Sermon/Message: October 1, 1999
ICM Monterrey, Pastor: David Pettitt
Translated from Spanish by Pastor David Pettitt

First Reading: Philippians 3:4b-14
Reading from the Gospels: Matthew 21:33-46

I imagine, at the top of the list, God trusted us first with: Our Lives... Our Parents and Our Families... God also trusted us with Our Friends... Our Job... How about, This Planet Earth that we live on... God has also entrusted us with this church and the community we serve.

Each one of these things I mentioned, God has entrusted us with. For each of us, this involves a level of commitment... Just like in the story we heard read tonight, we are each expected to fulfill our agreement and this includes how we share a portion of what we each have received.

There is a common thread which weaves all the stories of the Bible together into one Great Book - that thread is: "Obedience to God." From the Garden of Eden, all the way to the Cross, the Resurrection, and beyond. God has, and God continues to challenge us to: "Trust and Obey".

Trusting God instead of ourselves and our own abilities to provide our necessities AND Obeying God, is not always that easy. Sometimes, we want more... Sometimes, we want it all! This was the case in the story Jesus told tonight.

A landowner made a contract with someone he trusted. The landowner prepared everything... he planted the vineyard, built a protective fence, and even a guard tower. He then turned the responsibility over OR entrusted his property to someone else.

This person was supposed to take care of and protect this land. When it came time for the harvest, the greedy tenant decided to keep it all. He did not keep his side of the agreement. All the landowner had asked for in their original agreement, was for a fair share of the profits.

When the landowner made attempts to collect what was rightfully due to him... the greedy tenant tortured the landowners representatives, even killing his only son.

Have you ever heard a story being told as an illustration, and at some point, you realize this story is referring to YOU? This is exactly what happened... at one point the chief priests and elders realized that Jesus was talking about them.

Their initial desire was to try and arrest Jesus. They had had just about enough of Him and His teachings. The problem was, their own fear took over. They were afraid the people would turn on them. Jesus and His message, had become really popular.

So what exactly does this story mean for us today? Where and How do we fit into an agreement with God... How has God trusted us? AND Do we too become greedy, when it is time to return a fair portion back to the landowner... God has given us everything we have... What do we give back to God?

God gives us our very lives... we owe our existence to God... What do we do with our lives and how do we take care of these perishable containers we call our bodies?

God gives us our parents... we do not choose who brings us into this world... God does! Do we treat our parents with respect? Are we honest with them about who we are and how God created us?

God also created all the people of this planet... from all these creations, we get to choose those people we call Friends. Do we fairly and honestly participate in these friendships? What do we give back?

Then there are our jobs. Without an economy, there would not be order in the world. Within this planet, God provided many natural resources. And so jobs were created to produce and sell things we use.

Those of us who are employed, have made an agreement with our employers. For each hour we work, we will receive an amount of money... an amount we agreed to, before we ever started to work. Do we honestly give an hour's worth of our time, for each hour of pay we receive? Are we being fair to the landowner?

And then there is Mother Earth! How do we treat this precious gift? This gift we call home! Do we protect, respect, and honor the environment? Better yet, what are we doing to leave this a better place for future generations?

God gave us this opportunity... this church community, as a tool or a vehicle to help us fulfill all of the above. How do we respond to these gifts? Do we protect them and guard them against outside attacks and negative forces?

What do we give back as a fair portion, as our sign of gratitude and appreciation to God for this and all the gifts we receive? Are we really fulfilling our part of the agreement?

In Paul's letter to the Philippians, we hear him commenting on all his accomplishments before he became a Christian.

He was born of legitimate parents. He was circumcised on the eighth day. He obeyed all the Jewish laws and customs. He got a great education. He had many certificates which proved this. He was a successful businessman. He did all the right things.

The problem was, Paul was so rigid and obsessed with following his Jewish traditions, that there was no room for any other theory or religion. He was so convinced he was right, that he persecuted the Christians for their beliefs... Their beliefs were contrary to his!

As human beings, we are living organisms. As such, we need to constantly be changing and growing. Paul was incapable of changing. Whenever we think we have a monopoly on the truth, we can no longer enter into an authentic dialogue with any other person or group.

What happened to Paul on his way to Damascus, was that Jesus decided; enough was enough! Jesus probably thought, "I could really use this guy, if only I could get his attention long enough to hear My Message of peace and goodwill towards all people."

Our ability to make peace with another person and with the world, depends on our ability to make peace with ourselves. If we are at war with our parents... if we are at war with our families... if we are at war with our friends or society... OR, even if we are at war with our church... it is probably because there is a war going on inside of us!

The most basic work we can do for peace, is to return to ourselves and create harmony among the elements within us - our feelings... our perceptions... and our mental state of being... none of us has a monopoly on the Truth!

Our personal views of how the world and others should be and how others should act... are simply that - they are simply our own prejudiced views. There is no room for the love Jesus asked us to share with each other.

In the Psalms it says, "Be Still, and know that I am God." To "Be Still" means to become peaceful and concentrated. This will produce a deeper understanding of ourselves, and what will result is the birth of understanding and respect for others. What will result is peace and harmony.

This is what happened to Paul... Paul learned what was really important in life... Paul learned what it was he was supposed to give back to the One who created him. Paul learned to share...

And so, Paul began to share the common qualities of Love... of Understanding... and of Acceptance. For our dialogue to become authentic, it must become open - to do this, we must first open our hearts and set aside our prejudices and preconceived ideas.

Paul was not a bad person... neither are we. Paul [like us], simply needed to be reminded that we are part of an agreement. An agreement with the One who provides all our needs, including our lives.

The questions we should each be asking ourselves on a continual basis are:

Ø What are we doing, to keep our end of the bargain?
Ø Do we recognize God as the Landowner?
Ø Are we taking care of what has been entrusted to us?
Ø Are we giving back a fair portion of the profits?
Ø OR when it comes time, do we too get greedy and want to keep it all?

God does not ask us for an unreasonable share... God is only asking us to be responsible... to recognize where and who provides all that we have been given and entrusted with. We only get one chance... we only get one life...

It seems like all of us want to be happy...but few of us manage to discover how! Is it because the price to be paid is too high? The Price of True Happiness is to give...the Price of True Happiness is to Share...the Price of True Happiness is to respect our agreement with God...Amen and Amen!

The author of this material is Rev. David Pettitt, pastor of the MCC in Monterrey, Mexico.