{"id":1260,"date":"2024-11-15T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=1260&2024"},"modified":"2024-11-12T17:00:19","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T00:00:19","slug":"finishing-with-god-matthew-20-1-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/finishing-with-god-matthew-20-1-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Finishing with God: Matthew 20:1-16"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Matthew 20:1-16 (NIV)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\">\r\n<p><sup>1\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cFor the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. <sup>2\u00a0<\/sup>He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.<\/p> <p><sup>3\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cAbout nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. <sup>4\u00a0<\/sup>He told them, \u2018You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.\u2019 <sup>5\u00a0<\/sup>So they went.<\/p><p>\u201cHe went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. <sup>6\u00a0<\/sup>About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, \u2018Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?\u2019<\/p> <p><sup>7\u00a0<\/sup>\u201c\u2018Because no one has hired us,\u2019 they answered.<\/p><p>\u201cHe said to them, \u2018You also go and work in my vineyard.\u2019<\/p> <p><sup>8\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cWhen evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, \u2018Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.\u2019<\/p> <p><sup>9\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cThe workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. <sup>10\u00a0<\/sup>So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. <sup>11\u00a0<\/sup>When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. <sup>12\u00a0<\/sup>\u2018These who were hired last worked only one hour,\u2019 they said, \u2018and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.\u2019<\/p> <p><sup>13\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cBut he answered one of them, \u2018I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn\u2019t you agree to work for a denarius? <sup>14\u00a0<\/sup>Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. <sup>15\u00a0<\/sup>Don\u2019t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?\u2019<\/p> <p><sup>16\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cSo the last will be first, and the first will be last.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew 20:1-16&amp;version=niv\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Matthew 20:1-16<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>Later on during Jesus\u2019 ministry, He shared a parable about workers being hired to work in a vineyard, and the key ideas in this parable relate to God\u2019s generosity, and everyone who worked receiving an equal level of pay. These two ideas are clearly visible in the Parable of the Vineyard Workers, but I believe there is another subtle truth hidden just under the surface of this parable that is powerful for all of us to remember.<\/p>\r\n<p>In this parable, we learn about a number of groups of people who started working for the vineyard owner at various points during the day. Some of those who were hired worked all day, while others only worked for the last hour of the day. At the end of the day, everyone is paid equally as if they had worked for the full day.<\/p>\r\n<p>When we read this parable, the big truth that Jesus shared is that <strong>it doesn\u2019t matter when you started working, but it does matter that you finished out the day working.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>Just under the surface of what is directly said in this parable is the idea that only those who were present at the end of the day were paid. This means that if someone started working at the beginning of the day, but then left at 2pm in the afternoon, they wouldn\u2019t receive anything \u2013 because they were not present to be paid.<\/p>\r\n<p>If this parable symbolizes how followers of Jesus are working for God during their lives here on earth, then this subtle truth is that it doesn\u2019t matter <em>when<\/em> we start working; what matters is <em>that<\/em> we start working before the end of our day (i.e. life), <em><u>and<\/u><\/em> that we <em>keep<\/em> working until the end of our day.<\/p>\r\n<p>God is incredibly generous with how He has chosen to reward us, but it is up to us to be present when He is rewarding those who worked for Him. <strong>A life that started with God but ended far from Him is not rewarded like a life that started far from God and ended close to Him.<\/strong> <strong>The direction of our lives matter, and this parable emphasizes that it is important for us to end our lives with God. Since we don\u2019t know when our lives will end, it is up to us to live each day from this point forward with God, so that when our day of work is up, we will have ended it with Him.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--1260\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '1260');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Later on during Jesus\u2019 ministry, He shared a parable about workers being hired to work in a vineyard, and the key ideas in this parable relate to God\u2019s generosity, and everyone who worked receiving an equal level of pay. These two ideas are clearly visible in the Parable of the Vineyard Workers, but I believe [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Finishing with God: Matthew 20:1-16 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/finishing-with-god-matthew-20-1-16\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finishing with God: Matthew 20:1-16 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Later on during Jesus\u2019 ministry, He shared a parable about workers being hired to work in a vineyard, and the key ideas in this parable relate to God\u2019s generosity, and everyone who worked receiving an equal level of pay. 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