{"id":7934,"date":"2019-03-17T09:30:30","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T13:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/?post_type=ctc_sermon&p=7934"},"modified":"2019-06-22T20:42:43","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T00:42:43","slug":"gods-outrageous-grace-for-all-people","status":"publish","type":"ctc_sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/sermons\/gods-outrageous-grace-for-all-people\/","title":{"rendered":"God’s Outrageous Grace for All People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(<\/strong>The audio recording is not available)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m delighted that Anne Wolger will be preaching this Sunday. Anne is the founding director of Matthew House (https:\/\/www.matthewhouse.ca), a ministry that seeks to restore dignity to refugees by providing shelter and support in a welcoming home like setting. For more than 30 years Anne has been God\u2019s representative to those coming to our country for the first time. She has provided a faithful, living demonstration of Christ\u2019s love and grace to those in need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her text is Matthew 20:1-16, the parable of the workers in the vineyard. If you are reading it for the first time it can be very disturbing. Jesus tells the story of a landowner who hires workers for his vineyard at various times of the day, right down to the last hour. That\u2019s not the disturbing part. The disturbing part is that he pays each of the workers the exact same amount \u2013 those who worked only an hour receive as much as those who work all day. And Jesus says this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. (20:1) It doesn\u2019t seem fair does it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this has become one of my favourite parables because it demonstrates the nature of God\u2019s grace. It is wonderfully generous. Think of those who were hired at the last hour of the day. They are expecting to get an hour\u2019s wage. But instead when they open up their pay they discover that in his grace they have received a full day\u2019s wage! That\u2019s the nature of God\u2019s grace, it\u2019s that generous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our trouble is that when we read this parable and we identify ourselves with those who were hired first. We\u2019re the good ones, we\u2019re the hard workers. But really to understand the wonder if it, to grasp the utter generousity of God\u2019s grace, you have to picture yourself as the one hired at the end of the day. I mean, really, what do you have to offer to God that he would give his one and only son to die on the cross for you? You think your little bit of goodness would merit him dying for you? No! It was all an act of grace. We\u2019ve all been hired at the 11th hour! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you see yourself there, it makes all the difference. Then we discover that have received more of God\u2019s favour than we ever deserved! We are like beggars who come to the back door of the restaurant looking for a few crumbs from the kitchen but instead we are ushered into the restaurant, given the finest seat near the window, with a linen table cloth and the finest meal the chef can prepare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We come to God looking for forgiveness and he gives it to us through faith \u2013 but then he adds, \u201cHere is hope also, and peace, love, acceptance, joy, supernatural strength, and the reality of my presence in your life.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Put yourself with the workers who have been hired at the last hour – because that\u2019s where you are \u2013 and you are made to realize that God\u2019s grace is wonderfully generous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In thanksgiving for you, Pastor Tom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 20:1-16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","ctc_sermon_topic":[],"ctc_sermon_book":[49],"ctc_sermon_series":[],"ctc_sermon_speaker":[469],"ctc_sermon_tag":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/7934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7934"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/7934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8368,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/7934\/revisions\/8368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_topic?post=7934"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_book?post=7934"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_series?post=7934"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_speaker?post=7934"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_tag?post=7934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}