Matthew 20:1-16 ~ So the last will be first, and the first last

Shine - Collective Soul

Matthew 20:1-16

English Standard Version, David Cochran Audio

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. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius^{[a day's wages for a laborer}} a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵ So they went.

Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

⁸ And when evening came, 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.’ ⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

¹¹ And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, ¹² 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.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ ¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first last.”



So the last will be first, and the first last.

Jesus told us the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He didn't mean just for that moment. Jesus was telling us when we confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts - we have eternal life. Beginning ..... stop watch click...... at believing. All of God's promises are for us - now.

I had the pleasure and sadness to spend time with family I dearly love this weekend - someone when the joy of Jesus Christ and His love opened in my soul - he was the first person I thought of. Today he has it all - the wife he loves - the children he adores - the departed architect's own designed home - and the career he has & was never going to have because he has/had a learning disability. The only reason this dear one has this career after 2 major Universities & a very established High School wished him well and not to let the back door knock him down too hard - he has some real skill. With problem solving and humor.

Life is really hard. It is tough to get out there each day and bust a gut. My loved one was saying that he plans to leave this life of old age in his 60s. Not really our genetic pattern, when the ticket-to-ride departure date seems to be age 94. His young eyes looked weary.

Yesterday we looked at Jacob having the full weight of God's blessings behind him - yet a lot of Jacob's life looked pretty similar to Job. It was within Jacob's soul that God's blessings lived, multiplied and were given out. Jacob lived His promises.

Who else would be first and last in God's blessings? Jesus' own brothers. Jesus knew they would shine. Just as God knew Gideon would shine as well. It is fairly, understatement, important to treat people like they have it within them to Shine. Pray hard - with hope. God is still at work today. An uncle of mine found the Lord at age 78. Dancing in Heaven for my grandmother.

John 7:1-5, Jesus' brothers want Him to see some trouble.
After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life. But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

Matthew 12:46-50, after Jesus declared the ruling people of the temple to be vile and evil, His brothers want the trouble to die down.
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Mark 6:3, Jesus records how his brothers think of Him; Jesus' family is seen by others as a very loving, all of a kind, family.
"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor."

This is Jesus loving His brother in clear light. He understands the situation, not whitewashing it. So 1 Corinthians 13 tells us love conquers all.

1 Corinthians 9:5, Paul tells us of Jesus' brothers.

Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas [Peter]?

The Books of the Bible, James and Jude are Jesus' brothers that their Nazareth home town saw them as a seamless family. In the time of the early Church:

Acts 1:14
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Hebrews 2:10-12, Jesus speaks of us as His brothers, but also His own brothers.
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says,
"I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises."

I pray the Psalms. I'm not spending time fretting. I am placing the one I love in His hands.

Psalm 87

¹ On the holy mount stands the city he founded;

² the LORD loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
³ Glorious things of you are spoken,
O city of God.
Selah

⁴ Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush—
“This one was born there,” they say.
⁵ And of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in her”;
for the Most High himself will establish her.
⁶ The LORD records as he registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.”
Selah

⁷ Singers and dancers alike say,
“All my springs are in you.”

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.



<><