Working under contract . . . Part V

Returning from last time, and the tangent, I launched into. The workers at the beginning of the day were mad, when they received their wages, why? Because their wages were the same as the workers who started just an hour before the end of the day. Were they right to be angry? For years, and without much study, I interpreted this passage as a sort of caveat for the deals you make. I didn't quite get the full weight of what is going on, and I don't know that many do. It wasn't until recently that I came to understand this passage. And I must acknowledge Brother David Robinson who wrote the adult quarterly for the Baptist Sunday School Committee, for this reasoning. The difference between the workers at the beginning of the day and the latter parts of the day is this: the first workers to the vineyard negotiated their wages before they went to the field; everyone else went to the field on the promise of the owner of the vineyard to pay them what was right.

No one in the later groups ever ask, "What will I get for my work?" You see, there is a great difference between the first workers and the last. The eleventh hour workers wanted to work, but those at the start wanted to get paid first and foremost. I remember a story; however, I don't remember where I picked it up, but here is the way it goes. It's about two men who went to work at the same time and same job for a company, and some twenty years or so later, one was still working for an hourly wage, and the other was a vice-president in the company. The one who was working for the hourly wage asked the vice-president one day why he had advanced so far ahead of him. The vice-president told him; when we started out, you went to work for an hourly wage, and I went to work for the company. (My apologies to whomever I stole this from.)

So, tell me if this hit you the way it hit me. Do I really treat the Lord this way when I go to work for Him? But that is exactly what we do, when we say, "Lord I will serve you, but I need this (whatever this is.)" So, do you say it? Have you said it? You see, when we deal with God in this way: we're asking for a contract. I hope that you get, that the blessing come when and because we don't set conditions to our service to God. I hope that this forever does away with the nonsense, that service to God has the outcome of a better than average car and a big better than average house. Are you willing to sell that which every suffering of this life is not worthy to be compared to, for something so cheap as a car and a house? Do you really want a contract?

More to come, dear ones.

Working under contract . . . Part IV

So, we pick it up at the end of the day. The owner told his foreman to call the laborers from last to first. The eleventh hour workers get, surprise! a whole day's pay. Now we are not told what the workers from the third, sixth and ninth hours got; and frankly, I am dying to know what happened between verses nine and ten. The only clue that we have to their compensation, is the expectation of those from the beginning of the day. They thought that they would get more, why? Because they saw what everyone else was getting.

Now, tell me honestly, have you ever grown bitter in the Lord's work, because you set you expectation on what someone else was getting? I can tell you from experience (in the fullest since of the word) that it can happen more easily than you can imagine; especially, when you have it harder than you think you should, and someone else has it so easy. Let me tell you something, you don't get to pick who get blessed and when or how much: that is God's business, and He is under no obligation to share His reasons for blessing one and allowing trials to befall another. This is what you need to latch on to: He is right in whatever He does. So, it may not be easy, and it may be incredibly hard; but the wonderful thing is that God is at work, to accomplish something wonderful in you and through you. You see, the best place for you, may be right in the middle of the storm.

Now, I must confess, this is not where I thought this would end up today, but having said it, I know there is a reason. The fact is that people drop out of Christianity because they have imbibed the idea that it is a formula: I put this in, and I get this out. So when, it gets difficult, and they put in their ten percent, and it gets even harder than it was the week or month before: the cry is not for patients to have its perfect work; the cry is, take away my problems. Let's get this straight, real Christianity, often resembles someone in jail, innocent of any crime; rather than someone who has every modern convenience and won't tell people about Christ, because they are afraid someone will mock them or laugh them.

More coming, loved ones.

Working under contract . . . Part III

Now, Christ, out of love for this wealthy young man, was ready to take him on as a disciple. That was the offer. Now, I want you to get past the notion that Christ offers little in comparison to what the world offers; in fact, those who believe that either openly or privately, have it the wrong way around. What the world has to offer is literally rubbish, in comparison to what Jesus offers those who follow Him. Not a fleeting this or that, but something that lasts, that can't be taken away; do you understand what that is like, loved ones? He told the rich young man to trade what he had, for what could never be taken away. Sell what you have, you will have treasure in heaven, and then, come be My disciple.

He went away sorrowful, because he loved his possessions more than, ultimately, Christ; and dear ones, how far away are we as a culture? Jesus explained that it is with great difficulty that a rich man enters heaven. So then all the disciples were astonished that this "straight A" student turned from the Way. Seeing all of this, Peter speaks up, and says in essence, Lord we've done what you just asked that man to do; what do we get? In short, what Jesus says, is that you get to rule with me; what ever you had to set aside to follow me, you will get it back 100 fold; and you get eternal life! Oh, and there is this little wrinkle; the last will be first and the first will be last.

It is from here, that Jesus goes right into the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. The first set of workers agree to a day's wage at the beginning of the day, and off they go to the vineyard. The master of the house goes out at the third hour and finds workers standing idle in the market place, so he says, Go to the vineyard and work, and I'll give you what is right; so they went. Three more times he goes out; the sixth, ninth and the eleventh hour. Each time he says, Go to work and I'll give you what is right, and each time they go.

Since this is a terrible place to leave you, and I am short on time; I want you to think about this until next time: What would you give to the workers who hired on in the latter parts of the day, and why?

More to come, loved ones.

Working under contract . . . Part II

But what does that look like, in a world (or realm, truthfully) where everyone is in it for all they can get? I’ll tell you exactly what it looks like. Look at Mary, she took an alabaster box of perfume a broke it and poured it on Christ, as an act of worship. “Oh, a box, well that’s nice,” you say, “hmm, perfume.” The King James calls the contents of the box “very precious,” and A. T. Robertson translated the term as “exceedingly precious.” Judas, the thief, assessed the value at a year’s wage for a day laborer (courtesy, again, of A. T. Robertson); now, ask yourself, why would a first century Jewish girl have such an expensive jar of perfume as a possession?

The times when no expense was spared, were times of great joy or times of great sorrow. So you see, loved ones, she had that jar for either her marriage or her funeral. And don’t for a minute imagine that because she was the sister of a rich man, that this bottle of perfume meant little to her. In the exact same way that a ring represents the earnest of the depth feelings that a young man has for the girl he gives it to, this box was a dowry and the earnest of everything that she would give to her future husband. In short, she had, not a single possession in the world, more precious to her than this alabaster box and its contents. And she brought it to Christ, broke the seal and poured it on His head and it ran down to His feet, filling the house with its beautiful aroma.

And when the rest of the disciples closed ranks with Judas to condemn her, Jesus rebuked them and told them to leave her alone, because they had yet to understand the beauty of what she had done. Christ commended her worship, and told them all, that where ever the gospel is preached from now on, what this girl has done will be spoken of as a memorial to her. Because, dear ones, she, out of a heart full of love, poured out what was most precious to her, for Him.

To be continued . . .

Working under contract . . .

It is wonderful how God chooses to teach us new truths about His Word. The Book continually comes alive, as my friend Brother Stan Smith put it recently, “No matter how many times I come back to a passage, it is always expanding; it never gets smaller.” I am so very excited about the fact that God’s Word has expanded to me, once again, and I want to share it with you.

The back story for the parable we are going to discuss is the rich young ruler. A short summation of the story has the rich young ruler coming to Jesus and asking Him what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus first tells him to follow the commandments; he responds that he had kept them since he was a child. Then Jesus tells him he needs one more thing to be complete; sell everything that you have and give it to the poor. Ouch! We all say. Not so fast. Mark tells us that Jesus looked on him and loved him; and it is in this context that he tells the young man what he is missing. He wasn’t trying to send him away financially injured; Christ was trying to send him away with the best that He could give him. This is not some kind of curt dismissal.

You see, most of us, and I am speaking of Christians, can barely get our mind, or more to the point our will around giving a tenth of what is “ours” to God. Now, here is Jesus telling this man that he has to give everything away; not because he wanted him to go away sorrowful, but because he wanted him to go his way filled with joy. He presented him with the opportunity of a lifetime, and indeed the same opportunity is extended down through time to you and me. Namely, to take God at His word and let Him worry about the blessings. The young man went away sorrowful, not because he could not do what Jesus said, but because he would not do what Jesus said. And if you think that you are in the clear on this, what would you do if Christ ask you to sell all that you have and give it away?

More tomorrow loved ones. . .