PARABLES: STORIES THAT MIRROR life and answer our deepest questions

A Weird and Wonderful Way to Run the World Matthew 20:1-16

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:3 About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:4 He told them, “You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:5 So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:7 "Because no one has hired us,” they answered. He said to them, “You also go and work in my vineyard.”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:9 The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.

When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:12 “These men who were hired last worked only one hour,” they said, “and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:13 But he answered one of them, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:14 “Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:15 “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

A Weird and Wonderful Way to Run the World Matthew 20:1-16

How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance Parag Khanna

“If I Ran the World” John McCutcheon

Isaiah 55:8 “ For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.

God does it differently! He gives strength in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7) He gives gigantic results from small things (Mark 4:31-32) He gives wealth in poverty (Matthew 5:3) He gives greatness in servanthood (Matthew 23:11) He gives life for those who lose it (Matthew 16:25)

The Parable of the Vineyard Workers

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

How does God run the world?

three characteristics of God’s operational plan for the world.

I. God runs the world with justice verses 9-15

1. God’s justice is not based on rank “those … hired first”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.

When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:13 But he answered one of them, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?”

Mark 2:17 It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

2. God’s justice is not based on comparisons “them equal to us”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:12 “These men who were hired last worked only one hour,” they said, “and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”

In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.

Ben Chapman

Jackie Robinson

Chapman was forced to pose in a photograph with Robinson in May of 1947.

September 22, 1947

Acts 10: 34-35 I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.

II. God runs the world with sovereignty verses 13-15

1. God’s sovereignty is based on His goodness “I want to give”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:14 “Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.”

2. God’s sovereignty is based on His will “the right to do as I want”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:15 “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

III. God runs the world by grace verses 15-16

Romans 3:10 There is no one righteous, not even one.

“Grace is not only undeserved favor, but it is favor shown to the one who has deserved the very opposite.” Harry Ironside

1. God shows grace with His generosity “because I am generous”

Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:15 “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Harvey Milk

Adolf Hitler

Jesus with the thief on the cross

Luke 23:43 “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.

2. God shows grace with His salvation “the first will be last”

So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 7:24 Matthew 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Why Grace Matters Works Grace produces pride produces humility produces anger produces rigidity can never save produces humility produces gratitude produces faith gives eternal life

Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.