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If you'll turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 19, Matthew chapter 19 will be starting in verse 27. I want to ask you a question. Is what you suffered here worth the kingdom of God? Is following Jesus worth what you have to suffer?
And I'm not talking about suffering like you have to come to church Sunday morning and you're missing Netflix and it's really hot in church because we didn't get the ACs fixed. Not that type of suffering, but actual suffering that you come to Christ and now your son thinks you're crazy because you keep talking about Jesus or you're a parent whose child no longer wants to have any connection with you because you're following Christ.
Maybe it's not family related. Maybe you lost your job. Our culture is definitely not making it easy to be a Christian. HR departments are starting to give pronoun training. Maybe you're going to sometime have this question, do I pretend that that man is a woman or do I lose my job?
Do I wave that pride flag on June or do I lose my job? Do I speak out against abortion if I know that the FBI is going to show up on my front step? When following Christ threatens our family and our livelihood, we have to ask that one question, is it worth it?
But that leads us to another question, if it's worth it, well, I can leave everything and follow Christ, but how do I know that I've actually attained Christ? How do I know that I have the kingdom? Is it worth it?
It's the first question. But then the second question, have I done enough? Startup companies fail all the time, even though their owners have poured everything into them. Just because you gave it all doesn't mean you get anything.
That's what we're going to look at tonight. Our passage answers these two questions, is following Christ worth it? And have I done enough? We're starting in Matthew 19, verse 27, and remember that we've been talking about the rich young man and we're still in that passage.
The rich young man is probably, his back is turned, he's just walking away. We just saw that you cannot earn eternal life, but Jesus gives it to the helpless. Now we see that the kingdom of heaven is worth far more than our earthly sufferings, and God freely gives it to his people.
So we'll start in verse 27, Peter says in reply, see, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? Is that a bad question? That's the first thing we need to figure out, is this question that Peter asks bad?
The commentators are actually divided on it. They're not sure if Peter is maybe recognizes that we can't earn salvation and he's thinking, has everything I've done been for naught? Is this what I'm doing?
Is that worthwhile? Or maybe he's thinking selfishly with ambition. Remember in chapter 18, they've been arguing over who is the greatest. Later on in chapter 20, they're going to pick that argument right back up again.
But regardless of the motivation, Jesus doesn't treat this question as a bad question. It's actually not a bad question to ask. The question, is it worth it? Just think, Jesus, why did he suffer on the cross?
For the joy set before him. Paul, looking at his own present troubles, can see them as light and momentary. Why? Because he's looking forward to the glory to come. And Revelation paints a picture of the new heavens and the new earth.
We don't, it's perfectly fine to ask, what are the rewards or what are the benefits of the kingdom of heaven? So Jesus answers Peter, and what we're going to do is we're going to read straight through Jesus' answer from verse 28 all the way down to verse 16 of chapter 20.
This is how the disciples would have heard it. So we'll just read the answer straight through, and then we'll break it down a little bit. Matthew 19, verse 28. 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, 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.
But many who are first will be last and the last first, 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, and after agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard, and going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, you go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.
So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same, 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?
They said to him, because no one has hired us. He said to them, you go into the vineyard too, 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, and when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius, and on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house, 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.
But he replied to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I chose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I chose with what belongs to me, or do you begrudge my generosity?
So the last will be first, and the first last. So Jesus, in answering Peter's question, has two points. Is the kingdom of heaven worth our suffering? That's the first question Jesus answers. And then the second is, have I done enough?
So the first question is answered in verses 28 through the end of chapter 19. That's a good question to ask. Jesus gives us three responses, three reasons why the kingdom of heaven is worth our present suffering.
Number one, you get to reign with Christ. Verse 28 talks about the disciples ruling, and notice that they're sitting on thrones. So we have the kingly aspect of Christ, he's on his throne, but he doesn't, now that he has the kingdom, send his disciples back to their job as fishermen, but he elevates them to a position of sitting on their own thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And this is not unique to the disciples. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6 that we saints will judge the world. Revelation 3 tells us that the one who conquers, Jesus will grant us to sit on his throne as he sat on his father's throne.
So this is not just a promise specific to the twelve disciples. It's likely spoken to them, speaking of judging Israel and emphasizing the twelve, because Jesus is creating, as it were, a new Israel, a new people for himself.
But it's not a specific role for the disciples. We don't really know exactly what this judging will look like. Maybe it will look a little bit like what Moses did with the 70 elders, where he gave them a bit of his authority.
Maybe it'll look more like what Adam had as a vice-regent, or like a sub-king under God in the old creation. Regardless, the disciples are lifted to a higher role. We have to look forward, not an eternal life where we continue in our roles as an insurance agent or whatever it is you do, but you're lifted up and you have authority and you get to reign with Christ.
Reason number two, the blessings in this life are a hundredfold. Or if you want, the comforts in this life. Verse 29, everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers or children or lands.
It isn't like we're talking about the rich young man and saying, leave all your riches. It isn't like we're talking about the flee sexual immorality or lay your sins aside. These are great things, houses, land, family.
Does that remind you of anything? They're the blessings of the covenant. If you look at Genesis 17, you can actually see this through the covenant with Abraham, the covenant with Moses and the covenant of David.
The main blessings that God talks about are blessings of family and blessings of land. But we'll just look at Genesis 17. We'll read the first eight verses and see it in the Abrahamic covenant. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God almighty.
Walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly. Then Abram fell on his face and God said to him, behold, my covenant is with you. And notice the language of family now.
And you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall you be called exalted father, but your name shall be called father of a multitude for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
And I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant.
We've seen family, family, family promises in the covenant. And then here's the heart of the covenant. What is it to be God to you and your offspring after you? There's the very center and core of the covenant that we would be God's people.
God would be our God. But the blessings are family. And now verse eight, here comes the blessing of land. I will give to you and your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.
And then we get back to the heart of the covenant and I will be their God. So the disciples are probably thinking, wait, I have to give up the blessings that God has given me in order to follow you. This isn't like we lose.
We have to walk away from our sin. Think of the land. You think a Jew is going to leave his land willingly? They were promised it with Abraham, exiled in Egypt, come back through the Exodus, gain their land only after repeatedly sinning and sinning to be exiled away from the land again.
And now they're back in and you think they're going to give it up. This isn't something that you would give up normally. One commentator says it's nearly impossible to communicate what all of this means in our Middle Eastern context.
The two unassailable loyalties that any Middle Eastern is almost required to consider more important than life are family and the village home. So these things are not minor sufferings. I joked earlier about the heat with the AC.
These are major things that you're leaving in order to follow Christ. Also we can apply this to us as an argument from the greater to the lesser. If God is able to comfort us after we've left the greatest things in life, how much more if we're being mocked at work for our Christianity or mocked by one of our friends?
So these are the extreme examples, the greatest you could have to leave. How does God provide a hundredfold? That's a good question. It's not literally. If you leave your child, you don't now have a hundred kids, though the crayons I think are getting close.
It's no, it's figuratively, it's through the church. So remember in Acts 4, there was not a needy person among them, it says, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles feet and it was distributed to each of them.
The gift of land is being compensated through the church and then family as well. Remember 1st Timothy 5, it says, don't rebuke an older man, but encourage him. How? As you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters.
So the church becomes your family. Paul experienced this with the Galatians. Remember he says they loved him so much in his trials that they would be willing to gouge out their own eyes and give it to him if that were to help.
So even though you've been perhaps brought away from your own family or there's been some disconnect there because you're following Christ, God brings you into a covenant community, a community of people, and he gives you brothers, mothers, and sisters.
There's maybe an application here. If this is how the earthly blessings are given, if this is how God comforts his people during their trials, how are you able to help with that? Are you able to be a mother or are you able to be a father to someone?
Are you able to be a son? Is there someone who's lost their job or struggling financially that you're able to help out? But it's not only through the church. Sometimes it's directly through God. It's not that just God has created a family here and we're here without any relation to him, but God is our father now.
You leave your own father, but you get God as your father. Remember Romans 8? We call out Abba, Father. And not only that, Christ is our brother. And we experience the same love that God the Father has for Christ the Son.
The love of the triune God is given to us. Think of John 17. Oh, righteous father, Jesus says, even though the world does not know you, I know you and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.
You see, we have God's love for us as the same as his love for Christ. Can you imagine any greater love than the love that the Trinity has? But what about those who don't receive physical relief? Does God comfort them in this life too?
Think of Paul and Silas. We're looking now at a broad spectrum across the Bible here. Paul and Silas in Acts 16, they're in jail. They've been beaten. Their ankles are shackled together. And what are they doing?
It's midnight. They're singing. They're praising God. It's as if God has given them joy more abundantly over and above the suffering that they had. Calvin mentions this in his commentary. He says that God gladdens those who suffer in this life.
And that's specifically interesting because he wrote that right about five years after losing his own wife. He had experienced that comfort as well. Samuel Rutherford had a similar experience. You remember, he's exiled away from his congregation.
All he wants to do is preach and he's not even allowed to preach where he's exiled in Aberdeen. But he says this in a letter. Oh, how sweet are the sufferings of Christ for Christ. God forgive them that raise an ill report upon the sweet cross of Christ.
It is but our weak and dim eyes and are looking only to the black side that makes us this mistake. If I found but cold comfort in my sufferings, I would not beguile others. I would have told you plainly, but Christ's love is a mystery to the world.
I would not have believed there was so much in Christ as there is. So Christ comforts us in this life by using the church and he brings the church around us as a community. But he also reminds us that God is our father and we have a direct relationship with him and his love is the same love which he has for the son.
But that's not even the best part. The best part of all this are the last few words in verse twenty nineteen. Not twenty nineteen. First. Twenty nine. Eternal life. Those are the last few words you will inherit eternal life.
What is eternal life? It's important that we define that. It's not just that you get to live for a very long time and you don't have to die. Some commentators simply put it as its life lived to the fullest, which is a good definition if you know what that means.
What that means is perfect communion with God. John 17 again. This is eternal life. Jesus says that they know you the only true God and Jesus whom you have sent. Really the entire story of the Bible if you go all the way to the beginning chapters of Genesis read straight through to the end of Revelation and have to sum it up in one sentence.
What is it about? Could you do that? And you're not allowed to use like those run on sentences with a million different commas. It's God making a way to dwell with his people. Ever since Adam sinned and fell, God promised a mediator to come and bear the sins of his people.
Why? So that we can be with God so that we can see the face of God. This is the face that not even Moses could see. Moses knew he if he saw that face he would die. But we're promised we see the face of God and God himself will wipe away our tears.
God will be our God and we will be his people. Do you remember in Revelation what the picture is of the new heaven and the new earth? It's that giant cube and it's a cube because the cube is the holy of holies.
Now not only once a year can the high priest go in but we have access 24 7 to our God without fear of death because Christ has taken on our sin. That's what is wrapped up in the meaning of eternal life.
Notice how Jesus did not answer this question. He did not say, well Peter is is it worth it? Well you won't go to hell and he didn't just leave it at that or your sins are forgiven. You won't go to hell.
That's a good thing. Jesus talks about hell far more than he talks about heaven and there's a place in the time. But sometimes we think that salvation is just that get out of hell free card or it's just about what we don't experience and we forget that we're saved by God.
We forget that we're saved to something. We forget that we're saved to a vibrant life with the creator of the universe. Think of it. You get to spend eternity with the person who made those mountains that make you gasp when you see them or you get to spend eternity with the person who makes who made the wings of the butterfly and all its intricate details.
You get to spend eternity with the God who made you the God who not only made you but he loved you so much to send his only son. That's eternal life and that's what we have to look forward to. You get to reign with Christ.
You're abundantly comforted in this life and you have eternal life to come. This promise is a cure for our anxiety. Are you worried about what might happen with the way the culture is going? Think think on these promises.
Think of the comforts that God promises to provide you in this life. Think of the the joy set before you in the life to come. Meditate on the promises of Christ. But also if eternal life is wrapped up in knowing God and in dwelling with God.
Let me ask you is that what you desire? I have a pet peeve. I'm probably not supposed to talk about pet peeves from the pulpit but I have one and it's when pastors and none of the pastors here have ever said this.
So I'm allowed to talk about this pet peeve. It's when pastors say if that doesn't excite you. And how do they finish that? Not nothing. Well, I've heard it. If that doesn't excite you, you're probably not saved.
That's one of my biggest pet peeves because, you know, nothing excites me. Look, I'm a Presbyterian. It comes with the category, the territory. But if that doesn't stir you, why not meditate on Revelation 21 and 22?
Meditate on the new heavens and the new earth, meditate on who God is and pray that he would stir up in your heart a desire to dwell with him constantly, a desire to say with the psalmist that my heart pants for you like a deer thirsts for water, a desire that your most frequent prayer and the prayer that you want to happen the most is not please help so-and-so feel better or please, please save so-and-so, but come Lord Jesus, come, that that would be your heart's desire to dwell with Christ.
So the kingdom of God not only is worth more than all our sufferings here on earth, but the kingdom of God is freely given to God's people. Remember, we're still talking about that conversation with the rich young ruler.
And he's back, maybe, you know, still walking away. He's probably a little bit further away than he was last time I said that. But he's still going that way. And and the whole point is you cannot earn your salvation.
So Jesus has just given you all of the benefits, laid out the benefits of the kingdom. And in relation to your suffering, you might be tempted to think, my suffering is what earns me these benefits. So Jesus tells them a parable.
I won't reread the parable, but here's the context. The day laborers are poor, stark contrast with the rich young ruler. They're one of the poorer people in Israel. They don't have a guaranteed job. They have to get up early every day, go to the marketplace, hope somebody comes and hires them.
A denarius, it's a fair day's wages. It's not fair for the one hour of work that the people do at the end, but it's fair for a day's work. The time frame, probably roughly around six o 'clock in the morning is when the day would start.
So you have a 12 hour work day and the master's coming back to the marketplace consistently, 6 a .m., 9 a .m., 12, 3, and then 5, with only an hour left for the rest of the day. So with that context, we see three things about the kingdom being freely given.
First, with the kingdom being freely given, it's not based on your works. What's the whole point of this parable? The main takeaway is that the first will be last and the last first. This isn't about a role reversal where the rich will now go over here in the poor category and the poor will go over here in the rich category and, you know, the middle class stays the same.
It also isn't about, you know, a role reversal where, like, maybe the the person who normally leads the hymns is now preaching and the person who preaches is now leading the hymns. It's instead it's this idea of equality.
It's everyone's being paid the same thing. Look at the complaint in verse 12 of chapter 20. Their complaint isn't you've made us less than them. Their complaint is these last worked only one hour and you have made us equal with them.
Everybody's getting eternal life in this parable. Everybody's getting the same thing. It's not based on their work. Again, in verse 15, am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? It's fully of grace.
The master chooses to give more to the the the people who worked last than the people who worked at first. The point of the parable, too, if you remember, you can't press a parable too hard. A parable is just like any other analogy.
If you'll eventually get to a point where it completely breaks down. The point isn't that there are some people over here who work very hard and they've earned salvation. There are other people over here who don't work as hard because they've come later and they haven't earned it, but God gives it to all.
The reason that these first people are here in the parable is to show that God, God's gift is never unfair or to put it better, God doesn't. God doesn't owe anyone anything. No one will get to heaven and receive eternal life and get to dwell with God and and say, that's it.
That's all that for everything I've done. That's all I get. God doesn't owe anyone anything. And that's emphasized by verse two of this parable. Remember, they agree to the wage that they're offered in verse 13.
I am doing you no wrong, he says. You can see this parable. The parable is not Jews versus Gentiles and Jews who have earned their salvation with works and Gentiles who haven't. The parable is more better seen as those who have been with Christ the longest versus those who haven't.
For example, Peter, who has been with Christ since he was called before Christ even died versus the thief on the cross. There may be an application here. Remember the grumbling of the the the early workers?
That grumbling is the same grumbling used to talk about the grumbling of the Israelites in First Corinthians 10. It's the grumbling that is judged severely by God. Are you a person like that? Do you do you grumble at the grace of God that he's given to other people?
Do you think, well, God saved me. And when I was young and I've been working hard and I keep coming to church, even though it's still too hot. And and now this person just shows up and they have the same thing as me.
Are you a grace grumbler? But not only is the kingdom of God freely given, not based on works, the kingdom of God freely given, but not unfairly given, which is what we've just seen, but the kingdom of God is freely given by a generous God.
The generosity of the master is stressed in this parable. Think of the put yourself in the shoes of the people who only worked that last hour. They're going to go home hungry. They're the poorest of the poor.
They've worked one hour. They're probably not very useful workers, to be honest, that since they've been in the marketplace this whole time and nobody has bothered to hire them. But regardless, the master has compassion on them and generously gives them a full day's wages, guaranteeing that they'll have food, guaranteeing that they'll have what they need.
He emphasizes his generosity again in verse 15. I have to find verse 15. Here we go. Am I not allowed to do what I chose with them that belongs to me? And here's the here's the part. Do you begrudge my generosity?
You have a little note there probably in your Bible that says this should is literally rendered is your eye evil because I am good, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the English. So the translators did what translators are supposed to do and translated it.
So we could understand. But why am I telling you what it literally says in the Greek because of that word good? If you remember from two weeks ago when we talked about the rich young man, that word shows up again.
And this is in the same context, the rich young man still walking that way. He's even farther away now, but it's in the same context. We've got the rich young man coming to Jesus. What good deed must I do to be saved?
Jesus says, no, there is only one who is good. And now here at the end, that good person generously gives the kingdom of heaven freely. If you connect the dots to the good, the dots of the good, you see the main point throughout this whole passage, the kingdom of heaven is freely given.
This parable offers an encouragement, does it not? For for new believers who might be coming in thinking, wow, I've spent I've spent my whole life living, living for myself, and now I'm towards the end of my life.
And and how am I going to ever repay that? You're not and you can't. But the kingdom of heaven is given freely. And perhaps one of the most exciting applications here is that you can serve God. How? With joy.
You no longer have to serve God with fear, wondering, is this enough? Have I done enough? Will I will I pass? But you get to serve God with joy. This is not an antinomian parable. Who's who's working in the parable?
Answer everybody. There's a few people who are idle at the beginning, but at the end, everyone's working. The point of the parable isn't that the antinomian version. Here it is. The master comes, brings them into the field.
They go into the field and they sit there all day. They they sin so that grace may abound more and then they get their pay at the end. That's not what he's saying here. What he's saying here is it's not based on your works.
And so so what are the works of the kingdom? We can read this and noticing the fact that the master has called everyone to work, we can ask ourselves, what has God called me to do? Perhaps we read the marching orders that come later in Matthew and Matthew 28.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. So a legitimate application of this parable is to ask yourself, am I evangelizing, am I discipling believers, am I praying for our missionaries?
You can flip that discipling question around. Am I seeking to be discipled? Am I striving to live in holiness? Are there areas of my life that I haven't surrendered to Christ? But the one question that you can never ask is, have I done enough to earn the kingdom?
Because the kingdom of heaven is not based on works. It's not based on what you've done, but it is freely given. So we started with two questions. Is the kingdom of heaven worth our suffering on earth?
And have I done enough to earn the kingdom of heaven? I wonder how Peter would have answered these questions. At this point, the rich young man is so far away. You can hardly see him. And what is Peter doing down in the end of verse in chapter 20?
He's fighting again. He's steaming mad at James and John and their mother because their mother just asked for honored positions for them in the kingdom. He's still focused on the selfish ambitions of the kingdom.
But later on, I think Peter learned this. Let's ask Peter, is the kingdom of heaven worth our suffering on earth? First, Peter for beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.
Rejoice insofar as you share in Christ's sufferings. Why? That you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Peter says, of course, it's worth it. But Peter, have I done enough to earn the kingdom of heaven?
First Peter or second Peter, one, he addresses it, Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus. Who is he writing to? To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours. Wait, I've obtained a faith of equal standing.
But Peter, you were the one in the vineyard the longest. You've been with Christ throughout his whole earthly ministry. Now you're an old man. You're going to suffer. Your last few breaths are going to be suffering.
You've suffered for Christ and yet my faith is of equal standing. How could that be? He ends because our faith is by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. So the kingdom of heaven, as we've seen, is worth far more than our earthly sufferings.
And God freely gives it to his people. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your love for us, not just a false love or a fake love, but the love that you have, the father has for the son. Thank you that you have made us a community of believers, a community that calls you father, that you promise us this great reward, eternal life to dwell with you forever, all gained by the mercy of Christ, by the works of Christ applied to our behalf.
Help us not work in fear and trembling, wondering if we've done enough, but change our attitudes to work with joy and excitement because you have fully paid for all our sins. And now we can work with you knowing that we will one day see you face to face and you will wipe away all our tears in Christ's name.
Amen.