Journey Through Matthew: The First Will STILL Be Last
Journey Through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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· 10 viewsJesus continues to teach about God's mercy and grace in that, it doesn't matter how long you've been a Christian, what only matters is that you ARE a Christian.
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome back!
Hopefully everyone has had a good week and have come with both a hungry belly and a hungry spirit!
This morning if you will, turn in your Bibles to .
We are going to be picking up where we left off a couple of weeks ago in our Journey Through Matthew.
This week we are going to be talking about how The First will Still be the Last.
And if you recall from the last time we were together, the theme of the “first being the last” was the last thing that we talked about.
In fact in , the Bible records Jesus telling this disciples that . . .
30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
And I’d like for you to keep that in mind this morning as we move forward in our sermon because Jesus is pretty much going to repeat the same thing a second time.
Now, regarding the first part of this that we talked about two weeks ago, Jesus is addressing his disciples, or those we would come to know as the Apostles.
And he is actually addressing a concern that they had.
And the concern was that they had sacrificed a great deal for the kingdom of heaven and the task of sharing the Gospel with others.
In fact, they had given up absolutely everything for the sake of the Gospel.
They had given up their livelihood, maybe even their homes, and probably a few their relationships with friends and family.
And they are preaching the blessings of eternal life by repenting of your sins and following Jesus.
However, they were not seeing any rewards.
They were suffering a great deal in fact.
And now Jesus is telling all of these people to follow him and they would gain the same inheritance as the his disciples who were working their tails off.
And part of their concern was that there would be nothing left for them.
That they would be slighted in some way for sacrificing for God.
And Jesus puts these fears to rest, but he also offers somewhat of a rebuke as well.
Which is why he said . . .
30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Because their minds and hearts were in the world and not in the Kingdom of God.
They were concerned about worldly things and worldly concerns, which are of no consequence in God’s kingdom.
Which brings us to this morning, because as Jesus is addressing this disciples, he also sees people gathered around, who are sort of thinking the same thing as his disciples.
And he uses this as an teaching opportunity in the form of a parable.
So, if you have found in your Bibles, I’d invite you to stand with as we read.
Matthew writes . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
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. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the market-place doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 About 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.’ 8 “When 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.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When 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.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Get to Work (vs 1-7)
Get to Work (vs 1-7)
So, again, Jesus is teaching in the form of a parable and the first thing he does is draw a comparison.
Again, Jesus tells them . . .
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.
Now, we don’t need to confuse what Jesus is saying here with the “Kingdom of Heaven” that involves eternity.
That is just one part of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Kingdom of Heaven involves everything and everyone that belongs to God.
And I say “belongs to God” loosely because we know that God created it all and it all belongs to him.
But what I am specifically talking about are the people who have given their heart to Jesus and have entered into a relationship with God through Christ.
Because for us, the Kingdom begins at the moment of salvation.
And as part of the kingdom we have a job and a responsibility to fulfill.
And that job is to work to bring others into the Kingdom.
And this vineyard represents all of those people in the world, and some in here this morning that still need to be plucked from the hands of Satan.
So, God is looking for people who will go out and do the work of sharing the Gospel with others.
And the work does not come without reward.
Jesus tells them that . . .
2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
And the denarius is equivalent to a days wages.
A days wages for a days work is what it is saying.
Which is fair.
But we know that our reward for belonging to God’s kingdom is much greater.
Our reward is eternal life in heaven with God the Father, with Jesus, with blessings beyond comparison.
But they only come through our faith in Christ!
So the work begins, and a typical workday is a 12 hour day between 6AM and 6PM.
Sunup to sundown, give or take.
And the crew is out working, but the landowner realizes that there is more work than he has workers to do.
So . . .
3 “About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the market-place doing nothing.
Matthew 20:3
Now the third hour would be about 9AM.
Three hours into the shift, he finds others standing around not doing anything, so he offers them a job.
4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’
4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.
Sounds fair, but still there is too much work, so . . .
5 So they went. “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.
So, basically every three hours he is going out to find more workers.
9AM, 12PM, and 3PM., Each time making the same offer to pay them what is right.
And each time they agree and go.
But now we are coming up to the end of the day, the 11th hour, 5PM.
Or, thinking in eternal terms, the 11th hour of our life, the 11th hour of time as we know it itself.
And there is still more work to do . . .
Matthew 20:6
6 About 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.’
So, he finds the last ones he could that would be willing to go and work.
And keep in mind these people have been sitting around doing nothing all day.
They may have been around when asked to come and join the Kingdom from the very beginning of the day even.
Those who have attended church, hung around, sat on the pew, heard the message over and over, but for whatever reason, never committed to God.
Never let Jesus in.
And time is running late and finally they are convinced and they go to work!
But the day is drawing to a close.
The sun is beginning to sit and the hour strikes 6PM.
The end.
They have done all the work they can do.
A hard days work for those who had been there since 6AM.
Not as hard but still work for the rest of them.
At least they had made a commitment and become part of the kingdom.
At least they were able to do a little.
But time is up, which is sad for those who never made it in.
Those never plucked from Satans hand.
Getting Paid (vs 8-12)
Getting Paid (vs 8-12)
However, the landowner is a man of his word, just like God always keeps His word, good or bad.
And they were promised a fair wage for the work they did.
So . . .
8 “When 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.’
Now, we have to sort of picture this because it is not like it is today.
There was no Direct Deposit and there was no real secret about how much money people made.
They worked a day and and at the end of the day, they all lined up and got their pay for the day.
But the landowner did it backwards.
You would have thought he would have paid those who had worked all day first, but he lined them up from those who had worked the least first to those who had worked the most.
And those standing around probably thought it was because it would take less time because he was going to pay them less.
However, the landowner had a different purpose in mind.
First, he wanted to put those who had worked the least at ease because they were thinking they were not going to get much of anything.
Second, he wanted everyone to see and understand something about mercy and grace.
So . . .
10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.
9 “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.
What’s this?
They received an entire day’s wage.
They received everything that was promised to those who had agreed to enter the Kingdom and work the entire time.
They had received a FULL reward for their labors.
So, if they got a whole day’s wages, then those who worked longer have hit the jackpot!
Not exactly . . .
10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When 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.’
10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.
Matthew 20:10
And who can blame them?
Matthew 20:10-
And who can blame them?
After all they had watched all these people who had worked far less than they had and they received the same amount.
Why work so hard then?
But they missed the whole point, and we do too many times.
The First Will Be Last (vs 13-16)
The First Will Be Last (vs 13-16)
God’s love is not something that is earned it is given.
God’s mercy and God’s grace are gifts, not wages that we earn.
And it doesn’t matter if we worked for 2 minutes or 200 years, God’s unconditional love, mercy, and grace will not change.
God created us to be in a relationship and to love us.
Any work that we do is out of the response of a changed heart when we accept Jesus Christ.
God changes us and saves us and we work for God because we want to share that same hope with others.
It’s not about rewards or wages or getting paid in heaven.
Which is why we see the response we do . . .
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
So, if this is the case then why don’t we all just wait till we are about to draw our last breath?
Because we don’t know when that will be.
We don’t know if our last hour will come or if the last hour of all humanity will come.
We don’t know when or if the Spirit will stop speaking to us after our continual rejections of Christ or not.
Are some saved at the very end? Absolutely.
Is this the norm? NO, because we don’t know.
And one of Satan’s greatest tricks is having people think they have plenty of time.
I’ve seen a lot of people leave this world who thought they still had “plenty of time.”
Let me tell you, you don’t.
Altar Call
Altar Call
So, why do you wait?
Why do you stand around doing nothing?
What about all those who YOU could be sharing the hope of Christ with?
And Satan is telling some right now that they have plenty of time.
He is also telling others that they have waited too long, done too much.
Both are lies.
When you come to Jesus none of that matters.
All sins are forgiven and you are granted the same inheritance as somebody else.
Maybe you are here and you have wandered away and need to come back.
You can do that today as well if you would.
Maybe you are here and you have had the attitude of the workers who had worked all day thinking its not fair for others to gain the same reward as you.
If you are, then you are basically saying those others deserve less of God’s love than you.
If that’s you, then you need to repent of that.
Will you come and do that today?
There are many reasons to come, but the only reason not to come is disobedience.
If the Spirit is drawing you today, will you be obedient or disobedient?
It’s your choice, what will that choice be this morning?