Zach (12:45)
Planting, maintaining and harvesting vineyards in the first century, Israel was strenuous work, requiring hard labor. In the heat of summer. Often additional laborers were required to get all the work done. The owner of this particular vineyard went into the marketplace at the first hour in the morning around 6am to find workers for the day. He offered a wage of one denarius. That was about the amount a Roman soldier would get for his day's work. And so that's a generous amount. The workers in the first group were more than happy to work for the generous wage. As the day progressed and more workers were hired, the the specific wage was not mentioned, but the landowner promised to pay whatever was right. He promised to Be fair to them. But what is fairness exactly? Apparently the workers were sufficiently confident in the landowner's character that they trusted him at his word. Altogether, four groups of workers were hired and the last group just one hour before the end of the day. Imagine the surprise of people who had been working in the hot sun since 6am in the morning, finding those who had only been working for an hour at the end of the day getting paid the same denarius they were getting paid. Here's the thing. The workers who started working at 6am Got exactly what the landowner promised them, one denarius. So they didn't feel like they had been cheated out of something necessarily that the landowner had promised them. Instead, they felt uneasy about the fact that someone who just waltzed in fresh one hour before all the work is done, gets paid the same amount as them. It doesn't quite seem fair. The anger against the landowner spilled forth when they saw that they were getting paid the same amount, even though they had gotten exactly what they had agreed upon. The landowner was forced to defend his actions to the first group, even though the landowner was perfectly fair. Now he has to defend himself. Now he has to defend his actions somehow. So you might be asking yourself, is this communism? No, it's a metaphor. A metaphor for the kingdom of God giving grace to those who have been faithful their whole lives, but also giving grace to those who repent in the last hour. Paul says in Ephesians that salvation is a gift from God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. If the grace we receive from God is based on how long we've worked, then that means that those who grew up in a Christian household and were faithful their whole lives would get far more privileges in heaven than those who had just finally heard the Gospel towards the end of their life and given their lives to Jesus. The landowner's decision to pay all the workers the same was an act of mercy, not injustice. It represents God, whose grace and mercy is shed abundantly upon those of his choosing. Romans 9 says this. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy and God's mercy alone. This story isn't an economics issue, it's a salvation issue. God's grace and mercy are given to those whose self righteous works could never obtain it. We are all sinful and fall short of the glory of God, but His grace is sufficient to redeem anyone who would believe and depend on him. Whether God calls someone early or late in life to partake of his grace, the glory and praise of our salvation is his and his alone to deal out. There's no unfairness or partiality in God. Just as a landowner has the right to do what he wishes with his own money, so God has the right to give mercy on whom? Whoever he wants to give mercy. And praise be to God that He has chosen to give mercy to those who have grown up in a Christian home and gone to college and did the white picket fence thing, or those who were scraped off the streets, drugged to church because they had to go to rehab, but then finally gave their lives to the Lord when right before their life ended. Your intentions are backward if your good deeds are done to earn you a better place in heaven or more favor with God, and your priorities are mixed and your view of God is skewed if you think that just because you've been righteous your whole life somehow means you deserve more mercy or more grace from God. In this technological world, we're always used to something that's standard and then something that's premium, right? You have Spotify standard and then you have Spotify premium. Good deeds don't get you some sort of premium subscription to heaven or a premium subscription to God's grace. There's no heaven. Plus there's heaven for all of us. The kingdom of God available to anyone who would believe in Jesus. This parable is a commentary to the Pharisees and the religious leaders and the Jews of the time as well. They had had a heritage of faithfulness. They had gone through a lot of trial and a lot of struggle. Generation after generation, they had remained faithful to God despite a lot of persecution and a lot of oppression. You would understand that a Jew of the time would be a little uneasy about a Gentile just getting the blessings of God. Even though they hadn't had a heritage of suffering like they had, or a heritage of faithfulness, or a heritage of being given the law of Moses. The first group of workers in the vineyards resented receiving the same wage as the last group. Their attitude was similar to that of the Pharisees, who were incensed at Jesus teaching that others could inherit a heavenly kingdom that they thought was reserved for them alone. They despised Jesus for offering the kingdom to the poor, the oppressed, the weak, sinners, the Gentiles, whom He made equal to them. In verse 15 of this passage, the landowner says something interesting. He asks this question, is your eye evil because I am good? The evil eye was a Hebrew expression back then, referring to jealousy and envy. God is saying that I'm not responsible for your jealousy. You feel jealous, you feel incensed, you feel enraged that these people get equal treatment to you. And you feel like you deserve more. But your feeling like you deserve more is not because God duped you somehow. It's not because God told you that if you worked harder, you would get more. No, you just feel like you deserve more and you're angry that you didn't get it. But listen, the landowner only promised these workers 1 Denarii. He didn't cheat them. He gave them an honest day's wage. In the same way, as believers, we should rejoice when others come to the Savior, receive blessing and restoration for their lives. We should be rejoicing when people lift themselves up out of despair and out of darkness and out of sin. God is going to be faithful to you. But don't be mistaken. God's not going to be faithful to you because you worked harder than everybody else. He's going to be faithful to you because of what he promised you. And how he rewards others should be of no consequence to you, nor should it affect your devotion to Him. The message at the very end that the last will be first and the first shall be last is a foundational truth for us as believers. No matter how long or hard a believer works during his lifetime, the reward of eternal life will be the same. And it will be given to all. An eternity of bliss in heaven and in the presence of God, with our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to think about the thief on the cross for a moment, the man who hung beside Jesus. It says that he was a murderous criminal. He was a man who deserved to die. But in Luke 23, he asked Jesus for forgiveness. And in the very last moments of his life, Jesus said, you will be with me in paradise. This man had lived his entire life in sin. He deserved punishment, but he got to receive the same exact blessing as Paul, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle James, John, Nathanael, Bartholomew. Of course, Scripture teaches that there's going to be different rewards in heaven for different types of services. But the ultimate reward, the reward of eternal life, the reward of unity with Jesus, the reward of being wrapped in the Father's loving embrace. Man, that is for all. And we should all rejoice in that fact. Thanks for joining me again for the Jesus Podcast. Remember that we're just getting started. We're going to be here every single day for the entire year. Can't wait to keep going. This is an I heart podcast.
