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Howdy, y'all. So it's an honor to be here tonight. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Jonathan Houston, and I've been participating in a program that was formerly known as Sermon Junkies, and now it goes by a longer name called the Expositor to Workshop.

That's put on by Pastor Baber. And so this was the third sermon that I've been able to put together, preach in front of a group of men who critiqued me on this. And so I can assure you, I've been thoroughly vetted to be standing up here. And something that I don't take lightly at all.

So Pastor Baber, thank you so much for the opportunity. John, thank you so much for your prayers, and Kevin, for your prayers. It's very encouraging for you guys to pray for me that way. And I do hope, and it is my own prayer, that through this God would speak and indeed set me aside so that his message could come through without me corrupting it with my human way.

So the title of this sermon is called The Radical Generosity of God. And the text that we'll be looking at is Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 through 16. So Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 through 16. So please, if you will, let me pray, and I'll get started. Lord Jesus, it's just full of thanksgiving that your justice system is not like ours, as you show us in this parable.

Thank you for your unsearchable wisdom. And the ability that you have to speak right into the heart of our circumstances, right into the heart of our human ways, and jolt us out of those ways. Jolt us out of those ways so that we can get just a glimpse sometimes of your kingdom and how your kingdom is infinitely better than what we strive for here on earth in our human ways.

So, Lord Jesus, I pray that, again, that you would indeed speak through this word, that the meditations that I put on paper would resonate, and that you would move in some way apart from me because I bring nothing to the table. So, thank you, Lord Jesus. Love you so much.

In your name we pray. Amen. So, I'll start off with an introduction, talking about the Special Olympics that happened in 1976. So, in this Special Olympics, it was in Spokane, Washington, and one day the crowd had showed up at this stadium to watch a 100-yard dash. And so, the racers or the runners lined up.

There were nine of them. They all lined up to start. The gun was fired, and the runners took off, running down the track, as you've probably all seen, except for one. One of the runners actually stumbled right off of the starting line, tripped, fell, and began to cry.

And the six of the runners continued running all the way to the finish line with the crowd cheering to see who first place was going to be. Meanwhile, two of the runners had turned. Turned around 180 degrees and gone to help this one who had fallen down. And the crowd cheered, like I said, as the runners crossed the finish line, cheering first place on.

And then the whole crowd kind of shifted their attention to this one who had fallen, the two that were helping him. And these three got the injured runner up and they helped him across the finish line. And as this runner crossed the finish line, the crowd again just kind of roused themselves up and were cheering these three on.

And for a moment, it seemed like the value system of humanity was turned on its head as everybody valued the last runner to cross the finish line as much as they valued the first. And that is the theme of today's parable: the first shall be last, and the last shall be first.

However, in today's text, the parable is not about a foot race, but this parable is about the kingdom of heaven. And from this parable, I would like you to see four radical kingdom truths so that you will more deeply appreciate God's generosity and be compelled to respond to Jesus with love and obedience and worship.

So, with that being said, and these goals before us, let's look at today's text starting in Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 through 16, which we'll read. 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.

He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them out to 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 sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour, he went out and found still others standing around, and 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 to the man who was hired last the same as I give 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. So, an important thing as we dive in is to remember that parables are not told in a vacuum. There is always some context involved. And Jesus tells this parable in response to a question that comes from Peter that we need to look at.

And so, before Jesus tells this parable, a rich young ruler has just come to Jesus and gone away sad because he was unwilling to sell everything in order to follow Jesus. And to give us the context, kind of on the heels of that, I'll read Matthew chapter 19, verses 23 through 30.

So, just a little bit above where you were in chapter 20. So, Matthew 19, again, verses 23 through 30. Then Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for the camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, Who then can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. Peter answered him, We have left everything to follow you. What then will there be for us?

And Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth. At the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses, Or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or fields, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. So, if you were following along and paying attention, hopefully, you caught Peter's question, which is, we have left everything to follow you. What then will there be for us? So, said in today's language, a modern Peter might say, That rich guy gave up nothing and he got nothing.

So, we've given up everything and we can expect a fat paycheck, right, Jesus? That's the question that's on the table. And Jesus then looks at Peter and the rest of the crowd and maybe said, Let me tell you a little story. So, the first radical kingdom truth of this parable is that God calls you while you are still a sinner.

Again, God calls you while you're still a sinner. So, let's take a look at this in verses 1 and 2 of Matthew chapter 20. So, to look at that again, 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. So, we have some symbolism here, and it's really straightforward in this parable, thankfully. So, let's just break that down really quick. You have the landowner, that's God. The vineyard represents the kingdom of heaven.

A day represents a person's lifespan. And then finally, a denarius represents eternal life. So, what's really important to notice here is the order of the events as they happen. So, pay close attention to how it says the landowner goes looking for people to hire. This doesn't happen the other way around.

The landowner goes first, and this is important to remember when we get to the wages and the payout part of the parable. And then, one other part of the symbolism is that early in the morning is considered 6 a.m. in that day's thinking. So, that would have been the start of a 12-hour day going from 6 a.m.

in the morning till 6 p.m. at night. And the denarius would have been a very normal, acceptable daily wage for any kind of day worker like this. So, if you're looking at Peter's thoughts here and he's looking for the answer to his question so far, he's probably thinking something like, okay, nothing special here.

This is all normal. 12-hour day, $100 a day, denarius, which is about $100 in our terms. So, all this is pretty normal. Now, to be clear, God does not need us. He is infinite and has no needs. A God with needs is not a God at all. And so, he doesn't need to go out and hire workers for his vineyard.

This is something that he is doing of his own accord, not out of any need that he has. And if you pay close attention to the verbs in these verses, in verses 1 and 2, you look at them and it says that the landowner went. The landowner hired.

The landowner sent. And this continues on through verse 8. The landowner, he went, he found, and he told, not the workers coming to him, but him doing the reaching out. And so the first radical kingdom truth, again, is that God has calls us while we were yet a sinner, not out of a need that he has, but out of his generosity.

The second radical kingdom truth is that God's justice is radically unlike human justice. God's justice. is radically unlike human justice. So to look at this, we'll move on to verse 3 and go through verse 10, kind of taking this in pieces. Verse 3 through 5, I'm going to take that part first, and it says, About the third hour, he, the landowner, 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 sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. So we'll pause here. So the third hour, again, thinking of our 12-hour day, the third hour would be about 9 a.m.

The landowner, again, goes out and initiates this transaction. And keep this in your mind, too. This time, he doesn't specify an amount of money. The first time he said, I'll pay you a denarius. This time he says, I will pay you whatever is right. And so, again, kind of thinking about what Peter might be thinking here, okay, so the landowner is clearly going to pay these people less because they're working for less of the day.

And that would be right. And fair and just. And then to carry this on, the sixth hour would be about 12 p.m., the same thing. So if you're using the $100 model of a day's wage, so if you show up at 12, you would get 50 bucks for doing half the day's work.

If you show up at the 9th hour or 3 p.m., you'd get about $25 for the work that you did. So let's continue on into verse 6 and 7. About the 11th hour, he went out and found still others standing around. And 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. So here we are. It's 5 p.m., the 11th hour. There's only one hour left in the day to work. And he goes out and hires more workers and doesn't promise them any pay this time.

So it's denarius, whatever is right, and then no promise, just go work in my vineyard. Now, again, getting into what might have been Peter's thought process here is like, okay, the math is harder now. Like, I don't know what 1 divided by 12 is, but, you know, a 12th of 100, it works out to about $8, if anything.

And that would be the fair and just thing to do. And just kind of as a note here, this crowd that gets hired at 5 p.m. with one hour to go, this would have been like first-century bums, right? They're just kind of, you know, they've been in the marketplace all day.

The landowner has shown up four times already, four times looking for people to hire. And so they possibly just didn't want to. Work until this last hour. So let's go on to verse 8 through 10. So verse 8 says, 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 11th hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. So now, 6 p.m. It's game over. This is the end of the lifetime. Everybody lines up for pay in reverse order, starting with the bums and going on to the ones who showed up at 6 a.m.

And so, again, Peter might be thinking, I see how this ends. You're about to answer and validate my question. That, you know, when I ask what then will there be for us? And then the 11th hour guys, the bums, they get the full $100 pay for a full day's work.

And just imagine if you're in the line here getting ready to get paid, imagine the conversation that would have been rippling back through the line, right? Might have sounded something like, guys, we just got a raise. I should get, I worked three hours, so if they got $100, I should get $300, and rippling on back to the people who worked all day saying, I should get $1,200.

I am so glad I showed up early. It really pays to work longer. This landowner is, oh, I love this guy. So Peter might be thinking again, I'm a little confused, right? This landowner is definitely overpowered. Paying everybody, right? This is way, this is inflation on a huge scale for first entry.

But it does make sense that the 6 a.m. guys would get $1,200 since the story is about us getting paid more for following Jesus longer than everybody else. Peter's ideas are about to be shattered by the second half of verse 10, which says, but each one of them also received a denarius.

So imagine now what used to be growing excitement is now growing disappointment in the line that each worker feels as the wages are paid out. And so now, if you put yourself in Peter's shoes, you might be thinking, what? We're getting the same reward as them who worked for less time?

If you're wondering why I can guess at Peter's thoughts here, it's because this is how we think. Peter's thinking that I'm taking a guess at represents us. And our human ideas of justice tell us that if we work more, we get paid more. That's the human equation. More works on the left side of the equation gets more pay on the right side of the equation.

But this is wrong thinking in the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus is illustrating for us. He says that God's justice works like this. Your works are worth nothing. And my grace is worth infinity. Is worth everything. So in God's equation, grace and his generosity is on the left side, and eternal life is on the right side.

Your time in service counts for absolutely nothing. And this is ramified in Ephesians 2:8, 9, and 10, when it says, For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. This is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. So thank God that He doesn't treat us the way that we would treat each other. That His justice is radically unlike human justice. Now, terrible misuse of this parable would be to say, Everybody gets into heaven because of this.

Everybody wins. Everybody gets the same pay. This is not true, and there's tons of scripture to tell you this. I'm just going to give you one example. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1:9, it says, They, which is those not obeying God, they will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.

So it would be a terrible misuse to think that. This is not what that parable is trying to say. So God has given us the ability to. To work, calls us while we were yet sinners, and then gives us eternal life and sets up works in advance for us to do as servants in his kingdom.

So, that second radical kingdom truth was that God's justice is radically unlike human justice. Bringing us to the third radical kingdom truth, which is God radically and generously gives us the gift of eternal life. He radically and generously gives us the gift of eternal life. And this is illustrated in verses 11 through 16.

So, starting in verse 11, it says, 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'm 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 the 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'm generous? So the last will be first, and the first will be last. So, one clarification that I should make here is that the disciples are promised a unique and high responsibility in the kingdom of heaven. But this parable is specifically about inheriting.

Eternal life. So, having said that, looking at that chunk of verses from 11 to 16, the workers don't even get the point. They grumble, and this is how we are, because we naturally reject systems like this. We naturally reject systems like this and call them unfair. So, the 6 a.m.

crowd speaks what we are thinking, and probably what Peter and the disciples were thinking as well, which might sound something like this: Well, this story took a weird turn, it doesn't make any sense. Where's the validation for my time and service? What's the point of following you now, Jesus?

Take it one step further. Listen to what the workers say, the 6 a.m. crowd says, that betrays their true thinking. They said, You have made them, the 5 p.m. crowd, you've made them equal to us. Translation, we're worth more than them. We are worth more than them. So, the landowner steps in.

He has a couple points. First off, you got a fair deal. You agreed, and you also forget the order that this happened in. I called you, not the other way around. You're not here doing me any service. I don't. Need what you have. You need what I have.

It was never about doing the work, it was about answering my call. And don't pretend that you had anything to do with showing up at the right time because I didn't have to show up at all. In fact, I showed up exactly when you would agree to be hired.

Second point he makes. You don't deserve any wages. I don't owe you anything. And I have the right to pay whatever I want to anybody that I hire. And if you're jealous about it, what that says is that you would never have shown that kind of generosity to them.

And I love them just as much as I love you. So recognize what you're missing. I was just as generous to you as I was to them. Don't be blinded by your human ideas of equity into thinking that you were cheated somehow. You also receive generosity in the same way that they did.

Don't forget the order of things. So the application. Don't think that you're better than the next person. Everything, including the works that you've done, are because of God and that He prepared those works in advance for us to do. And have compassion on people who are. Not in the 6 a.m.

crowd, not in the 9 a.m., not in the 12 p.m., not in the 3 p.m. They might be in the 5 p.m. crowd at the absolute last hour. So whether it's 6 a.m. or 5 p.m., God is equally and radically generous to allow us to be His friends while we were His enemies.

As it says in Romans 5:8, that God demonstrates His love for us in this way, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Said another way, while we were God's enemies, He generously gave His Son so that we might have reconciliation with Him. So that concludes the third radical kingdom truth, which is that God radically and generously gives us the gift of eternal life.

The fourth radical kingdom truth is God's radical generosity in correcting us. God's radical generosity in correcting us. So a question that kind of summarizes this point is, are you a friend or are you a comrade? And the reason I say that is because there are two Greek words in the New Testament that are translated as friend.

One of them is philos, and the other is philosophy. Hetaidos. Now, a philos means a truly devoted friend. It is used 29 times in the New Testament, and each time it means that same type of thing, truly devoted friend. So an example of this would be John 15:15, when Jesus says to his disciples, I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.

Instead, I have called you friends. He says, I have called you philosophers. You are a true friend of mine. The second word, hetaidos, doesn't mean a truly devoted friend. It means more like a comrade or an associate or an acquaintance. It's used three times. All of those uses are in Matthew.

And what I want you to see here is that each use grows in intensity with each time. So let's take a look. Matthew chapter 20, verse 13, in our parable today is the first use of this word that actually means comrade instead of friend. So perhaps it would be a little bit, give the tone a little bit more accurately to have the landowner come to the workers who are grumbling and say, comrade, instead of friend.

Comrade, I'm not being unfair to you. And it takes on the tone of one who needs to have their thinking corrected, right? Corrected about God's kingdom. It's like as if to say, comrade, whoa, you're forgetting a step. Comrade, your thinking is backwards about the kingdom of heaven. You're applying a human standard to the way that God operates.

Comrade, you're missing the point. Don't forget how this all started. Correct your thinking, comrade. The second use of this word comrade comes in Matthew 22 verse 12 in another parable of the wedding banquet. And in this wedding banquet, there is a king walking around looking at all of his guests, and he noticed that one of the guests does not have the proper clothing on.

And so he goes up to this guest who isn't dressed properly, and he says, In your Bibles, it's going to say, friend, how did you get in without wedding clothes? But perhaps a better translation would be to say, comrade, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?

And this one takes on the tone of a comrade in this case is one who appears to belong to God's kingdom, but is really just in disguise. Just pretending. As if to say, Comrade, you're pretending, comrade, you snuck in here somewhere. Comrade, you don't actually belong here, and you're deceiving everybody and yourself.

The third use of this word, comrade, comes in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas approaches Jesus and kisses Jesus. And in your Bibles, it says that Jesus said, Friend, do what you came for. But perhaps the better translation of this would be to say, Comrade, do what you came for.

And in this case, the word comrade takes on the tone of, Comrade, you're beyond one who needs correction of their thinking. Comrade, you're beyond changing your commitment. Point. You're past the point of no return. You're a son of deceit. Comrade, you're an open betrayer, and your evil fruit has reached its full maturity.

So, are you a friend or are you merely a comrade? Are you a philosoph or a hetaidos? Now, don't overthink this. What I don't want you to do is start thinking, like, oh, well, this means that the workers who received their denarius, that means salvation, but now they can lose their salvation because he's saying the word comrade.

No, that's not at all what is being communicated here. This parable has, again, the tone of this particular parable has the tone of using that word comrade as somebody who needs correction. Somebody who needs correction. And that's the point. That's this radical kingdom truth I'm trying to communicate: is that God radically is generous with the way that He communicates and corrects us so that we will come to know the truth.

And so the application of this radical kingdom truth is: again, maybe you think you're better than somebody else because you were hired at 6 a.m. And God called you early. Maybe you look down on the lost because they seem just so unreachable to you. They're unworthy of your time and effort.

Or maybe a lost person that you know just hasn't responded to the truth as fast or in the timing that you want them to. Maybe you are pretending that you are a Christian and take. Taking advantage of the fact that in our society it is so easy to wear the shirts and wear the jewelry and speak the language and hang out with the people who are Christians just because it gives you the association of a group of people that you like when actually Jesus is a dispensable inconvenience to you.

Maybe you are willing to see Jesus as a way to get what you truly want rather than him being the thing that you actually do want more than anything. So are you a friend or are you a comrade? My exhortation to you is to heed God's correction while there's still time.

While there's still time. So to close, let's remember Peter's question, which was, We have left everything to follow you. What then will there be for us? Well, Jesus says, You will have a special place of honor at my table, Peter. But remember these kingdom truths. One, I called you.

God calls you while you were yet a sinner and makes you his friend. Two, God's justice is radically unlike what you're used to. So be thankful instead of complaining about it when other people receive that generosity. Three, God will appoint special places of honor at his table, but as far as having a place at the table, As far as inheriting eternal life, don't be mistaken.

You can't earn it. You can't earn it. God's radical generosity is what gives eternal life. And then, four, instead of being jealous or thinking God is unfair, heed his correction. Accept his generosity and heed his correction and rejoice with him that others have received his generosity just as you have, regardless of the timing in their life.

So these radical kingdom truths have, I think, the potential to, I don't know, unsettle you or rock your thinking or, you know, something like that. And I want to tell you that that's exactly what my reaction was when I studied and meditated on this parable to prepare for this sermon.

And so I just want to be intentional right here at this point in closing with you and applying this to myself and saying, I am no better than anyone here. I am a sinner just as much as everyone else in the room. And the truth of this parable applies to all of us equally, myself included.

I just want to encourage you guys to wrestle with and meditate on this parable and all of God's words so that you will more deeply appreciate God's radical generosity. And be compelled to love him, to obey him, and to worship him with everything that you have. Let's pray, Lord Jesus.

I love you so much, and I'm so thankful for your word and how it just upends the way that I think and shows me how your kingdom truly operates and shows me how small that I am and like I'm just a little child playing in an ocean of truth.

Lord God, thank you so much for your generosity that you show us and the way that you don't pay us like we deserve, but instead you offer unmerited favor, overflowing grace, and generosity, so that we can be reconciled to you. Father, as we walk out of here, I pray that myself and that everybody would be moved to wrestle with these texts like this and to indeed love you more, God.

Help us to deepen our relationship with you with that time in your word. And I pray that our response would be to worship you more fully and more deeply than we did before. I ask all these things in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.