10 the wedding hall was filled, filled with both bad and good. The point is that everyone is invited and everyone can be covered by the blood of Jesus. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” This sounds odd given he was invited and then thrown out. It’s so odd that shockingly enough, I one time had a visitor arrive late to church. He sat down in the back. I read this this lesson from Matthew Chapter 22. And he got up, verbally said this church is not for me and he left. He didn’t wait for the sermon for me to explain it to him. But recall the words of Revelation 19. Recall the fact that the wedding garment was given to the bride to wear. The picture provided is that our garments are soiled. When we try to do things ourselves, we just make it worse. After Adam and Eve sinned what did they do? They attempted to fashion garments for themselves. With what? With leaves. They did not do a good job, so what did God do? He fashioned for them garments made from leather. So what I suspect is this, along with the invitation the guests were given wedding garments. This guest, in particular, was invited but he did not put on the garment that was given. In other words, by rejecting the garment given to him he abused the grace that had originally got him into the event. Instead of having fond memories of that wedding, now he will be hunted by it forever. Can you see yourselves in this parable? Are you the bride, one of the servants, or one of the guests? Either way, by God’s grace He has given us you an invitation, and a garment, and more than that, He has given you Christ. You are now clothed with Him. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the invitation has been issued, and the righteousness of God, the wedding garment, has been given. I know my capacity to mess-up my place in the wedding feast all to well. But give me Jesus. For He has said, and I have heard, that if I follow him and if I listen to him, if I live in him, and cling to him, and if I receive his body and blood that He will forgive my sins and clothe me with His righteousness. You name it… the wedding feast, the invitation, the wedding garment, it is all grace and all free. No doubt it was not free to God, actually it cost him a lot, but know this, it is free to you because “my friend” you are His guest.
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October 4, 2026 - Matthew 21:33-46
This week’s sermon is based upon this week’s Gospel Lesson from Matthew Chapter 21. To give you a bit of context, this week’s lesson is a confrontation. It takes place after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. It is after he turned over tables in the temple. It is after he withered a fig tree on the side of the road for being fruitless. And after all of that, this is right after he was once again interrupted and interrogated while teaching in the temple. They said, “By what authority do you say these things!” And to be fair, Jesus did not directly answer that question, but he did respond to it… with this parable. Jesus said there was a certain land owner. In the parable the land owner stands as God. Jesus said He planted a vineyard, the nation of Israel. We are told the vineyard was leased or rented to vine dressers and who were they? They were the religious leaders, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the chief priest, the scribes, the elders of the Jews… the very people currently questioning Jesus’ authority. Ultimately, the picture is that God, the land owner, has made this beautiful vineyard, the land of Israel, and he has leased it out to various leaders. The text says, “when fruit time drew near he sent his servants to collect rent.” In the context, it was not money the vineyard owner is requiring but part of the vineyard’s harvest. Understand, this would have been a very common situation. In Verse 34 the land owner did as you might expect. “He sent a servant to pick up some of his share.” In the parable the vinedressers beat one servant, stoned one, and killed another.” In the parable who are the servants? The picture here is that the servants are the prophets… those sent to preach the Word of God. In the Old Testament reading, Isaiah was sent to the leaders of Israel to tell them an unmistakably similar parable. Do you know what they did to Isaiah? The Jewish Talmud states he suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two under the orders of Manasseh. Jeremiah spoke a similar parable about a vineyard bearing no fruit. The king beat him for it. Do you know what happened to the prophet Zachariah? He was murdered in the temple of all places. Recall what the people wanted to do to Moses when they were thirsty in the wilderness. They threatened to stone him in Exodus 17. Think about it. I normally think oil rigs as a dangerous job. Logging is a dangerous job as well as roofing. Believe it or not airplane pilots are number 3 on the list of most dangerous jobs in America… that does not make me want to fly any time soon… In those days, being a prophet was on the list of number 1 most dangerous jobs in Israel. Can you believe that? They were God’s servants called to go to God’s people… that really should not have been a dangerous job. To be honest I wonder what the tenants were thinking. Maybe they thought the land owner had been absent for so long that he no longer cared about the vineyard and they would get away with it. Maybe a better question was what was the land owner thinking. Why did the owner keep sending servants? I don’t know about you, but I would have stopped sending servants after the first one was beaten. In fact, if I was the land owner I must admit, I would have punished the tenants. I would have put them in their place, and to be sure, they would have regretted to have ever been my tenants. I’m sure the listeners would have agreed with me had they had not notice the parable was all about them. To be honest, I think we are terribly lucky that God does not think or operate like we do. In contrast, God has a long-standing history of sending opportunity upon opportunity to obstinate people. Have you ever stopped to consider the opportunities that God sends your way even though we continually fail Him? Have you ever reflected on how and why God seems to treat us with such shocking mercy? The truth is that God does not desire the death of any sinner and His goal for us is that we all come to repentance. That is what Peter said in 2 Peter Chapter 3, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” And I suppose that is why he kept sending servants because He wanted to provide the tenants ample opportunity to repent. The shocking part of the parable is what comes next. Instead of sending the police, which we all admit he should have done a long time ago, instead He sent to the tenants his own son. The point of the parable is that the land owner exudes patience. He certainly seems to be holding out hope that maybe they will listen. “I know they have not respected my servants, but perhaps maybe they will respect my son.” Did you notice that Verse 38 provided the motive of the religious leaders for why they wanted to kill God’s only Son? In very simple language Jesus asserts it is, “because they wanted the vineyard.” Let us not miss the fact that Jesus is telling this parable to the very people that will kill Him in just a couple of days. Can you sense the tension as Jesus is looking into their eyes of His murderers and they are just looking back at him thinking “come let us kill the son so we can have the inheritance.” This is a cold blooded parable in which he foretells his own death to his very killers. It is a shame that they thought they would gain something by killing the Son. God had blessed them with abundance and they did not want to give any back. “We have this position of authority and we will kill the Son in order to keep it.” As it appears, this is an acknowledgement that Jesus is God’s Son. These were, after all, Biblical scholars who knew the Scriptures better than we know them. On the surface I’m sure they could look at Jesus and notice he did fulfill many of the prophesies. The only problem was that deep down they did not want to admit it because of what it might mean for them. Do you ever think like that? Do you think that Jesus gets in the way of you enjoying your life? Today we are picking on the Chief Priests and the elders but God’s vineyard for us is our lives. He made us. God gave you your life, your body, talents, and the time you have… and he is expecting fruit. I find in our context, the hardest thing is not to convince people that Jesus is God but to convince them that they need to give back to the Lord. “I like what I have and I understand enough about Jesus to know that if I follow him I can no longer be the Lord of my life. If I follow him, I will have to give up some things and I’m not willing to do that.” You might find that this is your struggle. Jesus said “the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” Are you willing to acknowledge that God is the architect and we are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and without Him the arch falls in on itself? There is an old rabbinic story which states then Solomon’s temple was being constructed the very first stone that was delivered from the quarry was the capstone, but given that it is the last stone needed in construction, the builders said, “What is this? This doesn’t look like any of the other stones we are using. Put it over there for now.” Well, years went by and the grass grew over the capstone and everyone forgot about it. Finally, the construction was almost done and the builders said “send us the capstone” and the word came back from the quarry “we already did”. At first they were confused. Then someone remembered what they had done with the very first stone sent to them. It was taken from its lowly position among the overgrown weeds where it had been forgotten, and it was honored in the final ceremony to complete the temple. Thus the scripture says, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” Without Jesus everything falls apart. If you reject, deny, or kick out the Son… I’m sure you can guess what happens next. Jesus is the capstone and “the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” In the Book of Isaiah Jesus is the stone that the leaders stumble over. In the book of Daniel, He is the wrenching ball that will bring judgment upon the world. That is not a particularly pleasant image but recall the parable. This parable is good news for us even though it might be bad news for the Son. Think about what it means for you that Jesus was not sent to die for the righteous, but for sinners. If you feel like a failure, that you have blown it really bad, that is not a bad position to be in because Jesus takes broken people and He makes them complete. Most importantly, he keeps no record of how many chances and opportunities he has given to you. In the end it is not about how many times you have messed up, but it is all about how constant and how unwavering His love is for you. It is about the fact that he is in control not you. In the parable the tenants thought they were in control. As it turns out, God is in control... Trust him. “For if you oh Lord, took a record of sin, Oh Lord who could stand. But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” May the grace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
September 27, 2026 - Matthew 21:23-27
Has anybody ever asked you the question, “Who do you think you are”? When you hear that question, you know you’re in trouble. Whether it’s from a spouse or a parent or a boss, when someone asks you the question “Who do you think you are?”, they’re normally asking for your name. It’s a challenge. And that’s exactly what’s going on here in this text. We come to the topic this morning of authority. Even the word authority is a strong word. It evokes strong responses. Generally speaking, I think it’s safe to say that our sinful nature just flat out resists authority and that it doesn’t go away when we come to faith. We have been hearing all week long that even AI resists authority. Why? We created it. And we naturally resist authority whether that’s the authority of our parents or teachers or bosses or governments or God. But that natural resistance is not the same thing as saying it’s right to resist. We probably all agree, if we stop and think about it, that society can’t operate well without some people being in positions of authority. The alternative would be chaos. Imagine a family without someone in authority. Families must have parents in authority. Imagine schools without someone in authority. Teachers and administrators have to have authority. Imagine a community where there’s no mayors or city council, no policemen. Even in churches we have councils and elders. I remember from my earliest days when my sisters would tell me to do something my standard response was “you’re not the boss of me.” A popular bumper sticker that that came out in the 1960s, and you still see it today “Always question authority”. Christopher Hitchens was a renowned atheist. One time I saw him in a BBC interview verbally attacking Mother Teresa. Can you imagine attacking the things she stood for? Here is what Christopher Hitchens said about authority… He said “one of the beginnings of human emancipation is the ability to simply laugh at authority.” That’s how he lived his life. He was speaking specifically about a religious authority. He was speaking about the Scriptures. No doubt there are different types of authority. There’s an authority of competence which is basically the more competent a person knows you are the more confident they’ll be to listen to you. There’s the authority of position. You know the boss is a position that can put teeth behind what he says. “Do what I say or be fired.” There’s also an authority of personality. There are certain people that are simply easier to listen to than others. There is also an authority of character like a credit rating. Someone with high integrity, honesty, reliability, loyalty… people are willing to listen to a person like that. Jesus possessed all of these, and yet in the passage this morning, Jesus’ authority is clearly being questioned. The ESV’s heading for this section says “The authority of Jesus challenged”. And that’s helpful because we know what’s coming in the next few verses. But one of the problems with sectioning the Bible off as we sometimes do is that we tend to remove those verses from their context. We could forget the context here is right after the triumphal entry of Palm Sunday and also right after the cleansing of the temple. They’ve clearly recovered from the shocked of having Jesus come in and turn the tables over on the money changers. They’ve recovered from it and now they’re back on the offensive. Now they’re demanding an explanation “by what authority are you doing these things?” These things referring to the triumphal entry, to the cleansing of the temple, and to the withering of the fig tree. To be fair, they already knew the answer to their question. And they were hoping to trap Jesus. Because you don’t ask someone by what authority do you do these things unless you are already rejecting his claim to authority. Why did they set a trap? Because he was treading on their turf. Because Jesus entered the temple court, and while he was teaching, he treaded on their authority. He over turned tables. He offended them. “If anyone is the boss of this place, it’s us… not you.” If you look closely in the text, they actually interrupt him. Jesus is teaching people and they come up to him and interrupt him. Jesus has just completed three huge symbolic actions. He’s just rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to cheering crowds crying hosanna hosanna. Then he flipped tables in the temple, and then he cursed the fig tree for failing to bear fruit. The symbolism is suggesting “I’m here”. “I’m the king.” “I’m the one in authority.” “I’m the one that has the ability to come and call a thing what it is… a fruitless tree.” Jesus replied to them, “I will ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” The beauty of the trap, in their minds, is that if Jesus says he gave himself the right, they will condemn him immediately as a blasphemer. If he says “I’m doing this on the authority of God”, they will say who are you? You haven’t been to the seminary. You have no training. You know nothing about God. If he said the people give me this authority. They would say he was rabble rouser and a revolutionary. Regardless of what he says, they think they got him. Because in their minds, it was their temple and he’s in their stomping ground. Where are the places or the concepts in your own life where his opinion about how you live are simply unwelcome? I’ll tell you one of the silly places it is for me… in the car. In the car I don’t care what Jesus or anyone else says about how I live my life. But we all have these pockets in our lives where we say to Jesus this is my area. Maybe you can have my marriage. You can have you can have my kids, but when I’m at work, I’m at work. And you can keep all of that authority to yourself. Maybe it is in your marriage and you say “you don’t know how much hurt I’ve experienced. You don’t know how much pain I’ve gone through. You don’t know how neglected I’ve been. And the rules are off. The gloves are off. I don’t have to listen to your authority on this subject. Where are the places where you say “Jesus, don’t get in my way.” Instead, we should be saying, “Jesus I want you to be king over all of it.” “I welcome your authority into my life.” “I want you to be my authority in my marriage. “I want you to have authority when I’m in my car. I want you to be an authority over all of my life. They have come to interrupt him and to interrogate him. And Jesus throws a question right back at them. He says “from where did John’s baptism come? From heaven or from man?” It’s worth asking why does he bring up John of all of the evidences that he could have appealed to. Why does he bring up John? Because he wants to remind them of John and his baptism. He wants to remind them of that moment where John baptizes Jesus and when the dove descended from heaven and a voice from heaven declared, “this is my son with whom I am well pleased.” And if they were to say John was wrong, they know the crowds would disagree and turn on them. You also cannot disagree with what God himself had said from heaven. Now on a side note, recall what Jesus chose to do with all this authority. At his Baptism he humbled himself to descend into the sin filled waters of the Jordan alongside the soldiers and tax collectors and ultimately you and I. He took the judgement John had just pronounced onto himself. Jesus did that not just to fully identify with us but to be our Savior. And as John had testified, “You are the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” What truths is Jesus teaching us in this passage? How you and I respond to Christ’s authority and the authority of His Word really is a spiritual diagnostic of the true condition of our hearts (not what we might profess the condition of our hearts to be but what our true condition of our hearts is). Sometimes I counsel people as a pastor and people will come to me and say I know what the Bible says about marriage and divorce but I’m not happy in this marriage. I know what the Bible says about business ethics but if I play by the rules I’ll never achieve anything in the business world. I know what the Bible says about dating and how I should honor Christ in my dating life but that was written a long time ago. I’d like to think none of us here would stand up and say “I reject Christ’s authority”, but when he begins to demand his rights of lordship in various areas of our lives, and we don’t really want to give lordship up, then we’re really challenging his authority. And I believe whole heartedly that if Christ was truly Lord of your life, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere other than in worship every Sunday. The practical expression of our acknowledgement of His Lordship is that we bow the knee and accept his authority and seek to live with the Spirit’s help. May we be led to identify the areas in our life where we wrestle and we resist his authority, if even in ignorance. Because ultimately, in the words of John Calvin, “there is nothing holier or better or safer than to content ourselves with the authority of Christ alone.” Are you content? Or do you find yourself saying, “Who do you think you are?” Matthew 28:18 Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” The voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” John had said, “Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” May Christ be my authority now and always. In the grace of God, which surpasses all understanding, trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.
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September 20, 2026 - Matthew 20:1-16
Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace is the unmerited favor of God. It is given freely by God. We don’t deserve it… none of us do. We don’t achieve it… none of us could. Grace is dependent not upon you or I but upon God and God alone. Understandably, we have a hard time getting used to this. That is why this parable is so important for our consideration. We are tempted to think if we work hard that God owes us more. Just remember you are not saved by your good works. Works comes after we are saved. That point is not made obvious in the parable, but explaining that was not the purpose of the parable, and that is why I’m making it to you. Paul makes this very clear in Ephesians Chapter 2. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. However, we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” In other words, we do not serve God to be saved… however, we do serve God because we are saved. And by the grace of God, we find ourselves in his vineyard as his hired hands each with a job to do. What is your Job? Good question. I understand you may not be vocationally called into churchwork, but you are still called. Consider where God has placed you. What are your gifts? Who has God placed in your life? Children, Grandchildren… neighbors? Who do you talk to? Where do you go? You see, I like to look at our life in those terms. When you do, you will begin to answer the questions: “God, what do you have in store for me today?” “Who am I going to run into and who would you like me to minister to.” We all have a job… just let the Spirit lead one day at a time. In the parable the land owner hired by the day. This is a little less common today but we still do this too. We hire a plumber or an electrician for a day or a half a day. Sometimes big box stores are changing over their inventory and they will hire several employees for a single day. In Jesus’ day that is the way it worked. Men would stand in the marketplace waiting to be hired in the morning and upon getting work they would get paid for the day that evening. The vineyard owner went out early in the morning to hire laborers and they agreed upon the payment of a denarius… minimum wage. At the third hour the vineyard owner went out to the market place, saw men standing idle, 4 and he said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard. Only this time he did not specify the pay. “whatever is right I will give you.” He did that again and again and again through the day. Even at the eleventh hour, we are talking 5pm, it was one hour from the end of the work day, and yet seeing several people standing idly, the vineyard owner invited them to come work. “Why have you been standing there idle, (the connotation is why are you lazy, useless, careless, unproductive) all day long?” Come and work for me and I’ll pay you what is right. I think deep down inside that’s what we all want. We want to do something worthwhile. None of us what to feel like we’ve been lazy, unproductive, or careless. Who would want to look back at their life and say I spent it being idle, doing nothing… The truth is this, if you are working for Jesus, your life is anything but idle or useless or a waste. I often tell shut-ins even you can do work for the kingdom of God. You can be a prayer warrior. Here is a list of names and right now maybe this is your calling. As I reflect upon how much work there is to be done and how few volunteers there are, sometimes it is helpful for me to remind myself that maybe the problem is that they have not been asked. To be sure, some will have excuses, but for most people they just simply have not been asked or invited. Brothers and sisters hear this as your invitation, there is work to be done, it is not too late to get involved. We may have different abilities, different talents, but we have all been hired by God. The picture in the parable is that the workers hear a Word of invitation, receive a Word of direction, and they set out to do the work in God’s vineyard. Let’s look at the big picture. Some have come at 6 AM at the break of dawn and have worked all way. Some have come in at 9 and noon at 3 and at 5. And that is true for us as well. There are some of us here that have been Baptized into the church as infants and then we were raised in the Christian faith to the extent that we have been in church from our earliest memory. There are some that come to faith in 3rd hour when they hit their teen years and there is nothing wrong with that because there is still a lot of work ahead of them. I know some people who came to faith in their 30’s. That is kind of like the 12’0 clock… but even so there is still a good bit of daylight left. Some people come to faith in the 9 hour in their fifties or sixties… and there still is nothing wrong with that either. Some people come to faith in the 11th hour in the eighties or nineties. I baptized a man on his deathbed. You see, the parable is teaching it is never too late. 13, 30, 65, 85 you can join us. “We’ve been waiting and You’re just in time.” I recently heard a faith story of famous baseball legion Ty Cobb. Apparently he lived a very faithless and crude life but at the end of his life he converted to Christianity. He would tell people to not wait until the 9th inning and that he wished he had known Jesus earlier. I heard a similar story about Steve McQueen. He lived the life of a Hollywood tough guy and much later converted to Christianity and before he died. He allegedly said, 'My only regret in life is that I was not able to tell people about what Christ did for me.' I’m sure we have all heard stories like that over the years. I’ve witnessed people confessed faith on their death beds at the 11th hour plus some… It does not matter who we are, where you have been, if you are 10 or 110. Jesus is inviting us to come and be part of his vineyard. A biblical commentator Dave Guzik said, “the image is that the land owner had an inexhaustible amount of work for those willing to work. And the impression is that he was surprised to find people idle because he had plenty of work to give them.” Think about it, there is always going to be work. There is always more that could be done. Yet evening does come and the work will be silenced. At that time the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, begin with the last, end with the first. No doubt what follows stretches our sense of fairness. I’m sure the people hired at the 11th hour were excited (even astonished) when they received a full day’s wage. We worked one hour and got a whole 100 bucks. As you can imagine, I’m sure the first group who worked the whole day assumed that if the people who worked one hour got a whole denarius then the people who worked all day would get even more. Has this ever happened to any of you? You work hard for the Lord and you begin to expect more. I’m sure you know what it’s like. You come at 6 in the morning to work the sausage supper. You set up tables. You work in the hot shed over the boiling oil. You collect money all day and hand our food. At 11:00 some new volunteers arrive just as the service is ending. At about 1:00 people who went to church and finished eating now volunteer to help clean up. All the while you have been there the whole time. The Apostles expected to get more because they were part of the circle of 12. They expected to rule with Jesus and sit at his right hand. Do you remember what Jesus said, “he said the first will be last and the last will be first.” Realistically, you might begin to walk with Jesus and you might realize you have even more problems then before. It could be due to your recent perception change but it might be true. God never promised you the absence of problems. But what he did promise you was that in faith you will no longer be walking alone. He will be walking with you. Now just because Jesus is walking with us does not change the fact that some of us worked all day for the same pay as the guy you came at the last minute. But consider this, are you getting ripped off? Who has the better life the person serving in God’s vineyard his entire life or the person that came in the last years of his life? “While all those other people were out having fun, God made me work so hard and I resent him for it.” I’ve never heard anyone said that. Why? Because serving God is always better than sitting idle in the market. Besides it is also a privilege and at no point would I ever want to live without the knowledge of God. I don’t care if I were a doctor or a judge making a lot of money. Without God, everything under the sun is meaningless…. Those are not my words King Solomon said that. And whether or not you have worked hard, whether or not you could or should have come sooner, ultimately eternal life is not based on what you have done. Your Salvation is based on the owner of the vineyard. Your salvation is based on the grace of God… something we do not deserve. You are right to feel it is unfair if you go to work in the morning and another person clocks-in in the late afternoon and still gets the same pay, that is not fair. But, that is not what this parable is about. It is not about fairness because every one of us is given something we don’t deserve. Paul says, “the wages of sin is death.” And we deserve eternal separation from God. That’s what we have earned. All of us! In the parable of the prodigal son, the father ran out to meet his son and he threw a big party for him. Do you remember how the other son felt? Wait a second, he went and spent all the inheritance. He went and partied and lived unrighteous and I have been here the whole time working for you. You see, that parable has a similar image with a similar message. And the message is this, God our Father graciously receives sinners. Truth be told, I thank God every day for not being like me. If I were an employer I would pay people for when they worked and how much they did. What Jesus is saying is that we should rejoice at the graciousness of God. Because without it, none of us would be saved. No it is not fair and thanks be to God that it’s not. “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree to work for a denarius?” Did you notice how they argued and complained and the lord responded by calling them a friend. How amazing is that? You are a friend of God. Now take what he has given you. He died so that you might have eternal life. Take your talents, and your gifts, and go to work? Go and use them for the benefit of his vineyard. The section ends with Jesus saying for the third time, “the last will be first, and the first last.” He wants you to follow Him. He wants you to walk with him. He wants you to work in his vineyard. It is not an easy life, but the Lord is always with you and he will never make you do it alone.
September 13, 2026 - Matthew 18: 21-35
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Do you consider it easy to forgive others? I mean generally speaking, when someone sins against you, when a person hurts you, do you find it easy to forgive them? Maybe you are like most people, generally speaking, that would put themselves in the category that would say it is hard to forgive? You might find yourself this very day in a position--that a wrong has been done to you and at this very moment you are withholding forgiveness. In Matthew Chapter 18, Jesus is in the middle of one of the longer recorded discussions that Jesus is having with Peter and the disciples. Last week Jesus spoke specifically about what should be done when someone sinned against you. As we heard from last week’s lesson, unrepentant sin should not go unacknowledged, and more than that, it could even result in that person being removed from the Christian Church… but that is not the goal. The goal is restoration and a short summery of last week’s lesson is that sin is a very very big deal. It is such a big deal that if someone has unrepentant sin in their life, Jesus suggests, they will not be forgiven nor will they participate in the joys of God’s Kingdom. I don’t know about you but I justify myself when I’m angry and I don’t want to forgive someone. Peter was no different. Peter came up to Jesus and said, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. Jesus went on to tell Peter a parable. 23-25 “The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a major debt of 10,000 talents. When he couldn’t pay up, the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market. 26-27 “The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt. 28 “The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’ 29-31 “The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king. 32-35 “The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and threw the man in jail until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.” This parable was a response to Peter’s question. Jesus, I understand the power and the importance of forgiveness but what if my brother keeps sinning against me? Peter heard the Sermon on the Mount. He heard how Jesus reinterpreted and added to the law making it ever harder to keep. “You heard it was said thou shall not kill. But I say to you if you hate your brother you are liable for judgement.” All things considered, Peter was being pretty gracious. The Jewish code would have never allowed for seven strikes. Even in our judicial system, it is three strikes and you’re out. Just notice even with Peter’s generosity, which would have been more than double anyone else’s standard, it was dwarfed and then swallowed by Jesus’ response. Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. Some commentators argue as to whether Jesus said Seventy-seven times or Seventy times seven. Understand giving forgiveness a numerical number misses the point. What Jesus was doing was expanding upon his earlier teaching about “always repay evil with good.” In effect, Jesus was saying there is to be no limit to the forgiveness given and received. Jesus said, “being forgiving is not about keeping score but it is rather something in your very nature. It is to be part of your very character… who you are.” Jesus went on to tell a story to help Peter grapple with this teaching. Consider that there was this king and he was calling for all his servants to repay their debts. Now, there was this one servant who owed 10,000 talents. Know that a talent was the top monetary denomination and it was a huge amount of money. Jeff Gibbs wrote in his commentary on Matthew, “a day laborer would need to work 60,000,000 days to pay off 10,000 talents. Even if the debtor’s pay was extraordinarily high and he never had a day off the staggering amount would ensure imprisonment for at least 1,000 years. Moreover, the ratio of this debt to the later hundred denarii is approximately 600,000 to one. This was an evil servant indeed!” The whole point of the parable was to say that this guy owed an insurmountable debt. The king said go to jail but the servant pleaded I will pay you back. No doubt it was a ridiculous statement to be made. There was no fathomable way for the servant to pay off the debt. but even though the king had every right to sell the family into slavery and imprison the servant for many lifetimes, he did not. Instead he took pity on the servant and he forgave the debt. I would like for you to consider that for a moment, because although we begin our services with confession of our sins, although we realize our sinfulness, I’m not sure we take the time to acknowledge what our sin cost God. In the parable the king’s forgiveness cost him the equivalent of 60,000,000 dollars. When he chose to forgive the debt he was choosing to forgo the money that rightly belonged to him. Given that this text describes Jesus’ work and His role in the kingdom, Given that you are here because of his work to seek, find, and forgive you… let us consider that our forgiveness cost God. Last week we discussed how we have nothing to offer God. That we are small, and weak, and insignificant like children, like lost sheep. Last week the message was metaphorical, this week it is literal. It is about you and me and how you treat your brothers and sisters in Christ. Today the message is real and it is personal... Forgive as you have been forgiven. This is a relational text. To be sure, it is a practical text. Think in your head who has sinned against you. Do you have a list? I have a list? I know people who have wronged me. I know people that have spoken ill of me and who am I to talk? I have done the same thing. In fact, I might be on your list. What are we are going to do about it? I’ll tell you what I’d like to do. I’ll tell you what is easy to do. It is easy to be passive aggressive. It is easy to want revenge. At best, I want back what they took from me. Honestly, I want more than what they took from me… I want them to feel sorry. I want them to be sorry. I also want them to go away and want to never see them again. I want for them to be out of my life all together. Leave me alone and never have contact again. Brothers and sisters and Christ, can you see what sin does? Sin separates. Sin isolates. Sin divides us from God and us from each other. For this reason sin cannot be left to stand because it is more than a trite flesh wound that will heal over time. Sin permanently separates us from God and it cannot and will not be left to stand. The reality is this, we are in need of a Savior… all of us. And as I suggested I know we are tempted to use this text as permission to write people off. As long as I follow the biblical principles of church discipline I am perfectly justified to write people off and erase them from the books, right? Wrong. Understand Jesus did not give Peter this teaching to provide him a way to kick people out. Recall that Jesus is the good shepherd seeking every last lost sheep…. That means, the last thing Jesus wants is to lose someone that he has died for. If anything, this text gives us greater responsibility for it is ultimately not about writing people off, it is about restoring them. This text is about a God that wants all people to be saved. He wants your brother or sister or mother or father or friend, he wants them all saved…. That beings said, go get them. Go find them. Go bring them back. Why? Well, it is simple. Because that is what Jesus has done for you. He forgave your insurmountable debt. Go and do likewise. Of course I know it is easier said than done. Sometimes it does not work. Sometimes they don’t come back. Yet the force of the text is to go, go again, bring others, and try… try harder. On this very topic hear these words from the church constitution of my former congregation read which I served: Such self-exclusion releases the individual from the privileges of church membership. But such a person, however, will at all times be cordially welcomed to attend all divine services in our church. And they shall be restored with all rights and privileges when they repent and ask forgiveness. The sad reality is that not everyone will hear and respond to the Gospel and not everyone will be reconciled. But that is not our responsibility. That is Jesus’ responsibility. It is the Holy Spirit’s responsibility. Our responsibility is to meet them where they are, to see ourselves as sinners redeemed by Christ, and to speak that some forgiveness to them. You have been forgiven. Your sins which separated you from God have been reconciled. There is the standard. In the name of Jesus, go and do likewise. The grace of God, which surpasses all understanding, trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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