Life Ministries

The Principles.

The first principle I want you to see is an easy one to miss.
a. God, Himself Calls the Workers.
The owner went out into the marketplace himself, repeatedly, and personally called workers to the harvest. So what. What’s the big deal about that? Jesus has taken an opportunity to give us a glimpse of the loving God that we serve. Though He owns all and is above all, still He seeks us out. He meets us where we are and calls us into a relationship with Him and then equips us and sends us into the fields to serve. (John 6:44) "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
The second principle that we can pull from this parable is that:
b. The Call is the Same, the Timing is Different
    The call that the landowner gave to each worker was the same, go into the fields and work towards the harvest. That call remains constant for each and every believer. What is different is the timing and when people respond. There are some who will never respond and therefore will miss out when the wages are given to the workers. There are others who hear Gods call early in our lives and accept it and enter the fields. Others may hear the call for years and decide that they don’t want to work, only to change their hearts later and follow God. Then there are those who cry out to God in the final hour, in the 11th hour. They have lived life for themselves and put off God’s call to work until the very last minute and have a deathbed conversion.      
    This parable tells us that their call is no different then any of ours, the only difference is the timing of the response. The reward (of heaven) is the same. Although the reward (in heaven) may be different. For instance; “Well done good and faithful servant; you have been faithful in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things.” (Matthew25:21-23)
    Each worker received a full day’s wage. God welcomes each and every sinner who calls on His name into the same heaven to spend the same eternity with Him. The Bible says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Whether they are 10, 40, or 100 years old at death. Whether they serve in some area of ministry, or are followers. The wage is the same, and it’s more than any of us deserve! All who believe will inherit the kingdom of heaven, that gift has nothing to do with our worth or merit or what we have accomplished for God, it is only by God’s grace. Now, our work for the Lord is certainly not in vain. We will be rewarded for the works we do on Earth.
1 Corinthians 3:12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
    If we build on God’s foundation and work towards the growth of the kingdom, scripture teaches in several places that we will receive our reward in heaven and Jesus said the same thing to Peter at the end of chapter 19. But heaven is our common wage and when we get there, all other rewards will not be important to us, there will be no contests to see who got more, because all will be laid at the feet of our Savior.
So here’s the point.
    The temptation with parables is to try to overanalyze every detail and find hidden meaning where none was intended and in doing so to miss the point that Christ was trying to make. We work not for the reward but out of gratitude to God and to hear those words “well done” come from the father’s mouth. And whether someone has served God with their whole life or calls out to Him on their deathbed, we need to rejoice in the reward, equal to all, and thank God for His wonderful grace.