Working for Wages
It’s important to remember that God is in charge – not us. It’s also important to us all that he is a God of mercy and forgiveness. Salvation can be had by anyone who comes to him – even at the last hour. It’s never too early and it’s never too late to get right with God.
Matt. 20:1–16
A Story About Workers
20 “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who owned some land. One morning, he went out very early to hire some people to work in his vineyard. 2 The man agreed to pay the workers one coin a for working that day. Then he sent them into the vineyard to work. 3 About nine o’clock the man went to the marketplace and saw some other people standing there, doing nothing. 4 So he said to them, ‘If you go and work in my vineyard, I will pay you what your work is worth.’ 5 So they went to work in the vineyard. The man went out again about twelve o’clock and three o’clock and did the same thing. 6 About five o’clock the man went to the marketplace again and saw others standing there. He asked them, ‘Why did you stand here all day doing nothing?’ 7 They answered, ‘No one gave us a job.’ The man said to them, ‘Then you can go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “At the end of the day, the owner of the vineyard said to the boss of all the workers, ‘Call the workers and pay them. Start with the last people I hired and end with those I hired first.’
9 “When the workers who were hired at five o’clock came to get their pay, each received one coin. 10 When the workers who were hired first came to get their pay, they thought they would be paid more than the others. But each one of them also received one coin. 11 When they got their coin, they complained to the man who owned the land. 12 They said, ‘Those people were hired last and worked only one hour. But you paid them the same as you paid us who worked hard all day in the hot sun.’ 13 But the man who owned the vineyard said to one of those workers, ‘Friend, I am being fair to you. You agreed to work for one coin. 14 So take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same pay that I gave you. 15 I can do what I want with my own money. Are you jealous because I am good to those people?’
16 “So those who have the last place now will have the first place in the future, and those who have the first place now will have the last place in the future.”
Some people have grown up in church
When I was a kid I received an award pin for perfect attendance at Sunday School.
It was part of a program called "Cross and Crown". I don’t remember a lot about it, but I know that you got a 3 month perfect attendance pin first. That was followed by a 6 month pin, then a 9 month pin, and finally a 1 year pin.
The second year of perfect attendance you received a wreath that wrapped around the 1 year pin. The third year you got a bar that attached to the wreath and hung beneath the pin. The fourth year and every succeeding year you got another bar that attached to the one previously awarded.
Today, squirreled away somewhere in a box of things from my youth there is my pin with wreath and bars hanging beneath it. The last bar in the chain is marked "twelve years" for my 1.2 decades of perfect attendance at Sunday School. Yes, I grew up a preachers kid and a goody-two-shoes.
I’ve been in church all of my life. The only times I’ve missed is when I’ve been sick or traveling and just couldn’t find a church to go attend. Some of the people at Meridian Christian Church can identify with my story. Some of you even remember getting attendance pins of your own.
There are a lot of MCC’ers who never even came close to getting a perfect attendance pin. Some came to know God when they were in college; some came when they were starting their families; some came because of their grandchildren; and some when they were frail and tired.
I grew up in church. It was very familiar to me. I am a Pk. Actually I’m a Pkk – on my mom and my dad’s side! Both my grandfather’s were preachers.
PK’s, Mk’s (missionary kids) and Ek’s (Elders Kids) are all kids that grew up in church. They can be a little on the wild side! It is important to know that the Pk’s and Mk’s learned it from the Ek’s.
Some of us have become workers from the very first hour of the day! If we wore decorations on our chests like the military does we’d have lot’s of color, medals of valor, and campaign ribbons.
This Jesus Story is for you who grew up in the church and it is for you who have not.
To those of you who have served God all your life…
In the story Jesus told the worker agreed to work for “one coin”.
That doesn’t sound like much but at the time it was a good day’s wage! It was very fair – especially for day laborers
God is Good and Generous
God has promised us a good and generous reward when we serve Him
Here are just 7 Promises of God
He has promised to supply every need we have.
The Bible says: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus". That’s Philippians 4:19. Now notice, God has obligated Himself only to the extent of our needs. That would include food, clothing, shelter, companionship, love, and salvation thru Jesus Christ. It would not include the multiplicity of luxuries that we have come to think of as needs.
God has promised that His grace is sufficient for us.
(II Corinthians 12:9). in fact, He has made provision for our salvation by His grace through faith. Read Ephesians 2:8. It is through an obedient faith that we have access into the grace of God according to Romans 5:2.
God has promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. Instead, He assures us that a way of escape will be provided. This promise is recorded in I Corinthians 10:13. Jude wrote: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present your faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude v 24). Darius, King of the Medes, said to Daniel, "Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee" (Daniel 6:16). He did deliver Daniel from the den of lions.
God has promised us victory over death.
He first resurrected Jesus by way of assuring our resurrection. Peter said: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3,4). Later on he adds: "but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:57).
God has promised that all things work together for good to those who love and serve Him faithfully
God has promised that those who put their faith in Jesus will be given the righteousness that comes from God. (Read Romans 3:21-23).
God has promised His people eternal life
(John 10:27,28). In closing, let me appeal to you to live so that the promises of God will be yours.
The Promises of God are long and rich
There are so many promises that we can’t list them all!
Our God is a good and generous God!
More than this while we serve him on this earth we haven’t missed out on anything worthwhile at all
All you church kids – Listen to me you aren’t missing anything!
I have spent all my life serving God
So many people tell you to pursue happiness by partying and seeking the next thrill. Just have fun! Parents are fun killers and thrill bashers.
I’ve never been out partying, never been drunk, never smoked – tobacco or anything else – never smashed my car in the ditch, never been pulled over for drunk driving, never had a hangover, and I’ve never wondered how I got home then next morning, I’ve never spent the night praying to the porcelain god of sewer systems.
I’ve never spent my days planning how to get rich, get promotions, get power, or get ahead I’ve never spent my weekends trying to find new ways to have fun, climb mountains, bungee jump off 1000 ft towers, or gone skydiving. It makes no sense to me to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
Now don’t get me wrong I don’t think that makes me better than anyone else… I’ve done enough bad stuff, gotten involved in enough sin and struggled with my own weaknesses that when I look at these things – I’m sorry – I just don’t feel deprived!
I get my thrills by serving God and helping to build his church!
In fact, I have had the Joy of serving God all my life
Three great thrills… 1) My own decision to follow Jesus. 2) When I get to help someone come to that decision. 3) When someone I helped decide to follow Jesus helps someone else follow Jesus… That is absolutely thrilling!!!
You don’t have to be a full-time minister to get in on the fun… You can but only if God is calling you… Clear and nothing else will satisfy. You can serve God and be a teacher, plumber, corporate executive, a programmer, or a custodian.
Some people “work to live and live to work”. The best way is to “work to live and live to follow Jesus”.
There is nothing in world as satisfying as ministry and service in the kingdom of God!
Get in the Kitchen and follow Jesus by serving people!
The MCC Childrens’s ministry this April is launching a brand new ministry!!!
The Ukraine Trip pray to partner in ministry
To those who have come to serve God later in life…
Not everyone grows up in church!
Some here today never went to church or Sunday School as a kid. Never got an attendance pin, went to VBS, sang in the kids choir, or joined the youth group.
Some found God in College; Clarissa had to travel to the Ivory Coast in the Peace Corps to find God! Some found God in their middle years; Bob Peltier found God when he decided to quit smoking and couldn’t – in desperation he turned to God and found hope. Some find God when they are old.
I will never forget Freida Haufbauer, an 82-year-old great-grandmother who started coming to church where I ministered some 30 years ago. She made an apple dumpling dessert that had a month’s worth of calories.
She came to church one Sunday and after the service, asked if we need to talk. That afternoon one of the Elders and I met with her. We talked about Jesus and what it meant to know the Lord. That very evening she made her decision to follow Him. She said, “I want to take hold of Jesus and I want to be baptized right away. I don’t have a lot of time to fool around.” When she came up out of the water I will never forget her first words. She said, “I feel like a baby!”
In the story some of the workers came at 9:00 AM; some at noon; some at 3:00; and some even later than that.
All received the same reward as those who served for the entire day
Here is God’s overwhelming love: No matter when you come to Him, He is merciful and gracious to you… and He pours out the SAME promises to you as to those who have served him all their lives!
Now isn’t that cool!
They get the same reward as the rest of us. Now how merciful and gracious is that!
That is pretty cool! Especially if you have really messed up your life and then humbly turn to God as an adult.
It’s wonderful when someone comes to the Lord in later years…
But there is an ugly reality in this story. Sometimes those who are workers from their early years don’t readily accept those who come in later years…
I gotta say, that I haven’t seen this happen – ever – at MCC! We think new followers are fantastic… But I have seen and heard of churches that get comfortable – where it’s more like a personal, members-only private club than a movement to bring people back to God.
Sometimes church people don’t think it’s so cool that “people like that” come to God and get treated just the same as us!
Now there are reasons! It’s not like they hate people in general. It’s just that they don’t act like us. They don’t know the language and they can’t find their way through the books of the Bible.
Our God is not as interested in who we are and what we do as he is in our attitude toward Him and others
All are called to serve. In fact there is a warning to us, “The last shall be first and the first shall be last”. Here is the whole point of the story…
This is not my church… and it’s not yours either… It belongs to the Jesus
He died for all people – everywhere
It doesn’t matter where they are, what they’ve done, what they look like or how well they talk church.
All of us are God’s people and we just work here!
This is God’s House! Our job is to help people find their way home!
Entry – Where Everyone is made to understand that they are welcome
Family Room – Family of God comes together to be with the father
Dining Room – Where you get fed and you become not just a believer but a disciple – a learner
Kitchen – where we serve people
Deck – Have a party and invite others to come and get to know God’s family!
Three lessons:
Serve the Lord with all your heart!
Encourage others to come and help
Don’t worry about others –just serve the Lord!
We are getting pretty excited about sending 8 of our MCC’ers to the Ukraine… Watch this video before we go as God’s children to share the Lord’s supper
