It’s not fair!
The Parables of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Laborers in the Vineyard.
Why Jesus told this parable.
27 Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”
Rich Young Ruler.
28 And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.
you can’t out give God.
30 “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.
Rich young ruler vs. the disciples.
The Parable
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
Jewish Day: 12 hours in a Jewish Day. Sunup to sun down. 6:00 AM to 6 PM.
During the summer, an hour would have been longer, in the winter, an hours would have been shorter.
estimates.
Early: right after Dawn.
Dawn is tough on Greece.
2 “When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Denarius: roman silver coin - daily rate. (Soldiers daily rate)
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.
They were waiting for a job.
Where were they in the early hours?
5 “Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing.
noon and 3:pm.
Pay what is fair.
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?’
11th hour- One hour before sunset.
If this was a real story, the question would make sense. But it is a parable.
Jesus is making a point, by including this question in His parable.
Parable participants
Landowner is God.
Laborers - Those that serve and follow God/Christ.
Jesus asks the question, not with the idea that there are unacceptable answers, but because that is the question we should be asking when we are saved.
7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
Pay. There was no mention of pay. Their answer of waiting for someone to hire them, gives the idea that they were in great need of work. So, whatever they were going to get paid, was better than nothing.
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.’
15 “You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you.
The decision to pay the last group first is critical to this parable. We will see why in a moment.
9 “When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius.
Full days wage.
There is no mention of the middle group. it is not important to the parable. Remember; this is a parable.
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.’
If in Jesus’ parable, he had paid the first workers first, they would have left and never known what the others received.
Unrealistic- because as believers, we see what other believers receive.
My 16th birthday
My 16th birthday
Comparison is the thief of joy - Theodore Rosevelt
Comparison is the thief of joy - Theodore Rosevelt
Our dog loves her toys. She is completely content playing with a towy, one of her favorites is the rubber wishbone.
She has other toys that were cloth and she has shredded. If she is playing with her wishbone, and you pick up one of those pathetic cloth pieces, she only want that piece of cloth. ONLY because you have it and she doesn’t.
The problem of FAIRNESS
The problem of FAIRNESS
What is right and what is fair are not the same thing.
Fairness is all about me, what I think is right, what I think I deserve. Me, me, me.
It is a self-centered mentality.
The Landowner’s response.
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.
They didn’t think it was fair, but it was right.
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?’
Now we are to the root of the problem.
16 “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”
Old jewish leadership / the disciples.
Jews / Gentiles
Early Christians/ newer christians.
God is generous to all.
God didn’t have to choose you at all.
10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
He is God and you are not.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
To someone else you came to the field in their 11th hour.
If you are alive, it is not too late.
9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.