The Stories That Jesus Told

Sermon # 7

 “Parable of The Workers In The Vineyard”

or

“What Is In It For Me?”

Matthew 20: 1-16 

“Bill Borden was born a blue blood … His parents were both descended from British aristocracy, and his father had made a fortune in real estate in Chicago and in silver mining in Colorado. Bill was already worth a million dollars by the age of 21, an amount in 1908 equivalent to about 40 million dollars today. He was also handsome, intelligent, well-educated, and popular.

But in 1912, at the age of 25, Bill Borden did two things that made headlines. First, he gave away his entire fortune, half to God's work in the United States and half to missions overseas. Second, he chose to set sail for missionary work among the Muslims, first in Egypt to learn Arabic and then, ultimately, to a remote part of China. To the public and the media, and even too many of his Christian friends, Borden's actions seemed incredibly wasteful, especially when he died of cerebrospinal meningitis shortly after reaching Cairo. He had apparently thrown away his money, his career, and even his life. To what end?

What makes a Bill Borden tick? What makes a person turn his back on virtually everything most people value to live in obedience to what he believes to be the will of God? What's in it for him? What are the returns on that kind of investment?”

[Gary Inrig. The Parables: Understanding What Jesus Meant. (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1991) pp. 173-74]

       In the Bible we have a record of a rather fascinating conversation between God and Satan. When the Lord challenged Satan to consider the character and integrity of Job he threw back the accusation, “Hah. God, he does not serve you because He loves you, but because of all that you do for him. Take away his things and his blessings and he will not only forget you; he will curse you.”  (Job 1:9-11). Satan’s accusation became for all of mankind a penetrating question, “Why do I serve the LORD?”  This thought brings us to an interesting question posed by the Apostle Peter, when he said “We have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?"

(Matt 19:27). This question follows the occasion on which a rich young ruler had come to Jesus and asked the question, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" (Matt 19:16). When Jesus tells him to sell all that he has and come and follow Him, he turns and goes way sorrowfully for he had great possessions. (Matt 19:21-22)  The rich man refused to give his all to follow Jesus. The disciples had watched as the rich young ruler walked away sorrowfully. If you think he was sorrowful that day, just imagine what he must have felt one moment after he died knowing that he had traded the things of this world for a relationship with Christ.

       The Rich young man had not forsaken all to follow Jesus but the disciples had, which causes Peter to pose the question, “Therefore, what are we going to get out of it!”(19:27). The Lord detected in Peter’s question an attitude of heart that was dangerous. Was Peter serving the Lord only for what he could get out of it? Are you?  We may not be very proud of the “what in it for me attitude” but it exists in all of us.

In answer to Peter’s question Jesus tells “The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard” (20:1-16), which we are going to examine today in our series “The Stories Jesus Told!”

       This parable has often been misinter-preted. It is important to know what this parable is not talking about. It is not talking about salvation. Nobody works for salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, ^“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Neither is this parable about rewards. Rewards are received on the basis of faithful-ness and service. But if this parable is not about salvation or service, what is it about? Jesus is warning about having the wrong attitude in our service.

       Jesus begins the parable in verse one,

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a land-owner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. (2) Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. (3) And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, (4) and said to them, "You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went. (5) Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.”

       In New Testament days there were often gathering places where the job-less went to seek work. These were usually the unskilled workers who worked from job to job. Since many of the jobs would last no more than a day or two and because they had no guarantee of a job they gathered in the market place before dawn each day to be available to be hired.

       Such is the case in this story as the owner of the vineyard came at dawn, the first hour of the day (6:00 a.m.), to hire workers. He returned again to hire more workers at the 3^rd hour (9:00 a.m.) at the 6^th hour (12:00 a.m.) at the 9^th hour (3:00 p.m.) and again at the 11^th hour (5:00 p.m.).

       In verse six, when the master returned at the eleventh hour he said, "Why have you been standing here idle all day?' (7) They said to him, "Because no one hired us.' He said to them, "You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.'

       I want you to notice that there are two kinds of workers in the vineyard. There were the men who were hired early in the morning who would not go until they knew how much they would be paid. The owner agreed to pay them a denarius a day (vv. 2, 13). But the other workers completely trusted to the master to give them “what was right” (v. 7).

       The problems really began when the owner started paying off his workers in verse eight. "So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, "Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.' (9) And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius.”     

       I want you to note two very real dangers with me. 

First, there is the Danger of Comparison. (v. 10)

       The owner has deliberately devised a payment plan in which those who were hired first would learn how much those hired last had received. If he had given payment to those hired first, they would have gone on their way none the wiser. But as it was those hired last saw that those who had worked only one hour received a denarius each, they figured that they would receive more.  In verse ten we read, “But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.” This still strikes at our sense of fairness and justice. We still want to say, “How can that be fair?” Those who worked all day received the same as those who only worked one hour.

       Not only is there danger in comparison but …. 

Secondly, there is the Danger of Complaining. (vv. 11-12)

“And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, (12) saying, "These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.'

When the worker’s eyes were focused on what other’s had received they were unable to receive their own wages with joy.  The problem is that when we start comparing, we start coveting and then it is not long until we start complaining. And that is certainly what happened to these workers, the word “complained” (v. 11) is in the imperfect tense and it means that they did not just complain once, but they were in a constant state of complaining. They even spoke derogatorily about the workers who came late in the day saying, “these last ones.” It was similar to the brother of the prodigal who said to the father, “this son of yours” about his brother when he came back.

      This ultimately leads to bitterness toward God. We get the feeling that we are getting a raw deal from God. We become like the elder brother in the story of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32), who said to his father, “Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but you have never thrown a party for me.”  (v. 29).  We would do well to remember the words of the Lord to Peter when he questions Him concerning what the future holds for John, "If I want him to live until I come again, what's that to you? You--follow me." (John 21:22 – The Message)

       Complaining (the Bible refers to it as murmuring) is an infectious disease that robs us and all those around us of joy.  

Something to Ponder.  

       The owner in his straightforward reply says in effect that it was never intended to be fair. The master says in verse thirteen,

"Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? (14) Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. (15) Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?' (16) So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."

       The master justifies his actions on the basis of three things.

·       On the basis of agreement. (v. 13)

“Did you not agree with me for a denarius?”

 All the earlier workers had agreed to work for a denarius. The men had nothing to complain about because they received exactly the amount they had bargained for at the beginning of the day. We need this warning today, don’t attempt to bargain with God, instead trust Him to give us what is right!  As the Bible says in Genesis 18:25, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" The choice is ours, we can approach our service to God as just another job that needs to be brokered. When we do we are just another employee, with the end result dependent on our bargaining skills. How much better to see ourselves as children, dependent on our father’s generosity.

·       On the basis of ownership. (v. 15)

“Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” The master says, “It is my right to do what I wish with my own things.”

·       On the basis of grace.

The master says that it is his right to

be generous if he so desires. The landowner had called the eleventh hour workers out of compassion rather than because they will do much work for him in the one remaining hour of the day. Obviously the workers had not earned that much, but a family could not live on less than a denarius a day, so in generosity, the owner paid them what they needed not what they deserved.

This parable is a perfect illustration of God’s grace. Grace does not just give us more blessing than we deserve, but in fact  the blessings we receive are completely apart from the principle of deserving. Under grace, we cannot come to God complaining, “Hey, don’t I deserve better than this?” because God will reply “You really don’t want Me to give you what You deserve, do you?”

       We began this study by noting Peter’s question, “But what is in it for me LORD?” Did Peter learn the lesson the LORD was trying to teach with “The Parable of the Workers In the Vineyard”? The answer can be found in the book of Acts. Instead of asking
”What will I get?” we find him saying “what I do have I give you!” (Acts 3:6) It was quite a journey from “What will I get” to “I will give what I have.” Where are you on that journey?

          The Lord concludes this parable with the statement “And the will be first and the first shall be last.” Those who look to us like winners are often life’s losers. From an earthly perspective the rich young ruler would be considered on of the first. But in his decision to refuse Christ he made a choice that excluded him from real wealth. Conversely, the disciples from a human standpoint may look like losers. Uprooted from their vocations and their families, they gave up all to follow Jesus. Like Bill Borden they took a huge risk and by some standards came up empty. Peter’s question “Lord what is in it for us?” was answered. In essence the LORD said “More, Peter than you can ever imagine!” There are blessings both here and eternity that are all out of proportion to whatever sacrifices we make to follow Christ.  

Conclusion