matthew 20:16 adventure challenge
is a series of one-year devotional guides through each gospel, using one short scripture passage each day and following the Gospel in sequential order. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with what is my own? This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. Mockery could go no farther. Secondly, the prophecy of Psalms declared, "not a bone of Him shall be broken"( Psalms 34:20 ). The landowner did exactly as promised, but their supposition of more pay than promised was disappointed. What Jesus Did! It ought to be so with every forgiven soul. In later days others will come in. Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. And to these men who were blind, they saw this as their one opportunity for a whole new life. Now what is Jesus seeking to teach by this parable of sending forth the laborers into the vineyard? The work of religion is vineyard-work, pruning, dressing, digging, watering, fencing, weeding. Let them read their error in One who was evidently superior to the condition and the ruin of man in Israel. They did not know that Jesus could have made the same promise of suffering to come to any of them (if they really wanted it!). Nor is this all. So the last shall be first, and the first last. ii. The moment to act goes past; the impulse to decide fades. He promises, First, A penny,Matthew 20:2; Matthew 20:2. It begins with a well-known scene but then introduces surprising elements to make a powerful point. Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness. Will be betrayed: Conceivably, Jesus could have been delivered to the religious authorities without this. Where did they come from? And so they began to cry out to Jesus. [2.] "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. 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Have we, spite of superior privileges, such unwavering faith, that we can afford to treat the matter as incredible in John, and therefore only capable of solution in his staggering disciples? And, 2. It means quite simply this. IfPsalms 8:1-9; Psalms 8:1-9 goes farther, surely that was for the Son of man, who for the suffering of death was exalted. The man that was not called promises to go anywhere, in his own strength; but the man that was called feels the difficulty, and pleads a natural duty before following Jesus. How thoroughly did our Lord take a lowly place for our sakes! Where love is, there is God.' Conversely in some cases those whom God called early in their lives may not receive as much reward as those called later in life. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point They did not understand what was happening, but they could see in every line of Jesus' body the struggle of his soul. Now he started out at about six o'clock in the morning, and hired these men who were standing in the marketplace to go out and work in his vineyard. So our goal as disciples is to value things now as God does. The Pharisees were enraged at a power they could not deny, which rebuked themselves so much the more on account of its persistent grace; but Jesus passes by all blasphemy as yet, and goes on His way nothing hinders His course of love. Pentateuch So, then, we learn that the mother of James and John was named Salome, and that she was the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. Anyone who took this parable as a practical basis for employment would soon be out of business." to forget His ancient people. (iv) Here, also, is the infinite compassion of God. GO GO GO! 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. What are they hired to do? They wanted Jesus with a royal command to ensure for them a princely life. And He prophesied so accurately the things.First of all, He is going to be betrayed. There is no one cup for the Christian to drink. a. Secondly, The particular pleading with those that were offended with this distribution in gavel-kind. The New Testament So it was here. It is not an accident that Jesus was scourged. Note, There is a great proneness in us to think that we have too little, and other too much, of the tokens of God's favour; and that we do too much, and others too little, in the work of God. Paul was as one born out of due time, yet came not behind the chiefest of the apostles, and outdid those that were in Christ before him. It may indeed have had a comparatively limited application when it was spoken for the first time; but it contains truth which goes to the very heart of the Christian religion. I do not believe that God would just allow His Son to take all of that suffering, if there were not some value to be received from that suffering. Here is demonstrated the new glory and the new greatness of suffering love and sacrificial service. Subsequent, considerably, to this was the case of the centurion's servant, preceded a good while before by the cleansing of the leper. He takes accordingly the title of the "Son of man" for the first time in this gospel. The Lord has nothing for them, or for Him, but to go right on to the end. Possibly the first felt their vanity wounded by being paid after the others. Take notice of the care with which the Spirit of God here omits all reference to this: "And a certain scribe came." But here pardon dispensed on earth arouses the pride of the religious leaders to the quick, and implacably. It is tragic that we have gotten so far away from the concepts that Jesus taught. (iv) These two blind men were not afraid to bring a great request. So, when more is added, He says, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. The Saviour, while He puts forth His hand, touching him as man, and yet as none but Jehovah might dare to do, dispels the hopeless disease at once. [1.] Humble service is the great prerequisite, as shown by Jesus own ministry. My object, of course, is to point out as clearly as possible the structure of the gospel, and to explain according to my measure why there are these strong differences between the gospels of Matthew and the rest, as compared with one another. And we who have served the Lord all of our lives and we enter into eternal life. And they went their way. That they might mock me, scourge me, and crucify me, but I will rise again on the third day.Now again whenever Jesus talked to His disciples about His death, this thought was so repulsive to them, their minds just turned off, and they never heard, "I am going to rise again on the third day." "I have seen the children of the world to come (elsewhere (e) it is, of the chamber), , "and they are few".''. But among my followers service alone is the badge of greatness. To all justice shall be done. To all to whom the rewards of heaven are promised they shall be given. Thus the old link with the flesh, with Israel, is now disowned; and the new relationships of faith, founded on doing the will of His Father (it is not a question of the law in any sort), are alone acknowledged. He was not called. Jesus deliberately and open-eyed sets out for Jerusalem and the Cross. (ii) These two blind men were undiscourageable. Let them recognize the power that banished the leprosy, and the grace withal that touched the leper. God has work for all ages; no time amiss to turn to God; none can say, "It is all in good time;" for, whatever hour of the day it is with us, the time past of our life may suffice that we have served sin; Go ye also into the vineyard. The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, Thus many are called by the preaching of the Gospel, but few are found who use their advantages in such a way as to become extensively useful in the Church-and many in the Church militant behave so ill as never to be admitted into the Church triumphant. "And He entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into His own city." It is a short time; the reward is for eternity, the work is but for a day; man is said to accomplish, as a hireling, his day,Job 14:6. He speaks of Israel then, and of Israel before He comes in glory, but He entirely omits any notice of the circumstances which were to come in by the way. conservative Christian faith, which includes a firm belief in the inerrancy Then a beggar asked for his shirt and got it. The laws of that kingdom are not wrapt up in parables, but plainly set down, as in the sermon upon the mount; but the mysteries of that kingdom are delivered in parables, in sacraments, as here and Matthew 13:1-58; Matthew 13:1-58 The duties of Christianity are more necessary to be known than the notions of it; and yet the notions of it are more necessary to be illustrated than the duties of it; which is that which parables are designed for. When they received it, they grumblingly complained against the master. It is a saying of R. Simeon ben Jochai (d). It is true, we have only one in Mark, as in Luke; whereas in our gospel we have two. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. In this work we must not be slothful, not loiterers, but labourers, working, and working out our own salvation. And about the eleventh hour, [five in the evening] he went out, and found others standing idle, and said unto them, Why do you stand here idle all day? None are hired at the twelfth hour; when life is done, opportunity is done; but "while there is life, there is hope." Verse Matthew 20:16. Oh, what a heart is ours! No man can ever claim that he began to follow Jesus under false pretences. It is not here a question of life (as in the seed at first), but a system of christian doctrine; not life germinating and bearing fruit, but mere dogma natural mind which is exposed to it. The doctor who will come out at any time of the day or night to serve and save his patients; the parson who is always on the road amongst his people; the employer who takes an active interest in the lives and troubles of his employees; the person to whom we can go and never be made to feel a nuisance--these are the people whom all men love, and in whom instinctively they see Jesus Christ. He is not here sought as by the leper, the centurion, the friends of the palsied man; He Himself calls Matthew, a publican just the one to write the gospel of the despised Jesus of Nazareth. There is room also for the most thorough self-abnegation. This attitude threatened to be carried forward into the Christian Church. a. It may well be that we who have been Christian for so long have much to learn from those younger Churches who are late-comers to the fellowship of the faith. The evil eye was an idiom used to refer to jealousy (cf. 4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my . . Jesus uses a kind of gradation. When it gets to where I have to sneak in the back door at the last minute, and sneak out before things are over, then I need to find something else to do, when you can no longer take time to minister to individuals.Now these men of course do give to us a very beautiful picture of people who are blind in sin, and there is the spiritualizing of the text, crying out for Jesus. In the next discourse we may hope to have the rest of his gospel. and what had the Son of David to do with a Canaanite? Not merely were there many pieces of value, but one pearl of great price. [2.] That is on the debit side of the account of the disciples; but there is much on the credit side. The grace of God does not give us more blessing than we deserve it gives blessing to us completely apart from the principle of deserving. But Jesus answered and said, You do not know what you ask. And the third day He will rise again, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, But to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant, Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, When they heard that Jesus was passing by, David Guzik :: 1 Corintios 7 Principios Sobre el Matrimonio y la Soltera, David Guzik :: 1 Juan 2 Impedimentos para una comunin con Dios, David Guzik :: Gnesis 3 La tentacin y cada del hombre, David Guzik :: Gnesis 2 La CreacinTerminada; Adn en el Jardn del Edn, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus and the Holy Trinity (Walter Martin), 1 Samuel 1-10 (1979-82 Audio) (Chuck Smith), Genesis 15-18 (1979-82 Audio) (Chuck Smith), Third Person of the Trinity (Chuck Smith), Second, a warning that Gods manner of distributing reward is not necessarily the manner of men (. When a person's ministry gets so great, and they become so prominent that they lose touch with people, and they can no longer minister to people's individual needs, their ministry has become greater than their Lord. The ignorance is wholly on our side: all they say or omit was owing to the far-reaching and gracious wisdom of Him who inspired them. (Matthew 19:30.) Second, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is about the first and the last. It is but a day's work that is here done. It tells us of their ambition. "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." The youth were instructed, almost from their cradle, in military exercises. Second, this passage sheds a light upon the Christian life. We begin with the comparatively limited significance it originally had. Chapter 20. Though he vainly thought, that if those few were but two, they were himself and his son. Because Matthew's object is the display of the change of dispensation through, or consequent on, the rejection of Jesus by the Jews. They were still thinking in terms of personal reward and personal distinction; and they were thinking of personal success without personal sacrifice. It is all of grace and not of debt; nor does that exclude obedience. God is the great Householder, whose we are, and whom we serve; as a householder, he has work that he will have to be done, and servants that he will have to be doing; he has a great family in heaven and earth, which is named from Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:15), which he is Owner and Ruler of. Well, he did not come to get your service; he came to give you his services; not that you might first do him honor, but that he might show you mercy. (Spurgeon). Matthew 11:1-30, exceedingly critical for Israel, and of surpassing beauty, as it is, must not be passed over without some few words. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. A man who wanted to work came there first thing in the morning, carrying his tools, and waited until someone hired him. First, The general pay (Matthew 20:9; Matthew 20:10); They received every man a penny. Remember, God doesn't look at us the way this world does. He calls him friend, for in reasoning with others we should use soft words and hard arguments; if our inferiors are peevish and provoking, yet we should not thereby be put into a passion, but speak calmly to them. 8, could not deny what was done in the case of the leper, who showed himself duly, and brought his offering, according to the law, to the altar. And yet in spite of that the disciples are thinking of a Kingdom. After this, in the chapter we have the positive hindrance asserted of what man counts good. Sufferers for Christ in the latter days, shall have the same reward with the martyrs and confessors of the primitive times, though they are more celebrated; and faithful ministers now, the same with the first fathers. 1. Instead of repining that we have no more, let us take what we have, and be thankful. Examine the Scripture, and you will see for yourselves. So He is telling the disciples this was going to happen. So the last shall be first, and the first last. Plainly, the church isnt to operate the way the world does. Please see Blue Letter Bible's Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. Subsequently to that, the scribe offered to follow Jesus whithersoever He went. i. He went out again about twelve o'clock midday, and about three o'clock in the afternoon, and did the same. If God was there, what else could He, would He do? Not only will it be fair, it will be generous beyond expectation. And yet the true faithful saints of God, who have been obedient to the bidding of the Lord to go into the vineyard, and no matter what place, what time, it is their faithfulness to the call of God in going for which God makes the reward.In fact, I do believe that many times those who have been called to a more prominent ministry will actually receive a much lesser reward because we get so much reward now. "If you wish to be great," he says, "be a servant; if you wish to be first of all be a slave." He could not bear to see them idle. This is the third time that Jesus warned his disciples that he was on the way to the Cross ( Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22-23). We are dependent, therefore, for determining this case, on the fact that Mark does habitually adhere to the chain of events. ], "Any union leader worth their salt would protest at such employment practices. Get the BEST VALUE in digital Bible study as you prepare for Easter. Matthew 20. The Old Testament In Matthew 14:1-36 facts are narrated which manifest the great change of dispensation that the Lord, in setting forth the parables we have just noticed, had been preparing them for. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard . "Day laborers" would be readily available in the market place. 2. The point in the beginning of the next chapter (Matthew 20:1-34) is not reward, but the right and title of God Himself to act according to His goodness. So, on the other hand, the centurion sets forth with no less aptness the characteristic faith that suits the Gentile, in a simplicity which looks for nothing but the word of His mouth, is perfectly content with it, knows that, whatever the disease may be, He has only to speak the word, and it is done according to His divine will. They may not be as long in the vineyard as others; their race may be sooner run; but I have chosen to honor them in this manner, and I have a right to do it. The request of James and John not unnaturally annoyed the other disciples. The motive was Christ Himself: therefore He says, "Ye which have followed me." He s. Matthew 20:16 - John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible 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. Jesus blessedly answered their thoughts, had there only been a conscience to hear the word of power and grace, which brings out His glory the more. Well, then, to whom was the ransom paid?" He goes to raise the dead, and the woman with the issue of blood touches Him by the way. He promised to pay all the later workers fairly. In the end of the chapter is set forth parabolically the unlimited forgiveness that suits the kingdom; here, I cannot but think, looking onward in strict fulness to the future, but with distinct application to the moral need of the disciples then and always. "Who is my mother? He said to them, 'Go you also into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' and when they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples [in both the parables and the explanations alluding to what we possess in Matthew 13:1-58.]. Hence it is that He has grouped together circumstances which make this plain, without raising the question of when they occurred; in fact, they range over a large space, and, otherwise viewed, are in total disorder. When did this take place, if we enquire into it merely as a matter of historical fact? When the account was taken; when the evening was come, then, as usual, the day-labourers were called and paid. Wisdom Literature "I am certain that there is much about the scourging about Jesus that we do not fully understand. Sorrow would come full soon when He, the Bridegroom of His people, should be taken away; and then should they fast. Who hires them? It should also encourage us in reference to the hardships and difficulties of our work, that it is but for a day; the approaching shadow, which the servant earnestly desireth, will bring with it both rest, and the reward of our work,Job 7:2. Used by permission. But yet people who have been faithful to that service, to which God has employed them, whether it be intercessory closet prayer that nobody knows anything about, and I think when we get to heaven we are going to be surprised when we see those who are sitting on the front row. But when he came to the first, they supposed that they should have received more; but they likewise received every man a penny. They measured Jesus by their own impotence. [Note: Wiersbe, 1:73.]. About five o'clock in the evening he went out and found others standing there, and said to them, 'Why are you standing here the whole day idle?' He welcomed his bed-fellow. This was the very blessing that aroused, above all, the hatred of the scribes. A wider interpretation is, of course, possible, and has been often applied, in which the first-called labourers answer to the Jews, and those who came afterwards to converts in the successive stages of the conversion of the Gentiles. The market-place was the equivalent of the labour exchange. Now do you think that God the Father would allow His Son to suffer unnecessarily? Error: Passwords should have at least 6 characters, Error: Usernames should only contain letters, numbers, dots, dashes, or underscores. And so they didn't really remember that He said He was going to rise the third day, until after the resurrection. I injure no one, and have a right to do what I will with my own. Thus explained, this parable has no reference to the call of the Gentiles, nor to the call of aged sinners, nor to the call of sinners out of the church at all. Matthew 20:16 - John Darby's Synopsis We may remark that, when the Lord answers Peter, it was the consequence of having left all for Christ upon His call. I do not pretend to say this was the only purpose served; far be it from me to think of restraining the Spirit of God within the narrow bounds of our vision. There are a great many decisions which have to be taken. But this may be, and commonly is, applied to the several ages of life, in which souls are converted to Christ. This parable explains why the last will become first. So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last: for many are called, but few are chosen ( Matthew 20:5-16 ). iii. Ministers call them into the vineyard, to do their work; death calls them out of the vineyard, to receive their penny: and those to whom the call into the vineyard is effectual, the call out of it will be joyful. To teach this it was spoken. Many that, in the order of time, are brought last into the kingdom, shall be first in the rewards. People simply do not and cannot MERIT salvation. "The foxes," says He, "have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." Pauline Epistles It says simply, "And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." He is among the sick, he stands with the unemployed. (Matthew 20:8-10) The landowner pays his workers. From God they will both receive the same welcome, for both Jesus Christ is waiting, and for neither, in the divine sense, has life ended too soon or too late. What can be conceived so perfectly to illustrate the great design of the gospel of Matthew? These men were hired labourers; they were the lowest class of workers, and life for them was always desperately precarious. The mother of Zebedees sons came to Him: This mother of James and John (Matthew 4:21) came with a request that would make a mother proud and the sons very happy. Matthew calls her the mother of the sons of Zebedee; Mark calls her Salome; and John calls her Jesus' mother's sister. few chosen; in Christ from all eternity, both to grace and glory; and in consequence, and as an evidence of it, but few among the Jews; as also in the Gentile world, comparatively speaking: and even but a few of those that are outwardly called, are inwardly and effectually called by the powerful grace of God, out of darkness into marvellous light, into the grace and liberty of the Gospel, into communion with Christ, and to the obtaining his kingdom and glory, according to the eternal purpose of God. In the chapter that follows we have a companion picture, carrying on, no doubt, the lord's presentation to Israel, but from a different point of view; for inMatthew 9:1-38; Matthew 9:1-38 it is not merely the people tried, but more especially the religious leaders, till all closes in blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. And when the devil was come out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel." In other words, the leper is here introduced after the sermon on the mount, though, in fact, the circumstance took place long before it. The amazing thing about Jesus is that he never lost patience and became irritated. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink: Their answer (We are able) seems to come a little too quick. The Old Testament When we are converted, we become members of Christs living body; and as we grow in grace, and get the true spirit that permeates that body, we shall say, when any member of it is honored, This is honor for usIf any brother shall be greatly honored of God, I feel honored in his honor. It is the glory of Christ; not so much as Son of the living God, but as the exalted Son of man, who once suffered here below. And Jesus stood still, and he called them, and said, What do you want me to do for you? The idea is that His people were in bondage as slaves, and He paid their price. Thus He points out the utter moral incongruity of fasting at that moment, and intimates that it was not merely the fact that He was going to be rejected, but that to conciliate His teaching and His will with the old thing was hopeless. . The scourging was an extremely painful experience. What Jesus calls upon his followers to do he himself did. He was there for the express purpose of glorifying God. Matthew 20:16 in all English translations, NIV, Story of Jesus: Experience the Life of Jesus as One Seamless Story, NIV, The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People, NIV, Beautiful Word Bible Journal, Revelation, Paperback, Comfort Print, NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Red Letter Edition: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture, NIV, The Woman's Study Bible, Full-Color, Red Letter: Receiving God's Truth for Balance, Hope, and Transformation, NIV, The Story, Hardcover, Comfort Print: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People. If you do, you have a different concept of God than I do. He also strongly claimed his right to do what he wanted with what was his. Now they no doubt had heard of the fame of Jesus. Peter, the good confessor of chapter 16, cuts but a sorry figure in chapter 17; for when the demand was made upon him as to his Master's paying the tax, surely the Lord, he gave them to know, was much too good a Jew to omit it. He had been there before. And wilt thou seek for a happiness in the creature, or think from thence to make up the deficiencies of thy happiness in God? The Campus Martius was the grand field in which they were disciplined: there, they accustomed themselves to leaping, running, wrestling, bearing burdens, fencing, throwing the javelin, c., and when, through these violent exercises, they were all besmeared with dust and sweat, in order to refresh themselves, they swam twice or thrice across the Tyber! of Scripture. All rights reserved worldwide. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Amen. Luke-Acts If He offers to go to his house, it was to bring out the faith that He had created in the heart of the centurion.
