1. The Parable of the Compassionate Employer Matthew 20:1-16
The wage is grace
The Parable of the Compassionate Employer
Matthew 20:1-16
Pray for & dismiss children to Sunday School.
Future in Christ will stay in for the sermon.
Take 30 seconds and greet someone next to you.

2. Developing a Biblical Worldview in an increasingly skeptical world

3. The Crossroads Pre-Series Disclaimer
Crossroads aren’t an easy place to be.
As we find ourselves standing at the crossroads, living out the Biblical story is not going to be easy
Pray!

4. We all love Fridays
TGIF
But when it’s payday Friday it’s double bonus!
I got paid, there is money in my account, the world is my oyster.
Tell story of pay day as paperboy!
13 years old
Paid 13 pounds and 50 pence every Friday.
Transition: we’re going to read a story about a pay day that Jesus told in Matthew 20.

5. Matthew 20:1-16
1“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. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’
Introduce Passage
Jesus is challenging the 1st century religious leaders who superior and reassuring the new believers who feel insecure.
He is explaining what the Kingdom of Heaven (God) looks like
…Where the Biblical Story is heading!

6. Matthew 20:1-16
5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 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?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 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.’

7. Matthew 20:1-16
9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 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.’

8. Matthew 20:1-16
13 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.”

9. The Marketplace
6And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
1st scene: The Marketplace
Contextualize the story:
Employer turns up at the job center because he needs laborers.
(Start) 6am= made verbal contract, standard days wage= $100
9am= promised justice
12pm= promised justice
3pm= promised justice
5pm= promised nothing
(Finish) 6pm
3 questions…
Why is the vineyard owner there?
Why does he go back and forth from the marketplace to the vineyard every 3 hours?
Had compassion for the unemployed.
Analogy: picking teams for soccer.
Application: he is never giving up on you.
Why are the unemployed still standing there with 1 hour to go?
Searching for purpose
Because they agreed to work for nothing.
They probably weren’t the most employable workers.
Our role is to give purpose to those around us, not to just have pity.

10. The Vineyard
8 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.’
2nd scene: The Vineyard
3 surprises…
The foreman/ An estate manager
The master didn’t have to keep going to the marketplace.
The wage not their wages
They all got $100. Only 1 wage in the Kingdom of God!
The issue for the master wasn’t how long they had been in the vineyard, but that they were in the vineyard.
The order
This would not have been the natural order which the foreman would have paid the workers.
Trouble could have been avoided.
The master wants those who worked all day to observe the grace he extends to the others.
Rising tension

11. The Heart
...‘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.’
…‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
3rd scene: The Heart
The Complaint
The complaint doesn’t come from the underpaid it comes from the justly paid who cannot tolerate grace!
Crossroads moment!
Complainers= Pharisees= those caught in the western story.
Their worth is derived from how much they are paid.
“Your justice & grace isn’t sufficient, we want more”
They’re selfish
Don’t understand that the master worked all day in the heat
They wanted to be richer at the end of day when the master chose to be poorer.
The Response
Friend= polite title for a stranger.
This is what the Kingdom of God looks like…
Today and every day is pay day! The wage is grace.
You can’t deny His grace or control His grace

12. The parable doesn’t have a nice conclusion
The parable doesn’t have a nice conclusion. It comes to a abrupt stop and we suddenly unexpectantly find ourselves in the center of the story…
This isn’t A STORY it’s OUR STORY.
May we be a community of compassion in a world numbed by overexposure to violence and tragedy.
Closing
Pray