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081: When Grace Doesn't Seem Fair - Matthew 20:1-16 · Gospel Explorations

0:04
Mark: Hello everyone, this is Mark Davis, and I want to welcome you to the Gospel Explorations Podcast, where we gather together each week to take time to explore God's Word to learn how we ought to live in this present age.
0:16
Mark: I'm glad you've chosen to spend some time with us today.
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Mark: Let's jump into today's episode.
0:27
Mark: Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Gospel Explorations Podcast.
0:31
Mark: This is episode number 81, and we're going to take time today to slow down, open God's Word, and explore not only what the scripture says, but how it should also shape the way that we live.
0:43
Mark: Now, today we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter 20.
0:46
Mark: And this has been said of some that this could be one of Jesus' most memorable parables, as it's a parable of the laborers in the vineyard.
0:55
Mark: And this parable really grows out of the conversation that we just wrapped up in Matthew chapter 19.
1:02
Mark: In that place, Peter had asked Jesus, Behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee.
1:08
Mark: What shall we have therefore?
1:10
Mark: And Jesus assured Peter and the other disciples that their sacrifice would not be forgotten and that there would be reward.
1:18
Mark: But then Jesus added a very important warning.
1:21
Mark: He said, Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.
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Mark: Now in Matthew chapter 20, Jesus tells a story to explain what he means by that phrase that he spoke in chapter 19.
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Mark: You see, it's a story about workers, about wages, about comparison.
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Mark: But most importantly, it's a story about grace.
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Mark: And grace has a natural way of upsetting our sense of fairness.
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Mark: Because grace does not ask what do you deserve.
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Mark: Instead, grace asks, what does the giver desire to give?
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Mark: So if you have your Bibles, let's open them to Matthew chapter 20, starting in verse number one.
2:01
Mark: For the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.
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Mark: Now, this picture would be familiar to Jesus' listeners because day laborers would gather early in the marketplace and wait for someone to come and hire them.
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Mark: They had no guaranteed income.
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Mark: If no one hired them that day, they might have nothing to take back home to their families that evening.
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Mark: And so the landowner goes out early in the morning, probably around six o'clock in the morning, and hires a group of men.
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Mark: Look at verse number two.
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Mark: And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
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Mark: Now the word penny translated here in the King James is a denarius or a normal day's wage for a laborer.
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Mark: So this is a completely ordinary agreement.
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Mark: The employer says, Work in my vineyard today and I'll pay you the standard wage.
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Mark: They agreed.
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Mark: There was no trick, no unfairness, no misunderstanding.
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Mark: They got to work.
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Mark: And if the story stopped there, there would really be nothing unusual about it.
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Mark: But the landowner keeps going back.
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Mark: In verses three and four we read, and he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
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Mark: And he said to them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you.
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Mark: And they went their way.
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Mark: Now the third hour would be around nine o'clock in the morning.
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Mark: Now notice something is changing here.
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Mark: With the first workers, the landowner agreed on a specific wage, but with these workers he simply says, Whatsoever is right I will give you.
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Mark: In other words, he was saying to them, Trust me, you go work, and I'll take care of you fairly.
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Mark: Then notice in verse five, we read these words.
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Mark: And he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise.
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Mark: So around noon he hires more, around three in the afternoon he hires more.
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Mark: And then something strange happens when we get to verse number six.
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Mark: And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
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Mark: Now the eleventh hour is about five o'clock in the afternoon.
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Mark: The workday is nearly over, and there's probably only about an hour left to work.
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Mark: And yet the landowner is still looking for laborers.
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Mark: He asked them, Why are you standing here all the day idle?
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Mark: And they answered, because no man had hired us.
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Mark: Now, there's something almost sad about this answer.
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Mark: They weren't necessarily lazy, they were available.
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Mark: They had come looking for work, but no one had chosen them.
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Mark: Maybe they weren't as strong as the others, or maybe they were older, or it could be they simply just weren't noticed.
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Mark: Whatever the reason, everyone else had been chosen first, and here they are, late in the afternoon, still waiting.
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Mark: Notice what the landowner says.
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Mark: Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
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Mark: So even at the eleventh hour, there was still work to be done, and there was still room in the vineyard.
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Mark: Now that alone gives us something that's worth thinking about.
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Mark: In the kingdom of God, there is work for us to do.
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Mark: And maybe some people listening feel as though they've wasted too much time.
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Mark: Maybe you think, well, I should have started serving God years ago.
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Mark: I've wasted opportunities, I've spent too much of my life on myself.
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Mark: And certainly there is wisdom in serving Christ early.
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Mark: But don't miss the landowner's invitation at five o'clock.
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Mark: Go into the vineyard.
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Mark: Listen, if God has called you today, then serve him today.
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Mark: Don't spend the rest of your life mourning the years that you didn't serve him while neglecting the opportunity he's put in front of you now.
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Mark: You can't go back and serve God yesterday, but you can follow him today.
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Mark: You can pray today, you can encourage someone today, you can teach and give today, you can be a witness for Christ today and serve others.
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Mark: The landowner is still calling laborers into his vineyard.
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Mark: Notice what Matthew pins in verse number eight.
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Mark: So when even was come, the Lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the laborers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
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Mark: Now notice the order.
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Mark: The workers hired last are paid first.
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Mark: And this matters, because everyone is going to see what happens.
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Mark: So the men who worked only one hour stepped forward.
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Mark: And when they came, verse nine, that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
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Mark: They got a full day's wage.
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Mark: Can you imagine their reaction?
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Mark: They worked for only one hour.
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Mark: They had probably gone into the vineyard hoping to earn just enough to take something home.
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Mark: And instead they received the full amount.
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Mark: This wasn't wages based strictly on the amount of work they performed.
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Mark: This is generosity.
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Mark: This is grace.
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Mark: And when the workers who had been there since six o'clock see it, they immediately start doing the math.
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Mark: Look at verse number 10.
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Mark: But when the first came, they suppose that they should have received more.
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Mark: Well, of course they did.
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Mark: If one hour gets a full day's pay, then twelve hours should get much more.
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Mark: Well, at least that's how they reasoned.
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Mark: But then the Bible says, and they likewise received every man a penny.
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Mark: Exactly what they agreed to.
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Mark: And suddenly, a wage that had seemed perfectly fair that morning no longer seems fair at all.
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Mark: Why?
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Mark: Well, it's because they started looking at what someone else had received.
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Mark: And this is where the story becomes uncomfortably familiar.
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Mark: Earlier in the day, those workers were content.
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Mark: They had been hired.
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Mark: They had work, they had an agreed wage, everything was fine.
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Mark: But then they saw the landowner be generous to somebody else, and suddenly their own blessing began to seem smaller.
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Mark: And isn't that exactly what comparison does?
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Mark: You can be thankful for your house until you see someone else's.
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Mark: You can appreciate your job until you hear what someone else earns.
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Mark: You can be grateful for your ministry until someone else's ministry grows faster.
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Mark: You can be contented with your gifts until someone else seems to be more gifted.
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Mark: You can celebrate what God's done in your life until you start measuring it against what God has done for someone else.
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Mark: And suddenly something that felt like a blessing begins to feel like injustice.
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Mark: And it's not because God took anything away from us, but because he gave something generously to someone else.
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Mark: You see, comparison has an incredible ability to turn gratitude into resentment.
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Mark: Now notice what happens in verse 11.
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Mark: The first workers begin complaining.
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Mark: And when they had received it, they murmured against the good men of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
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Mark: Now let's be fair.
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Mark: From a purely human perspective, we understand their frustration.
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Mark: They worked all day, they labored through the heat, the others barely worked at all, and yet everyone received the same amount.
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Mark: Notice they say, Thou hast made them equal unto us.
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Mark: And that's really what bothers them.
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Mark: Not that they were cheated, because they weren't.
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Mark: They received exactly what they had been promised.
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Mark: Their complaint is, why should they get what we got?
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Mark: And that then exposes the very heart of the parable.
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Mark: Because sometimes we don't actually object to injustice, we object to generosity when it benefits someone else.
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Mark: Notice what the landowner says in verse number 13.
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Mark: But he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong.
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Mark: Didst thou not agree with me for a penny?
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Mark: Now that answer is important because we need to remind ourselves that God is never unfair.
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Mark: Never.
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Mark: We may not always understand what he does.
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Mark: We may not always understand why one person's life looks easier than another's, or why one believer receives an opportunity another does not.
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Mark: We may not understand the distribution of gifts or of influence, resources, health, or even circumstances.
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Mark: But God will never, ever wrong us.
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Mark: Notice what the landowner says.
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Mark: I will give unto the last, even as unto thee.
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Mark: Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?
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Mark: Is thine eye evil because I am good?
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Mark: And that's the issue.
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Mark: Are you angry because I'm generous?
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Mark: Grace always sounds wonderful when we're the ones receiving it.
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Mark: We love to sing about grace, to preach about grace, to talk about amazing grace.
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Mark: But grace can become uncomfortable when God gives generously to someone we think deserves less?
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Mark: What if someone comes to Christ after wasting almost an entire lifetime?
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Mark: What if a person lives selfishly for decades, turns to Christ late in life, and receives the same eternal life as someone who served Jesus since childhood?
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Mark: Does that bother us?
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Mark: What about the thief on the cross?
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Mark: He didn't spend decades serving Jesus, he didn't plant churches, he didn't go on missionary journeys, he didn't teach Sunday school, he couldn't go back and repair his past.
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Mark: He simply turned to Christ at the end.
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Mark: And Jesus told him, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
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Mark: That's grace.
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Mark: And if something inside of us says, that's not fair, then we may understand these workers better than we'd like to admit.
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Mark: Because the gospel itself is not fair in the sense of everyone getting what they deserve.
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Mark: You see, if God gave us what we deserved, none of us would want that arrangement.
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Mark: We don't need God to be merely fair with us.
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Mark: We need him to be gracious.
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Mark: You see, under the law, the question is, what have I earned?
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Mark: But under grace, the question is, what has God chosen to give?
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Mark: And those are radically different systems.
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Mark: The workers hired first were thinking like employees.
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Mark: I work 12 hours, pay me accordingly.
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Mark: The workers hired last could only receive.
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Mark: They had almost nothing to bargain with.
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Mark: They weren't standing there saying, look at how much we've accomplished, because the reality is they had barely enough time to accomplish anything.
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Mark: Everything depended on the generosity of the landowner.
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Mark: And that's the beautiful picture of our relationship with God.
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Mark: Everything begins with grace.
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Mark: The invitation to serve is grace, the ability to serve is grace, the strength to serve is grace, the opportunities to serve are grace.
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Mark: And the fruit that comes from service is grace.
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Mark: And then God turns around and rewards us for work that He enabled us to do in the first place.
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Mark: How could we even boast about that?
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Mark: Remember why Jesus had told this parable.
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Mark: Remember the end of Matthew chapter 19.
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Mark: Peter had said, We have forsaken all and followed thee.
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Mark: What shall we have therefore?
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Mark: Now there wasn't anything wrong with acknowledging sacrifice.
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Mark: Jesus had just promised reward.
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Mark: But Peter needed to be careful because it's a short distance from Lord, we've sacrificed for you, to Lord, surely we deserve more than they do.
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Mark: And that attitude can creep into our Christian service.
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Mark: I've been faithful longer, I've sacrificed more, I've served here for 30 years, I've given more, I've suffered more, I've done the difficult work.
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Mark: And suddenly service for Jesus becomes a ledger.
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Mark: We keep track, we compare, we calculate, and eventually we start believing God owes us something.
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Mark: But grace destroys that mindset because God owes me nothing.
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Mark: Everything I have is already grace.
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Mark: Now notice what Jesus says in verse number 16.
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Mark: So the last shall be first and the first last for many be called, but few chosen.
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Mark: This repeats the very same statement from the end of Matthew chapter 19.
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Mark: You see, God's kingdom has a way of reversing our rankings.
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Mark: Those we think should be first may not be.
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Mark: Those we hardly notice may receive great honor.
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Mark: Those who serve quietly may receive tremendous reward.
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Mark: And those who appear successful may discover that God evaluates success very differently.
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Mark: And that's why we should be careful about comparing ourselves with other servants of Christ.
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Mark: We don't know what God sees, we don't know the other person's struggles, we don't know their motives or their opportunities.
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Mark: We don't know what God has called them to carry.
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Mark: And we're not the landowner.
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Mark: God is.
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Mark: So here's one of the most practical lessons of this parable.
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Mark: We need to learn to celebrate the grace of God in somebody else's life.
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Mark: When God blesses someone, we should rejoice.
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Mark: When someone receives an opportunity that we did not receive, we should rejoice.
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Mark: When someone comes to Christ late in life, we should rejoice.
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Mark: When another ministry flourishes, we should rejoice.
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Mark: When God uses someone else powerfully, we should rejoice.
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Mark: And when another believer receives something good that you had hoped for yourself, we should rejoice.
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Mark: And let's be honest, that's hard.
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Mark: But that's what grace produces.
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Mark: You see, the kingdom isn't a competition.
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Mark: We're all part of Christ's body.
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Mark: Someone else's blessing doesn't diminish ours.
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Mark: And when God is glorified through another believer, we all have reason to rejoice.
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Mark: And there should be one other important change this parable makes in the way that we think about our service.
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Mark: We don't serve God merely because we're calculating the reward.
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Mark: We serve because he's a good master, because he's called us, and because the vineyard belongs to him.
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Mark: We serve there because there's meaningful work to do.
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Mark: And we serve because grace has already given us far more than we deserve.
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Mark: And yet God promises reward.
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Mark: Scripture's clear about that.
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Mark: But there is something spiritually unhealthy about constantly asking, what am I going to get out of this?
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Mark: The better question is, how can I faithfully serve the one who has already given me everything?
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Mark: Now the reality is maybe you've served Christ for many years.
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Mark: Thank God for that.
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Mark: And don't resent the person who shows up at five o'clock.
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Mark: Welcome them into the vineyard.
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Mark: Maybe you've only recently begun following Jesus.
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Mark: Don't think it's too late to serve.
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Mark: The landowner is still calling.
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Mark: Maybe you feel overlooked.
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Mark: Can I remind you that God sees you?
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Mark: Maybe you've been comparing your life with someone else's.
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Mark: Remind yourself that God has never done you wrong.
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Mark: His goodness toward another person does not diminish his goodness towards you.
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Mark: And above everything else, remember that none of us enters the kingdom because we earned a wage.
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Mark: We enter because God is gracious.
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Mark: And if we really understand how much grace we ourselves have received, then instead of complaining when grace reaches someone else, we'll celebrate.
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Mark: Because grace is not something God gives because we deserve it.
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Mark: It flows from who He is.
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Mark: Friend, thanks for joining me today on the Gospel Explorations podcast.
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Mark: Would you take some time this week to read back through Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 through 16, and pay special attention to the question the landowner asks.
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Mark: Is thine eye evil?
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Mark: Because I am good?
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Mark: Ask God to show you any place where comparison or jealousy or sense of entitlement has kept you from rejoicing in his goodness.
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Mark: And as always, be sure to check out the show notes for reflection and study questions to help you to continue exploring this passage.
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Mark: Until next time, grace and peace, friends.
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Mark: Thanks for listening.
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Mark: I hope that you've been both encouraged and challenged today.
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Mark: If you want to connect with us further, please be sure to check us out on the web at gospelexplorations.com.
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Mark: We look forward to having you join us again next time.