Untitled Sermon (2)

This summer we are talking about the stories and parables Jesus tells His followers to understand not only Him better, but the Kingdom of God better too. You may know this already and you might not, but a parable is “a short, simple story that Jesus used to teach an important lesson.” 

The story we are talking about today is the Workers in the Vineyard. It starts in Matthew 20, verse 1. If you want to get out your Bible and open to Matthew 20. I want to invite some of you today to try a paper Bible. I know the Bible app is awesome, but using a paper bible not only causes fewer distractions, there is also something personal that comes with having a physical Bible. If you need one, there are carts by the back. I’d highly encourage you to grab one.

So now that we are in chapter 20, let’s get some backstory. We want to go back to chapter 19 to understand the parable better. This whole story comes from Peter’s question, “What will we get?” from being disciples. So Jesus, instead of shaming him for this kind of selfish question, responds with this:

For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing. At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’ They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’ That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’ He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’ So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭20‬:‭1‬-‭16‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This passage is heavy. And also confusing, and there is a lot to unpack so let’s do it together.

Jesus tells this story in terms that the disciples would understand. In Jesus’ time, workers would stand in the marketplace. They would stand with their tools and wait to be hired for the day. Even when there wasn’t enough work, the workers would keep waiting and hoping. They needed to earn money to buy food for that day.

So just like Jesus did, let’s put it in terms that would make sense to us.

There once was an old man in a neighborhood. He needed his lawn mowed. He asked one of the neighbor kids to mow at 6 a.m. and he’d give them $15. It was late in the evening, almost sunset, and the job wasn’t done. So he hired another kid and said he’d give them $15. They all finished and the old man kept his word. Everyone got paid $15.

No matter how long they worked, they all got $15!!! This would bother all of us!!!

I mean, if you were the one who woke up at 6 a.m. to mow a lawn and it took almost all day and you were sweating and tired, then the old guy brought another neighbor kid and paid him the same—I mean outrage! Right? Like wouldn’t we deserve more because we have worked harder?

And that’s exactly how the first workers in Jesus’ story felt.

Jesus told a story about this to teach His disciples, and us about God’s grace. God is like the owner who paid each worker enough for that day’s needs. Those who had been hired early were jealous and angry. They felt this sense of entitlement, They were unhappy that those hired last received the same money as they did. But the owner wanted to be generous with all the workers. This is like God welcoming everyone who comes to Him into His Kingdom. They are all considered a full and equal part of God’s new family. They all depend on the King who gives so freely.

But now think of the reward like grace. God’s grace is not something that we have to win. It is something we are rewarded with without fail.

Like the gift cards earlier, they didn’t do anything to receive a gift card. That was grace

GRACE = UNDESERVED FAVOR.

We didn’t do anything special or perfect to deserve a God this good. 

And that’s why this story is so powerful. The workers who came late didn’t earn more than everyone else. They simply received the generosity of the owner. In the same way, we don’t earn God’s grace. We receive it. 

The landowner was for these people. Just like how Jesus is for us. He gave the workers a fair chance, but before hiring them he asks why they haven’t been hired. And N.T. Wright says it this way: “Nobody wanted them. These are the kind of people nobody wants to hire.” He has an eye on the people who feel like they don’t belong. 

That’s something we feel in today’s day and age.

Some of us know what it feels like to be left out, forgotten, overlooked, or like we’re not enough. But this parable reminds us that God notices those people. In fact, he goes looking for them.

God employs those the world ignores and forgets, calling out graciously to the idle and forgotten, “I can use you.”

When we think God is unfair, know that He is being gracious. We’ve made so many mistakes in our lives, but His death on the cross made up for that. We feel this sense of entitlement sometimes. We look at the people around us and think “I do it better than you”. 

There shouldn’t be a comparison because God doesn’t compare us to one another.

He will never say, “They did more, so they will now receive my love.” Or, “They read their Bible today and you didn’t.”

No. He is gracious with His love and He won’t leave your side. He knows you try your best.

We may feel less than the people around us.

When God repeats something in the Bible, it means it’s important. He words it differently, but in chapter 19 He says, “Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first,” and in chapter 20 He says, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Least now will be the greatest then. 

His grace is sufficient

HOW IT ALL WORKS TOGETHER

PERSONAL STORY FROM JH? HS? ????

Grace doesn’t spoil us but it does sent us

Grattitude is the cure for entitlement

We can’t wage generosity

Jesus doesn’t shame us for our selfish nature. Instead he explains. He calls us, like the workers “friend”

How can I make myself “last”

Who is god through this- god is gracious, god is forgiving, god is merciful, god knows and sees things we cannot 

He sent jesus so we wouldn;t have to be

Do we crave this recognition from god, to see our good acts, to show that we belong. To put ourselvesnfirst, so we can be welcomed first and loved more than that friends who never meat him. Do we want to be rewarded

We cannot be “permissive” we cannot just show up because we know he is merciful. That makes us worse than the people who sin because they loath him

Sometimes we have to do a heart search and see if we are doing this for him or if we are doing it for others

We cannot be in charge of entitlement

He CALLS us to work, he calls us to show other and invite them, be grateful people cn know him 

If you believe you are first, you are foolish, as disciples we are healed, but there is also a bigger healing coming and that is the grand gift

After hearing this, we know “okay the last are first” and then sometimes selfishly think “how can i put myself last”