God’s Sovereignty Over Human Sensibility

Matthew 20:1-16

Immanuel – 12/8/24

          In a number of ways, chapter 19 has been about the reversal of human expectations; things function in an entirely different way in the kingdom of God. In our sinful world, self-sacrificial marriages filled with love and meaning, that last a lifetime, are exceedingly exceptional. But under God’s rule, such marriages are the expectation. In our sinful world people gain significance and success through wealth, power, ability, and beauty. In the kingdom of God, obedient faith in Jesus Christ is the measure of significance and success.

          Chapter 19 ends with Jesus’ words, “So the first will be last, and the last first.” It is a statement of the upside-down nature of the kingdom of God…or, rather, the upside-down nature of the fallen world in which we live.

          As we move into chapter 20, Jesus delivers a parable that punctuates the radically different reality within the kingdom of heaven. Of course, we will want to pay close attention; for the systems of this fallen world is passing away, and the new realities of the everlasting kingdom are breaking in, bit by bit, from one degree of glory to another, until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard is a window into the realities of the kingdom of heaven. In this parable we will catch glimpses of God’s sovereignty, election, grace, and some other massive, complex doctrines. Just know that a single parable cannot possibly capture the complexity of these many doctrines (one reason why Jesus gives so many parables).

Rather, each individual parable draws out one doctrinal truth. There might be implications for other truths, but we cannot expect to derive a robust doctrinal understand of election (for example) from a parable focusing on God’s sovereign grace. Indeed, that is the main point of today’s parable: God’s gracious generosity confounds human sensibilities.

          Read vs 1-2

          Symbols

          The very first thing we must notice is that Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house.” Did you see that? This time Jesus is not comparing the kingdom to a thing; like a mustard seed, or a treasure, or a net. The kingdom of heaven is personal, like the master of a house.

          And this master of the house owns a vineyard. Evidently it is a large vineyard, because he needs a substantial labor force for its maintenance. Before we go further, let’s identify a few elements. The first one should be fairly obvious: the master of the house represents God. He is the owner of the vineyard.

          All throughout the Old Testament, a vineyard was a very common symbol for Israel.

“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, an outcry!”                           -Isaiah 5:7

Sometimes the vineyard is a symbol of Israel the nation. Sometimes a vineyard symbolizes something far greater: the people of God.

“A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it…In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.”                              -Isaiah 27:2-3,6

          The vineyard in Isaiah 27, filling the whole world with fruit, is not just about the Jewish people. It is about Jews and Gentiles united by their faith in Jesus – one holy people of God – spreading the gospel, advancing the kingdom, filling the earth with the fruits of the Spirit. The vineyard in Matthew 20 is a symbol of the people of God, Jew and Gentile, filling the earth.

          We are not ready to consider who laborers represent just yet, but it is significant to note that they are hired from the marketplace. In other words, they are not servants of the master, they do not belong to his house, they are outsiders brought in.

          This is a common scene in the first century: men waiting around for someone to come along and hire them. There was no welfare system, no unemployment benefits, nothing to fall back on. If these men were not hired, there was no food – neither for them nor their families.

This is why many thought it was more advantageous to be a slave. People even volunteered to become slaves; because when you were a slave, you were guaranteed food, security for the family, and relatively comfortable lodging.

But the life of a day laborer was fraught with economic instability. There was an underlying desperation for day laborers waiting around for someone to hire them. Some employers, leveraging that desperation, wouldn’t hesitate to pay less than a fair price. So when this landowner came to the marketplace, offering fair wages, the workers would have jumped at the opportunity. At least for that day – and maybe a few more – their family was saved!

          Read vs 3-7

          In Jesus’ day, hours worked differently. Daylight was divided into 12 segments; each segment was called an hour. Depending on the time of year, the length of an hour could be longer or shorter. The third hour was about midmorning. The eleventh hour was shortly before sunset.

          Hour after hour, the landowner repeatedly goes into the marketplace looking for workers. He finds them, standing idle. Their idleness is not laziness, it simply means no one has hired them. It makes some sense that there are still workers hanging around in the midmorning; but in the eleventh hour, what in the world are they still doing there?

          That is essentially what the master of the house asks them in verse 6. Their response: They have been passed over. They have been waiting all day and no one has hired them. I see three significant implications in this.

First, the best players have all been picked to be on the basketball team, and these have been left out. These are the least desirable workers; no one wants them.

          The second implication is that these undesirable workers are even more desperate. After midday, wouldn’t most people just have thrown their hands up and gone home. “No one is going to hire me, what is the sense of standing around.” But now in the eleventh hour, these workers are hoping for anything, a few pennies. The only thing keeping them in that marketplace is desperation, even a few bucks would helps.

          Third: The master of the house is not a fool. He has not continually underestimated how many laborers it would take to tend the vineyard. He does not need these workers. He goes to the marketplace hour after hour, because he is compassionate.

He understands the desperation of the men, how some of them are entirely unwanted, he seeks them out, going again to the market, looking for those who are needy yet hopeful. And when he finds them, he employs them in his vineyard – out of the goodness of his heart. This master of the house wants to save people from inevitable destitution.

He promises to pay whatever is right. He did not need these workers, desperate and undesirable, but he hired them anyway. Even before we learn how much they are paid, it is already an incredible demonstration of generosity!

          Read vs 8-12

          The sun is about to set, the workers are gathered, the master is ready to award payment. This is clearly an allusion to the day of judgment. As Jesus said earlier,

          “For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done.” -Matthew 16:27

          But this parable isn’t meant to deliver a robust doctrine of judgment day. That is not Jesus’ point. Rather, Jesus is illustrating the generosity of God’s grace.

          The workers are brought before the master, and the first to be paid are those that were hired in the eleventh hour. Every single worker gathered there would have been stunned to see these Johnny-come-latelys get paid for a full day’s labor. You can imagine the men who were hired first huddled together, doing some quick calculating: “If these fellas got a denarius for one hour, we’re about to get paid 12! We won’t have to work for weeks!”

          But they watch as those employed in the afternoon also receive a denarius. Same with noon and midmorning hires. Finally, those working since dawn are paid – also a denarius.

          Imagine if you were among the people hearing this parable for the very first time, not having any idea where it was going. I know I would very likely side with those who were employed first. You can understand their complaint, right? They’ve been working the day away, sweating in the scorching sun, how is it fair that the eleventh-hour workers are paid the same as them? Isn’t it glaringly obvious that this whole scenario is unfair!

          It’s amazing how quickly children learn the phrase, “It’s not fair!”

“I have dessert every night, but I don’t get it tonight. It’s not fair!”

“My brother got new shoes, and I didn’t. Not fair!”

“She got more presents than me. Not fair!”

This sense of fairness is ingrained into every one of us, and it is not just for children.

“I’ve been at this company a long time, I have loads of experience, and this new hire gets paid more than me. It’s not fair.”

“I’ve watched everyone else get married, and there is no one for me. It feels so unfair.”

“Their children are walking with the Lord and they’re not even that good of parents. I’ve raised my children in the church and still, they’ve walked away from God. It seems so unfair.”

“They smoke and drink and neglect their health, but I’m the one battling cancer. How is this fair?”

“It’s not fair that my body is old and failing, while the youth spend their energies on such foolish pursuits.”

The men in the parable are thinking along similar lines, and it makes so much sense.

Read vs 13

Just like some employers leveraged day laborers’ desperation, and didn’t pay them a fair price, other employers promised fair wages but shorted the workers when it came time to pay. What could the laborers do but go home with what they received, even if it was less than what was promised? The Mosaic Law forbade this kind of injustice.

You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin. -Deuteronomy 24:14-15

But the master of the house committed no such injustice. He has been completely honest. His wages were reasonable, and he offered what he promised in a timely manner. He has done nothing wrong.

This should fascinate us. It reveals a ton about humanity, about us. How is it that the men feel the landowner is being unfair, while – at the exact same time – the landowner has actually been perfectly fair? Is this not a huge disconnect from reality? What is going on here?

          What the landowner says next reveals much.

          Read vs 14-15

          The men thought their right to more money was violated. But the master upends their thinking. Does he not have the right to exercise his compassion as freely as he desires? The workers had no right to claim the landowner owed more. The landowner owed them nothing. And yet, the landowner had every right to give as freely as he wants. He most certainly does. He gives as he chooses, and who can call him wrong?

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”                 -Isaiah 55:8-9

          God’s ways are so much higher than our ways. His lovingkindness and abounding grace far exceed the expectations of man!

          The master of the house then asks a question that cuts right to the heart of the matter: “Or do you begrudge my generosity?” The laborers complain because of their hardness of heart, because of their sinfulness. They compare themselves to the latecomers, and with hearts full of envy, they complain that they too did not get a denarius an hour. Envy is in their hearts. The poison of envy creates the disconnect from reality.

          The kingdom of heaven is not about what you can earn. It is not about how long or hard you have worked. It’s not about what you’ve accomplished. It’s not about how much you’ve suffered. The kingdom of heaven is all about the gracious generosity of our God.

          Read Deuteronomy 8:11-18

          If you have received anything at all from the Lord, it is not because of you, but because of Him. What have you deserved from the Lord except to be destroyed. It is our heavenly Father who provides everything, who is trustworthy beyond measure, who is the source of all love. Yet in selfishness and pride, in sinful disobedience, in distrust of Him, in ungrateful covetousness; we vastly offend our holy God. And such offenses earn for us death.

          For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.                                                                              -Romans 6:23

          The wages offered in this parable are ultimately a symbol for God’s free gift of eternal life. Have you received this gift? Is Jesus death on the cross, and forgiveness bought in blood, precious to you? Do you see Jesus as your greatest treasure? Then rejoice! Let your heart overflow with gladness!

You have received more abundantly than anything your could have ever asked for or imagined: life everlasting in the beloved presence of our King, a new heaven and a new earth to eternally enjoy, an enormous family of fellow disciples, immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards you (Ephesians 2:7), an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:4). Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4)!

But God’s gifts of grace are not only reserved for heaven. If you woke up this morning and had food in your fridge, it is not because you have earned it, it is because of His grace. If you have a warm house on cold winter days, it is because of His grace. If you have a job, a family, clothing, a Bible in a language you can read, a church that proclaims the Word, freedom to worship, then it is all by His grace. If you woke up this morning and drew breath, it is the grace of God! As the Psalmist writes, This is the day that the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it (Psalm 118:24).

          Also, if you see your friend with better behaved children than yours, rejoice in God’s kindness towards them. Someone in this church with more success than you, be glad for them. Give praise to God that there are people who love your grumpy neighbor. How God loves to give grace to the undeserving! Such unreserved gratitude towards God is what the kingdom of heaven looks like.

          When Jesus first spoke this parable, beginning with the words, “For the kingdom of heaven is like,” there was a meaning most close at hand. God was bringing Gentiles into the people of God, giving them the same salvation offered to any God-fearing Jews.

          The Jews could have complained, “We’ve been here since the beginning, two millennia before. We worked in the scorching sun, baking bricks in Egypt, wandering through the desert, enduring the furnace of Babylon. What have these pagan newcomers done to earn your favor? Surely the Gentiles cannot be counted among the chosen and precious people of God!”

          But confounding human sensibilities is the gracious sovereignty of God. He has chosen. He has every right to show kindness to whom He will show kindness. He is God in heaven, and we are on earth, so let our words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:2). Our fallen world runs upside-down compared to the upright kingdom of the God of all grace!

“A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! I, the Lord, am its keeper; every moment I water it…In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.”                              -Isaiah 27:2-3,6

          How pleasant to be brought into this vineyard, to be counted among the people of God! Sing of it! But when God saves us, and brings us into His vineyard, no matter the hour, He also calls us to go and work that vineyard: for the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:27). He now calls us to serve, to minister, to proclaim the gospel and make disciples; that the whole world would be filled with the fruits of righteousness.

Praise God who gives such privileges to the undesirable and underserving. Praise Him who did not need us, but in His sovereign grace brought us in and lavished His riches upon us! Praise the Keeper of the Vineyard!

          Read vs 16

          Notice the reverse order from the last verse in chapter 19. There is said the first will be last, and the last first. Now we read the reverse order: The last will be first, and the first last.

          Those who the world considers last, God will elevate to be with the first. Those who were first will be rewarded the same as the last. In the kingdom of heaven, God will give to all with equal and abounding generosity, with grace upon grace, with love that has no measure.

          Brothers and sisters, it is so good to meditate upon the graces of God. But we have been born into brokenness, and we breathe its air. How hard it is to shake the selfish sensibilities of this world! Still we try to earn, to achieve. We doubt God’s love towards us because we think we need to earn it. We achieve some measure of success, and we think ourselves better than others. And from either position we compare, we begrudge, we covet. We know we should not, but it is so hard to the sensibilities of this world.

          It is not enough to say to yourself, I will not compare myself to others, I will not covet, I will not begrudge God’s gifts to others. But hear me: You cannot remove a pattern of thinking without replacing it with another pattern of thinking. So, do you know what the counter to covetousness and hard-heartedness is? Gratitude.

          Gratitude confounds the sensibilities of fallen humanity. Be grateful for the milk in your fridge. Be grateful for the family you have. Be grateful for your neighbor’s success. Be grateful for the salvation purchased for you in blood. Be grateful that you are a new creation in Christ, and made an ambassador of heaven. Be grateful.

          Being grateful is not a switch you can flip. It is a discipline to practice. When you are low, find something you can appreciate, and give praise to God. When you wish you had what you don’t, turn and thank God for what He has given. When your spouse frustrates you, is there something about them that you can be grateful for? When someone belittles you, is there something for which you can offer an authentic expression of thankfulness? Is there someone new to the church that you can welcome into your family of thanksgiving?

          Brothers and sisters, the truth is, we have all arrived in the eleventh hour. When we take a moment to realize what we have been given, our heart should flood with heaven’s ecstasy. We are blessed beyond measure. When we orient our minds like this, then we are truly living in the kingdom of heaven.

Praise God who gives such privileges to the undesirable and underserving. Praise Him who did not need us, but in His sovereign grace brought us in and lavished His riches upon us! Praise the Keeper of the Vineyard!