18th Sunday after Pentecost Proper 20

"For the kingdom of heaven is......."

" So the last will be first, and the first last." RSV

This parable of Jesus at first seems unfair. Those who worked just a few hours received the same wage as those who worked all day. But Jesus is not talking about earthly things, he is speaking about the Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God is different than this earth.

The Kingdom of God is where God dwells and His ways are different than our ways. For if God went by our ways, then all of us should be forsaken and left to our own devises.

But showed us as Paul says that while we were still sinners, God died for us. God had his son die for us while we are and remain sinners so that we might have eternal life. This kingdom of God cannot be judged by earthly standards, but only Godly ones.

A closing illustration that I did not use in my sermons says it well. Listen

Let me share an illustration that for me, clears up the difference between these three concepts. If you don't know I spent 12 years in law enforcement. So, let's say I'm still a police officer. I arrive at a scene where through your carelessness you've jumped the curb, you've damaged your car and you've knocked down and destroyed a city sign. Now, I survey the scene and you admit that the accident was your fault so I give you a ticket for careless driving, I assign you a court date and I inform you that the city will be in touch with you so that you can pay for a new sign - that's justice - deserved punishment. But let's say out of the goodness of my heart I say, "Well, I know this can happen to anybody and you've already got to pay for the damage to your car so I'll just let it go, no ticket and you don't have to pay for the sign." You'd say, "That's incredible," but that's MERCY - Exemption from punishment. But let's say that I was really generous and I tell you, you're not going to get a ticket; but not only that-I pull out my check book and I write you a check to pay for the full amount of the damage done to your car and further, I tell you that "I'll pay the city for the damaged sign and your ticket too." You say, "That's impossible!" But that's grace. Favor given when punishment is deserved.

But that isn't a good illustration of God's grace because God just didn't give out of his riches. His grace cost Him everything He had.


Contributed by: Timothy Smith found at www.sermoncentral.com

A sermon on this text can be found at the link below.

Link

17th Sunday after Pentecost

21* ¶ Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?"
22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

Forgiveness is a subject that we cannot fully understand. We cannot understand how God can fully forgive our sins and remember them no more, and we cannot fully understand how we can do that to those around us.

Forgiveness means forgiving the sin and forgetting about it.

The dictionary says this about forgiveness; "to say or feel that one is no longer angry about and/or wishing to give punishment to (someone) for (something)"

God through Christ is no longer angry about our sin, the sinfulness of humanity. He forgave what happened in the garden of Eden through His son Jesus Christ. and because God through Christ has done that for the whole sinfulness of humanity, God asks us through Christ to try and o that in the world in which we live.

The following illustrations says it best.


A young man borrowed the family car without permission, knowing he could have it home and safely in the garage before his father found out. He hadn't reckoned on getting rear-ended at the second intersection he came to. No way to conceal the damage, the parked the car and closed the garage door, then spent an evening agonizing over how to deal with his father when he arrived home. When his dad walked in, the young man flashed a look of terror

He told his father everything, complete with profuse apology. His father walked with the son to the garage and looked long and hard and silently at the damage. Then he said, "Insurance will cover it. It wouldn't have covered the broken trust between you and me, however. Fortunately your apology took care of that."

"Can you ever forgive me, Dad?"

"I have already."

"You have learned your lesson. Forget about it."

A week later the son, still guilt-driven, came to his father and said, "Dad, in case they raise our insurance rates because of the accident, I'm willing to earn the money to pay the difference in the premiums."

His father didn't even look up from his newspaper as he said, simply, "What accident?"


A sermon on the subject can be found in the link below.

Link