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Jan 23, 2022

The Parables of Jesus | Five O’clock Faith

The Parables of Jesus | Five O’clock Faith

Passage: Matthew 20:1-16

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: The Parables of Jesus

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: worship, faith, jesus, sunday, god, sermon, bible, gospel, hope, salvation, peace, believe, happy, happiness, parable, motivation, grateful, gratitude, promises, bible study, live music, parables of jesus, enjoy life, parable of the vineyard, how to be happy, livestream, christian motivation, burnt hickory baptist church, god’s plan, burnt hickory worship

There are times in your life that you might ask the question, God, why did you let this happen to me? Does life just not seem fair? How are we supposed to by happy in an unfair life? Well, if God gave us what we deserved, we’d be doomed from the start. God has called us to trust in his goodness and promises, no matter what our circumstances in life look like. We need to reflect on our relationship with God and find any places where we are bitter because we feel he has withheld some blessing, or when we are jealous of the good things that others have. This actually robs us of our happiness. Do you get angry when God doesn’t answer your prayers the way you think he should? Or do you feel uncertain about where you stand with God. Then this shows that we are not trusting in God’s promises. When we do trust him, our bitterness, jealousy, anger, and insecurity is replaced with gratitude, contentment, peace, and assurance. Do you feel like life is unfair, or are dealing with understanding why you are going through tough times if God is so loving? Then take time to reach out today, we’d love to pray with you and help you shift your insecurity to assurance through trusting in God. We want you to live a happy life, one of gratitude, filled with peace, and grateful to God for his promises – burnthickory.com/next

Well, good morning, church, welcome back from the Big Snow event of the year, amen. Oh man, come on. Welcome back. This is week three in the series. You just saw the bumper for that. We're just calling parables, we're calling them parables, and we're looking into a few of the many, many, many of these teaching moments that Jesus had where he would take a earthly story and wrap this heavenly truth into it to teach the people that were around him. To get on to their terms, to get into their language, to get into their world and to be able to communicate this incredible truth for their lives. We've seen also that in a lot of these parables that there's also just some ways that when Jesus taught like this that those people whose heart was ready, they could understand what he was saying. But on the other side, there were people that they just had a problem and they couldn't get it, and they were little bit confused, and they didn't even know what he was trying to do. We've looked through two parables so far. first, we've looked through the parable of the soils. We've looked at this idea in that parable and asked ourselves the question of what kind of soil is my heart? Is my heart ready for the word of God? Is it prepared for the word or is it just hard? Or is it shallow or is it guarded against what God would want me to have? Last week in your pajamas, I might add, we looked at the parables of the treasure and the parable of the pearl of great price, if you would. And we walked out of here last week just simply asking this question of what is the gospel worth to me? Is the gospel worth me sacrificing? Is it worth me giving? Is it worth me looking at everything else I have in my life, and saying Yes, Jesus? Here it is. Well, this week's parable deals with just as important of a truth. It deals with actually one of those truths that is an incredibly fundamental element in our worldview, as well as our belief in who God is and how God operates in all of our lives.

This week's parable is going to deal with our sense of justice with our sense of justice. Or maybe you could even define it as our sense of fairness in our lives. You see, when you really think about justice, when you really think about our soul or our mind, there are few things that are hardwired into us as strongly as our sense of justice. Whether you're religious or not religious, young or old, conservative or liberal, it doesn't really matter. You have a deep need in your life at a core level, for justice, for fairness. So Matt, how do you know that?

Well, think about it like this. I never had to teach my kids one saying, and here's that saying, that's not fair. I don't know where they learned it, it was probably your kids, but I don't know where they learned it. But I never had to teach them how to say those words. In fact, they probably only know six words, and three of them was that phrase right there. That's not fair. He got this. She got that. Why don't I get? It's not fair. Right? You see, justice really does make us feel like there's an order to the world. It makes us feel like there's control or there is a system or there's a meaning to life and it gives us. It really gives us in a lot of ways, just a sense of peace when we think of justice. Therefore, catch this one of the most frustrating things for many of us. In our faith, one of the most frustrating things in our faith is when we think that God does not seem to be operating, according to my sense of justice. When you think about your faith, some of the most frustrating times in your life is when you don't think that God is living up to his side of fairness or of justice. And look, I can feel the tension when I say that.

Really, I can. Up here because there are some of you. They are like, I don't even know what you're talking about. Don't worry, we'll get there, OK? But there's some of you were like, Matt, how dare you accuse me of not thinking that God is fair to me? I would never think that, yes, you would. You might not say it like that. I mean, you wouldn't say it out loud. But let me clear it up with one example to show you that we all struggle with a sense of justice in God. And let me clear it up. Here it is. It's in a question, because every single one of us have used this question. God. Check it out on the screen. Why did you let this happen to me? Now you've asked that question before? No, I hadn't yet. You had. You're a liar. Or maybe you’ve asked it like this, God, why did you let this happen to them? You may have asked it like that? Or maybe you've supplemented it with God that just does not seem to be fair. Just doesn't seem to be fair. You've asked that question before in your life, we've all asked that question. We've all suffered with this frustration of God. Why are you not being fair in my life? Why are you not being just in my life?

So, if that's you, which is all of us, this parables for you, this parables for me, this parable is for all of us. And this is not one of those parables you take notes, and you send to your kid. This is for you. It's for all of us. Matthew Chapter 20. So, what we're going to be this morning, Matthew Chapter 20 Take out your Bible. Let's get there. Take out your app and fire that up. And let me just see the warm glow of God's word luminescing the place this morning. Matthew Chapter 20 is where we're going to be. But we're going to start back in Chapter 19, we're going to start in Chapter 19. Now, look, this parable has a chance to change your view of who God is and what he does in your life. Chapter 19 is where we're going to start, you say Matt, thought we were in Chapter 20. Bear with me because remember chapter theology. All right. Chapters are not inspired by God. They were not in the original text. It's not like Matthew took a break one day and was like 19, oh, no, 20. All right. No, we did that later on. Just to be able to reference things. Most of the time, they're right, but I feel like this one could have been one they could have left altogether. Now don't write me. I'm not doubting God's word. All right. That's not what I'm saying, but I'm saying. Matthew, Chapter 19 is the story that the parable of Matthew Chapter 20 is clearing up. All right, that's what I'm saying.

Matthew, Chapter 19, is the story of the rich young ruler, the rich young ruler. Remember, he was smart, he was successful, he was rich. He had all that he wanted. He was the guy that everybody else wanted to be. Probably everybody envied him. He came up to Jesus one day and he looked at Jesus, and he's like, Hey, Jesus, I'm pretty good. I'm pretty moral. I do everything. What else do I need to do to earn my salvation? To earn my salvation. To which we got to give them? On one hand, the fact that he's looking at all of his stuff, saying that there's more that I need to do. But here's the problem. He's asking the wrong question. He's asking the wrong question, because there is nothing that you can do to earn your salvation. If there was something that I could do and you could do to earn our salvation, God would have just sent us a list. We would have checked off the boxes and we rode that train straight to glory. But it's not. We can't do anything to earn salvation. Christ bought our salvation. And that's exactly what he told the rich young ruler. He said, Look, you can't earn it, but you've got to submit your whole life to me and allow me to cover you so that I will be your lord. I will be your savior. Jesus looks at this guy and tells him that, and he looks back at Jesus, and sadly, he's not willing to submit his life to Jesus. He rejects Jesus. He walks away from the offer of Jesus becoming his lord in Jesus ends that encounter with this verse in verse 30 of Chapter 19. Here it is. Jesus says this, but many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first, and then Jesus gives the parable all right. Just draw a little line there. I know they should be together. Verse one, here's the parable. For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner or master who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Now pause right there because I need to set the context.

6:00 a.m. in the morning is the beginning of the workday. That's where this is happening. The worker of the, or the owner, the master of the vineyard, goes into the town square, goes into that spot to hire workers for the day. Now, this is not real common in our society today, but there's places around the world. This is absolutely how it works. There was, in fact, a great place when I was in Carrollton a long time ago where if you stopped your truck long enough at the QT you would end up with four or five people in the back of your truck ready to work. That was how it happened in this day. They were just there. There were day laborers. They were ready to go. Everybody listening to the story would have been like, Yeah, we know this is how it works. 6:00 a.m. in the morning the landowner came out, he's like, I need some workers, I need five, I need four. I don't know how many it is. Make up a number in your mind. It doesn't matter. Here it is.

Verse two He that's the master. He agreed. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day, and he sent them into his vineyard. Now a denarius. this is 6:00 a.m. in the morning. A denarius was a standard day's wage. It was what you agreed on. It was standard. You were fairly paid when you got that, it was straightforward. It was just common. If somebody hired you in the morning at 6:00 to work until 6:00 at night, your twelve-hour day, you would have been given a denarius you know, at that point that everybody is happy. Everybody agreed. The contract was signed right. It was there. Everybody knew what they were getting in this moment, and the good master had a contract with the 6:00 a.m. workers. Look at verse three. About nine in the morning. This is the second time, right, this is three hours later. He, that's the master, went out and saw others standing in the marketplace, doing nothing. He told them, You also go work in my vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right. Now, notice there's a difference here. It's subtle, but this is the difference that makes this whole story.

The 6:00 a.m. workers were under a contract; they knew what they were getting. They knew the price they were working for. They knew everything that was going on. The 9:00 a.m. workers had no agreement on a wage, had no agreement on a price. There was no contract. What were they doing? They were just trusting that the good master would take care of them at the end. It was like, Hey, that's a good guy. I know that guy. I trust that guy. I'll go work for that guy. Verse eight. I mean, verse five. So, we went out at about. He went out again at about noon and at about three in the afternoon. He, the master, did the same thing at about five in the afternoon. He went out and found still others standing around asking them, Why have you been standing here all day long and doing nothing? Because no one has hired us? They answered, he said to them, Well, you also go work in my vineyard.

Now, you know, you know, at this point, the crowd, that's around Jesus is like, This is a story. How is this thing going to end? He went out at six, he went out at nine. He went out at noon. He went out at three. He went out at five. May have missed it there, but you get the point, right? He went out all of these times and he brought these workers in. And again, notice no one else knows what they're getting paid. There's no contract. There's no system. It's just like, I'll do what's right? I'm a good master. I'm a good master. I'm a good master. Keep going in the story gets better. Verse eight. When evening came 6:00 p.m. when evening came, the worker of the vineyard said to his foreman, Call all the workers and pay them their wages. Beginning with the last ones hired going on to the first. The workers, who were hired at five in the afternoon came and each one received a denarius. So, when those who were hired first, they expected more. Wow.

I mean, come on, they worked longer, right? Keep going. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner, which I mean is understandable. Verse twelve This is what they said. These 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. Now, for those of you, with ADD. Let me tell you what's happening. All right, here it is. Here's what's happening. The end of the day, it's 6:00 in the afternoon. They line all the workers up, right? They got the 5:00 p.m. workers here. They got the 3:00 p.m. workers. They got the noon workers, they got the 9:00 workers. Finally on this side, they got the 6:00 a.m. early risers on this side. The worker, the master comes. He pulls out his money bag. He starts with those that were hired at 5:00. He reaches down in that bag. They don't know what they're getting. They're just trusting. He's a good guy. He reaches in and he hands them a full day's wage. You know, they were like, Wow, this guy is incredible. This guy, this master, I'm working for him forever from this point on, right? He moves on to the next guy's the midday workers, and he's handing them a denarius. Now, you know, at this point, the 6:00 a.m. workers are going, Oh, baby, mama's getting steak tonight, Ruth's Chris. I am going to get paid today. I am going to be rich in this moment. And then all of a sudden, the landowner walks over to those 6:00 a.m. guys and he reaches down in his bag. You know, they're like, Come on.

Here it is. And he pulls out one denarius. They look back at the guy. They look back at the master and they say the same thing that you say in a lot of things in life. That's not fair. That's not fair. Wait a minute. We work. Where's the justice in that? There. We worked all day. These people slid in. I mean, their clothes are still ironed, their shirts are still white, they're in, their manicures aren't even dirty. They look at us. That's not fair. Now look at the point of the story. Verse 13. But then the master answered one of the. I am not I am not, I'm not being unfair to you, friend. Did you not agree to work for a denarius? Verse 15, don't I have the right to do what I want with my money? Now, catch this, you might want to circle this one. Or are you envious because I'm generous? Are you feeling where the story's going now? Or you are just envious because I'm generous with the love, with the grace and the mercy of the father? I can just imagine. I mean, this gets heavy quick, doesn't it? I can just imagine the crowd going, oooh, Right?

I could just imagine at this point everybody going, Well, yeah, I'm envious. I want what I deserve. In fact, I want justice. I want fairness. I could just feel even myself at this point, going well, justice is measurable. I know what I should be getting, but I'm not getting it. I can just feel even myself saying, Man, I want what I deserve, and I get what I deserve. And I, God, feel like I deserve more because I'm serving you and I'm working for you and I'm doing for you and those people. They just slid in in the 11:00 hour, and they're getting all of this grace from you. God, why? And then in my sanctified imagination, because it's big I'm telling you right now, I could just feel Jesus backing away from the story, now this is just me talking, but I can just feel it, right. And going, wait a minute. You want what you deserve? Are you sure you want what you deserve? Are you sure that you want what you deserve? You see, I don't think we want what we deserve. I don't because when you zoom out from this story, and you look at the New Testament as a whole.

Write this principle down. If God gives any of us what we deserve, we're all doomed. We're all doomed. If he gives one of us what we deserve. We are all doomed. Why? Because we're all sinners. We've all walked away from God. We've all walked our own paths. We are all in charge of our own destiny at some point in our lives. In fact, the Bible tells us this that the wages of our sin, what we deserve from our sin, what is just from our sin? What is fair from our sin? The wages of our sin is death Romans 6:23. But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our lord. You see, if we're going to get technical about this, we all deserve death and hell. And I know I'm like, man. That's pretty heavy this morning. But listen. Anything other than hell is the sheer mercy and grace of the father. It's the sheer love of the father. So, listen, church, let's stop talking about what we deserve because we don't deserve anything. We don't deserve a bit of grace. We don't deserve a denarius. We don't deserve a gift of God. All we deserve is death instead. Write this principle down, God has called all of us to trust in the goodness and the promises of God like a 5:00 p.m. relationship. Like a 5:00 p.m. worker, like a 5:00 p.m. faith. You say Mett, what is a 5pm faith? Well, I'm glad you asked because a 5pm faith is just a relationship that just walks with Jesus says, Hey Jesus, I don't know what you're going to do.

I don't know how this is going to work out. I don't know what you're going to pay. I don't know what you're going to give me, but I know that you are a good master, and you will take care of me no matter what. And you will set my feet upon a rock. No matter what. And I am anchoring myself to you, the good master that I'm in your vineyard. And one day you will pay me in eternity. That's the story. In fact, when you think about the person who is telling the story through the lens of this story.

Listen. Jesus is the one who's working all day, and we're the one sitting on our lazy duffs. We're seeing it in the story at the end of the day, not only did Jesus not get what he deserved. He got what I deserve. Not only did Jesus have to live the life that I was supposed to live, but he died, the debt that I was supposed to die. And now the wages that was due for my sin was given to Jesus. The punishment was put on him and Jesus lived the perfect life, died the sinner's death. Now I live the sinner’s life as a believer, and I get the reward of righteousness because of what Jesus did for me. That's what the story is saying. That's where the stories going. So, do we really want what's fair? No. We want grace, we want the love of the father, we want the master to shield us, to stand over us and to give us his love. That's the parable. Do you know? I got to thinking this week as I was studying this because I don't know. I had had some time to think. Do you know that the master could have solved this whole problem with doing one thing in the story?

Do you know what he could have done to get rid of all the controversy? He could have called the 6:00 a.m. workers first and paid them a denarius, right? And sent them on their way. They would have not been. They would have not known what was going on. They would have been mad about anything. They would have just been happy they got what they agreed on. But that's not what he did. It's almost as if Jesus is deliberately saying this to cause some conflict in our minds. And you know what? That's exactly what he's doing. It's exactly why he didn't flip the script in this one, because he wanted to show us that it's not about what we deserve, it's about what the master gives. It's about the grace of the father.

Do you realize that he's not teaching some Marxist theology here where everybody gets the same thing for working all different hours? Or it's not even teaching that there's a flat reward in heaven one day for everybody who lives different lives? We know that's not true. There are different rewards in heaven one day. The point of this parable is the context of the rich young ruler and looking at the rich young ruler and saying he cannot earn what I'm giving. He has to submit and walk into it, in faith. Because I'm the good father and I have the right to give it to him. In fact, look at how Jesus closes the story. Matthew Chapter 20 verse 16. He says so the last will be first and the first will be last.

He says, Hey, stop talking about what you deserved. It's way better to just trust Jesus, to walk with Jesus to follow the master. Can I just say that so many of our spiritual problems come because we have this contract relationship with God that we feel like sometimes he doesn't show up in situations how we think that he needs to show up. What are we seeing in the story? It's not about living in a contract relationship. It's about living in a covenant relationship in that covenant is the blood of Christ has covered us and given us life and anything else is a blessing from God. So, here's the question How do I know which kind of faith that I'm living in? How do I know if I'm living in a contract relationship? Or how do I know if I'm just living in a relationship that says, Hey, I just trust the good master, no matter what's going to happen here? I'm going to trust the good master. I want to give you four quick indicators this week four quick indicators that you can think through to see which side that you fall into.

And let me just give you a little bit of a side note on this. You don't want to fall into these. Number one is this, number one, if you are a bitter person. If we're falling into bitterness, we're living in a contract relationship with God and not a covenant relationship. In fact, let me give you a question that'll help kind of solidify this. Here's the question. Am I bitter because God has withheld some blessing from me that I think that I deserve? You know, if that's where you're slipping into your living and you're living in a contract relationship right here, this is the story of the twelve-hour workers, right? They feel like they're bitter because God withheld something, the master withheld something. But again, what is Jesus getting at? He's received. He's saying to us that everything you receive in life beyond death and hell is a gift of grace. It's a gift of grace. A lot of times we say things that God like God, why did you let this bad thing happen to me? I didn't deserve for this bad thing to happen to me, and Jesus is giving us a whole other perspective here and saying, Listen, even the very breath in your lungs is a gift from me. It is a promise from me. It is salvation to you, and it's more than you deserve. Here's the thing if salvation is the only thing that God ever gave you. If it's the only thing. If he took away everything else, you have.

We would still be able to consider ourselves recipients of incalculable grace and the mercy of God. So, no matter what you're going through in life, no matter what pain, no matter what situation, no matter what financial. The gift of grace is still in your life. And there's going to be a day in your life where you're going to sing that last stanza of Amazing Grace when we've been there 10,000 years bright shining as the Sun, we've no less days to sing his grace than when we first begun.

Listen, bitterness cannot fall under our covenant with Christ because he has redeemed us. Everything else is secondary. If we can grasp this, it'll change us. Second, is jealousy. Jealousy, jealousy keeps us in a contract relationship with God. Here's the question I want you to ask yourself this week. Am I jealous of good things that other people have that I want? Am I jealous? If you are, then you're a 6:00 a.m. worker. You're a 6am worker. You see, jealousy is that you're mad that you don't have what other people have. Resentment goes right with it, and that's that you're just mad that they had it. You see the story, the 6:00 a.m. workers are jealous of the other workers because they got what they didn't deserve. They got what they didn't deserve.

But before we get critical of them, we're just like them, aren't we? We stand around all the time, and we say things like, God, why did they get that opportunity? God, why did they get that promotion? God, why do they have that good health? And I'm stuck with this? God, why do they have that good marriage? God, why did they get kids that are actually human beings, right? Why? God, why do their bodies look so good? And then there's this? God, Why? Why do they always get to go to those places? And I'm here. Why God? Why are they so healthy? Why are they getting to do this? Really, God? I deserve more than they do. Now, we don't say that out loud. But that's a contract relationship, that's a 6:00 a.m. worker right there. You see. When we step into this life, we forget that everything in life is a good gift of grace other than death and hell, that's what the story is showing. And Jesus is saying I will take care of you.

In fact, I read this in my quiet time in a devotional this way. Proverbs 23:17 says this. Says, do not let your heart envy sinners. There is surely a hope for you and your hope will not be cut off. Man, you know what God did for me this week in that? God just reminded me to quit looking at other people and look at what he's done in my life. Look at the fact that he took me from a sinner. To a saint. He took me from one is drowning in my sin and made me his son. I also thought of Proverbs 23:17, or Psalms 37:25. I was young and now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. Look, I don't. I don't know everything that means, but here's what I do know when I get worried. God says quit. I take care of my children. I take care of the people in my vineyard. I walk with those that are in my path. And just like the master of the vineyard at the end of the day, took care of every single person. That's God. That's where God wants us to live when we fully submit and fully trust and rely on God, we will find so much more fulfillment, than looking around at what other people have.

Number three: Anger. We find ourselves angry, specifically angry over unanswered prayers. We know we're slipping into a contract relationship, here's the question I want you to ask yourself this week. Do I get angry when God doesn't answer my prayers the way that I think he should? Do I get angry when God doesn't answer my prayers the way that I think he should? You see, when we assume that God owes us all these things right? The 6:00 a.m. workers? We get angry when he doesn't answer our prayers. We say things like, God, I did this and God, I did that. God, I've been a good girl. I've been a good wife. I've been a good husband. I've been a good parent. I memorized some verses. I took my kids to Awanas for goodness’ sake. God, I read the Bible and God. You still let this happen. You still let it happen. God, you didn't do what I asked you to do. God, how dare you? You didn't give me what I deserved but listen again.

Thank goodness that God does not give us in proportion to what we deserve. Because in reality, we don't deserve anything. Our wages is death. That's what the story is saying, if God marked every one of our iniquities, he marked them on us, we would never get to God. But what did he do? He didn't mark them. He marked them out and put them on Jesus to give us life. Now, Romans eight, therefore, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Do you realize that when bad things happen in your life, it's not God paying you back for something? There's no penal punishment, penalty punishment because it's already been put on Christ. It's already been put on him, and this helps us believe Romans 8:28, which says that we know that in all things, God works to the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. When we know those two things, we mash them together and realize that even if God is not answering my prayers, how I think they need to be answered. He is fully sovereign, fully in control, and one day I will stand in front of him, and he pulls out his basket of money and riches. He says, you're mine, you're mine. Here's number four that will show you, you're in a contract relationship, and that's just insecurity. Insecurity. Here's the question Do I feel uncertain where I stand with God or are insecure about my future? Do I feel uncertain about my future?

You see, if you have a contract relationship with God, you're always asking yourself, Man, am I being paid back for something or am I good enough? Have I been good enough to outweigh the bad? Am I good enough today, God? So, what do we do? We do what the rich young ruler is trying to do, right? We work for our salvation. We try to earn our salvation. We try for our good, outweigh our bad. But notice in the parable, the master just wants us to submit to his authority. To allow him to lavish us with his grace and his mercy. Why? Because Psalm 23:6 says surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. Why Philippians 4:19 says that my God will meet all of your needs. According to the riches in Christ Jesus. Why? Romans 8:31. What then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? In John 6:37, it says the last verse, last of the verses, whoever comes to me, I will never cast them out,

Jesus says. Listen, knowing these things gives us so much more security than resting on what we think we deserve, what we think God should do. And will lead us to being able to be fully secure in him. Man, I hope you're feeling the main point in this passage. It's really just one point. It's that we don't want what's fair. We don't want what we deserve. We want the grace and the love and the mercy of the father, just like the 5:00 worker did. And listen, when we live like that, it doesn't matter when we're hired. You know, the good news is most of us in this room right now, we are early hires. They're going to be some people that are going to slide in at that last hour. All right. Most of us in this room were early hired. And here's what the story is telling us we need to celebrate every time the master goes back and grabs others to be with him. And we don't need to look at them and we don't need to judge them.

And we don't need to say, how dare they God? They live like that, and you bless them, and you save them? No, no, no, no. We're all workers in the vineyard and one day we will be with Jesus. And when we have that kind of mentality, I can promise you this, when we fully submit, check these last little things out. When we fully submit, your bitterness will be replaced by gratitude. It will be. Your jealousy will be replaced by contentment. Your anger will be replaced by peace. And your insecurity will be replaced by assurance. Look, I want you to leave that there because I just want you to notice that these four on the end are the roots of the fruit of the spirit. And that's what the master gives us. That's what he's offering us, but all he's doing is standing there saying, Hey, just come and follow me. I'm a good master. Quit looking around at other people. And look to the master of the vineyard. And just knowing this kind of thing, we move from being in a contract relationship to being under the covenant relationship with the blood of Jesus Christ giving us mercy and Grace.

Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus, God today, God, I just want to take a minute in this place God, and draw back from the anger, the jealousy, the insecurity. And God, I just want us to jump into your grace. In fact, in your seats, with your heads bowed just for a moment. Would you just thank God if you're a believer in Jesus, if you've given your life to Jesus, would you just thank God for his grace? The unmerited favor. Would you thank him for his grace? You know, possibly today you are here, and you don't know Jesus.

Here's the incredible part about the story. The master, that's God. He keeps going back to the marketplace. He keeps going back to the town square and he keeps bringing people back with him. Does that need to be you today? Do you need to give your life to Jesus today? Do you need to submit your heart to Jesus today? Do you need to just say Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, and I don't deserve anything? Would you come into my life? Would you save me? Put me in your vineyard so that when the 6:00 hour gets here, Jesus, I'm yours. I'm yours. Listen, if you need to give your life to Christ today in just a second, we're going to have a time of limitation.

I'll be down here in the front. I love to talk to you. So Matt, what do I say? Don't worry about it. Just say I need Jesus and we'll handle the rest. Maybe today you just need to repent. Because you've been a contract Christian, and you've been telling God for a long time what you deserve. Maybe today you just need to stand in his grace. Lord, work these next couple of minutes, Lord Jesus in this place. And it's in your name we pray.

Amen, let's stand and sing.

Follow Along with the Message

Five O'Clock Faith

January 23, 2022

Matthew 19:30
But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Matthew 20:1
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.”
Matthew 20:2
He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
Matthew 20:3–4
3 About nine in the morning 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.”
Matthew 20:5–7
5 So they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon 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.”
Matthew 20:8–12
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.” 9 The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 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 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.”
Matthew 20:13–15
13 But he answered one of them, “I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?… 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

PRINCIPLE: If God gives any of us what we deserve, we are !

Romans 6:23
The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

PRINCIPLE: God has called us to trust in His goodness and promises like a relationship!

Matthew 20:16
“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
4 Indicators that you are in a contract relationship with God

1.

QUESTION: Am I bitter because God has some blessing from me that I think I "deserve"?

2.

QUESTION: Am I jealous of things others have that I want?

The fruit of jealousy springs from two evil roots:
1. Unbelief in the goodness of God who has promised to take care of you.
2. The foolish pride that assumes God owes you certain things.

Proverbs 23:17–18
Do not let your heart envy sinners… there is surly a hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.
Psalm 37:25
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.

3.

QUESTION: Do I get angry when God doesn’t my prayers the way that I think He should?

Romans 8:1–2
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

4.

QUESTION: Do I feel uncertain about where I with God or insecure about my future?

Psalm 23:6
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Philemon 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:31
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
John 6:37 (ESV)
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
When We Fully Trust:

Your bitterness will be replaced by .

Your jealousy will be replaced by .

Your anger will be replaced by .

Your insecurity will be replaced by .

Additional Notes

 

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