Finish this Phrase: “The Ground is Level _ _ _ ____!”

Finish this Phrase: “The Ground is Level ___ ____ _____ ___ ____ ________!” at the foot of the CROSS

TOUGH SAYINGS: • “In this world you will have trouble…” • “Heaven & earth will… but My Words” • “With men… but with God all things…” • “Unless one is Born Again, he can’t…” • “You are the Salt…Light…” • “Unless you eat the flesh…”

TOUGH SAYINGS: • “The gate is small & the way is narrow • “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth…” • “Depart from Me, you accursed ones, into the eternal fire…” • “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine

“The Last shall be First, and the First Last.” Matthew 20:16

Say it: NO WAY!!!

Article:“A Quarter Saved…” “Paul Brant didn’t just metaphorically break the piggy bank to buy his new Dodge Ram half-ton pickup truck. This 70-year-old Frankfurt, Indiana, resident paid for the $25,000 new truck with change he had collected since 1994, when he bought another truck with spare change he collected using vending machines at his Chrysler auto plant workplace in Kokomo, Ind.

Say it: NO WAY!!!

“I Can’t Believe He Said That!” The Tough Sayings of JESUS Matthew 20:16 • Man is So PROUD II. God is So GOOD

REMEMBER: Life is filled with SURPRISES and so is God’s Kingdom– the Least likely to be rewarded will receive So Much while those who think they deserve So Much, will get but little!!!

The Tough Sayings of JESUS • Man is So PROUD “Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them… The young man said to Him, ‘All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?’… Then Peter said to Him, ‘Behold, we have” Matthew 19:13,20,27

The Context in Matthew 19 and 20 seems to indicate a spirit of entitlement and pride among Jesus’ followers. cf. Mt. 19:1-2,13,20,27; 20:20-21,24

“Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” PETER Matthew 19:27 i.e. “How much will we get?”

Jesus uses this Tough Saying twice in this passage like book-ends around the Parable of the Laborers. cf. Mt. 20:1-15

“Many who are First will be Last; and the Last, First… The Last shall be First, and the First Last.” Matthew 19:30; 20:16

“(This parable) is one of the greatest and most glorious of all…” C.G. Montefiore

The truth of the last being first and the first being last is the mainpoint of the parable. cf. Mt. 20:8, 16

NOTE – The disciples of Jesus are very demanding! cf. Mt. 19:27; 20:21; Mk. 10:35-37

PRIDE is a subtle sin that is very destructive. cf. Js. 4:4-7; 1 Pet. 5:5-7; 1 Jn. 2:15

Lucifer ________ was cast out of heaven because of pride. cf. Ezek. 28; Is. 14; 1 Tim. 3:6; 6:9

“Many features in this parable seem to contradict what you and I know about modern labor and management in today’s society… We must not jump to the conclusion that Jesus did not know what He was talking about, or that he stretched the truth in order to make a point. He was a keen observer of the ways of man…” Warren Wiersbe

The Tough Sayings of JESUS II. God is So GOOD “’Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ So the last shall be first, and the first last.” Matthew 20:15-16

The Parable of the Laborers begins with a typical work scene but ends with an atypical payment scene!

“These laborers were usually unskilled at a trade and were near the bottom of the socio-economic scale, many of them not far above beggars. They worked job to job, many of which lasted no more than a day, and often less. They had no guarantee of work beyond what they might be doing at the time. They would gather in the market place before dawn to be available for hiring…” John MacArthur

“These men were hired laborers; they were the lowest class of workers, and life for them was always desperately precarious. Slaves and servants were regarded as being at least to some extent attached to the family… It was different with the hired day laborers. They were not attached to any group; they were entirely at the mercy of chance employment…” William Barclay

The Landowner was constantly initiating the hiring of workers for his vineyard. cf. Mt. 20:1, 3, 5, 6 – “went out”

The Wages were “agreed” upon (v. 2) and they were going to be “whatever was right.” (20:4)

QUESTION: Does everything sound fair to this point?

Workers joined the project all throughout the day but the Landowner was very specific about paying the ______ group first! (20:8) LAST

The Key to the passage is when all the workers received the same pay and so those hired first grumbled. (20:11)

SAY IT: THAT’S NOT FAIR!!!

Verses 15-16 are the climax to the parable where the Land-owner asks the workers two convicting questions!

2 Convicting Questions: • Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? • Is your eye envious because I am generous?

“The problem was not injustice on the part of the landowner… but jealousy on the part of the workers.” John MacArthur

The Pointof the Parable is that God’s Kingdom rewards are based on His Supreme Sovereignty and His Amazing Grace!!! (20:15)

Practical Application: 1. Authority & Submission – Ro. 13:1

“Biblical submission to authority is recognizing that God, my Creator, is the ultimate authority and has all power. As clay in the potter’s hand, I, His creation, should yield full control of my life to His will. This includes submitting to and obeying all delegated, human authority over me, realizing that…” K.P. Yohannan

Practical Application: 1. Authority & Submission – Ro. 13:1 • Generosity & Goodness – Ro. 8:32

“Jesus deliberately and cleverly led the listeners along by degrees until they understood that if God’s generosity was to be represented by a man, such a man would be different from any man ever encountered.” D.A. Carson

Practical Application: 1. Authority & Submission – Ro. 13:1 • Generosity & Goodness – Ro. 8:32 • Humility & Rewards – Mt. 23:12

“Jesus lays it down that there will be surprises in the final assessment. God’s standards of judgment are not men’s, if for no other reason than that God sees into the hearts of men… And it may be that those who were humble on earth will be great in heaven, and those who were great in this world will be humbled in the world to come.” William Barclay

“The work of Jesus brings about many reversals, and the day of judgment will be full of surprises.” F.F. Bruce

“The principle in the world is that he who works the longest receives the most pay. That is just. But in the Kingdom of God the principles of merit and ability may be set aside so that GRACE can prevail.” Simon Kistemaker

Finish this Phrase: “The Ground is Level _ _ _ ____!”