Participants: Glenn Russell & Ranko Stefanovic (Host)
Series Code: MTBOTB
Program Code: MTBOTB000016A
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00:21 Hi, welcome to the Books of the Book series.
00:23 We are exploring the gospel of Mathew 00:26 with Dr. Ranko Stefanovic 00:27 of Andrews University Theological Seminary. 00:30 Its just a joy to study scripture together 00:32 once again, isn't it, Ranko? 00:33 Yes, Glenn, and we have known each other 00:38 for significant period of time. 00:40 Even teaching the Depatment of Religion 00:43 there together before I move 00:45 to the theological seminary. 00:46 And its great pleasure to be with you 00:48 and with all good people of here 00:50 we, we, we really enjoy, enjoy taping this series. 00:55 I think it's a wonderful thing to partner 00:56 together with 3ABN. Yes. 00:58 Bringing theological perspectives 01:01 and ministry perspectives and partnership with 3ABN 01:05 and we wanna encourage you to keep supporting 01:07 this important outreach ministry of 3ABN. 01:10 This people are doing here a wonderful job. 01:13 I know how great sacrifice that they are making 01:16 to have the Bible proclaim to the world. 01:19 So please keep these people in your prayers 01:23 and if you are able to support them financially, 01:27 you would do a great job in supporting this ministry. 01:30 Now as we go further in Mathew Chapter 20 01:33 today, we want to be sure God is guiding us. 01:36 Let us enter into prayer as we go. 01:38 Lord, before we open your word, 01:41 we realize that our hearts are not pure. 01:44 Our hearts are not as they should be, 01:46 so we ask for forgiveness of sin. 01:48 We ask for your cleansing. 01:50 We ask for your transforming Holy Spirit power. 01:53 Jesus, we love you. We want to, to serve you faithfully. 01:57 We want to learn more of you 01:59 and as we're studying your scriptures, 02:01 may we hear your voice. 02:02 May we be drawn to you as our Lord and Savior. 02:05 As you move to the cross in these chapters, 02:08 may we be moved to follow you there. 02:10 In Jesus name, we pray. 02:12 Amen. 02:15 We've been following Jesus journey 02:16 through Galilee now as He's heading 02:19 towards Jerusalem and He has just dealt 02:22 with the story of the rich young ruler 02:25 who came and asked what must I do to be saved 02:28 and the disciples were a little concerned 02:30 about this issue and they are wondering 02:33 will there be a reward? 02:35 Will there be a benefit for following Jesus 02:38 and He tells them a parable. 02:40 Actually it's really the introduction to chapter 20. 02:43 One more time, let me remind, 02:45 the viewer says that when we started 02:47 the Bible, lets be careful 02:49 not just to stay within one chapter 02:52 because Matthew never divided 02:53 His gospel in to chapters. 02:55 Because chapter 20 is connected 02:59 with the previous text and the text that follows 03:03 chapter 20 builds on that so, so its very, very important 03:08 to keep that, that context of the text 03:12 in order to get the full message. 03:13 So, Glenn, I would really like to ask you 03:15 if you can read verses 27 to 30. 03:18 All right. Mathew Chapter 18 and we'll start with-- 03:21 No, 19-- Excuse me, 19, yes. 03:23 Chapter 19 verse 27 and following. 03:26 "Then Peter said in reply, 03:28 'Lord we have left everything and followed you. 03:30 What then shall we receive?' 03:32 Jesus said to them, truly I say to you 03:34 in the new world, when the son of man 03:36 shall sit on his glorious throne, 03:39 you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, 03:43 judging the 12 tribes of Israel 03:45 and everyone who has left houses 03:47 or brothers or sisters or mother or father 03:49 or children or lands for my sake 03:52 will receive a 100 fold 03:53 and inherit eternal life, 03:55 but many that are first, 03:57 will be last and the last will be first. 04:00 So, Glenn, what is now the context? 04:02 You see the rich young man became sad-- 04:08 And turned away. 04:09 And turned away and Peter looks at him 04:12 and they say, "Wow, who can be saved 04:17 and Jesus answers in verse 26, 04:21 "With people this is impossible, 04:23 but with God all things are possible." 04:26 So Peter now became encouraged 04:28 and he said yeah, the Lord. 04:29 You see this young men did not want 04:31 to leave his procession in order to follow you 04:36 but we have left everything and Jesus was-- 04:39 And that was an honest statement. 04:42 An honest statement but Jesus says, 04:44 yes, whoever leaves everything in this world 04:48 for the sake of the kingdom 04:50 in the kingdom of God, he will receive much, 04:55 much more than he had to sacrifice 04:57 and to leave in this life. 04:59 And I am sure many of us have asked 05:01 that same question. 05:02 Jesus I've paid a price for following you. 05:06 What's the benefit? Will it be worth it 05:09 to follow Jesus that's their question, isn't it? 05:11 And who knows, maybe, this rich ruler, 05:17 young ruler want they maybe he repented, 05:20 came back to Christ who knows that-- 05:22 We don't know, yes. 05:23 But Jesus said many who were now first, 05:26 will be the last, 05:29 okay? And the last first. 05:30 The rich young ruler he was first, 05:34 I mean, he obeyed all the commandments. 05:36 He was the first, but he would be the last. 05:37 But those who were last, they were not taken 05:40 seriously by the Pharisees like the disciples. 05:42 But they will be the first 05:44 and now Jesus in order to illustrate it, 05:46 now he says the following parable. 05:48 Glenn, would be good that we read this parable, okay? 05:51 All right. Mathew chapter 20 verse 1. 05:54 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder 05:57 who went out early in the morning 05:58 to hire laborers for his vineyard." 06:00 And we should say this is a very common practice. 06:03 Yeah. You'd go out looking for workers for-- 06:04 To the market place there. 06:06 Yes, still in many parts of the world. 06:08 I was in Cairo last year 06:10 and you see men waiting for work that day. 06:13 They're sitting on the sidewalk 06:14 waiting for someone to hire them. 06:16 Especially we go to near east, it's still common. 06:18 You go to the market there, people even begging you, 06:20 asking you for a job that's, that's very normal. 06:22 And after agreeing with the laborers 06:24 for a denarius for a day, 06:26 he sent them into his vineyard. 06:28 And going out about the third hour, 06:29 he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 06:32 and to them he said, 06:33 'You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right, 06:35 I will give you.' So they went. 06:38 Going out again about the sixth hour 06:40 and the ninth hour, he did the same. 06:43 And about the eleventh hour, 06:45 he went out and found others standing, 06:46 and he said to them, 06:48 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' 06:49 They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' 06:52 He said to them, 'Go into my vineyard also.' 06:56 And when the evening came, 06:57 the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 06:59 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, 07:01 beginning with the last, up to the first.' 07:04 Now that should--we should be alert to that point. 07:07 There's some reason for the last to the first. 07:10 "And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, 07:14 each one of them received the denarius. 07:17 Now when the first came, 07:18 they thought they would receive more, 07:20 but each of them also received a denarius. 07:23 And on receiving it, 07:25 they grumbled at the householder, saying, 07:27 'These last worked only one hour, 07:29 and you have made them equal to us 07:31 who have borne the burden of the day 07:32 and the scorching heat.' He replied to them, 07:35 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong, 07:38 did I not agree with you for a denarius? 07:41 Take what belongs to you, and go, 07:43 I choose to give to this last as I give to you. 07:48 Am I not allowed to do 07:50 what I choose with what belongs to me? 07:52 Or do you begrudge my generosity?' 07:54 So the last will be first, and the first will be last." 07:58 We come right back to that book end statement. 08:00 So verse 16 is actually a repetition of verse 30 08:06 of the previous chapter 08:07 so telling us that the parable of the Jesus said 08:12 he has stated it's related to what is before. 08:15 So let's put it in the context. 08:18 Who are those who were the first starting working, 08:22 who are those who are the last? I don't know. 08:26 Maybe this young ruler 08:27 who was so perfect in keeping the law 08:29 maybe he could be that who really worked hard. 08:32 He work very, very much. 08:35 What about Peter and the apostles? Could they be? 08:38 Peter said you see we have left everything. 08:41 They could counter themselves. 08:43 What about some of the Pharisees 08:44 who were the first to obey every rule. Yes. 08:47 But the point that Jesus made it here, 08:49 He says that a man went there 08:51 to the marketplace looking for laborers. 08:54 When did he go there? We don't know. 08:56 But the fact that he said that he went 08:59 for a second time after-- 09:02 He was early the first time he was. 09:04 Yeah. He said in third hour, 09:06 we have to understand what third hour is 09:07 and with the Jewish people, 09:09 the day started at 6:00 in the morning so 7:00 a.m. 09:14 would be the first hour, 8:00 a.m. 09:17 would be the second, okay? 09:20 And the third hour would be 9:00 a.m. 09:23 So he went at 9:00 in the morning. 09:25 Then after that, he went when? 09:27 At the sixth hour which will be noon. 09:31 Then he went at the ninth hour, which will be 3:00 p.m. 09:35 and the 11 hour would be 5:00 p.m. 09:39 Almost quitting time. They worked only for one hour. 09:44 Ranko, I have, I have worked in this kind of situation 09:47 where you hope someone hires you 09:49 and you know you're gonna get paid by the hour. 09:51 You're not gonna get the same wages. Sure. 09:54 So the question is he said what is right 09:57 I will give it to you. 09:58 What was right to pay to them? 10:00 We know the time of Jesus. 10:02 If you work one day, 10:03 there was something very right to be paid 10:06 and what was that one denarius, 10:08 which was daily wage. 10:10 Very generous, very established standard 10:13 and norm to pay person for daily work 10:18 so there was no issue with regard to that. 10:21 But we have a great surprise here in the story. 10:25 What's going on, Glenn? It's interesting. 10:27 At the beginning, He arranges the price. 10:29 Later, he says I'll pay you what's right. That's right. 10:31 So they have to trust that he's gonna be fair with them. 10:34 They know they don't expect to get a full wage. 10:36 But there is no fairness here. 10:38 Well, the fact that he arranges 10:44 how they're gonna get paid is very intentional, isn't it? 10:46 Yeah. If he had just paid 10:48 the first ones first and they left, 10:50 they would've gotten the denarius 10:51 that they had agreed to. 10:53 The contract was fulfilled. 10:54 They would've gone home happy. 10:56 But now, when they are at the end of the line, 10:58 and they see those who worked an hour, 10:59 are getting what they expected, 11:01 they know they're gonna get more. 11:02 So those who worked for only one hour, 11:05 they got the denarius. A day's wage. 11:08 So if he, those who came the first one, 11:10 they expected, boy, if they got denarius, 11:14 boy, at least 12 times more. 11:16 At least, double in the day 11:18 and they were surprised actually 11:20 when they received the same amount 11:23 as those who came in the last moment. 11:27 May I say they weren't just surprised they were offended? 11:29 Yeah. They were upset and the way they speak 11:33 to the master is quite interesting, the householder. 11:36 You know, these last worked 11:37 only one hour you made them 11:39 equal to us who have what? 11:41 Who have borne the burden of the day 11:42 and the scorching heat. 11:45 They seem to misunderstand the intentions of the master. 11:50 Why is He doing this, Ranko? What's His point? 11:52 Why is He overly generous? 11:55 What is the issue here really? 11:57 Its verse 12. 12:01 Verse 11-12. 12:03 When they received one denarius, were they deserved? 12:08 The master did not cheat on them. No. 12:12 They really got what is-- but they said verse 12. 12:16 'These last men have worked only one hour, 12:20 and you made them equal to us 12:23 who have borne the burden 12:25 and the scorching heat of the day.' 12:29 We worked, since we worked, 12:32 we have to be rewarded for what we work. 12:36 What is the answer that the person gives? 12:40 He said friend, I am not doing you wrong, 12:43 did you not agree with me for a denarius? 12:47 Take what is yours, and go, 12:49 But I wish to give to these last men, the same as you. 12:52 It is not lawful of me to do what I wish what is my own. 12:56 Now the last statement is, 12:58 Or is your eye envious because I am generous? 13:04 We have to honestly say 13:06 we would've reacted as these labors did. 13:09 Come on, you know-- That's our human nature. 13:13 If I do eight times, nine times 13:16 what someone else does and they get the same pay, 13:19 we would not consider that justice. 13:21 This is beyond justice, isn't it? 13:23 Where is it telling us about the heart of God? 13:26 Glenn, we are dealing here with the gospel. 13:29 Gospel is not about how much I worked. 13:34 Is not about how much I deserved. 13:37 Let's keep something in mind. 13:40 Those people, even those who worked all day, 13:42 they did not get what they deserved. 13:45 The fact that they got a job 13:48 was the grace and the mercy of this person is. 13:52 You see the gospel message and salvation is not based on 13:56 what we worked, what we deserve. 14:00 It's everything because of the grace of God. 14:03 Glenn, do we have here a reminder of the text 14:07 that comes from Paul, we are saved by grace? Yes. 14:11 It's not according to the works that we can boast, everything 14:15 is because of the grace of God 14:17 more about that after the break. 14:18 It's not a wage. It's a gift of the generous God. 14:22 We're gonna come back to explore 14:23 a little bit more of Mathew Chapter 20. 14:26 Don't miss it. We'll be right back after our break. |
Revised 2023-11-06