Lovers of God

The parable of the laborers

Mt 20:1-16 1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 "And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever * is right I will give you.’ And so they went. 5 "Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6 "And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ 7 "They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ 9 "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10 "When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 "When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ 13 "But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 ‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ 16 "So the last shall be first, and the first last."

Notice that the landowner made an agreement on wages only for the first group of people – a denarius a day. With all the other groups, he just asked them to trust him to ‘give them what is right’ and they were willing to trust him. The lesson is that if we try to keep an account with God, saying, "I did this for you, so you need to do this for me," then we will live by that account but will find that God was more generous to those who trusted Him to do the right thing.

So then, the key point of this picture is that in the kingdom of heaven those who trust God to reward them for their work will be better off than those who make specific agreements with God. God will show Himself generous to those who work for Him and make sacrifices for Him without thought of reward. This understanding is strengthened by the fact that Jesus painted this picture when Peter pointed out how much he sacrificed in order to follow Jesus.

The bottom line is this: those who build the kingdom of heaven without any ulterior motive but solely out of gratitude for what God has done for them will find that they end up the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

One last point: keep in mind that Jesus didn’t say that some who are first will be second or third or fourth. He said that they would be last. Those who have been doing the opposite of what God says and have been teaching totally wrong things as if they were things of God – such people will be last, and not just somewhere in between.

Besides rewards, there is another aspect to this. Consider Lk 13:23-30.

We don’t realize that there is a great deception going on – not just in the world, but also among the church. It is a deception concerning who will be great in the kingdom of heaven.

According to Jesus, there are people who are considered to be great Christians in the eyes of men will, in the Judgment Day, be found to be the worst Christians. Further, there are people who are considered to be terrible Christians (even heretics) who will turn out to be great Christians.

You find that surprising? Well, here is what Jesus said.

Lk 13:23-30 23 And someone said to Him, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?" And He said to them, 24 "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ 26 "Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; 27 and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.’ 28 "In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. 29 And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last."

What Jesus said can only be true if some of the things that are considered true and correct and valuable today are not, and the things that are considered false and wrong and horrible today are not. Many are entering through the wide door, and they think that they are in the kingdom of heaven, whereas they are not.

Think about that!

May God give you wisdom and understanding and discernment that lead you to the truth that enables you to be among the first rather than among the last in the kingdom of heaven.