SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/1/2023 9:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“Intro to Equality in the Kingdom”
Bible Reading & Meditation
Reference: Matthew 19:30—20:16
Message of the verses: “30 “But many who
are first will be last; and the last, first.
1 "For the
kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire
laborers for his vineyard. 2 “When he had agreed with the laborers for a
denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 “And he went out about
the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those
he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’
And so they went. 5 “Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth
hour, and did the same thing. 6 “And about the eleventh hour he went out
and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you
been standing here idle all day long?’ 7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one
hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 “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.’ 9 “When those hired
about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10 “When those hired
first came, they thought
that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 “When
they received it, they grumbled
at the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last
men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who
have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ 13 "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? 14 ‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give
to this last man the same as to you. 15 ‘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?’ 16 “So
the last shall be first, and the first last.’”
I think that one of the problems, especially in our
country is that we think that everything has to be fair. That was also one of the problems that the
Jewish people had with God as Ezekiel writes about. He was a prophet during the time when Israel
was in captivity in Babylon, and he repeated to those captives that the reason
that they were there was because they had continually broken the law of God, but there were other sins and that was that of accusing God of being unfair and
unjust.
John
MacArthur goes on saying “They liked to use the proverb, ‘The fathers eat the
sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edgy,’ which brought into question
God’s justice. ‘As I live,’ declares the
Lord God, ‘you are surely not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore. Behold all souls are Mine; the soul of the
father as well as the soul of the son is Mine.
The soul who sins will die’” (Ezek. 18:2-4). Twice in that chapter the Lord declares, ‘The
way of the Lord is not right,’ Hear now, O house of Israel! Is My way not
right? Is it not your ways that are not
right?’ (v. 25; cf. v. 29).” “"But
the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ Are My ways not
right, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not right? (v. 29).
Here is a big problem, when men doubt the justice
and fairness of God; it is always because of their own perverted views of
justice and of Him. The truth is that God
Himself is the standard for righteousness, and it is as impossible for Him to be
unjust and to lie. One of the problems in
the world and in the lives of even the children of God is trying to make God
into their image, instead of having God making us in His image. I have said on different occasions that you
should not because you cannot put God in a box.
That just does not work.
MacArthur writes “Confronting the same false principle reflected in the
ancient Israelite proverb, Paul declared, ‘There will be tribulation and
distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also to the
Greek. For there is no partiality with God’ (Rom. 2:9-11). To the Colossians he wrote, ‘From the Lord
you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you
serve. For he who does wrong will
receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without
partiality’ (Col. 3:24-25). God punishes
those who do wrong and blesses those who do right, with utter impartiality.”
There
is no area in God’s impartiality that is more significant and wonderful than in
regard to salvation. No matter what men’s
circumstances might be when they come to Christ, and not matter how well or
poorly they may serve Him after coming, the receive the same glorious
salvation, and this is what this parable that Christ is talking about here,
salvation.
4/1/2023 9:52 AM
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