And he said, "If a person eats or drinks in an unworthy manner, he is eating and drinking damnation to his own soul"( 1 Corinthians 11:26 ). Israel must give full testimony in the bright day of His coming. Does not this suit you, poor sinner you who never did serve him, you who could not, as you are, minister to him? It was an imperfect faith but they acted on it; and Jesus accepted it. i. Ministers call them into the vineyard, to do their work; death calls them out of the vineyard, to receive their penny: and those to whom the call into the vineyard is effectual, the call out of it will be joyful. Out of the market-place, where, till they are hired into God's service, they stand idle (Matthew 20:3; Matthew 20:3), all the day idle (Matthew 20:6; Matthew 20:6). Doubtless, it was contingent upon the utter ruin of Israel through their unbelief; but the fall of the lesser thing opened the way for the gift of a better glory in answer to Peter's faith in the glory of His person. Such is His grace, such His wisdom. Thus many that are last shall be first. Other parables also teach that He will not (e.g., Matthew 25:14-30). And if thou hast what thou didst agree for, thou hast no reason to cry out of wrong; thou shalt have what we agreed for." Dress up - slacks/tie, skirt/shirt. They're on the way to Jerusalem; they've come down the Jordan Valley. Now do you think that God the Father would allow His Son to suffer unnecessarily? 748.]. Matthew, Mark and John all give lists of the women who were at the Cross when Jesus was crucified. Successful service to God is the gift of His grace. What instrument so suitable? It is a just prefiguration of what will be in the close of the age the mass of the unbelieving Jews, now impure, but then also given up to the devil, and so to evident perdition. Further, in strict justice the fewer hours a man worked, the less pay he should have received. And, 2. They must still continue to endure the scourge of crime they could never expiate. but it was far too much for the young man. This as yet draws out wonder, at least from the witnessing multitudes, that God had given such power unto men. . After the creation of consuls, they every year named twenty-four military tribunes, part of whom must have served five years at least, and the rest eleven. And Peter quoting Isaiah looking back at that scourging said, "by His stripes, ye were, past tense, healed"( 1 Peter 2:24 ). Your partnership makes all we do possible. Thus the point that meets us in the conclusion of the chapter is, that while every character, every measure of giving up for His name's sake, will meet with the most worthy recompence and result, man can as little judge of this as he can accomplish salvation. get to know the Bible better! Now, it was an established principle, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word should be established. Note, [1.] So the last shall be first, and the first last. In some cases the last called will be among the first in rank of blessing. Jesus said that those who would share his triumph must drink his cup. This was testing matters more closely. This, I believe, is a great lesson, and too often forgotten. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Email / username or password was incorrect! The laws of that kingdom are not wrapt up in parables, but plainly set down, as in the sermon upon the mount; but the mysteries of that kingdom are delivered in parables, in sacraments, as here and Matthew 13:1-58; Matthew 13:1-58 The duties of Christianity are more necessary to be known than the notions of it; and yet the notions of it are more necessary to be illustrated than the duties of it; which is that which parables are designed for. So the last shall be first - This is the moral or scope of the parable. The point is that God rewards on the principle of grace, and we should therefore expect surprises. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. A man is not a Christian if his first concern is pay. All rights reserved. Even if Jesus had not specifically told them, their movement south from Galilee at about the time of the Passover feast made it easy to figure out that Jesus and the disciples would be in Jerusalem for Passover. The first of these lessons is, "Many first shall be last, and last first." He often fell down exhausted, and the rough men of the slums carried him gently back to his hut. Then, after the parable of the mustard seed (ver. Pauline Epistles I Will Build My Church (16:13-20) The . And He said to her, What do you wish? She said to Him, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.. In other words, it is certain that in the gospel of Luke, in whose preface we have expressly the words "set in order," the Holy Ghost does in no way tie Himself to what, after all, is the most elementary form of arrangement; for it needs little observation to see, that the simple sequence of facts as they occurred is that which demands a faithful enumeration, and nothing more. The people might have failed, but, surely, there were some differences surely those that were honoured and valued were not so depraved! I have endowed them with apostolic gifts or with superior talents, and suited them for wider usefulness. It is a short time; the reward is for eternity, the work is but for a day; man is said to accomplish, as a hireling, his day,Job 14:6. Salem Media Group. Secondly, Till we are hired into the service of God, we are standing all the day idle; a sinful state, though a state of drudgery to Satan, may really be called a state of idleness; sinners are doing nothing, nothing to the purpose, nothing of the great work they were sent into the world about, nothing that will pass well in the account. They complained against the landowner: After being paid, the men hired first took up their complaint with the landowner. If the harvest was not ingathered before the rains broke, then it was ruined; and so to get the harvest in was a frantic race against time. The men who stood in the market-place were waiting for work, and the fact that some of them stood on until even five o'clock in the evening is the proof of how desperately they wanted it. The landowner reminded them that he had paid them the amount they had agreed to, and if he paid others the same amount, that was his concern. It is more particularly sin, viewed as guilt, and consequently as that which absolutely breaks and destroys all power in the soul towards both God and man. For a day. Usually they hated and despised them, and hoped for nothing but their destruction. The fact of two without the personal details would not powerfully tell upon mere Gentiles perhaps, though to a Jew it might be for some ends necessary. If I assume from the words "set forth in order," in the beginning of Luke's gospel, that therefore his is the chronological account, it will only lead me into confusion, both as to Luke and the other gospels; for proofs abound that the order of Luke, most methodical as he is, is by no means absolutely that of time. 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.(A). Changes, to us inexplicable, occur: many first last, and last first. The glory of Christ's person strengthens us, not only to understand His cross, but to take up ours. The first is the defence of the disciples, grounded on analogies taken from that which had the sanction of God of old, as well as on His own glory now. He went to live in a six foot by six-foot hut in a Tokyo slum. That was a test of his faith. There was a strange inclusiveness in the suffering to which Jesus looked forward; it was a suffering in which no pain of heart or mind or body was to be lacking. And the third day He will rise again, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, But to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant, Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, When they heard that Jesus was passing by, David Guzik :: 1 Corintios 7 Principios Sobre el Matrimonio y la Soltera, David Guzik :: 1 Juan 2 Impedimentos para una comunin con Dios, David Guzik :: Gnesis 3 La tentacin y cada del hombre, David Guzik :: Gnesis 2 La CreacinTerminada; Adn en el Jardn del Edn, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus and the Holy Trinity (Walter Martin), 1 Samuel 1-10 (1979-82 Audio) (Chuck Smith), Genesis 15-18 (1979-82 Audio) (Chuck Smith), Third Person of the Trinity (Chuck Smith), Second, a warning that Gods manner of distributing reward is not necessarily the manner of men (. vi. The motives of the natural heart are laid bare. He also strongly claimed his right to do what he wanted with what was his. The Christian works for the joy of serving God and his fellow-men. The reason for the change is this--Matthew was writing twenty-five years later than Mark; by that time a kind of halo of sanctity had become attached to the disciples. Kagawa was left standing in a ragged old kimono. Many a man, who, as the world counts it, is a poor man, will be great in the Kingdom, because he never thought in terms of reward but worked for the thrill of working and for the joy of serving. The second is, "So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many are called, but few are chosen." It is simply designed to teach that in the church, among the multitudes who will be saved, Christ makes a difference. [1.] But these men slept in Gethsemane, forsook the Master when He was arrested, and one of them at least failed Him at the crosswe can only follow Christ in his cup and baptism, after we have been endued with the Spirit of Pentecost. (Meyer). But when the Lord was here, no matter what the unbelief of others, it was only an opportunity for the grace of Jesus to shine out. Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. God is the Owner of all good; his propriety in it is absolute, sovereign, and unlimited. God does not look on the amount of our service. Warning those who were using this Love feast as an excuse just to sort of gorge themselves, and they were not really realizing the spiritual significance of these things. Plainly, the church isnt to operate the way the world does. and a sinking ship are serious difficulties to a man. They did not know that Jesus could have made the same promise of suffering to come to any of them (if they really wanted it!). The Old Testament Beracot, fol. The better MSS., indeed, omit it here. (1.) Secondly, Obedient believers agree with God for their penny in the other world, and they must remember that they have so agreed. "Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?" vi. And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David! Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!. Very early men began to say, "Jesus gave his life a ransom for many. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard . General Epistles . Didst not thou agree to take up with heaven as thy portion, thy all, and to take up with nothing short of it? 22 But Jesus answered by saying to . Not even their wonderful "attitude" entitled them to a day's pay. The Gospels I injure no one, and have a right to do what I will with my own. Thus explained, this parable has no reference to the call of the Gentiles, nor to the call of aged sinners, nor to the call of sinners out of the church at all. The evil spirits asked leave to pass into the herd of swine, which thus typify the final condition of the defiled, apostate mass of Israel; their presumptuous and impenitent unbelief reduces them to that deep degradation not merely the unclean, but the unclean filled with the power of Satan, and carried down to swift destruction. The apostles were sent forth at the first and third hour of the gospel day; they had a first and a second mission, while Christ was on earth, and their business was to call in the Jews; after Christ's ascension, about the sixth and ninth hour, they went out again on the same errand, preaching the gospel to the Jews only, to them in Judea first, and afterward to them of the dispersion; but, at length, as it were about the eleventh hour, they called the Gentiles to the same work and privilege with the Jews, and told them that in Christ Jesus there should be no difference made between Jew and Greek. The reason I consider to be plain; and the same principle applies to various other parts of our gospel where we have two cases mentioned, where in the other gospels we have only one. It was the custom in Palestine for a Rabbi to teach as he walked along the road; and no doubt those around Jesus could not hear what Jesus was saying for this clamorous uproar. He said to her, "What do you wish?" Probably thisto teach us that men who have wrought in Christ's service all their days may, by the spirit which they manifest at the last, make it too evident that, as between God and their own souls, they never were chosen workmen at all. The grape harvest ripened towards the end of September, and then close on its heels the rains came. Who but God could heal? If there were, so to speak, a justification of circumcision by faith, undoubtedly there was also the justification of uncircumcision through their faith. After this, dismissing the multitudes, He retires alone, to pray, on a mountain, as the disciples toil over the storm-tossed lake, the wind being contrary. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. Error: Passwords should have at least 6 characters, Error: Usernames should only contain letters, numbers, dots, dashes, or underscores. This tested their thoughts of the glory of Jesus. What Does It Mean That There Is No One Holy Like God? why not sorrow and shame that they should have so little understood their Master's mind? Matthew chapter 20 New International Version 1 For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. A ransom is something paid or given to liberate a man from a situation from which it is impossible for him to free himself. He is first of all betrayed by Judas to the chief priests, because Judas made a bargain with the priests to turn Jesus over to them. 2. They wanted Jesus with a royal command to ensure for them a princely life. And then he repeats this again. If there be a privilege more manifest than another which has dawned on us, it is what we have found by and in Jesus, that now we can say nothing is too great for us, nothing too little for God. He promised to pay all the later workers fairly. All turns on that which was suitable to such a God, the giver of His own Son. In the kingdom so much the less sparing is the retribution of those who despise or abuse grace. This is applied to the Jews (Matthew 22:14; Matthew 22:14); it was so then, it is too true still; many are called with a common call, that are not chosen with a saving choice. Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year. But nothing would stop the two blind men; for them it was a matter of sight or blindness, and nothing was going to keep them back. Then the mother of Zebedees sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. Higher proportionate rewards shall be given to them than to others. "If you wish to be great," he says, "be a servant; if you wish to be first of all be a slave." Our job as disciples is to keep searching and including the lost, the last, and the least in the Kingdom and not just those who can bring us some benefit. When they heard that Jesus was passing by: They knew this might be their last time to meet Jesus. He is among the sick, he stands with the unemployed. "As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a dumb man possessed with a devil. I love that family strength among them. God hires labourers, not because he needs them or their services (for, if we be righteous, what do we unto him? Used by permission. Is there unrighteousness with God? If you have any questions, please review our Privacy Policy or email us at privacy@biblegateway.com. So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first. And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. Jesus was no doubt very weakened by it. Out in the world there was the Roman governor with his retinue and the eastern potentate with his slaves. They glorified God. All this is what happens when men take the poetry of love and try to turn it into man-made theories. My object, of course, is to point out as clearly as possible the structure of the gospel, and to explain according to my measure why there are these strong differences between the gospels of Matthew and the rest, as compared with one another. The world will respect, and admire, and sometimes fear, the man of power; but it will love the man of love. Then Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and he said unto them, [now He is on the way, there is probably great multitudes, but He takes the twelve apart] He said, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him and the third day he shall rise again ( Matthew 20:17-19 ). Can you drink the cup which I have to drink?" They in turn will give me to the Gentiles, the Romans. To my mind, the depth of such grace only enhances the beauty of Jesus, and is the very last possible ground that justifies man in thinking lightly of the Saviour. So the last shall be first, and the first last,. As he had asserted in Matthew 19:30 and which is clearly illustrated by this parable, as it may be applied to Jews or Gentiles, or to nominal and real Christians: for many be called; externally, under the ministration of the Gospel, as the Jews in general were, by Christ and his apostles; but, few chosen; in Christ from all eternity, both to grace and glory; and in consequence, and as an evidence of it, but few among the Jews; as also in the Gentile world, comparatively speaking: and even but a few of those that are outwardly called, are inwardly and effectually called by the powerful grace of God, out of darkness into marvellous light, into the grace and liberty of the Gospel, into communion with Christ, and to the obtaining his kingdom and glory, according to the eternal purpose of God. Will be betrayed: Conceivably, Jesus could have been delivered to the religious authorities without this. d. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve: Real ministry is done for the benefit of those ministered to, not for the benefit of the minister. But at the same time it is plain, although He bore the consciousness of the vast change He was introducing, and expressed it thus fully and early in the history, nothing turned away His heart from Israel.