Parable of the Three Workers

Introduction

(open with a story or with a recap)

We are taking a look at some stories that Jesus told to people in order to help them understand what His kingdom is actually like.

We talked about the story of the sower and the seed with Pastor Joseph

Then we talked about a wedding banquet

Last week Kevin Ramsby talked about forgiveness as we took a look at the story of the ungrateful servant

And today we are going to look at another story that Jesus told in a series of story that were meant to describe His Kingdom.

You heard the story told by our version of Morgan Freeman

But let’s open it together and see what it says about how we view God’s Kingdom.

The New International Version (1984) The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

As we look to the story it is important for us to understand some things about the passage of scripture and if you think about it, things aren’t much different now as they were then. But for us to understand the words of the Bible it is always a good idea to understand the world of the Bible…at least as much as we can. So someone say there and then.

Background of Servants

In those days you had several different levels of servants.

Slaves

You had your servants or slaves which you would own. Either because of a debt that needed to be paid, or for a larger sum of money or as the result of a business deal or military conquest. They would work wherever you needed them to work - and of course this was the most cost effective way to staff your home and business - but back then a slave’s well-being was the responsibility of his or her owner, the owner would provide food and lodging and often times a spouse and some sort of training. And then after a set amount of time they could either go free or if they wanted to stay they could stay with their master forever…and we’ve talked about hat in the past

Regular Servant/Employee

The second type of servant was regular labourer- typically someone with a trade or skill that would be in use whether it was harvest season or not.

Day Laborer

So when we are looking at the harvest most of those people would be day-laborers. You don’t have to care for them all the time - you don’t have to find work for them all the time because you have employed them to work in your business. These day labourers were available if the conditions permitted. If it was harvest season and the weather cooperated you could hire them for a day and pay them an agreed upon amount. That is the type of worker that we are talking about here.

The workers would gather in the market place and the business owner would come by usually very early in the AM (typically around 5:30-6:00 depending on the time of year and ask for people who would like some work, then they would negotiate a price and the worker would go out to the fields in this case to work expecting to get paid the agreed upon amount at the end of the day.

The Owner Hires Workers

So the field owner (along with other employers) goes into the market place and there are a group of workers who say, “hey I’m available but how much are you paying?” And they agreed that he would pay them a Denarius - which was a fair deal

Denarius

- we don’t have an exact equal amount in today’s currency, but the term Denarius was used for “a standard days pay” or a “fair day’s pay”, for their work in the vineyard. So off they went to work the field.

Everyone is happy - the owner of the field can get his harvest in and the workers who were out of work will now get paid and it’s a fair deal.

The workers weren’t entitled to the pay, they weren’t owed the work. They were not slaves, they weren’t a part of the house, they weren’t employees before this point. But they were invited to join in.

Jesus starts this story by telling us that he is about to explain what the Kingdom of God is like.

Kingdom of God

Let’s review what the Bible is talking about when it says “the Kingdom of God”

It is very important to understand that the Kingdom of God was not about following Jesus for the Jews of His day.

For a 1st century Jew their world view existed of only 2 Kingdoms.

The Kingdom of God (or Heaven)

The Kingdom of Man

It didn’t matter who was occupying them at the time, it didn’t matter how many kingdoms existed around the world. There were 2 Kingdoms only, the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Man.

For thousands of years, God’s people were waiting on the Kingdom of Heaven and for them it wasn’t some far off place it was always here on the earth. They saw it’s beginning when the nation of Israel was established after they took the “promised land” in the Old Testament. But because they rebelled against God he took the Kingdom away from them. From that point on they were trying to get to the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Kingdom of Man was the fallen world and all of the earthly Kingdoms that existed in the fallen world. The Kingdom of Man was dominated by:

Oppression, Sickness, War, Pain, Sadness, Ungodliness, where the Jews were oppressed, God was blasphemed and death was the constant.

But they were waiting for the Kingdom of God. Where God would once again walk with humanity. There would be peace, no war, no sickness, no pain, freedom instead of oppression. It would be a Kingdom where God would literally come down from the heavens destroy all of the wicked nations which are ruled by the Satan and God himself would rule and Israel would be his chosen people and there would be peace in a Kingdom that would never end.

This is what they were waiting for and Jesus knew this when He said in Matthew 3:2

Matthew 3:2 NIV84

and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

I think the first thing we need to understand is, and we have said this again and again, because it is a continued theme for Jesus.

Everyone is Invited…No Matter What

Look at what the owner of the field does. He goes out first thing in the morning.

He goes out again hours later (9:00 AM) and sees more workers that still haven’t been selected to do work for anyone. These are not people who are lazy - they just haven’t been hired - they are there hoping to get a job.

The land owner goes out again at noon and at 3:00 and not only that but he goes out one more time 1 hour before the end of the work day - and there are still people there - again not being lazy - but these were the leftovers maybe they weren’t as skilled, we don’t know.

We just know that they weren’t hired and they were still waiting for someone to come along and hire them.

So the owner of the field is willing to hire anyone-and-everyone who is willing to come and work the field.

Revelation 22:17 NIV84

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

We actually saw another example of this in the story from a couple of weeks ago. The Ruler invited everyone to come to the party - Everyone is Invited

God is not Fair… Thankfully

We see in our story that at the end of the day when the work was done the master called all the workers in and started to pay those that were hired with one our left of work. It wasn’t like they continued to work while the master paid the first group first. No he paid the last group first.

Imagine you are watching this, because he is paying each person in front of everyone.

He calls everyone up and you see him pay those late comers the amount that was on your contract.

Here’s what they thought:

Matthew 20:10 (NIV84)

So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more.

But each one of them also received a denarius.

They began to think, if he’s paying them the amount we agreed on, then there’s no way he’s not paying me more.

But instead they got paid the same amount.

Of course they thought it was unfair. They even said.

Matthew 20:12 (NIV84)

‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

But that is kind of what a lot of us do isn’t it. Someone get’s a blessing that we want, someone else’s prayers get answered and we have to wait. Someone who we think deserves justice and not the good kind… right? The wrath of God kind of judgement…but they are forgiven and then God starts to bless them and we get angry sometimes don’t we.

We say “God you have made them equal to me and I’ve done more, served longer, I am a better Christian, I’m way better than them” We look at other people around us and justify the grace God has given us while condemning them because they don’t deserve it like I do.

Let’s say it’s true, let’s say you are the worker of the field that has been toiling away all day… you know what the deal is, you know what the blessing is.

When you got saved… you knew that God was going to save you from yourself and save you into eternal life with Him…that was the deal but now, we think we deserve more. It’s as if he isn’t enough all of a sudden because other people, those pagan sinners, oh now they get the same thing… well then I expect to get super blessed because of all of the things I’ve done.

Really, I thought we were doing this because we love Jesus, I thought we were doing this because broken people matter to God, so they matter to us. No? Oh I didn’t know we were doing this so that we could receive more. I thought Jesus was enough.

The reality is, no of deserve the blessing in the first place. In the story it was a fair days wage, but if you have been serving Jesus for long enough we can grow to think that we were the workers that were hired first…but in this story we aren’t the workers who were hired first…no matter how long we have been serving God.

In this story, if we are to interpret it correctly…we are the workers who were hired at the end. The ones who were hired first were the Jews. We are the ones who don’t deserve the pay, but yet sometimes we act like the ones who were hired first.

We were the ones that no one else wanted. Like last week we were the one who were in the highways and the hedges who had don’t nothing to deserve being invited to the party.

Paul calls it the great mystery of Christ.

Ephesians 3:2–6 (NIV84)

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

We don’t deserve it.

Paul says earlier on in Ephesians

Ephesians 2:8–9 NIV84

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

When we read this parable we need to know where we fit into all of this. We are the ones who were hired last. But we can still learn from those who were hired first, because after a while we forget who we were and we start to think that we are better than those who come to faith in Christ after. Don’e become like those who were hired first. Understand the blessings you have been given…You don’t deserve them.

If God were fair, we would all be doomed to an eternity in hell. But God isn’t fair, he allows those who deserve to be punished…us… to a part of His kingdom, to share in the promise of Jesus. Christianity isn’t fair, God isn’t fair, and each one of us should be very thankful for that and stop comparing our journey with other people’s.

And that is the last thing I think we can take from this story.

Everyone’s journey is different…just focus on Jesus

In our story the workers who were hired first started to compare the quality and quantity of employment to the other works. They started to compare.

We say it over and over again here

Comparison is the thief of all joy.

Instead of focusing our attention on what happens with other people, their faults, their successes, their failures, their blessings we should focus on…

Many would say ourselves, but that isn’t true either. We should focus on Jesus, we should focus on the kingdom. God is the Master, it is His blessing to give however he wants to give it.

Notice what the master says:

Matthew 20:15 NIV84

Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

We don’t get to dictate the terms of God’s blessing, he is god we are not. We don’t get to chose who deserves them and who doesn’t

Instead we should turn our attention toward Jesus and His Kingdom.

We can trust Him, he will take care of us, he will be just, He will do what is right…always. Just focus on being obedient to what God is telling YOU to do.

Ephesians 6:4–5 NIV84

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.

Even Peter, the Apostle got it wrong and Jesus himself had to correct it.

Jesus just forgiven Peter for denying him 3 times it is a beautiful picture, then he tells Peter that Peter will give everything he has, including his life for Jesus… But don’t worry about that… JUST FOLLOW ME. It’s a beautiful moment then immediately…

John 21:20–22 NIV84

Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

Don’t worry about what anyone else get, don’t worry about whether you think its fair or not. Just Follow Him

You can trust Him. He will take care of you, Seek His Kingdom, seek His righteousness, Seek Him, Follow Him, He will take care of the rest.

Stop comparing yourself or your journey to anyone else’s journey. God will take care of them how they need. He will take care of you how you need.

Everyone’s story is different, everyone’s journey is different.

But everyone’s focus should be Jesus, Following Him. Because at the end of the day, it isn’t that he has the prize, he is the prize. You get to spend your life with Him.

If you feel unloved, he loves you

If you feel alone, he is your family and your friend

If you feel worthless, He made your worthy

If you feel ashamed He accepts you

If you feel broken, He is your healing

He doesn’t just have the blessing for you, He is the blessing for you, He is everything you could ever possible need, He brings you into community so you don’t have to walk this journey alone…He is the prize, He is the blessing and He is enough.

So get to work in the field, stop judging other people, stop comparing your journey to their. None of us deserve it, but all of us are invited.

You don’t have to earn it, He gives it freely, all you have to do is receive it and you can be a part of His family, to be joined with Him.

Remember the Master kept going back, everyone is invited no matter what.

Challenge

Are you caught in the trap of comparison? (I’m better or I’m not as good)

Are you caught in the trap pride? (I deserve more than what I’m getting)

Are you caught on the outside (I need Jesus, I need to be on the team)