Now we need to remember that we can never take a scripture out of context. Just before this the Rich Young Ruler asks Jesus in
Matthew 19:16b (NASB)
“Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?”
“Do”
This was an underlying foundation in the mind of the rich young ruler - doing obtains eternal life.
The religious system of that day was all about doing.
The assumption was that if you were doing the right things, if you were righteous in your actions, you would be rich.
If you remember, this is exactly the same logic that Job’s friends were using; over and over and over and over and over …
Jesus follows this up by saying …
Matthew 19:23-24 (NASB)
“Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
The “Eye of the Needle” gate in Jerusalem is a fiction … why?
1) There is absolutely NO historic evidence for such a gate ever existing
2) The phrase Jesus uses is "the eye of a needle" not "the eye of the needle" as a gate would most likely be
called
3) According to the common use of the illustration of the gate the camel would need to be unloaded, the camel
crawls through the gate, the owner retrieves his stuff and reloads the camel. Is THAT how salvation
works?
4) What the gate illustrations describes is frustratingly difficult but not impossible. Jesus answers the disciples
with, "What is IMPOSSIBLE with men is possible with God."
5) Taken to the end logic Jesus would have been saying that salvation IS possible by doing.
What Jesus said simply flew in the face of everything they had heard from the religious leaders of those days. “They were greatly astonished!”
Peter, following the logic of Jesus’ discussion with the rich young ruler says, “Hey, we did what you asked of him. We left everything. What about us?
Jesus says, “You (the disciples) are going to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Matthew 19:30
“But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”
Just what does that mean? Let's see what Jesus goes on to tell them …
Matthew 20:1-15
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around.
“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.’
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.
“When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.
“Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
OK. Let’s just stop here for a second and take a look at something in verse
Matthew 20:1a
“For the kingdom of heaven is LIKE …
Jesus is not telling them that something new is happening here. Jesus is not telling them that there is a big shift in the way the Kingdom of heaven works. Jesus is saying, the rich young ruler and the religious leaders of this day (the time of Christ) have got it wrong; this is how it works!
You have been trying to find God or to find salvation through doing.
In this parable Jesus is telling us that people seeking employment are those who are seeking God.
The owner of the vineyard offers employment to all who are seeking it.
In the spiritual equivalent God offers the kingdom of heaven to all who are seeking Him.
Those who accept the offer of employment are those who enter into a relationship with the owner of the vineyard
In the spiritual equivalent, those who accept the offer of salvation enter into a relationship with God, they are now a part of the Kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God.
Now, notice that there has not been any work or deeds done to this point. Nothing to merit employment other than seeking and accepting employment and, in the spiritual parallel, nothing other than seeking God and accepting the offer of salvation through faith in Jesus.
Because they have accepted the offer of employment they go to work in the vineyard. Because of our salvation through the offer made by Jesus we willing serve Him.
Those who accepted employment in the vineyard and worked in the vineyard were paid at the end of the day.
Those who find salvation through the gracious gift of Christ also work. This salvation is demonstrated by working in the Kingdom of God.
The payment was the same for every worker in the vineyard whether they worked 1 hour or 12 hours.
The gift of eternal life is the same whether you are saved at the age of 4 and serve Jesus all of your life or if you are saved at the age of 104 on your death bed.
Now, that is how the Kingdom of heaven works according to Jesus, but, what if …
What if someone just went to the vineyard and starting working? What if they just bypassed that whole thing about going to the market place and waiting to get hired? Wouldn’t that save time and be more effecient? I mean, you could pick a couple of extra baskets of grapes instead of standing around to be hired.
When it came to the end of the day and the owner of the vineyard was standing there with his manager and you came up to get paid, what would the owner say? Would he say, I don’t know who you are but you did so much great work that I’m going to pay you anyway? No, he wouldn’t. Why? Because there was no relationship established.
It is the same way in the Kingdom of heaven. The relationship with God comes first. Then the work in the Kingdom of heaven starts and continues throughout the relationship.
You see, “Doing is NOT being, but, being will always result in doing.”
Trying to work in the vineyard without being employed does not make you an employee and consequently you will not get paid.
Trying to do the work of the Kingdom of heaven without a relationship with God, without salvation, will not make you a Christian!
Actually, it will most likely make you legalistic and frustrated and there will be no joy in your life because you will build higher and more complex rules trying to find that awesome peace and joy that is supposed to accompany salvation.
Here is a cat and here is a Kelpie. A cat is a cat and a Kelpie is a sheep herding dog.
If a cat had a brain and it wanted to be a sheep herding animal such as a kelpie it could exercise and train and study but it would never be a kelpie. What it would be is a small, flat furry animal underneath the hooves of a flock of sheep.
In order for the cat to become a kelpie it would need to be miraculously transformed into a new creation! It would need to be totally restructured from an animal which is totally useless for sheep herding into another totally different animal such as a kelpie which has the capacity to accomplish such a task.
Once that transformation had taken place the recreated animal would then be trained to do the work by the Master and out of gratitude would do whatever was demanded of him.
Once we are transformed by the grace of God from a wretched sinner into a child of God we will work in the Kingdom of God, we will willingly serve our Master.
“Doing is NOT being, but, being will always result in doing.”
No amount of good deeds will bring about the transformation.
But, genuine transformation will always result in doing the work of the Kingdom.
Always!
Titus 3:5 (KJV)
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
Transformation!
Ephesians 2:8-9
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.
Transformation!
Ephesians 2:10
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Working in the kingdom brought about by the transformation.
James 2:14-18
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
“If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
“But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”
Working in the kingdom brought about by the transformation.
“Doing is NOT being, but, being will always result in doing.”
What about those who only worked one hour in the vineyard?
What about Donna who Barb and Pastor Karenlee led to the Lord on her deathbed?
What about Ken, Bridget’s brother, who found Jesus just days before he died?
Should they receive eternal life like someone who was saved at the age of four and served Jesus all their life?
Absolutely!!! The person who really has been transformed by the grace of God will shout Hallelujah! when anyone comes to Christ for salvation.
Do you remember this little conversation?
Luke 23:39-43 (ISV)
“Now one of the criminals hanging there kept insulting Him, “You are the Messiah, aren’t You? Save Yourself … and us!”
“But the other criminal rebuked him, ‘Aren’t you afraid of God, since you are suffering the same penalty? We have been condemned justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong.’
“Then he went on to plead, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom!’ Jesus told him, “I tell you with certainty, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’”
Now, that’s an end of life conversion! That’s like being hired to work in the vineyard when there’s only five minutes of daylight left. That’s like walking from the market place to the vineyard, picking one cluster of grapes and then collecting the pay. But, that’s OK. And it’s not just OK it’s great. Sure it would have been better if the man had lived a long life of service for God but he didn’t.
Just think about this for a moment … this little exchange between the repentant criminal and Jesus, how many times over the two thousand years since then has that little exchange broken the hearts of people who came to know Jesus as their Savior?
We praise God for those who come to know Jesus and are transformed at the end of their lives but how many more could be added to the Kingdom of heaven if we were diligently working in the harvest of souls?
“I’ll Live for Him Who Died for Me” - 497
My life my love I give to Thee Thou Lamb of God Who died for me
O may I ever faithful be my Savior and my God
O Thou who died on Calvary to save my soul and make me free
I'll consecrate my life to Thee my Savior and my God
I'll live for Him Who died for me - How happy then my life shall be
I'll live for Him Who died for me my Savior and my God
Invitation if the Spirit leads
