Why are we here? We are here because of God’s Great Grace. When Jesus visited Zacchaeus’ house He said this about Himself: For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (Lk. 19:10).
We are here because no one, no matter who they are or what they have done, is beyond the reach of Christ’s redemptive power. We are here because every repentant sinner who surrenders in faith to Christ receives full salvation.
In Jesus’ ministry, an influential Jewish religious leader was not preferred over an adulterous Samaritan woman. Jesus called sinners—tax collectors, crude and rude fishermen, to be His disciples.
We are here because all who believe in Jesus Christ—young or old, respectable or contemptible—receive the same eternal life. Billy Graham’s salvation is no different than yours or mine. No one who genuinely comes to Christ is either preferred or slighted because of his or her background. Jesus offers the same eternal life to all.
In Matthew 20:1-16 Jesus tells a story (parable) that is all about grace. (Text) Interestingly, Jesus told this story almost immediately after the Rich Young Ruler turned away from Him.
Here’s the gist of the story: A landowner went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He hired some men to work for a denarius a day.
He came back to the marketplace four more times during the day—at 9:00 am, noon, 3:00 pm, and once again at 5:00—to hire more workers. When evening came and it was time to pay the laborers for their work, every worker got the same, no matter how long he had worked. Whether they worked 12 hours or just one, they all received the same.
Doesn’t seem fair, does it? Every worker got paid the same, no matter how long he had worked. Those who only worked one hour or a half day thought this was a good deal. Those who worked all day long felt they had been cheated.
The landowner was not unfair—not only was he fair, he was generous. A denarius was a good day’s wage. No one had any reason to complain; they were all paid exactly what they agreed to.
The problem was jealousy. Those workers could not accept the good fortune of the others. They couldn’t be happy for them. They only thought of themselves.
Now be honest. Who do you most relate to? From the human standpoint we sympathize with those who worked all day. It’s hard for us to accept the seeming inequity of someone getting extra pay unless we all do.
Because we are human, life carries with it marvelous possibilities of joy and happiness. But there are, at the same time, untold ways in which it can go wrong.
Even when we think we’ve got a handle on life and our experiences have equipped us to have empathy and sympathy for others, we still have an imperfect sense of what happens in other’s lives.
We think the difficulties in our own lives are unique—that no one else has problems like we do. Husbands and wives may be fighting; someone’s health is bad; the kids haven’t turned out the way you hoped.
We look around at others and we get bitter and jealous thinking they have a better life than we do. And we think it’s not fair. That’s exactly what these guys did. They cried “foul—it isn’t fair!”
Verse 15 hits the nail on the head. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?
Sometime unequal treatment is an expression of generosity. The generosity of the landowner was not evil—it was good. But the jealousy of the workers was. They could not stand the thought that someone else got the same pay without working as hard or as long as they did.
This is an interesting story. You may even wonder why it is even in the Bible. One of the reasons is because Jesus was responding to the perplexity of His disciples after the Rich Young Ruler rejected Him.
When Jesus turned away the rich young ruler Peter turned to Jesus and said, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (Matt. 19:27).
“Jesus, we signed on first. We were here early. We have been lifetime members at great cost to us. What then will there be for us?”
This is not a story about unfair labor practices. It is about life and the Kingdom of God. It is about God’s Great Grace. The vineyard is the kingdom of God, or the realm of salvation. The landowner is God. The workers are those who accept Christ and enter into service in the kingdom
The workday represents a person’s life span. The evening is the end of life or entrance into eternity; and the denarius is eternal life. There are several important spiritual lessons in this short story:
God does the seeking and the saving. The landowner (God) went to the marketplace to find workers. He did the hiring. He invited them to work in his field. They had the choice to reject or accept his invitation.
God seeks and saves lost sinners. It is God who brings us into His kingdom. Just as the workers could have chosen not to work for the landowner, we must make the decision whether to accept and follow Christ or not.
The landowner told those he hired in the morning he would pay them a denarius. He set the price and they accepted. Those he hired late struck no bargain at all. He just told them, “You also go work in my vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right” (v. 4).
They accepted his terms. We, too, must accept God’s terms. The plan of salvation is all by God’s grace. He says to us, “Salvation is by faith in My Son, Jesus. You must believe He died on the cross for your sins and was raised to life again three days later.
“When you believe in Jesus and accept Him as your Lord and Savior, I immediately adopt you into My family. You enter into the kingdom of heaven and you inherit eternal life.” It is the only way.
Yet many believe that all roads lead to heaven. John MacArthur said, “As far as the way of salvation is concerned, there are only two religions the world has ever known or will ever know; the religion of divine accomplishment, which is biblical Christianity, and the religion of human achievement, which includes all other kinds of religion, whatever names they may go under.”
You may be saved when you are young, as a young adult, or it can happen in the last hour of your life. Jesus is saying, no matter where you are in life, you are never beyond God’s reach.
Jesus reached out to the rich young ruler, but he rejected Christ, he refused the terms. Jesus reached out to Zacchaeus and he accepted the terms, confessed his sins, believed in Jesus as his Savior, and entered into the kingdom.
The landowner went back again and again to invite men to work in his vineyard. God continues to invite people into His kingdom. He will never stop soliciting workers for the kingdom.
The men in the marketplace were there because they had a need—they needed a job. When the landowner asked them why they had been standing there all day doing nothing, they replied, “Because no one has hired us.” (v. 7).
And God invited them to join the other workers in the field. We are surrounded by people who need Jesus Christ. We are His instruments to invite them into the kingdom.
The best news is that God never stops inviting people. I’m so thankful that He didn’t decide 1500 years ago, or 1000, or 500 that there were enough people already in His kingdom.
What if He had said, “Enough, no more! Everyone born after this time is condemned to eternal damnation.” Where would we be? But, because of His great grace, God continues to invite people into His kingdom.
The landowner paid exactly what he said he would pay. No one got less than what was promised. I think that sometimes we look at God either as a the Great Vending Machine in the Sky, or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, as a mean task master who just wants to get the most out of us for the least cost.
I suggest that we look at the world through God's eyes of love. We would discover that God is a generous and forgiving father who does not measure out his love to us according to how well we behave.
You know, not a single one of us deserves eternal life. But God’s salvation is pure grace. He gives it equally to all who believe.
God saves us not on the basis of what we have done, but according to His rich grace and mercy. Max Lucado wrote a book ten years ago titled, In the Grip of Grace.
Whether you were saved as a child or in your old age, God gave you more than you deserved. And now that you belong to Him, He keeps you in the grip of His grace.
How does God feel about you when you mess up, when you fail, or when you fall short? When you are grumpy and others don’t want to be around you; when your thoughts are in the gutter, or when your tongue is so sharp you could split a rock with it, does God still love you?
Listen to me—God doesn’t condone our sin, nor does He compromise His standard. He doesn’t ignore your rebellion, nor does He relax His demands.
You know what He does do? Because of His great grace, He loves you. You are in the grip of His grace. On the cross He assumed our sin and sentenced Himself to the death we deserve.
First: Wesley Allan Dodd raped and stabbed Cole Neer, 11, and stabbed his brother William, 10, in a park on Sept. 4, 1989. A month later, he abducted 4-year-old Lee Iseli from a school playground, molested and tortured the boy, before hanging him.
Caught and sentenced to death, on the gallows, moments before he became the first person hanged in the United States in over 30 years, Dodd, 31, spoke of a change of heart.
“I was asked by somebody, I don’t remember who, if there was any way sex offenders could be stopped,” he said a minute before a noose was put around his neck. “I said no. I was wrong. I said there was no hope, no peace. But there is peace. There is hope. I found both in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
How does that make you feel? Uncomfortable? Listen, one of the absolute truths of Christian faith is that all of us depend on God’s grace as the basis of our salvation.
A second truth is that it is possible to achieve forgiveness at the last minute. God’s grace is unlimited. Rejoice in that no one is beyond the reach of His grace, ever—not even you or me.
The second story and one of the most touching pictures of God’s grace is when Jesus, hanging in agony on the cross, with the sins of the world on His shoulders, nevertheless turned to the criminal hanging on the cross next to Him.
The thief was a career criminal. Roman law had condemned him and a companion to death on a cross. God’s grace placed them on the same hill as the Savior.
At first, in those early morning hours of the crucifixion, both thieves added their taunts to those of the crowd (Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32). But soon, the mocking of one of the thief’s changed to a confession of his own guilt and Jesus’ innocence (Lk. 23:41)
Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk. 23:42). Jesus could have said, “No! You don’t deserve it.” Or, “After the life you’ve lived, now you expect mercy!”
But in an act that is pure grace: Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43).
We love this story because it clearly shows God’s grace. But if we’re honest, we may resent the story of Wesley Allen Dodd—but they’re the same. Wesley Allen Dodd and the thief received the same grace as we. And we are here because of God’s grace and only because of His grace.
We can live a life of grace. Because of His great grace we can live a life of thankfulness; a life that sees all of us on the same journey, but some are not as far along as others. Because God loves and forgives us, we love and forgive others. And we serve them as best we can.
In light of God’s great grace in giving you forgiveness, salvation and eternal life, you can love, forgive, and serve others. Jealousy and resentment have no place in a Christian’s life. Loving service and ministry are the marks of a growing Christian who truly is thankful for God’s grace, and who is committed to reaching others for Christ.