Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

As we begin, remember that receiving salvation is about more than pray a prayer to get to heaven. It is about getting the nature of heaven into you. Where the seed of God’s word transforms you from the inside out causing you to become an agent of change for the kingdom. Transformation is demonstrated by the intensity of our pursuit. As we discover and demonstrate His goodness, He draws our hearts and the hearts of others to himself.

In the past few weeks, we have seen how Jesus has focused on our believers in response to each-other through forgiveness and showing mercy and compassion to our neighbor. Today’s parable deals both with the context of our relationship to God and to others.

Today, we are going to look at the parable of the workers in the vineyard.
Leading up to this parable Peter is once again asking a question to Jesus.

As we look at the parable, I want you to see three things from this passage.
1. The fullness of reward is in eternity with Christ.
2. Prior to eternity there are sacrifices made by people who follow Jesus.
3. Human perspective can skew understanding.

In the parable we see two primary characters.
1. The lord of the vineyard.
2. Workers in the vineyard.

Once again Jesus is giving reference of what the kingdom of heaven is like.
The Lord the of the vineyard is God, and the laborers are those who have accepted Christ as Lord.

In the parable we see the Lord of the Vineyard going to a marketplace to call people to labor. Several times throughout the day He is back in the marketplace looking for idle people. When he encounters them, the question arises why are you standing here idle? Something to point out here about this question is that the Lord does not like believers idle.

I want to pause here for a moment before we look at another aspect of this parable. From the beginning we have been created for work in the kingdom of God. Genesis 2:15 “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”

When we said yes to Jesus, we were saying yet to a life of service to His kingdom.

Once again this is where the message of the American gospel has deceived the church by saying the gospel is about what I can get, not give. We each have a part to play in the work of the kingdom.

The body of Christ has many parts, and each part has specific use. Without each part in action the body does not work right. 1 Corinthians 12:18 “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”

The rich young ruler I spoke of chose material things over following Jesus. We each have to make the choice to serve the Lord.

Now keeping in mind that we are called to work for the kingdom the central truth of this parable is a warning of the Lord against having a hireling spirit in the service of the Lord.

When the Lord of the vineyard tells his steward to render the wages, he says begin with the one who was last. While the steward pays those who worked last no doubt the ones who worked first were watching.

Their reaction was reminiscent of what we see today in our culture. They were offended. Questions flooded their heart. Why were the last paid first? Why did they receive the same amount of pay with less time working? Offense led them to murmur and complain against the Lord of the Vineyard. In doing this their thinking became evil.

The Lord of the vineyard’s response was simple. Can I not do what I want with what is mine? Did he not as the owner have the right to be generous with what belonged to him. We need to be mindful of not elevating our reasoning above the Lord. We are workers. He is the owner.

Pride comes before a fall; but God gives grace to the humble.
In this parable Jesus is confronting wrong motives, attitudes, and expectations in believers who are laboring for the Lord.

The workers who started first had their attitudes exposed.

1. The first workers had an attitude of what are we going to get out of it? They served for what they could get.

2. They had a critical and murmuring attitude towards the Lord of the Vineyard. Why should they get the same as us? We should get more than them. They exalted their desires above God’s purpose.

3. They had a false concept of the Lord of the Vineyard and felt he was unjust and not fair. We do not define who he is. He defines who He is.

4. They had wrong attitudes to the other laborers who came in at the last part of the harvest and labored for the Lord. They were upset that they received the same as those who did less. They felt entitled. The reality of the Gospel is that we aren’t entitled to anything. God in His abundant mercy and compassion has given us everything, and there is nothing we have done to deserve it.

Jesus is teaching us to guard the motives and attitudes of our heart in our service to the Lord.

Our attitude should be that of the last workers.
1. They had an attitude of trust in the Lord of the vineyard.

2. They had a responsive attitude. When called, as idle, they were happy to work.

3. They did not have an entitled spirit to see what they could get out of it, neither did they have a bargaining spirit or murmuring attitude.