PT-2 "The Vindication of Kingdom Equality" (Matt. 20:13-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/7/2023 9:02 AM

 

My Worship Time                                       Focus:  PT-2 “The Vindication of Kingdom Equality”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 20:13-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “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.’”

 

            “13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last’” (ESB).

 

            I put the ESV version on because of verse 14, as it seems to make more sense to me than the NASB95 version.

 

            In verse 15 what we see is a rhetorical question:  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’  He certainly is allowed to do that. What he paid the late-coming workers, or any others, was strictly his own business, and he was perfectly within his lawful rights.  He could do whatever he might wish to do with his own assets.

 

            John MacArthur writes the following which I believe is very important for me to understand:  “The problem was not injustice on the part of the landowner and foreman but jealously on the part of the workers.  “Is you eye envious because I am generous” the owner asked the angry spokesman.  As he had just reminded the group, he completely lived up to their mutual agreement, and that should have been their only concern.  But jealously and envy are not based on reason but on selfishness.  The charge of unfairness was not grounded in love for justice but in the selfish assumption that the extra pay they wanted was pay they deserved.  In reality of course, what the latter-day workers were paid had absolutely no bearing on what the all-day workers were paid.  They had, as it were, entirely separate contracts with the owner.”

 

            Here is a problem and that is that selfishness sees what it wants to see, and all those envious men could see what that they did not receive the grand bonus they expected and thought they deserved.  These early workers got exactly what they had agreed with the landowner to pay them and I have stated before that getting paid as much as the landowner was actually more than most workers of that day got paid as a denarius was paid to people like soldiers and others with skill, not just ordinary day workers, so they were actually getting more, but they still wanted more because they were jealous of what the others got paid.  Perhaps it would have been good for them to do, would be to rejoice in what their co-workers got paid instead of griping about what they did not get paid because they were envious of them.  I think that perhaps rejoicing for the good fortunes of the others, has to be a person who really has a grateful heart, and I think that is something that has to come from the Lord.  John MacArthur writes “The other men had a hard time finding work at all, and when they did it may have been menial, demanding, and low-paying.  But regardless of the difference between the men’s situation, capabilities, accomplishments, or needs, none of them was wrongly paid.”  As earlier stated they were actually paid more than most unskilled workers during that time.

 

            I am going to conclude this SD with another quote from John MacArthur, and then in our next SD I want to look at what he is writing about at the end of this paragraph.  “Although the parable includes clear warnings about impugning the fairness of someone and about the ugly sin of envy, its primary point is that of the owner’s right to pay all the workers the same wage.  Jesus, of course, was not teaching economic or business principles but rather using such principles to teach an infinitely more wonderful spiritual truth.”    

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Selfishness is something that has to do with the old nature that every person is born with, and it takes the miracle of the new birth in order to have a new nature so that I won’t be selfish all the time, for even after the new birth I can be selfish if I don’t trust the Lord to be filled with His Holy Spirit.  Today is the day that, as believers that we look back on the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, although we don’t know the date in history that He was nailed to the cross for the sins of the world, but we do know that this happened, and if one is to have eternal life then one must believe that He truly died for you in a personal way, accepting His forgiveness, and realizing that on your own you can do nothing to be saved. 

 

            I want to share a story about this, as it was told to me last Sunday by a very dear friend of mine.  He told me about witnessing to a man who was a very intelligent man who after being witnessed to many times said that if he were to go to heaven he would have to do it on his own.  This man had made a computer, and this was back in 1978, so as I said he was very smart.  My friend said to him that if his house was on fire and all of his possessions were in the house, including that computer and he was outside using a garden hose to put the fire out and the firemen came and told him that they had better equipment to put the fire out, but he insisted that he could do it on his own by using his little garden hose.  The point was made and several days later this man called the pastor of the church and was ready to receive Christ as his personal Savior and Lord.  My friend told me that he had never used that story before and never used it again, but I think that it is worth sharing.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will continue to work in the heart of my wife as I know that He is working in her heart about something that is very important to her and to me and I am thankful.

 

4/7/2023 9:46 AM

PT-1 "The Vindication of Kingdom Equality" (Matt. 20:13-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/6/2023 10:21 PM

 

My Worship Time                                       Focus:  PT-1 “The Vindication of Kingdom Equality”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 20:13-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “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 usually don’t do my devotions this late in the evening but I had a medical procedure this morning which was done after I was put to sleep, Endoscopy was the name of it and although it seems that nothing has changed from the last one that I got a few years ago it is not something that I look forward to having done.

 

            Now this SD will probably be a bit shorter than most of the ones that I write, and this SD begins the last section that has covered Matthew 19:30-20:16.  It is not only the last, but it will probably take the most time to get through.  Another thing that I want to say is that I am having trouble truly understanding exactly the spiritual meaning of this parable.

 

            At the end of this section, verse 16 we read something similar to what 19:30 said, “"But many who are first will be last; and the last, first,” which shows me that when the chapters were put into the New Testament that I think that verse 19:30 should have been 20:1. 

 

            Verses 11-12, which we looked at earlier, are grumblings that came from the first group of laborers that the land owner hired, and so in verse 13-15 the land owner is giving is giving his answer to the grumblings of the first laborers who were hired.  Now as we looked at their grumblings it probably came from a spokesman from their group and so the land owner answered and so to one of them, (the spokesman) Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?”  The Greek word for friend is hetairos “is not the term for a close friend but rather a casual companion.  The owner let them know firmly but courteously that they were out of line.  He was doing them no wrong, because they had a clear agreement early in the morning at the market place (v. 2) that they would be paid a denarius apiece, a far wage.”  What we get into again is “fairness” something we have talked about in an earlier SD.  The owner then says to them “take what is yours and go your way.”  It should not be your concern, if I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.”  That is a true statement, as it was up to the owner to pay the rest of those he hired the same as the first group.

 

            I worked for a long time in a foundry which had a strong union and for over the first half of my time there I was a union member.  This entire section that we have been looking brings backs memories of working there, and some of those memories were not the greatest when this type of things happened.

 

            Lord willing we will continue looking at this section in our next SD.  4/6/2023 10:46 PM

"The Objection to Kingdom Equality" (Matt. 20:9-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/5/2023 11:57 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  “The Objection To Kingdom Equality”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                            Reference: Matthew 20:9-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “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.’”

 

            As we look at these verses there are only two sets of men who were hired that are spoken of, the last who worked only one hour and the first who worked throughout the entire day.  There is no mention of what those who were hired on the third, sixth, and ninth hours who were also paid a denarius had to say.  There was a point with those who were hired first were actually happy because they thought that they would be paid more money because they worked longer.  Then came the news that they too would receive a denarius and things changed for them, for it is conceivable that this first group would be thinking that they would receive twelve denarii for working twelve hours.

 

            Their hopes were soon dashed when each of them also received a denarius, and they reacted exactly as we would expect.  “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.’”  I have to say first of all that this would be the normal human reaction, and I can’t say that if I were in that first group that I may have felt the same way too.  I suppose that as I think back at my time when working at my job as a supervisor at Ford Motor Company, Cleveland Casting Plant, that even though I was a believer the entire time I was on that job that I had experienced different times when I was passed over for advancement, but then I seem to come to my senses, my spiritual senses, to believe that if the Lord wanted me to be advanced that that is what would have happened.  These men who the Lord is talking about here had it all figured out as they complained that they had worked all day in the heat of the day, (not sure how hot it really was). 

 

            John MacArthur concludes “Why should they get paid as much as we?’  They may have been overdramatizing their case, but their basis description of the situation was correct.  In any case, they were exceedingly disgruntled at this perceived injustice and were determined not to leave until they had satisfaction from the landowner, who was standing near his foreman when the wages were handed out.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Life is not always fair, humaningly speaking, but God is always in charge, and He knows what is best for me, even though at times it is difficult to accept.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I pray that God will increase my faith so that I can handle the things that He has me walk through; even though I know that there are times when it is tough. 4/5/2023 12:26 PM

PT-3 "The Participants in Kingdom Equality" (Matt. 19:30-20:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/4/2023 11:56 AM

 

My Worship Time                                       Focus:  PT-3 “The Participants in Kingdom Equality”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                           Reference:  Matthew 19:30-20:7

 

            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.’”

 

            We want to begin with the highlighted portion of verse six this afternoon by stating that “standing idle” does not actually signify that these people were lazy or indolence, but merely points up the fact that they are unemployed at that particular time.  These men were entirely dependent on someone’s hiring them, and the fact that they were in the market place shows us that they were looking for work. 

 

            Unlike the first ones that the owner hired and had told them that they would give them a denarius for their day’s work he said to the rest who were hired later ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’  The truth is that these who were hired later on and were given this promise from the owner means that they would have  known and trusted him to do right.  They all lived in a small environment and knew each other thus they trusted the owner to do what was right.

 

            We can see from this story that the owner continued to go back to the market place and continued to hire more laborers.  Now near the end of the day which would have been 5:00 PM he goes and hires more men for working and let me quote again the highlighted part of verse six ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’  The truth is that we don’t know why they would have been standing around looking for work, perhaps they were in another part of the market place, at any rate they were there and were hired to work for the land owner.  MacArthur adds “The point is that, even at that later hour, there were men still looking for work, because, as they explained no one hired us.

 

            “This last group had worked only one hour (v. 12) when evening had come, which was the twelfth hour, or six o’clock.  Following the Mosaic requirement to pay such workers at the end of each day, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages.’’ That is what every conscientious Jewish employer did in obedience to Old Testament law.”

 

            Now the next instructions that Jesus gives were rather unusual.  The men were to be paid beginning with the last group first.  I think that this is a very, very important point here and that point that Jesus is giving to us here is about what people think of fairness.  As we go on looking at this parable it will be clear that Jesus was able to demonstrate men’s self-serving ideas of fairness, and where this parable begins to interest with the proverb what we saw in 19:30 “30 “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.”  I tried to explain the meaning of this in our first SD on this section of verses. 

 

            I will conclude with MacArthur’s last paragraph in this section.  “The primary idea of the parable, and of Jesus’ application of the proverb, is not a simple reversal of payment order.  Although that procedure was certainly not customary, it would not in itself have caused much concern.  The radical action of the landowner, which reflects the parable’s main point, is that those hired about the eleventh hour…each…received a denarius, a whole day’s wage, as their day.” 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to say that when it comes to God being fair I believe that because God is perfect, and can never do anything wrong, I trust Him and His Word as God’s ways are always better than man’s.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As this church age that we are all in is rapidly winding down it is my desire to do the things that the Lord has called me to do in order to bring glory to my Lord Jesus Christ.

 

4/4/2023 12:35 PM

 

 

             

PT-2 "The Participants in Kingdom Equality" (Matt. 19:30-20:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/3/2023 11:41 AM

 

My Worship Time                                       Focus:  PT-2 “The Participants in Kingdom Equality”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                           Reference:  Matthew 19:30-20:7

 

            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.’”

 

            What we know about this landowner is that he had a very large vineyard that needed work to be done to it, but we are not told whether he was planting a new vineyard, or getting grapes from a large vineyard that was ready to have the grapes picked.  A little bit about vineyards in Israel, and that is that they were generally planted on terraced hillsides, most of which were stony.  MacArthur “Preparing the terraces involved digging out the tiers and using the stones to build small retaining walls on the outside edges.  Then the terraced areas had to be filled with good soil, most of which often had to be carried a considerable distance up the slopes from more fertile ground below.”  This sounds like a great deal of work to me, not like using the tractors and other things like we have today.

 

            Jesus talks about vines and branches in the 15^th chapter of John’s gospel, and the part that is difficult, and I say this because true believers are branches in that story and they need to be pruned from time to time in order to produce better fruit.  Looking at this from our verses in Matthew 20 we can see that there is a lot of work to be done and that is why the owner is hiring many people.  Now as far as the harvesting of grapes this was done in late September and in Israel the temperatures can still be very warm (see verse 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.’” 

 

            The jobs that we are talking about here are what are called “seasonable jobs.”  Workers would gather in the market place and see if they could get hired, and most of the time the workers would not get much pay, but this land owner was giving them a denarius, which was a day’s wage for more skilled workers, so this was more than they would usually get.  Now according to different passages in the Old Testament the workers were to get their wages at the end of the day, as this was all they had to have to buy food and other things necessities of life.

 

            The Jewish workday began at 6:00 AM and so the land owner would have to be up early to get his crew together for work.  Looking further at this passage the owner went back at nine, the third hour to get more workers.  Not really sure why there were still workers there, but it may have been because they came later.  Lord willing we will finish this section in our next SD by continuing to talk more about these workers.

 

4/3/2023 12:09 PM

PT-1 "The Participants in Kingdom Equality" (Matt. 19:30-20:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/2/2023 8:01 AM

 

My Worship Time                                       Focus:  PT-1 “The Participants in Kingdom Equality”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                           Reference:  Matthew 19:30-20:7

 

            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.’”

 

            Let us first of all talk about 19:30 “30 “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.”  Perhaps this was a common proverb and that is why Jesus said this, however since He used it on several occasions and it is not found in any other literature, it seems more likely that He originated the expression Himself.

 

            I have learned that verse 30 should have been included in chapter 20, but since chapters are not something that God did, but man did when translating the different books of the Bible perhaps those who translated Matthew should have included it in chapter 20.  Now the parable that follows in chapter 20, Jesus illustrated His intended application of the proverb in 19:30.  Jesus states plainly that the theme of the parable is the kingdom of heaven, and this is the subject that He had been dealing with since the rich young ruler approached Him earlier found in chapter 19.  That young man wanted to know how to receive eternal life as found in 19:16, which every Jew knew was equivalent to the hope of salvation and heavenly citizenship.  Now Jesus followed up on that incident as He warned His disciples about the great barrier that riches can be to entering the kingdom.  He then declared the impossibility of entering by man’s own resources and efforts and the possibility of entering only by God’s gracious power as seen in 19:23-29, something we looked it in great detail in earlier SD’s.

 

            This parable that Jesus spoke to His disciples teaches a magnificent and blessed truth about the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus begins by saying "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.”  John MacArthur writes “He is giving an illustration of the spiritual realm where God sovereignly reigns in righteousness and grace, and in particular, an illustration of the equal and just basis of which it is entered through His grace.  As He often did, He used a common earthly story to illustrate a heavenly truth.”

 

            I want to talk about verse 19:30 for just a moment in closing this SD.  “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.  Think about this in the way of a race, perhaps runners running kind of race.  If the last becomes first and the first become last then they all finish the same.  I hope that this definition makes sense to all.

 

4/2/2023 8:26 AM

 

Intro to "Equality in the Kingdom" (Matt. 19:30--20:16)

 

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