The Good News and the Bad News of the Good News
A man and a women had been friends for many years, had died and gone to heaven. They told St. Peter that they wanted to be married.
- “Take your time and think about it,” said St. Peter, “you have eternity so take fifty years and see me then.”
Fifty years later, the couple returned and again told St. Peter they wanted to be married.
“Well,” said St. Peter, “take another fifty years and really think about it….”
But the couple was insistent: “We know we want to be married now….”
St. Peter replied,
“Well, take another fifty years and if we don’t have a preacher up here by then, I’ll marry you myself.
How would you feel if the first thing you discovered upon reaching heaven was that Reverend Billy Graham is missing? And what if you then found out that your next-door neighbor was Adolph Hitler? Or what if you looked in vain for your son or daughter who had been heavily involved in drugs, and then discovered that the one who had sold them the drugs was living across the street of New Jerusalem?
Now I am not campaigning for any of these! But we do know that there will be some big surprises in heaven. People we thought would surely be there may be missing, and some we thought surely wouldn’t be there may be present. God judges by a different system from ours, for we look only at the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.
As we try to understand a little more about God’s system, let’s look at Matthew 20:1-16. It’s one of the strangest stories Jesus ever told. And it brings us face-to-face with the bad news of the gospel.
Matthew 20: 1- 4 (read)
They didn’t have an agreed sum of payment; they accepted his offer of “whatsoever is right.” They trusted him.
Verses 5-7 (read)
Well, a worker can’t lose at 5:00 p.m. with only one hour before time to quit. If all he does is stuff himself with grapes during the last hour and get nothing for his labor, he is still better off than he would be just standing on the street corner. These workers who were hired the last hour were fresh. They had done nothing all day. Can’t you see them picking grapes faster than anybody else, just for the novelty of having something to do besides standing around? And perhaps the rest of the workers sniffed and said, “Sure, they’re full of pep. Wait till they’ve worked for twelve hours like we have, and then see what happens to their enthusiasm.” And finally it was quitting time.
The vineyard owner is a troublemaker
But now the plot thickens. Verse 8: (read) Here was the first sign of trouble.
Work in the vineyard was extremely difficult. For instance, a vineyard was generally planted on terraced hillsides, most of which were stony. Preparing the terraces involved digging out the tiers and using the stones to build small retaining walls on the outside edges. When the terraced areas were completed, they had to be filled with good soil which usually had to be carried a considerable distance up the slopes from more fertile ground below. It is no wonder why those who were hired first complained that those who were hired later should not receive the same pay.
These people had gotten up before sunrise, eaten a hurried breakfast, and walked down to the corner on Main Street where those blue buses with the dingy windows pick them up and take them to the vineyard. They had been working for twelve hours. They were hot and dusty. They were tired and anxious to get home, shower, have something to eat, pay a little attention to the kiddies, and go to sleep reading the evening paper. They would fall into bed exhausted, only to do it all over again tomorrow. And now, instead of getting their pay and being allowed to go on their way, they had to stand there and wait for the miserable one-hour workers to get paid first. Now don’t you agree with me that the vineyard owner is a troublemaker?
Then the Bible says Verse 9 (read)
Suddenly things began to look good. It looked good for the eleventh-hour workers, who received a whole day’s pay for one hour’s work. There are two extremes of reactions you could have if you were in their place. One reaction could be to figure that the vineyard owner was a soft touch and plan how you could rip him off the next day. Second, an opposite reaction would be to be so grateful for the generosity of the kind vineyard owner that you resolve to come out and work the following day for free!
But not only did things look good to the one-hour workers. Things looked good to the twelve-hour workers as well. They looked over the shoulders of the ones who were paid first, whipped out their pocket calculators, and figured that vacation time had arrived at last! In their minds they were already home announcing the good news to the family, getting out the Coleman stove and the pup tents, and packing the station wagon. They were impressed with the generosity of the vineyard owner.
They didn’t stay impressed. Verse 10: (read)
Now is this good news or bad news?
If the vineyard owner had chosen to pay the twelve-hour workers first and sent them on their way, then they may not have discovered what he paid the other workers. But for some reason this vineyard owner wanted them to see. He was a troublemaker.
In that case, just keep your money!
When the twelve-hour workers saw that their vacation plans had to be cancelled, they were upset. Verses 11-16 (read)
Apparently they didn’t even want to take their pay. They were ready to tell the vineyard owner he could just keep his filthy money. He had to plead with them to take it with them. Now don’t you agree that this vineyard owner is a troublemaker?
If you don’t think the vineyard owner was trying to make trouble, maybe you have some idea of who the vineyard owner is! And if he is God, you don’t want to admit that sometimes God’s system looks strange to us, for the system of the world we are used to is entirely different. Even the spiritually mature, who have learned to appreciate God’s system as far as heavenly things are concerned, must still live by the merit system in temporal matters. In our work, in our schools.
in our lives here on earth, everything is based on the system of merit. You get what you earn, and you earn what you get. No more, and hopefully no less. It has permeated all of society. It has permeated the church. From the cradle on up, every one of us have had to live with the system of merit.
Gifts aren’t fair
To receive a gift, really and truly for free, is a rare thing in this world, and may even make the receiver uncomfortable. Even the lotteries and sweepstakes have to go to a great deal of trouble to prove to everybody that it is chance that picks the winner—that the winner is nobody’s favorite. To give prizes or gifts by any method except by random selection isn’t considered “fair.” And the ones who stand by and watch a gift bestowed upon another—as in, for example, an inheritance situation—are often upset at the unfairness of such an act.
When I was in the first grade, I was going to school in a small town up in the Carpathian mounains. All year we worked hard on progressive classwork. I was studying to be a pioneer – kind of Boy Scout program. I had worked hard and looked forward eagerly to the day of the investiture service. Pioneer! I mean only the A,s and B,s students…
When the principal arrived, he spread out on the table all of the scarves and pins for all of those who were being invested as pioneer. And after that he said that all of us, all the students will became pioneers because the communist party who ruled our country at that time, considered that all kids should be pioneers and participate in pioneers activities. Can you imagine? All the scholar year, from August to May next year the magnificent sevent second graders working hard for their A’s and B’s in order to be promoted pioneers. And now, everybody, including the bullies of our 31 student’s class, was promoted as pioneers…
It was so unjust, so unfair…The whole experience set my interest in class work and beeing good student back by about five years.
I am not worthy
In Luke 7 we read about the centurion’s servant who was sick. And at his request, the Jewish rulers came to Jesus asking that his servant be healed. They were still on the merit system. You don’t ever find them coming and requesting healing for a blind beggar or a leper or a little widow woman. But the roman commandant had built them a synagogue. So they came to Jesus saying, “this one is worthy for he love our nation, and he had built us a synagogue.” Luke 7: 4, 5 (read)…
Jesus started out for the centurion’s house, and when finally the centurion himself came to Jesus, in spite of the fact that the Jewish leaders thought he was worthy, the centurion said of himself, “I am not worthy.” And Jesus marveled at him and said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Verses 6, 9.
Here’s the bad news
It’s the fact that none of us can ever be worthy; it’s the truth that no one can ever earn or merit God’s grace or favor that is the bad news of the gospel. It has been a universal disease of humanity that we want to be worthy. When we have toiled through the heat of the day and then we see those who come at the last minute receiving a reward equal to ours, we find our reward hard to take. The message that we can never be saved in any way on the basis of our own works can be bad news to the one who is used to paying his entire way. Yet it is the foundation of God’s economy. He is on the gift system all the way.
You are called to the bedside of a dying missionary. The elders have come to anoint him. And you remind the Lord of all of his years of faithful service — how he buried a son or daughter, perhaps a wife, out there in the far-flung fields. You remind the Lord of all that he could yet do in His work. And you don’t quite say it, but it’s there, in the background, “Lord, this man really deserves Your help.” And the missionary dies, and you go on your way, wondering about God’s system of working.
Then you go to the bedside of a backslider. Somebody who chose a life in sin. One who left the church and became a notorious sinner, the embarrassment of the whole community. He’s dying in a hospital of a heart attack. There’s scarcely enough blood pumping across his brain to enable him to think. Between gasps he says, “Preacher, I’m a backslider. I’ve treated God badly for years. But please pray for me that I’ll come up in the right resurrection.” There are no elders and no oil. You don’t even ask that he be healed. You just ask that he come up in the right resurrection. And he’s healed and walks out of the hospital with a heart apparently as good as anybody’s. And you go your way, pondering God’s system.
God’s free grace may be good news for a dying backslider—but what about the dying missionary? Doesn’t he deserve at least equal treatment? Doesn’t he deserve—? And we continue to be astonished at God’s way of working.
The extra reward for the twelve-hour workers
In order to understand why God’s system is good news for the twelve-hour workers, for the dying missionary, as well as for the latecomers, we need to back up to Matthew 19. A rich man had come to Jesus asking what to do to enter into life. Jesus told him to sell all he had, give to the poor, and come and follow Him. The rich man went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Verses 16-22.
The disciples watched it happen, and one of them managed to have enough courage to ask what all of them were thinking: “Lord, this rich man went away because he had great possessions, and he wasn’t willing to give them up. However, we’re still here. We haven’t gone away, and we have left all to follow You. What are we going to get?” (V.27).
If you had been in Jesus’ shoes at this juncture, you could easily have gotten discouraged. He had been working with these men for almost three years, trying to teach them the values of the kingdom. If it had been one of us, we might easily have said, “You men are hopeless. Give me another twelve. I’m starting over.” But Jesus was patient, and He met them where they were. He said, “In the kingdom, there are going to be twelve thrones, and you will each have a throne, and will judge the twelve tribes of Israel.” See verse 28. And you can see Peter and the other disciples standing a little taller as they begin to picture the scene!
But then Jesus makes a very interesting statement that we wouldn’t want to miss. “Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold” (verse 29), and Mark adds, “Now in this time... and in the world to come eternal life” (Mark 10:30).
Please notice the two rewards. Those who have forsaken all and followed Jesus will receive an hundredfold. When? Now. At this present time. And the other reward is eternal life at the end of the age when Jesus comes again.
So there are two rewards. And with that in mind, we can return to the vineyard and understand the rest of the story. There is a reward of being able to work throughout the day with the kind vineyard owner. It is rewarding to become involved in service and meaningful work for the entire day. It is not necessary to wait for the end of the day for the reward—the reward comes all through the day.
If you know a vital relationship with Jesus, if you know God as it is your privilege to know Him, then your primary focus is not on the reward at the end of the day. Your primary focus is the joy of fellowship and service with Him right now. Isn’t that true? These one-hour workers, who spent the day out on the street corner, are they the winners or the losers? It’s boring out there! But the vineyard is an exciting place. And unless you are merely putting in your time, trying hard to make it to heaven, you can easily understand this. If you don’t know the thrill of entering into relationship and service with the Lord Jesus today, then you are miserable now, and you’ll be miserable at the end too.
The happiest person today is the one who is the most involved in service to others, and the most miserable person today is the one who is the most turned in on himself. If your whole focus is on yourself and on trying to make yourself happy, you will be miserable. But when you forget self and reach out to others, you find happiness automatically. The rewards that come with the burden and heat of the day more than compensate for the burden and heat of the day, even if there were no reward at the end.
If God calls you to some hard place of service for Him and you know that He has called you, then the sacrifice is not in going. The sacrifice would be to stay home! And many missionaries can tell you that’s true.
Idleness is a real drag
When I was in college, toward the end of one year the pressure had really built up. I was tired. And I told my wife one morning that I wished I could go to bed for a week. That very day, I got sick. Fever, red eyes, sneezing every other minute, feeling bad... And our family doctor who came to see me, said, “Go to bed for a week.” Hurrah! I loved it - for the first three hours. Then it was terrible. Just to stay in bed and do nothing… Nothing… It’s a torment for a hyperactive type of personality.
Have you ever left for a vacation and been so tired that you resolved to do nothing but set up a cot and some mosquito netting, and sleep and read by the lake? And as soon as you arrive at the lake, you hurry to set up the cover, and you crawl under the netting. But after thirty minutes you can’t stand it. And soon you’re out building a caiac to go across the lake or damming up the creek or polishing the hubcaps on your car. In all of life, activity is the only way to survive. And activity is as necessary to the Christian life as to the physical life. It is in working that we stay alive.
Even in heaven, that land of rest, there will still be the joy of service for others. That’s what the angels are all about. They have found their joy for thousands of years in ministering to human beings, who are in every way inferior to them.
Can’t you imagine it? One day your angel comes by your mansion for a visit. And he says, “How would you like to take a trip?”
And you say, “Sure—count me in. Just wait till I pack.”
“No,”he says, “there’s no need to pack. Nothing to pack!”
You say, “Oh, that’s right. Well, let me say goodbye to my friends, and then we can leave.”
“They’ll be here when you get back,” he reminds you. “They’ll be here forever!”
And so you are ready to go.
“Where are we going?”
“To a little planet on the outer rim of a galaxy, to let them hear the story from human lips of what it’s like to be ransomed from a world of sin.”
You know that angels never felt the joy that our salvation brings, and so you start off on tireless flights to worlds afar, to tell those who haven’t heard what it’s like to be lost—and found again. And once more you are involved in the timeless and universal principle that the happiest person is the one who is reaching out to others. (after a M. Venden illustration)
I invite you today to the rewards, one hundredfold here and now, of working with this kind, loving, generous vineyard owner. And He also has made provision to take care of the rewards at the end of the day, for everybody, whether they worked all day long or came at the last minute. Won’t you join me today in pleading with God to transform our hearts so that we can accept His system and thus be happy with Him in heaven forever? It is as we accept His grace, for free, today, that we are enabled to find that the bad news of the gospel is really good news, after all.
Ovidiu Radulescu (ovirad@yahoo.com)
