Landowner Speaks with Men in the MarketBible World
20:2Matthew 20:2
And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
The verse records a definite bargain in which the householder hired the early-morning laborers for a penny for a day's work and then sent them into his vineyard, and they received exactly what was promised with nothing more. It belongs to the parable of the vineyard laborers whose calls extend from early morning to the last hour of the day, showing one part of what the kingdom of heaven is like. The householder's dealings represent God's dealings with the human family, and the vineyard is His great worldwide moral vineyard of warning sinners, winning souls to Christ, and establishing them in truth. The fixed agreement of the first workers contrasts with the later workers who make no bargain but trust the householder to pay what is right, teaching that salvation and reward are a gift of grace and not wages owed for service, measured by the spirit and faithfulness of the work rather than length of time, amount accomplished, or visible results. The bargain therefore reproves the hireling spirit that puts a set value on service and claims greater reward, seen in the first-called Jews who thought long service entitled them to privilege above the Gentiles, and warns Christ's servants not to serve for a stipulated wage but in humble, trusting love without envy toward the last.
Agreement and Sending
The early-morning hiring was a definite bargain in which the householder agreed with the laborers for a penny for a day's work and then sent them into his vineyard. The agreed penny was the wage the Master promised His workers, a stipulated daily sum that fixed both the terms of their service and the householder's obligation to pay what was promised. They received exactly what had been agreed, with nothing more, so they had no cause to complain when later workers received the same amount. The agreement warns against bargaining as though the Master will fail to deal fairly, since trusting service matters more than focusing on wages, and those who serve in humble faith may be honored ahead of those who began earlier.
The verse belongs to the parable of the vineyard laborers, showing one part of what the kingdom of heaven is like. Its calls extend from early morning until the last hour of the day, with workers agreeing to serve for a day's wage and those who become workers with Christ at the eleventh hour receiving the same reward as those who labored throughout the day. Long service is not grounds for claiming greater reward, for God rewards according to the spirit in which the work is done and not according to a worker's estimate of its worth. Those who accept the call only in theory, or who serve with a faultfinding, self-exalting spirit, may be last rather than first.
Christ used the parable to correct the idea that God's favor and the righteous person's reward must be earned by works. The agreed daily wage sets the scene for teaching the principles of God's free grace rather than a grasping, mercenary approach to worship.
The householder's dealings with the vineyard workers represent God's dealings with the human family and with humanity. Christ's kingdom follows God's own standard, not human expectations or the standards of other householders. Freed from selfishness, the first workers would have recognized the fairness of paying the latecomers the same wage instead of resenting the householder's generosity toward those hired later.
Vineyard and Penny
The vineyard into which the agreed laborers are sent represents the world, the field of service in the world as God's field. It is God's moral vineyard and His great worldwide work of bringing people out of darkness and error and establishing them in truth. That work is work for Christ, especially labor to save souls by warning sinners, winning them to Christ, and not leaving them to perish, since an infinite price has been paid to redeem them. It is appointed work to be accepted rather than excused from on grounds of selfish ease, with each laborer to do the position assigned and faithfully perform every duty even when difficult. No one is to remain idle in it, for willing and devoted labor is accepted by God. The penny agreed upon is the promised reward for labor in that vineyard. It is given to the one who works there rather than to the one who merely loiters in the marketplace, so receiving grace and its reward calls for acting and doing faithfully the work set before each person, with the fruit borne showing the character of the work. Even those hired late receive their penny, though they enter when the work has grown harder and people are more hardened, yet remain faithful.
Grace Freely Given
The fixed agreement for a penny for the day stands in contrast to the later workers who make no bargain at all but leave payment with the householder, trusting him to give what is right. They receive exactly the sum specified, while the later workers receive according to generous purpose rather than stipulation. The difference illustrates that God's dealing with workers is not measured simply by hours worked, by amount of work performed, or by its visible results, but by His own gracious purpose and by the spirit brought to the work. For that reason service is not to be made a bargain for a fixed reward, as though compensation were a merit-based expectation to be claimed.
The equal reward for unequal hours teaches that salvation is a gift of grace and not wages owed for service. No one can claim it as a right or boast over another, since all are saved the same way. The first are therefore to welcome the last rather than envy them. So the dying thief, turning to Christ in earnest faith, contrition, and dependence at the end of life, receives the same gift as those of long service.
The later workers picture the poor, unworthy sinner who knows his unworthiness, who has long neglected to enter the vineyard, yet comes humbly at the eleventh hour glad to work at any price. He is grateful simply to be accepted and satisfied with little if only he may serve, asking no questions about reward, with heart full of thanksgiving and love. Expecting very little for short service, he is greatly surprised to be paid for a full day's work, knowing he has not earned it. The kindness shown fills him with joy, gratitude, and love he never forgets, which is the proper response to gracious compensation.
The call to labor is Christ's call to serve Him, work for which wages are promised but the reward is to be received later. Even at the eleventh hour the Master still calls waiting people to go and labor, and they may trust Him to give what is right. The humblest servant can do this acceptable work, for consistent living out of faith is labor God accepts.
First Called and Last
The first-called laborers who agree for a penny stand for the Jews, who were called first and who counted their long years of service as entitling them to a greater reward than those who worked less. They regarded hardship and sacrifice as grounds for claiming larger reward, privilege, and honor above others, especially above the Gentiles. Their bargain makes service into earning a fixed reward, even into earning salvation itself.
The same figure warns Christ's first-called disciples and servants against the same self-righteousness. To treat long service as a claim puts the reward ahead of the privilege of serving Christ. Such laboring to earn reward in proportion to effort reveals self-advancement, distrust of God, jealousy, and lack of loving cooperation with Him, a hireling spirit that can unfit His followers for service.
Those hired later had not been present in the morning and had not refused the first call, so those who hear that first call must not neglect it. The parable does not excuse those who hear the truth and refuse to obey it, or who deliberately turn down the first call presuming they can repent later. People brought into God's work at the eleventh hour can still be faithful laborers and receive a reward, and those with little opportunity may take the place of people who had great light and failed to value it by devoting their abilities and entrusted means to advancing the work and declaring the whole counsel. Those who accept the call only in theory, or who serve with a faultfinding, self-exalting spirit, may be last rather than first.
The eleventh-hour laborers will receive their penny in the final crisis as many souls coming out of the ranks of the world and out of the churches, even the Catholic church. Their zeal will far exceed that of those who have long stood in rank and file to proclaim the truth. They will see the battle over religious liberty coming and will give the trumpet a certain sound. When the crisis is upon us and the season of calamity comes, they will come to the front, gird themselves with the whole armor of God, and exalt His law, adhere to the faith of Jesus, and maintain the cause of religious liberty.
Bargaining Spirit Reproved
The agreement for a penny before entering the vineyard pictures the hireling spirit in service. It treats service as having a value the worker can set, expects a stated reward for a stated amount of work, and judges one's own labor as worth more than that of those who come later. To labor in order to earn reward in proportion to effort reflects that same spirit, and in God's estimation those who serve for wages are last and may unfit themselves for His service.
Christ's servants are not to bargain for a fixed reward as though the Master would fail to deal fairly with them. Faith is to rest on His trustworthiness, with work done in humble, trusting faith rather than with the eye fixed on wages. Service for Christ is not to be driven by wages, self-exaltation, comparison with others, or winning human praise, but by love and dependence on God as fellow workers with Him. Those who serve in that humble faith may be honored ahead of those who began earlier.
The set wage gave the first workers no right to resent the householder's generosity to those hired later. Freed from selfishness they would have recognized the fairness of paying the latecomers the same wage, while a purified heart recognizes His liberality rather than murmuring over it. Grumbling over His dealings reveals a heart that needs to be changed.
Those who will not work without wages they themselves stipulate show a self-serving, demanding, bargaining spirit opposite to true, self-sacrificing, faithful work done with God's angels. Making self-chosen pay a condition of service and holding to their own terms instead of denying self and taking up the cross daily to follow Christ fixes their own destiny. At the close of the day they are made last, given a low place as self-seeking workers, and shown to be candidates for hell rather than heaven.
Reward Measured by Spirit
God rewards according to the spirit in which work is done rather than the length of time spent working, a worker's estimate of its worth, how much is accomplished compared with others, or visible results, so long service is no ground for claiming greater reward. The agreed penny is honored to the first laborers while the later workers also receive a penny, showing that value in service to God is measured by the spirit in which it is given and not by how long the labor lasts. Those who work for God in simple faith and love receive the blessed reward of grace, for the Lord's way of dealing with all the workers is not measured simply by hours worked or visible results but by the spirit they bring to the work.
A worker who acts with pure motives and earnestly seeks to glorify God receives the same reward as one who accomplishes more, because the principles governing the work determine its reward. Capacity or learning matters less than the spirit and faithfulness with which the work is done, and the Lord honors each worker according to that faithfulness, giving each the reward due. Serving Him must not depend on being esteemed or appreciated, since He gives every believer a place in His work and employs people with different talents.
Service for Christ is not to be driven by wages, self-exaltation, or comparison with others, but by love and dependence on God. Those united with Christ work as God's fellow workers rather than to win human praise, motivated by love and not by eagerness for compensation. The first laborers agreed to a stated wage before beginning work and received exactly the agreed amount, while the later workers trusted the householder to pay what was right, showing that God's reward is given according to His gracious purpose and not earned by the amount of work or its visible results.
Call to Faithful Labor
The vineyard is the Lord's field of service for the salvation of others, and to be agreed with and sent means Christians, men and women, every convert and every church member are called, appointed and sent to give themselves wholeheartedly to that work rather than ask to be excused. There is no place in it for idlers, for everyone is required to work for time and eternity, to serve wherever needed to the fullest of ability without seeking the post of most enjoyment or gain, and those in important posts must carry its burdens with self-sacrificing effort after Christ's example of self-denial, sacrifice and faithful labor. Those who seek the Master's work can help save souls, while pursuing pleasure leaves that work undone, since He paid an infinite price to redeem people and they must not leave souls to perish through selfish ease.
There are to be no idlers in the vineyard, for God has given everyone a work and an assigned place, and every neglected corner needs cultivation. The humblest servant can do acceptable work by consistent living, and people learn to use their abilities by putting them to work, being corrected when they err and set to work again. Those who do not take up their work, remain idle, leave the work to others, or neglect duty will not find abundant entrance into the kingdom, for means and powers are not to be used selfishly but wholly in God's service so as to be felt beyond the home, with every member of the family educated to work for the Master. By continually working in Christ's lines workers learn more efficient work and how to use influence as blessing, widening usefulness by making known the unsearchable riches of Christ, using day-by-day opportunities to speak truth, hand a tract or present a book, treating time as a precious talent not to be squandered while keeping hearts uplifted to God for strength and grace. Daily work passes beyond recall and hour by hour decides destiny for eternity, so today in the love and fear of God workers must be in touch with divinity to cooperate with God in saving souls and give the message of mercy to those who have not heard it, who will receive it and reflect its light to others.
The sending is a present day of trust, probation and opportunity for people of every age to take part according to ability rather than for self-indulgence, followed by a day of reckoning when accounts will show how each stands. Obligation is measured by entrusted means, ability and opportunity, so the heaviest obligation rests on the one whose means and opportunity are greatest, and the Lord expects increase in proportion to capital given, holding each responsible for use or abuse of talent without requiring the smaller vessel to hold as much as the larger. The Master's vineyard is the Lord's work of giving the last message of mercy to the lost while probation is fast closing, meaning everyone that loves Jesus is to give active help now with no idlers left unused, including not robbing God but bringing tithes and offerings to sustain His cause, while those who labor in word and doctrine fully improve their charge to preach, teach, reprove, rebuke and exhort.
Faithful labor means earnest, persevering, wholehearted work to the utmost of ability in the best service that can be offered, entering promptly and laboring on with souls won as the hire. Those who so labor do not put the highest value on their own services, swell with pride and self-importance, measure every hour exactly, study how little may be done to reach the lowest standard, or pursue pleasure, gain and selfish ease, but compare their efforts with the Saviour's work and count themselves unprofitable servants seeking to grasp the fulness of Christ to do much for Him and bearing the burden of souls. To be a laborer is to do the sacred, solemn, important work of God for this time as pointing others to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, which requires no unclean hands and impure heart but seeing defects of character, conversion that transforms the man, and more than a religion of the head through grace upon the heart carried out in the life.
Workers are fitted for the vineyard by education that disciplines the mind, develops its powers and directs them understandingly, including instruction in common branches and in the truths of God's word for this time with lectures upon the prophecies, that they may be useful in advancing His glory. True toilers are people of prayer, faith, self-denial and holy living who restrain natural appetites and passions, whose lives show the power of the truth they share, and young men who consecrate themselves unreservedly and exercise powers of mind in His service and in study of Scripture become intelligent in spiritual knowledge and in the things of the kingdom. Christ calls even men and women who cause discouragement and seem unqualified, seeing qualifications for work in them, and if they will constantly be learners His providence will fit them for work not beyond their capabilities, giving through the Holy Spirit power of utterance. So earnest, persevering, successful work done while walking in the light and going from one degree of light and strength to another makes even the inexperienced, ordinary field and workshop laborers and new converts intelligent helpers whose faith and works show the labor for them was not in vain, and when the warfare is ended they will be welcomed into the joy of their Lord.
The call comes through the ages from Christ Himself and is especially urgent near the close of earth's history, summoning workers to the cities to win souls with courage, zeal and persistence until the work is thorough. The vineyard calls for earnest, persevering labor for souls, with ministers to work devotedly, reach new and neglected destitute fields, and help bring people to conversion and raise churches rather than remain where churches already have much light and many advantages. More workers including young men are called to the ministry, labor is needed in neglected parts of the work including the Southern field and foreign lands and every part of the world, and effort is to be enlarged until the work encircles the world by winning sinners and setting every member to work.
Vineyard service includes publishing, office, canvassing and literature work as sacred labor for the salvation of souls for whom Christ died, requiring earnest prayer in faith especially for fellow workers not fully in the truth, a felt sense of the worth of souls and the sacredness of the work, and full consecration with affections and hopes centered in God and unselfish purpose. Treating that work as common labor and engaging in trifling frivolities grieves angels and makes one a fruitless cumberer of the ground called to consecrate himself. It also embraces ministry of the Word, medical missionary work, and the training of youth and children in homes and schools, for the vineyard is Christ's spiritual work for youth and children and God's great moral vineyard including every place of usefulness in the world and in the church now calling for laborers, to be entered by being fitted in educating and training schools, having the greatness of the work impressed on the mind, and bringing practical godliness into daily experience for fitness for the missionary field, so that consecrated young people become earnest, persevering workers.
Labor in the vineyard requires just stewardship in which entrusted means are used to carry God's work forward rather than turned to selfish gain, for abilities used in His service can do much good while the same qualities turned to selfish gain become harmful. The Lord as owner of the whole worldwide vineyard sees all the work to be done, the places where memorials for truth should stand, and the unworked fields destitute of facilities, and He sends workers into every part and requires equity and just judgment so that a large amount of means is not absorbed in one place or one line. Every building is to be erected with reference to other places that will need similar buildings, giving other parts a chance for facilities rather than blocking advance by selfish use of all securable means in one place, and labor is to be valued by Christ's self-denial rather than by setting higher and higher wages, keeping mutual agreements fairly with workers' voice and consent and spreading workers and resources among many places.
The Master knows and watches over His workers in different parts of His field, assigns places, sends laborers forth, and provides sympathy and opportunities so their interest and growth do not flag. The vineyard is everywhere there is work for God, and no one is to wait for a regular process before making effort, but each is to take up work right where he is and watch for and use opportunities to serve, even in what are called irregular lines outside the usual process through self-sacrificing effort. By doing that work laborers learn by experience what it means to be laborers together with God in unison with Him, winning souls to the Lord, and each may trust Him for a place that does not sacrifice life. Those who claim a call yet leave the heavy work of supporting their families to the church while they are eased, or who exalt themselves, belittle others and refuse appointed burdens, mistake the call, for the work calls for humility, self-examination, and reliance on God in love and faith.
The verse records a definite bargain in which the householder hired the early-morning laborers for a penny for a day's work and then sent them into his vineyard, and they received exactly what was promised with nothing more. It belongs to the parable of the vineyard laborers whose calls extend from early morning to the last hour of the day, showing one part of what the kingdom of heaven is like. The householder's dealings represent God's dealings with the human family, and the vineyard is His great worldwide moral vineyard of warning sinners, winning souls to Christ, and establishing them in truth. The fixed agreement of the first workers contrasts with the later workers who make no bargain but trust the householder to pay what is right, teaching that salvation and reward are a gift of grace and not wages owed for service, measured by the spirit and faithfulness of the work rather than length of time, amount accomplished, or visible results. The bargain therefore reproves the hireling spirit that puts a set value on service and claims greater reward, seen in the first-called Jews who thought long service entitled them to privilege above the Gentiles, and warns Christ's servants not to serve for a stipulated wage but in humble, trusting love without envy toward the last.
Agreement and Sending
The early-morning hiring was a definite bargain in which the householder agreed with the laborers for a penny for a day's work and then sent them into his vineyard. The agreed penny was the wage the Master promised His workers, a stipulated daily sum that fixed both the terms of their service and the householder's obligation to pay what was promised. They received exactly what had been agreed, with nothing more, so they had no cause to complain when later workers received the same amount. The agreement warns against bargaining as though the Master will fail to deal fairly, since trusting service matters more than focusing on wages, and those who serve in humble faith may be honored ahead of those who began earlier.
The verse belongs to the parable of the vineyard laborers, showing one part of what the kingdom of heaven is like. Its calls extend from early morning until the last hour of the day, with workers agreeing to serve for a day's wage and those who become workers with Christ at the eleventh hour receiving the same reward as those who labored throughout the day. Long service is not grounds for claiming greater reward, for God rewards according to the spirit in which the work is done and not according to a worker's estimate of its worth. Those who accept the call only in theory, or who serve with a faultfinding, self-exalting spirit, may be last rather than first.
Christ used the parable to correct the idea that God's favor and the righteous person's reward must be earned by works. The agreed daily wage sets the scene for teaching the principles of God's free grace rather than a grasping, mercenary approach to worship.
The householder's dealings with the vineyard workers represent God's dealings with the human family and with humanity. Christ's kingdom follows God's own standard, not human expectations or the standards of other householders. Freed from selfishness, the first workers would have recognized the fairness of paying the latecomers the same wage instead of resenting the householder's generosity toward those hired later.
Vineyard and Penny
The vineyard into which the agreed laborers are sent represents the world, the field of service in the world as God's field. It is God's moral vineyard and His great worldwide work of bringing people out of darkness and error and establishing them in truth. That work is work for Christ, especially labor to save souls by warning sinners, winning them to Christ, and not leaving them to perish, since an infinite price has been paid to redeem them. It is appointed work to be accepted rather than excused from on grounds of selfish ease, with each laborer to do the position assigned and faithfully perform every duty even when difficult. No one is to remain idle in it, for willing and devoted labor is accepted by God.
The penny agreed upon is the promised reward for labor in that vineyard. It is given to the one who works there rather than to the one who merely loiters in the marketplace, so receiving grace and its reward calls for acting and doing faithfully the work set before each person, with the fruit borne showing the character of the work. Even those hired late receive their penny, though they enter when the work has grown harder and people are more hardened, yet remain faithful.
Grace Freely Given
The fixed agreement for a penny for the day stands in contrast to the later workers who make no bargain at all but leave payment with the householder, trusting him to give what is right. They receive exactly the sum specified, while the later workers receive according to generous purpose rather than stipulation. The difference illustrates that God's dealing with workers is not measured simply by hours worked, by amount of work performed, or by its visible results, but by His own gracious purpose and by the spirit brought to the work. For that reason service is not to be made a bargain for a fixed reward, as though compensation were a merit-based expectation to be claimed.
The equal reward for unequal hours teaches that salvation is a gift of grace and not wages owed for service. No one can claim it as a right or boast over another, since all are saved the same way. The first are therefore to welcome the last rather than envy them. So the dying thief, turning to Christ in earnest faith, contrition, and dependence at the end of life, receives the same gift as those of long service.
The later workers picture the poor, unworthy sinner who knows his unworthiness, who has long neglected to enter the vineyard, yet comes humbly at the eleventh hour glad to work at any price. He is grateful simply to be accepted and satisfied with little if only he may serve, asking no questions about reward, with heart full of thanksgiving and love. Expecting very little for short service, he is greatly surprised to be paid for a full day's work, knowing he has not earned it. The kindness shown fills him with joy, gratitude, and love he never forgets, which is the proper response to gracious compensation.
The call to labor is Christ's call to serve Him, work for which wages are promised but the reward is to be received later. Even at the eleventh hour the Master still calls waiting people to go and labor, and they may trust Him to give what is right. The humblest servant can do this acceptable work, for consistent living out of faith is labor God accepts.
First Called and Last
The first-called laborers who agree for a penny stand for the Jews, who were called first and who counted their long years of service as entitling them to a greater reward than those who worked less. They regarded hardship and sacrifice as grounds for claiming larger reward, privilege, and honor above others, especially above the Gentiles. Their bargain makes service into earning a fixed reward, even into earning salvation itself.
The same figure warns Christ's first-called disciples and servants against the same self-righteousness. To treat long service as a claim puts the reward ahead of the privilege of serving Christ. Such laboring to earn reward in proportion to effort reveals self-advancement, distrust of God, jealousy, and lack of loving cooperation with Him, a hireling spirit that can unfit His followers for service.
Those hired later had not been present in the morning and had not refused the first call, so those who hear that first call must not neglect it. The parable does not excuse those who hear the truth and refuse to obey it, or who deliberately turn down the first call presuming they can repent later. People brought into God's work at the eleventh hour can still be faithful laborers and receive a reward, and those with little opportunity may take the place of people who had great light and failed to value it by devoting their abilities and entrusted means to advancing the work and declaring the whole counsel. Those who accept the call only in theory, or who serve with a faultfinding, self-exalting spirit, may be last rather than first.
The eleventh-hour laborers will receive their penny in the final crisis as many souls coming out of the ranks of the world and out of the churches, even the Catholic church. Their zeal will far exceed that of those who have long stood in rank and file to proclaim the truth. They will see the battle over religious liberty coming and will give the trumpet a certain sound. When the crisis is upon us and the season of calamity comes, they will come to the front, gird themselves with the whole armor of God, and exalt His law, adhere to the faith of Jesus, and maintain the cause of religious liberty.
Bargaining Spirit Reproved
The agreement for a penny before entering the vineyard pictures the hireling spirit in service. It treats service as having a value the worker can set, expects a stated reward for a stated amount of work, and judges one's own labor as worth more than that of those who come later. To labor in order to earn reward in proportion to effort reflects that same spirit, and in God's estimation those who serve for wages are last and may unfit themselves for His service.
Christ's servants are not to bargain for a fixed reward as though the Master would fail to deal fairly with them. Faith is to rest on His trustworthiness, with work done in humble, trusting faith rather than with the eye fixed on wages. Service for Christ is not to be driven by wages, self-exaltation, comparison with others, or winning human praise, but by love and dependence on God as fellow workers with Him. Those who serve in that humble faith may be honored ahead of those who began earlier.
The set wage gave the first workers no right to resent the householder's generosity to those hired later. Freed from selfishness they would have recognized the fairness of paying the latecomers the same wage, while a purified heart recognizes His liberality rather than murmuring over it. Grumbling over His dealings reveals a heart that needs to be changed.
Those who will not work without wages they themselves stipulate show a self-serving, demanding, bargaining spirit opposite to true, self-sacrificing, faithful work done with God's angels. Making self-chosen pay a condition of service and holding to their own terms instead of denying self and taking up the cross daily to follow Christ fixes their own destiny. At the close of the day they are made last, given a low place as self-seeking workers, and shown to be candidates for hell rather than heaven.
Reward Measured by Spirit
God rewards according to the spirit in which work is done rather than the length of time spent working, a worker's estimate of its worth, how much is accomplished compared with others, or visible results, so long service is no ground for claiming greater reward. The agreed penny is honored to the first laborers while the later workers also receive a penny, showing that value in service to God is measured by the spirit in which it is given and not by how long the labor lasts. Those who work for God in simple faith and love receive the blessed reward of grace, for the Lord's way of dealing with all the workers is not measured simply by hours worked or visible results but by the spirit they bring to the work.
A worker who acts with pure motives and earnestly seeks to glorify God receives the same reward as one who accomplishes more, because the principles governing the work determine its reward. Capacity or learning matters less than the spirit and faithfulness with which the work is done, and the Lord honors each worker according to that faithfulness, giving each the reward due. Serving Him must not depend on being esteemed or appreciated, since He gives every believer a place in His work and employs people with different talents.
Service for Christ is not to be driven by wages, self-exaltation, or comparison with others, but by love and dependence on God. Those united with Christ work as God's fellow workers rather than to win human praise, motivated by love and not by eagerness for compensation. The first laborers agreed to a stated wage before beginning work and received exactly the agreed amount, while the later workers trusted the householder to pay what was right, showing that God's reward is given according to His gracious purpose and not earned by the amount of work or its visible results.
Call to Faithful Labor
The vineyard is the Lord's field of service for the salvation of others, and to be agreed with and sent means Christians, men and women, every convert and every church member are called, appointed and sent to give themselves wholeheartedly to that work rather than ask to be excused. There is no place in it for idlers, for everyone is required to work for time and eternity, to serve wherever needed to the fullest of ability without seeking the post of most enjoyment or gain, and those in important posts must carry its burdens with self-sacrificing effort after Christ's example of self-denial, sacrifice and faithful labor. Those who seek the Master's work can help save souls, while pursuing pleasure leaves that work undone, since He paid an infinite price to redeem people and they must not leave souls to perish through selfish ease.
There are to be no idlers in the vineyard, for God has given everyone a work and an assigned place, and every neglected corner needs cultivation. The humblest servant can do acceptable work by consistent living, and people learn to use their abilities by putting them to work, being corrected when they err and set to work again. Those who do not take up their work, remain idle, leave the work to others, or neglect duty will not find abundant entrance into the kingdom, for means and powers are not to be used selfishly but wholly in God's service so as to be felt beyond the home, with every member of the family educated to work for the Master. By continually working in Christ's lines workers learn more efficient work and how to use influence as blessing, widening usefulness by making known the unsearchable riches of Christ, using day-by-day opportunities to speak truth, hand a tract or present a book, treating time as a precious talent not to be squandered while keeping hearts uplifted to God for strength and grace. Daily work passes beyond recall and hour by hour decides destiny for eternity, so today in the love and fear of God workers must be in touch with divinity to cooperate with God in saving souls and give the message of mercy to those who have not heard it, who will receive it and reflect its light to others.
The sending is a present day of trust, probation and opportunity for people of every age to take part according to ability rather than for self-indulgence, followed by a day of reckoning when accounts will show how each stands. Obligation is measured by entrusted means, ability and opportunity, so the heaviest obligation rests on the one whose means and opportunity are greatest, and the Lord expects increase in proportion to capital given, holding each responsible for use or abuse of talent without requiring the smaller vessel to hold as much as the larger. The Master's vineyard is the Lord's work of giving the last message of mercy to the lost while probation is fast closing, meaning everyone that loves Jesus is to give active help now with no idlers left unused, including not robbing God but bringing tithes and offerings to sustain His cause, while those who labor in word and doctrine fully improve their charge to preach, teach, reprove, rebuke and exhort.
Faithful labor means earnest, persevering, wholehearted work to the utmost of ability in the best service that can be offered, entering promptly and laboring on with souls won as the hire. Those who so labor do not put the highest value on their own services, swell with pride and self-importance, measure every hour exactly, study how little may be done to reach the lowest standard, or pursue pleasure, gain and selfish ease, but compare their efforts with the Saviour's work and count themselves unprofitable servants seeking to grasp the fulness of Christ to do much for Him and bearing the burden of souls. To be a laborer is to do the sacred, solemn, important work of God for this time as pointing others to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, which requires no unclean hands and impure heart but seeing defects of character, conversion that transforms the man, and more than a religion of the head through grace upon the heart carried out in the life.
Workers are fitted for the vineyard by education that disciplines the mind, develops its powers and directs them understandingly, including instruction in common branches and in the truths of God's word for this time with lectures upon the prophecies, that they may be useful in advancing His glory. True toilers are people of prayer, faith, self-denial and holy living who restrain natural appetites and passions, whose lives show the power of the truth they share, and young men who consecrate themselves unreservedly and exercise powers of mind in His service and in study of Scripture become intelligent in spiritual knowledge and in the things of the kingdom. Christ calls even men and women who cause discouragement and seem unqualified, seeing qualifications for work in them, and if they will constantly be learners His providence will fit them for work not beyond their capabilities, giving through the Holy Spirit power of utterance. So earnest, persevering, successful work done while walking in the light and going from one degree of light and strength to another makes even the inexperienced, ordinary field and workshop laborers and new converts intelligent helpers whose faith and works show the labor for them was not in vain, and when the warfare is ended they will be welcomed into the joy of their Lord.
The call comes through the ages from Christ Himself and is especially urgent near the close of earth's history, summoning workers to the cities to win souls with courage, zeal and persistence until the work is thorough. The vineyard calls for earnest, persevering labor for souls, with ministers to work devotedly, reach new and neglected destitute fields, and help bring people to conversion and raise churches rather than remain where churches already have much light and many advantages. More workers including young men are called to the ministry, labor is needed in neglected parts of the work including the Southern field and foreign lands and every part of the world, and effort is to be enlarged until the work encircles the world by winning sinners and setting every member to work.
Vineyard service includes publishing, office, canvassing and literature work as sacred labor for the salvation of souls for whom Christ died, requiring earnest prayer in faith especially for fellow workers not fully in the truth, a felt sense of the worth of souls and the sacredness of the work, and full consecration with affections and hopes centered in God and unselfish purpose. Treating that work as common labor and engaging in trifling frivolities grieves angels and makes one a fruitless cumberer of the ground called to consecrate himself. It also embraces ministry of the Word, medical missionary work, and the training of youth and children in homes and schools, for the vineyard is Christ's spiritual work for youth and children and God's great moral vineyard including every place of usefulness in the world and in the church now calling for laborers, to be entered by being fitted in educating and training schools, having the greatness of the work impressed on the mind, and bringing practical godliness into daily experience for fitness for the missionary field, so that consecrated young people become earnest, persevering workers.
Labor in the vineyard requires just stewardship in which entrusted means are used to carry God's work forward rather than turned to selfish gain, for abilities used in His service can do much good while the same qualities turned to selfish gain become harmful. The Lord as owner of the whole worldwide vineyard sees all the work to be done, the places where memorials for truth should stand, and the unworked fields destitute of facilities, and He sends workers into every part and requires equity and just judgment so that a large amount of means is not absorbed in one place or one line. Every building is to be erected with reference to other places that will need similar buildings, giving other parts a chance for facilities rather than blocking advance by selfish use of all securable means in one place, and labor is to be valued by Christ's self-denial rather than by setting higher and higher wages, keeping mutual agreements fairly with workers' voice and consent and spreading workers and resources among many places.
The Master knows and watches over His workers in different parts of His field, assigns places, sends laborers forth, and provides sympathy and opportunities so their interest and growth do not flag. The vineyard is everywhere there is work for God, and no one is to wait for a regular process before making effort, but each is to take up work right where he is and watch for and use opportunities to serve, even in what are called irregular lines outside the usual process through self-sacrificing effort. By doing that work laborers learn by experience what it means to be laborers together with God in unison with Him, winning souls to the Lord, and each may trust Him for a place that does not sacrifice life. Those who claim a call yet leave the heavy work of supporting their families to the church while they are eased, or who exalt themselves, belittle others and refuse appointed burdens, mistake the call, for the work calls for humility, self-examination, and reliance on God in love and faith.