Trouble In The Vineyard

I think that first of all that we must understand that there are a couple of things this evening (in reading this parable) that go up against the grain of modern labor and management. First of all there seems to be no superiority rights. And then second of all there appears to be equal pay for unequal work.

But as foolish as it might appear this evening, I wanted to point out to you that these two facts are absolutely correct as it relates to the Kingdom of God. I need to tell you. I don’t want to push it. Just let me drop it but there are no superiority rights in the Kingdom of God. There are no superiority rights in the church. As a matter of fact there are no squatter’s rights. There are a lot of people bragging about standing on the promise and I am afraid that they are just sitting on the premises.

I just needed to tell you that there are no superiority rights in the church because there are some people in our churches that brag about being on the “I was here when it happened” committee. They boast about being on the “I was a part of it when you were in Indiana” committee. They think that somehow or another that longevity gives them the right. It gives them more rights than these “Johnny-come-latelys.”

And there will always those who might suggest that the “Johnny-come-latelys” should leave the church. If that happened, then attendance would go down and so would the tithes and offerings. And there are still some of those who are so deep-rooted in heritage and history who suggest that “I was here when you got here. (Pray with me)

The bottom line here is that in the Kingdom of God you have no more rights regardless of how long you’ve been in the church. As a matter of fact that person that joined a couple of Sundays ago has just as many rights as you do.

But then there’s that part about equal pay for unequal work. Now before you jump to the conclusion that I don’t know what I am talking about or Jesus didn’t know what He was talking about, you’ve got to read the context. You’ll notice in the 19th chapter a rich, young ruler came to Jesus. It is about verse 16 that he says to Him; “Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” I’ve been looking in and listening to… I am turned on by what you’ve been saying and I tell you, I just want to join up with you. As a matter of fact I’d like to become a part of the disciples’ ban, maybe if you make me like Peter, James, and John; just put me in the inner circle, just becoming the 13th disciple would be alright with me. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Tell me what I need to do?!”

Jesus said “you know what the commandments say don’t you? He began to replay the commandments over in his mind and this young man looks Jesus squarely in the face and says, “I got you on that one!” He says “if that’s all that it requires that we keep the commandments; I‘ve done that from my youth up. What lack I yet?” In other words, if this is all that I have got to do, if this is all that you want of me then I’ve got the upper hand on you. Since I was a boy I have been keeping all of the commandments, I know what they are, I have kept them from my youth up, if that’s all that is required to get in the inner circle then I am on my way. What lack I yet?”

Well, I need to tell you this evening that all of us are lacking something. And I know that you didn’t come to church this evening to for me to tell you that and so maybe somebody ought to help me preach this thing turn to somebody and tell them “you’re lacking something.” Now behind that you ought tell them, “now don’t hit me Rev. Ty told me to say that.” But regardless of who we are, regardless of where we come from, and regardless of what we have all of us are lacking something! The good thing about Jesus is he doesn’t look at what a man says, He looks past the man’s lips to the man’s heart and He says “Son, there is something wrong with you.” He sees that this man’s heart is wrapped up wth his wallet and He says to him, I tell you what; go and sell all that you have and give to the poor then come back and resubmit your application for Christian discipleship.

It was Peter and the other fellows who were in ear-shot distance of Jesus’ conversation with the rich man. Peter was the spokesman of the crowd; Peter would often put his mouth in motion before he put his mind in gear. Like most of us do. Peter, the spokesman of the crowd, went to Jesus and said; “Jesus, why did you let this fellow get away? He has everything, as a matter of fact he had manners, he had money, and he had morals. And by these three facts alone, I know he had morals because he said all of the commandments he kept from his youth up. Not only did the man have morals the man had manner Jesus, he said ‘Good Master.’ And he had money and we’ve been wondering why in the world you let him get away as a matter of fact he could have underwritten the entire budget of this new movement that we are trying to get off the ground.”

Jesus says to Peter “don’t worry.” He says, “I know what you are worried about you are worried about all that you have left and what I want you to do is you go and tell the other fellas don’t get upset. Go back and tell them that you have got heavy investment in Kingdom stock and I am about to usher in a new age and stocks are going up. Not only will it have 100-fold dividend in this life, its got green stamp dividends in the next. And I know what you gave up Peter, I know you sacrificed everything to follow me, you put your boats in storage, you put your nets in mothballs, you kissed your family good-bye. Peter, I know what you left! I know what you left when I told you to deny everything and take up your cross daily and follow me. But Peter tell the fellas don’t worry, you’ve got heavy investment in kingdom stock.

You’ll notice what Peter says unto Jesus; he says “what shall we have therefore? If you will let this kind of fella get away and he is not able to be saved then what in the world about us?” Jesus says to Peter, “Peter the good thing about it is that anybody that has left houses and land, wives, children, and mothers then not only will they be blessed on the other side, they’ll be blessed on this side.

Oh, I am happy this evening that all of my blessings won’t come on the other side. I tell you, I am enjoying the scenery on this side. I am bountifully blessed on this side of the river, I am not like those who, Dr. Ike suggest this: I want my pie in the sky, I am enjoying some of it right here. And maybe there’s someone here today who can testify that I am enjoying some it also. And when God blesses you with some of the things that He is able to thank God it doesn’t all come on the other side.

It is behind this that Jesus tells this awesome parable, it is behind this that Jesus deals with the motives of service, it’s behind this that Jesus deals with the motivation for service. For you do know that everybody that joins the church don’t come for the right reasons? You do know that, don’t you? You do know that everybody that comes down the aisle and gives the preacher their hand has not come for kingdom business and kingdom building? There are those that come in that are orchestrated by Satan that Satan send to tear up and tear down.

So it is behind this that Jesus tells this awesome parable, a landowner goes out early in the morning (about six a.m.) to find some workers to work his vineyard. He finds a group and he says unto them, “I need some help in my vineyard.” Now the tragedy of the text is that word “agree.” You see these workers would not go to work until they had a negotiated contract. And so he sent them into the vineyard for a penny a day. He did the same thing, he went back at the 3rd hour (about 9 a.m.) and the 6th hour (about 12 p.m.) and again at the 9th hour (about 3 p.m.) and then he went out at the 11th hour at 5 p.m. one hour before closing.

What a tragedy this is. The ones who had worked at 9 a.m. by their own admission they had worked through the heat of the day. There are people in our churches who suggest Rev. “now you know I was here when this thing got started, my grand-daddy was the one that put in the 1st furnace.” They brag about being there when nobody else was there. Choir members brag about “I was in the choir when it was just me and Sis. Lucille, we were the only ones there, we didn’t even have a piano during them times it was just us wasn’t nobody else here Rev!!”

Well the 1st problem is the 1st group negotiated the terms. But the others went into the vineyard just because the Master was good. He simply said to them go into the vineyard and whatever is right I will pay. And so when evening was come he said to his foreman, he said I tell you what, call in the workers. I want to pay off what I owe. Call the laborers and give them their hire. But he says to the foreman today we are going to suspend all the rules and break with tradition. Traditionally what we have done, we’ve called in those that were hired first and we paid them first. We are going to suspend all of the rules and break with tradition. He says I tell you what I am going to do we are going to call in those that were hired last and pay them first today.

When the ones that had been hired last got to the payroll window they didn’t have a negotiated contract but the landowner had orchestrated where every man would be paid a penny. Cannot you imagine how happy they were to get a denarius? Cannot you imagine how happy they were to work one hour and get a full day’s pay? Cannot you imagine how happy they were to work one hour and then go to the pay window and get the same thing that the others got? While they were on their way home they began to discuss it. Somebody overheard them and said, “now if they made a penny we are going to make a killing today.” He said, “we’ve been out there since it started, we were there in the heat of the afternoon, if he was that good to them then we are going to make a killing today.” But you will notice that the writer says that when those that were hired first got to the window EVERY MAN got a penny. That is why you shouldn’t discuss your salary with other people. You’ll be surprised at what others are making and they might be making more than you or you might be making more than you should be so don’t discuss your salary with other people.

And so like good baptist, they called a meeting. They called and emergency meeting, made a motion, got a second, and then they sent somebody to talk to the landowner. Selected one man, put him out on a limb and said “you go and talk to him.” One man out of the whole group, one man to talk for them. Comes and says to the landowner, “I need to talk to you. I need to tell you some things (we don’t think) I come on behalf of myself and my co-workers and we don’t think you have been fair today. As a matter of fact you gave every man a penny and we were here when it got started and those fellas came in one hour before closing and you gave every man a penny. I just came to tell you we don’t appreciate it, we don’t appreciate how you’ve handled your affairs today”

You’ll notice what the landowner says to him, “Fella, what’s wrong with you? Fella, did not we agree for a penny? Fella, what’s really the problem? C’mon you can talk to me, what’s really the problem?” He says, “What was our contracted amount?” He says “.a penny.” He says, “Well what is that in your hand?” He says, “a penny.” He says, “well I haven’t done you any evil. Fella, your problem is your motive was wrong! I paid you what I agreed to pay you, I tell what your problem is, you are just evil because I am good.” He says unto him, “I can do what I want with what is mine.”

And I wish that I could preach enough to tell you that the vineyard doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to the Lord, the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof and they that dwell therein, everything belongs to the Lord. Oh, I know how you talk about all of your stuff but everything that you have belongs to God. Now I know how you talk about you car, and your house, and your furniture, and your clothes, and your children, and your church, and your jewelry but everything that we have belongs to the Lord.

I tell you as a matter of fact most of us don’t own what we have anyway, we are still paying on it and if you fool around and miss a payment they’ll come and pick it up. Everything that we have belongs to the Lord. So maybe you need to turn to somebody and tell them “it don’t belong to you, it belongs to God.” The whole world belongs to God! Every stream, every river, every blade of grass belongs to God. Every tree and every flower belongs to God. Every person, every part of us, everything belongs to God! Fella what’s wrong? What wrong with you?

Cannot I do what I want with what’s mine? Brotha pastor it seems this can be a most perplexing passage of Scripture. It is suggested that it’s talking about salvation but I know that can’t be right because you cannot work for your salvation. Somebody ought help me say “salvation is by grace through faith it is a gift of God not of works” so you wouldn’t get to boasting about I had to work to get saved.

It has also been suggested that this passage is about rewards but it is not about rewards because 1st Corin. 3:8 (b) says and every man shall receive a reward according to his own labor. Every man got the same reward.

And so if it’s not about salvation and it’s not about rewards then what is it about. Peter’s words come back to play: “What shall we get out of it?” Well maybe that’s what’s wrong with the church, everybody wants to know what am I gonna get out of it not what am I gonna put in it. There was a day in days gone by when people wanted to invest something IN now people wanna know what they can get OUT of it. And so this parable is really about having the wrong attitude about Christian service. You see most people who join the church today join for one of six reasons: 1) Power 2) Popularity 3) Prestige 4) Position 5) Partners 6) Pay. Those are the six “P’s” that you can write down. And one of the things that happens the most in the church is the wrong attitude or the wrong motivation behind service. You see, you ought to serve because the Lord has been good to you. You ought to want to serve because he wakes you up every morning; you ought to run to the church nobody ought to have to find you. You ought to come running saying brotha pastor what do you want me to do because God has been so good to me? It’s about why you’re doing what you’re doing. It’s about the motivation behind why you want to serve.

Problem with so many of our churches brotha pastor is everybody wants to get paid. Everybody wants to know when am I going to get paid and what am I going to get paid? Why in the world are you doing what you’re doing? Why are you teaching Sunday School? Why are you serving on the ushers board? Why are you really in the choir? Why are you really a deaconess? Why are you really in the finance room? Why!? It is a question that everyone has to answer for themselves but it will come up again. The “why?” The motivation behind why you’re doing what you’re doing. Yes! It’s coming up again. Wrong attitude. Wrong attitude as it relates to the kingdom of God!

The first problem that I have with the text is they are trying to bargain with God. Now in the text there are two kinds of people: 1) there are those that tried to bargain with Him 2) there are those that took Him at His word. They said “we know him, he’s known for paying his workers, he’s got a reputation that precedes him, and we don’t need a contract we’re just going to go to work for him because we know that whatever is right, sooner or later he’s going to pay. We know him to be a just man; he’s a fair man and based on that alone we are going to take him at his word.

Good work is done by contract. Great work is done by faith. And one of the problems with the church is we have too much contracted work. Everybody wants a contract and nobody wants to step out on faith. Everybody wants a contract; everybody wants to know “now before I get started how am I going to be compensated? What’s in it for me? When am I going to get paid Rev!” One of the problems with trying to bargain with God: what is it you have that God is in such dire need of? What is it that you have that God can’t get along without? What is it that you have that doesn’t already belong to Him? Any time you try to bargain with God you are going to come up short.

You might say “well give me what I deserve!” I don’t want what I deserve. If we got what we deserve, this whole church would be empty. I am not here because I get what I deserve but it was grace and mercy… God gives me what I don’t deserve and He doesn’t give me what I do deserve.

But then the second danger in the text is this: the danger of watching other people work. That’s a tragedy because in most of our churches is you can never get your work done watching other folks work. I ain’t gonna push that. But there is a good indication that if the people hired early in the morning had been doing their work, the others wouldn’t have been needed. You see on the first round the man knew how many workers he needed to work. He knew how much he needed done. He went out there, saw that the work wasn’t getting done and he hired some more. Then he had to go and hire some more, and hire some more, and hire some more because he understood how much work he needed done at the end of the day.

And this is true of life; the Lord is not concerned with the quantity of time you invest but I need to tell you that He is concerned with the quality. A short life well-lived is better than a long life wasted. Peter Marshal says this: “Life is not measure by duration but by donation.” It’s not about how long you live but about how much you contributed while you’re living. You see there are some folks that will join the church and do more in a short time than some folks who have been in church for years. There are a lot people who come into the church that get the job done, they don’t complain, they don’t fuss, they don’t argue. They just work because they are not working for us they are working for Him. And they are not concerned about their name being called they just get glory out of knowing they are a part of kingdom business and kingdom building and one day the Lord will call their name.

Watching other people work is a good indication that you are not doing your work. It’s hard to watch and work at the same time. And then thirdly there is the danger of over confidence. When you look at the text, “they supposed that they ought to have made more.” Nobody told them they’d get more. No memo came down from headquarters. But don’t you understand that there are a lot of things that happened because people supposed!? How many marriages this evening have been broken up because somebody “supposed?” How many friendships are on the rocks today because somebody “supposed?” How many churches have been torn up because somebody “supposing?” How many preachers’ names have been dragged through the mud because somebody went around “supposing?” You see in essence what they did was they supposed that they were worth more than what they were worth.

Now I need to tell, don’t look at yourself as worth more than what you are worth. Don’t think more of yourself than what you really are. One of the great tragedies in church is often time pastor we feel that the church cannot get along with out us.

I hear it often pastor “what will they do without me?”
They’ll keep on marching…
Many choirs have kept on singing after the departure of their leading soloist
Many deacon ministries have kept on praying in spite of the death of that favorite deacon that everybody loves his prayers
Usher ministries they keep on ushering even though the president dies and goes on to glory
What I’m trying to tell you right now is don’t think more of yourself than what you really are
And maybe I need to ask you what did you start since you got here? So don’t get beside yourself when folks tell you “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”
If you don’t think that the church can get along without just fool around and die and then ask God to allow you to look over the bannister of heaven the choir will still be singing and church will still be going on because God always has a witness
He always has somebody in the bull pen
He never leaves himself without a witness
Before he had a Billy Graham there was a John Wesley
Qualos, Augustine, Ambrose, Polcob, Paul, Peter, Jesus, John the Baptist, Malichi
And before Malichi there were many others but before Malichi left the scene he set in motion the quiet years but somebody was telling the story
Before Elijah there was an Abraham and before Abraham there was an Adam
Before Adam the Bible says that the morning star sung and the Sons of God got together; God never leaves himself without somebody to tell the story.
He never leaves Himself without a witness, He never leaves Himself without somebody to tell the story, He never leaves himself without somebody in the bullpen. He’s always got somebody in reserve
And that’s why there is a progression of good moving across the stage of humanity
One man goes but another man comes
One man takes flight but another one comes
One man leaves the scene but another man comes
God always leaves somebody that will be a witness
And thank you Jesus that when my life is over and I’ve done all that I can do…
Time! …will bring about another witness that will stand behind that sacred desk and keep telling the story!
Oh my brothas and my sistahs, thank you Jesus that He never leaves Himself without somebody.
He never takes and Abraham without leaving and Isaac
Moses – Joshua; Elijah – Elisha; Paul – Timothy; David – Solomon
God always has somebody in the bullpen, somebody in reserve that He can call up when He needs them
Thank you Jesus that you always got somebody
Prostitute, drug addict, homeless
Pray, sing, teach
God is reminding us that it is a privilege to be called into service
You ought thank the Lord for allowing you to serve…
Sunday School, Usher, Deacon, Choir, Preacher
Every now and then I have to tell the Lord “thank you Lord”
It’s not my ability, it’s not my influence, it’s not my intellect, it’s not my family name, it’s not where I went to school but it’s your amazing grace that let’s me work in your vineyard
And the thing I like about one of these ole days by and by it’s gonna be payday evening is coming. It’s gonna be payday, I’m gonna work while it’s day for night time cometh when no man can work. Evening is coming