Gospel of Matthew Chapter 20 -- John Karmelich

1. My title for Chapter 20 is “Proper Perspective Of Heavenly Rewards”.

a) A subtitle is, “What’s in it for me? J

b) That is a question asked by Peter and the disciples prior to this chapter.

c) That is the question asked by two of the apostles (James & John) in this chapter.

d) The answer was probably a shocker to the apostles.

i) The most overriding point of the whole chapter is to humble yourself like the lowest servant and then you will have great rewards in heaven.

ii) It is as if Jesus took an organizational chart of a large corporation and turned it upside down! The idea is the lowest people in the company will get the greatest rewards. Humility and service comes before power and prestige.

2. This whole chapter is a “road” chapter. It takes place on the road of Jesus walking to Jerusalem.

a) Beginning with the next chapter, the pace of Matthew slows down to a crawl.

b) From Chapter 21 to the end of Matthew in Chapter 28, are the events of the last week of Jesus’ life on earth and one chapter post resurrection.

c) What we are reading here is the last set of events prior to “Easter Week”.

i) It is important to keep that in perspective as one reads this chapter.

ii) Jesus takes the time to teach his disciples some of the most important facts that are about to happen and what will be the future for the disciples.

iii) The reason Jesus focuses on eternal rewards is that Jesus himself will no longer “be around” in less than a week. Given that, Jesus needed to focus on the fundamentals prior to the events of Easter week.

a) The essentials included giving a prediction of the events of the following week. That prediction didn’t sink in to the disciples as they still have the preconceived notion that Jesus was going to overthrow Rome and set up a kingdom here and now.

iv) Further, on the expectations of a great messianic kingdom coming soon, the disciples were busy arguing over who would be the greatest. Jesus uses that opportunity to teach that heavenly rewards are based on faithfulness and not power nor status.

a) Jesus knew he would not be around much longer. Therefore, he needed to prepare the disciples for the future. They were about to set the foundation for the whole Christian church. Jesus’ teaching on humility and servant hood is the basis for how the church is to be set up.

b) The application for you and I is we don’t know when Jesus is to return. We don’t know how long of a life we have on earth. Therefore, we need to be primarily concerned with the eternal.

(1) Our rewards in heaven are based on our faithfulness to whatever God has called us to do.

d) The final story in this chapter is about two blind men who get healed.

i) A question to ponder is “why is this story included at this point in Matthew?

a) I’m sure it took place at that point.

ii) It is the last recorded miracle before the events of Easter Week.

iii) It took place probably 1-2 days prior to Palm Sunday.

iv) Something to consider in this chapter is why Jesus took the time to perform this miracle prior to all of the “big events” and right after Jesus spends most of the chapter teaching on servant hood. (That last phrase is a clue as to why I believe Jesus healed these men. I’ll talk about this more when we get to that verse.)

v) In the meantime it is time for Verse #1:

3. Chapter 20, Verse 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. ² He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

a) Near the end of Chapter 19, Peter and the disciples were wondering what their reward would be for following Jesus. This 15-verse parable is part of Jesus’ answer.

i) A “parable” is simply a story designed to make a point.

b) The first 15 verses of Chapter 20 are a “sandwich” between 2 very similar verses:

i) Here’s the last verse of the last chapter, Chapter 19:

a) But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

ii) Here’s is Verse 16 of Chapter 20:

a) “"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

c) For those who don’t know this story, let me summarize:

i) A landowner hires people throughout the day to go work in the vineyard.

ii) Those hired at the beginning of the day agree to a “normal” day’s wage.

iii) Those hired throughout the day are told that you will get paid “what is fair”.

iv) At the end of the day, everybody gets paid the same amount.

v) Those who are hired early in the day say it isn’t fair.

vi) The landowner says, “That is what you agreed to, stop whining”. J

a) Luckily, they didn’t have employee wage attorneys in those days. J

vii) A lesson to learn is not to complain about what God has called you to do.

viii) Now that you see the big picture, let’s talk about some of the individual verses.

d) First, let’s remember what “kingdom of heaven” means:

i) This can refer life in heaven.

ii) It more often refers to our Christian life here on earth.

iii) One can read this parable about either life in heaven and/or life on earth.

e) During that time era, like today, there are day laborers.

i) These men gather around a certain location waiting to be hired.

f) A “denarius” was a Roman coin, roughly equal to a day’s wage.

4. Verse 3: "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, `You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' <sup>5</sup> So they went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. <sup>6</sup> 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?' ⁷ " `Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, `You also go and work in my vineyard.'

a) Notice that the word “denarius” is not used again in this section.

b) The landowner says to everyone else in effect, “I’ll pay you what is right”.

i) These others expected lower wages, because that is what they were used to.

c) On a side note, don’t obsess over the meaning of the hours of the day.

i) This refers to times of the day-by daylight.

ii) The third hour corresponds roughly with the third hour of daylight.

d) I stated earlier that you could read this whole parable about either being about heaven,
or about your life of Christian service here on earth.

i) Let’s start with the “this-is-about-heaven” view of this parable.

a) Jesus is teaching that one can be saved at any time in our life on earth.

b) Many elderly people have given their life to Christ by reading this illustration and realizing that they are at their “11^th hour” of their life.

c) Jesus’ point in this view is that God is gracious and still is calling you to follow him, even if you have ignored God all of your adult life.

d) This parable ends with all the workers receiving the same pay.

(1) In that sense, it refers to salvation. We are all saved for eternity no matter when we commit our lives to serve God.

(2) Be careful not to “overuse” this illustration for salvation.

(a) We can’t work for our salvation like these vineyard workers.

(b) Salvation is a free gift from God. (See Ephesians 2:8)

(c) If you are reading this parable in terms of eternal salvation, the point is “we all get a days pay” (i.e., salvation) no matter what “time of the day” in your life you were called.

ii) Now let’s talk about the “this parable is about the here & now” view.

a) I take the view that one does not begin to experience what “life” is all about until you have committed your life to Christ.

(1) “I (Jesus) have come that they (us) may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10b, NKJV)

b) Some people are called early in life to serve Christ.

(1) Statistically, more people commit their life to Jesus as teenagers than at any other time in their life.

(2) This does not mean that any other age is too late, it just means the older you get, the more the odds are against you. As we get older, we get used to living for things other than God and it becomes more difficult to commit our lives to Jesus.

(a) That’s ok though, God is in the miracle business. J

(b) Never, ever give up praying for someone! Pray that their heart be opened to the truth and for God to bring witnesses into their lives about Jesus.

(3) One of the things that caught my eye was Verse 7. It says,
“Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?”

(a) You can read that verse about someone who has spent all of their adult life ignoring God. It is as if a loving God is pleading with them saying, “Why have you wasted your life “doing nothing””? Remember that God doesn’t want to see anyone perish in hell. He is pleading with us to turn to Him all the way until the point it is too late for us to change.

c) We see people spending all of their time and resources going after riches, after fame, or great building projects, or whatever else builds their ego. The sad thing is that in the end, it doesn’t matter. In a matter of decades or centuries, whatever they have accomplished will be long forgotten.

d) On the other hand whatever we do for God has eternal implications. Our heavenly rewards are based on our service to whatever God has called us to do. I’m convinced that to minister to others on God’s behalf brings more joy and happiness in life than anything and everything the world has to offer. Having been on “both sides” of this fact, I can testify to its truth.

e) Notice that all the workers of the vineyard agreed to work “based on what was right”.

i) Those who got hired at the beginning of the workday agreed to a full day’s wages.

ii) Those who got hired through the day agreed to “whatever is right”.

iii) That should be our attitude toward Christian service for God. Our attitude should be something like this:

a) “Heavenly father, I want to spend the rest of my life serving you. I am forever grateful for Jesus paying the price for me so I can spend eternity with you.”

b) “Out of that gratitude I want you to run my life. I desire to please you, and the way to please you is to let you live through me so that I can be a witness and or of service to others.”

c) “Further, whatever you want to do with me is fine. You have called others at earlier ages and will call others at later ages. That is your problem and not mine.” I’m not going to worry about other people’s ministries, but focus on what you have called me to do.”

5. Verse 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.'

a) We will learn in a few verses that the reason the landowner wanted to pay the last-guys first is so the first-guys could see that everyone gets paid the same.

b) The purpose of last-goes-first in this illustration is mainly for the benefit of those who have worked the longest. It is to show God’s generosity.

c) This verse does not mean when we get to heaven, we have to wait in line for our rewards based on when we showed up. J I personally take the view that time has no meaning in the next life. God created time, and therefore God exists outside of time as we know it.

d) Remember that God is in charge, and we are not.

i) How he chooses to reward us is his business, not ours.

ii) One has remember not to get too obsessed over the idea of heavenly rewards. Let’s say you’re a competitive person. You study all the verses in the bible on rewards and figure, “ok, here’s what I’ve got to do to be in first place. J”
If you’re ego is working on being the top guy, you are now thinking like the 12 apostles, which is to say, you need to work on humility.

iii) Focus on what God has called you to do (or work toward that goal) and the rewards will take care of themselves.

iv) “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:10 NIV)

6. Verse 9: "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.

a) This verse, by itself shows the grace of God.

b) To those who get saved near the end of their life, God does not say, “Well now old-timer, about time you acknowledged me, here’s a few bucks for your trouble.” J

c) The correct view is just the opposite. God’s grace is just as generous to those who have committed their life to Jesus at the end of their lives to those who have committed their lives at an earlier time.

d) This verse is also not intended to say, “Ok, I can wait until I’m old to become a Christian”.

i) The idea of the same-wage-for-everyone is about God’s grace being poured out on us whenever we make that commitment.

ii) I stated earlier that there is nothing greater in life than to commit it to following Jesus. Those who commit later in life miss out on all the blessings of having that personal relationship, that joy and happiness in life.

iii) I remember hearing a man speak in a large church. This church had five services, two on Saturday night and three on Sunday mornings. I went to the last service. In each service, the man talked about how he went to church on and off his whole life, but it wasn’t until late in life he realized he never knew Jesus. The man broke down in tears when he made that statement. The pastor said later that the man cried at every service making the same proclamation.

a) The point is when we turn to Jesus late in life, we realize how much of life we have really missed by waiting too long.

iv) The good news is we still get a “full denarius” whenever we turn our lives over to Jesus. God’s grace is infinite and cannot be measured. The bad news is the realization of the missed opportunities to serve God at a younger age.

a) Getting back to the parable, notice you don’t read of the landowner “scolding” any of the late-workers at pay-time. There is the mention of “why haven’t you been hired yet”, but once you make that commitment, God forgives all of your sins, even of a great delay in following him.

7. Verse 10: So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 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.'
¹³ "But he answered one of them, `Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

a) Those who were hired first, saw the others get a full day’s pay and thought, “Well, we agreed to a full day’s pay, but since the landowner is so generous, we should get more”.

b) God is in charge, and we are not. This is emphasized by Verse 15 that says, “Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money?”

i) If God chooses to give the same wage to others as to us, it is his decision to make.

ii) This is the grumbling of those who have committed their lives to God at an earlier phase and see the “late-comers” and think, “OK, they’re saved, but their reward is not as great as mine.

iii) This is the grumbling of those who think, “I do a lot of work around this church. This other guy gets saved later and everybody is making a big deal about it.
I never get appreciated for all the service I do around here.”

iv) The mistake the early-workers made is they got their focus off of God and unto other people. God calls us into service for Him. It is not a competition among believers. You don’t get more “points” in heaven by outdoing other Christians.

c) We are called to be of service to God.

i) At whatever age we are called, we need to stop worrying about others and focus on what God calls us to do.

ii) If you are not sure what God calls you to do, don’t worry, He will. J

iii) The answer usually involves whatever God-given talents he has given you. He expects you to use them for His glory. A way to tell what special service God has for you is to figure out whatever you enjoy doing anyway. It may be a hobby or interest. God may use that as a ministry opportunity.

a) This also not to ignore what “normal” things God has called you to do. If you are supporting a family, one should not neglect that responsibility in order to “better serve God”. In fact it is just the opposite.

b) Understanding our service to God requires balance. One must put God first in our lives, but one does not ignore the responsibilities we are supposed to do as well.

d) Going back to the life-in-heaven aspect of this parable, we may be surprised when we get to heaven and see people saved late in life get some special rewards in heaven.

i) In such cases, we are not to grumble, but to praise God for his generous grace.

ii) Again, God is in charge and we are not. Our job is to serve him and let God worry about other believers in the aspect of heavenly rewards.

8. Verse 16: "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

a) Ok, we are now back where we started. J

b) Again, the last verse of the last chapter says, “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” This whole parable is located between two fairly identical statements.

c) I believe the purpose of the illustration is given to us who follow Jesus here and now.

i) We have to be careful about our egos. It is easy to focus on “Gee, what will God do for me in heaven? I’ve been serving him for many years, I must be due for something special”.

a) First of all, that is true. We as believers will inherit all things with Jesus.

b) I think when we get to heaven, some people are going to appreciate it more than others only because we comprehend God greater based on our Christian maturity.

ii) A purpose of this illustration is that God wants us to watch our attitude.

a) When you read the entire bible, you will notice there are only a few chapters about what heaven is like. There are a few chapters in Revelation, but that’s about it. Most of the bible focuses on what God expects from us here-and-now. That should also be our perspective.

b) Our job is to focus on our Christian ministry. If God has called you to do something, go do it. Don’t worry about other people’s rewards are getting.

d) A similar illustration in the bible is the “prodigal son”.

i) This is the story told in Luke 15.

ii) It is the story of two sons. One takes half of his father’s inheritance while his father is still alive and squanders it away. When that son hits rock bottom, he goes back to dad and asks to be one of his servants. His father is excited and makes him a son again.

a) The point is that the lost-now-found son never lost his “son-ship”. He is still the father’s son and the father always loved him. The father’s love is there when the boy repents.

iii) The second half of this story talks about the “grumbling” of the other son.

a) The other son knows all the details about the first son.

b) The second son grumbles to dad how, “He has served you all of his life and I never got a party like the one you’re throwing for the returning son.”

iv) Notice the father’s comment to the long-time-serving son:

a) “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
(Luke 15:31-32, NIV)

b) That should be the attitude of the long-serving Christian. We have to celebrate the latecomers first because they escaped eternal hell and realized their mistakes before it was too late. That is always worth celebrating over.

(1) “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:7, NIV)

c) To realize, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” may be to understand that “God is saving the best for last”.

(1) First, God wants to celebrate with those who have made their commitment. Then those “who will be first” will be rewarded as they were promised. Again, notice in the “Prodigal son” story what the father says to the other brother: “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” That is enough reward in of itself.

9. Verse 17: Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, ¹⁸ "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death ¹⁹ and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!"

a) Now the story “switches gears”.

b) Everything up to this point was Jesus talking alone with the disciples.

c) Now Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, for the last time.

i) It is about one week before the crucifixion.

ii) The beginning of the next chapter talks about the events of “Palm Sunday”, which is one week prior to Easter Sunday”.

iii) Jesus is aware of what is about to happen to him. Among the large crowd of followers, Jesus takes aside the 12 apostles and tries to let them in on what is about to happen.

d) The question to ask is, “Why did Jesus mention this here and now?

i) The last verse we read is the story of who’s first and last in the kingdom of God. Now we read of the crucifixion details.

ii) My personal view (meaning, its not in the text), is Jesus is trying to get our attention on what is really important.

iii) Remember the disciples were busy worrying about who is the greatest in heaven.

iv)