Re-elction and the Last Hour

Matthew 20:1-6
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. "And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, `You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' And so they went. "Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. "And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, `Why have you been standing here idle all day long?' "They said to him, `Because no one hired us.' He said to them, `You go into the vineyard too.'

I, like many Americans across this nation, stayed up until the wee hours of the morning in great anticipation of the national election on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. News organizations had interviewed people for several weeks that would say this was the most important election of their lifetime. How true that statement could prove to be in the near future.

But how does the re-election of President George W. Bush have anything to do with the first six verses of Matthew chapter 20 you might ask. Well I believe it has a lot to do with this particular passage.

You see this passage of scripture describes a typical work day. And that day to the Christian describes the age of grace. We are rapidly coming to the end of the age of grace . . . the end of the church age. And many people believe we are indeed living in the 11th hour. But, just like the parable instead of being busy in the midst of doing God's work, we have far too many Christians that are standing idle in the streets waiting for someone to hire them.

You see our evangelistic efforts have fallen short over the last several decades. Oh sure we have done a great job of spreading the gospel and seen millions of souls spared from the depths of hell. And while that is fantastic and I thank God for that, many people believe that is the end of the road. I'm saved and on my way to heaven and that's the end.

My friends, once we accept Christ the road has just begun. Once Jesus Christ has "hired us" there is work to be done. The Christian life does not begin and end with salvation. Salvation is merely the starting point.

Because of our Christian idleness in America we have seen the removal of the Bible and prayer from classrooms. In many parts of the country we are no longer able to pray before a football game or a graduation ceremony. Because of our idleness we are in a fight to define marriage as a committment between a man and a woman and NOT between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Because of our idleness we lose millions of innocent babies each year through abortion. Because of our indleness we are seeing the Ten Command-ments taken out of the public eye. Because of our idleness we can see society starting to crumble around us everywhere we look.

I truly believe God has shown His mercy on this nation once again with the re-election of President Bush. The Bible is clear that God is the one that allows governments to be set up and brought down (Daniel 2:21, Romans 13:1). And He has set up President Bush for a second term for a reason. I believe that reason is because there is still work to be done in the kingdom of God.

Let's be about God's work, because we are His hired help and we are coming to the end of the work day. But, the work is not complete. Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.

"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995
by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission."