The Unfair Wages of Grace (Updated for 6-16-24)

Scripture Reading

Matthew 20:1–16 ESV

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.’ 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. 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?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Announcements

– Father’s Day Root beer and Ice Cream Floats. No Youth Group.

– Splash Night June 30th

– Gathering Room is almost finished. We hope that when it’s completed that it would be a sweet spot to gather with your small group, host a baby or bridal shower, have a meeting, share some coffee, seek counsel from a pastor or friend, and that you would find it to be a warm place to gather. Would you help us take care of the room? We are asking parents specifically to help children stay under control. No jumping on furniture, wiggle carts, running around, rough housing, stuff like that please. The function of the space is different than it once was.

Excursus – Elders and Deacons

I’ve been meeting regularly with our church deacons, not to be confused with my family since my last name is deacon. Since our church’s begining almost 11 years ago, we’ve never had a deacon ministry. It’s kinda new for our church family. So I want to take just a few minutes to talk about elders, deacons, and how they function at Reliance.

Elders

You can read about the qualifications for Elders in two main passages. 1 Timothy 3:1-7, and Titus 1:5-16. In these passages, you see these traits of an elder regarding their qualifications.

Qualifications

Exemplify Godly Character (1 Timothy 3:2-3; Titus 1:7-8)

They are above reproach

Self-Controlled

Gentle

Not Greedy

Able to teach (1 Timothy 3:2)

Lead their family well (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6)

One woman man (1 Timothy 3:4-5)

Effective Father (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8)

Hospitable (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:8)

Must be a man.

Paul actually appeals to the order of creation in saying this. Men alone are called to be the elders of the church (1 Timothy 2:12-13)

An established believer (1 Timothy 3:6)

What an Elder does

There are three words we translate as elder, presbuteros, episkipos, and poimen. 1 Peter 5:1-2 has all of these words used for the same office together. They are the same office, the office of elder.

Overseer, Elder, and Pastor

These men care for the church by teaching, either at the pulpit, through leading a small group, or teaching.

They track down stray sheep, help hold us accountable to the gospel and the fellowship, like on Sunday mornings.

They lead without Lording their eldership over people. No power trips are allowed.

They work together. There should be more than one elder to benefit each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

They model maturity for our church. We should imitate them by following their counsel and example.

They pray for the flock.

What this looks like at Reliance

Elders oversee all of the various ministries at the church.

The buck stops with them. They meet regularly, monthly if not more, to oversee church finances, ministries, pastoral care and concerns, prayer, teaching, and doctrine.

They handle the later aspects of church discipline.

Please pray for your elders. Right now that includes Pastor Jacob, Allan Tuan, and myself.

Allan would you raise your hand?

Deacons

You can read the origin of deacons in Acts 6:1-7 where the Apostles, setting the standard for elders, ask people to appoint servants among them. You can read about the qualifications of deacons in 1 Timothy 3:8-12.

Qualifications

Not double tongued

Self-Controlled

Not Greedy for dishonest gain

Hold the mystery of faith with a clear conscience (Look at Stephen’s exposition)

Tested and proven

Faithful Family Life

What a deacon does

They spot and meet tangible and practical needs in the church body

Promote church unity

Serve and support the ministry of the elders.

What this looks like at Reliance

These are some ministries that the deacons are going to help oversee

Coffee Ministry

Communion

Help with facilities

Facilitating prayer

Facilitating elderly care

Evangelism and Outreach

Church Membership

Facilitating Small groups

This is also a lot to ask from our deacons. They aren’t doing all of these things on their own. They are deacons because they are here to help you serve in these areas, and be an example of service for us to follow.

The deacons assist the elders and enrich the life of the church.

Right now our deacons include Jim Follum, our head deacon, Tim Armstrong, Sheila Bader, Garry McCollum, and Nathan Tennis. Would you guys raise your hands?

If you guys get a phone call from these guys to help serve, or if you want to help serve, or if you need some help, realize that they are a model for what service at Reliance looks like.

Summary

We are building our deacon ministry kind of like when you are building a plane and flying it at the same time. It’ll look a little different until we’ve hit our stride. Please pray for us while we are doing that.

The Elders lead the ministry of the church.

The Deacons facilitate the ministry of the church

The Congregation DOES the ministry of the church.

We’ll keep touching on this at various times.

Pray

Introduction

Most of my working life has been in construction. I started working as a Stone Mason from when I was sixteen until I was 23. So seven years. I finished college by doing night-school, which allowed me to work during the days. I transitioned to HVAC which basically meant moving heavy equipment or problem solving whether technical problems or people management. I have literally pulled squirrels out of squirrel cages. I worked there for ten years before moving to the Tri-Cities for vocational ministry. I like to think I know how to work hard.

There was one job for a gentleman that took my friend Nate and I about two weeks to install. It was in an attic, which was about 125-140 degrees in the summer. We had to start really early in the morning, and take breaks every half hour or so for water and to cool off since we could hear our heartbeat in our ear drums from the heat. There is nothing like belly crawling in fiberglass insulation in an attic in a hot summer. We would pretend to make snow angels in the insulation just to cool off. No it didn’t work. I still get itchy from thinking about it.

Our salesman, who shall go unnamed, was less than helpful. He ordered the wrong equipment three times, gave the customer the wrong price, and told him the work would be done in a week, which was impossible. He was rarely on-site, and didn’t communicate well. Regardless, Nate and I proceeded to work though the hiccups and get the work done as efficiently as we could. Hard work pays off.

At the end of the job, our salesman came to go over the job with us, which he knew nothing about, and explained the work done to his client, of which he did none of. Unbelievably, the customer gave all three of us a $300.00 tip for great communication and service.

When the three of us left that job, our salesman hit us on our arms, causing a cloud of insulation dust to appear, and said, “phew, that was a tough one, eh boys?” and headed back to the shop. It was a tough one. Just not for him. Where Nate and I bore most of the burden, all of us received the reward.

This parable in Mark 20, the parable of the workers, is similar to this. It’s about what we deserve and what we don’t deserve. The unfair wages (from our perspective) of God’s grace.

Context

Let’s set some context.

This parable doesn’t come out of the blue. It’s placed here after Peter’s question in the previous chapter the page before. Jesus was having a conversation with the Rich Young Ruler, a man who was sad because Jesus told him to give away all of his possession to the poor to receive heavenly rewards.

By the way, being a wealthy Jew was seen as a sign of God’s blessing to the people back then. If you read Deuteronomy 28-30 you’ll see the cycle of blessings and curses that Israel received based on their faithfulness to keep God’s commands. The wealth of this young man was a symbol of his faithfulness in keeping God’s commands. But Jesus is saying that that keeping most of the commands isn’t enough for salvation. They need God to give salvation as a gift.

Matthew 19:23–24 ESV

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

This blows all categories for his disciples.

Matthew 19:25–26 ESV

25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

This should blow our categories too. Not even the “blessed people” can get to heaven on their own.

Peter then steps in with a bold question that sets this the tone for this. He’s brash here.

Matthew 19:27 ESV

27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

We’ve left literally everything to follow you. That’s exactly what you asked the Rich Young Ruler to do.I’ve done the thing that the rich man couldn’t do and he’s supposed to be the one blessed by you. Don’t we deserve something? What will we have?

This is after Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ. He knows who he is asking. But this time Jesus doesn’t rebuke Peter by telling him “get behind me Satan.” We know that Jesus could do that, but instead he is gracious to Peter. He actually answers his question.

Matthew 19:28–29 ESV

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 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 lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Then he throws in a twist in the next verse. Yes Peter, you will be rewarded by God. But you’re not thinking about your rewards in the right way. Something is jilted.

Matthew 19:30 ESV

30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Peter is thinking economically. Transactionally. Quid Pro Quo, or literally, something for something. Based on what I give, I should receive.

You know those ticket games at Chuck E Cheese? If you play enough games, or play them well (if it’s even possible to play whack a mole well), you get tickets. Then you take your tickets to the counter for a”sweet prize.” Like a jolly rancher. Or a Chinese finger trap. Or a sticker. What does that jolly rancher cost? 20 years of children's ministry service. What about the Finger trap? 5 consecutive terms as an elder. Stickers? Be on the worship team. You can have a pencil if you just don’t fall asleep in church.

They would always have a big prize too. Like a TV. You have to be an African Missionary to get one of those. If you are a pastor you could get a giant stuffed care bear or something.

That’s how we think about these rewards, wages, or gifts. Jewels in the crown. But God’s rewards, wages, or gifts aren’t based on an economic transaction. They are based on His abundant grace as the owner of all creation.

That’s the context for the parable of the laborers in Matthew 20.

Jesus is showing Peter that the way he views rewards is skewed. He’s not thinking rewards in the right way. He uses this parable to set Peter’s understanding the right way. We’re going to look at this passage together this morning, and then draw some helpful application to how we think about our lives in the church based on God’s abundant Grace.

Prepositional Outline and Statement

There is nothing equal to God’s generosity. (REPEAT)

This means a few things.

Nothing can compare to the gifts that God offers.

Think of salvation. Redemption from sin and hell. Eternal Life with the Messiah Jesus Christ. The New Creation.

Nothing can compare to the way God gives His gifts.

He doesn’t disperse Salvation, Redemption, or Eternal life in the way that we think it should be done. His motives are entirely His own.

We receive God’s gifts unequally.

Man’s economic standards condemns how God distributes His gifts. But God is not limited to our standards. He stands above them.

This last thought may be the hardest for us to digest. We like fairness in our culture and even in our Christian culture. Concepts like Equality, Equity, Fairness, and even an idea like Empathy invoke a sense of equal status, opportunity, starting place, relationship, and emotion.

My hope for us this morning is that by meditating on this passage through hearing the Word this morning, prayer and biblical meditation we grow in our appreciation of the heavy weight of God’s priceless grace and expand our appreciation for His grace given to us.

A prism is a device where light enters one side of a crystal, and the spectrum of the rainbow comes out of the other side. You might even be able to get one of these with Chuck E Cheese tickets. My hope is that our faith would be encouraged to refract God’s grace given to us, like light in a prism being shown God’s beauty to the world, instead of a faith that instead of refracting God’s grace, just wants to own the prism for ourselves. There is no equal to God’s generosity.

Now. Let’s turn a page forward and look at Matthew 20 and take a look at how this parable works. Let’s walk through this together

1-7

Matthew 20:1–2 ESV

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.

This is like in the movies during the depression when you see the dock workers being chosen by the big boss men. They show up early in the day and hopefully get picked to work that day to bring some money home to their families. The big boss men say, “ok, I’ll pay you $200.00 if you work all day.” This is a common accepted practice at this time.

But what is so crazy is that the master of this house is almost restless to see the work done. He goes out early in the morning, then he heads back out in verse 3 at the third hour. This is probably around 9 o’clock.

Matthew 20:3–4 ESV

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.’

The wages have changed though. Instead of telling them that he’s given them a day’s wage, he just says “whatever is right I will give you.” Now if you’re listening to this exchange, like Peter is, you’re probably thinking “since they started later they’ll probably get paid less.”

It’s not only that though. I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie Cinderella man, but there’s a scene when the main character was chosen for dock work, and is hiding his injuries from the dock managers so he can keep providing for his family. The elderly, sick, or incapable people got passed over for the strong and healthy workers.

It’s like being a captain for dodgeball. When you pick your team, you start by picking the guy who either has a strong arm, or who won’t get hit. Those players are the ones who are going really invoke the fear of the opposing team. Then you eventually whittle your way down to guys like me who will loudly sing old pop songs to try and disorient the other team so I can free my team mates. No, I was never picked first for dodgeball. No, that strategy did not work well.

The master is offering “whatever is right” for their wages.

He does the same thing in verse 5 at noon and 3 o’clock now. The sixth and 9th hour.

Finally, at 5 o’clock, or the 11th hour, the master makes one more run to find workers. There is literally an hour left in the working day and this guy is out hiring workers for his field. He says the same thing.

Matthew 20:6–7 ESV

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.’

Ok. Recap. The master of the vineyard hires these workers. He starts by picking workers who will serve all day and agrees to pay them a day’s wages. Then progressively, as the day goes on, he keeps hiring workers, and agrees to pay them “whatever is right” for their wages. He does this up to the end of the working day. Some of these workers have been working all day, some have been working for some of the day, and the rest have only worked for an hour.

We can probably imagine a scenario where this makes sense. Going back to our imagery of working the docks, the longer a boat is docked, the more money it costs the shipping company. They want those boats loaded and unloaded as fast as possible because the cost of the boat being docked and not making any money outweighs the cost of paying additional laborers to get the boat loaded or unloaded quickly.

Either that, or this is an eccentric master. Or maybe a little bit of both.

The point is, up to this point, this parable makes sense in the ears of the listeners. But parables aren’t merely relatable stories. Like a good joke or riddle, parables have a twist that is designed to reorient the listener to a new reality.

Parables are designed to reorient our thinking about the everyday.

8-16 – The Twist

Matthew 20:8 ESV

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.’

This is the twist.

Where everyone of us is expecting the workers who worked only one hour to get paid less than the other workers, our expectations are blown.

Matthew 20:9 ESV

9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.

Now, everyone listening at this point is probably thinking? “What!? That’s not fair! The master is being unjust!” The other workers thought the same.

Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. This might be a good thing. If those guys got a whole denarius, we’re going to get more too. Yes! Awesome let’s see what we get. If he went out at the eleventh hour to hire these guys and we started at the first, we should get like 12x what we signed up for! If an hours wage is a denarius I can’t wait to see what we get. We’re going to win so many tickets at Chuck E. Cheese and you know what, pizza is on me tonight boys.

But that’s not what happens. The 9th hour guys come and get a denarius. Then the 6th hour workers come and receive a denarius. Then the 3rd hour workers receive a denarius.

We receive God’s gifts unequally

Matthew 20:10 ESV

10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

That’s utterly disappointing isn’t it. Shouldn’t they have gotten more? I mean, who does this guy think he is? Doesn’t he know that a worker is worthy of his wages?

Are we quick to think that way when we read this? (Let that sit). That the master is just unfair?

Or better, are we quick to see how gracious the master is to those who haven’t had the work? Perhaps the point is this: It doesn’t matter if you are first or last in receiving God’s grace. We’ll look at it again, but verse 16 says:

Matthew 20:16 ESV

16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

This is not a formula that we should follow just to get to be seated at the right and left sides of Jesus. That isn’t the point of this! The point is that these are God’s gifts to give to whom He wants to give them when He wants to give them. Our job isn’t to proclaim God’s unfairness, but His abounding grace that He gets to give however He wants! Our sense of equality doesn’t measure up to God’s distribution of Grace.

Matthew 20:11–12 ESV

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.’

We receive God’s Gifts unequally

When we are treated unfairly like that, it’s easy to cast blame at our employers or those over us. Just like the Israelites in the wilderness, we grumble and proclaim from our failed understanding of righteousness, “THAT’S NOT FAIR!”

It’s like Nate and I working so hard in that attic, talking about how good of a job we’re doing compared to our salesman. “We worked hard. Maybe we should have deserved his tip too.” That, my friends, is called pride. Don’t get proud if you think your contribution in the labors of the church is larger than someone else's.

We are mistaken if we think that the workers that were first hired didn’t receive God’s grace. God didn’t have to choose them to receive any wage at all. It’s only by His grace that they received anything!

God does not need to honor our standards. He doesn’t care about natural ability, successes, work achievements or little kingdoms that we have built. Our temptation is to believe that if we keep God’s commands and are blessed then God must be doing something right. But God demands that we accept His standards of wages and gifts.

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are quick as Christians to say that salvation is by God’s grace, but we need to work for our rewards. Do you know what’s crazy though? It’s only because of God’s Spirit within me that I even know how to serve Him. To work, to serve, is a gift from God. Therefore, any success we have puts us further in debt to God’s grace. Pride will ruin us if we believe that our works come from ourselves alone. By sin’s wages, we deserve death. But by the free gift of God, we have eternal life in Jesus Christ.

This next section is where Jesus makes his point in sharing this parable.

Matthew 20:13–15 ESV

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?’

Nothing compares to the way God gives His gifts

The rewards and the gifts of God do not line up with our expectations. God gives all of His gifts according to His proportions, not ours.

Consider what the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians concerning their Spiritual gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:12–20 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

Do you think about the gracious gifts that God has given you, or are you quick to be jealous for what others receive? The way we frame what we have been given will determine how we view the master. If we are jealous for what others received, then God is unjust. Of we are grateful for what we have received, the God is fair. If we are grateful for all of the gifts God has given, then we are the church. Steward not just your gifts, but your gratitude for them.

Conclusion

What we think belongs to us, never originated with us. Everything comes from the hand of God and since it is His, He gets to determine what to do with it.

All of the rewards we receive, including eternal life, are undeserved and unearned. It is God’s prerogative alone through his abundant grace which saves us from our sin and He has chosen to do that through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

I have a final thought for us this morning.

How generous are you in giving grace to others? How generous are you in sharing the grace of eternal life in Christ with others?

Like in dodgeball, there is a temptation to say “no” to people being on our teams before we’ve even interacted with them. If I can be specific, I mean with sharing the gospel. “No, that person won’t hear what I have to say. I’ll just live my life righteously before them so they ask me about it maybe one day.” What you win people with is what you win them too. If you only “live righteously” but don’t share the gospel verbally with people you are winning them to good behavior without eternal life. It’s no different than saying, “just do what that rich young ruler does and you’ll be blessed.” They need to

Friends, we are too easily tempted to hoard the message of God’s grace to ourselves. We can’t share it by simply living our lives. We must share it with others. If you lack confidence in presenting the gospel, hound Pastor Marc and Pastor Aaron when they get back. Hound your elders. Hound mature believers around you. Guess what, they’ll probably struggle with it a little too.

God doesn’t give his grace based on merit. He doesn’t give it based on time spent. God gives His gifts unequally. Nothing compares to them. Don’t be discouraged if you think your contribution is too small. Don’t be bitter about your contribution or being picked last. Don’t be proud if you think your contribution is better than others. All of the rewards given by God are because of His wondrous Grace. May we praise and honor Him for all that He gives.

Pray