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[ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING] [CHOIR SINGING] [ Music ]

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[Music] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] ♪ Christmas tree, glory ♪

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♪ Ever red of the world ♪ ♪ Proudly we've hoisted ♪ ♪ The purple and the green ♪ [MUSIC]

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♪ And the rose ♪ ♪ In the morning ♪ ♪ Oh, how I bless you, Lord ♪ ♪ Bless the rose to be ♪

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♪ And I'm waiting ♪ ♪ To be with you again ♪ ♪ And to be with you again ♪ ♪ And to be with you again ♪

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♪ And the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪

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[Music] [choir singing] ♪ Oh, come to me, O Jesus ♪ ♪ And work with me ♪

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- Hear this word that is recorded in the gospel according to Saint Matthew, the 20th chapter. The first six verses. Here is another illustration of the kingdom of heaven.

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The owner of an estate went out early one morning to hire workers for his harvest field. He agreed to pay them $20 a day and sent them out to work. work. A couple of hours later he was passing a hiring hall and saw some men standing around waiting for jobs so he sent them also into his fields telling

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them he would pay whatever was right at the end of the day. At noon and again Again, around three o'clock in the afternoon, he did the same thing. At five o'clock that evening, he was in town again and saw some more men standing around and asked them, "Why haven't you been working today?"

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"Because no one hired us," they replied. "You can go on out and join the others in my field," he told them. That evening he told the paymaster to call the men in and pay them, beginning with the last men first.

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When the men hired at 5 o'clock were paid, each received $20. So when the men hired earlier came to get theirs, they assumed they would receive much more. but they too were paid $20.

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They protested. Those fellows worked only one hour, and yet you've paid them just as much as those of us who worked all day in the scorching heat.

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"Friend," he answered one of them, "I did you no wrong. Didn't you agree to work all day for $20? Take it and go.

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It is my desire to pay all the same. It is against the law. Is it against the law to give away my money if I want to? Should you be angry because I am kind?

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So it is that the last shall be first and the first last. The subject of the message, good workers and fair wages. Good workers and fair wages. The work ethic is basic in our society.

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In fact, it is basic in all societies to engage in honest toil is honorable. Work contributes to meaningful and positive action. So as we gather here today on the eve of Labor Day, we do well to remember the fact that Labor Day celebrates the place of work in the human situation and focuses attention

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on the significance of the worker. teach that God works. We read in the book of Genesis that God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. Jesus said my father is working still and I am working. Jesus is remembered as a worker, a carpenter. He was a builder.

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Jesus tells this story, which is the basis of our message in illustrating to his hearers the nature of the kingdom of God. It's commonly called the parable of the laborers. It's a story about a generous employer and grumbling employees.

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It is a story that magnifies the importance of work. When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, he told them to dress the garden and to keep it. They were to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow.

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The setting of this story is in the world of work. It has to do with the everyday tasks which are essential to the ongoingness of life. The time is the month of September, the time when grapes were ripe, harvest time. If the harvest is not gathered before the rains come, it's ruined.

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So there is an urgency about the task. The owner of the vineyard is deeply concerned about workers in his vineyard. It is urgent. The time is short.

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The harvest is plenteous. The laborers are few. Unemployment is one of the problems of our society. There remain many people in our society who are prepared to work but who have nothing to do.

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They are idle because there is no work for them to do. No job is available. Some are on welfare rolls. Others are recipients of unemployment compensation.

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But nevertheless, they are unemployed. We say it is the goal of our society to have full employment, to have good workers, to have good workers,

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to have work for them to do, and fair wages. Oh, not just work to say that they're engaging in something to pass the time of day,

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but to have work that is meaningful. The story that Jesus tells is not designed to establish guidelines for management and labor relations. It is a story to illustrate the nature of the kingdom

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and to point up Christian teaching concerning rewards. The owner of the vineyard goes to the employment office and contacts workers early in the morning. He promises to pay them the average daily wage,

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$20 per day. The main characters in this story are the owner of the vineyard, the workers, the paymaster.

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The owner is concerned about the harvest and the welfare of the workers. So he agrees to pay a living wage, to pay that which will enable them

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to meet the demands of life. Most workers are concerned about the kind of work to be done and the rate of pay, what rewards will be given for the service performed.

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That's the question we raise when we hear about a job. job the first thing we ask, that's the first question, what does it pay? What are the duties? What's the pay? Peter said, "Lord, we've left everything to follow you and what will we get? What's the reward? What's the rate of pay?" These workers are given $20 per day.

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The basic difference between communism and capitalism is that communism claims that the worker is exploited in the profit system of capitalism, while communism seeks to provide for the worker,

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and in the communistic system, the workers own everything. So as we look at our system and we look at other systems in the world,

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the important thing is what is the welfare of the worker. The owner here commands the workers to go into the vineyard and work, and, obedient to this command, gives the workers something to do.

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It's not just something to do to pass the time away, as I said earlier. It contributes to the progress of the kingdom. They are to harvest the grapes.

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The worker finds meaning in the work. It's important. It's urgent. Some are hired at 6 o'clock in the morning. Some are hired at 9 a.m., three hours later.

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Some are hired at noon, three hours later. Some at three o'clock in the afternoon, still three hours later. And then some are hired at five o'clock, just an hour before quitting time,

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an hour before the end of the day. And when the paid time comes, The last hired are paid first and on it goes. Those who came at five o'clock and worked only an hour

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receive twenty dollars. Those who worked from three o'clock until six o'clock receive twenty dollars. And it's in a reverse order for those who come last are paid

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first and those who came first as they yeah what the others have received that's so much like us we want to know what are the others getting not what we are supposed to get but what did you get and they discover that the others have received $20 and they already have it in their minds that they what they're gonna

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again and surely if they came and they did not work as many hours as we worked and we were here from the beginning of the day from 6 until 6 we worked all day surely he's gonna give us more and we we rightly so we complain as a people because we know what it is to be in that role of being the last hired and the first fired.

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That's been our role as a people in this country. We, even today when we look at the unemployment situation, there is a disproportionate percentage of black people, black youth, who are unemployed in this country. That's a role we've had for a long time as a people.

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But all people are concerned in this country about what we call risk policies, R-I-F, reduction in force is what that means. And once we get on the job, we want to know what's going to happen if it becomes necessary for the force to be reduced. Are you going to do this on a seniority basis? By the first that were hired will be the last that will be released.

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That's what we like in our arrangements, seniority. Seniority, the first, the one who's worked longest on the job has certain privileges. That's the way it is in our world of work. But Jesus uses this analogy in the world of work to show how it is in a contrast.

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It's a contrast here. The way it is in the world of work is not the way it is in the kingdom of God. It's different. Seniority, seniority.

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I was there first. Honey, I've been there a long time. And you know sometimes we even have it in the church, someone who are the newcomers, someone says, "Where did she come from?

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Who is this person? I don't know them. How did they get where they are? That person ought not be an officer at Ebenezer when somebody else has been here longer.

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How did they just get in and get started?" I hear that. seniority. That's the way the Pharisees felt. They felt because they had come early in the morning, because they had been there working from 6 o'clock until 6 o'clock, that they somehow had a right to certain privileges and certain pay.

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that they had a right to them, that would be more than those who came later. And so they are grumbling, they are murmuring, they are complaining. And you see, they look upon infusion of new blood as an intrusion. I want to say that again.

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They look upon infusion as intrusion, the infusion of new blood as an intrusion upon their rights. Many communities are like that. In fact, I hear it in many communities. Some people don't like folks to see Austin grow. They talk, we talk about the no growth.

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They look upon the infusion of new people in this community as being something that is undesirable. They'd like for it to be justicized. They want it to be.

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And that's pretty small. They look upon infusion of new blood as an intrusion, but this is not the way of the kingdom. This is not the way of the kingdom.

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Time comes, they feel that they have priority because they've been there longer and they think that they should dictate and control the policy because they have priority. The time comes and the pay is the same, $20 a day. A familiar saying I used to hear in the church when I was a boy, may seem rather trite, but it's true.

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Those that do God's work will get God's pay. who do God's work will get God's pay. I didn't say how long you may do it, but if you do his work, some people live a long time. Some live three score and ten and then some and some die in the morning of their existence as Christians, but those who do God's work

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get God's pay and the pay is $20 a day. It's the same for every person who goes into the vineyard. The pay is the same. It's the same for those who work in the vineyard no matter whatever time they may enter. The pay is the same. $20 a day. Pay is the same. That's the way it is in the kingdom. What time did you come into the kingdom? Well, I came when I was just a lad, nine years of age. I came into the kingdom and someone else comes into the kingdom. At 70, they make the decision and they only have an hour to work, but the pay is the same. All of us gonna get the same pay and that's eternal life.

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That's all. Eternal life. Doesn't matter what may be one's condition, what may be one's background, what may be one's longevity, whatever it is, it's not so much the time that we put in the field, it's the quality of life, it's the relationship to God. The pay is the same. The pay is the same. The same pay. $20 a day. Well, what's involved in the pay? Well, it means that if you do God's work and you get his pay It's working not

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Thinking about the reward You never make a good worker, you know, if you are working on the job And all while you working on the job You're trying to leave the job

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You're not gonna be a good worker There's some ministers who pastor a church like that they pastor one church looking Every time they can hear word of another one. That's vacant And they missed the opportunity of doing the kind of job where they are where someone else would see it

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Because they're looking for something else some people are only concerned about the paycheck. And they cannot do what ought to be done because their eye and their attention

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and all of their energies is just focused on payday. So they don't do what ought to be done today because they are so much concerned about payday rewards. Well, here are some who are just working out there.

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They weren't concerned about the reward. In fact, it's the group that Jesus talks about in another story, when the time came for the pay, they were surprised at the pay they received.

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They did the work. But here are these who are working, are receiving what God promised, and God always gives what He promises, and He promises that if you work for Me,

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you're going to get joy if you're really working for God that there's joy in the work if you don't if you don't get any joy out of what you're doing you check and see who you're working for. You look again at who you're working for if you don't enjoy singing in the choir, question why you're there if you don't really enjoy it. If you're teaching a Sunday school class and you really don't enjoy, if you're a Christian

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and you really don't enjoy living the Christian life, there's something wrong, basis of your Christianity. But those who work for God, there's joy. Or that there is the scorching heat of the sun.

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Some came out there while the morning dew was still there. They came into the vineyard then. Others came a little later and they felt the scorching heat of the sun and others came and they came during the listening shadows of the evening.

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But the pay is just the same. But the joy that comes, the joy of knowing that you're working for the Lord, the joy of having fulfillment, that's the joy of knowing that somehow in the midst of it all, I've done my best.

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There's a certain sense of joy that comes with that. Oh, you may not be able to do it someone else, but when you say that I've done my best, when you look, when you can look to God and say, "Lord, may not be much, but I'm all I've got, and I'm giving all I am to you."

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Oh, there's a sense of joy in that when you're working for him. God has arranged it so that the reward is just the same. Oh, some may come from what we call royalty. Some in this country boast that their ancestors came over on the Mayflower.

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Some say, "Well, they're the daughters of the American Revolution." and others say we're the daughters of the Republic of Texas, but really, basically the important thing is whether you're a citizen of this country. The important thing is not whether or not you're of Jewish blood,

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not whether you can claim, well, I'm a Jew, and Jews somehow were the first to accept God in a unique way. No, no, they're the Gentiles, they came later, but somehow the path is just the same for both. And there are 12 gates in that city, the end of the way.

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Those 12 gates, there are four gates on the east and four gates on the west. And the east faces the rising sun. There are some who will come in the morning of their lives.

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And the west has to do with the setting sun. some will come in the evening, but the pay is just the same. Thanks be to God that he determines the pay. You ought to be glad about that.

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Because if the Pharisees had to determine it, then they would have seen to it that those who were the publicans who came later would not have received it.

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But God, in his grace and in his goodness, the pay is just the same. The joy is just the same. the joy and the sense of satisfaction in serving God,

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that grace is available to everyone and it pays. It pays. It really pays to do right. It pays to serve Jesus.

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It pays to hook up with eternity. It pays to walk with the left and step on the way to liberation. They may be hostile,

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The brother may be had, but has a pain in the end of the way. - Yes, sir. And pain, pain is all of you, eh? - Amen.

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- Somehow, every day, God somehow is in pain, I say, in the way that we are related to him. But the great payoff is in the end of the way. - Yes, sir.

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- In pain, in certain cases, in pain and in pain. [inaudible] to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life, to conform now and ever as a worthy and just king.

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And maybe you're a little bit in awe of him, and you need a church home. We invite you to come here today. You and I were the cabinet of God in Bethlehem.

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Maybe you've never accepted Jesus Christ, but we want you to understand, through my good work, by faith, [Music]

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The service of Jesus through measures of war He heals their revolt with the power of God [Music] [ Silence ]