1972), 94.
The Treasure of the Kingdom
who believe. There is nothing left to pay, no possibility that our own works can be meritorious. But that does not mean there is no cost in terms of salvation's impact on the sinner's life. Do not throw away this paradox just because it is difficult. Salvation is both free and costly. With eternal life comes immediate death to self: "Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin" (Rom. 6:6). If Christ died in our stead, then we are counted as dead with Him (2 Cor. 5:14), and we must so reckon ourselves — "dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11).
That is what Jesus meant when He spoke of taking up one's own cross to follow Him. And that is why He demanded that we count the cost carefully. He was calling for an exchange of all that we are for all that He is. He was demanding implicit obedience — unconditional surrender to His lordship. Geerhardus Vos articulated this principle when he wrote, "Jesus requires of his disciples the renunciation of all earthly bonds and possessions which would dispute God His supreme sway over their life, Matt. 10:39; 16:25; Luke 14:25 – 35. . . . The idea is that the inward attachment of the soul to them as the highest good must be in principle destroyed, that God may take the place hitherto claimed by them."8 "Faith" that scorns our Lord's demands for such surrender can hardly qualify as saving faith. No one can rightfully lay claim to Him as Savior while refusing to own Him as Lord.
Obviously, a new believer does not fully understand all the ramifications of Jesus' lordship at the moment of conversion. But every genuine believer has a desire to surrender. This is what distinguishes true faith from a bogus profession: true faith produces a heart that is humble, submissive, obedient. As spiritual understanding unfolds, that obedience grows deeper, and the genuine believer displays an eagerness to please Christ by abandoning everything to His lordship. This willingness to surrender to divine authority is a driving force in the heart of every true child of the kingdom. It is the inevitable expression of the new nature.
Counting the Cost
These parables are a clear warning to those who want to have Jesus without counting the cost. Our Lord Himself counseled the frivolous multitudes to calculate the cost carefully before following Him (Luke 14:28 – 31). Far from
8. Geerhardus Vos, Th e Kingdom of God and the Church (Nutley, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1972), 94.
Jesus Illustrates His Gospel
welcoming the positive response of the uncommitted masses, He sought only those willing to invest all they had in His kingdom.
Wise investors would not usually put all their money into a single investment. But that is exactly what both men in these parables did. The first man sold everything and bought one field, and the second man sold everything and bought one pearl. But they had counted the cost, and they knew what they were buying was worthy of the ultimate investment. Again, that is a perfect picture of saving faith. Someone who truly believes in Christ does not hedge bets. Having counted the cost, the true believer gladly gives everything for Christ.
Moses counted the cost. Scripture tells us that he "consider[ed] the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward" (Heb. 11:26). He gave up spectacular worldly wealth in order to suffer for Christ's sake. To the Egyptians in Pharaoh's court, it must have seemed that he was trading riches for a reproach. But Moses knew that he was really trading Egypt for a heavenly reward. He gave up incredible wealth without a second thought because he understood the priceless value of the kingdom of heaven.
That is the kind of response the Lord Jesus called for: wholehearted commitment. A desire for Him at any cost. Unconditional surrender. A full exchange of self for the Savior. It is the only response that will open the gates of the kingdom. Seen through the eyes of this world, it is as high a price as anyone can pay. But from a kingdom perspective, it is really no sacrifice at all.
The First and Last
t the end of The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan notes that there is an entrance to hell even from the gates of heaven. Judas is proof of that. The night he betrayed Christ with a kiss, he stepped forever out of Jesus' presence and sealed his eternal doom. Who knows how many like him have come near enough to learn the truth and profess faith in Jesus, only to forfeit heaven completely because they have never surrendered to Jesus' lordship? In a sense, their entrance to hell is from the gates of heaven.
But there is a contrasting reality as well, illustrated often in the Lord Jesus' earthly ministry. It is that even the lowest of sinners may be ushered into heaven from the very doorstep of hell. Publicans, prostitutes, thieves, and beggars all found in Christ a Savior who gave them abundant and everlasting life in exchange for the remnants of their squandered earthly existence. He came to seek and to save the lost, and He loved plucking them as brands from the fire. No one, no matter how dissipated by sin, was beyond the reach of His redemptive power. He did what no one else could do for them. He cast legions of stubborn evil spirits out of the demon-possessed (Luke 8:26 – 35), and He touched and made whole the ravaged bodies of lepers (Matt. 8:1 – 3). He gravitated to such people, and they in turn were drawn to Him for salvation.
He always saved these people to the uttermost (cf. Heb. 7:25). Every repentant sinner who surrendered in faith to Christ received full salvation. An influential Jewish religious leader (John 3:1 – 16) was not preferred over an adulterous Samaritan woman (John 4:7 – 29). And the Lord made disciples of both a guileless Israelite like Nathaniel (John 1:47 – 51) and a thieving tax collector like Matthew (Matt. 9:9).
That is the way salvation operates. All the redeemed receive the same eternal life, whether they are young or old, respectable or contemptible, Pharisees or tax-gatherers. No one who comes to Christ is either preferred or slighted because of past experience. The same eternal life is offered to all.
That is an important truth to grasp. As we have seen, saving faith is an exchange of all that we are for all that Christ is. But we need to understand that this does not mean we barter for eternal life. We do not buy salvation by surrendering our lives. Nor is the gift of eternal life given in proportion to the
Jesus Illustrates His Gospel
quality or the length of the life we yield. Everyone who surrenders to Christ gets all Christ has to give in return. Jesus gave a parable in Matthew 20:1 – 16 that illustrates this truth:
Th e kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, "You too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right, I will give you." And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he said to them, "Why have you been standing here idle all day long?" Th ey said to him, "Because no one hired us." He said to them, "You too go into the vineyard." And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the fi rst." And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. And when those hired fi rst came, they thought that they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, "Th ese last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day." But he answered and said to one of them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?" Th us the last shall be fi rst, and the fi rst last.
Like other parables we have examined, this one is about the kingdom of heaven (v. 1). Keep in mind that this is a spiritual lesson, not a lecture about fair labor practices. Jesus is describing how things operate in the sphere where God rules through grace, in the kingdom where Christ rules and reigns. The context gives an important clue to its meaning.
Going back to the final verse of Matthew 19, we find that the parable is bracketed by the same thought: "Many who are first will be last; and the last, first" (v. 30). Obviously, the parable was given to illustrate that maxim.
What does it mean? It is a riddle in the form of a proverb. How can the one who finishes first be last and vice versa? That is possible only if the last and the first are the same. In a foot race, we would call this a tie. No one is ahead and no one is behind; thus the last is first and the first is last. Everyone crosses the finish line in a dead heat.
The First and Last
That is exactly the point of the parable. This landowner went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He hired some men to work for a denarius a day. He came back to the marketplace four more times during the day — at 9:00 a.m., noon, 3:00 p.m., and once again at 5:00 — to hire more men. When evening came and it was time to pay the laborers for their work, every worker got the same, no matter how long he had worked.
The Question of Fairness
The laborers who had worked the entire day felt they had been cheated. But the landowner was not unfair with them; he was generous with those who worked the shorter part of the day. A denarius per day was a good wage — equal to a day's pay for a soldier. No one had any reason to complain; all were paid exactly what they had agreed to work for — a denarius a day (Matt. 20:2). They went to work on those terms, and that was more than fair. The problem had nothing to do with how they were treated. The problem was that these workers could not accept the good fortune of the others. They were filled with envy.
How easy it is from the human point of view to sympathize with those who had worked the full day! There is something in all of us that cannot accept the inequity of someone's getting extra pay unless we all do. We are conditioned to think that inequity is always injustice. But sometimes unequal treatment is an expression of generosity, and that was certainly the case here. The landowner rebuked the men for their jealousy: "Is your eye envious because I am generous?" (Matt. 20:15).
The landowner's liberality was not evil, but the laborers' jealousy was. They could not stand the thought that someone else could get equal pay without working as hard or as long as they did. And instead of rejoicing, they grumbled.
The Issue of Equality
What is the spiritual point of this parable? What could it possibly mean about the kingdom? It is really not difficult. God is the householder. The vineyard is the kingdom of heaven — God's dominion, the realm of salvation. The laborers are those who enter into the kingdom and into the ser vice of the king. The day of work represents a person's life span. The evening is the entrance to eternity, and the denarius is eternal life.
What Jesus is saying is that everyone who comes into the kingdom inherits eternal life, whether he labors for God for years or comes to salvation in the final hour of earthly life. The length of ser vice is not an issue, nor does it matter how hard or easy one's circumstances are. Everyone who enters the
Jesus Illustrates His Gospel
kingdom gets eternal life like everyone else. The kingdom of heaven is not a merit system. Eternal life is not dispensed according to how faithfully we have performed here on earth. It is a sheer gift of God's grace.
Some people serve Christ their whole lives. Others squander their lives, then turn to the Lord on their deathbeds. Either way, eternal life is the same. A dying convert inherits the same glories of eternal existence as an apostle. But that is not unfair. Eternal life is more than any of us deserves. The Father chooses gladly to give us all the fullness of the kingdom (cf. Luke 12:32).
I have a pastor friend who comes from a Jewish heritage. He prayed for and witnessed to his mother from the day he became a Chris tian, but she steadfastly rejected Jesus as Messiah right up to the end. In the last week of her life, he shared the gospel with her one more time, and she embraced Jesus as Lord and Christ. My friend now has the wonderful confidence that she will inherit the same eternal life as he. They will spend eternity together in the kingdom. Is that equitable? Maybe not, but it shows the marvelous grace of a loving God.
When Jesus turned away the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, Peter turned to Jesus and said, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?" (Matt. 19:27). In other words, "We started work at 6:00 a.m. We were the first ones here, and we signed up as lifetime members at a great cost. What will we get in return?"
The parable of the laborers in the vineyard is an answer to that question. The disciples were not quite clear about what their ultimate reward for following Christ would be. Some of them, I believe, still thought that at any moment Christ would overthrow the evil political forces and establish a visible, earthly kingdom. Perhaps they thought they would be granted special thrones to rule over the prime real estate. Even after Jesus rose from the dead, they asked Him, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6). Is now when we get our crowns and our thrones?
Just after Jesus told this parable, He predicted His death (Matt. 20:17 – 19). The next few verses relate how the mother of James and John came to Jesus to ask that her sons be granted special thrones on either side of Jesus in the kingdom. They still did not understand the message.
A place in the kingdom is not something to be earned. It is given by God without regard to how long you worked or how hot the day was. The kingdom will include tax collectors, harlots, beggars, and blind people. There will be apostles, martyrs, and people who served God their entire lives. But there will also be men who were converted in foxholes just before they were blown to eternity by exploding mortar shells. All of them inherit the same eternal life and blessing, not because they earned it, but because God is gracious.
The First and Last
The Epistles describe differing rewards and crowns for ser vice, but that is not the point this parable makes. The issue here is the equality of eternal life. In Christ "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). The last are first, and the first are last.
The Nature of Salvation
I cannot resist mentioning several obvious truths about salvation that flow through this parable. Realizing that the secondary details of a parable are not in and of themselves a definitive basis on which to build doctrine, I nevertheless see in this parable support for a number of important principles Scripture affirms elsewhere.
First, it is God who sovereignly initiates salvation. Like the householder who went out seeking laborers for his vineyard, God is the one who inaugurates salvation. He does the seeking and the saving, and it is He who brings sinners into His kingdom. Though we respond with a desire to follow Christ, even that desire is wrought in our hearts by God. Salvation is not ultimately a human decision. God is both the author and the finisher of our faith (cf. Heb. 12:2). We love Him because He first loved us (cf. 1 John 4:19). Therefore, we have no right to determine what we ought to get. If He sought us early and we served Him our whole lives, that was His choice. If He sought us late and we served but a brief time, that too was His choice.
Second, God establishes the terms of salvation. The landowner told those he hired in the morning that he would give them a denarius. He set the price; they agreed. Those who came late struck no bargain at all. The master said, "Whatever is right, I will give you" (Matt. 20:4). They accepted those terms. The rich young ruler would not do that. Christ set the price for eternal life, but he refused the terms. Those most in need are least likely to try bartering for their own terms.
Third, God continues to call men and women into His kingdom. The landowner went back again and again to call workers into the vineyard. In the same way, God never stops soliciting workers for the kingdom. Jesus said in John 9:4, "We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work." Although the night of judgment is fast approaching, He continues to call people to work.
Fourth, everyone God redeems is willing to work for Him. The men in the parable were looking for work; that is why they went to the marketplace. Everyone who went into the vineyard worked. Some worked only the last hour, and others worked all day, but everyone worked. That is the way salvation is. Faith is shown by works (James 2:24).
Jesus Illustrates His Gospel
A fifth principle I see here is that God is compassionate to those who recognize their need. The men waiting in the marketplace were there because they were in need. When the householder asked why they were standing idle, they said, "Because no one hired us" (Matt. 20:7). They were so desperate for work that they had stayed in the marketplace all day. A similar sense of poverty and extreme desperation is one of the characteristics of saving faith (Matt. 5:3, 6). The Lord calls into His kingdom those who know their need, not the satisfied and self-sufficient.
Sixth, God keeps His promise. The landowner paid exactly what he said he would pay. No one got less than was promised.
And finally, while God inevitably gives what He promises, He also always gives more than we deserve. Salvation is pure grace. No one deserves eternal life, but God gives it equally to all who believe. God saves us, "not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righ teous ness, but according to His mercy" (Titus 3:5).
There is no place for jealousy in the kingdom. The only right response is abject humility. Everything we receive from God is undeserved blessing. How long or how well we work has nothing to do with our place in the kingdom, for all will receive far more from God than they deserve. We should never murmur because the fatted calf was killed for someone else, or be resentful that heaven will be just as wonderful for those who enter the kingdom late. God's grace abounds to us all.
A Picture of Grace
In his record of the Savior's death, Luke includes a choice vignette not found in any of the other Gospels. It is the account of how Jesus, hanging in agony on the cross, bearing the sins of the world, nevertheless turned aside to rescue a single condemned criminal from eternal damnation. The thief was a career criminal, and Roman law had condemned him to die on a cross. Sovereign grace placed him on the same hill as the Savior, where he watched the Lord of glory die for his sins.
In the early hours of the crucifixion, the thieves on either side of Jesus were both arrogantly adding their taunts to those of the crowd (Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32). But before this man died, his mocking changed to a confession of his own guilt and Jesus' innocence: "We are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong" (Luke 23:41). Then, turning to the Lord, he added, "Jesus, remember me when You come to Your kingdom!" (v. 42).
Jesus' reply to the thief was as glorious a promise as a dying sinner could receive: "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). As far as we know, those were the only words Jesus ever spoke to the