Accept God's grace, and don't grumble

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching the blog archives for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to record any reflections or comments you may have, for the entries here serve best as the first remarks in a conversation.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Devotions: Ps 101, 109:1-4, 20-30; Num 16:36-50; Rom 4:13-25: Mt 20:1-16

I will sing of loyalty and justice to You, YHWH. I will walk with integrity of heart, and set nothing base before my eyes. I will shun perversity and know nothing of evil. I will not endure slander or arrogance, in myself or others. I will favor the faithful and associate with the blameless. I will cut off evil and pursue holiness! Let God speak, and drown out the prattle of lying tongues; I will pray for everyone and trust God for the goodness I need. Let God be Judge and punish my enemies; I am poor, and my heart is vulnerable. My strength is in YHWH; save me, my God, and let me proclaim Your might and holiness. Clothe my accusers in dishonor; wrap them in shame like a mantle. And I will give great praise to the Lord, Who stands by my side and saves me from those who would condemn me to death.

After YHWH executed the 250 rebels who dared bring unauthorized incense before Him, He told Moses: Direct Eleazar Aaron’s son to take up their censers and scatter the fire abroad. 'For the censers are holy; let them be hammered into a cover for the altar, as a sign before the people of Israel.' Eleazar did this, to warn the people that no one oustside the priesthood should draw near to burn incense before YHWH, lest God break forth and execute him like Korah and his company. The next day, the whole congregation was still murmuring against Moses and Aaron, blaming them for the death of YHWH’s people. YHWH’s cloud covered the tent of meeting, and God’s glory appeared. Moses and Aaron came to the entrance of the tabernacle, and YHWH told Moses, ‘Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.’ Moses told Aaron to hurry and fill his censer and carry the incense to the congregation and make atonement for them, for God’s plague had already begun. Aaron ran and did all that Moses directed; and Aaron stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was stopped. Fourteen thousand seven hundred people died in the plague, in addition to those God executed in the affair of Korah. Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting when the plague was stopped.

Paul continues contrasting faith and works: God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. If it were the adherents of the law who are to be God’s heirs, then faith would be null and the promise void. For the law brings wrath—moreover, where there is no law, there is no transgression. That is why the outcome depends on faith: so that God’s promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all Abraham’s descendants—both those who adhere to the law and also to those who share in Abraham’s faith; for he is father of us all, as is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations.’ Such faith is rewarded in the presence of the God in Whom Abraham believed, Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that have not existed before. In hope, Abraham believed beyond hope that he should become the father of many nations, as God had told him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, good as dead because he was about a century old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb and her ninety years. He did not waver through unbelief regarding God’s promise, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. Therefore God reckoned his faith as righteousness; and this reckoning is for us as well. God will reckon us righteous who believe in Him Who raised from death Jesus our Lord, Who was put to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Jesus taught in parables: The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with some workers on the wage of a denarius for a day’s work, he sent them into the vineyard. At about 9 AM, he went out again, and when he saw more people standing idle in the market place, he sent them into the vineyard, telling them he’d pay them ‘whatever is right.’ He went out again at noon, and three, and five PM; and each time, he found and hired additional workers, and sent them into his vineyard. When evening came, the owner had his steward call in the workers and pay them, starting with those hired ‘at the eleventh hour’. Each of them received a full denarius. When the workers who had started at 6 AM came, they also received a denarius, and they grumbled at the householder: ‘These latecomers worked only one hour, yet you have paid them as much as you gave us who bore the burden of a 12-hour day and the scorching heat!’ But the employer said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. You agreed to work the day for a denarius, and you have received it. Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give this last shift what I give you. Am I not entitled to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ Jesus concluded, telling His listeners: ‘So the last will be first, and the first, last!’