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[0:00] Matthew chapter 20 verses 1 through 16. So if you are physically able and desire to do so, I'm going to ask if you'll join with me as we stand together and we read the Word of God found in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 20 starting in verse 1, and we'll go down to the 16th verse, and I want you just to focus on the heart of our service as we see it in a very familiar parable which Christ shared with His disciples, and we'll see it and we'll read it and then we'll look at it in its context.

[0:27] The Word of God says, He went out and found others standing around and He said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day long?

[1:04] And they said to Him, Because no one hired us. And He said to them, You go into the vineyard too. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.

[1:18] When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, and they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius.

[1:29] And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner saying, These last men have worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us and have borne the burning and the scorching heat of the day.

[1:41] But he answered and said to one of them, Friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. But I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.

[1:54] Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous? So the last shall be first and the first last.

[2:07] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for every opportunity we have of opening up your word. Lord, we pray that as we have seen it, read it, and heard it, Lord, that now you would speak to us.

[2:22] God, we pray that we would hear your voice with clarity. We pray that there would be no hindrance, no cause for stumbling, Lord, no cause for offense. But Lord, that you would speak to your people for your glory and yours alone, and we ask it all in Christ's name.

[2:37] Amen. You may be seated. Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 through 16. And we see here the heart of our service. Now, first of all and foremost, we need to understand that this parable has nothing at all to do with salvation.

[2:51] Though there have been great messages preached and even lessons taught on the salvific picture or portrait of this message, we need to understand that this is not a message of salvation, primarily because Jesus begins to speak of what the kingdom of heaven is like, and he begins to speak of those who go and labor, and then therefore are repaid for their labor.

[3:09] This, all of a sudden, is a clue to us that this has nothing at all to do with salvation, because salvation is not something you work for and earn and get repaid at the end of the day about, okay? So it has nothing to do whatsoever with salvation, though we could definitely bring applications to that, and we could see it later on.

[3:25] But we just need to lay that groundwork at the very beginning, because salvation is not something you're called to go out into the field and work for, and therefore at the end of your labor and your effort, you will be repaid with salvation. That is exactly opposite of everything the gospel teaches us.

[3:38] Salvation is a free gift. It is not an earned payment, right? It is not something that is given to you as a result of your effort. It is, as Paul says in the book of Romans, it is imputed to you.

[3:50] You have righteousness imputed upon you or given to you freely of your efforts. So this is not a salvific parable. It is not telling us what we can do to enter the kingdom of heaven as being saved.

[4:02] Rather, this is a parable that is given to the people who are already a part of the kingdom of heaven. So this is for the church, we would say, or for the believers of the day of Christ. This is something that has a direct application to us.

[4:15] Now, while there are parables which speak of salvation, this is not one of them. This is one that kind of comes home to us. We want to take it in its proper context, and we want to take it in its proper setting.

[4:26] We understand here really the bookends of each side of this parable, and we know the context that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. You know that Christ is on his way to Jerusalem for the last time.

[4:36] If you put it together with the other gospel accounts, by the way, Matthew is the only one that really records this one for us and gives it to us in clarity, especially at this time. But Matthew is writing to who?

[4:48] Remember that? Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, right? A Jewish audience. Now, there are non-Jews would read it for certain, but he's writing to a Jewish audience. But he's not just writing to a Jewish audience.

[4:58] He's also writing to a Jewish audience that composes the church of his day. Many people believe that this was the earliest gospel, and other gospels will mark me in the earliest, kind of just going out.

[5:09] And then Matthew kind of coming in and filling in a little bit of the gaps of where he thought maybe Mark left off, not necessarily filling in gaps the way we look at it, but fulfilling the word for the Jewish people that were part of the church.

[5:22] And he's writing to these people so that they would understand Christ, who they are in Christ, what it looks like, and all these great things. But we see here that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for the last time.

[5:33] He's going literally to his death. He's going to where he will be betrayed. He'll become the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, literally. He is the Passover lamb. We'll see that.

[5:43] So much time is given to that when we just make our way just a little bit longer in the gospel of Matthew. We know that there are great teachings that have been going on up to this point. We also know that his disciples are already fully aware of who he is.

[5:56] All the way back in Matthew 16, Peter made his great confession. Since Peter made this great confession, Jesus had been showing his disciples very clearly that he would die. He will remind them of that a little bit later in this chapter.

[6:09] But we have the bookends on either side. That is what takes place at the end of Matthew 19 and what takes place immediately following this near the end of Matthew 20. At the end of Matthew 19, Peter asked a question.

[6:23] Remember Jesus, the rich young man or the rich young ruler who came to Christ and asked what he must do to earn eternal life. And Jesus essentially showed him there's nothing you can do to earn eternal life because you can't do it.

[6:34] And he just really told him that. And he pointed it out, really highlighted it to him that only God can make you good. So Peter has this great question. Peter says, well, we have left everything.

[6:44] What then will there be for us? We have left all to follow you. What then will there be for us? Now, I have a Peter spirit. I've told you that. Maybe you can identify with other of the disciples that are apostles.

[6:58] I hope that you can identify with any number of them save Judas Iscariot, right? Don't identify with him. May he not be your one. You don't want to be that one. Some of us can be John. Some of us can be James.

[7:09] Some of us can be all these people. But I have a Peter spirit. I'm a little bit outgoing. I want to walk on water, pull out a sword and do all the cool stuff. But also by saying things that come to my mind very quickly, it tends to get me in trouble every now and then.

[7:23] And this is exactly what happens with Peter because Peter does this all the time. But he says it here. He says, we've left everything. What will there be for us? Now, that's a legitimate question because if we've given up everything, surely there is something that will be given in return.

[7:39] Now, last week when we looked at that, we saw the disciples reward. So we approach this story with that in context. And then at the end of this, we see that the mother of James and John, by the way, I kind of have a problem with that, but I guess it's okay because I know ladies followed.

[7:57] Because the reason I have a problem with this is if I'm referred to as one of the sons of thunder, I don't want my mama going and talking for me, right? I mean, if I'm strong enough to be a son of thunder, then maybe I can be man enough to approach the Savior with my own question.

[8:10] But anyway, we see the mom with all legitimacy going up to Christ and asking this question. We'll get to it in context. I want something from you. He says, okay. She said, I want one son to sit on your right hand and one to sit on your left hand.

[8:20] I want them to be in a place of prominence. By the way, they're sons of thunder. They should be there, right? They're important. And Jesus says, I can't give you that. So what I'm showing you here is that this parable, in its context, is addressing God's people.

[8:37] And it's addressing them about the heart of their service, namely, why we do what we do. Why we serve who we serve.

[8:48] Why we rejoice in that. Now, again, this is not about salvation. We're not earning our salvation. I really do not believe this is even about eternal rewards because Paul tells us, and Scripture never contradicts Scripture.

[9:05] Paul tells us that there are varying rewards for believers in heaven, right? Some of you will be rulers over much. Some will be rulers over little. I'll be content to be a street sweeper.

[9:17] That's okay. I just want to be there in the presence of my Savior. But we know that there are varying sizes of crowns, that there are jewels in our crowns, and it really doesn't matter how big our crown is or how small our crown is because they all end up at the same place.

[9:33] We cast them at the feet of the Savior. It's very well known that I've said, I want a really big crown because not that I want to walk around for everybody to see how big my crown is.

[9:45] I want the biggest crown I can get to throw at my Savior's feet because he's done so much for me. I want to be able to give him as much as I can, right? But is that the heart of our service?

[9:57] And we see this as Christ is dealing with his people. Why are you doing what it is you do? Peter asked a legitimate question.

[10:10] What then shall there be for us? What about me? And Jesus is going to answer it in a penetrating way. Number one, we see the call to our particular service.

[10:26] He says the kingdom of heaven is like, a very familiar introduction, especially in Matthew's gospel to parables which reflect reality. So a parable is a picture of everyday events that would reflect heavenly attributes, right?

[10:43] This is something that was very familiar to the people of the Jewish culture because this was something that happened almost yearly, annually, just about daily. Laborers, common laborers, would go wait in a marketplace there and they would wait on a landowner to come and hire them and a landowner would come and hire them and they would make an agreement.

[10:59] A denarius was a fair day's wage. You need to understand that. It was a fair, it was more than fair day's wage. It was something that was expected. People were paid at the end of the day. Remember what the book of James says?

[11:10] Be sure to pay your labors at the end of the day. That way they don't go home hungry. That whole Lord's model prayer, I don't want to call it the Lord's prayer because the Lord's prayer is recorded for us in John 17. That's where Christ actually prays.

[11:21] But the model prayer, give us this day our daily bread, something that's not a reality to most of us but definitely was a reality to them because they had to go by the marketplace that day and get whatever they were eating that night, their daily bread.

[11:33] So they were paid on a daily scale. Something that they would have been very familiar with. So Jesus is going to take something that was in their culture, something that was in their context, and show them a heavenly reality to something that they could connect with.

[11:44] They would open up the window, if you will, and let a little light shine in of what the kingdom of heaven looks like. And he begins this parable, and he speaks to them, and he speaks to them in particular about a call because he said it's like a landowner, one who was like the ruler over this certain area, a landowner who went early in the morning, which was a practice, and he went and he found some laborers.

[12:06] He went early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And we understand this is so rich, by the way, in Matthew's gospel because the vineyard in scripture is always a picture of the Jewish people.

[12:17] God always references his people as a vine, a fruitful vine, right? So let's just back up and put it kind of in Matthew's context. We know that the spirit of God moved the man of God to write the word of God, but he wrote it at a particular time in history, and he's writing to Jewish people who are laboring in the church among God's vineyard, right?

[12:38] Wow, how rich is that meaning to them when they read it in their first setting? Oh, so it's like a landowner. All of a sudden, we'd have to connect that to this is God because who owns, God says in the Old Testament over and over again, I planted you.

[12:52] You are my vine. You are my vineyard, right? So this landowner who went out early in the morning to hire some laborers to put in his vineyard, and we notice here that when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

[13:07] So when he agreed with them, by the way, I want you to notice, just kind of hold on to this for a little while, right? In fact, the only ones to make a contract with the owner are the very first ones.

[13:19] It's the only ones. There was an agreement. More than likely, they signed it. They made a contract. They had a daily contract. Just hold on to that later on, okay? So it's like a landowner who went out early in the morning and found some laborers, and he sent them in his vineyard to work.

[13:34] And then he came back, and he came back to third hour, and he came back a little bit later, and he came back to sixth hour, and the ninth hour, and the eleventh hour. But the one thing that we have in common is that no one enters into service without first being called by the landowner.

[13:51] No one voluntarily went, because it was common practice that if I am a fit, able body, and I need to work, and the Bible tells me in the Old Testament that if a man does not work, then his family should not eat, so I need to go out and work, and I don't have an occupation, then I'm going to go to this place and hope and pray that someone would employ me that day, and he would wait, and he would sit there, and he would be patient, and he was waiting on a landowner or someone with some authority or someone with some money, and this individual would come and pick them out, and we're not here to criticize those picked last, right?

[14:25] We're not picking basketball teams. We're not trying to do that. We're not trying to say, well, they must have been really unfit or any of this thing. It really doesn't matter, because the one thing that we see, the reality, is that no man woke up and decided, I'm going to go work in that man's vineyard today, and he's going to pay me.

[14:41] No one makes that decision on his own. No one enters into service without first being called by the landowner to go into service. From first to last, every one of them that went, went because the landowner called them.

[15:00] To the first ones, he said, go into my vineyard and work. To the second ones, he said, go into my vineyard and work. To the third, he said, you go do the same. All the way into the end, he says, you too go into my vineyard.

[15:12] What we see is this great truth that each and every one of them who were in the vineyard were there because they were called to be there. The owner called them specifically to go do what he had appointed for them to do.

[15:30] Now stay with me. He said, well, yeah, that makes sense. No one's just going to show up at my place and begin to work and expect to get paid. Now, if you want to show up at my place and begin to work, by all means, go ahead.

[15:42] When you come at the end of the day and expect me to pay you, then we have an issue, right? Because I didn't call you. If you want to show up and start working, I'm not going to stop you. But I'm also, I may not pay you either, right?

[15:52] But now if I call you and say, hey, I need some work to be done on my place, and then you show up, then you have the expectation that I will pay you at the end of the day. Because why? Because I called you.

[16:03] You don't voluntarily go. That's called trespassing on some places. Now, I'd let you do it if you were doing a productive work, but we're not here to argue about that. But what we see is that everyone that's in the vineyard was there because of calling.

[16:19] Now, let's bring this to an application because a story is a great story until we see the application of that story because we don't want to lose it in its details, which means this. I mean, it's real simple to kind of connect the dots.

[16:32] Any service that we render for the kingdom of heaven is directly connected to the call of the king, which means we don't serve because we chose to serve.

[16:45] We chose because he called us to serve. Now, my friend, when you choose to do something, then you can choose to stop.

[16:57] But when you're called to do it, you can't stop until the he who called you told you it's time. Big difference. I'm afraid that many people today believe that they serve in the kingdom simply because they want to or because they think it will be good or because they're making a decision to.

[17:16] Well, we've got that completely wrong. It doesn't matter if we're called early or if we're called late. The reality is is that no one serves in the kingdom in any capacity, in any position, at any level, apart from a specific call of the king.

[17:31] And when we're called to serve, it changes the heart of the matter. Because think about this. What if we lived in the reality that the very thing we're doing in the kingdom of heaven we're doing as a direct result of the fact that he who owns it all called us to do it?

[17:56] We say, well, what difference would that matter? Well, if I'm scrubbing toilets and I know the king has called me to scrub toilets not because I chose to scrub toilets, all of a sudden I'm going to scrub that toilet a little bit better.

[18:10] If I'm cooking food and I know that I'm cooking food because the king called me to cook food and I'm going to cook it a little bit better. It may not taste better to you but I'm going to do the best that I can, right? If I'm praying because I know God has called me to be in a prayer ministry and if I'm doing this and I'm going to do it a little bit better because that's what I've been called to do.

[18:29] If I'm ministering to the needy or the outcast and I know that's what God's called me to do then I'm going to do it a little bit better because I didn't choose to do it. I was called to do it.

[18:41] See, there's a big difference between, yeah, I can do it if nobody else will and, yeah, I'm going to do it because the landowner called me to do it.

[18:56] See the difference? When we say we would do it because of choice then we lack the motivation that comes that affects the heart because of calling because I'm just going to be honest with you.

[19:15] No matter where he's put me in the kingdom, no matter what he's asked me to do, apart from a clear leading of the fact that he called me, I would not have been there.

[19:30] It would have been drudgery. It would have been misery and I would have left it. I'm not just talking about the pastor. I'm talking about anything. For a number of years I had the privilege, I use the term privilege lightly, of teaching youth.

[19:46] I was a youth Sunday school teacher, youth leader and it was great. You know, I wasn't employed by the church. I wasn't on staff by the church. I wasn't being paid by the church. I was working nights or working this other place.

[20:00] I was working a normal job. I've been there, done that. But I knew that he called me to do this and it was kind of crazy and not real fun a lot of times even though youth ministry is supposed to be fun and all this other stuff because teenagers are rough and you know, they get you in trouble a lot and they cause issues but they're just so needy.

[20:22] I don't know what's more needy, a baby or a teenager. But it's a good battle there. But I think nursery workers and youth workers are about the same level and it's okay. You just don't have to change them much in the youth.

[20:35] They have smells about them but they're just by their own choosing, right? You just have to require them to wear deodorant or something of that nature. We used to do that. But you know, I was only there not because it was great, not because I had all this extra time.

[20:45] I was using my vacation time to take the youth on trips. We were using every bit of time we had to do this, not because it was fun, just because that's what we were called to do. In a moment that calling left, I left because it wasn't fun anymore because God called me then to be a pastor and I never thought I'd be a pastor but that was there, you know, and it really doesn't matter.

[21:10] You say, well, I'm not called to be a pastor. I'm not called to do this. I'm not called to do that. I've told you this before but you need to understand this. When you realize that anyone in the vineyard is there because of the call of the landowner, it changes the heart of service.

[21:24] When D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey went, let's go back to our illustration we used earlier. When they went over there to England and the crusade did such a magnificent work but when they went there, it started as a flop, right? D.L. Moody went on the assumption.

[21:36] One thing that Moody was really bad about was just taking people at their word. Someone in passing had told him many years before, hey, if you ever come to England, come find me and I'll let you preach at the YMCA. One thing you find in history is don't ever tell D.L. Moody something and not mean it.

[21:50] This guy just kind of said it haphazardly. Well, several years later, Moody went over there to England and said, hey, I'm going to preach at the YMCA because he told me when I come, look him up. He showed up at the YMCA and that guy said, I really didn't mean that.

[22:02] You know, I was just saying it to be polite. I was just saying it to be kind. I'm sorry, I don't have anywhere for you to preach. So Moody had traveled all this far, brought Ira Sankey with him and all this other stuff and had nowhere to preach and none of the churches wanted this crazily American man who wasn't even ordained.

[22:16] You know, he was never ordained in the ministry. He was illiterate. Nobody wanted this. Overweight, crazy, moody and his, you know, traveling musician to come preach.

[22:28] It was just, the formal church just didn't want that and nobody was there and all of a sudden things just began to break open and that's where you get all this revival that happened, Moody's revival in England and still, you know, to this day I think that Ira Sankey and Moody's hymn book that they published at their own expense and sold it for a penny apiece was only, it was number two on a bestseller list right behind the Bible.

[22:50] It raised millions and millions and millions of dollars. That's the funding that was used to build the boys' school and that Moody founded the girls' school eventually to help rebuild Chicago to build the Moody Bible Church which is there today.

[23:01] It wasn't referred to as that. It was Chicago Bible Church at that time. The money for that never went into their pockets. It used to do all kinds of ministry around the world but do you know where the roots start, where it really found? There was a lady who was bedridden and her sister would always go to church and she wanted to go to church and she was a young lady and she just hated the fact she couldn't go to the church and she was ill and God pressed upon her heart, well, if you can't go to church you can pray and God called her to pray.

[23:24] She prayed for three years that God would send Dwight Lyman Moody to England. And her sister came home one day and said you'll never believe who showed up at church this morning and preached unannounced.

[23:40] D.L. Moody. He came back that night I think it was like 200 people responded to the invitation that night. The next night 500 people responded so much so that they ended up having to rent out grand halls.

[23:53] It doesn't go back to Moody's efforts. Moody went unannounced, unplanned, unsolicited. It went back to one lady who knew she was called to pray and all she did was pray because she knew that's what she was called to do.

[24:07] And if God had called her to pray she was going to be the best prayer there had ever been. And he brought it about. See, our service is not a result of our choosing it's a result of our calling.

[24:19] Number two, we see the call. We'll make it through the next two pretty quick. Number two, we see the commission. One thing we notice about this is each one of them are given a very equal commission.

[24:33] Now the first agree to a term, a denarius which is a fair day's wages by the way. Nothing to be kind of gruff and complain about because that's a fair day's wages. Everyone else is given the same commission going to my vineyard, going to my vineyard, going to my vineyard, going to my vineyard.

[24:47] Which is striking because we need to pay attention to this because one thing we notice is that the landowner did not call any to go do nothing. The landowner did not call any just to go out there and stand.

[25:01] He called all to go be employed in his vineyard to labor. Even the first, they admit, we have been laboring under the brunt of the sun all day long.

[25:12] It's hard work, right? Vineyards, it's pretty hard working. It's all this labor and the heat of that day would have been almost miserable and actually the wording they use there is the hot wind and one thing that you find in that context is when the grapes were ready for harvest there would always be this hot wind that blows in that region of the year during that time of the year and it's just miserable.

[25:30] It would take your breath away and all this wonderful things but what we find is that the owner did not call any to be idle. He called all to go. The commission was not, hey, I'll pay you what's fair as long as you do nothing you just know that I'm going to pay you, right?

[25:47] He said, I'll pay you what is fair if you go. Again, this is to God's people. The commission was to be busy about what he called them to do and he gave them very clear leading.

[26:04] Now the application, we don't have to go very far into that. God does not call all people to the same occupation. God does not call your job, by the way, should be a direct result of his calling.

[26:17] Maybe it's his provision, maybe it's his calling at that season of your life, maybe it's a calling, whatever it is you do, just because we're not in vocational ministry, as far as I know there's only one of us here that are full-time vocational ministry and that is me, just because we're not full-time vocational ministry does not mean that our occupation is not a direct result of his calling because we understand that it is, whatever it is that he has appointed and equipped for us to do because one thing that I have found is that God equips his people to permeate all of society, not just some aspect of society, right?

[26:49] He wants his people to understand that what it is they're doing is a direct result of his calling, but one thing we have found is that God, while they vary in degrees and they vary in kind of how it happens, the calling is never one to do nothing because the great commission that we have at the end of the scripture, at the end of Matthew, Matthew 28, the great commission involves going and doing and being busy and being active.

[27:14] Now that looks different in every aspect throughout every individual much as we share with this lady that all she did was pray and some of us, we don't have the abilities or the finances or the resources or the time and all these other things but what we do know is that the landowner does not call any to idleness, he calls all to service and while the service may look different, it's service nonetheless.

[27:41] He did not call all to be apostles, there were only 12 called to be apostles, right? He does not call all to be pastors and teachers, he does not call all to be administrators, praise the Lord he doesn't call all of us to do that because I can't do it, he does not call all of us, all these differing gifts, there's these differing gifts that are given there but remember and you may see it just kind of a highlight, you may see it at the retreat Ephesians 4 principle, Ephesians 4 12 that he called some to be pastors slash teachers, that's one position there, he called some to be pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service.

[28:30] I have a very special calling, it's really an entrusted calling, I have the privilege of trying to be the person that God uses to equip you to do what it is he's calling you to do and I don't take that lightly but the reality is is that he never calls us to idleness, it may look different, it may not look like we're all busy but he all calls us and commissions us, he calls us with a commission to go do what he's appointed for us to do.

[29:10] I can't tell you what that is because it's an individual calling, right? That's why the best way that I know to equip you is to get you in the word of God because that alone can highlight, I have written in the pages of this Bible that is falling apart that I don't carry around much as I used to when I preached because I broke the binding on it when I preached in it and so it has this tendency, I know this is going to disturb some of you and I'm sorry, it has this tendency to kind of open up like that so I leave it on the pulpit a little bit more but the reason I like preaching out of this Bible is because in the very front page I have written in there my vision, what I envision for the church, the vision I have for the church that God calls me to pastor, the vision of the future, what it's going to look like if that vision comes about and the four principles that I think it'll take place and one of those things is that every member being equipped in the word of God.

[30:04] Every member growing and maturing in the word of God because you don't get to the other things until every member worships together and grows together in the word, the rest of it falls into place because God has not called me to anything that he's ever called me to labor in the kingdom, every calling he ever gave me came as a direct result of his word not because of someone else's opinion.

[30:27] When I did something because somebody thought it was a good idea, I usually fell flat but when I did it because I felt like the word of God was calling me to do it, then all of a sudden I knew I was commissioned by the word to labor in the field.

[30:43] The commission, third and finally we see the correction. The correction comes at the end of the story which is really the whole meaning of the story because the day comes to an end.

[30:58] At about 6 o'clock the day comes to an end, 12 hours of labor. You have those that were called at 6 a.m. You have those that were called throughout the day all the way up until 5 p.m.

[31:09] There were those who only labored for an hour. They were called in the 11th hour. At about 6 p.m. the landowner calls his foreman over and says, hey it's time to pay the workers and let's begin to pay attention to this starting with the last until the first.

[31:23] You remember how the 19th chapter closes. For the last shall be first and the first shall be last. That verse is repeated here in the 16th verse of this chapter. For the last shall be first and the first shall be last.

[31:37] Two more bookends that kind of help us to understand what that means. He says, okay begin with the last to the first because he's going to make a point at how he does it. So the foreman calls them and those who came up and worked an hour lo and behold they received a denarius.

[31:51] Now I ask you to remember something the only ones who agreed to a term were who? The ones called first. Right? They signed a contract. The ones called first agreed to a denarius for the day.

[32:02] Everyone else went and they went on this promise. I will pay you what is fair. I will pay you what is fair. The first entered into agreement and everyone else went on trust.

[32:15] So for those who trusted the master it says that each of them received a denarius. Now the others had labored ten times as long so if they received a denarius can you imagine what we're going to get when we get there?

[32:36] And then finally we get to those who were called first and they also receive a denarius and our heart does not necessarily chastise or rebuke these people because we can recognize with that.

[32:47] Think about this for just a moment. We've went out here and we've labored in this field all day long and the people who just showed up received a denarius I know we're going to get more. Let's put it in layman's terms let's put it in terms I can understand.

[33:00] I remember growing up a lot of square bells were on the ground. I know some still doing square bells and when I was growing up it's all you saw was square bells. Bells are hay everywhere and I remember pulling up in the fields and for as far as you could see it was just bells of hay bells of hay bells of hay and I remember one of the first jobs I had I even employed my wife we were married at that time she drove the truck I put the crew together and we hauled hay for this man in Rutherford County and he had hay everywhere and everybody that was hauling with me we had an agreed upon term right we agreed upon it there was certain terms that I would pay them I tell you what they would get real mad if someone showed up when we got the trailer loaded and threw a couple bells on the end I paid them as much as I paid the guys who had been out there all night with me because we resonate with that it doesn't seem fair it's not right but here's the correction because they say wait a minute they begin to grumble and they're grumbling at the landowner and they're a little upset at him and he says to them by the way

[34:05] Martha's friend Matthew uses the word friend twice and each time he uses it people that he's not happy with the only other time someone calls someone friend is when Jesus calls Judas Iscariot friend in the garden of Gethsemane in the gospel of Matthew now if I ever call you friend don't look into that anymore you just need to know the landowner says friend I'm doing you no wrong why because we ended up on agreement did you not agree with me for denarius which is a fair day's wages I said yes so he says take what is yours and go but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you here it is I wish to give and he brings it down is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own or is your eye envious because I am generous here's the correction and we'll leave it here with our final application the question is not what then is there for us the question is do I trust the one

[35:23] I'm serving not I need to know what I get man's nature and the more so we go throughout time in history what's in it for me what do I get in return how will I be paid that's the wrong questions the right question is do I trust the one I'm serving will give me freely that as he says which is right and is my confidence in the one I'm serving greater than the agreement I make to work because see if we serve by agreement then we're bound to be upset but when we serve in trust we're bound to be surprised the question should not be what's in it for me the question is is he who I'm serving worth it and that changes the heart of our service let's pray

[36:34] Lord thank you for this day thank you for the word God we pray that it would speak to our hearts and minds for your glory we ask it all in Christ's name Amen so Thank you.

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