Grapes of Grace, part 5

Our parable this week has a few more verses that we haven’t covered. These verses refer to the workers (the saved, those whom God has called into His work) and their behavior. Let’s look at verses 10-14: “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.”
 

There are two sins that come to mind here: the sin of stealing, and the sin of vandalism. The sin of vandalism is worse than the sin of theft. The sin of theft says, “I want what you have;” but the sin of vandalism says, “Since I can’t have what you have, I’m going to damage what you have. I can’t have what you have, so I don’t want you to have it either.” It is even more perverse and selfish than stealing alone, though stealing is in itself a very selfish sin.
 

It wasn’t that the first hires of the day didn’t want the last ones hired to receive any wage. It’s that the first hired didn’t want the last hired to receive the same grace that they themselves received. The first felt they earned more grace because they had been working longer. 

The truth is that when we fully understand grace and how merciful our God is, we will willingly accept the fact that those of us who worked the vineyard for many years receive the same amount of grace as those who get saved in the 11th hour. It shouldn’t bother us – actually it should excite us, especially once we accept the fact that our work is to bring glory to the vineyard owner and not to ourselves. 

Workers in the vineyard today do that same kind of stubborn selfish pouting when we withhold our testimonies and our witness from those who so desperately need the same grace we have received.
 

Matthew 9:37-38 “Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few…’” The only way there will finally be enough laborers is when we see that the work we are doing is for our Lord and not for us. We should be willing to work for Him no matter what the pay, without complaining about what others are making. 
 

It was very interesting to hear about all the people who were buying lottery tickets a few weeks back. I never heard a single one of them say that if they won the 1.5 billion dollar purse that they would share it equally with everyone they knew. (Just as a quick aside here, I do not believe Christians should be playing the lottery. Are we depending in God or what the lottery might be able to give or provide for us?) We somehow believe that a thing given to us, (like grace) is something we deserve, or something, not to be shared with others. We almost become proud of the blessings of God in our life, without the thought that possibly those blessings are to be used to meet the needs of those around us. 

What are some of the graces of God in your life? How has God blessed you? How are you using those blessings for the sake of others? That truly, is what working the vineyard is all about. 

One of the difficulties about the work of God is that it’s never fair (ever), but it’s always right. Too often we are the center of our world and therefore we get upset at what God might ask us to do. Instead, let’s remember (and remind ourselves) to simply being content with the fact that we get to work, and then we get to eat, and then, spiritually speaking, we get to dwell forever with our God. END