“Can You Live with Grace?”
Matthew 20:1-16
On the first day of class the professor says, “I have this very complicated Math problem, the solution of which shall constitute you grade for the entire semester. I’m giving you the problem now so you can start working immediately if you hope to pass the course. I want you all to make A’s.” You want to do well so you get to work. You go to the library. You begin the calculation. To your surprise, you note that, even by mid-February, only a few of your fellow classmates have begun to work on the problem. Well, that’s their business. They will be sorry come May. The week before exams, you are proudly putting the finishing touches on your paper and the solution to the problem. Some in the class tell you that if they work hard over the next few days they might get it finished. There are others who haven’t even begun. But, that’s their problem. On the last day of the semester, you proudly bring your work in person to the professor. To your surprise, everyone else has their work done as well. You’re stunned. Then you begin to hear some comments. “Professor, thanks for helping me figure this out last week. Without your help, I would never have finished.” “Here it is professor. All done, thanks to your kind assistance yesterday.” “Thanks for coming by the dorm last night to help me.” Now you’re really stunned. No wonder they finished; while you were hard at work, on your own, the professor was all over campus spoon-feeding it to everybody – everybody but you, that is. So you tell the professor what you think of this. She replies, “Why do you begrudge my generosity? The goal of class is to get people to finish the problem. You were able to finish it on your own. Fine. The others needed a little special attention. You get an A. They get an A. What’s wrong with that? Am I not doing you right?” 1
Can you live with grace?
Jesus’ parable for today presents just such A DISTURBING PROBLEM. When we go back in to the 19th chapter we discover that this parable is set within A CONTEXT OF GRACE. The rich young man has just asked Jesus about eternal life and how to obtain it. The disciples then asked how, if a rich good young man cannot be saved, who can be? Peter follows with a question about what reward the disciples will get for leaving everything to follow Jesus. The disciples were wondering what was in it for them. So Jesus is dealing with the issue of rewards. Part of Jesus’ answer was to share this parable of grace, a parable in which those who worked all day were upset because, at the end of the day, they didn’t feel they got what they deserved.
Most of us know that feeling, don’t we? I do. In fact, I’ve felt it often throughout my life. I remember, for example, in high school, trying out for a solo part in the annual variety show. I was a cinch to make it – after all I was in the honors quartet, the state high school honors choir, and had soloed before. But I didn’t make it. What was worse was that the guy who did had never soloed before, sang a little flat, and was asked not only to sing but to emcee the evening. It wasn’t fair. He did nothing to deserve it. I did. Ever felt that way?
Our son spent a week at a very reputable soccer camp, learning how to be a better goalie. By the end of the summer it was clear he had more skill than his friend who was also a goalie. But at the last moment, shortly before the first game of the season, another classmate, who had never played goalie and who was really a tennis player who just wanted to stay in shape, said he wanted to play goalie. He was appointed the starter. It wasn’t fair; he didn’t deserve it; the coach was playing favorites. Ever been there?
You’ve been with the company for several years. You’ve put in all the overtime, gotten great reviews, and are in line for promotion. But then a new gal –one who just graduated and has no experience, one whom all the guys like because she’s such a knock out – gets hired at your pay rate and then gets your promotion. It’s not right. It’s unjust. You deserved that promotion and recognition. Can you identify with that?
You’ve attended church and Sunday School all your life. You were a leader in the youth group. You sang on the worship team. You pretty much did it all. Then that guy who lived down the street from church came to Jesus and got saved. Everybody seemed to drool over him. He even got asked, in numerous settings, to share his story. But you were never asked to do so; no one drooled over you. In fact, you were convinced that everyone took you pretty much for granted. Why bother working so hard and putting in so much time? In the end somebody else gets all the attention you deserve.
A condemned criminal, shortly before his execution, announces that he’s saved. Or there’s that rascally, wild, irreverent person who constantly ridiculed you because of your faith - he receives Christ on his death bed, just in time to be ushered into heaven. You remember Jesus said (Lk. 15:6-7). “There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” You want to rejoice and be exceeding glad but something seems unfair.
I am asking you this morning: can you live with grace?
Jesus’ parable poses A TROUBLING SCENARIO. According to Jesus those who worked all day felt they didn’t get what they deserved because everyone, no matter how long they worked, received the same pay. And since Jesus is talking about grace, it means that everyone is treated the same, that the pay is equal, that the rewards are the same no matter when grace takes over your life. That’s disturbing; not fair; unjust. It upsets the normal and expected. Jesus calls for great effort yet rewards little effort. Our normal way of thinking is challenged. After all, we worship every week, give faithfully, pray regularly, serve diligently, and live good, clean moral lives. Surely that must be worth something. “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.” Now let’s be honest – that’s disturbing.
Certainly those day long workers thought so; so much so, in fact, that they staged A DARING PROTEST. They told the master he was wrong. With that system of reward why work twelve hours when I can work one and get the same pay? Whatever happened to hard, long, faithful, loyal labor? Jesus, why should I try so hard to be a good Christian now if I can get the same reward by getting serious later in life – even much later? Can you live with grace?
Notice THE BARGAINING SPIRIT. (2, 13) “He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard… Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?” These day long workers entered into the relationship with the master only on the basis of a negotiated agreement. THEY WERE IN THE RELATIONSHIP FOR WHAT THEY COULD GET OUT OF IT. They will be duly rewarded, but will receive only what they asked for. So what bargains have you negotiated with God? “God, if only You… then I will…” If only you will heal me, my spouse, my child; if only you get me that promotion; if only you help me score a goal and help us win; if only you’d find Mr. Right for me… Then I’ll be more faithful in attending worship; I’ll give more; I’ll pray more; I’ll rededicate my life to You. Just what do you expect from Him? What do you think you have earned? Be careful – you may not be able to live with grace.
Consider also THE BEGRUDGING SPIRIT. (11-12) “When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have born the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’” They were not so much discontent with their pay – they got what they bargained for. Rather,
THEY WERE DISCONTENT WITH THE MASTER’S GENEROSITY TO OTHERS. When we enter into a relationship for what we can get out of it, we will never be satisfied. In fact, we will quickly become jealous. Remember the older son in the parable of the prodigal son? He was content until his long lost, wasteful brother received a feast. Suddenly he wasn’t receiving enough. His brother was less deserving and he was more deserving. Jesus even told the religious leaders that he hadn’t come for their sakes, but for the lost, for those outside the fold. He even implied that the tax collectors and harlots would enter the kingdom before them. Now that’s a really raw deal. It’s okay to receive a care package at my door, but when my neighbor gets one as well…Just why are you in a relationship with Jesus? Be careful – you may not be able to live with grace.
In verse 10 we find a third spirit. “So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more.” They had A BOASTFUL SPIRIT. In comparison with the other workers, they were more deserving. They were better – just like the Pharisees knew they were better than the Publicans and the Jews knew they were better than the Gentiles. THEY DIDN’T LIKE BEING PUT ON EQUAL STANDING with those other less responsible, not-so-deserving workers. Just like you know you’re more deserving than… Surely equal standing with them is a major step down. Be careful – you may not be able to live with grace.
Just what is Jesus teaching here? What are His DIVINE PRINCIPLES? First, look at verse 15: “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?” Jesus is teaching us that GOD IS SOVEREIGN. The vineyard belongs to him and therefore He has the right to do what He pleases, and to call whomever He wants whenever He wants, and to pay them whatever He determines.
In the 18th chapter of Genesis Abraham is pleading for God to spare the city Sodom, He ends his plea by asking (25) “Will not the Judge (ruler) of all the earth do right?” God will determine and do what is right by his standards; it’s his right. Paul, in a similar vein, wrote to the Romans (9:14-22 GNT): “Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all. For he said to Moses, I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish. So then, everything depends, not on what we humans want or do, but only on God's mercy. For the scripture says to the king of Egypt, I made you king in order to use you to show my power and to spread my fame over the whole world. So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes. But one of you will say to me, ‘If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?’ But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use. And the same is true of what God has done.”
God is sovereign – and He chooses to operate by grace and treat all of us equally. He has mercy on anyone He wishes. That’s his right. We don’t call or choose God; He calls and chooses us. He chooses us not because He can’t get along without us, but because we can’t get along without him. It’s not about us – it’s about Him. The question is, “Can you live with grace?”
We also learn from Jesus that GOD IS SENSITIVE. Verse 14: “I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.” He is concerned about those who need the wages, especially those who are nearing the end of the day and have no wages. Jesus is concerned about those nearing the end of the day who have not yet received grace. So out of grace God is generous – just as, by the way, he was concerned about and generous to me and you when he chose and called us. Do we deserve grace more than anyone else? We will never live with joy if we focus more on God’s prohibitions than we do on his provisions – if we think more about what we think we lack than about what we in fact have. If we keep our eyes on the provisions of others rather than on God, we will fail to see the mercy God has extended to us – and we will never live with contentment and joy. The issue is, “Can you live with grace?”
Jesus’ parable teaches us a third principle. GOD IS SEARCHING. “For the kingdom of God is like a landowner who went out early in the morning…About the third hour he went out…He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour…About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others…” The landowner needed others to help harvest the vineyard. God, however, does not need us; yet He is always on the way out to meet someone, to invite them to labor in his vineyard, to go to work for him. Why? Because He loves us and wants us to experience the blessing of serving in his kingdom. Until He calls we are just standing around, waiting. There’s nothing we can do to get called; all we can do is wait. So every opportunity to serve is a gift of grace, no matter when it comes, early or late in the day. In fact, when the call comes is not important – that it comes at all is the amazing thing. How long we serve is not important – that we serve when called is the critical thing. The perceived amount of reward or grace is not important – that we recognize grace is what matters most. So how about it – can you live with grace?
Many of us were called long ago – early in the daytime of our lives. We’ve been laboring in the kingdom for many years. Let us not look at anyone or anything but the cross. “Forbid it Lord that (we) should boast, Save in the death of Christ (our) God…Were the whole realm of nature (ours), That were a present far too small: Love so amazing, so divine, Demands (our) souls, our lives, our all.” Live and rejoice in grace.
Some of you were called later in the day of your lives – you’re much younger in the faith. You wish you had been called earlier – but you have been called so go for it, hard, all the way. Forget the Christless years and make these Christ-filled years to be full of joy. Live and rejoice in grace.
Perhaps some of you are still waiting to be called. Keep showing up, looking for Jesus. He’s looking for you. Even now He’s calling you. Respond today, before His work is done and He calls no more. Live the rest of your life in grace. Let us pray.
1-William Willimon, Pulpit Resource, Vol. 21-3, pg. 50
