September  22Pm, 2002  Title:  Will the First be First?  Matthew 20:1-16

By Ronald E. George Jr. at the Fayetteville Baptist Church

 

When I worked in the coalmines I remember when I was called to first go to the mines to work.  I was excited to have a good paying job, but when I began to work I realized why coalminers were paid so well.  It was hard work.  We had to crawl and work hard every shift.  The one thing that kept us going was the thought of payday.  Payday is coming.  During that time in the mines I got another call.  That was a call from God to come into his work.  Since the time I answered the call of God to go into the fields of the world and preach the gospel I have realized how hard the work is.   As much as you would like to save the world you can’t force people to believe and follow God.  Seeing those who refuse to believe and follow the Lord could cause me to loose heart, but there are those who hear and follow the Lord.  Payday is coming.

 

Scripture text:  Mat. 20:1  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man [that is] an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.   3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, [that] shall ye receive. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them [their] hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that [were hired] about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received [it], they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12  Saying, These last have wrought [but] one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take [that] thine [is], and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

 

God’s Call to the vineyard.

Will we answer God’s invitation to work in his vineyard?  Can you see God’s desire for the work?  What is the work? 

John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.   

          The turnpike stood on a quiet country road, and, especially at night, the traffic was not very great.  So the old turnpike man used to shut his gate when darkness descended on wood and moor, and retire to bed.

   One night, when the rain was falling and neither stars nor moon dispelled the blackness in which trees and road and heather disappeared, a horseman cautiously approached the gate, dismounted, and knocked for the turnpike keeper. "Gate! Gate!" he cried.

   "Coming!" replied the old man. Out there in the pitiless rain and the silence and the gloom the horseman remembered his cozy home, and became impatient to be gone. So he knocked again. "Gate! Gate!" he cried. "Coming! Coming!" repeated the voice.  After another long delay, during which he felt the rain penetrating his clothes, he again banged at the door. "Gate! Gate!" he cried more impatiently.  "Coming! Coming!" was the reply. But still the turnpike man did not appear, and the horseman became quite angry.  He opened the door, and, putting in his head, demanded: "Why do you say, 'Coming, Coming,' this twenty minutes, and yet you never appear?"

   "Who is there?" asked the old man in a sleepy voice. "Oh! I ask your pardon sir, but I get so used to hearing 'em  knock, that I answers, 'Coming, Coming,'in my sleep, then I takes no more notice."

   How many there are who have become so accustomed to the sound of the Gospel that they hear without listening, and without understanding!  How many have said, again and again, when they have heard God's call, "Coming, Coming," and have never meant it at all! --Glad Tidings

 

Will God call even at the eleventh hour?  Can you see the importance of getting involved with the Lord?  This is for your sake and for the work’s sake.  God still calls for us to get involved in his work of spiritual fruit sowing and harvesting. 

   A missionary explained to a gathering how he came to enter the mission field. He said: "In coming home one night, across the vast prairie, I saw my little boy John hurrying to meet me. The grass was high on the prairie, and suddenly he dropped out of sight. I thought he was playing and was simply hiding from me, but he did not appear as I expected he would. Then the thought flashed across my mind, There's an old well there, and he has fallen in. I hurried up to him reached down into the well, and lifted him out. As he looked' up in my face, what do you think he said? 'O Papa, why didn't you hurry?' These words never left me. They kept ringing in my ears until God put a new and deeper meaning into them and bade me think of others who were lost, of souls without God and without hope in this world. The message came to me as a message from the Heavenly Father: 'Go and work in My name'; and then from that vast throng a pitiful, despairing, pleading cry rolled into my soul as I accepted God's call: 'Oh, why don't you hurry?"'   from William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."

 

Will God reward his servants?  Will God reward when the evening is done?  What are the rewards of serving the Lord?  Will we rejoice when payday comes?  We are rewarded daily through the peace of the Spirit and the presence of the Lord.  We are

 

Will God give what is right, even grace and mercy?  Do we trust the justice, goodness, mercy, and grace of the Lord to give and do as He sees fit?  God will give to all what we have coming in this world and in the world to come. 

 

Our response to come to work in the vineyard. 

Will we be grateful for all that we have received from the Lord, even if it is less than another?  Could God call and use you in His work?  Will we be rewarded for the faithful service we give the Lord? 

 

Why are the last made to be first and the first made to be last?  God includes all in his work.  He doesn’t play favorites.  Those who seek to promote themselves will be prompted to go to the last.  Those who seek to humble themselves and answer his call then God will promote them.  The way to the crown is the way of the cross. 

 

Why would God call many and choose just a few?  God gives all the opportunity to hear and answer his call.  The chosen are those who choose to hear and come to Him.  Will we give others the opportunity to hear the call of the Lord and answer?