Podcasts about vineyard workers

In this Pawndering episode of God and Our Dogs, host Meg Greer is joined by Dwayne Rivers of the Rivers Team at Phyllis Browning Real Estate. They listen to a story from a previous guest, Clint Buck, about his rescue dog Cotton — who faked an illness just to get an early walk — and then ponder the deeper question: Do we try to manipulate or perform for God the way dogs do for us? The conversation explores how God's attention is never something we have to earn, the danger of seeking recognition from others rather than serving from the heart, the Parable of the Vineyard Workers, and what true freedom in Christ looks like — even in unfair circumstances. 0:00 – Introduction & Show Overview 1:04 – Guest Introduction: Dwayne Rivers 1:57 – Cotton's Story: The Dog Who Faked an Illness 4:03 – Pondering: Do We Perform for God's Attention? 4:25 – God Knows Our Hearts — No Deception Needed 5:43 – Doing Good Deeds for Recognition vs. the Right Reasons 7:10 – The Parable of the Vineyard Workers 8:38 – The Blessing of Living with Christ 9:01 – Faith, Fairness, and the World We Live In 9:32 – Persecuted Christians & Entitlement 10:26 – Freedom in Christ (Book of Galatians) 11:18 – Keeping Your Eyes on God 11:43 – Wrapping Up & The Rivers Team 12:03 – Where to Find the Show

The Teaching of Jesus: Parable of the Vineyard Workers by ResLife Access

In this powerful episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony and Jesse return to their parable series with an in-depth examination of the Laborers in the Vineyard from Matthew 20:1-16. This often-misunderstood parable confronts our natural inclination toward merit-based thinking and exposes the scandal of God's grace. The hosts unpack the covenantal language embedded in the text, particularly the workers' "grumbling"—a loaded term echoing Israel's wilderness rebellion. Through careful exegesis and theological reflection, they demonstrate how this parable dismantles religious entitlement while celebrating God's sovereign freedom to bestow mercy according to His purposes, not our calculations. The discussion offers fresh insights into grace, election, and the radical generosity that defines God's kingdom economy. Key Takeaways The parable operates on covenant logic, not economic fairness: The landowner's dealings with his workers reflect covenantal promise-keeping rather than marketplace transactions, establishing that God's relationship with His people is fundamentally gracious. "Grumbling" carries profound theological weight: The Greek word used for the workers' complaint is the same term in the Septuagint for Israel's wilderness rebellion—not mere dissatisfaction, but a covenantal accusation against God's faithfulness. Two types of workers represent two approaches to God: The first-hired workers who contracted for specific wages represent those relating to God through legal obligation and merit, while later workers who trusted the owner's promise represent faith-based relationship. The reversal of payment order is narratively essential: By paying the last workers first, the landowner deliberately exposes the merit-based assumptions of the first workers, forcing them to confront their entitlement. Grace doesn't negate justice—it transcends it: The landowner fulfills every contractual obligation while simultaneously exercising sovereign generosity beyond what is owed, demonstrating that mercy and justice coexist in God's character. The parable addresses the present kingdom, not just heaven: Because it includes grumbling and complaint, this parable describes life in God's kingdom now—the "already but not yet"—rather than the consummated state. Divine sovereignty in salvation is the theological climax: The landowner's declaration "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?" directly addresses God's freedom in election and the scandal of unmerited grace. Key Ideas The Covenantal Nature of the Landowner's Dealings The parable's opening establishes a formal agreement between the landowner and the first workers: one denarius for a day's labor. This contractual arrangement is crucial for understanding what follows. Unlike marketplace haggling, this represents a covenant—the landowner binds himself to provide what he has promised. Tony emphasizes that even this initial contract is an act of condescension and grace, as the master had no obligation to employ anyone at all. As the day progresses, subsequent workers are hired with increasingly less formal agreements. By the third hour, the landowner promises only "whatever is right," and by the eleventh hour, no wage is even mentioned. These later workers enter the vineyard based entirely on the landowner's character and trustworthiness. This progression mirrors the movement from law to gospel—from contractual obligation to trusting promise. The theological implication is profound: those who relate to God based on His gracious word rather than calculated merit are actually in a more secure position than those who attempt to earn their standing through works. The Wilderness Echo: Grumbling as Covenant Violation The hosts make a critical exegetical observation about the Greek word for "grumbling" (γογγύζω) used in verse 11. This is not casual complaining but the identical term used throughout the Septuagint to describe Israel's covenant rebellion in the wilderness. When the workers grumble "upon receiving" their wages, they're not merely expressing disappointment about pay inequality—they're filing a covenant lawsuit against the master, accusing him of unfaithfulness. This connection to Numbers 16 and Exodus 16-17 is devastating. The Israelites' wilderness grumbling wasn't about logistics or comfort; it was fundamentally about doubting God's covenant fidelity. By employing this loaded terminology, Matthew signals that the first workers' complaint is nothing less than accusing God of covenant violation. The landowner's response ("Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?") is a covenant defense—he has fulfilled his obligations precisely. The workers' real offense is not miscalculation but begrudging God's freedom to show mercy beyond what is contractually required. The "Evil Eye" and Begrudging God's Grace The final rhetorical question—"Or do you begrudge my generosity?"—contains another Jewish idiom often lost in translation. The Greek literally reads, "Is your eye evil because I am good?" This "evil eye" imagery appears throughout Scripture as a metaphor for envy, stinginess, and resentment toward another's blessing. The landowner's question cuts to the heart: are you cursing me for being generous? This directly parallels Jonah's response to Nineveh's salvation. Jonah had just experienced miraculous deliverance through the great fish, yet when God showed identical mercy to the Ninevites, Jonah's response was essentially, "I knew you were gracious—that's why I ran!" The parable exposes the same perverse logic: those who have received covenant mercy begrudging that same mercy extended to others. For the Pharisees listening to Jesus, this was an indictment of their resentment toward tax collectors and sinners receiving the kingdom. For Christians today, it challenges any sense of spiritual superiority based on how long we've been in the kingdom or how much we've sacrificed. Memorable Quotes Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? That 'or' is a logical connector—either I'm not allowed to do what I want with my belongings, which is ridiculous, or if I am allowed, then you must be mad at me for being generous. Those are the only options. — Tony Arsenal The grumbling in the Old Testament in this context is a covenantal accusation. These workers aren't just complaining about not getting what they thought they would—they're questioning the veracity of the covenant that was made. — Tony Arsenal Most of us are this eleventh-hour call. It's much better to be in the place of that younger brother who comes in and repents than to be the older brother who is stubborn and finds some reason to come before God with self-righteous grievances. — Jesse Schwamb Full Episode Transcript [00:01:05] Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 488 of the Reformer Brotherhood. I'm Jesse  [00:01:13] Tony Arsenal: and I am still Tony, and this is the podcast where Tony comes back. Hey brother.  [00:01:19] Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. The band is back together again, man. It's reunited and boy, do you feel it? It feels good, doesn't  [00:01:26] Tony Arsenal: it? I do, I do. I'm excited to come back. It was nice to take a break. [00:01:29] Jesse Schwamb: Good.  [00:01:29] Tony Arsenal: I, uh, I've been, you know, texted with you a couple times. Just it was, I did my best to sort of not think about the podcast because that's sort of defeats the purpose of taking a break from something if you spend a lot of time thinking about it. Um, so I'm back. I'm refreshed. I'm ready to go.  [00:01:44] Break and Work Chaos [00:01:44] Tony Arsenal: I appreciate the listeners' patience. Uh, it's been sort of a weird, crazy busy time at work. Uh, there's a lot going on. I, I lost like. 60% of my staff in the course of like three weeks. And, um, I'm still kind of in the thick of it, but we're coming out of it. So took a little bit of time to just make sure that I was having a, an appropriate space to de-stress from that and take care of my family and attend to worship. And, um, it was really a, a blessing to have that. Uh, sort of sabbatical. Ironically, the sabbatical wars were going on at the same time on Twitter, and Jesse is blissfully unaware of that 'cause he's not involved in in the Twitter. That's true. Um, but yeah, just took a little break and it's kinda like overblown it, to call it a sabbatical. Like this is a podcast, it's a hobby, but, but it was nice to have, uh, a little bit of extra time, you know, couple hours extra week, uh, uh, each week of extra time to just decompress and, uh, play with the kids and spend time with my wife and clean the house a little bit, which was good.  [00:02:36] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it is always good to have a clean house. You look great. You seem refreshed. The voice sounds good, and I'm like, I don't know, in year seven or eight of my Twitter sabbatical, it's going great so far. I feel like I haven't missed a whole lot. The world still seems wild and I'm sure, or X, right? We gotta go X on this. It's  [00:02:53] Tony Arsenal: always Twitter. It's always gonna be Twitter. I don't care what Elon Musk  says.  [00:02:56] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, I'm listen. I'm totally fine with that.  [00:02:58] Back to Parables [00:02:58] Jesse Schwamb: And I teased this in the last episode, but we can't be stopped. I mean, people should know this by now, we have an inexorable march through the parables of Jesus's true. That will not be stopped. We're always gonna come back until there are no more. And on this episode, we're gonna be hanging out in Matthew 20, talking about laborers in the Kingdom of Heaven.  [00:03:17] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I'm stoked. I'm, I'm, I'm excited to get back into it. I'm excited to get back into the word together with everybody. I'm excited to clear whatever that was on in my throat out  [00:03:27] Jesse Schwamb: emotion,  [00:03:27] Tony Arsenal: live on the air. Uh, but yeah, it'll be good. I'm, I'm stoked. I mean, I love this stuff and it's good to be back.  [00:03:32] Jesse Schwamb: Listen, you had the rest. Now let's talk about labor. So speaking of labor, it's, it's time for you to work up here, Tony. Are you affirming with or denying against on this episode?  [00:03:42] Tony Arsenal: Uh, I'm affirming something and I'm hopeful, uh, that just a little behind the scenes activity here. Jesse recorded episode 487, like an hour and a half ago. I have not yet listened to it, so I don't know if you did an affirmation and I I did. If you did. I hope it's not the same one.  [00:03:58] Jesse Schwamb: I did not. You're  [00:03:59] Tony Arsenal: safe. Uh, good. So I'm safe.  [00:04:01] Artemis II Hype [00:04:01] Tony Arsenal: So, um, I'm affirming the Artemis two mission. Um, oh, nice. Have you been, I mean, I know you're not on Twitter, but I'm sure there's news elsewhere. Uh, this amazing mission around the moon, um, for astronaut, for astronauts, I think, um, the furthest man space travel, um, since the Apollo program. Um. Pretty intense, pretty amazing pictures, right? The camera technologies amazing. Increased exponentially, uh, since we were there last. Um, this is ostensibly in preparation for an actual moon landing, which who knows when that will be? Um, but as far as I've seen, the mission was a resounding success. There was no right. I think they had, they ran into a few little hiccups early on with some technical things, but nothing crazy. I have not heard. Um, I know they did touch down and they did reentry. Um, I've not heard anything one way or another, but I'm assuming since I have not heard terrible, tragic news that they made it through, did they do the reentry? I'm really, apparently I'm not actually paying as much attention to this as I thought I was. I saw a lot of information about reentry, but I guess, I don't know for sure when that happened or is happening.  [00:05:05] Jesse Schwamb: I mean, by this point, when people listen to it, it'll be old news anyway, right? So  [00:05:09] Tony Arsenal: For sure. Yeah. And either, either it went terribly wrong and I'm gonna feel awful, or it went fine and I'm gonna feel a little silly for. Throwing a caveat that it went terribly wrong out there. But, um, it's cool. It's, it's amazing. I mean, I, I commented to my wife the other day and she's kinda like, yeah, maybe we should like, spend that money on people who are on the planet. I was like, okay, I can, I can buy that wisdom. But, um, there's something very cool and very Genesis, uh, one, ask Genesis one and two, ask about flying out into space and taking dominion over Yeah, for sure. Over a, a little ball of rock, uh, you know, uh, 25,000 miles away or whatever it is. Um. And, you know, I'm like an engineering nerd. I, I don't know anything about engineering, but I love watching YouTube videos that explain stuff like this. And  [00:05:52] Jesse Schwamb: me  [00:05:52] Tony Arsenal: too, all of the videos that have cropped up now about free return and how, like they're able to basically like do minimal burn on the thrusters to get into the right trajectory and then just like meet the moon in the place it's gonna be. And then the, you know, the moon's gravity captures it and whips it back around and then shoots it back towards Earth. And for the most part, they're able to do all of that with relatively minor, um, relatively minor energy output because they're just utilizing physics and gravity and math, um, to fly to the moon and come back. Yes. It's pretty crazy amazing. So, yeah. Amazing. And the photos of like the, the sort of like new versions of the Earthrise photos are really, really phenomenal. Um, they're crisp, they're clean, they're obviously like the best, the best actual pho photographic images we've had of the lunar surface. Um. And the, the far side of the lunar surface, which we get all sorts of like telescopic photos and things of this side of the lunar surface because it's tightly locked and is facing us at all times. We don't get a ton of really great photography of the far side of the moon, which is a big part of what this mission was, so,  [00:06:56] Jesse Schwamb: right.  [00:06:56] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. If you haven't seen the photos, I mean, they're out there, they're amazing. There will be even more available once we get back. You know, they, they're transmitting only the most stellar, amazing ones. Um, and, but they're taking, I'm sure thousands and thousands of photos and, um, so yeah, it's pretty cool. I'm affirming the Artemis two mission. Um. It's just amazing what, what people can do with common grace, you know? That's right. In insight into nature. Um, I don't know anything about the astronauts. I don't know anything about their religious faith or their spiritual life or anything like that. But, um, the people who design this, the people who fly it, they're just tapping into the truth that's present in God's creation. So good on them. Uh, either I'm glad they got home, wish they have a safe home coming, or something along those lines, I guess. I don't know.  [00:07:40] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, you'll be happy to know that NASA is reporting that the four astronauts are an excellent condition after they landed in the Pacific Ocean. So  [00:07:47] Tony Arsenal: good.  [00:07:47] Jesse Schwamb: All, all appears to be well. And it says they have a giant SD card of pictures that's they've been taking. Yeah. And saving. I'm sure. They were just, they were just too big to send to over wifi.  [00:07:58] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Like massive wideness. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure they have a ton that they didn't send because you know Right. Data rates to the moon are pretty high. Yeah.  [00:08:05] Jesse Schwamb: Ex. Yeah.  [00:08:05] Tony Arsenal: This economy is crazy. So  [00:08:07] Jesse Schwamb: Exactly. In this economy. Really In this economy. Yeah, exactly.  [00:08:11] Cosmic Worship Reflections [00:08:11] Jesse Schwamb: I think you're right. This is good. I haven't talked about this at all. It's hard not to get just stoked, even in the amateur way about the science, the technology, the physics of all this stuff, and then even the astronauts just being overwhelmed by what they're seeing. [00:08:24] Tony Arsenal: Mm-hmm.  [00:08:25] Jesse Schwamb: It's hard not to get pulled into that and think about the universe that God has created and find that there is something transcendent just, uh, by observing all of these things. Yeah. Like even casually, which I think shows, again, this is literally the, the heavens and the earth crying out for God, showing his immeasurable power and, you know, immortal nature. It's incredible that we can even see and be a part of some of these things. Just wild.  [00:08:49] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, and I think it's crazy that they can get signals to the moon. I mean, I drive home from Dartmouth College and I go through half of the spot there, and I don't have a cell signal, but we can get images from the moon. Um, so yeah, it's great. It's great. Check it out if you haven't seen it. If you haven't heard about it, I don't know what you're doing. Uh, this is probably the largest major scientific advancement in our generation. Um, in terms of like big scale scientific enterprise projects. There's been a lot of really amazing technology that's been developed. But this is like the first big. Almost like risky kind of scientific,  [00:09:30] Jesse Schwamb: right?  [00:09:30] Tony Arsenal: I dunno. Gambit or I dunno, gamble that we've done in a long time. Big deal. I mean, big a lot. Deal of things. Deal. Nothing went wrong. Nothing ma major went wrong. Praise God that they all got back to the planet safely. Right. But, um, a lot of things could have gone wrong, uh, and they didn't. So check out the photos, check out the scientific data they're gonna get. I mean, I'm sure they've got all sorts of information about the way the, the, the space ship moved, all of that stuff. It's gonna be really interesting to see kind of how this all comes about.  [00:09:56] Jesse Schwamb: Get some worship on, right? Yeah. I mean this is what a one, a thing to be reminded about how big and how glorious God is. [00:10:01] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:10:01] Jesse Schwamb: And, and to realize, like you said, the risks of this exploration. And this is God again, creating all of this outta nothing. Why? Yeah. Just absolutely wild. Incredible.  [00:10:12] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, for  [00:10:12] Jesse Schwamb: sure. Blown away.  [00:10:13] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. What about you, Jesse? What do you have for us?  [00:10:15] Bayes and Predictability [00:10:15] Jesse Schwamb: I got affirmation. It's equally nerdy, and actually this is as is always the case. This is why one of many reasons I miss you is it, it dovetails so nicely, so I'm affirming with a book. It's called Everything Is Predictable, how Esy and Statistics Explains the World. It's by a guy named Tom Chivers. I know this sounds super nerdy, but hear me out on this because Thomas Bayes, if you don't know this guy is first kind of like a wild and interesting guy, but this whole theory he put forward is super interesting. And this book is not like a mathematics book. It's like reads almost like a statistical thriller, which as it came outta my mouth, realized it was not maybe more ingratiating. I could have chosen better words than statistical thriller. But Thomas Bayes was alive in the 17 hundreds. And what's interesting to me at least about him, is he was an English statistician, who was a Presbyterian minister actually. He was a non-conformist and his, this whole theorem that he developed was actually published after his death. And the non-conformist part is super interesting. It's all in this book, even some of his different theological ideas. But because he was non-conformist, it basically meant like he couldn't learn. He was kicked out of all the English universities. He had to go to Scotland. Even all of that shaped how he came up with this particular theorem. But the gist of it is. Rather than treating like probabilities, as we think about it as this fixed frequency, you know, how many times does this thing occur? He argued and realized that it should represent a degree of belief and then you would update that belief rationally as new evidence comes in. And I know that sounds super quaint, but this is like what machine learning is based on medical diagnosis. A lot of like space travel is based on this in terms of understanding uncertainty and systems spam, all of that stuff. Here's an example, I think Tony, because we are, we have to carry forward with the top 50 medical podcast thing, right? We've got going on here. Lemme just give everybody an example of why you need this and why you automatically think this way. So. Statistics is really important, especially in medical testing. This was really prevalent in during COVID. So there's two ways that you can describe how a medical test performs you. You know this already, Tony, you're an expert. So one would be like sensitivity. So like how AIG  [00:12:19] Tony Arsenal: not an expert.  [00:12:20] Jesse Schwamb: Oh, you're definitely an expert in testing. Here we go. So one would be like sensitivity. How good is the test at catching people who are sick? So if you're sick, you, you want the test to identify that, that you're sick. That's sensitivity. So a test with a 99% sensitivity is gonna correctly identify 99 out of a hundred people who are truly sick. It always gonna miss one person. It's a false negative. The other half of that coin is something called specificity. So if sensitivity is all about catching the people who are sick, specificity is gonna say, how good is the test at clearing people who are not sick? And so a test with 99% specificity, you might have correctly guessed, is gonna identify or clear 99 out of a hundred healthy people. Now if you have a test. Both of those 99% sensitive and 99% specific, you might be thinking, that is the dream. That's exactly what I want. That that test is gonna be so precise and accurate. How could my intuition fail me? But this is the thing. It actually fails all the time, and here's why. Let's say that. You go out and you screen a group of people, a general population for a rare disease that affects one in a thousand people. One in a thousand people, rare disease. So if you screen 10,000 people from the general population, that means that truly only 10 of them are going to have the actual disease. I'm not gonna do all the math 'cause it'll, oh, this is already making for amazing podcasting. But here's the bottom line. That test, which sounds so good on the face, is going to identify 109 people as truly sick or truly having disease. But the problem is that only 10 of them actually have it. That means that only there's, it only has a success rate of 9%. There's only 9% chance you actually have the disease, but it's falsely identified. The short end of this is Bayes corrects that problem. He fixes it with his theorem so that we get to the right number of people. That's what's called like a base fallacy rate. It's not taking into account that really only 10 people should have this particular disease or this sickness. So I know that's sounds super nerdy, but so much of our lives are based on this. We have a prior belief or a prior set of things that we understand about the world. And then as evidence comes in, we refine that. That sounds so normal and normative, but it's revolutionary in this book actually. Bayes versus what's called like frequentist or frequent, um, probability is like hotly debated. People actually throw down over this theorem. So it's a really fun read. Go check out. Everything is predictable. Al Bayesian statistics explains our world. It really is for everybody. And then you can impress your friends with all the statistical pross you're gonna have when you're done reading it.  [00:14:56] Tony Arsenal: Like the medical administrator hat that I can't always take off is like, why would we screen 10,000 people? Are, are they all symptomatic? Are none of them symptomatic? But suppose it doesn't really  [00:15:08] Jesse Schwamb: matter for the example. That's a great, so generally what happens here is, let's say it's like some kind of rare form of cancer, unless you use Bayesian statistics, what you'll find is you'll get these false positive rates. So these tests do use Bayesian statistics. It corrects, in other words, for this problem. So there might be a lot of people that are gonna screen for this because if you, you wanna know if you have it, but you don't wanna get it wrong and say that you do. So this ensures his approach ensures that you get it. Right. It's wild. Fascinating stuff.  [00:15:34] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, and I would think actually, you know, there's probably, there's other mechanisms as well where they would, where they would sort of screen out. People that shouldn't be tested or help identify false negatives, false positives. Um, but yeah, that's, that's interesting. I probably won't read that book, but it sounds like an interesting read. I just don't have a lot of room on my A TBR shelf.  [00:15:55] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, listen. That, that's fair.  [00:15:57] Goodreads DNF Update [00:15:57] Jesse Schwamb: By the way, here's like a, a side affirmation. I think you and I both share speaking like books and cataloging books. If you use Good Reads, good Reads. Right. Finally adding a list of the Do Not Did Not Finish book. That's fantastic. This, this might be an example for some people, so pick it up and even if you don't have a place for it, guess where you can put it on the did not finish list. Yeah. Good Reads.  [00:16:16] Tony Arsenal: That's finally, that's one of those like, like why didn't they add that 15 years ago? Kind of an updates and you get the email and they're like, we're so excited to introduce the did Not Finish thing. And we're like, yeah. Like of course. Like, duh. It's likes, like, we're proud to introduce that. Your keypad now has a zero on it.  [00:16:36] Jesse Schwamb: Right. So  [00:16:37] Tony Arsenal: yeah. I'm, I'm excited about the DNR, um, the DNF, um, I'm so excited. I can't even remember what it's called. Yeah. The shelf. But, uh, very, very useful. The DNR list  [00:16:47] Jesse Schwamb: is a diff it is a different list. Speaking of medical things, it's a different  [00:16:50] Tony Arsenal: list. Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely a different thing. Usually it's not a list. It's a list of one in most cases.  [00:16:56] Jesse Schwamb: Exactly,  [00:16:57] Tony Arsenal: yeah. You can't put other people on your  [00:17:00] Jesse Schwamb: DNR  [00:17:00] Tony Arsenal: This,  [00:17:00] Jesse Schwamb: I suppose. Yeah, I should clarify that. You can really, you can only really put yourself, or I suppose somebody for whom you have that kind of authority over on that list, but I was thinking that more from like a medical perspective, that somewhere there would be a database in which there might be a list of DNR. I don't know.  [00:17:15] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I'm not sure. Probably there was at some point, but I think with medical chart technology now, that's probably like a. A moot point. Yeah. They don't need to be able to like cross reference a master list anymore. They just look in the patient's electronic record. We're really like in the weeds here. You can tell it's been a while since I've, I've podcasted. I don't really remember how to do this.  [00:17:35] Jesse Schwamb: This is great.  [00:17:36] Segue to Matthew 20 [00:17:36] Jesse Schwamb: I think at this point we try to make some kind of awkward segue that is mildly successful. Again, probably has statistically like a 20 to 27% chance of being successful and really hitting the mark. Yeah. So do you have anything that's gonna move us into this?  [00:17:49] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, I mean, I feel like you've been podcasting for the last several weeks without me and I've been working hard and now I'm kind of coming in as Johnny come lately and we're gonna get paid the same amount so. Even though you've worked harder for longer and I'm coming in late to the game here. [00:18:03] Jesse Schwamb: Oh man. Ple loved ones. Please tell me you got that. Please tell me you got all of that. That's, that's what you show up for here. Yeah, that was  [00:18:10] Tony Arsenal: a deep cut.  [00:18:11] Jesse Schwamb: That, that was beautiful. And I think leads us right into Matthew 20. So I think we've got at least 16 verses to get through here. Maybe again, if we're gonna keep a statistical theme here, something about engineering and math, all that stuff, we'll let everybody else pick the over under and whether or not we're gonna get through this and how many verses that's going to be. But at this point, we might as well begin.  [00:18:32] Tony Arsenal: Yes. Yeah.  [00:18:33] Read the Parable [00:18:33] Tony Arsenal: I'll start by reading. Uh, we're here in Matthew chapter 20, the first 16 versus this is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard and it reads. For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborer laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into the vineyard and going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. He said to them, you go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right, I will give you. So they went, going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, why do you stand here idle all day? They said to him, because no one has hired us. And he said to them, you go into the vineyard too. And when the evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them with their wages, beginning with the last up to the first. And when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now, when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house saying, these last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. And he replied to one of them, friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me? For a denarius, take what belongs to you and go, I choose to give the last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you beg, do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first and the first will be last. Now I just wanna head this off. I did bite my tongue earlier and I probably am lisping and this is like a running gag. We thought that we'd resolved it. Uh, so if you hear me stumble over my words a little bit, it's just, it's just the struggle bus today.  [00:20:24] Jesse Schwamb: Listen, this is the, these are like the real things we have to deal with when the podcasting, like the real threats, the real injuries. I appreciate you like working through it. Like you just get back up and you walk it off with your tongue.  [00:20:35] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, my, my, uh, my podcasting hiatus was actually just a recovery of the last time I bit my tongue. I just needed a couple weeks to, no, I'm just kidding.  [00:20:43] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, we didn't wanna say.  [00:20:44] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:20:44] Kingdom Fairness and Grumbling [00:20:44] Tony Arsenal: So, Jesse, this is a, this is a parable that follows right on the heels, um, of kind of everything we've been talking about. And I think as we go through these parables and we look at them and we, we sort of pick them up and we look at the different facets of them, we sort of compare them to each other. We kind of, we kind of place them in their context really. They all have basically the same theme, right? Like they're all kind of circulating around these same topics. In this parable, it's circulating around this idea that, um, the, the owner of the vineyard, the master of the vineyard, is allowed to pay the people he employs whatever he wants. And as long as the payment that is due to an individual is received by that individual, then what other people receive and how they receive it and how hard they've worked and how hard they didn't work. That's really not germane to whether or not the, the laborer received a fair wage, uh, in the first place. Right. So we're, we're circling around themes of kind of fairness of, uh, of sort of resentment, I think for resentment at the master's generosity, which has been a big theme in previous ones. So this will be good for us to expand on. There's always little nuggets and kernels of things that are different from other parables, and then it's interesting to always see the ways that they kind of line up and, and tell us similar things.  [00:21:57] Jesse Schwamb: And this parable is unique to Matthew. Yeah. And it does function as this exposition or expansion of what Jesus says in chapter 19 where it says, but many who are first will be last. And the last first, which is repeated with this lovely like inverted emphasis in, at the end of this as you just read. So it belongs to this like interesting cluster of teacher teachings on discipleship and reward nature of the kingdom of God. And we've, we've spoken a lot about that. I think I was just reminded of this as you were, you were. Reading this, I feel like I remember this from some teaching, like this parable is kind of like a unique chiasm that's anchored on the landowner, sovereign generosity, which you brought up. And then there's the complaints of the first hired, which is mirrored by the late comers vulnerability. And then the landowners, two speeches which divide everything, kind of provide sandwich and the like, the theological climax. It does start in that really familiar way, which we've gotten accustomed to thinking about that introductory formula of the kingdom of heaven is like, and it signals of course that what follows is not gonna be a lesson in economics, but it's gonna use all this economic language as theological disclosure for how God's kingdom operates. And it starts again, like you said, with this master of the house, which to me seems. Pretty clearly like a, a God figure himself. Yeah. It's, that's kind of like a reoccurring mathian image. I think. So we've got this vineyard, which of course has all this symbolism, steeply rooted in Israel's covenant imagination and evokes God's people and his redemptive labor among them. So, man, now that I'm saying this all loud, is this thing like super pregnant with all kinds of like imagery and meaning?  [00:23:27] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it's, it's always good to remember, although parables have kind of some parables, most parables have sort of distinct discreet, symbolic elements where like, this represents that this represents that almost in an allegorical form. And, and in some cases, like purely in allegorical form, where it's like pilgrim's progress where each, each individual, each entity, each location each represents some sort of symbolic value. But we have to remember that when, when it says the parable of the kingdom of heaven is like the master of the house, it's not just like the master of the house. Yes. Right. It's like this whole scenario. Yes. It's, it's like. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like everything that follows, it's like the entire, um, the entire paree here. That's what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. And one of the things that I think is striking about this is the kingdom of heaven is like some people complaining, like the people complaining about, some people are getting the same wage for less work. Um, that is part of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. So I think we sometimes think of, of. The kingdom of heaven in, um, in the parables, we think of it as though God is just saying, this is what heaven is like. Right? Jesus Just saying like, this is what heaven is like, but the kingdom of heaven, that language is broader than what we normally would say, uh, is. We're thinking of heaven, like in the, the spiritual abode where God lives and the angels live. Um, where, where the departed saints are waiting for the resurrection, the kingdom of heaven is, is also inclusive of the, the sort of like. Time now between the victory of Christ on the cross and the consummation of the kingdom and the last day, the kingdom of heaven is inclusive of that time period too. And so this parable sort of situates us. I think it situates us in that pre consummated state where we're talking about what it's like to be a part of the kingdom of heaven here and now in our fallen state, but still solidly in the kingdom of heaven. 'cause there's not gonna be any complaining or grumbling about God's justice in God's fairness once we're in the final resurrected state. Right? Sure. Nobody's gonna be looking back and be like, yeah, you were way too gracious for that guy. Nobody's gonna be playing the Jonah part when we're all resurrected and we're worshiping for, for all time going forward. So this parable, because there are elements of. Dissatisfaction or elements of grumbling or complaining similar to like the, the parable of the prodigal son. There's this sun figure, the, the older sun figure who like is just a bonehead and doesn't get it. Well, that can't be talking about the people who are in the resurrection kingdom in the final kingdom. It's gotta be talking about people who are still awaiting the resurrection of the body and who are still not yet. Uh, and even in, in that parable, the, the older son doesn't even seem to be a figure who's, who's regener. Maybe he does become regener at some point in the future, but he doesn't seem to be. In, even in God's kingdom, he doesn't seem to be, even among God's people, he's consistently placed outside of the field. You don't even know he exists until Nick halfway through the parable. This is similar in that there are these workers, they're receiving their wages and some of them are, are outwardly dissatisfied and grumbling against the master of the house. Um, so I think if we think about parables as describing heaven rather than the kingdom of heaven, we can lose sight of, of what's actually being said in a lot of them. [00:26:50] Contracts Versus Grace [00:26:50] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, that's really good stuff because it strikes me that there are like, strangely, two groups here mentioned, I, I find this really kind of fascinating. We, I think we should talk about this, like the first group has like the most formal agreement, it's almost a legal contract, right? Various was like a standard day laborers wage sufficient mostly for subsistence. And so that detail seems theologically loaded to me. These workers relate to the landowner on the basis of a contract and what is owed. And so their claim at the end of the day will be exactly that. They're owed something and they know it, and that sets up Then this contrast with a second group, which is mostly all about grace because by the time we get to that third hour, like. Approximately like 9:00 AM then we're beginning this pattern repeated at the sixth and the ninth hours. And crucially, for those workers who go out, go out and get recruited, there's no wage that's specified for them. Only the promise of like whatever is right. And so they enter the vineyard, not on the basis of a contract, but on the basis of like the owner's word and character. And that seems to be like more of a picture of trust and not, not calculation. Yeah. Separate than like the first group. And that marketplace, idleness, as I read this, doesn't imply like laziness because verse seven clarifies like they just had not been hired. Right? They were overworked, they were unemployed. They were marginalized. So it does set up, like you said, everything you just talked about, about the kind of this, I like that. Like the Jonah, the Jonah whiners or whatever, like yeah, they want to complain about this, right? There are, and there are two, two separate groups that have kind of been brought into the fold, not under different terms or pretenses, but differently. [00:28:17] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And I think too, bear's saying, um. Although there are elements of parables that are very, very directly applicable. Mm. We shouldn't read this as though every, every specific thing in the parable is not a parable. Right. Right. I think we can look at this and we can go, you know, you can read this in a way where, oh yeah, there's some people actually earn their, earn their wage, they earn ary. Right. It's a fair contract. And they work all day and he says, well, I'm gonna give you what's right, what you, what I owe you.  [00:28:45] God Owes Nothing [00:28:45] Tony Arsenal: The reality is God doesn't owe any of us anything. Right? Right. He owes us wrath and judgment and destruction. And so even, even the people who are the hard workers in the kingdom of God don't merit and never could merit, um, to, in a certain sense, in a strict sense and stick with me before you send your, your angry emails in a real strict sense. Even Adam couldn't merit. What was, well, it was guaranteed to him, according to the Covenant of Works, God had to condescend to make the covenant of works in order for Adam to have any sort of fruition of his blessedness. So there there's no natural obligation, strict obligation that God has to reward the work of his creatures because nothing they could do could ever be sufficient enough to obligate him. So the, the obligation of himself, and that's, this is where I do think this is strong, the fact that he obligates himself to these workers to give them their denarius after a hard day's work  [00:29:37] Jesse Schwamb: exactly  [00:29:37] Tony Arsenal: is itself. A covenantal, um, contractual, yes. But I actually read this as sort of a covenantal thing and the, the strange part is that the people don't recognize the sort of semi gracious covenantal nature of this. Yes.  [00:29:50] Grace In The Hiring [00:29:50] Tony Arsenal: I think, um, you know, there have been times when I, where I've been unemployed, um, not for very long. Now, I know some people face unemployment for a lot longer than I ever have, but I know there was times where I was, I was looking for work and someone would say to me like, Hey, you know, my, my, my lawn needs to be mowed. Could you come over and I'll, I'll give you 25 bucks to mow my lawn. It's a small lawn. Um. That's a gracious act in most cases. Right, right. Um, yes, I'm performing a task. Yes, they're paying me, but they didn't have to offer me that work. They didn't have to offer me that job, especially when it's something that like they could have accomplished themselves. They could have just done it themselves. Um, so I think there's an element of that here, that there's, there's a condescension of the master to these workers, to these laborers who are not part of his household. These are not, they're not slaves. These are not people who are part of his household, who are regular employees. These are people that he goes out into the market to, to find and to hire. And as we see some of, some of these mark, like the difference between the ones that are hired and the ones that are not hired until later in the day, the parable's not super clear about what it is. Just that they're not hired, it doesn't say the lazy ones were left there. The ones were exactly, that were ugly or had like limp legs or like just couldn't cut it. It just says like there was some that didn't get hired. Um, so there's a gracious element of this, and that makes the recognition at the end or the lack of recognition at the end by these full day laborers, the, the sort of like recognition, this, this entitled ness, um, that actually makes it all the worst. It's like the people who are outwardly attached to the covenant of grace. Um, I know all the Baptists in our, our group, their heads just exploded, but like are outwardly attached to the covenant of grace, um, who wanna somehow complain about like the graciousness of the covenant of grace that they're outwardly attached to it. It's just sort of like a form of, of theological and temporary insanity, I think. And that's what we see on full display here.  [00:31:40] Jesse Schwamb: It's definitely all grace. You're right that nobody's gonna get injustice right in this parable. And I think that's definitely exemplified the further out you go in this hiring order. [00:31:49] Eleventh Hour Mercy [00:31:49] Jesse Schwamb: So by the time you get to 5:00 PM which is pretty extraordinary, right? Only really like one hour remains before sense, right? It's the end of the working day.  [00:31:56] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:31:56] Jesse Schwamb: You can imagine like these guys who are being hired at the hour probably can contribute very little in the last hour of the day, right? But this owner goes out and hires them and no agreement is stated whatsoever. It's just pure grace. The landowner's question, why do you stand here idle all day? I think to your point, underlies their vulnerability. They were not idle by choice, presumably. And so I think we rightly here in this, like a foreshadowing of those who are called the late in redemptive history, Gentile sinners, the seemingly least qualified for kingdom membership. All of that I think is at play and it's all, it's getting this lovely setup of all these groups to help us understand what that kingdom is actually like.  [00:32:33] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah.  [00:32:35] Reverse Payroll Setup [00:32:35] Tony Arsenal: And then we have this, um, this is where the sort of dramatic tension turns, right? The end of the day comes and, uh, the master calls the, the people that he brought last, right? He calls the people who'd only been there for an hour and he starts to go down the list of the people who, the people who were last, and the people who came in next. And the people who came in next, right? And the workers who had contracted at the beginning of the day. Um, they're watching this happen and they're kind of going, oh, this is gonna be good. Like, that guy's only been here for an hour and he got a denarius. You know, the logic is probably like, I'm gonna get 12 denarius, like I'm gonna go 12 days worth of work. Um, because I think there's an assumption on their part, um, that the master's fair that he is, he's providing an equitable wage. Um, of course the master is fair, but he's providing an equitable wage that's commensurate with the work delivered. A delivered, delivered, right? And that, that's the key to this parable.  [00:33:26] Merit Mindset Exposed [00:33:26] Tony Arsenal: I think the expectation that God. Helps those who help themselves. Right? God rewards those who put in the hard work. God. God provides blessing or salvation according to the merit provided by the one who's being saved. That perspective is what's on full display here. Yes. By the people who are, uh, the ones who contracted for the full day. They're not thinking about the covenant that they have with this person or the contract they have with this person. They're not thinking about the fact that they agreed to work for the day in order to earn a day's wage. They're thinking about how this actually is gonna work out great in their favor. They're looking at this as a strictly merit-based kind of a, a thing. And you would think that like when the, the one hour people come in, they get a denarius, and then the three hour people come in and they get a denarius. You'd think they would pick up on it at some point, but then in the course of the payroll, it doesn't seem that they do. They still get to the bottom of the list and think they're gonna get more compared to the other people who all got the same.  [00:34:22] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, that display piece is critical to this. It is like complete setup. Like you can imagine he, the landowner calling everybody together at the end of the day and they're all standing around. Some of them are exhausted because they've again born all their work in the heat of the day on their backs. They're tired, they're dirty, maybe they're exhausted. And he starts in this reverse order. And by the way, we should note that there is something here that's beautiful in that the law, the landowner is law abiding because right evening payment is mandated in the Torah. So we see all this taking place as to fulfill the law in some ways. But the reversal of the order that last of first is like such deliberative and good narrative storytelling and staging, isn't it? 'cause it ensures that the first hired workers are going to witness the payment of those who work the least. And if without that order, if you just did it the other way around, the more a crisis of the parable disc like completely goes away.  [00:35:10] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:35:10] Jesse Schwamb: So this execution of the payment at the owner's will, it just shows that he has. He's completely independent. His sovereignty belong. The sovereignty belongs to the master alone. And so this 11th hour workers receiving a full day's wage for one hour of work, that's like an act of sheer generosity. It's not proportional justice. And I think as reform, people, maybe all of us at some point have had this conversation about predestination and justice and mercy. And again, really I think putting a crowbar between this idea that nobody is receiving injustice, but some are receiving mercy and grace. And here these first hired workers seeing this form, like you said, this expectation that they're gonna receive more, like you said, where that came from. Yeah, it's just them, right? It's purely manufactured in their own reasoning. It's not anchored in the covenantal promise and certainly not witnessed in the grace that they should be receive, like perceiving as the payments get doled out, like sequentially moving in their reverse order toward those who have worked the longest. But their expectation reveals that they have fundamentally misread like the landowner's character. They're still operating in the register of a contract and not grace.  [00:36:16] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And you know, I think to sort of lock this covenant covenantal frame and sort of like lack of recognition of the covenant into place too, when you look at the language of this parable, um, and especially kind of what it's following up on, it's coming on the heels of this interaction with this rich, rich young ruler who comes in and he thinks that he's gonna earn eternal life by keeping the commandments. Um, and, and he, he has this outward sense or this outward display of pty. He's calling Jesus good. He's saying he, you know, he keeps the commandments, Jesus doesn't even disagree with him actually, that he has connect. Yes. You know, I think it's implied that, well, of course you haven't, but he, he still is graciously trying to like, convince this guy, no, you actually need to abandon your self righteousness and, and pursue and follow me. Um. But this is a parable where like other people are listening, right? There's other witnesses. This isn't like the rich young ruler came to him in the middle of the night, like Nicodemus. This is something that's happened on PO on in the public. So we can anticipate that the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and the lawyers were all aware of this. They may have been there, but they were at least aware of this happening. And I think there's some language in here that is actually directed at those people.  [00:37:30] Grumbling As Accusation [00:37:30] Tony Arsenal: And, and here's where it comes in, is you get to verse, um, we'll start reading again at verse nine. It says, when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now, when those hired first came, so we're referring to the people who are hired at the beginning of the day. Now, when those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius and on receiving it, right? So this is as, this is, um, uh, just unbelievable as they're receiving the denarius on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house. Now, just the way that I read that and said the word grumbled tells you that that word is really important here. Yes. If you look at this Greek word. And you compare it to the, the word, the usage of this word in the, the, um, Sept. Yes. Which of course is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. This word most commonly appears in the wilderness wandering accounts. [00:38:22] Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  [00:38:23] Tony Arsenal: Right. And the, the primary sin of the Israelites during the wilderness wandering was grumbling against the Lord. And this grumbling against the Lord in that context is not just a general complaining, right. It's not just like a, a sort of like a, a general dissatisfaction or like murmuring. This isn't like water cooler frustration about your boss. The grumbling in the Old Testament in this context is a covenantal accusation, right. So this is tied to the, the accounts where Moses first is told to strike the rock, and he does so when the water comes out, and then second is told to speak to the rock, but he strikes it. I won't go into all the details, but the scene that's being, being displayed there is the people come, they accuse the Lord of abandoning them into the wilderness. And this scene where Moses is set up on the rock and he strikes the rock, that scene is a judicial scene. The people have filed a covenant accusation against the Lord, and in reality, it's the people who have been unfaithful. But the Lord standing in the place of the rock is the one who is struck, right? Jesus was the rock in the wilderness from which the water came. Paul says that in First Corinthians, right? So this language of grumbling in this is not just, they're not just complaining about the fact that they didn't get what they thought they were going to, they're questioning the veracity of the covenant that was made. So they're, they're still locked into this merit-based. This merit-based idea even more than it seemed at first, right? There's a logic to the idea that like, oh, if the, the master is actually paying a wage of one denarius for per hour, like there's a logic to that. But it's not just that they're saying, and this is, this explains the response of the master. It's not just that they're saying like, Hey, wait a second, like the wage rate that you're paying is not right. They're saying you have violated the terms of our covenant in the way that you have paid us. 'cause it's upon receiving it that they complain or they grumble and the master says more or less like, Hey. You agreed with me for one Denarius, I'm giving you what you've earned. I'm giving you what you agreed on. Why don't you take it and go. So the answer is not to try to justify why he is free to pay these other people more, or why he's free to pay these people a perceived less. The answer is, again, they're complaining against the covenant. He is bringing it back to the covenant saying, well, here's what the covenant relationship was. You work for the day. I give you Denarius. We're square here, we're on the same page. We've fulfilled our covenant obligations, and you've received your reward for that. So I, I think that's another thing we have to lock in here is this is not just a general idea of like unfairness that's being presented. This is not just a general idea that people are saying the master of the house is unfair. They're saying he's covenantal. Unfaithful. Right? That's a pretty big accusation.  [00:41:09] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, that is, thank you by the way, for completely stealing the whole tugen thing from me. Like I was just going hot to Tugen to find that reference. And now all I can do is add to it. So that is from at least one of those occasions, a number 16, and I just wanna read the verse. This is 16 six. So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel at evening, you will know that Yahweh has brought you outta the land of Egypt. And in the morning you will see the glory of Yahweh for he hears your grumblings against Yahweh. And what we are that you grumble against us. So I'm totally with you. This is not subtle. The workers first complaint here, the first workers' complaint is like theologically serious. Uh, I think that's what you're hitting us on. Like it charges the owner with injustice. Right. And as I read it, the grievance has like two layers or two parts, I would say. One is this comparative part, which is basically saying, you made us equal to them. Right? And the second be like a meritorious part, they have worked harder and in worse conditions. And that's why they say things like, it's, it's all inflammatory language, isn't it? Like the scorching heat emphasizes like the real bodily cost and their complaint. I think if we're honest, it's not irrational, but it's spiritually revealing at least because Right, they believe their greater effort, mayors greater reward and they resent that grace shown to others. So like you said, they're bringing forward a very serious grievance and it's, it's not just like, Hey, we think maybe could you give us a bonus? Right. But that is a matter of faithfulness. And in fact, like as I'm looking at this tugen here, shout out to logos Bible software. And I'm saying that that verb that we're talking about in Exodus 16 is in the imperfect tense. So this is, they kept on grumbling and it is like an an echo of Israel's murmuring in the wilderness, which I presume like Matthew certainly had intentionally used there or had that view in part casting these workers as the same types of those who relate to God through entitlement rather than gratitude. So it's like insults upon insult here, but it is to emphasize this fact that it's no small accusation, it's not subtle, it's meant to be in your face. They're coming in hot with this and they're making a big deal about it.  [00:43:16] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, and again, I think like underscoring the covenantal nature of this is so key. And I think, you know, when we look at this, we really have to land that this is not just saying. Your wage structure is not right. 'cause and, and we gotta remember, they weren't there when the master went and made this bargain, or, you know, brought these other workers into the vineyard. They weren't there to hear what covenant or contract he did or didn't make. And as we've commented, they didn't, he didn't even make a covenant with them. He basically just said, I'm gonna put you to work and I'll pay you what's fair. I'll pay you what's right. Um, and they went, okay, you need the work and thank you. Like, I think, I think that's kind of like the, the scene here is they're standing there. They recognize they're not gonna get a wage for the day, especially these ones that he's coming in at the 11th hour, they're not gonna get a wage for the day. And as you said, these are subsistence workers. Right. These are people that if you don't get a wage, and this is the, the grounding of the Old Testament, um, the Old Testament command of, of paying at the end of the day is that if they don't get their wage, they're not gonna eat. They're not gonna have food, they're not gonna have the money they need to survive. Um, so he comes in and he basically says like. You don't have a job that's not gonna be good for you. I'll take care of you. I'll, I'll give you a job and I'll take care of you. And the ones who are complaining and grumbling, they have no line of sight to that process. That, that's right. They make a lot of assumptions about the, and this is, goes back to, um. The parable of the talents, which we haven't really talked about yet. The, the, there's a lot of assumptions about the nature of this master that the, the contracted or covenanted day laborers are making that don't turn out to be accurate. Right. They, they assume that he's working, as you've said, that he's working on this one-to-one, you know, quid pro quo. You do this, I do that kind of a, a methodology and he's actually operating on a basis of a much more. Basic, uh, grace principle. Uh, and again, even, even the principle of hiring these original workers and covenanting with them is gracious in the sense that he didn't have to hire them. Right. So, so all along the way they're, they're, it's like the epitome of looking a gift horse in the mouth.  [00:45:24] Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  [00:45:24] Tony Arsenal: They've been hired, and so yes, it is right for them to expect their, um, to expect their wage, whatever that wage might be. But they, they are misinterpreting the idea of what the wages are and how the wages are to be delivered. They're, they're applying, this is actually a lot like job's, friends, right? Their, their logic is not actually all that bad, but they have, they have missing parts of the picture that makes the logic. Apply differently in this particular situation. They think that this, this master works on a strict merit-based. You do X amount of work, you receive X amount of money. And this master is actually more functioning on this covenantal principle of, I'm gonna pay you what's right, regardless of what, what work you've done, which, what work is actually owed to you. And the master makes these, this agreement with these other workers to just say, go into the vineyard and then when the evening comes, I'll pay you. Right. Well, he intended to pay them what they needed to survive, regardless of how much work they provided. Right? So they're all, even though there's a formal contract to say these, this group works for the whole day and this group, you know, and, and they receive one day's labor, at the end of the day, he's graciously providing another day of survival for all of these people, for the work that they're, they're putting forward regardless of how much they actually contribute to his bottom line. [00:46:41] Owner Defends The Covenant [00:46:41] Jesse Schwamb: And we see that in verse 13, where the landowner gives his defense, you know, it says. He and he replied, friends, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for Denarius? Now the address, because now I'm deep in the Greek Tony. Here we go. So the address I'm seeing in, uh, again, shout out to Locus Bible software, it, this use of friend is not like the warm fellows, but like a more formal or distance term of address. It's used elsewhere in Matthew. But I think the point here is that the owner's first line of defense is this contractual point, which you're saying. I have not wronged you. He's kept his agreement precisely. No injustice has been done. And that's crucial. The owner doesn't re appreciate justice. He actually fulfills it. He obligates himself and he fulfills that obligation. And what the worker receives is exactly what was promised and exactly what is due. And so by the time he gets to verse 14 where he says, take what belongs to you, and go, I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you here. I think this is like the theological beating hide of this whole bad boy. Yeah.  [00:47:37] Jesse Schwamb: The landowner explicitly invokes his will, his sovereign freedom to do and to give as he pleases, which is exactly how God behaves. It's not a negation of justice, but this declaration of something beyond justice, it is grace. He exercises his freedom and generosity to those who had no claim, and the command, take what belongs to you and go is, is kind of like a world dismissal, like, like you were saying. Yeah. We're in the courtroom. He's like, I, I've ruled on this already. Like, bring Brian, bring your grievance. Here's my ruling. Take what you have and go. Their grumbling has revealed that they're not celebrating the kingdom. They're actually grieving it. So yeah, you know, I think original invocation of like Jonah is right on the money. It's basically like, are are you mad enough? Yeah, I'm mad enough to die. Like, how dare you give me, give me this great shade and then take it away from me. Yeah. And in some ways this is even worse because what they have been given has been that were promised to them, was given to them, and they get to retain and God says, go, or the landowner as God says, go now and take what is yours. Take what I've given to you graciously. But your point that like what supersedes that, the antecedent to all of that is still God's covenant keeping, covenant making promise, making, right? That sets the whole thing up. But I love this idea that, you know, I will choose, it's my desire, it's language of divine volition. And of course the reform theology, this single verb resonates with the entire doctrine of election. It's God's free, sovereign, and gracious will to bestow blessing without reference to merit, like praise his name.  [00:49:00] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And then we come to kind of the close of this parable, right? And this is, this reall

Have you ever gotten frustrated watching someone else receive a blessing you felt they didn't earn? In this first message of our new series Stories Jesus Told, Pastor Stephen Mizell unpacks the Parable of the Vineyard Workers from Matthew 20 — and what it reveals about God's scandalous, unmerited grace. Whether you've been following Jesus for decades or you're just now getting over, this message is for you. KEY TAKEAWAYS: God's kingdom doesn't operate on human fairness — it operates on grace Comparison transforms a generous gift into a perceived grievance You can keep score or you can experience grace, but you can't do both Late doesn't disqualify you in the Kingdom of God — it only invites you We serve not to earn God's love, but as an overflow of the grace we've already received The greatest danger isn't missing a reward — it's working in the vineyard and missing God's heart SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: Matthew 19:27 — Peter's question: "What's in it for us?" Matthew 20:1–16 — The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard SERIES: Stories Jesus Told — a series through the parables of Jesus exploring grace, vocation, anxiety, purpose, forgiveness, and family.

Pastor Jared Blauwkamp shares on the Parable of the Vineyard Workers from Matthew 20.

This is the fourth live Q&A from the Jesus and Galilee class with John Dominic Crossan — recorded, appropriately, on St. Patrick's Day, which means Dom is operating with a slight green halo and absolutely zero intention of slowing down. The questions this week go deep into parable theory: what it actually means for a parable to "point elsewhere," why the Parable of the Sower is not about sowing, what the Parable of the Vineyard Workers is doing to anyone in the crowd who has ever stood all day looking for work and been blamed for standing there, and why Luke's version of the Good Samaritan is both right and a domestication of something far more dangerous. Dom takes apart the three sub-genres — riddle, example, and challenge parables — shows how the tradition keeps sliding one into another, and makes the case that Job, Ruth, and Jonah are all challenge parables of the Hebrew Bible aimed at blowing up the certainties of post-exilic restoration theology. There's a devastating reading of the Eucharist as a public political declaration that you are willing to die for what Jesus died for, a meditation on why comic eschatology is the first great act of resistance against autocracy, and a moment where Dom explains why he became an American citizen in 2000 — and it will not surprise you. If you want to hear all four lectures behind these Q&As and send in your own questions for our final session, head over to crossanclass.com — you can join for whatever you can give, including zero. ⁠You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ONLINE LENT CLASS: Jesus in Galilee w/ John Dominic Crossan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ What can we actually know about Jesus of Nazareth? And, what difference does it make? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Lenten class ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠begins where all of Dr. John Dominic Crossan's has work begins: with history. Only by understanding what Jesus' parables meant then can we wrestle with what they might demand of us now. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The class is donation-based, including 0, so join, get info, and join up here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ John Dominic Crossan, professor emeritus at DePaul University, is widely regarded as the foremost historical Jesus scholar of our time. He is the author of several bestselling books, including The Historical Jesus, How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian, God and Empire, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Greatest Prayer, The Last Week, and The Power of Parable. He lives in Minneola, Florida. Previous Podcast Episodes with Dom & Tripp ⁠Are We Waiting for God, or Is God Waiting for Us?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠A Tale of Two Gods: Why C.S. Lewis's Famous Argument Falls Apart⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠From Iron Swords to Nuclear Bombs: Tracing 3,000 Years of Escalatory Violence⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Paul, Christ, & the Mystery of Execution & Resurrection⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Paul & Thecla⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Ask JC Anything⁠⁠⁠⁠ This podcast is a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Homebrewed Christianity ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠production. Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the Homebrewed Christianity⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Theology Nerd Throwdown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, & ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Rise of Bonhoeffer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 75,000 other people by joining our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack - Process This!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get instant access to over 50 classes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.TheologyClass.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow the podcast, drop a review⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, send ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠feedback/questions⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or become a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠member of the HBC Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever looked at someone else's success and felt that familiar sting of resentment? Whether it is a coworker getting a promotion or a friend posting a perfect life on social media, the phrase that is not fair often bubbles up from deep within us. In this powerful message, we explore why this mindset is a spiritual trap and how we can find true peace through the lens of God's grace.

How do you advance God's Kingdom at your job? In this message from Family Church, Care Pastor Jason Dallas teaches the difference between your work and your job — and how understanding that difference can transform your mindset, your attitude, and your impact in the workplace. Through Genesis 4 (Cain and Abel), Colossians 3:23, and Matthew 20 (the Parable of the Vineyard Workers), we learn: • Your work is your title — your job is obedience to God • Kingdom advancement starts with purpose • Passion is stewardship, not chasing feelings • Persistence means trusting God's grace, not fairness Whether you love your job, feel overlooked, or are considering a change, this message will challenge you to shift your focus from comparison to calling. At Family Church, we exist to build strong families across all generations on biblical foundations for spiritual growth and Kingdom advancement.

Continuing in our series that we began since Reality Church launched! Carlos Lollett shares how the parable of the Vineyard Workers demonstrates the Gospel.

In this message, we explore Jesus' parable of the Vineyard Workers. A story that disrupts our assumptions about fairness and challenges the way we see God, ourselves, and others. Jesus paints a picture of a kingdom where grace overturns entitlement, where the last are welcomed as the first, and where God's generosity refuses to fit into our human standards of merit and reward.This passage invites us to wrestle with a God who gives not according to what we think we deserve, but according to His overflowing mercy. As we walk through the story, we'll reflect on what it means to trust a God whose goodness is “scandalous” by earthly standards and how this upside‑down generosity calls us to live differently in our relationships, our expectations, and our discipleship.

Assembly of Yahusha The Logos episode 101 Officiated by Bro. Jon Dizon 11-26-2025.#YahuahismyGod #Yahusha #assemblyofYahusha ©2025 Assembly of Yahusha All rights reserved. The Assembly of Yahusha exclusively own the rights to the contents of this podcast and any non-assemblymember reproduction must have the approval of the Assembly. Only bona fide members of the Assembly are authorized to copy, download, and reproduce the contents of this podcast for their personal or religious use. For permission to copy, download, and reproduce send an email to: info@aoy.today

Why do we resent grace? In the Parable of the Vineyard Workers, a landowner pays workers hired at the eleventh hour the same wage as those who toiled all day. Seeing this as an "injustice" reveals our own works-righteous hearts. But make no mistake: Jesus' parable is not about fair wages; it's about the radical, unmerited generosity of God. The Gospel is not a reward for our labor but a free gift, demonstrating Jesus' teaching: "the last will be first, and the first last."  The Rev. Brian Davies, pastor of Lord of Glory Lutheran Church, Grayslake, IL, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Matthew 20:1-16.  To learn more about Lord of Glory, visit lordofglory.org. The Gospel of Matthew bridges Old and New Testaments, presenting Jesus as the promised Messiah who fulfills the Law we could never keep and establishes His kingdom of grace for all nations. Written by a tax collector transformed by pure grace, Matthew reveals Christ as the true Son of David and Emmanuel (God with us) who challenges us with the crushing demands of the Law in His Sermon on the Mount to the sweet comfort of the Gospel in His death and resurrection. From royal genealogy to glorious resurrection, this verse-by-verse study proclaims the One who conquered sin, death, and the devil for us, now delivering forgiveness, life, and salvation through Word and Sacrament as He remains with His church always, even to the end of the age.  Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God's Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

In Matthew 20 Jesus tells a parable about a master who rewards his workers based on grace, not their merit. In the parable, Jesus explains that God gives grace out of his goodness, not our productivity. Most of us struggle with this truth today. While we're grateful for God's mercy extended to us, we can grow bitter when God gives mercy, providence, and blessings to those we don't think deserve it. But this comparison keeps us from experiencing joy from God's grace towards us. To avoid becoming bitter with God's generosity towards others, we practice contentment.

In Matthew 20 Jesus tells a parable about a master who rewards his workers based on grace, not their merit. In the parable, Jesus explains that God gives grace out of his goodness, not our productivity. Most of us struggle with this truth today. While we're grateful for God's mercy extended to us, we can grow bitter when God gives mercy, providence, and blessings to those we don't think deserve it. But this comparison keeps us from experiencing joy from God's grace towards us. To avoid becoming bitter with God's generosity towards others, we practice contentment.

Guest speaker, Noel Williamson, gives the message on "Vineyard Workers".

Topics: Understanding Old and New Covenants, Mixing Old and New Covenants, Old Covenant, New Covenant, The Danger of Mixing Covenants, Overcoming Legalism, Buffet Line Commandments, Random Bible Application, Carnage from Not Separating Covenants, Jesus Taught the Law's Standard, Matthew 5:17 Law's Purpose, 2 Corinthians 3:6 Letter Kills, Jesus Explained Paradoxes, Impossible Behavior Passages, Matthew 5 & 6 Strict Law, John 1:12 Believing in Jesus Only, John 8:32 Freedom in Truth, Context in the Bible, The Cross as the Dividing Line, Hebrews 7:22 Blood for New Covenant, Colossians 1:26-27 World Saved by Faith, Ephesians 2:12 Gentiles Without Hope, Jesus' Ministry for Jews Only, Exodus 24:8 Covenant with Israel, Galatians 4:4-5 Christ Born Under Law, Galatians 3:28 One in Christ, Hebrews 8:6, Matthew 15:21-28 Canaanite Woman, Lost Sheep of Israel, Unbelief and Self-Righteousness, Galatians 4:4 Christ Redeemed Under Law, John 1:17 Law vs. Grace, Mark 2:22 New Wine New Wineskins, Romans 7:12 Law is Perfect, Galatians 3:24 Law as a Tutor, John 14:6 Jesus The Way, Bursting Wineskins, Old Does Not Mean Correct, Matthew 23:9 Call No Man Father, Revelation 2:4, Early Church Divisions, Romans 3:19 Law Silences, Deuteronomy 6:25 Obeying for Righteousness, Psalm 1:2 Meditate on Law, Joshua 1:8 Prosperity by Obedient Behavior, Matthew 11:28-30 Rest in Christ, Matthew 19:24 Rich Man and Heaven, Matthew 21:12 Jesus Flips Tables, Matthew 23:27-28 Repentance of Unbelief, Philippians 3:1-9 Christ Our Everything, Luke 10:38-42 Martha and Mary, Luke 15:15-32 Parable of Prodigal Son, Matthew 20:1-16 Parable of Talents, Matthew 25:14-30 Parable of Vineyard Workers, Matthew 5:48 Be Perfect Like God, Deuteronomy 4:2 Keep All Commandments, Galatians 3:10 Cursed by Law, Matthew 23:23 Tithing Rebuked, 2 Corinthians 9:7 Give Freely, Ephesians 1:3 Blessed in Christ, Guilt and Condemnation, 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 Ministry of Death, Galatians 2:19 Dead to Law, Romans 7:4 Released from Law, John 13:34-35 Jesus' Two Commandments, 1 John 3:23 Believe and Love, Matthew 22:36-40 Greatest Commandment in Law, 1 John 5:3 Jesus' Commandments Not Burdensome, Deuteronomy 4:2 Moses' Commandments Burdensome, John 3:16 God's Love, Romans 5:8 Christ Died for Us, Abrahamic Covenant, Receive by Faith, New Perfect SpiritSupport the showSign up for Matt's free daily devotional! https://mattmcmillen.com/newsletter

Sermon by Tom Buiter on June 15th, 2025 at New Covenant Church in Anderson, SC. Scripture Passage: Matthew 20:1-16 Outline: 1. The Pledge 2. The Turn 3. The Prestige www.ncchurch.net

In this powerful sermon, Pastor Steve Spence preaches on the Parable of the Vineyard Workers. We learn that while we are saved there is a job to do. We learn that we have to serve the Lord, just as He was sent to serve in advancing the Kingdom. Join us Sundays at 8:30 and 10:30am and Wednesdays at 7pm!

We often feel like life isn't fair. But what if God's definition of fairness is different than ours? What if it's not about equality, but about grace—freely given, never earned? As we explore Matthew 20:1-16, discover how grace disrupts our expectations, rewrites comparison, and invites everyone into something greater. It's never too late, and you're never too far. Subscribe to be notified of new videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/ValleyRealLife Follow us on Instagram: @valleyreallife Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/valleyreallife Take your next step and connect with us: http://www.vrl.church/connect Are you ready to say YES to following Jesus?: http://www.vrl.church/connect Submit a prayer request: http://www.vrl.church/prayer Partner with us: http://www.vrl.church/give #ValleyRealLife2025 #ValleyRealLifeRecap #ValleyRealLifeQuestions #Bible #ValleyRealLifeChurch #ValleyRealLife #VRL #DanShields #Spokane #SpokaneValley #ChurchinSpokane #OnlineChurchSpokane #OnlineChurch #OnlineChurchService #ChurchSpokane #ChurchSpokaneValley #FaithThatLasts #SpiritualGrowth #YoureInvited #StoryTeller #NewSermonSeries #Matthew20 #ThePowerOfStory #ItsNotFair #GraceWins #ChurchOnline #SundayMessage

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like..." is a FVChurch Spring 2025 sermon series exploring the meaning of Jesus' parables about the Kingdom. Find sermon notes, discussion questions, and more, at: https://fv.church/media-blog-2025/2025/5/11/the-kingdom-of-heaven-is-like

Rescue Society, Not Yacht Club: Sustaining Your YesScripture References: Matthew 20:1-28Sermon Intro: Welcome! Today, reflecting on our church's journey and recent powerful baptisms, we dive into the heart of our mission – not just beholding Jesus, but the "so that" part: seeing the lost found, prodigals return, disciples made, and churches planted. As we look to the future, the crucial question isn't just what we'll do, but how we'll sustain it. How do we avoid "mission creep"? How do we ensure we remain a dynamic "rescue society" and don't slowly drift into becoming a comfortable "yacht club," forgetting why we started? How do we sustain a life of sacrifice and service for decades to come?Key Points:Beware the Yacht Club - What Do You Deserve? (Matt 20:1-16):The Parable of the Vineyard Workers challenges our sense of fairness. Service can breed entitlement ("I worked longer, I deserve more").We must fight this by remembering GRACE. As Christians, we gave up demanding "fair" – we don't want what we truly deserve!Sustaining service means constantly battling entitlement and remembering God's generosity, even when it doesn't seem "fair" by worldly standards. We never deserve more than the privilege of serving God and others.Fuel for the Long Haul - How Do You See God? (Matt 20:17-19):Jesus predicts His own suffering and sacrifice for us.To sustain our service, we must stay connected to how He serves us. Is your focus primarily on what you do for God, or on what He has done and continues to do for you?Remembering His sacrifice, His carrying the burden, His constant work on our behalf is the fuel for sustained missions.Kingdom Values - How Do You Define Greatness? (Matt 20:20-28):The request of Zebedee's sons highlights a worldly definition of greatness (position, power).Jesus redefines greatness: it's service, humility, being last, being a slave. It's "momness."Sustaining our "yes" requires embracing His definition of greatness. Any position or influence is for serving, not being served. Servant leadership isn't an option; it's the only model.Sermon Conclusion: We are committed to remaining a rescue society. This requires actively fighting the drift towards comfort and entitlement. We do this not by trying harder, but by remembering: remembering the grace we didn't deserve, remembering Jesus' immense sacrifice for us (suffering outside the gate to rescue us), and embracing His upside-down definition of greatness. Let's keep going out on rescue missions together.Call to Action: Examine your heart:Where might entitlement be creeping in regarding your service? Ask God to help you see through the lens of grace.Reflect on how Jesus serves you daily. Let gratitude fuel your service.Are you pursuing worldly greatness or Kingdom greatness (service)? Recommit today to being part of the rescue society, choosing sustained sacrifice over comfort, fueled by the love and grace of Jesus. Support the show*Summaries and transcripts are generated using AI. Please notify us if you find any errors.

Send us a textThe Parable of the Vineyard Workers cuts straight to the heart of how God's kingdom fundamentally differs from human systems of fairness and merit. Through a rich, theological discussion of Matthew 20, we explore why a vineyard owner would pay the exact same wage to workers who started at different times throughout the day—and what this reveals about salvation, grace, and God's relationship with humanity.We unpack a fascinating perspective that sees the first laborers as representing Israel under the Old Covenant. These workers negotiated their wages—"a penny a day"—mirroring how Israel entered into a covenant relationship where God said, "Do this and you shall live." In contrast, those who came later—at the third, sixth, and ninth hours—were simply told, "I will give you what is right," requiring trust rather than negotiation.This distinction brilliantly illuminates the difference between life under the Law versus life under grace. The workers who came later had to exercise faith that the householder would be fair, much as we must trust in God's goodness without demanding specific terms. Their willingness to accept whatever the master offered parallels how salvation works—not by our merit or timing, but by God's sovereign grace.The conversation tackles challenging questions many believers struggle with: How can someone who converts on their deathbed receive the same eternal reward as a person who served God their entire life? Is faith something we generate ourselves, or is it entirely God's gift? And where do we fit in the grand timeline of redemptive history?This profound teaching reminds us that in God's upside-down economy, "the last shall be first, and the first last." His grace extends equally to all who respond to His call, regardless of when or how they enter His vineyard. What matters isn't the hour you began, but that you answered when He called.Support the show

Welcome to the TFC Biblecast! Start your day off right and join us as we take the next 10 minutes to dive into God's word. Today's verses are from Matthew 19:27-20:16. If we can pray for you, email us at biblecast@tfc.org.

This week we talk with Micah Carver about masculinity, male pattern brokenness, and some lovely socialist parables. If you like his work you can check it out here: https://woodcarver.substack.com/ We now have a Discord now for our Patrons! You can join here: Patreon.com/gohomebible This podcast is edited by Elizabeth Nordenholt from Podcat Audio: https://elizabethnordenholt.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stateline Church exists to connect people to Jesus and one another.Fill out a Start Card: https://www.stateline.church/start-here/Learn more about what's happening at Stateline: https://www.stateline.church/events/Join a Stateline Group: https://www.stateline.church/groups/Join the team of volunteers: https://www.stateline.church/serve/Learn more about Stateline Students: https://www.stateline.church/students/Learn more about Stateline Kids: https://www.stateline.church/kids/

Gene Tunny and Darren Brady Nelson discuss the economic legacy of President Jimmy Carter, highlighting his deregulation efforts, particularly in aviation, which led to increased competition and significant cost savings. They also touch on Carter's appointment of Paul Volcker as Federal Reserve Chairman, credited with fighting inflation. The conversation shifts to the America Fest conference in Phoenix, where key speakers included Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson, and Glenn Beck. They discuss the tensions within the MAGA movement, particularly around immigration policies. Lastly, they explore the intersection of Christian economics and competition, emphasizing its ethical foundations and the potential for a moral case for free markets.If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for Gene, please email him at contact@economicsexplored.com.Timestamps for EP269President Jimmy Carter's Legacy and Deregulation (0:00)Carter's Economic Policies and Personal Anecdotes (5:16)America Fest Conference in Phoenix (14:36)Trump's Speech and MAGA Movement Dynamics (27:46)Christian Economics and Competition (36:34)Darren's Critique of Mainstream Economics and Antitrust Regulation (51:22)Regulatory Challenges and Natural Monopolies (55:55)Final Thoughts and Future Directions (59:26)TakeawaysJimmy Carter's Deregulation Impact: Carter's policies in aviation, trucking, and beer production revolutionized U.S. markets, creating long-lasting consumer benefits.MAGA's Immigration Debate: Tensions exist between Bannon's nationalist stance and Musk's globalist vision for high-skilled immigration policies.The Role of Competition: Darren highlighted the economic and ethical importance of competition, criticizing overreach in antitrust regulations.Links relevant to the conversationMises Institute article “Jimmy Carter's Legacy Is Much More than Good Deeds Done in His Later Years”:https://mises.org/mises-wire/jimmy-carters-legacy-much-more-good-deeds-done-his-later-yearsThe previous episode with Darren:https://economicsexplored.com/2024/11/10/trump-2-0-w-top-wisconsin-door-knocker-economist-darren-brady-nelson-ep261/Great Reset discussion with Darren from 2020:https://economics-explained.simplecast.com/episodes/the-great-resetLarry Reed, President Emeritus of FEE, speaking about the Parable of the Vineyard Workers:https://economicsexplored.com/2022/02/05/price-controls-to-fight-inflation-a-bad-idea-infrastructure-lessons-from-potus-21-ep125/Darren's articles in Concurrences on competition and antitrust (paywalled, alas):https://www.concurrences.com/en/page/recherche/?recherche=darren+nelson#Alfred Kahn's Economics of Regulation:https://www.amazon.com.au/Economics-Regulation-Principles-Institutions/dp/0262610523Lumo Coffee promotion10% of Lumo Coffee's Seriously Healthy Organic Coffee.Website: https://www.lumocoffee.com/10EXPLOREDPromo code: 10EXPLORED Full transcripts are available a few days after the episode is first published at www.economicsexplored.com.

Matthew 19:27 - 30, 20:1 - 16 Porter Mountain Fellowship SBCP O Box 1777 Lakeside, AZ 85929contact:brojim@live.com

S5.Ep26 Have you ever felt bad when something good happened to or for someone? We all tend to get jealous sometimes, but it's bad. Jealousy is one of the feelings we deal with as human beings, especially when things don't go our way. In this episode, Mo walks through the parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20:1-16 and the story of Jonah, giving us insight into how to overcome the feeling of Jealousy. I'd love to know what you think. Send me a dm on Instagram: @notsorandomwithmopod Or You can send in questions, contributions, and your general feedback via https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUXsw5RHrgyQ799JHzhugRSXzSkLgGz2wgEuYKBiOG7N3dUw/viewform Rate the show 5 stars and leave a review on any platform you're listening on. Sign up for Not So Random With MO newsletters to keep in touch: http://eepurl.com/h3zcYb Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/notsorandomwithmopod?igsh=MXRheGZnbTdseWkzcQ==

Pastor Taylor Shippy - Matthew 20:1-16 "The Parable of the Vineyard Workers" may be the worst offender of Jesus' seemingly poor arithmetic… The most flagrant and attention-grabbing example of Jesus' bad math... Almost everyone can sympathize -- if they haven't already outright identified -- with who we believe are the ‘victims' of this story, and their seemingly justifiable discontentment and frustrations with the payroll system of the vineyard owner. But Jesus strangely presents this as a secret to the Kingdom of God…  What if our frustrations with this parable all stem from reading this parable from the wrong character's point of view? We often read this as a story about the plight and slight of relatable blue-collar workers, but what if that's not the focus of the story at all? What if the main character in this parable is actually the boss? That the central focus of this story isn't the employees; rather, it's the employer. The landlord. The vineyard owner. A compassionate employer.

Topics: OSAS, Once Saved Always Saved, Stop Sinning, Only Saved Until Sinning Again, Nobody Would Be Saved, Romans 6:23, Wages of Sin is Death, Free Gift of Eternal Life In Christ Jesus Our Lord, Paul Explains Death and Eternal Life, Both Opposites, Goal Isn't To Stop Sinning But To Enjoy Free Gift of Eternal Life, Downplaying Free Gift and Ignoring Wages of Sin, Stop Ignoring the Wages, They Think They Are Preaching Sin But They Aren't, If They Preached Sin They'd Preach Death, Stop Comparing Sins And Realize They're Hopeless, Stopping Sinning Doesn't Keep You Saved, Go to Church, Read Your Bible, Have Quiet Time, Jews Went to Temple Read Scriptures and Meditated on Them, Still Would Hear Depart From Me Apart From Faith in Christ, Early Church Didn't Have Buildings Bibles or Quiet Time, Lukewarm Christians, Spit You Out, I Know Your Deeds, Neither Hot or Cold Revelation 3:15-16, On Fire For the Lord, Hot Serves Purpose, Cold Serves a Purpose, Lukewarm Serves No Purpose, People Who Sin Less or Not as Bad, If Gospel Weren't True One Sin Would Mean They Aren't Saved Any Longer, Rewards In Heaven, Reward of the Inheritance, Colossians 3:24, Parable of Vineyard Workers, Matthew 20:1-16, Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25:14-30, Wicked and Lazy Servant, No Longer Servants, John 15:15, Blot Out of Book of Life, Revelation 3:5, It Says Never Blot You Out, Comforting Passage Not Scary Passage, If He Blot You Out He'd Have to Remember Your Sins, Hebrews 8:12, Remembers Your Sins No More, He'd Have To Hold Your Sins Against You, 2 Corinthians 5:19,  2 Peter 2:21, Better to Not Know the Way Than to Know It And Turn Back, Dog Returns to Vomit, Pig to the Mud, False Teachers, 2 Peter 3 Say Scoffers, Mark Baker Quote, Once Alive Always Alive, Life Lost In the Garden, I Have Come So You May Have Life, John 10:19, You Were Saved By the Life of Christ, Christ Will Never Die Again, Hebrews 7:25, John 14:19, Romans 5:10, Romans 8:1, Since Christ Raised From the Dead Cannot Die Again, Death No Longer Has Mastery, Romans 6:9 Support the showSign up for Matt's free daily devotional! https://mattmcmillen.com/newsletter

Even on our best days, our concept of fairness is still tainted by self-interest because we still battle our sinful nature. Our culture has dismissed God and His Word. However, God's Word is not just a book; it's a guide that reveals to us that He sets the standard for fairness. Without God's Word as our guide and final authority, we cannot measure our fairness to others. This even taints how we view God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Let's look at just two examples. The first is in Matthew 20:1-16, The Parable of the Vineyard Workers. The second is found in Luke 23:39-43. Sometimes, God's sovereignty and grace don't seem fair to our finite, sinful human minds. Do you mean to say that if a horrible criminal in prison or on death row genuinely repents and trusts Christ as their Lord and Savior, they would be saved? The answer is a resounding yes.  Is that fair? Absolutely! In this passage, Paul wanted his readers to know that God is fair in all He does in His sovereignty.

[audio mp3="https://www.crossbridgeofocean.org/wp-content/uploads/sermons/2024/08/2024_08_25.mp3"][/audio] Even on our best days, our concept of fairness is still tainted by self-interest because we still battle our sinful nature. Our culture has dismissed God and His Word. However, God's Word is not just a book; it's a guide that reveals to us that He sets the standard for fairness. Without God's Word as our guide and final authority, we cannot measure our fairness to others. This even taints how we view God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Let's look at just two examples. The first is in Matthew 20:1-16, The Parable of the Vineyard Workers. The second is found in Luke 23:39-43. Sometimes, God's sovereignty and grace don't seem fair to our finite, sinful human minds. Do you mean to say that if a horrible criminal in prison or on death row genuinely repents and trusts Christ as their Lord and Savior, they would be saved? The answer is a resounding yes.  Is that fair? Absolutely! In this passage, Paul wanted his readers to know that God is fair in all He does in His sovereignty.

In part 4 of our series, Parables of the Kingdom,  we have Pastor Raj Pillai speaking about the Parable of the Vineyard Workers.  "Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you do not deserve." Bible Verses Used: Matthew 20:1-16 1 Timothy 5:17 Matthew 20:1 Matthew 20:3-5 Matthew 20:6-7 Matthew 20:8 Matthew 20:9-10 Matthew 20:11 Matthew 20:15 1 Samuel 18:9 calvarymd.com⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠click here to give⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/CalvaryFrederick

Matthew 20:1-16

Topics: Rapture, Revelation, Not All Christians Are Raptured, Put in Work, Repented of Sins, Endured to the End, What Happens When Christ Returns, End of Time, Best Works Like Filthy Rags, Isaiah 64:6, Depart From Me Workers, Matthew 7, If It's Based on Grace Cannot Be Based on Works, No Longer Grace, Romans 11:6, Gospel of Grace, Acts 20:24, One Unrepentant Sin Would Separate You From God, Everyone Will Die With at Least One Unrepentant Sin, Enduring to the End to Be Raptured is Proof-texting, 1 Thessalonians 4, Matthew 24, Luke 21, Sinning Less and Doing More Good Things Isn't Good Enough, Be Perfect Like God, Matthew 5:48, Christ Who Endured to the End, Hebrews 12, Cut Short for the Sake of the Elect, The Elect is Believers, Two Judgments, Bema Seat, Great White Throne, Revelation 20, Eyes Have Not Seen Ears Have Not Heard, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Those Who Love Him, Poured His Love into Us, Romans 5:5, Incorruptible Love, Ephesians 6:24, Grace Explodes in Heaven, No Rewards Ceremony, Gold Silver and Bronze Metals, Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25, Parable of the Vineyard Workers, Matthew 20, I No Longer Call You Servants but Friends, John 15:15, Seated in Christ, Ephesians 2, Looking for Signs of His Return, Saved From the Wrath of God, 1 Thessalonians 5:1, Romans 5:9, Two Separate Wraths, Wrath Over Sin is Satisfied, Coming Wrath for This Planet, New Neighborhood, God Lavished His Love on Us, Children of God, 1 John 3:1, Two-Faced Father, Revelation Easy to Decipher, Prophecies Easy to Figure Out, No Part of Revelation Speaks of a Rapture, Revelation 7, Great Tribulation, Revelation 13, 42 Months, Mark of the Beast, Buy and Sell, Horned Dragon, Revelation 20, Thousand Year Reign, Revelation 22, Charts and Graphs, Coming soon, Reward is With Me, Repay Each Person According to What They've Done, Reward of Inheritance, Colossians 3, Read Revelation Fearlessly, New Covenant Prophecy Written Symbolically, Don't Try to Predict the Return of Jesus, Everyone Is Not Saved, Coast Guard Offers Saving, Inclusionism, Universalism, Ministry of Reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5, Be Reconciled, We Plead with You, Not Holding Sins Against You, Competent Ministers of the New Covenant, 2 Corinthians 3, When He Comes Back it Will Be Awesome Support the Show.Sign up for Matt's free daily devotional! https://mattmcmillen.com/newsletter

Matthew 20 “Grace, Greatness, and the Kingdom of God” 1. Parable of the Vineyard Workers (v.1-16) 2. Jesus Again Predicts His Death (v.17-19) 3. Request of James & John's Mom (v.20-28) 4. Two Blind Men Receive Their Sight (v.29-34)

In this episode Costi Hinn unpacks Matthew 20:1-13 and the parable of the vineyard workers. In this passage Jesus highlights the nature of God's sovereign grace and His prerogative to save who He wants to, when He wants to, and use them however He wants to. This episode will be a great encouragement to those who may feel like a second-class citizen in Christ because they are late bloomers when it comes to salvation. 

Topics: Revelation 3:16, Revelation 2-3, Revelation 3:15-17, Spit You Out of His Mouth, Spew You Out, Hot OR Cold, Hot Serves a Purpose, Cold Serves a Purpose, Lukewarm Serves No Purpose, Lukewarms, On Fire For the Lord, Cultural Christianity, Depart From Me, Mixing Law with Grace, Laodicean Hot and Cold Water From Neighboring Town, What Do You Do “For” the Lord, On Fire Competition, Luke 18, “I Fast and I Tithe,” Not Like This Sinner, “I Go to Church,” Comparison Game, Someone Is Always More on Fire, Not About Losing Salvation, Not About Losing Rewards, Hebrews 7:25, John 14:19, Matthew 20, Parable of the Vineyard Workers, Reward of the Inheritance, Colossians 3, Loss of Purposefulness, Loss Sight of First Love, Revelation 2, Abandoning Jesus, Jezebel Teaching Sexual Immorality, Licentiousness, Woman Teaching, 1 Timothy 2, Food Sacrificed to Idols, Lampstand Removed, Modern Church Has Forgotten Its First Love, Moralism, Principles, Law and Grace, King in the Church, Ignoring of 1 Corinthians 11-14, Give to Get, One Main Member, Not Encouraged to Participate, Roman Imperialism and Tradition of Men, Sermons, Cult-Like Gatherings, It Will Not Be Like This Among You, Matthew 20:26, Mark 10:43, Body Life Removed, Revelation 3:17, “You Say You're Rich and Wealthy and Don't Need a Thing,” “Wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked,” Distasteful to Jesus, Anti-Gospel, Not Forgiven, Not Righteous, Call Saints Sinners and Tell Them Not to Sin, Call the Righteousness of God “Not One Righteous!”, Try Harder, Put God First, Obey Pastor, What Is Purposefulness, Expressing the Fruit of the Spirit, Not Judging or Condemning, John 12:47, John 3:7, The World Stands Judged and Condemned Already Because of Unbelief, He Won't Spit You Out, Even When You're Faithless He Remains Faithful, 2 Timothy 2:13, Persuade others With the Love of Jesus, He Will Hold No Sin Against you, 2 Corinthians 5:19, Christ's Ambassadors, Be Reconciled, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Be Hot, Be Cold, Be Purposeful, Be Yourself, Remember Your First Love and Express Him.CORRECTION: I said Acts chapter 2 when describing Jezebel but I was talking about Revelation 2.Support the showSign up for Matt's free daily devotional! https://mattmcmillen.com/newsletter

How often does our expectations of God surpass what He has promised? How does that affect our lives and how we love others? Jesus sheds more light on the economics of the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew 20.

Welcome to the TFC Biblecast! Start your day off right and join us as we take the next 10 minutes to dive into God's word. Today's verses are from Matthew 20:1-16. If we can pray for you, email us at biblecast@tfc.org.

In this week's episode, we listen to Jesus teaching through story, or as we often call them, parables. In this parable, Jesus is trying to get his thick-headed disciples to understand what it means to live with generosity based on the grace of God. He wants His disciples, then and now, to see that the rules for living in the Kingdom of God are not like the worlds and are fundamentally different. So, Jesus tells the story of the Vineyard Workers. What is that story, that parable? Well, listen on to find out.

Envy and anxiety can get in the way of generosity. In this episode, Pastor Colleen and Emer Kate dig into the Parable of the Vineyard Workers. More than just a story about God's expanisve love, this parable invites us to reflect on how working together enables each person's needs to be provided for.  Short Stories by Jesus - Amy-Jill Levine All Places Together (APT) is a non-geographic community, based in Virginia. APT seeks to gather individuals who are searching for God in the wilderness of life, individuals who deeply want to connect to something beyond themselves, and individuals who believe the love of Jesus is embodied in all of God's diverse creation. Thank you to our Mission Partners: Virginia Synod (www.vasynod.org) and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (www.elca.org). To give to All Places Together, visit our website: http://www.allplacestogether.org/ Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the button "Give to All Places Together". This will take you to the APT giving page. Enter your contribution amount to the basket and follow the instructions to check out!

Discussion Questions for “101 Bible Questions” – Fear, Judgment, and Reward: Why is our total forgiveness so important to understanding the final judgment? In your own words, describe what will actually happen to you on the Day of Judgment. What does the truth about the final judgment make you feel? React to this statement: The bema seat is a great, white throne. It's all one judgment! How does the phrase “reward of the inheritance” help us understand our reward better? What happened in the Parable of the Vineyard Workers? How does that factor in? What are the three crowns mentioned? What do they represent? How do the 24 elders drive this point home?

On this episode of Preaching the Text, John Hoyum and Steve Paulson discuss the Parable of the Vineyard Workers. However, at the end of the parable, we find that the owner of the vineyard compensates the workers all the same – which means that their reward is based on the right choice of the owner instead of the labor of the workers. Here we see just how the kingdom of Christ is different from the kingdom of this world, ruled by the law: Christ gives freely and chooses freely without respect to work. But here in the old world, both hierarchy and labor remain for a little while. Show Notes: Support 1517 1517 Podcasts The 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts 1517 on Youtube What's New from 1517: 2023 Advent Resources Faith and Reason Exchange @ 1517.org 2023 HWSS Conference Livestream Signup Join the 1517 Academy Faith in the Face of Tyranny More from the hosts: John Hoyum Steven Paulson