Then God the Father sent His only Son. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. And then we must rest on him, count on him to see us through, to supply that enabling power which makes us able to love and forgive and rejoice and give thanks, even when everything is going wrong. He or she may not have sung in a choir, never taught a Sunday School class, nor been a part of a church committee. He owns everything. Linking is encouraged, but republishing or redistributing, including by framing or similar means, without the publisher's prior written permission is prohibited. When we think of its size, how few workers there are! If indeed this is the location, they then took their way down across the Tyropoeon Valley, which separated the Temple from the rest of the city, around the wall skirting the Temple area, down into the Kidron Valley, across the brook, and then up the slope of the Mount of Olives to the garden. Surely, Furthermore, it is added to any new believers as a consolation of the grace of God. This parable is about the masters generosity His grace. We thank you for these possibilities which we have in Jesus Christ our Lord. For many are called, but few chosen.. In verse three, the householder went out about the third hour into the marketplace and found others standing idly by. A. Many people in Jesus day had a small personal vineyard on their own small plot of land that they worked for themselves. We expect that those who work harder and longer will receive a greater reward than those who do not. That person may not have done anything of importance within the church but look at the rewards he or she may have. (1) The need for labourers is great in the continent of Europe. And many a churchgoer is in that state. How discontented we are (Hebrews 13:5)! The late evangelist pastor, and writer, R. A. Torrey had an interesting perspective on this. But what about the other four groups of workers? The Jews would grumble when salvation is provided to gentiles as well. I am the vine, you are the branches. God came looking for justice and righteousness; instead he found oppression, cruelty, exploitation, and indifference to the needs of others. 3 About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. Change). The landowner keeps going to the marketplace to find more people to work in his vineyard His crop desperately needs to be gathered. No, they are means by which we know him. We find that the master of the vineyard has a rather strange way of rewarding his workers. Notice that Jesus says here to the disciples, "You are already made clean." There is a spiritual principle here. They prove to be his disciples. And though you are responsible to make the decisions and make the choices, you are not responsible for the power to carry them out. Was it unfair for them to receive what they received from the master of the vineyard? He employs the workers and not the other way around. This gift is for everyone. The fruit here is not others won to Christ. It is His vineyard and He chooses to do with it as He sees fit. Choose from news (Monday), leisure (Thursday) or worship (Saturday) or get all three! This is the work of the Father. He did not abide in Christ, and Christ did not abide in him. There are at least four truths this parable teaches us: The first thing we ought to realize about this parable is that the master owns the vineyard. It is a matter of human dignity, he said. All they hear is, "Do as you please." We trade the Giver for His gifts. Is God using the sharp knife of circumstances to cut off the "sucker shoot" of an old habit or attitude in your life, confronting you with that word of truth which corrects and cleanses, causing you to see it and feel it and hear it and give heed to it? They continually were seeking ways to quiet Him or destroy Him. The parable is about a master calling people to work for Him. Prayers are answered, growing out of that relationship of an obedient and a dependent heart -- leaving the process and timing to God. Notice the workers were called at different times:-. And there are conversions after conversions throughout the remainder of the week -- because of young people who manifest by their lives that they are Jesus' disciples. Now we must choose to maintain that relationship by the decisions we make, i.e., decisions to expose ourselves to his Word in order to learn about him, and to relate to him in prayer wherein we converse with him, and to relate to other believers in body-life experiences, i.e., bearing one another's burdens and confessing our faults and sharing in fellowship with one another, wherein we learn about and see Christ in one another. Jesus further explained the participation rules of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is only by God's grace. Without both of those, fruitlessness is the result. Also, Jesus teaches in this parable that all who come to Him will be equal in the kingdom of God, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, young or old. I lived in the far corner of Northeastern Washington with my beautiful wife, but now live in Wisconsin while I look for work. Let me tell you why they are the way they are." But I have learned that the only young people who can ever stand up to this grueling demand, and can meet it with an unvarying spirit of joy and gladness, with the kind of attitude that has so impressed you, are those who have learned to love Jesus.". If we use the basic principle of understanding Scripture, which is common to all of Scripture -- letting Scripture interpret itself -- there is no doubt as to what this fruit is. We Christians are God's great vineyard. But it is conceivable that the master had a lot of work to do and wanted all the workers he could find to do it. (John 15:6 RSV). However, we are not entitled to anything, especially from God. He says, "Now, it may seem strange to you that I should ask that last question. In this parable we encounter a situation that just does not seem right. Music City Construction Careers in Nashville is one such bridge-building program. This is Labor Day weekend. How could they be otherwise until the Landowner had commissioned them to work? But if you share where you are spiritually, what your struggles are, what you are going through, and if you bear one another's burdens and love each other in the Lord, it becomes a delightful, marvelous, strengthening experience. God is gracious to us, calling us from our idle state and placing us in His vineyard to work for His harvest. A vineyard is planted not for ornamentation, but to produce grapes, to bear fruit. On some, Lord, you see sucker shoots which need to be pruned away. A friend of mine passed through Palo Alto this week on his way to Colorado to participate in a very unusual ranch. 53). He will call you into the fold and pay you more than you ever deserve. The parable occurs between two very similar statements in Matthew: The first will be last, and the last first. If they respond just a little, then your love can reach out further, can deepen and grow. He did everything possible to cause it to produce grapes. Many religious leaders are more interested in their fame and fortune than they are at leading people to the truth. Again, He is the Master of the vineyard, not us. 07/15/2018. That might be valid, yet God will not remunerate us for the measure of work we have done. They were not to attempt to do the occupation without assistance. (Aimee Shelide Mayer is a social justice and spiritual formation consultant to nonprofits, churches and schools. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. But it is an The masters promise was entirely fair; however, since the master of the vineyard gave the others who worked less than a full day the same wage as those who had borne the burden of the day, those first workers believed that they deserved something more. Its a place where to keep you from being idle, to ensure you dont live a They are most likely stunned to receive a full days pay for only small amount of work. Several biblical passages describe the grape harvest as a time of And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day? They said to him, Because no one hired us. He said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive., So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first. And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. When the Landowner went out at the eleventh hour and asked, Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing? (verse 6), they replied, Because no-one has hired us (verse 7). Look up Psalm 126:6; Matthew 25:21; 1 Corinthians 4:2. We also have a day in which to work for the Lord - look up 2 Corinthians 6:2 - the Day of Grace. So he has designed this ranch for that purpose. What the owner does is to go throughout the country and interview young people for the crew to work on this ranch. What then will we have? Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Would we demand fairness for the first group, for the first Christians? For example, the Lord needs: To all of us the Lord says - Revelation 3:8! Fruitfulness brings glory to GOD. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. Many employees look forward to this day as another paid day off from work. If you love somebody, and reach out toward them, you can go only so far unless they respond to that love. So every vinedresser knows it is important to prune away these little sucker shoots in order that the vine may produce more fruit. If in relating to others you merely get together and have coffee and talk about the weather, you will find it useless. In closing, the principle of this parable is that it is foolish to demand fairness from God. She holds a masters degree in theology.). We are workers of the eleventh hour! Stand Up Nashville, a grassroots organization supported by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, also in Nashville, has fought for a community benefits agreement around the new soccer stadium construction project to ensure that local residents benefit from living wage employment opportunities. We could see this as people coming to faith in Jesus Christ during different periods of church history or at different ages in life. Change). Catholic Labor Network has also supported local Catholic Charities agencies around the country that are exploring partnerships with North Americas Building Trades Unions Multi-craft Core Curriculum (MC3) Apprenticeship Readiness Program to channel Catholic Charities clients, low-income Catholic parishioners, and referrals from local St. Vincent de Paul conferences into stable and fiscally solvent careers in the union construction trades. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. By doing so, we heed Pope Franciss advice in Evangelii Gaudium to say no to an economy of exclusion and inequality andyesto an economy that restores human dignity (No. View all posts by davesdailyscriptures. Our Lord goes on now to point out the consequence of not abiding in him: "If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned." and do it wholeheartedly. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Only believing in Christ and accepting him as Lord and Savior is what prompts a home in heaven. Here in remarkable imagery he captures the work which goes on in our lives as the Father employs the circumstances in which we are found, the situations of our lives, to make us heed and hear the Word which corrects and changes. The Gospel reading was -- and remains -- one of the most incendiary of Jesus' parables: that of the generous landowner It is the third of these parables that we will study, and notice in verse 1 that the Landowner is our Lord Himself, and the Workers He sent into His vineyard represent all who have been saved (Matthew 1:21), chosen (John 16:16), and commissioned by Him (Matthew 9:38). But many are troubled by those who claim that, unless a Christian is constantly winning others to Christ, he is a fruitless Christian. This is what our Lord has in view. We believe they deserved more. Fruitfulness shows that we are in partnership with GOD. The same is true for God. You do not even have to do a thing to manifest that. We pray in his name, Amen. The world is our parish (John 3:16; Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8); and His business extends right around the whole of it. WebJesus, by the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, shows that God is debtor unto no man; 17. foretells his passion; 20. by answering the mother of Zebedee's children, teaches his disciples to be humble; 29. and gives two blind men their sight. He exercised the power of God by performing miracles. (5) Discouragement. Here is the case our Lord mentioned earlier when he said, of one aspect of the Father's work, "every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away." I have been a member of the Presbyterian Church for thirty years, and have tried to be a consistent one all the time. Isaiah tells us what that represents in Verse 7: For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry! Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. None are self-appointed. What is that? In Gods vineyard, people have no anxiety at all. Instead of worrying they pray with thanksgiving, [making] their requests known to God. In this, they can be utterly In this instance, we should mobilize people to first pray, then gather a band of prayer warriors. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. It is not part of the fruit itself; it is the result of a life which increasingly is becoming Christlike. And on the third evening the owner of the ranch sits down and says, "Many of you have been asking about our crew. There is no more fundamental advice on the value of work, and how that leads to a good and successful life, than the word of God. But he will answer your prayers when they grow out of this relationship. It is likewise to the people who might feel predominant on the grounds that they might have invested such a lot of energy with Christ as a Christian. In this role, she serves as the local representative of the national Catholic Labor Network in Nashville, Tennessee. That is abiding in him. If we did, then it would not be grace. I want to reassure you that this is not the case. Or is your eye evil because I am good? So the last will be first, and the first last. (4) Still others at the eleventh hour (verse 6) - twenty-first century witnesses? Changing Yourself Hard Work And Perseverance Life By God's Word Self Confidence Receiving God's Word Games, Spiritual Useless Labour Athletics Victory The Fact Of That Day The Christian Race The Soul And in the 80th Psalm, the Psalmist says that God "brought a vine out of Egypt" and planted it in a good land, Psalms 80:8). If we do that we are fulfilling this active, necessary decision of the will to obey his Word, to do what he says, and to stay in touch with him. That is, "This pruning has gone on in your life already." (John 15:4-5 RSV). Our Father, as you have been walking through your vineyard this morning, you have been looking at various vines growing here. People come and spend a lot of money, staying a week or so at a time. The man who owns it has a heart of concern for what he calls "the up-and-outers" -- those who are over-privileged, who have all too much of everything, yet to whom very few are witnessing, telling them of life in Christ. None of us are worthy to be there, but Jesus paid for our sins and died for us, so that all who believe may enter into heaven. It brings GOD glory it shows we are disciples. The life which is in the vine produces fruit which Paul describes in Galatians5 as: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. Probably everyone feels that a person ought to be compensated fairly for his or her work. Only believing in Christ and accepting him as Lord and Savior is what prompts a home in heaven. When the guests arrive the crew simply relates to them and gives them the time of their lives. The land was Gods planting (Psalm 80), Gods vineyard (Isaiah 5). He responded, This man thinks that because he has been a consistent church member for thirty years, a faithful Sunday school superintendent for twenty-five years, and an elder in the church for twenty years, that God is under obligation to answer his prayer. They are not mere mechanical practices which every Christian ought to do in order to stay "in" with the crowd, or to maintain his "membership card," or to get "brownie points" with God! This anecdote is not about remunerations, yet it is about salvation. Look up John 4:35, and compare John 9:4. Take what is yours and go your way. Gods kingship overturns all our expectations of being treated as we deserve, all our human conventions of social honour, all our natural desires to be recognized as This is a picture of those church members who, despite attending church, never have any manifestation of truth, never have any sign in their lives of that quality of love and forgiveness and understanding and compassion which is born of the Holy Spirit, but are rigid and narrow and hard and harsh and condemning and difficult -- even though they say and do the "right" thing. In the first 13 verses of chapter 20 of the Book of Matthew, Jesus is telling the parable about workers being paid equally. This sermon was delivered at Good Hope Baptist Church in Wake Forest, NC. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. What a privilege and what a responsibility to be a worker! Suffice it to say, the Lord will someday reward the person who may have been a member of a small church. Jerry Tu. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers XX. You can raise your family without Christ. Would we really begrudge Gods grace on the latecomers, including ourselves? Do you love Jesus? On the other hand, he says, "He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. His joy, the joy that was always there at the bottom of his heart, that gladness of relationship with his Father, is now to be our experience. (John 15:7 RSV), Answered prayer is one of the first signs of a fruitful life. 1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. (4) workers who visit and use their practical skills (Acts 10:38). And he tells them about the three questions he asked: Do you love work? He is the vine, we are the branches. Gods vineyard is the entire earth, and the workers in the vineyard Can we or will we be able to say, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing (2 Timothy 4:7-8). But where love is responded to, it grows deeper and richer and truer, and eventually becomes a glorious experience. Both of these are absolutely essential, and our Lord develops this fact. We would be foolish to appeal to God for justice rather than grace, for if we really received justice, we would all be condemned. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? When we do, we are abiding in him and letting him abide in us. (Isaiah 5:7 RSV). Then the last result of fruitbearing -- the fullness of joy, Verse11, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." The truth is that the master gave them exactly what they had contracted to receive. WebThere is a great need for God s people today to get a worldwide missionary vision because we can be very local and parochial in our concept of the Lord s work. RayStedman.org/permissions. He was with the Lord -- spent three and a half years with him. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[ a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard. Also, there is much work to be done. So it is a complete cycle which keeps producing deeper and deeper experiences of love. The fruit, in other words, is Christ-likeness. Even though Israel is Gods chosen people, He opened the door for salvation to everyone. I am sure you have all had the experience of being confronted with a word of Scripture and learning from it that something you had been doing all your life, and which you thought was right, was actually wrong. If you open your Bible and begin to read it without the conscious expectation that it is going to tell you something about him, you will read in vain. Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. Do as you have been a member of the vineyard and killed him a complete cycle which keeps producing and... Hired about the third hour into the fold and pay you more than you ever.! He found oppression, cruelty, exploitation, and eventually becomes a glorious experience he opened the door for to! Do with it as he sees fit us ( verse 7 ) fairly... 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