The Greatness of God's Grace

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “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.”

INTRODUCTION

That’s My King - walking through Matthew … glad you are coming along … all of the past sermons are available, to hear, watch, rewatch, share … app offers online giving, communication.

Over the summer we spent weeks looking at the parables of Jesus … I want to remind you of some things as we read another parable this morning.

-Parables don’t teach all aspects of an issue/topic … parables have 1 Big Idea …

-this parable presents God as a vineyard owner who goes into the market at multiple times and gathers workers … we need to apply what we know about God to really understand what is happening … God doesn’t need us … God in eternity past was sufficient, happy, glorious, and perfect … that is still true and will always be true … so God isn’t in need or dependent upon the laborers … the laborers are dependent upon Him … He doesn’t need workers, the workers need work

-God is capable of accomplishing His goals and will totally absent human action … nature, plague, pandemic, clouds, weather, speaking donkeys, swallowing Great Fish, swarms of snakes … mankinds unwillingness to follow, to be obedient, to go and come as called doesn’t diminish God or His work … it diminishes the disobedient, the loss is ours not His … the Psalms tell us that He is the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills … helpful reminder in the midst of financial stress and strain and need … He is infinite … He is greater and more majestic and more powerful and more present than we can frankly imagine … it is for our joy, peace and happiness that He has called us to serve … my prayer for us this morning is that some who may have never answered the call, or fallen asleep at their post may this morning find themselves called anew & afresh … whatever the hour

How May the Lord Be a Master Who Went Out?

v1 - early in the morning, v3 - third hour, v5 - hour 6th & 9th hour, v6 - 11th hour

First I think we need to say that any impulse we have to serve comes from God’s calling … He has pursued, found us standing … none of the workers approached the vineyard, lined up and asked for a job … He goes into the market to find workers … even at the end of the day, the final hour, living day to day, paycheck to paycheck havent been engaged in any paying work … the Master approaches, invites, offers

So our first thought this morning is that any who are called, have been called by the master … I pray that even now, even in this room, even while you are watching at home, or listening while you are driving, or mowing the grass … whether you stumbled in, or upon the podcast or a friend invited, or a wife begged you to listen … the Master of the Vineyard calls, He invites, He beckons

Second, I think it tells us that there are specific times that God calls, that He displays His grace

There are some pretty specific moments in time when God seems to call and move in the lives of mankind

For some that is in childhood … early hours of their life … like to the child Samuel, almost in their sleep, Journey Kids, parents prompting and sharing the gospel, VBS, backyard bible clubs, story time …

For others it is more in the next hour … pre-teen/teenaged years … beginning of the exploration of independence … do I believe these things that my parents, pastor, teachers believe … as I am able to distinguish myself from them … does this make sense, is my faith my own, as you have had the opportunities to sin in some more profound ways, ways that actually impact and have longer effect on your life … do you sense your need, does the call of God begin to ring

For others it is the next hours of life … 20’s & 30’s … prime years … college, marriage, kids … 1st and 2nd jobs … big decisions, big mistakes, big sins … that realization that all of the things we thought we had figured out, and we were going to do better that our parents, teachers … maybe we dont’ have it quite as together as we thought … when we are waking up and wrestling and realizing that for all our physical and mental strength we are still lacking, that even as we start to see success and accomplishment and we finally get the things we thought we wanted, and needed … those things we thought would satisfy and fill … we are still empty and lacking and needy … that relationship, accomplishment, degree, promotion, child, house … it didn’t actually give us what we thought it would

And the years march … and the next hours … 40’s & 50’s … when we feel the tension of care for our young and children and our parents … the pressure of life continually complicating and not untangling … and we can keep adding the years … 60’s & 70’s & 80’s … those later years, retirement, health concerns, friends are passing away …

I find it fascinating that the Master of the Vineyard didn’t send a servant to call … He went Himself … as a servant of the Master … I’m standing here calling, inviting, begging even … come in … but know that I am simply a human voice of a divine call … the Master welcomes and invites … regardless of the hour you find yourself this morning …

1st question is - How May the Lord Be a Master Who Went Out?

What is the 3rd Hour?

v3 - 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.’

I think there is sometimes a disappointment among those who are called in the early hours … their testimony can seem unexciting, they avoid possibly some of the foolishness and spectacular sins … and there is a uniqueness to those called at the 11th hour … at the very end, when you can see the gaping abyss of eternity most closely

But I want to talk to those in the 3rd hour … standing idle in the marketplace … I want bother you with Jewish time keeping that took however many hours of light there was in a given day and divided it … hours 3 to 6 … 20’ —> 40’s … prime years, strong years … the master arrives and says, go into the vineyard, I’ll give you what is right ...

Come in and work …

because you’ve already wasted some of the best years … I love early mornings … I am typically an early riser … I like to get up, I like to get to work … wake up, take a shower, cup of coffee … brain is ready, body is ready … feel fresh … I am thankful that I was redeemed early, 6ish … served at church as a teen, mulitple missions experiences, bible college, youth pastor at 19 … full-time by 24 … those early years were good, loved Jesus in a pure way, avoided much of the nonsense happening around me

But for many of us, we’ve already missed those early years … we are in hours 3-6 … do you know my savior and master … have you answered the call … some of us have forgotten, we’ve wandered back into the market … we are standing idle, consumed with the events and the circumstances and frivolity of those around us

do not waste any more precious time; go at once to the Crucified, my adorable Lord and Master. There he stands, with a thorn-crown about his brow. Give him, at least, the rest of your days; and beg him to pardon you for having lived so long without loving and serving him.

Avoid the idleness of the age … I don’t mean you aren’t busy, you don’t have a job, stuff to do … I mean spiritual idleness

you aren’t doing anything for Jesus … you’ve never meditated upon what it is you are being called, uniquely formed and invited it to serve … and for too many in their 3rd-6th hours … they settle for idleness, let someone else do the work, I am here to be served, I am here to watch and consume

I fear that I have done a poor job through the first years of Journey’s life … I haven’t put hoes and rakes and shovels into hands … come in and work, there is much to do … friends, and neighbors, family and relationships to foster and invite and welcome … prayers to pray, and the word to study,

What usefulness, what happiness, what blessedness, may yet be your portion! If you could look through a telescope that could reveal what you might be if your heart were consecrated to God, what a heaven below and what a heaven above awaits you, I feel sure that you would now yield to the calling of the Great Householder, and enter his vineyard before you quit this building.

Literally idle - men and women created for greatness, beauty, majesty … who accomplish nothing of lasting value, nothing that will last … made to be productive and powerful … to love and serve and go … who settle for dirt pies and alleyways instead of the majesty of ocean views and banquets

Laboring Idle - busy, chickens with no heads, might have money, office … the so often weary and tired on the treadmill of this life … but you aren’t working in the vineyard … you haven’t answered the master’s call …

Undecided Idle - those full of good intentions … you resolved last hour, 10 years ago … I’ll serve .. but nothing, still standing, leaning in the same spot … promises and resolutions and recommitments … I sometimes think of these as inoculated … vaccinated against real change … saved, believe in Jesus, attend church, might even give occassionally … if they weren’t saved, if they didn’t have a church they called home they might be woken up, they might be stirred by their need and their distance from God … but they’ve got just enough of the real thing to be “immune” …

“I have reached the end of my indecision; I will begin to live for God, if he will give me spiritual life. I will cast off the works of darkness if God will give me spiritual light. I will lay myself at Jesu’s feet, and cry, ’Save me, O Lord, for I long to escape from my sin, and to be an idler no longer.’”

What Would the Master Have His Workers Do?

When we hear the word work … we get an unpleasant taste in our mouths … we don’t like work - difficult, dreary, repetitious, toil … but the Master calls us to work for which we have been created … fits us

work that He has promised to give us the strength and the tools to accomplish

1 Cor 12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

work that He has promised to do Himself beside us, yoked together, making our burdens lighter

Matt 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

work that benefits us beyond the greatest riches of this temporal world …

Matt 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The most stunning part of the passage to most of us … and I think the main idea of the whole … it doesn’t matter the hour you begin to serve … we all get paid.

The Master doesn’t pay … doesn’t save or redeem on the basis of the hours worked, or even the quality of the labor … He give out of the abudance of His wealth … His grace and His mercy … The parable shows us that no one, not the ones called in the first hour, and not the ones called in the final are recieving what they deserve … all are called into His service, qualified by His sacrifice, invited into His family … I wonder do you know Him, I wonder if you are standing idle, I wonder if you have fallen asleep in indecision … come in … be a part, we welcome you