“Found in the Marketplace”
Matthew 20:1-16
By: Rev. Ken Sauer, Pastor of East Ridge UMC, Chattanooga, TN
This parable has a lot to teach us…
…much more than I could possibly cover in a single sermon.
But in order to try and get at the heart of it, the best thing to do is to look at its context.
What brought it about?
Why did Jesus tell it at this time?
Who was Jesus speaking to?
It appears that Jesus was talking directly to the original 12 disciples, and particularly to Peter!
For right before this passage, in Chapter 19:27 Peter says to Jesus:
“We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
“What then will there be for us?...
…those of us who have been working all day in the heat of the sun?”
“What then will there be for us…
…those of us who are Your right hand men?”
“What then will there be for us…
…surely we deserve much more of a reward than the rest of humanity!”
“What then will there be for us…
…look how we have sacrificed so much for You!”
That’s some pretty common thinking, wouldn’t you say?
When we work hard, we expect to be paid more than those who haven’t worked so hard.
If we have put in more hours, we should be rewarded for it.
We live in a competitive world.
This competition is the driving force behind the concept of capitalism.
Not everyone gets paid the same!
Some are rich; some are poor.
Some live in huge mansions, paying more for their beautifully landscaped yards than many of us make in a year or in 10 years.
As the saying often goes, “Life just isn’t fair.”
That is the opposite of the way it works in the Kingdom of God!
In God’s Kingdom life is so fair that it is difficult to get our minds around it!
Will Peter and the rest of the Twelve receive a reward?
You bet!
And it will be the greatest reward imaginable!
Jesus tells Peter, “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”
What could be better than that?
The answer?
Nothing is better than that!
But then, Jesus throws in a zinger.
This is a real curve ball.
This is so awesome, so incredible it is almost too good to be true!
He adds, “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”
In other words, the original 12 disciples will receive a great reward…
…but so will everyone else who gives their lives to Christ!!!
Even the one’s who come into it in the last hour!
Some of us may have the idea that working in the Kingdom of God is some horrible chore.
But it’s not.
It is what brings us freedom, joy, peace, meaning, love, fellowship, self-worth and self-confidence…
…not to mention an intimate relationship; an intimate friendship with our Creator!!!
To be unemployed is a disaster!
To be employed in the Kingdom of God makes life worth the living!!!
In one sense this parable is a warning to the disciples.
It’s as if Jesus said to them, “You have received the great privilege of coming into the Christian Church and fellowship very early, right at the beginning.
In later days, others will come in.
You must not claim special honor and a special place because you were Christians before they were.”
All men and women, no matter when they come in, are equally precious to God!
Christianity knows nothing of the concept of superiority.
The world says, “You get what you deserve.”
And many of us tend to agree with that.
In God’s Kingdom, “We all get what we don’t deserve!”
We weren’t looking for God…none of us were.
God was looking for us!
The Bible makes it plenty clear that our salvation, our inheritance of eternal life is a free gift from God.
We can do nothing to deserve it.
It is not our right!
Instead, it is the highest privilege imaginable—it is a free gift with no strings attached.
It comes from the heart of God Who is Unconditional Love!!!
Salvation is something God does for us; there is nothing we can do to earn it nor deserve it!!!
It’s so awesome how God goes searching for us; not the other way around!!!
During a conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated, what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith.
The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room.
“What’s the rumpus about?” he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions.
Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.”
The people at the conference had to agree.
The idea of God’s love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct we have.
The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish covenant, and Muslim code of law---all of these offer a way to earn approval.
Only Christianity shows us that God’s love is unconditional!
We live in a world of ungrace.
God’s grace is often hard for us to fathom, and so Jesus talked to us about it often.
Author Phillip Yancey puts it very well in his book: What’s So Amazing About Grace?
“I have meditated enough on Jesus’ stories of grace to let their meaning filter through,” writes Yancey.
“Still each time I confront their astonishing message I realize how thickly the veil of ungrace obscures my view of God.
A housewife jumping up and down in glee over the discovery of a lost coin is not what naturally comes to mind when I think of God.
Yet that is the image Jesus insisted upon.
The story of the Prodigal Son, after all, appears in a string of three stories by Jesus—the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son—all of which seem to make the same point.
Each underscores the loser’s sense of loss, tells of the thrill of discovery, and ends with a scene of jubilation.
Jesus says in effect, ‘Do you want to know what it feels like to be God?
When one of those two-legged humans pays attention to Me, it feels like I just reclaimed My most valuable possession, which I had given up for lost.’”
Have you ever thought of yourself as God’s most valuable possession?
Have you ever thought of other persons this way?
Let’s take a look at the parable we read this morning
God the Father is portrayed as the Owner of all things....
....and we are the people standing around in the marketplace with nothing to do…
…Until God shows up and offers us a job and a reward!
Some of the folks were hired early
in the morning about 6 a.m.
At 9 a.m. God goes hunting for persons again, and when God finds them God says to them, “You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right. So they went.”
God went out again searching for
those who had nothing to do, this time at the 6th hour or 12 noon.
God did the same at the 9th hour and then at the 11th hour which was 5 p.m.
God found still more folks to work in God’s Vineyard.
God is always searching for the lost.
How awesome is that?
“He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’”
Let’s face it, we were all useless until we were found in the marketplace…
…even the Apostle Peter!!!
Life is a marketplace of people waiting for the opportunity to do something.
Every person has great potential which is waiting to be discovered.
The laborers in Jesus’ parable would have stayed in the marketplace all day if the landowner had not come
and given them a job.
The landowner’s call--like our call from God--was the beginning of their self-worth and their productivity.
And some of the workers complained: “You have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”
They were complaining that they had worked all day and had endured the hot sun, but those who had joined
in the last hour got the same pay.
But in fact, if the landowner had not come to the marketplace and chosen them, they would have
received nothing!
We must all remember that the field belongs to God...not to us!
The places where we work, whether they are in the church, in the world, or in any other place of
ministry--they are God’s field!
And God has sent us into His field.
Jesus said, “I will build my church,” in Matthew chapter 16...
....and the possessive pronoun “my” tells us right off that the Church belongs to Him.
And the fruits of the harvest belong to God as well...not to us.
When we work for Jesus Christ, we must remember that salvation is a free gift from Him.
We are the workers....
,,,and what a privilege that is!!!
We are all among many who serve the Owner--Who is God.
The apostle Paul describes us as a part of the body of Christ....
....and as a part of the body we must always work in harmony--never in competition!
Because our mission is one--our mission is to “Go, make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!!!”
It’s about unconditional love for God and neighbor!!!
And God judges us by our faithfulness--not by our success.
Some people think that they can boycott God’s work...
...that they can sit down on the job, or even strike....
...But God would ask them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?”
How many of us have been sharing our faith in Christ?
How many of us invited someone to come and worship the Living God with us this morning?
The world is a marketplace…
…with men, women and children…
…standing around lost and idle…
…without purpose, without meaning…
…without a relationship with God through faith in Christ!!!
God has called us…
…has hired us to work in the marketplace.
We are to go out and invite others to work with us!!!
There is more than enough reward to go around!
And what is the reward?
A purpose filled life, and a hundred times as much, the inheritance of eternal life!!!
“I am generous,” the landowner reminded the workers.
We all must go beyond the call to merely believe in Christ...
...we must demonstrate that faith by our faithfulness, our witness and service.
In the parable, the landowner went out into the marketplace and saw people standing there doing nothing.
“He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.”
So they went....
Shall we join them?
