This year we have covered the first nineteen chapters of The Gospel According To Matthew. Yesterday, we began Matthew chapter 20. Here was the summary:
Jesus told a parable to explain what He meant when He said: "30 But many shall be last that are first; and first that are last."
So far, there is nothing in this parable agreeing with Calvinism and man-made doctrine.
God sought out individuals.
God offered wages to the individual.
The individual ONLY worked for God if they AGREED to the wages THEY WOULD GET.
Today, we will conclude this parable...
MATTHEW 20:11-16
"11 And when they received it, they murmured against the householder,
12 saying, These last have spent but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat."
(People actually murmured against the householder. They got emotional and forgot what they had agreed to...)
"13 But he answered and said to one of them, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a shilling?
14 Take up that which is thine, and go thy way; it is my will to give unto this last, even as unto thee.
15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? or is thine eye evil, because I am good?
16 So the last shall be first, and the first last."
(Reread the above verses and realize God was asking the people if they recalled God's Word or chased after their own understanding.)
(Notice, the conclusion is the SAME as the beginning of Matthew 18! Jesus was asked who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He said those that humble themselves are the greatest...those that are "least" are "greatest"...those that are "last" shall be "first".)
(Also, notice this parable is a Salvation parable. We have covered this before: A Salvation parable has a qualitative result...you either get the same as everyone else or you get nothing. A Reward parable has a quantitative result...people are able to get a different amount.)
(The point of this parable was people think Salvation is quantitative...but it is actually qualitative. It doesn't matter how long you have been a Believer...you get the SAME Salvation as everyone else! However, we know Jesus told parables where people got different amounts. We also saw Jesus spoke of Salvation and Reward separately...so we ought to know the difference between Salvation and Reward...or we could end up murmuring against God!)
SUMMARY
Jesus told a parable that pulled together everything stated in Matthew chapters 18 and 19. Those two chapters showed us the reason why we don't see God's Will on earth as it is in Heaven...because we OPPOSE God. We follow our own understanding and traditions instead of God's Word.
This parable presented "friends of God" that end up murmuring against Him because the individuals followed their own traditions instead of God's Word!
After this parable, the Gospel According to Matthew changed its focus.However, before we change our focus, I would like to spend next week covering some doctrine.
In verse 13, the householder used the word "friend".
Next week, we will look at the meanings of the words "enemy" and "friend"....
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2 comments:
i know we have talked about this before, but what is the definition of murmuring? and the difference between murmuring and grumbling?
I don't think grumbling is used in the Bible and I'm not sure how it would be different than murmuring. It may be that grumbling is just factually complaining.
Murmuring and whispering are used in the Bible where we currently use the word "gossip". The Bible does not use the word "gossip".
Murmuring is secret detraction (which is what "gossip" is).
There are two components:
1. The comments have to be made to someone privately about someone else.
2. The comments have to detract (take) from the person being discussed.
In this case, the workers were privately stating things about the householder that detracted from Him...they concluded He was evil.
It is NOT murmuring (or gossip) if you are willing to make the statements to the person's face OR if the statements don't detract.
This is a HUGE point: there are a lot of people who think they are doing Christian behavior when they secretly detract. Even if the person they are discussing is evil, the "Christian" is a willful sinner if they are unwilling to correct the behavior once they have been made aware of it.
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