The Principle of Grace
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Young Rich Ruler
Disciples ask about their reward
30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
A Parable to Explain
A Parable to Explain
Jesus just finished explaining to the disciples about their special reward in the Millennial Kingdom but he ended with what we just read.
30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Chapter 20 begins with an explanation of what Jesus meant in 19:30.
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
Jesus will use this story to answer a question from Matthew 19:27: See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have? His reply came in stages.
First, a promise of reward (Matthew 19:28).Second, a warning that God’s manner of distributing reward is not necessarily the manner of men (many who are the first will be last, and the last first, Matthew 19:30).Finally, this parable that illustrates the principle that God’s manner of rewarding is not like man’s practice of giving rewards.
The triangle in Midlothian:
Men would arrive every morning and wait for a farmer or rancher or contractor to come pick them up. Many times I’d come through town in the middle or end of the day and there would still be men out there waiting to be put to work.
Times
Times
The men started showing up early in this parable.
1st hour = 6am
3rd hour = 9am
6th hour = 12pm
and so on.
the 11th hour would have been 5pm, an hour before quitting time.
Crops and the Harvest
Crops and the Harvest
The thing about a vineyard or any crop, even hay, you’ve got a window to get it harvested and put away before it goes bad or gets rained on and ruined. There was a rancher in the town I grew up in that burned his barn down three times while I lived there, all because he put his hay up too green. You don’t rush a crop being harvested too early, but you don’t delay the harvest when it’s time.
The picture is that the landowner had plenty of work for those who wanted to work. The thing is, that the landowner was surprised to find people idle, because he had plenty of work to give them.
Spurgeon applied this to us spiritually: “Why is any one of us remaining idle towards God? Has nothing yet had power to engage us to sacred service? Can we dare to say, ‘No man hath hired us?”
The landowner hired workers throughout the day starting with those at the first hour for a “full day’s wage” and ended with those hired at the 11th hour, but not for a specific wage. Notice, he said, “whatever is right, I will give you”.
In our human minds, I’m sure that the person hired at the 6th hour would expect a 1/2 days wage and the ones hired at the 11th hour would expect a wage equalling 1/12th of a days wage.
Remember what Jesus said to the disciples, “many who are first will be last and the last first.”
Pay Day
Pay Day
8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.
These are day laborers. Usually you’d call in the men that worked the longest and hardest and pay them first and go through the workers as in the order hired. The landowner, or Jesus, Yahweh, calls those hired last and pays them first, not only that, he pays them the same wage as if they’d worked all day.
In our human minds, we work in a system of fairness. It would be easy for any of us, if we were in the group hired at the first hour, to assume we would get more pay for a longer day worked, right? I mean that’s just how the world works! And that’s the operative word there. The WORLD!
It’s Not Fair
It’s Not Fair
11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’
Verse 11 says they grumbled, better translation would be murmured. To murmur, it’s almost not audible and it’s usually done in secret. These workers were directing their complaining at the master of the house and seemingly, based on the definition, behind his back or at least under their breath.
Look at the master of the house’s response, in how he referred to them. He calls them friend. He’s not hostile toward them. The master of the house, has treated them fairly. They agreed to a denarius didn’t they?
The master makes it clear that HE chooses what is given.
IT’s interesting to read other translations on verse 15. the NASB reads this: “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?’”
The landowner rebuked them for their jealousy and resentment of the landowner’s generosity towards others. He also strongly claimed his right to do what he wanted with what was his.
“An evil eye was a phrase in use, among the ancient Jews, to denote an envious, covetous man or disposition; a man who repined at his neighbour’s prosperity, loved his own money, and would do nothing in the way of charity for God’s sake.” (Clarke)
The Principle of God’s Reward
The Principle of God’s Reward
16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Peter and the disciples knew they had given up a great deal to follow Jesus. Peter wanted to know what they would get in return. Through this parable Jesus assured Peter and the disciples that they will be rewarded — but the principle of many who are first will be last and the last first (Matthew 19:30) meant that God may not reward as man expects — even as the parable illustrated.
It is best understood as a parable about grace and reward.
The disciples should expect to be rewarded; but they should not be surprised if, when rewards are distributed, God will reward others in unexpected ways.
Last will be first, and the first last: This is the essence of God’s grace:
He rewards and blesses man according to His will and pleasure, not necessarily according to what men deserve.
The system of law is easy to figure out: you get what you deserve. The system of grace is foreign to us: God deals with us according to who He is, not according to who we are.
We can be assured that God will never, ever be unfair to us, though He may — for His own purpose and pleasure — bestow greater blessing on someone else who seems less deserving.
The point is that God rewards on the principle of grace, and we should therefore expect surprises.
He will never be less than fair, but reserves the right to be more than fair as pleases Him.
God’s grace always operates righteously.
The grace of God does not give us more blessing than we deserve.
It gives blessing to us completely apart from the principle of deserving.
All our service is already due to God; it belongs to Him.
The ability to serve God is the gift of His grace.
The call to serve God is the gift of His grace.
Every opportunity to serve is a gift of His grace.
Being in the right state of mind to do the Lord’s work is a gift of grace.
Successful service to God is the gift of His grace.
“My last word to God’s children is this: what does it matter, after all, whether we are first or whether we are last? Do not let us dwell too much upon it, for we all share the honor given to each. When we are converted, we become members of Christ’s living body; and as we grow in grace, and get the true spirit that permeates that body, we shall say, when any member of it is honored, ‘This is honor for us’…If any brother shall be greatly honored of God, I feel honored in his honor. If God shall bless your brother, and make him ten times more useful than you are, then you see that he is blessing you — not only blessing him, but you. If my hand has something in it, my foot does not say, ‘Oh, I have not got it!’ No, for if my hand has it, my foot has it; it belongs to the whole of my body.” (Spurgeon)
6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Grace is something which is independent of all that a man is, and all that a man can do. Grace does not work with man to get him saved, for it is only the grace of God which has access to salvation, thus providing it as a gift, and not awarding it as a prize, or paying it as a wage.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
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