The Eleventh Hour

TITLE: THE ELEVENTH HOUR

SCRIPTURE: ST. MATTHEW 20:1-16

Be honest. When you heard the reading of the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard just now, did your heart leap for joy? Were you thrilled when you heard that the workers who had toiled and slaved all day long in the hot sun were going to get the same day’s wages as those who had worked only one hour? I think not!

Let’s face it, this is not one of Jesus’ more popular parables.

• It’s the parable most everyone loves to hate

• And for good reason!

• The parable runs against the grain of one of our most deeply cherished values

• The value of hard work and just reward

The more you work and the more productive you are, the more you ought to get paid.

• I don’t know many who would disagree with that

• And this is the complaint of those who worked all day

• “You have made them equal to us”

It is interesting this is the only Gospel Writer Matthew that records this parable of the laborers. It is connected to the preceding chapter and appears to add to what Jesus said concerning the Kingdom Of Heaven. At the close of the chapter He said “MANY THAT ARE FIRST SHALL BE LAST, AND THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST.” He may have given this parable to provide further explanation for that line of reasoning. In any event, Jesus meant to teach just one thing: that some who think they’re first in the world are going to find themselves last in heaven.

This intriguing parable provokes one of the most primitive cries of childhood, when one sibling gets a bigger piece of cake than another, the one who feels cheated screams: “but that’s not fair!” And so it goes –

• Some seem to get more than they deserve while others get less

• It’s just not right

++++Listen to the parable once more: A landowner hired workers early in the morning and promised to pay them what amounted to minimum wage – one denarius. This was considered the basic subsistence for a man to feed his family for a day. The landowner then went back at –

• Nine o’clock -- hired additional workers

• At Noon -- hired a few more workers

• At Three o’clock -- found a few more and hired them too

• At Five o’clock and hired more workers – to work the final hour of the work day

• He told them simply that he would pay them what was right

A penny represents a denarius, or a common day’s wage for an average worker. The wage offered doesn’t prove that the rewards of heaven are given in payment for works we have done or for a debt we are owed.

• No, it is all of Grace

• Free Grace signifies that there is a reward waiting for us and it is a significant one

• ROMANS 4:4 -- “NOW TO HIM THAT WORKETH IS THE REWARD NOT RECKONED OF GRACE, BUT OF DEBT”

• In other words, if God’s rewards were payment for Work we had done, then it would not be Grace

We can be sure that our reward will be “WHATSOEVER IS RIGHT.” You will never lose anything by working for God -- The crown set before us is a CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE SHALL GIVE. Many in the Church today don’t understand this, that’s why they don’t work in or around the Church for the Lord. There is no greater Joy and Satisfaction than working for the Lord.

• The laborers in our text were only hired for one day

• It is only a short time that we have to work for the Lord

• But the reward is for eternity

• That thought should encourage us to use our time wisely and work hard

Let’s run through this text and see what we can glean. It is harvest time and the Master of the vineyard needed more workers.

• Therefore, early in the morning, probably dawn; the first workers were hired

• AND WHEN HE HAD AGREED WITH THE LABOURERS FOR A PENNY A DAY, HE SENT THEM INTO HIS VINEYARD

AND HE WENT OUT ABOUT THE THIRD HOUR, AND SAW OTHERS STANDING IDLE IN THE MARKETPLACE -- THE THIRD HOUR –

• By the way we tell time today, would be 9 am

• The market place was where those who wanted to work waited to be hired

• Some were hired early in the morning

• But there were others still waiting and hoping for work, because they had to feed their family

• These were not lazy men, but there was nothing to do except wait