A GREAT HEAVENLY REWARD
Sakkie Parsons
Translate from Afrikaans: ‘n Heerlike Hemelse Dagloon
Someone wrote to me as follow:
"What is your view of the passage in the Bible where Jesus say the house of the Lord is like the rich owner with the vineyard that get workers at different times?"
Here you first have to read the passage before you can talk about it:
MATTHEW 20 Parable of the vineyard workers
1 "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.
2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4 and to them he said, 'You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.'
5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.
6 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?'
7 They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'
8 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.'
9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.
11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house,
12 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.'
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."
The first fact that I must know and clearly understand when I read this passage is that Jesus' sacrifice and atonement price is for each and every person who ever lived and still live – up to His last coming to this earth:
JOHN 3:16-17
16 "For God so loved the world, (that is every person) that he gave his only Son, that whoever (it is every person who believes in Him from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Read Revelation 5:9-10) believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,(it is any person) but in order that the world (all people) might be saved through him.
He paid that greatest price for His first followers like Peter and John, whom you can compare with the first workers, namely:
MAT 20:1-2
1 "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.
2 2 After agreeing with the laborers (this is for example His 12 disciples) for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Jesus' disciples also worked extremely hard from the beginning. So much so, that according to tradition they all died as martyrs a horrible death except John – but he too did not have it easy until his death.
However, while working for our Lord, others also came in and worked in the vineyard. Just think of Stephen and all the people who were persecuted by Saul of Tarsus who became Paul of Christ. We also see the murderer who hung next to Jesus on the cross, who had shown only for a few hours through the testimony of his life, that our Lord can take in someone while they are dying to work in His vineyard and demonstrate how you can work for Him, even if is only through your example in your life.
Another example and this is from my own life:
I was converted in 1973 and started working for our Lord about 3 months later.
At that time, my father was in and out of jail with his criminal record, mainly because of his drinking and violent lifestyle.
Then quite a few years later he came to repentance and then for only a few years he stood out through his life as a wonderful example of how a Christian should carry Jesus' image.
Then our Lord came to fetch him, and I said with a wonderful feeling in my heart on occasion to our Lord; ‘How nice it is now for my father – He only lived for a short time for our Lord and by that time I worked for a long time for our Lord and now he is with our Lord, and I still have to work in the vineyard.
I have heard someone say something like; and let us call the person Jade:
"Just look at how it is with me, I am just like Jade a child of our Lord and I work much harder than him in the congregation but look how good he is doing and see how bad it is with me."
Firstly, life is never terrible for a child of our Lord.
I may not like what's happening to me right now but I know:
ROM 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
When I proclaim that things go bad with me as a child of God, I am proclaiming that as a child of God, He does not really look after me.
I do not know when five o'clock according to the parable will come and I also do not know when verse 8 of this parable will come – but I know this one thing regarding this parable:
If we continue to work in the vineyard and if we keep our eyes on Jesus, we are going to receive a glorious heavenly full day’s wage – that will continue forever.
Then I want to encourage you, because I was also asked in this regard:
Do not feel discouraged or spiritually inferior if you may not be as outstanding in the congregation as some other brothers or sisters around you. Just give your best to our Lord in the way you are able, especially in the way you live your life. Someone, I think it was Augustine, said on occasion:
"Everywhere you go, preach to the people and preach the gospel and if necessary, use words as well."
Therefore, living first in full for Jesus and work also in Jesus 's vineyard where you are placed by Him – and you and I and all the other workers in His vineyard, will receive a glorious heavenly full daily wage, which concerning yourself, is going to make you the happiest person in the universe.
Then –
It is also informative to me, that our Lord conclude the previous chapter, namely Matthew 19 and this testimony with the same words, namely:
MAT 19:30 “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
MAT 20:16 “So the last will be first, and the first last."
I then conclude this letter to you with the following two passages from our Lord's precious Word:
Always remind yourself that your Lord and Saviour paid the extremely highest price for you and that you are therefore very precious:
PHIL 2:5 -11
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Then you live your life and speak to people you encounter in the way His Holy Spirit leads you in your heart how He want to use you.
1PETER 3:15 and 16 the first part:
15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
16 yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience..
Greetings,
Sakkie