The Parable Of The Vineyard Owner

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Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, we just sung a song that's an echo of Revelation.

Is there anyone worthy?

And there is actually only one worthy.

It's you.

You're worthy of all our attention, all our affection, all our devotion.

Would you, through the Spirit, empower us to give that to you now?

That you be the one speaking to us through a man from a text.

But you'd be getting those from us.

May you pull back the veil of heaven a little bit to where we would see things as they really are.

That you are the coming king, and all things wrong will be made right.

Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess, and we will finally see and receive, but we were awaiting.

Tune our hearts to you now.

Amen.

I want to thank you for joining us.

Those of you who are part of our church family here at Grand Parkway, those who just happened upon us as guests, I want to thank you.

And I want to also acknowledge this is when our country celebrates Mother's Day, and this is an unusual one.

There's a wide range of emotions connected to this day.

And for some, uh they are new moms and just kind of trying to figure this out.

And you know, you sure I can take this baby home with me and all the new outfits and all the rest?

And and there are other moms who have adult children and are trying to navigate this changing of a relationship and changing of independence, and still others are uh have small kids at home, and they're having to be mom and chef and vice principal and recreation and a whole other things, and it's it's wearing real thin.

And still others are um are longing to be a mother, begging God, would you give me the privilege and the burden that I see others having?

And so others have lost their mom this last year.

So there's a wide range of emotions, but I want to remind us that none of us experience any of that completely on our own.

Jesus walks with you in every step of that.

He has so far, and he will today and this week and this month and all the days to come until he returns.

More than that, your church family cares for you.

We want to walk alongside you in this.

Well, this morning uh we are beginning a series.

The staff is during Neil Sabbatical, the parables of the gospels.

Now, parables are the stories that Jesus told.

And there are actually 46 of them.

We're not doing all 46, we're gonna do a portion during the sabbatical time.

And I want to give you some parameters to interpreting parables.

So parables are kind of a small subset of a gospel, and the parables are it's a made-up story.

They're not true.

It's it's it's a story that's that's crafted and wielded uh to move to one central point.

And it's often through comparison and contrast, two kind of polar opposites.

This is what's happening in a parable.

Now, today's parable uh will actually tell us something that Jesus has already said.

And that's this question.

Have you ever been told or have you ever had to say something more than once?

And you know, maybe things like, hey, close that door, turn off those lights?

Did you pick up the my kids played baseball growing up?

The common thing for them, all right, it's two strikes, choke up, protect, don't chase, move the runner.

Life's pretty much full of reminding, repeating.

And the way that Matthew has crafted his gospel, uh, he just ended in chapter 19, and the point of that parable was this kind of shocking revelation that those who are first in this world, they're actually going to become last.

And those who are last in this world are actually gonna become first.

It's a shifting.

And Jesus tells this parable, and it's the same point.

And so he's repeating himself in some sense.

We should see that these first hearers, first readers needed to hear it more than once, and so do we.

And so let's begin with a passage.

This is Matthew chapter 20, we'll be in verses 1 through 16.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

Verse 1.

Jesus said to them, speaking to the disciples, 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.

We're gonna walk through and point out some things.

Kingdom of heaven, this is, don't think of like territory, don't think of borders, don't think of uh passports.

Think of the rule, the the reign of God over a person's heart.

And many of the parables Jesus is laying out, this is what it looks like when God is reigning someone's heart.

This is what it looks like when God is someone's king.

This is what it looks like when God is someone's treasure.

This is what it looks like when someone says, God, you're the one who's worthy.

It looks like this.

It looks like a master who owns a vineyard and goes out to hire laborers.

He goes out early in the morning after verse 2.

After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Now, the the very workers, the very first hour of the day, uh, who are the ones you're gonna find?

You go, you go you know to this town square, and the guys who are there, you get your foreman on the truck and he looks out on the wagon park.

Okay, I need you and you and okay, no, oh yeah, you two, yep, tall guy behind you.

Oh, you're strong.

You're hiring the ones you think you're gonna get the best work out of.

The ones who are gonna carry the most grapes in this vineyard from the vine to the barrel.

Without destroying, crushing.

Okay, you want the best workers.

That's who's here right now.

Now, verse 3 in this story, Jesus is saying, he said, and going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, You go into the vineyard too, and whatever's right, I'll pay you.

So they didn't agree to a denarius, which was good pay.

Whatever's right, I'll pay you.

You already missed three hours of work.

I'll pay you whatever's right.

So who's still left at this point?

Okay, it's it's some of the guys you looked over the first time.

That's right.

So not as strong, not as experienced, not as agile.

Verse 4.

Whatever's right, I'll pay you.

Verse five.

And so they went and going out again the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.

So went back, sixth hour, midday, or missed half the work day, pick some more guys, ninth hour, pick some more guys.

Now, let me just pause and say, who's getting picked at the sixth and ninth hour?

People who are less able.

Maybe they're still serviceable, but you know, they're not anywhere near your first choice.

Let's say, why does he keep on going out picking workers?

Maybe his carts not large enough to take all the ones he wanted.

Or maybe realize, hey, there's some there's some weather coming.

We want to get this all done today.

It likely is this don't chase these questions.

Jesus is making up a story, driving it to an extreme, to smash two things together.

It's likely that no one ever in their whole life owning a vineyard ever went out and kept on getting guys throughout the day.

But he does this for a reason.

Verse 6.

Jesus says to them, and about the ninth, about the 11th hour, it's a one hour left in the workday.

It's a 12-hour day.

You start at 6 a.m., you end at 6 p.m.

And so going out with just one hour left in the day.

He went out and found others standing and said to them, Why do you stand here idle all day?

They said, Because no one's hired us.

He said to them, You go into the vineyard too, and whatever, you go to the vineyard too.

And so these guys somehow they get to the vineyard, and who is this group?

These are the ones that no one literally wants.

No one will hire.

They're not just older, they're much older, probably crippled.

Maybe a bad leg, maybe a bad hand, maybe they're thieves, maybe they're totally unreliable.

Whatever it is, these are not the workers you want.

These are not the ones you agree to for a denarius a day.

Verse 9.

Verse 8.

And when evening came, the owners of the vineyards said to the foremen, Call the laborers and pay them wages, beginning with the last.

Pay them first.

So, when those hired about the 11th hour came, each one of them received a denarius.

Full day's pay.

They were not expecting this.

This is completely shocking.

This probably never happened before.

And those, uh, verse 10, and when those who came first, uh, they thought they would receive more.

So, okay, ooh, look at that.

What is he getting over there?

A denarius?

Oh, I knew we hired on to the right vineyard.

Let's see.

Those guys worked about an hour, but it's terrible work.

Maybe they worked about 15 minutes of one of my work hours.

But okay, they worked, let's say they worked an hour.

Here, an hour.

Uh, I'm gonna get the one, I'm gonna get 12 denarias for this.

This is gonna be, I'm gonna get two weeks of work in one day.

Two weeks of pay.

This is what they're thinking.

Back to the text.

Verse 10.

Now, when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

The exact same as the 11th hour worker.

Now, remember I said that when we interpret a parable, it's it's proving a point with comparison.

When we do that, we want to look at um things like who gets the most ink in the story?

What happens at the end?

Most ink in this story is the first hour and 11th hour.

The guys in between, they're not really part of this.

We're comparing these two.

So they say, um, on receiving it, verse 11, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, These last worked only one hour, and you've made them equal to us.

What are you doing?

See, they envied the generosity of the owner.

They were assuming, oh, you're you're gonna be that generous to them that they they should get maybe a twelfth of a denarius.

You're gonna give them a whole one?

Okay, you should be equally generous to me.

Even though we agreed upon a denarius, you should give me twelve.

They've already jumped to this assumption of what they're owed by the master.

So look, we even appeal to pity.

Uh, you've made them equal to us, verse 12, saying, These last were one hour, and you've made equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.

They came at the last part of the day, the best weather.

The sun's less intense.

We got some evening breeze rolling in.

Everybody's glad because it's about to be quitting time.

We were here suffering under the heat.

Verse 13.

He replied to them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong.

Did you not agree with me for denarius?

It's true, he's not doing any wrong.

He's not violated the contract, he's not taking advantage of them.

They were all too happy at 6 a.m.

to agree to this.

And now that 6 p.m.'s come, but totally disgruntled.

Verse 14.

Take what belongs to you and go.

I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.

That's important.

I choose to give to them the same thing I'm giving to you.

Yes, I'm making them equal with you.

Verse 15.

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with my belong what belongs to me?

Or do you begrudge me for my generosity?

He's exposing the real heart motive here now.

They're greedy.

Someone else has to lose in order for them to win.

They don't want someone else benefiting from their work.

They don't just want what's due them.

They don't want anyone to get what's not due to them.

Especially if what they're getting is because of the work the first people did.

Verse 16.

This is what comes at the end.

This is the point of why Jesus is saying this parable.

Okay?

It's not about worker negotiations, it's not about uh trade organizations, it's nothing to do with that.

Not about minimum wage.

He's saying this is what the kingdom of God is like.

Verse 16.

So, the last will be first, and the first last.

Those who think they were owed, they're gonna receive little.

And those who think they receive little are gonna receive much when it comes to grace.

So the contrast between the first and the last hour workers.

What's the meaning?

What is the meaning of all this?

It's the first point of the sermon.

We've gone to observation.

What's the meaning?

Those who are first by earthly standards are often last in the kingdom of God.

If you're first when it comes to how the world measures things, you're probably last when it comes to how the kingdom measures things.

See, he's saying this to the disciples.

And the kind of undertone in this, he's saying it twice now, is because you were the first ones to follow me, because you've kind of endured the heat of the day, the scorching heat, because you've been with me for two, three years now, traveling, because you've seen the miracles and seen the suffering, I don't want you to assume because you've been here, this is what ingratiates you to my father.

See, being first is in the criteria that grace is given.

Humility is what moves the hand of God.

And if you think COVID-19 has totally kind of uh vice clam shut down the world, wait until Jesus returns.

Wait till he returns.

And this is completely true.

And the first, last paradigm, the first, last, the uh honor, dishonor paradigm gets flipped on its head.

And those who are of no consequence to this world are shown to have front row seats to the throne room in heaven.

Wait till that happens.

Because that is sure to happen.

Where are you and I in this story?

Well, we're kind of two places.

We we uh when we think that we're contributing to the kingdom of God, when we think that uh giving, faithful giving, there's nothing wrong with that, faithful serving, nothing wrong with that.

When we think that discipling or evangelizing or even having a regular quiet time, there's nothing wrong with any of that.

When we think those things uh kind of ingratiate us to God, that you know, we maybe look around a little bit and we we create a kind of internal boasting failure scale.

And when we mark ourselves somewhere on here and we embark someone else and go, you know, God kind of needs me on his team.

He kind of needs me.

I'm I'm kind of a crucial fulcrum in this.

Not everything, but certainly way more than this guy.

I'm kind of a big help.

When this begins to occur, we begin to have this first worker mindset where we feel less and less we need God's help, and we feel more and more he needs to be doing something for us.

We feel less and less, all I have is from you, and more and more, uh it's time for you to pay up.

I see some people getting some stuff, and I'm not getting my equitable's fair share.

We begin really to slowly live more and more in our own strength, not in his, certainly more and more in our own wisdom and not in his.

That's when we begin thinking like a first hour worker.

Really, we are the 11th hour workers.

That that is actually who we are.

We are desperately in need of God's grace, and we don't bring much to the field.

Okay?

We come into his kingdom, we come into his local body, and um compare, we're limping around, right?

We're low capacity, and every good work that's done is done through us by the spirit.

See, the first hour worker begins to take credit, what the spirit does.

The 11th hour worker sees pretty clearly all I have is is a gift from God.

The first hour worker, uh, they begin to see their brother or sister in Christ.

Uh, they see them receive provision from God.

And and not provision for themselves, and envy starts to swell up in them.

It looks like things, or maybe just thoughts in the head of um well, I'm my furlough, but he's not furloughed.

How did her kid get into that school?

Why does life seem so easy for her and just one speed bump after another for me?

Why is he so popular?

Why do people like him so much?

Really, it's a question of why are they winning and I'm losing?

Back to our boasting failure scale.

Why are they coming up close to me on the scale?

Or why are we switching positions on the scale?

Point number two.

See, the first hour worker, right, lives like an orphan, lives like thinks that all I have pretty much comes from my hand.

And they fail to see even the ability to work is a gift from God.

The 11th hour worker lives more like a son and daughter and knows all that I have is just being graciously given to me.

We offer a class here every year at Grand Parkway called the Gospel-Centered Life.

And really, a portion of that class is drilling down deeply into these two mindsets.

It's what Jesus is calling the first and the last in this world.

What we would call living like an orphan, living like a son and daughter.

I'm going to read from you a couple of the examples of this, about five examples.

I'm to see if some of this lands on your heart.

The orphan is anxious about friends, anxious about money, anxious about school, about grades, about AP tests.

The son and daughter of God, they're learning to live in a daily partnership with God.

And all those things, they experience them too, but they drive them to experience a partnership with Him.

The orphan uh lives on a success fail basis, right?

The orphan, this is the line I'm on.

I'm somewhere on this continuum.

And I feel good about me if I'm toward the success, and I feel bad about me if I'm toward The failure.

Where the son or daughter feels forgiven and totally accepted by God.

The orphan needs to look good.

The orphan needs others to hear about them or look at them and go, oh.

I'm impressed.

The son and daughter is just experiencing a daily trust in God's sovereign plans for their life.

And they're not so much driven by what does someone else think about me or rate me or rank me versus God, what are you about to do tomorrow?

What are you about to unfold for us this next week?

When we turn the corner on this month, what do you got for us around the corner?

A couple more.

Whereas a son and daughter, they're content with what Christ has provided.

Some of you should be thinking, Blake, if I'm going to live like the last that Jesus is talking about, 11th hour work, if I'm going to live like a son and daughter of God, then I'm going to need to let go of some jealousy that I have for someone.

I'm going to need to let go of some bitterness I have towards someone.

And yes, you're right.

And you're going to have to do more than let go of that.

You're going to have to repent of that because that is at its core a sin against God and a sin against them.

You have to stop protecting your first position and embrace that Jesus, he is more than enough.

This is point number three.

The last, they don't miss out.

In fact, Jesus says, the last don't miss out.

The last win.

The last become first.

Examples is Hudson Taylor, as a missionary in the mid-1800s to inland China.

He didn't want to be on the coast, but take it to the peoples.

In the country.

And he lived his life there, inspired thousands of missionaries, but he lived a life of pretty regular sacrifice.

So much so that he experienced frequent bounce of mental illness, frequent bounce of physical illness.

His wife died at age 33.

And in fact, four of his eight children died in China.

That and all the all the regular uh struggles and trials of a new culture and new food and new lands and new threats and pastoring and converting people from false God to true Lord Jesus, all that.

And later in his life, he he wrote, um, he said, I never succeeded in making a sacrifice for God.

And every time I either gave up something or something was withheld from me or removed from me, every time I thought, oh, I'm definitely sacrificing this time.

So later on, I would find not just blessing, but I would find I was better off than before, that I couldn't say it was a sacrifice.

This is what Jesus is saying.

Those who are last in the eyes of the world, they're gonna find out, ooh, reversal.

You're first.

Those who are farthest away from any source of provision or power and all the rest in this world, they're gonna find out your seat is closest to the throne.

And those who are first in this world who are believers are gonna be looking way down, like seeing the back of their head.

Close to the throne.

But now hopefully you're feeling the desire welling up in you to live like a son or a daughter.

It's simple as just turn to Jesus in desperate need and receive grace.

It's simply as saying, with open hands, you are worthy.

And I want to get off this boasting failure scale.

I want to get off that and get on a your sufficient scale.

The Christian life, it has a rhythm, a pattern to it.

It is repenting of sin and then walking in faith.

And then repenting in sin and walking in faith.

It is continual rhythm to it.

And if you're not repenting of sin with some regularity, you're definitely not walking in faith.

You're leaning more on your own wisdom, own power.

The 11th hour worker is no delusions of getting picked first.

And we like them would be well served to just drop our imaginations that we're so deeply, deeply needed.

Oh, not that we're not deeply wanted or deeply loved.

Fourth and last point, and that is I want us to look again and see Jesus in this text.

It won't be readily apparent, but you're gonna see it quickly.

He's more than just the one telling a story.

Now, uh this story, he's communicating to the disciples, but this little imagery, this is gonna become true about him.

You see, Jesus, he is the true and better first worker.

He's this way.

He lived a life in perfect obedience under God.

He lived the life that you and I never could, and have to.

Because of what he did.

And his work wasn't easy.

It was real suffering, his whole life, um, up to the garden, trial, the cross, and not one time did he grumble to the Father.

Hey, don't give them the grace I'm earning.

No, not at all.

In fact, act opposite.

He looked forward to joy when the Father would glorify himself by pardoning sinners because of the merit, the work that Jesus did.

See, you and I were benefiting from the true and better first worker who toiled uh perfectly before God the Father.

And God credits that work toward us.

Let me close with this.

Today, um, you you may be watching this and and you may have been watching our podcast for a long time, or maybe this is one of the first times you somehow stumbled across this.

You're really not somehow, the Lord has led you here.

And the Spirit is using this text to penetrate in your heart this day.

It may be that you have a sense that you are not part of God's kingdom.

And you the best you could say you're experiencing the Spirit say to you, Hey, why don't you come come to this vineyard?

Why don't you come follow Christ?

Uh you maybe experience the Father of God saying to you, You want to be a part of my kingdom?

It is likely that you are watching this with someone who's a Christian, whether on a TV or a computer or even with a phone.

When we're all done with the service, when it's all over and the broadcast stops, I want you to consider asking them to tell you what must I do to be in this kingdom?

What must I do to be saved?

And they will explain to you how to repent of your sin and walk into life following Jesus.

We're gonna pause as we normally do after our sermons, and there'll be some questions that appear on the screen.

I want you to um you know take your phone out, pick your phone up and take a picture of it, and use this later today, maybe over lunch, maybe dinner, maybe your quiet time.

And I want you to use these questions to draw out some more spiritual food for you, for others around.

We're gonna have you look at him for a minute or two, and I'm gonna pray.

Let's do that now as these questions appear.

Father God, we are we're as grateful, perhaps, as we can be, although we make us more grateful that Jesus has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

We could never ever work our way into your good graces, never ever merit you forgiving us.

And not just forgiving us, um you adopting us as a son or daughter.

That's all because of the work of Christ.

I pray this morning that this would land on us in some fresh ways, and it would have a kind of reverberating echo this week.

That the Spirit would remind us on Monday and remind us on Tuesday and on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon that you're gonna totally flip how this world works.

And those who seem to be winning according to this world, they're gonna be a huge shock.

And those who appear to be losing, persevere in faith.

Because the table's gonna be completely turned.

I do pray for our brothers and sisters this morning that we'd have new eyes to see you, not just the one who's worthy, but who are is intimately close with us.

Which would you make us see clearly?

We do not experience any part of life all by ourselves.

And you're not even asking us right now to change.

He's asking us to submit to the Spirit.

As we pray in the name of Jesus, amen.

I want to thank you for watching this morning.

Um, we we really do miss being with people.

And maybe you've been around a couple here or there, and it still feels awkward to not be able to shake hands or acknowledge them physically or hug.

And we're longing for the day.

I'm praying with you.

Lord, bring us back together.

And Chill, then I want you uh I want to close our service as we normally do with a blessing.

And so uh please stand.

I look, I know some of you didn't stand during the music.

Let's stand now.

Go ahead.

Get stretched out, get off the couch, get off the chair.

Look, you gotta go eat food anyway.

So here we get stretched out.

And I want you to put yourself in kind of 11th hour worker, last position.

All I can and receive.

I got nothing to give, all I can and receive.

And I'm gonna speak a blessing over us.

Okay, this is the posture of receiving.

So receive this blessing.

God is not recruiting a bunch of first-round draft picks for his kingdom.

He's calling the broken and the needy and the last, and so if that's you, oh, it's your lucky day.

He's gonna show off his power to save, and he's gonna show off his power to change lives in you.

You have a full share in the kingdom because of what Jesus has done.

So live like a son, live like a daughter of God, because you are no orphan.

In the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.