The First & the Last

Well, good morning. It's great to be with you today.

You may not know that all of the benefits that our church has

received from Trinity over the years.

Of course, Trinity started the church in Mankato, but over the

years, as our church has waxed and waned in different ways,

Trinity's leadership and support has continued to sustain us.

And we're in a time of great renewal and growth now.

And it's very much through your prayers and the efforts of your

leadership in this church. So thank you for that.

We're going to be looking at God's Word today from Matthew

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20. If you want to turn there in a

Bible that you might have handy and the Pew Bible, it would be

825 is the page number, but we're looking at Matthew chapter

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

20. Matthew chapter 20, beginning in

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

verse one, hear God's word. 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. After agreeing with the laborers

for a denarius today, he sent them into his vineyard and going

out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the

marketplace. And to them he said, You go into

the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.

So they went going out again about the 6th hour, and the 9th

hour he did the same. At about the 11th hour he went

out and found others standing. And he said to them, Why do you

stand here idle all day? And they said to him, Because no

one has hired us. He said to them, you go into the

vineyard too. 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.

And when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them

received a denarius. Now when those hired first came,

they thought that they would receive more, but each of them

also received a denarius. And on receiving it, they

grumbled at the master of the house, saying, These last worked

only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne

the burden of the day in the scorching heat.

But he replied to one of them. Friend, I'm doing you no wrong,

do you not? Did you not agree with me?

For denarius, take what belongs to you and go.

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

Am I not allowed to do with what I choose, with what belongs to

me? Or do you begrudge my

generosity? So the last will be 1st and the

1st last. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. As we come now to the preaching

of God's Word, let's begin with a moment of prayer.

Almighty God, we give you thanks and praise that you have

revealed yourself to us through your chosen vessels, the

prophets of old, Your apostles, and in these last days through

your Son. Father, as we come now to your

Word, we pray that you would speak through it, that you would

illuminate it to our hearts and to our minds, that you would

give us ears to hear what the Spirit says, that it might

direct us, that it might correct us, that might equip us for

every good work, that you've called us to grant these graces

to us as we pray in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

Amen. Well, Jesus spoke in many

parables. It is perhaps my favorite part

of Scripture, the various parables and this one in

particular. I want us to really understand

the context in which Jesus spoke.

Now the parables are helpful. This is going to be a little bit

of an unorthodox sermon. If you're used to the

three-part, you know, verse, you know, step one, Step 2, Step 3,

application illustration. Now this is just going to walk

through the story. Jesus has provided us the

illustration, and we're going to walk through this together, but

I want us to know the context in which Jesus is telling this

parable. He told many parables, but he

does so at a specific time to make a specific point to

specific people. And so if you have your Bible

out, all you have to do is look over to the other page just

before in chapter 19. And it's in chapter 19 that we

get the context in which Jesus tells this parable.

It begins by telling us the story of the rich young ruler.

We're all likely familiar with this, who comes to Jesus and

says, how can I inherit eternal life?

And they go through some of the 10 commandments.

And he says, I've kept all those.

Well, he says, if you want to be perfect, sell all that you have

and come and follow after me. And we know the sad story to the

end. The rich young ruler leaves sad

because he had many possessions, and this is where I want us to

pick up. We see the reaction of his

disciples to this scene. That's an introduction to this

parable. Beginning in verse 23.

Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you, only with

difficulty will a rich person enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Again, I tell you, it's easier for a camel to go through the

eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of

God. And when the disciples heard

this, they were greatly astonished, saying, who then can

be saved? And but Jesus looked at them and

said, with man this is impossible, but with God all

things are possible. Then Peter said in reply, See,

we have left everything and followed you, what then will we

have? And Jesus said to them, truly, I

say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on

his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit

on 12 Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father

or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive

a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Notice how Jesus ends that section with that phrase, and

how our parable ends with an inversion of that phrase,

showing us that these are tied together.

Now this parable is in response to Peter's question.

Look, we've sold everything. He didn't want to sell

everything and follow after you. We left everything and followed

you. Jesus.

What will we have? What will our reward be?

Will we get a good return on investment for all that we've

given up? He's doubting whether or not

it's worth it. And this is where Jesus tells

the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.

Our passage today. Now, the parables almost always

start with this phrase. The Kingdom of heaven is like or

the Kingdom of God is like. It tells us what God's Kingdom

is like in contrast to our kingdoms of this earth.

He draws from ordinary circumstances in life, but then

they tend to have A twist that shows us the divergent between

how God's Kingdom operates in contrast to ours.

So we'll just walk through this parable together, make some

comments along the way, and then at the end think about some

application for us. So beginning in verse one, the

Kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out

early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

That's sort of been a daily occurrence in the ancient world.

A master of a house, the one who owns land, in this case a

vineyard, has his own workers, likely his sons, who labor in

his fields. But come harvest time, they need

help, extra hands to do the extra work.

And so he would go to the Town Center and find day laborers.

Now, a day laborer amongst the people of Israel was probably

the most vulnerable population. They didn't have any guarantee

of work. They didn't own their own

property. The only way that they could

provide for themselves and for their families was to be hired

on a daily basis. It wasn't like they were

guaranteed that they would get to work the next day if they

were hired Monday. Tuesday wasn't guaranteed.

Every day they would go to that marketplace and wait to be

hired. And if they weren't hired, they

would have to go home empty handed, hungry, disappointed,

and come up with a way to tell their wife that they made no

money. They were at the generosity and

mercy of the masters of houses, those who owned land, who had

farms, who needed help with the work.

But this is an ordinary scene. Jesus is drawing from an

ordinary scene. Nothing strange has happened

yet. He goes out early in the

morning. Now this is 6:00 AM.

That's the beginning of the day. And he hires laborers.

And then we're told in verse 2, he agrees with them for a

denarius a day. Now you guys know what denarius

is. Now it's a day's wage.

This is ordinary practice. A day's wage at the time was

called an areas. It was a coin.

It it was what you would pay somebody to labor for a day.

So I don't know what that is. Inflation adjusted in American

dollars, something maybe $200. All right, you agreed, $200.

You're working 12 hours today. Sounds good.

Standard operation disciples certainly would have known this,

seen this. Perhaps some of them experienced

this. And then we begin to see this

starts to take a little bit of a turn.

And verse 3, going out about the third hour, this would be 9:00

AM. He saw others standing idle in

the marketplace and he said to them, go into the vineyard too.

And whatever is right, I'll give to you.

So it's a bit surprising he would go out again three hours

later. But we can think of reasons why

a master of a house would go out a few hours later.

Maybe someone called in sick. Maybe there was more to do than

they expected that morning. Maybe somebody got hurt.

And he doesn't promise them a Daenerys.

A Daenerys is the day's wage. He didn't promise them $200.

He says whatever's right, you know, for us, then we would just

divide it by 12 hours and and come up with a math equation

here. But he just tells them to go.

He hires them. It's not that strange, but it

gets stranger. Verse 5 tells us so he did the

so he, I'm sorry. So he went out again about the

6th hour and the 9th hour and he did the same.

So now we're talking about noon and 3:00.

Now you might want to start scratching your head and

thinking about this master of a house.

He's supposed to be a successful land owning man who has this

thriving vineyard that he needs to hire people.

He doesn't seem very efficient. You think he would have better

things to do than to just keep walking back and forth to a

marketplace every 3 hours to find more people?

Also, doesn't he know how many people to hire?

After going once, twice, three Times, Now, four times, 3:00 in

the afternoon, he's going out again.

And you can almost imagine other land owners, other masters of

houses perhaps seeing him going back and forth from his home to

the marketplace and rolling their eyes.

That's not how I run my house now.

In case you thought he had any credibility left, he goes out

again for six about the 11th hour, 5:00, he went out and he

found others standing and he said to them, why do you stand

here idle all day? And they said to him, because no

one has hired us. And he said to them, you go into

the vineyard too. I don't know what your workplace

is like. I've had many jobs that last

hour of the day, not very productive.

You're just running out the clock. 5:00 the master of the

house goes out and hires more labourers.

This is the end of the first scene, really the scene taking

place in the marketplace. The next scene is in the

vineyard. But notice at the end of the

scene, these last workers, they get to speak.

They have the sad confession that no one has hired them.

And I want us to just notice that the end of chapter 19 and

the end of our parable. Now we have first and last, last

and 1st. And here the last workers get to

speak. It's it's being highlighted for

us, these characters in the Kingdom in the parable here they

have the first workers and we have the last workers.

Jesus is going to be making his point based on really these two

categories. So now we find ourselves in the

vineyard verse 10. Sorry, verse not let's see verse

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.

And when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them

received a denarius. OK, we already see the the

change here, right? These guys have been paid $200

for the least effective time of work in the day from 5:00 to

6:00. They've received a whole day's

wage. Now, I can't imagine the scene

that this would have elicited in these men, but it must have been

a scene because those who were hired first, at the end of the

line, they saw it. They knew something had

happened. I don't know if they're just

announcing you get a denarius. I imagine these men were

overcome with joy. Can you imagine them sitting in

the marketplace all day and not being hired?

6:00 AM. Seven AM. 8 AM. 9:00 AM.

Can't afford to buy lunch. And here, 5:00 a master of a

house comes up to them. I don't know what they expected

him to say. Perhaps their highest hope is

that he might buy them a drink, but he sends them to the

vineyard, so maybe they expect to get $20.00 for the hour they

put in. But here their full dignity has

been restored. They've received the full wage

of the day. They can go home to their family

and provide everything that they need for today.

Now the other workers see that this takes place, we're told in

verse 10. When those hired first came,

they thought they would receive more, but each of them also

received a denarius. Going back to your workplace,

not only do you not do anything from 4:00 to 5:00, but you don't

talk about one thing in most workplaces in America, and that

is how much money you make. Because when you find out how

much money Carl makes and you work in the same department and

you've been there longer than them, just doesn't sit well.

You want to race and that's what's happening here.

We all have that same inclination.

That's why we don't talk about wages in the workforce because

it's unsettling. We're always comparing ourselves

to other people. We're we're downplaying their

productivity and the things they contribute.

And we're, you know, propping ourselves up.

We should deserve more. We've been here longer.

This is the idea of the first workers.

Wow. He's giving out $200.00 an hour.

We've been here all day. We're about to get paid.

And look at their complaint. These last worked only one hour.

You've made them equal to us. Who have borne the burden of the

day in the scorching heat. We did everything.

The burden of the day, the scorching heat.

Look, it's evening, the sun's going down.

They just helped us mop up a little bit.

And you've made them equal to us.

You think we're the same. I think we can resonate with

their complaints. I think if we were in their

shoes, we would think the same thing.

That's the Kingdom of this world.

The Master of House responds kindly.

He says to one of them, Friend, I'm doing you no wrong.

Did you not agree with me? For denarius, take what belongs

to you and go. I choose to give to this last

worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I

choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my

generosity? You can imagine a different

response these men could have had to such a generous gift.

Wow, what a generous man we work for.

Praise God that you've received such a generous gift.

It's happy hour. You're buying appetizers.

Let's go. And sometimes we do rejoice with

people who fall into good fortunes.

But Jesus is speaking to his disciples.

He's speaking to Peter, who's asking this question.

What will we have? We gave up everything.

We borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat.

I suppose we should get paid more.

Jesus is warning his disciples, in particular Peter, as those

who are first in the Kingdom, those who have come in early,

those who have been there, who have left everything, who have

carried some weight because they're going to be tempted to

be like the first workers in the parable.

Now the parable tells us about the Kingdom of God, and it has

these characters and they're meant to represent different

types of people. First workers, Peter disciples,

last workers, people that are going to come in later that

Peter is going to have to deal with that are going to be made

equals to him. And the master of the house is a

representation of God himself. Now, as you think about these

workers who have been hired and as they relate to maybe some

ordinary things in our lives, it's helpful for us to dwell on

that. Who would be hired first if you

were a master of a house? If you were to go out at 6:00

AM, maybe you get there a little early, 5:45.

Why would you show up early? Because you want to get the best

workers. The guy who's been hit in the

gym, the guy who's got a truck full of tools, the one who you

know who worked for you last week or who your friend told you

to hire because they have a good reputation.

The people who seem most fit for the job, right?

That's who you would pick. But then we have to ask, who are

the last workers? The last workers aren't in

shape. Maybe they were late.

Maybe they don't have a very good reputation.

Your friend told you, never hire that guy.

It's the kids that didn't get picked for the kickball team at

recess. It's the same story in this

parable. First workers and last workers.

And in this interchange, as they've been hired sequentially,

they've created their own pecking order based on how much

work they've done. Remember, they all started out

as needy, desperate day laborers in a marketplace hoping to get

hired for the day. But you know, I got hired first.

So I'm better than the guy I hired at 9:00 AM, and he's

better than the guy that I hired at noon, and he's better than

the guy that I hired at 3. And we're all better than those

guys who came in at the last hour.

You see how they've forgotten where they've come from.

They now feel the right to demand more than what was

promised to them, what they agreed to, and the mere presence

of these last workers and the generosity of the Master of the

House makes them feel like what they have received has been

lessened, even though it hasn't changed. 1 cent.

The circumstance changed, but the agreement didn't.

The only thing that changed was that the Master of the House was

being generous to somebody else. Peter has left everything to

follow after Jesus. He's concerned whether or not

he's going to get paid, and Jesus gives him an immediate

assurance, right. In fact, what Jesus promises him

is far above and beyond what he probably expected to hear.

You're going to sit on Thrones judging the tribes of Israel, an

unthinkable place of honor and authority.

Everything you've left. Look at the list, brothers,

sisters, father, mother, children, lands.

You'll receive a hundredfold. And in case that's not enough,

you will inherit eternal life. Essentially what Jesus is saying

to Peter is don't worry about it, Peter, it's definitely worth

it. I'm going to take care of you.

But let me tell you what the Kingdom of heaven is like.

It's like a master of a house who goes out and hires laborers

for his vineyard, and you are a first worker.

You're going to want to look at yourself and compare yourself to

those who are going to come later.

There's going to be a lot more people coming in later.

Peter finds himself in all sorts of difficult situations later on

in his ministry. And not only are these people

going to come in later, they're going to be equals to you.

They're going to be maybe undesirable people in the eyes

of the world, and then they're going to be equal to you.

They're going to receive the same reward, and you are going

to need to resist the urge to be jealous, to begrudge my

generosity, to think that somehow you deserve more.

So who are first workers? Now, how do we apply this to our

circumstance? I think first workers are those

who've grown up in the church. You're born into it, baptized in

the earliest of days. You've lived your life in the

church. You've served in so many

different ways. And all the committees you

chose, the carpet colour you wrote, the checks you visited,

the sick you endured during a pastoral transition, you carried

the burden of the day in the scorching heap when there was

conflict. That's not a bad thing.

This isn't a rebuke of Peter. It's a warning.

It will be easy for us first workers who've been here, who've

done the work, who've who've given the money to fall into the

same air, to think we're the front of the line.

And the error is that we forgot where we came from.

Desperate, needy day laborers. You see, the Kingdom of heaven

is not like the kingdoms of this earth.

One of the central points of this parable is that God's

Kingdom is not based on works. God calls us to all sorts of

works, all sorts of tasks, ministries, different things

that we do. And yes, that is not where we

receive our standing. More on that in a moment.

Who are last workers? Last workers don't need to be

told they're last workers. They don't need anybody to tell

them that they probably shouldn't get $200.00 an hour.

They know they don't have the same skills and abilities.

They didn't put in the time. They don't know as much.

Maybe they have a reputation that they're not proud of.

And Jesus is speaking to you in this parable.

You are made equal in God's Kingdom.

It's not based on how long you've been there or what you've

accomplished, because the Kingdom of heaven is one of

grace. What's most ironic, I think, in

this passage is the complaint that they've borne the burden of

the day in the scorching heat. As we think about that as first

workers or even last workers or middle workers, maybe you're a

noon worker. I don't know.

When you think about the Kingdom of heaven, there's somebody else

who is born the heat of the day, the scorching heat, who's

accomplished all of the work already, who's truly the first

worker, Jesus Christ. Jesus paid it all.

Sure, we enter into his work. He calls us to various things.

We participate in meaningful ways.

God is pleased with us when we do good deeds.

We're all just showing up at the end of the clock, benefiting

from his work. And we're not just made equals

with one another, we're made equals with him.

Not just other workers, but the son, the inheritor of the

vineyard. We are made equals to him.

And it frees us for being anxious about whether or not

we'll get a reward for our efforts or it frees us from

wondering if we've we can even do enough.

We've done too many bad things. We came in too late.

No, God exalts us to a place that we can't even possibly

comprehend. What Jesus says to Peter is

unfathomable, and yet it's true. The master of the house is the

third character in our parable, and he tells us about God and

his Kingdom, touched on it a bit.

But I've read this parable, I don't know, probably hundreds of

Times Now, and it seems to me the master of the house, well,

he certainly doesn't care about his reputation.

He doesn't care about being efficient.

He seems to have a lot of money and he doesn't care about it,

gives it away freely. He has an abundance.

He's not short of time. He doesn't seem to be that

interested in those types of things.

Doesn't really even seem if he's interested in the harvest to be

honest. Seems like he's most concerned

about the men that it would cause him to go again and again

and again and again to get more and more and more people so that

he can be generous to them. He's active going out again and

again and again. He's kind, referring to the one

who even complaints to him as friend.

It's another encouragement from this passage that he's not done.

He's not content with 6:00 AM workers, 9:00 AM or noon or

three, but he goes out over and over until the number is full.

People that have been overlooked, considered unworthy,

too far gone. He goes to them, to the last

hour. I don't know the context of your

life. Loved ones, neighbors, friends.

Sometimes we lose hope for people.

Sparrow tells us God is not done until the last hour, when it

doesn't even matter anymore. And he doesn't just do it out of

some mere pittance or charity case.

He makes them equal. And so the Kingdom of heaven is

like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to

hire laborers for his vineyard. But it is so much more than

that. It only goes so far to show us

what the Kingdom is like. It shows us the way in which

God's Kingdom is so different than the kingdoms of our earth

that are rooted in rewards for our works, How long we've been

there, how much weight we've carried.

God's Kingdom is one of grace, one where the work has been done

for US1 where we're made equals to one another and equals to

Jesus Christ. 1 Of generosity, one of going again and again.

One that's not satisfied with some limited number closing the

doors. There's no more room.

It's 1 where we receive rewards that we could never dream of

earning. God is gracious to his people.

He warns first workers to not fall back in, to think that we

operate like the Kingdom of the earth.

He gives them warning. He's still kind to them.

First, workers need to be reminded again and again of the

grace they've received, that they might live in light of

God's generosity. And for those who are downcast,

who feel more like a last worker, God speaks to you grace.

He restores the full dignity of a day's wage to your life.

You're no lesser a son than his first born.

May God change the way that we approach him.

Instead of of fiddling about, counting our deeds, seeing how

many hours we've been on the clock, may we look to the master

of the house who's so generous, who saw a standing idle in the

workplace because no one had hired us.

And he has showered us with his riches and his favor and made us

equals. Let's pray.

Father, we give you thanks and praise that your grace has drawn

many and continues to draw many into your Kingdom.

We thank you for your great generosity.

We thank You for all of your promises that are sure in Christ

Jesus. We thank You that He has

accomplished the work on our behalf and we can enter into His

laborers. Lord, we give you thanks and

praise for Your grace and Your mercy.

Seal these things to our hearts. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.