All that we have, including all that the church receives and has belongs to Him. Notice that Jesus says here to the disciples, "You are already made clean." And he tells them about the three questions he asked: Do you love work? He says, first, "As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." 1. But when that call comes at the eleventh hour, they cannot say that they had not been called. Working in Gods Vineyard Many are called to do Gods work. They were not to attempt to do the occupation without assistance. Either we will feel inadequate or have pride or grumble. It might be something seemingly insignificant that may be behind the scenes or a small task or it might On the other hand, our Lord gives us the results of fruitbearing -- four beautiful manifestations. In our churches and Sunday schools, the need for born again, soul-winning workers is very great. When our Lord says "Abide in me," he is talking about the will, about the choices, the decisions we make. To uphold the dignity of work and the rights of workers means to question unjust systems that violate human dignity by not paying a fair wage, withholding wages or preventing workers from their right to organize and bargain collectively for their safety, livelihood and protections on the job. Jesus told the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard to illustrate the point that no one deserves Gods grace and each of us should joyfully serve Him with the time we are given. We expect that those who work harder and longer will receive a greater reward than those who do not. God owns the vineyard! And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, Friend, I am doing you no wrong. The good news is that God does bestow grace on us, the eleventh hour workers, and we receive the same reward of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal glory as the earliest workers. When the Landowner went out at the eleventh hour and asked, Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing? (verse 6), they replied, Because no-one has hired us (verse 7). A certain sense of fairness comes into question among some of the workers, and the parable ends by emphasizing the owners generosity over any subjective view of This gift is for everyone. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright 2023, Christianity.com. On the other hand, he says, "He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." And in the 80th Psalm, the Psalmist says that God "brought a vine out of Egypt" and planted it in a good land, Psalms 80:8). God graciously gives according to His will, as He so chooses. RayStedman.org/permissions. You can operate your business without Christ. That is, "This pruning has gone on in your life already." The traditional site of the Upper Room in Jerusalem is on the western side of the Old City, on the slopes of Mount Zion. The parable occurs between two very similar statements in Matthew: The first will be last, and the last first. Note in verses 4 and 7 that He sent them out. If you open your Bible and begin to read it without the conscious expectation that it is going to tell you something about him, you will read in vain. Do you love Jesus? We know that your work with us is to the end that we may produce more fruit, that all of us here in this vineyard will be so fruit-laden, that it will be a fruitful place which will make the world around us drool with desire to learn the secret of such fruit. He or she may not have sung in a choir, never taught a Sunday School class, nor been a part of a church committee. We must make choices, we must determine to expose ourselves to him, we must seek his face in the Word and in prayer and in fellowship with others. Making decisions and then trying to do the whole thing yourself, as though the whole responsibility rests upon you, is going to produce a fruitless Christian life -- intense activity, but no results. How that can be deduced from this parable is difficult to understand, because there is nothing in it which suggests that at all. Even though Israel is Gods chosen people, He opened the door for salvation to everyone. So from this point on we properly should no longer call this passage of Scripture the Upper Room Discourse. Was it unfair for them to receive what they received from the master of the vineyard? There are at least four truths this parable teaches us: The first thing we ought to realize about this parable is that the master owns the vineyard. In a vineyard the vines are pruned not just once in their lifetimes; the process is repeated every spring. Mark Bailey calls this parable, A day on the job in the kingdom of He may have been eager to make sure people had work. Again, He is the Master of the vineyard, not us. It is not part of the fruit itself; it is the result of a life which increasingly is becoming Christlike. Fruitfulness gives GOD glory. Would we really begrudge Gods grace on the latecomers, including ourselves? The remainder, Chapters15 through17, occurred as they were walking on their way to the Garden of Gethsemene. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." For example, the Lord needs: To all of us the Lord says - Revelation 3:8! There is a world to evangelize. These disciples, familiar with the Old Testament, would immediately think of several places where it was used. (LogOut/ That is what Jesus is talking about. However, we are not entitled to anything, especially from God. In agriculture theres a sowing season, then a reaping season. The fruit, in other words, is Christ-likeness. And from that we saw that obedience grows out of love. There is a great need for Gods people today to get a worldwide missionary vision because we can be very local and parochial in our concept of the Lords work. The Angel of the Lord comes to Samson's Parents. He does not mean that without him you remain just an immobile blob. Also, Jesus teaches in this parable that all who come to Him will be equal in the kingdom of God, rich or poor, Jew or Gentile, young or old. None of us deserve Gods grace. Probably everyone feels that a person ought to be compensated fairly for his or her work. Your whole family had done it; it had been a family characteristic. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Christians should work diligently to glorify the Lord and bring others to Christ, and because of the genuineness of our hearts will we obtain rewards in This is what our Lord has in view. I struggled for a while with this word prunes because in the Greek it is really "cleanses." If you try to pray as though it were some exercise in which you chalk off fifteen minutes' worth, mechanically going through a list like the turning of a prayer wheel, it is a valueless experience. And if you are truly loving him, you can ask whatever you will. Well, that is the work of the Father, and it is done in order that you might bear more fruit, be more like Jesus in your reactions -- in your home, in your shop, in your recreation, wherever you may be with people -- that you may be like Christ. They may have been members of churches for years, but there is no life evident at all. Joy, that sense of gladness of relationship with him, will increase as we go. That is, he cuts it off, he eliminates it from the life of the vine. Israel rejected God and were disobedient. That is, it will be fruitlessness again. Apprenticeship graduate Joseph Kenyiawa, who was resettled through Catholic Charities in Nashville from Sudan 20 years ago, is a pillar of the Sudanese Catholic community. You can make it run well. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. He responded, This man thinks that because he has been a consistent church member for thirty years, a faithful Sunday school superintendent for twenty-five years, and an elder in the church for twenty years, that God is under obligation to answer his prayer. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. Those are the ones which arise out of our evil nature, our fallen Adamic nature, which produces in us those characteristics which are different than the fruit of the Spirit -- resentment, anger, bitterness, selfishness, egocentricity, love of praise -- these qualities which tend to arise within us so frequently. I have been the superintendent of the Sunday school for twenty-five years, and an elder in the church for twenty years; and yet God does not answer my prayer and I cannot understand it. Do you love God for Who He is, or do you love Him for the benefits He gives you? -Serving The third result is the deeper experience of Christ's love: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. We do not have to work at it. A friend of mine passed through Palo Alto this week on his way to Colorado to participate in a very unusual ranch. Why Did Pharaoh Tell Joseph to Enjoy the 'Fat of the Land'? We also have a day in which to work for the Lord - look up 2 Corinthians 6:2 - the Day of Grace. If we use the basic principle of understanding Scripture, which is common to all of Scripture -- letting Scripture interpret itself -- there is no doubt as to what this fruit is. God came looking for justice and righteousness; instead he found oppression, cruelty, exploitation, and indifference to the needs of others. You see, you can make choices but you cannot fulfill them. (LogOut/ Vineyards were especially evocative as they produced wine, to gladden their hearts (Ps 104:15). Secondly, there is the demonstration of discipleship, Verse8: "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples." (Isaiah 5:7 RSV). In the parable that Jesus tells, the master of the vineyard called many, You too go and work in my vineyard!. The last point is that we are the laborers in the Masters vineyard. 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