The Workers in the Vineyard - Salvation the Same for all Who Believe - part 2

Well let's take our Bible. Let's turn back to Matthew chapter 20. This is where we were last week. I did say that this would be a part one and a part two. You know to be honest with you sometimes it's hard to know when to make them a part one and a part two. I want to get through the parables but I also want to get all that we can get. But some of them just come out that way through all of my study and this is one that I think we needed to spend a touch more time on. So I know we covered quite a bit of ground last week and we're gonna pick up kind of where we left off and and wrap this parable up.

I want to go ahead and read the verses and then we'll get started. Let's read starting in verse one down to verse 16. This is Matthew chapter 20. Jesus says, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers or workers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard and going out a third hour he saw other standing idle in the marketplace. Into them he said, 'You go into the vineyard too and whatever is right I will give you or pay you.' So they went out.

Going out again, this will be out into the market, about the sixth hour in the ninth hour he did the same. And about the 11th hour he went out and found other standing. That would be standing in the market. 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.' And when evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call those laborers, the workers, and pay them their wages. Beginning with the last, that would be the last who were hired up to the first.

And when those hired, and when those hired about the 11th hour came each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it that would be the denarius, the day's pay. They grumbled at the master of the house saying, 'These last worked only one hour and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' But he replied to one of them, 'Seems like there was one that was representing that group.' But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

Take what belongs to you and go. I chose to give to this last worker as I gave to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first and the first will be last.' Now we got started last week in this parable. I felt like we got started with a pretty good foundation to be able to address the parable and make quite a bit of application. And this is the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Some of your Bibles would call it the labors in the vineyard. And I'm going to wrap up tonight with this parable and give us the title, the full title of the message.

Now I do believe that we did see that this parable is easy to understand. When we learned that this parable was very much related to things that were a part of their everyday lives and when we see what these things actually are from their culture, well it can be easy for us to understand. That's why sometimes it just takes some time to understand these things. I'll give you an example. Understanding that these men were sitting on the corner in the marketplace. Understanding that they were not idle, they were not lazy, they were not loitering. That that was their cultural employment office? Well it makes sense.

And understanding what they were being paid and what that meant. That was a fair wage for the day. And then understanding how the owner was bound by the religious law, the scriptures, to pay the labors at the end of the day. All of that comes together to make all of this make sense for us. So that's why I say it's easy to understand the parable. But I did explain that it can be difficult to interpret the parable. Even though the parable can be easy to finally understand, it can be hard to determine what Jesus was and is teaching. And there's some debate here quite a bit about the meaning.

Basically you can narrow it down to two interpretations. There are some that believe that the parable is illustrating and teaching certain things about rewards for service in the kingdom. But then there are others, they see this parable as teaching and illustrating truths concerning salvation and eternal life. Now I did say my position last week. My position is that this parable is teaching and illustrating certain things concerning salvation or eternal life like these other salvation parables. But I also said this last week.

I also see that this parable is teaching and revealing certain things about the Jews, the religious leaders of the day, as well as the Gentiles. And we've been seeing this all through these parables. And I'm going to get more into these interpretations a little bit later. Now last week we certainly did see the participants in the parable. Verses 1 to 8. We have the master of the house. He's the one that owned the vineyard. We have the foreman. He worked for the owner. We have the workers who were hired by the owner and they were hired to work in the vineyard. Of the workers we have those who were hired at first.

That would have been at the beginning of the day at 6 a.m. Those who were hired at 9 a.m. Those at noon, those at 3 p.m. And then those that were hired last at 5 p.m. And remember the ones that were hired at 5 were hired one hour before quitting time. So they only worked an hour. And then we also saw those we also saw who these participants represent. Who they speak to. What they speak of. This parable is speaking about the kingdom and kingdom work and the kingdom of heaven. We understand that. We've seen that all through these parables. So the vineyard represents the kingdom. And the owner of the vineyard is God the Father.

The foreman is Jesus the Son. The denarius represents eternal life or life in the kingdom. And then we have these labors in the kingdom. Now I mentioned who these labors are last week but I need to make sure that we understand who this represents. In one sense these first hired workers can represent believers. But in another sense these first hired workers can represent the Jews. Their reaction to the Gentiles as they were coming into the kingdom. And this is difficult for some to see. Some can see these things a little bit different.

I mentioned these things last week but I'm gonna hone in on this to make sure we understand it and see it clear. But to me this first hired worker can speak of believers and to me this first hired worker can speak of the Jews. Now I talked about different opinions here. I will mention two different opinions by two different scholars. John MacArthur believes that this applies to believers. I can accept that. But one scholar you might not be familiar with very respected James Montgomery Boyce. Sometimes he's called Jim Boyce. He points out that this also reflects the Jews and how they reacted to Jesus.

And to be honest with you I've gone back and forth for about a month here and I have narrowed it down for me to sing that he could speak to both. So for me seeing that this can speak to both will make more sense when we look at the point of the parable and then also when we compare this parable with some of the other salvation parables. Well then next last week we saw the parable. The problem comes from this seeming injustice around the payment of the workers and the way the owner treated those who were hired last as compared to those who were hired first. The problem is there. It's easy to see.

We saw that the owner of the vineyard had a very odd way of paying the workers. He didn't start with the first. He started with the last and worked backwards. He started with the last hired and he worked back towards the first hired and on top of that the owner paid them all a full day's wage. Well as this unfolded the workers who were hired first assumed that they'd be paid much more than a day's wage and that was because those who only work an hour they got paid a full day's pay. And if the owner paid those who had worked an hour a full day's pay well in the odds of those first hired they deserved more.

So the first hired workers protested about this seeming wrong situation. The problem. But we learned that the owner did nothing wrong or unlawful. The owner pushed back and he showed the complainers that he had honored his word and he had fulfilled his agreements in every way. The owner pointed out to those complaining that he had done nothing wrong but that he had acted out of generosity. The owner pointed out that for the first hired workers to complain against his generosity that in and of itself was wrong. The owner pointed out that the first hired workers were the problem not him.

The owner pointed out that the first hired workers were actually the ones who were wrong in all of this. And then we saw the point of the parable verses 13 to 16. Here we saw that there are two major points that I brought out. First and foremost the generosity of the owner. The owner acted in generosity by paying the last hired workers and the first hired workers the same wage. And second the jealousy the envy the animosity of the first hired workers. By complaining they revealed that they were filled with jealousy. They had an envy problem. They had an animosity problem because the ones who only worked one hour were paid the very same thing.

They bared the burden of the heat of the day and the others did not. So we see this animosity and these two major points must be seen together. The point of the parable is ultimately the generosity of the owner but that must be seen alongside or connected to the jealousy the envy the animosity of those first hired workers or worker. Now with who and what these things represent clearly out there look at the point of the parable and notice what all of these things mean. In one sense the first hired workers are the Jews who had been God's covenant people since God had first called Abraham to himself to form a people for himself.

I think we know the history of the Jewish people and we have seen that the Jewish people as a whole and the religious leaders of course refused to come into the kingdom by accepting Jesus as the promised Messiah. Now of course there were some Jews who did believe but as a whole the Jewish religious establishment the people in the nation refused and they rejected Jesus. And in a sense these last hired workers were the Gentiles those sinners who were coming into the kingdom. We've seen that all through the parables.

We've seen that these Gentiles these sinners they were coming into the kingdom all throughout Jesus earthly ministry and they are symbolized in these other salvation parables. But we need to see another lesson here and this lesson pertains to salvation. We talked about this last week and the lesson is this God sovereignly works in man's salvation and every person who comes savingly to faith in Christ receives the very same grace gift. It is the same for all no matter who they are. Think about the parable of the lost sons. The person who had been like the older son in that parable they have never outwardly rebelled.

They have never outwardly squandered all that they have in wild living but a person like that they are saved just like all people by grace through faith. And then thinking about the two sons still the person who has been like the younger son in the parable they certainly did rebel and squander in wild living. Well they are saved like all people are saved by grace through faith.

All people receive the same grace gift in salvation no matter if they are eight years old and they have never openly rebelled and they have come to faith in Christ or no matter if they've been a communist in China and they persecuted Christians and they come to faith in Christ no matter if they have squandered their lives on drugs on an alcohol and they come to Christ and no matter if they have lived like the devil for 99 years and they come to faith in Christ on their deathbed all receive the same gift. So notice the two major truths that are taught in the parable.

First this parable teaches that salvation is by grace and through the generosity of the Father. He calls workers into the kingdom God goes into the world and calls sinners into this kingdom and all receive the same generous grace gift. And second the parable illustrates for us just how the Jews and the religious leaders reacted when the Gentiles were coming into the kingdom. They were mad that those that they were the first hired workers and these coming into the kingdom in the last minute were getting into the kingdom while they were not. And I think it's important to see both lessons.

We see these parallel truths parallel lessons and other parables as well. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector we saw the same two lessons the same two truths. First the lesson on salvation in the parable we see justification and justification is by grace and mercy but then second the second lesson is on the self-righteous religious pride of the Jewish religious leaders the Pharisee represented them. Now at this point I want to shift to some lessons and some principles from the parable.

Now I picked these up for about two or three weeks in several Bible commentators that really resonated with me and I have meditated over these I feel like these will be good now that we really have the parable before us. Now I do this often and I say it every time I do it I take material like this I change it up I kind of make it my own I've added to some of this I've tweaked some of what I have seen this comes out of some Jim Boyce material and some John MacArthur material but two lessons here this comes straight from Jim Boyce. The first lesson out of the parable is this God is no man's debtor. Let that sink in God is no man's debtor.

In the parable we see the opposite the first worker or the first workers hired believed that they were owed something. They felt that since they were first hired and had worked the longest they felt like the vineyard owner somehow owed them and the owner of the vineyard rejected them. Did he not? He said take your pay and leave. Well it's the same with God. God is and will never be a man's debtor. Actually it's the other way around.

God owes us nothing and we owe God everything and if you study the Jews the nation of Israel the Jewish leaders you will see all throughout the Old Testament a main theme running through their history is this they felt like God owed them. They would say it to Jesus well we're descendants of Abraham and they always had this attitude that God owed them and you might not realize it but that way of thinking is alive and well today. I've known people who had this tendency to follow rules. People can be modern-day Pharisees. I have seen people in the life of the church who had their Christianity just fleshed out just right.

I've known people they felt like if they did everything just right they raised their children just right. They schooled their children just right. They led their family just right. They had their doctrine just right. They attended church just right. I've seen people who had that mindset if they did it all just right well God owed them. They had this attitude God owed them. He owed a blessing to them. He owed them their children's the salvation of their children. They had this attitude that God owed them.

I have literally had people tell me in great frustration I felt like I had it all figured out and God would do certain things because I did it just right. That's a bad attitude. That's feeling like God owes you. And look you, me, all of us we can be the very best Christians we could ever be but God does not owe us a thing. If he owes us anything it would be what? Hell and damnation. Everything is a grace gift from God and so realizing that seeing that in the Jews there in this parable it helps us see that we can fall into this trap. We can never come to that place.

We have to be on guard against feeling like that God owes us and that kind of an attitude can creep up in a whole host of ways. But the second lesson and this comes from Jim Boyce as well. God cares for people more than material things. Think about it. God cares for people more than material things. In the parable we see the generosity of the vineyard owner right. Now why did he pay those last hired workers a full day's wage when they only worked for an hour? Why? Also why did the owner hire the others later in the day? The other workers were hanging around. They were on the street corner in the marketplace. They were looking for work.

We saw that they were not idle. They were not lazy. Why did the owner go and hire more help later in the day when he knew that they would need work? Why did he do that? Why? Well we can't answer all those questions. But by thinking on those questions and pondering those things we can come to one conclusion. The owner was more concerned for the workers than for their work. He cared for the workers. That's why he paid them so well. We see the word in the parable generosity. Well it's the same with God. God is more concerned with people than material possessions. I think the scripture says God owns it all anyway.

I've known churches that really had this wrong. I've known churches that had CDs in the bank drawing interest. Money invested drawing interest but yet they couldn't invest in certain ministries in the church. I've known churches that had money in the bank making money and they could not paint the walls in the children's ween. They couldn't have a nice nursery for little babies and mothers to drop off their children so they could go to church. They had money in the bank but they would not invest in ministries for people. You know what that is? That's the wrong attitude.

That's feeling like God is more interested in money in the church than people in the church. I've known churches that had boo-kootles of money in the cemetery fund but yet they starved the pastor to death. Did you know that's very common? I've known churches that had money set aside for cemeteries and they could never spend it all but they never gave money to missions. What is God concerned with? People are possessions. What do we see in the parable? The owner said can I not be generous? The workers needed it and the lesson for us is this. We must be generous. Be generous. Always be generous. Be generous with people when they have needs.

If someone has a need and you think they need $20, give them more. If you think you should give a little omissions, give more. God owns it all. I'm gonna show you something church. As our church grows, we will be tested here. This is how we'll be tested. There'll be big needs come along and you'll be tested. Will you be generous? Will you see God values people more than possessions? See we can easily say that unless he starts talking about our possessions. Needs to come along. What if there's this tragic need and you've got to come off some possessions and monies because God loves people more than he loves your possessions?

Another thing that'll test us is if our church grows to a place where we have a surplus. You start having a surplus of money in the life of the church. What will you do? You know as the church grows they're gonna always be people who will come up and they'll want to be greedy and they'll do it with spiritual language. Greeting. God never blesses greediness folks and that is a bad vibe and a bad way of thinking if we let it get loose in the life of the church. What we see here is this. God cares for people more than material possessions. Either God owns it all and he can give it to us for the work of the ministry in people or he does not.

And I felt like those two lessons there would really really benefit us and they come right out of the parable. Now I'm going to transition to some principles. John MacArthur gives this long list of principles. I grabbed a few of them, not all of them, and I tweaked a little. I added a couple of mine but I want to give credit where credit is due. Really his principles kind of spurred my thinking here and helped me. But first this first principle and the principle is this. God is the one that initiates and accomplishes salvation. Again that's going back to the parable understanding what it teaches.

In the parable the owner of the vineyard went out looking for workers. God initiated that work and it's the same with man's salvation. We see this in Romans chapter 8 verse 29 and it can make some people nervous because it goes back into eternity past before time and human history and deals with that word predestined and fore knew and all of that. But it's important for us to see here and let me show you why. And I'm reading the verse. Romans 8 29. Notice how Paul goes from eternity past in the human history. For those whom he fore knew he also predestined. Now let me pause there.

That is speaking about what God did in eternity past before time in human history. We dealt with this in Ephesians 1. And what does the text say? There are some that God fore knew that that words very intimate in the original language. He really knew them. He knew them and he predestined them. For what? To be conformed to the image of his son in order that they might be the firstborn among many brothers. And when it gets into being conformed we're getting into what God does in time and salvation and calling and them trusting and believing. Now what am I trying to show you? In that text we see that God initiates this work.

We see this all throughout the scripture. Jesus said no one can come to him unless the Father draws them. Now what do we do here? Do we just sit back and say well God initiates and accomplishes salvation. I don't have to do anything. If you do that you're wrong. That is abusing those verses. So this is what we do. We pray. This is what we do. We teach the Word. This is what we do. We witness. I met with somebody this week who said this. When you walk in the door of this church the truth of God's Word hits you right in the face and you have to do something with it. That same person told me this.

When those who got baptized gave their testimonies of conversion, the truth of conversion and coming to faith in Christ hit us right in the face. You have to do something with that. What are we doing? Preaching. Declaring the truth. Witnessing. And we're praying. But yet we understand that God is the one that initiates and accomplishes salvation. So we pray and we preach and we witness and oh when we see God moving over here in salvation we get in on it. We counsel people. We encourage people. We warn the lost. See when we understand this, this takes us off the hook. It's not dependent on us. But yet He had trust this work to us.

And then second, God is the one who establishes the terms of salvation. In the parable workers came into the vineyard at different times according to when? When the owner called them to work. Also they worked at different hours and worked at different workloads. But they all received the same pay. I like how John MacArthur describes this principle and I'm quoting him here. He says, "The measure of God's gift of salvation is not man's merit or accomplishments but his own grace which does not vary." Now in dealing with this principle, God is the one who establishes the terms of salvation.

I want to ask you to turn to one of my favorite Bible verses and I want you to put your eyes on this verse because I'm going to give you some specific instruction out of the verse. Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14 verse 25 on down to verse 33. Now if your Bible has a heading there it might say something like the cost of discipleship. This is dealing with salvation. People coming to faith in Christ and notice what Jesus says. "Now great crowds accompanied him." Now we already know that throngs of people would follow Jesus. And he, this is Jesus, turned and he said to them, "These are the crowds.

If anyone comes to me and he does not hate his own father, his mother, his wife, his children and brothers and sisters, yes even his own life he cannot be my disciple." Now is Jesus telling them to actually hate? No. It's a play on words. It's a comparison. Basically what Jesus is saying is this. If you're going to follow me in salvation your love from me must be so great that by comparison it makes love for everything else in life even your own family look like him. So what is he saying? "You must love me supremely." Verse 27. "Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot meet be my disciple." Now what is he saying there?

He's saying not only must your love from me must be supreme you must die. You have to pay the price. You die to yourself. You carry your cross. But then he changes. "For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost whether he has enough to complete it. Otherwise when he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all will see it and begin to mock him." Now what is he talking about? That's a parable of story. He says you're not going to begin to build a house unless you make sure you have enough money to finish it. If you get it halfway finished and quit everybody will mock you.

You know what he's saying? Count the cost. Oh if you're gonna follow me count the cost. So he's saying if you're gonna follow me your love from me must be supreme. If you're gonna follow me you gotta die. You gotta die and carry your cross. But then he says hold on hold on hold on. You better count the cost. Then what does he say? Or verse 31, "What king going out to encounter another king in a war will not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000. And if not while the other is yet a great way off he sends a delegation out and he asks for terms of peace.

So therefore if any one of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." Now what is he saying in that parable? He says if a king cannot win the war what is he going to do? Meet the conditions. So he's saying this, "Your love for me must be supreme you must die you must pay the price then you you count the cost and meet the conditions." Now why do I go through that teaching in Luke chapter 14? The whole point of Luke 14 is this. Salvation is by God's terms and God's terms alone.

Jesus had all these people coming and if he approached evangelism like churches do today he would have looked at all of those people and said just come on and follow me. He didn't do that. And back to the parable. God is the one that establishes the terms and that's found all throughout the Scripture. And then the third parable or the third principle excuse me. God is the one who goes looking for workers in his kingdom. In the parable the owner went out looking for workers for what purpose? To work in the vineyard. And it's the same with his church today. Remember this is all about kingdom work.

God saves lost sinners so as to have them as workers in his kingdom. Of course there are many verses that we could use to speak to this truth but we definitely see this taught in the Great Commission. He calls his church. Well who's the church? The pastor? No the church is the people. Believers. The ecclesia, the called out ones. In the Great Commission he calls his church to get to work in the vineyard by doing what? Evangelizing the lost and discipling them and baptizing them. We have a term here every member of ministry. Every member ministry. That's just biblical.

I had a friend of mine one time say you can't use that language you'll scare people off. If you expect everybody to serve won't you scare people off? It's kind of biblical. And in the parable here we see this principle. God is the one who goes looking for workers for the kingdom. He needed workers in the vineyard. Now does God need us? No but he entrusts the work to us. He saves people to work folks. And then fourth, the fourth principle. God is continuously and continually looking for workers for his kingdom and kingdom work. In the parable the owner went out looking for workers just in the morning.

No he went out looking for workers all day right up to almost quitting time. He went into the marketplace calling those workers to come and to work in his vineyard. And it is the same today. God is still calling people to salvation and he is calling them to be saved just so they can sit in the pew. No he's calling them to be saved to work in his kingdom. John 5 17 Jesus said that his father is working until now meaning that he is continuing to work. And let me show you something folks. This must be our vision. This must be how we view things. This must be our ethos, our heartbeat, how we see it all. God is looking for more people to save.

And God is looking for more people to save to serve. What did we learn in some of the other parables? We are saved to serve. So God is looking for more to save and God is looking for more of them to serve. You know the ethos of many of these dead churches is this. They really don't think God wants to save anybody else and they really don't think God needs anybody else to serve because there ain't nothing to do with their church. What's there to do? You see those churches are dead in a whole host of ways. They really don't think God wants to save anybody else. There's nothing to do. If people did come what would they do?

So we must see that God wants to save and he wants to continuously save not just so those people can go to be with him in heaven but so that they could serve and serve in the kingdom. And then fifth, the fifth principle. All that God saves and places in his vineyard, they work. It's a little overlap here but we need to see it. In the parable we see that all who are called to work in the kingdom or work in the vineyard, they work. It doesn't seem like anybody sat around by the water jug. The ones who were first called, they worked. The ones who were last called, they work. And those in between, they worked. And a question here.

If all that God saves are placed in his vineyard and all work, well what about the thief on the cross? We could use him for a lot of questions. First of all, he was called and saved not at the last minute but at God's perfect time. You see that? Also, he did the work that God had allotted to him. Those who were first called workers, they had to work all day because that was a work God had allotted for them. I know the ones that were brought into the kingdom there at the last, that was the work. They had an hour's worth of work. Well notice the thief on the cross. He did the work that God had allotted for him. And look, what was his work?

He testified that Jesus was indeed the God's son and he testified that that he was indeed saved from his sins and he still testified. And so for you and me this is it. God saves us from places in the vineyard to work. Every member of ministry, if you've got gifts, talents, and abilities, they are all for him. Can you use them for yourself? Sure. But they are to be used primarily in the work of the church. And if you come up to me and say, "Pastor, I've got this talent, I got, can I use them in the church?" Yes. And then sixth, the sixth principle, God is generous, compassionate, and loving towards his workers.

This is a little bit of repeat but I'm repeating it on purpose. God is generous, compassionate, and loving towards his workers. In the parable, all who work were given the same payment. Those who worked 12 long hours in the heat and those who worked one hour were paid the same and the owner of the vineyard gave the reason. He said, "Why? Generosity and generosity comes from what? Love and compassion." I want you to ponder over a question. How generous is God towards you? Where did you get your job? Your health? Possessions? Study job, you can realize that all your possessions can be gone pretty quick. Family too.

Where did you get your health, job? Where did you get your family, your children, your spouse? See, God is generous. He's given all of these things to us. And look, we should see that if God is generous to us, we should be generous to others in the work of the church and brothers and sisters and law centers as God enables us to. Look folks, God is never greedy and he never blesses greediness. And we can't have that here. We have to have a compassionate, loving, generous spirit. Now what do we do with those who bring up rewards for service in the kingdom? Well, the scriptures do teach that believers will be rewarded.

I will mention a couple of verses. In 1 Corinthians 4-5 and in Revelation 22-12, we see this. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4-5, "Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from the Lord. All of us will be rewarded." Revelation 22-12, Jesus said, "Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done." So rewards, they're coming.

But rewards for the individual Christian and their service in the kingdom to me is not the point of the parable. Again, I've said it a hundred times. Here the points are two. First, this shows us how the Jews were responding to the Gentile sinners coming into the kingdom. Coming into the kingdom, they hated them more and more every day. We see it in all the parables. And then second, this shows us salvation. This grace gift of salvation is the very same thing for all. And this interpretation really causes us to see that these salvation parables are much the same.

Jesus is teaching certain things about salvation and he is revealing to the Jews who they were and he's really revealing to us who they were. Now what's the title of the message? Last week I said workers in the vineyard and I paused and I didn't give you the second part. And you know why I didn't give you the second part? I was still trying to figure out how I was going to articulate it. So here's the full title of last week's and last in this week's. The workers in the vineyard. Salvation the same for all who believe. That's it.