Saint Lucas Lutheran

EVERY DAY WITH JESUS Followers (Disciples) of Jesus A Devotional Consideration of the Gospel of Saint Matthew MONDAY, December 5, 2011 Matthew 20:1-16 CAREFUL! Our old self can find many ways to miss out on salvation - attempting to be saved through its own works; not believing that salvation is simply God’s free gift through faith in Jesus; thinking that faith is a work which earns salvation instead of a God-given hand that receives salvation as a gift - those are some of the most common errors that cause man to forfeit eternal life. A particularly stubborn form of unbelief into which people who believe in Jesus as their Savior can fall is a combination of all the above errors. It threatens only believers and, if they fall into it and remain in it, they will lose the salvation their faith once graciously received. That unbelief is this: the prideful attitude that their salvation is due to some difference in them - either that they had something to do with coming to faith, or that their good works as believers or both are at least partly the reason why they are saved. In this way grace is destroyed and salvation would be lost. Or, as Jesus said in Matthew 19:30: “‘...(the) first will be last...” Peter, and the other disciples then and now, was in danger of falling into that prideful trap. This is revealed behind his question which we considered last week: “‘We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?’” To keep them in GRACE and to prevent them from falling into pride, Jesus told the following parable: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. “About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” PRAYER: LORD Jesus, keep me humbly trusting in Your grace alone for my salvation so that I remain among the last (the undeserving) who are first (by grace alone)! AMEN TUESDAY, December 6, 2011 Matthew 20:1,2 “‘The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.’” “Early in the day...’” Notice it is the landowner who takes the initiative to gather workers for his vineyard. He makes all the arrangements that lead to their laboring for him. Some of the workers begin their labor “‘...early in the day.’” Some of us, by grace alone, fit into this picture of the kingdom of heaven right at this point. We can never remember a time when we didn’t know Jesus and believe in Him as our Savior. We are people to whom the words of the apostle apply: “From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures...” . We have been “...made wise for salvation” since our baptism as tiny babies. What awesome grace!! To have had the comfort of salvation, the knowledge of God’s love and Presence in our lives in all situations, to have a purpose to live here and the certainty of life in heaven hereafter PRICELESS! (Actually there was a price for this enviable state - God’s blood!). What grace! PRAYER: Dear Jesus thank You for paying the price of Your holy life and innocent death as my Substitute so that I might be saved. Father, thank You for working with Your Son to send the Holy Spirit to me that I might receive Him and His costly salvation by faith. Holy Spirit thank You for giving me the conviction of faith in Christ. AMEN!!! WEDNESDAY, December 7, 2011 Matthew 20:3-7 “‘About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right. ‘ So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’” God doesn’t quit! When Adam and Eve came forth from God’s creative hand they were holy. They had a perfect relationship with God and each other. They had a life. That life was forfeited by their sin. Totally destroyed. Their relationship with God was ruined. They were no longer alive for Him. Their relationship with each other became self-centered - self-destructive - instead of unselfish serving. In the light of His eternal plan of redemption through His Son, God announced His salvation and enabled them to believe that amazing truth. The faith which He created in them through that announcement restored their relationship with Him and renewed their relationship with each other. They got their life back. They also received the promise of eternal life after their earthly death march ended. They could spend time living for God by living for each other on the way to an eternity together with God in a new heaven and a new earth. The LORD, Who is the Lover and Savior of all sinners, want sall people to receive redemption in Jesus and a new relationship with Him and with others before their life is over. Again and again all the time until eternity, through His Church - every member in it - He seeks “workers for His vineyard”, that is, believers. Through the Gospel proclaimed by the members of His Church, He invites and enables and welcomes saved people into His service. Some of you, reading this, didn’t know Him when you were a child or perhaps even when you were a young adult or even older. Sometime through some gracious circumstance, the Father brought You to faith in His Son and into His service. Praise God!! PRAYER: Savior God, thank You for Your relentless search for sinners to come to know Your Son as their eternal life giving Savior! AMEN THURSDAY, December 8, 2011 Matthew 20:8,9 “‘When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius (a day’s wage).’” Faith’s gracious reward As we have seen, all the workers in the owner’s vineyard were laboring for him there because of the relationship that he initiated and established with them. He had a desired and promised a blessing for each of them at the end of their “work day”. At whatever age you or I came to trust in Jesus as our Savior, we became an heir of everlasting life in heaven. The recipients of God’s gracious gift of life. Short or long as our life of faith on earth may be and no matter how much or little that faith produced during that life - we are going to be in heaven thanks to what Jesus did for us on earth. That’s what the God-given hand of faith receives from the “Owner of the Vineyard”. That’s the way, the gracious way, the LORD wants it. PRAYER: LORD, I deserve nothing from You but I receive everything. And, I know, it’s all by grace. I want to thank You every moment forever - please help me! AMEN FRIDAY, December 9, 2011 Matthew 20:8-15 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ God’s way is offensive! It goes against our (fallen) human sensibilities the way God chooses to treat people. There’s no way those guys hired later and last deserved what the first workers received. It’s not fair! In God’s thinking - the mind of grace let’s call it - none of the persons deserve to receive anything for what they did; be it long or short, much or little. His grace wanted them in His vineyard laboring for Him. Their service was all in response to Him and for Him, it did not merit anything from Him. When their labors were done, He had a reward that He wanted to give to each of them. That’s grace! That’s the standard by which life is to be lived here - our time of grace. It’s the standard for eternal life in heaven. Grace. Get used to it. Enjoy! PRAYER: Lord, I know what I deserve that is why I am so thankful for what I receive instead - GRACE! Thank you! AMEN SATURDAY, December 10, 2001 Matthew 20:16 “‘So the last will be first , and the first will be last.’” Would you like to be “first”? Those who through the gift of faith receive God’s gift of forgiveness in Christ are “first”. They inherit eternal life in heaven. “Believers” who think that their faith itself is something they did that others didn’t do; or “believers” who think that because of what they have done as “Christians” they deserve heaven plus - such “believers” are not really Christians at all. They don’t depend only upon Christ. They don’t want heaven by pure grace. They rely on themselves not Christ and in this way they destroy and lose grace. They, who could have been and perhaps were “first” become and remain forever “last”! Do you want to be “first”? Rely on Christ alone. PRAYER: LORD, keep me first! Don’t let me become last! Keep me relying on and responding to grace alone. AMEN SUNDAY, December 11, 2011 Matthew 20:17-19 “Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will turn Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life.’” From awful to AWESOME! Here is the price of the way of grace. God’s eternal Son, Who has become “the Son of Man” will pay for man’s salvation by the sacrifice of His holy life. His holy precious blood is the price. Awesome!! Pure grace!! How unspeakably awful it is when persons, who knew the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ; become people who begin to think that they deserve something from God for believing and/or doing. Do you really want what you deserve? I think not. The way of merit is the way of the law. It’s an impossible journey. Grace is the way into and to remain in the kingdom of heaven. That’s the way it is. Don’t fight it. Don’t lose it. Enjoy it. Thank a gracious God for it. PRAYER: Dear Jesus, how awful to think that in even the smallest way I could contribute to my own salvation or deserve it. How awesome to know that Your grace has provided it and enabled me to receive it. AMEN