Lessons from the Mission Field 11-24-24

Overview

It Is Never Too Late: The Generous Landowner and Our Call to Mission

The parable of the laborers in the vineyard Matthew 20:1-16 confronts a "fairness monster" that lives in every human heart. The landowner pays those hired at the eleventh hour the same wage as those who bore the scorching heat all day—and the all-day workers grumble. Yet the truth is that none of us deserves anything from God; everything we receive is the gift of His grace. Whether someone has been raised in the faith or comes to confess Christ on a deathbed, the reward is the same: forgiveness of sins and eternal life in the presence of Jesus Christ. To begrudge a late convert their place in the kingdom is to misunderstand the gospel itself.

Because the kingdom belongs to a generous God, every Christian is sent as a missionary. Jesus commands His followers to go and make disciples of all nations, and He sets no parameters about age, worthiness, or apparent receptivity—those are not ours to decide. Our calling is simply to plant seeds, trusting the promise of Isaiah 55:11 that God's word will not return to Him empty. Mission looks ordinary: answering a stranger's call for help and inviting her family to VBS; striking up a conversation at the grocery checkout because someone notices the cross you wear; carrying an extra devotional in your purse to give away; inviting a neighbor to watch The Chosen together. Introvert or extrovert, every believer can simply ask. You never know what God will do with the invitation.

There is, however, a real urgency to this work. It does become too late—when a person dies without ever having heard. That weight is what makes faithful witness so important, and it is also why we never write anyone off too soon. Consider the man who spent ninety-nine years rejecting God as a man of science and intellect, only to receive Christ in his final months when a granddaughter and son finally spoke the words: Jesus loves you, and Jesus forgives all your sins. He broke down under the weight of his sin, and not long before he died told his family, "I know Jesus loves me. And I know Jesus loves everybody." The childlike faith of a ninety-nine-year-old infant in Christ is a living testimony to 2 Peter 3:8-9—that the Lord is patient, "not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."

Pastoral application: Pray daily that the Lord would put words on your lips and people in your path. Don't ration the gospel based on who you think deserves it; share it freely, because grace is free. Keep praying for the loved one who has rejected Christ for decades—the Spirit may yet be at work. And take heart: in Christ, the last are made first, and it is never too late this side of heaven.

Transcript

Lord Jesus, we thank you for your grace. 3s

We thank you for being the God that you are, the God who redeems us, saves us and calls 6s

us to be your own. 11s

Lord we ask that in this time of study together that you would lead us by your spirit, that 13s

you would help us to know you better and help us to be inspired and to go forth sharing 19s

your beautiful word with others. 28s

Lord we lift this to you in the blessed and holy name of Jesus Christ. 30s

Amen. 34s

Okay, please open to Matthew, the 20th chapter, so that is the first gospel, Matthew, Mark, 35s

Luke, John says, the first book in the New Testament. 43s

So we're on chapter 20 and we're going to begin in verse 1. 46s

And I'm really excited about adult ed today for a couple of reasons, but we'll get 51s

to that. 59s

I'm just giving you that precursor, but I usually am excited for adult ed. 60s

So I don't know. 65s

Okay, anyway, so Matthew, the gospel of Matthew, chapter 20, beginning in verse 1, where 66s

Jesus is talking and he says, the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early 72s

in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 77s

After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 80s

When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 86s

And he said to them, you also go into the vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right. 91s

So they went. 96s

When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. 97s

And about five o'clock, he went out and found others standing around. 102s

And he said to them, why are you standing here idle all day? 105s

They said to him, because no one has hired us. 110s

He said to them, you also go into the vineyard. 113s

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, call the laborers and give 116s

them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first. 121s

When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 125s

Now, when the first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also 130s

received the usual daily wage. 135s

And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner saying, these last worked only one 137s

hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching 144s

heat. But he replied to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong. 150s

Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 156s

Take what belongs to you and go. 159s

I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 161s

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me or are you envious because I am 165s

generous? So the last will be first and the first will be last. This is a fantastic parable 171s

because it brings out that fairness, monster that we have, that how dare this person get the 182s

same reward that I deserve. 198s

So we know and we are not going to go into a full sermonizing on this, of course. 206s

We know that we deserve nothing, but God out of His grace gives to us in abundance, His forgiveness 212s

and has taken His sin upon Himself. 221s

So is it wrong for people to get to hear the good news late in life? 225s

Is it wrong for the person on the deathbed to make a confession of faith and to be granted 235s

entrance into the kingdom? Because there are many of us here who have been born and raised in 242s

the Christian church. And if we have been born and raised in the Christian church, we have 251s

experienced the burden of the scorching heat of the day as in this parable. And we, 256s

playing into that envy monster, can look at the person who made a deathbed confession and say, 266s

surely they're not going to be as rewarded as me. 276s

But the reward is that we are called eternally into the presence of Jesus Christ. 284s

The reward is that our sins are forgiven. And so it is wrong for us to begrudge 292s

the person who has not heard. We are called by Christ, and that's what this whole adult 302s

ed series has been about today as our last one. It's a short series. Three. But that's what it's 310s

all been about. That Jesus said, go making disciples of all the nations. Go making disciples of all 317s

the nations. And he didn't give parameters. He didn't say only if they're under 20. 327s

Only if they seem really sorry to you. Only if you think that they deserve to be in heaven. 337s

We don't get those parameters because that is not ours to choose or decide. We are told to go 346s

forth and share his word. Go forth and share his word. We plant the seeds. We do not know how or when 354s

the Holy Spirit will grow it. But we do know from Isaiah that as his word goes out, it will not return 364s

return to him void. And so we trust that as he sends his people out, his missionaries, that is you, 373s

as he sends you out, sharing and proclaiming his word, it will come back to him, that people will turn 381s

to him. And so it's wrong for us to try to decide this side of heaven who deserves it when they 394s

deserve it because that's not our choice. I love teaching this parable to kids because we go 402s

through this and I talk about, you know, I ask them the question, well, do those last workers that 411s

only worked an hour, do they deserve that full days wage? And without question unanimously, the kids 417s

say, absolutely not. But we are no different than the kids that have that answer. Absolutely not. 423s

But in Jesus, it is absolutely yes. Absolutely yes. So I'm going to invite one of our missionaries. 432s

We're doing today's a little bit differently than we have been doing it. But I'm going to invite 441s

one of our missionaries, Beverly, to come up here. Like I said, we get to share this microphone because 446s

I don't see the second, the handheld. So so I'm going to hand it to you as you talk. So I'm going to 451s

ask Beverly a couple of questions. Beverly, are you paid to do mission work? No. 459s

No, you're not paid to do mission work. Do you do mission work? Yes. 467s

Okay. So can you give us a story, a story of when you have shared God's word? 472s

Come here. 483s

Yeah. 484s

Steve Burke, Steve Burke had called me one day and asked if I would help a lady that 485s

it called a church and said she needed some clothes for her child. And so I went by and I asked 490s

my friend Diane Kelly to go with me. So we went in twos. And as we took her to Walmart, she said, 497s

she said, I called five churches and you're the only one that would help us. And so she said, 505s

I googled Lutheran and I said, are you interested? And she said, yeah. And I said, well, 510s

why don't you come and join us? And so I for weeks picked her up. She said, well, my car's broken 517s

down. I said, well, I'll pick you up. And so for weeks, I picked her up. And then as it was, 523s

she had her children, three of them at one weekend. And I said, we're having vacation 530s

public school. Would you like to come? One of them said, yeah, I'll come. He had such a great time 536s

with Pastor Carrie and David that the next next day, I picked up all three of them. 544s

And they all had a blast. And then, you know, they just hop in the car and they were just so happy 550s

to do it. Okay. So this is, don't leave you. This is one example. This family, a woman reached 556s

out, a woman from the community just happened to reach out. The call was answered. And it wasn't 565s

just an answered like, let's just go ahead and throw some money at the problem. But it was, 572s

let's, let's throw a missionary at the problem. Let's throw a missionary into the mix. And so 578s

Beverly and Diane got the chance to witness using the gospel witness, the loving Lord that we know. 585s

And she ended up being able to extend that witness to the children. The children ended up helping 595s

every night at VBS. As you said, so every night they were hearing the gospel. They were experiencing 602s

the love of God in this community. And those, the older two kids ended up going on a fellowship 608s

trip to Florida with, with David, the youth fellowship trip over the summer. And so we don't know, 615s

they sense have moved. We don't know where that's taking them, but we know that they heard. 623s

We know that they received the word. And we know that it will not go unnoticed. Now, Beverly, 630s

Beverly is not a shy person. But last week we talked about it doesn't matter if you're an 639s

introvert or an extrovert. This is one of those extroverts. But she will meet a person on the 645s

street and talk to them or a person in the grocery store and talk to them. So can you give us one 654s

example of a grocery store encounter that you will experience? Well, I kind of took off from what 661s

Sandra Lambe said was she had, she wears a shirt that has a Christian symbol on it and sometimes 672s

people will respond to that. So when I was at the grocery store, the checkout lady was responding 679s

to what I had on as a cross. And in that doing, then I said, you know, do you go somewhere? Yes, but 684s

I said, so I invited her here. And then I also said, well, I have a portal's a prayer book in my 691s

purse, which you like it. So sometimes I just carry an extra portal's a prayer that I can hand off 697s

to somebody. And maybe that helps them. Absolutely. She's not going out and sharing this with the 703s

intent that that these seats will be filled. She goes to share with the intent that the kingdom 711s

will be filled that we will have more brothers and sisters, more saints than we can even count. 719s

That's the promise of God to Abraham that his children, his descendants would be too numerous to 729s

count. God uses you as his missionaries. He uses us. And if you're shy, there are still ways to 736s

share the Lord. We are all called into mission. We talked about this a little bit last week. How 746s

we are all called into mission. We are called as missionaries as the unique people that God has 752s

created us to be. Now, have you ever seen someone and said they don't deserve to hear the word of 760s

God? No. Why not? Everybody needs to hear. Everybody needs to hear. Everybody deserves to hear. 769s

Is there anything else you want to share about being a missionary? 779s

I would like to share that friend speak. I met a good lady and we became friends. And so they 783s

don't really attend a church. So my neighbor said, I'd like to watch the chosen with some Christian 792s

people. So I asked some of the ladies and we all got together. We started watching. Then I thought, 797s

hmm, sun young. I wonder if she'd like to join us. And she did. And she comes every week. 801s

And we watched the chosen together. I guess my purpose is, and also sun young came to Easter 807s

service one time with me. And all it takes is to ask. And I guess that's the only thing I have to 813s

share with everybody. Pastor Kerry is just ask. You never know what response you'll get. And you, 821s

you know, it's just the pleasure of talking to people and making friends. 827s

Okay. So, so Bev is not going out there searching for babies to witness to. She's not searching for 841s

toddlers to witness to. If she comes across a toddler that she gets to witness to, praise the Lord. 849s

But she's looking for people that God is putting into her path. That is what we are called to do. 855s

Open our eyes. We have the word on our lips. And we get to share it. So we are all called as 866s

missionaries. And now we're going to come back to. To our. Parable that we talked about earlier. 875s

That is it ever too late? Is it ever too late? And yes, at some point it does become too late. 883s

It becomes too late when when someone has died. If they have died without hearing the gospel, 892s

it is too late because their time this side of heaven has been completed. And they are outside 901s

of the love of God. They're outside of that relationship with God. And so that's why it is so 910s

important. And there is a sense of urgency that we as missionaries should have in Christ because 916s

we want the kingdom to grow. We want to honor God. It doesn't matter at what time. 926s

I have received so many gracious condolences about my grandfather dying. And I appreciate that 938s

so much. So much. And I said, you know, I'm going to share this in Sunday school in adult ed because 948s

it's really a beautiful story. This is a man that lived 99 and a half years with a long life. 957s

Most of those years, certainly all of the years I knew him. He absolutely rejected God. 965s

He rejected that there could be God. He rejected that there was God. He was a man of science. He was a man of 974s

intellect. And so absolutely not. About 10 years ago, he said to me one day, you know, even though I 982s

don't believe in it, you can pray for me. And I said, I will. And I thank the Holy Spirit because I 987s

knew I knew the Spirit was working on this man. And so every time that I would see him or I'd be going 997s

up to Omaha, I'd pray Lord, if the opportunity arises and I am to witness, put those words on my 1005s

lips. Help me Lord. Make it clear. Open that opportunity. And time after time, it was not really 1012s

presented. It was kind of outskirted. And my dad is a strong believer and he had the same experience 1021s

where he would try but his father would poo poo him. You know, that silly talk, that religion, 1030s

silly stuff. And he would just turn it down, turn it down. And so as he got older, it became more 1037s

urgent. And I was told from a little age that your grandfather could go at any time. He has a heart 1045s

issue, the electrics in his heart. I'm not a doctor. I don't even know if it's called the electrics in 1053s

his heart. But it wasn't working. It did not work properly. And so we knew that he could go at any time. 1058s

But he was still here. Okay. So as he continued, continued, continued, 1065s

over this summer, he was on his deathbed. On his deathbed, my little sister who took care of him, 1075s

called my dad and his sister and brother and said, I think Grandpa's dying, you're going to want to 1083s

come in. And so they came in in the middle of the night. They all got into Omaha. And he rallied. 1088s

He rallied. And my dad, my dad said, you know, there's a reason you rallied. There's a reason 1097s

for this. And so he was put in a skilled nursing rehab. I was up in Omaha for a graduation. And I 1105s

prayed as I always have. Lord, if the opportunity is there, open that door and let those words be 1115s

on my lips. And so before I left town, I went to skilled nursing and I saw my grandfather and 1123s

and I said, Grandpa, you know, I visit people in places like this a lot. And I'm certainly not 1129s

going to leave without telling you what I tell others because you're my grandpa and I love you. 1137s

I said, I want you to know that Jesus loves you. And Jesus forgives you all of your sins. And he 1144s

looked at me and he said, that's a heavy burden or that's a heavy load. And I said, I know because 1153s

you've spent 99 years being naughty. And that's why Jesus came because we can't carry that load. 1160s

He came because he loves us and he forgives our sins. And my grandfather looked at me and he said, 1172s

thank you for telling me that. And I said, absolutely. Now the last time I've ever seen him or 1178s

talked to him, but I knew he heard. My dad, that same trip, got to talk with him. And he said, he said, 1185s

there is no question. You are kept here for a reason. You rallied for a reason. People are praying 1193s

for you. And my dad shared and shared and my grandfather broke down 99 years old, broke down in 1202s

tears because he felt finally the weight of his sin. And he had a good talk with my dad. My dad 1210s

wrote him a note that said, Jesus loves you. My little sister put it on the wall. So every day my 1220s

grandfather would read that. My sister went a couple weeks later to lunch and my grandfather said, 1226s

you know, this has been a trial. My little sister said, oh, grandpa, I know. And he said, but I 1231s

know one thing. And she said, oh, yeah, grandpa, what's that? He said, I know Jesus loves me. 1239s

And I know Jesus loves everybody, even if they're fat or skinny or rich or poor, 1245s

which for a man of science, a biochemist really brings it down to that childlike faith. 1253s

Any of those preschoolers that we get to talk to, they will say, I know Jesus loves me. 1264s

My grandfather, 99 years old, was a child, an infant in the faith, but he was in the faith. 1271s

And all I could think when I heard that he had died, I kept coming back to second Peter, 1282s

chapter three, verses eight and nine, but do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, 1292s

one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his 1300s

promise as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come 1308s

to repentance. And so 99 and a half years, 99 of those spent outside the vineyard, 1318s

it's never too late, this side of heaven. There is an urgency because not everyone lives 99 and a half 1334s

years, not everyone is going to have that opportunity to reject, reject, reject until the deathbed. 1348s

And so that is where it is us as the called missionaries of Christ himself, 1362s

that are called and commissioned to go forth and to share the good news that all sin is forgiven 1373s

in Jesus Christ, that God's will is that all would hear and turn to Him. And so with my grandfather, 1382s

I don't mourn or weep because I know it's not the end and there is no need for sorrow or sadness, 1392s

because I know on the other side in the post-resurrection, in the eternal, that I will see Him, 1406s

that He will be at the throne and that it wasn't too late. 1423s

And so grateful that I get to share that story with you and I'm so grateful that it's a story with a 1430s

happy ending because it's a story without an ending, it's a story of part of eternity. 1443s

And so that is, that is good and for that I give God thanks. 1451s