That makes no sense
Matthew 20:1-16
Introduction- Good Morning Everyone
If you would turn to Matthew Chapter 20 we are going to look at the parable of the workers in the vineyard.
We are still working our way in the series of “Navigating the Journey.”
Everything we go through here on earth and the life decisions we make here will determine where we will spend eternity. Know that!
Jesus may not have had people asking him if he had been around sick people or wither he had a fever, if he was properly vaccinated or what is your view on wearing a mask?- He did have people asking questions- hard questions!
Just before the text this morning, Matthew 19 Jesus faced a man who wanted to know how to receive eternal life, was asked wither a rich man can get into heaven. He is asked about the commandments and which ones are the really important ones that lead to life.
“Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?
The disciples heard Jesus tell the rich man to go sell all he processed and give to the poor and store up treasures in heaven instead of here on earth.
They heard Jesus tell the rich man that for him to make heaven would be hard and that it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
When reading God’s Word you need to be prayed up and seeking God for interpretation.
There is truth, there are parables and there is context that must be known to fully grasp what is being told to us.
Jesus told that rich man that money in itself is not salvation, that if he was to be perfect in his interpretation, he would sell all he had, give to the poor and trust God to meet his needs.
Jesus knew that the rich man heart was not right to surrender all he had and follow Jesus.
He says that it would be easier to have a camel go through the eye of a needle. This is a camel falling to his knees and crawling through the small entrance on the side of the walls of the city. A hard thing to do but not impossible. The disciples freaked out, who can be saved? “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
I think Peters answer after all that is why the Lord spoke the parable of the vineyard to them.
Peter said “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?
Keep in mind that the disciples just dealt with a greedy rich man and an attitude of what is in it for us Jesus, we have left everything for you- Jesus says that to follow Him, we have to be willing to give everything up, He doesn’t always take it all!
Here we go! Matthew 20:1For the kingdom of heaven is like… that is how a parable begins. Remember a parable is a short story that may or may not be true but it is going to give us a spiritual truth to be applied. (1-16)
1-16 Read from Bible slowly
Set up
Landowner, the boss went out at 6am in the morning to a group of men waiting outside at the square in what would be the unemployment station and was looking for workers.
They were there because they needed a job.
He agrees to pay them a denarius for the day.
At 9am he went there again and took some more men. They were just hanging there- why because they needed work. He told them that I will pay whatever is right- get to work.
At Noon and at 3pm, he did the exact same thing. Why are you just standing here? Because no one hired me. Get to work
At the eleventh hour of an average 12 hour work day, he goes there again and sees men there and hires them to go work in his vineyard.
So many people want to get around the water cooler and tear up the boss.
Before we see the response of the boss, let me just say that every job I have ever applied for… I needed the job. I did not walk in the office with something they needed, they had something that I needed. A pay check! I provide a service and they provide a check. Many applied and you hope that something stands out that they pick you for the job. I have never seen a poor person hire another. It was always a person with money that is offering money to someone else to do a job that was needed.
So here is the response of the owner/boss- the first group that he hired was offered a job that pays one denarius a day. That was the average wage for a day. The next groups hired were all told that he would pay what was right.
At the end of the day, the owner tells his foreman to pay his people which was customary for the times. They were paid daily for their work they did that day. The first group that went in was the last group that was hired, those hired the eleventh hour- they were given a denarius for their pay. So when the others that had worked longer saw that, they expected to receive more. But each one of them was paid a denarius for their work.
They began crumbling around the water cooler and talked about being unfair. “ these men only worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”
The pity party of the workers- “I am not being unfair to you! Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius . Take your pay and go!
“I want to give a man 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?
Most see this as an injustice to some of the workers hired- one man worked 12 hours for the same money as some who worked less hours and some who only worked one hour to receive the same pay check as those that worked all day. If you look at it as the worker, it seems unfair!
But as the owner/ boss, you look at it as you paid them, every last one of them according to the agreed upon pay of the day. He had every right to choose to pay those with less hours the same as everyone else because he was the boss and it was his money and his vineyard and it falls within the agreed upon pay for each worker. He was fair to all and chose to be more than fair to some.
Again context here is needed. The vineyard at times when the harvest was ready, it had to be taken in or it would spoil. The rains would come and the grapes ruined if they were not harvested quickly. It was the bosses choice on what extra was given to anybody.
The title of the message is “That don’t make sense” if you think that you are entitled to everything everyone else has simply because you feel that it is unfair, you are in for a lot of heart aches.
That owner has every right to do with his money as he chooses and the only responsibility that he has is to pay them what he agreed upon. He wants to pay more for less it is totally up to him because it is his to do what he wants with.
This parable began- the kingdom of heaven is like-
God has a right to do what He wants to do!
He has a right to bless who He chooses to bless and He has a right to put people and things in its place because He is the owner/ boss of it all!
If we would understand this principal we would not have so many that feel God has an obligation to do what we want instead of what he wants.
We come to Him needing a savior and we expect him to act like one of our employees instead of being one of his workers in his vineyard.
We forget how big God is because we try to see him through our limited sight and small brain compared to His.
When we realize that “God said let there be light and there was light” the power that is in God’s voice alone.
The Hubble telescope picks up all these things in the Milky Way which is our galaxy and that it is estimated that there are over 200 billion other galaxies as big or bigger than the one we live in. That is the God that we want to challenge in our stubbornness and challenge and ask about fairness?
In 1853 English artist William Holman Hunt painted a portrait of Jesus standing at the door and knocking with visual representation of Rev. 3:20 “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
We have a print of that in our sanctuary and it was made famous because there is no doorknob on the outside. Jesus won’t push his way in, we have to invite Him into our lives.
This is the same God that we ignore or tell not today, not right now. He is the only one that has right to do what He wants with his blessings.
We are like the clay that criticizes the potter. We don’t have that right, it is above our pay grade.
The observation is simple- we will not always have the answers we expect.
We will not always agree with God’s thinking because His ways are higher than our ways but above all, we have to be right in the fact that God is God and that He is able and has the right to do what He wants to do and does not have to ask us for our permission before He does it.
Work, wages, rewards in the kingdom of God!
In a sense it is a warning to us that we have great privilege of coming into the kingdom of God
Some that have been in the fellowship for years want to claim special honor over those who have just come into the kingdom. Some who have been in the church along time believe that the church belongs to them and can dictate policy. Such people resent new blood coming in and feel that if they do come in that they are inferior to those seasoned believers. Jesus had to address the Jews with that mentality because the Gentiles were allowed in and the Jews were the chosen people- if they were allowed in, they would have to take a seat to the chosen ones.
Comfort of God- meaning no matter where people enter the kingdom of God- as a youth or as far as on their death bed- they are equally dear to God.
Compassion of God- God is looking for people to work in the kingdom of God, to use their talents and not waste them. God could bear to see them idle and wanted to use them. God knew that a denarius a day was not a lot of money…it may have been acceptable days pay but for those that got a late start because no one would hire them that they need a full days wage.
Generosity of God- they did not all do the same work but they did get the same pay. God is a generous God ! he is able to provide from unlimited resources and knows the heart of the people that he is working with. We see with limited eyes- he sees the heart and see the need.
Illustration-
Those that have kids- we do the best we can to get them gifts to show our appreciation and love for them. When they have handed us a card or a gift that they have personally made, while it might not have much earthy value, it has a lot of sentimental value to us because it was from the heart of the one we love. this is the way God operates- he sees the heart and he sees the need and he makes decisions that are way above our thinking or pay grade.
Sure, we will have rewards, you serve God for 50 years you will be rewarded. You give your life to Christ and serve Him and someone has a death bed conversion, you will be rewarded for faithful service, but be careful that our hearts do not get hard and we stop wanting people to make the kingdom because they might steal some of the earthly rewards. Let’s save up treasure s where they will bring the most dividends and that is in heaven.
My ways are higher than your ways, my thought are higher than your thoughts- let’s let God be God, lets acknowledge that He is the owner/operator of all that we have and possess.
Many have earned earthly rewards, they will have little value when the rewards are handed out in heaven unless they were used for His kingdom.
Christians should be working for the joy of serving- that is why the first shall be last and the last first.
Amen.
Prayer-
