Rev. David Holwick U
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
May 31, 1992
Matthew 20:1-16
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I. Easy story, but what should we make of it?
A. Summary of parable.
1) Roundup of workers for vineyard harvesting.
a) A denarius offered to first workers, at 6:00 am.
1> This one is from Jerusalem. (hold up coin)
2> Usually considered a fair day's wage.
3> Today worth about 25 cents, or 2 cents an hour.
4> About the same as Salmon Brothers?
b) Day-workers at bottom of wage scale, even below slaves.
1> Slaves at least had regular meals.
2> For hired workers, a day off was a disaster.
c) Call-ups at various hours during the day.
1> All workers promised a fair wage.
2> Last ones hired at eleventh hour, or 5:00 pm.
2) Payday!
a) Payment at end of day reflects OT teaching. Deut 24:14f
b) Pay given in reverse, with last-hired first.
c) Each receives same (living) wage.
d) All-day workers complain of unfairness.
1> Any union member would do the same.
2> Unfair labor practices!
3) Owner's defense of his actions:
a) They agreed to the wage.
b) It's his money.
c) Basic issue is their jealousy, not his "fairness."
B. Irritating for modern people.
1) The complaint seems fair to us.
(Pick out member - would you accept it if some college
kid were paid the same as you for less work?)
2) Un-American to pay at different levels.
3) Un-Christian?
C. Jesus is talking about God, not labor practices.
II. Main point of parable is disputed.
A. The way people get saved.
1) Some saved early in life, some late.
2) But doesn't fit all details of story.
a) Are first-saved inferior to last-saved? 20:16
B. Salvation by grace alone.
1) God gives it to all who believe as a free gift.
2) But first workers "earned" their denarius.
3) Taken literally, the first workers earn salvation, the last
ones get it free, and the others combine grace and works.
C. The mercy of God.
1) Generous bosses are rare enough, but God is more than generous.
2) He doesn't give what we deserve, but what we need.
3) Issue is not fair-ness, or just-ness, but good-ness of God.
4) Probably correct view.
III. God's generosity.
A. Good things God does even for the ungodly.
1) What life would be like if he gave us what we deserve.
2) Life is unjust, but sometimes it works in our favor.
Upon accepting an award, the late Jack Benny once remarked,
"I really don't deserve this.
But I have arthritis, and I don't deserve that either."
#2051
B. God's standards are different from our standards.
Haddon Robinson was trying to fix his garage door.
He came to that one screw he had to get loose, and the more he
worked to loosen that screw, the tighter it seemed to get.
A neighbor came over and saw his plight.
He looked for a moment for a reverse screw.
You have to tighten or loosen it going in the opposite direction.'
"It took me fifty years to find out how screws work, and now
they change the rules!
There's a sense in which all of the Bible is kind of a reverse
screw.
Everything in the culture that seems right, in the Bible comes
out wrong.
The way up is the way down." #2095
1) This is best meaning of, "The first will be last."
IV. Why is God's mercy so hard for us to accept?
A. Parable, like many others, has two aspects to it.
1) God is generous and good.
2) Second - many people cannot accept God's goodness.
B. Parable addressed to Pharisees, who rejected Jesus.
1) They opposed salvation of prostitutes and "sinners."
2) Parable reveals their selfishness.
3) Selfishness is one of most common human traits.
C. We tend to identify with first workers, like the Pharisees did.
1) It violates our sense of justice.
a) Most people prefer fairness to generosity.
2) We are too quick to judge salvation of others.
a) Like Pharisees, we want other Christians to reach our
"level."
b) But if we want salvation by grace for ourselves, we
shouldn't begrudge it to others.
V. True faith reacts: "Isn't it great that the last workers got
just as much as us?"
A. The need for a generous spirit.
1) Too many are filled with resentment toward others.
2) Signs of a generous spirit.
B. Showing grace at work, home, church, etc.
Robert De Moor, In "The Banner":
Back in Ontario when the apples ripened, Mom would sit all seven of
us down, Dad included.
With pans and paring knives we worked until the mountain of fruit
was reduced to neat rows of filled canning jars.
She never bothered keeping track of how many we did, though the
younger ones undoubtedly proved more of a nuisance than a help:
cut fingers, squabbles over who got which pan, apple core fights.
But when the job was done, the reward for everyone was the same:
the largest chocolate-dipped cone money could buy.
A stickler might argue it wasn't quite fair since the older ones
actually peeled apples.
But I can't remember anyone complaining about it.
A family understands it operates under a different set of norms than
a courtroom.
In fact, when the store ran out of ice cream and my younger brother
had to make do with a Popsicle, we felt sorry for him despite his
lack of productivity -
-(he'd eaten all the apples he'd peeled that day - both of them).
God wants all his children to enjoy the complete fullness of eternal
life.
No true child of God wants it any other way.
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