In Matthew 20: 1-16 we find
the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. A landowner hires men early in the
morning to come work in his vineyard. In
three-hour intervals, he goes on to hire four more groups of men to add to his
workforce. At the end of the day, he pays each of them a full day’s wage,
starting with the men who had only been there an hour. The guys who started out at the break of dawn
and toiled in the heat of the day were outraged that others who came to work
much later were getting the exact same pay.
The landowner replied that they agreed to work for the wages he offered,
and besides, isn’t it his right to be as generous as he wants with his money?
Matthew 20:16
“So the last will be first, and the first will be
last.”
Things to think about:
· Does it seem to you that the first workers
were treated unfairly?
o
In our economy, we get generally paid on the basis of hours worked
or based on our production
· This employer
found all of these men unemployed
o
He reached out to them and offered them a job
o
What were you doing when God found you?
o
Why was His deal better than the one you had?
· In a
spiritual sense, the angry workers represent our tendency to look to
works-based theology
o
Why is this bad thing happening to me? Look how long I have served
You Lord! Look at all of the good deeds
I’ve done! It’s not fair!
o
Does this thought process ever creep into your thinking?
o
What is the major flaw with thinking that God owes us anything?
o
Job 41:11 - “Who has given to Me, that I should
repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.”
o
Luke 17:10 – “So you also, when you have done
everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have
only done our duty.’”
· Let’s look at
a few things that REALLY aren’t fair
o
Creator of everything and everyone was unrecognized and
unappreciated
§ John 1: 9-10
“The true light that gives
light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and
though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He
came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him.”
o
Perfect Son of God became sin for you
§ 2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made Him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in Him we might become the
righteousness of God.”
o
Jesus abused and mocked
§ Matthew 26:67-68 “Then they
spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, “Prophesy to us,
Messiah. Who hit you?”’
o
Jesus was betrayed by His friends
§ Judas handing
Jesus over to the authorities in the Garden of Gethsemane
§ Peter in Matthew
26:74 “Then he began to call down curses, and he swore
to them, “I don’t know the man!”
o
Jesus dying on the cross for you
§ Philippians
2:8 “Who,
being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
o
That we should be justified through no merit of our own
§ Romans 4:25 –
“He was delivered over to death for our sins and was
raised to life for our justification.”
· In
God’s economy, the first shall be last and the last shall be first
o
Is that a fair system? Thanks be to God that it’s not fair (as men
consider fairness)!
§ James 2:13b
say “Mercy triumphs over justice”
o
How does this understanding of God’s upside down economy help you
reconsider things in your life that may seem “unfair”?
o
How can you pass this “unfairness” on to those in your sphere of
influence?
§ forgiveness
§ generosity
§ encouragement
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