The Workers In The Vineyard

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The Workers In The Vineyard
The Ten Virgins The Sower and the Soils The
Sheep and the Goats
Seeing As Jesus Sees

• Matthew 20 1 16

The Mustard Seed
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More Optical Illusions
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Comparisons
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Comparisons

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Parables

• Parables divide people we either get it or we
  dont.
• Parables show us something of the Kingdom often
  surprising, sometimes shocking.
• Parables wake us up to how Jesus sees the world
  often so different from our own view.

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Parables

• to help us see better
• to get a response from us
• to change the way we live
• They are so much more than stories from long ago.
  
• Jesus intends us to engage with them today.

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Context of Matthew 20 1 - 16

• End of Matthew 19 Rich young man just asked
  Jesus how to get eternal life
• easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
  needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
  of God.
• This astonished the disciples, so Jesus explains
  the Kingdom (of God) to them
• many who are first will be last, and many who
  are last will be first

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Matthew 20 1 16 (NIV)

• 1"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
  who went out early in the morning to hire men to
  work in his vineyard.  2He agreed to pay them a
  denarius for the day and sent them into his
  vineyard. 
• 3About the third hour he went out and saw others
  standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He
  told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard,
  and I will pay you whatever is right.'  5So they
  went.  
• He went out again about the sixth hour and the
  ninth hour and did the same thing. 

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Matthew 20 1 16 (NIV)

• 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found
  still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why
  have you been standing here all day long doing
  nothing?'
• 7'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. He
  said to them, 'You also go and work in my
  vineyard.
• 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard
  said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay
  them their wages, beginning with the last ones
  hired and going on to the first.'  

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Matthew 20 1 16 (NIV)

• 9The workers who were hired about the eleventh
  hour came and each received a denarius. 
• 10So when those came who were hired first, they
  expected to receive more. But each one of them
  also received a denarius. 11When they received
  it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 
• 12'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.'

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Matthew 20 1 16 (NIV)

• 13But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not
  being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for
  a denarius?  14Take your pay and go. I want to
  give the man who was hired last the same as I
  gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I
  want with my own money? Or are you envious
  because I am generous?
• 16So the last will be first, and the first will
  be last."

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What happens?

• Some men agree to work for some pay
• The owner is still looking for people and keeps
  finding them throughout the day
• Sundown eventually comes
• The last to arrive are paid first
• The last to arrive get the most (per hour)
• Comparisons are made and they grumble
• The owner points out it is his money and his
  generosity

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The Parable

• The shocking/surprising part that caused the
  grumbling
• It is contrary to our expectations.
• We latch on to the comparisons so easily, feel
  aggrieved, yet miss the rest
• So why is the Kingdom of God like this?
• What does Jesus See?

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What does Jesus see?

• The Kingdom of God is open and available
• The vineyard is the Kingdom
• God is inviting people into it
• A response is invited
• We still have to accept the offer

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What does Jesus see?

• The Kingdom is generosity and grace
• The owner is on the lookout for people all day
• Its never too late to join the Kingdom of God
• You get the same no matter when you join
• Its not about how long weve earned it

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What does Jesus see?

• The Kingdom brings light
• The owner paid in reverse order and thus made it
  clear what was happening.
• The generosity is revealed
• But what was in the hearts of the grumblers was
  revealed too.
• A change from being agreeable to
• begrudging of others being miserly
• expecting more for themselves envy

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What does Jesus see?

• Jesus sees in absolute terms
• Not in relative terms, not in comparisons
• The deal is the same
• The generosity is the same
• Time does not change the deal
• He hasnt forgotten about you

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Why do we not see the same?

• Book excerpt
• The Return of the Prodigal Son
• Henri Nouwen
• Pages 42-43

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How to change our response

• Take the opposite approach
• Dont put our own feelings first do we really
  know better than God?
• Rejoice that we are in the kingdom
• Look outward to others
• Rejoice that others have joined in the Kingdom
  too
• Rejoice that others who are late to the party get
  the full benefit
• For you were later than someone else

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How to change our response

• Step back and see things in absolute terms.
• Take seriously everything that Jesus does and put
  it into practice.
• Purposefully.
• Prayer, listening to the voice of God
• Finding out what Jesus did and how

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Our challenge

• Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy
• Humanity is routinely flying upside down.
• Seeing as Jesus sees is a message of hope for
  everyone who counts on God
• First last/last first says
• No-one is so humanly last that they cannot be
  lifted up by entering Gods order
• But no-one is so humanly first that they cannot
  disregard Gods point of view on their lives.

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Our challenge

• Our commitment to Jesus must be absolute.
• Stand on the recognition that he knows the truth
  about the universe and our lives.
• Would Jesus therefore not be smart?
• In his divinity would he be dumb?
• Surely he is the most informed and most
  intelligent person of all, the smartest ever, the
  ultimate scientist, craftsman and artist

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Our challenge

• To see as Jesus sees results in us endeavouring
  to follow him
• To copy the example he set down
• To join in with the mission of God, to throw
  ourselves behind it
• To extend the Kingdom
• You are loved by God theres no comparison
• Thats how our feelings can catch up with what we
  see because it is what Jesus sees