Matthew 20:1-16 The Joy of serving Jesus

Matthew 20:1-16

1 Corinthians 3:5-15

                               The Joy of serving Jesus

In the Smith household, “justice”, or should I say “fairness” is always under the microscope.

“Fairness” is fiercely defended and debated amongst our family.

Even though, I as the Father consider myself head of the household, the words of “just because I said so”don’t ever just rest delightfully and acceptingly in my children ears.

Often I will hear the words,

“but, that is just not fair”

“the youngest is the favourite, she always gets special treatment”

 “the oldest is treated better than all of us”

“you favour him more because he is the only boy”

We have learned over the years that whenever we buy lollies for our children to share, a simple counting method is not sufficient, but in fact measuring scales are needed to make sure each child gets the exact same grams of lollies, since individual lollies can be come in different sizes.

And when it comes to chores around the house, there has been and will continue to be a great debate of which chores are harder or more time consuming than others.

When I ask my children to bring in two logs of wood from the woodshed which can be used for the fire, there is often a debate on how big each piece of wood needs to be.

It seems unfair that Chloe, our youngest should have to bring in the same size wood as Amos, who is much bigger and yet the mass of wood brought in is still debated.

My children are quick to tell me that their piece of wood was the biggest and also even quicker to tell me how much bigger their piece of wood was than their sibling.

There is a strong sense of “fairness” in the smith household.

Of course, there is something in all of us, that wants to be recognized or rewarded for the work we put in. And there is something good and right about reaping what you sow. There is something good and right about getting out what you put in. There is something good about being recognised for your achievements and your hard work.

And of course there is something inbuilt in all of us, not just my children that when we see others who don’t work as hard as us, and yet get the same rewards or even better rewards……. then it makes us feel angry, it makes us cry injustice.

Like when we see someone get paid more for exactly the same job that we do.

Or when we see someone else get all the glory, when we have put in all the hard work. Like the striker of the soccer team who scores the goals and gets all the glory, and yet the defenders and midfielders who do all the hard work, hardly get a mention.

This sense of unfairness also happens within the church.

Like it happened at the church in Corinth, back in the first century.

As we know, the church at Corinth was a mess, and one of the many problems that the church at Corinth had was that they continually compared themselves with one another. They measured how much work each was doing and then measured the importance of each one’s work and then tried to figure out which person deserved more praise and glory.

And so as we read from the passage earlier, some in the church at Corinth, considered that the work of the apostle’s Paul, who planted the church….. was much more important than the work of Apollos, who shepherded the church.

Paul planted the church, Apollos pastored the church.

And so some of the people followed Paul and some followed Apollos.

Some thought that Paul’s work was more important, after all he did plant the church, it wouldn’t have started with out him. And so maybe some also thought that Apollos just came in and stole all the glory, as he pastored the church that Paul started.

Although others would have thought that Apollos did the greater work, after all, planting is easier than sustaining the work. Paul planted, and got out, Apollos stayed and did all the hard work.

And so even though the people in the church at Corinth, were trying to figure out which person did the greater work, just look at what the apostle Paul said about both he and Apollos. Remember, Paul was the planter, Apollos was the one who watered.

This is from 1 Corinthians 3:7

So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth

I love this….Paul told the church at Corinth, that they were having the wrong conversation about who did the greater work……and why?

Because both Paul and Apollos were nothing in the grand scheme of things……..only God who gave the growth was worth thinking about.

By comparing and contrasting the works in the church, they were causing division.

They were focusing on people rather than God.

It was causing division in the church.

This sense of injustice, this comparison with others, our warped idea of fairness is something which Jesus brings out in this parable in Matthew 20:1-16

Let me just quickly recap this parable for us.

The owner of a vineyard went out and hired some workers to work his land.

He agreed to pay these workers one denarii for a full day’s work, from 6am to 6pm- 12 hours- A good solid days’ work for one denarii. That was the going rate at the time.

But then, at 9am in the morning the owner then hired some more workers to work the rest of the day, - just 9 hours (9-6). At midday he hired more workers, who would have worked 6 hours (12-6), at 3pm he hired more workers to work just 3 hours and finally he hired a last bunch of workers who just worked the last hour: 5-6pm.

And so he hired different groups of workers to work his field, who all started at different times of the day, but all finished at the same time.

When it came to pay time, which was at the end of the day, since most labourers relied on their wages of the day for their food of the day, he started by paying the ones who had only worked one hour, first.

This would have annoyed those who had been working the whole day for a starters. Surely they should have got paid first. But perhaps they didn’t harp up at that point, because they must have thought they were due a big pay day. They must have done the math and thought if one hour was worth 1 denarii, then they were going to get 12 denarii since they had done 12 hours of work. This, they thought was going to be a big pay day for them.

And so no wonder when these 12-hour shift workers only received only one denarii, the same amount that the people who worked just one hour received……they grumbled……I would grumble, wouldn’t you? I know I’m a pom and that’s what we do- grumble, but hey….just look at verse 11 with me:

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”

These first workers had done the hard yards, they had suffered in the heat, they had picked way more crops, they had worked the longer hours and yet they received exactly the same, as the people who had just worked for one hour at the end.

I wonder if those 12 disciples ever reflected on this parable as they came to the end of their lives?

Because as we know from history, all the disciples apart from John, were martyred at a young age. It was the 12 apostles who had to go through the hard yards of getting the gospel out to the world and now people like us are benefitting from all their hard work.

It is often noted that the early church was planted in the blood of the martyrs. You wonder if those martyrs including the apostles, ever thought it was unfair that millions around the world, who didn’t have to sacrifice as much as them, who didn’t have to work as hard as them, would share in the same glory, the same heaven, the same unity of Jesus that they had.

I wonder if we too subconsciously grumble about people who benefit from our “hard work”

“ I built this church with my own bear hands, brick by brick, I put my life into this place and now people are benefiting from my work and they don’t even appreciate it- how dare they”

Now what did the master say to these workers who grumbled and remember this master represents God?

Well, look at verses 13-16 with me:

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.”

Now, there are 4 points I want to draw from this answer:

1.        If we cannot delight in God’s generosity, we will find it hard to be generous to others.

Friends, God is incredibly generous. That is just who he is. He generously pours his forgiveness on us, he generously lavishes his love upon us and therefore we too are called to be generous. We are called to give, even to those whom others don’t think deserve it. God’s generosity towards us, is far beyond we can measure. And so when we are generous towards others who some may consider unworthy, we are not showing weakness, but we are showing God’s character.

2.        Not only is God incredibly generous but he is incredibly patient.

Even at the eleventh hour, the master still hired people who had been waiting all day. At the eleventh hour- the master gave them a chance.

Friends, God is patient. And so even at the eleventh hour, just like the thief on the cross, God is willing to forgive, God is willing to bring people into his family. We too are called to be patient. People may continue to reject God again and again and again, but while there is still breath, there is hope.

3.        God is a personal God

Friends, God meets each one of us where we are at, and it is our relationship with God that we need to focus on. That means we don’t need to focus on other people’s relationship with God, that is between them and God. Just as the master made a personal agreement with each one of his worker, you need to focus on the agreement that God made with you.

Like, there is no condemnation for you in Christ Jesus, like he has given you his Holy spirit, like he has prepared a place for you in heaven, like you will never be separated from his love, like he will always be with you.

And finally, my fourth and last point is this:

4.        Your work for Jesus doesn’t earn you a reward, but your work for Jesus is your reward.

Your work for Jesus doesn’t earn you a reward, but your work for Jesus is your reward.

When we think back to creation, God made Adam and Eve and told them to work the land and why?

Not so they could earn God’s favour by working the land, but working the land was the reward of being in paradise. God made them to enjoy serving Him, that is what we were created to do.

And so in one sense as the apostle Paul alluded to himself and Apollos, in one sense it doesn’t really matter what you do in serving Jesus, just as long as you are serving Jesus.

If you are serving Jesus to earn some external reward, if you are serving Jesus to receive kudos from your peers, if you are serving Jesus to make money, you won’t keep serving Jesus for long. Serving Jesus is not a means to an end, but serving Jesus is the means and it is the end.

You must find Joy in the serving that you are doing, otherwise you will start to compare, grumble, moan, cry, “unfair”

And yes, we know serving Jesus can be hard, it can cause us to suffer, and yet even within the suffering of serving Jesus, there is Joy.

We pastors can often play the “woe is me” card.

People feel sorry for us, gee it’s a hard job, people are messy, no-one has an appetite for God, the world is a mess, it’s getting harder just to preach the gospel, no-one seems to be able to commit these days….. and so and so on…….It wasn’t like it was in the good old days when everyone went to Sunday school……and so on……And yet, there is also great Joy in what I do, there is great joy in shepherding, there is great joy of comforting those in grief, there is great joy in celebrating new life, there is great joy in seeing God work in the hearts of people.

And yes, in the hard times, I pray that God continues to give me Joy in serving Him.

This is a good prayer for all of us to pray- that we may have Joy in serving Jesus, whatever that serving looks like.

Let us pray.