Grosey's Messages

Matthew 19 and 20      The Last First, The First Last

ἐγόγγυζον   Gonzo the Great!  

Did you notice the order is reversed? :  Matt 19:30 "But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
Matt 20:1,16 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard…. So the last will be first, and the first last."

The parable is not about salvation but service. The denarius does not stand for salvation or eternal life, because salvation is not by good works (Eph. 2:8–9; Titus 3:5–6).

Christ is not talking about rewards for service. God will reward His own differently according to their service (1 Cor. 3:8; John 4:36). If the denarius stands for rewards, then God is not fair, for every worker got the same reward!

No this parable is about the motives of people's hearts. In fact it is about the response Peter asked after the Lord met the rich young ruler.

The rich young man who came to Jesus refused to give Him His all and follow the Lord Jesus. And he went away very disappointed.    The rich young man had not forsaken everything to follow Jesus.

Then Peter said in reply, "See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?"
"when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

But the Lord detected in Peter's question a problem: There was some heart disease there.  He was serving Christ for what he Peter would get out of it!

So the Lord Jesus gave a warning:  Matt 19:30 "But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
Then He tells a parable, and ends with the same statement, but in reverse so you notice it!     

This parable is dealing with Peter's heart problem.

Matt 20:1,16 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard…. So the last will be first, and the first last."
It is dealing with yours and my heart problems.

10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the    master of the house,"

Are you humbly grateful or grumbly hateful?

Grumbling often indicates heart problems.

It did with the Psalmist in Psalm 73.  He had a problem.

This parable has nothing to do with salvation. The denarius (a day's wages in that time) does not represent salvation, for nobody works for his salvation. Nor is the parable talking about rewards, for we are not all going to receive the same reward. "And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour" (1 Cor. 3:8).

The parable is emphasizing a right attitude in service.

DO YOU HAVE A RIGHT ATTITUDE ABOUT SERVING THE LORD?

Don't Bargain With God!

It is important to note that there were actually two kinds of workers hired that day: those who wanted a contract and agreed to work for a denarius a day, and those who had no contract and agreed to take whatever the owner thought was right. The first laborers that he hired insisted on a contract. But the other workers all trusted that the owner to give them what was right.

This explains why the householder paid the workers as he did: He wanted those who were hired first (who insisted on a contract) to see how much he paid the workers who were hired later. It was one way the owner could show those workers how really generous he was.

Put yourself in the place of those workers who were hired first but paid last. They each expected to get a denarius, because that was what they agreed to accept. But imagine their surprise when they saw the laborers who were hired last each receiving a denarius! This meant their own wages should have been twelve denarii each!

But the three o'clock workers also received a denarius—for only three hours of work. The men last in line quickly recalculated their wages: four denarii for the day's work. When the men hired at noon also were paid a denarius, this cut the salary of the contract workers considerably, for now they would earn only two denarii.

But the owner gave them one denarius each. Of course, they complained! But they had no argument, because they had agreed to work for a denarius. They received what they asked for. Had they trusted the goodness of the owner, they would have received far more. But they insisted on a contract.

The lesson for you and I as Christ's disciples is that we should not serve Him because we want to receive an expected reward, and we should not insist on knowing what we will get. God is infinitely generous and gracious and will always give us better than we deserve.  What the Lord wants is that we should trust in Him. We should trust His generosity.  We should trust His Grace.

Do you remember the old prayer we used to say before eating.  Have you said grace?

"God is gracious, God is good and we thank Him for our food Amen!"

We must trust Him for who He is.  God is gracious!  God is good!  Trust Him for who He is, trust Him unreservedly and believe that He will always give what is best. That is the link back to Psalm 73 which we read earlier this morning.  The Psalmist tripped up when he was looking for comfort and rewards now!  Respect now! What he should have looked at was God.  He should have recognized that all He needed was really God Himself.

I am continually with thee, Thou hast hold of me by thy right hand!

The nearness of God is my good!  This is better than current rewards of blessings.

He wants us to trust Him and not ourselves!

He calls us to trust Him.  He calls us personally to trust Him without a contract!

There is the danger of pride. "What shall we have?" asked Peter. This parable warned him, "How do you know you will have anything?" Beware of overconfidence when it comes to the rewards God will give, for those first in their own eyes (and in the eyes of others) may end up last! Likewise, do not get discouraged, for those who consider themselves "unprofitable servants" may end up first.

BEWARE OF WATCHING OTHER WORKERS

Beware of the danger of watching other workers and measuring yourself by them. "Judge nothing before the time," Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 4:5. We see the worker and the work, but God sees the heart.

John 21:21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?"22 Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"

When we get our eyes off the Lord and start watching other believers there will be symptoms.  We will get an "evil eye" vs 15. Or is your eye envious because I am generous? NASB Or is your eye evil because I am good? NKJV

We will look at them and not see anything good about them!

When we start comparing, we start coveting and we start complaining. We will never be satisfied with what God gives but we will always want what someone else has.

I want his popularity!  I want his powers! I want his prestige!

All of this leads to a bitter attitude towards God..We get the feeling that God has given us a raw deal!

It is a sin for Christians to watch one another and judge one another for the sake of feeling better abut ourselves.

BEWARE OF THINKING GOD IS UNJUST

Finally, we must beware of criticizing God and feeling that we have been left out. Had the early morning workers trusted the owner and not asked for an agreement, the owner would have given them much more. He was generous, but they would not trust him. They did not rejoice that others received more; instead, they were jealous and complained. The goodness of the owner did not lead them to repentance (Rom. 2:4). It revealed the true character of their hearts: They were selfish! Whenever we find a complaining servant, we know he has not fully yielded to the master's will.

We must watch our motives for Christian service. The right work done with the wrong motive dishonours God and robs us of the blessing. It is a solemn thing to realize that Christians whom we may admire today will be ―last at the final reckoning at the Judgment Seat of Christ because their motives were wrong. We cannot judge motives (7:1–3), but we can judge our own hearts. Let's do all for the glory of God because we love Him.

Remember God is Good

Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?'

Matt 19:28 You who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

There is No Competition      Competing for $'s   Competing for Position Competing for Power

Competing to Prove one's self

Why Do You Serve God? For a denarii?  The Search For Significance?  Gee

The Performance Trap             The Fear of Failure.  God's answer is justification.

The Approval Trap  From a wrong view of others, the fear of rejection.  God's Answer – Reconciliation

Why Do You Serve God?

Romans 12: 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Remember God is Good

Remember God is Great

I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?

Remember God is Gracious

"Or do you begrudge my generosity?"   I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, Rom 12:1

If Christians tend to grumble, commiserate, and feel sorry for themselves, is it because they've forgotten grace? Murmuring stems from a belief that one deserves something more. As a result, they're never happy and become a complaining people. In this parable of the workers in the vineyard from Matthew 20:1–16, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains that the murmuring person has forgotten that everything is grace. To illustrate this point, Jesus gives us the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. This sermon highlights the grumbling of those who have been in the faith for a long time. They are complainers; they feel they deserve more than the others. They started out well, but got into trouble later on. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones applies this parable to the human condition today. Christians have the gospel of Jesus Christ, but if they do not continue in it, they get into the same trouble. They become entitled and believe they deserve more. What they forget is this: it's all grace. It's always been grace. In the Christian life, all is grace, from the beginning to the end. Christians are called to do all things without murmuring. What a tragedy when Christian people become miserable. What a tragedy when they murmur. The same grace that saved them keeps them. Listen and rejoice––it is all of grace.

The parable of the laborers in the vineyard illustrates the principle that everything in the Christian life is by grace from beginning to end.

How not to be great in God's sight (20-25)i

Sometimes we can profit as much by learning what not to do as what to do, and the disciples here reveal plenty not to do. If a person wants to be great in God's sight (which, by the way, is a very noble goal to achieve), he must not employ self-serving ambition.

Self-serving ambition (20-22a).

Self-confidence (22b-23),  You don't know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" And their immediate answer is: "We can,"

Phony indignation (24). "When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers."

Raw power (25) "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them."

I would say this has a slightly different nuance from the rulers who lord it over their subjects, so I refer to it as "charismatic influence."

Charismatic influence (25) "and their high officials exercise authority over them." the powers of popularity and personality to wield personal influence. Christian leadership has to a large extent become a cult of personality.

How to truly be great in God's sight (26-28)

Serve others. (26-27) Jesus turns things completely upside down in respect to greatness. He says, "Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave."

The first last, the last first.

"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe."

The last will be first and the first, last.

The way up is down.

The one who wants to become a leader must become a servant.