Upside Down: The First are Last (Matthew 19:27-20:16)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Well good morning uh my name is chet i'm one of the pastors here grab your bibles go to Matthew chapter 19. we're working our way through the Gospel of Matthew and we're going to pick up right where we left off last week a couple of weeks ago i was uh putting my son to bed he's five and i don't know how we got on the topic but we were talking about heaven and he said daddy can you do you die in heaven i was like no you you have everlasting life which means that we live forever he looked at me and he went even.
If somebody stabs you and i was like no you won't get stabbed in heaven it's a nice place like there are no stabbings in heaven we live forever and he goes okay what if someone cut your head off and i was like what kind of heaven what the so i apparently need to uh be teaching a little better theology at my house but we discussed it that night there are no stabbings or beheadings in heaven it's a nice place there's joy there there's delight there there's reward there and we're actually going to pick up in this passage.
Today where Jesus is answering a question that Peter has about heaven and so let's pray and then we're gonna we're gonna step into kind of trying to understand this uh together this morning God we thank you for your word uh we thank you for the beautiful promises that are in it we thank you for uh your grace towards us and we pray that as we study this today that you would uh wake us up to your goodness to your generosity um and that you would help us move forward in obedience we love you and we praise you in.
Jesus name amen so we're going to be in 1927 and we're picking up what just happened was that a rich young ruler had come to Jesus and he had asked teacher what do i have to do to inherit eternal life so what do i need to do to be saved what do i need to do to be one of the good ones who gets to enter into life and Jesus answers him and they discuss this and Jesus basically helps point out that he's not one of the good ones that it's not something that you earn.
But Jesus at the end of this he says if you would be perfect go sell all that you have give it to the poor and come follow me so that following Jesus with a real life change is what he invited him into and and you think about this it's only a handful of people that Jesus actually looked at and said come follow me and this young ruler walks away sad and they have this discussion the disciples are surprised when Jesus tells them that it's very difficult.
For a rich person to enter into the kingdom of heaven and it seems like most of the disciples have been kind of stuck on this idea that a rich person wouldn't be able to enter the kingdom of heaven but it doesn't seem like Peter got stuck on that idea Peter heard something else Peter heard when Jesus said sell what you have give it to the poor come follow me and you will have treasure in heaven Peter's ears perked up he went treasure in heaven and that's where we pick up.
Today where Peter's like a quick question 19 verse 27 then Peter said in reply see we have left everything and followed you what then will we have don't you love Peter you ever you were sitting in class and somebody raised their hand and asked the question you wanted to ask but you just had talked yourself out of it you were like we probably shouldn't ask that i i'll figure it out later but somebody asked the question and you were like yes answer that question please or you hadn't even thought of the question.
But you were like that's a good one answer that i feel like Jesus just goes hey couldn't help but notice Peter Peter says Jesus couldn't help but notice that you told him he would have treasure in heaven if he gave his stuff away we left everything tell us more about this heaven treasure and you would think that Jesus would correct him but he doesn't Jesus said to them truly i say to you in the new world when the son of man will sit on his glorious throne you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
So he says what will we have and he says in the new world when i sit on my glorious throne you will also sit on twelve thrones now that word that that new world it's uh is one word and it means the renewal when everything's made new so he says in the renewal in the new world in the new creation when everything's made new you will when i sit on my glorious throne and that's what he says he says when the son of man sits on his glorious throne you who have followed me will also sit on glorious thrones.
So he's very clear he's the son of man he gets the glorious throne they get thrones but less glorious apparently so he sits on his glorious throne and they get thrones and so he says in the new world this will happen now you know Peter was like what i thought you were going to say stuff a throne all 12 of us like that's there's going to be some amount in the new world of some authority some power some elevation for them that they're going to be on thrones there's going to be some amount of just.
God fixing what's broken in the world because at this point there aren't 12 tribes but he says in the in the new creation the 12 tribes are back somehow and i don't know exactly how literal we're supposed to take that but he says that you'll sit on thrones when i sit on my glorious throne there are people who will accuse Christians uh if maybe you've ever heard the phrase that someone's so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good that Christians because we believe that things are going to get better later we don't work to make things better.
Now the truth is because we believe things are going to get better later we're called to work diligently to make things better now because he's going to renew everything he's going to make it new and we're called to sacrifice and to make things good good for others now we're called to put up with difficulty now we're called to put up with poverty now we're called to step into difficulty now because we know that our good things are coming that's why Paul says.
If there is no resurrection we we should be pitied more than anybody else because our way of life ought to look really dumb it's not about having things here it's about trusting that there's going to be good things there and that's what Jesus is telling them Jesus is going to be on a glorious throne he will be ruling over this new world in verse 29 he says this and everyone so it's not just the disciples now but it's are the twelve.
But it's all those who will follow him and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my name's sake will receive a hundred-fold and will inherit eternal life but many who are first will be last and the last first so let's look at that again he says anyone everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my name's sake we'll receive a hundredfold and we'll inherit eternal life.
So all of those everyone who's willing to sacrifice and he specifically says for my name's sake so they're sacrificing for the name of Jesus because there is a way for you to sacrifice for your name's sake and Jesus actually addresses that he says when you give generously don't you know ring a bell in front of you and announce it do it secretly if you want people to know that you're generous announce it and that's your reward you did it for your name's sake.
But there's a way to do it that's for Jesus's namesake which just means that because i'm a believer i'm doing these things and that means that it opens up a lot of avenues for reward if you want to write your name on a big cardboard check and present it next week to the kid city money we're raising it'll be frowned upon but we'll probably let you do it but the reality is because you made a big show of it you gave it to something that we think is good and worth giving to.
But you did it for your name saying but the truth is there is a way to give to kid city to give to our Church family to give to missionaries to give to the person who knocks on your window in five points to give to the oliver Gospel mission to give to your neighbor who you know is having a hard time paying a bill that is for his name's sake the only reason i'm letting this run out of my hands the only reason i'm giving this away is.
For the name of Jesus and there are he lists in this list here houses and lands and he also lists a bunch of relationships and these are things that we're called to give up stuff and relationships let's talk about stuff first some of this is actually having it and then giving it up so selling something we see this in the new testament a lot someone owns property they sell it they give some of the money away they give it to the poor that's what he called on the rich young ruler to do some of us proactively give things up meaning that.
When the money comes in we just hand it off and over the course of our life we gave up a nicer house and some land and a playstation 5. whatever it is we would have spent it on me countless meals at cracker barrel because that's where my money goes it's me eating something usually a biscuit or an egg roll but you give it up you let it come through and you just hand it off and you're saying i'm this money's not going to stick to me i'm handing it off.
For the sake of his kingdom for the sake of his name so that someone might know him so that someone might be blessed or just because i belong to him and i'm called to generosity but it's not just that it's also relationships so that there are times and more so in other cultures but increasingly so in hours where people are going to say if you really believe that if you're really going to follow that if you're going to be that close-minded.
If you're going to be that type of bigot these are things that Christians are called now we can't be friends anymore you're no longer my sister i'm not going to have a child that thinks like that and you choose in that moment to give up a relationship for the sake of the kingdom for the sake of Jesus it doesn't say boyfriend and girlfriend in here but i think it's included that no because i follow Jesus i'm giving this up so that i might have something better and it's both things that we walk away from and things that we just say no to preemptively like children this does not mean oh wait hold on a.
Second i got four children i can just give them away and say it was for Jesus name that become a thread at your house i'm about to bless somebody in Jesus name son go pack your bags no i think this is more older parents who have children who say if you're going to be like that i can't we can't have a relationship anymore you have to co-sign my lifestyle you have to be okay and the parents just said i can't i also think this is people who choose to not be married or to not have children.
For the sake of the kingdom he just talked about this a couple weeks ago that those who are celibate for the sake of the kingdom my grandmother felt called to mission work in africa and she wanted to get married and she wanted to have children but she felt like that if she was going to be a missionary she couldn't and so that was one of the big wrestling points between her and the lord and eventually she just said lord i surrender i'll go i'll never have children that's fine.
If that's what you want me to do i don't want to spoil the story for you that ended up not happening because she is my grandmother she did have children but she thought that's what was going to have to happen and the reality is there are that's a reality for some people lord if you want me to do this i may not be able to have a relationship i may not be able to have the family i want man but i have the house i want we give it up.
For the sake of the kingdom so he says everybody who does that will receive a hundred fold and will inherit eternal life let's look at the 100 fold first he says that whatever you give up it will eventually be worth it now he's talking about in the future in the in the new world whatever you give up here you'll receive a hundred fold there and i know some of you are like whoa so i give up having one acre i could have a hundred acres in heaven and some of you were like i better have children.
Because i don't want to have 200 children in heaven i'm trying to relax when i get there i'll be raising all these kids that's not what he's saying it's not a direct thing he's saying that you'll be paid back handsomely there is reward for sacrifice here beautiful extravagant reward if you had anything that paid you back 100 fold that's a good deal that if that was a sure thing for you i got a message a couple weeks ago from raz bradley and he said.
If you ever get a time machine go back to yesterday and invest in this company and he sent me a little picture of some stocks just blowing up and the reality is we do daydream about that sort of thing what if i was able to invest in coca-cola at this time what if you were able to invest in microsoft at this time and there's such thing as insider trading but let's assume for a second that it's not illegal let's say you had a friend and they told you that you needed to invest all your money right.
Now in amazon because it was about to double it was about to triple what they told you is about to be a hundred times more over the next few years if you invest right now the only thing that would affect you again if insider trading wasn't illegal was the trustworthiness of the source if they worked at the amazon fulfillment center and they were like hey i got a tip let me tell you what's about to happen to the stocks i know some stuff they'd be like.
Well you you pack boxes it's a good job but i don't think they tell you stock tips but if your friend was jeff bezos and he was like we figured it out you need to invest right now because it's about to blow up that's a much more trustworthy source the reality is that our willingness to sacrifice for reward has a lot to do with how trustworthy we think Jesus is our willingness to sacrifice here has a lot to do with how much faith we have you.
See uh i think we've somehow tricked ourselves with an idea that that sounds nice but isn't really biblical that the only way you're supposed to give something up is just from the goodness of your own heart that that's the way it counts that if it's just pure altruism that you have to do it not expecting any reward but Jesus consistently says no hope for expect some reward the reality is it's not just done from the goodness of our heart it's done.
Because we trust him that's what hebrews 11 says now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen that we're convinced that we're assured we're what we're hoping for in verse 6 it says this without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him the reason you can give up some money the reason you can give up some lands the reason you can walk away from a relationship is that you have faith that what.
Jesus said is true you have faith that he saves sinners you have faith that one day he will renew the world that he rose from the dead and one day we will all rise from the dead and we will have eternal life so us giving things away us being generous is not just we're really good people no yes we believe he's going to reward but we have to trust him in order to believe that otherwise we would just take what was good here.
But hebrews 11 says that he's prepared something better for us and so believers walk out life the way we do because we believe that we trust him that's what we're supposed to do we move forward in faith and he says not just pay back a hundredfold but we'll inherit eternal life that those who follow Jesus will receive life that everyone who's willing to say no to everything else in order to say yes to Jesus will inherit eternal life now the work of that does not save you.
But that is a sign that you have genuinely trusted Jesus that you're willing to say no to everything else to say yes to him that you really do believe he is who he says he is that he really has worked in your heart to redeem you the sign of the true followers of Jesus is that they followed him they gave up everything and followed him and so that is those who do that will be saved those who are surrendering will be saved this is the uh he will not put to shame any who believe in him.
Then he says but and he's going to give a picture he's going to caveat this a little bit because he's he's going to help Peter so he's going to he answers Peter's question you'll sit on the throne everyone will be rewarded beautifully but and he's going to help us understand something that i think changes our attitude a little bit i was hanging out with a pastor friend and we were going to get in a vehicle and he said hey you can you can ride shotgun i said oh thank you i got in the front and we got in the car and he closed the door and he goes i want to ride shotgun in heaven.
I was like he tricked me i'm riding in the back in heaven for all eternity now at least anytime i go anywhere with this guy that's not really how it works it's not this i did that i earned this perfect analogy it's not how that plays out and that's why Peter says but many who are first will be last and the last first and then he's going to tell a story to help us picture this he's going to help drive that point home.
So chapter 20 verse 1 for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard after agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day he sent them into his vineyard okay so far very normal story so far our very uh thing they were very used to would have understood a denarius was a day's wage basically so it's a fair wage he wouldn't worked out with them hey basically.
For us it'd be like if you wouldn't pick somebody and said hey i need some help doing this i'll pay ten dollars an hour plus a little caesar's pizza boom ferris day's wage that's really what that is he goes to the market there's people who would be standing there to do day laborer work they didn't own land they didn't have a set amount of work but they were there for anybody who owned land who needed work done for them to come pick it up he comes he would have walked up known exactly what kind of work he had to do how much money he had how many people he needed.
And when he was said hey i need five and he would have picked they've been a big group hey i need ten you you you you and the people who get picked first in general younger healthier stronger normal verse three and going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market okay so the first time it was probably around six am that's the first hour that's where they start six am the third hour would be nine am and their work day would run from 6 a.m to 6 p.m.
So if you complain about having a 40-hour week job working 9-5 6 a.m to 6 p.m and they got just saturdays off so at least take some encouragement from this story that your job's pretty nice anyway 6 am he goes back out at 9 00 a.m standing idle in the marketplace and to them he said you go into the vineyard too and whatever is right i will give you they make no money agreement they they do not haggle at all he just says earlier he worked out a deal with those people he just says hey go work on my venue i'll pay you what's right.
So they went going out about the sixth hour that's noon 12 p.m and the ninth hour that's 3 p.m he did the same so he saw more people and just said hey go work in my vineyard i'll pay you something fair go work in my vineyard i'll pay you something right people just they win 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 okay so this story got weirder and weirder and weirder and weirder first of all the master of the house keeps leaving the house to just go back to the market and just recruit more workers every three hours and he goes from six a.m nine a.m noon three p.m and then he picks up workers at five that's the 11th hour the work day is going to be over at 6.
So he goes and picks up workers an hour before work is to be done and he finds people who've been standing in the in the marketplace for 11 hours and he says why haven't y'all gone to work and they say nobody would let us like nobody picked us up we were trying we've been here for 11 hours trying to work now if you walked in to a middle school gym class and they were on the last round of picks for dodgeball what do you expect to find left to be picked i'm assuming people who don't dodge.
So well and who don't throw balls very well they have other qualities dodgeball's not their game when you walk into the marketplace the 11th hour these aren't your best workers most likely it doesn't say that but that's just fair to be assumed to be understood in this story older younger not as healthy but they've been standing here all day because they need work they need some money and they're happy to take this one-hour offer they've been there waiting for somebody to show up they're happy to take it and they just go yeah they head right into the vineyard to work.
Now this is odd because why would he keep getting more laborers he doesn't work out a deal with them he just keeps adding laborers when he went out the first time you would assume there was a bunch of people he could have picked as many as he won't the story's odd and it's about to get more odd which makes it a really good Jesus story because that's how he tells stories verse eight and when evening came so at 6 pm the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman call the laborers and pay them their wages beginning with the last up to the.
First so the people who just showed up get paid first and when those hired about the 11th hour came each of them received a denarius one full day's wage so they worked up they had been working for an hour it'd be like them counting off tens there you go and paid them a full day's wage verse 10. now when those hired first came they thought they would receive more but each of them also received a denarius yeah that makes sense first of all.
If you're going to pay people like this pay the people who worked first first i'll make them watch the other guys get paid but he does this on purpose i guess they get paid and they're standing in line and they see that the guys who just showed up scraggled out there and worked for about an hour which was mostly just learning what am i supposed to be doing how do i okay cool and then about the time they got into a little rhythm quitting time they got paid to denarius and the guys who've been there all day were like oh we bout to make some money he paid them a full day's wage this is.
About to go really well for us that's what they're assuming and that's not crazy to assume i think i'd have been doing the same thing like oh okay this guy's generous but they each received only also received to denarius verse 11. 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 but he replied to one of them friend i am doing you no wrong did you not agree with me.
For daenerys take what belongs to you and go i choose to give to 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 begrudge my generosity so the last will be first and the first last Peter says what do we have Jesus says it's going to be great but here's how you're going to need to approach it you're going to need to be very thankful to be invited and you're going to be need to be very thankful.
For the generosity of the master you need to be thankful to be invited and go do the work and you're going to be grateful for the generosity of the master rather than trying to look and see what other people are doing and how it's all working out and i think this is a direct warning to the disciples who are going to be called first and bear the heat of the day you're going to sit on a throne but guess what it's going to be great.
For everybody it's going to be glorious for everybody there's going to be rewards for everybody and i think this applies to both the section where he says you'll be paid back 100 fold and where he says you'll inherit eternal life i don't think this means for us to push it so aggressively that we that we try to say well this means this exactly and this means that exactly i think some people have done that some people have said that this is trying to give us an economic basis.
For how we ought to run an economy and it's just like i don't think that's what this is i think he's trying to help them understand that in the kingdom it'll be based off the generosity of the master the goodness of the master rather than the good negotiating skills and the effort of the workers so those who negotiated that what they negotiated the master was fair and those who just trusted him were faced with generosity and he's fair and he's generous and the reality is you don't want what's coming to you you want what he generously gifts that's some good news in this.
So i do think that there will be great rewards for those who weren't as great when we get to heaven Peter is going to be gloriously rewarded but if i trust Jesus and follow him in my life so am i i think the u.s is a nicer place to live than first century Israel i think there's a lot of things if i'm reading my Bible right that Peter went through that weren't so great there's a good chance that i'll be gloriously rewarded and Peter's supposed to just be excited at the work of the master and the generosity of the master i know i will be cause i'm one of the ones last called i showed.
Up at the 11th hour just barely learned how to do something and then was like woohoo pay time the same thing goes for those who place faith in Jesus that we will all be redeemed every once in a while i see uh memes and pictures passed around on facebook or twitter where i saw one that showed pearly gates and it said heaven where murderers and rapists enjoy a wonderful life with their victims for all of eternity because they trusted Jesus and i know they meant it as a shot that great injustice.
But i took it as the blessing of beautiful mercy that that's reality that scoundrels are in heaven wicked murderous thieving liars who deserve destruction are in heaven greatly rewarded not because of their goodness but because of the mercy and the generosity of the master who will save to the uttermost all those who come to him that Peter is greatly rewarded in heaven and so is the criminal who died on the cross and trusted in Jesus a few moments before his last breath and that's beautiful glorious news.
For a big ol pack of sinners like us that we have hope for everything we sacrifice we have hope for every time we fight our souls to let something go and to fight for what is better we have hope that he rewards those who seek him and trust him and that we have hope that he is greatly generous to those who just kind of barely get it together we don't want justice we want mercy the reality is that he is a just.
God and that all those who will stand under the weight of their own sin will face the wrath of God but that he has offered in his grace to pay for our sins so that we might be greatly rewarded based off of his generosity not of our not off of our merit when my birthday's coming up i can tell my wife things that i'd like and if i'm real specific i'd like to eat here i'd like for this to happen i'd like.
For us to get one of these whatever she'll do that and it's always nice but if i don't tell her anything she'll come up with something really good because she's very generous and gracious and thoughtful if i just trust in her generosity it works out better for me and the reality is we need to get to work and we need to just trust in his generosity we need to move forward in repentance and just trust in his grace for us who are sinners.
So some of you need to believe i got three ways we're going to respond to this some of you need to believe you need to trust that he does save sinners some of you feel like i am a terrible person i'm the worst i'm a failure i deserve to pay for my sin and if you feel like that praise Jesus you ought to feel like that but have we got good news for you he redeems and he forgives and he gives hope and he gives life.
If you'll just accept his invitation when he walked around to the people who'd been in the in the market for 11 hours and said head to the vineyard they didn't try to talk him out of it they just went some of them limping as they went except the invitation that he offers to redeem broken sinners trust in him he will forgive you he will not put the shame into you calling his name some of us need to get to work we need to serve we need to sacrifice we need to begin to do what he's called us to do some of you need to begin to try to get to know your neighbors and your.
Co-workers so they might hear the Gospel some of us need to begin serving here with our Church family in kid city some of us need to begin serving here with our Church family in kid city and there are others here that need to serve in kid city the reality is there are some of you who the lord's been pressing on you to do something to accept the call to become a leader in training in a group or to get to know one of your neighbors or to share the Gospel with a co-worker to accept the call to be a foreign missionary or to accept the call to say no to something.
So that you can say yes to what is better some of you is pressing on you to be a pastor or a Church planter some of you know you just need to begin to be focused on praying for your neighbors get to work accept the call and trust that he rewards everything you give up some of us need to give some things up we need to quit loving our stuff so much we need to set aside money to hand away to give away some of us need to say no to a promotion.
So that we can keep being good missionaries where we are some of us need to say yes to a promotion but the raise walks right out the door so you're going to work harder and you're going to get the same amount of pay you work because you believe that he rewards those who earnestly seek him and you're going to do it for his name's sake so that at the end of all of this we might gather those who've labored and labored and labored and those who barely got into it those who barely trusted the.
Lord those who were humble gracious obedient servants for life and those who were wicked sinners who barely realized it at the last breath that they needed Jesus to redeem them and we're going to gather around his glorious throne and we're going to sing praises to his magnificent generosity and it's going to be worth it let's pray God we thank you for your grace we thank you that you are glorious and that you are generous and we long for the day that we stand in your renewed world where you have made all things new we pray that you would help us to be faithful diligent and to trust in your generosity towards us in.
Jesus name amen the band's going to come back up if you're willing i'd like for you to ask the lord in prayer as we move into this time if there's something that he's been calling you to do that he would impress it on you if there's something he's been calling you to give up if there's something that he's been asking you to do if you've never placed your faith in him i'd ask you to do that now tell him you trust him that you believe that he exists and he rewards those who seek him that he died.
So that you might have life and you want life asking for forgiveness and grace but let's not sit think about heaven for a moment think about rewards for a moment think about eternity for a moment and then walk right back into all the normal stuff of everyday life and not let it affect us let's take a moment to just ask the lord if there's some changes we need to make so that we might look as if we believe that this is not all there is.
And then let's thing you gotta stand to your feet.