Thursday, December 13, 2012
The Parable of the Vineyard Workers, Part 22 of 28
TEXT: "But many who are first will be last, and the last first. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' And they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day?' They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.' So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.' And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they murmured against the landlord, saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.' But he answered one of them and said, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?' So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen" (Matthew 19:30–20:16).
IDEA: God always deals with us in grace and not according to works. Works that are not the result of His grace leave us on the outside looking in.
PURPOSE: To help people understand that what people believe to be "the religious life" may have nothing to do with Christianity at all.
Who was the first person who entered heaven after Jesus died? The thief on the cross.
What does that man tell you about the people who enter heaven?
Wouldn't someone think it's unfair that he gets the same reception as a man like the apostle Paul or Mother Teresa?
I. When we ask the question, "Isn't it 'unfair'?" what is at the heart of that question?
When you see people who sacrifice their children to their gods, or crawl on their knees a mile to get into a cathedral, or when you think of the ascetics of the past who spent years on top of a pillar, exposed to the elements, are those people serious about what they're doing?
The great question is, Why are they doing it?
They are doing it to make themselves worthy of heaven. They have come to have some kind of contract in their minds that says that the more pain or hurt or sacrifice, the surer I am of heaven.
II. They don't understand what's behind that sentence in Matthew: "the first shall be last and the last shall be first."
They don't understand that the arrangement of things on earth is not the way things are done in heaven.
There is a great deal of difference in working because we belong to Jesus Christ and working in order to belong to Jesus Christ.
That is true not only for people who are on the outside looking in, but for people who are on the inside, looking for special favors from God.
