We're going to be looking like Nicole said at a parable today. We're going to continue looking at the kingdoms. It's been an eight month series. And before we dive into this week's content, I actually want to just make sure that we didn't miss last week's content.
Because I felt like last week's content was a bit of an aha moment for me. So Pastor Alex shared last week. He taught on the parable that many of us know of the shepherd that leaves the 99 to go after the one. And he teed that up in such a way that a lot of us were ready for the evangelism message, go get them, leave the 99, go after the one.
And yes, for sure that was part of the message. But Alex's message was titled, Follow the Shepherd. And the entire content was essentially revolving around this theme of going, you're not the shepherd, you get to follow the shepherd. The pressure is off of you.
I'm not going to sit up here and put a bunch of pressure and you go and do the kingdom stuff. He was saying all of life, including evangelism, is just following the shepherd. And at the end, I felt like I had this moment, like I said, this kind of aha moment. Because we've been talking about the kingdom for eight months and trying to name what is it.
How do I participate? What does it mean to live in the kingdom? And I felt like it was summed up in just Alex saying, yes, Lord, with a smile. I wonder if the best summary of how to live in the kingdom is, yes, Lord, with a smile.
Because Alex was laying out. It's not just following the shepherd to head down. This is going to be awful. He was like, oh, there's freedom to fail.
There's freedom to take risks. The pressure is not on you. This is the right way. This is the good way.
And so it makes sense that when we go, I'm a sheep. He's the shepherd. I just say, yes, Lord. And I follow.
Right? I felt like that was actually really important for us to latch onto and go, okay, listen and obey. We've had that paradigm here. Do you guys remember that the make room fast?
The 48 fast was in the series? It was like eight years ago. It was like a long time ago, but it's been a continual exploration of how do we live in the kingdom? It's very obvious if yes, Lord, with a smile isn't the best summary we found yet.
So I want to make sure that we're kind of honing in on that because I think that's important. But I do want to dive in to a parable today that yes, following Jesus is the best way. And we'll talk about that. And there's also sometimes it doesn't need our expectations.
There's also sometimes where it feels a little strange or as the slide behind me says, almost unfair. And we should talk about that because it's really, really good to talk about that because on the other side of that discussion, there's more understanding about the king and the kingdom. So today, we're going to be looking at the parable of the 11th hour worker. Some of you might know this is the parable of the workers in the vineyard.
Okay? So if you want to turn there, you can absolutely do so. Turn to Matthew 20. That's going to be our anchor for today because this is one of those parables that Jesus starts the, he starts the thing by going, the kingdom of heaven is like, you're like, what?
Teach me, tell me, I want to know. And so we're going to sit under Matthew 20. But if you remember a few weeks ago, I gave a revelatory Bible study comment when I told everyone it's important if you're reading the Bible to understand the context of the past that you're reading. Many of you were like, I was going to go to Bible school, but now that Ben shared that, I think I got it.
I think I'm good. It's really important to know the context of what you're reading. And so yes, we're going to anchor in Matthew 20, but I believe that we can understand more of what's happening here if we just go back a little bit and we're going to look at Matthew 19 starting in verse 16. So Matthew 19, 16 kind of sets the context and stage the landscape.
What's going on here? We get that in Matthew 19 and I'll give a summary for us, but this is the story that many of us know about the rich man that comes to Jesus and says, what must I do to follow you? And Jesus says, sell all your stuff. And he goes, dang it and walks away sad because Jesus targeted the one thing that was like most dear to him, right?
And then his disciples, they're not sitting there going, can't believe that guy didn't give up his stuff. The disciples are actually left going, how can anyone be saved? Right? That's their comment.
Guy walks away. Jesus says, I'll tell you this, it's harder for a camel to get through the eye of a needle and for the rich to enter into heaven. And rather than gloat, they're just like, can anyone be saved? Can anyone get into the kingdom?
And that's where Jesus says, that phrase he says with man, this is impossible, but I'll tell you with God, all things are possible. Okay? So that's the context then that we get to verse 27. And I'm going to be reading today out of the new living translation, the NLT.
Normally I'm an ESV man today. It just made more sense to read it out of this. And just as a quick side, people have asked this many times, like, what's the everyday approved version of the Bible? We just love God.
Go read the Bible. Don't make it the main thing about which translation is like, do this much, study, pick one and stick with it. So you can memorize it. That's my advice to you.
Okay? But there are times when I'm reading my normal, you know, ESV that I have, and I'm like, I don't know what that unit of time means. I don't know what that phrase means. That feels like it's worded funny.
And so then I'll go to the NLT. And so today I'm going to teach out of the NLT. So I'm going to start in Matthew 19, 27. So the disciples are there and they go, who's going to get into heaven?
And Jesus says, with man, it's impossible to God, all things are possible. And Peter says, in verse 27, Peter, good old Peter, who just says whatever comes into his mind, good old Peter, who is kind of just like the ready fire aim. He's just, that's Peter, right? So Peter says to him, we've given up everything to follow you.
What will we get? It's just funny. Like all throughout the scriptures, you see the disciples like trying so hard to keep it together and be like good disciples. And you get these moments of, you know, like when James and John are like, okay, quick one on the one's looking, when you come in your power, come on your left hand, right hand.
Just close to you. I want power. Great, thanks. One of them, where they're like, just making sure, there is a payoff for all of this, right?
And it's an honest question. And Peter's asking this because we're in this context of the rich man needs to give up everything and now he's going, well, I gave up everything. So what do I get? Right?
Honest question. Thanks for asking it for us, Peter. So we can go with this guy. And we all have the same question.
And I do believe that Jesus' answer is sincere. He answers Peter and he says, I assure you, that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sister or father or mother or children or property for my sake will receive 100 times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. There's an actual answer and it's a good one.
It's like Jesus says, yeah, no, following me is the best way. By committing your life to the all loving, all powerful, all generous God, my goodness, it's going to be worth it. Don't you worry about the cost because what's coming is going to blow your mind. And he knows who he's talking to.
He knows he's talking to Peter and James and John are probably back there listening. They're trying to figure out what they're going to get and he goes, gosh, they need a little more help. Because then he says in the very last verse of Matthew 19, he says, many where the greatest now will be least important then. And those who seem least important now will be greatest then.
He just talked about all the stuff and the mansions up in heaven and you're going to get it 100 times more. And he's going, just guys, I, but it's not what you think. Don't just set your sights on sweet. So I gave up stuff and I get stuff.
He's going, it doesn't work like that. The greatest that you see now are actually the least, least it's great to tell you what, let me tell you are terrible. And that's how we find ourselves in Matthew 20. Okay?
Matthew 20, Jesus is telling this parable to his disciples on the heels of this conversation they just had. 16 verses, so everyone take a deep breath, you're going to listen to me talk for 16 verses, we're going to be okay. And LT, here we go. For the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said, he's like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. At nine o'clock in the morning, he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. So he hired them, telling them that he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. So they went to work in the vineyard.
At noon. And again, at three o'clock, he did the same thing. At five o'clock that afternoon, he was in the town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, why haven't you been working today?
And they replied, because no one hired us. The landowner told them, then go out and join the others in my vineyard. That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. When those hired at five o'clock were paid, he'd received a full day's wage.
When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they'd receive more. But they too were paid a day's wage. When they received their pay, they protested to the owner. Those people worked only one hour.
They paid them just as much as you paid us who'd been working all day at the swarching heat. The answer to them, and I haven't been unfair. Didn't you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take your money and go.
I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous? Because I'm kind to others.
And Jesus said, so those who are last now will be first then. And those who are first will be last. The first will be last, the last shall be first. It's done in the context of Jesus talking about the kingdom and what the king is like.
And that is what this passage is about. And sometimes this passage, which again many of us have heard this passage, a lot of times we miss that he says the kingdom of heaven is like the master or like the landowner. He's saying this is what the kingdom is like. And immediately he says, it's like landowner.
This is the focus. Which is great because some of us who are business owners have been reading this and going I guess if I have to follow Jesus means I have to pay everyone exactly the same wage regardless of how much they work. It seems like he's advocating for communism and everyone just gets the same thing. It's like nope, that's not what this is talking about.
He's not talking about just labor laws. He's not talking about the economy. He's saying, I want you to understand what the kingdom is like. Look at the master.
Look at this guy and how he interacts and that's your sight line in the kingdom. So we can't just pick this parable and apply it to other parts of our life. And then that suddenly feels very wrong to a lot of us. I think it is.
I think there is principles of sewing and reaping. I think there is a lot of things that talk about your business. This isn't one of them. Great.
Likewise, this is not something that we read and take permission and go, the guy only worked one hour and got the full pay. I guess I'm going to live it up just a little bit. And then I get some gray hairs and my back starts hurting. I get a sight line into old age.
Maybe that'll take the whole kingdom thing seriously because God's going to pay out the same either way. Nope, not what he's talking about. Not what the point of this is. He didn't say the kingdom of God is like the laborers.
He said the kingdom of God is like the master. So the whole goal of this is to look at what God is like and get a revelation of what the kingdom is like because of how the landowner who is God, if you didn't know, let me quickly just dispel this parable. Landowner is God. Great.
He's saying, no, look at me. This is what I'm like. And that's your sight line into the kingdom. So we've been looking and in this whole summer as we've been exploring parables this whole year actually as we've been exploring parables, we've been using this method of Jewish rabbinical teaching called Pardesse where you break down different levels of understanding.
Again, this is not trying to be super spiritual and misobvious things. We're accepting all the obvious things. When this can disciple me, that's called the Pashot. That's like the first level.
And then where there's other things deeper or where there's inferences or where there's references or where there's allegories that we can learn from, we do that too. But the surface level of this, I believe, is Jesus talking to his disciples and saying, yes, there is work. Yes, not all works going to be the same. But you all get paid.
And the landowner is super generous. I think he's just kind of wanting to do away with some of the like, what do I get the fear of like, am I going to get a reward for this? He's going, yep, everyone gets paid. It's not going to be the way that you think.
So you're coming in with your metrics of if this, then this, he's saying, that's not really how this works. So love you, Peter. Don't equate. Here's what I've done.
So what will I get? He's saying, that's not how the kingdom works. Everyone's going to get paid. I promise.
He's generous. I promise. I think the surface level is Jesus kind of deescalating and going, you will absolutely get rewarded because I love you and I'm generous. But please don't come with entitlement.
Please don't come with a, I've made my list and here's what you owe me, God. He's saying, that's not how this works. This is true of many of the parables. And if me saying this, I feel like there was other parables that said this, I think he knows that we need to hear it a lot.
I think that we are preconditioned to if this, then this transaction. I did this for you. You do that for me. And I think he's addressing it.
It's hard to miss that when you read that. So that's what we call the Pichat. It seems to be the overarching theme of this. And then we've really had fun this year exploring the Ramese, which is the next stage where we go, do you think he's referencing something?
Is there some sort of Old Testament passage that makes this make more sense? Is there a context here that I'm missing? So we go just a little bit deeper. And I think it's actually fairly obvious what the Ramese is here, what the hint that he's hinting at is.
So like I said, stripping this back from a parable, the landowner, the master, is God. The vineyard, that language of a vineyard is actually found in the Old Testament quite a bit. And in every time, it's talking about God's domain, his people, where he is, his kingdom, one might say. So in Isaiah 5, there's this story where it's like a song parable of the prophets singing about God and this vineyard that gets abandoned.
But in Isaiah 5, it says, the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. The men of Judah are as pleasant planting. It's saying like the people of God, where God is, at that time it's like this is what the kingdom is. So I think we can say that the vineyard is like doing work in God's kingdom.
So then we can ask, well, okay, do we know who the laborers are? I think we have some very good clues as to who the laborers are. You guys have heard, if you've been around, we've talked about a lot of parables and there's a lot of them where Jesus is hammering home to his target audience. This isn't just about you.
Right? He's speaking almost exclusively in his ministry to the people of Israel. People of Israel are those who were there at the beginning. So I think that when we're looking at who's who in this, it's absolutely right to say that the laborers who were there right at the beginning, so by the way, part of the reason why I like the NLD is it's not like the first hour, the fifth hour, the seventh hour.
I don't know what that means. I looked it up because I wanted to know. In the Hebrew time calendar, the first hour, like the start of the day is 6 AM, the 12th hour is 6 PM. It's like sun up to sundown.
So when we say the 11th hour worker in this parable, that means they started at 5 o'clock. Okay? So if we take that timeline back and we go, who's there? Write the crack of dawn.
Who is there at the beginning? I think that's Israel. I think that's the people of Israel. And I have further confirmation of this because if you notice, as Jesus, Jesus, as the master in this parable is talking to each one of these people groups, his discussion sounds slightly different in terms of the agreed upon price.
The first group, it says he went out, he found them, and they agreed on a price. It's the only time where it seems like he involved the other party in the discussion. Because you can't just agree with someone by telling them what it is. Like, if I'm fully in charge of my home and I've got little babies, I'm like, we've agreed it's bedtime.
It's like, no, you decided it's bedtime. Agreement means there's two parties and they made an agreement. That sounds like covenant. This sounds like the people of Israel who were there at the beginning who made an agreement and got said, I'm going to do this, this isn't going to bless you.
I'm going to do this. Here's the day's wage. The bill goes, sounds good. I got hired, right at the crack of dawn.
And then there's a group at nine and a group at 12 and a group at three who weren't there at the beginning. And you'll notice that God doesn't agree on a price. He just says, you come work for me, I'll pay you what's fair. I think that that's the Gentiles.
I think that's the open door of the kingdom where he's going, no, everyone gets in. Nine, noon, three, I promise you, I'm going to pay you fairly. Let's get to work. Kingdoms big enough, there's enough more.
Bring them all in. Bring them all in. And then I think that there's a specific attribute of this last group, the 5PM crew. I think there's a specific attribute there that I'm just going to call deathbed disciples.
Where it's like, man, your contributions really aren't going to do much. I'm not hiring you because of what you can perform in, because of all you can produce. There's an invitation to people at five o'clock. This is at the very end.
The deathbed disciples, those that are being like, man, I've done wrong. I have no reason to be included in this workforce. I have no reason to be hired. What are you still doing here?
No one hired me. I'll hire you. And there's not even a compensation package. He just says, you can go work in my vineyard because everyone's in.
This is like the thief on the cross, right? Where it's like, we have no idea about this guy's backstory, but I know he's received capital punishment, calls him the thief on the cross. He seems like he's not a great dude. All he says to Jesus is, Jesus, Jesus, remember me in your kingdom.
Jesus says, 559, but you made it, buddy. Come on in. Today you'll be with me in paradise. I think there's something we can see about the heart of God in this that is so beautiful.
This is, like I said, there's references. If we're trying to go Rames and look at Old Testament passages, there's Isaiah 5. It says that foreigners will work in Israel's vineyard. I'm like, okay, I think we have some evidence to go.
I think this talk about Gentiles. But really, there isn't anything unique about this understanding because Paul even says this specific revelation about the open door of the kingdom. This was kind of a New Testament thing. There's hints of it for sure in the Old Testament.
But Paul says in Ephesians 3, he says that this mystery is made known to me by revelation, which was not made known to people in other generations as it's now been revealed by the Spirit of God. This mystery is that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel. He's saying, it used to be exclusively just, we agreed on a price. And the way this works is I hire you.
You do this. It's going to be awesome. That used to be the only way in. But now Jesus is going, and then he goes back to the market at nine and he goes back at noon and back at three and back at five because he's wanting everyone who wants work.
You can come work in my vineyard. It's beautiful. This is a bit of a digression. But if you're like, hey, I'd learn more about that, Romans 9 through 11 is like all about this.
And the language is so similar to what Jesus is even talking about in this parable where he's saying like, you know, when we read that in the NLD, it's like, do you get to tell me what to do with my own money? That's kind of what Jesus is saying here. That's what we're saying here. And that's what Paul's saying in Romans 9, 10, and 11.
Yeah, you don't get to complain, Israel. Well, what do you mean the Gentiles get in? Man, we worked hard. We were the chosen people.
We did all this stuff. And Jesus is going, you don't get to tell me what to do with my grace. You don't get to tell me what to do with my generosity. I want everyone in.
And if I decide this, that's how it's going to be. And by the way, Romans 11, he goes, everyone's going to get paid. Don't worry. Israel's going to get fully paid too.
I'm kind. I'm generous. Paul writes this whole kind of theological thing about Israel and the Gentiles and all this stuff. And then he ends Romans 11 by going, oh, the mystery and the power and the beauty and the wisdom and the revelation of God.
Who can understand this? Paul's not left going. Well, so who gets what? He's got his little abacus out.
He's not doing this. He's going like God's the best. And so I think that we should be left with, wow, God's the best. And so when we're looking at the Ramesse, I think I'd be missing the point if I was teaching this and I didn't bring up the Israel Gentiles thing.
And you guys know if you better not talk about that a lot because Jesus is consistently trying to let people know, hey, the door is wide open. There's the fish in the net. There's that one. There's the sheep in the goats.
There's all these different parallels. And he's trying to get people to understand I want everyone to come. So that's awesome. And there's a lot of good teaching that we've done on that.
But the next step down in the par-dest teaching is what's called the d'Rash. And the d'Rash is where we go. All right. So I think I know what he's saying at a surface level.
And I think that there's some hints I picked up looking backwards in the Old Testament is like, what is this saying to me? And without going to in the weeds here, like, I hope you guys know we don't read the Bible all the time to go, what's this saying about me? So this is not like a exegetical model. Don't teaching you.
But I do think that there's mysteries in here. I think there's ways that we can look at this and go, okay, maybe you were referencing Israel and the Gentiles. I think there's something in here that you would speak to our community in 2025. The room full of, I don't know your ethnicity.
Most of us are Gentiles. We're not ethnic Hebrews. So that's awesome. We got in.
But what else can I learn through this? And I think there's a ton that we can learn through this because we can look at this story and very easily see ourselves in it. And we can very easily, if we actually put ourselves in the shoes of the workers, be left going, wait a second. That actually doesn't feel very fair.
You're like, yep, God's gracious and he's kind and he's generous. And they did work a lot more than the other guys. And it pushes on that thing in us that has a justice meter. All of us have some level of justice meter where you might be able to put your head down and go through life.
But there's things that pop up and you go, that doesn't feel fair, right? All of us have that to varying degrees. And if you take the timeline back a little bit and go back to like little kids, you're like, oh, yes, everyone has a justice meter, right? I don't know what it's like for parents with one kid.
I'm sure it's really hard. But as soon as you get more than one kid, it's like there has never been a greater desire for democracy and for fairness and for justice and for equity than when you've got children. The second, you hand an ice cream cone to one kid. Everyone else goes, what about me?
Where's mine? I'm not a justice meter. You're like, all right, so and so had a big game today. They had their first soccer game.
We're going to go celebrate with ice cream. I can ice cream too, right? It's not just me like I didn't play but like they got ice cream so I can ice cream. Birthdays.
It's not even your birthday. And the kid's crying. Like, oh, I'm going to make his presents because it's a birthday. I want presents.
It's not fair. Right? You hit constantly with the fairness. Kids have a justice meter that is very apparent.
And it's essentially the same principle that we have as adults. Hopefully we've matured. Hopefully you're not just immediately offended every time that someone like gets into the elevator before you. You're like, that's not fair.
I hope we're maturing a little. But we all have that justice meter. At a certain point, we go, well, but if they got that, I deserve it too. All of us have that at some level in our lives.
And that's where I kind of want to push on us a little bit because I think that's kind of what Jesus is poking at here. He's going, you have an equation in your head that if I work hard and or it costs me something, I'm entitled to a payout. And I think that in some areas of our life, that's true. Like I said, I don't think Jesus is talking about economics here.
So if I'm working all day for a job, I expect to get paid. Yep. If there's someone's job who's crazy easy and they get paid more than someone whose job is crazy hard, we're like, yeah, that feels wrong, right? We can look at almost every area of our life and go, if it costs me something, if it hurts a little bit, what's the recompense?
What's the reward? Go back to parenting because for those who didn't know, those are parents, it's 98% of your life. It's just trying to keep these things alive. And so parenting.
It's like, wow, it's been a struggle today. I felt like I was in a boxing match all day and I didn't have gloves and they did and I for sure lost. And now they're finally in bed and it's like, all leads back to ice cream, right? Kids want the ice cream?
It's like, I just want to sit down on the couch and find somebody's cream. And frankly, I deserve that. Because did you see what happened today, right? And then there's like, we have this justice thing that goes, that costs me something.
So now what do I get? The same question Peter had and we gave it a ton. What do we get? And Jesus is just going, ah, please don't apply that to the kingdom.
Please don't apply that same thing that all of you have and think that that same scale, that same equation of hard work and pain and sacrifice equals reward. He's going, please don't bring that here because that's not how this works. And I think that for a lot of us, that justice meter thing, there's something that's like a little bit of a buffer for us as we're growing in our spiritual maturity when it pertains to purely non-spiritual things in this fairness thing, right? Like the turn the other cheek message, right?
So you're like, man, I was standing in line and this person budged in line, which for a four year old is the end of the world, but for you as a well-resourced adult who's one fellow Jesus, you just go, you know what, that's okay. I can wait. Patience is a virtue, isn't it, Lord? Thank you for your grace.
I can do this. Awesome. And then it gets a little more intense, maybe you're like, yeah, no, I've worked this company for 10 years. I was in line for the raise and the promotion.
This person's been here for one year. If you compare a resume, it's pretty obvious I'm the more qualified candidate. Everyone thought I was going to get the job. And then Blaze, whatever this young kid's name is, gets promoted in front of me.
And you're like, ah, and you're frustrated, but you can go, man, didn't the Lord say he promised trials and tribulations. This is what he was talking about. God, thank you for your grace. I'm going to choose to forgive.
I'm going to choose to turn the other cheek. I'm not going to get upset. And some of us are maybe even at that point in our discipleship to Jesus where we're going, wow, that's actually, yeah, that feels unjust, but I'm going to choose to go low. I'm going to choose to model Jesus in this environment.
And then we get hit with the spiritual things. This is where that equation that we have gets exposed a little bit because is God not a God of justice. And it's not someone else. Now it's about me and the Lord.
And now we've got something to talk about. Now I've been believing in faith to be healed for 15 years. I've been to every single prayer meeting every time. I've got the faith meter going up.
I'm like, OK, Lord, you can do anything. You can do anything. And I showed up for the meeting. And I got prayed for it and nothing happened.
And I'm just going to keep plowing. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep showing up. Who's this new guy?
Oh, you wouldn't believe it. They just got healed of the exact same thing you have on the first night they showed up. Good for them. And that thing starts to rise up where you go.
What the heck, Lord? Right? But I was doing all this stuff. I've been around longer.
Man, I've been serving my tail off at every day. I've served on every team. Every time that someone gets up here and asks, I go, yep, I'll do that too. I've been building this house.
I have been putting my hand to the plow. I've been doing this stuff. And then they asked this guy to lead that team. Well, I'm out there communicating this guy.
I think that I can do this job. I've been around longer. Lord, I was trying to serve you. And I didn't get promoted.
Lord, I've been praying and praying and praying and praying for the breakthrough. I've been praying for just like a shred of hope with all my friends that don't know you. I've been, I've been contending. I've been putting in the time.
Then there's like a two-minute prayer meeting. This guy prays once, comes back the next week with a wild story of all. Everyone's ever known got saved. Like, Lord, what are we doing?
And we start to get the tension of, but look at what I've done. And we're left. Like Peter going, so what do I get? And here's where we have to have some maturity friends.
I love being able to speak to our church in a way that's like, hey, I'm going to call us up to be spiritually mature because we so badly want things to be this or that, black or white. And it's just not. Like, it's, there has to be more nuance in how we process this because is God the healer? Yes.
Does God bring breakthrough? Yes. Are you seen and known and loved and your services under the Lord? Yes.
Things are true. Yes. He's going to pay you to use the language of the parable. And so that's true.
But then we're stuck going, but this doesn't feel fair. Right? Some people are like, man, I think I'm kind of a catch. I've been faithfully pursuing the Lord for a while.
Proverbs 31, woman over here. Like a lot going for me. I think this haircut's rather fetching. Feeling pretty good.
But I've been, I've been in this game for a while and I just got the wedding invite for my 20-year-old niece who's getting married. Can't wait to be there. And there's tension. And some of us are laughing and some are like, please don't say that.
Because it's like that actually hurts because it feels unfair. Trust me, I'm going to take a little deeper. I've been in the room where my friend who, her and her husband have been trying. I can't get pregnant.
I've been in the room when the announcement comes through from the couple that's been married for two months goes, we're having a baby. And she's trying so hard to celebrate. And she just is like, that's awesome and needs to leave the room because that's painful. And the thing rises up and goes, it's not fair.
Right? So I just want to level the playing field going, yeah, we're not above the tension described by the workers going, this doesn't feel fair. I just believe that God wants to speak to us about this because the reality is that the generosity of God is unbelievable. And there is a, his grace is so much better than our justice meter, but there's a tension there.
And so how do we live in the tension of I'm trying to believe that he's good and right now my experience just feels like the hate is unfair. This line behind me, the unfair kingdom, it says like slightly tongue in cheek because if I'm so thankful that God isn't fair, because if he was fair, I'd be toast. If he was fair, then I would be living every day of my life in anxiety going, no, you absolutely deserve to cut me off. You absolutely deserve to not pay me.
You want me to do what in the kingdom? Gosh, I'm a fumbling idiot trying to just do the basics of following Jesus sometimes. I'm so glad he's not fair. I'm so glad that the kingdom isn't this for that exchange transactional.
And it's hard. And there are times where I'm going, man, this does feel like it cost me something, Lord. Like you're just trying to cross the finish line. You're like, is this unto anything or am I just getting swacked over and over and over for no reason?
Yes, there is a payday. And I don't want us to miss that. And there's tension. And so this is the wrestle.
This is the mature believer wrestling with the kingdom going, man, he's kind and merciful and good and generous in all of his ways. What's that question that he asks? Should you be jealous because God is kind to others? I'm like, no, I want to celebrate.
How do I do this? What does this look like? And as I was preparing for this, I felt the Lord give an incredible picture for us to look at in the Bible. So I want us to be discipled tonight by Elizabeth and Mary in the book of Luke.
You guys turn to Luke 1. This is so good. If you've been kind of distracted or like, I don't know what this guy's talking about, click in because this is so good. Because what we see in Luke 1 is two very different stories of two women who end up in very similar situations.
So Elizabeth is John the Baptist's mom, spoiler alert, she has a baby. She's old, like old, old, biologically impossible to have children old. And in that culture, in that context, first century, Near East, childbearing was like the thing for a woman. It's like, this is how I know that I'm a success in life.
This is how I, my status socially, this is how I can know for sure that I've done well is having children. So an enormous amount of pressure to have children. And her and her husband, Zachariah, get married. Zachariah is a priest.
Okay. Well, if God's wanting to bless someone, I mean, there's this priest by all accounts seems incredibly faithful, incredibly God honoring. There's this woman who marries, can't wait to see what the Lord does through this marriage, meaning can't we stand on kids they have. And by year three, it's like, hopefully, doing okay.
There's no baby. You're 10. People are like, well, you know, I was talking to her and I thought that she should try this and this and this and this and this and this whole game. And then by year 20, it's just turning the pity, like societal pity where it's like, oh, poor thing.
She has to go to the market every single day carrying the social questioning, rejection, pity, gross. Yep. That's Elizabeth, the poor thing, never happened. Brutal.
So hard. That's Elizabeth's story. I don't know what her heart was like. I'm just projecting here.
But my goodness, you have some questions. Lord, what is wrong? What did I do wrong? What did you do wrong?
What's happening here? This is all I've ever wanted. This is, my husband's a priest. Like maybe we should do this different and that you start bargaining and going, what am I, what do I need to do different?
She's in this tension and then has to settle and feel the rejection of like biological clock heads ticked, not going to happen. Now I just have to live with this. And then literal Gabriel himself shows up to Zachariah and says, you're not going to believe it. And the news comes that through an act of unbelievable divine generosity and power, Elizabeth is pregnant.
But the redemption, the praise, the like this, I can't believe it. Listen, I love there's a quote from her in this. Luke 1, 24, it says, soon afterwards his wife, Zachariah's wife Elizabeth became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. How kind the Lord is, she exclaimed.
He's taken away my disgrace of having no children. She's like this, everyone around her is like, are you kidding me? She used to be the one that everyone's feeling bad for and everyone's like, did you keep our Elizabeth? Man, this is like Sarah Abraham's wife.
This is like Rebecca. This is like Hannah. This is like, and they're going like this is like one of those stories of old. Oh, she's like a matriarch.
She's just after like 90 years of just like absolute rejection and pain. She's going, he did it. That feels a lot like an 11th hour working to me. I can't believe he let me be part of this thing.
He brought me in. Look at what he's done. Everyone around is celebrating. There's this massive flip and everyone's like, the kingdom.
And then we're introduced to Mary. People smarter than me have said that Mary was likely between like 14 and 16, which is just like unbelievably young. But in that time, that's when people got married and engaged and whole life ahead of her. So she's this, let's just say she's 15.
15 year old girl. She's engaged. All of her friends are like, oh, she'll be the ring. Oh, that's beautiful.
He's cute. He's cute. Your kids are going to be so cute. Oh my gosh.
What are you guys doing for the wedding? She's like, she's in that zone. She's in like whole life ahead of her. Everything's going to be great.
This is awesome. I can't believe that my life is going to look like Gabriel shows up. Same news. You're going to have a baby.
What? What do you mean I'm going to have a baby? I haven't done the thing that makes babies. And then he's like, this is going to be a miracle.
God's going to overshadow you and you get. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They don't know this. So what is this?
We're going to have to put the pieces together. That all of our friends who are just celebrating are now going, Mary's pregnant. She's thinking about Joseph, right? Mary's pregnant.
In that moment, it's the same news. Same angel, same news, incredibly different response. Because Mary's now needing to navigate. Every part of my life just changed.
Because now I'm a societal pariah forever. Everyone is going to just label me as that girl that got pregnant out of wedlock. Am I going to be accepted into the synagogue? Can I worship?
What does this mean? And she's now navigating. This is going to be really, really hard. So Mary receives this news that for all intents and purposes kind of destroys her entire future in her mind.
I don't know if you guys have caught this. There's different parts in the gospels where it certainly seems like the Pharisees did get Jesus going, yeah, well, we have Abraham as our father. It seems like Jesus was known as that guy that his mom got pregnant out of wedlock. It seems like 30 years later, Mary is still carrying the stigma.
Same angel, same news, both are miracles. I mean, that's an understatement. She's housing God incarnate. But the fairness, justice meter, feels a little off.
And then we get this unbelievable sight line into how these two incredible women carried the news. One with the greatest celebration in the kingdom. It's amazing. And one going, this is going to be really, really, really, really hard.
How do they interact? First of all, we should honor Mary for her response. Because she hears this news, is processing all of this and goes, let it be unto me according to your will. Let everything that you've said come to pass.
You know what that sounds like? It sounds like, yes, Lord. It sounds like listening to obey. It sounds like someone who's entering into the way of the kingdom before she's even inaugurated the kingdom by modeling something that goes, it's not about me.
You said it. I do it. Yes, Lord. And so she receives this word.
She doesn't reject it. Her justice meter isn't going off. Or at least if it is, she has the resolve and the strength as a 15 year old girl to go, let it be unto me according to your word. And then the angel says, yes, your cousin Elizabeth.
Yeah, that Elizabeth. She's pregnant. And then Mary goes to spend time with Elizabeth. This is so beautiful.
So Mary leaves to go to see Elizabeth. We'll pick up in verse 39, Luke 1, 39. So in 38, she says, I'm the Lord's servant. Everything you've said about me come true.
The angel leaves. Verse 39, a few days later, Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth, Poss, Elizabeth, who waited her whole life to get pregnant. Now, her 15 year old cousin is like, I'm pregnant.
There's room for tension. There's room for bitterness. There's room for all this stuff. But Elizabeth's just saturated in the kingdom.
She's just saturated in the generosity of God. So the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaked within her and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, God has blessed you above all women and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored that the mother of my Lord should visit me?
When I heard your greeting, the baby and my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believe that the Lord would do what he said. All honor, all just affirmation, nothing about like, well, what about me and my miracle baby? She's fully just going, look at the generosity of God is expressed in your life.
Sweetie, I don't know if you can see it right now, but you're in the middle of a miracle story. You're blessed above all women. And she starts pumping up Mary. Just saying everything like, this is incredible.
And she's celebrating and she's letting her filter not be one of a fence bitterness. Wow, Lord. I mean, I would have taken a miracle baby at 15. It has nothing to do with her.
She's going, look at what God can do. And then Mary walks in, hears that. Mary responded, oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
He took notice of his lowly servant girl. And from now on, all generations will call me blessed. She's not talking about this generation. She's saying forever.
Man, this might be a hard slog. There might be some people that say some stuff that hurts my feelings. There may be some things that are difficult. I know what you've done.
I know what you're going to do. All generations are going to call me blessed. Praise the Lord. There's a filter of praise and honoring the generosity of God.
So let's bring this back full circle. We're talking about this parable of the vineyard and there's the 11th hour worker that gets in. There's those that worked all day. Friends, I know that it can be hard.
I know that there's challenge. I know that somebody all are like, man, but I've been working all day in the sun. I think that the invitation of this parable is to go, everyone gets paid. Look at the generosity of God.
Isn't it crazy that he would take someone who worked for one hour and pay him a full day's wage? That's the kind of master I want to serve. That's the kind of king I love. Bless are you among women.
Bless are you among laborers. You got into the 11th hour and he still paid you? Isn't that crazy? And we're celebrating God.
I think there's an invitation to make more of our celebration of God and then less of the like, but I did. So how are you going to have a kiss study? What do you owe me? I think we laid down our entitlement.
We celebrate the goodness of God and we're going, man, I haven't seen the healing. Rather than go, I can't believe they got healed and I didn't know how I knew he was a healer. I can't believe God healed you. Isn't he kind?
Jesus. I always knew you could do it. You did it again. This is who you are.
Anyone else got a healing story? I just want to hear it. Bringing over the meal after the meal train. When you got pregnant and I'm still waiting, but my goodness is new life incredible.
So I'm going to celebrate you hardcore because this is what the kingdom would do. We're laying down our entitlement and our equation and if this, then I get this. We're just going, I'm just happy to be here. I can't believe he hired me.
I could have been standing in that market all day. He came back for the fourth time. He found me. He included me.