INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: Have you ever asked the question “Why me?” You’ve done your best but your best never seems to be good enough. You’ve worked just as hard, paid just as many dues, slogged through just as many valleys and hard places, as the other guy, yet you never seem to be able to break through to see the light of day. Have you ever looked around and thought, “Man, they have it better than I do.”? I am even more committed and dedicated to building the kingdom of God than they are, yet they’re the ones that have it easy.
Transition: There is something that is toxic to the soul (to use a phrase by Dr. Andrew McQuitty, pastor of Irving Bible Church) to Christians and non-Christians alike, to those in professional fields and to those in agricultural vocations. It’s called COMPARISION.
Illustration: Well, they have a better paying job than I have. He has a bigger church than I have. Farmer Brown has a bigger tractor than I’ve got. They have the nice office with a view, and well, all I have to look at are cinder blocks and mouse traps. Her car is newer than mine. Why do they get the full ride scholarship and make A’s and I have to work at 7-Eleven and go part time and just manage to squeeze by with C’s? Jimmy has a nice, new shiny bike, and well, my bike is held together by bungee cords and laundry pins.
Title/Question: Comparison. Toxic to the soul. Have you been there? Virtually, every one of us from all age groups has done this. Thanksgiving offers to you an opportunity to step away from the comparison game, look up toward God, and give thanks.
Text: Matthew 20:1-16
Background: The context for the parable that Jesus tells is about a rich young ruler whom Jesus challenges to leave it all behind and come and follow Him. He was unable to do so and Peter seems to pick up on this idea and states in Matthew 19 to Jesus, “Lord, I have left everything to follow you. So, what’s in it for me?” His implication is that when Jesus implements his Kingdom, then Peter and the crew should get special places of service with a lot of power and prestige. Jesus responds to this with a story. Parables turn life upside down to make a point.
Disclaimer: This story is not a recipe for industrial peace! It represents a horrible pay structure! I can see all the union members posting this story on their office walls. The focus here is on the kingdom. It’s told for illustrative purposes.
OUTLINE
Recitation: Matthew 20:1-16
1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2 "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 "And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place;
4 and to those he said, ’You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went.
5 "Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing.
6 "And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ’Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’
7 "They said to him, ’Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ’You go into the vineyard too.’
8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ’Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’
9 "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius.
10 "When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.
11 "When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner,
12 saying, ’These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’
13 "But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?
14 Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.
15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’
16 "So the last shall be first, and the first last."
Exposition: Basically, what we have here in this intriguing story is a landowner who needs to contract out short term, temporary labor to harvest his grapes before the Autumn showers hit. So at 6 AM, he hires a group of workers to go harvest his grapes for the going rate of a denarius a day. The denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage for a laborer in Palestine in the 1st century. The landowner goes looking for workers again at 9 AM, 12 NOON, 3 PM and again at 5 PM to hire additional workers. So this landowner has amassed quickly a labor force to get the job done. I’m sure that those who started working in the morning appreciated the extra help. However, when quitting time rolls around, something just blows everyone’s mental categories. The landowner informs his manager to pay the last workers hired first and to pay everyone according to the previously agreed upon rate which was one denarius.
Question: How would you feel if you had worked all day and receive the same as they guy who worked for just 1 hour? You see, they did a simple calculation, COMPARED their hours worked / wages earned to the late hire’s and it did not sound right or fair to them. The latecomers made in one hour what the early comers made in one day. That’s not fair!
Amplification: I think what Jesus is really driving at here in context is for his disciples to understand that there are others that may come into the kingdom who have not weathered the storms and fought the battles of a long day, but nevertheless, they receive the same reward as those who have been with Jesus from the very beginning. If that happens Jesus teaches, then don’t start comparing. Focus on your story and your faith journey. If the Gentiles come in at the last moment and get a place at my Kingdom feast, then don’t start comparing. Be grateful that you are even there. The last may be first and if they are don’t compare. Can you accept the fact that God just might be generous to someone who has done less than you?
Explanation: What Jesus is combating is this idea that what God has done for others then He should also do for me. Or, if I have paid in more dues, I should get more benefits in return. And the only way to gauge that is to compare yourself with others. Jesus checks that when he told this story. Comparison destroys gratitude. It causes us to grumble and become bitter.
Application: God, like the landowner with his workers, has treated you with fairness, respect, and dignity. He’s been good to you. Why are you so ungrateful to Him? He’s saved you, given you a measure of health, and enabled you to live and enjoy life.
Conclusion: “Be grateful” Jesus is saying to Peter and his disciples. Don’t worry so much about who you are working with and what their arrangements are. You follow Jesus and his plan for you. God will make sure that you get what is coming to you. It may not be what you expect or what you want, but it will be what you need.
CONCLUSION
Application: Thanksgiving is a time – an invitation extended when hopefully you will take a rest from the comparison game, look around you and see God’s goodness, and then look up to heaven and say “Thank you, Lord. You have been good to me. I will be forever grateful.”
Illustration: Dr. Andrew McQuitty, pastor of Irving Bible Church, makes an important point. He says that God is writing a unique story of our lives. God is writing a creative story. How selfish of us to demand that He plagiarize someone else’s story and super impose that on to our stories.
I would just add that some of you have interesting chapters that you’ve experienced - lion’s dens to go through. Some of you have battles to fight. Some of you have homes to leave, lands to conquer, and investments to make. Don’t make God write the story of others on to yours. Let Him write your story, unique, creative, and one-of-a-kind. I think you’ll be surprised at how it all ends. Those who allow God to write and complete their stories eventually find that He truly did what was best for them. McQuitty sees envy as plagiarism. Envy is theological plagiarism.
Quotation: One of our American writers has written something that I have been coming back to often in these last few months. “Two paths diverged in a wood. And I – I took the one less taken and that has made all the difference.” God is telling and showing you your story path. Stop focusing on everyone else’s and listen to what He’s telling you. Go down the path that He has for you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Conclusion: And so outside of the comparison game, the statement is not “Why can’t my parents be famous?” for example, but rather “Thank you God that I have parents.” Not, “Why can’t I have more?” but “Thank you God for what I do have.” Not, “Why do I have to work so hard?”, but “Thank you God that I can work.”
