The Parables
Series
#7
"FIELD WORKERS!"
TEXT: Matthew
20:1-16
INTRO: When most
people (including many Christians) hear the expression - "The Kingdom Of
God" they think of the following things:
1. Heaven with clouds and angels with
harps; angelic choirs singing.
2. Some kind of mystical
place.
3. A place after death where most hope
(and plan!) to go.
However when they think of the
church – they think of a place to rest once a week and get away from it
all.
1. A list of do's and
don'ts.
2. Doctrines, singing, prayers and
other worshipful things.
3. An unnecessary part of the week to
many people.
4. Place to fellowship with other
people.
Somehow the kingdom of God and
the church are not always connected in people’s minds. Sometimes it gets confused with the
culture of our society; but it is far more than this!
ILLUS: Thus
it was from the beginning and so it is today. Yet the early Christians had one great
advantage over us; then it was clear that the surrounding culture was groping in
the darkness of paganism, and thus it was clear that the culture should have no
hand in defining the role of God's people in the world. But today we have grown accustomed to
thinking of ourselves as a part of the "Christian West," living in a "Christian
nation." That habit is hard to
kick, for it has the narcotic effect of easing the painful reality of the stark
contrast between twentieth-century American culture and the calling of Christ to
His Church.
Yet we must kick that habit if by
serving heaven we are to be any earthly good. Our challenge is clear: We must reject
the illusions, seductions, and false alternatives of the current political scene
and reassert the ageless truth that Christ is Lord of lords, King of kings. With Athanasius, the great
fourth-century champion of the faith, we must stand for Christ against the
world. In the very moment of our
clearest opposition to the world, we will find that as witnesses to the Truth
and Life we will have the inestimable privilege of helping to make His invisible
kingdom visible in the world. For
with Christ we will "preach good news to the poor ... proclaim freedom for the
prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, ... release the oppressed, [and]
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18-19, NIV). -- James S. Hewett,
Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p.
446.
PROP.
SENT: Yet in this parable
Jesus teaches us that the Kingdom of heaven is both here as well as in the
future, and that it is not a place of taking it easy, but a place of work. You can't be idle in God's
kingdom!
I. MARKET PLACE Matt.
20:1-7
A. World's
Activities Matt.
20:1-3
1. Market place (Greek: “agora”
– meaning
“marketplace”) was the scene of activities of all
sorts.
2. Cosmopolitan in
flavor.
3. A hectic place of great activity,
like many cities today.
4. The irony is that in the midst of
this marketplace activity Jesus says they were idle! Matt.
20:3b
a. Not that activity had no
meaning.
b. But that it had no lasting
effect!
ILLUS: Everybody
treats us so nicely. No one seems
to think that we mean what we say.
When we say "kingdom of God," no one gets apprehensive, as if we had just
announced (which we thought we had) that a powerful army is poised on the
border, ready to invade. When we
say radical things like "Christ," "love," "believe," "peace," and "sin" -- words
that in other times and cultures excited martyrdoms -- the sounds enter the
stream of conversation with no more splash than baseball scores and grocery
prices. -- Eugene Peterson in
Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 2.
c. In terms of eternity they were
doing nothing! Jesus was putting a
spiritual context to this story.
B. Different
Stages Matt.
20:3-6
1. Different hours represented perhaps
different stages in life.
a. Some saved early in life, or
working earlier in life.
b. Some mid-life. (“6th
hour, 9th hour…”)
Matt.
20:5
c. Some at the end of life – “about the 11th
hour he went out...”
Matt.
20:6
2. God at any stage is looking for
laborers ... no retirement program in God's kingdom!
ILLUS: You're
worried about permissiveness -- about the way the preaching of grace seems to
say it's okay to do all kinds of terrible things as long as you just walk in
afterward and take the free gift of God's forgiveness.
...
While you and I may be worried
about seeming to give permission, Jesus apparently wasn't. He wasn't afraid of giving the prodigal
son a kiss instead of a lecture, a party instead of probation; and he proved
that by bringing in the elder brother at the end of the story and having him
raise pretty much the same objections you do. He's angry about the party. He complains that his father is lowering
standards and ignoring virtue -- that music, dancing, and a fattened calf are,
in effect, just so many permissions to break the law. And to that, Jesus has the father say
only one thing: "Cut that out! We're not playing good boys and bad boys any
more. Your brother was dead and
he's alive again. The name of the
game from now on is resurrection, not bookkeeping." -- Robert Farrar Capon, Between
Noon and Three. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no.
7.
3. It is never too late to get
involved in God's kingdom and to work for Him!
4. At the same time it is never too
early to begin to work in the
a. Don’t want to be asked some day by
God, “Why have
you been standing here all day long doing nothing?” Matt. 20:6b
b. Life is too short to stand around
making it meaningless!
C. Call To
Work! Matt. 20:7
1. Priority for the
vineyard.
ILLUS: Everyone
wants the kingdom of God, but few want it first. Everyone wants high achievement, but few
want to pay the price. Everyone
wants God, but few want to put him first. -- Charles L. Venable -- Edythe
Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale
House Publishers, Inc., 1992). Entry 4731.
2. It is ok to be involved in the
market place ... but the market place loses its meaning without the
vineyard!
a. The marketplace couldn’t exist
without the vineyard!
b. The vineyard gives rise to the
marketplace!
c. Notice that in the 4th commandment; worship was first, and
then work! “Remember the
Sabbath day … then 6 days shall man work…” Man was
first a worshipper, then a worker.
Ex. 20:8-9 (and the order is critical here! Adam was made on the 6th day,
started to worship on the 7th, then worked after that! – He started
life with worship, then worked)
3. No free rides in God's kingdom ...
involvement is the only way in the vineyard!
a. It is a call for everyone … no
matter when they come into the vineyard!
b. Early or latecomers, they were all
asked to go and work!
4. The idea is discipleship and
witness.
II. VINEYARD Matt. 20:8
A. Kingdom
Activities
1. Not to be confused just with
fellowship meetings and dinners!
2. Kingdom activities have to do with
being a disciple and discipling!
ILLUS: While
serving as a missionary in Laos, I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of
God. Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and
Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border areas. Those who ate short-grain rice, built
their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style serpents were
considered Laotians. On the other
hand, those who ate long-grain rice, built their houses on the ground, and
decorated them with Chinese-style dragons were considered Vietnamese. The exact location of a person's home
was not what determined his or her nationality. Instead, each person belonged to the
kingdom whose cultural values he or she exhibited. So it is with us: we live in
the world, but as part of God's kingdom, we are to live according to his
kingdom's standards and values. --
John Hess-Yoder, Portland, Oregon. Leadership, Vol. 7, no. 3.
3. Many kinds of activities in the
vineyard:
a. Pruning
b. Dressing
c. Planting
d. Digging
e. Fencing
f.
Weeding
g. Watering
h.
Harvesting
B. Different
Stages
1. There is work at every stage in a
vineyard, we need to see that everyone is needed.
ILLUS: Kentucky's
second governor, James Garrard, had several rivals when he ran for that
office. Upon his election he
appointed all but one of them to high positions in his administration. Christ did better than that. "When
we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly"
(Romans
5:6). -- Robert C. Shannon, 1000
Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company,
1997).
2. All men's hearts are at different
stages, the work needed is determined by whatever is needed at that particular
stage for each one.
a. Thus ministry is tailored to meet
the need.
b. We must be able to work at all
levels.
C. Call to
Work
1. No one is without purpose or
without a job.
2. Everyone can do
something!
3. Not just the everybody else or a
committee, but me!
4. One man can't do all the
work!
5. No matter when you come in, there
is something to be done that you can do!
ILLUS: Our
normal, ordinary view of salvation is hopelessly and ridiculously
inadequate. Our trouble is that we
always start with ourselves instead of starting with God. Instead of going to the Bible and
looking at its revelation and discovering there what salvation means, I start
with myself and certain things that I want and desire, certain benefits that I
always want to enjoy in this life and in this world.
I want forgiveness of sins; I want
peace of conscience and of mind; I want enjoyment and happiness; I want to be
delivered from certain sins; I want guidance; I want this and that; and my whole
conception of salvation is reduced to that level. ...
The most wonderful thing of all is
not that my sins have been forgiven, nor that I may enjoy certain experiences
and blessing as a Christian. The
thing that should astound me ... is that I am a child of God, one of God's
people. -- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in Safe
in the World. Christianity Today, Vol. 34, no.
7.
III. GRACE OF GOD! Matt. 20: 9-16
A. Payment
made? Matt.
20:9-10
1. We all receive God's grace, not
because we earned it but because God wishes to give
it!
2. Grace is Grace ... it is
essentially free by its very nature!
ILLUS: On
the evening of April 25, 1958, a young Korean exchange student, a leader in
student Christian affairs in the University of Pennsylvania, left his flat and
went to the corner to post a letter to his parents in Pusan. Turning from the mailbox he stepped into
the path of eleven leather-jacketed teenage boys. Without a word they attacked him,
beating him with a blackjack, a lead pipe and with their shoes and fists. Later,
when the police found him in the gutter, he was dead. All Philadelphia cried out for
vengeance. The district attorney
secured legal authority to try the boys as adults so that those found guilty
could be given the death penalty.
Then a letter arrived from Korea that made everyone stop and think. It was signed by the parents and by
twenty other relatives of the murdered boy. It read in
part:
"Our family has met together and
we have decided to petition that the most generous treatment possible within the
laws of your government be given to those who have committed this criminal
action--. In order to give evidence
of our sincere hope contained in this petition, we have decided to save money to
start a fund to be used for the religious, educational, vocational, and social
guidance of the boys when they are released--. We have dared to express our hope with a
spirit received from the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ who died for our
sins." -- A. Leonard Griffith, Beneath
the Cross of Jesus -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale
House Publishers, Inc, 1988) pp. 213-214.
3. Since no one deserves any grace it
does not matter how much we get, we all get grace!
a. Those who worked a short time
received the same pay as those who worked all day!
b. This hardly seemed fair on the
surface; but all of them would have received nothing if left as
is.
c. That they all got the same gift was
a wonderful lesson is grace; they were all undeserving to begin
with!
B. Equals
Matt. 20:11-12
1. Grace here is shown to be given in
equal amounts to all, thus demonstrating that by our works we haven't earned
God’s favor, if we did those who worked more would get
more!
2. We are equal in God's eyes when it
comes to His love and grace, no matter when we get
saved!
a. Parents don't love one child more
than another because he or she has been around longer! A child who is 20 years old is not loved
MORE than a new child who is only 2 years old … parents love both
equally!
b. This is the astonishing thing about
the love of God ... we are never losers in His
kingdom!
ILLUS: A
short time ago the manufacturers of lighting gas were puzzled to know how to
dispose of the coal-tar left in the retorts. A more useless, nauseous substance was
hardly known to exist. Chemistry
came to the rescue, and today not less than thirty-six marketable articles are
produced from this black, vile, sticky slime -- solvents, oils, salts, colors,
flavors. You eat a bit of delicious
candy, happily unconscious that the exquisite taste that you enjoy so keenly
comes from coal-tar. You buy at the
drug store a tiny bottle labeled "Otto of Roses," little dreaming that the
delicious perfume is wafted, not from "the fields of Araby," but from the foul
gas retort.
Christianity is a moral
chemistry. It would be a good thing
for nations if Christianity held a higher place among their social
economies. Tar-saving is all well
enough, but soul-saving is better.
Grace transforms a villain into an honest man, a harlot into a holy
woman, a thief into a saint. Where
fetid exhalations of vice alone ascended, prayer and praise are to be
found. Where moral miasmata had
their lair, righteousness and temperance pitch their tent. Every sort of good thing is produced by
godliness, and that too in hearts once reeking with all manner of foulness. This should hold back every persecuting
hand, hush every railing tongue, and incite every sanctified spirit to continued
and increasing energy. -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The
Quotable Spurgeon, (Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc,
1990)
c. Notice the jealousy of some in
God's kingdom ... they are not unhappy because of what the received but because
God treats the newer ones with the same love; they become so angry ... how
selfish!
d. Let us love one another no matter
how long we have been saved! When
new Christians are blessed by God older Christians should rejoice, even when
they have not been as blessed!
e. We must guard against jealousy when
we feel like others benefit from all the sacrifices we made and they made “none”
of them … instead we should rejoice that they didn’t have to suffer all the
“heat” we did! Notice their poor
attitude: “These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they
said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work
and the heat of the day.” Matt.
20:12
f. Why would any of us in the
kingdom want others to suffer the way we suffered, or the way our forefather’s
did? Perhaps then we should all
bear the same pain and suffering the apostles did in the first century … and
thus suffer martyrdom, that would be fair!
Loving people usually want their kids to do better than
them!
3. The “kingdom of God”
is much bigger than the stuff of this
world!
C. Generosity of God! Matt. 20:13-16
1. God loves to give and to
love!
2. He is generous with His grace ...
let us rejoice over the newcomers and the fact that they receive the same grace
as us! (And sometimes receive more
material benefits than we have!)
a. The greatest benefit of the kingdom
is that we all receive God’s grace!
ILLUS: Over
the years my daughters, my mother, and I have built a sort of private club house
in our spirits, and even when we go about the tasks of living in the "outside
world" we can always count on our special group.
My daughters have taught me that I
don't have to be God; I just need to be real. They show me grace when I make
mistakes. When I am least lovable,
Amy surprises me with a hug. When I
am most exhausted, Suzanne picks up the load without my asking. So it is that my children have given me
a better understanding of what God is like -- always calling out the best in
me. Grace, redemption, forgiveness,
and tough love -- these qualities my children have taught me. -- Gloria Gaither, Hands Across
the Seasons. Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to
Heart."
b. The building of the kingdom of God
here and now is all that should get our attention; however God works through
each one of us!
c. It is His call to do what He wants
through our life and others.
d. We need to rejoice over the
flexibility and diversity in the kingdom of God, and His generosity of
grace!
CONCLUSION:
When your life exists
for the here and now -- your benefits too are only the here and now, when your
life exists for the