Exposition of Matthew (Matthew 20:1-16)

November 12, 2021 

(Jesus’ last days of earthly ministry)

Questions to be answered in this study

1. What was Jesus’ take on wealth?
2. What can those expect who are faithful to Christ in this life?
3. What is the difference between earthly families and heavenly family?
4. The following statement of Jesus is often misunderstood. What do you think it means? “And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, LORD, suffer me first to go and bury my Father. 60Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead:”
5. What did Jesus promise that person who left all to follow Him?
6. Peter asked Jesus a question in the last chapter: “We have forsaken all and followed thee! What shall we have, therefore?” What was Jesus’ response?
7. We have been studying some of the parables of Jesus. What is the primary point to look for in a parable since the entire parable is not to be taken literally?
8. God has only one recipe for salvation, which does not include works or baptism. What is it?
9. Putting salvation off is a dangerous thing and has cost many an eternity in hell. What does the Bible say about this?
10. All of us who trust in Jesus will share in His inheritance, but to what degree will we share in it?

Introduction

Today, we continue a subject we took up in the previous study, the awards given to those who faithfully serve the Lord. In chapter 19, we learned from Jesus that wealth had nothing to do with one’s entering the Kingdom of Heaven but can make it harder to enter. Jesus did not repudiate wealth; He only stressed that it could be a detriment keeping a person from trusting in Him as the only source of salvation. The love of money is wrong and not money; money is amoral; money is needed for survival, and can be used to help others as well as the cause of Christ.

Jesus’ statement, “it is harder for a rich man to be saved than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,” disturbed Peter and the disciples. They asked, “how could a person then be saved.” Peter also asked in verse 27, What about their rewards since they had left all to follow Him? Jesus assured Peter in verse 28 that they would be rewarded far greater than what they had sacrificed. They would share in the kingdom and be rewarded by setting on thrones and governing over the 12 tribes of Israel. Those who are faithful to Christ in this life will have positions of authority in the kingdom. There will be more concerning this when we reach chapter 25.

There is an old hymn that goes something like this: “All I want is a cabin in glory land.” I haven’t heard it sung in years. It was a misconception because there are no cabins in heaven, only mansions, Jesus says in verse 29 that there will rewards in heaven, However, there are degrees of rewards; some will receive greater rewards than others and those who are Christians in name only will receive no rewards.

Secondly, in v.29, Jesus says we will also be rewarded with material rewards. Those who have left houses, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, children, or farms to follow Him will receive much more than they left, which also include eternal life. The gospel of Mark says in Mark 10:29 (KJV) that those who have sacrificed for the gospel’s sake in this life will receive a hundred times more in the kingdom. Mark indicates that not only will we receive rewards in the kingdom but also in the present age. In the western hemisphere, it is not common for a person to lose family and everything else to follow Jesus, but in New Testament times, it was. Today in some Eastern countries, where Islam is prominent, Christians are often disowned by their family, lose their job and friends, and possibly lose everything.

What Jesus said nearly 2,000 years ago is just as accurate today. If you and I are willing to sacrifice now for the gospel’s sake, Jesus will make sure all we offered will be restored with interest. If we lose our family, God stands to make us a part of His eternal family, the church. Even though we sometimes fail to realize it, there are no better relationships than those we have in the spiritual family of God who together are eternally bound. Earthly marriages and families come to an end at death, but the heavenly family is forever. We need not minimize the importance of our earthly family, but we need to recognize the eternal value of our heavenly family.

Jesus pointed this out in Matthew 12:46-50, “While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. 47Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 48But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? 49And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 50For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Your believing family members are your brothers or sisters in the Lord; they are mother, father, sister, brother, husband, and wife. No one wants to lose their earthly family, but if that is necessary to follow Jesus, it will be replaced by a heavenly family. Jesus also talks about losing farms. Today that may not apply to most city dwellers, but it was necessary to have a farm at that time. Families stayed together and worked the land. When children married, they added an addition to the house and continued to work the land.

An example of the importance of the heavenly family is found in Luke 9:59-60 (KJV): “And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, LORD, suffer me first to go and bury my Father. 60Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. Let the dead bury the dead, and come and follow me.” Some may consider the above a little harsh, but you have to understand what the man meant. He didn’t tell him his father was dead and he needed to attend the funeral. He was saying he needed to stay with the family to inherit the farm; that could have taken years until the Father died.

So, Jesus is making a profound statement: If we lose a family relationship, it will be replaced in the present age, and if we lose farms, we will receive new ones far more significant than in the current generation. That presents a dilemma. Can we tell people today that if they lose their farm by following Jesus, it will be replaced? If that were the case, people would be standing in line to join the church. In the first place, people do not lose their farms when they enter the church, nor do they get new farms. So, what did Jesus mean? If a man left his family to follow Jesus, he lost his inheritance of the farm when his father died. So, the promise Jesus is making is that this man will share in the Lord’s inheritance, which is the entire world when He sets up His kingdom. Paul makes this clear inEphesians 1:14 (KJV): “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

Even though our inheritance is in the future kingdom, we have the assurance of it in the present. According to Paul, we have obtained our inheritance because it has already been promised to us. Peter assures us of this in 1 Peter 1:4 (KJV): “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.”

My wife and I have made reservations in the spring of 2022 to vacation in Florida. We are looking forward to that because it seems like we have already bought it and it belongs to us. We, as believers, will have something to look forward to; we have a home in heaven; it is already ours, and we anticipate the time when we will go there. Therefore, Paul tells us in Colossians 3:23-24 (KJV), “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the LORD, and not unto men; 24Knowing that of the LORD ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the LORD Christ.”

The parable that we end with today reinforces the principle above: 

Matthew 20:1-16, “For the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. 2And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise. 6And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7They say unto him Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 8So when even was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they received every man a penny. ₁₁And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12Saying, These last have wrought but one hour and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13But he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst, not thou agree with me for a penny? 14Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15Is it not lawful for me to do what I will on my own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? 16So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”

There are some difficulties in this parable that we need to clear up. To do that, we need first to consider the question that Peter asked Jesus in the last chapter: “We have forsaken all and followed thee! What shall we have therefore?” Jesus responds to Peter’s question with a promise. The disciples will set on twelve thrones and judge over the twelve tribes of Israel; then Jesus says that those who sacrifice for the sake of the gospel “should receive a hundred time more and inherit everlasting life.”

Jesus gave this parable because He knew the hearts of the disciples who grew up under the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees. At this point, the disciples were weak in faith and the knowledge of God’s word. They had been trained to believe that their sacrifice should be rewarded. They were inclined to be arrogant and self-righteous. A long story short, they needed to be taught humility. The primary thing to look for in a parable is the object being made and not the details. In other words, what is the point or the theology of the parable?

Two things stand out in this parable: First, like the master in the parable, God is the one who decides and is in control. There is a movement in the United States today to change the weather by eliminating CO2 from the atmosphere, therefore, lowering the temperature by one degree. Sorry liberals, only God controls the laws of His universe. In the parable the master decided who to hire and how much to reward each worker. God chose the elect, and we don’t need to waste our time trying to figure out upon what He based His decision. God is sovereign and acts in His own time and in His own way through His unconditional grace; so, it is our responsibility to trust Him. 

Early on, God called Israel His chosen people; later, God called out the gentiles through the apostles’ preaching. Today, God is calling out whosoever will come through the ministries of the church. There are still those “standing idle” across the world “because no man has hired them,” even entire countries like China, Iran, North Korea, etc. Why is this? No one knows for sure. We do know that we are highly blessed that the gospel headed west from New Testament times. The Gentiles who came to God later are just as a part of the kingdom as the Jews who came first. In fact, in God’s eyes, “the last shall be first” in some cases.

It is not the quantity of one’s work that is most important; it is the quality of one’s faith. For instance, the thief on the cross cried out to Jesus in pure faith; there was no time for works, not even baptism, and Jesus replied, “This day, they shall be with me in paradise.” This man is just as much a part of God’s kingdom as the Apostle Paul, who spent the last years of his life serving the Lord. However, that does not mean his rewards will be the same. However, there is a biblical example where the smallest amount was counted more significant than a large amount, in the case of the widow’s mite who gave all she had.

In the second place, God chooses on whom He will have compassion. He is the sovereign God independent of all other entities. We read in Romans 9:15 (KJV): “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” It is not our place to try and figure God out as to why He does what He does. I say again it is our responsibility to trust Him. God is omniscient and knows all things and knows what is best in all circumstances. God not only chooses, but He also chooses in His own time. Some are called early, and others at the eleventh hour, as was the thief on the cross. Both are equally forgiven of their sins and blessed with eternal life without anything other than trust in Jesus for salvation. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV) is God’s recipe for salvation, which is through faith by the grace of God and not of works lest any man should boast. We can’t add anything to God’s plan of salvation, nor should we boast of our goodness. Some may try to draw from this parable salvation by works, but that is not what it is about to the slightest degree. We must understand what Jesus is saying here in context with the whole New Testament, which teaches that Jesus will not lose one of those who come to Him. Think about it: Salvation is not earned by our merit or effort; we would lose every time if it were. Thanks be to God that salvation is by His grace.

God has His place, and we have ours. We read in Luke 17:10 (KJV), “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” This parable levels the playing field for all Jews and Gentiles concerning the gospel; the gospel is for whoever will. Nevertheless, Israel is still God’s chosen, favored nation, and there is still a lot to be fulfilled concerning Israel.

Neither are we to believe, by this parable, that all will have an equal place in heaven. The Bible teaches us in 1 Corinthians 3:8 (KJV), “Every man shall receive his reward according to his labor.” Neither does this parable teach that it is alright to put salvation off to the eleventh hour of life. The Bible teaches, “Today is the day for salvation: (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,)” 2 Corinthians 6:22 (KJV). Putting salvation off is a dangerous thing and has cost many an eternity in hell.

All of us who trust in Jesus will share in His inheritance, that is to the degree we are faithful now in that which we have received. We will receive our rewards when Jesus returns with His kingdom. Jesus is generous in giving rewards based on the opportunity and willingness to serve Him in the present. Therefore, we should make it our purpose in this life to serve Him and to please Him.