Septuagesima January 28, 2018
Septuagesima
Matthew 20:1-16
January 28, 2018
“Grumbling vs. Satisfaction”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The workers in the parable grumbled about their pay. The Israelites in the wilderness grumbled about their lack of water. Grumbling is a cool word in Greek. And it’s partly true also in English. The sound of the word itself suggests the sense of the word. It sounds like what it means. An onomatopoeia. Do you hear grumbling in the word itself – grumble? In Greek, it’s the same. The word is gogguzo. You hear it in the word itself. It’s all those guttural sounds. Guttural sounds are sounds down in the throat [grumbling sound]. Low sounds. So the sound of grumbling is down low—in the throat. Listen to these English words—murmur, groaning, grumbling, mutter. It’s something uttered down in a low tone—under the breath.
In the parable, when the workers who worked all day long in the vineyard, a hard twelve-hour day in the scorching heat—when they come up to receive their pay for the day they’re thinking they will receive more than everybody else. After all, the guys who worked only an hour received a full denarius. This surely means that the workers who started at 6am in the morning will receive more. But when they too only receive a denarius, they grumble. Down here low in the throat. [grumbling sound] They grumbled at the master saying, “We deserve more.”
In the Old Testament reading from Exodus 17, the Israelites arrive at Rephidim to find that there isn’t water for everyone to drink. They, too, grumble. [grumbling sound] In the Greek Old Testament, the word there again is gogguzo. Now there are other words in there also. They quarreled. They tested. But grumbling becomes a favorite sound of the Israelites in the wilderness. They grumble about water and food. They grumble when they’re scared to go into the Promised Land. They grumble about Moses and Aaron being the leaders.
Now we need to clarify. There’s a difference between grumbling against God and grumbling to God. We might use two different words to make it clearer. There’s a difference between grumbling and complaining. God desires us to complain to Him. We find it all over in the Old Testament. God wants to hear your woes, your trials, your cares, your murmurings, your grumblings, your groanings, your sighs. He wants your grumblings to be sanctified grumblings. To be brought to Him in prayer and faith expecting Him to answer and comfort you. That is good and you should never think that you cannot complain and grumble to God.
Yet grumbling against Him is another story. Grumbling against God is done down here in the throat, down low, under the breath, murmuring against Him. This is the grumbling of sinners. It’s not the grumbling of faith or prayer, looking to God for help. It’s the grumbling of pride and arrogance, looking down on God, thinking that we deserve more or better than what He’s giving us.
You and I, grumbling sinners, find countless reasons to grumble against God. We’re utterly convinced that we deserve everything we have and more. We grumble about money—when we don’t have as much as we want and when others have more than us. Lord, have mercy on us. We grumble about our family. Our husband. Our wife. Our children. Our parents. We murmur under our breath that we should have better. We deserve better. Lord, have mercy on us.
We grumble about our bodies. We groan of our aches, our pains, our medicines, and our weaknesses. “Why would God ever let us get sick? We don’t deserve that.” Lord, have mercy on us. And we grumble about every leader we elect and every person that has any authority anywhere. We act like we could somehow do any better. “How could God give us such terrible leaders?” But we don’t consider that maybe we deserve them. Lord, have mercy on us.
But the worst of all our grumblings is against God’s greatest gift—the gift of His own Son Jesus Christ. God sent His Son into this world and we sinners grumbled against Him. Sinners called Him names. Conspired against Him. Ridiculed Him. Sinners grumbled against God saying, “We deserve better than this Guy!” And we grumbled Him all the way to the cross where we put Him to death under our grumblings and murmurings.
Yet this was God’s plan. He gave Jesus for your grumblings. He gave Jesus to take all your grumbling to the cross. In the parable, the workers complained that they bore the burden of the day and the scorching heat. That’s what Jesus did. He bore the burden of your sin and the scorching wrath of God against your and my grumbling. He worked the twelve-hour day for us. And when we come to God the Father, not grumbling but in faith, we receive our denarius. Jesus is our denarius. He worked the work and we receive the pay. He paid for our grumbling and we receive His perfect gift.
The reason Jesus tells this parable is to illustrate what He means by, “The last will be first and the first will be last.” We should not be overly concerned at all with what we have or don’t have in this world. Many of those who are considered first in this world will be last in the next. It doesn’t matter if you’re the richest or the poorest, the strongest or the weakest, the most famous or the most infamous. All believers in Christ receive the full paycheck—a denarius—our Savior Jesus. And because we have Jesus, we also have satisfaction. Satisfaction is the antitheses to grumbling.
It’s no secret that with all the advances in our world today, we are becoming less and less satisfied. Or use whatever other word you want to use. We’re less happy. Less content. More “grumbly”. Satisfaction seems to be one of the only things we can’t buy. Every new thing, every new gadget, every new medicine, every new phone, every new app promises to bring satisfaction. But it fails.
God has given you everything you need to be satisfied. He has given you Jesus. In fact, the whole thing that prompts this parable of the grumbly workers is that Peter says, “See, Jesus, we have left everything and followed you.” And Jesus basically says, ‘Yes, you’re right, Peter. And it will pay off. You will be truly satisfied.” And then he tells how the first will be last, and the last first and illustrates it with this parable.
Jesus truly does call us to leave everything else and follow Him. When you’re tied to the things of this world, then you’ll find yourself always grumbling about them. If you’re tied to money, you’ll grumble about money. If you’re tied to your health, then you’ll grumble about your health. If you’re tied to food and drinks, then you’ll grumble about them.
But if you can leave all those behind and follow Jesus only, then you’ll find satisfaction. Now satisfaction is something that needs cultivating. It needs help. It’s a habit you can practice on a day to day basis. You need to pray about it and meditate on it. But by the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit, Christians learn to cultivate satisfaction versus grumbling.
Do you really need more money to be satisfied? Do you really need that new phone or that new couch or that new bed or that new house or whatever it is? Of course not. You can be perfectly satisfied right now. So cultivate some satisfaction. Remember that you are baptized into Christ. “God’s own child, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ!” Remember that all your sins are forgiven. Remember that you are a child of paradise. Remember that this world is temporary.
Remember that everything you have is a gift. Pray every morning and give thanks to God that He has given you another day, that He has given you family and friends, that He has given you work to do, and that He has given you air to breathe and sunlight to see. Cultivate thankfulness and humility.
Come up to the altar and leave everything else behind to follow Jesus, receiving His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sin. Walk away from here truly satisfied, having received God’s peace. That kind of satisfaction is also contagious. As Jesus says, “Others will see your satisfaction and give glory to Your Father in heaven.”
Friends in Christ, it’s easy to grumble. It comes quite naturally to us sinners. But it brings no satisfaction. Bring your complaints to God. He has given His one and only Son for you. Who bore the burden of the day so that you could receive the treasure of heaven. Be satisfied in Him. Be content in Him. You have everything you need for this life and for the life to come. Cultivate satisfaction and thankfulness by hearing God’s Word, by prayer, and by receiving His forgiveness. You’ll find less and less and less to grumble about.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.