PARABLES:
STORIES THAT MIRROR
life and answer
our deepest questions
A Weird and
Wonderful
Way to Run
the World
Matthew 20:1-16
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:1
For the kingdom of heaven is
like a landowner who went
out early in the morning to
hire men to work in his
vineyard.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:2
He agreed to pay them a
denarius for the day and
sent them into his vineyard.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:3
About the third hour he went
out and saw others standing
in the marketplace doing
nothing.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:4
He told them, “You also go
and work in my vineyard, and
I will pay you whatever is
right.”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:5
So they went. He went out
again about the sixth hour
and the ninth hour and did
the same thing.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:6
About the eleventh hour he went
out and found still others standing
around. He asked them, “Why
have you been standing here all
day long doing nothing?”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:7
"Because no one has hired
us,” they answered. He said
to them, “You also go and
work in my vineyard.”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:8
When evening came, the owner of
the vineyard said to his foreman,
“Call the workers and pay them
their wages, beginning with the
last ones hired and going on to
the first.”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:9
The workers who were hired
about the eleventh hour came
and each received a denarius.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:10
So when those came who
were hired first, they expected
to receive more. But each one
of them also received a
denarius.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:11
When they received it, they
began to grumble against the
landowner.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:12
“These men who were hired last
worked only one hour,” they said,
“and you have made them equal to
us who have borne the burden of
the work and the heat of the day.”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:13
But he answered one of them,
“Friend, I am not being unfair
to you. Didn’t you agree to
work for a denarius?”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:14
“Take your pay and go. I want
to give the man who was
hired last the same as I gave
you.”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:15
“Don’t I have the right to do
what I want with my own
money? Or are you envious
because I am generous?”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:16
So the last will be first, and
the first will be last.
A Weird and
Wonderful
Way to Run
the World
Matthew 20:1-16
Parag Khanna
How to Run the
World: Charting a
Course to the
Next Renaissance
John
McCutcheon
“If I Ran the
World”
Isaiah 55:8
“ For My thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are
your ways My ways,"
declares the Lord.
God does it differently!
He gives strength in weakness (2
Corinthians 12:7)
He gives gigantic results from small
things (Mark 4:31-32)
He gives wealth in poverty (Matthew
5:3)
He gives greatness in servanthood
(Matthew 23:11)
He gives life for those who lose it
(Matthew 16:25)
The Parable of
the Vineyard Workers
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 19:30
But many who are first will be
last, and many who are last
will be first.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:16
So the last will be first, and
the first will be last.
How does God run
the world?
three
characteristics
of God’s operational
plan for the world.
I. God runs the world
with justice
verses 9-15
1. God’s justice is not
based on rank
“those … hired first”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:10
So when those came who
were hired first, they expected
to receive more. But each one
of them also received a
denarius.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:11
When they received it, they
began to grumble against the
landowner.
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:13
But he answered one of them,
“Friend, I am not being unfair
to you. Didn’t you agree to
work for a denarius?”
Mark 2:17
It is not the healthy who
need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners.
2. God’s justice is not
based on comparisons
“them equal to us”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:12
“These men who were hired last
worked only one hour,” they said,
“and you have made them equal to
us who have borne the burden of
the work and the heat of the day.”
In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the
color barrier in Major League Baseball.
Ben Chapman
Jackie Robinson
Chapman was forced to
pose in a photograph with
Robinson in May of 1947.
September 22, 1947
Acts 10: 34-35
I now realize how true it is
that God does not show
favoritism but accepts men
from every nation who fear
Him and do what is right.
II. God runs the world
with sovereignty
verses 13-15
1. God’s sovereignty is
based on His goodness
“I want to give”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:14
“Take your pay and go. I want
to give the man who was
hired last the same as I gave
you.”
2. God’s sovereignty
is based on His will
“the right to do as I want”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:15
“Don’t I have the right to do
what I want with my own
money? Or are you envious
because I am generous?”
III. God runs the world
by grace
verses 15-16
Romans 3:10
There is no one righteous,
not even one.
Harry Ironside
“Grace is not
only undeserved
favor, but it is
favor shown to
the one who has
deserved the
very opposite.”
1. God shows grace
with His generosity
“because I am generous”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:15
“Don’t I have the right to do
what I want with my own
money? Or are you envious
because I am generous?”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Harvey Milk
Adolf Hitler
Jesus with the thief
on the cross
Luke 23:43
“I tell you the truth, today
you will be with me in
paradise."
Titus 3:5
He saved us, not because
of righteous things we had
done, but because of His
mercy.
2. God shows grace
with His salvation
“the first will be last”
Matthew 7:24
Matthew 20:16
So the last will be first, and
the first will be last.
Why Grace Matters
Works
1. produces pride
2. produces anger
3. produces rigidity
4. can never save
Grace
1.produces humility
2.produces gratitude
3.produces faith
4.gives eternal life
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith — and this
not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God — not by works, so
that no one can boast.