May 17, 2015 · Matthew 20:1–16

The Generous Employer

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard." Continues.

“Our world says that the person who works the longest receives the most pay. But God's kingdom — generosity prevails. It determines everything. It's not a work-or-a-pay situation. It's all grace. And as hard as that is sometimes, we need to be thankful. For if God wasn't crazy gracious in this way, we would get no pay. None of us deserve to be united to him. We've all mistreated God in many ways every day, and yet all he gives is grace. God's not required to reward us by our own human concepts. The kingdom of God is this radical new view of value, and he flips everything upside down. God is incomprehensibly good. You can't understand it. So the point that sometimes we don't think he's good. … It's — God is just. No one should be saved. Ah, their minds got blown. … No one deserves it. Jonah got very angry. The reason he didn't go to Nineveh was because he knew that God was generous. And he didn't like God for it. One of those darn Ninevites killed. Because of what they did to his people. … As Christ followers. And I was like, ah, why do they get that? God has the right to use and give his possessions and blessings as he sees fit. We cannot determine it.”