Matthew 20:1-16 Working in the Vineyard
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: May 31, 2019 Matthew 20:1-16
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
“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. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 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?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 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.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 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.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
(Understanding the Text) In this parable, Jesus contrasts people who have agreed to work for a specified wage with workers who agreed to work for whatever the landowner felt was right to give them. The first workers chose to work based on a legal agreement of specified work for a specified price. The other workers agreed to work based on faith in the landowner’s integrity and the desire to be a worker. We are not told that one group worked harder than the other or was more productive. The only variables we are told are the amount of time that they worked and whether they were promised a specific wage before they went to work or whether they were told to work on faith.
What I see these workers doing is comparing themselves to their fellow workers. The agreed upon price would have been fine with them if they had not seen people who worked fewer hours getting the same wage. Thus, their disgruntlement was that they viewed themselves as having done better works than the others but not having their greater work recognized and rewarded. They begrudged other people the unmerited favor that they had received. They were operating upon a merited favor system and were jealous of people who were not held to that system.
The message seems to be that the important prerequisite is to simply come and work in the Master’s field when invited. The amount of work that we do is not important. Our willingness to do the work is what counts. We have to actually choose to go and enter into the work, but the results of our efforts have no bearing on the Master’s evaluation of us. He does not look at us and say, “Oh look, that servant has put in so much more effort than my other servants, I am going to reward him more.” The Master looks and is happy that we are there working, regardless of the results of our work.
When Jesus talked about the last being first and the first being last in chapter 19, I was thinking about rich powerful people of the world being last and the poor and weak being first. I also considered the Pharisees being last and the prostitutes and tax collectors being first, but that was based on the Pharisees not choosing to enter the work for God at all, but instead choosing a false worship. However, this parable seems to apply the first-last principle differently. All of the people are working in the Master’s field. All have agreed to work for the Master according to certain terms. All follow through on those terms. All are rewarded by the Master. The only first-last principle that I see is that the reward is given from the last workers to the first. I’m not clear on what Jesus means here.
Guzik helped me understand that this parable is in response to Peter’s comment about receiving a reward for giving up everything. “a. Jesus is answering a question from Mat_19:27 : See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have? His reply comes in stages. First, a promise of reward (Mat_19:28). Second, a warning that God’s manner of distributing reward is not necessarily the manner of men (many who are the first will be last, and the last first, Mat_19:30). Finally, this parable that illustrates the principle that God’s manner of rewarding is not like man’s practice of giving rewards.” “c. It is important to see that the landowner did not treat anyone unfairly, though he was more generous to some than to others. We can be assured that God will never, ever be unfair to us, though He may – for His own purpose and pleasure – bestow greater blessing on someone else who seems less deserving. i. God’s grace always operates righteously. He never does anything unfair in grace. God will never be less than fair, but He reserves the right to be more than fair according to the pleasure and riches of His grace.”
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) Guzik also pointed out that this parable is not a perfect example of a relationship with God because it implies that the agreed upon wage was earned and deserved. “d. This parable is not a perfect illustration of God’s grace, because the principle of working and deserving is involved. Grace does not give us more blessing than we deserve – it gives blessing to us completely apart from the principle of deserving. i. In this parable, Jesus shows that God can give to us out of the abundance of His goodness, completely apart from what we deserve. ii. Living under grace is sort of a two edged sword. Under grace, we can’t come to God complaining, “Hey, don’t I deserve better than this?” because God will reply, “So, do you really want Me to give you what you deserve?” e. So, the disciples should expect to be rewarded – but should not be surprised if, when rewards are distributed, God will reward others in unexpected ways.” This brings another thought to me. We are getting the reward that our original parents and other created beings, such as the angels were created under. They may have “deserved” that reward because they have always remained loyal while we have been outside the vineyard, so to speak, yet God will not give us any less than He gives the unfallen worlds. We will not be second-class citizens of heaven because of our fall. Instead, we receive full citizenship and are grateful for it because we know that the grace that we have received is totally outrageously beyond anything we have done or that we have been. No matter how much I do as I work for God, it is nothing compared to how much He values me.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that Jesus just asks me to work in His vineyard, but He is not counting up my work. He is not tabulating up my successes and failures in order to determine what reward I get. It is not about numbers. It is about entering into the relationship with Him and trusting Him to reward me according to His generosity, not my efforts. The other lesson is one that is apparent in other places where Jesus speaks of the Father. He is extravagantly generous. He is not nitpicky about success. Instead, He is nitpicky about relationship. He wants our total commitment to Him, and He wants us to work for Him. He rewards us equally regardless of where and how we labor for Him. I pray to work well and stay committed to You.