WWUTT 2066 The First Will Be Last and the Last First (Matthew 20:1-16)

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It is so easy to be bitter about stuff and to gripe and complain.

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It's in our human nature to act that way, but let us resolve to be so fixed upon Christ that we are filled with joy when we understand the text.

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Happy New Year from your friends at When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

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Word. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and Happy New Year, everyone. Even though we're starting a brand new year, we're still following the same pattern of devotionals that we've been doing on this broadcast with New Testament study on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Old Testament on Thursday, and our

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Q &A on Friday. Today we come back to our study in the Gospel of Matthew, and we're on to Chapter 20.

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I'm going to start by reading verses 1 through 16 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

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Hear the word of the Lord. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

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When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

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He went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

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To those he said, You also go into the field, and whatever is right I will give you. So they went.

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Again, he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and the same thing. At about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them,

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Why have you been standing here idle all day long? They said to him, Because no one hired us. He said to them,

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You go into the vineyard, too. Now when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,

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Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.

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And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. And when those hired first came, they supposed that they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

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Now when they had received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.

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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?

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Take what is yours and go. But I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.

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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?

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So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.

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Now that sounds familiar, doesn't it? That was what we ended with last week when we came to the conclusion of chapter 19.

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The very last words that we ended 2023 with are the words that we begin 2024 with.

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How about that? And the providence of God. Now you'll notice here at the start of chapter 20, as Jesus gives this parable, we've got no introduction.

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It doesn't say anything like Jesus and his disciples came to this town and the crowds came to him. And then Jesus told them a parable saying you don't see anything like that.

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We just come right into the dialogue of Christ. And that's because what he was talking with the disciples about at the end of chapter 19, he's still continuing to speak about.

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The chapter divisions are, you know, it's a relatively recent thing, although it's been several hundred years.

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But this was not, this hasn't been the layout of scripture for most of its existence.

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We've added chapters and verses to help us reference and find passages better and things like that.

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But the writers of the Bible did not write things in chapters and verses. Matthew is not the one who included these chapters and verses.

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So really what we're reading here into chapter 20, though, we might see a line of demarcation here with chapter 20 as the heading.

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We're still continuing the same conversation that Jesus was having with his disciples at the end of chapter 19.

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So let me refresh your memory on that. And then we come back into the parable. Peter had said to Jesus, we've left everything and followed you.

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What will there be for us? Okay, that's important. That question is important because the understanding this parable is in response to that question.

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Remember that the rich young ruler had come to Jesus and he had asked him, teacher, what must

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I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus tells him, you must keep the law, lays out all these laws.

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The rich young ruler says, I've done all this from my youth. Jesus challenges him further and says, but I hold this against you.

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Go and sell what you have, give it to the poor, and then you will have treasure in heaven and then come and follow me.

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The rich young ruler walks away sad because he has many great possessions, things he knows that he would never give up.

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He loves these things, what makes his life fulfilling and happy on this side of heaven. He can see his stuff, he can't see heaven, so he just reasons with himself, nah, that's okay,

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I'll keep my stuff. And great will be the fall of him in the judgment if he did not go from that place and at some point later on in his life, repent and turn back to follow

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Jesus. So Jesus had told his disciples, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

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The disciples are astonished by this. How can that be? This man was rich and he was a good man, he kept the law, did everything right, and yet what you're saying that he's got is not enough to enter the kingdom of God?

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All of these blessings, all of this goodness, that's not enough. Jesus says, and I just want to say this to you again because of how important this lesson is.

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Jesus says, with people, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

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No one enters the kingdom of God because of what they did.

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No matter what you do, it will never be good enough. No matter how much wealth you have, no matter how much goodness you've stored up, no matter how much badness you've refrained from doing, none of that earns the kingdom of God.

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We can never achieve the level of holiness required to stand in God's presence and dwell where he dwells.

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We can't ever achieve that. You've already sinned and so you're already, even if you were to do everything right for the rest of your life, if you were to somehow be able to pull that off, you don't ever have another bad thought.

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You don't have another bad action. You don't have another coarse word. You are just holy the rest of your life.

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You would still be unholy because of all the things that you had done in your past. You're still not worthy to stand in God's presence.

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One sin makes you unworthy to stand in the presence of the holy of holies.

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He who is called holy, holy, holy, and we can't even attain one holy, and yet he is thrice holy.

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So none of us can enter into that place and dwell with God forever based on our own merit.

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We can't get in. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle and survive that trip than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven on his blessings and on his merits.

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So with man, it's impossible. No one gets into heaven on their own merit, but with God, all things are possible.

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It is God who forgives us our sin. It is God who clothes us in the righteousness of Christ.

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So when he looks at us, he doesn't see this unholy, wretch, undeserving of dwelling in the place of God.

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He sees the righteousness of his son that we've been clothed in, and then we are adopted into his family.

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If you're a follower of Christ, you are that now. Sons and daughters of God. First John chapter three, how great the love the father has upon each and every one of us that we should be called the children of God.

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That's talking specifically to Christians, not every person, but because we are followers of Christ, we are adopted into God's family and we are saved.

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And this is all by his mercy and grace. We are saved from God's judgment.

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We're forgiven our sins. We're saved from the wages of sin with which is death. We enter into eternal life with God because all things are possible with God.

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Now as Jesus has said this to his disciples who have just witnessed this rich young ruler being unwilling to give up what he has and follow

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Jesus, Peter says, we've left everything and followed you.

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What will there be for us? So what do we get since we've left everything?

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And Jesus said to them, truly, I say to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man will sit on his glorious throne, you also will sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

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And at that point, the disciples are surely elbowing one another. Yeah, this is great. We're going to sit on thrones.

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We gave up everything and we're going to, we're going to inherit a kingdom. And my friends, so do we, so do you and I, we are fellow heirs with Christ of his kingdom as said in Titus three and other places.

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So the stuff the king gets, he shares with us and we get to receive the kingdom of God also.

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Even though Christ has said that to his disciples, yet we as disciples of Jesus Christ also receive his heavenly kingdom.

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Jesus goes on to say in verse 29 and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for my name's sake will receive 100 times as much and will inherit eternal life.

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Now as I had talked about this last week, I had mentioned these are material things.

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And just as you have given up those material things, this side of heaven, you will also receive much more this side of heaven.

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Now that's not a, it's not a prosperity theology promise, but if you're attending a church, you are already receiving the benefits of exactly what

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Jesus is talking about here. You have many more houses and brothers and sisters and father and mother, children, farms.

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You've received a hundred times as much because of the family of God that you are now a part of in Christ.

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It's amazing where I get to go and encounter Christians and sometimes I take them out to eat or sometimes they'll take me out to eat.

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We bless one another with what God has blessed us with. And it's amazing the family that you will find no matter where you are.

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I've never been outside of the United States of America, but I expect that when I go into another country, though, this is a different culture, different nationality, completely different backgrounds.

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We might even be speaking different languages, but we will find a common love with one another if we are in Christ.

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These are my brothers and sisters in the Lord. And so we have gained so much more.

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Even on this side of heaven, you give up everything to follow Christ. You gain much more now in this life and even in the life to come.

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I was very, very close with my siblings when I was growing up, but my siblings have gone different courses in their lives.

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They've gone very godless directions, in fact. And my wife and I had to make a decision pretty early on in our marriage that we were not going to be sacrificing our time or exposing our children to some of those things that my siblings like to do, that we don't want, we don't ever want our children to ever be exposed to that kind of a thing if we can help it.

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And so I've had to give up some of those close relationships that I once had in my life for Christ because of my

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Christian convictions, because I'm more committed to my church and my my real brothers and sisters are in the body of Christ that I'm invested in, not in those who

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I'm related to by blood, but those whom I who I am related to by blood.

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You get what I mean? I'm related to by the blood of Christ rather than the same blood that flows through our veins.

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I've gained so much more, some of the things that I've had to give up and walk away from.

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But yet God has blessed me with more through the blessing of the church that I get to be a part of.

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But then Jesus goes on to say in verse 30, many who are first will be last and the last will be first.

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That's the statement that closes chapter 19. And then it's the parable that we read in chapter 20 that explains that statement.

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The first will be last in the last verse. Remember once again, the question that that Peter asked, we've left everything and followed you.

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What then will there be for us? Now Jesus is promising them you're going to receive a lot.

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But just because you are among the first to follow me, that doesn't mean you get more.

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Because that's coming about in this parable that we're reading here. You're the first. You were the first called by Christ.

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You were the first to follow me. You gave up everything to follow me. Of course, Peter in asking that question is kind of missed the point of what

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Jesus said back in verse 26. Jesus said with people, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

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Peter goes, well, we've left everything. Why didn't Jesus just smack him upside the head?

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Peter, were you paying attention? It's not about what you've done. It is about what

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God has done by his mercy and grace toward you. But Jesus nonetheless humors him and tells him of the reward that will be received sitting on 12 glorious thrones.

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You'll receive much more in this life as well, but still calling Peter back to humility when he says, but many who are first will be last and the last first.

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The disciples were kind of congratulating themselves. At least we see this from the vantage point of Peter.

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They were congratulating themselves because, hey, this rich young ruler may have failed the test, but look at us. We've we've passed the test and they're flattering themselves.

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We've given up everything to follow you. So Jesus is really kind of issuing a rebuke here for his disciples.

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First of all, just because they were the first does not mean that they're going to get more. And then secondly, they need to be careful and humble themselves as Jesus has continually called them to humble themselves in this section of chapters that we've been in here in the middle portion of Matthew.

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He's regularly done this with his disciples, even Peter in particular, where he had to tell Peter, get behind me,

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Satan, for you're thinking with the mind of a man and not with the mind of God. So this is kind of a rebuke to his disciples.

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If you don't humble yourself, then you may find yourself last in the kingdom rather than first.

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And so there is this warning to say, many who are first will be last and the last will be first.

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And so now we get into this parable that explains that statement. The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

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Now, when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

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If you'll remember back to when we were in chapter 18, I think a denarius was referenced there, and it's very simply a day's wage for a laborer.

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So these laborers have agreed upon, we're going to work in your vineyard, we're going to make a denarius. The vineyard owner, landowner says, that's good for me.

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All right, I'll pay you a denarius at the end of the day. So then at about the third hour, so this means that the previous laborers have been working in the vineyard for three hours now.

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It's the third hour and he goes into the marketplace and finds others that are idle and he says to them, you go into the vineyard, whatever is right,

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I will give you. So they went. And then he went about the sixth and the ninth hour. So you've got some people in the vineyard who have been working for as much as nine hours.

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And yet he does the same thing, finds more workers, sends them out to the vineyard. He's going to pay them a denarius.

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About the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing around and he said to them, why have you been standing here idle all day long, 11 hours, that's 11 hours of daylight and they haven't worked at all.

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And they said, no one has hired us. And he said to them, you go into the vineyard too. Now don't read into this too much because we can nuance the parables to death sometimes when a parable really has one intention.

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There's one purpose to the parable. There's not all these different coded messages and insinuations throughout the parable.

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You got to dissect it to figure out all the different hidden meanings and things like that. So this is not an argument for regeneration in other words.

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That's why I bring that up with the landowner saying you go into the vineyard and so then they go.

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That's not to be equal to what God speaks into the heart of a person and that effectual calling will turn them from being idle into being a worker of God.

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That's not quite the point since this isn't the purpose of the parable. Just simply in the 11th hour, he hired more workers and now they're going and working in the field and they're going to receive the same wage that those who had been working in the field agreed upon from the beginning of the day.

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Verse eight. Now 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.

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So again, you got that swap there. You have the last to the first, some who are last will be first.

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So who's getting paid first? The ones who got hired last. And when those hired about the 11th hour came, each one received a denarius.

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And when those hired first came, they supposed that they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

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Now, when they had received it, they were grumbling at the landowner saying, these last men have worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.

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But he answered and said to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong.

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Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go.

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But I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what

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I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?

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And that's the end of the parable. And then Jesus says in verse 16, so the last shall be first and the first last.

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God has chosen to dispense his grace evenly to all who will receive it.

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We all receive the kingdom of God. Those who are in Christ Jesus, there are some who will go through more in life.

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Some will follow Jesus for more life. And yet they will receive the same inheritance and glory as those who had just come to faith for maybe a few years, a few weeks, maybe even a few days before they entered glory.

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And yet they will receive the same kingdom that we will receive.

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If you've been a follower of Jesus for years, praise God for his grace and his mercy.

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Don't look at what somebody else is receiving and think more highly of yourself or be displeased at the good that God is showing others.

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Shouldn't you instead rejoice because God is showing good to you? It's God's mercy.

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It's his grace. It's his kingdom. He gets to decide who he wants to share it with and how he wants to apportion things out to each person.

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We are blessed and fortunate that we get anything at all. If you are getting anything other than the wrath of God and eternal destruction in hell, you are already getting more than you deserve.

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Praise God for the people that you see around you that are likewise followers of Christ. Never have any bitterness toward anybody that you see who is a

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Christian and think, I don't want to be Christians with them or they don't deserve heaven or something.

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No, don't think that way. And even if you can't help yourself, you find yourself just thinking negative thoughts toward another person.

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You've heard the old adage, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Get away from that person.

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Get your mind fixed upon Christ so that you will not have all this random, unnecessary bitterness being stirred up in your heart.

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Why? Why are you acting that way? Just rejoice in God for the goodness that he has shown to us in Christ Jesus.

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The Jameson Fawcett Brown Bible commentary says this about this particular parable,

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Take heed, lest by indulging the spirit of these murmurers at the penny given to the last hired, you miss your own penny, though first in the vineyard, while the consciousness of having come in so late may inspire these last with such a humble frame and such admiration of the grace that is hired and rewarded them at all, as will put them into the foremost place in the end.

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You get what's being said there. So those who were hired last will get greater reward while those who were first are going to are going to scoff at their reward because they think that they deserve more.

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So those who are last, they get the first and those who are first may get nothing.

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So let us rejoice in God for the salvation he gives us in Christ and know that you've already been given more than you deserve.

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So rejoice in God. Let's finish there with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read.

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What a good lesson here as we start a brand new year, a reminder to be thankful. We have cause to be thankful each and every day when we wake up because we know that our sins are forgiven in Christ and we have the promise of eternal life.

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Though this body is wasting away, maybe for some of us, our body wastes away and dies this year.

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Let it be the year that we enter into glory and we rejoice to see you face to face. Let us not be upset or bitter because we didn't get something that we thought we were owed.

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We're not owed anything except destruction because of our sin and our rebellion against God. Yet you have shown mercy and grace to us and for this reason, we have cause to be thankful.

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So teach us to be thankful today, this week, this year. May more of the joy of the

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Lord be our strength heading into 2024. Thank you for your goodness and grace and help us to show the same kindness that you have shown to us to others.

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It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt

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.com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our