The Hired Help Part 2
The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like... • Sermon • Submitted
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The Expected Reward
The heart of a servant leader is an admirable one. When we look at some of the greatest leaders we know we will encounter people who have humble hearts and give with no reservations.
In kind toxic leadership often undermines others and suppresses others to gain the advantage.
While not a lesson on leadership we often see the both of these characteristics at work when it comes to receiving a reward or acknowledgement.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Examined and learned
Laborer -Angels
Merchants-Israel
Last Hour-Gentiles
The promise of a reward
In this parable there is a hidden lesson for us to learn… to serve willingly and gladly for the Love of our Lord and Master.
The Just Reward
The Just Reward
After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Laborer the Promise of a Day’s Wage
Laborer the Promise of a Day’s Wage
And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’
Marketplace Merchant Whatever is Right
Marketplace Merchant Whatever is Right
Last Hour Worker Just a Promise of a Job
Last Hour Worker Just a Promise of a Job
Each was amiable to what was offered both work and reward
Present a heart of service… or was it the reward that entices them?
The Order of Merit
The Order of Merit
And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
The Kingdom of Heaven gives to the Last First
The Kingdom of Heaven gives to the Last First
Whether the one who has toiled all day and was present before creation, was part of the progression, or the one who came in the last hour the reward that is given was the same
The great equalizer is that it does merit based on the work put in rather the grace that God so freely gives.
What we learn throughout scripture is that the owner of the house is rich in mercy and abounding in blessings
Turmoil in The Kingdom
Turmoil in The Kingdom
Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
The allusion to the fall in heaven
Grumblings a cry for the usurping
authority
bad management
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
An account of the fall in heaven.
Ezekiel tells us this was a guardian Cherub (The Watcher Class of Angels)
made more beautiful and powerful than the rest
The grumblings were the contracts and appeal to the others to rise up
The grumblings were the contracts and appeal to the others to rise up
The reason for the grumblings not over pay more about the reward
The master of the house doesn’t address them all He addresses the one contracting
The least of these were elevated
The least of these were elevated
A Holy Nation of Priests
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
When you were on the outside looking in without promise the Lord called YOU into His service… He didn't promise what He promised the angels or even what He promised those who were born with an intrinsic worth… Instead He gave us the hope that has been found in His mercy.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Deut 18:1-2 Promise for the Priest… He will be their inheritance… Turn of words not only will He be our inheritance we become His people.