Matthew 20:1-16 God's Unmerited Grace: The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

Patton Shinall

The Meaning of the Parables • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Matthew 20:1–16

Perseverance

God's Grace

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God gives the same eternal life to all who follow Christ regardless of works.

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Intro

As we continue our sermon series called the Meaning of the Parables, we are going to close out the last two weeks by focusing on two stories Jesus told in his ministry that answer the question, “Who is God?”

This week we will be looking at the parable of the laborers in the vineyard from where Jesus teaches us about the wonder of God’s unmerited grace.

You see, many Christians will talk about the grace of God and even affirm they are saved totally, completely, wholly, by his grace all while functionally living as if God keeps a point system.

In our parable, Jesus demolishes any notion that God gives eternal life on the basis of anything other than his loving kindness.

Context

Immediately before our passage Matthew tells us the story of the Rich Young Man.

During Jesus’ ministry, a man comes to him who is very wealthy and asks Jesus, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

Jesus responds by telling him if he wanted eternal life, all he needed to do was keep God’s commandments perfectly.

Now the reason Jesus doesn’t tell him that he must repent and believe in his gospel is because Jesus was trying to show him how he could never do enough to gain eternal life. That no one can keep God’s commandments perfectly.

But this man doesn’t understand and so he tells Jesus, “Yes! Of course I’ve kept all of the commandments, but I’m still missing something. What is it?

So Jesus tells him that if he would be perfect (in other words meet God’s holy standard) then he had to sell everything he had and give it to the poor.

And Matthew tells us that the Rich Ruler went away very sorrowful because he had great possessions.

Jesus was lovingly trying to show this man that he had not kept God’s law perfectly because he had broken the very first one that You shall have no other gods before me.

The Rich Young Man loved his possessions and wealth more than he loved God which is by definition idolatry.

And as this man was leaving Jesus tells his disciples that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter God’s kingdom.

This stuns Jesus disciples because in their day, if anyone was blessed and loved by God surely it was this devout, rich young man.

The prevailing belief in Jesus’ day was that how much God loved you was reflected in how blessed you were in proportion to how devoutly you followed him.

Because the Rich Young Man obeyed God’s commandments plus the fact that he was very wealthy, would have led the disciples to believe this was someone who God loved.

But when Jesus said that this man had rejected salvation, the disciples begin to wonder, “Then who can possibly be saved?” To which Jesus said With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Jesus was telling them that no person could ever do enough to merit God’s salvation.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Pondering this, the disciples must have realized, “If we left everything we had to follow Jesus, then God must have done the impossible in our own lives.

And Peter voices a concern that all of the disciples had. He asks Jesus, “Ok. Since we have left everything to follow you, what kind of reward will we have? What kind of honor will we receive in your kingdom?”

You see, the disciples had a thirst for honor. Even right after our parable in , James and John’s mother comes to Jesus and asks him to allow her sons to sit at the places of greatest honor in his kingdom.

And Jesus disciples became indignant towards James and John. Not because they were so pious thinking to themselves, “Oh James and John, don’t you know how proud you sound?” But because they wanted that place of honor for themselves! Every single one of them wanted to sit at Jesus’ left or right hand.

And how Jesus responded to his disciples will launch us into our parable. Jesus reassured them that they would be honored in his kingdom by sitting on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, but he went on to say that everyone in the kingdom was going to be honored.

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. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

For Jesus, he wanted to show his disciples that what was important was not how much you were honored or rewarded on the basis of their works in God’s kingdom. What matters is not how much we are honored, but how much we honor the Father who saved us!

The Story

Jesus illustrates this point with a parable where he starts by saying, 2 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. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

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. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

So Jesus opens the story with a man who is a master of a house and owns a sizable vineyard, and it was time to harvest all his grapes.

Owning a vineyard is a risky enterprise even today. Especially in the ancient world where there wasn’t climate controlled barrel rooms, it was imperative that you harvested the grapes at their peak of ripening because even one day extra in the hot middle eastern sun could damage the grapes and diminish the quality of wine that could be produced.

Knowing this, the master of the house went out to hire some day laborers “early in the morning.” no doubt sometime prior to 6am when the work day would start.

He finds some laborers and strikes a deal to pay them a denarius for a day of labor.

Now ordinarily, only full time employees would earn a wage of a denarius a day. This was even the typical pay for a Roman soldier.

Unskilled laborer like the ones in Jesus’ story would normally be hired for a fraction of that because they were in no position to negotiate. If they didn’t work, they might not be able to eat or provide food for their families.

But the master of the house comes along and says, tell you what, you work for me today and I’ll pay you like one of my normal employees.

Jesus is trying to magnify the profound generosity of the master of the house.

A little bit into the day, the master realizes he is going to need more workers if he is going to harvest all his grapes. Jesus continued 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

So the master goes out at the third hour which is about 9am and finds some other laborers

Literally in greek this means they were without work. They were not trying to avoid working hard. After all they wanted to provide for their families. It was just that the opportunity had not come along yet.

So the master hires them saying, “I’ll pay you whatever is right to pay you.” Seeing how he already offered the other laborers a whole denarius, they jumped at the opportunity and went to the vineyard as well.

The he does the same thing around noon and 3pm and hires more workers. Finally, about 5pm, with one hour left in the work day, The master goes again to the market place and found some more workers standing.

He asked him, why have you been standing here idle all day?

So the master says, you know what? There is still an hour left in the day, you go work too and I’ll pay you.

And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 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, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’

Finally, it was the end of the day and it was time to pay everyone. The master tells the foreman to gather everyone up that worked that day and give them their wages starting with those that started at 5pm all the way up to those that started first thing in the morning.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Those that started working first thing in the morning saw everyone ahead of them getting paid a full denarius for a partial day work.

No doubt they were thinking to themselves, I wonder how much the master will give us since we labored for him all day! If he gave a whole day’s wage to someone who worked an hour what will we get?

But when it was their turn to get paid, they also received a denarius and they began to grumble at the master.

They said to him, “What do you mean? Those guys worked an hour and we’ve been here all day. We suffered through the heat of the sun, we poured out our sweat picking your grapes and you pay us just one denarius like everyone else? That’s not fair!”

Hearing this, the master says,

But he replied to one of them, ‘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?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.

The master says Friend, which in Matthew’s gospel is always used ironically. In all three cases, the person who is called friend is in the wrong.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

And the Master points out to these laborers, “Listen. I didn’t do you wrong. We agreed that you would work for me today for a denarius which, if I recall you though was quite generous. Take it! What’s it to you if I choose to pay everyone the same?”

And the master closes in verse 15 saying, Or do you begrudge my generosity?”

Literally in the Greek the sentence reads, “Or is your eye bad because I am good?”

In other words are you jealous that I give to others the same thing I give to you?

Why does it bother you so much that I was as generous with others as I was with you? Didn’t you like my generosity when you benefitted from it yourself?

And Jesus concludes his parable by telling his disciples a proverb. He says, Matthew 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first last.

This proverb is also somewhat of a riddle. What does Jesus mean here?

It is not saying precisely the same thing as that says If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. or But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.

Both of those verse are commands from Christ to encourage us to be humble and serve others.

In our passage, Jesus is making a simple statement of fact. of something that is. He is saying those that are first are last and those that are last are first.

What does this mean? How would this work? Or did Jesus just not understand how ordinal numbers work because he was building a table when his mom was going over math?

Imagine a foot race. The only way for the first to be last and the last first is if everyone finished the race at the same time. If every single runner crossed the finish line simultaneously, then the one who finished first also finished last and vice versa. Everyone finishes in a dead heat.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

And this is precisely the point Jesus was making in this parable. Those that were hired first and those that were hired last all got exactly the same pay. They all got the full benefit of the master’s generosity equally.

And here is where we finally see the main point of the parable. God gives the same eternal life to all who follow Jesus Christ.

No matter if you have followed Christ faithfully for 80 years or you tripped and stumbled for one week, God saves us by his grace.

That is why Jesus makes it a point that the master goes out all day looking for more laborers and yet pays them all the same. Their wages are based on his grace and generosity instead of their work.

The Master = God

The Vineyard = God’s Kingdom where he reigns

The Laborers = Christians

The day of work is their life time

Evening is eternity where all people will stand before Christ to give an account for their life and whether they worshiped him.

The denarius represents eternal life.

No matter how hard anyone labors or how much we do for the Lord, we are given eternal life by God’s grace alone.

In the kingdom of heaven, there is no hierarchy. There are not the haves or the have nots. To put it another way, there is not a group beloved Christians and a group of disappointing misfit Christians because the basis of every single Christian’s salvation is Christ!

Remember how our parable started. Peter reminded Jesus how the disciples had left everything to follow him and asked him how they would be honored in return?

Jesus’ parable reminded his disciples that it is not about how much they are honored for their faithfulness to Christ. What matters is God’s glory for giving grace in the first place.

Jesus’ parable teaches us that....

God Saves Sinners Unconditionally

It is not based on principles of merit that God gives us grace.

Parables like this one challenge us when we operate in our relationship to God on a principle of merit, saying, “Well I do X amount of good works so God should love me.”

But the laborers were all given a denarius no matter how much they worked. And remember, this was an incredibly generous wage for a day laborer. It was well above and beyond what would have been expected to be earned for this kind of work. No one that worked for the master that day earned a denarius. It was generously given to them.

But those laborers hired early in the morning begrudged the master’s generosity. They said, That’s not fair, you owe us more than that for our labor!

Just like Christians can presume that God owes them for their faithfulness.

We can think that God should bless us because of our works or that we are better than other Christians around us. We get jealous of other Christians and think that we deserve what they have.

Why don’t I have a job like that or as much money or them? Why is my husband or wife not like that or my kids disobedient? What makes them deserve all that blessing from God? I’m way more faithful than them!

However, none of us really want what God owes us. If God did what was truly fair, to pour our undiluted justice on the world, it would mean immediate death for every single sinner because the wages of sin is death.

But in Christ, God gives us far more than what he owes us. He gives us grace.

-7 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Here Paul teaches the same message from Jesus’ parable. “Its not about how hard or how long you labor for the Lord that saves you. Its not about your works but his mercy, his generosity, his grace!

It is Christ and Justification through faith in his sinless life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead that gives us eternal life!

The laborers in the vineyard who grumbled against their master showed just how foolish they were in appealing for justice. In the same way, Christians that base God’s love for them on their works approach God in a heart that says you owe me for all this faithfulness show that they missed the point of the gospel!

We are absolute fools to appeal to God for Justice instead of celebrating his grace because we would all be damned.

And this raises the question, why have good works at all. If All God cares about is whether we have put our faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, why be so concerned about relentless faithfulness in every area of my life? Is it not enough just to believe in Jesus, try not to sin too bad, and be a good person?

But biblically, true salvation will result in a life of good works and submission to Christ in every area of one’s life or else it was never salvation to begin with.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Verses 8 and 9 make it explicitly clear that all of our salvation is rooted in the grace of God. Not in our merit or works.

However, this grace was given to us for a purpose. Verse 10 says…God saved us for good works. In other words, God saved us in order to remove our dead stoney heart and replace it with a new heart that loves and worships him.

The reason Christ saved you is so that he could show his love for you and free you from your sin so that you could live a life that glorifies him!

But even this can get twisted. We might believe and proclaim that we are saved by God’s grace and not our works, but functionally, many Christians live as if their salvation is persevered and secured through their good works.

They know they aren’t saved by their works, but they believe they have to keep their salvation by their works which leads us to the next principle Jesus taught us in this parable.

God Generously Keeps His Promises

Remember how we said the denarius in Jesus story represents eternal life. It is important that every laborer received an equal share regardless of how hard they worked.

In the same way that every laborer in Jesus story was paid by the master as he promised, every Christian regardless of their works for the Lord, will receive eternal life in God’s kingdom because God keeps his promise to give grace regardless of our works.

You need to hear me. The thing that is going to keep you following Jesus faithfully until you die or he returns is not your ability to white knuckle your own holiness. It is God’s grace from beginning to end that gives you salvation.

Consider a man like Billy Graham who served the Lord faithfully for years and years and ushered many into the kingdom of God. He is like the Laborer hired early in the morning.

Then you have the thief on the Cross who had never done anything in his life for the Lord other than beg Jesus in his dying breaths to save him. He was like the laborers who started working with an hour to go and yet still Jesus promised, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

God keeps his promises and if you are called into his vineyard, in other words into his kingdom through salvation, he will give you what is promised because your eternal life is in Christ not in the number or duration of your good works.

Hear what Paul said in 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

It is God who keeps us blameless and secures us for the day of salvation. He is the one who helps us endure following Christ our whole life so that we may received the grace that was promised to us in Jesus.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Paul had great confidence in the Lord to accomplish his saint’s salvation. This is why Paul reminded the Thessalonians of God’s own faithfulness and then gives a guarantee saying, “He will surely do it.”

In other words, if you are in Christ, there is no doubt that God is working in your life to grow you in Christ likeness and preserving your salvation until Christ returns.To give you eternal life

So, if Jesus is teaching in his parable that God generously gives grace to all in Christ regardless of their works, then our application from Jesus parable is that we must...

Let Us Celebrate God’s Grace, Not Our Works

Your place in heaven is not like a timeshare where you only have access determined by the length of time or amount of good works you did for the Lord.

+ The blessings of salvation are not measured out in quotas based on your personal achievements like some kind of point system.

- Likewise, forgiveness is not measured out by weighing your good deeds against your sins. The grace of God is not partially withheld from you if you have sinned too much or too badly.

Every single person that enters into the kingdom receives the full abundance of God’s grace, mercy, and love.

Because of this, the unmerited grace that Jesus describes in this parable has something to say to both those of us who are proud in our salvation like those hired first thing in the morning and to those of us who are discouraged about our worthiness of grace like those hired at 5pm.

Proud

Jesus’ main point of emphasis in his story is to encourage his disciples to not set themselves up as the standard that all other Christians must meet

The Laborers in the vineyard who were hired first, grew jealous that the master would pay those that worked less the same.

They look at their sweaty clothes and callused hands and think, he owes me more than that.

And Christians can easily have this same heart of pride believing that we deserve God’s love and mercy because of what we’ve done. Who wouldn’t want us on their team. I mean we are fantastic.

Just like the laborers, we can think, "Why in the world would God save them? They are disgusting. They are foolish. I am a way better Christian than they are!

We might not ever say it that explicitly, but in our hearts we fancy ourselves as the standard as someone who deserves God’s grace.

Even now, you might be thinking to yourself well glad that’s not me, but hold up a minute.

Do you ever talk condescendingly to your spouse thinking to yourself, well if they only read the Bible as much as I do, then our marriage wouldn’t have as many problems.

And here is what is so frightening when we think in this way. In a way that says we deserve God’s grace because he owes it to us for our faithfulness.

Or maybe there is someone in this church or in your Community Group who you and your spouse gossip about on the way home tearing them and their walk with Christ down under the guise of Christian concern.

It reveals that we may have a heart that is more drawn to the law as the basis for our salvation than God’s grace in Chrsit.

Or how about this. When you look at a brother or sister in

We use our obedience to God’s law, in other words good works, as the basis for our righteousness which is putting our faith in a false gospel.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Your obedience could never save you. Paul said that the law could not bring salvation to anyone. The only thing that saved us is that God became a man in Jesus Christ and lived in perfect obedience for us.

You are saved by Christ’s obedience. Not your own.

Therefore if you have pride in your works where you approach God in a heart that says God you owe me for my faithfulness or if you look on brothers and sisters in the faith with contempt thinking yourself the standard of Christianity, then you must repent of your false gospel and celebrate the grace of the true gospel.

Celebrate the grace of God by giving up your feeble attempts to earn God’s love and instead see the richness of his love for you in Christ.

Because when we treat our salvation as “God, you owe me!” It cheapens God’s grace and glory

The reason the gospel is so amazing is because it did something that was impossible with man but is possible with God..

Through the gospel

the dead are made alive,

enemies are transformed into sons and daughters,

and sinners are declared righteous in Jesus Christ.

God’s grace answers our pride in our works and our trust in them for our salvation by showing us the true gospel proclaims that our true righteousness is in Christ.

Discouraged

I’m not good enough

These are the people that constantly feel like they are on the outside looking in. That yes, of course God loves them but he keeps them at an arms length until they can clean themselves up enough to be deemed acceptable.

Consider the laborers from the 11th hour. They also were given a denarius. If that is true, then there is nothing left for you to do to make yourself acceptable to God. Christ already did it!

What is so sad about Christians who feel like God demands something more from them, before they are able to experience the full benefits of his grace is that they are working out of self-righteous pride and they don’t even know it.

Whether you look at God in pride and say well of course God owes me salvation or you look at your sin and declare yourself to unclean, too disobedient to be fully loved by God, you are still looking at your works as the basis for your salvation, not God’s grace.

Again its a false gospel

Celebrating the grace of God for you looks like embracing Jesus’ promise as he died on the cross, “It is finished.”

Assurance of Salvation

Another danger for the discouraged saint is that they can live their life in constant fear that they aren’t really saved.

Think about it. If you at some level you wonder whether or not God loves you based on whether or not you have done enough to be accepted by him, can you actually have confidence that you are really saved when God feels so distant?

I think every Christian at some point or another wonders whether they are saved, and Paul urges us in Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

In this passage Paul encourages us to test ourselves and in so do we will be able to realize that we really have been given grace because of the evidence of Christ’s work in us.

So how do we test ourselves? How can we have assurance of our salvation. I think there are three evidences in the Christians life to help affirm their salvation

These tests are outlined in 1 John which was written so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Evidences from Our Relationship With God

A true Christian enjoys fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Spirit.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

There are a few things I want you to see here.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

One way we can know we are saved is if we have been given the Spirit. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God

Evidence of the Spirit’s living in us is given when we affirm that Jesus is the Son of God. Only the Spirit can give us that confidence in the truth or the gospel. Paul elsewhere says 1 Corinthians 12:3 no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God

So the first test is whether you have received the Spirit which is evidenced in your faith and trust in the truth of the gospel.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Evidences from Our Spiritual Life and Growth

Again, this is not looking at our works as the basis of our salvation. It is looking at our works as the result of our salvation.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

An identifying characteristic of unbelievers is that they do not see themselves as sinners accountable to God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

They may say that they are broken, or even sometimes do bad things, but they have no conviction of their sin and their need for God’s grace.

So if you as a Christian have felt conviction of sin there is evidence of your salvation.

If you as a Christian see God’s holiness and feel the weight of falling short of his glory, you have evidence of salvation.

Another proof is when we don’t only feel conviction of sin, but we see it progressively put to death in our life.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

This means if you have seen sins in your life be put to death by the Spirit, there is evidence that you have been born again by God’s grace.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Evidences from Our Relationship with the Church

Now when I say church, I don’t mean our church as an organization. The church is the people of God. Specifically the people of God gathered in local congregations who love you and care for you and are committed to your discipleship in the Lord. Practically this means our church members.

We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

This is one of the reasons being a member of a church is so important. How can we love other Christians if we are not united with them in the church.

How can we love one another if we are not a part of one another in church membership?

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

When we gather as God’s people and love one another and care for one another, we give evidence to our faith in Christ.

Jesus even went as far to say in that our love for one another would be the evidence not only for ourselves but all people that we are indeed his followers.

When we struggle with spiritual discouragement, doubting whether or not God’s grace has actually saved us, may we look not to our works in some kind of hope in a false gospel and ability to maintain our faith, but look to the evidence of God’s grace in our life through our love for him, spiritual growth, and love for other Christians.

Conclusion

Jesus’ parable teaches us the wonder of God’s unmerited grace.

It speaks to the false gospel of pride that says we deserve God’s grace because of our works

and it speaks to the false gospel of our discouragement that says God can’t possibly love me because of my works.

Instead the true gospel of grace proclaims that our works are powerless to make us acceptable to God. The only thing that saves us is his wonderful grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here is the amazing thing about his gospel. In God’s kingdom no one will receive less than what they deserve. For the unrepentant sinner, they will receive the full measure of God’s judgement and condemnation for their sin,

but by God’s grace, those that are in Christ will receive far more than what they deserve. Instead of judgement every Christian, regardless of works, will receive the grace of eternal life.