A Parable of Grace

I've been studying the lesson for our next ladies' Bible study on the parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20:1-16:

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. He went out again about the ninth hour and did the same thing. 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?' 'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' 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.' The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. '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.' But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Recognizing that the landowner in this parable represents God, there are some important truths taught about His graciousness toward His children:

• He is concerned about paying his workers a fair day's wage (in that culture, a denarius) so they could provide food for their families.
  
• Each worker received the same amount regardless of how long he worked because the landowner chose to generously pay them according to their need, and not according to their work. He paid according to His grace, not His indebtedness to them. This concept is often hard to accept in our entitlement-minded culture.
  
• The focus on the workers hired at the eleventh hours is a lesson on the Kingdom of Heaven. The landowner hired the last workers because they also needed to receive a day's wages. They needed to work more than their work was needed. Likewise, God chooses us to serve Him because we need Him, not because He needs us.
• We can never obligate God by our works of obedience; it's our duty as His children.
• God is sovereign and has the right to dispense His blessings according to His perfect will. We must keep in mind that, because of our sin, we deserve nothing but judgment from God, but He amazingly blesses us in Christ anyway.
  

"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32 "Note that Paul said God will graciously or freely give us all things. Just as salvation is given freely to all who trust in Christ, so all blessings are given freely to us, also through faith in Christ. Just as you cannot earn your salvation but must receive it as a gift, so you cannot earn the blessings of God but must receive them also as gifts given through Christ." (Transforming Grace by Jerry Bridges, p. 48)