Key Verse: “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with My
own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” Matthew 20:15
This is a parable that makes many a Christian squirm. We
mostly squirm because we sympathize too well with those who have worked all day
in the vineyard. We are grateful for the stories that we hear of death bed
conversions, especially if it is one of our own loved ones who is the
beneficiary of such grace. Too often, however, like those who worked all day in
the vineyard, we start to think that we deserve salvation plus, or something
like that, for all of the sacrifice and hard work that we’ve made to God
throughout our entire lives.
Jesus began His parable with the words, “For the Kingdom of
Heaven is like…” (Matt. 20:1) He then proceeds to tell a story of a very
generous employer with an aggressive hiring campaign. He obviously wants to be
sure to get the crops in before the crop ruining rains begin. It is obvious
that the man is generous but also urgent for the task at hand. He knows that
the storm is coming and he wants the crop gathered in.
“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some
consider slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but
everyone to come to repentance.” (2
Peter 3:9) God is the owner of the vineyard. He knows that an end is
coming. He comes again and again to offer the gift of salvation, not wanting
any to perish.
Some respond in childhood and youth. There are many fruitful
years of labor ahead for these believers. There is an opportunity to dedicate
an entire life to Christ with minimal regrets of what was left behind. I once
heard a statistic that 90% of those who come to Christ will come before the age
of nineteen. This makes the emphasis on ministries to children and youth even
more important.
There are those who come to Christ throughout their adult
years. For some, this is a return to their roots of a Christian upbringing.
Others come to Christ from need, or from being persuaded that Jesus really is
what He claimed to be, “the way, the truth and the life.” (John
14:6)
Then there are those who finally make a decision to make
Jesus the Lord of their life near the end, maybe even on their death bed. They
realize that they can no longer avoid the question, “What will you do with
Jesus?” They decide to accept His generous gift before eternity begins.
In this parable, Jesus is talking about the gift of
salvation extended to all through grace. He is not talking about our reward.
Salvation and reward are two separate and distinct issues. Paul tells us “For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and not from yourselves, it
is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph.
2:8-9) Salvation is a free gift of Grace, equal to all. He then goes on to
say: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.”(Eph.
2:10) We are saved by Grace to do the work we were created to do. In other
words, salvation is like the denarius we all agreed to when we said to the
Lord, “Take me, I am yours.”
Our reward comes after the harvest is done. In Matthew
16:27, Jesus Himself said, “The Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s
glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what He
has done.” Jesus repeats this in Revelation
22:12, when He says, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I
will give to everyone according to what he has done." While it is true that the
last were definitely beneficiaries of grace, they were also the ones who took
the most risk by almost missing the boat altogether. They have also missed out
on the formation process that God uses to recreate us to become more like
Christ and they’ve missed out on the joy of knowing what it is to serve Him.
They do not know Him as those of us who have walked a lifetime do. Praise God
for eternity and the opportunity to get to know Him then!
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