THE PROMISED REWARD IS
RECEIVED BY GRACE ALONE.
MATTHEW 20:1-16
In
the name + of Jesus.
An Old Testament parable which would have
been well-known to the Jews came from the prophet Isaiah. He wrote, “Let me sing for my loved one a
song about my loved one’s vineyard. My
loved one had a vineyard on a fertile ridge. He dug it up and gathered the stones out of
it. He planted it with the best vines. He built a tower in the middle of it. He also cut a winepress into it. He expected it to produce clusters of sweet
grapes...” (Isaiah 5:1-2). The
vineyard is the kingdom of God. It is
the Lord’s kingdom. No one deserves a
place in it because everyone is a sinner.
Sinners cannot stand on holy ground.
If anyone would have a place in this vineyard, the Lord has to intervene
out and bring people into it.
This brings us to Jesus’ parable. “Indeed the kingdom of heaven is like a
landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. After agreeing to pay the workers a denarius
for the day, he sent them into his vineyard” (Matthew 20:1-2). In order to have people in his vineyard, the
landowner went out to seek them. The
people he found were idle. They had no
purpose, and they were not engaged in any good works. Therefore, the landowner called them for a higher
purpose and promised them a rich reward.
This is
true for all people who enter the kingdom of God. No one enters on his own initiative. We are, by nature, dead in sin. That means we cannot fix our sinful
condition. The dead cannot take steps to
come to God. If God had not intervened,
every person’s life would be a meaningless march to the grave. We get up.
We go to work. We eat. We go to sleep. And we do it again for decades. For many, that is all life is; and they
wonder: “What is the point? Is life
really that meaningless?” If you do not
have an eternal reward awaiting you, and if there is no God to summon you to a higher
purpose, you will become discouraged and depressed.
The Lord,
however, has intervened. The Lord summons
sinners to receive hope and a future.
The Lord gathers people to enjoy his vineyard and to find satisfaction
in their labors. The work God gives you
to do may not be flashy or get you famous, but it is good and serves your loved
ones and your neighbors.
Besides
the work he gives you to do in this world, the Lord also sets you apart for a
kingdom of glory and endless peace. Again,
we do not work our way into that kingdom.
God brings us in. As Jesus said
in the parable, the landowner summoned the workers and pledged to give them a
denarius. The promise of the denarius
came before any of them did a lick of work.
And when the landowner went out again to gather more laborers into his
vineyard, “he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you
whatever is right’” (Matthew 20:4).
The reward was promised first, then then work began.
At this point in the parable, everything
seems reasonable. The workers were
promised a denarius—a day’s wage for a day’s work. They knew what they were getting when they
went to work in the vineyard. But this
is where the story takes a turn. And
here, we learn that our Lord Jesus Christ is a bad businessman. The workers recognized it, too.
The landowner continued to find people
standing around doing nothing. The first
workers began the day at the first hour.
More were sent at the third hour.
And then again at the sixth and the ninth hour. Finally, with only one hour left in the workday,
he sent in the last group. At the day’s
end, each came to receive his reward. “When
those who were hired around the eleventh hour came, they each received a
denarius. When those who were hired
first came, they thought they would receive more. But they each received a denarius too. After they received it, they began to grumble
against the landowner: ‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them
equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat’”
(Matthew 20:9-12)! Those workers
seemed to have a legitimate gripe. How
can the landowner treat equally those who did not labor equally? How could he give a full day’s wage to
someone who labored for only one hour?
That’s not fair!
It is a common complaint: “Why isn’t God
fair?” Most people are able-bodied, but
some are disabled. Most people have
decent vision, but some are blind. Most
people do not have food allergies, but for some, consuming certain foods is
life-threatening. Most people are
relatively clear-headed; some endure crippling mental illness. Most people seem to get through life with minor
struggles; some seem to get hit by one crisis after another. If you are on the wrong end of these
scenarios, you may cry out, “All I want is for God to treat me fairly!”
If we were to judge the landowner on his
business practices, we would find a lot of faults with him. But the kingdom of God is not a
business. The Lord does not cut deals
with people. And we are in no position
to negotiate for a better reward.
Do you want God to be fair? Do you want your reward to be something you
earned? Be careful about such prayers,
and take to heart what we say when we confess our sins. After we acknowledge our sinful nature and
our sinful deeds, we confess what they have earned us: “I deserve your
punishment both now and in eternity.”
It is not God’s fault that this is a sinful world in which bad things
happen. It is not God’s fault that we
are sinful beings who do not live up to his commandments. If we insist that God treat us fairly, then
God must banish all people to eternal, hellish torment. If we insist that God give us what we
deserve, then he should let us languish in the evils that occur because mankind
brought sin into this world and we continue to add sin to it.
Our Lord is not a good businessman. And God be praised for that! He squanders his grace and mercy upon
sinners. He does not treat us as our
sins deserve. It was Jesus who was
treated as our sins deserve. Jesus’
sufferings and death were incredibly unfair.
Jesus assumed the guilt for sins he did not commit. Jesus paid the price for a debt he did not
owe. Jesus was sentenced to a death he
did not deserve and died under a curse that he did not earn. It was terribly unfair, but it is also mercy
and grace beyond measure. Jesus Christ
has taken away all your sins. And his
mercy does not run out. When you come
back to God’s house confessing your sins again, Jesus continues to pour out his
mercy and grace. A good businessman
would recognize that this continual forgiveness is like throwing good money
after bad. A good businessman would cut
his losses. But a faithful Savior shows
compassion for the people he has created and redeemed. He gives his reward freely, and that promised
reward is received by grace alone.
Nevertheless, the sinful nature still
demands credit. When the landowner
brought the laborers in for their reward, some were outraged. “When those who were hired first came,
they thought they would receive more.
But they each received a denarius too.
After they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner:
‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us who have
endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing
you no wrong. Did you not make an agreement with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. I want to give to
the last one hired the same as I also gave to you. Can’t I do what I want with my own
money? Or are you envious because I am
generous’” (Matthew 20:10-15)?
When we hear the parable, we recognize the
goodness of the landowner. When we see
it in real life, we take the side of the bitter laborers. If someone has dedicated his whole life to
fornicating, drugs and booze, lying, stealing, and fighting only to repent
shortly before his death, he will have eternal life. You might feel ripped off. After decades of faithful church attendance
and clean living, you might think that you should receive more. Beware.
This shows that you don’t want your reward based on God’s grace but upon
your own merits. If you will not receive
God’s promised reward by grace, you will not receive it at all.
The promised reward is received by grace
alone. Even if the Lord brings someone into
his vineyard at the eleventh hour, it has cost you nothing. When you hear a story about firefighters rescuing
a family from a housefire, you are grateful for the firefighters and for the
rescued family. Don’t you have all the
more reason to rejoice when our Lord snatches someone from the fires of hell,
regardless of who or what that person has been?
Our Lord delights in rescuing sinners, bringing them into his vineyard,
and giving each one a denarius. This
promised reward is received by grace alone.
Perhaps your problem is that you envy the
wicked. You wish you could live a
debauched life and then repent on your death bed. Be aware that deathbed conversions are rare. People die like they live. Besides, why would you envy the wicked? Do you not recognize the blessings in God’s
vineyard? You are always covered by
God’s mercy and grace. You know what
your final judgment will be thanks to Jesus.
You can be confident that your future is everlasting peace and
glory. You know that God is with
you and that God is for you in every stage of life. God continues to pour out his forgiveness
upon you for all sins—even sins like calling God unfair or envying the
wicked. You have the hope of the
resurrection—a hope that cannot be destroyed by sickness or death. And these are not rewards you will receive
one day. Already now you have received the
Lord’s grace, mercy, hope, peace, comfort, confidence, and joy.
Our Lord not only speaks to his laborers,
he also feeds them. And here, from this
altar, the Lord provides you with his living body and blood to sustain you
through this life until you receive your promised, eternal reward. The Lord strengthens your faith and cleanses
you of sin. Week after week, the Lord
nourishes you so that you may continue in your godly labors.
The
Lord Jesus is not fair in how he treats the laborers in his vineyard. He is not a good businessman. Rather, he is a gracious Redeemer, and he
treats all the laborers well. He
promises each and every one the same glorious reward—a joyful resurrection to
life everlasting. His reward is promised
because he is gracious. It will be given
because he is faithful. We receive it by
grace alone.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
