October 1, 2023
St. Andrew Church
Rev. Anne McAnelly
First Lesson: Philippians 2:1-13
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Second Lesson: Matthew 21:23-32
23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
You all should have received your Stewardship letter this week. We are starting our time of reflecting on how much God has given us and how much we will commit to God in return. This commitment can involve time, talents and treasures. I often choose a passage that talks about stewardship, however I stayed with the lectionary passage and was pleasantly surprised. I have preached on the authority part of this passage several times, but the parable actually speaks to how we use our time and how we respond to God. Listen now…Matthew 21:23-32.
A father once tried to talk to his son about how college was going: The father said, “How are things going?” The son said, “Good.” The father said, “And the dormitory?” He said, “Good.” The father said, “How are your studies going?” He said, “Good.” The father said, “Have you decided on a major yet?” He said, “Yes.” “Well, what is it?” asked the father. The son said, “Communication.”
I so relate to this story. So it goes as parents and children try to talk to each other. So it was for the two sons in Jesus’ story. (William J. Carl III, Sermons.com)
We might think this parable has a communication problem, the father and sons not being clear with each other. But I would say it is more about how we use our time and following God’s will.
Every day we wake up and are given about 16 hours, setting aside eight for sleep, to do with as we need and want. If we are still working, a good portion of that time is consumed with commuting, work tasks, networking, and meeting our commitments. If not, then the day is wide open. Either way, we have choices about how we spend our time. First, we must meet our obligations for work, family and keeping our homes running. But with the time left over we ask, “What brings us joy, what recharges our batteries, what gives us purpose?” How we use our time reflects our priorities.
I would say our answers to these questions are our first priorities. I would also include our relationship with God. But so often our time is consumed with the daily tasks, the urgent things rather than the important ones.
“A time management guru, a professor in the business school at Harvard, speaks about A, B, and C priorities, and then he notes that too many people spend too much of their time on the C priorities! And then he asks, “Why do you think that is?” The answer is that the C priorities are, first, much easier to accomplish, and, second, give you the impression that you are actually getting something done. In other words you can keep busy with the C priorities all day and never get to the more important things” (Sermons.com David Leininger). Being obedient to God is an A priority, do we give it the time it requires?
We don’t know what priorities kept one son from going to the vineyard and the other to say he would not go. Or what made the first son decide to go later? But it gets us to reflect on our use of time and how we respond to God’s will. You see the Father represents God who is asking us to work in the vineyard of God’s kingdom, the work of sharing the gospel. Do your time choices demonstrate your discipleship? Is following God’s will your first priority? When we hear this parable the comparison helps us, forces us, to ask the question, Which am I? Am I the son who presents himself as obedient while running around raising havoc, or am I the daughter (just to be inclusive) who to all appearances is the “black sheep” but in the end does what is needed? Which am I? Which are you? (Working Preacher, Karl Jacobson).
How we use our time answers that question. Do we see our lives as a gift from God to be used in Christ’s service or are we simply here to spend our time as we see fit. The very fact you are here says that you strive to use your time in God’s service. I thank you for your time, your service. Giving time, singing in the choir, serving in the showers, going to El Salvador, or making CASA stocking, or simply worshiping God, all help to share God’s love through our use of time.
Paul reminds us in Philippians of Christ’s time on earth, when he emptied himself, and was obedient to God, even to death. Jesus’ obedience encourages our own, inspires our service, helps us find our joy in sharing in the mind of Christ. One commentator writes, “Whenever I take the opportunity to actively love God in personal obedience, I end up sensing a new tenderness in my heart toward (God) and a stronger resolve to obey again next time. Obedience is not an end, but a means-a means to express our love to God, and a means to increase our love for God. It is a catalyst in the process of loving God and becoming more like Jesus” (Sermons.com, Martha Thatcher).
Philippians teaches, “Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (4). That applies to our use of time, talents and treasures. Considering the interests of others is how we show Christian compassion and generosity. Generosity is the secret to our joy.
There is an old rabbinic parable about a farmer who had two sons. (Sound familiar, but this one takes it a step further). As soon as they were old enough to walk, he took them to the fields, and he taught them everything that he knew about growing crops and raising animals. When he got too old to work, the two boys took over the chores of the farm and when the father died, they had found their working together so meaningful that they decided to keep their partnership. So, each brother contributed what he could and during every harvest season, they would divide equally what they had corporately produced. Across the years, the elder brother never married, stayed an old bachelor. The younger brother did marry and had eight wonderful children. Some years later when they were having a wonderful harvest, the old bachelor brother thought to himself one night, “My brother has ten mouths to feed. I only have one. He really needs more of his harvest than I do, but I know he is much too fair to renegotiate. I know what I’ll do. In the dead of the night when he is already asleep, I’ll take some of what I have put in my barn, and I’ll slip it over into his barn to help him feed his children.
At the very time he was thinking down that line, the younger brother was thinking to himself, “God has given me these wonderful children. My brother hasn’t been so fortunate. He really needs more of this harvest for his old age than I do, but I know him. He’s much too fair. He’ll never renegotiate. I know what I’ll do. In the dead of the night when he’s asleep, I’ll take some of what I’ve put in my barn and slip it over into his barn.” And so one night when the moon was full, as you may have already anticipated, those two brothers came face to face, each on a mission of generosity. The old rabbi said that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, yet a gentle rain began to fall. You know what it was? God weeping for joy because two of his children had gotten the point. Two of his children had come to realize that generosity is the deepest characteristic of the holy and because we are made in God’s image, our being generous is the secret to our joy as well. (John Claypool, Sermons.com)
Our encouragement in Christ, our incentive of love, our joy of generosity all come from our humility, counting others better than ourselves. From that place we choose how to spend our time, how to follow God’s will. Stewardship is about how we use our time, talents and treasures. Please consider how God has generously blessed you, as you ponder what you will give to this church in service to our God. Amen.
