God Gives Grace to All
Notes
Transcript
God Gives Grace to All
God Gives Grace to All
First off I want to thank you all for praying for our family. We had a wonderful vacation, the weather, the places, the culture and people were wonderful.
We enjoyed ourselves and we thank the Lord for his many blessings along the way.
God is good, His creation is absolutely beautiful and His grace is wonderful.
And this is the topic we will address this morning as we come back once again to the Gospel of Matthew.
God’s grace is a wonderful blessings for us to consider. In grace we receive more than we every deserve, more than we could ever hope to earn, more than we could every hope to see in this life.
Do you know why?
The grace of God is not dependent upon us… No! The grace of God is entirely based on who God is… Grace is based in His love, based in His sovereign faithful nature and based in His forgiveness.
So with your Bibles, lets turn to Matthew chapter 20 and lets look at the first 16 verses today.
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.”
So if you remember from a couple weeks ago Jesus was approached by a young man, who was a ruler of the synagogue according to Luke’s account and he came to Jesus as many did, asking what must he do to obtain eternal life...
An Jesus took him back to the law, which the young man said he had kept perfectly… and then he presents the most curious question to Jesus; but still what do I lack?
The man really didn’t have faith in the law, he knew that the mere keeping of its requirements would not justify him in front of God. And Jesus presented him with the greatest challenge of his life, take what you really love and give it away.
Sadly the young man went away sad because he had great wealth.
Now after talking about this man and the problem of humanity especially in relation to greed, Jesus moves now to speak of the wonderful grace of God.
So lets begin with this thought today
1. The Master Went Out Calling....
Now let me share this thought with, when you look at this parable and the previous passages, the major theme has been the issue of eternal life. And rightly so, God is concerned with our eternal state.
For us to consider eternal life isn’t strange or anything… man has looked, examined and strived to make eternal life their future hope.
And it is still the same today, people hope to have something beyond this world after death. People are searching, and all the while the Master is calling.
As we opened up the chapter, this is what the Master begins to do, this is the first piece of information that Jesus shares with us concerning the kingdom of heaven....
Now we know Jesus falls back to one of his most popular teaching styles, he teaches the disciples and others around him by way of a parable.
So think of this… Verse 1
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.
I love this… you know why? Jesus is giving us a snapshot of the Father’s work.
We know exactly what time of year it is for the Master, it is harvest time. For us here in our community we would understand this to be late summer or very early fall.
The owner, here the Master has labored, He has been at work … he has cultivated and planted, He has worked hard to ensure a great harvest would come to his land.
And now, it is time to conduct the harvest and get the grain or whatever has been planted into the barn, to get it preserved for a future day. Nothing is to be wasted...
Now the harvest is a big job, it takes a lot of effort. When we lived up north many years ago, those big 1000 acre farms, you would have people in the combines, and then you had to have another tractor with a grain trailer to gather the grain while the combine was reaping the wheat or grain fields.
And then you would have drivers and semis that would take all that grain to the market to be sold. So it took a lot of work.
Harvest time has come and the Bible says the Kingdom of Heaven is like a Master who has gone out to hire laborers for his vineyard.
Why? The vineyards are large, the vines are heavy with grapes and if you wait to long, they begin to go bad. The vineyard is ready… friends, heaven is ready for us.
The Master needs workers....because the harvest is large.
So the Master goes out early in the morning, the work day began at 6 am for the Master and his vineyard…
For some of you, your work day either in the past or present maybe had your work day start at 6am.
And verse 2 tells us that the Master found workers and they agreed on the price, a denarius for a days wages and so the Master sent them to work in His vineyard
And here is something special my friends, look at verse 3-7.....
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.’
The Master went out at 9 am, again at 12 noon, again at 3 pm and finally even at 5 pm with just an hour remaining,. The Master kept going, calling people to come join Him in his kingdom to do his work.
And when you think about 5 pm, We see the Master went even at the last hour of the day to call workers, His desire was for all who would to come and join Him and the harvest.
Listen my friends, the Master is gracious and kept hiring not just the best of the workers but eventually everyone promising to treat them fairly even at being hired with just 1 hour of work left.
The Master was calling people to come and join in with the harvest.
I want to remind you my friends that you were called. One day you were standing around, one day you were not at work, you were not concerned about God nor His Kingdom but then Jesus showed up in your life and called you, He put you to work, giving you the greatest joy and the greatest purpose of life.
We are His laborers for His Kingdom my friends.... But let me just put a little side note here, we are not working for our salvation, we are working that others might know Him and the joy He has given to us… we want them to share in it.
And then secondly understand that at the end of the day, The Master will Settle All His Accounts.
2. The Master Will Settle All His Accounts....
The settling of accounts is something that is familiar to us, because we do it all the time.
We pay our bills during the course of a month.
We go to the grocery store and gather the food we want… we pay for it.
And perhaps at times we hire someone to work for us, to make a repair, to paint our house… something and when the work is complete we settle up. We pay the worker for what they have done.
So in the kingdom of God, there is a day of settlement, where we will give an account of how we lived our lives, whether it be the Judgment seat of Christ or the Great White Throne of Judgment.
And as we look at this text we see the same is happening here, Lets go back to our text… Lets look at verses 8 -10
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.
So as the workday comes to and end, the Master informs the foreman, its time to settle our accounts for the day, pay those who worked their wages beginning with the last ones hired first, all the way to the one who were hired first.
Remember for those who were hired from the 3rd hour until the 11th were only promised to receive a fair wage for their effort....
They expect to perhaps receive a portion of a day’s wages since they were hired late, but honestly they are happy to receive something to support themselves and family. But to their surprise they are given a full days wage, 1 denarius.
I’m sure it shocked them, and it probably shocked everyone else as well, .. No good manager would pay workers a full days wage for a partial days work… But this Master did.. This Master is a good master..... hang on to that thought...
In fact verse 10, those who were hired first, at 6 am and have worked all day received the same pay, 1 denarius.
Now verse 10 gives us a little more information.... those who were hired first, thought they would receive more since they were there all day.
They thought they would receive more… they felt like they were owed more, especially since they worked longer than those who were hired later in the day.
So what happens.... lets look at verses 11-12
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.’
Do you hear they, they grumbled… that’s not fair, we worked longer and harder than all the rest… Do you know what that sound like?
It sounds like Israel as they came out of Egypt… they murmured time and time again against Moses and against God. this isn’t right, were their not enough graves in Egypt that you brought us here today. They complained for food, for water and for His help....
People always expect more than what is given to others… You know why that is? Greed. Humanity is always seeking self and their ways. Instead of trusting the Master to do right by all.
My friends, the apostle Paul, John the beloved others lived more, did more, suffered more than we have… but praise be to God he has given us the same reward, the same promises as them.
Why? Grace.
God gives to each of us not based on our work but based on His Character… Amen!
Now lets finish this thought....
3. God’s Grace is for All....
As some of those workers murmured and complained about working the longest and being paid the same as those who worked only an hour , the Master decided to speak up about his decision to pay all the same.
Lets return to the text...
Verses 11-16
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.”
So as they grumbled about what they thought as fair or not.... the Master answered them.
So listen to what is said..
A. Friend, I am doing you no wrong, Did you not agree with on this wage?
When Jesus speaks and uses the word friend, that is a very mild rebuke here in this parable. Hey, why are you upset, didn’t we settle on this price, didn’t I pay you we agreed? Well of course the answer is yes.
The Master treated them fairly. He gave to them just as He promised.
And then secondly the Master says...
B. The Master says, if it’s my money, am I not allowed to do with it as I wish? The Master has the freedom to treat people as graciously as he desired. The master recognized that each person needed to provide for their family. We could speculate that those last worked hired at 5pm may have been the oldest or most feeble. But yet they had a family to support and wanted, literally needed work. The Master had compassion on them and paid them out of His generosity.
The Master recognized they had a need they could not meet in their own strength. So, he gave to them graciously.
My dear friends, aren’t you thankful that God has treated you with grace and not according to your productivity.
In grace He loves you and in grace God through the sacrificial death of His Son has provided salvation for who so ever would call upon the name of the Lord.
It is not based on our works, NO, it is based on His grace. It’s based in His love for us.
God’s grace is for all.
God is not asking you to do the same as Paul, He is not asking you to be a Peter, he is not expecting you to be a Billy Graham, he loved you and called you for the person you are, knowing you will be just as He has planned and purposed by His own grace.
Aren’t you thankful that God loves you?
I am
Why? Because His love and grace are available to all, and even on the last day, the last person who comes to faith in Christ will enjoy the same blessing, the same future, the same new life in Chrsit.
All based in who He is, not what we have done...
Are you thankful for that?
Now here is what it should do.... It should make us want to do more, live better, walk closer to Him
Man we make mistakes, we fail, but that doesn’t disqualify us. The devil will tell you you are nothing, you are unworthy..
God tells you, Hey you are worthy, I died for you! Come and enjoy the presence of the Lord.
The first will be last and the last first.... all receive the same. What matters is what you do today.
lets pray.